Chapter 26

The next day was Monday.

Su Miao Miao was exceptionally allowed to skip the flag-raising ceremony and other collective activities, so after arriving at school in the morning, she stayed in the classroom, sitting at her desk.

Her seat was by the window, and the October morning sunlight was warm. The clear blue sky outside seemed to rise higher, with the clouds at the horizon edged with a faint golden hue.

A morning breeze, carrying a hint of coolness, brought back the bright voices from under the vibrant red flag outside several buildings.

Su Miao Miao listened absentmindedly, staring out the window in a daze.

Before long, the flag-raising ceremony ended, and the sounds of footsteps and conversations gradually filled the corridor.

—

“Really? That can’t be true…”

“I don’t believe it either.”

“…It’s true! The rumor spread before the flag-raising in the senior year area, and everyone is talking about it.”

“Shang Yan hasn’t shown up today, so it might be true.”

“Didn’t quite a few people see it happen?”

“If that’s the case, then… well, doesn’t that mean the other girls at school have a chance now…”

“Right.”

The name mentioned in the discussions caught Su Miao Miao’s attention.

She turned to look towards the front of the classroom.

The girls who had been talking walked in just then. As soon as they met Su Miao Miao’s gaze, they all fell silent and returned to their seats.

Su Miao Miao grew even more puzzled.

Half a minute later, Qi Wenyue and her desk mate, Liao Lanxin, also returned, arm in arm.

As they passed by Su Miao Miao’s seat, Qi Wenyue seemed to want to say something, but Liao Lanxin pulled her back, causing her to swallow her words with frustration.

The two of them sat down, and Su Miao Miao couldn’t help but turn around.

The three exchanged glances, and there was an awkward silence for a few seconds.

Liao Lanxin calmly spoke up, “I think what Miao Miao wants to ask and what you want to say are probably the same thing.”

Qi Wenyue and Su Miao Miao looked at each other.”I can’t hold it in anymore,” Qi Wenyue said quickly. “Miao Miao, the whole school is buzzing about it—everyone’s saying that yesterday at the birthday party, Shu Wei broke up with Shang Yan and then kissed another boy from her class! Is this true or not?!”

“…”

After listening to Qi Wenyue, Su Miao Miao frowned slightly.

“My dear Miao Miao, please don’t keep me in suspense.”

Qi Wenyue clasped her hands in front of her, shaking them with a distressed look on her face—”I nearly got into a fight with someone from another class over this. You have to give me an answer.”

Su Miao Miao was momentarily distracted by this information—”What’s there to argue about?” she asked.

Qi Wenyue indignantly puffed out her chest, “Our Brother Yan would never be dumped by Shu Wei!”

But then she deflated, “But the seniors are so adamant about it, I’m really confused.”

Seeing Qi Wenyue’s scrunched-up face, Su Miao Miao couldn’t help but laugh.

“…You can still laugh?” Qi Wenyue looked at her dejectedly.

“Your mentor is being made out to be heartbroken and devastated. Everyone in school is saying he’s so hurt by love that he didn’t even attend the flag-raising ceremony.”

Hearing this, Su Miao Miao was taken aback.

Once she processed it, her eyes crinkled even more with amusement.

Qi Wenyue was annoyed. “You’re still laughing!”

“You said it yourself, do you believe it?”

Su Miao Miao tried to hold back her laughter, looking at her with slightly curved eyes.

Qi Wenyue paused, then helplessly covered her face and laughed too. “That’s why I said they’re imagining things. How could our Brother Yan be the kind of person who gets heartbroken?”

Su Miao Miao ignored her nonsense and spoke softly, “I was there yesterday.”

“…???”

Qi Wenyue’s eyes lit up instantly, and she slapped her hands on the desk. “I knew it, you must have some insider information… Spill it!”

Su Miao Miao thought for a moment and then shook her head. “I can’t say much, but Master said he has no relationship with Shu Wei.”

Qi Wenyue blinked.

“Huh? Huh??… That sounds simple enough, but why does it feel like there’s more to it?”

She turned around. “What do you think, deskmate?”

Liao Lanxin, who had already started working on her assignments, lifted her eyelids and said, “It means exactly what it says—no relationship. How else can you interpret it?”

Qi Wenyue replied, “But the whole school has been saying they’ve been a couple for a year. How could they not be—”

Qi Wenyue’s voice stopped abruptly, and she turned to Liao Lanxin in shock. “Was it all just Shu Wei’s one-sided wishful thinking?”

