Chapter 40
Two days passed over the weekend, and Jian Sheng didn't see Chen Zhoujing again on Monday.
On Tuesday morning, Zhong Mei said a few words and asked the study group to discuss the topic.
Jian Sheng habitually turned around, finding the spot empty.
I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, and a dull feeling resurfaced in my heart.
Xu Yanghe, who had been working on his homework with his head down, spoke up: "He often takes leave, but it's never too much. I don't know why he took leave twice this month."
Jian nodded and stared at his desk for a while until Lin You tapped on her desk.
Coming to her senses, Lin You paused on Chen Zhoujing's desk for a few seconds before looking at her: "He'll be fine, don't worry."
Jian shook his head: "I'm not worried."
"Alright, alright, you're not worried. Let's discuss the topic first. Maybe it'll appear in front of you in a bit, who knows?" Lin You smiled.
Jian Sheng lowered his brows and looked at the questions on the table.
But my heart was stirred by some inexplicable emotion.
She wasn't sure where these feelings came from, nor could she describe what they were like.
"I've covered this question before, do any of you know it?" Lin You underlined the question with a pen and looked up to scan the room.
Jian nodded silently, looking at the test paper. Chen Zhoujing had explained this paper to her last week.
As she listened to Lin You repeat the explanation along with several others who were shaking their heads, she focused on solving problems and getting into the zone.
Not long after, she heard the sound of a chair being pulled out behind her, and the next second, someone sat down next to her.
She looked up and saw Chen Zhoujing raising an eyebrow at her: "Good morning."
"So you finally decided to come," Lin You patted his arm. "What were you doing taking so many days off?"
"Oh, I didn't tell you?" He smiled at Jian Sheng, then took out the test paper from his schoolbag and explained, "I seem to remember saying that I went back to see my grandma."
"Oh. Maybe they did say it, but we weren't the ones listening." Lin You narrowed his eyes, his gaze sweeping over Jian Sheng's lowered brows.
Jian Sheng clenched his fists, but didn't say much.
After explaining a few questions, Chen Zhoujing stared at the stray hairs on her forehead for a few moments, then moved closer to the table.
"Are you in a bad mood?" he said.
Jian let out a soft "Ah," then looked up abruptly, met her gaze for a moment, and then lowered her head again: "No."
"What?" Chen Zhou frowned in surprise. "Did they bully you again?"
"Or did someone come looking for you?" he asked in a low voice.
Jian Sheng waved her hand: "No, no one bullied me, don't keep thinking about that..."
"What happened?" Chen Zhoujing moved his pen across the draft paper. "Did Jian Qingyao go home?"
"No, no..." Jian Sheng's ears turned slightly red. "I'm not in a bad mood, don't make wild guesses."
"Oh..." Chen Zhou was puzzled, bit his lip, and looked at Lin You, who was explaining a problem to Qi Jing.
Not long after she finished speaking, Lin You turned around and saw Chen Zhou's surprised gaze. She shook her head and then raised her chin at him.
Jian Sheng had no idea what information the two were exchanging in coded language, but he had a feeling that his thoughts had been exposed.
Before she could feel embarrassed, Chen Zhoujing suddenly leaned closer and asked, "Long time no see, did you miss me a little?"
"Huh?" Jian Sheng's eyes widened. "What?!"
Chen Zhou frowned in surprise: "Oh, no, it turns out my good friend doesn't miss me. This school! Sigh! There's nothing here I can miss!"
"I've been gone for so long, and no one even thinks of me..." He lowered his eyes and murmured in disappointment.
“Why would I miss you…” Jian Sheng looked up at him. “You’re just kidding.”
"Ah, you're talking nonsense again?" Chen Zhoujing's expression turned even more indifferent. "Okay, whatever I say sounds like nonsense."
After he finished speaking, he didn't look up, but crossed his arms and lowered his head, seemingly lost in thought.
Unable to argue with him, Jian Sheng frowned and leaned closer to look at him: "I was just talking nonsense, don't be angry."
"Are you afraid I'll get angry?" He suddenly looked up.
