Chapter 30

◎The Joy of First Meeting◎

After a while, Xie Wanzhi started arguing with Xin Wenhua in front of her again. The two of them were pulling and tugging at each other, and they bumped into her table, which brought her back to her senses.

Xin Wenhua wore a new watch today, and Xie Wanzhi saw it and tried to snatch it to look at it. Xin Wenhua quickly grabbed her, shouting repeatedly, "My goodness, slow down! I just bought this watch, and it's very expensive!"

Xie Wanzhi twisted her body to avoid him, but Xin Wenhua, caught off guard, grabbed the back of her hand. Xie Wanzhi immediately yelled, "Why are you grabbing your father's hand? Don't you know that men and women shouldn't touch each other?!"

Xin Wenhua quickly let go, her face slightly flushed: "Grandma, can you please keep your voice down? I didn't mean to."

Taking advantage of his embarrassment, Xie Wanzhi grabbed the watch and held it up to examine it closely.

"Ouch, be careful." Xin Wenhua caught it with both hands below, calling out repeatedly.

"Are you being really that stingy?" Xie Wanzhi rolled her eyes and looked at it carefully. "There's nothing special about it. Why are you treasuring it like this?"

“I’m not a precious thing, of course it’s nothing to you to look at. I’m just worried you might drop it,” Xin Wenhua said. “Besides, this watch of mine costs more than 20,000 yuan. My dad just bought it for me this weekend. I haven’t even had a chance to enjoy it yet. If you drop it, my dad will give me a good beating.”

"More than 20,000 for this watch?" Xie Wanzhi looked doubtful, clearly not believing it.

"Tch, tch, tch, believe me if you want. I have nothing to say to someone like you who doesn't know what's good for him." Xin Wenhua took the opportunity to snatch the watch back and carefully put it on.

"Look at you, so petty." Xie Wanzhi was extremely disgusted. She rolled her eyes and looked at Shi Ziqian's desk corner, asking Zhan Xinyue, "Hey, where did your deskmate go?"

"He wasn't feeling well and went home to rest."

"Oh—" Xie Wanzhi then turned to Xin Wenhua and said, "Look at other people, they just leave their watches lying around even when they're not around. Unlike you, you practically worship your watch."

Zhan Xinyue then noticed that Shi Ziqian's usual black watch was still on the table. She wondered if he had taken it off when he wasn't feeling well and forgot to take it with him when he left.

"Well, he's rich and powerful. How can I compare to him?" Xin Wenhua said sullenly. "If my family had that much money, I would also throw it around like that. Not only would I throw it around, I would wear one piece and then throw it away. I just throw it away for fun."

Xie Wanzhi was still looking at Shi Ziqian's watch. Knowing that Shi Ziqian wasn't there, she became bolder than usual. This time, she simply reached out and hooked it up, asking curiously, "By the way, what kind of watch is that? It must be quite expensive, right?"

She carried it casually, the watch swaying in her hand, causing Zhan Xinyue's brow to twitch slightly.

In fact, Shi Ziqian cherished this watch very much. In Zhan Xinyue's memory, he always wore it, only taking it off occasionally when he was about to get it wet. Today, he was probably in too much stomach pain and had even forgotten about his watch.

By this time, he had already gone back to class for several periods, and I wonder how he is doing now.

Xin Wenhua's curiosity was piqued by Xie Wanzhi's words, and he craned his neck to look: "Isn't that obvious? Watches are just ornaments for rich kids to show off their wealth. One of his watches must cost at least tens or hundreds of thousands. Let me take a look. I know quite a bit about watches."

"So expensive? Here, take a look." Xie Wanzhi handed it to him, her face full of anticipation.

Xin Wenhua carefully took it, looked at it for a long time, and finally clicked his tongue: "Why is it a digital watch? It's worthless."

Xie Wanzhi's face fell: "Can't you even tell? Or maybe you just don't recognize him? Would Shi Ziqian wear such an inexpensive watch?"

Xin Wenhua said urgently, "I don't recognize it? I already told you I'm very knowledgeable about watches. Do you want to bet me that this watch is worth no more than... um, 1000 yuan?"

