Chapter 12
A few days later, the study group that Chen Zhoujing had mentioned was announced in the class. There were 48 people in their class, divided into eight groups of six people each. Jian Sheng's group included Chen Zhoujing, Lin You, Qi Jing, and two other people she wasn't very familiar with.
Based on this grouping, Teacher Zhong planned learning tasks for them. Each group had two students with good grades to mentor the other students, trying to help others while ensuring that their own grades did not decline.
Jian Sheng was also learning about this teaching model for the first time. Her previous school was basically a free-range system where learning was up to you, and the educational resources were also lacking. So even though she was number one in her previous school, it wouldn't be surprising if she was at the bottom here.
After the school group's arrangements were finalized, Jian Sheng would usually stay an extra half hour to an hour every time she went back in the afternoon, because her foundation was really too weak. Tasks that everyone else could complete within the allotted time required more time for her to finish.
She stared at the quiz in her hand, her mind a complete blank. She couldn't answer many of the questions if they were presented in a different way; she felt like she couldn't wrap her head around them.
"Alright, everyone, if you're free, hurry up and go home. The first monthly exam is in a little over a week, so everyone should give it your all." On the podium, Teacher Zhong tidied up the books, went out, then turned back around. "Be careful on your way home."
As soon as she finished speaking, the classroom erupted like a pot of boiling porridge, with screams coming from the back row. Before long, a group of people carrying backpacks walked past in the corridor.
Jian Sheng glanced at the clock on the podium; the hands had just turned to 4:45. She rubbed her eyes and looked at the questions on the test paper with some pain.
"Jian Sheng, aren't you going home from school?" Qi Jing poked her arm.
"I'll wait a bit." She hesitated for a moment, then waved goodbye.
Qi Jing, holding her schoolbag, paused for a moment, then nodded: "Bye-bye, get out of school early."
After saying that, she walked towards Xu Xiaxia, who was waiting for her at the back door.
"I thought you were going to wait for her." Xu Xiaxia crossed her arms, looking somewhat impatient.
Qi Jing put her arm around hers and whispered, "We're all good friends."
"She doesn't want to be friends with us. She always refuses our invitations, and she doesn't like to talk. Every time we talk to her, she's like a mute, wasting my good mood." Xu Xiaxia pouted.
Qi Jing smiled at her stingy expression: "That's just her personality. I think she's quite nice."
“How come you’re just like Lin You?” Hearing Qi Jing’s words, Xu Xiaxia felt a little uncomfortable. “But we’re always the ones who have to cater to her, and she has quite a temper.”
“She’s never been this bad-tempered with you, but you’ve gotten angry at her.” Lin You slowly followed from behind and wrapped his arms around her neck.
"Damn, you scared me!" Lin You's sudden appearance startled both of them. Xu Xiaxia coughed, "Weren't you going to ask your history teacher about the problems?"
“His child had a fever, so he told me to come back first,” Lin You said.
"Oh." Xu Xiaxia felt a little guilty. "I didn't say anything bad about you just now."
“I know,” Lin You said.
“I’m not saying anything bad about her,” Xu Xiaxia said.
“I know that too.” Lin You looked into her evasive eyes and continued, “That’s not what you meant.”
"It's the people downstairs who are talking about him and Chen Zhoujing. He Man said..." Xu Xiaxia's voice trailed off.
Lin You understood what she meant: "She doesn't understand her. You at least have had contact with her. Xiaxia, rumors can ruin a person."
She paused for a few seconds and then added, "Don't be fooled by her burying herself in her studies and ignoring what they're saying. If things get out of hand, it's never good. She's just arrived and is still adjusting. You don't need to cater to her. Just be normal. Once she's settled in, she'll appreciate your good intentions. But if you misinterpret your own thoughts, it'll make things awkward for everyone."
"Most of those standing outside the window were just watching the show. Once the new student incident was over, there was basically nothing left to say. Everyone was just finding some amusement in the midst of their boring studies."
"Okay." Xu Xiaxia blinked. "But Manman likes Chen Zhoujing..."
"You're not going to tell her that Jian Sheng always gets angry at Chen Zhoujing, are you...?" Qi Jing glared at her.
