Chapter 12
After coming down from the court, Lu Bai and several classmates went to the bathroom to wash their faces. As soon as Lu Bai bent down, a wet hand slapped his lower back.
"If you ask me, Lu Bai, you are still my younger brother. Playing this game of ball with us today can be considered as teaching you to be a better person." Li An said while wiping Lu Bai's clothes a few times.
"Get away! Whose clothes are you using to wipe your hands?" Lu Bai dodged and scooped up a handful of water on his face.
"Look at you, you're so clean," Li An said with a "tsk". "Are you the one spitting all over the place?"
"Go to hell!" Lu Bai cursed with a smile. "I was just giving a passionate commentary on the game!"
Several boys burst into laughter.
"Hey, haven't I seen you trying to please your new deskmate these past two days?" Li An asked.
"I see he doesn't even pay any attention to Lu Bai," one boy said. "He has a sullen face every day, as if someone owes him 2.58 million."
"Exactly. I don't know why he's so arrogant."
"If you ask me, Lu Bai, you didn't need to go through with that." Li An continued. "He's not the first student to pay to get into our class, and you don't seem so enthusiastic. Besides, he won't stay long. He might get kicked out again in the next exam."
Li An talked to them for a long time, but there was no response from Lu Bai. He bumped Lu Bai with his shoulder and said, "Did you hear me?"
"Ah?" Lu Bai seemed to have just come to his senses and nodded randomly. "I heard it, I heard it."
In fact, Lu Bai didn't hear a word.
After observing for a few days, Lu Bai discovered that his new deskmate was not just difficult to get along with.
Over the past two days, Lu Bai had occasionally spoken to him, even greeting him when they bumped into him on the street, and occasionally giving him snacks. But Zhang Xiaotian was completely unresponsive, refusing to accept the snacks, responding to his conversation, and even returning his greetings with a perfunctory, cold attitude, as if Lu Bai had a grudge against him. Even though Lu Bai considered himself thick-skinned, he felt a little awkward.
But no matter how long Zhang Xiaotian can stay in Class 1, Lu Bai still hopes that their relationship can be a little closer, after all, they are at the same table.
After thinking about it all the way, Lu Bai walked to the classroom door and saw Zhang Xiaotian sitting upright in his seat.
I don't know when he came back. He disappeared as soon as the physical education class was dismissed. Where did he hide? Lu Bai complained in his heart. With a stern face, he walked over to sit next to him, leaned back, and sighed.
Zhang Xiaotian hesitated for a moment and threw him a pack of paper: "Wipe the water off your hands. It's all over the place."
"Thanks." Lu Bai pulled out a piece of paper, wiped it, turned around and threw the paper into the trash can, accidentally knocking Zhang Xiaotian's pen off his hand. Just as Lu Bai was about to bend down to pick it up for him, Zhang Xiaotian had already bent down quickly.
Lu Bai looked down at him picking up the pen and suddenly felt depressed.
He admitted that while he wasn't universally loved, he had never been treated so coldly. Lu Bai stared at the back of Zhang Xiaotian's head, then suddenly sat up straight, placing his arms squarely on the table like an elementary school student, but with his elbows extended over the edge.
Zhang Xiaotian picked up the pen, but when he stood up, the back of his head seemed to hit something and he couldn't stand up for a while.
Zhang Xiaotian didn't notice anything unusual, so he stood up and cleaned up the table. He heard a "puff" sound next to him. Zhang Xiaotian looked at Lu Bai, but Lu Bai looked at him with a serious expression.
What's so funny about that? It was just a bump on the table. Zhang Xiaotian ignored him.
Math class was about to discuss the quiz from two days prior. Lu Bai searched his bag like a pot of porridge, but couldn't find his own paper. "Can you help me look for it, deskmate? Did you put it away by mistake?" Lu Bai asked as he rummaged through his bag.
"How is that possible? Can't I recognize my own paper?" Zhang Xiaotian retorted, but also rummaged through his desk.
"Look again." Lu Bai pulled out an exercise book and slapped it on the table. A gust of wind blew Zhang Xiaotian's paper off the table. Zhang Xiaotian reached out to catch it, but missed.
