Chapter 54 Difficult [VIP]

Chapter Summary: Are you going to keep ignoring me like this?

By the time we finish eating, the dormitory should be closed.

Chen Huimei hadn't contacted her during this time, and Fu Xianyin didn't want to go home either, because if she ran into Chen Huimei, things would just get messed up again.

She's already bad enough.

After thinking it over, I decided that staying at a hotel would be more convenient.

Just as they were about to hail a taxi, Lin Anxu suddenly spoke up, "Hey, it's getting late, how about I give you a ride?"

All four of them looked at Lin Anxu.

The topic was brought up rather abruptly and deliberately, a fact Lin Anxu himself realized. He chuckled dryly twice and said to Chen Nianke:

"Hey, I remember you're going the same way as Zhao Zhao, right? How about I give you both a ride?"

After he finished speaking, he forced himself to look at Fu Xianyin: "Sister, then you..."

The air fell silent for a moment.

Fu Xianyin felt Gu Linzhao's gaze fall on her.

A golden opportunity presented itself to her.

If she could get Gu Linzhao to give her a ride, she could take this opportunity to explain everything to him.

But for some reason, when that gaze fell on Fu Xianyin, all she wanted to do was run away.

The void seemed to take on a physical form; in the flickering streetlights, Fu Xianyin could even see a net.

The thick, dense net was covered with mouths, chattering away as they rushed towards her.

She was bound by the net, tightly bound.

The air became thin, and Fu Xianyin began to have difficulty breathing.

"That……"

"No."

Fu Xianyin's voice was quite loud, which startled even herself.

She smiled apologetically, waved her phone, and said, "I've already hailed a taxi."

After she finished speaking, she belatedly realized that Gu Linzhao had also said something.

She looked at Gu Linzhao, wanting to ask a question, but her throat felt like it was blocked with glue, and no matter how hard she tried, only broken breaths escaped.

Another eerie silence.

Lin Anxu didn't know what to say. He kept giving Cheng Zhaozhao meaningful glances, and she was very anxious, but she was afraid that saying anything would make the atmosphere even more tense.

Finally, Chen Nianke spoke up: "Then Yinyin, I'll take you to the parking spot and watch you get in the car."

Lin Anxu said, "Oh right, right, where is the taxi you took, sis? We'll take you there."

Fu Xianyin pointed to the roadside and said, "It's right there, we'll be there in three minutes, it's fine..."

Before she could finish speaking, Gu Linzhao's cold voice came from the side.

He said, "Then let's go."

Fu Xianyin swallowed back the words, "You don't need to see me off."

After Gu Linzhao finished speaking, he walked forward as if he didn't care at all whether they followed or not. He took big strides and walked at the front, while Fu Xianyin tactfully lagged behind the group, trying her best not to walk side by side with Gu Linzhao.

The driver arrived quickly. After getting into the car, Fu Xianyin rolled down the window and waved goodbye to them.

Chen Nianke instructed her, "Send a message in the group after you arrive."

Fu Xianyin smiled and said, "Yes, you too."

The car window slowly rolled up, and the driver stepped on the gas and drove away.

Fu Xianyin looked at the boy who kept his eyes down and gave a self-deprecating smile.

The rumors seem to have gradually faded.

Perhaps it was the sheer impact of Fu Xianyin's move to switch seats, or perhaps it was because there was less than a week left until midterms, and everyone was more focused on their studies.

There were still rumors, but since Fu Xianyin had moved to a seat at the front of the podium, she heard fewer of them.

Although her learning efficiency is not as good as before, Fu Xianyin can still force herself to study for a while under the teacher's watchful eye.

But what about Gu Linzhao...?

Fu Xianyin bit her lip.

Since the switch of roles, the interaction between her and Gu Linzhao has drastically decreased.

She didn't dare to face Gu Linzhao, and Gu Linzhao seemed to have no desire to have any further interaction with her.

A strange balance was reached between the two.

