Chapter 38
After several days of rain, winter quietly arrived with a cool breeze.
With the changing seasons, the weather is alternating between rainy and sunny weeks.
During the morning exercise break, students were scattered in small groups. At the starting point, Jian Sheng was listening to Lin You talk about last week's monthly exam results when the whistle suddenly blew, and he almost lost his balance.
"Oh, I'm so sorry." Jian Sheng braced herself against the back of the person in front of her, and looked timid when she turned around.
Gu Zhenyi turned her head: "Emotional distress, two hundred."
After saying that, seeing Jian Sheng's face gradually turning red, he couldn't help but laugh.
"Robbery in broad daylight, Boss Gu!" He Shang had somehow made his way to the front row.
"Hey, you guys didn't go play ball?" Gu Zhenyi turned her head.
A few people ran up behind him, and He Shang shook his head: "No, the student council has been checking a lot lately. Apart from a few students from the student council downstairs, no one else dares to go into the sports field."
"Oh, Jian Sheng, I was just kidding." Gu Zhenyi turned her head and raised an eyebrow at Jian Sheng, who was running behind her.
Jian Sheng chuckled: "I know."
"Tsk tsk tsk, look...look." A voice suddenly interrupted.
The group looked at the short-haired girl in front of them, and she turned around and ran back, saying, "Jian is already the cutest girl in our class's circle of girlfriends!"
"Qiao Le, what do you mean by 'girlfriend circle'? You're treating your classmates like your petting zoo again," Xu Xiao said quipped.
"You careless men just don't understand," Xu Xiaxia said, shaking her head as she panted. "You, a monk, oh, and Zhao Chengyang, the game envoy of Class 13, how can you talk about our pet shop king like that!"
"Pfft, hahaha, who gave you guys this definition? It's so childish." He Shang touched his freshly cut buzz cut and laughed.
"The gates of the underworld have opened, I allow you to die!" Xu Xiaxia glared at him.
"You two stop arguing. I feel like my pet shop needs a major overhaul of the pets..." Qiao Le said quietly.
"What do you mean? Then who am I?" Xu Xiao asked.
Qiao Le frowned and looked him up and down over his thick eyebrows: "You're a cat."
"?" Xu Xiao retorted, "How can I be a cat? I'm so strong, I should be a tiger!"
“No, every time you get scolded, you cower in the back like a sick kitten…” Qiao Le shook her head and said seriously.
"Hahahaha, I'm dying of laughter! Stop arguing, look at me, what am I?" He Shang asked.
Xu Xiaxia chimed in, "Isn't it obvious?"
"You're a monkey, a stupid monkey!" Xu Xiaxia said, and before He Shang could refute her, she ran to the outermost lane of the girls' area.
........
"Does her family own a pet shop?" Jian asked Lin You, who was walking steadily beside him.
Lin Youyang said, "No."
"She loves small animals, often studies them, and says she wants to open a large pet store when she grows up," Lin You added.
Jian nodded. After a few months, he gradually discovered that the students in the class had wonderful interests and hobbies, and some even made grand plans for them.
"Qiao Le is very interesting. She said that our teacher is like a bee. I thought she was going to say something about diligently collecting honey or something, but she said that she is like a bee, caring for people here and reminding them there. She carries a little bee on her back every day. Although she works hard collecting honey, she teaches her students without reservation and gives them everything she knows."
Jian sighed softly, "There's another layer of meaning to that. That's impressive."
"She's pretty good at analyzing people. You should ask her sometime; she'll probably give you a very interesting answer, hahaha." Lin You laughed heartily.
Just as Jian Sheng was about to ask her what it was, someone ran up from the right. She glanced to the side and saw that Chen Zhou had been running behind her for who knows how long.
For several mornings, she would see him standing downstairs waiting for her. Jian Sheng felt that he was like a furnace, passionate but easily scalding, and this scalding always hurt her chest.
Jian Sheng didn't speak, just ran quietly. The group became increasingly chaotic, with some quiet conversations mixed in with the slow footsteps.
