Chapter 34
Chen Zhoujing stood by the corridor railing, carrying a bag in her hand, her gaze fixed on Jian Sheng, who was standing diagonally in front of her among a group of girls.
She would occasionally speak, a smile hidden in her eyes. When others spoke to her, she would curve her lips into a smile, and then, as if talking about something, she would scratch her face with her index finger.
Her movements were slow, and she seemed to be in a pretty good mood. Chen Zhou's gaze swept from her hair to her smiling eyes and then to the corners of her lips as they opened and closed.
Completely unaware of the smile that unconsciously crept onto her face.
Gu Zhenyi came up from downstairs and saw him leaning against the railing, his eyebrows raised and his eyes filled with warmth.
She crossed her arms and casually strolled over to him, bumping her shoulder into his arm: "Ouch."
Chen Zhoujing looked away and saw Gu Zhenyi hugging her arms, her face contorted in pain.
"Stop pretending, what are you doing?" His smile faded considerably.
His smile vanished, but Gu Zhenyi's lips curled into a smile. She winked at him and said, "Oh, you've almost seen right through me."
She chuckled, glancing at Jian Sheng and then at him: "You can have unrequited love?"
Chen Zhou looked away and turned his gaze back to Jian Sheng, who was laughing heartily.
“Before, when people didn’t like to smile, you had to beg them to smile. Now that they’ve smiled, you’re unhappy again. Tsk tsk tsk.” He Shang put away his phone and spoke slowly.
"So, Mr. Gu, you and Yu Chao haven't gotten into a fight lately, have you?" He Shang asked Gu Zhenyi again.
Gu Zhenyi shook her head, her expression unconvinced: "No, we haven't spoken for several days."
"Why? Didn't he confess to you?" Zhao Chengyang also stuffed his phone back into his pocket and interjected, "You and him, you've fought with him about the same number of times, how can you two get together?"
As he spoke, he raised his chin in surprise at Chen Zhou.
"Well, he just can't accept being single. He drank too much that day and called me all night. He only found out he confessed to me when he woke up in the morning..." Gu Zhenyi pouted and shook her head. "You can't figure out what men are thinking!"
"Alright, why bother trying to guess what men are thinking? If you improve your math, Zhao Chengyang's group will catch up with Xu Yanghe's group." Chen Zhoujing said as he watched Jian Sheng brush his bangs aside, while casually ruffling his own hair.
Gu Zhenyi glared at him: "Chatting with you is so boring. You can talk more than my mom!"
After saying that, Gu Zhenyi walked away and headed towards Xu Xiu, who was engrossed in playing on his phone.
Chen Zhoujing looked innocent: "Isn't it better to talk about grades? What's so great about talking about dating?"
"Tsk tsk tsk, tsk tsk tsk." Xu Yanghe, who was mentioned, was standing next to him at some point. Looking through Chen Zhoujing at Jian Sheng, he put his hand on Chen Zhoujing's shoulder. "Why bother guessing what men are thinking? What's so interesting about dating?"
The group all looked at him.
Xu Yanghe shook her head, lowered her hands, gripped the frames of her glasses with her thumb and middle finger, and lifted them up to her nose: "No, it's hard to guess what a woman is thinking!"
"Why do you say that?" Xu Xiao scratched his head.
He Shang chuckled: "Hahahahahahahahahaha."
"She tries to guess men's thoughts, you try to guess women's thoughts, and you're still here talking about guessing men's thoughts?" He pointed at Chen Zhoujing, bending over and laughing so hard he almost choked.
"What's so funny? There's nothing funny about it." Chen Zhou's eyes darkened, and his gaze stopped on Jian Sheng. He lowered his eyes and actually thought that Xu Yanghe was right.
“I was right, sigh.” Xu Yanghe patted his shoulder. “Look at Xu Xiu, tsk, he didn’t confess successfully and got snatched away. Gu Zhenyi still doesn’t know that he likes her, and they’re still getting along well. You should learn from him. He’s quite smart. He knows that you can still be friends if you don’t confess. If you had confessed, you might not even be able to be friends anymore.”
