Chapter 147 Picking a Green Plum 2: Going Home Together

The chalk residue on her fingertips already annoyed her, and seeing the slightly dusty tables and chairs brought her impatience to its peak.

At this moment, Xi Congshuang fully understood what her mother's punishment was, and couldn't help but find it funny.

Su Cheng quietly compared her heights. She couldn't see clearly from a distance, but she didn't expect the other woman to be a little taller than her.

Noticing the gaze from beside her, Xi Congshuang, who was already impatient, glanced at her indifferently. A small mole at the corner of her eye caught her eye, but before Su Cheng could see it clearly, she had already looked away.

Throughout the entire process, I had no intention of talking to or interacting with my deskmate.

Su Cheng: "..." So aloof.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Xi Congshuang rubbing her fingertips. There were traces of chalk on her pinkish-white fingertips. She rubbed them a little hard, until they turned red.

Realizing something, Su Cheng reached into the desk drawer and rummaged around for a while before grabbing an opened tissue to take it out.

Just then, I saw Xi Congshuang, trying to resist the chalk marks on her hands, take out a wet wipe from her bag, open it, wipe it clean starting from her fingers, and then fold it up and put it aside.

He pulled out another wet wipe and clumsily wiped the table in front of him clean. He noticed that an unknown senior had left marker marks in the table hole, so he frowned and wiped it with even more force.

However, the handwriting had been there for several years and could not be wiped clean at all. Xi Congshuang then moved to the chair and wiped it clean as carefully as she would the table.

After doing all this and letting the tables and chairs dry, she finally sat down.

Out of curiosity about the new classmate, the rest of the class quietly gathered around: "..."

The new student is so diligent; he wiped the table clean on his very first day at the new school.

Su Cheng clicked her tongue, realizing she had watched the spectacle too early; she should have known better than to stay and watch.

I could sense in advance that I was sitting next to a giant block of ice. Although this block of ice was a beautiful ice queen, the key point was that it was ice.

Xi Congshuang appeared to be sitting upright in her seat, ignoring the gazes that were secretly watching her during self-study, but in reality, her soul had already wandered off.

She felt that if she could, she would want to drown the table in disinfectant and clean it thoroughly before condescending to use it.

That's probably what she was thinking at fifteen.

Because she was transferred here as punishment, Xi Congshuang found it difficult to feel any goodwill towards everything around her. She went to and from school in silence, didn't speak to anyone for several days, and had no desire to make friends.

To spite the world.

Even if the other students in Class Two wanted to befriend the new classmate, they were met with a cold shoulder as soon as they got close. No matter how pretty she was, it couldn't overcome her unpleasant personality.

So everyone kept their distance and treated her as if she didn't exist.

At first, Su Cheng wasn't quite used to having a deskmate, but later she got used to it—or rather, she didn't need to get used to it at all.

Sometimes Su Cheng felt like she wasn't sitting next to an ice queen, but rather next to an air conditioner. She and the air conditioner were no different; both silently cooled each other.

The thing Xi Congshuang, who sat next to her, did most often every day was to remain silent. She would sit silently to one side, open her blank textbook, stare blankly at the page, and never write a single word on it.

Of course, I didn't do my homework either.

Strangely, the teachers never mentioned calling the parents. Yude No. 3 Middle School is a key school in the city, and they certainly cannot accept that the students on campus are so lazy.

Su Cheng tried her best to find loopholes, but her studies didn't fall behind at all. Xi Congshuang was different; she was completely uncooperative.

After writing down Xi Congshuang's name for what felt like the umpteenth time, the class monitor said helplessly, "Are you really not going to write it down? The next class is math class, why don't you do it now and I'll erase your name for you."

Xi Congshuang was also helpless. She wanted to write and respond to Su Cheng before she could finish speaking, but her body wouldn't allow it, so she shook her head at the class monitor.

Class monitor: "Then I have no choice but to write your name down."