"Hmm..." Xu Xiaxia chuckled twice, "Well... the whole class can probably tell, right?"
“It was Chen Zhoujing who provoked her.” Lin You said speechlessly, “This big man is really shameless. Before, he had an excuse to treat her like a man, but now he’s just being a complete jerk.”
"oh."
"That seems to be true."
At that moment, a certain "jerk" was sitting opposite Jian Sheng, holding a basketball, smiling as he watched her head hang low, her face flushed with anger.
Her head drooped lower and lower, and his laughter grew even louder. Jian said angrily, "Are you sick in the head?"
She threw the pen on the table, and it flew several meters away.
Seeing that he had already won, Chen Zhou slowly got up, placed the ball on the edge of her table, and took a few steps to pick up her pen.
Jian Sheng sat in the chair, her chest rising and falling slightly. After a while, a pair of beautiful, slender fingers appeared in her line of sight. She followed the beautiful fingers slowly to the strong, thin back of his hand, and then to his innocent face.
The surrounding noise seemed to quiet down in an instant, and she saw a slight smile on his lips.
Chen Zhoujing admitted his mistake: "I'm sorry, I was wrong. I'll pick it up for you."
He put the pen on the table and straddled the chair in front of her: "I'll show you the question carefully, I definitely won't stare at you, okay?"
As he spoke, he held up three fingers, his expression serious and earnest.
There was no response from Jian Sheng.
She was about to leave school when she ran into him coming back from playing basketball with other classes. She tried to walk around him from behind, but before she could even stand up, he had already walked up behind her, picked up her test paper, and looked at it for a long time, frowning without saying a word.
He only snapped out of his reverie after Jian Sheng asked what was wrong, and said, "Your handwriting is beautiful."
She avoided his gaze, and he added, "Your handwriting reflects your personality."
Jian Sheng abruptly took the test paper from his hand, intending to put it in his bag, but the man accurately pointed out where he was wrong, and could even describe the correct steps directly.
She hesitated for a few moments, and Chen Zhoujing took the test paper back from her hand. He then took her pen and wrote on the clean draft paper on the table for a long time. After he finished writing, he looked up at her and said, "It's getting late. I'll write down the correct answers first. Take a look and see if you understand them. If you don't understand, come and ask me tomorrow."
Jian Sheng looked at the wild and unrestrained handwriting on the paper in his hand, as well as the clear and correct solution steps, straightened his attitude, and sat back down in his seat.
As soon as she sat down, this man inexplicably changed the subject, and the more he talked, the more her head ached.
Jian Sheng crossed his arms, his face grim and head bowed.
Seeing that she didn't speak, Chen Zhoujing glanced at his phone and added, "Or you should go back first, it's already six o'clock."
It was indeed getting late. Jian Sheng glanced at the question and calculated the time. Jian Qingyao was on holiday today and seemed to be coming back.
She looked up: "Will this take up your time?"
Chen Zhoujing was staring blankly at the stray hairs on her forehead, waiting for her to hesitate, but Jian Sheng suddenly looked up, and their eyes met unexpectedly.
This time, she was looking straight ahead, and Chen Zhoujing could even see the downy hair on her fair face. Her eyes weren't intimidating; even when she had a stern and fierce expression, her beautiful, clear eyes always carried a hint of dependence, like naturally affectionate eyes, making her whole face appear much softer. He couldn't describe it, but it was beautiful.
It was a little past six in the afternoon. Jiangzhou had been experiencing a typhoon for the past few days. Just as the rain stopped and the sky cleared, the afterglow shone through the glass window of the fourth group on the side and fell on the two of them. The two of them looked at each other in the empty classroom.
A figure appeared outside the window at some point, its eyes lingering on the two figures in their harmonious pose.
Seeing this scene, He Man didn't know what to say. She turned around and leaned against the white wall next to the glass window. She had come to find him excitedly after hearing from a male classmate who had just returned from playing ball. But she saw him treating others with the same kind of attitude he had never shown her before.
She slowly sat down on the ground against the white wall, tears involuntarily sliding down her cheeks. The warm wind fell on her face, just like her warm tears.
