Chapter 07 Chapter 7
The weekend came in the blink of an eye.
Although I am already a senior in high school, thanks to the city's quality education, No. 4 Middle School still has weekends.
During Friday evening study, Teacher He gave a lecture on the importance of attending to the topic. He simply told everyone that since they were already in their third year of high school, it was best not to go out and about on the weekends. Instead, they should stay home with their parents, do their homework, and then study and do the exercises for "Five Threes" when they had time.
Ren Li sat at her desk, listening intently. For some reason, ever since Teacher He praised her in class last time, she'd felt more motivated. Perhaps because she was shy and always worried about disappointing Teacher He's expectations, she took her studies more seriously.
The bell rang, and Teacher He finished his last sentence on time, dismissing the class. The classroom gradually began to fill with a lively atmosphere. Ren Li packed her bag and nudged Zhang Xintong, who was sitting in front of her, to ask if she wanted to go with her.
Zhang Xintong was also from the city, but her home was quite far away, so she usually went home on Saturdays. While waiting for Zhang Xintong to pack her bag, Ren Li checked her desk again to make sure she hadn't left anything behind. When Zhang Xintong finished, Ren Li put her arm around her, and the two of them happily went downstairs.
The night wind was a little cool. Since it was Friday, Ren Li was also immersed in the excitement of the weekend.
After leaving the teaching building, the two had to separate. The school bus stopped at the small square near the main entrance of the school, in the opposite direction of the dormitory area. Zhang Xintong felt that there was nothing else to do today, so he went to see Ren Li off before returning.
Ren Li was naturally happy. She took Zhang Xintong's hand and came to the small square. The two stood in front of the school bus and chatted for a long time. Later, they saw Wen Shuo.
To be more precise, it was Wen Shuo and his friends. Their height was so conspicuous that it was difficult for Ren Li to ignore them once they stood there.
But today Wen Shuo was not here to take the school bus, he was just passing by the school gate.
Zhang Xintong was chatting with Ren Li when she saw Zhou Qi walking out with Wen Shuo and couldn't help but call out his name.
Zhou Qi didn't know if he was really hearing it or just pretending not to hear it, but he didn't turn around. Zhang Xintong was furious, but it was difficult to chase him directly, so he took out his phone and sent him a message.
"He must have done it on purpose." Zhang Xintong kept muttering while sending messages.
Ren Li glanced at the direction they left and wondered, "It's so late, are they going out to play?"
Zhang Xintong finished typing and angrily put down the phone: "That must be it. Teacher He clearly emphasized that we should not go out and wander around..."
The school bus was about to depart. The driver opened the door. Zhang Xintong waved to Ren Li, signaling her to get on quickly.
Ren Li said goodbye to Zhang Xintong, got on the car, watched the other party leave, and then found a seat to sit down.
Not long after I sat down, my phone vibrated. It was a message from Zhang Xintong.
Xiao Wutong: [Zhou Qi said they are going to the sports stadium tomorrow. Do you want to join us?]
Ren Li read the message over and over for a long time, feeling like she'd missed something. Just a moment ago, Zhang Xintong had vowed to settle the score with Zhou Qi, but now, how could he have joined in?
Ren Li didn't like being in large groups, especially when there were other boys around. She had planned to help Lin Yuan clean up at home tomorrow, and she had a lot of homework to do over the weekend, so she sent a message to Zhang Xintong.
Ren Li: [Why don't you guys go play? I have other things to do tomorrow, so I won't be going. /Kiss]
There was no reply from Zhang Xintong for a long time. Ren Li thought that she might be chatting with Zhou Qi again, so she didn't take it seriously. Instead, she opened the music software, put on headphones and started listening to music. Thinking about the upcoming weekend tomorrow, she felt a little bit of anticipation in her heart.
Sure enough, there's nothing better than a Friday night.
This joyful mood lasted for a long time. After returning home, Ren Li finished eating the midnight snack made by Lin Yuan and hurried back to her room. She washed up in a hurry, closed the door, turned on the desk lamp, and curled up in bed to read until almost twelve o'clock.
She changed into comfortable pajamas, lay down on the bed, propped up her head, and carefully flipped through the pages of the literary magazine she had just bought. This was Ren Li's unique secret recipe for happiness. She had been waiting for this night for a week.
