Chapter 119: Your mouth is really hard, Xu Yanfeng

Xu Yanfeng wanted to explain; it was a mis-click, he wasn't voting for Xia Xi.

Obviously, facing Chen Mian whose eyes were shining, any explanation turned into a cover-up. Xu Yanfeng understood this, so he stopped explaining and let him misunderstand.

Chen Mian grinned, pointing at Xu Yanfeng from afar; everything was understood without words.

Xu Yanfeng couldn't be bothered to give him a look, flipped his phone twice in his hand, stood up, grabbed his jacket: "Going out to eat."

Chen Mian exclaimed: "It's so late, you haven't eaten yet?"

Xu Yanfeng answered with an "uh" and left the dorm.

Chen Mian sat on the chair, lifted his long legs and propped them on the table, idly swaying back and forth, holding his phone to give Xia Xi a heads-up: "Come on, Xia Xi junior, your senior Xu Yanfeng actually gave you his precious vote."

Xia Xi had just finished a meal with her roommates when she learned about the voting. She thought Zhao Yinshu was just joking, but didn't expect her to make it so formal, opening a dedicated voting channel where only students of Nan Da's main campus could vote, one vote each, results in three days.

Quite an eye-opener.

Xia Xi replied to Chen Mian: "How do you know?"

Chen Mian, wearing the "cmbay11" alias, dared not say outright that he had seen it himself, lest he reveal his identity: "Secret. You just need to know Xu Yanfeng voted for you."

Xi Xi: "You're not just trying to cheer me up, are you, enthusiastic senior?"

Would Xu Yanfeng participate in such a boring vote? And still give his vote to her? No wonder she didn't believe it.

cmbay11: "I swear to you, senior, I've been single for a hundred years."

Xia Xi sent a string of "hahaha"; such a vicious oath shows this enthusiastic senior is telling the truth.

After returning to school, Xia Xi felt thirsty and wanted to buy a drink at the small convenience store; she asked her roommates what they wanted. They weren't thirsty, so she went in alone, picked a bottle of Suntory oolong tea, and took it to the counter to pay.

After scanning the code, Xia Xi picked up the bottle, twisted open the cap, tilted her head back and took a sip, when a figure jumped into her view.

Xu Yanfeng stood before the shelves, a white T-shirt under a black jacket, jeans hugging his long legs; his fingertips brushed over a row of sandwiches, he picked one up, turned and pulled a bottle of mineral water from the refrigerated case.

Was he planning to have that for dinner?

Xu Yanfeng took two steps forward, sensed someone looking at him, lifted his eyelids; a radiant face was smiling at him, the hand holding the oolong tea swaying twice by her face as she greeted him.

His steps paused, he walked up, didn't look at her, and placed the items on the counter.

The clerk picked them up to scan, Xia Xi leaned on the counter, tilted her head to look at him, laughter flickering in her eyes.

Xu Yanfeng paid, picked up his things, and left.

Xia Xi bumped her waist against the counter, straightened up, and followed him.

Leaving the convenience store, Xia Xi put her hands behind her back and frantically gestured toward where Zhao Lei and the others were, signaling them to "hurry up", as she was about to flirt.

Her roommates understood her gestures, didn't wait for that friend who forgets everything at the sight of beauty, and turned back to the dorm.

Xia Xi followed Xu Yanfeng for a long stretch; he could no longer ignore her, turned and asked: "What are you following me for?"

"No way, is the school path only for you to walk?" Xia Xi hopped two steps, hopped to his side, glanced at his sandwich, then at his face: "Just a sandwich and ice water, are you an iron stomach?"

Xu Yanfeng didn't think it was that exaggerated.

"In winter you should eat something hot." Xia Xi said, "Let me treat you to noodles; there's a newly opened noodle shop outside school that you definitely don't know about, it's really delicious. It's still early."

Xu Yanfeng refused, saying it wasn't needed.

Xia Xi changed the topic: "Do you know about the vote for cheer squad captain? Who did you vote for?" She did it on purpose.

Xu Yanfeng didn't know she already knew he had voted, and said: "I didn't vote."

Xia Xi tried not to laugh, her eyes crinkling: "Really?"

Xu Yanfeng remained silent; Xia Xi hopped sideways to block his path, feigning hurt: "Given our relationship, couldn't you cast one vote for me? My vote count is far behind Zhao Yinshu's, it's utterly embarrassing. I care most about face."

