I See The Galaxy Chapter 4

For the entirety of the simple birthday party, the two boys spent almost the whole time secretly staring at Yu Xing.

However, Yu Xing did not pay attention to anything else. It had been a while since she’d last seen Su Qiu; when she visited home last week, Su Qiu had to go to make-up classes, and so on and so forth. Their schedules simply did not align with each other, so now that they had the chance to talk, they naturally had a lot to say.

The girls chatted together excitedly, but as the host, Su Qiu made sure the boys were not left out. From morning to evening, everyone involved had an enjoyable time. The two newcomers kept straight faces all throughout, just waiting for the opportunity to act gentlemanly in front of Yu Xing.

That careful and solemn appearance was also somewhat cute.

After dinner, they moved to a quiet bar.

Compared to a regular KTV bar, it was quieter and had a better atmosphere; they could sit and talk while playing games, and there were live performances by resident singers.

Su Qiu and her friends sat down and ordered drinks. They started by playing a dice game, then worked their way through all the popular games at gatherings. When the resident singer finished his performance, the microphone on the small stage was left unattended. Consequently, they all urged each other to go up and sing.

Yu Xing sipped her drink through her straw. She was drinking freshly squeezed fruit juice with extra ice cubes; she liked cold drinks even as the weather grew colder.

She thought that she might as well, since they were still trying to get each other to sing.

“Yu Xing, do you want to go up and sing?”

Jia Ruo, who had just refused to sing herself, saw the chance to divert the attention towards someone else. "That’s right! Yu Xing, you go sing!"

Yu Xing’s smile dropped. "Why dump it on me?"

Jia Ruo begged for mercy, doing her best to coax her into agreeing. “My singing is really bad! Come on, you go sing!”

"I don't sing very well either…"

"It's fine, go ahead."

"But…"

Yu Xing wanted to refuse, but Su Qiu suddenly leaned over. "Just sing one song, you can sing the one we usually sing together when we go to KTV."

Even though she had her birthday gift sent to her friend on her actual birthday, Yu Xing wanted her to be happy, so she finally agreed. She also didn’t want to spoil everyone's fun, and thus ended up going onstage.

Thankfully, there weren’t many people in the store because their group came early. There were only two or three tables of people, even counting the corner booths.

Yu Xing gave in to Su Qiu's pleading. "Just one song."

Su Qiu happily gave her a thumbs up.

After taking the stage, the audio clerk helped her select a song and handed her the microphone. Yu Xing sat on a high wooden stool. The entire area around her was shrouded in darkness, the only light on the stage shining on her.

Both she and Su Qiu liked the song she was about to sing, which was popular nationwide a few decades ago. The original singer had amazing appeal and a good voice, sweet but not overly so.

When the music started playing the gentle and melodious tune, guests at other tables also looked at her.

Yu Xing didn’t think her voice was very sweet, but the song was sweet, and as she continued to sing, she could not help but smile along with them.

—

"Holy shit, what a pretty girl!"

At one of the corner booths of the quiet bar, a sharp-eyed boy was the first to see her on the stage, and as soon as he opened his mouth, the rest looked up and asked, "Where?"

“There–”

It was the girl sitting on a high wooden stool with a face like a painting, the sweet, silky tune and the stage lighting setting the scene for her beauty.

Especially her eyes, they were so pretty.

The group of teenagers stared at her.

Her skin was pale and delicate, as if brushing her face with your fingertips would make her flush red, and even picturing it made people feel guilty.

One of the boys, who had just gotten his hair cut, touched his round head dreamily. "Do you guys think I can pass off as a microphone…"

The table of boys looked at her and held a discussion.

"Definitely not from our school."

"Nonsense, if she was then we would have seen her before.”

"She’s not from the nearby sixth and seventh middle schools, is she?"

“Probably not even from our school district…”

With that, a cell phone was taken out and angled towards the stage to take a picture.

"What are you doing?"

The boy who took the picture sent it to their WeChat group. "Today, Brother Huai did not come, we should show him!"

They were all in their senior year at Dechuan High School, and they shared a school district with the sixth and seventh middle schools.

