Chapter 11
The next day, we returned to the classroom.
Guan Nan discovered that there was a new Sprite on her desk.
Glug, covered with a layer of fine, dense mist and water droplets, exuding a cool, refreshing air.
She turned her head, and Jiang Li raised an eyebrow at her, a slight smile playing on his lips.
It's Jiang Li.
"Thank you," Guan Nan said, silently adding his name to her mind.
"Hey deskmate," Jiang Li said loudly. After yesterday's example, all the students around couldn't help but look over. "Have you done your homework? Can I copy it?"
He spoke with such confidence, as if the scene of such estrangement yesterday had never happened.
Guan Nan silently took out a sample book from her bag and gave it to him.
He said in a drawn-out, lazy tone, "Thanks, my good Chinese deskmate."
"·····"
Guan Nan took out her homework and test papers, arranged them one by one, and then took out her error notebook to correct the mistakes she had made.
After a while, she took out an English newspaper and asked, "Have you written this?"
“No.” Jiang Li took it naturally, pressed it down with his arm, and began to write furiously.
He said, "I'll copy this after I finish copying politics."
"Oh, okay."
Is it yesterday, today, or even right now?
Guan Nan noticed that she and Jiang Li seemed to have subtly grown closer.
But, is the next step to become classmates, or friends?
The boundaries were blurred, and she didn't know either.
At 7:10 a.m., the broadcasting room began playing "The Athletes' March." The freshman ceremony, which had been postponed for a week, was urged on by the music to hurry to the podium.
The freshman ceremony is unrelated to the second and third year students. Guan Nan's speech as the grade representative and the apology for the disturbance have been postponed to next Monday.
After going downstairs and back upstairs, Guan Nan listened to what Banban had to say and then put away the manuscript.
During this short week, Guan Nan fully experienced how popular and likable Jiang Li was. Whenever there was a break between classes, students from other classes would deliberately take a longer route to pass by Class 3 and go down the right-hand staircase.
However, if the iron gate to the right staircase is locked, sometimes I can still pass by the Third Shift again, just to catch another glimpse of Jiang Li.
As Jiang Li's deskmate, Guan Nan not only witnessed the scene of the bold girl shouting "Shout!" and causing a commotion, but also handled many gifts, love letters, and snacks given to Jiang Li.
Jiang Li acted as if nothing was wrong, completely oblivious to what was happening outside, continuing as before.
That day, Guan Nan diligently placed the received items in his desk drawer when he suddenly heard Yu Shu shouting.
"Damn, Jiang Gou, look!" Yu Shu patted Jiang Li on the shoulder, pointed at the people in the corridor, and shouted, "Isn't that the school beauty who was on the confession wall as soon as school started?"
Jiang Li kept his head down, pen in hand, not looking anywhere else, and asked listlessly, "Really?"
“Isn’t that right? Let me show you,” Yu Shu said, secretly taking out her phone, opening the confession wall account, and whispering, “Damn, how did you become the pinned post?”
"..." Jiang Li asked, "What do you mean by 'pinned'?"
Yu Shu opened the photo and smacked his lips, saying, "I wasn't talking about you, I was talking about your deskmate."
Upon hearing this, Guan Nan was stunned for a moment.
"This photo doesn't look like it was taken secretly; it's more like a candid shot," Yu Shu said confidently, carefully examining the angle of the photo.
Guan Nan wasn't a proactive person, but upon hearing these words, she couldn't help but turn her head away.
She hadn't put down her pen yet when she pointed at herself and asked, "Are you talking about me?"
"yes."
Yu Shu turned the screen around and clicked on the comment separately, showing the long bar of comments that needed to be scrolled through. He then turned the screen towards Guan Nan to show it to her.
In the photo, the girl stands on the stairs to the upper right of the notice board, wearing a blue and white school uniform and black school pants, making her appear thin and aloof. She is pure and innocent, possessing a rare kind of unpretentious and delicate purity.
She stood there, like a resilient banyan tree, her boundless stubbornness and composure tinged with a subtle gentleness.
“You have quite a few photos on the confession wall,” Yu Shu said, scratching his head. “But this one is really something, quite outstanding and unique.”
"I wonder who took this picture; they're quite skilled."
"·····"
Guan Nan was speechless.
She remembered and recognized him.
This photo was taken before the seating arrangement, and the culprit who took the photo was nonchalantly practicing pen control next to him, without even looking up.
Yu Shu tried to explain to Guan Nan: "You know, that kind of temperament?"
"Rising from the mud, yet remaining unstained."
“Hey, right!” Jiang Li reminded Yu Shu of the word he had been stumbling over, and he nudged Jiang Li, “That’s it!”
Jiang Li turned his head to look over, his expression unreadable.
For some reason, Yu Shu held up her phone and analyzed the photo with him, "This doesn't look like a candid shot, does it? Look, there's hardly anyone around right now. Did they sneak out of class? But that doesn't seem likely. Do you know who took this photo?"
The last question was directed at Guan Nan.
She glanced at Jiang Li, paused for two seconds, then turned back around: "I don't know."
"That shouldn't be the case. How could you not know?"
Guan Nan pretended not to hear, burying her head in writing the newly issued English newspaper, and pulled out a draft notebook after finishing one side.
