49 Chapter 49
◎An Uninvited Guest at the Party◎
The afternoon practice ended early. After eating at the cafeteria, Zhan Xinyue returned to find Xie Wanzhi, Xin Wenhua, and Lu Meng leaning against a cabinet at the back of the classroom, talking about something. Upon seeing her enter, Xie Wanzhi immediately waved for her to come over.
She approached and overheard them discussing Xie Wanzhi's birthday party.
"Is your birthday on Saturday or Sunday? If it's Sunday, then we'll have to celebrate it a little earlier."
Xie Wanzhi said, "Actually it's Friday, but I think it can be postponed to Saturday, which will give us more time."
"There's no need for that. It's most fun to go out on Friday nights. Go right after school and stay until midnight."
Lu Meng chimed in, "Yeah, it's better to celebrate on your birthday."
Xie Wanzhi: "But Saturday is a bit more time-efficient. We can go out in the morning, have lunch together, go sing karaoke, and then go for a late-night snack." She turned her expectant gaze to Zhan Xinyue, "What about you, Xinyue? Which day do you choose?"
Zhan Xinyue thought for a moment, "Friday then, I have something to do on Saturday."
Xie Wanzhi pouted: "Nothing is more important than my birthday."
Zhan Xinyue really had something important to do this time, and it was indeed much more important than Xie Wanzhi's birthday.
Zhanwei's new store is finally opening on Saturday, and she has already told her dad that she will go to the store to help out.
“Okay, then it’ll be Friday. Looks like we can only go to karaoke. I’ll book the karaoke place on Taiping Street. We’ll take a taxi there together after school. Let me see how many taxis we need…” She counted the names of the people who had promised to go with her today. Out of forty people in her class, she could only count a dozen or so.
"That's good enough," Xin Wenhua said with a sigh. "To be able to get more than a dozen people in our class to celebrate your birthday, you're already quite popular."
Xie Wanzhi said, "Actually, it's not really about celebrating my birthday. It's just an opportunity for everyone to have some fun together. I told everyone that it's fine to just come and have fun, and there's no need to bring gifts or anything, so that no one feels pressured."
Xin Wenhua immediately said, "You're being a bit discriminatory. How come other people don't have to bring gifts, but I'm told to just come empty-handed and wait to die?"
Xie Wanzhi glanced at him sideways, "I won't force you, it depends on whether you're conscious of it yourself." She then looked at Xinyue and said casually, "By the way, Xinyue, have you asked about that person yet? He's the only one we haven't counted yet."
Zhan Xinyue said, "I asked."
Xie Wanzhi tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her gaze towards her filled with nervousness: "Then... what did he say?"
He said he was coming.
A seemingly casual remark has stirred up a huge wave of discussion.
"Really?" Xie Wanzhi herself seemed a little skeptical.
"Holy crap, you must have misheard me." Xin Wenhua reacted even more strongly than her, exclaiming in shock, "He's coming to celebrate Xie Wanzhi's birthday? This sounds so unbelievable."
Upon hearing this, Xie Wanzhi immediately became displeased: "How is celebrating my birthday fantastical? Who do you think you are?"
Xin Wenhua clicked his tongue and said, "I just feel... it's like the sun has risen in the west."
Lu Meng sighed from the side, "Xie Wanzhi, I didn't expect you to have so much influence. You can get anyone to come to your birthday party."
"We're all classmates, what's the big deal?" Xie Wanzhi smiled broadly. "Besides, it's not me who has more influence, it's Xinyue who has more influence, okay?"
Zhan Xinyue chuckled twice and floated back to her seat.
Perhaps because of this incident, Xie Wanzhi was in an unusually good mood all evening, and the voices of those who approached her during the evening class were softer than usual.
"Xinyue, why don't you sit with me for the last two evening classes? My deskmate had diarrhea and went to the school clinic to get medicine. I don't think he'll be back tonight." Xie Wanzhi said, half-lying on her desk, blocking most of the light above her desk.
Zhan Xinyue pulled out the study guide and refused, "No, the teacher will find out."
"Oh, what are you afraid of? There's no more evening class with Lao Zhou after this, and the other teachers won't bother you." Xie Wanzhi shook her arm and pleaded incessantly, "Come sit with me, otherwise I'll be so lonely during evening class, okay, Yueyue? You haven't sat with me in so long..."
Zhan Xinyue got goosebumps listening to her, and interrupted her: "I'll finish this problem first, you don't need to read it."
"So you agree? Oh, don't do it. It's the same as doing it at my place. Come on, come on, let me help you with your things." She reached for Zhan Xinyue's pencil case, but when she looked up, she suddenly saw Shi Ziqian looking at her.
