Chapter 58

◎Want to come watch the basketball game?◎

A familiar figure emerged from the end of the corridor. Zhan Xinyue glanced in that direction, then immediately snapped out of her reverie, turned around, and went back to the classroom from the other end.

Xu Shen walked to the office door, peeked inside, and then backed out. Seeing that they were talking inside, he didn't disturb them, but lazily leaned against the corridor railing, listening to the sounds inside.

After a while, it quieted down inside. There were no other sounds for a long time. Xu Shen turned around in confusion and saw that Jiang Ying had come out at some point and was standing behind him with her arms crossed, glaring at him.

"Hey, Mom's out." Xu Shen warmly stepped forward and hugged her. "Why is that expression so serious? It doesn't suit you at all."

Jiang Ying continued to glare at him, "What kind of look do you expect me to have? I was just about to teach you a lesson, making your old mother have to come to school for a lecture."

Xu Shen stood up straight, looking like he was accepting punishment: "Fine, so how are you going to teach me a lesson?"

"Of course I'll give you a good beating." With that, Jiang Ying nudged him in the chest twice with her elbow.

"Ouch, that hurts!" Xu Shen clutched his chest and took a few steps back. "Mom, you're so cruel."

"Come on, I didn't use any force." Jiang Ying watched him act, then poked his forehead with her index finger. "How did you know I was here?"

"I have informants. I just heard from classmates that someone in the hallway was asking where the homeroom teacher's office was, and I knew it was you. But why didn't you come to the classroom to ask me to bring you here?"

"What's so glorious about inviting parents? I'd have to go and wander around your class too," Jiang Ying said to him.

Xu Shen gave her a thumbs up: "My mom is really amazing, she managed to find her way here by herself."

“This teaching building is so winding, and there aren’t even any signs on the office doors. How am I supposed to find it?” She looked around. “Luckily, a really kind female classmate just showed me the way…”

Xu Shen followed her gaze. It was almost time for class, and the corridor was deserted, without a single person in sight. He smiled and said, "Mom, you're so young and beautiful, every classmate would be eager to be with you."

"Stop talking nonsense. Don't think you can get away with this by saying a few nice words. I promised your homeroom teacher that I would teach you a lesson."

Jiang Ying scolded him for a while, half-jokingly, and finally warned him seriously to keep a low profile at school and not to cause her to be invited back to school for reprimands before letting him go.

Xu Shen escorted her to the school gate. As soon as he entered the classroom, he saw Yu Bai sitting on his desk with his legs crossed.

"What are you doing? Get out of here." Xu Shen raised his hand and shoved him off. "Do you think you can just sit at my table like that?"

Yu Bai asked with a half-smile, "Did your mother just arrive?"

Xu Shen sat down and wiped the table twice: "What are you saying, 'your mother'? Be more civilized."

Yu Bai was about to retort when he saw his action and his eyebrows shot up: "What do you mean by wiping the table? Are you disgusted with me?"

"No." Xu Shen looked up at him. "I just dislike your pants. You sit on the ground every day after playing basketball. Don't leave black marks on my table."

Yu Bai was furious and couldn't find anything to say for a moment. He stared at him for a long time before finally speaking: "What the hell was wrong with you at the arts festival? You suddenly changed the song. Are you happy now that your parents have been called in?"

Xu Shen pretended to think seriously for a long time, then nodded: "It's alright, quite comfortable."

"Fine, as long as you're comfortable." Yu Bai said speechlessly, "You should be glad that the school board member didn't come this time, otherwise Gao Qiang would have given you an even bigger hard time and would have definitely made an example of you. I heard that as soon as your song came out, Gao Qiang was holding the program and asking the person next to him, 'Is this program printed wrong?' Old Fang's face turned green."

"I'm actually pretty lucky." Xu Shen patted his shoulder. "Alright, don't worry, I'm fine. It's just a matter of calling the parents, it's not the first time."

Yu Bai waved his hand away: "What are you trying to achieve by making such a big fuss?"

