I Redeemed Him, But Who Will Redeem Me? - Chapter 4

The next day, Lin Xicai arrived at school very early, her arms full of large and small bags. The colorful and exquisitely designed stationery she carried was eye-catching.

Class started at eight, but Lin Xicai had deliberately arrived early, at half past seven.

She sat at her desk, unpacking her purchases one by one, clattering as she arranged them.

—From now on, she would study hard. Lin Xicai felt it was necessary to create an atmosphere of learning for herself.

She laid out a brightly colored, warm-toned anime-style landscape poster across her desk, carefully smoothing it flat and taping it in place. The size was just right, covering the entire desktop.

Then, one by one, she placed her colorful, finely designed stationery neatly on top.

A large rabbit-shaped bookend held her textbooks upright, beside it a milky-white straw water cup, and a pale pink pen holder.

The pen holder was crammed with more than ten pens, all different in design, vying for attention like contestants at an audition.

After her devout arranging, the previously dull gray desk was transformed. Lin Xicai studied it with a frown, still unsatisfied. She fished a few stickers from her pocket and plastered them here and there.

By the time the first-period bell rang, Lin Xicai had successfully decorated her desk into something resembling a… Christmas tree.

When Xie Shi finally strolled in late with his backpack, his seat was already surrounded by a crowd. That “raider” was hemmed in on all sides by girls, her eyes crinkled in laughter as she chatted happily with them, clearly enjoying the attention.

The chatter was shrill, the frequency prickling his temples with pain. Xie Shi frowned slightly.

“This is so fancy!”
“It’s really pretty.”
“It’s gorgeous, can I take a picture?”
“Where did you buy this? Share the link!”
…

Xie Shi approached, his sharp, handsome features twitching slightly the moment his gaze landed on that gaudy contraption masquerading as a desk.

The visual shock was so strong it momentarily made him forget the sudden flare of his migraine.

While he was momentarily distracted, the girls who had been crowding his seat suddenly noticed him. Their faces changed, and in an instant, they scattered as if fleeing a plague.

The once-bustling classroom fell into silence again, as though muted, lifeless and still.

Expressionless, Xie Shi was long used to this. He walked straight toward his seat.

He stared at the “raider.” Her relaxed expression vanished, replaced by wariness and caution.

Before he even reached her, she had obediently stood up to make way, looking perfectly harmless.

Her disguise was good—almost good enough to fool him. But just as he passed her, a soft yet grating thought pricked into his mind—

“If only my crazy deskmate could be merciful and fall ill, maybe take a year or half a year off…”

Xie Shi shot her a cold glance, his lips curling in a mocking smile, eyes devoid of warmth.

Completely unaware, Lin Xicai sighed inwardly once he sat down, adding silently: Or even a broken bone would do—stay home, rest, just don’t come to school…

But that gaze at her side clung like a damp, venomous serpent, hissing in the dark.

Its presence was so oppressive that even with her head bowed, Lin Xicai felt pierced through.

Just then, the bell rang. Lin Xicai took a deep breath, forcing herself to ignore that gaze. —The study environment was set. From this moment on, she would study seriously.

Start from scratch. She wasn’t dumb, wasn’t foolish—how could she not learn?

If she worked hard now, then when she finished her mission and returned to real life, she’d not only have a healthy body but soaring grades too. Her life would step into a brand-new phase.

Her mood lightened. Running her slender white fingers along the bookend, she pulled out a pretty notebook.

She laid the pale green notebook carefully before her, then sifted through her pens to find one that matched.

Satisfied, she straightened up, back rigid, staring earnestly at the physics teacher who arrived late. She breathed deeply, face stretched into a too-solemn smile, her devotion to learning almost stiff.

The young physics teacher walked up with his book, opened it skillfully, and said, “Alright, class, today we’ll continue with the motion of particles in a magnetic field…”

With the school’s “living calamity” keeping order below, the classroom was dead silent. Only the teacher’s flat voice echoed.

Lin Xicai stared at the board. For the first eight minutes, her expression was firm.

“This problem’s not hard. Stretch out your left hand, the magnetic lines pass perpendicularly through the palm…”

By the tenth minute, her eyes grew confused.

“Now look here, the particle enters the magnetic field vertically…”

By the twelfth minute, her eyes were unfocused, glazed.

“This problem’s period isn’t hard to find either, just plug into the formula…”

By the fifteenth minute, her chin was drooping onto the desk. The pen slipped from her weakening fingers, leaving crooked scratches on the page.

…

At the eighteenth minute, she was fast asleep.

The pretty notebook lay open, her cheek pressed against it, lips leaving a damp mark where her drool spread a dark patch across the paper.

Xie Shi: “…”

Even in slumber, Lin Xicai frowned, restless, as though she could still feel that piercing gaze haunting her dreams, coiling into her very soul…

Who knew how long had passed before a sharp bell jarred her awake. Lin Xicai jerked upright, dazed, her eyes still foggy with sleep.

The teacher was gone. Students were streaming out—some fetching water, some to the restroom.

