Chapter 29
On the first day of school, all the teachers took the opportunity of distributing test papers to meet with the students.
About half of the teachers are young, and everyone gets along quite easily.
Just before the first evening self-study session, Zeng Li returned to the classroom and distributed the ranking sheets of all subjects to each student individually.
Although the grades were read out before each class, the distribution was still split up to save face for some students who did not do well.
When Zeng was cutting Bai Nan's hair, he said to her privately, "I believe you can definitely get back into the top three. You must keep it up!"
Her voice was very low, and almost only Bai Nan could hear it.
Bai Nan gripped the folded note tightly, but instead of opening it immediately, she tossed it into her desk drawer. The classmates who saw it all curled their lips in disapproval.
Huang Wang looked up and saw that Bai Nan's hair on the back of her head seemed a little messy, probably because she slept during the long break.
These past few days he had actually regretted it a little, but as soon as get out of class ended, Bai Nan would lie down on the table and sleep, ignoring everyone, and the courage he had finally mustered up gradually disappeared.
During the first evening self-study session, no teacher took over the class.
The students were very excited. Some of them were excited because it was the first day of school and the course content was not much and the homework was easy, so they wanted to chat with their new classmates more.
Some are simply interested in the grades of others, asking all the students around them, and still not satisfied, they extend their reach to even more distant places.
There are also a few who are simply gossip lovers. As long as there is the slightest disturbance in the class, they will seize on it and start gossiping about it.
"Hey, tell me, how did Chen Shu and Huang Wang break up?"
"I don't know either, but it seems like they've never gotten along, right? Didn't Chen Shu bully Huang Wang when school just started?"
"Hey, hey, watch your words! Shushu didn't bully him. It was a boy on the bus who insulted Shushu, and Shushu wanted to find out who it was, which led to the misunderstanding. Bai Di was there too; he was the one who pulled Huang Wang off the bus with him!"
"Wow, how do you know all that?"
"Of course, who am I? The second-in-command of the gossip group, okay? But it's true that someone uploaded this to the school network, I'm not taking credit for it~"
"So you must know about the gossip surrounding Bai Di and Xu Xin? Is it true or false?"
"Hmm... I've done some calculations, and you're about to lose a lot of money~"
"What's going on? Is it Wong Tai Sin?"
"No, no, no, you'll lose five dollars, which you can use to buy my analysis of whether this melon is real or fake. How about it? Buy it or not?"
"Go away, who cares if it's true or false? I don't eat any melons that cost me money!"
"Stingy..."
High school time always flies by. I had just finished two sets of test papers when the evening self-study bell rang on time.
Actually, no teacher assigned a test paper on the first day, but Bai Nan still made a copy of both the math and physics papers and rewrote them by comparing them with the standard answers.
If there's one good thing about Bai Nan's recent events, it's that she's back in her first year of high school.
She can start learning from scratch, which gives her the opportunity to solidify her foundation in both math and physics, and also gives her twice as much time to review as others.
Now, she's actually somewhat grateful for that talisman.
Five minutes later, Bai Nan finally finished her unfinished homework and prepared to take it back to her dormitory to complete it.
There were only a few people left in the class. She glanced around and realized she hadn't spoken to any of them, so she left without saying goodbye.
However, she didn't notice the glances the other students gave her during evening self-study, and the things they whispered about were mostly related to her.
On her way back to the dormitory, Bai Di suddenly appeared and stopped her.
Bai Di: "Sister...I want to talk to you."
"...Where to?"
"...The playground."
Bai Nan followed behind him. In fact, she had a premonition that he would come to find her after the results came out. She could start over from scratch if she went back to the first year of high school, but he would have to face the pressure of taking the college entrance examination a year later.
I guess I bombed the exam.
Evening self-study ends at 10:30 PM. The playground is mostly filled with young couples, and a few students are jogging at night.
Bai Di chose a sparsely populated section of the stands, hiding in a corner where the spotlights couldn't reach and it was pitch black.
Bai Nan followed his silhouette and sat down beside him.
"...Sister...I...can we...can we switch back?" His voice was low, filled with deep unease.
Bai Nan remained silent, gazing up at the moon in the sky. After a quarter of an hour, she softly replied, "Yes."
"Then, when will that be? Approximately how long?"
