Chapter 203 if-two little guesses 4
Qin Yizhang lowered his head, inch by inch, from his sneakers. Only then did he look up to see his smiling face. He was actually still smiling? After such an embarrassing experience, he seemed to be fine. He wasn't embarrassed, but they were.
"Um," she cleared her throat, "just now, I didn't mean to see it."
"I know," he nodded, "Why are you here?"
"I..." She was here to wait for him. But after what just happened, if she said she was waiting for him, he wouldn't misunderstand that she was also here to confess her feelings to him?
"I dropped something and I'm looking for it."
"What did you drop?" he asked suspiciously.
"Nothing, I've already found it." She had already gone through a lot of things in her mind. Today wasn't the right time to explain the rumors to him. She'd better do it another day. "I'm going home. See you at school!"
She walked past him quickly with her schoolbag on her back. After a few steps, she found that he was still there. He was leisurely matching her pace and walking side by side with her.
"Our homes are on the same way, we can go home together after school." His new voice came from above her head.
Qin Yizhang truly admired him. That girl had just confessed her feelings to him under the pretext of going home together, and he had rejected her so ruthlessly. If she had just experienced something like that, she would have avoided the phrase "going home together" for at least a week. Unexpectedly, not only did he not shy away from it, he actually brought it up himself. His mental fortitude was truly formidable!
"Aren't you going to ride a bike?" she answered stiffly.
Tong Zhongyuan laughed, but from her corner she couldn't even make out an excuse.
"Riding a bike isn't much faster than walking this way. I'll wait for you at the school gate tomorrow."
Qin Yizhang was a little confused. She had been waiting here to clarify the rumors to him, but before she had the chance to explain, how come they had to go home together every day? Wouldn't the rumors become more and more intense?
"Tong Zhongyuan," she paused, "Have you heard any...strange rumors recently?"
"Oh?" He suppressed his laughter, looking at her serious and funny face, "What strange rumor?"
No wonder, he hadn't heard anything at all, so he acted like nothing happened. But... he'd find out sooner or later. Since this is a godsend, it's better to give him a heads-up than to explain it later.
"It's just..." She scratched her head. "I accidentally told a classmate that we were childhood friends and that we held hands. I didn't expect her to spread it everywhere. You know, some students are very precocious... so they misunderstood this matter... Actually, our relationship is very innocent, but there are always people who look at it with tinted glasses. I'm afraid this will affect you. If you hear any rumors, don't take them to heart. I didn't mean to do that. We have nothing to fear from those who are upright!"
The smile on his face faded and disappeared, only for a moment, and another ironic smile returned to his face. His new, unfamiliar voice was cold, like an abyss.
"Got it. No one will take it personally."
He passed her, leaving only his shadow connected to hers. After a few steps, their shadows also separated. He walked to the intersection, turned a corner, and disappeared.
The rumors died down. After a semester of observation, Tong Zhongyuan from Class 7 and Qin Yizhang from Class 2 were just ordinary nodding friends. The term "fa xiao" probably simply refers to playing games together when they were very young.
Tong Zhongyuan was a low-key, quiet, and gentle person, but his unparalleled academic performance and increasingly bright appearance made him known to almost everyone in the school. Qin Yizhang, on the other hand, was also quietly changing. Unlike other girls her age, she didn't exude the youthful, bright, and sunny aura, but instead exuded a quiet maturity that belied her age.
Qin Yizhang took out her key and opened the door. She put down her schoolbag, washed her hands, and pulled out a box of leftovers and cold rice from the refrigerator. She had cooked this the day before and divided it into three meals. After tonight's meal, she would cook a new one tomorrow. Tomorrow night, her father would be home, and they could eat something fresh together.
Two months ago, my grandfather went missing. He was found and diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Auntie sat on a stool in her house, wiping away tears.
"I can't rely on you, and my health isn't good either. Now I know what a blessing it is to have many brothers and sisters. Brother, there are only you and me in our family, how can I take care of you? If I had money, it would be great, I could hire someone to take care of you. But you know me, where would I get the money? Ah? The man I married is useless, not like No. 89's Ah Fang..."
"Ahua," Qin Yunjie interrupted her, "let's not talk about other people's affairs. Let's do this. We'll take turns, one day each. Let's stick with it for a few months and see how it goes."
"You're not coming for three days, brother? One day? I just finished the bed and I'm coming back again. Don't be so busy. All the time is spent on the road, and when I get home I have to serve a big and a small child. It's really too much."
"So what do you say?"
Auntie hesitated for a moment and glanced at Qin Yizhang's bedroom.
"Or you can stay for three days and I can stay for three days. Good or bad, I won't have to serve those enemies during my three days at my mother's house."
"How can that be possible! Yiyi is still so young, what if she is left at home as a little girl? What if something happens?"
"Dad," Qin Yizhang walked out of the bedroom, "That's it. I can take care of myself. You can come back once every three days, no problem."
For the past two months, she'd come home after school to cook, eat by herself, clean up, and do her homework. Before bed, she'd check the doors, windows, locks, and gas, making sure they were all in good condition.
At first, she struggled to adjust, unable to sleep soundly. She turned on the light, took out the wood and carving knife her mother had left her, and began carving into the dark night, stroke by stroke. Her fear and loneliness calmed as the knife scraped across the wood. Fortunately, early summer arrived, and the days grew brighter. Her north window faced the street, and after dark, it was even more bustling than before. The sound of people on the summer night brought a touch of life to her empty home, and she felt less afraid.
The first time I noticed the change in Qin Yizhang was that day. A football flew out from the playground and hit a girl who was resting. The girl didn't know whether she was knocked unconscious or frightened, and she fell to the ground. When the unlucky boy came to pick up the ball, he was surrounded by the angry female protagonist. The other girls were about to help the fainted girl. Qin Yizhang stopped them and said not to touch her first, go to the infirmary and call the school doctor. After the school doctor came, he examined her. Qin Yizhang described the situation just now, and then he and another girl helped her to the infirmary.