"I'm not after anything." Xu Shen sat back down, leaning back in his chair. "It was just a momentary impulse. That's how we young people are, you wouldn't understand."

Yu Bai sneered: "I don't understand, being impulsive is fine, as long as you don't regret it."

"What do I regret?" Xu Shen asked him leisurely. "How many times in life can you have such an opportunity to sing the song I want to sing for the girl I like in front of everyone?"

Yu Bai clicked his tongue: "I knew someone in the class said you changed the song at the last minute to pursue that girl in Class 10. I thought you couldn't be that stupid? I didn't expect you to actually be that stupid. You really are... I don't know what to say."

In Class 10, Zhan Xinyue sat at her desk, staring at the physics problem in front of her. She read the question stem over and over again several times before realizing that she had been so engrossed in reading that she hadn't actually absorbed a single word. She put down her pen and sighed softly.

In her past life, she loved Jiang Ying very much. Although they were not related by blood, she truly treated her like her own daughter. It was just a pity that she died young in her past life. Now that she has been reborn, they are no longer mother and daughter.

He was lost in thought for a while. It was during break time, and the classroom was noisy. Shi Ziqian had fallen asleep on his desk again.

Zhan Xinyue's gaze drifted aimlessly over him, and she couldn't help but think: How can he sleep on such a noisy, hard table?

As he slept, one hand was half-clasped behind his head, obscuring most of his profile. His jet-black hair made his hand appear even whiter and longer, and his neatly trimmed nails had a faint pink tinge, revealing a delicate, almost artistic quality.

Zhan Xinyue noticed a light-colored scar at the base of his finger, and a faint sense of regret welled up in her heart. His wound from that time had indeed left a scar.

There's nothing more to it than a feeling of regret that something beautiful has been destroyed. Thankfully, the scar is small, and it should be able to be covered by a ring later.

She stared at his hand, lost in thought, and suddenly remembered that time on the school bus, it was because this hand was so beautiful that she had lost her senses and done something inexplicable to someone. She wondered if she had scared anyone at the time.

Thinking back to that incident, she wanted to laugh, but the corners of her mouth just curved slightly before drooping weakly again.

A sudden pang of sadness welled up inside her. Despite the large number of people in the classroom, she felt inexplicably empty.

After her rebirth, whenever she was with Xu Shen and Xie Wanzhi, people with whom she had entangled across two lifetimes, her feelings were always complex and heavy. Every time she saw them, it meant that those memories would haunt her like a shadow. It seemed that only when she was with Shi Ziqian, someone she had little interaction with in her previous life, could she truly feel relaxed and at peace, and only then were her memories of him fresh, not a repetition of the past.

Before she knew it, she had gotten used to Shi Ziqian always sitting next to her. Although he rarely spoke, he always had a quality that made people feel inexplicably at ease.

She didn't have many friends to begin with, and after her rebirth, she even erased Xie Wanzhi from her heart. Perhaps, she had already come to regard Shi Ziqian as a new friend in her heart.

But it seems she also ruined his relationship, all because of such a small thing.

When Xie Wanzhi asked her yesterday if she had other potential deskmates, she was thinking that if this incident hadn't happened, she would have actually wanted to ask Shi Ziqian if they wanted to continue sitting together. After all, she was already quite used to it.

Lost in thought, she didn't notice that the hand had moved slightly, and Shi Ziqian's eyes had opened at some point, silently watching her.

She always felt that although Shi Ziqian's facial features were all perfect, his eyes were the most beautiful. Because his pupils were very dark, he always looked very calm when he looked at people, like ink that couldn't be blurred, making people feel that he was unfathomable and that they couldn't figure out his emotions.

"What's wrong?" The two stared at each other in silence for a long time. Shi Ziqian's Adam's apple bobbed slightly as he asked softly.

On her desk was a small, round mirror. Through the mirror, she saw her own expression: her lips were pursed into a line, her eyes were drooping, and she looked very sad.

Shi Ziqian slowly sat up, his eyes fixed on her, still with that same deep gaze, but his words were spoken softly, making him seem gentler. He asked again in a low voice, "What's wrong?"

