I'm leaving!

Cheng Xiaorui lowered his head, shoveling at his bowl of rice, his lips curling up unconsciously. Ever since he'd become acquainted with Chen Zihan, lunchtime had always been like this: he'd enthusiastically pile meat into his bowl, even remembering that he didn't eat cilantro. Even more relieved, Lu Ziyi had barely bothered him lately, but he could just ignore the other two.

Cheng Xiaorui bit the tip of his chopsticks and suddenly paused: "...Did we forget to clean the toilet?"

"Idiot, we're still eating." Chen Zihan was putting the third piece of braised pork into his bowl when he stopped using his chopsticks. "What's the rush?" He waved his hand nonchalantly. "Let Zhao Dakun and the others clean it up. They have nothing to do anyway."

"All right."

The topic ended here for the time being. Neither of them spoke anymore, but ate their meal with gusto. When Chen Zihan was almost full, he said, "Well, you haven't answered my question yet. Do you want to go on a date this weekend?" He scooped a spoonful of soup into his mouth and said, "Let's have some fun."

Cheng Xiaorui hesitated for a moment, his mind in a mess. He thought his mother might need help at the store. If he went out with Chen Zihan, Cheng Zhixu would be too busy. If he refused his friend...

Finally he determined the answer, "How do we meet?" Cheng Xiaorui said lightly.

Chen Zihan said it wasn't a problem. Cheng Xiaorui had been to his house before, so he could just let him come find him. "You come to find me?"

Cheng Xiaorui didn't know what to say for a moment. He had seen Lu Ziyi once before when he went to his house that night. What if he saw him this time? He suddenly remembered that when they were on the playground, Lu Ziyi seemed to care a lot about what happened between him and Chen Zihan.

It doesn't matter. He can't do anything about it anyway.

"good."

After they finished eating, they went to the school store again. This was their habit. Basically, they would go shopping after eating. But Cheng Xiaorui certainly didn't have much living expenses, so when he was standing there stupidly waiting for Chen Zihan, Chen Zihan would always buy more things and stuff them into his hands. But he didn't dare to eat anything without thinking. He would just smile and wave his hand and pass by, or just take the mineral water.

Cheng Xiaorui couldn't figure out what had happened between him and Chen Zihan. Why did Chen Zihan go to such lengths to treat him, constantly being nice to him, helping him, and accompanying him? Was it simply because their grades were similar? Cheng Xiaorui kept asking himself this question. He never understood, but he didn't ask any more questions. He believed that one day he would be unable to resist asking Chen Zihan.

"What's wrong with you?" Seeing that he didn't respond, Chen Zihan stretched out his hand and waved it in front of Cheng Xiaorui's face, "Xiaorui?"

Cheng Xiaorui was stunned for two seconds, and only realized it when he felt something swaying. He quickly replied, "It's okay, I was just thinking about something else."

When Chen Zihan heard him say this, he became even more curious. What was it that made him so absorbed in his thoughts? He really wanted to ask, but he could guess that Cheng Xiaorui would definitely say "nothing".

"Okay, okay, let's go for a walk after evening study!" Chen Zihan would say this after lunch as usual. He would wait for Cheng Xiaorui every day after school. Cheng Xiaorui happened to be free, and with exams approaching and the pressure increasing, he thought it would be nice to relax.

During Thursday's evening study session, the homeroom teacher, Mr. Li, once again emphasized that the exam was approaching and asked the students to review seriously. Cheng Xiaorui didn't expect that Lu Ziyi didn't sleep after that. Instead, he kept working on his questions, and his silence was suspicious.

It was the last self-study class on Friday. Since the homeroom teacher had been lecturing all night on Thursday, the students were mostly buried in their books, save for Zhao Dakun and Zhou Mingxuan, who were quietly chatting. Cheng Xiaorui glanced at them and returned to his homework.

At this moment, he heard his deskmate Lu Ziyi make a "tsk" sound. He turned his head quietly and found that the other party was worried about a math problem that he couldn't solve. At first glance, he thought he had seen it wrong. Lu Ziyi blinked, and two blue veins appeared on the back of Cheng Xiaorui's neck. Could this problem be more difficult than last week's Olympiad question?

