Chapter 130: The Meaning of Friendship (Part Two)

But for Xiaolei, this was the worst possible situation—the one she dreaded facing most.

For someone as timid and painfully shy as she was, standing at the front of the classroom and introducing herself while more than thirty pairs of eyes stared at her was unbearable. Her stomach twisted painfully, and her whole body began to tremble.

“My name is Lin—Lin... Xiaoxiaoxiaoyu...”

Her clumsy voice emerged no louder than the buzz of a mosquito, and, just as she had feared, the entire class burst into laughter.

How pathetic!

Xiaolei sank into despair beyond recovery.

Surely the place most suited to her was still the darkness of solitude, where she could crouch alone in a corner with her knees hugged to her chest.

When no one noticed her, she actually felt somewhat safer.

There were more girls than boys in the class, and many of them pointed at Xiaolei’s disproportionate chest and whispered among themselves. To elementary-school children only a few years old, a figure that would have inspired envy in adults made her look like a monster when she stood among them.

Even more of them cast her contemptuous, disdainful looks. Those gazes, as though they were staring at some freak, caused Xiaolei’s heart to ache constantly.

From that day onward, she acquired a new title: the Busty Demon.

Xiaolei could do nothing but lower her head and silently accept it. She did not dare say a word, because whatever she said would only invite more ridicule.

Whether going to school, returning home, or sitting in class, she kept her head lowered, as though trying to turn herself invisible within that space.

Her sensitive heart grew even more fragile, until she had practically become a mute.

Only when she returned home and threw herself into her sister’s arms could she finally burst into tears and release all the grievances trapped inside her.

One day, on her way to school, Xiaolei tripped over a pothole in the road.

She cried out in pain and fell to the ground, immediately attracting the attention of everyone passing by. For Xiaolei, who had resolved to become invisible, this was the worst situation imaginable. She could almost hear the whispers and snickers beginning around her.

To make matters worse, the flap of her schoolbag had come open. When she fell, her textbooks, workbooks, pencils, and erasers scattered across the ground.

By the time she struggled to her feet, a ring of people had gathered around her. At that hour, nearly everyone on the road was a student from her school.

Yet not a single person came to help. They merely stood to one side, pointing and snickering.

The rumor was that anyone who got too close to the Busty Demon would turn into a monster just like her!

Xiaolei lowered her head and stared blankly at her scraped knee. Bright red blood kept seeping from the wound, and the injured flesh throbbed with a needle-like pain. But the pain in her heart was worse.

It had rained the day before, and the ground was still damp. Her notebook and stationery had fallen directly into a puddle before her and were now thoroughly soaked with muddy water.

Xiaolei had no idea what to do. The chattering laughter around her sounded like thunder exploding beside her ears.

A tremendous sense of injustice welled up inside her. She lowered her head and desperately fought to keep her tears from falling.

“Hey! Don’t crouch there like such a coward! If someone dares insult you, you have to fight back!”

A clear, ringing voice sounded.

Xiaolei raised her head. A child was holding out a hand to her.

The commotion around them seemed to grow even louder.

Xiaolei stared blankly at the girl before her. She wore a fluffy dress, and her delicate face held a pair of jewel-like eyes. With one hand on her hip, she looked like a princess from a fairy tale, her little mouth slightly pursed as she gazed down at Xiaolei with an air of pride.

She stood there shining like the sun. Before Xiaolei could react, the girl had already crouched down, quickly gathered up her belongings, wiped away the water with a tissue, and placed everything back into Xiaolei’s schoolbag.

“Can you stand?”

“Ah, I—I—I...”

The sudden question sent Xiaolei into a panic.

She had never spoken to anyone after leaving home. At that moment, she was so tongue-tied that she seemed to have lost the power of speech entirely.

What should she do? This was the first person who had ever spoken to her!

Although this girl seemed to glow whenever she walked, like a real princess, someone like her surely belonged to a completely different world from Xiaolei’s own...

Even so, Xiaolei could not suppress the joy in her heart. At last, someone had spoken to her!

They had been only two simple sentences, yet her heart was pounding wildly. Only then did she realize that she, too, longed to communicate with other people.

But this was not the time to dwell on that. She had to answer, or she might lose this one precious chance to make a friend.

Her lips were half parted, yet no sound would come out. She had practiced greeting people so many times at home, but now she simply could not speak.

“Heeheehee, could it be that you’re in so much pain you can’t talk? Honestly, you’re hopeless. I suppose I’ll have to use a magical artifact from the Otherworld to heal you!”

The girl suddenly began to laugh, spouting words that made no sense, and crouched down.

When she stood again, a pink bandage had appeared on Xiaolei’s knee.

