My deskmate has finally stopped giving me the silent treatment.
During the break, the classroom was noisy, and Zhou Lin's gaze shifted to the bulletin board at the back of the classroom.
Four A3-sized sheets of paper were pasted on it, with the monthly exam scores densely printed on them according to the total score ranking. He squinted and stared at the score in the row with Lin Shiren's name for a while, then casually tore a page off from the draft paper and quickly wrote down her subject scores.
As a member of the study group, it's still necessary to show some concern.
Just as she put pen to paper, she heard a loud thud as the chair next to her was pulled away. Sweat streamed down Song Ci's neck, and her chest heaved violently: "What bad luck! Even going to the bathroom, I got dragged into this by the math teacher. I had to carry fifty-two workbooks by myself. I'm exhausted."
Once he caught his breath, he turned his head and asked, "What are you writing?"
Zhou Lin ignored him, his gaze half-lowered, his pen still moving.
Song Ci stared at the string of numbers for a while, then suddenly realized what it meant. Her eyes lit up, and she smiled knowingly: "Isn't this the group leader's monthly exam results?"
Zhou Lin gave a perfunctory "hmm".
"It's only been a few days, and you're already showing this much concern. Do you have feelings for her?"
Zhou Lin glanced at him expressionlessly. His eyes were indifferent, his jawline was sharp, his lips were thin, and he had a somewhat melancholy look when he wasn't smiling.
"The benevolent see benevolence, the lewd see lewdness."
Song Ci clicked his tongue: "It was just a joke, why are you so sensitive?"
He wiped the sweat from his brow and said in an extremely gossipy tone, "I just passed by Old Chen's office and overheard Lin Shiren being scolded inside. Her grades dropped in the monthly exam, especially in physics, and Old Chen is giving her a serious talking-to."
The first monthly exam for senior high school students is often the most difficult of the year, with the aim of reminding them that there is only one year left and they should be on high alert.
Song Ci understood this principle, but he deliberately exaggerated the situation: "Lin Shiren is such a simple person, he definitely doesn't know that the school is just trying to give everyone a hard time. If Old Chen's tone is a bit harsh, he'll probably shed tears again. We're all in the same study group, we're in this together through thick and thin, don't we have a responsibility and obligation to help out?"
Her pale, soft image involuntarily flashed through his mind. Zhou Lin's lips curved into a restrained smile. He tried to ignore this unfamiliar feeling, put down his pen, grabbed the English book on the table, and casually opened it: "Heaven will entrust a great mission to this person, and that person is you."
"Damn, I almost forgot, Old Chen also told me to call Shen Xuqing to his office," Song Ci said, slamming his hand on the table as if he had suddenly remembered something. "Could it be that he wants him to sit at the same desk as Lin Shiren?"
Song Ci's words successfully drew Zhou Lin's attention back. His eyelids drooped, and he looked annoyed at being disturbed by the noise.
Perhaps it's time to ask Chen Mo to replace the loudspeaker next to him.
*
On the other end, Lin Shiren almost bit her lip until it bled, her fingertips digging into the tender flesh of her palm, constantly telling herself to relax, that she wouldn't be so unlucky.
It took Chen Mo several seconds to react before he came to his senses: "What happened to Song Ci?"
Zhou Lin looked at him bluntly: "Too noisy."
"This Song Ci."
Chen Mo sighed. He really did have ulterior motives in arranging for him and Zhou Lin to sit together.
Song Ci's dream university is Beihang University, and he often slacks off under the pretext of protecting his eyes. Chen Mo even talked to his parents about it, but unexpectedly, Song Ci's parents told the same story as him.
The elite class is the main force of Huiwen High School in getting students into Tsinghua and Peking Universities. This kid is a good prospect. Chen Mo wanted to do his best to help each student reach the top universities within his ability range, so he thought of using Zhou Lin to influence Song Ci. Unexpectedly, now it is Zhou Lin who is being influenced.
This is something he absolutely cannot allow.
Just as things were quiet, there was another knock on the office door, and Shen Xuqing entered.
"Teacher Chen, you wanted to see me?"
Chen Mo's slightly furrowed brows relaxed when he saw him. He turned to look at Lin Shiren with eager eyes: "Zhou Lin and Shen Xuqing, who do you want to sit with?"
