thank
"It was Brother Rui who came up with this idea." Zheng Yan scratched his head. "If you want to thank someone, go thank him."
Xu Zhiyi felt as if his heart was gently hit by something, and a warm current spread from his chest to his whole body.
"Is it... him?"
"Yes, Brother Rui told me not to tell you..." Zheng Yan suddenly stopped, his expression becoming a little strange, "Then... I'm leaving first, Student Councillor! Don't tell them that I told you..."
Before Xu Zhiyi could react, Zheng Yan had already pedaled away quickly on his bicycle, leaving her standing there.
The summer breeze blew through the campus's tree-lined avenue. Xu Zhiyi stood under a sycamore tree, and the sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, casting mottled shadows on her face.
She looked down at the tip of her shoes, Zheng Yan's words just now echoing in her ears.
She didn't expect that the person who helped her would be Song Chengrui.
—
Class the next day.
"Zhiyi! What are you daydreaming about?" The voice of her good friend Zhang Ningxia came from behind her, scaring her.
"Nothing." Xu Zhiyi hurriedly packed up his textbooks.
Most of the students were already seated in the classroom. Xu Zhiyi's gaze involuntarily drifted to Song Chengrui's seat in the front row.
He hadn't come yet, and there were a few books and a black pen neatly placed on the table.
Xu Zhiyi breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt a little lost.
She found the exercise book she needed to write in, but she couldn't concentrate.
"Good morning." A familiar voice sounded in my ears.
Xu Zhiyi suddenly looked up and met Song Chengrui's smiling eyes.
He was wearing a simple white school uniform shirt with the collar slightly open, revealing a small part of his collarbone.
"Good morning..." Xu Zhiyi responded stutteringly, feeling like his tongue was tied.
Song Chengrui didn't seem to notice her abnormality. He hung his schoolbag next to the desk and turned around to chat and laugh with the boy next to him.
Xu Zhiyi secretly looked at the outline of his face, and her heart beat faster.
The bell rang for class. Xu Zhiyi forced himself to concentrate on the class, but he always lost his mind involuntarily.
Her eyes drifted to Song Chengrui's back again and again, watching him occasionally lower his head to take notes, and watching his fingers unconsciously twirling the pen when he was thinking about a problem.
Xu Zhiyi looked up and found that Song Chengrui had come to her desk without her noticing.
"Can you lend me your notes?"
He was standing against the light, so her expression couldn't be seen clearly, but his voice carried a gentleness that was familiar to her.
"What?" Xu Zhiyi was stunned.
Song Chengrui pointed to the Chinese textbook on her desk and said, "The teacher erased it too quickly just now, so I didn't remember it. Can you show it to me?"
Xu Zhiyi felt his heart skip a beat. He quickly looked through his notes again, making sure there were no problems before handing them over. "Here."
Song Chengrui nodded and thanked him with a smile.
"Thank you."
He was about to turn around when Xu Zhiyi suddenly mustered up the courage to say, "Um...thank you."
"Hmm?" Song Chengrui turned around and raised his eyebrows.
Xu Zhiyi bit her lower lip: "Zheng Yan told me about what happened yesterday."
Song Chengrui's expression was surprised for a moment, then he regained his composure: "He talks a lot."
There was no hint of blame in his tone, "You're welcome, we're all classmates, it's only natural for us to help each other."
Xu Zhiyi felt something expanding in her chest, warm and making it almost impossible for her to breathe.
She wanted to say more, but she saw that Song Chengrui had turned his head away, so she couldn't open her mouth anymore.
During the afternoon self-study class, Xu Zhiyi went to the library to return books.
She unexpectedly found Song Chengrui sitting alone in the corner with a thick reference book spread out in front of him.
He frowned, holding a pen between his fingers and turning it rapidly, completely immersed in his own world.
Xu Zhiyi walked lightly, pretending to look for a book on a nearby bookshelf, but actually secretly observing him.
Spread out on the table was a tutorial book on advanced mathematics, already filled with densely written notes.
This was completely different from her impression of Song Chengrui running freely on the court.
In the classroom, he always seemed at ease, solving problems quickly, good at sports, and able to chat with anyone.
At this moment, he was as focused as an ascetic, biting the pen cap from time to time to think, and then quickly writing down the steps to solve the problem on paper.
Xu Zhiyi accidentally knocked over a book, and the "bang" sound was particularly harsh in the quiet library.
Song Chengrui raised his head and met her eyes, a little surprised.
Xu Zhiyi felt the blood rushing to her cheeks. She wanted to run away quickly, but she couldn't help but look at him again.
At this moment, Song Chengrui motioned her to come and sit down, and moved the open book towards him.
Xu Zhiyi hesitated for a moment, but still sat down opposite him.
"What are you looking at?" she asked in a low voice.
"Mathematical Olympiad problems." Song Chengrui pushed the book towards her.
Xu Zhiyi was surprised to see the dense notes and annotations on the book: "What do you think of this?"
Song Chengrui smiled and said, "There's a competition next week, so let's prepare in advance."
"Want to join us?" Song Chengrui pointed at the question, "I've been stuck on this one for a long time."
Xu Zhiyi nodded and leaned closer to look at the question.
Their hair was almost touching, and she could smell the faint lemon scent on Song Chengrui, mixed with a hint of warmth from the sun.
"Here, you can use this formula..." Xu Zhi pointed to a part of the question, his voice trembling slightly due to nervousness.