"Sorry, sorry!" Lu Bai said without even looking up, "Pick it up yourself."
Zhang Xiaotian had no choice but to bend down to pick it up. When he stood up, he deliberately kept his head away from the table, but he hit his head again.
The collision was quite forceful, but surprisingly, it didn't hurt. Zhang Xiaotian wondered if it wasn't the table, but when he looked up, he saw nothing else. Perhaps he'd moved too quickly? Zhang Xiaotian sat up and saw Lu Bai engrossed in a paper on the table. After Lu Bai sat back down, he asked, "Are you okay?"
Zhang Xiaotian ignored him and stared at him for a while.
"What's the matter?" Lu Bai looked innocent.
"Did you find the test paper?" Zhang Xiaotian asked. "So quickly?"
"Yeah." Lu Bai grinned, revealing a row of white teeth.
The math teacher was a stocky man with a thick accent of unknown origin. While Zhang Xiaotian couldn't completely understand him, it still took some getting used to. Busy taking notes, Zhang Xiaotian knocked over an eraser he'd left on the corner of the desk. He didn't bother to pick it up, his pen swishing.
"Hey, you dropped something," Lu Bai said. Zhang Xiaotian hummed, but didn't stop writing.
After a while, Lu Bai said again: "Don't forget to pick up your things."
"I know." Zhang Xiaotian said without turning his head.
"Alas, it fell too far away from me and I can't reach it, otherwise I would pick it up for you." Lu Bai looked down and said.
"I'll pick it up myself." Zhang Xiaotian wrote quickly, and finally finished the last sentence, then bent down to pick up the things.
Lu Bai quickly found the right angle and stretched out his elbow, but after waiting for a long time, Zhang Xiaotian didn't hit him.
Why did it take so long to pick them up? Lu Bai wondered, and when he looked down, he happened to meet Zhang Xiaotian's gaze, who was squatting on the ground.
Oh my god, I was discovered so quickly. Lu Bai smiled awkwardly: "What are you doing, deskmate? Why are you still squatting on the ground and not getting up?"
"Boring." Zhang Xiaotian stood up and sat down without even giving him a glance.
"Hey, how did you find out?" Lu Bai retorted, "I did this to my previous deskmates, and they didn't notice."
Zhang Xiaotian ignored him.
"When I was in junior high school, I did the same thing to my deskmate for half a semester! I stopped after I decided it was boring."
Zhang Xiaotian picked up the pen and said, "Don't talk to me while I'm in class."
"Hey, look at you!" Lu Bai approached with a shameless face, "Why are you really angry? I can't play with you anymore!"
Zhang Xiaotian frowned and looked at him.
"Okay, okay, I won't say anything more. You can't talk to me in class, and you don't necessarily say more to me after class." Lu Bai pouted and ignored him.
As soon as the bell rang, the math teacher disappeared through the front door, briefcase under his arm, without stopping. Zhang Xiaotian flipped through his incomplete notes and sighed softly.
He looked up and around, not knowing who to borrow a notebook from. Just as he was worrying about this, a gentle breeze blew by.
Zhang Xiaotian looked over and saw Lu Bai fanning himself with his math notes.
Lu Bai supported his chin and looked at Zhang Xiaotian seemingly unintentionally. After looking at Zhang Xiaotian, he raised his eyebrows at him.
Zhang Xiaotian was speechless for a moment and really didn't want to pay attention to him, but after looking at his notes, he said:
"Um, lend me your notes."
"Hmm? What did you say?" Lu Bai said with a wicked smile, "What do you want to borrow?"
"Forget it." Zhang Xiaotian turned around and was about to put away his notes.
"Hey, hey, hey, forget it!" Lu Bai stopped him and threw his notes on his desk. "It's not like I won't lend it to you."
Zhang Xiaotian glanced at him and opened his notes.
"Ouch, you didn't even say thank you." Lu Bai exaggeratedly covered his left chest, "My heart hurts so much."
"Thank you." Zhang Xiaotian threw down a thank you and buried his head in taking notes.
