Chapter 59

◎Blue sticky note◎

Physical education classes have always been extremely perfunctory. After everyone did some warm-up exercises and ran two laps around the playground, they were free to do whatever they wanted.

It was already Friday, and Lao Zhou had made it clear that we would be changing seats before school ended today. As soon as the line dispersed, Zhan Xinyue noticed Xie Wanzhi at the front of the line turning her head to look back, as if she were looking for her.

She guessed that Xie Wanzhi wanted to talk to her about changing seats again, and suddenly felt a little annoyed. She simply took advantage of the chaos when the group dispersed and walked away with the dispersing crowd. Zhan Xinyue wandered around, but couldn't find a quiet place, so she thought she might as well go back to the classroom.

On her way back to the classroom, she had to pass the basketball court. She deliberately walked very fast, but unexpectedly, Xie Wanzhi still saw her from afar when she was almost in front of the teaching building. Xie Wanzhi had been sitting by the court watching others play volleyball, but when she glanced at her, she got up and followed her.

Zhan Xinyue sighed, went upstairs but didn't rush back to the classroom; she went to the restroom first.

When she returned to the classroom, the back door was locked. As she walked toward the front door, she glanced through the window and saw a few students who had skipped PE class sitting scattered around. Xie Wanzhi was sitting in Zhan Xinyue's seat, looking down at something.

"Why are you sitting here?" Zhan Xinyue asked, her voice not loud as she was mindful of the other people in the classroom. But Xie Wanzhi seemed startled and quickly leaned back, her hand that was on the table suddenly clenching and pulling under the table.

Zhan Xinyue keenly noticed a blue object flash by, and after scrutinizing her panicked face for a moment, she said, "What is that? Take it out."

"Nothing... I was just waiting here for you, I didn't do anything," Xie Wanzhi stammered.

Seeing her expression, Zhan Xinyue felt something was wrong and repeated coldly, "Take it out."

Xie Wanzhi's expression shifted several times before she suddenly raised her hand and tossed the bundle of things in her hand onto her desk.

It was a blue sticky note, which she had crumpled into a ball.

Zhan Xinyue glanced at her face a few more times, then unfolded the mass.

A few words were written in the middle of the crumpled page:

With the new moon appearing, can we continue to sit at the same desk?

The handwriting is vigorous and strong, completely different from Xie Wanzhi's elementary school-style handwriting.

There was almost no need to think about who wrote the sticky note; Zhan Xinyue remained silent.

She had seen the blue sticky note in her hand many times when she was first reborn. She always thought it was passed down by Xie Wanzhi and never opened it. After that, she rarely saw it.

She left PE class early today, and when she got up, Shi Ziqian was still sitting in his seat. She guessed that Shi Ziqian had left this note on her desk at that time, but unexpectedly, Xie Wanzhi saw it by mistake.

Zhan Xinyue looked at those few simple words again, feeling a little dazed.

She was still feeling sad about their relationship yesterday, thinking that if things weren't like this, she would actually quite like to sit with Shi Ziqian. She just didn't expect that he felt the same way.

Xie Wanzhi, who had been observing her expression with her arms crossed, suddenly spoke up: "Aren't you going to explain?"

Zhan Xinyue gave her a puzzled look: "Why should I explain to you?"

"You..." Xie Wanzhi was a little annoyed. She glanced at the students sitting in the front row of the classroom and held back from saying anything more. Instead, she said, "Come out and talk," and got up and left.

Zhan Xinyue stared at the note for a while, and after a long while, she also left the classroom.

Stairwell.

"You choose," Xie Wanzhi stared at her, "Who are you going to sit with?"

She spoke with such confidence that Zhan Xinyue was momentarily speechless.

Seeing that she remained silent, Xie Wanzhi raised her voice, "You don't really want to continue sitting with Shi Ziqian, do you? He's so boring, what's the point of you sitting with him?"

Zhan Xinyue glanced at her a few times and calmly said, "Yes, I'm planning to continue sitting with him. I don't find it boring at all. You should ask him as soon as possible if there's anyone else you can sit with, so you don't end up alone. Is there anything else? If not, I'll go inside."

"You!" Xie Wanzhi stared at her, as if she couldn't believe she would speak like that. After a long while, she suddenly shouted, "You haven't fallen for Shi Ziqian, have you? Can't you be a little more rational?"

Zhan Xinyue was almost amused by her thought process. "He clearly wrote me the note, why don't you just say he's fallen for me?"

"You really know how to flatter yourself. Have you been reading too many romance novels?"

"I don't know if I'm trying to flatter you, but what about you? Why are you so concerned about us? What's it to you?" Zhan Xinyue said sarcastically. "You're always talking about Shi Ziqian in front of me. Whoever likes Shi Ziqian knows it in their heart."

After saying that, Zhan Xinyue turned around and left her behind as she went into the classroom.

No sooner had she sat down than Xie Wanzhi rushed in, bent over, and rummaged through the bottom cabinet, pulling out a textbook. She strode over and slammed the thick textbook onto her desk with a "thud."

