Chapter 10

◎An Unexpected Encounter◎

Shi Ziqian pushed the door open and entered, his face expressionless. It was unclear whether he had heard their conversation.

Although Zhan Xinyue hadn't participated in the discussion, for some reason, when their eyes met, she still felt a strange sense of awkwardness and guilt. She subconsciously avoided his gaze, lowering her head back to look at her book, refusing to look at him.

Shi Ziqian simply watched her movements calmly, then lowered his eyes slightly and returned to his seat.

An awkward silence fell over the room. Xie Wanzhi had already left without a word, and Xin Wenhua, who had just been speaking eloquently, deflated like a punctured balloon. He hurriedly turned back, buried his head, and didn't utter another word.

No matter how much the rumors spread in secret, it doesn't mean that people dare to discuss them in front of the person involved, especially since that person involved is Shi Ziqian.

For the rest of the next class, Xin Wenhua was restless, fidgeting in and out of her chair as if she had a thorn in her side.

After a long while, he suddenly turned his head back as if he had made up his mind, looked at Shi Ziqian, and opened his mouth slightly as if he wanted to say something.

Shi Ziqian sat there, his expression calm and indifferent, not even glancing at him.

So in the end he said nothing.

Several classes passed, and Zhan Xinyue was so engrossed in reading that her head was spinning. She had long forgotten about the incident. Suddenly, Xin Wenhua took advantage of the moment when Shi Ziqian left the classroom and turned to her with a serious expression, bringing up the old matter again: "You said... did Shi Ziqian hear us talking about him?"

Zhan Xinyue snapped out of her daze from the formulas that were giving her a headache and corrected him: "What do you mean 'we'? It's 'you'."

Xin Wenhua stared in disbelief: "Fine, so you're already cutting ties? That's so unfair."

Zhan Xinyue was a little impatient with him for putting this label on her. "No, it seems that even 'you' doesn't count. It's just you talking, and everyone else is just listening."

Xin Wenhua was speechless. After a two-second silence, she shrank back and went to whisper to Lu Meng.

She vaguely heard him muttering to himself in front of her, "If he really heard that, I'm doomed. What if he messes with me later?"

"Should I talk to him after my evening class and explain? Actually, I didn't say anything really offensive. I just heard about it; I wasn't the first to spread the rumors..."

This bewildered and lost state of mind is completely different from when he was passionately and confidently describing other people's everyday lives.

Even after evening classes ended, Xin Wenhua remained sullen, slumped listlessly in front of his desk. Zhan Xinyue glanced at him, then packed her things and went home.

Her parents were still waiting for her at the school gate, but their eyes were filled with undisguised smiles. As Zhan Xinyue approached with a puzzled look, Zhan Wei mysteriously pulled her to the trunk, saying, "There's a surprise today! Guess what's inside?"

Pang Yun stood to the side, watching her with a smile.

Seeing them looking at her like that, Zhan Xinyue couldn't help but laugh too: "What a sudden surprise! Is today some kind of special day?"

"What are you saying?" Zhan Wei said, "Does Dad need to pick a day to surprise you? Okay, I bet you'll never guess, so I'll just reveal the secret—"

The trunk door slowly popped open.

Zhan Xinyue's gaze followed the box inside, where a large packaging box lay quietly. Inside was a purple skateboard with smooth lines and a large bow tied in the middle.

"Skateboard?" Zhan Xinyue couldn't hide her surprise.

"So, do you like it?" Zhan Wei was pleased with her surprised expression. "This color is beautiful, isn't it? It suits girls perfectly."

Pang Yun added with a smile, "Your dad just dropped you off this morning and then dragged me to buy you a skateboard. He spent a long time picking one out, and he was the one who chose this one for you."

Zhan Wei didn't forget to emphasize Pang Yun's contribution, "We picked it out together, and your mother tied the bow on it herself."

"Thank you, Mom and Dad, it really is beautiful." Zhan Xinyue thanked them, but was still a little puzzled, "...But why did you suddenly decide to buy me a skateboard?"

Zhan Wei was a little embarrassed: "I saw some kids playing in the yard last night, and I thought, if other kids have something, we should have it every month too. I can't let you fall behind them."

He had barely finished speaking when Pang Yun exposed him: "That's not what he told me. He told me as soon as he woke up this morning that he was staring at other people's skateboards yesterday, so he definitely wanted one."

So that's why.

She hadn't even noticed the glance she gave those skateboarding boys last night, but her dad had. She saw Xu Shen through them, but in her parents' eyes, there was only ever her.

Her eyes suddenly felt hot, and she quickly blinked to stop the sudden urge to cry. She reached out and pressed her hand on the skateboard, saying earnestly, "Thank you, Mom and Dad. I really like it."

Upon arriving at the residential area, Zhan Wei couldn't wait to disassemble the skateboard and take her to practice.

Pang Yun teased him, "Why are you even more impatient than Yueyue? I'm starting to suspect that you wanted this skateboard yourself."

Zhan Wei chuckled and didn't refute.

Summer nights are always Zhan Xinyue's favorite time. The daytime heat gradually dissipates, and a gentle night breeze brings comfort. The three of them found an open space, and Zhan Xinyue, holding her parents' hands, wobbled along on her skateboard, like a small boat being blown by the wind on the water.

