Chapter 11 Would you like to be my deskmate?

The bickering between Zhang Chi and Li Yang was finally interrupted by a question from Jiang Wan.

"So..." Jiang Wan rested her chin on her hand thoughtfully, "Zhang Chi, why don't you ask Lao Fan which girl you'd like to be your deskmate?"

Zhang Chi blushed, while Li Yang next to him burst into laughter.

"What are you laughing at?" Zhang Chi covered Li Yang's mouth and pulled him back around.

Jiang Wan chuckled and shrugged.

She wasn't particularly curious about who Zhang Chi liked; boys his age are fun to tease.

After the little incident before evening self-study ended, Jiang Wan looked away and prepared to look down at the monthly exam papers from the day before, but suddenly felt the gaze of the person next to her.

She turned her head and found that Zhou Chong, who had been working on his problem, had put down his pen and was looking at her sideways.

The moment their eyes met, Zhou Chong seemed caught off guard and quickly lowered his gaze.

Jiang Wan raised an eyebrow and poked his arm with the cap of her pen.

"Were you looking at me just now?"

Zhou Chong didn't answer; his eyes drooped even lower.

"So what if you looked? What's so hard to admit?" Jiang Wan pouted slightly. "I found out anyway."

Zhou Chong pursed his lips, picked up his pen, and placed it on the test paper. "It's time for evening self-study."

"The official bell hasn't been rung yet."

As luck would have it, the classroom bell rang just after Jiang Wan finished speaking.

"Ring ring ring—"

Loud and cheerful, it was as if slapping Jiang Wan in the face.

Jiang Wan really wanted to pat her own crow's mouth.

Zhou Chong smiled slightly, the curve was very small, but Jiang Wan, who had been staring at him, still caught it.

The corners of her lips curled up slightly.

Is he smiling?

Are they laughing at her bad luck, or at themselves for narrowly escaping disaster?

But when she blinked, the slight smile on Zhou Chong's lips vanished.

Fleeting.

Jiang Wan couldn't help but wonder if she had seen it wrong.

Forget it, there's no point in continuing to ask the question from before, it's not an important matter anyway.

Jiang Wan thought for a moment and tore off a piece of draft paper.

Actually, I asked Teacher Fan if I could be your deskmate!

The final stroke rises upward, making the tilde appear light and airy.

After she finished writing, she pushed the draft paper to Zhou Chong's side.

Zhou Chong paused for a moment, took the paper she pushed towards him, read it, and then silently returned it.

Jiang Wan frowned, pushed the note back, poked Zhou Chong's arm, and then pointed to the large blank space remaining on the paper.

The meaning is clear: he needs to write an answer.

Zhou Chong lowered his eyes to look at the tilde on the note, and after a few seconds, slowly wrote down three words:

【I know. 】

Jiang Wan immediately understood upon seeing this.

Did Lao Fan tell you?

【Um. 】

Zhou Chong's answer remained brief.

Jiang Wan bit her lip, rested the pen tip against her chin, pondered for a moment, and then quickly wrote down a line of large characters.

Zhou Chong, would you like to be my deskmate?

Actually, this is a pointless statement.

Old Fan called Zhou Chong out in the afternoon to ask him about it and explained the reasons. Now that Zhou Chong is sitting next to her, he must have agreed.

Otherwise, given Zhou Chong's personality, Lao Fan wouldn't have forced them to be together if he didn't want to.

I've only ever heard of breaking up couples, never of forcing them together.

But Jiang Wan just wanted to ask, to hear Zhou Chong's answer in person, whether he was willing or not.

Zhou Chong looked down at the note, his gaze lingering on his own name for a long time.

Jiang Wan's handwriting is beautiful, upright, delicate, and authentic small regular script, yet the strokes are also very powerful, suggesting that she learned calligraphy in her childhood.

The two characters "Zhou Chong" look especially beautiful under her pen.

Jiang Wan waited for a long time, but seeing that Zhou Chong hadn't written anything, she couldn't help but poke his forearm again and tap the note, urging him to write quickly.

Zhou Chong turned his head and glanced at her.

Her eyes were bright and sparkling, and the light from the classroom's incandescent bulbs was reflected in the window behind her, inexplicably giving her eyes a soft glow.

Jiang Wan tilted her head, winked at him, and said in a very soft whisper, "Answer me quickly."

Zhou Chong finally lowered his eyes and looked again at the note in his hand.

After a moment's hesitation, I wrote down neatly:

【willing. 】

Upon seeing these two words, Jiang Wan's eyebrows curved and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but turn up. Just as she was about to take back the note and continue writing, Zhou Chong pressed down on the note and didn't let go.

Jiang Wan frowned and looked up at him, puzzled.

Zhou Chong held the paper down with his left hand and a pen in his right. He left a line blank and then wrote a sentence:

Go study, stop chatting.

Jiang Wan almost laughed out of anger.

No wonder he's number one in the grade; his mind is always on studying.

Okay, evening self-study has been going on for several minutes now, so it's time to get back to studying.

She tugged at the paper again, but seeing that Zhou Chong remained unmoved, she could only lean closer to him, whisper in his ear, "Just write one more sentence."

As he spoke, he raised his index finger, making a "1" gesture.

The sudden approach of the girl's scent caught Zhou Chong off guard. His ears felt as if they were being burned by the heat, and a faint sweet fragrance followed his earlobe, jawline, and into his nostrils.

The shoulder and arm on the side closest to Jiang Wan were stiff.

The hand that was pressing down on the paper slips involuntarily loosened.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Jiang Wan snatched the note and quickly wrote another line.

Can I ask you any questions I don't understand? After all, we're deskmates now.

Just as she was about to push the note over, she suddenly remembered something and added:

[Ask when class ends, so I won't bother you during self-study.]

After reading the note she pushed to him, Zhou Chong did not write a reply, but turned his face and nodded to her.

But Jiang Wan seemed dissatisfied with his response, pointing her finger at the blank space on the paper, insisting that he write it down in black and white.

It's like asking him to sign a commitment letter.

Zhou Chong was a little confused, but he did as he was told and neatly wrote down the character "好" (good).

Jiang Wan smiled, took back the draft paper covered in writing, folded it neatly, and tucked it into her notebook.

Then, she really started attending evening self-study sessions obediently, stopped passing notes to Zhou Chong, stopped poking his arm, and stopped whispering in his ear.

Zhou Chong would occasionally turn his head to glance at her profile as she studied intently, seemingly lost in thought.