Chapter 13 The buzz cut girl is willing to help classmates
When she woke up in the morning, she found that the 38th parallel was still standing. Zhu Yingning was a little surprised. She thought Xu Sirui had really changed and could control his sleeping position. But when she saw the two huge dark circles under his eyes, she knew that this man had not improved his sleeping position at all, but had not slept all night.
She was speechless and too lazy to pay attention to him. As usual, she finished her farm work, had breakfast, stuffed her lunch break into her schoolbag, and prepared to go to school.
After taking a few steps, I heard a flurry of footsteps behind me.
When she went to school alone, the crew would not send anyone to follow her. After all, their subject was Xu Sirui, and she was just a byproduct. So when she heard the noise, she knew it must be Xu Sirui who followed her. Only when he followed would the crew go out in full force.
Looking back, it was true.
Xu Sirui stood behind her, about seven or eight meters away, looking very uncomfortable. It was clear that the sleepless night before hadn't made him forget the awkwardness, but instead had made it even more intense. He said, "Don't get me wrong, it's not that I dislike going to school. It's just that staying at your house is too boring."
She said "Oh", turned around and continued walking forward.
Xu Sirui followed behind her, keeping a distance from her that was neither too far nor too close.
She walked all the way to school in silence, put down her schoolbag, packed up her textbooks, and walked up to the podium to start her daily reading.
It happened that the head teacher Chen Bin also came. He first explained to her the content of today's morning reading, and then walked around the classroom with a ruler in hand, reminding students who came late to take out their textbooks.
Walking to the back row, he saw Xu Sirui idly twirling a pen in Zhu Jixiang's seat. His face lit up with joy, and he took the initiative to walk over and say, "Xu Sirui, you finally came to school!"
Xu Sirui didn't know how to respond, so he just nodded.
Chen Bin's enthusiasm for teaching did not diminish due to his cold reaction. Instead, he patted his shoulder and said, "Come with me to my office."
...again?
Xu Sirui didn't know where this man got so much patience to persuade others, but he was free now, so after thinking about it, he got up and followed him.
Just like last time, Chen Bin bent down and rummaged through the drawer, finding the notebook and pencil that he had failed to hand over to him last time. He handed them to him and said stubbornly, "Here, use them first."
“…”
Xu Sirui's mouth twitched. He suspected that if he didn't accept it, this person would insist on inviting him three times, so he had to free up one hand to take it.
Chen Bin nudged his glasses, which had slid down, with his knuckles and a pleased smile. "That's right! How can students come to school without pen and paper? Pen and paper are to students like weapons to soldiers; you can't go into battle without weapons." He then changed the subject and asked with concern, "What do you think of our class? Are you getting along with your classmates?"
"I don't know. I'm not familiar with him." He answered coldly.
"Not familiar? Not familiar..." Chen Bin hissed and pondered, "That's right, you haven't had a chance to get familiar with your classmates yet... How about this, Xu Sirui, the teacher will create an opportunity for you and entrust you with a glorious and difficult task. How about it?"
His heart suddenly started to ring with alarm bells, and he refused without thinking: "No."
Chen Bin ignored her and smiled to himself, "Don't rush to refuse. Listen to what the teacher says. Our school originally had two flag-raisers, but one of them had a family incident and had to temporarily take a leave of absence to go home and take care of household chores. Because of this, our school hasn't raised the flag in three weeks. We originally wanted to find other students to take over, but unfortunately, none of them were tall enough. Look, you've come at the perfect time. The teacher wants to give you this glorious and arduous task of raising the flag next Monday. I hope to use this opportunity to change your image in the eyes of your classmates and help you adapt to campus life as quickly as possible... Hey, Xu Sirui! Where are you going?"
While he was speaking, Xu Sirui had already walked out of the office with a pen and paper. Chen Bin was stunned. He had been teaching for many years and had seen students who talked back to their teachers and students who made trouble, but this was the first time he had seen a student like Xu Sirui who turned around and walked away in the middle of listening to a conversation.
Once Xu Sirui decided he didn't want to listen anymore, he wouldn't listen anymore, no matter how hard anyone tried to talk him out of it. Chen Bin chased him out, wanting to try and persuade him, but before he could even open his mouth, he'd already walked back into the classroom, plopped down in his seat, and flipped open his textbook, pretending to start his morning reading.
**
After morning reading, the students had a brief five-minute break. Xu Sirui closed his textbook and yawned, covering his mouth.
The fat boy sitting next to him whispered, "I thought you weren't coming to class."
He glanced at him with his mouth open, but said nothing.
**
After the morning classes, Xu Sirui was either asleep or in a daze. The novelty of the first day of class had long since worn off. Now, even if the teacher's lectures were riddled with errors and omissions, they didn't pique his interest at all. He just felt sleepy.
After finally making it to lunchtime, everyone dispersed, each calling their friends to find a place to eat. He groped under the table, trying to find something to eat, until he pulled out a stack of books. It was then that he remembered he had left in a hurry that morning and only brought one person with him, not lunch.
……never mind.
After coming here, going hungry has become the norm. In the past, when he was hungry and had no food to eat, he would definitely complain, but now he can calmly accept the fact of not having a meal.
Just as I was about to lie down on the table and take a nap, someone poked me in the back.
