Push Me Away When I Come, Don't Hold Me Back When I Leave - Chapter 15

Chapter 15: The Process Was Wrong, But the Result Was Right

***

Xia Ruoming knew she couldn’t explain clearly over the phone, so she directly hung up on Liu Ruoxue.

This hang-up almost made Liu Ruoxue furious enough to summon Buddha himself. She sat back on the sofa while Xia Jingsong kept massaging her shoulders, trying to calm her down, saying their daughter wasn’t that kind of person.

But a few seconds later, she received a QQ message from Xia Ruoming with a photo showing Chu Suhe receiving an IV drip in a hospital bed.

“Mom, Suhe is very sick. Her mother isn’t in the city, and she messaged me asking for help. When I arrived, she had already fainted. Because it happened suddenly, I had no choice. I really didn’t skip class on purpose, and before I left, I had already finished the test paper,” Xia Ruoming sent a long message and added a tongue-sticking-out emoji at the end.

“If you still don’t believe me, you can ask the teachers tomorrow when they all know about this,” she added another line.

Although not everything in the message was true, it should be enough to calm Liu Ruoxue down.

“Well, I’m leaving now, Class Monitor Chu. Don’t worry about school, I’ll help you get leave approval.”

“But what about your exam?”

Chu Suhe suddenly remembered that there was supposed to be a mock exam today. She brought her to the hospital, which meant she must have missed the exam.

“It’s fine, it’s just one exam. How could it be more important than Class Monitor Chu, right?” Xia Ruoming stood up and made a small heart gesture to Chu Suhe as goodbye.

…

After leisurely strolling back to school, Xia Ruoming was prepared to face criticism.

However, when she returned to the classroom, a confused Xia Ruoming was greeted with a small commendation ceremony held by Xiao Qinghan. Perhaps she had called to ask about Chu Suhe’s condition, or maybe Liu Ruoxue and Xiao Qinghan had some communication; Xia Ruoming wasn’t sure of the exact reason.

But regardless, this commendation ceremony was oddly peculiar. Breaking rules during an exam and rushing out was praised as putting a classmate’s safety before herself. Climbing over the wall instead of using the main gate was considered flexible thinking and not being bound by conventions. Fortunately, they didn’t call for others to learn from her, or it might have caused some major issues.

Although her actions helped Chu Suhe get timely treatment, it seemed that because the result was right, the process didn’t matter.

When everyone learned that Xia Ruoming’s rule-breaking, class-skipping, and wall-climbing in the pouring rain was for Chu Suhe, they were all confused. Growing up in a rather utilitarian environment, no one saw any benefit in helping Chu Suhe. Even when Chu Suhe wasn’t in class, nobody cared; she became class monitor only because she was an unremarkable good girl. Perhaps due to the typical teenage girl admiration for athletic, gallant strong figures, after this series of events, there seemed to be even more girls in class who were infatuated with Xia Ruoming.

Only two people weren’t like this.

Xu Fengwu and Li Jing.

Li Jing was still stirring things up, saying things like, “Look at this Xia Ruoming, just two days after you rejected her, she’s gone after Chu Suhe. It’s good you didn’t end up with such a fickle person. What’s so good about that woman who’s as thin as a stick anyway?”

“It’s not like that… it’s not like that… it shouldn’t be like this…” Xu Fengwu muttered to herself in a voice too quiet for others to hear. Since Xia Ruoming deleted her as a friend that morning, her mental state seemed somewhat unstable.

The one who should have been protected by Xia Ruoming this way was her, not those wild flowers.

Moreover, Chu Suhe was just some nobody who appeared out of nowhere, how could she be compared to her, Xu Fengwu?

“Oh right, Teacher Xiao, about this morning’s exam…” Xia Ruoming felt a bit embarrassed, after all, it was exam time this morning when she ran off without caring about it.

“So you remember there was an exam?” Xiao Qinghan rolled up her book and lightly hit Xia Ruoming’s head. “Don’t worry, due to lighting issues, the morning exam was postponed. Work hard this afternoon.”

“If I need to work hard, can I get some reward from you, teacher? Where’s the motivation without a reward?”

Xiao Qinghan seemed confused by Xia Ruoming’s words. Speaking in such a flirtatious tone, is this something someone who just went through a breakup would do?

Everyone below was petrified. What does this mean? First Xu Fengwu, and now you’re going after our beloved teacher too?

“If I improve beyond your expectations, how about you treat me to a meal, Teacher Xiao?” Seeing Xiao Qinghan’s expression that was somewhere between anger and amusement, Xia Ruoming leaned close to her ear and whispered.

“Fine, fine, fine. If you don’t meet my expectations, get ready to receive ten sets of practice exam papers from me.” Xiao Qinghan was both annoyed and amused, so many students chase after you and you don’t care at all, but now you’re here flirting with your teacher?

This was the first time Xiao Qinghan had observed Xia Ruoming up close. The newly tied sporty ponytail indeed had the charm of an athletic girl, and those melancholic phoenix eyes appeared even more enchanting at this moment. Even Xiao Qinghan, a committed single, felt her heart skip a beat.

“Pfft… what am I thinking? That’s a student.” Xiao Qinghan slapped her own face and left the classroom with her things.

…

After quickly eating lunch in the cafeteria, Xia Ruoming speedily returned to the classroom, so fast that she didn’t even invite Ji Chuan to eat together.

The main reason was that she didn’t want to run into Xu Fengwu. She couldn’t completely ignore her feelings, and making eye contact would be awkward for both of them.

In the classroom, Ji Chuan was sitting next to Xia Ruoming, listening to her explain problems.

“So, this problem should be solved like this… do you understand?” Xia Ruoming pointed at the scratch paper filled with countless steps, asking Ji Chuan, whose eyes were already glazed over.

“I think… I get it.” Ji Chuan nodded like a pecking chicken, but his words and body language seemed completely mismatched.

“But, sis, do I really need to learn this kind of advanced geometry?”

“Put away the scratch paper and try solving it by yourself.” After saying this, Xia Ruoming picked up her reference book and started preparing for the afternoon exam.

“Ruoming, I don’t understand this problem either, could you teach me too?” A cool voice came over, and a test paper was placed on her desk. When Xia Ruoming heard this familiar voice, she instinctively turned around, showing an expression as if she’d seen a ghost.

Xu Fengwu was pressing the test paper on the desk with her right hand, looking at Xia Ruoming expectantly.

At that moment, Xia Ruoming admitted to herself that she felt a half-second of heart flutter.

It’s not easy to let go of your white moonlight. In her previous life, Xu Fengwu had never shown her such an expression, not commanding, but requesting. Because of this, this moment’s Xu Fengwu made her feel ripples stirring in her heart again.

But that was just ripples after all. The flutter came quickly and left just as fast.

She had never forgotten the lessons from her previous life.

“Sorry, young lady, my abilities are limited and I’m afraid I might affect your studies. You’re someone who’s going to Zhejiang University in the future, better find someone else.” After saying this, Xia Ruoming directly ignored Xu Fengwu and went back to reading her reference book while making notes on the parts that were fuzzy in her memory.

Although her voice wasn’t loud, in the completely quiet classroom, quite a few people heard what Xia Ruoming said. Everyone looked at Xia Ruoming in disbelief.

Throughout three years of high school, she hadn’t gone a day without fawning over Xu Fengwu, and Xu Fengwu had never let their relationship progress even half a step. Now that Xu Fengwu finally took the initiative to approach her once, she coldly rejected her?

Are you out of your mind? You have to be a simp to feel good, right? — Everyone thought to themselves.