To avoid suspicion, I'll ask Teacher Chen to let me know and switch seats...
The sound could no longer reach Lin Shiren's ears, and the people around her turned into phantoms. She was so shocked by the accident that her mind went blank. She immediately propped herself up from Zhou Lin and stood up in a disheveled state.
When a stranger asked her if she was injured, she couldn't say a word.
On the track, Zhou Lin was still sitting in the same spot, her elbow scraped in a large area. When Lin Shiren looked over, he had been staring at her for a long time, and her eyes turned red in the next second.
Xu Yiqiao ran over from the stands without looking to either side, his arm brushing against hers as he opened a bottle of mineral water to wash her wound: "Did you break a bone? Can you still walk? Let's go to the infirmary."
Lin Shiren's gaze drifted uncontrollably toward Shen Xuqing's direction. Shen Xuqing was standing not far from the finish line, his hands on his knees, panting heavily, his expression unchanged by the commotion.
The wind was strong, making my eyes sting.
The onlookers lingered, their gazes fixed intently on her—some surprised, some speculative, some gossipy, some malicious, some familiar, some unfamiliar…
Lin Shih-ren could no longer bear it. She pushed through the crowd and ran towards a less crowded area.
The scene was chaotic for a moment. Some people were confused and stared wide-eyed after exchanging information with those who had witnessed the whole thing. In the end, the head of the teaching department had to step in and disperse them: "What are you all doing here? Go back to your own classrooms."
"You should go back first too."
Song Ci reacted quickly, immediately taking Zhou Lin's arm and helping him up: "Our class has a competition later, I'll go with him to the infirmary."
She spoke to everyone, but her eyes were fixed on Xu Yiqiao. The situation was already too complicated; she couldn't afford to add any more twists and turns.
The infirmary is on the north side of the teaching building. As the younger students pass by, they gather together to gossip about what just happened, and you can vaguely hear words like "fell" and "kissed".
Zhou Lin heard this and his ears turned slightly red.
It was a kiss as thin as a cicada's wing.
Like being brushed by a butterfly wing, it's gentle and soft, lasting only a short time, so short that it's gone before you can even savor it, leaving an unbearable itch deep within your body.
Zhou Lin had never imagined the scene of his first kiss. It would be at the beach at sunset, under the shade of trees on a scenic road, or at the very least, in front of the building where he took her home. But he never expected it to be like what just happened. He was lost in thought.
But a male god is a male god. Even though he was covered in dirt and blood on his arms, he still maintained his usual elegant and refined demeanor as the girls watched him walk to the infirmary.
Song Ci supported him, trying to suppress the upturned corners of his lips: "Little Zhou Zhou, how did you come up with this idea? I was worried for you, brother. You really don't fight battles you're not sure you can win. But this angle is quite tricky. If I had arrived with Lin Shiren a second earlier or later, you two might not have bumped into each other."
First, he used a self-inflicted injury to deceive everyone, then he turned the tables and fabricated a story out of thin air. If one hadn't thoroughly studied the Thirty-Six Stratagems, one wouldn't have been able to come up with such a brilliant plan!
Zhou Lin shook off his arm, his handsome eyebrows raised indifferently: "What do you mean? You think I did it on purpose?"
"do not you?"
Am I really that despicable?
Song Ci was internally screaming, "Yes, because you signed up for the 1500-meter race at the sports meet. Your motives weren't pure. In the past, you were just clueless about love, but now your love-struck mind has sprouted. It'll be a piece of cake for you to grow into a towering tree."
Zhou Lin ignored him and continued walking forward.
Song Ci remembered something, her gaze probing: "The key is what Lin Shiren is thinking. I saw her eyes were red just now, I hope she's not crying now..."
Zhou Lin stopped in his tracks, let out a long breath, and turned to look at Song Ci: "I'm not going to the infirmary. If the teacher asks, just say I went home."
"Where are you going?"
"Looking for someone."
Under the ginkgo trees on the west side of the stadium, it was as quiet as a silent play, with only the rustling sound of falling leaves.
I found myself here again without even realizing it.
Lin Shih-ren hid behind a big tree, staring at the crushed ginkgo leaves, her eyes brimming with tears. She tried to calm herself down and not let the tears fall.
The moment she closed her eyes, the scene from earlier tormented her. Kissing someone else in front of her crush—a scene straight out of a melodramatic soap opera—had actually happened to her.
Although few people witnessed it firsthand, campus gossip is always embellished, and she couldn't even imagine what version it would eventually become. The name "Lin Shiren" would be repeatedly on their lips and phones, and "Zhou Lin" would become an indelible mark on her.
No matter how many years have passed, whether it's a class reunion or reminiscing about the past, there will always be someone who uses this topic as a conversation starter.
It can't be washed off, and it can't be bleached.
If only she had confessed to Shen Xuqing sooner, she could have openly cheered him on instead of blindly following Song Ci out of concern for rumors, and she wouldn't have bumped into Zhou Lin at the finish line.