He stopped talking, stopped asking questions, and even when they occasionally bumped into each other in the corridor, Gu Linzhao would quickly look away from her.

A nod is already the limit.

They still walked home together after school in the evening, but there seemed to be an invisible barrier between her and Gu Linzhao, like two strangers, or perhaps not even strangers.

This doesn't seem like a good thing.

Fu Xianyin knew her own nature; she liked to run away from problems, and if she ran away, she would never have the chance to face them again.

But not this time.

With only a few days left until the midterm exams, Fu Xianyin gritted her teeth and set herself a final deadline.

Before the midterm exams, she needed to explain everything to Gu Linzhao.

She didn't expect Gu Linzhao and she could go back to how things were before, and she would even accept that Gu Linzhao didn't forgive her.

She just wanted to tell Gu Linzhao about this and explain the real reason to him.

Even if everything ends here, Fu Xianyin hopes that such a good person can have a graceful ending.

On Friday night, she was somewhat distracted from the very beginning of evening self-study.

The words on the question seemed to move, flying left and right, but they just couldn't get into her mind.

Fu Xianyin packed her things early, and got up with her schoolbag as soon as the bell rang.

Her fingernails dug into her palm, and the pain kept Fu Xianyin's mind clear. She forced herself to walk backward step by step.

When she finally stood next to Gu Linzhao, Fu Xianyin felt herself trembling all over.

She breathed heavily, forcing herself to calm down.

Whether it was her imagination or not, Gu Linzhao seemed to be tidying up a little slowly.

He didn't speak, nor did his gaze linger on her.

Fu Xianyin took a deep breath, mustered her courage, and was about to speak:

"you……"

However, a voice came from the side even faster than her.

Ji Zhumiao, holding the test paper, sat down in the seat next to Gu Linzhao and said, "Class monitor, could you help me with this question?"

In that instant, Fu Xianyin felt as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.

The courage she had painstakingly built up was instantly shattered and scattered, as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over her head, extinguishing all her throbbing thoughts and all the courage she had gathered.

Fu Xianyin took a hurried step back, walked to Chen Nianke's desk, and said somewhat flusteredly, "Are you done packing?"

Behind her, Gu Linzhao paused.

Chen Nianke had clearly seen everything that had just happened. She sighed inwardly and said, "It'll be quick, wait for me."

It was so close.

All their efforts were in vain.

Fu Xianyin stood in the aisle waiting. Chen Nianke grabbed a few books and threw them into her bag, quickly zipped it up, and said, "I'm done packing, let's go."

Fu Xianyin practically fled the classroom.

Before leaving, she heard Gu Linzhao ask, "Which question?"

Ji Zhumiao said, "This."

The two voices gradually became indistinct, as if blown away by the wind, or as if something was separating them, making it impossible for her to hear or see them.

As Fu Xianyin stepped out of the classroom, she gasped for breath.

Chen Nianke gently patted her back, saying with some concern, "Are you alright, Yinyin? Take it slow, breathe less."

Her eyes dimmed.

She had initially thought that this was just because Fu Xianyin was being difficult and making things difficult for her, but now it seemed that the situation was much more serious than she had imagined.

All the information seemed to point to another answer.

An even worse answer, one that worried her even more.

Fu Xianyin tried to calm her breathing and gently shook her head.

At the same time, Cheng Zhaozhao skipped out of the front door, saw the two of them at the back door, jogged over, and said, "Let's go, let's go back to the dorm and get some sleep!"

Fu Xianyin was pulled away by her.

Cheng Zhaozhao walked forward, each holding one of their arms.

She sighed, "Time flies so fast. It feels like I just finished the monthly exam, or rather, the first monthly exam, and now it's almost midterms."

She asked, "Yinyin, are you nervous?"

After saying that, she answered herself, "You shouldn't be nervous, right? If I got this score, I wouldn't be worried at all."

Fu Xianyin smiled and said, "I'm nervous."