"Whoever likes Shi Ziqian knows it in their heart, right?"

She threw it so hard that the book slipped to the ground with another thud.

After throwing the object, she stormed out angrily.

Zhan Xinyue glanced down and recognized it as the English tutoring book she had lent to Xie Wanzhi after the monthly exam. It had been so long that she had long forgotten about it.

She bent down to pick it up, pressed her temples with patience, but finally couldn't help but curse in the classroom.

"Neuropathy."

After calming herself down for a while, she took out Shi Ziqian's sticky note and looked at it for a bit. She originally planned to reply directly on it, but after thinking about it, she didn't write anything down and instead put the sticky note into her pencil case.

After the PE class ended, Shi Ziqian followed the crowd back to his seat and glanced at her desk as he sat down.

After a brief glance, he looked at his desk again, this time pausing for a long while before his eyes gradually drooped.

Zhan Xinyue turned to the side and gently patted his arm: "Shi Ziqian, I saw your note. Let's continue sitting at the same table."

As soon as the last class of the afternoon ended, Mr. Zhou strolled in and said loudly, "No one's in a hurry to leave. Go outside the classroom and line up according to your ranking in the last monthly exam, then come in one by one to choose your seats."

The seating arrangement was quick and over in no time. Zhan Xinyue remained in her original spot with Shi Ziqian. As she sat down, she saw Xie Wanzhi turn around and give her a disapproving look.

Zhan Xinyue accepted it calmly, and felt a bit more at ease.

When Xie Wanzhi is unhappy, she becomes happy.

Old Zhou glanced at the new classroom layout, didn't offer any opinion, and only said, "Those who have changed seats can go home after school."

The other students in the classroom were busy noisily pulling up desks. Looking around, it seemed that only she and Shi Ziqian's seats remained unchanged. Xin Wenhua and Lu Meng, who were in front of her, had both moved away and were no longer sitting at the same desk.

Zhan Xinyue glanced silently at Shi Ziqian beside her. In their previous life, the two parted ways after this seating arrangement change and never had much contact again. But in this life, for more than a year before graduation, they would still be deskmates.

She never expected Shi Ziqian to write her that note, especially after the two of them had been inexplicably in a cold war for so long.

Feeling a little sentimental, she noticed he was packing his things and asked, "Are you planning to go home this week?"

Shi Ziqian nodded: "I am planning to go back." After a pause, he added, "I received a call from the hospital, and I can pick up Panpan this week."

Zhan Xinyue exclaimed in surprise, "Really? Its leg is healed?"

Shi Ziqian shook his head, "Not yet, but I ordered a support wheel for it a while ago, so it should be able to stand up soon."

Zhan Xinyue felt a little regretful. She remembered that she had mentioned to Shi Ziqian that she would visit Panpan when it was discharged from the hospital, so she offered, "How about I go with you tomorrow?"

Shi Ziqian seemed a little surprised, but quickly said, "Yes, that's fine."

Zhan Xinyue said, "Okay, then contact me before you leave tomorrow, and I'll give you my phone number."

Shi Ziqian paused for a moment before saying, "No need, I have some."

Zhan Xinyue didn't pay much attention and nodded, "Okay, I'll contact you then."

After Shi Ziqian left, Zhan Xinyue also prepared to pack a few books to go home. The English teaching materials that Xie Wanzhi had thrown back were on top of the pile. She picked them up and flipped through them casually, then frowned.

Several pages in the book had folded corners, clearly done by Xie Wanzhi. She disliked creases in her books, and it was one thing for Xie Wanzhi to borrow it, but to fold it so carelessly was another.

She hesitated for a moment, patiently smoothing out the pages, but then suddenly froze when she saw the small print on the unfolded pages, a blank look on her face.

When she's thinking, she unconsciously scribbles down what's on her mind on paper, a habit she hasn't been able to break for over a decade.

Next to the printed text, there were small words she had hastily written in the corner. The handwriting was familiar, but the strokes were very delicate. It was written by Zhan Xinyue when she was 17 years old.

Shi Ziqian, what are you doing on Saturday?

The sentence was crossed out with two horizontal lines, and a new sentence was written below it.

Shi Ziqian, what do you usually do at home on Saturdays?

It looks like a draft she made.

The next page was still related to Shi Ziqian, featuring a stick figure with a circled head resting on a table—very simple. Next to the figure was an arrow that read: "Shi Ziqian," haha.

Every folded page bore her handwriting. As she turned the pages, it was as if she had inadvertently stumbled upon someone else's secret—a secret belonging to the young girl Zhan Xinyue, long buried deep in her memory.

The last page didn't contain anything strange, only a mark blackened with a ballpoint pen, which was also folded up. Zhan Xinyue held the book upright and looked at the mark against the light.

The part that was blacked out contained only three small characters, like a rambling dream.

Shi Ziqian.

Zhan Xinyue sat there in a daze for a long time, then slowly covered her eyes with her hands. She suddenly realized what Xie Wanzhi meant by that seemingly nonsensical remark.