His smile carried a hint of coolness, and when I touched him, a strange feeling suddenly rose in my chest.
Jian Sheng slowly moved back, her gaze about to shift, but Chen Zhoujing did it before her.
Then she saw him cough several times, his hand clenched into a fist and placed in front of his lips: "That's not what I meant... How could I possibly be angry? Didn't I say I would never be angry with you, Mo? Don't worry, I never get angry with my best friends."
Jian blinked and said, "Oh."
*Sizzle*
With a snicker, the two looked up at Lin You. Chen Zhou clicked his tongue in surprise, "What are you laughing at?"
Lin You suppressed a smile: "Chen Gou has gone from a shy chatterbox to... a complete liar... shameless!"
Qi Jing was amused by her: "A precise description."
"That's enough, you two." Chen Zhou jerked her hair back, the redness at the base of her ears gradually sliding down her cheeks.
"You two have gone too far." Lin You suppressed a laugh, but couldn't hold it in any longer.
Snowflakes drifted outside the window, and branches bent low.
The fog on the windowpanes thickened amid the discussions, the classroom atmosphere became noisy, and the heat gradually rose.
The group had barely finished discussing a few questions when the bell rang, and footsteps and conversations began to echo in the corridor. Outside, fine snow piled up, covering the railings with a thick layer of snow.
The group members consciously switched positions. Chen Zhoujing didn't move, leaned back in his chair, and slowly took out a palm-sized object from his pocket and stuffed it into Jian Sheng's pocket.
Sensing the movement in her right pocket, she slowly turned her head and reminded her, "get out of class is over."
She reached into her pocket and touched something warm, just the right size to hold, and it was still generating heat.
"What is this?" Jian Sheng took it out; it was warm white with two eyes on it, like a panda.
It feels warm and comfortable in my hand.
"Hand warmer".
Just as Jian Sheng was about to return it to her, Chen Zhoujing anticipated her move and stood up: "I have a bunch at home, and the heating function is pretty good, so I only took one. But I'm quite hot, could you keep it for me for a while, my good friend?"
He dragged the chair back, walked to her desk, and picked up his pen, papers, and drafts: "They're quite useful."
Jian Sheng looked at his red hands, stretched out her own, and the little hand warmer was lying in her palms: "Your hands are all red."
"I got burned red." Chen Zhou looked at her disbelieving expression. "You don't believe me?"
“My hands are like this, they get red in winter. I’m not cold at all, I’m even wearing a down jacket.” He pulled at his long black down jacket, which had a tag on the left chest. Seeing that she still didn’t believe him, he said, “Let me touch them for you, you can try it. My hands are warm.”
After saying that, he pretended to touch it, and Jian Sheng excitedly withdrew his hand: "Oh."
Chen Zhou looked at her in surprise and couldn't help but laugh: "Stupid."
"You're talking about me again!" She turned her head and glared at him.
"I wasn't saying anything negative about you, I was just praising you." He was amused by her serious yet stern attitude, and simply stood there, refusing to leave. "It's just normal praise between friends, really, you have to believe me, they all know that..."
"Then why don't you praise them?" Jian Sheng didn't look at him.
Chen Zhou paused for a moment, then looked towards Gu Zhenyi's seat in the fourth group. He then turned and pulled Xu Xiu's chair next to her desk, sitting down casually. "Why would I praise them...?"
"Aren't they your friends?" You keep using "friends" as an excuse...
Chen Zhoujing was speechless, unsure how to respond. He hissed, "How could you interpret it that way?"
"I'm praising you because you deserve it." He pondered. "It's not that they don't deserve it; they have other people to praise them, that's their business. We're the two of us, right? So I'm praising you because it's between the two of us. I'm praising you..."
"Oh, then you're silly," she suddenly said, rubbing the warm hand warmer back and forth in her palm.
Chen Zhoujing seemed to hear the sound of his own saliva. He paused for a moment and said, "You're right, I'm stupid!"
"That's a kind of indirect compliment, I like it." Catching the smile on her face, he raised his chin. "Are you happy now?"
Jian Sheng stopped laughing and turned away.