He gave Chen Zhoujing, who was deep in thought, an approving look.
Chen Zhou gasped in surprise, his brows furrowing involuntarily.
He Shang laughed: "Have you even talked to him? Saying things like that, Xu Xiu is a coward, but what is our Master Chen? Our Master Chen doesn't care about these things, if he likes someone, he'll go for it!"
"Besides, who would dare to compete with Yu Chao for someone? Are they crazy?" He scoffed, put his arm around Chen Zhoujing's shoulder, and patted him on the chest. "As brothers, if you like someone, you should say so. I believe in you."
Zhao Chengyang leaned back, bracing his right foot against the wall, and looked at He Shang with amusement: "People like it but won't admit it."
The next second, Chen Zhou swerved away from He Shang and said in a deep voice, "Who said I liked him? Get lost!"
"As expected, Gun Ge," He Shang shook his head, "your world only revolves around the ball and results..."
"Oh, now let's add one more thing: short voice!" he said, running away to dodge Chen Zhoujing's punch.
Annoyed by her words, Chen Zhoujing simply stopped looking at her. But as he was getting into the car, he happened to pass by Jian Sheng, who was propping her head up and looking out the window. Stray hairs were tucked behind her ears, revealing her clean, white ears. The sparse light from outside the window swept across one side of her cheek, and from his angle, it looked like she was glowing.
He glanced at the empty seat next to him and, as if possessed, sat down.
Jian Sheng had just chosen a seat towards the back and sat down. Not long after, Lin You, who was waiting to use the restroom, looked out the window at the students queuing up. The sunlight was warm and gentle, casting a soft golden glow on the students chatting with each other. It was a warm and pleasant sight.
She recalled that last weekend, when she mentioned not participating, Ye Hua gave her a fierce look and said, "You've already paid the money, why don't you go participate..."
Suddenly a figure appeared beside her. She turned her head and met Chen Zhou's complicated expression.
Her body stiffened as she looked at his blank face. Her heart raced, and the tension made her feel somewhat restrained.
"What?" Jian Sheng moved closer to the window. "This is Lin You's spot."
Chen Zhoujing didn't speak, cursing under his breath. It took him a long time to calm his trembling chest. He pressed his right hand against his slightly shaking left hand and said casually, "She said she switched seats with me."
Jian Sheng's pupils widened slightly: "Impossible."
"What's impossible? You don't want to sit with me?" Chen Zhoujing looked disappointed. "She said she gets carsick and only wanted to switch seats with me because she was sitting in the front. What's wrong? Do you hate me that much?"
His voice trailed off very softly, as light as a feather brushing against her ear. Jian Sheng raised his hand and pinched her slightly itchy ear twice. She looked away and said, "No."
"Hmm?" Chen Zhoujing looked in the direction she had averted her gaze, and unintentionally moved very close to her. "What do you mean, 'nothing'? Does it mean you don't dislike me, or...?"
The question abruptly stopped as she turned her head. The surging feeling in his chest intensified, and Chen Zhou sat bolt upright, his cheeks flushing red with panic. He stammered, "Then...then...right? If you don't want to, it's okay, I'll sit in the back..."
Jian Sheng's cheeks had just flushed, and she let out a soft "oh".
Chen Zhou was annoyed by her perfunctory reply: "You just said 'oh'? We haven't spoken for two days, two days! A whole two days."
He waits for her downstairs every morning to go to school, but he's too embarrassed to go up to her. Hearing her "oh" just now, the strange feeling he's had these past two days has tormented him, and a fire of unknown origin is rising in his heart.
But definitely not to her.
Jian Sheng had no idea what this person was thinking every day. She shook her head and blurted out, "Why do we need to talk?"
She regretted asking the question because he had helped her a lot, and she didn't know why she blurted it out.
The slightly agitated expression on the other end turned gloomy, Jian Sheng's furrowed brows relaxed, and Chen Zhoujing didn't say anything, just looked at her. She thought for a moment and said, "Did you go back to the dorm and beat him up a few days ago?"