She turned to look at Bai Di, her eyes shining brightly in the darkness. "I don't know either, but we can definitely get it back."
"Sis, I...I bombed the exam..."
The moonlight brightened a little, spreading evenly across the stands, and a patch of it also fell on Bai Di's lowered neck, making her appear pale.
She suddenly laughed: "Really? I failed the exam too."
"......"
"It's easy to fail the test, just do better next time."
"I...I'll try my best..."
"You're not crying, are you?" Bai Nan put her hand on his shoulder and touched his face.
Bai Di turned his back and retorted, "Tch, no, no way."
Bai Nan suddenly became serious: "Bai Di, do you know?"
"......Um?"
"You'll hiccup when you cry, don't hold it in!"
"Hehe, you're overthinking it... hiccup..."
Hahahaha—
"Hiccup, don't laugh!"
After Bai Di left, Bai Nan gazed at the moon from the stands for a long time.
She only started to descend the steps from the stands after her hands and feet grew cold and the couples began to leave.
As she took the last step, both feet touched the ground, and she jumped down.
The moonlight is fair; it doesn't shine on any hidden places, but she still wanted to jump. Luckily, she didn't twist her ankle.
Once again, Xu Xin returned to his dormitory in the dark. As usual, a raised mound appeared on his bed; he was already asleep.
Since the night they slept together, the two have hardly seen each other again. They were not in the same grade to begin with, so their current situation is normal.
Her skin felt cold, and when she entered the warm room, she couldn't help but get goosebumps. She rubbed her arms, preparing to wash up quickly and go straight to bed so she could do her homework in bed.
She tried her best not to make a sound, but the rustling noises were unavoidable. When she got into bed, she noticed a sliver of light on the other side of the bed.
She sat on the edge of the bed, and the light drifted closer and closer until it stopped when they were face to face.
"Bai Nan, can we talk?"
The balcony curtains weren't fully drawn, and she looked at the moonlight reflected in Xu Xin's eyes. It was a pale color, yet it appeared as a dazzling hue in Tao Hua's eyes.
A minute later, they sat side by side at the desk, the desk lamp casting a soft, dim light.
“I think there must be some misunderstanding.” He turned his head and looked at her seriously.
"...Is there? What is it?" Bai Nan didn't think there was any misunderstanding, and even if there was, she didn't have time to deal with it.
All she wants to do now is study, work hard, and work even harder.
Xu Xin opened his mouth, but the smile on his lips faded.
"......"
There was a moment of silence between them, then Bai Nan spoke first: "Are you alright? I'm going to do my homework now. Oh, by the way, since you can't sleep right now, can I leave the desk lamp on for a while? I'll turn it off after you fall asleep."
She picked up a stack of books from the bed and put them on the table, switched the desk lamp to incandescent mode, picked up a ballpoint pen, and started doing her homework.
Xu Xin went back to bed, leaned against the pillow, and stared intently at her back. The sound of the pen tip scratching the paper was obvious; she was indeed studying diligently.
Twenty minutes later, Bai Nan rubbed her sore wrists and prepared to drink a cup of warm water to soothe her dry and itchy throat.
Turning her head, she noticed an extra cup on the table, a porcelain cup she had brought from home, steaming inside.
She turned around, looked at Xu Xin who was already asleep, and after a moment, raised her cup and took a sip.
When Bai Nan woke up the next day, he felt dizzy and lightheaded, his throat was dry and itchy, and his eyes felt sore and swollen.
She guessed that she had caught a cold from the cool breeze last night and planned to go to the clinic during her lunch break to get a box of 999 Cold Relief Granules.
I glanced at the time; it was still ten minutes to 7:30, a time when Xu Xin is usually still asleep.
She quickly got out of bed, washed up briefly, grabbed her books, and rushed to the classroom.
The first morning self-study session started at 8:30. She went to the cafeteria, bought two steamed buns and a cup of soy milk, and took them to the classroom to eat.
When she arrived at the classroom at 7:40, there were a few people sitting scattered around, one of whom was sitting behind her.
When she placed the breakfast on the table, Huang Wang looked up, made a few sounds, then lowered his head to continue reading.
Bai Nan didn't pay attention to him. After sitting down, she started eating steamed buns. The soy milk was a bit hot, so she decided to wait a while before drinking it.