Unsurprisingly, Xi Congshuang responded with a curt "Mm".

The class monitor wrote down Xi Congshuang's name; she was the only one in the class who hadn't handed in her homework.

She truly lives up to her name, cold as frost and snow.

The class monitor even suspected with Su Cheng that she might have autism, but Su Cheng didn't think so. Apart from being a little quiet, she seemed quite normal in other aspects.

He can get his own food from the cafeteria, and he'll use an umbrella when it rains. He's very organized, but I guess he just doesn't like to talk.

Xi Congshuang had no idea that she had almost become an autistic girl in Su Cheng's mind. Soon, a Chinese class was over, and the next class was math.

She took out the corresponding textbook according to the class schedule.

Cooperate, but only a little.

The math teacher was a slow-talking old man who had been retired but rehired. He wore thick glasses and seemed easygoing, but he was actually the strictest of all the main subjects.

As expected, the old man remembered the only student who hadn't handed in his homework. After explaining the example problem, he wrote a problem on the blackboard.

Math teacher: "You all said you understood, so I'll call on someone to come up and do this problem. Who's up?"

Several hands shot up from below the podium; some stretched out their arms, some rested their elbows on the table, and some only showed half of their arms, achieving the effect of wanting to raise their hands but not raising them.

Su Cheng wrote the solution in a flash, quickly filling the blank space with the solution process. Glancing around, she saw that it was indeed blank again.

She looked up at the blackboard and saw the old man squinting, his gaze sweeping across the classroom, but he didn't even glance at the students who had raised their hands.

The old man was over sixty-five years old and very rebellious. He especially liked to pick on students who didn't raise their hands to do the problems. The students in the class knew his personality well and would raise their hands regardless of whether they knew the answer or not.

However, the newcomer Xi Congshuang was unaware of his style. Seeing that the gaze behind his eyes was fixed on the person next to her, Su Cheng felt uneasy.

"Xi Congshuang, come here."

Xi Congshuang, who was in a daze, was startled and subconsciously stood up, looking at the blackboard to meet everyone's gaze, seemingly still not understanding what had happened.

"You solve this problem." The math teacher tapped the blackboard.

Su Cheng moved her hand, and considering that they had been deskmates for a few days, she pushed her notebook onto her desk.

The old man has a kind face but a sharp tongue; he might make the already withdrawn new student even more withdrawn.

Xi Congshuang saw her action and finally responded, raising her hand to press down on her notebook.

To be precise, she pressed down on the hand that was pushing the notebook, her slender palm resting on the back of her own hand. The hand was cool, and Su Cheng's hand inexplicably went numb.

Xi Congshuang: "Thank you, no need."

Then she moved, walking from the last row to the podium, picking up the chalk with a blank expression, and writing down the solution process in a long and detailed manner, each step as precise as the reference answer.

Su Cheng glanced down at her solution process, which was the same as hers, and finally understood why the other person said it wasn't necessary.

Because you can learn it at a glance, you don't even need to write it down in a notebook.

"Oh, right," the math teacher waved her away, "even if you know the answer, you still have to do your homework."

The class monitor muttered to Su Cheng, "Isn't this pretty good? No wonder you don't like doing homework."

Xi Congshuang, wearing the school uniform, had already returned. The math teacher began to give a simple explanation based on the questions on the blackboard, and the class monitor quickly turned her head back.

Xi Congshuang didn't listen; she took out a wet wipe from the drawer of her desk and wiped her hands.

Su Cheng really wanted to say: Just refuse the questions you don't like.

Every time you touch something dirty, you scrub your hands until they peel and turn red. Doesn't it hurt?

The math teacher on the podium had already started explaining the next knowledge point. Su Cheng stopped looking and turned to look at the podium.

As before, the math teacher likes to give a problem after explaining a concept and let the students explore it on their own. After they have explored it, the teacher calls the students to the front of the class to solve the problem.

"Now, let's begin the group discussion," the math teacher said slowly after the questions were written down.

