You hidden in my heart - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was early autumn—6:00 p.m.

At this time, usually high school students had their break, and most of them were enjoying their leisure time after hectic studies.

There were three small badminton courts downstairs, and they were facing the corridor in front of Class 7 on the second floor.

Two boys, one tall and the other short, were lying on the railing of the hallway. The taller one had a straight nose, thick eyebrows, and was tall and thin. It was difficult for the lad to hide his good looks, even while wearing a blue and white sports suit. And the most important thing was that his hair was dyed blonde, which implied that he was quite rebellious.

That “rebellious tyrant” was nearly 1.85 metres tall, and his body proportions were almost perfect, especially his pair of proud long legs. Despite his good looks and arrogance, his stature alone made him stand out in the crowd. If you simply took a boy from the same grade and placed him next to the “rebellious tyrant”, his stature and domineering aura would make the random selector much smaller.

The fat man next to him was actually 1.75 metres tall, with a round face that was tender and white and a joyful appearance. He resembled a three-dimensional walking mascot.

Lu Yuling, often known as the “rebellious tyrant”, was a well-known character at Xifu No. 1 Middle School. There were groups of younger brothers outside the school, but nobody tried to disturb him inside. Even the adjacent schools’ thorns were afraid to readily irritate him. He was referred to as “Brother Lu” with respect.

Ma Peng, also known as “Fatty Ma,” the obese boy seated next to him, was a devoted supporter of Brother Lu.

At this moment, the two were lying on the railing of the corridor, watching the badminton court downstairs.

Two girls were playing badminton on the court. They were both wearing ponytails and school outfits. The girl, who was facing in their direction, was fair-skinned and thin, with an oval face that was delicate and dark almond eyes that appeared to be filled with stars. When she smiled, two dimples could be seen on her cheeks. Although the girl’s facial features hadn’t fully developed yet, she was already a full-fledged beauty. Her name was Li Xining, and she would go to play badminton after dinner every day with her good friend Xu Dongruo. 

‘I don’t know what is good about playing badminton. She can’t play badminton properly but still plays every day. The key is that she hasn’t improved at all!’ ——This was Lu Yuling’s evaluation of Li Xining’s game skills.

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Ma Peng abruptly exclaimed, “Brother, I believe Li Xining is incredibly good-looking.” 

“You still need to say that?” Lu Yuling glanced at his friend.

Ma Peng never discussed Li Xining’s appearance with his Brother Lu because, as Ma Peng was aware, Lu Yuling always had high eyes. If not, Lu Yuling would have had a bunch of ex-girlfriends by now and would not be a single dog.

“Brother Lu, do you know that Xue Kun confessed to Li Xining two days ago?”    

After hearing Ma Peng’s words, Lu Yuling was taken aback for a moment and then said arrogantly, “That stinking idiot from class five?” Then he gave a murderous look at Class 5.

Xue Kun and Lu Yuling were rivals, and since Xue Kun relied on his own people outside the school, he frequently challenged Lu Yuling in class. Xue Kun kept tripping up Lu Yuling behind his back, either by making up rumours about Lu Yuling behind his back, setting him up as a bully who did all kinds of evil, or by making small reports to the teaching director. However, Lu Yuling ignored Xue Kun’s actions, thinking they were just really annoying.

“Yes, that’s the one. That idiot surnamed Xue—I heard that he brought ninety-nine roses with him when he confessed his love,” Ma Peng snorted. 

[T/L:  99 roses is a classic present. It stands for either “I love you forever” or “I want to spend my golden years with you.”]

Lu Yuling’s fists were clenched unconsciously, but his face was calm. “Has Li Xining agreed?” he asked.

Ma Peng suddenly groaned and said, “I’ll eat sh*t while live broadcasting if the goddess Xining falls in love with Xue Kun!” 

Lu Yuling’s mood was instantly lightened by Ma Peng’s remark; he raised his eyebrows slightly, gloating. “So Li Xining didn’t agree?”

Ma Peng: “She has really rejected him. Xue Kun and we are the same people. How could the goddess Xining have a crush on him?”

Lu Yuling suddenly wanted to beat this fat man to death. ‘Who are same…’

Ma Peng continued to stab his brother Lu in the heart without realising the murderous intent in Lu Yuling’s eyes: “Our Xining goddess is really attractive, and her family is doing well. According to the standards of idol dramas, she must admire Chen Lin, who is the school grass: tall, rich, and attractive.”

Chen Lin was in the same class as them, also in Class Seven, with a handsome appearance, an elegant and calm demeanour, and a little shorter than Lu Yuling, but Lu Yuling’s academic performance had dropped to the bottom, so he couldn’t compare with Chen Lin at all.

After hearing Ma Peng’s words, Lu Yuling remained silent and kicked the wall with one leg while leaning both of his arms on the railing and gazing down at the stadium.

“If Li Xining can fall in love with Chen Lin, I’ll eat shit and live broadcast it,” Lu Yuling murmured, opening his thin lips abruptly. He spoke with disdain and a hint of disbelief in an extremely light but firm and determined tone. He didn’t like Chen Lin, a man who thinks less of others. No one was worthy of Li Xining, and neither was that kind of person.

“I think they are a good match,” Ma Peng said, and he sang happily, “A talented man and a beautiful woman, a talented man and a beautiful woman, a match made in heaven, made in heaven, a match made in heaven!”

Such a proper CP fan.

After hearing this, Lu Yuling wanted to hit someone, and he inhaled deeply and suppressed the resentful anger he was feeling in his heart.

At this time, Chen Lin appeared downstairs, standing openly beside the flower bed, and watched Li Xining and her friend playing.

Others might not look well wearing the same sports school uniform, but Chen Lin showcased the noble and refined nature of an Armani suit just by wearing the boring school sports uniform.