She was extremely nervous.

I haven't been able to focus on my studies for a single day in the past two weeks. Fu Xianyin has tried everything, but nothing works.

Chen Nianke, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up, saying, "Yinyin, I don't know the specifics, but don't push yourself too hard."

She stepped past Cheng Zhaozhao, peeked out, and said, "It's not just about studying, but also about explaining this to Gu Linzhao. Nothing is more important than yourself. Everything else can wait."

Her tone wasn't joking; rather, it was unusually serious.

Cheng Zhaozhao also gave up her playful mood and looked at Fu Xianyin with some concern: "Yinyin, what's wrong? Is it about Gu Linzhao?"

Fu Xianyin smiled and said, "It's nothing, really nothing."

Chen Nianke said, "If you don't want to explain, then don't. It's okay. Anyway, I'll always be on your side."

Cheng Zhaozhao eagerly raised her hand: "Me too, me too!"

The midterm exams are just around the corner.

This citywide midterm exam is different from their usual small-scale monthly exams; it's a serious exam following the college entrance exam schedule.

The exam lasted four days, from Tuesday to Friday. Fu Xianyin's chosen subjects, physics, chemistry, and biology, were completed by noon on the fourth day.

The only thing that bothered Fu Xianyin was that the exam rooms were not arranged according to student ID numbers, but rather, like the monthly exams, they were arranged according to scores.

This means that she will not only be in the same exam room as Gu Linzhao, but also sit at the same table as him.

When Fu Xianyin arrived at the examination hall, Gu Linzhao was already there.

She entered through the front door, accidentally making a small noise as she pushed it open. She gripped the doorknob, wanting to close the door quickly, but when she looked up, her eyes met Gu Linzhao's.

Fu Xianyin froze in place as she closed the door.

No one spoke.

In the slightly noisy examination room, the two of them were so quiet that it was almost eerie.

After a long while, Fu Xianyin was the first to give in.

The door was stuck and couldn't be closed no matter what she did, so Fu Xianyin had no choice but to let go in a flustered manner and quickly walk to the table to sit down.

She opened her notebook, the pages rustling as if to mask her racing heartbeat.

With only a few minutes left before the exam, the teacher is urging everyone to put their study materials outside the door.

Everyone in the examination room was heading out the door. Fu Xianyin sat by the door, thinking that she would go out to release the exam when the crowd thinned out.

Gu Linzhao seemed to have the same idea.

The two left the examination room one after the other, and then returned to the examination room one after the other.

Fu Xianyin gripped the doorknob, intending to close the door.

However, the door frame remained stuck, and no matter how hard Fu Xianyin tried, even though the door frame creaked, the door still wouldn't budge.

Just as she was about to leave it alone, a hand suddenly grabbed the top part of the doorknob.

It was clear that the owner of the hand had tried his best to avoid physical contact with her, but the doorknob was not very big, and Fu Xianyin's thumb and forefinger still inevitably touched the other person's hand several times.

Fu Xianyin recognized this hand.

I helped her move the table, explained problems to her, taught her how to use a stopwatch, and even caught her when she was exhausted.

Fu Xianyin couldn't possibly not recognize it.

A sudden pang of sadness shot through her nose, and Fu Xianyin bit her lower lip, forcing herself not to shed tears.

The door became much more obedient in his hands. Fu Xianyin felt the door shake and then it returned to its original position.

"You have to lift it up a bit to close it."

He said.

The people in the exam hall were using their last moments to memorize the key points, and no one noticed the brief incident that occurred at the front door.

Fu Xianyin nodded hastily, quickly let go of his hand, and returned to her seat.

She was so flustered that her hands were shaking, and when she picked up the pen, she accidentally dropped it on the table.

It was that familiar hand that picked up her pen again.

Fu Xianyin took the pen and whispered a thank you.

As her fingertips brushed against his knuckles, Fu Xianyin heard him whisper:

Are you going to keep ignoring me like this?