Liao Lanxin, propping her head on her hand and twirling a pen, thought for a moment. “I think it was just wishful thinking on Shu Wei’s part. Shang Yan probably got annoyed by it and just never bothered to deny it.”

Qi Wenyue asked, “Annoyed? Annoyed by what?”

“…Don’t you remember how it was during the first semester of our freshman year? Our classroom door was always crowded right after class,” Liao Lanxin replied with a look of disdain.

Recalling the scene, Qi Wenyue’s expression froze slightly.

After a while, she shook her head and sighed. “I see… But if that’s the case, why did Brother Yan suddenly deny it now?”

“…”

Liao Lanxin seemed to glance at Su Miao Miao unintentionally upon hearing this.

After a two-second pause, she smiled slightly at Su Miao Miao.

Then Liao, the academic prodigy, lowered her head and continued with her exercises. “It didn’t matter before, but it matters now.”

“…Huh?” The distracted Qi Wenyue quickly turned back. “What do you mean ‘didn’t matter before, but matters now’—desk mate, don’t leave things half-said!”

But Liao Lanxin ignored her.

Su Miao Miao reached up and lightly touched the tip of her nose.

The girl slowly turned back.

For some reason…

After that look from Liao Lanxin, she now felt inexplicably guilty.

…..

With less than five minutes left until the first class, the classroom had gradually quieted down.

Suddenly, the sound of the door opening drew the attention of some students, causing them to look up.

After a few seconds of silence, the class suddenly became restless again.

Still engrossed in her book, Su Miao Miao raised her head in confusion, following everyone else’s gaze.

Before she could see clearly, her view was filled by a tall, slender figure.

—

The boy seemed to have run up, his breath unusually uneven. A few strands of his black hair were damp with sweat, messily framing his pale forehead.

In a soft voice, Su Miao Miao asked, “Why are you just now…”

Before she could finish the word “here,” she was interrupted.

A beautifully long, slender hand placed a light gray thermos cup in front of her.

Su Miao Miao was momentarily stunned. “…What’s this?”

“Hot milk,” Shang Yan replied, taking off his backpack.

After a moment’s thought, he added, “It’s reheated. I heard it’s the most nutritious and highest quality available in the country.”

He gave a slight smile and looked at her with a playful expression. “I’ll bring it to you every day. Grow a few more centimeters to make up for your mentor’s diligent efforts… understand, kid?”

“…”

Feeling insulted about her height again, Su Miao Miao glared at him, puffing her cheeks.

“You missed the flag-raising ceremony today, that’s not right. The teacher will—”

Before she could finish her sentence, someone lightly pinched her chin.

—

It was the same technique as yesterday, very effective.

But this time, many eyes from the back of the classroom were watching.

The girl was almost furious enough to burst.

The boy looking down at her had dark, slightly hoarse eyes, softened by a post-exercise laziness.

“You know, for this thing,” he said, his gaze dropping to the cup in her hand, “I ran all over C City this morning.”

Su Miao Miao was stunned.

After a few seconds, she hesitantly lifted the thermos cup she was holding, and in a small, guilty voice, asked, “This?”

“Yes.”

Shang Yan withdrew his hand. “This product line has become rare in physical stores, so it took some time to find.”

Su Miao Miao’s gaze swept over the boy’s uncharacteristically disheveled profile.

She blinked lightly.

Lowering her head, she looked at the thermos cup in her hands, unconsciously gripping it a bit tighter.

A hand reached over and gently rubbed the top of her head. “Drink it before class ends.”

“One cup every day. I’ll check the results during the end-of-term physical.”

“…”

Su Miao Miao opened the cup, and the warm, fragrant milk wafted up. She took a sip.

It was a little sweet.

The warmth of the milk made her eyes slightly moist.

“What results are you checking for?” she asked in a soft, muffled voice.

The boy beside her chuckled, pausing his action of picking up a book. “Two centimeters… will that be too difficult for you?”

Su Miaomiao: “………………”

She was about to explode with anger.

**

In the first chemistry class on Monday for the sophomore class, the teacher, Mr. Li Shijie, looked over at the solitary desk in the front row after class.

“Shang Yan.”

The class fell silent, with no response.

Su Miao Miao snapped out of a painful chemistry problem and turned to look beside her.

