Chapter 51: Merry Christmas Ji Xiao

The sunlight fell from the window on one side, hitting the back of the girl's hand impartially.

The porcelain-white skin was covered with slightly raised veins, and the fingers with distinct bones were tightly stretched.

It was unknown if it was the natural aura of an S-class Alpha, but the boy's legs felt weak looking at the girl who suddenly appeared in front of him.

The scent of peach brandy pressed tightly against his chest, losing the gentleness of the peach fragrance. The harshness of the alcohol made his voice tremble uncontrollably: "What... what do you want to do?"

Hearing this, Ji Xiao tugged at the corner of her mouth, sneering as she asked, "I would like to ask you, she has already rejected you at least twice. What exactly do you want to do?"

"I... I just wanted to give my junior a Christmas gift..." the boy stammered.

"Now that she has rejected you, please get lost."

As she spoke, Ji Xiao deliberately emphasized the word "get lost" with a powerful tone, throwing away the wrist she had been holding with obvious disgust.

Seeing this, the boy hurriedly ran off with the gift he thought was impressive, stumbling as he went.

The area behind the rarely visited water room returned to its quiet state.

Ji Xiao watched the boy run away, then turned to Wei Qingyu behind her: "Are you okay?"

The girl's voice was much brighter than before, each word falling into Wei Qingyu's heart.

Her slightly taller figure blocked most of the window behind her. The shadow and golden light intertwined in Wei Qingyu's sight, filling her with a sense of security.

Wei Qingyu felt her heart tremble slightly with reassurance at Ji Xiao's words. She gently shook her head and calmly replied, "Thank you."

"No need to thank me," Ji Xiao smiled and waved her hand.

Then, she looked around at the overly quiet surroundings. Not even the reading voices from the nearest class could be heard. Unable to restrain herself, she lectured with a tough but soft heart, "Tell me, if it weren't for me always being around, would you get into trouble again this time? He brings you to a place like this and you follow him. Are you stupid?"

"I..." Wei Qingyu hesitated, her words of explanation stuck in her throat.

"I..." Wei Qingyu hesitated, her explanations stuck in her throat.

She hadn't wanted to follow that senior here in the first place.

Originally, she had wanted to refuse him right at the classroom door.

But then, when she saw Ji Xiao standing with other girls, her mind went blank.

She inexplicably left the classroom and ended up following him here.

Luckily...

In the end, Ji Xiao showed up.

Thinking of this, Wei Qingyu slightly furrowed her brow.

She sensed some clues and wore a puzzled expression on her face: "Then how did you end up here..."

Ji Xiao hesitated briefly.

She hadn't expected Wei Qingyu to catch on so quickly.

Luckily, she was prepared.

Ji Xiao raised the empty water cup in her hand and said, "I... I came to get some water."

Wei Qingyu looked at Ji Xiao's empty tumbler, briefly recalling Aunt Wu filling it for her this morning. But the memory passed quickly, and Wei Qingyu, seemingly willing to accept Ji Xiao's explanation despite its holes, simply replied with a simple "Oh."

But the simpler Wei Qingyu's response, the more guilty Ji Xiao felt.

She raised her hands to her pockets with great momentum and said, "Let's go, I'll just send Buddha to the West*. Can you wait for me to get some water, and then I'll take you back to class?"

*help/do good from start to finish 

Wei Qingyu knew that the boy had already left and she was now safe, so she didn't really need Ji Xiao to escort her back.

But when she saw Ji Xiao carrying the tumbler and walking to her side, she hesitated.

She wanted to go back with her.

"Not coming?" Ji Xiao, seeing that Wei Qingyu hadn't followed, stopped and looked at her in confusion.

The sunlight on a clear day in winter wasn't blinding, but Wei Qingyu felt the scene before her, was dazzling.

Looking at the person waiting specifically for her, the knot in her heart suddenly untied.

"Let's go." The girl agreed happily.

The hem of the dark blue pleated skirt swayed like seaweed with the girl's steps.

The brown leather shoes clicked on the tiled floor, making a pleasant, crisp tapping sound.

In the quiet water room, the monotonous sound of water being poured filled the air. Ji Xiao and Wei Qingyu stood there, neither speaking first.

Ji Xiao watched the gradually filling cup, with a question tangled in her mind, like a fishbone stuck in her throat.

"By the way, that boy just now, is he very..."

"Turns out you two are here, I've been looking for you for a while."

Just as Ji Xiao gathered the courage to ask, a familiar voice interrupted them from behind.

