Ch. 29 - The Xingzhihua Middle School Girl and Queue Jumping
My Fake Girlfriend is Going All Out to Defend Against Their AttacksThis chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
This chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
I turned toward the source of the voice. Standing a short distance behind me was a girl wearing the uniform of Xingzhihua Middle School. She was fairly cute, and her face was filled with anger. Her eyes were locked firmly on me. I shifted slightly to the left. Her gaze followed. I shifted to the right. Her gaze followed again. Apparently, that completely out-of-nowhere accusation had indeed been directed at me. But I was pretty sure I didn't know her.
The familiar Xingzhihua school uniform, polished black shoes, a slender frame, shoulder-length black hair, and a reasonably pretty face—no matter how I looked at her, she seemed like nothing more than an ordinary middle school girl who happened to be slightly above average in appearance. I had absolutely no memory of her.
"Are you talking to me?"
To avoid misunderstanding, I pointed at myself and asked cautiously.
"Who else would I be talking to?"
The girl glared at me with a mixture of anger and disdain. As she spoke, she even shifted her body away slightly. Did she mistake my earlier glance for the gaze of some pervert? Her confidence was a little excessive...
"Do we know each other?"
I deliberately kept my eyes above her neck. Given her hostile attitude, there was no need to make my impression any worse.
"Hah. As if I'd want to know you."
After I looked away, her awkward defensive posture relaxed somewhat. But the contempt on her face didn't lessen in the slightest. The girl walked over. Bending down, she picked up the water bottle I had accidentally knocked over moments earlier.
"See this?"
She held up the bottle.
"It's mine."
"I'll let it slide that you're blind enough to kick it over, but this bottle was obviously placed here to mark my spot in line. You seriously didn't know that?"
A bottle on the ground counted as holding a place in line? Wasn't that basically the same as putting a water bottle or backpack on a library seat to reserve it? Now that I understood what she meant, I couldn't help finding it absurd.
Behind us, while we'd been arguing, quite a few people had already lined up. Directly behind the girl stood a tall boy who was looking at me impatiently. Don't tell me...They actually thought I had cut in line? I really didn't want to. And personally, I didn't think leaving a water bottle on the ground counted as a fair way to reserve a place. But she sounded so righteous and confident that anyone who hadn't seen what happened would probably assume I had jumped the queue.
I gave a bitter smile and prepared to move to the back of the line. After all, arguing with a young girl in public would just make me look petty.
"Hmph."
Just as I took a step backward and was about to demonstrate some gentlemanly manners, she spoke again.
"You don't even look like a middle school student. Coming alone to watch a ballet competition..."
She narrowed her eyes.
"Who knows what kind of ulterior motives you have."
My foot froze in mid-step. Now this was awkward. If I continued walking to the back of the line, it would look as though I really did have improper intentions and was retreating out of guilt. But if I stayed where I was, everyone behind me would think I was shamelessly cutting in line. Ah...This was impossible. I was trapped no matter what I did.
"Ah Qiao, what's wrong?"
Just as I was at a complete loss, Tang Xin appeared. Her dress swayed gently as she walked over like a cool breeze, carrying two bottles of water. I'd completely forgotten about her. Walking up beside me, she handed one bottle over and hooked an arm around mine. Then she removed her lady's hat. Her silver-white hair spilled down and fluttered softly in the wind.
Without losing any of her elegance, she turned toward the girl and said:
"May I ask why a student wearing Xingzhihua Middle School's uniform is publicly insulting my boyfriend?"
Boyfriend? I almost blurted it out. Of course, I knew it was merely Tang Xin's way of refuting the girl's claim that I had come alone to watch the performance. People waiting behind us immediately turned their attention toward Tang Xin. After all, she was undeniably beautiful.
Whether it was Tang Xin's overwhelming presence or the mention of "Xingzhihua Middle School," the girl suddenly found herself speechless. Xingzhihua was the best middle school in the city. Its academic standards and discipline were famously strict. Creating a loud public scene while wearing the school's uniform would hardly reflect well on its image.
"Y-Your boyfriend cut in line!"
The girl's face was already red with embarrassment. After struggling for a while, she finally squeezed out a response.
"And you're not going to do anything about it?"
Tang Xin smiled. Then she deliberately raised her voice so that everyone nearby could hear.
"You're saying this bottle represents your place in line?"
The people behind us immediately understood what had happened. Expressions of realization spread across their faces. The whole "water bottle reservation" method only worked through mutual understanding, it wasn't an actual rule. The moment it was dragged into public discussion, the person relying on it immediately lost the moral high ground.
Whispers broke out throughout the crowd. The girl's face became so red it looked as though she might start bleeding. Unable to withstand the embarrassment any longer, she stamped her foot. Then she glared fiercely at Tang Xin and me before running toward the back of the queue.
Watching her retreating figure, I scratched my head helplessly.
"She's just a young girl."
I turned toward Tang Xin.
"Was that really necessary?"
Tang Xin ignored my concern. Putting her hat back on, she looked at me, a fox-like smile appearing at the corners of her lips.
"The Vice President's good-guy personality should only be used on me."
"..."
I had absolutely no response to that.
After that small incident, we eventually reached the ticket checkpoint. We used Tang Xin's tickets. After all, they were VIP tickets, it would have been a waste not to use them. The girl checking tickets later informed us that VIP ticket holders could have entered through a separate entrance at the front. When I looked over and saw the nearly empty VIP line, I felt another wave of regret.
The theater didn't look particularly large from the outside, but once inside, it felt like entering a completely different world, the interior seemed far larger than its exterior suggested. The air-conditioning was also incredibly powerful. Before long, I was starting to feel cold.
The VIP seats were located directly behind the judges' section. They offered a perfect view of every movement on stage without being so close that watching became tiring. There was even a dedicated access corridor. As expected, they were the best seats in the house. I found my assigned seat according to the ticket. Tang Xin sat on my right. The seat to my left remained empty.
As two o'clock approached, the remaining empty seats gradually filled. The audience's noisy chatter slowly faded. The lights softened, then dimmed. The performance was about to begin.
At that moment, a figure hurried down the aisle and dropped into the empty seat beside me.
"Why is it you again?!"
The voice sounded familiar. I instinctively turned toward it. The moment I saw who it was, I nearly jumped out of my seat.