Outside the examination room
These past few days have been extremely difficult for Jiang Jingshu. Xie Zhijin is still in City A, but she has not taken the initiative to see him again.
The chat window remained silent, with no new messages.
Jiang Jingshu thought that this was the result she wanted.
Soon it was time for Xie Zhijin's competition. Jiang Jingshu found out the location of the competition from her classmates. Although Jiang Jingshu had made up her mind not to think about him, she still wanted to secretly see him during the competition.
Just hide by the door and catch a glimpse of him from afar.
Jiang Jingshu disguised herself, wearing a mask and hat, and appeared at the entrance of the examination hall.
The exam was scheduled to start at nine o'clock. Jiang Jingshu had asked her teacher for leave the day before and arrived at the exam hall at seven o'clock. She hid behind the crowd and looked at them.
She just didn't see Xie Zhijin.
Jiang Jingshu was a little anxious. Her eyes darted around rapidly, but she couldn't find the person she wanted to see.
A girl tugged at Jiang Jingshu's sleeve. Jiang Jingshu turned around and saw a little girl who looked about five or six years old. The girl picked up something from the ground and handed it to Jiang Jingshu.
Jiang Jingshu took it instinctively, and heard the little girl say, "Sister, the little tiger hanging on your bag is so cute."
Jiang Jingshu squatted down and smiled at her, "Do you like it?"
The little girl nodded. "I like it."
"How about I give it to you?" Jiang Jingshu gently stroked the little girl's hair and said tenderly to her.
The little girl quickly shook her head. "These belong to my older sister. I don't want them."
Jiang Jingshu smiled, stuffed the pendant into the little girl's hand, and then left.
But she still couldn't find Xie Zhijin.
The little girl skipped away with the tiger pendant Jiang Jingshu had given her. She wasn't looking where she was going and bumped into someone.
The little girl fell to the ground, and the little tiger pendant in her hand rolled down in front of the boy who called out to her.
The boy bent down, picked up the pendant, and stared at it for a long time.
He didn't come to his senses until the little girl called him. He turned his gaze to the little girl, bent down and handed her the things. "I'm sorry, little sister, I knocked you down. Are you alright?"
The little girl shook her head and took the tiger keychain the boy offered her. "It's okay, brother."
"Your little tiger keychain is so cute." The boy seemed to still be lost in thought.
"Of course!" the little girl smiled proudly. "It was a gift from an older sister."
"Sister?" The boy seemed to want to confirm something. He bent down again to look at the little girl and asked, "Didn't you buy this little pendant?"
The little girl shook her head. "I just got this. I found that the older sister's tiger keychain was missing, and she thought I was cute, so she gave me this."
Upon hearing the word "just now," the boy's eyes lit up and then dimmed. He sighed, ruffled the little girl's hair, and then got up and entered the examination room.
Jiang Jingshu waited for a while at the entrance of the examination hall. The candidates would not come out until 11:00 a.m., so Jiang Jingshu sat down at the entrance of the examination hall to wait.
The sun was quite strong, and Jiang Jingshu noticed that there was a parasol above her head. She subconsciously looked up.
"Little sister?" Jiang Jingshu breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the person who arrived. "Why are you still here?"
"I'm waiting for my brother to take his exam." The little girl sat next to Jiang Jingshu. "Sister, please don't call me little sister anymore. My name is Sun Qing. Please call me Qingqing."
"Hello, Qingqing, my name is Jingshu," Jiang Jingshu replied.
"Your name sounds familiar." Sun Qing thought carefully. "Sister, are you a student at A City No. 1 High School?"
Jiang Jingshu nodded.
"Sister, are you in Class 2 of Grade 11?" Sun Qing became more and more excited as she spoke. After receiving Jiang Jingshu's affirmative answer, Sun Qing happily stood up. "That's great, sister! You and my brother are in the same class. My brother is Sun Huai."
Jiang Jingshu recognized the name; he was a math genius in the class. However, Jiang Jingshu didn't know him well, so she simply nodded and said to Sun Qing, "What a coincidence."
Finally, people began to leave the examination room one after another. Jiang Jingshu lowered her hat, said a brief goodbye to Sun Qing, and then quietly walked to the back of the crowd.
She looked around and finally saw the figure she had been longing for.
