Chapter 8 Walkthrough: Heartbroken on the Eighth Day

What's wrong with you?

Liang Qianqian, who was beside her, noticed that her steps seemed to pause and asked curiously.

Xiang Di shook her head and smiled brightly: "No, I was stunned by the exam and I'm still a bit dazed."

Looking further ahead, the bustling corridor was no longer filled with the figure she was looking forward to.

Liking someone means going back and forth between hope and disappointment countless times. It's okay, she's already very good at comforting herself.

"Let's hurry up, I can't hold it in any longer."

Pulling Liang Qianqian along, Xiang Di jogged towards the toilet.

-

Bai Jiangxin is temporarily unable to face it.

He doesn't even know what he's hiding from.

In fact, he could have simply pretended not to know anything, just like he had overheard other people's thoughts before. After all, Xiang Di was a coward, and she would never say it out loud.

However, the moment he saw her in the corridor, even though there was still quite a distance between them, his heart suddenly tightened, paused for a moment, as if it had been bound and lifted by an invisible fishing line.

Inevitably, he thought of her few deadly coquettish words, of her legs draped over his shoulders, of the expression she imagined he would have during sex, and wondered what her expression would be during sex.

He didn't know. But it was hard to imagine that such an innocent-looking face could reveal such a lewd expression.

Everything seemed to happen in the blink of an eye, a purely instinctive reaction. Bai Jiangxin's brain didn't even have time to react before his body subconsciously avoided her.

Feeling that something was really wrong with him, Bai Jiangxin decided it was best to avoid her and went back to his office.

Chen Jinghua was somewhat surprised to see him return: "Why are you back again?"

Bai Jiangxin directly said that he was not feeling well and wanted to go home to rest.

He might really have been driven to a nervous breakdown by Xiang Di's inner monologues these past few days, which is why he reacted that way. Saying he was feeling unwell wouldn't be a lie.

Teachers always have a natural preference for good students. Chen Jinghua readily agreed and said that if he was still feeling unwell by tomorrow, he would ask his parents to call him again and ask for a few days off to rest at home.

Not knowing when her entanglement with Xiang Di would end, Bai Jiangxin asked directly, "Can I take a long leave of absence?"

Chen Jinghua: "How long do you need to take?"

"Please wait until before the college entrance examination."

Chen Jinghua's expression changed slightly.

"You mean you won't be coming to school until the college entrance exam?"

"Um."

"Then what will you do for the college entrance exam?"

"I'll just go take the exam then," Bai Jiangxin said.

Chen Jinghua frowned immediately.

No matter how good a child's grades are, he shouldn't act like this. Even if he is truly self-disciplined enough to strictly supervise his own review every day, even at home, he still can't agree to it.

Most students lack the self-discipline to study, which is why they need school supervision. Even with Bai Jiangxin, Chen Jinghua still finds it difficult to feel at ease.

Bai Jiangxin is not an isolated case. This semester, several students have wanted to apply for a leave of absence due to excessive pressure and fluctuating grades.

It's not that you can't take leave, but a person has to face many challenges in their life. You're still so young, yet you can't even handle the college entrance exam. Your stress tolerance is so low. You want to run away just because you can't study. What will you do in the future?

Moreover, whether this year's candidates can produce a top scorer depends entirely on Bai Jiangxin.

Even the principal wouldn't agree to it, let alone Chen Jinghua being the homeroom teacher; Chen Jinghua couldn't afford to take that risk.

Chen Jinghua had no choice but to reason with Bai Jiangxin, saying that taking a few days off to rest was fine, but he wouldn't approve a long leave.

"The learning atmosphere at school is better after all. It's hard to concentrate on studying at home alone. If it affects your college entrance exam, your teacher won't be able to explain it to your parents."

Bai Jiangxin frowned and said, "I can't concentrate on my studies if I'm at school."

Chen Jinghua: "Why?"

Bai Jiangxin did not answer for a moment. The boy's dark and cold eyes, like a pool of ink that could not be dissolved, suddenly rippled with anxiety.

Acting on her instincts as a teacher, Chen Jinghua quickly sensed that something was wrong with Bai Jiangxin and asked tactfully, "Has something happened to you at school recently?"

"No."

"Did you have a fight with Ye Minjia?"

"No."

"Then who are you with...?"

"Nobody's there," Bai Jiangxin said calmly.

Chen Jinghua said earnestly, "Bai Jiangxin, if you have any troubles, you can tell your teacher. As long as your teacher can help, I will definitely help you find a solution. Don't keep it to yourself."

Seeing the worried look on the homeroom teacher's face, Bai Jiangxin knew that Chen Jinghua was a good teacher.

But so what? No one can solve his problems. What else can he do but keep them to himself?

What's the point of telling the teacher? Will the teacher believe me? Even if the teacher does believe me, how do we resolve this? Should we send Xiang Di home?

With only three months left until the college entrance examination, he had no grudge against Xiang Di and there was no reason for him to ruin her exam.

He had discovered her secret, and he couldn't bring himself to sacrifice her future just to find peace.

"That's fine for now." Bai Jiangxin sighed silently and said, "Never mind, teacher, I won't ask for leave."

He hadn't really expected the homeroom teacher to agree.

Bai Jiangxin is gone, but Chen Jinghua is not relieved at all.

With the college entrance examination approaching, all teachers are afraid that their students' mental health may suffer even the slightest trauma. Bai Jiangxin's request for a long leave at this time should serve as a wake-up call for any teacher.

