4 Chapter 4

◎Can you explain this problem to me?◎

She didn't know how she got through the class. Finally, the bell rang again, and she had just put down the pen she had been holding for the whole class when that female voice, which she least wanted to hear these days, rang in her ear.

"What are you daydreaming about?" Xie Wanzhi, who had ignored her during the previous break, immediately came over as soon as get out of class ended. "Where did you go during the last class? I called you but you didn't respond."

Seeing that Zhan Xinyue didn't move, Xie Wanzhi reached out and took her arm.

"Snap!" A crisp sound.

Zhan Xinyue instinctively repelled her approach and subconsciously slapped her hand away.

"What are you doing?" Xie Wanzhi took a step back, looking at her incredulously.

The commotion was so loud that several people in the surrounding seats looked over in confusion.

Stared at by several pairs of eyes, Zhan Xinyue finally regained some of her composure. She closed her eyes and after a long while, she finally spoke: "I was thinking about a problem when you suddenly appeared and startled me." As soon as she spoke, she realized that her voice was terribly hoarse, and she did indeed sound frightened.

"What question are you so focused on?" Xie Wanzhi rubbed her arm, not suspecting anything. "Ouch, that hurts. I didn't realize you were so strong. Oh well, you should be able to go to Xiao Chao now, right?"

Zhan Xinyue didn't want anyone to suspect anything, but she couldn't appear completely unconcerned when facing her, not even by pretending. So she took a deep breath, lowered her eyes to stare at the exam paper in front of her, and said as calmly as possible, "You go, I'm not going."

"What are you doing, doing math problems?" Xie Wanzhi leaned closer to look at her desk and saw a math test paper in front of her. She asked in confusion, "Really? When did you become so enthusiastic about math? Oh, stop looking at it. You can look at it in class. I want to go buy a highlighter. My pen is out of ink."

As she spoke, she naturally reached out to pull the crescent moon again, but couldn't move it.

Zhan Xinyue suppressed her anger, "See if anyone else is free, ask her to keep you company."

Xie Wanzhi still didn't notice anything amiss. She tilted her head and leaned closer to her face, asking, "Why aren't you going? Is something wrong?"

She simply said, "I don't want to go."

Xie Wanzhi was visibly taken aback by her direct rejection.

Looking at her expression, Zhan Xinyue felt a pang of pain in her heart. She was indeed not good at refusing others, often considering other people's feelings and trying her best to meet their requests, even if it meant making things difficult for herself. This was especially true for Xie Wanzhi, so much so that a slightly more direct refusal now surprised her so much.

Xie Wanzhi must have sensed that something was wrong with her at this moment. She glanced at her a few times, but still couldn't give up and said again, "There's still one evening class. You can continue later. Come on... Yueyue, how can you bear to let me go alone..." Her voice was much sweeter than she remembered, and she tilted her head, revealing her girlish charm.

If she hadn't acted this way, things would have been fine. But with her acting coquettishly, Zhan Xinyue could no longer suppress her irritation, and her voice rose several octaves: "Didn't I say I don't want to go!"

Xie Wanzhi's expression froze, and the corners of her mouth turned down. She had been treated so coldly all day, and was already very unhappy. Now, after being spoken to like this, she couldn't hold back her temper any longer and raised her voice: "What kind of tone is that! Who offended you?"

The two of them had always been close, and when had they ever seen them argue like this? Several people around them turned to look, and even Shi Ziqian, who was standing to the side, looked up at Xie Wanzhi with a nonchalant glance, his gaze shifting back and forth between the two of them.

Zhan Xinyue didn't want to get entangled with Xie Wanzhi anymore. Just then, she met his gaze, so she simply pushed the test paper on the table toward him and said, "Can I explain this question to you?"

A fleeting look of surprise crossed Shi Ziqian's unblinking gaze.

The words had barely left her mouth when Zhan Xinyue already felt a pang of regret. At that moment, she understood the surprise in his eyes. Clearly, they weren't close enough for her to ask him to explain problems to her.

Sure enough, the scene fell silent for a brief moment.

Having already spoken, Zhan Xinyue was in a difficult position. She could only pretend to be calm and push the test paper towards him again, looking at him.

Perhaps it was because of the pleading look that unconsciously appeared in her eyes, but Shi Ziqian looked at her for a few seconds before slowly turning his gaze to the exam paper.

Which one?

Zhan Xinyue felt as if she had been granted a pardon and quickly pointed to a geometry problem at random. "This one."

Shi Ziqian reached out and pressed down on the exam paper, glanced at it, and picked up a pencil: "You can draw auxiliary lines here, and then..."

He spoke slowly, and Zhan Xinyue nodded occasionally in response, but in reality she didn't hear a single word, just waiting for Xie Wanzhi to get bored and leave.

But instead of leaving, she stood silently for a while, then suddenly seemed to have forgotten the unpleasantness between them. She leaned over from behind, almost lying on her desk, and peered at the test paper, asking, "Is this the test paper we were assigned in class today? I haven't even started yet. Let me take a look."

"What questions? Aren't the questions we got today pretty easy? I've done them all. Let me explain them to you." Xin Wenhua, who was in the front seat, turned around with great interest when she heard this.

Xie Wanzhi glanced at him, then stuck out a finger to stop him from getting closer: "Go away, we're listening to the top student explain a problem, don't come over and join in the fun."