Zhan Xinyue looked away and shook her head.

"fine."

Shi Ziqian looked at her for a while longer, then looked away and said, "Mm."

Before she knew it, it was Friday again. On her way to PE class, Zhan Xinyue ran into Xu Shen in the stairwell.

Xu Shen and Yu Bai were walking together when they saw her, and Xu Shen immediately raised his hand to greet her. "Hi, Xinyue."

Zhan Xinyue smiled and continued walking forward, but Xu Shen quickened his pace and walked up to her. Yu Bai rolled her eyes in annoyance and strode past the two of them.

Xu Shen glanced at his retreating figure and spoke to Zhan Xinyue quite frankly: "The school-wide basketball tournament starts next week, your class should be participating too, right?"

Zhan Xinyue: "I'm not really sure about that. I haven't paid much attention to basketball games."

"I'll probably still participate, but I remember there aren't many boys in your class who play basketball." Xu Shen thought for a moment, "If I participate, will you go watch?"

Zhan Xinyue shook her head: "I probably won't go."

"If you're not going to watch your class's game, why don't you come and watch ours?"

Zhan Xinyue hesitated: "But I don't know much about basketball."

Xu Shen said, "It's quite fun to come and watch the excitement. If you come and cheer me on, our class should be able to win."

Zhan Xinyue nodded: "We'll see when the time comes. We'll go if we have time."

"That's great." Xu Shen laughed, scratched his head, and then casually said, "By the way, I was a little nervous at the arts festival that day, and I didn't sing very well. I even cracked my voice in one part. You didn't secretly laugh at me from the audience, did you?"

"It's okay," Zhan Xinyue comforted him. "You don't need to worry. I didn't hear you make a mistake. I went to the restroom, and when I came back, you had already finished singing."

Xu Shen seemed to be stunned for a moment, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

"What's wrong?" Zhan Xinyue observed his expression, thought for a moment, and said, "Are you not happy? I'm sorry, I meant to watch it carefully, but the restroom was a bit crowded, so I waited for a while and missed it."

"No, no." Xu Shen waved his hands repeatedly. "I'm not unhappy. It's good that you didn't hear it. Anyway, it was a bit of a mess. It's good that you didn't hear it. I'll sing it for you next time."

"Okay, I'll look forward to it." Zhan Xinyue nodded. "You should go back now, I'm going to my PE class."

Xu Shen waved goodbye to her and turned to walk towards the classroom.

That day, in front of the still-crowded auditorium, he was scolded by Lao Fang for half an hour, and then called to the homeroom teacher's office for a whole night of criticism. He was still full of energy, but now his lips suddenly drooped.

As soon as he entered the classroom, a basketball came hurtling straight at his face. Xu Shen caught it casually and lazily glanced at the culprit, saying, "Watch out."

"Hehe, I was just having a good time playing ball in the back..." Yu Bai said with a grin, "Why did you bump your face into my ball?"

Xu Shen tossed the ball back to him and uttered two words: "Idiot."

"Me, an idiot?" Yu Bai threw the ball at him again. "No matter what, I'm not as stupid as you, you idiot who values ​​women over friends."

Xu Shen didn't catch it this time, but dodged to the side. The basketball grazed his shoulder and landed on the ground, rolling far away.

He walked past Yu Bai, giving him a half-smile: "Wait for me at the basketball court during afternoon activity class."

"What are you waiting for me for?"

"Let's have a duel. Whoever loses has to admit they're an idiot," Xu Shen said.

"Naive!" Yu Bai reached out to pick up the ball and nodded firmly. "I was right, you really are an idiot."

Perhaps it was because Yu Bai kept repeating those two words to him, but Xu Shen suddenly felt like he was being a bit of an idiot.

He originally thought his actions were quite romantic.

However, if the female lead doesn't realize it at all, or even if she doesn't appear, then this whole thing does seem pretty stupid.

Xu Shen sat in his seat, propping his face up with his hand, and pondered for a long time. For the first time, he fell into deep self-doubt: Was his act of delivering the lyrics not obvious enough?