Chapter 34

As autumn arrived, the running exercises were moved from the evening to the morning, and the break-time exercises were canceled.

Now, Qin Xiaoxiao could easily keep up with the main group’s pace, completing two laps around the 400-meter track without much effort and barely panting.

Her physical condition had gradually improved, at least better than when she had just arrived back in early March.

After the running exercises, Yang Min and Dong Yunfang went to the school store to buy snacks, while Qin Xiaoxiao headed to the school infirmary.

The weather had turned cooler, but Qin Xiaoxiao, who didn’t suffer from the drowsiness of spring or summer, often felt a bit dizzy during the third and fourth periods in the morning, especially in autumn. She went to buy a small box of menthol balm.

The school nurse on duty was a woman in her fifties, engrossed in watching a television drama. Qin Xiaoxiao called out to her twice, and while the nurse responded verbally, it took her a moment before she reluctantly went to the shelf to fetch the medicine.

On the way back from the school infirmary, the playground and track field had emptied significantly.

Qin Xiaoxiao tore off the plastic packaging, tossed it into a roadside trash can, opened the lid of the menthol balm, and dabbed a little on both sides near her temples.

A refreshing coolness spread out, leaving her feeling clear-headed and invigorated.

Then she realized that class was probably about to start soon.

Qin Xiaoxiao ran toward the teaching building.

The cool breeze brushed past her face, making the areas where she had applied the menthol balm feel even cooler.

Qin Xiaoxiao jogged all the way to the fifth floor.

Fortunately, the bell rang just as she was about to reach her seat.

There was an eraser dropped by a classmate in the aisle. Qin Xiaoxiao casually squatted down to pick it up and asked the classmate sitting by the aisle, “Is this yours?”

“Hmm, yes! I didn’t even realize I dropped it…” Tao Lei said, embarrassed. His seat this time was still near Qin Xiaoxiao, but he had moved from the front row to the back row.

Qin Xiaoxiao placed the eraser on the class monitor’s desk and returned to her seat.

“Thank you!” Tao Lei quickly said.

“You’re welcome.”

As Qin Xiaoxiao took a sip of warm water, Ji Wenchen returned.

He glanced at Tao Lei, who was staring at him blankly.

Tao Lei quickly lowered his head, pretending to be engrossed in his book.

“You’re late.” After being accused last time by Ji Wenchen of not caring whether he paid attention in class, Qin Xiaoxiao diligently took on the role of supervising her deskmate.

“Mm,” Ji Wenchen leaned back against his chair, “The teacher hasn’t arrived yet.”

Does that mean it doesn’t count as being late if the teacher doesn’t come?

“…The Chinese class representative said the teacher won’t be coming for this period and told us to work on a practice test.”

The class representative also mentioned that the essay section at the end didn’t need to be written. Qin Xiaoxiao figured Ji Wenchen wouldn’t write it anyway, so she didn’t bother to mention it.

Qin Xiaoxiao had run over a thousand meters in total. Although she could still speak as usual, a thin layer of sweat appeared on her forehead, and her cheeks were slightly flushed.

“Are you hot?” Ji Wenchen looked at her.

A few stray strands of hair at her temples couldn’t be tied up.

One small lock clung to the side of her cheek, with the ends lightly brushing against her rosy, glistening lips.

The autumn morning sunlight was bright and warm.

From the half-open window ahead on the right, a cool breeze drifted in.

“I’m not hot.” Qin Xiaoxiao didn’t know why he suddenly asked that.

As she spoke, the strand of hair moved slightly with the motion of her cherry-colored lips.

Ji Wenchen’s fingers itched slightly as his deep gaze shifted away from her lips. “You have sweat on your forehead.”

“Oh.” The cooling sensation from the menthol balm had probably made her overlook the natural sweat on her forehead. Qin Xiaoxiao pulled a tissue from her desk compartment and wiped it off.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a faint metallic glint. Then she saw Ji Wenchen take a silver… lighter out of his pocket.

Was he planning to play with fire in the classroom or smoke a cigarette?

She watched as Ji Wenchen pulled out a cigarette from his other pocket.

Qin Xiaoxiao couldn’t help but remind him, “You can’t smoke in the classroom.” Besides, it was still class time.

Hearing this, Ji Wenchen raised his eyebrow, his voice slightly husky. “I’m not going to smoke.”

