Chapter 17
The next morning, there was a lot of knocking on Cheng Xun's bedroom door, with several "bangs" in a row. Because he had tossed and turned and slept poorly the night before, being woken up like this made him very irritable.
In a daze, I heard Cheng Ting say, "I went downstairs and bought breakfast, including yours. It won't taste good if it gets cold, so get up quickly and don't let my good intentions go to waste."
Cheng Xun preferred not to accept such a gesture, so he turned over and pretended to be dead to continue sleeping.
About ten minutes later, after they finished breakfast, Cheng Ting started to torment him again. This time, although Cheng Xun was very sleepy, he couldn't sleep anymore and came out with his messy, unkempt hair.
There were only three people at home. Cheng Rong drove to the next city because he still had some business to take care of, while Zhang Yuyun went to visit a friend she used to be very close to.
"Did you stay up late last night? Playing games again?" Cheng Ting frowned as she looked at Cheng Xun's tired appearance, adopting a lecturing tone. "I'm telling you, you should change your ways. Stay up less late and play less games that will be useless for your future."
Cheng Xun gave a faint twitch of his lips. He had clearly not listened and even thought Cheng Ting was a bit long-winded, but to avoid an endless argument, he said perfunctorily, "You're right."
Cheng Ying sat at the dining table, chewing on dumplings, her eyes darting around as she watched them.
Cheng Xun brushed his teeth, pulled out a chair, sat down casually, and inserted a straw to drink soy milk.
"I'm going to the amusement park with Aying at 10:30. Do you want to come?" Cheng Ting asked Cheng Xun symbolically, expecting Cheng Xun to refuse without hesitation.
Cheng Ying, who had just finished breakfast, came out of the bedroom, holding the puzzle piece with great affection. When she heard Cheng Ting ask her question, she couldn't help but feel tense. If her second brother went too, she probably wouldn't feel so comfortable.
"No, it'll be too crowded during the holidays." Cheng Xun thought of the scene of people crammed together, shoulder to shoulder, and with the high temperature today, it would be unbearable to be both hot and crowded.
Cheng Ting nodded upon hearing his answer and did not offer any further comments, which made Cheng Ying secretly breathe a sigh of relief.
After finishing breakfast and quickly tidying up the table, Cheng Xun returned to his bedroom, lay on the bedside table, played on his phone for a while, and then fell asleep again.
*
After spending two days sightseeing in Lianyan City, Song Qiuxuan, as promised to Cheng Xun, carefully selected the landscape photos she had taken and sent them to him.
Finally, she selected nine photos and posted them on her WeChat Moments. The photos included landscapes, food, and a group photo of her and her parents.
After finishing her tasks, Song Qiuxuan put down her phone and stretched. On her desk sat a square bag with the shop's name printed on it, containing two baseball caps. She had bought them at a shop in the scenic area when her parents weren't looking. For some reason, seeing the decent quality caps and remembering the black hat Cheng Xun had worn when she met him at Xiou Park, she bought them. She wanted to give one of them to Cheng Xun, but without a good reason, she had to put the idea on hold for the time being.
That night, the class QQ group suddenly exploded because the monthly exam results were out. Lu Chengzhou, that loudmouth, took the lead in tagging the homeroom teacher and asking her to post the report card in the group.
Liu Zhanyan fulfilled the students' wishes and posted the message, followed by a long message encouraging them to continue their efforts during this important journey of their three years of high school.
Song Qiuxuan opened her report card and first looked at her grades: second in her class and forty-fifth in the grade. This meant that if she made steady progress in the upcoming exams, she still had a chance to get into the top class.
Then she looked down and saw that Cheng Xun's class ranking was twenty-third. This report card listed the students' rankings from the high school entrance exam, so there was a stark contrast with this monthly exam. Cheng Xun had risen from the bottom of the class to the middle.
He probably didn't fall too far behind in the new semester, and with his hard work, he didn't need to catch up on too much knowledge. Plus, he really put his heart into it, so this time his efforts paid off handsomely.
Song Qiuxuan smiled and was about to put on her headphones to listen to music. She had listened to the music that Cheng Xun had recommended last time a lot and had slowly come to like the kind of regretful and melodious tunes.
The door opened at that moment, and her mother, Xu Yanzhen, poked half her body in and asked, "Xuanxuan, the neighbor lady cooked some mung bean porridge and brought us a few bowls. Why don't you have some late-night snack before going to sleep?"
The sudden sound startled Song Qiuxuan. She took off her headphones, stood up, and said, "Okay."