Song Chengrui looked in the direction of her finger, and suddenly realized: "Yes! Why didn't I think of it!"
He slammed the table excitedly, drawing a warning glance from the administrator, and quickly lowered his voice, "You're really smart!"
Xu Zhiyi smiled and felt sweet in her heart.
They studied together until the end of the self-study class, occasionally discussing in low voices, but more often they just thought quietly on their own.
Before leaving, Song Chengrui helped her put the book back on the shelf, and the two walked out of the library together.
"Will you come tomorrow?" Song Chengrui asked suddenly.
"ah?"
"The library," he explained. "If you come, we can review together."
Xu Zhiyi felt like his heart was about to jump out of his chest: "But... I won't participate in the competition..."
Song Chengrui looked at her and advised, "But you still have to review for the exam at the end of the month, right? Besides, next month is the midterm exam. In previous years, there was a joint exam for eight schools. It's always good to review more."
Hearing Song Chengrui say this, Xu Zhiyi had no choice but to nod, "Well... okay."
"Okay, that's settled then. See you tomorrow."
Song Chengrui smiled and waved, then turned and walked towards the basketball court.
Xu Zhiyi stood there, watching his departing back, feeling light and airy.
She had never thought that she would have such an intimate interaction with Song Chengrui, and she had never expected that he was such a serious and hardworking person in private.
"Hey, who are you looking at so intently?"
Xu Zhiyi was so scared that she almost jumped up.
Zhang Ningxia appeared beside her at some point, following her gaze towards the basketball court, and smiled knowingly, "Oh, so you're looking at Song Chengrui."
"No." Xu Zhiyi denied hurriedly, but his voice rose a few degrees because of his guilty conscience.
"Come on, you've stared at him more times than I can count this week."
Xu Zhiyi felt all the blood in his body rushing to his face.
"But it's no wonder. Song Chengrui is really popular." Zhang Ningxia took her arm. "Ever since he showed up in the auditorium yesterday, I don't know how many more pairs of eyes have been waiting at the classroom door. My deskmate told me that a group of girls surrounded Song Chengrui on the basketball court last night and brought him water. It was hilarious!"
"Oh... you're really welcome..." Xu Zhiyi tried hard to make his voice sound less concerned.
"Don't worry, if you like him, I will definitely help you!" Zhang Ningxia shrugged. "Let's go, stop looking. The store just got some yogurt, why don't you try some?"
Xu Zhiyi let Zhang Ningxia pull him away, but couldn't help but look back again.
Song Chengrui was drinking water with his head tilted back, his Adam's apple rolling up and down as he swallowed.
—
Xu Zhiyi has been absent-minded in class these days.
During the break, she deliberately stood at the back of the team to avoid any eye contact with Song Chengrui.
After the morning exercises, Xu Zhiyi deliberately walked slowly, and only walked back after everyone had almost walked away.
Suddenly, around the corner, I heard the girls chattering, "Did you see Song Chengrui rolling up his sleeves while playing basketball today? His forearms are amazing!"
Xu Zhiyi's footsteps suddenly stopped.
"I heard that the class beauty from the next door class gave him some snacks yesterday, and he immediately distributed them to the basketball team."
Another girl lowered her voice, "But he's like this to everyone. Xie Lin is his childhood friend, and she still follows him around every day."
Xu Zhiyi felt sad. She suddenly turned around and walked in the opposite direction. She didn't want to hear these words at all.
Xu Zhiyi took a long detour back to the classroom. When he pushed the door open, he found Song Chengrui leaning against the window and chatting with a few boys.
The sunlight slanted down on the side of his face, and his eyelashes cast a small shadow under his eyes.
She lowered her head and walked quickly towards her seat, but she heard him suddenly call her: "Xu Zhiyi."
The whole class's attention was instantly focused.
Xu Zhiyi froze in place, the tips of his ears burning: "What's wrong?"
"Old Xu asked you to assign today's homework." Song Chengrui shook the exercise book in his hand with a lazy smile on his lips.
"Okay." Xu Zhiyi tried his best to calm himself down and pretend that nothing had happened.
But she always felt a little uncomfortable all over.
As soon as the school bell rang, Xu Zhiyi rushed out of the classroom. She and Song Chengrui had originally agreed to review in the library for the next two days.
Today, she sat down in the corner of the library, buried her face in her textbooks, her heartbeat so loud that it seemed to shatter her eardrums.
The sound of footsteps came closer and closer, and Song Chengrui pulled out the chair opposite her, bringing up a breeze.
"Running so fast?" He casually flipped open his exercise book. "Are you afraid I'll eat you?"
Xu Zhiyi answered cautiously: "No."
Song Chengrui suddenly leaned over and pointed his finger at her draft paper: "Here, the formula is wrong."
The warmth from his fingertips came through the paper, and Xu Zhiyi retracted his hand as if he had been electrocuted.
The lights above their heads suddenly flickered twice, and when she looked up, she met his deep eyes.
"It's too hot." She hurried to open the window, but accidentally knocked over the water cup.
Song Chengrui held onto the cup, but the water still splashed onto his sleeves. As Xu Zhiyi frantically fumbled for a tissue, he heard him chuckle, "Xu Zhiyi, you did this on purpose, didn't you?"
"No!" She was so anxious that her eyes were sore and her hands were shaking as she handed over the tissue.
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