Chapter 83 Follow Me
Zhou Chong paused for a moment, avoiding Jiang Wan's gaze, before curling his lips into a smile. "What would I be doing in Beijing?"
"What are you doing?" Jiang Wan raised her hand and pointed to the empty seat next to Jiang Shengming in the aisle. "Jiang Shengming went to Beijing today, and Cheng Rui went too. Isn't the interview tomorrow? Why aren't you going?"
Zhou Chong pursed his lips and lowered his eyes. "I'm not going to the interview."
“Not going to the interview…” Jiang Wan murmured, her hands falling to her sides, looking at Zhou Chong in disbelief. “How could this be?”
After a moment of silence, Zhou Chong raised his eyes and looked calmly at Jiang Wan.
His gaze was so deep that Jiang Wan couldn't understand it and couldn't discern any emotion in it.
But she was very anxious and couldn't calm down, so she didn't have time to slowly figure out Zhou Chong's hidden emotions.
Why wouldn't Zhou Chong go for the interview?
Did he fail the written test?
But how is that possible?
Who is Zhou Chong? He is a science genius who won first prize in the physics competition in his second year of high school and is a potential top science student who has consistently ranked first in his grade for many years.
Tsinghua University's science self-enrollment written test only tests math, physics, and chemistry. Jiang Shengming and Cheng Rui both passed, so how could he not have passed?
Jiang Wan took a deep breath and glanced at the classmate sitting nearby.
Although evening self-study hadn't officially started yet, everyone went back to the classroom after dinner and began doing their homework. The classroom was very quiet. The conversation between the two had already attracted the attention of some people, and Jiang Wan didn't want to talk about this with Zhou Chong in front of outsiders.
Regardless of how well Zhou Chong performed on the written test, it was inappropriate for other students to hear it.
Even if Zhou Chongzhen fails his written exam, she should comfort him even more.
Although she was unwilling to believe the possibility.
I don't know how to comfort him.
But she simply couldn't wait any longer, for whatever reason, not even for a moment.
She grabbed Zhou Chong's wrist and pulled him straight up from his seat. "Come with me."
Zhou Chong was clearly stunned for a moment; his brain hadn't processed what was happening before his body reacted first.
Looking down at the girl's back as she grabbed his wrist, he mechanically followed Jiang Wan out of the classroom.
Just as I was about to step out of the back door of the classroom, the bell for evening self-study suddenly rang.
But Jiang Wan seemed not to hear.
Sun Qianyu watched the two of them rush past her like a gust of wind, then stood up anxiously and whispered, "Class is starting, where are you going?"
"Something came up." Jiang Wan turned around and waved to her, her steps never faltering.
In the blink of an eye, the two figures disappeared through the back door of the classroom.
The bell for evening self-study was still ringing out, its tone fierce but its tone weak.
Sun Qianyu turned around, facing several astonished and scrutinizing gazes, and waved her hand, "What are you still looking at? Class is starting, everyone turn back and sit down!"
He looked every bit like a "deputy class monitor".
With the class monitor absent, it's understandable that the monitor's deskmate would temporarily maintain classroom discipline.
The students who were peering towards the back door of the classroom turned around and refocused their attention on their worksheets.
After all, the homeroom teacher tacitly approved of leaving the classroom during evening self-study, so what's there for them to make a fuss about?
However, I don't know if I saw things wrong, but when the two ran out, it seemed like they weren't carrying any books, but rather... they seemed to be holding hands?
The sleeves of the school uniform were too wide, and they swayed around when I ran, so I couldn't really see them clearly.
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Jiang Wan pulled Zhou Chong down the stairs, across the open space in front of the teaching building, and ran along the artificial lake.
The gentle spring night breeze caressed my face, making my rapid breathing, which had been quickened by running, seem to slow down.
At some point, their hands, which had been gripping each other's wrists, began to intertwine.
The temperature of their palms gradually became uniform, as if they were melting into the gentle night.
Gradually, Jiang Wan slowed down, took Zhou Chong's hand, and walked slowly along the artificial lake until they stopped next to a bench in front of a grove of trees.
It's not far from the teaching building, but it's separated by a large artificial lake. You can only see the brightly lit classrooms in the distance, and through the reflection on the lake, it's as if you're isolated in another world.
The sky had completely darkened, and the dim streetlights, standing far apart among the trees, were mostly obscured by the tall and lush branches of the sycamore trees, appearing and disappearing indistinctly.
The shadows of the two people were stretched very long.
Jiang Wan pulled Zhou Chong to sit down on the bench, took a deep breath, adjusted her breathing rhythm, and mentally prepared herself.
When she took Zhou Chong out of the classroom, she didn't think too much about it. She only thought that it was inconvenient to say the questions she wanted to ask him in the classroom.
But she hadn't really figured out how to bring it up with him.
How can I pretend nothing's wrong and casually bring up something sad that might upset him?
Even if it were just the two of them, Jiang Wan thought, Zhou Chong's pride wouldn't want to hear her deliberately crafted words of comfort.
Jiang Wan was troubled. Her brows furrowed unconsciously, and her hands clenched tighter.
She completely forgot that she and Zhou Chong were still holding hands.
"What's wrong?" Zhou Chong rubbed Jiang Wan's palm. "Are you nervous?"
"Huh?" Jiang Wan came to her senses and suddenly loosened her clenched fist, only to find that Zhou Chong's hand had been pinched red by her.
"I'm sorry." She quickly took his hand in hers and carefully touched the red mark with her fingertips. "Does it hurt?"
"It doesn't hurt." Zhou Chong shook his head with a smile. "But what's wrong with you? Why did you suddenly drag me out here?"
Jiang Wan looked up at Zhou Chong's slightly curved eyes, blinked, and put aside her muddled thoughts, asking without any pretense, "Did you not do well on the written test?"
Zhou Chong paused slightly, lowered his eyes, and smiled silently. "No."
"Then why don't you go for the interview?" Jiang Wan asked anxiously.
"It's not that I didn't do well on the exam." Zhou Chong let out a soft breath, a slight smile playing on his lips. "It's that I didn't go to the exam."
Jiang Wan was stunned.
After a long pause, she asked again softly, "...Didn't you take the exam?"
"Yes." Zhou Chong nodded.
"Why didn't you take the exam?" Jiang Wan seemed to have just confirmed this fact and pressed on, "Were you feeling unwell that day? But you seemed fine before school ended. Did you miss the exam? What happened?"
Zhou Chong looked up at her quietly, a smile on his lips. After she finished asking a series of questions, he patted her head and tucked a stray hair that had been blown by the wind behind her ear.
“Neither.” He shook his head slightly. “I didn’t register, so I’m not qualified to take the written test.”
Jiang Wan stood there stunned once again.
Her ponytail had come undone a little while she was running downstairs. The evening breeze lifted a few strands of hair that were hanging down, brushing against her cheeks and creating a few indistinct black lines in front of her eyes.
Zhou Chong's face was blurred and out of focus in front of her, as if it were unreal.
Until that cold, white hand rose up and brushed away a few strands of black hair, the person in front of her moved closer.
She grabbed his hand immediately, "...Why?"
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