She felt a tingling sensation in her right shoulder and moved a few steps to the left.
Just as I was about to step over, a voice on the right said, "If you move any further, you'll be out of the way."
Jian Sheng gave up and moved back: "Don't keep looking at me."
"Ah!" Chen Zhou exclaimed in surprise, but stubbornly insisted, "I'm learning to appreciate it."
"I don't know when it started, but Chen Zhoujing has become incredibly greasy," Lin You said with disdain.
Chen Zhou pursed his lips, racking his brains for words, only to be called greasy...
"Oily?" He took a quick step forward, running to Jian Sheng's side. "Am I oily?"
"I don't know," Jian said breathlessly, "but it's ridiculous..."
She couldn't bear to say it, but he was actually quite naive, talked a lot, mostly rambling, but in the process, he actually came up with some reasonable points.
A hint of disappointment flashed across Chen Zhoujing's face: "Is appreciation even considered nonsense? Appreciation doesn't count, does it? We have such a good relationship, isn't appreciation a great way to express one's strengths?"
“No…” Jian Sheng retorted, “What I meant was… I feel uncomfortable when you keep looking at me and smiling.”
"Ah..." Chen Zhoujing hadn't thought of that. "Then this is indeed my problem, and that's not good."
"No, not really." He suddenly realized, his voice still a little awkward. "I mean..."
“I think you have a point. If a gaze bothers you, then it’s not appreciation, damn it, that’s perverted!” He clicked his tongue. “Sorry.”
Jian Sheng sighed and started arguing with him again: "Don't keep apologizing to me, I really don't owe you anything."
Some people in the group got off, and Jian Sheng was also about to give up. She stopped and took a few steps, then slowly caught up.
Chen Zhoujing pinched the back of his neck and squeezed himself a few times. He walked at the back of Class 13, falling several steps behind.
“You’re all twisted into a Sichuan character.” Xu Yanghe ran to his side and looked at him. “A naked stare is what’s perverted. What you’re doing is at most unrequited love and curiosity.”
He winked at him, then ran ahead to catch up with the group.
Chen Zhou glanced at his back, thought for a moment, and then quickly ran to Jian Sheng's side.
He was very tall, and Jian Sheng was not short either. The two of them ran in the back row of Class 13, attracting attention.
Jian Sheng took a breath, seemingly becoming increasingly sensitive to Chen Zhoujing's movements, to the point that she couldn't control it, it was almost subconscious.
The two stopped talking and ran the second lap. The number of voices in the group decreased significantly, as most people were too tired to speak.
The animal bureau in the front row seemed to be still going on, and that grand blueprint became clearer and clearer in Jian Sheng's ears.
She glanced casually at the short-haired girl about two meters away, the girl who had opened the window to let her in that day. Qiao Le was actively helping the interested boys beside her analyze the animals.
Not long after, He Shang mentioned Chen Zhoujing.
Qiao Le ran backwards again. Her gaze swept over the tall man with a smirk in the back row, then shifted to Jian Sheng, whose cheeks were flushed as he looked at her.
After hesitating for a moment, he said, "Hmm... Chen Zhoujing is a dog that's both smart and not smart."
"Simple voices are still the cutest." After saying that, she turned back.
After a moment of silence, the boys burst into laughter, and the teasing and jeering started, making it difficult to stop.
Jian Sheng couldn't help but laugh, panting, before finally stopping and taking a few steps.
Chen Zhou's smile faded: "Why are you calling me a dog!"
"Is this a sarcastic remark?" he turned to Jian Sheng and asked. "Isn't this a sarcastic remark? I thought I was at least a wolf! How majestic!"
Jian Sheng put her hands on her hips and smiled, her eyes crinkling: "Hmm... haha."
“I think so too…” she grinned from ear to ear, “but she said you’re smart.”
"There's nothing more to praise, sigh." Chen Zhou chuckled, watching her laugh heartily, his eyes brimming with amusement.
"Oh well, a dog is a dog. Dogs are cute too..."