"?" Chen Zhou's expression changed in surprise. "No...we haven't spoken for two days, and your first concern is whether I hit anyone, or that thug?"
"Do you really think I'm the kind of person who likes to hit people?" His defenses crumbled.
Jian Sheng hadn't expected him to think that way, and she quickly shook her head: "No, I..."
Chen Zhoujing's emotions were stirred up at this moment. He crossed his arms, turned his head, and started to get angry on his own, which seemed a bit childish.
Jian Sheng froze, her expression apologetic: "That..."
Seeing that he ignored her, she swallowed hard, reached out and tugged at his sleeve, leaned closer and said, "Don't be angry."
Her voice was soft and low, yet it touched his heart and stirred his restless soul.
Chen Zhou took a few deep breaths and turned to look at her.
Jian Sheng raised an eyebrow at him, a smile playing on her lips, her eyes sparkling, and said softly, "Please don't be angry, okay?"
Chen Zhoujing looked into her eyes, and as his heart was pounding, he heard her say, "I'm not worried about him. He has nothing to do with me. I'm just thinking that if you hit him, you might get hurt, you might get punished for fighting, you might get scolded by your family, Teacher Zhong will be angry with you, and everyone will have a bad impression of you."
"But you're a good person, it's just not right to treat you like this."
"I was just worried about what might happen to you; maybe I misspoke."
Chen Zhoujing looked at her guilty explanation and felt a slight pressure on her sleeve, which warmed his chest. He was so focused on expressing his own emotions that he forgot to care about her inner turmoil and sensitivity.
He smiled and curved his lips.
Seeing that he smiled, Jian Sheng let go of his hand: "You're not angry anymore, are you?"
Chen Zhou remained noncommittal, watching her slowly move her hand away. He coughed a few times and said, "That's not what I meant either."
"I was just thinking that we're friends now... I actually thought you didn't want to talk to me because of this..."
"Besides, I didn't hit him. I can't fight with him, even though he hates me..." He would at most warn him, but Chen Zhoujing didn't finish his sentence.
"I didn't mean to ignore you, I just thought you didn't want to talk to me." Jian Sheng felt a little embarrassed and shrank back.
With classmates coming and going around him, Chen Zhoujing didn't control his voice, and many people looked in his direction.
Seeing her reaction, he continued to explain, "That wasn't a problem with your wording; I misunderstood..."
"What have you misunderstood?" a voice interrupted.
Jian Sheng looked up and saw Lin You holding a schoolbag, looking at Chen Zhoujing with a stern face.
She quickly said, "Lin You is back, you should go back now."
"Hurry up and get to the back," Lin You urged. "The teacher and the tour guide are up; let's drive soon."
Chen Zhou exclaimed in surprise, then turned to Jian Sheng and said, "Don't be angry."
After he left, Lin You sat down and said, "Why are you angry?"
Jian Sheng scratched his face, embarrassed, and said, "N-nothing."
“He said I was ignoring him,” she said after a moment’s thought.
"You usually ignore him, haven't he gotten used to it yet?" Lin You asked curiously. "Besides, why bother with him? He talks a lot of nonsense every day, which is enough to strain our brains. We need to save our brains for getting into good universities. Don't be upset by some of the things he says."
"Besides, the incident a couple of days ago didn't really escalate. If anything, it was just me who spoke too quickly and let it slip without knowing the facts. Are you still feeling guilty?"
"No, no." Jian Sheng waved his hand and took out a bottle of milk from his pocket, handing it to her. "Here, take this."
"Thank you." Lin You took the milk, unscrewed the cap, took a sip, and after a long while, she slowly said, "Some people's existence is just icing on the cake. It's fine if you spend a short time together, but if you develop an emotional attachment, it's hard to forget them."
"After a breakup, the one who cares will meticulously examine every detail of the other person's life and then search through memories for the facts that once existed."
Jian Sheng turned her head and looked at her shining hair. She noticed her gaze and turned to look at her in return: "It's best to let things take their course."
"Is this what you read?" she asked.
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