Chapter 51: Same Kind

In the warehouse, it was so quiet that the only sounds could be heard were each other’s breathing and the occasional cooing of pigeons on the distant beams.
She didn’t know how to respond to that confession.
She didn’t even dare to think about the weight behind those three words.
She could only choose to pretend not to hear.
After a long time, so long that Xiahou Ming thought she would hold her like this until dark, Lin Xiaomei finally let go of her arms.
She leaned her head on Xiahou Ming’s chest.
Xiahou Ming could clearly feel that the other person’s cheek, stained with tears and blood, was pressed against her bulging chest through the thin school uniform fabric.
The burning sensation after being confessed seemed to penetrate the fabric and be branded on her skin.
“…Can you walk on your own?”
The head in her arms shook like a puppy.
Then, a muffled sound came from her chest.
“But I can crawl.”
Xiahou Ming looked at her like this, and all her emotions turned into a long sigh.
She reached out and pushed Lin Xiaomei away from her.
“I haven’t forgiven you yet.”
She looked at Lin Xiaomei’s dim eyes.
“The things you did to her…”
She walked to the side, picked up Lin Xiaomei’s T-shirt, which still smelled of sweat, and threw it on her head.
“Put it on.”
Lin Xiaomei silently put the clothes on her young body.
Xiahou Ming turned around, faced her with her back, and half-knelt down.
“…Come up.”
Lin Xiaomei looked at her slender yet reliable back, and the expression on her face brightened little by little.
Finally, a brilliant smile bloomed, a smile of fulfillment.
Xiahou Ming carried Lin Xiaomei on her back and pushed open the creaking door.
The afternoon sun suddenly rushed in, blinding her eyes.
There was a person standing at the door.
The squad leader.
She was wearing a clean and tidy school uniform and looked at them calmly, as if she had been waiting here for a long time.
Xiahou Ming didn’t expect to see this face here.
“The first class of the afternoon has already started for twenty minutes.”
Xiahou Ming walked straight past her without looking around.
“Get out of the way.”
Lin Xiaomei was also on her back, weakly raising her chin toward the monitor and echoing:
“…A good dog doesn’t block the road.”
The squad leader didn’t get angry, and her expression didn’t change at all.
“…Go to the infirmary. I have the key.”
Xiahou Ming was silent for a moment, and finally turned around reluctantly and looked at the calm girl.
She was not tall, even shorter than Xiahou Ming was now.
She was wearing a clean school uniform and a pair of thick black-framed glasses.
She had long, slightly curly black hair, meticulously combed back.
The whole person looked like a little squirrel ready for winter at any time.
“Why are you here?”
The monitor did not answer directly, but asked:
“So where do you think I should be?”
“None of you, Lin Xiaomei, or Yu Yuhui came back for class this afternoon.”
“I guessed there’s a high probability that you’d be here.”
She paused, turned her head, and glanced at Lin Xiaomei.
“At least, Lin Xiaomei is here. I come here to read occasionally and have bumped into her a few times.”
The squad leader’s words were like a stone thrown into Xiahou Ming’s already confused heart.
But what caused ripples was not the part about Lin Xiaomei.
“Wait…” Xiahou Ming suddenly stopped, “You said… Yu Yuhui didn’t return to the classroom either?”
“Um.”
Just as Xiahou Ming was about to continue asking questions—
“Hiss—!”
A sharp pain suddenly came from her shoulder.
She gasped in pain and subconsciously wanted to throw the person off her back.
She turned her head and saw Lin Xiaomei burying her face in her shoulder.
“What are you doing!?”
Lin Xiaomei didn’t answer, but just stared at Xiahou Ming.
Her eyes were filled with grievance, anger, and a kind of morbid satisfaction.
The squad leader stood aside, watching the scene before her—
One girl was carrying the other on her back while the other was biting her.
“So, what’s going on between you and Lin Xiaomei?”
“…There was a fight.”
“Is it because of Yu Yuhui? I saw her coming out of the bathroom at noon with a cut on the corner of her mouth.”
Xiahou Ming did not answer, but her silence was the best answer.
“You guys…” The class monitor shook her head, “You’ve been the focus of the class since we were divided into different classes.”
“First, it was you, along with Lin Xiaomei and the others, who were domineering in the class. Then, you became a girl, and Lin Xiaomei took over your place…”
“Honestly, watching you guys is really… quite interesting.”
“As the squad leader,” Xiahou Ming asked, “shouldn’t you stop us?”
“Will you listen?” The squad leader chuckled. “I tried to persuade Lin Xiaomei at noon.”
“…That’s true.”
“And…”
She looked at the students who were taking physical education classes on the playground in the distance, and her eyes became a little distant.
“Don’t you think that’s… boring?”
Xiahou Ming was silent.
She discovered that under this seemingly normal body, there seemed to be someone of their kind.
She didn’t ask any more questions about Yu Yuhui.
Enduring the pain in her shoulder, she walked toward the infirmary.
Lin Xiaomei lay on Xiahou Ming’s back.
Maybe she was tired or something, but she actually fell asleep and made even breathing sounds.
Finally, they arrived at the door of the infirmary.
The monitor took out a bunch of keys from her pocket, found one of them skillfully, and opened the door.
Xiahou Ming carefully placed Lin Xiaomei on the hospital bed covered with white sheets.
The monitor walked over to the medicine cabinet, pulled out disinfectant, cotton swabs, and a roll of clean bandages, and placed them on the bedside table.
“You come, or should I?”
Xiahou Ming looked at the defenseless figure on the bed, then looked at her own hands that still retained the touch of violence, and felt mixed emotions.
“…You come on.” She finally chose to escape, “You’re a girl, it’s more convenient.”
When the squad leader heard this excuse, she raised her eyes and looked at Xiahou Ming quietly for three full seconds through the thick lenses with a look as if she was an idiot.
“Xiahou Ming, you are also a girl now.”
Xiahou Ming’s body trembled.
The monitor did not continue the topic.
She unscrewed the bottle cap of disinfectant, picked up a cotton ball with tweezers, and skillfully began to clean the blood from the corner of Lin Xiaomei’s mouth.
Xiahou Ming looked at this scene and felt like a superfluous person.
She turned around and prepared to leave.
“Wait.”
The squad leader’s voice came from behind.
“Your face.”
“…What?”
“There’s a three-centimeter scratch on your left cheek, and it’s still bleeding.” The squad leader raised her eyes. “And your arm, do you need me to take care of it?”
Xiahou Ming subconsciously touched her cheek and felt a burning pain.
Only then did she realize that she was also injured when she fell from the tree.
“No.”
The monitor seemed to have expected her to say that and did not insist.
“Whatever you want,” she lowered her head and continued to treat Lin Xiaomei’s wound. “By the way, let me remind you.”
“Tomorrow is the school anniversary.”
“You probably didn’t hear what Teacher Wang said in the class meeting this morning.”
School anniversary.
Tomorrow.
She had to do something.
“Shen Mo,” she suddenly spoke.
The monitor raised her head and looked at her in confusion.
“I won’t go to the afternoon classes.”
“You…”
Before the squad leader could react, Xiahou Ming had already walked out of the infirmary.
She was going to confirm something.