Chapter 10 Early Love
Grade 11 students at the affiliated high school do not have classes on Sundays.
Lin Yao's parents and relatives came to visit, and the baby's laughter and the adults' loud voices vibrated in Jin Zhao's ears. Jin Zhao suddenly remembered that sentence: "Your happiness is disturbing me."
It turns out that happiness really can be noisy.
It turns out that happiness really can hurt people.
But she still had to maintain basic politeness, and when guests arrived, she would be called out to greet them with a smile and call out to each person.
The first time she did this, her eyes would well up with tears, but now that she's become more skilled, she doesn't feel much of a stir inside. Or perhaps it's because she's been thinking about Meng Yanxi quite often lately.
The feeling of secretly liking someone is like having a grain of sugar hidden in your heart. You can't taste the sweetness, but you'll always feel happy whenever you think about it.
In the afternoon, Jin Zhao packed her things to go to the library to study, and ran into Wu Nian in the neighborhood.
Back then, not many residential areas separated pedestrians and vehicles. Wu Nian caught up with Jin Zhao from behind on his electric scooter.
"Lingling," Wu Nian stopped in front of her and asked, "Where are you going?"
Jin Zhao said, "The library."
"Get on, I'll give you a ride." Wu Nian patted the back seat of the electric scooter.
"No need, it's not on my way, you go first, Niannian."
Wu Nian didn't move, but turned her head to look at her.
Jin Zhao also looked at her, and both of them hesitated to speak.
"Are you...?"
“Those people…”
They spoke at the same time, and then stopped at the same time.
A car pulled up behind them and honked, so the two moved to the side of the road. After the car passed, Jin Zhao asked, "Those people didn't bother you again, did they?"
"Yes, don't worry, things are almost resolved." Wu Nian propped himself up on one foot, head down.
"That's good." Jin Zhao adjusted the shoulder strap of his backpack and said, "Then I'll go to the library first."
"Um."
Jin Zhao took two steps toward the entrance of the residential area, and Wu Nian called out to her again: "Lingling."
Now Zhao turns back.
Wu Nian gripped the handlebars of the electric scooter tightly, his gaze flickering slightly. After a couple of seconds, he asked, "How much money do you have on hand right now?"
Jin Zhao has an education fund left by her mother. Before her death, her mother repeatedly instructed her to use it only for her studies and not to give it to anyone, not even her father. She also made Jin Zhao promise her mother at her bedside that no matter how difficult things get, she will definitely get a doctorate and find a job as a university professor. Jin Zhao has the money in the bank, which she definitely can't touch. However, she has saved all the money from her New Year's red envelopes over the past few years, which adds up to more than two thousand yuan.
"How much do you need?" she asked.
"two thousand."
Jin Zhao paused for two seconds, then nodded gently: "I'll go back and get it for you."
Wu Nian was waiting for her downstairs. Jin Zhao put the money in a large red envelope, all of which were New Year's money, and most of the hundred-yuan bills were brand new and shiny.
When Wu Nian took the money, her eyes reddened slightly: "This is probably all you have. If you lend me the money, what will you do? Given your family's current situation, probably no one will remember you. And with your personality, you probably won't ask for it on your own initiative."
The wind blew on the girl's fair face, and Jin Zhao suddenly became somewhat lost in thought.
She remembered the three thousand yuan lottery ticket in Meng Yanxi.
Lu Jingyue said he was very lucky, winning six or seven out of ten times. So, was he deliberately saying he didn't have any money on him, making her pay for the lottery, just to find an excuse to give her the prize money?
He actually understood her predicament and wanted to help her make money.
This thought suddenly made Jin Zhao's heart leap with joy, like a little bird chirping and chattering incessantly in his chest.
No, I can't be so self-satisfied.
She composed herself and smiled at Wu Nian: "It's alright, I don't need the money much, your matter is more urgent."
"Thank you." Wu Nian squeezed her hand. "I'll pay you back as soon as I have some money."
Wu Nian was about to ride away on her electric scooter when Jin Zhao grabbed her hand and said, "Nian Nian."
Jin Zhao looked into Wu Nian's eyes: "Go back to school, come back to study, and take the college entrance examination."
Wu Nian's expression turned indifferent: "Is this your condition for lending me money?"
"You know it's not."
"Then stop talking nonsense. For kids from families like ours, you think studying is the way out, but I think making money is the way out. I'm not trying to get you to work in a bar, and you're not trying to get me to go back to school."
"But at our age..."
"I'm leaving now. I'll pay you back as soon as possible." Wu Nian interrupted her, twisted the throttle, and the little electric scooter sped out of the community in the blink of an eye.