Xie Wanzhi quickly looked away, but then became unsure again as she lowered her head. After a while, she mustered her courage and looked up at him again, only to find that she wasn't mistaken; Shi Ziqian was indeed staring at her.
However, his gaze was dark and unfriendly, even somewhat irritating.
The two stared at each other for two seconds before Shi Ziqian looked away.
Xie Wanzhi lowered her head again, her smile faltering.
After Zhan Xinyue finished the problem, she finally packed her things and called to her, "Let's go."
“Oh, let’s go,” Xie Wanzhi said.
She pestered her for a long time to sit down, but once Zhan Xinyue sat down, Xie Wanzhi remained mostly silent and not very interested. Zhan Xinyue didn't know what was wrong with her, but she was happy to have some peace and quiet and didn't bother to pay her any attention.
However, she was never able to concentrate on her studies, as her mind was always wandering to other things.
Before going to bed after taking a shower that night, Zhan Xinyue opened the wardrobe and carefully examined her clothes.
She didn't have many clothes. In high school, she wore her school uniform most of the time and didn't have many opportunities to wear it. She remembered that when she first went to college, she no longer had a school uniform and suddenly had to worry about what to wear every day. She wasn't used to it for a long time.
She examined it for a while, a thoughtful look on her face. After a moment, she reached out and took off a pale yellow dress.
This dress was bought for her by Pang Yun for her birthday last year. It has a simple and elegant design with no extra decorations. The only decoration is a circle of flower buds embroidered in yarn at the hem, which adds a touch of freshness and charm.
She looked at it for a while, then carefully put it in a paper bag and stuffed it into her schoolbag.
Tomorrow...
Zhan Xinyue climbed into bed, turned off the light, and lay awake in the darkness, unsurprisingly suffering from insomnia.
The next morning, after going to class, Zhan Xinyue told Shi Ziqian about Xie Wanzhi's arrangements, saying that everyone would go to karaoke after class in the afternoon. Shi Ziqian had no objections, but asked her what gift she had prepared.
Zhan Xinyue was stumped by the question. In the past, she would have prepared carefully well in advance, but this time she was too lazy to put in the effort, so she just vaguely said that she planned to go to Xiao Chao's second floor at noon.
The second floor of Xiao Chao's shop usually sells flashy but impractical handicrafts, and it's rarely frequented except by people like Zhan Xinyue who cram at the last minute. When she went up there after lunch, she happened to run into Xin Wenhua, who was also cramming at the last minute.
Xin Wenhua was sticking her butt out, looking at the crystal ball at the bottom of the shelf. The round ball contained a snow scene, and if you shook it, snow would fall. It was a small ornament with a sense of nostalgia.
Zhan Xinyue walked around behind him, looked around at each shelf, and finally grabbed a small speaker with a night light and paid for it.
The three afternoon classes passed quickly. As soon as get out of class ended, Xie Wanzhi stood up from her seat.
There's an unwritten rule at school that students are generally reluctant to wear school uniforms outside of school and usually change into their own clothes before leaving.
She called a few girls to walk out together. As she passed Zhan Xinyue's seat in the back row, she said to them, "Let's go back to the dorm to change our clothes first, and then meet downstairs later."
There was no title, and it's unclear who they were talking to.
Zhan Xinyue is a day student who usually wears her school uniform every day, but today she brought her own clothes and decided to change.
She rummaged through her bag and pulled out the bag containing the skirt. As she got up, she saw that Xin Wenhua and Lu Meng had already run off and were still in their seats. She called out to Ziqian, "I'm going to change my clothes. Do you need to go back for a bit?"
Shi Ziqian shook his head: "You can change in the classroom, I'll wait for you downstairs."
Zhan Xinyue thought about it for a moment, and since the bathroom was indeed not very convenient, she said, "Okay."
Shi Ziqian took off his school uniform jacket and casually draped it over the back of the chair before getting up and leaving.
After he left, Zhan Xinyue waited in the classroom for a while until everyone had left before locking the front and back doors, drawing the curtains, and changing into her dress.
When she finished putting on her dress and opened the door to go downstairs, she was surprised to find that Shi Ziqian, who had just said he was going downstairs first, was still standing a little distance away from the classroom, holding onto the railing with his back to her.
She asked in confusion, "Why are you still here?"
Shi Ziqian turned around upon hearing the sound, his gaze falling on her, his eyes pausing slightly.
"What's wrong?" Zhan Xinyue asked.
"It's nothing, I just realized I forgot to bring something." Although he didn't go back to the dormitory to change clothes, he took off his coat, and his simple white T-shirt paired with the black trousers of his school uniform looked surprisingly harmonious, making him look clean and upright.
