There’re Always Paranoid Thoughts to Monopolize Me - Chapter 64.1

Huo Jun didn’t know how he had arrived here.

He only remembered that when he looked up, he saw the walls of Qiande High School. The walls were built with red bricks, their surface mottled. Lush green ivy covered the entire wall, and when the wind blew, the leaves undulated eagerly, like waves.

The sunlight was dazzling, making one feel dazed.

In this daze, all the scenes before him had a sense of long separation and familiarity.

Huo Jun felt something was amiss, but his consciousness didn’t seem to give him a chance to think further.

He only followed his instinct, moving backward, stopping, running up, jumping—

The young man effortlessly vaulted over the low wall in front of him.

As he landed, the soft soil beneath his feet sank. His nostrils were filled with the fresh scent of grass from this soft lawn, mixed with a faint pine fragrance.

The young man stood up and walked towards a tall tree nearby. The leaves were lush and dense, with sunlight falling through the gaps onto the ground, laying down fine, scattered golden light among the grass.

The midday sun at this time made one’s whole body feel lazy. Huo Jun walked to the tree and sat down in the shadow of the trunk, facing away from the main road behind the tree.

This was the place he frequented most. In the northwest corner of the entire Qiande High School, it was rarely disturbed—the first-year coursework was exceptionally easy for him, and he would come here during every free moment when he didn’t want to attend class.

It was past two in the afternoon, and from the not-so-distant teaching building, the sound of students reciting their lessons could faintly be heard.

The breeze was gentle, the sunlight just right, and it was also a good time for a nap.

Huo Jun pulled down the brim of the baseball cap he was wearing, shielding his face from the scattered golden sunlight falling through the gaps in the leaves.

Until that soft voice trying hard to suppress sobs arose, Huo Jun had been sleeping very peacefully.

After hearing the sound, the black baseball cap covering the young man’s fair and handsome face moved slightly. A few seconds later, he impatiently reached out to take it off, leaning out half his body intending to curse “Get lost.”

However, before the first sound could leave his mouth, it got stuck in his throat.

Crouching in the corner of the wall not far from the tree was a girl who looked quite young.

Her long, jet-black hair was tied up in a ponytail, hanging evenly behind her. The girl wore a small white cotton dress, spotlessly clean, but its whiteness still couldn’t compare to the beauty of her skin tone—with a hint of rosy pink from long exposure to the sun, beautiful to the point of being almost translucent.

And on that small, oval face, her features were equally delicate and beautiful. Only now, the tip of her nose was red, and her eyes were pink from crying.

Although she was sobbing heavily, Huo Jun could see that the girl was trying her best to control herself. She pressed her hand hard against her chest, saying something in a soft voice, as if quietly telling herself not to cry anymore.

And so, Huo Jun’s irritation from being woken up was easily extinguished by those few disobedient teardrops that fell.

After struggling to hold back her sobs for more than ten seconds, the girl began to hiccup softly.

How hard must she have been holding back her tears?

Huo Jun inexplicably felt like laughing. As he was thinking this, he saw the girl stand up—Huo Jun had thought she was about to leave, but to his surprise, the girl, while suppressing her crying hiccups, looked around, didn’t see Huo Jun hiding behind the tree or anyone else, and then began to hum a piano accompaniment tune somewhat inexpertly.

Huo Jun had played this piano piece not long ago when he had nothing else to do, and now he was very familiar with it.

He looked over thoughtfully and saw the girl stepping to the soft tune she was humming herself, still occasionally choked with a sob or a crying hiccup, slowly beginning to dance on the spot.

Huo Jun was stunned.

A few dozen seconds later, he couldn’t help but lower his eyes and slightly curl his lips into a smile.

It was clearly a dance without much professional systematic training – her natural abilities were excellent, her flexibility was extremely high, and her basic movements were not bad, but when performing an unfamiliar dance, the transitions between movements were not at all smooth.

Most importantly, she was dancing while still red-nosed and choked with crying hiccups.

It didn’t match her appearance at all.

This dance was truly ugly…

Though thinking this, Huo Jun never erased the curve from the corner of his lips.

He didn’t know what had come over him. After watching for a long time, he inexplicably leaned back, resting against the tree trunk again.

The young man leaned his head back against the tree, looking at the scattered light through the gaps in the leaves.

Listening to the girl’s soft, slightly choked voice humming that out-of-tune melody amidst the sound of the wind…

After that day, whenever he occasionally saw girls in white dresses around campus, Huo Jun would still think of the girl he had seen.

That week, his frequency of visiting the small woods in the northwest corner of the school also noticeably increased compared to before. However, he never encountered her again.

Just as that unfamiliar feeling in Huo Jun’s heart was slowly being washed away by time – he saw that girl again.

To be precise, he saw a photo of that girl.

“Brother Jun, what are you looking at so intently?” Qiao Jin stopped behind him, peering along Huo Jun’s line of sight – it fell on the upper right corner of someone’s desk in the front row of the classroom. There was a gray exam candidate information sheet and photo pasted there.

Huo Jun asked, “What’s this?”

Qiao Jin laughed, “Brother Jun, you’re really out of touch with what’s going on, aren’t you? The third-year middle schoolers are having their graduation exams, this weekend. I heard there weren’t enough classrooms, so they’re borrowing ours – that’s the exam candidate information they’ve pasted up.”

“…”

Huo Jun lowered his gaze again.

Qin Ke.

He silently repeated this name in his heart. Looking at the girl in the photo with a slightly shy smile, Huo Jun’s thoughts became a bit hazy.

He hadn’t expected that after so many days, he would still have such a deep impression of this girl. He had thought he had forgotten, but with just one glance, it cleared away from that thin mist, appearing again with utmost clarity.

Huo Jun stared for so long that Qiao Jin curiously followed his gaze.

After looking for a few seconds, Qiao Jin frowned in confusion, “This little junior schoolmate looks a bit familiar… Qin Ke, Qin Ke…”

A few seconds later, Qiao Yu, who had appeared from somewhere, said, “Qin Ke? The beauty of the middle school division, don’t you know?”

“…” Huo Jun turned to look at him, “You know her?”

Qiao Yu: “Of course. She’s very famous in our school, not just for being pretty, but also for being exceptionally good at studying.”

Qiao Jin: “Good at studying? How good?”

Qiao Yu: “Does being first in the grade count?”

“Holy crap?”

“And she’s first in almost every exam, big or small. She’s never missed out on the scholarship quota for the middle school division each semester.”

“That is impressive. So, does she have a boyfriend?”

“Come on, don’t even think about it – she’s a model student, the kind teachers adore. You want to date her early? Aren’t you afraid the teaching director will whip you to death?”

“You’re right, she’s not from our world…”

Qiao Jin and Qiao Yu chatted animatedly, no one noticing the young man standing at the desk, his gaze fluctuating as he looked at the girl’s photo on someone’s desk…

The connections between people are a mysterious thing.

Even though Huo Jun never believed in so-called fate, after unilaterally getting to know the girl called Qin Ke, he had to admit this point.