Chapter 13: Leisurely

Hu Cong continued, “And then there’s our Chinese Language representative, your deskmate Su Tian. Once again, she’s leading in Chinese, first in the class, second in the grade… Hey, why can’t I find her name?”

Su Tian’s seat was in the third row, not far from the multimedia setup. She could hear most of the conversation from the front. Perhaps because people are particularly sensitive to their own names, she heard this part with unusual clarity.

She gently licked her lips and lowered her head.

Hu Cong: “…ah, here it is. Um, quite unexpected. Her grades have always been stable in the top ten, which is very good.”

“Mm.” Jiang Chiyu nodded, or perhaps just lowered his head, appearing indifferent.

But this time, besides “mm,” he finally gave a different response.

“It is pretty good.”

Su Tian paused and looked up.

Jiang Chiyu had a slight smile at the corner of his mouth as he looked up toward her.

Their gazes met across three rows of desks—

“Better than me,” he said unhurriedly.

…

Just as Jiang Chiyu sat down at his desk, class monitor Han Guangyuan called out to him, “Jiang Chiyu, Teacher Gao wants you to get your books from the Academic Affairs Office.”

Jiang Chiyu put down his white backpack, pushing it inside, “Okay.”

Han Guangyuan: “You remember where the Academic Affairs Office is, right?”

Jiang Chiyu was about to say he knew, but then heard Han Guangyuan add, “If you don’t remember, let Su Tian take you there, she knows it well.”

The word “know” rolled around on his tongue before he swallowed it back.

Jiang Chiyu: “Oh, I actually did forget.”

Su Tian’s face was still red, and she didn’t want to face him at this moment, so she made up an excuse, telling Han Guangyuan: “But I need to collect the Chinese homework…”

Han Guangyuan’s eyes widened, “Collect it now? I still have a few problems left to finish! No, you must go, collect it when you come back, I’ll have finished by then.”

Su Tian: “…”

Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

Class monitor, you’re really something…

The class monitor scurried back to his seat to finish his homework.

So Su Tian had no choice but to stand up resignedly, “Let’s go.”

The two walked one in front of the other in the hallway.

Early in the morning, there weren’t many people in the office building. The path was quiet, with a cool breeze flowing through. As they passed through the corridor, the wind brushed aside some of Su Tian’s bangs, making her appear less childlike.

Su Tian stood outside the office and peered inside. Seeing all the subject teachers were present, she stepped back against the wall and said to Jiang Chiyu, who had been quiet the whole way, “Just go in and find Teacher Gao. I’ll head back first.”

She turned to leave, but Jiang Chiyu lightly tugged at her sleeve.

Su Tian looked at him questioningly.

“Can’t abandon the mission halfway through.”

He paused, blinking once.

“Chinese Language class representative.”

…

Su Tian stared at the closed office door, questioning herself countless times why she had agreed to stay.

Indeed, people who know how to act cute always have it easier!

Regardless of whether they’re women or men!

As it turned out, Jiang Chiyu was right to ask her to wait for him.

He had to collect a thick stack of books, plus two sets of school uniforms – one for autumn/winter and one for spring/summer, both wrapped in slippery plastic bags.

Just as Jiang Chiyu stepped out of the office with everything in his arms, one uniform bag slipped from his grasp and fell at Su Tian’s feet.

Su Tian picked it up and held it in her arms.

“Thud—” The other uniform bag slid down too.

“…”

Su Tian picked up this set as well, holding both in her arms. “Let’s go, Classmate Jiang.”

Jiang Chiyu smiled, “Okay.”

They headed back the same way.

Passing by the music room, the melodious sound of a piano drifted out. Su Tian rushed a few steps forward and stood by the floor-to-ceiling window to look inside.

Jiang Chiyu slowed his pace, and when he caught up to her, seeing her watching intently, he also looked inside.

In the music room were a boy and a girl. The boy was playing the piano while the girl sat beside him holding a violin, occasionally joining in with a few notes.

“That senior is called Song Yingjing,” Su Tian explained unprompted. “He plays piano exceptionally well and always performs the finale at school events. He even substituted for a female teacher’s music class for a semester when she was on maternity leave.”

Jiang Chiyu shifted the stack of books in his arms as they were making his arm numb. He switched arms to redistribute the weight and flexed the numbed area slightly.

He made a sound of acknowledgment, “Oh. What about the girl?”

Su Tian looked back at the girl and continued introducing: “That senior is called An Ran. She’s very well-known – beautiful, consistently in the top ten of her grade academically, and often hosts school events. They say she’s even the daughter of a school board member.”

Jiang Chiyu made another noncommittal “Oh” sound and offered an emotionless compliment: “Talented scholar and beautiful lady, a perfect match.”

“Don’t say that, they’re not in that kind of relationship.” Su Tian hurriedly glared at him, worried the people inside might hear.

But it seemed they had heard anyway. The piano music gradually stopped, and Song Yingjing looked out through the glass window, smiling warmly.

Su Tian waved at him, also smiling happily.

An Ran also looked outside, her gaze passing over Su Tian before pausing when she saw Jiang Chiyu.

Su Tian didn’t notice this.

She pointed ahead to gesture to Song Yingjing, then mimicked walking, and finally waved goodbye. Meaning she had to leave.

Song Yingjing smiled silently and waved back at her.

Su Tian turned to Jiang Chiyu, “Let’s go. Can you still carry those? Let me help you with some books.”

There weren’t actually that many books in total, but carrying them for so long would certainly make one’s arms uncomfortable.

Usually, boys wouldn’t let girls help carry heavy things.

But not Classmate Jiang.

Classmate Jiang was matter-of-factly: “My arms are numb.”

Su Tian naturally took half the books from his arms and held them against herself. “There, let’s go.”

Classmate Jiang made a sound of agreement and followed. As they were about to pass the glass window, he glanced once more into the music room.

Song Yingjing was still smiling as he watched them leave.

Back in the classroom, Su Tian put the books on the desk and plopped down in her seat, panting from exhaustion.

They had gone and returned quickly – it had only been ten minutes since early reading period ended, and formal classes hadn’t yet begun. Jiang Chiyu placed his stack of books on top of hers and said lightly, “Already tired?”

Su Tian caught the mockery in his tone.

She retorted irritably, “And whose fault is that?”

Jiang Chiyu let out a soft huff and fell silent.

He remained quiet until class ended.

Every time Su Tian turned around, she saw him looking lost in thought, seemingly not paying attention to the lesson.

She had been worried that Jiang Chiyu’s obvious distraction would catch the sharp-eyed math teacher’s attention. Her concern quickly proved justified.

The math teacher wrote a problem on the blackboard and called for someone to solve it. His eyes immediately landed on Jiang Chiyu. “Come on, come on, new student, right? Come up and solve this problem.”

Su Tian glanced at the problem and thought it wasn’t simple. She gave Jiang Chiyu a “good luck” look.

Jiang Chiyu hadn’t noticed her glance. He seriously looked at the blackboard, seriously furrowed his brows, seriously went up and wrote for about five minutes, then seriously put down the chalk and returned to his seat.