Chapter 47
For several days, this complex feeling lingered in his chest, to the point that whenever he looked at her or spoke to her, his gaze and words would automatically turn towards her.
This subconscious special care made her feel anxious, and this anxiety burned under his sympathy.
Although she knew he probably didn't mean it that way.
But these emotions would disrupt her and gradually cause her to go off track.
During the last few days of the final exams, during a long break between classes, she sat in her seat reciting her lessons, turning to the last few chapters of the compulsory history course.
My gaze lingered on those few sentences that I often couldn't remember, which only made me more irritable.
Rain was falling outside the window, and within minutes, a misty rain descended.
The broken branches were blown to one side, struggling in the raging wind.
Jian Sheng laid the book open on the table and quietly looked out the window.
During a moment of distraction, the corridor became lively, with rustling sounds coming from the next table.
Before she could react, another round of jeers broke out over there.
Along with this jeering came the crackling sound of flames burning on firewood, repeating itself endlessly in her ears.
However, the bustling scene outside the window seemed to present a stark contrast to her state of mind.
Yu Chao, the so-called school bully who rarely shows up but always causes trouble when he does, is standing at the entrance of Class 13 with the smiling tiger Chen Xuzheng.
They chatted idly with several girls from their class, creating an exceptionally relaxed atmosphere.
Surprisingly, this relaxed state lasted for several days.
At the same time, Chen Zhoujing walked over from the back door, nodded and greeted Shen Xuzheng with a smile, and then entered the classroom.
The smell of damp rain mixed with the stuffy, heavy atmosphere in the classroom filled his nostrils, making his heart feel heavy as well.
He gripped the milk in his hand and walked towards her.
He hesitated for a moment behind her, just as he was about to call her, Jian Sheng turned around.
Her brow furrowed slightly, and her irritation unconsciously settled on her cheeks.
Chen Zhoujing's mouth seemed to be glued shut with invisible tape, unable to utter a single word, his usual desire to speak also extinguished.
Jian looked at him and asked, "What is it?"
It was so cold, so cold that his thoughts were racing: "I...."
He took a step forward, placed the milk on her table, and his heart began to pound: "This is for you."
Jian Sheng took a breath, suppressed his emotions, and slowly turned to look at the milk.
After a long silence, she nodded: "Thank you."
Chen Zhou breathed a sigh of relief and stood leisurely next to her for a while.
Only when she had absolutely no intention of turning back did he sit back down.
He crossed his arms, leaned back in his chair, and drifted off into the distance.
Not long after, Jian Sheng, holding a cup, stood up from his seat and walked towards the back door.
He didn't follow, remaining in his seat in a daze, unusually quiet.
The noise outside the door rose and fell in waves, gradually disappearing without his notice.
In the corridor.
Jian Sheng held the cup, her steps slow and deliberate. The fresh, cool air rushed towards her, and she took a deep breath, which relieved much of the gloom in her chest.
Just as she reached the water dispenser, Lin You came out of the restroom on the other side. She exclaimed "Hey!" and stopped abruptly, looking up.
Lin You shook the water droplets off her hands and took a step towards her: "What's wrong?"
"Did Chen Zhoujing bully you?" she blurted out.
Jian Sheng's face instantly turned pale, and she hurriedly waved her hands, "No, no, that's not true..."
"Besides your grades, what's making you unhappy? Is that all...?" Lin You asked, leaning closer and bending down to look into her eyes.
Jian Sheng was startled by this direct action and took a half step back: "It has nothing to do with him..."
"I don't believe it." Lin You straightened up and pursed her lips. "You and him haven't been talking much lately. Without Chen Zhoujing's chatterbox, the atmosphere in the class is half as bad."
"That can't be that bad..." Jian Sheng thought to herself, shaking her head, unsure how to begin.
"It's nothing serious. It's normal for good friends to have disagreements." Lin You put his arm around her shoulder and said understandingly, "Wait a minute, he'll come and talk to you. Let's take care of this 'grandpa' of the final exams first."
Jian Sheng's face had silently turned from deathly pale to flushed: "We didn't have a fight!"
Lin You found it amusing when she suddenly raised her voice: "I know, I know, no."
"What kind of conflict could you two possibly have? At most, you'd bicker a bit, right?" She put her arm around Jian Sheng's. "Are you going to get some water?"
Before she could answer, she freed one hand to take Jian Sheng's thermos, and the weight in her hand made her pause in opening the lid.
"It's full, and it's still hot." She pressed the button again, opened the lid, and white smoke swirled out.
Jian Sheng felt ashamed; she hadn't come out to get water, she just wanted to go for a walk.
Lin You understood what she meant. She pressed the lid down and smiled slightly. "I used to care about someone a lot. I thought about him all the time, whether I was eating or sleeping, and I always put him first."
Jian Sheng slightly raised his lowered eyes and looked at her.
Lin You chuckled, took her arm, and walked towards the stairwell, continuing, "You're practically working day and night, do you know how far you're going?"
Jian shook his head, but asked curiously, "What?"