"If you care about face, why are you running for captain?"

"I didn't want to run; I was forced." Xia Xi explained the whole story of the afternoon's cheer squad captain election—she had clearly withdrawn, yet was dragged out for a public execution, utterly unlucky.

She said: "Is Zhao Yinshu also your admirer?"

Xu Yanfeng furrowed his brows: "Who?"

"Zhao Yinshu."

"I don't know her."

Xia Xi pointed at her own face, smiling, and asked: "Then do you know me?"

Xu Yanfeng: "……"

Xia Xi muttered to herself: "You definitely know me. You don't know Zhao Yinshu, but you know me, so I win."

Xu Yanfeng admired her confidence, sidestepped her and walked away.

Xia Xi followed him reluctantly; Xu Yanfeng resigned: "How long are you going to follow me? I'm heading back to the male dorm."

Since they'd run into each other, of course she wouldn't easily give up this chance—she naturally wanted to spend more time with him, the longer the better. Xia Xi played the freeloader: "Haven't we not arrived yet? I'll see you back to the male dorm and then leave."

Xu Yanfeng: "……"

In front of her, he was always left speechless.

Along the way, Xia Xi's mouth never stopped, the topic looping around and returning to the original: "You really won't give me your vote?"

Xu Yanfeng habitually wore a cold face, appearing aloof and arrogant; his words matched his own demeanor—cold without warmth, enough to make other girls retreat, not daring to approach: "Don't vote, stop bothering me."

Xia Xi wasn't "other girls"; she withstood the cold: "Your mouth is really hard, Xu Yanfeng." After saying that, she felt it wasn't enough and added: "Even if the sky falls, your mouth will hold it up."

Xu Yanfeng frowned, his eyes locked on her, silent.

"Is what I said wrong?" If she hadn't known beforehand that he had voted, she might truly have been fooled by him: "You're just the hardest-mouthed person from head to toe…"

Before her words had fully landed, Xia Xi suddenly realized something, her gaze dropping uncontrollably to a certain spot, and she corrected herself: "Not necessarily."

Where was she looking! Xu Yanfeng frowned, the veins above his temples twitching; he grabbed her arm, pulled her behind him, pointed in another direction—toward the female dorm—and said: "Go back, don't see me off."

Before returning to the dorm, Xia Xi went to the convenience store again, bought two large bags of snacks and carried them back, her fingers red from the strain.

"Did you win the lottery?" Zhao Lei tugged at the bag's opening; inside were nothing but expensive items.

Xia Xi took off the hair tie from her wrist, pulled her hair up, and told her: "Eat whatever. I'll send the rest downstairs to the dorm later."

"What for?" Zhao Lei bluntly snatched a chocolate bar from the bag, tore open the wrapper, took a bite, and said: "Are you trying to bribe the girls downstairs to help you vote, so you can win cheer squad captain?"

"That's not the case." Xia Xi said with a smile, "I'll definitely be squeezing in dance practice whenever I can, jumping around in the dorm and disturbing those downstairs, so I'll send some gifts over first to avoid any trouble."

Zhao Lei shook her head, and as she spoke she revealed a mouth full of teeth stained black by chocolate: "You're going all out for Xu Yanfeng."

Xia Xi gave an affirmative hum, not denying her words: "As long as I can catch Xu Yanfeng, I'd be willing to drive a luxury car and live in a villa."

Zhao Lei snorted and coughed: "You sure don't miss out on any advantage, Xia Xi."

"That's only natural."

Xia Xi clicked the voting link, but the vote gap between her and Zhao Yinshu remained huge. Having been shoved onto the stage like a duck forced onto a shelf, she couldn't just lie there like a salted fish, watching herself lose badly.

She lightly tapped the screen with her fingertip, and Xia Xi cast a vote for herself.

That single vote barely moved the blue bar chart, like a drop of water falling into the ocean.

Three days later, voting ended and the results were out; Xi dared not look herself, so she had Zhao Lei, sitting beside her, check for her.

It was class time, the teacher was lecturing loudly at the podium; Zhao Lei lifted her eyelids, first glanced furtively at the teacher, then sneaked her phone under the desk. The campus network was agonizingly slow, taking ages to load before the voting interface appeared.