This was no cheap medicine bought from a drugstore. The thin cloth carried a soothing touch, and in hardly any time at all, Xiaolei felt as though her wound had completely healed—as if it truly were a miracle created by magic, just as the girl had claimed.

“Th—thank you!”

Xiaolei rose to her feet, and a voice so faint it was almost inaudible escaped her lips.

“Ah! Th—that’s it! We’ve resonated!”

The girl suddenly covered her eyes and cried out, throwing Xiaolei into another panic.

“Are—you all right?”

Only after a moment did the girl stop, panting heavily. She stared at Xiaolei in astonishment.

“I see. So you, too, are one of those exiled by this world...”

“Wh—what? Exiled?”

“Don’t worry!”

Completely ignoring Xiaolei’s confusion, the girl patted her on the shoulder and smiled.

“You really are hopeless. I am the queen of the vampire race. From this day forward, you shall become my servant.”

Pointing at Xiaolei, the girl revealed a row of white teeth and, without allowing any room for refusal, declared Xiaolei’s new identity.

This was how Xiaolei met Tuantuan.

From that day onward, Xiaolei gradually became more cheerful. She no longer had to walk to school alone. Tuantuan seemed to possess some kind of magical power that never left her; once Xiaolei had felt it, even other people’s stares and laughter no longer seemed quite so unbearable.

At school, too, she was never alone as long as she stayed with Tuantuan.

Whether pairing up for conversations in English class, practicing in groups during physical education, or eating in the cafeteria, she no longer had to curl up alone in a corner as she once had.

Tuantuan was lively and fearless, while Xiaolei could only trail behind her like a little follower. Even so, it filled Xiaolei with happiness.

From elementary school to middle school and then high school, the two were extraordinarily lucky: they were never separated and always remained in the same class.

They spent their summer and winter vacations, Children’s Day, Christmas, and even Valentine’s Day together. They became close friends who could tell each other anything. They visited each other’s homes and grew familiar with each other’s sisters. From time to time, they even spent the night at one another’s houses.

Whenever they slept together, lying side by side in the same bed, they always had endless things to talk about. Almost all of it was Tuantuan chattering away, leaving Xiaolei hardly any chance to get a word in, but simply listening quietly still made Xiaolei’s heart feel warm, surrounded by a sense of comfort and intimacy.

As time passed, the two girls slowly grew up, and their relationship became ever closer.

Yet whenever she had a moment to herself, Xiaolei would unconsciously wonder whether Tuantuan had always been the one taking care of her, while she had never done anything for Tuantuan in return.

“Xiaolei, this is for you.”

“Xiaolei, I’m taking you somewhere fun today.”

“You ignorant fools! Whoever dares bully Xiaolei, I’ll beat him to a pulp!”

...

Tuantuan had always been like that, quietly caring for her.

Once, several boys had cornered Xiaolei against a wall. Tuantuan had charged over from a distance and rescued her, then grabbed a brick and chased the boys all the way into the men’s restroom, where she fought them with everything she had.

Although she was covered in bruises afterward, she had still stood before Xiaolei with a smug, triumphant grin and declared that those boys had been hurt far worse than she had.

And what had Xiaolei ever done for her?

Whenever trouble arose, all she could do was cry.

Compared with Tuantuan, who was clever and excelled at every sport, Xiaolei was merely a rather slow-witted girl. She had never scored more than twenty points in any subject and could only narrowly survive her final exams because Tuantuan, the top student in the entire grade, stayed up all night tutoring her.

Her physical fitness was even worse. The weight of her chest left her at the very bottom whenever the class ran long-distance races or performed sit-ups.

Someone like her could only cause trouble for Tuantuan...

Tuantuan had never once shown impatience with her, but Xiaolei’s unease continued to grow. She felt that if things went on this way, she would eventually lose Tuantuan as a friend.

She wanted to do something for Tuantuan, even if it was only a little. That thought continued to grow within her heart.

And now, seeing Tuantuan lying on the ground with a pained expression, Xiaolei felt an even deeper ache.

At that moment, Tuantuan looked so helpless. She was no longer the Tuantuan of the past—the girl who always knew what to do, no matter the circumstances, and who always wore a bright smile.

“Brother Kong Zhe... do you have any more magic potions?”

Her very best friend needed her help. How could she give up so easily?

“I do, but you...”

“Don’t worry. I’m fine...”

Compared with what Tuantuan was suffering, this little pain of hers was nothing.

“Right now, I have to help my friend. No matter how exhausted I become, as long as I can ease even a little of her suffering, it will all be worth it...”

She needed no other reason. Tuantuan was simply a very, very important friend to her.

Her cheerfulness, her strength, the nonsensical things she was always saying, the way she immediately pulled herself together whenever she became discouraged—she seemed carefree and thoughtless, yet deep down she was incredibly gentle, always making a sincere effort to consider other people’s feelings...

https: