Chapter 41 041 Rice Ball [First Update]
"Students, look at this function, a trigonometric function..."
The math teacher lectured with great passion, but very few students actually paid attention.
People kept passing notes to their classmates, gossiping about Wen Fan's actions, their eyes darting back and forth between the main characters.
In the eerie silence, Qin He, the math class representative, secretly peeked into the back of the classroom.
The faces of Jin Rui and the other boys were all grim, and they all had their heads down, not even standing properly.
Qin He felt a sense of satisfaction, thinking to herself that it was their fault. She had a soft temper, and after being put in the position of class representative by the teacher, her biggest headache every day was collecting homework.
Jin Rui doesn't do her homework, always trying to get away with it. Once she gets criticized by the teacher, she gets angry and mocks her for no reason.
Qin He hesitated, wondering if she should go to the teacher after class and tell her she was quitting.
Thinking of this, Qin He secretly observed Wen Fan from several rows of seats away.
Unlike Qin He, who was restless, Wen Fan appeared calm and composed, listening attentively to the lecture while diligently taking notes.
Qin He was somewhat dazed. She had never really liked Wen Fan.
Because in this private high school, people are actually divided into two categories.
One type of student is admitted based on their middle school entrance exam scores. Like her and more than half of her class, they all performed exceptionally well in the exam and were therefore recruited here. The school provides far superior facilities compared to other high schools, yet charges them relatively low tuition. Of course, this isn't something to be taken for granted; the school needs them to boost its college entrance exam pass rate.
The other group consists of students from well-off families, such as Fu Chuan and Fang Weiyue.
They may not need very high scores, but they can get into the school by paying higher tuition fees. In this class alone, there are at least a dozen or so such students.
Qin He is a very perceptive person; she knows that the two types of people are taking different paths.
People from ordinary families like myself and Wen Fan should focus on studying hard and getting into a good university.
As for Fu Chuan and Fang Weiyue, what they need is to get through high school peacefully, then go abroad to get some experience, and then come back to follow their parents' wishes and walk the rest of the path.
These two types of people may seem to be sitting in the same classroom, but in the future, their interactions will only become less and less frequent.
Wen Fan, however, seemed unaware of this.
Qin He glanced discreetly at the back row. Oh, now it seems clear.
Qin He reached into the drawer and touched the warm rice ball. A feeling of inexplicable relief welled up inside her, though she didn't know what she was relieved about.
My deskmate secretly passed me a note.
Hey, don't you think... Wen Fan seems to have gotten more handsome?
Qin He was stunned for a moment. Her deskmate quietly took the note away and continued writing below.
[Really? Didn't she dye her hair blonde before? Short hair seems to suit her better now.]
Although a person's appearance may not change much, their temperament can often be revealed through their appearance.
Wen Fan cut his hair short, restoring its original black color. He used to cover half his face with his hair, but now he can openly look people in the eye and talk to them.
Qin He's deskmate wrote, "[And I've discovered that she's actually quite pretty.]"
Wen Fan's features were already quite outstanding, and now that they were fully revealed, he exuded a lively and charming aura.
Qin He was about to reply to her deskmate when she heard the bell ring.
The math teacher sped up his explanation of the last problem and said, "get out of class dismissed!"
My deskmate couldn't wait: "Right, right? And I think she's about the same as Fang Weiyue."
Qin He was a little speechless: "...Just talk about Wen Fan, don't mention Fang Weiyue."
"That's not just what I'm saying, everyone's saying it too."
A love triangle is always a hot topic, even last semester. Wen Fan's name was often mentioned alongside Fang Weiyue's, and the two were compared from all angles. The final result was obvious.
Qin He took out the rice balls. She hadn't eaten breakfast in the morning because she was in a rush. If it weren't for the rice balls Wen Fan gave her, she probably would have already rushed downstairs to the convenience store to buy bread.
"Did you notice that Wen Fan said a single word to Fu Chuan this semester?"
My deskmate paused for a moment, realizing that there really wasn't one.
So don't try to mold people into one group.
Wen Fan himself has come to terms with it.
Qin He handed the rice ball to her deskmate: "Do you want some? I'll share half with you!"
My deskmate sniffed: "Never mind, I already ate breakfast."
Her attention was quickly diverted: "Wen Fan gave you these rice balls! Did she make them herself? What do they taste like?"
Qin He said helplessly, "Who has the time to make it themselves in the morning? I guess it was her mother who made it, or maybe she bought it from a roadside stall... I haven't even eaten it yet, how would I know what it tastes like?"
Urged on by her deskmate, Qin He gently peeled off the plastic wrap from the rice ball.
The rice balls had been sitting out all morning, and now they no longer looked steaming hot like they were freshly cooked. They were about the size of a fist and were warm, with seaweed wrapped around them behind the plastic wrap.
My deskmate sniffed and said, "It smells pretty good."
Qin He took a bite, and through the crack in the rice ball, she could see the filling inside. Her deskmate noticed that the thin layer of rice seemed to contain a variety of colorful ingredients.
"Is it tasty?"
Qin He swallowed: "...Delicious."
"...Then break off a little for me!"
I ate breakfast this morning, but for some reason, I suddenly had a craving. The aroma of the rice ball mixed with the smell of several unidentifiable fillings made me want to take a bite for no reason.