Xu Sirui turned around, and before he saw the person who poked him, a piece of cake appeared in front of him.
No, it's half a cake.
Zhu Yingning wrapped the half piece of cake she had broken off in a tissue, nodded at him, and motioned him to take it and eat it.
If he didn't know she was a girl, he would have probably accepted it. But after knowing she was a girl, Xu Sirui felt uncomfortable looking at that half piece of cake. He turned his face away and refused bluntly, "No need."
Zhu Yingning curled her lips, withdrew her hand, and no longer insisted.
He fell asleep on the desk.
The lunch break lasted two hours, and Xu Sirui slept soundly for more than an hour. As class was approaching and more and more students returned to the classroom, he was awakened by the sound of talking. He sat up with a sleepy and sleep-deprived face and a lot of resentment.
Just as he was emitting curse-like resentment, a long strip of object suddenly appeared beside him. Xu Sirui glanced sideways and found that his chubby deskmate handed him a bag of soda crackers.
"I see you didn't have lunch, and I can't finish these cookies. Would you like to have them?" he asked.
This time Xu Sirui was finally moved. He took it and said, "Thank you."
"polite."
The conversation started, and the little fat boy began to actively approach him: "Hey, I heard they said you are from Beijing, is that true?"
"Yeah." He tore open the package of soda crackers and nodded casually.
"Wow! So you must have seen the Great Wall, the Temple of Heaven, and the Forbidden City?"
"I guess so. I went there during the spring outing in elementary school."
"Spring outing?" The little chubby boy made an exaggerated expression, his exaggeration tinged with a hint of longing and an inexplicable admiration, as if the spring outing was some truly remarkable event. "Your school actually has a spring outing?! Isn't that something you only see on TV?"
“…”
Xu Sirui found the topic awkward, but for the sake of the cookies, he remained patient and nodded reluctantly. Afraid his new deskmate would throw out more difficult questions, he swallowed his cookie and quickly changed the subject, saying, "By the way..." Glancing behind the table and noticing Zhu Yingning was gone, he asked the question that had been bothering him all night, "Did you know your class monitor is a woman?"
"Huh?" Xiaopang was confused by his strange question. "Of course, otherwise how could she be a man?"
"Doesn't anyone think her hairstyle is..." He paused, searching his mind for the right word, "very trendy?"
Xiaopang suddenly realized and said, "You mean her hairstyle doesn't look like a woman's? Actually, it's okay. She has a reason for it."
"What's the reason?"
Was she trapped in love? Was she trying to be different? Was she being raised as a boy because her family prioritized boys over girls? Or was she simply looking for a buzz cut to make washing easier? As Xu Sirui was wondering, the chubby little boy pointed his index finger at a girl sitting in the third row of the fourth group and said, "Look at her."
Following his finger, Xu Sirui was surprised: "Fuck, is it customary for girls here to have short hair?"
In addition to Zhu Yingning, there was another girl with a bald head in the class.
The fat boy chuckled twice. "No, this girl is Zhou Li, from the same village as me. Her family is relatively poor, and the sanitation conditions are average. They had a lice problem at home a while ago."
"…Lice what?!"
Xu Sirui was horrified and got goose bumps all over his body. He subconsciously turned his body away from Zhou Li - even though they were already tens of thousands of miles apart.
"Lice! Her family had a lice infestation. She used to have long, thick, and profuse hair, but after getting lice, her family ignored her wishes and cut off all her hair while she was sleeping, saying they were trying to get rid of the lice. Zhou Li was devastated when she woke up. We lived across two lanes from her house, but we could still hear her crying. Her father thought her crying was too loud and beat her, but she kept crying and refused to come to school. Even our class teacher went to her house to persuade her, but it was useless. Her father was so angry that he even threatened to have her drop out of school."
Xu Sirui showed a look of disgust: "So Zhu Yingning got lice from her, so she cut her hair?"
"What are you thinking?" The little fat boy waved his hands. "Our squad leader didn't have lice. She cut them off voluntarily."
"Why?" He was confused.
"To get Zhou Li to go to school."
Xu Sirui took a moment to realize what he meant, and her eyes widened in disbelief. "You said she cut her hair to give this Zhou Li the courage to come to school? Just so that Zhou Li would feel like she had company?"
"That's right." The little fat boy nodded as a matter of course. "The effect is immediate. Look, Zhou Li has come to school now."
"…Is she sick?"
This matter was completely beyond Xu Sirui's comprehension. If he were in Zhu Yingning's shoes, he would never go to such lengths for a classmate like she did. For Xu Sirui, hairstyle represented his appearance, and appearance was everything. He would rather die than sacrifice his appearance.
However, this complaint seemed to offend the little fat boy. He pouted and spoke up for Zhu Yingning, "Our squad leader is a very nice person. Don't say that about her."
"I'm not wrong, is she a good person? I think she's mentally ill."
The little fat boy didn't expect this guy to be so mean. He was so angry that he almost had a heart attack. He glared at him for a few seconds, then suddenly reached out and snatched the uneaten soda crackers from his hand.
He was confused: "What are you doing?"
"Since you think she's a bad person, then don't eat it. Anyway, she traded half of this cookie with me and asked me to give it to you secretly... I think it's better to feed it to the dog than to give it to you!"
Upon hearing this, Xu Sirui was stunned where he was.
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