Chen Jinghua was worried that Bai Jiangxin might have some psychological problem. Generally, students with good grades tend to have strong self-esteem and are easily embarrassed. Moreover, Bai Jiangxin wasn't the type to like talking to teachers. Since he wouldn't talk, Chen Jinghua couldn't force him to.

She thought about calling Bai Jiangxin's parents to let them know, but Bai Jiangxin was from a single-parent family, and his father was busy with work, so he even had to ask his secretary to call to ask for leave for his son.

The last parent-teacher meeting for the senior year is about to be held, and I don't know if his father will be able to come.

This is a bit tricky.

-

Shortly after the bell rang for the second evening self-study session, Bai Jiangxin returned to the classroom, packed his bag, and prepared to leave.

Ye Minjia called out to him, "Where are you going again?"

"go home."

"Going home again?!" Ye Minjia asked. "Are you coming again tomorrow?"

We'll see.

Then Bai Jiangxin picked up his schoolbag and walked away without looking back in front of the whole class.

Taking leave to go home so frequently at this time doesn't seem like the behavior of a high school student preparing for the college entrance exam. Even if this student is the top student in the grade, they shouldn't be so arrogant.

As soon as he left, the classroom erupted in discussion, with various speculations about the reasons why Bai Jiangxin had been frequently taking leave in the past few days.

Even Liang Qianqian was curious and went to discuss it with Xiang Di, who shook his head, also confused about it.

"Hey, did you notice? We ran into him and the class monitor when we went to the bubble tea shop on Monday. It seems like Bai Jiangxin started taking leave from that day on."

Liang Qianqian stroked her chin and guessed, "Could it be that Bai Jiangxin caught the flu at the bubble tea shop?"

"Oh my god, let's not buy milk tea there these next few days. It would be awful if we caught it too."

"Oh, okay."

Xiang Di answered absentmindedly, while also guessing in his mind.

She didn't tell Liang Qianqian that it was also on Monday that Bai Jiangxin mistakenly drank her milk tea.

If we had to pinpoint when Bai Jiangxin started acting strangely, the more accurate time would be when he mistakenly drank her milk tea.

Could it be related to her cup of milk tea?

Could it be that she was carrying the flu virus, which caused Bai Jiangxin to get the flu?

No wonder he glanced at her several times during evening self-study, and in the corridor, it's very likely that he turned and left because he saw her as the source of the virus.

Xiang Di covered her face with her hands in horror. Oh my god, she had just been so funny!

What are we going to do now? They'll never have any contact again.

Xiang Di felt guilty and disappointed, and slumped onto the table, drawing circles.

Suddenly the classroom fell silent. Liang Qianqian felt a sharp push on her arm and whispered, "The teacher is here!"

Xiang Di quickly sat up again.

Chen Jinghua appeared at the classroom door at some point, but he wasn't there to enforce discipline during evening self-study.

"Ye Minjia, come out here for a moment."

"They're here."

It's not unusual for the homeroom teacher to talk to the class monitor; nobody would care. As soon as Chen Jinghua left, the class became lively again.

After calling Ye Minjia into his office, Chen Jinghua's first question was: "Have you noticed anything unusual about Bai Jiangxin these past few days?"

Ye Minjia: "Huh? Something's not right?"

So Chen Jinghua told Ye Minjia about Bai Jiangxin's desire to take a long leave of absence and asked him, "Have you and Bai Jiangxin had a falling out recently?"

Ye Minjia shook her head: "No, we're doing great together."

"Is it possible that someone else has had a conflict with Bai Jiangxin?"

"No."

Who would be so foolish as to have a conflict with Bai Jiangxin? If it gets to the teacher, even a fool could tell who the teacher would side with. Besides, that guy always puts on a cold and aloof act, to put it nicely, he's a cold and unapproachable flower, to put it bluntly, he's a cold and hard rock. Who would want to mess with him?

Chen Jinghua frowned: "What's wrong with Bai Jiangxin? Why did he suddenly become averse to studying?"

Ye Minjia's eyes widened: "What? He hates school?"

Even after the setback of the last joint exam, he didn't lose interest in studying, so why should Bai Jiangxin, who's always ranked first, lose interest in studying?

"That can't be right." Ye Minjia didn't believe it.

Chen Jinghua: "Then why doesn't he want to come to school?"

The teacher and student remained silent for a long time, unable to come up with a solution.

Just then, the biology teacher returned to the office with the test papers she had just collected. Seeing Chen Jinghua there, she specifically came over and said, "Teacher Chen, Bai Jiangxin from your class hasn't been behaving well these past two days."

As he spoke, he showed Chen Jinghua the biology exam paper that Bai Jiangxin had just finished.

"He didn't even touch the last two 20-point questions on the exam paper he just finished. Surely he didn't think the paper was too easy and was too lazy to answer them?"

Looking at the blank page at the back, Chen Jinghua now truly felt that the situation was a bit serious.

He sighed and told the biology teacher about Bai Jiangxin's desire to take a long leave of absence.

"He wants to take such a long leave?" the biology teacher asked in surprise. "The college entrance exam is just around the corner, how can this be allowed?"

“That’s right, but when I asked him why, he wouldn’t say,” Chen Jinghua said. “I asked Ye Minjia, and he said that Bai Jiangxin hadn’t had any conflicts with his classmates.”

The biology teacher thought for a moment and guessed, "If it's not a conflict with a classmate, then is it because you broke up with your boyfriend that you don't want to come to school?"