The boy sent the photo to the group, and in less than half a minute, those who did not go out with them that night immediately blew the chat up with messages.

【Who is this? 】

【Who? 】

【Who is it?】

—

Qin Huai finally appeared and asked: 【Who is this?】

The boy said:【Don’t know, we just saw her at a quiet bar.】

All the boys picked up their mobile phones and joined the group chat; regardless of whether they were present or not, they all contributed their thoughts:

【Prettier than our school flower.】

【Agree.】

【Her voice is so sweet, I’m officially announcing that I’m single.】

【Get off your asses, you idiots! Go ask her for her contact information!】

【Fuck, if I had known there would be such a pretty girl, I would have gone today.】

Qin Huai interrupted, obviously dissatisfied. 【What’s the point of you guys telling me this?]】

Before the boys who were at the quiet bar could respond, someone suddenly discovered:【The skirt she’s wearing, isn’t that part of Lintian’s school uniform?】

After reading the message, no one in the group said anything for a while, all clicking on the photo. The brown skirt shone faintly under the light; there was a two-color pattern thinly embroidered on the skirt, and the bottom edge was embellished with black and gold.

【It looks like it!】

【Damn, you have the eyesight of a god.】

【No, but Lintian’s…]

Although it was also a private high school, Dechuan was quite inferior to Lintian as a whole. Still, that didn’t stop them from knowing what Lintian was like. The skirt did look like Lintian's uniform skirt, but the girls of Lintian, how can one put it? They dressed a lot more bejeweled than other girls their age.

–Yes, bejeweled, that was how exaggerated their manner of dress was.

And this girl was dressed plainly and did not seem to have the same temperament.

They were busy researching whether or not that was Lintian's skirt or not when Qin Huai replied: 【From Lintian?】

Then he didn't say anything else.

By the time their discussion was over, the singing had mostly stopped.

The girl on the stage went back to her seat, and the boys at the corner tables glanced over at her.

"Are you going or not?"

"Why don’t you go?"

"If I get the number, I’ll keep it to myself."

"Fuck you, whatever happened to brotherhood?"

"Why don’t we both… The fuck?"

“Huh?”

Before they decided, they saw everyone at the table get up one after another, the girls holding hands and the boys following behind them. They all stood up and left their seats together, exiting just like that.

“God, what a shame!”

“It’s because you didn’t fucking go early enough.”

“You didn’t either…”

They all blamed one another, and eventually all sighed.

Cowards were cowards, after all.

However, they also somehow felt that… She was so beautiful, they didn’t have much hope to begin with.

—

The only one who wasn’t a coward was probably Qin Huai.

Among the private high schools in Sijiu City, it was true that Dechuan couldn't compare to Lintian, but it didn't mean that their students also couldn't compare. With his family background, Qin Huai could run wild in Dechuan, and he also could have enrolled in Lintian.

–After all, before his grandfather forced him to "suffer" in Dechuan, Qin Huai usually hung out with Jiang Zhiyan and the others.

As an extended member of the ‘princes of the Sheng group’, Qin Huai immediately sent the picture to the ‘right’ person.

But the "right" person didn’t seem to agree with him.

When Sheng Yi received the message, he paused for a second.

First came a picture, then a voice message from Qin Huai. "This girl’s from your school, right? If you recognize her, introduce her to me."

He did not even click on the picture. "You should ask Shen Shiyu about these kinds of things."

Qin Huai: “Okay, fine. I forgot you were so frigid.”

Sheng Yi was all smiles. "I heard you recently bought a new car?"

Qin Huai immediately begged for mercy. "I was wrong, it’s not frigidity, it’s high standards, it’s high standards! Brother, I was wrong, please don’t tell my grandfather!"

Sheng Yi didn’t bother replying.

Just as he was about to put down his phone, a new message pinged the group chat.

Qin Huai had sent the picture to a small group chat and asked Jiang Zhiyan and Shen Shiyu the same question.

Sheng Yi accidentally clicked into the group, so he casually zoomed in on the picture.