Lin You clicked his tongue, a hint of sarcasm in his eyes: "His house is half an hour away from the school, just like mine. But we live in opposite directions, so I get up an hour earlier every day, run to the school, and walk towards his house, pretending to be just waiting for the bus at the same bus stop where he always goes every morning."
"It went on for a year without him even knowing it."
"Later, I found out that he didn't have time to eat breakfast every morning because he got up early to study, so I brought him breakfast every day for a year."
Jian Sheng unconsciously looked at her upturned eyebrows and eyes. Lin You continued, "His grades weren't very good, and he often sat at the back. Since the top student could choose their seat, I worked hard and used my first-place ranking to choose the seat next to him."
"To be honest, he's quite rebellious. I even did something stupid because of his rebelliousness..."
"Do you want to hear it?" She suddenly turned to look at Jian Sheng, who was listening intently.
Lin You continued, "Tsk, he got caught hiding his phone, so I stole it back for him. He needed electricity, so I charged his power bank for him, and when that happened, I just said it was mine..."
“I committed all sorts of disciplinary violations and rules, until he was expelled from school.”
We haven't been in contact since.
"They don't even have any contact information."
A hint of surprise flashed across Jian Sheng's pupils, but more so because she hadn't expected Lin You to have such an experience.
While she was still in shock, she spoke again: "Although what I did was pretty crazy, I don't think I like him. Isn't that strange?"
"It seems like an obsession. In the end, when I was with him, I realized that it might not be love. When I was with him, I had more of a strange feeling."
"But I don't know what this thought is."
Perhaps it was the only joy in her otherwise mundane life, or perhaps it was the vast ocean outside the cage of her rigid adherence to rules.
Lin You clicked his tongue several times: "I think it's mainly because of myself."
"The effort I put into him gave me a reason to break out of my original routine, and I felt an unprecedented sense of exhilaration."
Jian Sheng couldn't calm down for a long time after she finished speaking.
Standing aside, after hearing about her past madness over love, she was able to understand Lin You's thoughts.
But Jian Sheng doesn't understand herself, because she always felt that emotions, whether familial, friendly, or romantic, could never happen to her.
But upon arriving in Jiangzhou, she gained friendship and a basic sense of family...
She frowned, and the feeling of irritation returned.
The two went down the stairs from the third floor and then came back up.
The damp air and rain soaked the entire corridor as the two walked inside.
Jian Sheng was still thinking about her words, a kind of fog swirling in her mind.
As they rounded the corner, Lin You pulled her along. Jian Sheng looked up and gazed at the boy leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets.
She only looked for a few seconds before wanting to walk away with Lin You.
Unfortunately, he spoke a fraction before she could: "I need to talk to you about something."
"What is it?" Lin You asked coldly. "Can't I hear it?"
"It's none of your business," Yu Chao said expressionlessly. "Go find her."
The irritation in Jian Sheng's chest was swept away by another pent-up emotion. Just as he was about to refuse, a sentence popped into his mind.
If things aren't resolved and left unresolved for too long, they'll eventually pile up and cause big trouble.
She pressed Lin You's hand down and said to her, "You go back first, I'll be back later."
Lin You raised an eyebrow: "Can you?"
“I don’t think that will work.” She took her hand. “I’m afraid he might do something rash.”
Jian Sheng relaxed his brows and eyes: "No, it will be resolved eventually. You can go back now."
Lin You walked a few steps away, but didn't leave completely, standing not far away to observe Yu Chao's movements.
They hadn't been talking for long when she suddenly felt everything go dark above her head...
At the entrance to the corridor staircase.
Yu Chao only wanted to apologize. He took his hand out, stood up straight, and looked at Jian Sheng's face.
After a long pause, he cleared his throat and gestured with his chin toward the windowsill: "Shall we talk over there?"
Jian Sheng nodded and walked to the windowsill. She clenched one hand and rested the other on the windowsill, waiting for him to speak.
Yu Chao didn't speak, but just laughed.
After waiting a while, just as Jian Sheng was getting impatient, Yu Chao spoke up: "I apologize to you."
His voice was deep, as if he had been thinking deeply: "It was indeed my fault for being rude to you after only hearing half of what I said."
He finished speaking and Jian Sheng didn't respond for a long time, which she found strange.
When a ruthless school bully apologized to her, she felt like her head was about to explode.
Jian Sheng took a small step back, but little did he know that he was already stuck to the wall.
"Are you afraid of me?" Yu Chao noticed her movements.
Jian Sheng gritted his teeth: "No."
"Are you done talking? I'm leaving now." She was eager to go.
But Yu Chao raised his hand to stop him: "You haven't agreed yet."
"Agree to what?" Jian Sheng frowned.
“I sincerely apologize,” he said.
Jian Sheng pursed his lips, as if he saw Jian Qingyao's shadow in him.
"They're all sick..." she said "oh," then ignored him and turned to leave.
She hadn't walked far when she looked up and saw Lin You not far away, and... Chen Zhoujing.
She stopped in her tracks, and Chen Zhoujing merely glanced at her before turning and leaving.
Jian Sheng's feet froze, as if he couldn't move, and his chest felt increasingly uncomfortable.
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