Inside the classroom, Jian Sheng frowned.
“I don’t want to go back,” she said.
Chen Zhou blinked, looked away, his ear tips turning red. He rubbed the back of his neck and said, "It's okay. If you want to go back, I'll take you back."
"I said I don't want to go back." Jian Sheng looked at him, who seemed to be busy with something, making eighteen movements per second... She repeated herself expressionlessly.
"Ah, oh." Chen Zhou chuckled twice. "I don't want to go back."
"It's okay, it's okay, I don't want to go back either." Chen Zhou was flustered for about a minute before he finally calmed down. "It's okay, then let me explain the wrong question to you. I think there's a problem with the second question in this spatial geometry problem."
Simple voice: "Oh."
"The second question asks for the sine value, the sine of the angle between AM and plane PCD. The normal vector of PCD is wrong..." Chen Zhoujing said, while writing on the draft paper, occasionally looking up at her expression.
Jian Sheng frowned slightly, and his voice softened.
The quiz consisted of only three major questions. He explained the steps in a simple and easy-to-understand manner, and finished in about half an hour, just as the security guard came to ask people to leave.
Jian Sheng hurriedly packed her schoolbag, but Chen Zhoujing pushed it towards the classroom door, saying, "That old man is really fierce. Every time I go out, he needs a leave slip signed by Teacher Zhong."
"Don't push me," Jian said, her steps quickening unconsciously.
"Okay, okay, I won't push you." Chen Zhoujing put down his hand, walked to her side, and stood shoulder to shoulder with her. "Hey, your hair is pretty cool. He Shang was wondering what this hairstyle is called. It's really handsome."
The sound of the old man locking the door came from behind. Jian Sheng slowly lowered his head and didn't say anything.
Chen Zhoujing added, "The school doesn't allow boys to have long hair, so even with my hairstyle, it's a bit risky."
"Look!" Chen Zhou urged her excitedly, "Look, look!"
Jian Sheng was a little annoyed by him, and looked over helplessly with pursed lips.
Chen Zhou made a funny face at her, Jian Sheng's expression faltered, and the corner of her mouth curled up slightly: "Crazy."
"Say one more word." He caught that smile when she turned her back, and Chen Zhoujing chuckled along.
Jian Sheng casually remarked, "There's something wrong with you."
"Ah, lovesickness~" Chen Zhou shook his head in surprise.
"I'm lovesick for basketball every day," he added. "I don't know why my teacher always stops me from playing."
"It was the same in the first year of high school. She fell in love with table tennis in the first semester and played for half a semester. She went to Xu Shu and asked him not to give me the key to the equipment room. Later, she brought it herself, but no one wanted to play with her anymore. So she went to play with the older students. But after playing for a while, no one could beat her. She got bored and didn't want to play anymore. Guess what she did?"
Jian Shengben listened quietly. When he asked, she replied, "Hmm?"
陈周惊看了她一眼，起劲了：“最后我就爱上篮球了，打到现在，还热爱着，已经揍得同年级不敢鄙视我了。”
“But Teacher Zhong thinks I’m wasting my time playing ball…” Chen Zhou exclaimed in surprise, “I’m planning to look for goals in the lower grades.”
"Hey, you still haven't told me where you live?" Chen Zhou suddenly changed the subject. "I'll really take you there. I was born here, and I know the whole Yanjiang area well."
After he finished speaking, he saw that she didn't want to talk to him anymore. Chen Zhou was surprised and said, "Really? I heard Teacher Zhong say in the office last time that you weren't here before. Where are you from?"
“Jeju,” Jian Sheng replied with only this.
"Oh, I haven't been there." Chen Zhou thought for a moment, "I'd like to go and have a look when I have time."
The two had already reached the school gate. Jian Sheng looked at the few cars scattered on the street and figured Jian Qingyao must have gone out to play, so he said, "I'm leaving."
Chen Zhoujing's topic came to an abrupt halt. He glanced at the gatekeeper standing nearby and asked, "Then, goodbye?"
Jian Sheng nodded: "Bye-bye."
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