Chapter 121 – Imprisoned XII

Pluto: “Holy crap! We’ve got an NTR situation!”

“What is this, a White Album1 scene?!”

“Add Su Xiangxue to the hit list!”

“We strike tonight!”

Zhao Xinning felt as if she had been plunged into the Mariana Trench.

Everything before her went dark, and an enormous “gravity” pressed down on her until she could hardly breathe.

Her eyes lost their light. She stared hollowly at the two people in front of her and said mechanically,

“So… Miss Su Xiangxue likes Xi…”

“Then what about you, Xi…?”

Lin Xi only felt that the atmosphere had turned a little strange, so she hurriedly explained,

“Xinning, don’t misunderstand. Miss Su Xiangxue was only joking.”

“Huh? Joking???” Zhao Xinning felt like she could breathe again. “What exactly is going on? Is that true, Miss Su Xiangxue?”

Su Xiangxue nodded and told Zhao Xinning the whole story from start to finish.

Zhao Xinning felt as though she had risen from that bottomless trench back to the vast, free surface of the sea. She said,

“Isn’t it perfectly normal that no one has confessed to Xi? Xi is far too dazzling. Everyone has some self-awareness. Who could possibly be worthy of Xi?”

Except me… Zhao Xinning thought.

Su Xiangxue found that reasonable. “Miss Lin Xi is like the lotus in On the Love of the Lotus2: admired from afar, but not to be profaned.”

Lin Xi: “…”

She retorted that Su Xiangxue should stop using such weird analogies.

Then she told Zhao Xinning that the reason she had arranged to meet Su Xiangxue here was to catch the classmate spreading rumors.

With the misunderstanding cleared up, Zhao Xinning was relieved.

“Xinning, did you come looking for us for something?” Lin Xi asked. “How did you know we were here?”

Zhao Xinning replied, “I went to your classroom and asked Miss Yang Shanshan. That’s how I found out you were here.”

“I came to show you this-“

Zhao Xinning handed the notebook in her hands to Lin Xi.

“Your band still hasn’t decided on a debut song, right?”

“I spent the whole morning writing this song, Imprisoned XII.” Zhao Xinning blushed faintly. “Xi, I wrote it especially for you. I hope you like it-“

With that, Zhao Xinning shyly ran off. “Whether it’s good or not, after you read it, you have to message me and tell me what you think.”

Since Xinning spent the whole morning writing it… Lin Xi couldn’t wait to open the notebook.

As the only member of the band who knew how to arrange music, Su Xiangxue also leaned in beside Lin Xi to see how Zhao Xinning’s lyrics were.

A few moments later…

“Wow, as expected of Xinning. This is really well written,” Lin Xi praised.

Su Xiangxue, however, asked with a strange expression, “Don’t you think these lyrics are a little…”

“A little what?” Lin Xi thought they were great.

“A little… emotionally heavy…” After finishing the lyrics, Su Xiangxue instantly understood.

Zhao Xinning was absolutely, definitely in love with Lin Xi!!!

The repressed kind of unrequited love!

Miss Xinning, she… had been repressing her feelings for Xi???

No wonder Miss Xinning had made that face when she saw me “confessing” to Miss Lin Xi…

But Miss Lin Xi didn’t seem to get it at all???

“Miss Lin Xi, don’t you think the emotions in these lyrics are way too heavy? And on top of that, they were written especially for you…”

Lin Xi: “???”

“Miss Su Xiangxue, don’t underestimate the friendship and bond between me and Xinning!”

Su Xiangxue: “…”

“What you saw in these lyrics was friendship and a bond???”

“Yeah. What else would it be?”

Su Xiangxue took a deep breath. She did not remind Lin Xi to try looking at the lyrics from another angle.

“Mm. If that’s how you want to interpret it, then let’s say that’s what it is.”

Lin Xi looked slightly puzzled. “How do you interpret it?”

“A thousand people see a thousand Hamlets. My opinion doesn’t matter,” Su Xiangxue said. “After all, Miss Xinning gave it to you.”

“Mm. Then could I trouble you to arrange it?”

“Sure. But you aren’t planning to make it our debut song, are you?”

“That’s for you to decide, Miss Su Xiangxue. You’re the Captain of our band.”

“If it were up to me, If You Come in the Dead of Winter would be better-“

“Dame!” Lin Xi did not want to become more and more “Sun-ified.” “Anyway, we still have time. Let’s look at some others too.”

Lin Xi invited Su Xiangxue to go eat with her, but Su Xiangxue said she wasn’t hungry yet.

“Then I’ll head down first. Miss Shanshan is still waiting for me so we can go to the cafeteria together.” Lin Xi handed the notebook to Su Xiangxue. “I’ll leave the arrangement to you. Once you’re done, I’ll treat you to a meal.”

“There’s no need for that. I’ll arrange it properly,” Su Xiangxue said.

After Lin Xi left, Su Xiangxue opened the notebook and read it over again.

“How on earth did Miss Lin Xi see friendship and bonds in this???”

“These lyrics are clearly screaming those two words between every line-**.”

“Miss Zhao Xinning’s feelings are a little heavy…”

Fortunately, Zhao Xinning wasn’t a member of the band. She was the band’s manager…

…

After lunch, once she returned to the classroom, Zhao Xinning received Lin Xi’s thoughts on the lyrics.

She tapped open the message at once.

“Friendship and bonds, huh…” Zhao Xinning put down her phone, a little disappointed. “Xi still didn’t get the true meaning of these lyrics…”

“Seriously?” Pluto roasted her. “Why are you trying to be a subtle, restrained poet? Be a bold and unrestrained poet for once!”

“Wouldn’t it be fine if you just wrote out, plain as day, that you want to do her hard and do her lots?”

Zhao Xinning: “…”

She told Pluto to stop saying such lewd things. “You call that restrained? Do you know how much courage I had to work up before I dared to offer these lyrics to Xi?”

“But it’s fine. Xi happily accepted them.”

“She’s still so considerate toward me.”

“As expected of my Angel-sama…”

“Their band starts practicing after school today. As the Fan Club President and band manager, I’ll be busy too.”

Zhao Xinning also had to work on her class play, Cat-Ear Maid Cafe, activities for the Track and Field Club, and the daily updates for the novel she was serializing…

She felt like she had become the busiest person in the entire school.

“Good luck, ‘special forces soldier,'” Pluto encouraged her.

Zhao Xinning really did want to turn herself into a “special forces soldier.” “Only by becoming better and better can I be worthy of Xi…”

…

After school that afternoon, Lin Xi, Su Xiangxue, and Yang Shanshan headed to the clubroom together to begin their first day of band practice.

They had just stepped out of the classroom when someone called out to Lin Xi.

“Miss Lin Xi, do you have a moment? I need to talk to you about something.”

Lin Xi turned and saw that the person calling her was a cool, elegant upperclassman with long, straight black hair: Senior Chu Wenmu from the Discipline Committee.

“Senior Wenmu, what is it?”

“It’s not convenient to talk about it here. Please come with me for a moment.”

“Oh, okay-“

Lin Xi told Su Xiangxue and Yang Shanshan to head to the clubroom first, and that she would be there soon.

Footnote:

1. White Album(白色相簿): A reference to the romance drama franchise known for messy love triangles and emotional relationship conflicts.
2. On the Love of the Lotus(爱莲说): On the Love of the Lotus is a famous 11th-century essay by the Chinese philosopher Zhou Dunyi. It praises the lotus as a symbol of purity and noble character, containing the well-known line: “The lotus may be admired from afar, but should not be treated frivolously.”