—

The boy at the desk was wearing noise-canceling headphones, his eyelashes resting on his pale lids as he slept deeply.

“Shang Yan?” Mr. Li raised his voice and called again.

“…”

The person remained in a deep sleep.

Mr. Li furrowed his brow, feeling somewhat helpless.

—

Shang Yan excelled in physics and chemistry, so the lessons prepared by the teachers for the majority of students were indeed unnecessary for him. Although he never paid attention in class, he also didn’t cause any trouble, just peacefully sleeping with noise-canceling headphones on.

It really left Mr. Li at a loss for words.Just as Mr. Li was about to dismiss his previous thoughts and arrange another time for a talk, he noticed the girl sitting next to the boy hesitate.

Su Miao Miao boldly reached out and pulled off the headphones from the side facing her.

The classroom fell eerily silent as everyone watched the girl’s silhouette.

Meanwhile, the boy, disturbed from his sleep, slowly opened his eyes. His eyes were dark and unfocused.

The girl who had removed his headphones carefully raised her fingertip and said, “Shang Yan, Teacher Li is calling you.”

There was a brief silence in the air.

The boy furrowed his brow slightly and impatiently took off the headphones, standing up in slow motion.

—

There was none of the explosive reaction the students had expected.

He glanced at his watch.

The first class was already over.

“…Did you finish it?”

His voice was heavy with sleepiness and a hint of hoarseness, low and deep.

The girl realized and nodded slowly.

Shang Yan lazily drooped his eyelids, yawned, and spoke with a tired voice.

There was no expression on his pale handsome face.

“…Good girl.”

After saying this, he straightened up from his seat and walked to the front of the classroom.

“Teacher, you wanted to see me.”

“Ah, yes,” Mr. Li snapped out of it.

“Come outside the classroom with me for a moment.”

…

Shang Yan still looked half asleep as he sluggishly walked outside.

Mr. Li, just stepping down from the platform, glanced back at Su Miao Miao’s direction with a puzzled and curious expression.

Outside the classroom, students from another class were boisterously playing around after class, with some chasing each other and even running outside the door of their classroom. However, as soon as they caught sight of Shang Yan walking behind Mr. Li, their expressions changed slightly, and they retreated one by one.

Seeing this scene, Mr. Li couldn’t help but find it somewhat amusing. He turned to look at the boy behind him.

—

Shang Yan looked like he could fall asleep on the spot if you just gave him a stick to lean on.

Mr. Li, feeling helpless, asked, “Has the computer group been very busy lately?”

“…Not really.” Shang Yan pinched his brow, trying to wake up a bit.

Mr. Li raised an eyebrow. “Then why do you look like you’ve just come out of a camp for sleep-deprived refugees for three days?”

Shang Yan lazily pulled the corner of his lip. “I stayed up late last night helping Teacher Huang with a script.”

Mr. Li raised his eyebrows again. “…So, you didn’t attend the flag-raising ceremony this morning because of that?”

“No.”

“Then why?”

“…It’s personal.”

Mr. Li’s expression darkened slightly. “Personal?… Is it really as the school rumors say?”

Shang Yan looked genuinely surprised. “What rumors?”

“You and that senior, Shu Wei…”

As Mr. Li spoke, he seemed to feel that he was going down the wrong path and furrowed his brow even tighter.

“Shang Yan, the teacher knows you’re smart and that academics come easily to you. But you also have responsibilities in the computer group… Besides, during this stage of being a student, studies should be your priority. Relationships can wait until university, right? Is it really worth jeopardizing your studies for something like this?”

“…Relationships?” Shang Yan scoffed lightly. “Teacher, don’t look for me. It’s quicker to find the rumor-mongers to sort this out.”

Mr. Li was taken aback. “Are you saying… there’s nothing going on?”

“Yeah.”

“I knew it…” Mr. Li breathed a sigh of relief. “Then why didn’t you attend the flag-raising ceremony this morning?”

Shang Yan fell silent for a moment, then chuckled softly.

“Personal reasons.”

In that chuckle, Mr. Li, also a man, sensed a message that made him alert.

“Shang Yan, as I said, studies come first. Relationships can wait—”

“Teacher.”

Shang Yan lifted his eyes, and a slightly rebellious smile flashed in his relaxed expression.

“There are some things I can’t control either… What can I do?”