Chapter 34

On the 17th, a Saturday, according to the plan, Yang Jingxing drove to pick up Liu Miao and Xia Xue at 2 PM. The two girls were going swimming.

Liu Miao put on beige shorts and black knee-high socks, which earned her a lot of praise from Yang Jingxing. But when she saw Xia Xue from afar, she shouted, "She betrayed me! She said we would both wear them!"

Xia Xue was wearing light blue capri pants and sandals, with her legs and feet bare. After getting in the car, she was annoyed by Liu Miao's accusations: "I brought them!"

After Xia Xue finally put on her socks in the back seat, Yang Jingxing sighed, "Before we knew it, you've both grown up."

Liu Miao said, "Now middle school students all wear them."

Yang Jingxing said, "I thought you would always be little girls... I'll buy you ice cream to commemorate this."

The two girls didn't want to play in the crowded river, so they went to the reservoir and rented a boat. Without swimsuits, let alone bikinis, the two girls took off their socks and shoes, did some warm-up exercises, and put on life jackets over their T-shirts before getting into the water.

"It's so cold!" Liu Miao shouted. Xia Xue looked the same.

Yang Jingxing was still on the boat, ready to help the girls: "Come up quickly."

The two girls refused, and Liu Miao even called, "Come down."

After Yang Jingxing got into the water, he still acted as a lifeguard, staying close to the two girls and watching them swim. Liu Miao quickly got tired and grabbed Yang Jingxing's shoulder to rest, even pinching the back of his neck: "Oh no, will I get tanned here?"

Xia Xue swam hard, but when she felt exhausted, she turned back and couldn't swim anymore. She stretched out her hand, palm open. Yang Jingxing pulled Liu Miao over and grabbed Xia Xue's hand, letting the two girls use him as a lifebuoy.

Xia Xue panted, "I used to be able to swim twenty meters."

Liu Miao revealed, "You didn't practice last year." Last summer, Xia Xue had sprained her foot and didn't have Yang Jingxing to accompany them, so the two girls rarely came.

After playing in the water for half an hour, the two girls were too tired to even hold onto Yang Jingxing. They couldn't climb back onto the boat, so Yang Jingxing had to jump up first, then pull them up one by one, like lifting clothes. The two girls screamed as they were lifted, their wet limbs gleaming in the bright sunlight.

While the girls rested, Yang Jingxing took the opportunity to swim freely. From the boat to the shore was over two hundred meters, and he swam back and forth quickly, though he was quite tired.

They didn't leave until 4 PM, and the girls' clothes were almost dry. Back in the car, Yang Jingxing found several missed calls from Zhang Yang, Lu Lin, and Du Ling. He quickly called Lu Lin back.

He heard Lu Lin laughing, and Zhang Yang's sly laughter. After asking for a while, he learned that Du Ling had been stung by a wasp and was in the hospital. But from the laughter of his friends, it didn't seem serious.

Lu Lin said, "On her face! A big swollen lump! Where are you?"

Yang Jingxing chuckled, "I'll come and see."

Yang Jingxing first sent Liu Miao and Xia Xue home, then went to the hospital. Lu Lin and Zhang Yang were with Du Ling, and these two now had a serious look, which they probably didn't have when they were laughing earlier.

Yang Jingxing was also worried, "Let me see, how is it?"

Du Ling didn't let Yang Jingxing see, lowering her head and covering her face with her right arm, while hitting him with her left hand, quite forcefully, and finally giving him a kick.

Yang Jingxing said, "It's not like I bit you!"

"It's all your fault!" Du Ling hit him again.

Zhang Yang said, "We were planning to go to Sanqiao, but you didn't answer your phone for a long time."

"Where did you go?" Du Ling lowered her arm and looked up at Yang Jingxing.

Oh, such a beautiful face, but with a swollen lump, it looked a bit scary, especially with Du Ling's teary eyes. This made Yang Jingxing tell the truth, "I went to the reservoir with Xia Xue and the others."

This made Du Ling hit Yang Jingxing again.

They definitely wouldn't go to Sanqiao. Du Ling was afraid of ruining her beautiful image in the hearts of the people of Jiuchun, so she asked Yang Jingxing to send her home quickly and didn't allow Lu Lin and Zhang Yang to get in the car: "No loyalty, how could you not protect me! Get lost!"

In the car, Du Ling was still angry, "It hurts so much! I look so ugly!"

Yang Jingxing laughed, "Even wasps can recognize beauty, the world changes fast."

Du Ling gritted her teeth, "It was when you were calling me! It hurts so much! I don't know when it will go down."