Ma Peng suddenly got excited upon seeing Chen Lin, who was peeking at the badminton court. “He..he… I knew that Chen Lin must like Li Xining!”

Although Lu Yuling thought Chen Lin was “smelly shameless!”, he was also a little envious of Chen Lin’s shamelessness because he also wanted to stand beside Li Xining. However, he had to face reality. As Ma Peng said, how could she like a person like him? What’s more, she had seen him in the most embarrassing way.

That night a few years ago was the most miserable day of his life. He was despondent and desperate, and he cried in front of her like a vulnerable little girl. ‘Fortunately, she seemed to forget it.’

After playing badminton for a while, Li Xining’s good friend, Xu Dongruo, wanted to use the bathroom. When Chen Lin noticed this, he took the initiative to ask for the racket and stepped in to play badminton with Li Xining in Xu Dongruo’s place.

Upon seeing that, Lu Yuling gritted his teeth hard, turned around, and went back: ‘I don’t care at all!’

As Ma Peng noticed this, he followed Lu Yuling, saying, “Brother, don’t forget to do your physics homework tonight. Old Man Li became irate in class and threatened to expel anyone who didn’t turn in their assignment by tomorrow.”

Lu Yuling: “When did old man Li say that?”

Ma Peng: “When you are taking your beauty sleep.”

Lu Yuling: “….” ‘Do I still have to rely on sleep to make up for my great beauty?’

Seeing that Lu Yuling was silent, Ma Peng increased the seriousness in his tone. “Old man Li is serious this time; let’s do his homework today, or we will be definitely punished tomorrow.”

Lu Yuling still didn’t care. “Just let our gang people copy it for us. Do you think the old man will mark them seriously?”

Ma Peng said, “The goddesses Xining and Chen Lin have been given the duty of collecting homework. If we don’t hand over our assignment, won’t we be troubling them? They will be scolded by the old man.”

Even though this little fan was a scoundrel, he was ready to hand over the homework because of the face of his CP.

Chen Lin was the representative of the physics class, and Li Xining was the monitor. The physics teacher instructed the class monitor to assist the representative of the physics class in gathering assignments.

When Lu Yuling heard this, he grinned sneeringly. “Whether we turn in our schoolwork or not is irrelevant to the two of them. For such a good student, it is impossible for the teacher to embarrass her.”

“That’s your fault, brother. Never underestimate yourself.” Ma Peng remarked, “The goddess Xining never discriminates, even though Chen Lin can occasionally be a little disrespectful of others. Why do you stop believing in yourself?”

He didn’t give up, but he was self-aware and believed that Li Xining would surely not care if a weak student like him failed to turn in his schoolwork.

“She won’t accept it even if I write it, so it’s better not to write it.” Lu Yuling was very stubborn.

Ma Peng: “Brother, I found that your thoughts are very dangerous; they have too much negative energy, so it’s not safe.”

Lu Yuling leaned on Ma Peng and said, “Make a bet? Breakfast for a week.”

Ma Peng: “What are you betting on?”

Lu Yuling: “Bet on whether your Xining Goddess will come to accept our homework.”

The little fan firmly believes that his goddess would never discriminate against students like them. “Brother, my appetite is not small; if you eat five big buns for a day, I’m afraid it will make you poor.”

Lu Yuling: “Oh,…”

The evening self-study session started at 6:30 p.m., so Li Xining and Xu Dongruo returned to the classroom five minutes earlier and waited for the evening self-study to start.

Immediately after the bell sounded at 6:30 p.m., the once-busy classroom area of the third year of the high school went silent, as if an invisible hand had hit the mute button. The only sound was the rustling of books and pens.

Li Xining first took out the physics assignment before opening the pencil box, but she pulled out candy instead of a pen.

That candy was a round jelly candy with a filling inside. Different colours of candy had different tastes. Pink was for peach, yellow was for orange, and red was for apple…

It was difficult to find this kind of candy. Only the small shop in front of the school where she was enrolled in her first year of junior high school in Xifu sold it since the candy was prepared there by the business’s owner. While she was in her first year of junior high school, she enjoyed eating them very much. But since she was transferred to another school, she hadn’t eaten that kind of candy.

She never knew who brought her the candy that had been placed on her desk every morning since the first day of high school.

To clarify, she had a rough idea of who sent it, but she was unsure because the sender didn’t seem like the kind to give sweets but persisted in doing so every day.

This kind of girlish behaviour was very inconsistent with his golden and rebellious yellow hair.

Li Xining was particularly dissatisfied with Lu Yuling’s hairstyle, which was not suitable for the school, so she would specifically ask Lu Yuling to cut his hair and change it to its original colour before a major grooming check.

But it was very difficult because teenage boys were always obsessed with their hairstyles.

There would be another big appearance inspection after the 11th, and Li Xining was not sure if Princess Lu would be willing to cut off his beautiful yellow hair this time.

At this time, Xu Dongruo, the desk mate, gave Li Xining a folded piece of paper on which was wrote, “Do you want to eat that candy? Give it to me if you don’t.”

“How dare you want my candy?” Li Xining wrote it on the other side of the paper and gave it to her friend. She quickly peeled off the wrapping paper and stuffed the candy directly into her mouth.

Xu Dongruo: “???”

Li Xining picked up a pen and wrote on the note, “Wow, sweet.”

Xu Dongruo: “What the hell?”

The candy in Li Xining’s mouth was indeed sweet, and she eventually thought of Lu Yuling. ‘He would be better without that yellow hair.’

Instead, getting “Princess Lu” to turn in his physics homework was the top priority. But, after careful consideration, it seemed that getting the princess to hand in her homework was more difficult than asking him to cut his hair.

End of Chapter 1

Have a nice day!