He brought the cigarette to his nose, sniffed it lightly, then let it go. His right hand, resting on his thigh, idly played with the lighter, flicking it on and off.

The action, when done by him, carried an inexplicable air of carefree charm.

But what Qin Xiaoxiao thought was that, judging by his manner, he probably smoked quite often.

No wonder she had caught a faint whiff of tobacco on him a few times before.

He hadn’t been an adult for long—what was he doing smoking?

Qin Xiaoxiao lowered her gaze and started working on the Chinese test paper on her desk.

As she worked, her stomach began to feel empty.

The breakfast of steamed buns and soy milk she had gotten earlier was interrupted when a passing boy accidentally bumped into her, causing one of her buns to fall to the ground. Yang Min had jokingly called it a new way to flirt. The boy had sincerely offered to compensate her and even buy her two new buns, but Qin Xiaoxiao didn’t want to waste time and declined. The result was that she was now feeling quite hungry.

There was a bag of preserved plum candies in her desk cubby.

During class, should she eat or not? Qin Xiaoxiao hesitated for over ten seconds, but in the end, her hunger overcame her strict sense of self-discipline.

She took out a preserved plum candy, tore open the wrapper, and lowered her head to pop it into her mouth.

“I want one too.”

The sudden voice nearly startled Qin Xiaoxiao.

With the candy still in her mouth, Qin Xiaoxiao shot an annoyed glance at Ji Wenchen, then fished out another candy from her desk cubby and placed it on his desk.

A faint hint of amusement flickered in Ji Wenchen’s eyes as he quickly popped the candy into his mouth.

It was sweeter than the one from last time.

Relying on the three remaining preserved plum candies, Qin Xiaoxiao managed to replenish her energy and get through the morning classes.

In the afternoon, she made a point of bringing a new bag of preserved plum candies from her dormitory.

However, when she arrived at the classroom, she saw a bag of preserved plum candies on her desk—larger than the one she had brought.

It was twice the size.

Her deskmate was sprawled on the desk, fast asleep.

What a generous deskmate, repaying kindness tenfold.

Qin Xiaoxiao thought for a moment, then gently pushed the larger bag of preserved plum candies onto his desk.

Perhaps it was because the outer packaging brushed against his arm, but her deskmate half-opened his eyes and looked over.

So Qin Xiaoxiao pushed it a bit further, sliding the last corner of the bag past the boundary between their desks.

Ji Wenchen, with a nudge of his elbow, sent the bag of candies right back onto Qin Xiaoxiao’s desk.

“…It’s too much,” Qin Xiaoxiao said, genuinely not wanting it.

“Too much?”

Qin Xiaoxiao nodded. “It won’t fit in my desk cubby.”

“Then put it in mine.” Ji Wenchen took the bag. “Take one whenever you want to eat.”

“Mm.” Qin Xiaoxiao belatedly froze for a moment—was their relationship really this harmonious? Her response just now seemed a bit too natural…

She opened her English workbook, and the thoughts in her mind were soon replaced by words and phrases.

Guo Hairuo walked into the classroom, holding a test paper and lesson plan, ready to inspect.

Like most homeroom teachers, she preferred to sneak in quietly through the back door to observe unnoticed.

Not bad—most of the students were studying.

When her gaze swept over the middle-rear section of the classroom, Guo Hairuo nodded to herself. Ji Wenchen had been much more well-behaved over the past two weeks. Although he wasn’t studying at the moment, at least he was in the classroom and sitting properly.

Quantitative changes form the basis for qualitative changes. If Ji Wenchen continued moving in this positive direction, progress was inevitable.

Feeling quite gratified, Guo Hairuo’s opinion of Qin Xiaoxiao rose even further: this girl was quite exceptional, capable of influencing her deskmate to adopt a more studious attitude.

Looking at it this way, these two students, both good-looking and striking, really stood out. As the English teacher had put it, they were a “high-visual-value,” “pleasing-to-the-eye” deskmate pair.

Guo Hairuo walked from the back door to the front, stepping into the classroom.

It was as if someone had repeatedly pressed the volume-up button—the mixed sounds of Chinese and English recitations grew noticeably louder.

Only Ji Wenchen remained unmoved, maintaining his silence.

