Chapter 6: Be Kind to Your Classmates

Sun Muchu couldn’t believe that just because Su Tian happened to be seated next to Jiang Chiyu, Zhou Ying thought she would be jealous and upset about it.

Being jealous and upset was true, but Sun Muchu wasn’t worried. Su Tian is just a bookworm – dumb and immature. She can’t even put on basic makeup and went around bare-faced all day. How could Jiang Chiyu, who had studied abroad, be interested in someone like that?

Thinking this, Sun Muchu felt better. Noticing Zhou Ying watching, she deliberately extended her water card again with a deliberate, sweet smile. “You can use mine.”

Su Tian couldn’t keep pretending to check the watch forever, so she had to lower her head and continue reading, though she felt restless, worried that the unreliable Zhou Ying would cause her trouble.

A figure appeared at the edge of her vision, and a cup of warm water was placed in front of her. Su Tian immediately raised her head fiercely, “What took you so long? What mischief were you up to with my cup?”

Jiang Chiyu’s hand paused on the cup, then his lips curved into a smile, “What, complaining that I came back too late?”

Su Tian hadn’t expected it would be Jiang Chiyu bringing her water cup. Surprised, her fierce demeanor instantly deflated into stammering: “You… no, I… where’s Zhou Ying?”

“The girl who took your water cup? Naturally at her seat,” Jiang Chiyu sat down.

Su Tian turned to look, and sure enough, saw Zhou Ying making faces at her.

Su Tian glared at her fiercely.

Watching her angry expression, Jiang Chiyu suddenly raised his hand, then stopped halfway. Su Tian turned and saw his strange gesture, warily retreating toward the wall, “What are you doing?”

Jiang Chiyu withdrew his hand, saying slowly: “Nothing.”

At that height, it looked like he was going to pat her head.

In her memories, when they were still in elementary school together, the naughty boy next door would often mess up her hair.

The person who existed in the corner of her memory was now right in front of her. Su Tian still felt somewhat unreal about it, hesitantly moving closer to him, whispering: “Chi… Classmate Jiang, are you the same Jiang Chiyu I used to know?”

Jiang Chiyu raised an eyebrow and also leaned in closer, mimicking her whispered tone. He sounded slightly displeased: “I thought you recognized me when you walked into the classroom.”

Su Tian pouted, suppressing the strange, fluttering emotion rising in her heart. “No, I’d completely forgotten about you.” She extended her wrist, showing her matching birthmark, “If I hadn’t seen your birthmark, I really wouldn’t have remembered.”

Jiang Chiyu turned his wrist over too, revealing how their birthmarks were almost identical in position, creating a subtle sense of destiny.

For some reason, his tone suddenly became distant, letting out a light “Oh” before falling silent.

“…” Su Tian belatedly realized her words might have sounded inconsiderate, and quickly tried to explain: “I mean, it’s been many years after all, that was all when we were kids, right? You can’t expect me to remember you forever… no, I mean, you can’t expect a child’s memory to be that good.”

“How come I never forgot you?”

Su Tian froze, once again thinking that weirdo Jiang Chiyu’s Chinese had deteriorated – couldn’t he speak normally like everyone else? So she fought back her irritation and replied, “Maybe because my appearance has stayed the same.”

She was saying increasingly ridiculous things.

Su Tian fell silent.

Jiang Chiyu was quiet too.

After a while, Jiang Chiyu suddenly snorted with laughter, his eyes curving up in an almost bewitching arc. He nodded meaningfully, “Indeed, ugly from childhood to now.”

Su Tian: “…”

Su Tian was very annoyed, but she didn’t know whether to refute or respond sarcastically. If she refuted, wouldn’t that make her seem self-obsessed? But what could she say sarcastically? Jiang Chiyu wasn’t ugly at all now, so calling him ugly would have no impact.

While she was still wrestling with this dilemma, the best moment to respond had already passed. Su Tian angrily turned away, lying on her desk to work on her exercise book, ignoring him.

But Jiang Chiyu seemed to have found his chatting mood. He poked her arm with his pen, saying lazily, “Classmate Su, don’t just write by yourself. Your new classmate doesn’t have any books yet.”

Su Tian clutched her exercise book even tighter, even shifting further into the corner.

Jiang Chiyu wouldn’t give up. He directly pulled his chair closer, sitting in the middle of their shared desk, continuing to poke her with his pen. “Classmate Su, we should be kind to our classmates.”

With the wall on her left, Su Tian couldn’t retreat any further. She was like a cornered little white rabbit, trembling as the hunter blocked her escape.

Su Tian snorted, holding her exercise book tightly, almost lying completely on the desk, “I won’t be kind! I see you’re getting along fine in our class, go find someone else to be kind to you!”

Jiang Chiyu seemed to sigh ambiguously, about to say something, when a female voice interrupted – “Jiang… Classmate Jiang, you can use my exercise book first. I have to work on the blackboard newspaper next class, so I won’t be attending.”

It was Sun Muchu.

Both Jiang Chiyu and Su Tian looked at her. Sun Muchu stood in the aisle, looking generous as they watched her, holding out an exercise book.

Jiang Chiyu’s gaze swept over her, then to the exercise book in her hand, where “Sun Muchu” was written in elegant handwriting. His eyes were indifferent, his face emotionless, and he didn’t take it.

Su Tian was rather puzzled, thinking that Sun Muchu was being unusually friendly today, quite different from before.

She looked at Jiang Chiyu, but met his gaze instead. As their eyes met, Su Tian felt chilled by his cold look, becoming even more confused.

Could it be that he was too shy to accept it?

Su Tian hesitated before reaching out to accept Sun Muchu’s exercise book for him, placing it on his desk, “Take it, our class is very friendly.”

Jiang Chiyu seemed to glare at her.

Su Tian blinked innocently, growing even more confused.

Jiang Chiyu lowered his eyes, paused, then quietly said “thank you” to Sun Muchu.

Sun Muchu glanced at Su Tian, “No need to thank me. Classmate Jiang, you can come to me if you need anything, I won’t find it troublesome.”

It sounded as if Su Tian not lending him her exercise book was because she found it troublesome.

Su Tian didn’t understand where Sun Muchu’s hostility came from, assuming it was because Zhou Ying had annoyed her earlier during the water incident. But Su Tian wasn’t going to be someone’s emotional punching bag, so she said codly, “It would be quite troublesome for him to go all the way to your seat to find you.”

Sun Muchu’s seat was next to the water dispenser, in the second-to-last row.

Their class teacher was different from others – while other classes put struggling students on the sides and back rows, their class aimed for balanced development and never gave special treatment to good students. Class officers and high-performing students were scattered throughout the classroom, with seats almost randomly assigned.

Although she was the Chinese class representative, her position was quite off to the side. And Sun Muchu, the culture and arts committee member, sat in the second-to-last row.

This seating arrangement did have its benefits – their class was indeed very united and caring, with no opposition between good and poor students, as they were all mixed together.

Except for occasional personal conflicts.

Like between Zhou Ying and Sun Muchu.

Su Tian was just caught in the crossfire.

Su Tian wasn’t exaggerating – her seat was in the southwest corner, while Sun Muchu’s was in the northeast corner. It would indeed be quite troublesome to specifically go find her.