Xie Zhijin seemed to be looking around, as if searching for something. Jiang Jingshu secretly stared at him, watching him lower his head in disappointment, intending to leave the examination room.
Jiang Jingshu was a little sad, and Xie Zhijin looked noticeably haggard.
Their eyes met for a fleeting moment, which startled Jiang Jingshu. She quickly lowered her hat and instinctively tried to escape.
Unexpectedly, Sun Qing appeared beside her, grabbed Jiang Jingshu's hand, and ran towards the examination room.
Jiang Jingshu didn't have time to react, so she could only try her best not to look in Xie Zhijin's direction.
Sun Qing, holding Jiang Jingshu's hand, waved to Sun Huai, "Brother! Brother!"
Sun Huai quickly came over and picked Sun Qing up. He noticed that Sun Qing was holding Jiang Jingshu's hand and couldn't help but ask in confusion, "Jiang Jingshu?"
As soon as Sun Huai spoke, Jiang Jingshu was a little scared. She subconsciously glanced in Xie Zhijin's direction and breathed a sigh of relief when she found that he was not looking in her direction.
"Are you here to pick me up?" Sun Huai asked, somewhat puzzled.
Before Jiang Jingshu could refuse, Sun Qing tugged at Jiang Jingshu's hand, "Yes, brother, we've been waiting for you outside for a long time."
Sun Huai seemed a little surprised. He stared at Jiang Jingshu and asked, "I'm taking my sister out to eat later. Do you want to come?"
Jiang Jingshu quickly waved her hand to refuse.
Sun Huai gave Jiang Jingshu a cryptic smile, then pulled Sun Qing away.
Jiang Jingshu sighed, finally it was over.
She subconsciously turned her head, but Xie Zhijin was no longer in sight. She didn't linger and returned to school.
After Jiang Jingshu left, Xie Zhijin came out from behind. He was a little annoyed, especially after hearing Sun Qing tell Sun Huai that Jiang Jingshu was waiting for Sun Huai.
He felt somewhat weak.
At first, Xie Zhijin thought the tiger pendant was just a coincidence. He had only seen the tiger pendant on Jiang Jingshu's schoolbag before, and he also thought that Jiang Jingshu would not appear at the entrance of the examination hall.
But he still held onto hope, searching for the girl's figure the instant he left the examination hall.
When Xie Zhijin saw that familiar figure, his eyes lit up. Just as he was about to step forward, he noticed that another boy was standing next to Jiang Jingshu.
And he clearly heard why Jiang Jingshu appeared at the entrance of the examination room: it wasn't because of Xie Zhijin, but because of the boy next to her.
A sense of loss instantly welled up in my heart, and a bittersweet feeling filled my soul.
Outside the examination hall, the old man selling candied hawthorns was still selling them. Xie Zhijin walked over and bought two skewers.
Then they ate quietly.
He finished both skewers by himself, then watched Jiang Jingshu leave before leaving as well.
He should leave City A.
After all, there was no reason to stay any longer.
—
Ever since she met Sun Huai that day, Sun Huai has come to see her every day, bringing Jiang Jingshu breakfast and stuffing small snacks into Jiang Jingshu's drawer.
Jiang Jingshu was very puzzled. Her deskmate was a boy who was on good terms with Sun Huai. She took out all the things Sun Huai had given her and asked him, "What's going on here?"
Jiang Jingshu stared at her deskmate, who wore black-rimmed glasses—let's call him Glasses Guy—with a questioning look.
The bespectacled man smiled meaningfully at Jiang Jingshu, "Don't you understand?"
Jiang Jingshu looked completely bewildered: ?
What does she need to know?
"You're secretly overjoyed, aren't you?" the bespectacled man said again.
Jiang Jingshu: ?
No, don't do that.
"Stop pretending. If I were you, I wouldn't be so formal."
The man with glasses was truly astounded by his outrageous remarks; Jiang Jingshu was completely stunned by his statement.
"Explain yourself more clearly?" Jiang Jingshu's expression had already shown some displeasure.
"Don't you like him?" The bespectacled man looked at Jiang Jingshu and frowned. "Jiang Jingshu, stop pretending. Haven't you always had a crush on Brother Huai?"
"I like him?" Jiang Jingshu pointed to herself in disbelief, then repeated the bespectacled man's words in a questioning tone, "I have a crush on him?"