There was no possibility of Su Cheng discussing with her deskmate. She quickly finished writing the questions, and the person next to her had already stopped wiping their hands and neatly folded the used wet wipes, placing them on the corner of the table.

This ice cube has both obsessive-compulsive disorder and a cleanliness fetish; it's got quite a few problems.

Seeing her reach for the wet wipes again, Su Cheng asked amidst the buzzing discussion, "Don't your hands hurt from always wiping them with wet wipes like that?"

She thought there would be no answer to this question, and she rarely took the initiative to talk to her deskmate, always giving up before she could even open her mouth.

Unexpectedly, Xi Congshuang responded: "It hurts."

Su Cheng: "If it hurts, why are you rubbing it so hard?"

Xi Congshuang: "I'm used to it."

"..." Su Cheng expressed her incomprehension, "You can get used to pain?"

This question stumped Xi Congshuang. She looked at the other person with a blank expression, her pale but full lips slightly pursed.

Feeling lost about the question, but considering that the other person was trying to help her, she felt she should answer them.

Xi Congshuang remained silent, but she kept her ears open, knowing that her new deskmate was an excellent student and that many people often asked her to borrow their homework.

When she didn't know how to answer, the math teacher on the podium stopped the discussion and began explaining the problem.

Talking during class was not something Xi Congshuang would do, so she remained silent again.

In Su Cheng's eyes, she was like a spark that had just burst forth, only to be extinguished with a bucket of cold water.

*

One opportunity to chat was successfully extinguished by the math teacher, and the next opportunity became much harder to find. Su Cheng was only fifteen years old, and she was too embarrassed to take the initiative to talk to people.

Xi Congshuang thought that her indifference had once again been met with disdain, so she stopped talking about it.

That way, she'll have some peace and quiet. When her parents feel the time is right and want her back, she'll be taken away.

She won't stay here for long.

It wasn't that Xi Congshuang developed a sense of belonging to home during this punishment, but rather that it was a waste of her time to stay here after completing high school.

Even if she went back, she would only live alone in the huge house.

Her busy parents live separately and only stop by occasionally to check on her grades before leaving again.

However, half a month has passed, and the chat page on the phone is still stuck on the same message. Neither of them has sent a single message.

Her parents wouldn't, and Xi Congshuang certainly wouldn't either.

Xi Congshuang seemed to have been forgotten in this small town far from home. The driver still picked her up and dropped her off at school every day, and apart from an extra fee being deposited into her bank account every month, there was no news from her parents.

They were waiting for Xi Congshuang to take the initiative to admit her mistake and back down.

Xi Congshuang, who would have backed down earlier, wouldn't have actually boarded the plane to this city with her suitcase. If she wanted to back down, she would have done so as soon as she received the ticket information. Why wait until now?

When the bell rang, Xi Congshuang picked up her schoolbag and prepared to leave. As she passed the office, she heard Teacher Wang talking on the phone, but she didn't notice anyone passing by the office door.

Life is pretty much the same as before, but the schedule is much easier compared to before.

*

After autumn arrives, the weather becomes rainy.

Yuancheng is a rainy city, and this summer's rainfall was less than in previous years. After autumn arrived, the rain that had accumulated over the summer came in even more intensely.

While we were still in class, the weather outside changed in an instant; it was sunny one moment and then suddenly it was covered with dark clouds.

After a class period of rain, the weather cleared up again.

This made the students nervous about whether or not to do morning exercises, preferring to go home in the rain rather than do morning exercises after school.

The students' prayers were answered; five minutes before school ended, a heavy rain fell, soaking the ground.

The classroom was empty of students because they didn't have to do morning exercises due to the rain and were dismissed early.

Xi Congshuang packed her schoolbag, slung it over her shoulder, and went out. She smelled the damp scent of grass and trees as she went down the stairs.

She recently learned to take the subway back to her residence, but unfortunately, it started raining heavily, and she had to wait for the rain to stop before she could leave the school.