Later, she turned off the lights and went to sleep until she yawned from exhaustion. She slept until the next morning. With nothing else to do on Saturday, Ren Li stayed at home for most of the day, doing some homework. Near the afternoon, she received a call from Yuan Jiani.
Jiani was Ren Li's good friend when they were in the High School Affiliated to the Normal University. They hadn't seen each other for a long time since the summer vacation of their second year of high school. This time, Jiani called and wanted to ask Ren Li to go shopping together. Ren Li agreed without hesitation.
She packed her things and reported to Lin Yuan. Lin Yuan had met Jiani a few times before and had a good impression of this tall girl, so she didn't stop her.
Before leaving, Lin Yuan transferred some more money to Ren Li. In terms of money, Lin Yuan had always adopted a "rich upbringing" attitude towards Ren Li. After all, she was also a student and knew that girls always had to buy things when they went shopping.
Ren Li happily thanked her mother and hurried out, worried that Jiani might be waiting anxiously. She followed the meeting address Jiani had sent her, turned on her phone's navigation, and headed all the way to the subway station. She changed trains once and finally arrived at her destination after more than half an hour.
As soon as Ren Li got out of the subway, she saw Yuan Jiani standing by the tree from a distance. Almost at the same time, Jiani also saw Ren Li walking towards her. She couldn't help but curl her lips and waved to Ren Li excitedly: "Xiao Li, I'm here!"
"Jiani~" Ren Li responded to her. When she spoke, the ending of her voice was drawn out, and it always sounded sweet.
Jiani is quite tall, and as soon as they met, she gave Ren Li a big hug: "Xiao Li, haha, I missed you so much."
Having not seen each other for the entire summer, the two had endless things to talk about.
"How is No. 4 Middle School, Xiaoli? Hehe, are there any handsome guys chasing you?" Jiani asked as she pulled Ren Li towards a shopping mall not far from the subway.
Ren Li knew Jiani was teasing her again, so she replied, "Well, it's No. 4 Middle School. The homework is hard, the breaks are short, and there are no handsome guys. There aren't any."
Yuan Jiani swore, "Impossible! I'm not easy to fool. You don't know how many times I've read every post on the No. 4 Middle School forum just for you."
Ren Li blinked: "So?"
"Of course there are handsome guys!" Yuan Jiani was very interested when talking about handsome guys. "Do you know Wen Shuo? What is he like? Is he good-looking? You don't know how often he appears in the forum."
Ren Li's eyes went dark. At first, she thought she had misheard. It was not until Jiani pressed the issue that she stammered, "It's just like that, just okay."
Yuan Jiani: "Average?"
This seemed different from what she knew.
But none of this matters anymore. Today’s main task is to chat and go shopping. Boys, you can stand a little further back.
Arm in arm, the two happily rushed into the mall near the subway station. Ren Li's joy had just warmed up, but before she had time to escalate, she was caught off guard by a familiar figure in front of the milk tea shop on the first floor.
Wen Shuo's figure was always easy to distinguish in a crowd. Nearly 1.9 meters tall, with broad shoulders and long legs, his figure was well-proportioned. At this moment, he stood outside the glass window like a plastic mannequin—as if waiting for someone.
Ren Li hesitated for a moment, and Yuan Jiani beside her suddenly burst into a long stream of exclamations: "Oh my god, Xiaoli, look, this boy is so damn handsome!"
Ren Li was startled by the sudden shout. Jiani grabbed her arm and shook her. At this moment, her face was full of black lines. She wanted to pretend that she was air, so that no one could see her.
But it was too late, Wen Shuo turned his head away.
The moment their eyes met, Ren Li felt as if the air around them was frozen. Wen Shuo was also taken aback, and then Ren Li saw Zhou Qi behind him, walking out of the milk tea shop.
Wen Shuo indeed did not come alone, because in addition to Zhou Qi, Ren Li also saw another boy and a girl wearing a miniskirt. Ren Li remembered the boy, Cheng Yuhang, whom she had met several times on the school bus.
"Ren Li?" Zhou Qi was the first to react and called out to Ren Li who was trying to slip away.
His voice was filled with a unique sense of surprise, abrupt and earth-shattering, successfully attracting the attention of everyone around to Ren Li.