After practicing for a while, she suddenly seemed to have found the knack and glided quite a distance. When she excitedly turned around, she realized that her parents had let go of her hand sometime earlier and were standing there watching her with doting expressions.

"Our Yueyue is amazing, she learned it in no time." Pang Yun said with pride.

“Yeah, Yueyue is athletic,” Zhan Wei chimed in.

"I have absolutely no athletic talent; I'm far from good enough," Zhan Xinyue said, feeling embarrassed. "I can only glide out; I'm still a long way from being a skater."

"Take your time, you'll be able to do it soon too." Zhan Wei caught up with her and said confidently, "Come on, let Dad give it a try."

Soon, amidst Pang Yun's exclamation, "How old are you? Be careful not to hurt your back!", he slammed his skateboard into the grass.

Zhan Xinyue chased after him to help him up, laughing so hard she couldn't stand up straight.

A cool breeze was blowing, and the moonlight was as clear as water. Pang Yun sat on the small skateboard, with Zhan Xinyue and Zhan Wei holding her hands on either side, laughing as they ran forward.

Because I was in the wind, because I was with my parents, it seemed that all my troubles could be blown away.

Whether it was due to the brain's instinctive self-protective reaction or not, two days later, Zhan Xinyue felt that her mood had improved a lot, and she had hardly thought about Xu Shen at all during these two days.

People always know how to save themselves. During the day, she focused on studying, and at night she stayed with her parents. Her time and emotions were filled to the brim, leaving no room to recall those painful memories.

During physical education class, after everyone finished their warm-up exercises, the PE teacher urged them to run two laps around the playground, after which they were allowed to do whatever they wanted.

At times like these, there are always a few students in the class who don't participate in any activities and quietly find a quiet place to study. Zhan Xinyue didn't quite understand this before, but now she's become one of them. With the monthly exam drawing ever closer, she wishes she could stretch every minute in half, not wanting to waste a single second.

She walked through the noisy crowd scrambling for the volleyball, found a shady spot under the flagpole, sat down, and opened the study guide she had brought.

"What are you doing?" Xie Wanzhi came over as soon as I sat down.

"No, why do you look like..." She glanced at the other students who were reading, and lowered her voice somewhat cautiously, "Really? Why are you like this too? Are you aiming for first place in the grade? You even have to study in PE class."

"The exam is coming up soon," Zhan Xinyue replied dismissively.

"It's just a monthly exam, it can't be that serious." Xie Wanzhi raised an eyebrow. "It's not like it's a major exam. When have you ever acted like this before..."

Seeing that Zhan Xinyue was keeping her head down and unmoved, she had no choice but to say helplessly, "Fine, I won't bother with you. You go ahead and study, I'm going to play volleyball."

On this side of the playground, the girls' laughter and chatter filled the air as they played volleyball, while the boys ran off to the basketball court further away to play. Meanwhile, another class was having a PE lesson over there, already occupying a large portion of the court.

The place was noisy everywhere, but Zhan Xinyue was not too affected and quietly read her book amidst the noise.

She has already reviewed the key points of several subjects in math and science twice, and now she's starting to look at practice problems. Not having enough time to do each problem herself, she's adopted a more efficient approach: directly looking at the solution steps of example problems in the supplementary materials, trying to understand and memorize them as she goes.

This method is a bit opportunistic. Chen Rui always emphasizes that you can't learn just by looking at the questions; you have to do the questions yourself to find the problems. Zhan Xinyue certainly knows this, but at this moment she can only believe that as long as she looks at enough questions, there will definitely be traces left in her mind.

Her efficiency was quite good; she had already finished several chapters in half a class. As class was about to end, she saw Xie Wanzhi still having a great time playing volleyball, so she packed up her things and headed towards Xiao Chao.

It's too hot, she wants to buy a bottle of ice water.

There were quite a few people at Xiaochao, with long queues at both cash registers. Zhan Xinyue hurriedly took a bottle of water from the freezer, compared the lengths of the queues on both sides, and chose the shorter one to stand in.

The moment she stood still, she suddenly froze.

Ahead, the familiar and refreshing scent emanating from the boy was unavoidable, directly impacting her breathing.

She couldn't help but take a step back.

Looking up, she saw a boy standing in front of her, a head taller than her. His school uniform was casually draped over his shoulders, and he was tossing a bottle of Scream water around in the air. She wondered if he had just washed his face with cold water, because tiny, damp droplets could still be seen in his hair, dripping down one by one.

He probably didn't notice someone behind him. He raised his hand and casually brushed his wet hair, and a tiny drop of water landed on Zhan Xinyue's nose.

Zhan Xinyue didn't raise her hand to wipe it away. The tiny water droplet felt like it weighed a ton, making her feel numb all over. A needle-like pain spread from her heart to her limbs.

Standing before her was Xu Shen. Seventeen-year-old Xu Shen.

The two were two steps apart.

Before she could clearly see the person in front of her, her sense of smell had already recognized him. His scent had been with her for more than a decade, so long that it seemed to have become a part of her body, a memory etched into her genes.