Chapter 32 Extra Chapter [IF Route] Junior High School Days
On the third after-school tutoring class of the winter vacation, Xu Nianyi went to class with a bulging schoolbag on her back.
At the very top of the backpack, a snow-white scarf was carefully hidden.
She knitted this stitch by stitch every day during the day, secretly after her parents left for work.
Xu Nianyi wanted to give the scarf to Tan Chen as a New Year's gift.
However, she did not meet Tan Chen in this classroom converted from a garage today.
He didn't come to class.
It's common for students to miss extracurricular tutoring classes, and Xu Nian sat dejectedly in her seat, her mind elsewhere throughout the entire lesson.
Why didn't he come? Was something wrong at home? Or was he sick? These are the two most common reasons for taking leave.
She was a little angry and a little worried.
Honestly, he didn't even bother to tell me he was skipping class.
This was the last tutoring session before the New Year. She couldn't give him the scarf today, so she had to find a way to ask him out; otherwise, she wouldn't be able to give him the New Year's gift before the holiday. She secretly made her plans.
As soon as she got home, before her parents got off work, she immediately turned on her computer, logged into her QQ account, and clicked on the gray male avatar.
[Never Forget]: "Tan Chen, why didn't you come to class today?"
[Never Forget]: "Are you sick? It's getting chilly lately, take care to keep warm~"
She stared at the screen, hoping the avatar would turn colorful and come to life.
However, even as darkness fell outside the window and her parents were about to return from get off work, her message remained the only one hanging in the chat box.
【Never Forget】: "Didn't you used to leave your character online every day to accumulate sun points? Why haven't you logged in at all today?"
【Never Forget】: "Are you out and don't have a computer? I'm logging off now, my parents will be home from get off work soon."
At that time, data traffic was incredibly expensive, and she couldn't possibly keep logging into her QQ account with her PHS phone and waiting indefinitely.
So, I can only hope that my parents can log in on their computers to see his reply after they go to work the next day.
1/26 8:32
【Never Forget】: "Why haven't you replied yet?"
1/26 17:23
【念念名忘】: "I'm logging off."
There was still no news the next day.
1/27 8:37
【Never Forget】: "Haven't you replied again? What are you doing?"
【Never Forget】: "Let me tell you, I prepared a gift for you, thinking of giving it to you before the New Year. If you don't reply to me soon, I'll give it to someone else!"
1/27 17:25
【Never Forget】: "Tomorrow Yuanyuan and I are going to the cinema near RT-Mart to watch a movie, from 13:28 to 15:07. I'm going to the sandwich shop there a little early to do my homework. Do you want to come?"
Xu Nianyi didn't know what had happened to him, why he wasn't logging into his QQ account, or why he wasn't replying to messages.
But apart from this QQ account, she had no other way to contact Tan Chen.
With Chinese New Year just two days away, it seems I won't be able to give away this scarf that I've been knitting for so long.
She could only console herself: wait until after the New Year, until the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, when Teacher Zhu's tutoring class will reopen, and then bring it to him.
1/30 8:16
【Nian Nian Bu Wang】: "Happy New Year in advance! I'm going back to my hometown with my parents today and we won't have a computer, so I won't be able to log into my QQ account for a few days."
On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, the tutoring class started. Xu Nianyi stepped into the garage classroom again with excitement, only to find that Tan Chen was not there today.
Has he stopped attending tutoring classes?
She didn't dare ask Teacher Zhu, fearing it would attract unnecessary attention and speculation.
When I got home, I turned on my computer again.
2/5 12:08
[Never Forget]: "What's wrong with you lately! Haven't you been attending Teacher Zhu's class?"
The questioning was tinged with grievance and anxiety.
However, it all disappeared without a trace.
Xu Nianyi received no reply from Tan Chen until the first day of school.
The white scarf was still quietly hidden under her bed.
After the start of the semester, Xu Nianyi always liked to lean on the cool railings in the corridor during breaks and look through the skylight in the middle of the teaching building at Class 1, which was right across from her own class.
She hoped to catch a glimpse of that familiar figure.
But she noticed that Tan Chen seemed to always stay in the classroom.
Yes, in such cold weather, who would want to stay outside in the cold wind except for someone like her who has something on her mind?
When she went to the cafeteria for lunch, she would carry her packed lunch and search the area where Tan Chen used to sit with eyes like a searchlight, only to be disappointed time and time again.
During the afternoon exercise break, the two classes went downstairs from the east and west stairwells respectively, and merged into the crowd in the courtyard on the first floor.
Xu Nianyi's gaze was fixed on Tan Chen, but unlike before, he didn't glance back at her casually. Instead, he kept his eyes straight ahead, focusing on the line of people and following the flow of traffic.
That deliberate neglect chilled her heart more than the winter wind.
Thursday afternoon, the third period, was originally Xu Nianyi's favorite physical education class, because it happened to be the same period as Tan Chen's class!
Unexpectedly, in the last semester, the ninth graders were deprived of their right to enjoy physical education classes and were all forced to study on their own.
After two weeks of this, being ignored at school and receiving no response on her QQ account, Xu Nianyi felt like she was about to explode.
She was a shy girl who was afraid that if she talked to Tan Chen at school, others would see and tease her, but this time, she couldn't stand it anymore.