"What are you guys from Class 13 doing?!"
A stern voice came from the corner of the teaching building steps. The dean of students was standing with his hands behind his back, his eyes sharp: "You can't just stand there and run. The lines are scattered, there aren't many people, and you're chatting. You're not running around much, are you!"
"And what are those two who fell behind doing? What are they laughing about?"
Upon being mentioned, Jian Sheng took a few steps and ran to the line.
The group switched positions and lined up automatically. The sound of talking disappeared, leaving only the sound of orderly footsteps. The head of the teaching department only looked away when Class 13 turned out of the teaching building, and then went to randomly select the next target.
"That's fierce! It scared me." someone said.
"Tsk." Qiao Le shook his head. "Someone like our head of student affairs is a tiger, a wild tiger at that. When he's hungry, he comes out to hunt for food, lurking in little corners that are hard to notice, and then he raids us! He specifically targets poor little lambs like us, boohoo."
She suddenly said something that made everyone around her laugh so hard they were doubled over.
The crowd started to get chaotic again, but it was much better than at the beginning.
Jian Sheng couldn't run anymore, so he started walking slowly with Lin You and the others, and soon he fell behind two classes.
At some point, Chen Zhoujing emerged from the approaching group and walked over to them.
"What are you doing, Chen Gou!" Lin You glanced at him.
"Hey, you don't feel right if you don't roast me every day, do you..." Chen Zhou clicked his tongue in surprise.
"You're surrounded by girls all day long, aren't you ashamed?" Lin You said.
Chen Zhou was speechless, feeling that the word sounded somewhat familiar.
However, the group walked away on their own.
Jian Sheng turned her head, and when she saw his serious face with his lips pursed, she thought of the dog Qiao Le had mentioned, and her lips curved slightly.
"What are you laughing at?" Chen Zhoujing hummed in surprise. "You're not imagining what it would be like for me to act like a dog, are you?"
She denied it in a low voice, but he saw through her lie: "No!"
"What do you mean 'no'? I think that's exactly what you're laughing at." Chen Zhou crossed his arms. "If I were a dog, I'd have to choose a breed..."
"What do you think is good?" he suddenly asked.
Jian Sheng didn't know: "What do you like?"
Chen Zhoujing continued, "Then let's go with the husky. I like this breed; it suits my image perfectly! Great, I'm very satisfied."
"Is he handsome?" Jian asked casually.
"Huh?" Chen Zhou was stunned for a moment. "What? Is he handsome?"
"Handsome? Of course he's handsome! I like adult ones, the young ones are too dull. My aunt used to have one..."
"However," he leaned closer, "what did you just say?"
Jian Sheng, still not understanding, exclaimed, "What?"
"Did you subtly compliment me?" he asked, somewhat smugly.
"?" Jian Sheng exclaimed, "What compliment did I give you?"
"I said it suits my image, do you think it's handsome?" Chen Zhou flipped his hair, a little smug, "Wow, I can't believe I actually heard you praising me."
Jian Sheng's ears were already bright red, but she didn't even realize it herself: "No, no."
"You're refuting it again, refusing to admit it!" Chen Zhou exclaimed in surprise. "You just praised me, didn't you?"
"no!"
"that is!"
"Narcissism!"
"Admitting to being beautiful isn't narcissism..."
"oh."
"You admit it?" Chen Zhou chuckled, his steps light. "Really? You admit it! Tell me, does it look good or not?"
Jian Sheng lifted his eyelids slightly: "Stop fooling around."
"Alright." Chen Zhoujing also felt he had gone a bit too far, and raised his hand to scratch his eyebrows. "I'm not going to say anything more."
"Is it because it's not good-looking..." he murmured again.
Jian Sheng let out a breath and said without changing his expression, "It looks good."
A look of surprise flashed across Chen Zhou's eyes.
The temperature on their cheeks gradually rose as they remained silent.
Light and shadow filtered through the branches and leaves, falling on the two of them and gently touching the blush on their faces, enveloping the softness beneath that blush.
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