Chapter 13
It's the third week, and Song Qiuxuan, the usually carefree publicity committee member, has finally been assigned a task by the homeroom teacher.
The school organized a blackboard newspaper competition for each class, requiring the blackboard newspapers to be completed by Friday of this week. The homeroom teacher asked her to be responsible for notifying the students in the class and organizing at least two students to complete the drawing work.
During morning self-study, Song Qiuxuan stood on the podium and told the students about it, and asked those who were interested in drawing the blackboard newspaper to come and sign up with her in the next two days.
When she finished speaking and stepped down from the podium, she sensed that the students were not very enthusiastic and heard some murmurs, complaining that the school was making trouble for no reason and that this kind of evaluation was a pure waste of students' time and energy.
Song Qiuxuan walked to her seat as if nothing had happened. Just as she picked up her pen, Xia Yingjia, who was sitting next to Cheng Xun, called her name softly.
"Song Qiuxuan, what kind of reward is there for winning first prize in this kind of competition?"
Song Qiuxuan turned around and said, "There should be a class award certificate."
Xia Yingjia was clearly not interested in this. She pouted and said, "I mean, what kind of reward will the students who participate in drawing the bulletin board receive? We can't just waste our time and get nothing in return."
Song Qiuxuan's expression froze for a moment. She remembered that in junior high school, the students who drew blackboard newspapers did not receive any rewards. It seemed that they all completed them out of a sense of collective honor.
Song Qiuxuan said, "When the teacher told me, she didn't mention any reward, so there probably wasn't one."
Xia Yingjia narrowed her eyes slightly behind her thin-rimmed silver glasses, revealing a hint of dissatisfaction and contempt. She scoffed, "Who would want to participate in a boring competition?"
Song Qiuxuan pursed her lips, not refuting Xia Yingjia's words. She felt that there would always be students who liked drawing who would be willing to participate.
Before turning around, Song Qiuxuan glanced at Cheng Xun at the desk behind her and saw that he was asleep with his head on the desk. After just one glance, Song Qiuxuan looked away, turned back, picked up her pen and continued writing.
Looking at the exercise book spread out on the desk, Song Qiuxuan found it difficult to put pen to paper. Her thoughts were scattered, and she felt an indescribable sense of loss.
Song Qiuxuan recalled their conversation on the phone on Friday night. She hoped that her words could really motivate Cheng Xun, but she was obviously being unrealistic. What made her so confident that her casual words could change someone's long-standing habits and thoughts?
Song Qiuxuan lowered her eyelashes and gripped her pen tightly. When the school bell rang, she thought, "I shouldn't have any illusions."
*
No one signed up to draw the blackboard newspaper on Monday, and there was still no activity on Tuesday. So, during Wednesday morning self-study, Song Qiuxuan went up to the podium again to talk about it.
The homeroom teacher hoped that the students would use their time after school to draw blackboard newspapers, so when he saw the blank blackboard at the back of the classroom at noon and there was still no progress, he urged Song Qiuxuan to find a student to draw the blackboard newspapers by the end of the day.
The weather was hot and humid. After having lunch at the school cafeteria, Song Qiuxuan had a thin layer of sweat on her forehead and her cheeks were flushed from the heat when she returned to the classroom. She sat down and took out two tissues to wipe her sweat.
Because of her homeroom teacher's words, she felt as if a stone was pressing on her heart, making her tense and unable to concentrate on reading or doing exercises.
Students who had finished lunch returned to the classroom one after another. Amidst the figures coming and going in the aisle, Song Qiuxuan leaned on her desk with her face turned to the side. Suddenly, her hand felt icy cold. She looked up and saw Lu Chengzhou touching her hand with a bottle of soda.
Lu Chengzhou put the drink on the table, scratched his nose, sat down in the chair, turned around to face Song Qiuxuan, and awkwardly apologized: "Well... I misspoke last time. I looked it up online when I got home and found out that menstrual cramps are really painful for you girls. Trying to run during this time is like being tortured to death."
Lu Chengzhou looked sincere: "I've been reflecting deeply these past few days and I feel I should apologize to you. You were the first friend I made in high school, and you never complained about my talkativeness. I don't want to lose a friend over something so small. Song Qiuxuan, can you forgive me?"
Song Qiuxuan glanced at Lu Chengzhou, then at the soft drink beside her. She hadn't expected him to apologize, let alone say those things in the classroom. Song Qiuxuan looked around the classroom, thankfully no one was paying attention to what was happening.
Lu Chengzhou was sincere, and Song Qiuxuan waved her hand and said, "Then let's just consider that unpleasant thing over and not mention it again."
Lu Chengzhou grinned: "Then it's settled."
Song Qiuxuan picked up the drink and handed it back to him: "This is not necessary."
"No way." Lu Chengzhou pretended to be serious and shoved the item into Song Qiuxuan's hand unreasonably: "I bought this specifically to apologize. You only truly forgive me if you accept it."
Song Qiuxuan didn't stand on ceremony: "Then thank you."