Tong Zhongyuan didn't look away until she was out of sight. He didn't know why, but he felt something had changed about her. But what did it have to do with him? After all, they were just acquaintances.
Over dinner that evening, He Wu brought a piece of news. The British high school he'd applied to had two spots available for transfer students. He could take the first round of entrance exams at a designated location in Shanghai and, after passing, go to the UK for an interview. If he passed the interview, he wouldn't be here when school started.
When He Wu spoke of this, she used the word "good news" to refer to it. She knew Tong Zhongyuan's ability, and perhaps because she had blind faith in her son, she had never considered whether he would fail the exam. She just thought that since he had a place, then it was a done deal.
"The exam is in two weeks, so have your dad take you there. As for the interview, you need to prepare. The school only accepts on-campus interviews, so you'll have to fly there. Have your dad accompany you, too. I don't have time. During this time, I'll try to catch up on one more thing, just to give myself some explanation."
Tong Zhongyuan ate his noodles anxiously. He'd known about going to England since elementary school, and he'd been mentally prepared for years. But when the moment finally arrived, he couldn't describe the feeling. At least, it wasn't anticipation or joy.
He brought several textbooks for his entrance exams to school and practiced during breaks. Soon, word spread that he would be going to England to study the following academic year.
Over the past week, several of his close classmates have come to him to ask about the authenticity of the news, including students from other classes. Even teachers have inquired about his exam preparations, and his unanimous response is that nothing has been decided yet.
But that person, the girl he grew up with, Qin Yizhang, she had never come. As usual, she would smile when she saw him, greet him when there were few people around, and ask how Aunt He was. It was as if he was just a bridge between her and his mother.
He thought, even if the news of his going abroad had not spread throughout the grade, she must have known about it. He Wu and Qin Yunjie were in contact, and there was no reason for Qin Yizhang not to know. When this thought came to his mind, he became more and more depressed. She knew that he was about to leave, but she was indifferent. He understood that they had all grown up, and the friendship accumulated in childhood had been worn away by the inexplicable coldness of adolescence. But... she was not someone else, and he did not believe that in Qin Yizhang's heart he was just a classmate from a different class. The Qin Yizhang he knew was a silly, enthusiastic, and emotional person. So, there was only one possibility. She really didn't know that he was about to leave.
As the entrance exam day approached, the thought that she didn't know he was leaving became increasingly stronger, almost making it impossible for him to concentrate.
The day he made up his mind was the evening three days before the entrance exam. For some reason, he packed his schoolbag and went to the school gate as soon as the class was over. For some reason, he didn't leave after reaching the school gate, but kept watching the students passing by. He attributed it all to coincidence. Anyway, it was such a coincidence that he saw Qin Yizhang coming out. Just as he felt, she had changed a little bit recently. The baby fat on her tender face was gone, and her smooth and petite face made her eyes look more like a deer, and her hair shone with an amber glow. Her smile also changed. The original heartless and toothy grin was replaced by a smile as bright as the moonlight and as brilliant as the sun. The look in her eyes when she glanced back, the hair blown by the breeze, and the glimmer between her teeth, all carried a degree of calmness, two degrees of gentleness, and three degrees of forgetfulness, making it impossible not to notice her. Also, she never wore glasses again.
Just as he was about to raise his hand, a boy from her class quickly caught up with her, patted her schoolbag with a smile, and walked side by side with her.
He knew this boy; he was a class committee member with good grades in Class 2. He had been shorter when he first arrived, but he'd grown taller and had a different hairstyle over the past year. In the past two weeks, from what he'd seen, this was already the third time he'd gone home with Qin Yizhang.
Qin Yizhang clearly disliked him. She smiled, but it was forced and awkward. And her doe-eyed eyes, that flicker of disdain, wasn't it? She was so disgusted, yet she had to go with him. Was she a people-pleaser? Having lost her mother at a young age, she probably didn't know how to reject a cheeky man.
He put his hands in his pockets and followed quickly.
"I'm not lying to you," the class committee member's newly changed voice was spreading, "His new album is really good. I bought the original copy and I'll bring it to you tomorrow."
"Qin Yizhang."
Hearing this familiar voice, Qin Yizhang turned around and saw Tong Zhongyuan walking towards her expressionlessly, raising his chin towards her.
"Let's go home together."
The class committee member stared at Tong Zhongyuan in astonishment. He knew who he was, of course—the man of Class 7, the idol of Huacai. But he couldn't understand why he was here, addressing Qin Yizhang by name, commanding her with seemingly unspoken commands, and the hostility emanating from him that was so intense it was impossible to ignore. He suddenly remembered the rumor from last semester: that Qin Yizhang and Tong Zhongyuan had been childhood friends. But the truth was, they were just playmates who had crossed paths as children.
Qin Yizhang was also a little surprised. She and Tong Zhongyuan hadn't spoken to each other for a long time. But without any hesitation or thought, she said to the class committee, "Sorry, let's go home together another day."
She walked to Tong Zhongyuan's side naturally, looked up and smiled: "Let's go."
Tong Zhongyuan turned his head, pretending to look at the street scene, and casually raised his hand to cover his mouth, quietly lowering the corners of his mouth. He was very satisfied.
The class committee member was stunned for a moment, then shouted at their backs, "Then I'll bring you the new album tomorrow."
Qin Yizhang was about to turn back when Tong Zhongyuan pulled her and led her to sprint towards the green light that was already counting down.
Just as I ran to the other side of the road, the traffic came like a flood, blocking everything behind me.
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