After finishing his notes, Zhang Xiaotian flipped through Lu Bai's notebook. They say a person's handwriting reflects his personality, but Lu Bai's handwriting was unexpectedly neat and clean, looking delicate. The content was also concise and organized, not unlike his own notes. Zhang Xiaotian looked at his own handwriting again, wondering if he should practice his own handwriting. After checking for any omissions and wanting to return it to Lu Bai when he was done, he found Lu Bai staring at him from across the table.
"Why, are you impressed by the wisdom contained in my notes?" Lu Bai saw Zhang Xiaotian stop writing, so he took the notes away and waved them in front of Zhang Xiaotian. "Don't admire me too much, classmate, I'll be embarrassed."
Zhang Xiaotian felt that no one in the world was more shameless than Lu Bai.
After the eighth period, Zhang Xiaotian cleared his desk and prepared to go to the school gate to meet his mother. He used to go back to his father's house for meals, but since that brief conversation in the car that day, his mother had been bringing him food every day. He didn't want to see his mother so soon, so he cleaned up slowly. Usually, by the time he finished, he was the only one left in the class, but today, Lu Bai left very late.
Zhang Xiaotian walked to the back door, looked back and saw Lu Bai still sitting on the stool, and couldn't help asking: "Aren't you going to eat?"
"Hmm?" Lu Bai was stunned for a moment. "I thought I'd just go to the supermarket next door and buy something."
"Oh." Zhang Xiaotian was a little embarrassed and didn't know what to say next, so he turned around and left.
"Wait a minute." Before he could even take a step out, Lu Bai called him back, "Wait a minute, I'll go out with you."
The high school students looked like starving ghosts, disappearing as soon as the bell rang. Therefore, few people were leaving the school at this hour. The two of them walked side by side down the long corridor, occasionally brushing past a few classmates, all in a similarly hurried manner.
"You're out at this hour, so you'll definitely miss out on food," Lu Bai asked. "There are only a few small restaurants across from our school, and the space is limited. Do you want to go to the supermarket with me?"
"No." Zhang Xiaotian said, "My mother is here to bring me food."
"That's amazing." Lu Bai exclaimed in amazement, "My mom is too lazy to bring me food. Your mom is so good to you."
Zhang Xiaotian didn't say anything.
Zhang Xiaotian was overwhelmed by the sudden return of his mother, whom he hadn't seen for several years. She took charge of almost everything about his life, something he found difficult to adapt to. She had barely paid any attention to him before, but now she was suddenly interfering in everything, arranging almost everything about his daily life. Zhang Xiaotian couldn't refuse, so he had to cooperate with her as much as possible.
"Is that your mother?" Lu Bai suddenly said, "The one standing at the school gate."
Zhang Xiaotian looked over. His mother was still standing at the school gate, wearing a black windbreaker and mid-heeled boots, holding a thermos lunch box.
Zhang Xiaotian walked over and called out, "Mom."
"Xiaotian, you're late." Xiaotian's mother handed over the lunch box, "I'll be here to pick you up tonight."
"Hello, Auntie!" Lu Bai also came over and greeted her, "I'm Zhang Xiaotian's deskmate."
"Hello." Zhang Xiaotian's mother smiled slightly when she saw Lu Bai. "Are you going to eat?"
"Yeah." Lu Bai nodded, "I'll go out and buy some food and then go back."
"Go quickly." Xiaotian's mother looked at Lu Bai walking further and further away, and asked Zhang Xiaotian: "How is his study?"
"I didn't notice." Zhang Xiaotian replied.
"If he's the type of person who doesn't put his heart into studying, tell me. I'll ask your homeroom teacher to change your desk. Stay away from him as soon as possible." Xiaotian's mother retracted her gaze and reached out as if to touch Zhang Xiaotian's face. Zhang Xiaotian subconsciously tilted his head, and her hand froze there. Seeing her unhappy expression, Zhang Xiaotian felt that he was being a bit disrespectful. He was still thinking about whether to put his face back, but she had already put her hand down.
"Okay, you can go back too." She sighed and then said, "Don't forget to read some books after you finish eating."
Zhang Xiaotian nodded, turned and walked into the school.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