The photo was taken from the side, and the lines of the girl's side face were like a well-drawn painting. The curves of her face were without flaws, not too much and not too little, as if gently kissed by fate.

Long and delicate eyelashes over a downward-facing gaze; anyone who saw it would be jealous of the object of her attention.

Sheng Yi looked at it for a while, and the girl in the picture was indeed very beautiful.

But she wasn’t wearing glasses.

The very next second, he closed the group chat, not the least bit interested in the content of Qin Huai's conversation.

—

After celebrating Su Qiu's birthday with her, Yu Xing’s good mood lasted even after she returned to school.

Their mocking and teasing expressions, the malicious ridicule, and all the cruel treatment she received, they barely even fazed her.

She knew what had to be done. Otherwise, why would she have chosen to go to Lintian?

Lintian's faculty was very capable.

Teachers who taught there received double their salary after one year, triple their salary after two years, and free scooters after three years. After five years, in addition to receiving double year-end bonuses, they were also given three-bedroom apartments.

Not only was there a publicly funded trip abroad every summer and winter, but overtime was calculated on a one-week salary, and all allowances were more than three times the usual amount…

Relying on the backgrounds of its students, Lintian offered excellent conditions and had elite resources; there was a clear class gap between Lintian and other schools.

Being specially admitted into Lintian required both strength and luck, and Yu Xing had long since been mentally prepared for what she’d have to face.

Everything came with a price, and bowing down to the reality of her environment was the price she had to pay.

Yu Xing was easygoing and carefree for the rest of the week. She met Fan Xiangxiang once, but she directly ignored her existence and the contempt written on her face; after the first two days, her glare was no longer as lethal as before.

Perhaps because of her good mood, her week went by surprisingly quickly.

That Saturday afternoon, she copied her homework answers as per usual. Her aunt said she would take her to dinner with Uncle Zhan on her day off, and Yu Xing thought about it as she wrote. No matter what happened, she was always in a good mood when she could spend time with her aunt.

When the bell rang, Yu Xing didn't wait for Qiu Huini to say anything and slipped the paper with the transcribed answers into her book, walking away casually.

“Why is she so happy?”

Qiu Huini looked at the book on her table, confused. She didn’t even get to say a single word.

Xia Yuanqing’s mouth twitched disapprovingly. "Who knows? She was probably rushing to go eat dinner."

—

On her rest day, Yu Xing arrived home early in the morning.

It was before ten o'clock, not even lunch time. Yu Xing was huddled on the sofa, eating fruit and chatting with Yu Wanzhen.

While they were talking, she couldn't help but bring up who they were about to meet.

“--Auntie, do you like him?”

Yu Wanzhen tapped her lightly on the head. “Young lady, is that all you think about?”

“Do you like him or not?”

“You keep asking this question, do you like Uncle Zhan a lot?”

"It doesn't matter if I like him or not." Yu Xing leaned into her embrace. "As long as you like him, I like him,” she said seriously. Her tone carried an undercurrent of expectation, like she was expecting a positive response.

“It’s just a meal, why are you taking it so seriously? We’ll talk about this later.” Yu Wanzhen avoided the question, instead patting her on the back. “Go change your clothes, then I’ll braid your hair. We’ll leave once we’re ready.”

"You’re going to braid my hair again?" Yu Xing muttered as he walked towards the room, unable to get an answer to her earlier question.

Yu Wanzhen reminded her, "Take off those ugly glasses of yours!" After a pause, she couldn’t resist saying, "Your bangs are like iron curtains, if I don’t braid your hair, who else will..."

Yu Xing moved quickly, mainly because she didn’t dress up much. She only put on a jacket, not changing her sweater or her school skirt and leggings. Before leaving the room, she remembered that there were some loose things in her clothes, so she went back to her bed and emptied out her pockets.

Out came a key, spare change, and several other miscellaneous items. Yu Xing usually did not look carefully at things and just stuffed them mindlessly into her jacket pockets.

Translator's Note:

for some reason translating the texts made me laugh, i kinda want to get to the next parts as fast as i can just so i can reread the text convos. something something recontextualizing chinese into english, i'm just glad i get to make them say fuck