Chapter 74: Can You Be a Jerk to Me Once?

"I thought you wouldn't come."

Seeing the figure of Yang Tianxing, Deng Yidi stood up from the steps with delight.

"I am the class monitor, after all; if a classmate has a need, I certainly cannot shirk it."

Yang Tianxing sat down to the side in a sprawling manner, deliberately keeping some distance between himself and Deng Yidi.

Deng Yidi was somewhat dissatisfied; she pouted her red lips and acted coquettishly, "You came to see me, is it really just because of your duties as class monitor?"

Yang Tianxing let out a "haha" laugh, thinking to himself that everyone here is a thousand-year-old fox, so why play at being pure and innocent; just spit out whatever you have to say.

At 10:30 at night, there were still people playing basketball; the "buzzing" sound of the ball hitting the rim carried far into the dark night, but he was always alone, looking to have a unique kind of loneliness.

Yang Tianxing took out a cigarette and asked, "Do you want to smoke?"

Deng Yidi shook her head: "I smoked in high school, but I've already quit."

However, just as Yang Tianxing was about to light it, he heard a "snap"—Deng Yidi had come to help again; the yellowish flame reflected against Deng Yidi's deep purple eyeshadow, looking somewhat alluring in the dead of night.

"So my lighter was taken by you."

When Yang Tianxing took back the lighter, their fingers brushed against each other, but he felt no ripples in his heart; he even wanted to go back and have a long phone chat with Xiao Zhiliao.

"Pfft."

Deng Yidi opened a can of beer and handed it over.

Yang Tianxing didn't stand on ceremony and took a big gulp; the ice-cold beer mixed with the smell of smoke rolled into his lungs, accompanied by the cold air of the deep night in Chang'an.

Then, letting out a wanton beer burp, it was truly comfortable.

Deng Yidi had a decent tolerance for alcohol; she tilted her head back and drank half a can, wiped her mouth, and smeared half her lipstick off, staining the corners of her mouth and chin. She leaned her body slowly toward Yang Tianxing at some point, her eyes hazy, the atmosphere ambiguous.

Just as she was about to lean onto his shoulder, Yang Tianxing suddenly said, "The slap from this morning, does it not hurt now?"

"Swish."

Deng Yidi sat up straight in an instant; Yang Tianxing's words were truly a mood-killer. Deng Yidi didn't want to mention this matter at all, yet he was deliberately rubbing salt into the wound.

"You bastard."

The atmosphere was ruined, and Deng Yidi felt too embarrassed to continue, so she could only gloomily finish the remaining half-can of beer: "Thank you for standing up for me today."

Yang Tianxing neutralized the "seduction" from just a moment ago and flicked the cigarette ash indifferently: "I deal with the matter, not the person. If any classmate from Public Management Class 2 ran into trouble, I would do the same."

"Is that so?"

Deng Yidi glanced sideways at Yang Tianxing: "If it were Liu Jiaoyue instead, you'd probably hack them to pieces, right?"

Yang Tianxing didn't speak after hearing this; his teeth bit down on the cigarette butt, swaying up and down, letting it burn naturally in the wind and making a "sizzling" sound. His gaze was as deep as a dark pool, quietly observing Deng Yidi.

Deng Yidi felt a wave of panic from being watched, so she hurriedly explained: "Don't misunderstand. It's no secret that Liu Jiaoyue is the prettiest girl in our class, but we girls don't like to talk about it. Firstly, it's jealousy; we'd rather her beauty remain hidden in the crowd forever so that we can receive a bit more attention ourselves. Secondly, everyone feels sorry for her family background and doesn't want any stinking men to harass her."

Speaking to this point, Deng Yidi smiled: "But if you were her boyfriend, these things wouldn't be problems at all."

Yang Tianxing did not want to talk more about Liu Jiaoyue under these circumstances; she should always remain under the bright sun, so Yang Tianxing replied indifferently: "Liu Jiaoyue doesn't like being disturbed; it's quite good to keep things as they are."

Deng Yidi nodded; Yang Tianxing's meaning was very clear.

She opened a second can of beer and finally began to talk about her own past: "The boy from this morning was my first love. We started dating in middle school. My parents do business over in Hucheng, and his parents do too; they usually didn't care about our studies, just gave us money."

"But pocket money in middle school was very scarce, and I was very vain at that time, especially wanting to buy a mobile phone to show off. He secretly saved up his New Year's money and allowance, scrimping and saving until he finally bought me one."

Yang Tianxing thought that the family conditions of these two must have been quite good; a mobile phone in middle school would have cost over 10,000.

"The night he bought me the phone, I slept in his bed. He was also my first man."

Deng Yidi stared at Yang Tianxing: "Will you look down on me?"

Yang Tianxing shook his head and took a puff of his cigarette, saying: "You had genuine feelings back then; it's not strange that anything happened."

"I knew it."

Deng Yidi raised her head and said: "I knew it, you would definitely be able to understand."

Yang Tianxing grinned with some confusion: "Why do you say that?"

"Because the temperament you have is very special. I noticed it when school first started; there's a flavor of a mature man."

"You felt wrong."

Yang Tianxing denied it.

"No, I didn't."

Deng Yidi seemed very certain: "Because I have experienced this kind of man."

Yang Tianxing gave an "oh," thinking that going from a pure middle school girl to experiencing a mature man must have been quite a winding path.

Yang Tianxing felt Deng Yidi's lingering gaze and turned his head away: "If you want to tell it, then tell it."

"Later, in high school, my first love and I went to different schools."

Deng Yidi's voice sounded somewhat ethereal now: "At first, I thought this love was loyal and unchanging. In my first year, a senior chased me very intensely. I had already made it clear that I had a boyfriend, but he still didn't give up. I was grateful, but I never accepted him."

"Later, on a summer weekend, I wanted to give my first love a surprise, so I went to his school without telling him, only to see him kissing a girl on the side of the road."

When she reached this point, Deng Yidi's breathing suddenly became rapid. She snatched the cigarette from Yang Tianxing's hand, skillfully lit one, and only after exhaling the smoke did her tone become calm again.

"I didn't go to disturb them, but after I returned to school, I got together with that senior, and I went out with him at night too."

Yang Tianxing didn't speak, because he felt this story wasn't over yet.

Under the catalytic effect of the cigarettes and alcohol, Deng Yidi seemed to sink deeper into her memories: "Hucheng is different from other cities; it's a place of debauchery and glitz. Later, I simply stopped caring."

"Whenever there was a break, I would go out drinking and singing with my girlfriends. I changed boyfriends three times, but I never broke up with my first love. When he called me to his house at night, I would still go over just the same."

"Am I a 'trash' girl?"

Deng Yidi stared at Yang Tianxing and asked.

Yang Tianxing raised his beer can and clinked it with Deng Yidi's: "You really are a bit 'trash'."

"That's also the reason he came to cause trouble today, but the even 'trashier' part is yet to come."

Deng Yidi downed the whole bottle of beer in one go and said with alcohol on her breath: "Later, I met a forty-year-old man. He was quite rich, but it wasn't his money I was after, because my family isn't lacking either; I just felt very at ease being with him."

"Is he married?" Yang Tianxing asked.

"He's married; I even know his wife."

Deng Yidi sneered, "Sometimes when he came out to meet me, he still had to go back to keep his wife company, and I would just sleep alone in the hotel. This situation lasted for three months, until I got into university, and I decided not to do this anymore."

Yang Tianxing heaved a heavy sigh.

"Why are you sighing?" Deng Yidi asked.

"I was just thinking, you managed to get into the Finance Institute even while messing around like that, and I at least spent three years of high school actually studying."

"Hahaha."

Deng Yidi laughed and hit Yang Tianxing, "I didn't get in by exam; I came to the Finance Institute because my hometown is in Chang'an, my parents have acquaintances here, and they paid a 150,000 school-choice fee to get me in."

"Originally, I wanted to study in peace at school and never wanted to fall in love again, but then I met you."

"Seeing you, my heart is at peace."

Deng Yidi seemed to be drunk, and as she spoke, she slowly leaned toward Yang Tianxing again.

Yang Tianxing dodged without a moment's hesitation; he didn't believe for a second that Deng Yidi was drunk.

Sure enough, halfway through leaning over, Deng Yidi realized the person had moved away, and she glared at Yang Tianxing without saying a word.

Yang Tianxing stubbed out his cigarette and said with a smile, "I'm a scumbag too, I'm not right for you."

Deng Yidi looked at Yang Tianxing, and after a long while, she said, "I know you're a scumbag, so can you be a scumbag to me just once?"