She stared at the chalk-covered blackboard in dismay. She had… fallen asleep?

She fell asleep? How could she?

A wave of unprecedented guilt washed over her. She felt like crying. How could she be so…

“Zhong Fei, we’re going to buy soda, want to come?”
“Let’s go!”

Lin Xicai leapt up and hurried after two girls at the door, joining their cheerful chatter.

Xie Shi: “…”

His gaze lingered on her retreating back before dropping to the flamboyant “flower palanquin” at his side, his expression indescribably complicated.

Lin Xicai strolled the supermarket with the two girls, and when paying, she even covered their sodas too.

As they walked back side by side, Lin Xicai blinked and asked casually, “Don’t you think our class is really quiet? Even quieter than Class A.”

The two girls exchanged glances. One said, “You don’t know why?”

The other chuckled, teasing, “You A-class people really live under a rock?”

“I’ve been sick, I forgot a lot.” Lin Xicai sipped her soda, then smoothly asked, “Does it have to do with my current deskmate?”

“Don’t bring it up,” one girl said angrily. “It’s our rotten luck to be stuck in the same class with that walking plague.”

Plague god?

What kind of plague?

Lin Xicai had finally brushed against the truth. She feigned calm and nudged further, “What about him? What exactly did he do before?”

“That guy’s weird. A sinister oddball.”

The girl paused, glanced around, then lowered her voice and circled a finger near her temple. “Something’s wrong up here. He’s super sensitive to sound, snaps out of nowhere.”

“Once, a classmate picked a fight with him on purpose, made a racket just to annoy him. You should’ve seen the look in his eyes—scary as hell. Afterward, no one knows exactly what happened, but that boy transferred schools. Someone ran into him later, and at just the mention of him, the boy freaked out like he’d seen a ghost. Said he was a monster, told everyone to stay away.”

“And that wasn’t the only thing. Stuff like that happened more than once. Let me tell you one that’ll make it clear.”

The girl lowered her voice even more. “Take those two guys sitting behind you now—Zhu Hongfei and Lu Zixin. They look obedient around Xie Shi now, but before, they were total punks, always giving him trouble. Until one day in PE class, something really creepy happened.”

“That afternoon, after warmups, everyone was free to do their own thing. Xie Shi was sitting under a tree spacing out. Zhu Hongfei and Lu Zixin got bored and started provoking him again, spouting nonsense to rile him up in front of everyone.”

“Most of the time he ignores stuff like that, but that day they went too far. He suddenly looked up at them and said calmly, ‘Want to play a game?’”

“They were just running their mouths, but when he actually responded, they froze. But with so many people watching, they couldn’t back down. So they asked what game. Xie Shi glanced at them, then at the basketball hoop, and said, ‘Stand under it for five minutes. Can you do it?’”

“Everyone was confused. Just stand there? What’s hard about that? The two idiots even laughed. Zhu Hongfei said, ‘If we can do it, you’ll have to avoid us whenever you see us.’”

“His eyes were icy, but then he smiled—our first time ever seeing him smile. And honestly, he’s good-looking, but that smile was terrifying. He said, ‘Alright.’”

“The idiots strutted under the hoop, made a show of finding someone to time them, even got witnesses. Xie Shi said nothing else, just toyed with a little red ball in his hand.”

“Then, suddenly, the ball dropped to the ground. And right at that moment—boom! The backboard exploded. Shards rained down everywhere. The whole class screamed, chaos broke out. The two idiots were covered in cuts, terrified out of their minds, scrambling away. They hadn’t even lasted two minutes, let alone five…”

“And Xie Shi? He didn’t look surprised at all. Just stood there, watching the mess unfold.”

“To this day, it’s a mystery. No one knows how he knew. The school investigated and ruled out foul play, which made it even stranger. How could he know the hoop would shatter right then?”

The girl pulled a face of exaggerated fear. “If I hadn’t seen it myself, I’d never believe it. But after that, those two punks turned into lapdogs, fawning all over him. Everyone else too—no one’s dared provoke him since.”

Listening, Lin Xicai’s grip on her soda tightened. —What the… As if a pure-hell deskmate wasn’t hard enough to handle, now they’re saying he might dabble in sorcery? Wasn’t this too much?

She shook her head. As a firm materialist, she wasn’t going to believe such nonsense easily. Still, the more she learned, the more unfathomable he seemed.

Like a swirling black mist—dangerous, unknowable.

True, her mission wasn’t about him. But Lin Xicai had a gut feeling—there was no way she could avoid him.

“Scared?” The girl waved a hand in front of her face, trying to reassure her. “He’s weird, but he rarely bothers anyone first. As long as you stay quiet and don’t provoke him, you’ll be fine.”

Lin Xicai nodded blankly, thoughtful. At least this trip hadn’t been wasted—she’d picked up a few survival tips.

Stay quiet.

If it was just quietness, that was easy.

She wasn’t looking for trouble. If all it took was “being quiet” to avoid disaster, why not?

And Lin Xicai was confident—she was such a quiet little girl. If she just sat silently by his side, how could she possibly provoke him?