Chapter 22: Just a Close Senior Student Friend

Someone quickly replied to him: “Are you the one who just asked if Heaven-Sent’s deskmate likes him, you gay guy? Why are you even using different accounts to ask? I’m from Class 3. Heaven-Sent’s deskmate had an allergic reaction, and he went with her to the infirmary. He told the class monitor before leaving. If you like him, just pursue him boldly. No matter how much gossip you spread, Heaven-Sent won’t take the initiative to get to know you.”

The original poster replied: “Are you stupid? Your whole family is gay.”

After that, he immediately deleted the post.

However, since he deleted it too quickly, not many people saw his denial. So the next day, the forum’s discussion shifted to — Did you hear there’s a gay guy who wants to pursue Heaven-Sent?

Besides this, there were indeed some female students gossiping about why Heaven-Sent’s deskmate needed him to accompany her to the infirmary when she had an allergic reaction.

Among the jealousy-laden, harsh replies, one straight guy simply said “they must be close,” and was attacked by female students for several days.

…

The next day, Su Tian went to school wearing a face mask and didn’t take it off during class.

Someone who frequented the forum saw her and casually took a blurry long-distance photo, posting it to the forum.

In the photo, you could see patches of redness on the visible parts of her face outside the mask, with several red bumps on her forehead. Combined with the lighting issues in the photo, it made her entire face look unsightly and the condition appear quite severe.

The people who had been mocking her on the forum gradually fell silent.

Given how serious it looked, out of humanitarian concerns, they couldn’t really say anything more.

Su Tian endured looking like this for a week before the allergic reaction completely cleared up, and her face returned to its clean, clear state.

During these days, Su Tian’s mother felt sorry for her face condition and gradually let go of her anger. She only repeatedly emphasized that next time she must score within the top 100 in the grade, or else she would hire a tutor.

Su Tian wasn’t actually confident about this but could only agree.

When Friday came again, Zhou Ying came over with several amusement park tickets and asked if she wanted to go.

Su Tian was memorizing chemical equations and didn’t even look up, “No.”

“Why not? Come on, let’s go.”

“I need to score within the top 100 in the next monthly exam, or my mom will get me a tutor.” Su Tian tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear that were blocking her vision and glanced at her briefly, “Choose between not going now or never being able to go in the future.”

Zhou Ying’s face fell, “If you don’t go, I don’t know who else to ask.”

Jiang Chiyu wasn’t at his seat. Su Tian looked around and gestured for her to come closer, lowering her voice, “Why don’t you ask your crush to go?”

Zhou Ying’s current crush was a second-year senior named Han Shuo. They met while recharging their meal cards – the staff accidentally loaded Han Shuo’s money onto Zhou Ying’s card who was in line ahead of him. It couldn’t be reversed, and Zhou Ying didn’t have extra money on her, so Han Shuo had to follow her back to her classroom to get it.

When Zhou Ying got back to class, she only had one whole bill left, and Han Shuo couldn’t give change. So Zhou Ying ended up following Han Shuo to his classroom to get change.

It was just a 10-yuan matter that could have been solved by borrowing from anyone – no need to make it so complicated.

But as they say – when flowers meet flowing water, love blooms.

They just happened to catch each other’s eye.

Zhou Ying cupped her face and giggled, “I already asked him. I just want to bring more people so it won’t be awkward with just the two of us.”

Su Tian: “…”

She knew it.

She looked up: “Aren’t you worried I’ll feel awkward?”

Jiang Chiyu happened to return just then. Zhou Ying quickly made way for him to get to his seat and continued from the aisle: “I also invited Wei Sicheng, so you won’t feel awkward.”

Jiang Chiyu sat down and glanced at them when he heard this.

Su Tian didn’t even look up, “Isn’t Wei Sicheng training in the neighboring city?”

“He has that day off.”

“Well, I don’t have that day off.”

“Ahhh!” Zhou Ying pleaded desperately, “Dear sister, please help make this romance happen for your big sister!”

“If I help with your romance, who’s going to help me get into the top 100?”

“Are you really planning to study both days of the weekend?”

Su Tian made an affirmative sound, “Saturday for homework, Sunday for practice problems.”

Zhou Ying planned it out for her: “How about this – do homework Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, come to the amusement park with me Saturday afternoon, then do practice problems on Sunday.”

Su Tian thought about it seriously – it wasn’t actually impossible. So she reluctantly compromised, raising her eyes, “How many tickets do you have?”

“Six!”

“Then find some more people. It would be awkward with just me and Wei Sicheng too.”

“I’ll ask Jiao Jiao then.” Jiao Jiao was a girl from neighboring Class 2 who went to middle school with them and they were still pretty close.

Zhou Ying looked at the last ticket in her left hand: “Who should get the last ticket… Ah, I barely keep in touch with old friends anymore. Maybe just Jiao Jiao is enough.”

Su Tian made a noncommittal sound – as long as she didn’t have to be alone with Wei Sicheng, it was fine. That could easily lead to misunderstandings.

“If that ticket isn’t needed…” Jiang Chiyu suddenly sat up straight and looked at Zhou Ying, seeming quite interested, “Could I have it?”

Su Tian’s equation-writing paused.

“Ah.” Caught off guard by his gaze, Zhou Ying couldn’t resist smiling foolishly at his attractiveness and blurted out without thinking, “Sure.”

Su Tian watched as Zhou Ying very eagerly handed him the ticket. Jiang Chiyu smiled and thanked her, and Zhou Ying nearly stopped breathing.

She silently cursed her friend for being so easily swayed, and waved Zhou Ying away, “Go on now, class is about to start.”

Zhou Ying left, still grinning stupidly.

Clearly still hadn’t come to her senses.

Su Tian put down her pen and looked at the ticket in Jiang Chiyu’s hand, unable to resist asking, “Do you like amusement parks?”

“Not particularly,” Jiang Chiyu looked at the ticket in his hand lazily, “Since returning to China, I haven’t been anywhere except the airport, train station, school, and home. So I want to go out and see how the country has developed.”

This reason was quite convincing. Su Tian nodded, “The city has changed a lot these past few years, you should definitely take a look around.”

Jiang Chiyu glanced at her, suddenly remembering something, and asked, “In our class, Song Mingxing and Song Ying…”

He suddenly paused, as if he couldn’t remember the full name.

Su Tian: “Song Yingjing?”

“Right.” Jiang Chiyu nodded lazily, “Are they brothers?”

“No, they just have similar names, no relation.”

“Oh.”

Jiang Chiyu smiled slightly, his eyes shifting as if recalling something, “They look quite alike.”

Su Tian gave him an incredulous look, then turned back to her workbook with a complicated expression, holding back the urge to argue.

Although… not to say Song Mingxing didn’t look good, but wasn’t Song Yingjing more handsome?

She couldn’t hold back anymore and turned to him, saying sincerely, “Should I take you to meet Senior Song Yingjing during break?”

“…”

“You might have confused him with someone else.”

“You seem quite close with Senior Song Yingjing?” Jiang Chiyu asked casually.

Su Tian nodded, “Yes, we’re close. He tutors me in humanities subjects.”

“Private tutoring?”

“No, not exactly.” Su Tian thought for a moment, couldn’t quite explain it, so simply said, “Just a close senior student friend.”

Jiang Chiyu made an “oh” sound, “Then why doesn’t he tutor you in science subjects?”

“He’s a liberal arts student.” Su Tian answered, then realized something and gave him a suspicious look, “Why are you so interested in him?”