But she was always conflicted, always hesitant, always full of worries, just like when she was young and she was with Xin Xiaomei and Lin Zhiyuan. If she hesitated for too long, others would just think she was mute, so in the end she couldn't grasp anything.
With a "plop," a tear fell to the ground, and Lin Shiren quickly and forcefully wiped it away, as if this would prove that she hadn't cried at all.
The sound of rustling footsteps echoed on the ground. Zhou Lin saw her from afar. A head was buried in her bare, slender white arms. Her shoulders were slumped and trembling. The autumn wind gently blew, and the stray hairs on her cheeks swayed, revealing her small, rosy ears.
The truly weak never complain about their circumstances; they can cry anywhere, and even the smelly ginkgo fruit can't stop their tears.
"Lin Shiren." His voice was very soft, as if he were afraid of disturbing her.
Lin Shiren looked up, his long eyelashes glistening with moisture. When he saw that it was him, a fleeting look of disappointment crossed his face, but Zhou Lin caught it.
Her crush was a complete lie.
She still had that pitiful look with red eyes, completely unaware of the impact her tears would have on others.
Zhou Lin clenched his fists, his knuckles turning slightly white, and looked at her coldly: "Why are you crying?"
The last person Lin Shiren wanted to see right now was him. She turned her head to the side, her eyes filled with complicated emotions: "I don't want to talk right now. You can leave."
An awkward silence fell over the room. After a few seconds, Zhou Lin closed the distance between them to half a step and looked down at them: "Do you not want to talk, or do you not want to talk to me?"
The topic has circled back to where it started.
Lin Shih-jen was bewildered by his words. Everyone was a victim, so why say such sarcastic things?
A faint smell of blood lingered in the air. My gaze shifted to his elbow; the bleeding area was red and swollen from lack of treatment. A sense of guilt belatedly welled up inside me, and I stood up as if to relent: "Why haven't you treated your wound? Aren't you afraid of infection?"
Her voice was gentle and soft, with a nasal tone. Zhou Lin unconsciously tensed his arms, and new blood seeped from the wound.
Lin Shih-ren became anxious: "Don't use force!"
He leaned down to look at the small head that only reached his chest, and finally said awkwardly, "My injury is related to you, shouldn't you come with me?"
Lin Shiren's pupils dilated slightly, but he still shook his head slightly: "You should go to the infirmary yourself. It's best for the two of us to keep our distance for now. Although the innocent are innocent, the rumors outside are bound to be very unpleasant."
"The pure will themselves be pure?"
Of all the words in that long speech, Zhou Lin only repeated these four. He felt like the volcano in his throat was about to erupt. Suppressing his anger, he tried to speak in a calm tone: "Do you remember writing me an apology letter?"
Why did we suddenly get onto that letter?
Lin Shiren stared blankly at him, suddenly having a bad feeling, because Zhou Lin's expression was really not good. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Her guilt and panic were about to be revealed.
Before she could answer, Zhou Lin took out a letter from his pocket and slowly unfolded it in front of her: "It's okay if you don't remember, I can help you recall. More than a month ago, you left a letter in my desk, saying that you slandered me because you had a crush on me...?"
Lin Shih-jen, lacking confidence, stammered, "Why bring this up all of a sudden?"
He simply stated bluntly: "Because if you really had a crush on me, you shouldn't be reacting like this right now."
The air felt like it had been drawn into a vacuum, leaving no room to breathe. The chain reaction triggered by that letter had finally erupted today. Lin Shiren tried to find a reasonable explanation amidst the chaotic events: "So many girls in the whole school have a crush on you, why are you still holding onto me? And after what happened today, do you know how malicious rumors can be to girls? You've been accepted into Q University, you can just pack your bags and leave tomorrow, but what about me? I still have 280 days left at Huiwen..."
Finally, as if after careful consideration, she sniffed and said, "I will ask Teacher Chen to change my seat after the National Day holiday."
Lin Shiren wondered if it was because men and women think differently, but she felt that Zhou Lin's aura seemed even more imposing after she made that suggestion.
His gaze was fixed on her, his expression unreadable: "Do you think that if we change seats, people won't gossip?"
Lin Shiren stared at a point in the void: "I don't know..."
Let's end our time as deskmates here.
Anyway, she'll be going to university all over the country in the future, so saying goodbye now is just a little earlier than expected. That's all. She deliberately ignored the reluctance hidden in her heart.
How could she be completely devoid of emotion? Zhou Lin really helped her a lot...
Both of their phones rang during that time, but neither of them answered. In the space so close to each other, his gaze fell on her without any obstruction.
Lin Shiren adjusted his breathing, pretending to be calm as he walked around him, intending to pass through the path behind the gymnasium building. Suddenly, his wrist tightened, and Zhou Lin suddenly asked, "Who do you want to sit with?"
Is it Shen Xuqing?
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Author's Note: I revised today's scene between the male and female leads seven or eight times before I was finally satisfied. Sorry for the wait, everyone! Here's a 50-red-element red envelope!
I need nutrient solution!
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