I ate the succulent peach while trying to understand Xiao Qin’s words.
Why would she place her entire life on me? It’s completely irrational and extremely dangerous! If I betrayed her, wouldn’t there be a high chance she would take me down along with her?
How bothersome. Xiao Qin’s too prejudiced, and I have no idea what’s going to happen between my dad and Auntie Ren. I’m going to have to get past it, but I should finish this peach first.
What a waste, I can’t believe Xiao Qin doesn’t want to eat this delicious peach.
I suddenly had a realization.
Something’s not right, Xiao Qin should love peaches. I remember how she even stole my peach when I was seven years old. To my younger self, it was a gigantic peach given to us as a gift when a relative came to visit. I was standing on the side of the road thinking about where to start eating when you suddenly came up from behind and s.n.a.t.c.hed it away! You ate in in big bites while you stepped on me! You even threw the pit at my nose before you left!
Not only did the Little Tyrant love peaches, she also excelled at climbing trees. I had short legs and acrophobia, so I couldn’t even climb the smallest tree.
That’s why sometimes when the Little Tyrant climbed up a tree to get shade, or catch bugs, or pick fruits, I would run under the tree and sing at the Little Tyrant:
“Monkeymonkeymonkey? Oooh ooh aah aah~~”
Then I would try to escape when the Little Tyrant got infuriated and came down the tree to beat me up.
Of course, the Little Tyrant gradually decreased the amount of time it took to get down the tree. Sometimes, she would jump straight down and give me a beating. Every time I get beat senseless, I would feel like she’s a violent gorilla instead of a monkey.
Xiao Qin loves eating peaches yet she pretends she doesn’t. Is is so she could leave it for me to eat? I… I’m touched, even more so than when you said you would die together with me. At least eating a peach is easier than dying.
“Xiao Qin… you used to love eating peaches, did you leave this just for me?”
“Ye Lin cla.s.smate, did you forget? I don’t like eating peaches after that incident.”
“Huh, what incident?”
Xiao Qin seemed to get slightly embarra.s.sed, “It was the incident when we cooperated to steal peaches.”
Ah, I remember now, but we weren’t cooperating, it was you who forced me. You threatened me by saying you would take away my Optimus Prime if I didn’t keep watch under the tree (but you still took it away in the end).
There were a lot of bungalows across the compound where we used to live. A lot of them had backyards, and there was a really mean old granny who planted a peach tree. It would produce a lot of bright red and tasty looking fruits.
The Little Tyrant could have simply asked Auntie Ren to buy her some peaches, but instead, she got some crooked ideas and thought hand-picked peaches would taste better,
Thus, on a moonless and windy night, she forced me to climb the wall (I’m sorry, but because I had short legs and was shorter than her, I had to be dragged along).
The Little Tyrant climbed up the peach tree with ease and left me keeping watch on the old granny’s window.
She picked a lot of ripe peaches before she realized she forgot to bring a bag to carry them in.
It was early autumn and still hot outside. The Little Tyrants was wearing a vest and shorts, the same as me. We didn’t have any large pieces of clothing, so we couldn’t take off our clothes and use them as wrapping cloth even if we wanted to.
But it wasn’t a problem for the Little Tyrant. With some quick thinking, she tied a dead knot at the bottom of her vest around her waist, then she began tossing the peaches inside.
Freshly picked peaches have p.r.i.c.kly fur. The Little Tyrant might not have felt it with her hands (since it was numb from climbing the tree), but once it hit her soft white chest, it began to itch and she immediately shrieked.
She screamed loudly into the silent night. It was still a time when most people weren’t used to nightlife.
The peaches scattered out from her vest and dropped around the bottom of the tree. One peach even hit me on the head.
I secretly picked it up and stuffed it into my pocket. I was thinking in my mind how she deserved it because she didn’t get to eat any peaches and also got p.r.i.c.ked. I was already thinking about how I would take the peach home and have a delicious treat…
That’s why I was a bit slower at running away. The peach tree owner was startled awake and came running out with a broom. The Little Tyrant endured the itch and jumped onto the wall and escaped. I was left behind staring up at the top of the wall with my short legs. The old granny gave me a beating and even confiscated the peach in my pocket.
