I know you broke your promise.
School's out, and it's already pitch black.
When Lin Shiren finally finished dawdling and came out of the teaching building, a cool breeze blew in his face and lifted his hair.
There were still many parents picking up their children from school at the gate, craning their necks to look through the iron gate. She lowered her head and walked past them.
At 8:30 p.m., there were not many students waiting for the bus at the bus stop. Under the dim streetlights, a few girls leaned against the billboard and chatted about gossip. When they got excited, their cute laughter could be heard.
It's truly admirable that he's still so energetic after a long day of classes.
Lin Shiren took out his phone from his pocket. In Zhou Lin's chat window, the latest message was from ten minutes ago: "I'm waiting for you at the subway station."
She silently locked her phone, pretending she hadn't seen the message because she hadn't tapped the red dot.
Three minutes later, a bus stopped at the station. Lin Shih-Jen boarded the bus with the flow of people, swiped his card, walked to the back of the bus, and found a seat by the window in the back row.
She vaguely remembered that Zhou Lin's neighborhood was called "Fengyunyuan," not far from her home. She hoped he would come home early if he couldn't wait for her, but she had never deliberately stood someone up before. She felt quite burdened. Her fingertips unconsciously pressed the lock screen button, and the phone screen dimmed and brightened in her palm.
Just as everyone was seated and the doors were about to close, someone was the last to board the bus. The card reader beeped, and a woman in the front row exclaimed in surprise. Lin Shiren looked up at the sound.
As the vehicle started moving, Zhou Lin looked over amidst the bumps and jolting. Their eyes met across half the carriage, and she gasped, her heart pounding wildly.
Didn't you say you were waiting at the subway?
What kind of insidious feint is this?
Zhou Lin walked back amidst her surprised expression. He probably rarely took this bus. Many girls in the front carriage kept turning around to look, and some even took out their phones to secretly take pictures of his back. Lin Shiren could already imagine what kind of gossip would spread tomorrow if he really sat next to her.
She moved her backpack to the empty seat next to her, and Zhou Lin, holding onto the handrail, went up the steps. He glanced at the backpack next to her and sat down in the middle seat in the back row.
Although it seemed like a normal scene, Lin Shiren knew that he was there for her.
The car's interior light was cold, shining on his pale skin, making his bluish veins very visible. The two weren't close, not even as close as they would be in a classroom, but somehow, his aggressively scented fragrance kept wafting into their nostrils.
Zhou Lin rested his elbows on his knees and glanced at her sideways: "Didn't you check your phone?"
At that moment, Lin Shiren held her phone in her palm. Like a child who had made a mistake, she looked hesitant and finally gave a blank "hmm".
Zhou Lin tried to help her recall: "Didn't I say I needed to talk to you before school ended?"
He was always so blunt, leaving no room for maneuver. Lin Shiren pouted, "If you have something to say, then you have something to say. Why don't you say it at school?"
Zhou Lin is good at science, but not bad at humanities either. Right now, he feels like he's having trouble with this reading comprehension question.
He raised an eyebrow: "Are you sure everything can be said in the classroom?"
"There's nothing I can't tell anyone, and I haven't done anything wrong..." There were Huiwen's classmates in front of him in the carriage. Lin Shiren avoided the topic, his voice getting softer and softer until it was completely inaudible.
With such a small amount of courage, yet daring to say there's nothing you can't say to others, Zhou Lin suddenly leaned closer: "Since that's the case, then I'll be frank. You seem unhappy ever since you changed seats. I want to know why?"
He still dares to say that? Lin Shiren really wanted to throw Zhou Lin out of the car.
If it weren't for Cheng Jiaojin appearing out of nowhere, she would already be sitting next to Shen Xuqing, so why wouldn't she be happy?
However, Lin Shiren really didn't expect her new deskmate to be so enthusiastic. She took a breath and said, "If I'm unhappy, it's because of you."
Zhou Lin's expression remained as serious as it had been a second ago.
She continued, with a "pretending not to feel guilty" expression on her face: "When I go out to eat with other classmates, we always split the bill. You haven't accepted my transfers, and I feel very uncomfortable because I hate owing people the most."
The night breeze blew in, lifting her long hair and carrying her soft scent. Zhou Lin's expression softened: "Don't worry, I have money."
Lin Shih-ren stared wide-eyed, doubting that he could understand Chinese.
She said she liked splitting the bill, and he said he had money?
Isn't this just a case of talking past each other?
Since you're so rich, why don't you donate to impoverished mountainous areas?
Zhou Lin seemed to have guessed what was going on in her little head, and curled the corners of his lips: "I donate to UNICEF every year."
"You're such a kind person." He said it through gritted teeth.
Zhou Lin looked at her, his smile obvious: "So, can you tell the truth this time?"
He felt strange; why did he stay out so late at night and insist on finding out why Lin Shinian was unhappy, even though he could tell she didn't want to talk about it? When did he become so inquisitive? Had he caught some strange disease from Song Ci?
But Lin Shih-jen's silent demeanor resembled that of an abandoned kitten, with drooping eyes and a sunken back, as if he were about to break at the slightest touch, which inexplicably annoyed him.
Their shoulders bounced slightly with the car's speed. Most of the passengers had already gotten off, leaving only the two of them in the last row.
Lin Shih-jen, his knees pressed against the back of the seat in front of him, said very seriously, "If I don't confess today, will I still be able to go home?"
"I'm afraid that won't work," he teased her, half-jokingly.