After confirming the facts with a second glance, Cheng Xiaorui suddenly bit his tongue. He had just solved this derivative problem five minutes ago, and the process was scribbled down on the draft paper.

Lu Ziyi's pen usually rustled as he worked on his homework, but this time, the tip of his fountain pen rested on the paper too long, creating a small ink blob. This was a nuclear-level blunder in his otherwise flawless math. Lu Ziyi had always been the best math student in the class, but his lower Chinese score left him with a bit of regret.

Cheng Xiaorui's lips curled up just 0.5 millimeters before he forced them flat. He pretended to cough and turned his head away, but his elbow accidentally knocked off his eraser. With a snap, Lu Ziyi's eyelashes trembled violently. Cheng Xiaorui saw his Adam's apple roll. He crumpled up the scrap paper but didn't throw it in the trash can.

When Cheng Xiaorui couldn't help but steal another peek, Lu Ziyi suddenly slammed his pen on the table and asked, "How long are you going to stare?" His voice was eight octaves lower than usual.

Cheng Xiaorui turned his head reflexively, only to catch a glimpse of the tips of his ears turning red. It turns out that when a high-class girl fails to solve a problem, she becomes like a cat whose tail has been stepped on.

Cheng Xiaorui ignored him and pretended not to hear anything.

However, an angry voice was heard from the surveillance camera, "The third from the last table in Group 4, you two go out and stand! Just study on your own, why are you doing any tricks! I'm watching you on the surveillance camera, don't think I don't know!" That was their familiar chemistry teacher who loved to punish people.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Dakun and Zhou Mingxuan sat up straight, picked up the books on the table, and scribbled something on them. They turned around curiously because they heard the words "What are you doing?"

Cheng Xiaorui: “…”

Lu Ziyi: “…”

So the two of them stood up quietly and stood outside the classroom door without disturbing other students.

Lu Ziyi raised his hand to look at his watch. There were still 10 minutes left before school was over. Cheng Xiaorui quietly moved to the side to keep some distance from him. Seeing this, Lu Ziyi crossed his arms and looked at Cheng Xiaorui helplessly.

There were still 5 minutes left before school was over. They hadn't said a word. Cheng Xiaorui kept his head down and looked at the tip of his shoes, and Lu Zi had been staring at him for 5 minutes.

If he had known this, he would have preferred to read the math formula a thousand times rather than peek at this guy. Now, Lu Ziyi was staring at him like a lab rat. Finally, he couldn't bear it anymore. Not knowing how many minutes were left until school was over, he decided to just quietly slip away. He glanced around, making sure the teacher was not around before he took his first step.

Lu Ziyi reacted quickly and grabbed his arm. Cheng Xiaorui was afraid of being discovered, so he asked in a low voice: "What are you doing? Let go." Lu Ziyi hadn't let go yet, and Cheng Xiaorui was so angry that he wanted to punch him on the head.

But Zhou Mingxuan suddenly turned around and looked at them, whistling: "Brother Lu, I'll wait for you in the alley after school!" Cheng Xiaorui reacted quickly, not caring that the other party was still holding his arm, and stood up again. When he realized that no one was staring at them, he asked again: "School is about to end, I need to go home, hurry up and let go of me."

"There are still two minutes before school is over." Lu Ziyi said calmly and casually, seeming quite relaxed.

Cheng Xiaorui cursed Lu Ziyi's ancestors in his heart. This bastard must have done it on purpose! He was pretending to be so cool before, so why is he going crazy now? He was so lucky that Lu Ziyi hadn't bothered him recently, but what was he doing now? Cheng Xiaorui was so angry that he gritted his teeth.

"Let go!" Cheng Xiaorui uttered through gritted teeth, emphasizing it again. His arms began to tremble. Lu Ziyi's fingers tightened, digging into the folds of his school uniform sleeves. Cheng Xiaorui's eyes flushed with anxiety. He suddenly raised his knee and delivered a sharp blow to the man's groin. Lu Ziyi, in pain, quickly let go, giving Cheng Xiaorui the chance to run away.

Fortunately, I learned it from watching TV series when I was a child.

“…”