Qin He: ……
Qin He broke off a small piece for her deskmate and ate the rice ball, lost in thought.
Is this really a regular rice ball? You can taste fried peanuts, pickled cowpeas, diced potatoes, and diced ham inside…
It's not the kind of Japanese-style food sold on the street; instead, it's like something you'd put in your own home, but it's surprisingly delicious.
The girl at the table finished her meal in a couple of bites and stared longingly at Qin He.
Qin He: "...I just said I'd share half with you, but you said you didn't want it."
My deskmate looked pitiful: "Hey Hehe, I only ate a bowl of tofu pudding, three steamed buns, and two fried dough sticks this morning. I'm starving. We have PE class soon, and you don't want to see me running on an empty stomach, do you?"
Qin He: "Hey, hey, hey, you ate so much and you still have the nerve to talk about it?"
"Good Hehe..."
Qin He reluctantly took another piece, saying cautiously, "That's all!"
My deskmate quickly stuffed the piece into his mouth and mumbled, "Why is Wen Fan's mom such a good cook?"
This rice ball is good enough to be sold!
Qin He carefully put the last bit of rice into her mouth: "Who knows?"
Previously, Jin Rui had spread rumors in class that Wen Fan had lied, saying that Wen Fan's previous claims about his family being well-off and his parents owning companies were all lies, and now no one knows what Wen Fan's family actually does.
My deskmate sighed, "I want to eat this rice ball!"
If she could, she would be willing to spend money to have Wen Fan bring her rice balls every morning!
As the two were talking, a girl in the front row turned her head, as if she had been holding back for a long time.
"Hey, Qin He, are you serious? Was the rice ball Wen Fan gave you really that delicious?"
She smelled the aroma from ahead, but she couldn't bring herself to turn back and ask for it.
Hearing Qin He's deskmate's repeated sighs, she finally couldn't hold back anymore.
"Qin He, could you ask Wen Fan for us if she bought it, and if so, where she bought it?"
Qin He had a sudden thought: "Okay, I'll ask her during PE class."
"Very good!"
Distracted by the rice ball, Qin He watched as notes flew around during the rest of the Chinese class. Her deskmate passed her a note that no longer mentioned Fang Weiyue or Fu Chuan, but instead just kept saying "rice ball, rice ball..."
Before get out of class was over, about half of the people around Qin He, with four others in between, knew that the rice balls Wen Fan had given Qin He that morning were delicious.
Even if someone occasionally says a few words about Fang Weiyue, the topic will be immediately twisted.
[Did you hear? The rice ball Wen Fan made for Qin He this morning was especially delicious!]
How delicious is it?
[Anyway, it's incredibly delicious. Wow, could Wen Fan really be from a very wealthy family? Apparently, his cooking skills are comparable to a Michelin-starred chef.]
...
Wen Fan's eyes were filled with confusion when Qin He asked him that question.
Michelin?
What is that?!
Qin He carefully chose her words: "Mainly... everyone wants to know where you bought this rice ball, or if you didn't buy it, what's the recipe..."
Wen Fan: "It's homemade, so this stuff is quite complicated?"
It wasn't complicated at all. She simply brought a snack because she had PE class that day, so she made it quickly in the five minutes she had after waking up.
The diced potatoes were leftovers from home, the diced ham was bought by my mother a few months ago for cooking, and the pickled green beans were leftovers from stir-fried chicken gizzards at the shop. I also added some homemade beef sauce.
Qin He was completely dumbfounded. Yes, anyone could see what was inside, and everyone knew that this thing was just rice wrapped in rice, but could you please understand that we could never make it taste the same as yours?
Wen Fan waved his hand, somewhat annoyed: "There's no trick to this. It's just a few ingredients. You can just wrap it in rice when you get home and eat it."
The implication was that she shouldn't be disturbed while studying. Not only did she not understand the math lesson, she also couldn't do the problems. The teacher went over the test in class just now, and she got 90% of the questions wrong. She's in a bad mood right now.
Qin He was helpless and was about to turn around and leave when she caught a glimpse of a line of words that Wen Fan had written in his notebook.
"...Who taught you to write like this?"
Wen Fan's notebook was overflowing, but she had written down everything the teacher said, even the math teacher's slips of the tongue. Under trigonometric functions, the math teacher extended some university-level content, which Wen Fan completely misunderstood, and jotted down this part haphazardly in the middle of the functions.
Qin He stared at Wen Fan with an air of utter disrespect, as if to say, "Your writing like this is an insult to me, the math class representative."
Wen Fan shrank his neck and lowered his voice by eight octaves: "I wrote it myself."
Qin He laughed in exasperation: "That's how you interpreted it?"
Wen Fan:......
"...The teacher spoke too fast."
Qin He was unyielding: "Where is it fast? This is all first-year high school material! The teacher has explained it many times! You should have known this last semester!"
Wen Fan practically shrank into a little rice ball, weakly protesting, "I... I'm not good at this."
Qin He took the notebook, quickly crossed out all the messy things Wen Fan had written, then used a few arrows to separate the content and marked it with one, two, and three sections.
"Look at this, and come find me after you finish watching PE class."
Wen Fan hadn't expected things to turn out this way, but she always held absolute power in her own field, so she naturally understood Qin He's aggressive attitude in her own domain.
"oh."
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