"Because I have social anxiety, I finally got to know Dong Rui and didn't want to change deskmates." Lin Shiren said this quickly, half-truthfully, while secretly glancing at his expression.
Zhou Lin appeared calm, then suddenly changed the subject: "Then why didn't you use that... really effective sandwich method to reject Old Chen? Tell him you don't want to change deskmates?"
Lin Shiren blinked: "Huh?"
Is she a student or the principal? How dare she speak to a teacher like that?
Zhou Lin licked his lips and turned to look at her: "I'll teach you a method. In the future, when you encounter something you want to refuse, just replace 'I' with 'I'."
"..."
As a result of his dealings with Zhou Lin that evening, Lin Shiren arrived home fifteen minutes later than usual. When he entered the house, Xin Xiaomei was not yet back. She had just washed her hands and was sitting on a chair unpacking takeout.
When people are very tired, they really need some junk food to boost dopamine secretion. As soon as the takeout lid was opened, the smell of snail rice noodles instantly enveloped her, and she took a deep breath.
The TV was on, and the living room was filled with noise. She had just taken two bites when her phone rang.
Dong Rui called: "Renren, what are you doing?"
Lin Shiren took a bite of the fried egg, his lips tingling with chili oil, causing them to go numb instantly, so his voice was a little mumbled: "I'm having a late-night snack, what's wrong?"
Dong Rui paused for a second, then tentatively asked, "Have you been unhappy lately?"
Lin Shiren had heard the word "unhappy" far too many times tonight, and she couldn't help but become sensitive. She put down her chopsticks and asked, "Why do you ask that?"
Dong Rui didn't say it directly, her attitude was ambiguous: "If you have nothing to do during breaks, come and chat with me. If you want to go to the bathroom or get water, I can accompany you."
Lin Shiren suddenly had a bad feeling. She took a breath and asked, "Did anyone say anything to you?"
Dong Rui wasn't the type to keep secrets, and immediately blurted everything out like a machine gun.
"Zhou Lin called me and told me to watch my mood..."
She suddenly raised her voice: "We've been classmates for two years, and he hasn't even added me as a friend. He just called me! My dad thought I was dating someone and insisted I put the call on speakerphone. My heart was pounding, I was almost scared to death! But when my mom heard it was Zhou Lin on the other end, she told me that dating isn't a big deal. It's hilarious..."
"Oh right, he also said that he could ask me anytime if he had any questions. That's strange, why would someone be so eager to tutor others? I'll send him the last two questions of the physics test in a bit and see how he handles them."
"Oh dear, I forgot to ask, how have you been feeling lately?"
Lin Shih-ren didn't know how to respond.
In the first year of junior high, Xin Xiaomei secretly read her diary. Her first reaction after discovering it was not anger, but happiness. Then she deliberately wrote her wishes in her diary, such as: Wang Shu's parents took her to Disneyland. I am so envious.
It's going to rain tomorrow, will my mom pick me up from school?
But Xin Xiaomei, despite having seen it, never satisfied her.
Later, Lin Zhiyuan took the initiative to call and say he would personally give her child support. That was the closest she felt she had ever been to a father's love. But every time they met, their awkward conversations with the father and daughter went like this:
"Your grades haven't dropped, have they?"
"without."
"Do you have enough money?"
"enough."
They couldn't understand her writing, didn't care about her preferences, and didn't care about her emotions. So, from childhood to adulthood, she molded her home into the shape of her imagination, suppressing her needs and her true nature, and digesting all her emotions on her own.
This seems to be the first time someone has genuinely cared that she's "unhappy."
It would be a lie to say he wasn't moved. Lin Shiren suppressed the turmoil in his heart and tried to make his voice sound calm: "Actually, it's nothing. It's just that I was a little upset about the monthly exam."
Dong Rui also failed the exam and let out a mournful wail, feeling the same way: "Don't worry about it, we're all the same, we're all like Kong Yiji, Xianglin's wife, and Camel Xiangzi, each with our own graves to cry at."
The two chatted for a few more minutes before hanging up.
Lin Shih-jen was doing his homework until midnight, and when he got stuck on the last physics problem, his brain just wouldn't work.
A crescent moon hung high in the sky, and the air was filled with the faint fragrance of gardenias and jasmine. She got up and leaned out the window to look down. It turned out that the hosta flowers downstairs were in bloom.
After quietly admiring the paper for three minutes, she lay down on the bed with the paper in her arms, crossed her legs and swung them gently. She took a picture of the blank physics problem, then found Zhou Lin's name on WeChat and clicked send.
Since her new deskmate had expressed a strong desire to help her improve together, she couldn't very well turn him away. Discussing problems was perfectly normal. Besides, Chen Mo had repeatedly emphasized that there were students on the national team in the class, so why not take advantage of them?
After thinking for a moment, Lin Shiren typed in the chat box: "Zhou Lin, could you write out the solution to this problem for me?"
Unexpectedly, in the dead of night, Zhou Lin replied instantly: "I'm not a homework helper. If you want to ask, we'll talk about it in person tomorrow."
Lin Shiren was speechless with confusion. How could this person change his mind faster than turning the pages of a book?
She puffed out her round cheeks, and the second message came in almost immediately.
Zhou Lin: "Did you remember that?"
Who does he think he is?
Lin Shih-ren stared at the line of text, unable to contain his anger any longer. He pounded the keyboard with his thumb, each letter he pressed carrying a veil of fury.
She replied, "I understand."
-----------------------
Author's note: 50 red envelopes~
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