Rejected by the Campus Belle, I Find My True Love-Chapter 73: The Christmas Tree is Broken

Normally, Xue Yang’s hands were the warmest, and she loved to hold them to warm herself, sometimes even pressing them against her face for their comforting heat. Now, however, his hands were as cold as ice. Lin Xi spread open his palm and saw that it was red and raw from the cold.

It wasn’t just his hands, but his entire body. When she had thrown herself at him earlier, he had clearly been shivering.

Lin Xi immediately felt a pang of heartache.

Xue Yang pulled his hand back and blew warm air into it, speaking in a relaxed tone. "I caught a bit of a chill on the way back, it’s nothing. I’ll warm up soon."

Xue Yang tried to pull his hand away again, but Lin Xi held it firm. Then, she did something completely unexpected—she guided his hand under her shirt, pressing it against the warmth of her stomach.

"I heard your stomach is the warmest part of your body. Let me warm you up."

Xue Yang stared, dumbfounded, at the earnest girl seriously warming his hand against her skin. A strange feeling surged through his heart, and at that moment, it felt as if all the hardships of the day had been swept away.

Her stomach was indeed very warm, but Xue Yang didn’t let himself indulge in the tender moment.

"I’m fine. You’re a girl; you need to keep your own stomach warm."

"I’m not afraid of the cold."

"I bought you something tasty."

Hearing the promise of a tasty treat, the little glutton’s eyes instantly lit up. "What is it?"

Xue Yang pulled his hand back and, like a magician, produced a paper bag from inside his jacket. "Roasted sweet potatoes."

"Roasted sweet potatoes?"

Lin Xi immediately grabbed the bag. The moment she opened it, the rich, sweet aroma of roasted sweet potatoes wafted out.

"It smells so good!" Lin Xi took out a sweet potato. "It’s still hot! Why didn’t you hold it in your hand? That would have kept you warm."

"It would have cooled down too quickly in my hand. Keeping it inside my jacket kept it warm longer."

Lin Xi froze for a second, a lump forming in her throat. "Xue Yang..." she murmured, throwing herself into his arms. At that moment, the two-day wait no longer seemed so agonizing.

Her boy had been running around outside for two days, but he still remembered to take her out, buy Christmas trees, and even bring her roasted sweet potatoes. All this, despite her having never even eaten a so-called roasted sweet potato before.

"Eat up before it gets cold. It won’t taste as good then."

The two of them sat on the sofa, snuggled together, eating the warm sweet potatoes. The coldness in Xue Yang’s body slowly faded. After they finished eating, neither of them wanted to move. They just stayed nestled together, perfectly content in the comfortable silence.

Lost in thought, Lin Xi suddenly looked up. "Xue Yang, I took good care of the Christmas trees! Let me show you."

"Okay."

Lin Xi put on her shoes and clattered into her room. She grabbed the two miniature Christmas trees from the table, but as she turned, she rushed and bumped her leg against a stool. Her grip loosened, and with a crash, both trees fell to the floor, shattering the beautifully formed crystal branches into pieces.

OH NO!

Hearing her cry, Xue Yang set down the last of the sweet potato, leaped over the sofa, and rushed into the room. "Lin Xi, what happened?"

Lin Xi stood there, stunned. When she saw Xue Yang, her eyes immediately welled up with tears. "Xue Yang, the Christmas trees... they’re ruined!" she cried. "What do I do?"

I took such good care of them all day. Everything was going so well, and now it’s all ruined. WAAAAH... What am I going to do?

Xue Yang walked over and glanced at the destroyed trees on the floor, now nothing more than bare paper cutouts. He took Lin Xi’s hand and soothed her gently. "It’s okay. So they broke. They’re just two paper trees, that’s all. Don’t cry."

"But... those were for our first Christmas together! They were special, and now they’re broken."

Lin Xi’s heart filled with unease. Does this mean something bad is going to happen?

The thought made her cry even harder. Tears streamed down her face like a broken string of pearls, and no matter how many Xue Yang wiped away, more would fall.

"Stop crying. I’ll make you two new ones."

Lin Xi sniffled, her beautiful, tear-filled eyes staring blankly at him. "You know how to make them?"

"Are you underestimating your boyfriend?"

"But... how?"

Xue Yang led her to the table and sat her down. "First, you cut out paper models of the Christmas trees you want and paint them in your favorite colors. Leave the rest to me."

Lin Xi’s crafting skills were undoubtedly strong. Using the broken ones as a template, she soon created two new paper Christmas trees. The original set had included one plain green tree and one multicolored one. Not wanting Xue Yang’s tree to be just a plain backdrop, she painted both new trees with a rainbow of colors. However, she made the tree representing Xue Yang much taller, while her own was small and delicate. When placed together, the taller tree looked as if it were sheltering the smaller one from the wind and rain.

Meanwhile, Xue Yang rummaged through a box and found some leftover potassium dihydrogen phosphate powder from a school experiment. Luckily, he hadn’t thrown these things out when they moved; he’d kept them in case Lin Xi needed them for her self-study of chemistry.

He prepared a container and poured in the right amount of the powder. After adding warm water, he used a pipette to stir and accelerate dissolution until the solution reached a saturated state. Then, using the same pipette, he dripped the saturated solution onto the paper trees Lin Xi had made, ensuring the entire paper structure was damp.

Once finished, Xue Yang placed the Christmas trees in a dry, well-ventilated spot near the window.

"There. Now we just wait for them to blossom."

"Can they really blossom?"

"Now, time for bed. When you wake up, they’ll have blossomed."

Thinking about how quickly Xue Yang had fallen asleep last night and how he had been running around all day, Lin Xi didn’t argue. She obediently lay down and went to sleep.

***

「In the student council office」

Members were organizing this year’s membership applications. Interviews were scheduled for Monday afternoon. Applicants who passed would become members, while those aiming for the presidency would require a further interview. Because of this, the council members worked through their Sunday.

Zhou Wenqian asked while sorting recommendation letters, "Vice President, how did it go? Is Xue Yang applying to join the student council?"

Chen Ying, who was checking some files, paused for a moment before saying dismissively, "I realized I deleted all his contact information a while ago, so I couldn’t invite him."

"That’s a shame." Zhou Wenqian sighed regretfully as she returned to the letters. If even the Vice President can’t get Xue Yang to join, then no one can.

Suddenly, a familiar name caught her eye. She picked up the recommendation letter and looked closely. After confirming she wasn’t mistaken, she turned to Chen Ying, her voice filled with excitement.