"Hey, you—" Xin Wenhua complained, "You're picking on me when I'm explaining problems to you, and why am I not a top student?"

"Compared to Shi Ziqian, what kind of academic genius are you?"

Xin Wenhua choked for a moment, then retorted, "With your math grades, I'm at least on par with a top student in front of you."

"What's wrong with my math! Are you looking down on me?!" Xie Wanzhi was so angry that she pinched his back, which made Xin Wenhua yell "Ouch!"

The two of them made quite a racket as they went back and forth. As they spoke, Xie Wanzhi's hair fell down with her movements, the ends curling slightly, and gently brushed against Shi Ziqian's knuckles as he held the pen.

Shi Ziqian's pen was resting on the draft paper when he inadvertently turned it halfway around, brushing a strand of her hair away.

"Move to the side, it's blocking the light."

His voice was as cold and emotionless as ever; he was simply stating something very ordinary, yet it sounded exceptionally cold and unapproachable.

"Oh..." Xie Wanzhi froze for a moment, gave a dry reply, and leaned back. Perhaps to ease the awkwardness, she leaned against Xinyue's shoulder.

"It's so hot, don't get so close." Zhan Xinyue pulled her arm away without any mercy.

Xin Wenhua glanced at Xie Wanzhi with a mocking look, then turned away.

Xie Wanzhi stood up straight, her face turning red and then pale, but she didn't utter a sound.

Zhan Xinyue glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. When had she ever been treated so rudely? Logically, she should have lost her temper long ago, but this time she stubbornly refused to leave and stood there listening to them explain the problem.

She looked back at the exam paper and, during a break in Shi Ziqian's speech, interjected, feigning attentive listening: "I see... and then?"

"Hmm. And then... we can now calculate that the angle is 79°."

Xie Wanzhi abruptly interjected, "How was this calculated? I still don't seem to understand. Could you explain it in more detail?"

No one answered her; Shi Ziqian seemed not to hear her and continued speaking.

Zhan Xinyue ignored her and continued, following Shi Ziqian's words: "So that's how it is."

The two of them went back and forth, completely ignoring her.

Xie Wanzhi finally couldn't resist and turned back to her seat.

When Zhan Xinyue saw that she had finally left, she lost the will to continue acting and fell silent.

She was a slow-to-warm-up person, so although she got along fairly well with her classmates in her past life, Xie Wanzhi was the only one she could truly consider a close friend. She was perceptive and always able to sense subtle changes in others' emotions, while Xie Wanzhi was more easygoing and carefree. Therefore, during this time, she mostly accommodated Xie Wanzhi's ideas and took care of her feelings. Even when conflicts arose, she was always the first to apologize.

But did Xie Wanzhi ever consider her feelings even slightly?

Zhan Xinyue couldn't help but glance at Xie Wanzhi's back. She was only a teenager, young and thin, her school uniform hanging loosely on her. At this age, emotions were easily concealed; even from behind, her unhappiness was evident. When she returned to her seat, she slammed down with a loud thud, the chair seeming to proclaim her mood.

Zhan Xinyue recalled Xie Wanzhi beside Xu Shen that day—curly hair, exquisite makeup, a voluptuous figure, and captivating charm in every gesture—and felt a pang of nostalgia. Time was so powerful; without her noticing, Xie Wanzhi had long since grown from that naive girl into someone completely unfamiliar to her.

Xie Wanzhi was her first and best friend in Class 10 after the class reshuffle in the second year of high school. They went to the convenience store together, the cafeteria together, even to the bathroom together; they were inseparable during all school activities. Even in the decade or so after graduation, Xie Wanzhi was present at every important moment in her life. She shared every happy moment with her friend—dating, being proposed to, getting married. Even right after they graduated from university, when Xie Wanzhi was living alone, she often confided in her friend about her fear of being alone. That year, Zhan Xinyue had just married Xu Shen and often left Xu Shen to stay with Xie Wanzhi. Eventually, Xu Shen couldn't stand his new wife's frequent absences at night, so he simply prepared a guest room for Xie Wanzhi at home, inviting her to bring Xie Wanzhi to stay with him…

Who would have thought that her unreserved and unquestioning friendship would ultimately lead to her inviting trouble?

The two gradually drifted apart much later. Several years after graduation, their lives overlapped less and less, eventually leading to estrangement, which saddened Zhan Xinyue for a long time. Looking back now, she realizes there was another reason for her estrangement.

She was lost in thought, and only when she came to her senses did she realize that there was no one beside her. Shi Ziqian had finished explaining the problem at some point, but he didn't point out her distraction; he just watched her quietly.

She quickly thanked him in a low voice. Her sudden request for advice from Shi Ziqian in her haste to get rid of Xie Wanzhi was indeed quite abrupt—he's hardly the kind of person to offer help. Thankfully, he didn't embarrass her in front of Xie Wanzhi.

"It's nothing." Shi Ziqian shook his head, then hesitated before saying, "You guys..."

He didn't continue, then suddenly changed the subject: "By the way, who were you asking about just now?"

"What?" Zhan Xinyue didn't react.

"...Xu Shen?"

Hearing that name abruptly from someone else's mouth caused a sharp pain in her heart, and she involuntarily flinched. Forcing herself to remain calm, she pulled back her test paper and said calmly, "Nobody, just asking."

After a long pause, Shi Ziqian nodded. "Mm."