A hint of indulgence flashed across Chen Zhou's surprised eyes, and he said helplessly, "You're deliberately ignoring me."
“No.” Jian clicked his tongue.
"Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, no, no, I was just nitpicking."
"Yes!"
Chen Zhou was surprised to hear the emotion in her tone, and for some reason, he couldn't help but want to laugh, a genuine laugh from the bottom of his heart.
He looked down at her hair, which she was standing there motionless, and felt a warmth in his heart.
"What are you doing with my chair?" Xu Xiu appeared beside them unnoticed. "Why are you always teasing her, Chen Gou!"
"How do you manage to address each other so consistently?" Chen Zhou sat up straight, put his hands in his pockets, and looked up at him.
His unserious demeanor has diminished considerably.
Xu Xiu shrugged: "Use the same thing? You're exactly like a dog!"
"Get lost," Chen Zhoujing said expressionlessly.
"Oh, then give me back my spot. Xu Shu has been standing at the door for several minutes." Xu Xiu gave him a push.
Hearing that Xu Shu had arrived, Jian Sheng looked up and saw the figure making a phone call outside the window. She urged, "You should go back now."
Chen Zhou squinted at her, mimicking her tone: "Oh."
The two then returned to their positions.
After the people around him left, Jian Sheng raised his index finger and scratched his cheek, feeling puzzled.
What does "oh" mean?
Oh? She's angry again.....
During PE class, Xu Shu walked up to the podium. In the class, many students were reading novels, playing on their phones, or fiddling with MP3 players.
The sports committee member in the back row shouted, "Does the teacher watch football?"
"Volleyball is fine too," he added, and the class started to jeer.
Xu Shu pointed at him: "All you do is watch TV! Final exams are coming up soon, you should all be studying!"
He patted the table, snapping Jian Sheng back to reality.
Oh, what does that mean exactly?
Chen Zhoujing, sitting in the back row, was staring blankly at her thin clothes. Despite the fact that the winter school uniform was so thick, it still looked very thin on her.
She was very thin, malnourished, with a slender neck peeking out from her round neck, barely the width of a hand.
When he was deep in thought, his eyebrows would furrow unconsciously, so much so that when Jian Sheng turned her head, she saw him with a blank, expressionless face, staring at her.
She stared at him for a few seconds, then decisively turned her head away.
"Hey." Chen Zhoujing was about to pat her shoulder when a stern voice stopped him.
"What are you doing, Chen Zhoujing!" A loud voice came from the podium. Chen Zhoujing withdrew his hand, looked up, and saw Xu Shu sitting next to him with his legs crossed, holding a book in his hand, and with a stern face.
He smiled and said, "Teacher, we're discussing learning."
"You're already being nice by not using your phone, and you're even discussing studying?" Xu Shu said.
The few people in the back row who were playing on their phones quietly put them away and looked at Chen Zhoujing.
He Shang echoed, "That's right, Uncle Chen, what's so great about you...?"
He made me swallow my words after I was halfway through speaking, but his look made me stop.
"Teacher, let's watch TV. We used to watch TV during PE class, didn't we?" He Shang changed the subject.
Distracted, Xu Shu rolled her eyes at He Shang: "Can't you guys learn from the office staff? I can feel the tension of studying even before I walk in. What are you doing? It's almost finals, aren't you worried?"
He said a couple of things, grunted, and waved his hand: "Everyone, put your minds to it."
Outside the glass window, snow covered the rooftops, and goose feathers fell.
The heavy snow quickly blanketed the campus in white.
The classroom started to get noisy, and someone shouted, "What heavy snow!"
The classroom's attention was drawn to the view outside the window. Jian Sheng looked out the glass window along with the voice, and realized it had been a long time since she had seen such a beautiful snow scene.
Someone exclaimed in surprise, and Xu Shu shouted into the noisy classroom, "What are you doing!"
"They've all gone against the grain?"
As soon as he finished speaking, his voice trailed off, but many more people turned to look out the window.
Jian Sheng looked away, then felt a light tap on her shoulder from behind and turned her head.
He was taking advantage of this brief moment of commotion to pass her a note.
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