"If it doesn't exceed the limit, it doesn't exceed the limit. Who wants to bet with you? It's boring." Xie Wanzhi snatched the watch back and put it back on Shi Ziqian's table.

Xin Wenhua's face showed a constipated expression, but fortunately he was used to Xie Wanzhi's constant nagging and didn't argue anymore.

Lu Meng overheard their conversation and remarked, "You know what, this young master is actually quite approachable. I don't think I've ever seen him be particularly high-profile. He wears a school uniform and a regular watch every day, eats in the cafeteria just like us, and lives in the school dormitory."

"Approachable? What? Has he ever paid any attention to you before?" Xin Wenhua glanced at him. "I just think he's incredibly arrogant and doesn't respect us at all."

"Why should anyone even notice you?" Xie Wanzhi said lazily. "You're nothing special either."

"Alright, shut up." Xin Wenhua turned away angrily, then turned back after a while and added, "I really have nothing to say to you guys. I'm going to play football."

He stormed out, but unfortunately, no one tried to stop him. Instead, Xie Wanzhi, seeing him leave, sat down in his seat. Just a second later, she frowned and said, "Ugh, the chair got so warm from his sitting, it feels disgusting."

Lu Meng's face was full of lewdness: "Does it feel like your butts have made intimate contact?"

"Get out of here!" Xie Wanzhi sprang up. "Go to hell!"

She turned to walk to her seat, but after a few steps she suddenly turned back to look at Zhan Xinyue: "By the way, Ziqian probably won't be back for evening class tonight, right? Maybe I can move over and sit here tonight."

Zhan Xinyue was naturally unwilling and quickly tried to persuade her, "Isn't that a bad idea? He only said he was going back to rest for a while. What if he comes back later?"

"It's okay, I'll move back when he gets back." As she spoke, she excitedly took a few steps back to her seat to get her things and sat down next to him. Zhan Xinyue could only let her go.

Lu Meng gave her a thumbs-up in admiration and said, "You are the one."

Xie Wanzhi closed the book that was lying open on Shi Ziqian's table and put it aside. "It's not like I've never sat here before, what's there to be afraid of?"

Xie Wanzhi adapted well to this position that didn't belong to her. During evening classes, she would sometimes come over to talk to Zhan Xinyue, and sometimes whisper with Lu Meng and the others. Zhan Xinyue was getting dizzy from her noise and subconsciously hoped that Shi Ziqian would come back to save her from this predicament.

Just thinking about Shi Ziqian, glancing at his still empty seat and the watch that Xie Wanzhi had pushed to the corner of the table, made her feel even heavier.

The next day, Ziqian arrived very late; he didn't enter the classroom until some time had already passed since morning reading began.

Zhan Xinyue originally wanted to ask him if he was feeling better, but when she turned her head to look at him several times, Shi Ziqian didn't look up even once.

She hesitated for a long time, sighed inwardly, and silently turned back.

The more you say, the more mistakes you make. Since it seems like she can't get anything right no matter what she does, it's best to just let it go. In situations like this, doing nothing might be the best course of action.

The two didn't speak much for the next few days, and when their eyes met occasionally, they would look away.

The two remained deskmates like strangers, and apart from Shi Ziqian spending more and more time away from his seat, nothing else seemed to change much.

On Friday afternoon, the air conditioning in the classroom was set very low, and Zhan Xinyue felt cold even wearing her long-sleeved school uniform jacket. She got up and left the classroom during the break. The moment she stepped outside, the sweltering heat outside hit her, neutralizing the coolness of the classroom and surprisingly making her feel quite comfortable. She leaned against the railing for a while before her icy hands warmed up.

Just as I was relaxing, a little girl turned out from the end of the corridor, looking up at the class sign at the classroom door as she walked towards me. She was wearing a junior high school uniform jacket but no school pants, and looked very young, like an elementary school student. As she walked down the corridor, many students stared at her curiously.

When she reached the door of Class 10, she stopped and peeked inside, revealing a bright orange tuft of hair behind her ear, which was quite conspicuous. It was unclear whether she hadn't covered it up or hadn't intended to.