Yuan Jiani, who was still unaware of the situation, turned around puzzledly and asked Ren Li, "What's going on? Do you know him?"
Since there was no way to escape, Ren Li had no choice but to bite the bullet and pull Yuan Jiani forward to greet Zhou Qi.
"Where is Zhang Xintong? Isn't she with you?" Zhou Qi looked around and didn't see Zhang Xintong, but he noticed Yuan Jiani.
Ren Li then remembered Zhang Xintong's invitation to hang out yesterday. She felt that it didn't have to be such a coincidence, as she had just rejected him yesterday and now they were meeting at the mall.
Ren Li shook her head: "No, I came here with my friends."
"Oh, I see." Zhou Qi didn't show any other emotions. He was very friendly and Yuan Jiani was always open and honest. After just a few words, they figured out the whole situation. Since they all knew each other, and it was a rare coincidence, Zhou Qi invited Jiani and Ren Li to go play together.
"We're going to the new gym on the eighth floor. Let's go together."
"Okay." Before Ren Li could answer, Jiani agreed on her behalf.
After some operations, Ren Li felt that she had inexplicably joined the team to play together in the blink of an eye.
There was an elevator to the eighth floor, but it was too crowded on weekends and you had to wait, so a few people took the escalator to go up slowly. Ren Li was originally with Jiani, but after a while, Zhou Qi came up.
He and Yuan Jiani got along quite well. Ren Li, holding Jiani's arm, heard Zhou Qi chatting with her nearby. Often, every time Zhou Qi said something, Jiani would laugh, and later Ren Li began to feel like a bright light bulb.
Later, she simply let go of Jiani's arm, leaving space for the two to talk, and gradually fell behind the crowd.
There was a boy standing next to me, I don't know when it started.
Ren Li felt that she had never spoken to Cheng Yuhang and was not familiar with him, so she remained silent until they walked side by side for a while.
Cheng Yuhang, on the other hand, seemed particularly enthusiastic and was always looking for opportunities to talk to Ren Li.
"We met on the school bus, remember? I've always wanted to find an opportunity to get to know you..." Cheng Yuhang was talking on the side, and Ren Li's thoughts were a little vague. For some reason, her eyes always unconsciously fell on Wen Shuo who was walking in front of her.
He was wearing a black and white gradient jacket today, and was talking to the girl next to him with his face sideways. The girl had a cute baby face, and at the moment she was looking up at Wen Shuo with a smile on her face, and a happy expression.
"Do you know Zhao Manyue too?" Perhaps because Ren Li was watching too intently, Cheng Yuhang suddenly came closer.
"Eh?" Ren Li was startled by his sudden action and subconsciously leaned back to keep some distance.
Cheng Yuhang just smiled and explained, "I saw you were looking at her just now, and I thought you knew each other."
Ren Li: "Who?"
Cheng Yuhang glanced at the girl in front of him: "Zhao Manyue, Zhou Qi's sister."
Ren Li realized belatedly that the girl standing next to Wen Shuo was the one who had been mentioned frequently by people around them, the rumored Zhou Qi's sister - Zhao Manyue.
So, she is Wen Shuo’s girlfriend.
However, Ren Li felt that this matter had nothing to do with him.
Seeing that Ren Li didn't say anything, Cheng Yuhang naturally changed the subject: "You should still take the school bus now."
Ren Li nodded. Thinking back, she realized that besides Wen Shuo, there was indeed another person she needed to thank on the school bus that day.
Thinking of this, Ren Li replied: "Well, actually, thank you for giving up your seat to me that day."
Seeing that Ren Li still remembered this incident, Cheng Yuhang seemed a little happy: "Really? So you still remember me. I'm in Class 13, and our classrooms are not far away. I'm quite familiar with Wen Shuo, and I often visit your class to hang out with him. If there's anything I can help with in the future, just come to me anytime."
He took out his phone and opened the chat app: "By the way, can I add you as a friend?"
Ren Li was hesitant, but Cheng Yuhang was too enthusiastic, so Ren Li began to think that there was nothing wrong with adding him as a friend.
She was about to pull out her phone when Wen Shuo, who was walking in front of her, suddenly stopped. His movements were so smooth that Ren Li almost lost her balance and bumped into him.
Looking up, I saw Wen Shuo turned around and said to Cheng Yuhang, "Stop talking, we're here."
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