Chapter 34
Before the bell rang for the first class, the seating chart at the back of the classroom was quietly changed.
Shi Mingyue pasted her name on the right side of Yun Zhan's. After she finished, she glanced at the whole class with a calm but authoritative look.
The young ladies only glanced at her briefly before quickly looking away, pretending they hadn't seen anything. In this school, no one dared to say a bad word about Shi Mingyue.
After all, she held a higher position and greater power than Senior Pei.
Wen Sixue stood in the aisle, holding her books, watching as the gold-embossed nameplate bearing the name "Shi Mingyue" was placed next to Yun Zhan's name. Her fingers unconsciously tightened, leaving a white mark on the spine of the book.
The school bell rang.
Shi Mingyue sat down first, placed her schoolbag on the table, and pulled out her chair with a short, crisp sound.
Yun Zhan then entered, his gaze lingering on the seating chart. He raised an eyebrow but remained silent.
"Was this seat assigned by the teacher? Where did Jiang Yanmo go?" Yun Zhan leaned close to the class monitor and quietly asked.
Shi Mingyue took Jiang Yanmo's seat, so... where did Jiang Yanmo go?
"Ahem, Jiang Yanmo has switched seats with Shi Mingyue."
"Yun Zhan, let me clarify first, it was Jiang Yanmo who agreed to the change." The class monitor had a strong desire to win, and she couldn't afford to offend Miss Shi.
But then again, Jiang Yanmo was really willing, because Miss Shi gave Jiang Yanmo a ruby, the kind that Jiang Yanmo could only dream of buying... and then she changed her seat next to Yun Zhan.
When Jiang Yanmo went to the restroom alone, Tao Ye stopped her.
Tao Ye grabbed her arm and asked, "Didn't you have a crush on Yun Zhan? Why don't you give up your spot and stop pursuing him?"
Jiang Yanmo paused for a moment, then weighed the ruby in her pocket: "Senior Pei and Shi Mingyue are both interested in Yun Zhan. I guess I should just give up. Sigh, I can't win them over."
After hearing the news that Shi Mingyue also liked Yun Zhan, Jiang Yanmo secretly held back a tear in the stairwell, but then she quickly understood.
There's no chance for a succubus like Yun Zhan...
Wen Sixue sat diagonally behind Yun Zhan, separated by an aisle. Her view was blocked by that straight back, and her chest felt like it was stuffed with a wet cotton ball, making her feel suffocated and painful.
Throughout the break, she kept her eyes on Yun Zhan's seat, and didn't hear a single word when the people next to her spoke to her.
The pen tip drew a bunch of meaningless lines on the notebook.
As soon as the school bell rang, Yun Zhan returned, his gaze sweeping over the crowd and landing on Wen Sixue's slightly pale face.
Yun Zhan walked over and asked in a low voice, "Why do you look so pale?"
Wen Sixue paused for half a second, her Adam's apple bobbing, her voice so soft it was almost inaudible: "My chest feels tight... I feel a little uncomfortable."
Yun Zhan didn't ask any more questions, but simply reached out to check her wrist pulse; his fingertips were cool to the touch.
"It's not convenient here, shall we go to the infirmary?"
Wen Sixue shook her head, lowering her eyes to hide her panic: "It's probably because the classroom is a bit stuffy and I'm not feeling well... Could you massage my shoulders for me?"
Her voice was low, yet it carried an undeniable softness.
Yun Zhan glanced around. There were few people in the classroom, so he stood sideways in front of her desk, placed his palm on Wen Sixue's shoulder blade, a little close to her left chest, and gently made clockwise circles through her school uniform shirt.
The warmth seeped through the fabric, causing Wen Sixue's eyelashes to tremble and the tips of her ears to turn red instantly.
Across a row of desks, Shi Mingyue was looking down at her book, but her fingertips lingered on the same line of text, and she didn't turn the page for a long time.