The biology class representative, Ji Ning, stood at the door, her heaving chest showing she was slightly out of breath.

Wei Qingyu: "What's wrong?"

Ji Ning took a breath and said, "The biology teacher asked me to call you two to go to the office. She got the exam results in advance."

"Wooosh..."

As soon as the words fell, the tumbler filled with water turned into a waterfall.

A steady stream of water poured in from all directions from the faucet above.

….

In the quiet corridor outside the director’s office, distant sounds of students reading aloud could be heard. The old security door creaked as someone pushed it open from the outside.

Liu Yue was sitting leisurely in her redwood cushioned chair, sipping coffee. Even when she saw the Ji family's troublemaker she didn't usually favor, her face remained kind and pleasant: "Oh, Qingyu and Ji Xiao are here?"

Wei Qingyu nodded slightly, "Aunt Liu Yue."

Ji Xiao still had some psychological shadow regarding Liu Yue, so she followed suit and nodded obediently, "Hello, teacher."

"Don't be so nervous, Ji Xiao," Liu Yue smiled at Ji Xiao, tapping on her computer. She continued, "The results of this exam are out. Come on, guess if you got an A or B."

Ji Xiao lifted her head at Liu Yue's words. Seeing Liu Yue's relaxed expression and the hint of amusement in her deep eyes, she lightly tapped her fingers on the lesson plans beside her desk, looking quite cheerful.

In the original text, Liu Yue was once again a cheerful woman, clearly not acting this way to deceive her, who was not yet really perverted.

So Ji Xiao boldly guessed: "...A?"

Before the words had even settled, a radiant smile bloomed on Liu Yue's face like a delicate rose. "Your guess was spot on—it's an A."

"95 points, third in the class. Quite impressive," she continued.

Ji Xiao looked at the computer screen Liu Yue turned towards her, her eyes brightening involuntarily. The neat row of A's written next to Ji Xiao's subject grades was somewhat dazzling.

A huge joy, like a holiday gift prepared by Santa Claus for Ji Xiao, unconsciously made her look towards the person beside her. 

The sunlight outside the window reflected on the snow, exceptionally bright, and the golden-orange color intertwined with the turquoise under the halo. 

Ji Xiao could see the joy in Wei Qingyu's turquoise eyes, and could also read her silent congratulations. 

She also saw a rose in spring bloom suddenly on the calm little face of the girl. 

The pink and white are subtle, and the weak flower stamens tremble slightly in the wind, and couldn't help but make one's heart beat fast.

Ji Xiao looked on, suddenly feeling her cheeks warming up. Her normally steady heart thumped as if it might jump out of her throat at any moment. 

What's wrong with her? 

This isn't normal...

Holding her thumping heart, Ji Xiao blinked and looked away from Wei Qingyu's gaze, modestly thanking Liu Yue, "Thank you for your praise, teacher."

"This is the result of both you and Qingyu's efforts," Liu Yue replied, taking two identical boxes of pine nuts neatly placed on the table and handing one to each of them. "Here, take these. Merry Christmas."

"Me too?" Ji Xiao's voice was filled with pleasant surprise.

Liu Yue chuckled, "Do you think I'm that stingy? If I prepared one for Qingyu, why wouldn't I prepare one for you?" 

She wasn't sure if it was the influence of her conversations with Wei Qingyu since returning to City A, or if Ji Xiao was genuinely improving. 

Either way, she felt that Ji Xiao, this little bastard from the Ji family, wasn't as irritating as before, and even seemed somewhat reliable.

"Of course not," Ji Xiao shook her head. 

But she couldn't help feeling that her luck today was a bit too good. Not only did she get an A in Biology, but Liu Yue's impression of her seemed to have changed too. 

Isn't the small boss of this world too easy to conquer?

If only the big boss were this easy to defeat...

Ji Xiao thought to herself, stealing a glance at Wei Qingyu beside her. Earlier, Qingyu had rejected everyone's gifts, but now her slender fingers, delicate as jade, carefully untied the ribbons on the boxes. Her lowered gaze flickered slightly, and her greenish eyes gleamed subtly with joy. Every movement of the girl spoke of her appreciation for the gift.

Would she cherish the Christmas gift Ji Xiao gives her in the same way? 

Or more simply put, would she accept Ji Xiao's Christmas gift?

With these thoughts in mind, Ji Xiao returned home with her heavy school bag. 

She emptied it out, revealing a bunch of greeting cards, all filled with anonymous love letters exchanged under the guise of holiday greetings.