He walked past her back into the classroom, returned to his seat, and picked up a paper bag from the corner of his desk. It was the same style as the one from the Xiaochao boutique she owned.
It seems the last-minute cramming team has gained another member.
When Zhan Xinyue saw his bag, she remembered that she had also forgotten to bring the gift for Xie Wanzhi, so she quickly went back to her seat to get it.
Shi Ziqian noticed the paper bag she had placed on the other side of the table before she did, reached out and picked it up, handing it to her.
When Zhan Xinyue went to pick him up, she noticed his gaze lightly sweeping over her again, and couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong?"
She felt a little uncomfortable as soon as she put on the dress. She hadn't worn it in a long time, and only when she put it on did she realize that the hem was above her knees. She's more used to wearing long dresses and always feels that short dresses are too girly and not her style, and that she might look a bit strange in them.
Shi Ziqian shook his head and said softly, "It's nothing, it's very beautiful."
Zhan Xinyue didn't hear clearly and looked at Shi Ziqian uncertainly. He seemed a little embarrassed, looked away, and said, "Let's go."
The two of them carried their gift bags and headed towards the door. As soon as Zhan Xinyue stepped out, she bumped into a figure, which startled her so much that she instinctively took a step back.
"Why such a big reaction?" The newcomer looked up and smiled; it was Xie Wanzhi. Her smile seemed a little strange for some reason. She looked Xie Wanzhi up and down, then glanced at Shi Ziqian behind her, before saying, "Your dress is really beautiful."
She also wore a skirt, a pinafore dress paired with a short T-shirt, which gave her a very youthful look.
"Your dress is nice too," Zhan Xinyue said. "Why did you come back?"
"I only realized I forgot my keys when I went downstairs, so I came back up to get them. Wait for me, let's go down together," Xie Wanzhi said quickly.
After Xie Wanzhi retrieved the keys, the three of them went downstairs together. Zhan Xinyue and Xie Wanzhi walked side by side in front, with Shi Ziqian following behind them.
The rest of the class were already waiting downstairs, idly standing in front of the bulletin board, looking at the photos on it.
"Let's go, everyone!" Xie Wanzhi called out, and everyone chatted and laughed as they walked out of the school.
The group of over a dozen people looked quite impressive walking together. Xie Wanzhi didn't wait for her anymore, quickening her pace to walk to the front of the group, chatting as she walked with her dorm girls. Zhan Xinyue didn't seem to mind, leisurely lagging behind the group. Shi Ziqian walked even slower than her, always following behind her.
Upon arriving at the karaoke bar, Xie Wanzhi went to the front desk to book a private room. The receptionist gently said, "Some of your friends have already arrived. Just go directly to room C15."
Xie Wanzhi wasn't surprised and directly invited everyone to walk inside together.
"Who came first?" Xin Wenhua looked into the line. "How come some people came over without waiting for everyone else?"
Xie Wanzhi said mysteriously, "You'll find out once you go in."
As they were talking, they arrived at the entrance of C15. Xin Wenhua was the first to push open the heavy soundproof door of the private room and immediately exclaimed in an exaggerated "Wow!"
Everyone curiously followed and surged inside, then exclaimed "Wow!" a few times, and some even turned to look at Zhan Xinyue's face outside the door, who hadn't yet come in.
Shi Ziqian stood at the back of the crowd and looked through the half-open door. He saw that there was already a person sitting in the private room, holding a microphone in one hand. When the door was pushed open, he looked over with a smile.
He glanced at the man's smiling face for a few seconds, then looked down at Zhan Xinyue in front of him. She was also looking at the man in the private room, the flashing colored lights in the room sweeping across her face, illuminating her overly calm expression.
It was as if they had known all along that person would appear here.
"Hey, Brother Shen," Xin Wenhua called out with a grin, "You've come uninvited?"
“What do you mean by ‘coming uninvited’?” Xu Shen put down the microphone and pointed to the cake box on the table. “I was properly invited and I brought a gift.”
“I invited Brother Shen.” Xie Wanzhi walked over. “Didn’t I say I didn’t need to bring anything? Why did you buy a cake?”
Xin Wenhua joked, "No, what role are you planning to play at our class reunion, a spy?"
Xu Shen raised the corners of his mouth: "When I used to come to your class often, didn't you always say that I was like an unofficial member of your class? I think it's quite reasonable for me to be here."
His gaze swept across the crowd to Zhan Xinyue, then quickly returned to his own. He continued, "Why are you all standing here? Are you uncomfortable seeing me all of a sudden? Come in and sit down."
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