Chapter 43: I’m Quite the Public Menace

Yu He pointed at Wang Suhan: “He, Wang Suhan, spoke without thinking and wondered if you might be someone who couldn’t be judged by appearances. Then your deskmate snapped back saying that was impossible.”

Wang Suhan was typically easygoing and didn’t seem bothered by it, waving his hand dismissively. “It wasn’t really a snap. We were just both shocked since we’d never seen our Chinese Language Rep get angry before.”

Su Tian felt somewhat embarrassed by this and rubbed her chin with her fingertip.

She could feel everyone’s eyes turning to her after Yu He finished speaking.

Jiang Chiyu let out a slow “Mm,” his eager gaze falling on her without any attempt to hide it—

“I’ve never seen my deskmate angry either.”

…

Because of the morning flag-raising ceremony, waves of students came to observe their classroom during the morning breaks.

Some girls even boldly called Jiang Chiyu out.

The first time, thinking someone actually needed something, he went out. The girl who called him had been brave for a moment, but seeing him actually come out, she immediately became timid, hanging her head with a completely red face, unable to say a word.

Jiang Chiyu leaned casually against the doorframe, looking lazy and somehow roguish, but his tone was cold. “Classmate, do you need something?”

“I… uh… uh…”

Jiang Chiyu counted to five, then turned and went back inside.

The second time someone tried to call him out, Jiang Chiyu glanced over, made eye contact with the eager stranger, carelessly withdrew his gaze, and politely told the classmate who’d come to relay the message, “Sorry, please tell her my leg is lame. If she really needs something, she can come in and find me.”

Su Tian stifled a laugh beside him.

Jiang Chiyu looked over at her.

She didn’t look at him, still copying something in her notebook, and mumbled, “Jiang Chiyu, were you this popular in England too?”

Jiang Chiyu raised an eyebrow, about to say something modest, but before he could speak, Su Tian added, “No, wait, Western beauty standards are different from ours, right? Someone like you must be considered extremely ugly to them.”

Jiang Chiyu let out a cold laugh, the mockery obvious.

Su Tian suddenly stopped writing and turned to examine his features carefully. He initially met her gaze fearlessly, but after a while, he uncomfortably looked away.

Just as Su Tian was slowly realizing that he might be blushing from her staring, Jiang Chiyu suddenly held up his notebook to cover his face, then extended one clear, white hand with distinct knuckles from behind it, saying arrogantly, “Looking at me costs money.”

Su Tian irritably tapped his palm with her pen, “Who wants to look at your annoying face anyway!”

She should have known – someone with skin this thick, who could remain completely unbothered when being confessed to in front of the entire school, couldn’t possibly blush just because she stared at him for a moment!

These days after school, Su Tian would pack up and leave immediately, almost running out of the classroom door in a hurry.

Jiang Chiyu would lazily watch her departing figure without saying anything.

Occasionally they would meet on the way home. If they were close to school, Su Tian would pretend not to know him, but if they were far enough, they would walk home side by side.

Jiang Chiyu: “I didn’t realize I was such a public menace.”

Su Tian: “Your fans are way too crazy. Just keep some distance from me at school, I don’t want to become their imagined rival.”

Simply put, she was scared.

On Wednesday, it was Su Tian’s turn for classroom cleaning duty.

The last period was PE, and after assembly, they could do free activities. When the dismissal bell rang, they could leave directly. So Su Tian and her group members returned to the classroom early to start cleaning.

Su Tian was responsible for cleaning the windows.

She hadn’t been cleaning long when someone walked past outside and stopped behind the window she was cleaning.

The glass was sprayed with water, making it hard to see clearly, but judging by the uniform color and height, it seemed to be Jiang Chiyu.

Su Tian wiped the water off the window with her cloth.

Their eyes met through the glass.

It was indeed him.

“Wow—” Su Tian opened the window, “Why did you come back to class?”

“Saw you come back for cleaning duty and remembered something.” Jiang Chiyu propped one hand on the window frame, scanning the classroom as if looking for someone.

His gaze settled for a moment, and he said lazily, “Remembered I haven’t been assigned to a cleaning group yet.”

Su Tian followed his line of sight to where the hygiene representative, Xu Weining, was painting her nails at her desk.

Jiang Chiyu had already walked into the classroom, going straight to Xu Weining’s spot, leaning slightly forward to say something.

Xu Weining froze, accidentally smearing the nail polish brush across her finger, leaving a glaring purple streak.

Jiang Chiyu seemed to smile, making Xu Weining blush as she frantically grabbed tissues to wipe her hand, then hurriedly cleared the mess on her desk.

Su Tian watched from afar, unable to hear what Jiang Chiyu and Xu Weining were saying over the classroom chatter.

However—

Huh, what a player!

Su Tian turned away, continuing to clean her window, no longer watching them.

They talked for a while.

Xu Weining nodded, and Jiang Chiyu left.

A little while later..

Su Tian was listlessly cleaning the same small spot on the window.

She couldn’t reach the higher areas, so she was about to get a chair when she turned to find Jiang Chiyu standing beside her, holding a cleaning cloth. He reached up with his long arm and started cleaning the areas she hadn’t reached.

She almost bumped into his arm.

“Why are you here too?” Su Tian stepped back, watching him slowly clean the high parts of the glass.

“Heard your group was short of one person, so the hygiene representative added me in.”

The missing person was Zhou Ying.

She had called in sick with a fever on Monday and was still getting IV treatment at home.

Su Tian was planning to visit her after school today.

“Zhou Ying took time off because she’s sick,” Su Tian explained, then asked curiously, “So when Zhou Ying comes back, you’ll be without a group again?”

“No, I’m part of this group from now on.”

“Oh.” Su Tian nodded, happily tossing her cloth into the water bucket, “Then you clean, I’m going to the bathroom.”

She carried the bucket towards the bathroom but hadn’t gone far when Jiang Chiyu called out to her.

Su Tian turned around, “What?”

“Tian Tian.” Jiang Chiyu’s voice carried a note of reproach, “No slacking off.”

Su Tian drew in a sharp breath.

Tian Tian!

What the!

On one hand, she felt her face heating up because Jiang Chiyu had called her nickname at school, but on the other hand, she thought this guy really… would it kill him to stop treating her like a kid!

Fortunately, no one was nearby.

Su Tian resisted the urge to roll her eyes and said irritably, “I’m going to change the water!”

The cleaning water in her bucket had turned black.

“Oh.” Jiang Chiyu finally realized and turned away, waving to indicate she could go.

This guy!

Near dismissal time, their group had finished cleaning, just in time for the after-school rush.

Su Tian deliberately avoided walking with him, slipping away quickly. When Jiang Chiyu walked out of the school gates, he caught sight of her boarding a bus.