Chapter 168: My Childhood Sweetheart Couldn’t Possibly Be an Idiot! (4)

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Qi Ye angrily lifted his head.

Bai Yao raised her fist. “You want to fight me again?”

Qi Ye pressed his lips together, ran his tongue over the empty gum where his front tooth had been, then glanced at her fist, his eyes shifting uneasily.

Bai Yao lowered her fist. Too lazy to spare him another look, she turned and walked away.

Qi Ye squatted where he was for a while longer. Apparently losing interest, he picked up the schoolbag he had tossed aside and ambled along behind Bai Yao.

There was only one road to school, so naturally he could only follow behind her.

Bai Yao stayed wary of the scruffy little boy behind her suddenly rushing up and biting her again, casting vigilant glances over her shoulder from time to time.

Qi Ye wore two mismatched shoes. His steps were light and quick. One moment he would be staring at the flowers by the roadside; the next, he would be chasing moths fluttering up from the bushes. Once, he stepped on a stone and fell. In frustration, he picked up the stone and hurled it far away.

When he noticed Bai Yao looking back, he turned his face aside, as though he had not been the one to fall.

Beneath the newly risen sun, the little scruffy figure looked especially frail. Yet his frail appearance was completely at odds with the ferocity he displayed whenever he fought.

Bai Yao withdrew her gaze and walked a few more steps before stopping.

Just as Qi Ye was about to pass her, a hand holding a small bread roll appeared before him.

“Do you want it?” Bai Yao asked.

He stared at the food in her hand. His pitch-black eyes held a trace of bewilderment, along with a little curiosity.

Bai Yao tore open the plastic wrapper, and the bread’s fragrance drifted toward his nose on the breeze.

He seized Bai Yao’s hand, opened his mouth with an enthusiastic “Aah,” and was about to swallow her hand along with the bread when Bai Yao roughly shoved his face away with her other hand. “Don’t bite me!”

Qi Ye’s bony cheek pressed painfully against her palm. She quickly took the bread from the wrapper and stuffed it into his mouth.

He had been fully prepared to fight her, but the moment the soft bread entered his mouth, his eyes flew wide. His expression froze. The little madman had turned into a little simpleton.

A moment later, he released Bai Yao’s hand and covered his mouth with both hands. His cheeks bulged as he chewed rapidly.

It was as though he had never tasted food like this before—as if he had just discovered an entirely new continent.

He finished the bread in a few bites, licked the corner of his mouth, and blinked at her.

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Bai Yao hesitated. She was reluctant to give up her favorite snacks, but then she glanced at him again. The wounds on the fool’s face, inflicted by her fists, had not yet healed, while the bite marks on her own face had disappeared long ago.

She looked once more at the ill-fitting shoes on his feet. In the end, she reached into her schoolbag and took out a pink plastic box.

When she opened it, she found cookies in all sorts of shapes inside. Her mother had baked them the night before.

After thinking it over, Bai Yao kept the star-shaped cookies and took out a round one. She had intended to place it in his hand, but who knew what new idea had occurred to Qi Ye? The moment he saw her extend her hand, he opened his mouth.

He looked exactly like someone waiting to be fed.

Bai Yao was speechless for quite some time.

After waiting a while without receiving any food, he seemed to decide that he had not opened his mouth wide enough. With an “Aah—,” he opened it even wider, making the dark hollow where his two missing front teeth had been all the more conspicuous.

Bai Yao stuffed the cookie into his mouth.

He closed his mouth, crushed the cookie between his teeth, and swallowed it. Then his eyes returned to the box in her hand.

Bai Yao took out another cookie.

He opened his mouth with an eager “Aah.”

And so, by the end, not a single cookie remained in Bai Yao’s pink box. Even her favorite star-shaped cookies had all ended up in his stomach.

Qi Ye followed her into the school, then into the classroom building, and finally into the third-grade, Class One classroom.

Teacher Zhao was surprised to see Bai Yao and Qi Ye enter together. She had been worried that the two of them would get into a fight.

Qi Ye’s seat was in the last row of the fourth section. He had no deskmate, though he did not spend much time in the classroom anyway. He often ran outside to play as soon as he had put down his schoolbag. When lunchtime came, he would make his way to the cafeteria on his own, and after eating, he would run outside again to roam around.

Nearly every teacher in the school had taken part in the extracurricular activity of searching for Qi Ye. After all, they were afraid he might get himself into danger.

Usually, however, Qi Ye was perfectly content playing alone in some corner. At most, he would roll around on the ground, lie on the lawn to bask in the sun, or search through the grass for tiny insects.

Whenever they caught him and brought him back to the classroom, he would wait until the teacher was distracted during the lesson, then dash out through the back door. After this had happened often enough, the teachers had more or less figured out where he liked to stay. So long as a school administrator making the rounds occasionally went to check that he was all right, they generally left him alone.

But today, after tossing his schoolbag onto his desk, Qi Ye did not hurry outside to play.

Teacher Zhao introduced the new student to the class, and the children applauded enthusiastically, brimming with curiosity.

The students were very welcoming.

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Bai Yao’s self-introduction went smoothly as well.

Very good. So far, everything was proceeding smoothly.

Teacher Zhao secretly breathed a small sigh of relief. She said to Bai Yao, “Bai Yao, why don’t you sit over there for now?”

The seat the teacher indicated was in the fourth row of the second section. It was empty, with a little boy still wiping his runny nose sitting beside it.

When the little boy heard that a pretty girl would be sitting next to him, he grew excited, his gaze turning ardent.

Bai Yao had no objection. Sitting beside one little brat or another made no difference to her. She crossed the aisle with her small schoolbag and reached the empty seat. Just as she was about to set her bag down, a shadow came hurtling over.

Qi Ye furiously kicked the little boy’s desk, making the child tremble all over.

“Qi Ye, go back to your seat!” Teacher Zhao shouted.

Qi Ye ignored her. He overturned the empty desk beside him with a crash, and the children nearby screamed in fright.

Bai Yao was too startled by the sudden turn of events to react.

At the front of the classroom, Teacher Zhao felt another stomachache coming on. She hurried over and grabbed the boy, who seemed to have gone mad. “Qi Ye! Stop causing trouble!”

Qi Ye refused to obey. Relying on the wild strength he had developed over years of growing up untamed, he wrenched himself free from the teacher’s grasp. Then he seized Bai Yao by the arm and dragged her forcibly backward.

The aisle was narrow. Teacher Zhao hurriedly tried to pull Bai Yao free. “Qi Ye, let go of her!”

Instead, Qi Ye yanked Bai Yao hard toward himself, dodging the teacher’s hand as it reached for her. Moving swiftly, he grabbed Bai Yao’s schoolbag from behind. Her body tipped backward, and she landed on a stool in the corner. Her arm struck the desk, making her suck in a sharp breath.

Her hot temper flared. Furious, she raised her fist to retaliate, but the boy’s back filled her field of vision.

Qi Ye seized the broom lying in the corner and blocked off the entire corner where Bai Yao sat. His expression was fierce. Whenever he saw anyone outside trying to come closer, he waved the “weapon” in his hand and drove them away.

The boy bared his teeth and let out a low, snarling roar. His dark, gloomy eyes displayed the same desperate, feeble threat as a young beast confronting a predator.

It was as though he intended to claim the treasure within his territory for himself.

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