Shi Mingyue's pen stopped on the third line of the document page, the black lead type glaringly bright under the light.
Through a row of chair backs, she saw Yun Zhan lean down, his palm placed around Wen Sixue's chest...
The fingers tightened silently, and the pen splattered ink onto the paper, the ink quickly spreading.
She lowered her eyes, the shadows cast by her eyelashes concealing her emotions, but unable to hide the heat that quickly spread behind her ears.
She heard her own heartbeat—steady and strong, but for the first time, it had lost its rhythm.
It was as if someone was beating a drum inside her chest, each beat a reminder that the person she loved was currently comforting someone else's heart.
Yun Zhan didn't understand these things, but Shi Mingyue did.
Her eyes were fixed on Yun Zhan. Perhaps Yun Zhan was unaware of their feelings for her, which was why Wen Sixue could use the guise of being good friends to get close to Yun Zhan and shamelessly compete for him in front of her.
Yun Zhan is too innocent... Shi Mingyue doesn't want to use their friendship as a pretext for a romantic relationship.
She wanted Yun Zhan to clearly understand her feelings...
He tapped his knuckles lightly on the table, the sound was so soft, yet it startled the girl in the front row who turned around.
Shi Mingyue's gaze passed through the crowd and landed on Yun Zhan's profile. Yun Zhan was still very focused, with a gentleness between his brows that she had never seen before.
At that moment, she couldn't help but feel jealous.
It wasn't anger, nor questioning, but a dryness in my throat, like holding a piece of unmelted ice in my mouth, painfully cold, yet I couldn't bear to spit it out.
She closed the document, her fingertips pressing a crease into the cover.
The crease was so sharp it seemed it would pierce the paper at any moment, yet it remained there silently, just like herself, folding all her emotions into silence.
"Yun Zhan, class is starting." Shi Mingyue reminded him softly, but her voice trembled without her even realizing it.
Yun Zhan withdrew her hand and returned to her seat; she didn't sense anything amiss.
However, Wen Sixue's face turned rather pale...
The moment Yun Zhan sat down next to Shi Mingyue, Shi Mingyue looked up, her gaze sweeping over the still-wet ink stain on the table, and her eyes met Wen Sixue's in mid-air.
There was no sound, yet it was like two extremely thin silver threads suddenly straightened.
Shi Mingyue's gaze was calm, like a blade soaked in snow water, which could cut through all the other party's disguise with a light stroke.
Wen Sixue's eyes, however, carried the dampness of a rainy night; outwardly docile, yet deep within, a fire that refused to be extinguished blazed.
In an instant, the silver threads trembled slightly—
Shi Mingyue silently tightened the cap of the pen half a turn with her fingertips;
Wen Sixue's hands hung at her sides, her knuckles white from the force she exerted.
To an outsider, it was just two girls politely exchanging glances;
Only they themselves knew what kind of warning and declaration were exchanged in that glance—they clashed in the shadows, but didn't let a third person hear the explosive sound.
"I heard from them that you've already completed your credits." The teacher hadn't arrived yet, so Yun Zhan put his books on the table and turned to talk to Shi Mingyue.
"That's true, so do you think I'm a little strange?" When Shi Mingyue met Yun Zhan's gaze, her eyes were soft and warm, and the way her eyebrows curved made Yun Zhan a little shy...
Yun Zhan's cheeks felt a little hot; she truly lived up to her role as the female lead...
Yun Zhan: Shi Mingyue looks so beautiful when she smiles. How can she be so gentle and beautiful?
21: Is it possible that she is only so gentle in front of you?
“Nothing’s strange. So… how’s your Spanish learning going?” Yun Zhan’s eyes were bright as he snuggled up to Shi Mingyue like a little puppy.
The moment Yun Zhan approached, his hot breath fell on Shi Mingyue's neck, and her fair, snow-white skin was tinged with red.
"I got a perfect score on the final exam last semester."