I went with her to steal peaches but didn’t get to eat any, but my b.u.t.t did end up as red as a peach.
“…right.” Xiao Qin said, “Peaches gave us a painful memory, and I want to engrave Ye Lin cla.s.smate’s pain in my mind, that’s why I chose to never eat peaches again…”
Nonsense, it has nothing to do with my pain. It was because you got baptized by fresh peach fuzz and it gave you a psychological trauma. But no matter how much time has pa.s.sed, I still want to say: “You deserved it. It’s karma for always bullying me.”
Wait a second. At the time, I thought the Little Tyrant was a boy, so I didn’t even pay attention to the fact the peach had rolled over his chest then dropped on my head. Which means I was planning on eating a peach that had rolled over a girl’s chest. Why does it sound so perverted when I think about it now?
Xiao Qin flipped a page in her sketch pad and said with a smile:
“Ye Lin cla.s.smate, since you ate my peach, you can subst.i.tute it as my model.”
Isn’t it the cla.s.s leader’s peach, that’s what you’ve been saying too. I mean, you only have flat pancakes.
“Draw me?” I laughed, “Whatever you draw only turns into potatoes.”
“No way, because I love you, so my drawings will also be filled with love. Even if it does turn into a potato, it will be a potato sprouted from our love fluids.”
What the h.e.l.l are love fluids? Don’t use words people would easily misunderstand!
“Oh right, Ye Lin cla.s.smate, um…” Xiao Qin gripped her pencil tighter, “You don’t have to keep still as my model, but I have a small request…”
“What is it? I’m a.s.suming it’s something completely unreasonable.”
“It’s… can you take off your clothes and be my nude model?”
“What..?”
“It’s because the peach wasn’t wearing clothes. I was drawing a nude peach, so that’s why…”
“The peach’s clothes is its skin! I was just removing its clothes when I peeled its skin as I ate it! Before peaches are washed, they even have furry clothes, I mean, haven’t you experienced it first hand?”
Xiao Qin shivered as I mentioned that event and she didn’t request me to be her nude model anymore.
After a while, she went to the cla.s.s leader and asked respectfully:
“Cla.s.s leader, can I draw you?”
“Eh, so you were learning how to draw? Let me see your skills.”
The cla.s.s leader took her sketch pad and flipped through a couple of pages. She had a befuddled expression on her face.
“So you were practicing on drawing vegetables the entire time? I never knew you cared a lot for the basics.”
It’s not the basics, she was trying to draw other things, but in the end, everything she draws turns into potatoes or carrots.
“Don’t worry.” Xiao Qin said seriously, “I’ll draw you seriously and even make you a hundred times prettier. After I give you my drawing, you’ll never want to look in a mirror again.”
Her sentence was worded weirdly as if she was trying to imply the cla.s.s leader was ugly.
Although the cla.s.s leader felt a bit awkward, she still said warmly:
“There’s still a bit of time left before lunch break ends. If you want to draw now, I can cooperate with you, but we have to stop when the bell rings.”
Xiao Qin made a crafty smile after the cla.s.s leader accepted.
“But, I have a small request…”
“What is it? Do I have to stay still?’
“No, since I’m a beginner, I still can’t draw the wrinkles on clothes…”
As the cla.s.s leader heard her clothes had wrinkles, her OCD caused her to quickly look at her clothes and straighten out her sleeves.
“Um, it’s not just wrinkles, I just can’t draw clothes..”
Xiao Qin admitted her lack of ability in an unprecedented manner.
The cla.s.s leader replied: “It’s fine if you can’t draw it well, I don’t mind.”
“No, I mind.” Xiao Qin raised her voice, “As the future Celery Sensei who will move millions of people, how can I leave behind an imperfect drawing? If I can’t draw clothes, then I should just avoid it!”
The cla.s.s leader blinked blankly as she couldn’t understand her words nor did she know who Celery Sensei was.
“Umm… can you not wear clothes when being my model?”
Ah, the cla.s.s leader’s face darkened and she finally realized Xiao Qin was teasing her. She stood up and kept tickling Xiao Qin furiously to the point she wished she was dead.