Yang Jingxing comforted her, "You'll be a big beauty again tomorrow morning. No dizziness or anything?"

Du Ling shook her head, "No... Why do you always hang out with two girls?"

Yang Jingxing countered, "Why do you always hang out with a bunch of guys?"

Du Ling was angry, "I don't always hang out with you guys!"

Du Ling lived in Fuyun Garden, the best commercial complex in Jiuchun! After arriving, she didn't let Yang Jingxing off: "They're not home, you come up and apply the medicine for me."

Yang Jingxing refused, "I need to go home and take a shower and change clothes."

Du Ling was unreasonable, "Just take a shower at my place, no changing! You've never been here before."

Yang Jingxing agreed, chuckling, "Do you feel safer now?"

Du Ling covered her face and hit Yang Jingxing twice.

The house was quite large, with a living room of about thirty to forty square meters, modernly decorated. Du Ling found disposable slippers for Yang Jingxing and asked, "Are you going to take a shower?"

Yang Jingxing shook his head, "Let me see your room."

Du Ling led the way, "This one."

After introducing her room, Du Ling sat on the bed and looked up, "Help me apply the medicine, it's in my bag."

Yang Jingxing bent over, carefully applying the medicine with a cotton swab, saying, "I should thank this wasp, it saved me."

Du Ling rolled her eyes, "Do you dare?"

Yang Jingxing said, "I hate our years of brotherhood."

Du Ling laughed, "No one is your brother."

After finishing the task, Yang Jingxing was ready to leave, but Du Ling still didn't want to let him go because she had no dinner and couldn't go out to avoid embarrassment. She wasn't hungry yet, so she asked Yang Jingxing to buy her dinner.

Yang Jingxing said, "Let's go to my place."

"My mom will laugh at me!"

So the two of them watched TV, a drama series. Du Ling sat next to Yang Jingxing and explained the previous plot, then asked, "Guess who he ends up with?"

Yang Jingxing shook his head, "I don't know."

"If you were him, who would you choose?"

"I wouldn't choose anyone."

"Why?"

Yang Jingxing said, "Love with a shadow won't be happy."

Du Ling disagreed, "How can that be a shadow! Struggles lead to happiness, and who knows what will happen?"

Yang Jingxing had a point, "So they are too frivolous, always talking about love."

Du Ling lifted her swollen face, "Then what about you... When do you plan to fall in love?"

Yang Jingxing said, "I don't know, maybe never."

Du Ling didn't believe it, "What about your two sisters?"

"Find them good husbands."

They really didn't see eye to eye.

At 6 PM, Yang Jingxing went out to buy some dishes and brought them back to Du Ling, applied the medicine again, and then left, having taken good care of her.

On the 18th, Father's Day, Yang Jingxing pleased Yang Chengyi. Yang Chengyi then brought up the idea of buying a car for Yang Jingxing, even letting him choose, since he liked cars so much.

Of course, Yang Chengyi had the most cost-effective plan: "Or just use your mom's car."

Xiao Shuxia disagreed, "A real man can't drive that kind of car, it's not impressive, it needs to be young and stylish!"

Yang Chengyi had a better plan, "You can use mine, and I'll get a new one."

Xiao Shuxia disagreed even more, "You wish."

On the 22nd, Yang Jingxing took the driving test, which was much easier than the college entrance exam. If it weren't for the poor test car, he could have shown off.

On the 24th, Yang Jingxing, Zhang Yang, and a few other graduates from No. 1 High School formed a senior graduation team and played basketball against the local youth team. The event was quite big, with over a hundred spectators at the power company's basketball court. After discovering how strong Yang Jingxing was, someone revealed that he wasn't a student from No. 1 High School. Zhang Yang said it was a senior graduation team, not a No. 1 High School graduation team. The atmosphere was quite friendly, but one of the opponents, who seemed to be Yang Jingxing's height, was quite angry with him.

On the 27th, the college entrance exam results were out. Yang Jingxing scored 523 points, which was quite good. His friends also performed normally, with no surprises. Xu Wei scored 560 points, which should be enough for Zhejiang University. Lu Lin and Zhang Yang were steady, while Du Ling was still a bit worried but her friends assured her she would definitely get in.

In the evening, they celebrated at Xu Wei's house, as he had the best score. While they were having fun, Yang Jingxing's phone rang, and it was Tao Meng, which was quite rare.

"How are you?" Yang Jingxing asked.

Tao Meng asked, "Do you know who I am?"

Yang Jingxing laughed, "Are you Jiang Qing?"

Tao Meng was cold, "Is that funny? Can you find a quieter place to take the call!"

Yang Jingxing ran to the bathroom and closed the door, "How many points did you get? I got 520."