The bespectacled man shrugged. "You're just pretending."
Jiang Jingshu wanted to pour a bucket of cold water on the bespectacled man from head to toe to wake him up. "Who told you that?"
"Didn't you even take a day off to watch Brother Huai's competition?" the bespectacled man said to Jiang Jingshu. "Really, I didn't expect you to fall for Brother Huai after only a few days here. You have great taste."
"Your Brother Huai is quite successful." Jiang Jingshu almost laughed in exasperation.
"What do you mean? Of course our Brother Huai succeeded." The bespectacled man was puzzled.
"He's quite good at training dogs." Jiang Jingshu stopped chatting with the bespectacled man and took out her English book to start memorizing vocabulary.
"Jiang Jingshu, are you out of your mind?" The bespectacled man seemed unwilling to let the matter drop. "Don't think that just because you like Brother Huai and Brother Huai is interested in you, I won't dare to hit you."
"Who told you I like him?" Jiang Jingshu's voice turned cold. "Sun Huai?"
When Jiang Jingshu asked him this, the bespectacled man suddenly didn't know what to say. Jiang Jingshu sneered, "I know even if you don't say it. He probably already knows it to everyone."
She dumped all the snacks on the bespectacled man's desk, her tone carrying a hint of warning, "Tell your master I don't like him. If he sends me this stuff again or spreads these pointless rumors, he'll be sorry."
"How dare you talk like that? How am I supposed to attend class if you put these things on my desk?" The bespectacled man slammed his hand on the desk and stood up.
At this moment, Sun Huai walked over, patted the bespectacled man on the shoulder, and then whispered to Jiang Jingshu, "Jingshu, are you unhappy?"
Jiang Jingshu shifted her gaze to Sun Huai, "We're not close enough to call each other by nicknames, are we?"
In ancient times, such intimate terms of address could only be used by close friends or family.
Sun Huai seemed to feel that he had lost face, but he still pretended to be magnanimous. "It was my oversight, but you have to call me that sooner or later, so you might as well get used to it."
Before Jiang Jingshu could speak, Sun Huai pushed all the gifts onto her table. "My brother upset you, so I apologize. You can't refuse the snacks I gave you, can you?"
Jiang Jingshu frowned as she looked at Sun Huai. "Sun Huai, come out with me for a moment."
As if to protect Sun Huai's last bit of self-respect, the two went to a secluded place.
Jiang Jingshu crossed her arms and stared at Sun Huai, "Did you tell a lot of people that I like you?"
Sun Huai, however, continued to laugh it off, "Jing Shu, I just want the brothers to accept you sooner?"
"Are you mistaken? I don't like you!" Jiang Jingshu looked at Sun Huai's unreliable behavior and felt a surge of anger.
Even if she likes someone, she should like a boy like Xie Zhijin.
"Stop pretending. You've been waiting for me outside for so long, doesn't that mean you like me?" Sun Huai tried to put his arm around Jiang Jingshu's shoulder. "Qingqing told me everything. I know you young girls are shy, it's okay."
Jiang Jingshu took a step back without making a sound, maintaining a safe distance from Sun Huai. "I wasn't waiting for you. Can you stop being so narcissistic?"
Sun Huai waved his hand dismissively, "It's okay, if you want to pretend, then go ahead. You don't like me, alright?"
Jiang Jingshu felt like she was punching cotton, a sense of powerlessness welling up inside her. "Sun Huai, I'll say it again, I don't know you well, we're not even friends. I just happened to run into your sister outside the exam hall that day. I was waiting for my friend, not for you. I don't like you either. Don't tell anyone else that I like you. It's causing me a lot of trouble!"
After listening to Jiang Jingshu's long string of words, Sun Huai said, "You're waiting for friends? Aren't you going to be alone until you leave? Where are your friends?"
This question stumped Jiang Jingshu.
He was waiting for a friend, a friend he dared not see.
Jiang Jingshu's silence at this moment was interpreted by Sun Huai as tacit agreement. He didn't care about these things. He glanced at the time and reminded Jiang Jingshu that it was time for class, wanting to go back to class with her.
Jiang Jingshu said coldly, "Go back first."
She absolutely refused to go into the classroom with Sun Huai.
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