Looking at Song Qiuxuan's dejected and unhappy appearance, Lu Chengzhou said, "Why do you look so unhappy?"
Song Qiuxuan pursed her lips and gave a bitter smile: "I can't be happy. No one is willing to draw the blackboard newspaper yet, and the homeroom teacher even urged me to do it today."
"I'll give you a tip." Lu Chengzhou looked mysterious and deliberately mysterious.
Song Qiuxuan's dark eyes lit up, and she leaned closer to him, excitedly asking, "What?"
“We’ll draw student numbers to select people. Whoever’s number is drawn will draw the blackboard bulletin. Anyway, it seems that our class is not very enthusiastic right now, and no one wants to draw this bulletin. This method is fair and just.” Lu Chengzhou thought he had come up with a perfect plan, raised his eyebrows, and showed a smug expression.
Song Qiuxuan hesitated, "What if we draw a classmate who can't draw at all?"
"What other options do you have? You've already said it twice. If someone were really willing, they would have signed up already."
"That's true. If no one signs up after school this afternoon, we'll have to decide by drawing student numbers."
As soon as she finished speaking, Song Qiuxuan felt her chair being tapped a few times with a pen. She turned around and saw Cheng Xun, whose face was expressionless and indifferent. He twirled the pen and pointed to a math problem.
Looking at the back of Song Qiuxuan's head, Lu Chengzhou felt a little uncomfortable. He had lost count of how many times he had been interrupted when talking to Song Qiuxuan. Cheng Xun, who had played basketball with him a few times, had some strange behaviors in his eyes. He didn't seem to be very fond of studying, but he often asked Song Qiuxuan for help with questions. He didn't know if it was because he was eager to learn or if he had ulterior motives.
Lu Chengzhou scoffed and turned around dramatically. The autumn sunlight wasn't too harsh, but he deliberately muttered, "This sun is so strong, it's ruining my afternoon nap."
With a whoosh, he yanked the curtains shut, dimming the light.
Cheng Xun asked about the last question on the weekly math test. To keep up with the teaching schedule, teachers usually don't go over the weekly tests. Song Qiuxuan lost two points on the last question because of her steps, but her solution was correct. She explained her solution clearly to Cheng Xun.
Cheng Xun nodded, then reached into the desk drawer, pulled out a notebook, flipped through a few pages, and turned to a blank page.
Song Qiuxuan's surprised gaze fell on the notebook. She had seen a fleeting error when she turned the page. Cheng Xun's handwriting wasn't neat, but it was clear that he had taken it quite seriously.
Song Qiuxuan blinked slowly and asked, "Are you remembering a question you got wrong?"
“Yeah.” Cheng Xun figured that Teacher Zhou wouldn’t explain it anyway, so he simply folded up the test paper, tore off the last question, and stuck it to his notebook with glue he bought from a small supermarket.
"When did you start memorizing?" Song Qiuxuan looked at Cheng Xun's smooth and effortless movements and guessed that he probably tore up a lot of test papers.
“This week.” Cheng Xun lifted his eyelids and stared at Song Qiuxuan’s fair face. He suddenly curled up one corner of his lips, looking very pleased with himself. Then he took out a few notebooks from under the table and spread them haphazardly on the table.
Each subject had a notebook prepared. Song Qiuxuan's eyes widened in shock. She picked up one at random. Cheng Xun was quite particular; even the notebooks he chose were exquisite and beautiful.
Song Qiuxuan asked, "May I take a look?"
Cheng Xun readily agreed, saying, "Take a look." As he spoke, he stacked all the notebooks and pushed them toward Song Qiuxuan, as if he wanted to show them all to her.
Song Qiuxuan was holding an English notebook. She lowered her eyes and opened it, and saw that Cheng Xun had written down the grammar the teacher had taught in class, copied down some new words, and written the Chinese translations next to them. The notes were somewhat disorganized, and included knowledge of fixed phrases and collocations. There were also several fill-in-the-blank questions from unit tests that she had written down.
Song Qiuxuan closed the notebook and handed it back to Cheng Xun, saying, "I think your notes are a bit messy. You might feel dizzy when you review them later."
"Can I learn from your note-taking method?"
Cheng Xun has never had the habit of buying notebooks specifically for taking notes. He searched online over the weekend for ways to quickly improve his grades, and one of the methods recommended by many people was to take notes in an organized manner. So he bought several notebooks in one go, but he hasn't yet learned how to take notes in an organized manner.
Without saying a word, Song Qiuxuan took out her notebook.
Watching Cheng Xun intently flipping through his notebook, Song Qiuxuan's lips twitched a few times, as if she wanted to say something but hesitated. She wanted to ask him why he was suddenly studying so hard, and whether it had anything to do with her encouragement.
Song Qiuxuan ultimately didn't ask the question. In any case, Cheng Xun's emphasis on learning was a good thing for him.
*
The last class in the afternoon was a self-study period. With three minutes left before the end of get out of class, Song Qiuxuan went up to the podium and talked about how the students who would draw student numbers to decide who would draw the blackboard newspaper.