Heaven and hell are just a thought away, and Lin Shih-jen couldn't utter a single word.
One thought can make you a Buddha, another a demon.
Shen Xuqing looked slightly puzzled, while Zhou Lin remained calm and composed. The two boys stood on the left and right, their auras completely different. The background in the middle was Lin Shiren and her disastrous monthly exam paper.
The rustling of leaves in the breeze outside the window, the noisy footsteps in the corridor, and the sound of Chen Mo unscrewing the lid of his thermos all became the background noise as the three of them stared at each other.
Lin Shiren's eyes darted around, his breathing trembled, and his chest heaved... he just didn't know how to start the conversation.
However, the female teacher next to her came to her rescue: "I really can't stand you guys, you straight men."
She jokingly said, "Teacher Chen, this multiple-choice question of yours is driving me crazy. The person in question is standing right here, how are you expecting the girl to choose?"
A single sentence pulled Lin Shiren back from the brink of despair and also awakened Chen Mo. He left Shen Xuqing with the physics exam paper and told Lin Shiren and Zhou Lin to go back first.
It was almost time for school to end, and as I walked down the corridor, I noticed that the bulletin board had posted a list of the top 100 students in the monthly exam, with Zhou Lin's name prominently at the top.
The person behind her called her name, and Lin Shiren's raised knees froze. She slowly turned around.
She really didn't understand whether it was because she was having bad luck or Zhou Lin was just her nemesis. Why was it that every time she could make progress in her relationship with Shen Xuqing, he would always be the one to cause the turning point, like a pig sent down from heaven?
Zhou Lin took two steps closer to her, put his hand to his lips, and coughed lightly: "Don't worry too much about your first monthly exam results."
This was a perfunctory and empty consolation from the top student in the grade.
Lin Shiren looked at him expressionlessly: "Do you also think the questions are difficult?"
Zhou Lin was silent for a while, and finally chose a middle ground between honesty and lying: "I usually do competition problems. Physics and math are not too difficult for me, but other subjects are quite difficult."
"But you also got a perfect score in chemistry."
"Maybe I was just lucky; I just happened to not be able to answer the questions I didn't know."
Lin Shiren: "..."
Look at other people's luck, she's too lazy to say anything. Sometimes, being unlucky is a kind of steady happiness.
In the last class, Chen Mo went over half of the test paper, and with 10 minutes left before school ended, he announced some big news—seats were being changed.
It was clear that he had thought things through very carefully, adjusting the schedules of almost all the students whose grades were unbalanced across different subjects. Without any surprises, Lin Shiren was moved to Song Ci's seat, while Song Ci was moved to the side of the podium, becoming the teacher's left-hand assistant.
By then, she had already calmly accepted the bad news, but Song Ci clearly couldn't. Her face was full of resentment, and she kept turning back to look at him, as if she had interfered in their relationship.
Song Ci's new seat was right under the teacher's nose, a spot where the teacher could hit him with a flick of his finger. Chen Mo reminded him not to take any chances, because the most dangerous place is always the most dangerous place.
As September arrived, all schools reopened, and the campus regained its vitality, with the slogans of the first-year high school students during their military training echoing across the playground from time to time.
The thought that there are more new people picking up leaves is the only comfort for Lin Shiren this autumn.
She's been very quiet lately, barely saying ten words a day. Even Song Ci noticed something was wrong with her listless appearance. He nudged Zhou Lin with his elbow: "Did her monthly exam results hit her that hard? Or did Old Chen say something? I think the group leader seems depressed. You should keep an eye on her mental state and help her with her problems during breaks. I saw her stuck on a big question about charged particles for a long time the other day..."
Zhou Lin didn't understand either.
He had studied her mistakes; he knew which ones were problems with her thinking and which ones were problems with her calculations. But Lin Shiren just wouldn't ask him. During breaks, she would run off quickly, preferring to go across half a classroom to ask her old deskmate Dong Rui rather than ask him. It was really incomprehensible.
During the break, Xu Yiqiao came over with an exercise book. Before he could say anything, Lin Shiren, with his keen eye, picked up his thermos and left his seat. Zhou Lin glanced at his back and quickly looked away.
After explaining a challenging mechanics problem, he asked, "Was my explanation easy to understand? Was my speaking speed fast enough?"