Because she still refused to admit her mistake, her father called the driver back a few days ago. He didn't even have time to tell her in person, but only had his assistant inform her.

The upstairs and downstairs were mostly empty. When Xi Congshuang came downstairs, she was surprised to find someone still standing in the corner.

Su Cheng was typing and chatting with someone when she heard someone coming downstairs behind her. She turned around and saw that it was her classmate who had arrived late.

The phone in her hand buzzed, and Su Cheng looked down to type a reply.

Xi Congshuang realized that she hadn't brought an umbrella either, and had stopped at a spot not too far away, waiting for the rain to stop.

The rain was thick as a curtain, and Xi Congshuang wanted to take a closer look at her surroundings, but her eyes were fixed on what was in front of her, lost in thought. At the same time, she decided that if the rain didn't stop, she would just run to the subway entrance in the rain.

With a soft click, someone opened a folding umbrella under the eaves.

"Didn't you bring an umbrella?" Su Cheng asked when Xi Congshuang looked over. "It's been raining a lot lately, so it's better to keep an umbrella in your bag."

"Before I left home, I checked the weather forecast, and it didn't say it would rain," Xi Congshuang tried to explain her oversight.

More importantly, she didn't buy an umbrella to keep at her residence.

Su Cheng, holding up a small floral umbrella, asked, "Would you like me to give you a ride?"

Xi Congshuang took the initiative to walk towards Su Cheng: "Thank you."

She recalled what other students said to each other and added, "Do you have a favorite drink? I'll buy you one tomorrow."

Su Cheng slung her backpack over her shoulder and casually replied, "I don't really want anything to drink. Let's talk about it next time."

Xi Congshuang: "Okay." She remembered this.

As the other person approached, Su Cheng paused, and a thought popped into her mind: "My deskmate smells so good."

Xi Congshuang: "When I was washing my school uniform yesterday, I accidentally poured too much laundry detergent on it. What you smelled was probably the smell of laundry detergent."

Su Cheng was speechless for a moment before realizing that she had accidentally blurted out her true feelings: "Your laundry detergent is the cool-scented type?"

Xi Congshuang: "No, it seems to be a floral scent. I bought it in the discount section of the supermarket at the entrance of the community."

Floral scent?

But Su Cheng felt that she smelled a woody scent, a bit cold, as if it had been there for a long time and was emanating from her very bones.

The rain pattered against the umbrella, and to avoid getting wet, the two had to walk very close together, shoulder to shoulder.

Su Cheng didn't hold the umbrella high enough, and it was almost touching Xi Congshuang's head. She grabbed the umbrella handle and lifted it up a bit, but then felt that it was difficult to exert force by holding the thin black umbrella handle, so she moved her hand down and grabbed the back of Su Cheng's hand to lift it up.

Su Cheng felt a bit hot, then remembered something: "Wait a minute, aren't you a germaphobe?"

Why would someone with OCD want to walk next to you, and even hold your hand to raise the umbrella?

Xi Congshuang asked in surprise, "Do I have OCD?" She didn't really think she did.

It's better not to have it, otherwise I'll have to do treatment again.

Su Cheng gave an example: "On your first day at the new school, you wiped all the desks and chairs with wet wipes. You would wipe your hands many times after touching the chalk. You would give away the chalk that someone else had used... You also never wanted to participate in physical education classes or running exercises. You would stand on the side and watch rather than sit down."

The school uniforms were always spotless, with no trace of ink on the cuffs.

That does sound a bit like it. Xi Congshuang said, "I think so. I want to wipe it clean because I feel uncomfortable when I touch something dirty."

Su Cheng moved her hand, gesturing to the hand that Xi Congshuang was holding: "What about me?"

Xi Congshuang thought that if she asked again whether holding her hand would feel dirty, she would shake her head and say, "It doesn't hurt."