She had never thought that an S-class Alpha could have such worries, even to the point of forgetting whether to give Wei Qingyu a Christmas gift.

Ji Xiao sat on the window bay, looking at the pile of greeting cards on the floor, and decided to take out her phone from her pocket.

She chose to forget these troubling things and escape to the forum for a while, and to chat with Miss Rabbit in the meantime.

The moonlight made the snow outside the window exceptionally bright, and the pine trees bent under the weight of the round snow, looked like something out of a fairy tale.

Wei Qingyu had just written the first word in her notebook when her phone rang: [XwX: Boss, Merry Christmas!]

Wei Qingyu thought of Ji Xiao’s backpack, which had been heavy with gifts all day, and asked: [You must have received a lot of gifts today.]

Ji Xiao shook her head: [No, not really. Many people did give me things, but I did not accept them. I only kept the greeting cards stuffed into my drawer.]

Wei Qingyu frowned slightly: [Were there many cards?]

Ji Xiao glanced at the cards on the floor and complained to Miss Rabbit: [Yeah, more than a hundred. Good heavens.]

[Do you know how much I carried back…]

But before Ji Xiao could finish her sentence, Miss Rabbit's message came in: [You can throw them away.]

She looked at those cold words and, for some reason, automatically imagined them in Wei Qingyu’s tone.

The cold and detached tone was just like when she watched her refuse the Alpha's gifts one by one today.

Ji Xiao looked at Miss Rabbit's avatar and impulsively asked: [Boss, do you know Wei Qingyu?]

Wei Qingyu's heart tightened: [Why?]

Ji Xiao, completely unaware of the other person's true identity, honestly replied: [Just now, your words made me think of her.]

[Do you know that today she received more gifts and cards than I did, but she refused all of them? She even threw away the cards secretly stuffed into her desk.]

Although Wei Qingyu knew Ji Xiao was just recounting the situation, she couldn't help but tighten her grip on the phone.

The screen's light reflected in the girl's turquoise eyes, her fine lashes blinking slightly.

A girl who had never cared about her image in others' eyes suddenly felt a lot of unease and nervousness.

[User 190245: Do you think that makes her... very cold? Very heartless?]

Ji Xiao looked at the pile of greeting cards on the floor and suddenly seemed to understand something, typing: [How can you say that? I also refused many people today. Boss, I think whether or not to accept these cards and gifts is her choice. Since they're anonymous and can't be returned, their natural destination is the trash can.]

The quiet night was devoid of any sound, making every second of waiting feel like torture.

When this message popped up on Wei Qingyu's screen, a rare sense of relief appeared on the girl's face.

She hadn't expected that a simple question could receive such a thoughtful response.

It was as if a peach-scented breeze had blown through, causing many tender little flowers to bloom in the barren wilderness of the girl's heart.

Before Wei Qingyu could dwell on her feelings for too long, another message appeared in her eyes.

[XwX: I just wonder, who would someone like her say Merry Christmas to?]

As the night deepened, the distant commercial district glowed brightly with lights.

Ji Xiao, seeing that Miss Rabbit hadn't replied for a long time, felt a bit uneasy.

Had she touched the bottom line with her previous messages?

Did Miss Rabbit dislike Wei Qingyu and ask those questions because of that?

Just as Ji Xiao's thoughts were in turmoil, a message came through from the other side.

More accurately, it was a simple call.

[User 190245: Ji Xiao]

Ji Xiao was a bit puzzled: [Huh?]

[User 190245: Merry Christmas.]

The snow hanging on the roof was blown down by the wind at that moment, fluttering and falling in front of the girl's window.

It was as if a snowfall had been arranged for her on Christmas night.

Ji Xiao looked at these unemotional words and felt her heartbeat strangely accelerate.

She didn't understand why Miss Rabbit, such a calm and collected boss, would suddenly say something like this to her.

Could it be just because she had initially said "Merry Christmas" to Miss Rabbit, and she was now responding in kind?

"Knock knock."

Two crisp knocks broke Ji Xiao's thoughts.

The rhythm and strength of the knocks were all too familiar to her.

"What's the matter? Wei Qingyu."

….

Outside the door, it was completely silent.

Ji Xiao suspiciously put down her phone and walked to the door to open it.

The quiet hallway showed no sign of anyone, but on the floor in front of her room, there was an apple.

And under it, a Christmas card.

Author's Note:

Wuwu, there are so few comments today, I am crying.