"It's easy to understand, and the speaking speed is also OK."
Xu Yiqiao didn't understand: "Why do you ask that?"
"It's nothing, just asking."
When Lin Shiren returned after fetching water, he saw Zhou Lin drawing on scrap paper with his eyes half-lowered. Xu Yiqiao listened quietly, her hands supporting her cheeks, nodding gently from time to time. Her long hair slipped from her shoulders onto the scrap paper, and she smiled and apologized.
The scene was pleasing to the eye, and she even felt a little tempted to ship them.
Lin Shiren's cold violence towards Zhou Lin only lasted until the second period that afternoon, because she forgot to bring her English book. The English teacher was a bit obsessed with her English book; she had to bring it regardless of whether it was used in class.
I want to die, but I also feel that someone else should die.
As she was pretending to rummage through the desk drawer, the English teacher came in. He seemed to be in a bad mood; when he stood on the podium, he made a loud noise putting down his books, and there was a hint of anger in his voice.
Zhou Lin rested his chin on his hand, watching her search the table and under the table several times. He moved the corners of his lips with interest: "Didn't you bring your English book?"
Asking a question you already know the answer to.
Lin Shiren secretly glared at him.
"This is an English class. Take out your English books and put away all other unrelated books." The English teacher began checking from the first row to the back.
Lin Shiren shrank her neck, almost blankly awaiting the arrival of judgment. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Zhou Lin's hand reach out, gently placing the English book on her desk, and he also casually flipped through the page with her name on it.
She turned her head slightly, her almond-shaped eyes wide open: "What are you doing?"
"I'll lend it to you."
In the aisle, the English teacher was getting closer and closer to their row. Zhou Lin reassured her with lip reading: "I have a get-out-of-jail-free card."
Lin Shiren: "?"
The air conditioner beeped, and all the students in the classroom turned their attention to it. The head of the teaching department waved apologetically to the English teacher, reminding them, "The temperature isn't that high right now, so we can't keep the air conditioner on all day."
The English teacher's pace remained the same, but her gaze was always fixed on the head of the teaching department, and Zhou Lin escaped unscathed.
Lin Shih-ren, surprised, also began to believe that he was born lucky. He leaned closer and winked, "What's your get-out-of-jail-free card?"
Zhou Lin didn't answer her question, but instead asked another irrelevant question: "Finally, you've stopped giving me the silent treatment?"
What kind of passive-aggressive behavior is this? They talk like they're old friends.
Lin Shiren looked like she was being bullied to the point of speechlessness, secretly rolled her eyes, and ignored him.
The scene of the two sweetly reading a book was witnessed by Shao Xiaxuan, who sat behind them. As soon as get out of class ended, she dragged her best friend out of the classroom and couldn't wait to share the affair she had just witnessed.
"Lin Shiren didn't bring his English book, and Zhou Lin risked being severely criticized by offering it to him with both hands. Did you see the look in his eyes at that moment? It was so sweet and doting!"
"It's just like a romance novel plot, the domineering CEO and his runaway wife."
Shao Xiaxuan's expression was still savoring: "Afraid that Lin Shiren would worry, he even said that he had a get-out-of-jail-free card."
"What kind of get-out-of-jail-free card?"
"It was probably a lie told on purpose to reassure Lin Shih-jen."
"Wasn't Zhou Lin quite aloof before? He was unmoved by so many girls sending him love letters, but now he's become so worthless."
"Don't worry, it's still valuable to you."
Lin Shiren was unaware that she had once again become the center of gossip. She bit her finger and nibbled on it, thinking about how to return the book in a normal and natural way to cover up her previous indifferent attitude.
Regardless, Zhou Lin had saved her life in a life-or-death situation, and after much thought, she decided to sacrifice her favorite strawberry yogurt.
I never expected that Zhou Lin would actually do it!
He naturally took the yogurt from her hand, and their fingers accidentally touched. Lin Shiren awkwardly looked away.
With a "pop," the straw pierced the seal of the yogurt. Zhou Lin handed the yogurt back to her, saying, "Let's walk home together after school. I have something to tell you."
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Author's Note: I'm finally on VIP! Thank you all for your support, here's a 100-yuan red envelope!
I hope everyone will urge me to write more. I'm not good at handling pressure, and I get anxious when you guys urge me.
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