She stared at the classroom for a long time, then looked up at the class sign again, her face full of confusion.

Zhan Xinyue had been watching her movements and guessed that she was looking for someone, so she kindly asked, "Who are you looking for?"

The little girl turned around, glanced at her, and asked, "Is Shi Ziqian in this class?"

“Yes,” Zhan Xinyue said. She was already used to the groups of girls from the junior high school coming to see Shi Ziqian in small groups, like visiting a tourist attraction, but she had never met anyone as bold and direct as Zhan Xinyue, especially since Zhan Xinyue looked so young.

"Where is he?" she asked matter-of-factly.

Zhan Xinyue didn't rush to answer, but looked at her carefully. The girl in front of her was extremely beautiful, with a delicate oval face that was taut. If it weren't for her young age and the lingering childishness on her face, she would probably be the type to be cold and aloof. However, her attire was rather androgynous, with her not-so-long hair half-tied up, revealing bold orange highlights, and a metal necklace around her neck, which balanced her beauty and made her look quite cool.

"What do you want with him?" Zhan Xinyue asked. She had a guess in her mind. The girl in front of her was so young, yet her appearance was already stunning. It was hard not to think of a possibility.

Sure enough, the little girl hesitated for a moment before saying, "I am his... sister." When she said "sister," her tone became slightly muffled, and she quickly glossed over it, then looked up and asked, "I need to talk to him. Where is he?"

I had heard Xie Wanzhi mention before that Shi Ziqian had a younger sister in the junior high school, but this was the first time I had met her in person. Zhan Xinyue's gaze lingered on her face, and she silently marveled at how excellent the family's genes were before saying, "I don't know either. You can wait for him here for a while."

She frowned slightly. "Never mind, I don't have time for that." Her gaze swept over Zhan Xinyue, and she casually asked, "Are you in this class too?"

"Hmm." Zhan Xinyue thought for a moment, "I'm his deskmate, so I can pass on your message if you need anything."

"Classmate?" Upon hearing this, Shi Qiyue looked her up and down with interest. "Sister, it must be tough for you to sit with such an ice block of a man every day. If I were you, I would definitely ask Xu Tianzhi for some compensation for emotional distress."

Xu Tianzhi is the principal's name. He rarely appears in public, and everyone usually calls him Principal Xu. Zhan Xinyue was silent for a moment, unsure whether she was silent because she called Xu Tianzhi by his name directly, or because Shi Ziqian's sister didn't mince words when she complained about him.

She seemed quite pleased with her silence, laughing to herself for a long time. As she laughed, the coldness on her face, which was unusual for her age, faded, and she became somewhat childlike.

After laughing for a while, she said, "Okay, sister, I have to go now. When you see Shi Ziqian later, tell him that Shi Qiyue is sick and that he should take her home for a shot this weekend."

Is she sick? Zhan Xinyue looked at her more closely, but couldn't see anything wrong with her.

"Even though he might not agree, just tell him that." Shi Qiyue finished speaking and turned to leave. Zhan Xinyue only had time to say "Okay" to her retreating figure.

Just before class started, Shi Ziqian returned.

The two hadn't spoken for so long that Zhan Xinyue felt awkward even speaking. She cleared her throat before calling out to him, "Shi Ziqian."

Shi Ziqian had just sat down when he looked at her with his dark eyes, quietly waiting for her to continue.

His gaze was indifferent and detached, revealing nothing about his emotions.

Zhan Xinyue felt a little regretful for saying she would pass on his message when he looked at her like that, but she still forced herself to speak: "Your sister came to see you just now, I think her name is Shi Qiyue? She said she is sick and asked you to take her to get a shot when you go home this weekend."

Shi Ziqian seemed to be thinking about what she said, his gaze somewhat unfathomable. After a long while, he softly said, "I understand," and then turned away.

Zhan Xinyue pondered for a long time but couldn't quite figure out whether his words meant agreement or disagreement. However, since the message had already been delivered, the rest was none of her concern. At this moment, the physics teacher walked in, and Zhan Xinyue immediately pulled out her physics worksheet and lowered her head.