That noon, she stopped Tan Chen in the wisteria-covered corridor on his way back to the classroom after he finished lunch.
"Tan Chen!" she called out to him, mustering her courage.
Tan Chen stopped and looked at her, his eyes calm and unwavering, as if he were looking at a stranger.
"Why are you suddenly ignoring me?" Xu Nianyi's voice was filled with grievance.
Tan Chen was silent for a few seconds before speaking, her voice unusually distant. "I want to get into the top high school's elite class. My grades are still a little short, so I need to focus on my studies."
This reason sounds perfectly valid, but...
"But I won't affect your studies!" she argued urgently, with a hint of pleading. "We can do our homework together and improve together!"
Tan Chen looked away, her tone indifferent, "Being with you will only delay my studies. You always spend an entire afternoon in a bubble tea shop, and after each tutoring class you love to browse newsstands and jewelry stores. I don't have time to spend with you."
Each word was like a small hammer, shattering the beautiful memories in her heart.
It turns out that what she thought were sweet dates were actually useless things that were a waste of time in his eyes.
“There’s only half a semester left, Xu Nianyi,” he turned his head, his gaze seemingly carrying a “for your own good” admonition, “You should try your best. You don’t want to go to Experimental High School, do you? You don’t want your family to pay a lot of school selection fees, only to end up in a regular class at No. 1 High School, do you?”
After saying that, he turned and left without the slightest hesitation.
Xu Nianyi was left alone in the corridor, standing there motionless.
She didn't know that in Tan Chen's mind, she was someone who only knew how to have fun and was hindering his studies.
But his grades are so good. Even if he missed a little time, he would have been more than qualified to get into the top high school. Why be so resolute?
After feeling wronged, a spirit of not giving up emerged.
Her grades were a bit low, but that was because math was getting harder and harder, and she really couldn't understand the problem-solving strategies.
However, she wanted to go to the same high school as Tan Chen!
She thought that if they could study hard and get into the same high school, Tan Chen would know that she wouldn't hinder his grades, and that she was willing to improve together with him!
Okay! She secretly vowed that she would study hard when she got back! She would never secretly read the novel "Fireworks" again; she would do a lot of practice questions and conquer all the knowledge points she didn't understand one by one through the sea of questions!
That afternoon, the conversation in the wisteria-covered corridor forced Xu Nian to suppress all her budding feelings and devote herself entirely to her studies.
Aside from the fact that her gaze would involuntarily follow Tan Chen's figure during morning and afternoon exercises, her world seemed to consist only of books and exam papers.
Hard work pays off.
On the day the high school entrance exam results were released, she looked at the score on her report card—a score high enough to get into the top high school—and was so excited she almost cried. She did it!
However, when she stepped into the campus of No. 1 High School full of anticipation, thinking she could give Tan Chen a surprise, she didn't expect that he would give her a surprise first.
She was in Class 13, the westernmost class on the third floor, while Tan Chen was in Class 18, the easternmost class. Whenever she went to the restroom, she would always pass by the window of Class 18.
At first, she was full of hope, hoping to make eye contact with him.
But soon, she noticed a familiar figure beside Tan Chen.
His class representative for Chinese in junior high school was a girl with excellent grades and a quiet temperament.
She saw Tan Chen helping the girl carry her thick stack of notebooks. The two walked side by side, chatting and laughing.
The scene was so harmonious it was almost blinding, so similar to the brief, sweet moments she remembered with him!
Is the reason he no longer spends time with me because there are other girls who are better and can grow together with me?
Xu Nianyi felt a pang of bitterness and could hardly breathe.
But she had no right or reason to question Tan Chen. Their relationship had never had a clear beginning, so there was no end to speak of.
That ambiguous relationship was like a game that only she took seriously.
So she could only swallow her bitterness silently. Every time she saw Tan Chen on campus, her eyes would still follow him involuntarily, but her eyes were only dim.
The turning point came in the second year of high school.
A transfer student from Northeast China named Fang Qihang suddenly joined the class.
He was said to be a top student with excellent grades, but because he was involved in gangs and fights in his school in Northeast China, his family took advantage of a job transfer to bring him to the south for a year and a half of "reform" to keep him away from his bad friends. He was to return to take the college entrance examination in the second semester of his senior year.
Fang Qihang became Xu Nianyi's deskmate.
During that time, Xu Nianyi figured it out. She had finally gotten into such a good high school, and she couldn't give up on herself because of her heartbreak. Studying was the most important thing.
Coincidentally, the new transfer student sitting behind her was exceptionally good at math. Xu Nian initially turned to Fang Qihang during break to ask him questions without hesitation.
Fang Qihang is cheerful and easygoing. He never refuses anyone's request for help and can quickly become friends with anyone.
Therefore, no one would gossip about his relationship with Xu Nianyi or other girls; everyone thought it was perfectly normal.
However, this scene was particularly jarring to Tan Chen, who happened to be passing by Class 13 going downstairs.
That boy was sunny, handsome, optimistic, and talkative, completely different from my dull and aloof personality. He was the kind of person who naturally made people like him.
Seeing Xu Nianyi's focused profile as she huddled with him to discuss the problem, Tan Chen's heart clenched painfully.
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