Furthermore, it is impolite to say bad things in front of someone who is trying to help you.

"careful."

Su Cheng was pulled by the hand to avoid puddles on the sidewalk, and caught a glimpse of a delicate, fair profile so close to her, with a small mole under the corner of her eye.

This seems to be called... a beauty mark under the eye?

Su Cheng suddenly asked, "Can you play the piano?"

Xi Congshuang: "I know a little, at an amateur level. Do you want to hear it?"

Her parents raised her in every aspect. She needed to be outstanding in ability and also have a good temperament. She didn't have to be an expert in music and art, but at least she had to have some understanding of them.

"So you really can play the piano." Su Cheng then asked, "Do you know ballet?"

She hadn't forgotten what she'd told the class monitor, and her long-dormant curiosity was reignited. Taking advantage of Xi Congshuang's easygoing nature, she asked a few more questions.

Xi Congshuang shook her head: "I can't do ballet. My dance teacher said I'm uncoordinated and don't have the talent, but I can do ballroom dancing."

Su Cheng: "You know a lot of things, but I've long forgotten the ballroom dancing I learned."

Xi Congshuang pursed her lips, looked at the smiling face beside her, and realized what was hidden beneath those words.

Suddenly, Su Cheng said, "We've arrived at the subway station. Go in now, see you next week."

Under the sky, a figure carrying a black backpack emerged from under a small floral umbrella, turning back under the entrance awning.

The girl holding the umbrella had her schoolbag slung across her back. The umbrella wasn't big, and one of her shoulders was wet. Her round eyes were beaming with laughter.

Xi Congshuang seemed to be affected, her eyes softening slightly: "See you next week."

After watching Su Cheng leave, Xi Congshuang frowned and took out a tissue to press on her wet left shoulder.

She used a whole pack of tissues to barely dry the wet spot on her shoulder. After staring at her shoulder in frustration for a while, Xi Congshuang stepped into the crowd.

You'd better hurry home and change your clothes.

*

Aside from her studies, Su Cheng is quite busy.

I'm busy with my studies from Monday to Friday, do odd jobs on weekends, and go back to school on Monday, yawning all the while.

The same applies today.

Su Cheng felt a bit dizzy and wanted to go to sleep as soon as possible, as she seemed to have woken up a bit too early this morning.

She persevered and went to school on the ground that hadn't dried all weekend.

It rained all weekend, everything was wet, and I felt like mushrooms were going to grow all over me.

Su Cheng thought she was late enough, but her deskmate, whose profile picture was updated regularly, still hadn't arrived.

"Good morning, I feel so sleepy, I haven't had enough sleep at all." The class monitor greeted her with heavy dark circles under his eyes.

Su Cheng nodded in agreement: "Me too."

I covered my neighbor's night shift last night and didn't get home to sleep until 2 or 3 a.m. I got up at 6:30 a.m. I didn't get enough sleep at all.

Su Cheng wanted to ask, "Has my deskmate arrived yet?"

Upon closer inspection, a familiar black backpack was draped over the back of the chair; she had arrived, but the person was nowhere to be seen.

Class monitor: "What?"

Su Cheng waved her hand: "It's okay, I'm so sleepy, I'll take a nap first, and call me when the teacher comes."

"good."

When Xi Congshuang came out of the office, she heard the continuous sound of rain again. She carried her completely blank exercise book back to the classroom.

Both teachers kept asking her to do the same thing: to do her homework, and to tell her that if this continued, they would contact her parents.

"Then I'll just notify them. No one will care," Xi Congshuang thought to herself.

Go through the back door, and you'll find your seat.

On the other side of the table, Su Cheng was catching up on sleep, lying on the tabletop. She moved quietly and sat down to the side.

Xi Congshuang noticed that Su Cheng's exposed ears were a little red, her white jade-like ears were turning red, and she took a few more glances at them.

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The snowflakes, seemingly quite free: Goodbye, Mom, I'm setting sail tonight :)