The students below immediately erupted in a commotion, their faces filled with resistance, as if they had heard some terrible news.
"What?! What am I supposed to do?! I'm such a terrible artist, I have zero talent for drawing! Won't I embarrass the class?!"
"That's right! We've talked about the blackboard bulletin board several times already. I thought we'd already started preparing, but there's still no progress. Propaganda Committee Member, your efficiency is terrible!"
"If you really can't find a publicity committee member, then you can draw it yourself. Doesn't the point of you drawing student numbers to select people mean that you can draw whatever you want?"
"I disagree with selecting students by drawing student ID numbers."
"I disagree as well."
The bell rang, and the students, who had been chatting excitedly, poured out of the door, leaving the noisy classroom almost empty.
Song Qiuxuan seemed to have messed things up. Disheartened, she walked off the podium and slowly returned to her seat, her face visibly downcast.
Lu Chengzhou sat on the table, twirling a basketball between his fingers. Looking at Song Qiuxuan, who had returned to her listless state from noon, he said somewhat embarrassedly, "I didn't expect this method to fail, but I think they are right about one thing: it doesn't matter what the bulletin board looks like now, the most important thing is to finish it."
Song Qiuxuan looked up at him: "You mean you want me to draw it, right?"
Lu Chengzhou spread his hands: "This is the only way."
Lu Chengzhou jumped off the table, tossed the basketball into the air with a showy gesture, caught it steadily after it landed, took a couple of steps, put his arm around his buddy waiting for him in the back row, and left the classroom together.
After Lu Chengzhou's figure disappeared, Cheng Xun glanced at him indifferently, as if something annoying had finally disappeared, making things much cleaner in front of him. The cold and gloomy aura around him also dissipated.
Cheng Xun had no idea about the school's bulletin board competition. He slept through Monday morning self-study and was two minutes late for Wednesday morning self-study. After his homeroom teacher caught him, he was verbally reprimanded for twenty minutes in the corner of the corridor.
Cheng Xun put down his pen, closed Song Qiuxuan's notebook, and reached forward to bump into Song Qiuxuan's thin shoulder.
Song Qiuxuan turned around slowly, glanced at the notebook, and deftly took it and stuffed it into the desk.
Normally, she might take the opportunity to chat with Cheng Xun for a bit, but now she had important business to attend to: she needed to use her phone to search for blackboard bulletin board materials online. Since she was the publicity committee member, it wasn't a big deal for her to step forward and draw the bulletin board. However, since she was in charge of it all by herself, she had to hurry.
Song Qiuxuan pulled her phone out of the bag's inner compartment with great enthusiasm. Although the school did not explicitly prohibit bringing phones into the campus, she still checked it carefully.
Just then, Cheng Xun called her name.
Song Qiuxuan's hand holding the phone trembled, and she turned to look at Cheng Xun, "What's wrong?"
“I can draw the blackboard bulletin,” Cheng Xun said casually.
"Really?" Song Qiuxuan was not very good at drawing, but when she heard Cheng Xun say that, she felt extremely relaxed and smiled gently at Cheng Xun.
Cheng Xun paused for a moment. He recalled that evening on the first day of school, when Song Qiuxuan reminded him to pick up his math workbook. He responded, but she suddenly smiled in a cryptic way.
The sky outside the window today is similar to that time, with fiery clouds and the afterglow filling the corridor. Song Qiuxuan has a gentle and delicate appearance, and her eyes crinkle when she smiles, giving her a very soft aura.
Cheng Xun casually rolled his Adam's apple, his tone calm: "Well, I studied drawing for two years when I was a child. Although I wasn't very good at it, I could still manage to do blackboard bulletins."
Song Qiuxuan hummed in agreement, but something seemed a little off. She asked, "Why didn't you sign up the other day?"
Cheng Xun explained, "I just found out about the blackboard newspaper competition."
Song Qiuxuan nodded, not at all surprised.
Cheng Xun seemed indifferent to other people's affairs and rarely listened to gossip on campus, always appearing aloof.
"Do you draw often now?" Song Qiuxuan was eager to see what Cheng Xun usually drew, how well he drew, and whether he was just being modest.
On top of the tall stack of books on the desk was the notebook Cheng Xun had just placed there. He took it down, turned to the title page, and there was a girl's back view, which he had drawn with a water-based pen during his self-study class.
The figure with its straight back and head buried in its work at the desk looked increasingly familiar. Song Qiuxuan's ears burned and flushed. Her heart raced, and she stammered nervously, "Who...is this drawing? It seems...familiar."
"I wanted to draw during self-study, and when I looked up, I saw your figure, so I drew it." Cheng Xun saw that Song Qiuxuan seemed a little shy, and unconsciously curled the corners of his lips, feeling extremely happy.
How can you say that so casually? You'll be using this notebook for a long time, maybe it will accompany you for three years of high school. What does Cheng Xun mean by drawing her on it? Doesn't he know that this behavior is very ambiguous?
Song Qiuxuan's heart pounded, and while she was at a loss, her secret joy was rising uncontrollably.
It felt like a joyful fish was leaping in my heart.
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