Even the slow-witted Yu Shu, after rambling on for a while, finally got to the point. He craned his neck and leaned forward, asking incredulously, "What are you doing? Why are you suddenly practicing calligraphy?"
Jiang Li: "Mm."
"Did you have a dream last night?" Yu Shu asked, looking him over.
Jiang Li raised an eyebrow slightly.
Seeing this, Yu Shu smiled wickedly and said in a serious tone, "On a dark and windy night, the wolf grandmother asked you to write a piece of calligraphy for her. You had no choice but to comply due to her lewd power. As a result, when the wolf grandmother saw your calligraphy, she slapped you down the mountain with the Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms. Only then did you realize that your calligraphy was too ugly and even the wolf grandmother couldn't stand it."
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Jiang Li frowned, annoyed.
Yu Shu nodded as he spoke, convinced that he was absolutely right: "Then you must have taken the wrong medicine."
Jiang Li said coolly, "Can't I just turn back before it's too late?"
"Impossible, absolutely impossible." Yu Shu shook his head firmly, then suddenly remembered what his junior high school homeroom teacher had said when commenting on his handwriting. He immediately said, "Old Tian used to say that your handwriting looked like a dog hanging itself, and told you to practice your handwriting properly, but you wouldn't listen. Later, when you were punished for fighting, you copied calligraphy, but you didn't even see it and still wrote 'a dog hanging itself'."
Guan Nan's gaze settled.
A dog hanging itself?
That handwriting really does look a bit like a dog hanging itself, a very accurate description.
Guan Nan couldn't help but grin, her eyes crinkling.
She made very little noise, but Jiang Li had excellent hearing, and he glanced over with narrowed eyes.
Their eyes met, and he half-smirked, a half-smile playing on his lips.
Guan Nan blinked slowly, then silently looked away, obediently remaining still.
"Gou Jiang, have you been possessed?" Yu Shu asked with a worried expression. "Do you still recognize who I am?"
Jiang Li ignored him and said, "Go see a doctor if you're sick."
“Tsk,” Yu Shu sat back down, “Jiang Li, tsk, you have a problem.”
Yu Shu is a restless person. When Jiang Li ignored him, he went to chat with other people on his own. Even when it was time for class, he was still immersed in his passion.
After a long while, Guan Nan bit the tip of her pen and slowly wrote a line on the draft paper.
—Is that you?
As she pushed him over, she secretly glanced at Jiang Li's expression, unsure whether it was because he had a strong mentality or because he had never done it before.
Jiang Li curled his lips and asked slowly, "What?"
"..." Faced with his seemingly unaware attitude, Guan Nan said somewhat sullenly, "The photos."
Jiang Li hummed in agreement.
After listening, Guan Nan stared straight at him with her dark eyes.
Jiang Li touched his nose, a lazy smile on his face, his eyes not looking away: "No."
Guan Nan was skeptical.
That photo, that shooting angle, and that day.
She remembered perfectly clearly that there was no one else besides Jiang Li.
Despite his words, Guan Nan looked away and didn't press the matter further, but her attitude clearly showed distrust of his words.
After a long while, Jiang Li pushed over a notebook with the following written on it:
What's your WeChat ID?
Guan Nan glanced at it, then closed the draft notebook without any intention of revising it. She tucked the notebook at the bottom and said in a muffled voice, "No."
“I have it,” Jiang Li said lazily.
"·····"
Is this showing off?
After a brief pause, Guan Nan glanced at him again and, as if possessed, offered a compliment: "You're so amazing!"
"·····"
Jiang Li gave him a look that said, "What kind of lame joke are you telling?"
After thinking for a while, he calmly and somewhat tentatively returned the courtesy, saying, "You're not bad either."
The back-and-forth praise or exchange always gives people the illusion that "they haven't finished speaking yet, should I wait for what they have to say next?"
At this moment, Jiang Li was in a certain state.
However, once the first round of this kind of conversation ended, these words came to a complete halt with Guan Nan.
After waiting for a while, Jiang Li politely reminded her, "And then?"
Guan Nan had been working on several problems in a row, and her mind was still a bit sluggish from not having processed them. Almost instinctively, she asked, "What, and then?"
It was as if they wanted to determine whether her words and expressions were true or false.
Jiang Li stared at her, and she stared at Jiang Li.
After a two-second silence, Jiang Li said convincingly, "Alright then."
What's okay?
Guan Nan was a little confused.
The school bell rang, and a large number of students ran out instantly, leaving the classroom almost empty.
Chen Aimei walked across the podium, smiled and called out "Guan Nan," then casually picked up a Sprite from the corner of the table.
"You like Sprite?" Chen Aimei looked at her with a strange expression.
Guan Nan hesitated before saying, "It's alright."
"Oh," without seeming to investigate further, Chen Aimei made a move to pull the tab and said with a smile, "I'm a little thirsty, can I have some?"
"I'll buy it for you." Guan Nan reached out to take it back.
Chen Aimei: "But I just want to drink this."
Before Guan Nan could say anything more, she heard her say something pointed:
"Guan Nan, I consider you a friend, don't lie to me."
"I hate it when people lie to me."
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