"You got 250!" Tao Meng tried to be humorous, "I got 554 points."

"Congratulations," Yang Jingxing was happy, "Will you still be class president at Fudan?"

Tao Meng asked, "Will you still be so cold at the music college? No friends?"

Yang Jingxing was concerned, "What's wrong? You should be happy."

"Nothing!" Tao Meng hung up.

Yang Jingxing, being thick-skinned, called back, and it took a while to get through. He pleaded, "Let's talk, don't hang up."

Tao Meng said, "What do you want to say?"

Yang Jingxing asked, "Did you take the driving test?"

"No, I'll take it when I come back," Tao Meng was still impatient.

"When are you going to Canada?"

"Next week, for two weeks."

Yang Jingxing asked, "What have you been doing these days?"

Tao Meng accused, "What about you! Yang Jingxing, it's been so many days since graduation, have you actively contacted any classmates? Definitely not! Are you so happy in your small city that you don't know your own name? Are you surrounded by people all the time? How are your two sisters?"

Yang Jingxing asked, "Do you have a stomachache?"

After a long wait, he heard Tao Meng shout, "Get lost!" and the call was cut off.

Yang Jingxing, being thick-skinned, called again, and it took a while to hear Tao Meng's cold voice, "What else do you want to say?"

Yang Jingxing said, "From your tone, are you not planning to be class president in college? Or are you just relaxing now?"

Tao Meng laughed, "What does it have to do with you?"

Yang Jingxing said, "Of course it does. Were you class president in junior high?"

"No!"

"That's good," Yang Jingxing was happy, "Your class president career is all mine, and I hope no one else gets it."

Tao Meng snorted, "Was it just you in Class 3, Grade 3?"

Yang Jingxing said, "I think you can't be friends when you're class president."

Tao Meng got angry, "Are we friends?"

Yang Jingxing said, "You can't go back on it!"

Tao Meng shouted, "Is it me? I remember your exam number, I checked your score, you got 523 points!"

Yang Jingxing said, "I know yours too, 134 in Chinese, 150 in English, 120 in Math, 124 in Physics, 26 in Comprehensive, did you cheat?"

Oh, what a misunderstanding, Tao Meng's voice became like a mosquito's, "How did you know, and you still asked me..."

Yang Jingxing said, "I wanted to see if you were lying."

"I wouldn't lie," Tao Meng suddenly thought, "You must have just checked!"

Yang Jingxing was helpless, "I didn't have time, I was calling you."

Tao Meng wasn't stupid, "You must have two phones!"

Yang Jingxing laughed, "I still need to remember your exam number."

"You have a good memory!"

Yang Jingxing said, "Yes, I remember everything you say."

Tao Meng's voice became weaker, "Don't be so petty... I'm a bit uncomfortable. But you were the one who was wrong first, you didn't even leave a message online after you went home, are you a friend? I even called Ren Chuyu today..."

Yang Jingxing asked, "How did she do?"

"You must know!"

"I really don't."

Tao Meng said, "430 points, not bad, she's planning to go to France or New Zealand. Are you at home all summer?"

Yang Jingxing said yes.

Tao Meng asked, "Are you disturbing your friends' gathering?"

Yang Jingxing laughed, "We gather every day."

"Is there a lot of people?"

"Always the same few."

Tao Meng said, "Then go, don't waste your time."

Yang Jingxing said, "Okay. Don't be so angry in the future, you're ruining Tao Meng's good image in my heart."

Tao Meng hung up.

Yang Jingxing went back to chatting with Xu Wei and the others, and had to answer their questions. If Yang Jingxing was talking to his parents or Liu Miao, he wouldn't avoid his friends, so he was suspected.

After a while, Yang Jingxing received a text from Tao Meng: "I thought that's how friends talk, I was being intentional. Besides, you disrespected your friends first."

Yang Jingxing replied, "I finally have a high-level friend, don't learn from us."

Tao Meng said, "If that's the case, then learn from my strengths."

Yang Jingxing was scared, "Heaven, it will take me days to choose which one to learn from."

Tao Meng said, "Friends should care for and respect each other, not just eat, drink, and play."

Yang Jingxing asked, "Is your stomach still hurting?"

No response.

Du Ling grabbed Yang Jingxing's phone, and Zhang Yang helped. Du Ling read the text and asked, "Tao Class President? Who is it... definitely a girl! Respect friends, tsk tsk... and strengths... this person is so disgusting."

Lu Lin said, "Once you all go to Puhai, you can watch each other every day."

Du Ling threw the phone back to Yang Jingxing, "I don't have time."

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