Song Qiuxuan sat at the dining table, drinking porridge, and told Xu Yanzhen about her results in the monthly exam. She only mentioned her ranking and did not give the specific scores for each subject.
Xu Yanzhen smiled with satisfaction, then said with some worry, "Ranking forty-fifth in the grade is a bit dangerous. I heard that the school is going to set up an honors class after you are divided into subjects. If your grades are unstable and you fall out of the top fifty in the final exam, you may miss out on the honors class."
Song Qiuxuan paused, her hand holding the spoon still. The thought had flashed through her mind. After a moment of silence, she took a sip of porridge. Not wanting Xu Yanzhen to worry too much, she raised her eyes and said confidently, "Mom, don't worry. My grades weren't the kind that fluctuated wildly in junior high school. They've always been stable. And I'll work harder to improve them."
Xu Yanzhen felt slightly relieved; it seemed that the older her daughter got, the less trouble she had to worry about.
Song Qiuxuan usually gives people the feeling of optimism and positivity, as if she has an invincible strength within her.
*
In the internet cafe, Liang Shizhe pulled off his headphones, braced himself against the table, and quietly moved closer to Cheng Xun from behind.
This time, Cheng Xun didn't watch the online classes; instead, he started looking at his phone. Liang Shizhe was speechless. Couldn't this guy do something serious when he came to the internet cafe, like playing games?
Liang Shizhe narrowed his eyes and saw that Cheng Xun was looking at some incredibly boring landscape photos. He suddenly spoke up: "What's up? Are you planning to go on a trip? Making plans in advance?"
Cheng Xun turned off the screen, pushed Liang Shizhe back into his chair, and said indifferently, "I was just looking around."
"You're getting weirder and weirder," Liang Shizhe complained. He thought about how Cheng Xun had boasted about his rapid academic progress on the way here, while he was still stuck in the same place. Without comparison, there is no harm, which made him feel vaguely uneasy as he leisurely played games.
Liang Shizhe shook his head, comforting himself that people should learn to balance work and rest. He needed to take advantage of the holidays to recharge and rest well so that he could return to school in a better and more energetic state to study hard.
Liang Shizhe, who was planning to start another game, glanced over and saw Cheng Xun take two rolls out of his pocket. As soon as he put them on the table, Liang Shizhe snatched them away with lightning speed.
"Music festival tickets, the venue is Xiou Park, which is quite close to us. How come I didn't know you were interested in this?" Liang Shizhe grinned mischievously. "The other one was prepared for me?"
"Is that even possible? You can only dream about it." Cheng Xun snatched the two scrolls back from his hand and retorted without any mercy.
Liang Shizhe scoffed and waved his hand to indicate that he wasn't interested in these syllables. "I don't care. If two grown men go to a music festival together, the other guys would probably laugh at me for half a year."
Liang Shizhe asked, "So, who are you going with?"
Cheng Xun ran his fingers over the ticket. "You've seen her, but you don't know her name. Let me tell you, you can't match her face to her name."
Liang Shizhe already guessed who it was. "You made a date?"
Cheng Xun fell silent, quite unwilling to admit that he was even hesitant to ask for the other party's opinion.
Seeing his reaction, Liang Shizhe knew the outcome. He leaned back in his chair, laughing so hard his chest heaved, and mocked Cheng Xun: "I really didn't expect that you, who are usually so good at roasting people and can just open your mouth with words, don't even have the courage to send a message right now."
Cheng Xun gave Liang Shizhe a cold look, who seemed to have had his funny bone tickled, and then chuckled incessantly.
Cheng Xun ignored him and got down to business. Feeling a little uneasy and worried that his first invitation would be rejected, he opened the chat app and sent two scrolls to Song Qiuxuan.
Cheng Xun typed and revised for several minutes until he was satisfied before sending it: A friend gave me two tickets to a music festival. The venue isn't far from your house. Want to go together?
"I give up. You're making such a forced statement. And the tickets were a gift from a friend. Is it so shameful to tell the truth?" Liang Shizhe's head popped out from somewhere.
Cheng Xun tossed his phone aside and said indifferently, "What do you know?"
Cheng Xun glanced at the phone next to the keyboard, then looked away and started playing a game seemingly casually, as if she didn't care about the other person's reply.
Then he glanced at the screen once a minute, but the screen didn't light up or any messages popped up. Cheng Xun's abnormal heartbeat calmed down, and there were some indescribable emotions in his eyes. Finally, he focused his attention on the game.
He received no reply until the game ended.
The beautiful fantasies that had been forming in my mind were temporarily forced to stop.
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