But this morning's steamed buns were filled with smooth red bean paste, which stuck in my throat as soon as I put it in my mouth, and I couldn't swallow it no matter what.
Helpless, he inserted a straw and sipped the scalding hot soy milk, trying to get it down.
The soy milk was too hot, and my throat was already itchy, so I started coughing as soon as it went down.
"Cough, cough... cough cough..." She tried her best to hold it in, but the coughing only got louder and louder.
"...cough cough...cough!"
Others noticed her commotion and looked over. She covered her mouth with her hand, trying to lower her voice.
Just then, there was a sound of a chair being pulled out from behind him, and then Huang Wang got up and left through the back door.
This unexpected turn of events drew a few more glances at Bai Nan from the other students. When they found that she didn't react at all, they gave up their gossipy thoughts and refocused their attention on their textbooks.
After drinking half a cup of soy milk, her throat finally felt less itchy. She quickly cleaned up the food scraps, took out her math textbook (compulsory course 1), and buried herself in doing math problems.
Twenty minutes later, more and more students arrived in the class. After Chen Shu and her female roommates arrived, the place became as lively as a vegetable market.
"Bai Di, you don't look well. Are you feeling unwell?" Chen Shu stood next to Bai Nan's desk, bent down, and asked with concern.
They had barely spoken in the past two days, but Chen Shu's attitude towards her was no different from when they first met. It was just that Bai Nan felt uncomfortable and awkward.
"...I'm fine, thank you for your concern," she said.
"But your—" Chen Shu wanted to say something, but the bell for the morning self-study session rang just then, interrupting her.
Zeng Li walked into the classroom, stood on the podium and scanned the room, finding two empty seats.
“Where are Huang Wang and Peng Lei? Does anyone know where they went?” she asked.
The students looked left and right, then shook their heads; no one knew what the two of them had been doing.
A girl who arrived at class early glanced back at Bai Nan, and was about to speak to the teacher when a voice suddenly came from the front door.
"Report!" Huang Wang gasped for breath, leaning against the door with one hand and holding a black plastic bag in the other.
"Come in, come earlier next time." Zeng Li didn't say much. Huang Wang was a good student who hardly needed any discipline from the teacher.
Huang Wang strode into the classroom, while Zeng Li continued to ask Peng Lei's roommates if they had seen him.
Zeng Li: "Li Si, Peng Lei didn't leave after checking the dorms last night, did he?"
Li Si: "I don't know. I went to bed early last night, Zhuozi, do you know that?"
Wang Zhuo shook his head. "I didn't notice."
"Never mind, class monitor, lead them in self-study first." Zeng Li picked up his phone from the podium and walked towards the door.
Everyone consciously took out their books to study on their own. Bai Nan pulled out a piece of draft paper and started working on the homework problems. The pens she pressed made a clicking sound.
Huang Wang walked up to her table at that moment, and Bai Lu at the next table thought he was blocking his way: "What's wrong, Wangzai?"
Wangzai is the nickname given to Huang Wangqi by the boys in the class, which mainly carries the auspicious meaning of bringing good luck to the whole class's academic performance.
Bai Lu turned around and glanced at the back of his chair. "I'm not blocking the way..."
At the same time, Huang Wang walked past him and placed the plastic bag he was holding on Bai Nan's table. He moved his lips a few times, but in the end he didn't say anything. He squeezed behind Chen Shu's chair and returned to his own seat.
Bai Lu pointed in shock at the plastic bag on Bai Nan's table, then turned back to point at Huang Wang, and after a long pause, finally let out a long sigh.
Bai Nan only noticed Huang Wang when she put the plastic bag on her desk. She looked up at him, but he didn't say anything, just dropped the bag and left.
Looking back, the plastic bag was black and opaque, so you couldn't tell what was inside from the outside.
But she had a feeling that she knew what was inside.
As if to verify her guess, the student in front of her suddenly moved his chair back, the back of the chair slamming hard against the desk.
With a "click," the contents of the plastic bag fell out and landed on the ground. Bai Nan bent down and picked it up.
"Damn, Wangzai, you're really bold to buy her cold medicine!" Bai Lu said sarcastically when he saw the cold medicine.
Bai Nan looked at the 999 Cold Remedy in his hand.
She had planned to buy it during her lunch break...
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