…

After the second period, Yang Min, sitting six or seven meters away, kept trying to get Qin Xiaoxiao’s attention with her gaze.

Qin Xiaoxiao noticed her former deskmate waving and nodding exaggeratedly while she was drinking water. “…”

“Bathroom?” Yang Min mouthed the words one by one in an overly dramatic fashion.

Qin Xiaoxiao nodded and put her water cup back in place.

As soon as they met in the hallway, Yang Min hooked her arm around Qin Xiaoxiao’s. “Seat changes are happening soon!”

Has it already been a month? Qin Xiaoxiao’s eyelashes fluttered lightly.

“Today we can start writing notes to Miss Ruo. The deadline is tomorrow at noon.”

Yang Min paused for two seconds before hesitantly asking, “Xiaoxiao, next time… will you still be my deskmate?”

The school bully hadn’t come looking for her, so Yang Min figured the school bully might not plan on fighting for the spot next time. But she had no idea what Xiaoxiao was thinking.

“What about your current deskmate?” Qin Xiaoxiao replied with a faint smile.

“What do you mean, ‘what about’?” Yang Min replied matter-of-factly. “She doesn’t care who her deskmate is. It’s all the same to her.”

Qin Xiaoxiao half-joked, “I don’t care either.”

“But I care!” Yang Min clung tightly to Qin Xiaoxiao’s arm. “I want to be your deskmate!”

“Hmm.”

Yang Min jumped excitedly. “Yay! Let’s go together tonight to drop off the slip notes!”

“Let’s hurry. Weren’t we going to the bathroom?”

After leaving the bathroom, Yang Min flicked water droplets off her hands.

Qin Xiaoxiao, slightly disgusted, sidestepped and walked ahead. Yang Min giggled and caught up with her. “Let me tell you…”

“Hmm?” Qin Xiaoxiao, not hearing the rest of the sentence, looked at Yang Min curiously.

But she saw Yang Min staring ahead, wide-eyed and frozen.

Qin Xiaoxiao followed her gaze.

Not far away, a boy and a girl stood facing each other. They seemed to be talking about something amusing, as the girl lowered her head, covering her mouth with her hand, her eyes curved in laughter.

They…

As they got closer, the boy noticed her first and waved. “Xiaoxiao, I’ve been waiting for you for a few minutes.”

It was none other than Qin Xiaoxiao’s cousin, Feng Maoxing.

“Yeah, what do you need me for?”

“Nothing much, just came up to check on you.”

Qin Xiaoxiao glanced at Yang Min beside her, who was lowering her head and looking a bit downcast for some reason. She asked softly, “Do you want to go back to the classroom?”

Yang Min nodded sullenly.

“I’ll head back to the classroom first,” Qin Xiaoxiao said to Feng Maoxing. Then, she returned a smile to Bi Chun, who was standing nearby smiling at her.

Qin Xiaoxiao accompanied Yang Min back to her seat and asked gently, “What’s wrong?”

Yang Min lay on the desk, her head buried in her arms, and shook her head.

“Not feeling well?” Qin Xiaoxiao thought back to the past two minutes and guessed, “Did Feng Maoxing upset you? Do you feel uncomfortable seeing him?”

Yang Min still shook her head.

“I… Xiaoxiao, you should go. Isn’t the junior here to see you?” Yang Min’s voice was muffled.

“Alright then.” Qin Xiaoxiao gently patted her arm, still worried. “If anything’s wrong, you can talk to me.”

“…Okay.”

Qin Xiaoxiao stepped out into the hallway, where Feng Maoxing was standing alone.

“Xiaoxiao, I can’t have dinner with you tonight,” Feng Maoxing said, frowning.

Normally, they would have dinner together every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

Qin Xiaoxiao didn’t mind. “Okay.”

“I…”

The class bell rang just then, and the punctual chemistry teacher appeared at the stairway.

Seeing this, Feng Maoxing decided not to say anything more and jogged away.

Qin Xiaoxiao quickly returned to the classroom.

This chemistry teacher’s lectures were quite engaging, and Qin Xiaoxiao’s attention followed the teacher almost the entire time.

Except for the time near the end of class.

That was when Ji Wenchen suddenly said, out of nowhere, “Don’t eat dinner. I’ll bring it to the classroom before evening self-study.”

Then, he blatantly stood up and walked out of the classroom right under the teacher’s nose.