Yun Zhan's approach made her heart pound. The faint scent of soap and lemon lingered, and Shi Mingyue's throat went dry. She almost stammered as she spoke.
"Could you teach me grammar?"
"sure."
When Shi Mingyue spoke, she didn't look up. Her slightly turned face was almost touching Yun Zhan's earlobe—her breath brushed past, carrying a hint of the refreshing coolness of mint candy.
Yun Zhan instinctively moved half an inch to the side, but Shi Mingyue gently tapped him back with the cap of her pen: "Don't move, the teacher is coming, don't speak too loudly."
They were less than a fist's width apart.
Sunlight streamed in through the high window, casting a narrow shadow that overlapped the two figures, like a taut string.
Across the aisle, Wen Sixue gripped a ballpoint pen, her knuckles turning white.
She knew the answer to that question too; she had even written a simpler solution last night, but she couldn't find a reason to go over it.
At this moment, she could only watch as Shi Mingyue's wrist moved back and forth on Yun Zhan's draft paper, occasionally pausing to write, her fingertips inadvertently brushing against Yun Zhan's knuckles. The movement was as light as a feather, yet each touch grazed Wen Sixue's nerves.
The teacher's footsteps drew closer, but Shi Mingyue still didn't stray far from Yun Zhan.
Shi Mingyue turned her head to the side, her voice so low that only Yun Zhan could hear: "Memorize these before evening self-study, I will check them."
Yun Zhan nodded, the tips of his ears showing a faint blush in the light and shadow.
Wen Sixue lowered her eyes, the tip of her pen poking a black dot on the paper, the ink spreading like a silent sigh.
...
In the evening, Shi Mingyue took Yun Zhan out for dinner.
As Shi Mingyue led Yun Zhan by the hand, a familiar person walked towards them—it was Pei Yanxi.
Shi Mingyue's body trembled almost imperceptibly for a moment. She had anticipated before coming that she would inevitably run into Pei Yanxi at Mington School, but she hadn't expected Pei Yanxi to arrive so quickly...
Ten steps away, Pei Yanxi also noticed them and stopped.
Pei Yanxi was wearing a dark gray trench coat today. Her skin was very fair, and the gray made her skin look almost transparent. Her eyes had dark circles from staying up all night, but they were still sharp.
Their eyes met in the cold air, without words or movement, for a fleeting moment.
The moment their eyes met, Shi Mingyue felt Pei Yanxi's icy scrutiny:
Pei Yanxi's gaze was cold, like an icicle, sliding from her brow bone to her intertwined fingers with Yun Zhan's, before silently withdrawing.
Pei Yanxi nodded slightly, the movement so small it was almost imperceptible;
The next instant, Shi Mingyue sensed that something was wrong.
Pei Yanxi's lips did not curve into a smile, nor did they convey hostility; instead, they held a weary, almost resigned calm.
The tranquility was so pure, so pure that Shi Mingyue felt a sudden emptiness in her heart—
Her prepared sharpness and confrontation all fell flat.
...Isn't Pei Yanxi angry? Seeing herself holding hands with Yun Zhan.
As they brushed past each other, Pei Yanxi spoke softly, so softly that only Shi Mingyue could hear her:
"Treat her well."
The four words, like snowflakes falling on red-hot iron, evaporated instantly, leaving only a faint, almost imperceptible astringent taste.
Shi Mingyue's steps remained steady, but her fingers loosened slightly.
She glanced to the side, and in her peripheral vision, the figure had already blended into the shadow of the ginkgo trees, the hem of his trench coat lifted by the wind, like a flag finally folded up.
Yun Zhan noticed her pause: "What's wrong?"
Shi Mingyue lowered her eyes, concealing the shock and confusion in her eyes, and said in a calm voice, "It's nothing, it's just windy."
Ginkgo leaves continued to fall, forming a silent golden dividing line.
She took Yun Zhan's hand, crossed the line, and didn't look back.
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