Jin Zhao looked at Wu Nian's slender yet resolute back and gently exhaled.
*
Monday morning reading started at 7:20 as usual. Jin Zhao arrived at school at 7:10. His deskmate Ji Haoxuan's schoolbag was already on his seat, but he was not there.
Jin Zhao sat down, put his schoolbag under the desk, and once again felt the terrible obstacle.
Today's meal is yogurt and cheese milk cupcakes.
Jin Zhao is really going crazy.
Meng Yanxi's seat was empty, so Jin Zhao forcefully stuffed yogurt and small cakes into the culprit's desk drawer.
Today's morning reading was Chinese. Amidst the sound of the classroom reciting "Ode to the Red Cliff," Jin Zhao was absent-minded, barely able to open his mouth. His mind was filled with thoughts of why breakfast was being delivered to Meng Yanxi today, even though he had already given her the love letter and food last Saturday. Hadn't he made things clear to the girl?
Whether someone likes something or not, they should always make it clear, instead of letting people send them food repeatedly without knowing why, and even sending it to the wrong place.
She refused to believe that Meng Yanxi was such a person without any moral bottom line.
She now has an unusually good impression of Meng Yanxi; she would believe it even if someone told her that Meng Yanxi was a god.
Jin Zhao secretly turned his head to look diagonally behind him, and suddenly, everything went black.
The Chinese textbook stood on the desk. Meng Yanxi leaned back in his chair with his long legs stretched out, his eyes lazily staring at the textbook. He held a bottle of peach and oat flavored yogurt in his hand, taking sips here and there. There was also a small milk cheesecake next to him, which he had already cut off a corner of and eaten.
Noticing her gaze, he glanced at her lightly.
The sound of reading aloud filled the air, and the author of "Ode to the Red Cliff" was reading: "We are but mayflies in the vastness of heaven and earth, a grain of millet in the boundless ocean. I lament the brevity of my life, and envy the endlessness of the Yangtze River."
Their eyes met, and his dark, captivating eyes remained calm and unperturbed, showing no sign of psychological burden.
Jin Zhao: "..."
She wasn't wrong at first; Meng Yanxi really had no moral bottom line.
How could he possibly eat that?
Her deskmate, Ji Haoxuan, noticed her distraction and followed her gaze. What he saw shocked him to his core.
Why did the breakfast he gave to Jin Zhao end up in Meng Yanxi's mouth?
Ji Haoxuan turned back to look at Jin Zhao in disbelief: "You, how could you—"
Chen Shu stood on the podium, observing the commotion below. Holding her textbook, she quietly walked to Ji Haoxuan's side. Ji Haoxuan was forced to swallow the words he hadn't finished speaking.
Jin Zhao quickly lowered his head and continued reading his textbook.
Chen Shu walked over to Meng Yanxi and tapped his desk to remind him, "No eating during class."
Meng Yanxi readily agreed and stuffed the yogurt and small cakes into the table.
This morning's 30-minute reading session was particularly difficult for both Jin Zhao and Ji Haoxuan, as they waited for the bell to ring.
Chen Shu went out briefly during class and returned near the end, her face grim. She walked straight to Jin Zhao and Ji Haoxuan's desks, glanced at them, and said, "You two come with me."
Ji Haoxuan's heart skipped a beat, and Jin Zhao was completely bewildered.
It was almost time to end morning reading, and the teacher for the first class had already arrived. Two other teachers were waiting to start their classes in the main office. A woman with permed blonde hair and carrying an LV monogram bag stood next to Chen Shu's workstation, arms crossed, looking at the school motto on the wall.
Chen Shu led Ji Haoxuan and Jin Zhao inside, and the woman turned around when she heard footsteps.
Ji Haoxuan's face turned pale.
"mom."
Ji Haoxuan's mother's makeup was not applied properly; the foundation was pale and the lipstick was too bright red. The muscles in her face drooped too much, and the eyeliner was too dark, making her look somewhat fierce.
She glanced at Ji Haoxuan expressionlessly, then stared intently at Jin Zhao.
Jin Zhao felt a chill run down his spine from her gaze and instinctively looked away.
“Ji Haoxuan’s mother, this is Jin Zhao.” Chen Shu stepped forward. “I think we should find out more about the situation before inviting Jin Zhao’s father over.”
When Jin Zhao heard that his parents were to be called in, he suddenly looked up, his eyes filled with confusion and fear.
"Smack!"
Ji Haoxuan's mother threw her cell phone onto Chen Shu's desk.
"Teacher Chen, the evidence is all here. Is there anything you don't understand?" Ji Haoxuan's mother looked at Chen Shu with a cold face.
Ji Haoxuan stared intently at his phone, his face pale, his fists clenched, and his shoulders trembling slightly.
Chen Shu glanced at Ji Haoxuan, then looked at Jin Zhao.
Just then, the bell rang, signaling the end of morning reading and bringing with it a sudden, unified cacophony from the entire building. Soon, the sounds of students playing and laughing filled the corridors.
Chen Shu got up and closed the front and back doors of the office.
Throughout her teaching career, she has always been considerate of her students' feelings. Even when students make mistakes, she never reprimands them in the main office in front of other teachers. But today, Ji Haoxuan's mother came directly to her door demanding an explanation, leaving her with no choice but to deal with the situation at this particular time.
Back at his workstation, Chen Shu asked, "Jin Zhao, are you and Ji Haoxuan dating in your early teens?"
Jin Zhao's eyes widened, and she immediately looked at Ji Haoxuan, whose face was pale, his hands clenched into fists, and he was staring angrily at his mother.
Jin Zhao immediately had a bad feeling and quickly denied it: "No, I didn't!"
"You didn't?" Ji Haoxuan's mother sneered. "You didn't date Ji Haoxuan, yet you accepted his gifts without a second thought. You're definitely making a profit."
"What gift?"
"So green tea at such a young age, what will she be like when she grows up?" Ji Haoxuan's mother grabbed the phone from the table and threw it into Jin Zhao's arms. "Look for yourself. Milk today, yogurt tomorrow, croissants today, mousse tomorrow, she's always finding a new way to bring you breakfast. When you were receiving his love letters and eating his breakfast, why didn't you say you weren't dating him?"
"Mom!" Ji Haoxuan shouted angrily, only to be immediately interrupted by his mother.
"Shut up! I'll settle the score with you when we get back!"
The phone contained Ji Haoxuan's WeChat chat history with his friends.
Ji Haoxuan told his friends a lot about his feelings for her, and they suggested he confess his love. So Ji Haoxuan wrote a love letter, and two days later, he added that she always blushed and avoided his gaze whenever she saw him, implying that she liked him too, and that their feelings were mutual. Ji Haoxuan's friends immediately egged him on, urging him to take it a step further and bring her breakfast every day. Ji Haoxuan did just that, even taking pictures of the breakfasts he brought her and sending them to his friends every day.
As Jin Zhao looked at those familiar breakfast pictures, the image of milk, yogurt, and snacks that had tormented her for the past week suddenly flashed into her mind like a bolt from the blue.
Wasn't that for Meng Yanxi?
She gave it all to Meng Yanxi!
Meng Yanxi ate it too!
Jin Zhao could hardly believe that such a bizarre thing had happened to him.
"I... I don't know..." The sixteen-year-old girl, who had never encountered anything like this before, was momentarily stunned. She instinctively denied it and tried to explain.
"Call your parents over here." Ji Haoxuan's mother interrupted impatiently, looking at Jin Zhao with disdain. "Let's make things clear between parents. My son is going to get into a top 2 university, and I won't allow anyone to hold him back."
"Mom!" Ji Haoxuan went up to pull her.
Ji Haoxuan's mother shoved her son aside and pointed her index finger at Jin Zhao: "Call your father right now and have him come and talk to me!"
Jin Zhao felt a lump in her throat as she inexplicably bore the brunt of Ji Haoxuan's mother's anger.
Jin Wenhui only cares about her younger brother now. If she disappoints him again and makes him think that she is not studying hard and is having an early romance, her situation will become even more embarrassing.
"How about I have my dad talk to you?"
A cool, aloof voice drifted in, briefly breaking the tense atmosphere in the office.
Jin Zhao looks back.
Chen Shu had just closed the door, but as teachers continued to come in, the door naturally opened again. Meng Yanxi and Lu Jingyue stood in the doorway together, as if they were passing by on their way to the restroom.
Meng Yanxi walked in, her gaze sweeping over the tears in Jin Zhao's eyes, and said to Ji Haoxuan's mother, "The gift your son gave me should be the one I'm eating."
He glanced at the statement: "Sister Shu can testify that I wasn't allowed to eat during class just now."
Chen Shu was shocked, and somewhat bewildered. She asked incredulously, "You? What you just ate... how did it end up with you?"
Ji Haoxuan's mother shook her head decisively: "That's impossible. Ji Haoxuan clearly said in his WeChat message that it was for Jin Zhao, how could it be for you?"
Meng Yanxi: "Who knows? They're all aiming for the top 2, and they can't even deliver breakfast properly."
A note from the author:
----------------------
Sorry to keep you all waiting! The chapter after next will be available for purchase, and I'll be releasing three chapters at midnight as compensation! Love you all!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
