On the day of the exam, Shen Xingru, as usual, slept until the last moment before leaving the house. She drank milk while listening to English listening exercises. At the school gate, she encountered the boys from Lu Xingyan’s dormitory.
Lu Xingyan and his roommates were four in total, and except for Bian He, the other three were all taking exams at “Bright Return.”
Someone spotted her and hurriedly greeted them, “Hey, Ruoruo, let’s go together.”
Shen Xingruo glanced at Lu Xingyan, who seemed half-asleep, nodded, and joined them.
Another boy said, “Ruoruo, these exams in the past two days, we’re all counting on you!”
Shen Xingruo remained silent.
Another boy chimed in, “YeAh yeAh it doesn’t matter how we do individually. What’s important is that we have a sense of collective honor, right? It’s okay if we embarrass ourselves; we’ve done it many times before. But we can’t embarrass Teacher Wang, can we, Ruoruo?!”
“Embarrassing Teacher Wang, isn’t that something you guys have done before?” Shen Xingruo glanced at the two of them.
Then, she seemed to hear Lu Xingyan chuckle lightly. Whether she misheard or not, the next moment she saw Lu Xingyan shave the heads of the two boys and lazily say, “Stop talking nonsense, do it yourself.”
…Lu Xingyan’s unexpected righteousness was quite something. Righteousness was a good thing, but looking at his face that seemed to say “I can score 750”, Shen Xingruo couldn’t help but feel a bit perplexed.
As they spoke, the group entered the teaching building.
Behind them was the azure sky of early spring, with fluffy white clouds drifting by. There was an elliptical cloud resembling a turtle and another one next to it resembling a rabbit. Under this clear sky today, the perennial race between the turtle and the hare seemed to proceed at the same pace.
This time, the six subjects were divided into two days, with ample time allocated. However, by the time they reached the last subject, English, everyone was feeling a bit tired.
Five minutes before the start of the exam, Shen Xingruo was still playing with a Rubik’s Cube, flexing her fingers. Lu Xingyan and the boy next to him were chatting. When Lu Xingyan casually glanced in her direction, he saw the boy in front of her turning his body backward, talking to her unilaterally. Shen Xingruo didn’t even spare him a glance.
“…Hey, Yan Ge, what are you looking at?”
Lu Xingyan’s gaze didn’t shift as he casually asked, “Which class is that guy from?”
The boy looked back, “Oh, that guy, Chen Tao from Class Six. He repeated a year in the last grade, and he even took half a year off this semester before returning.”
The boy lowered his voice, gossiping, “It seems like he got a girl from their class pregnant. The girl’s family is quite powerful too, they hired someone to beat him up. He ended up with multiple fractures and had to rest, so he took a leave from school…”
Before the gossip could finish, something unexpected happened. Shen Xingruo suddenly threw the Rubik’s Cube at the boy named Chen Tao’s face and stood up.
She stood tall and straight, her gaze icy cold.
Chen Tao was the type who easily forgot past grievances. Over the past few days of exams, seeing a pretty girl sitting behind him, his courage, previously shattered by a beating, had somewhat recovered. He would occasionally glance back at her.
However, Shen Xingruo didn’t even spare him a glance.
Seeing her aloof demeanor and realizing it was the last exam, Chen Tao couldn’t hold back. He made two inappropriate jokes.
He thought she might angrily retort or just endure it with a cold expression for the last exam.
Never did he imagine that this pretty girl would suddenly throw a Rubik’s Cube at him with a “whoosh”!
Shen Xingruo didn’t control the force properly, and the Rubik’s Cube hit Chen Tao’s face, rendering half of it numb.
Chen Tao was first bewildered, then shocked. When he recovered and instinctively cursed, “F*ck your mother!”
Tall and intimidating, with a somewhat edgy appearance, he stood up, appearing ready to confront the girl.
Lu Xingyan, sitting in the first group quite far from them, tilted his head slightly, suddenly intrigued.
Actually, given Shen Xingru’s arrogance, if it were a guy, he would have already punched back.
He had manners and wouldn’t fight with a girl.
But this Chen Tao didn’t seem to have much manners.
To be honest, he was quite curious about how Shen Xingruo would handle this.
He raised an eyebrow, expecting to witness a good show.
Suddenly, from nearby came an unexpected shout—
“Lu Xingyan, he’s going to hit my desk partner. Aren’t you going to stop him?”
The boy next to him reacted even faster, “Damn, Yan Ge, he’s going to hit your desk partner, aren’t you going to stop him?”
Even as he stood in front of Shen Xingru, holding back Chen Tao’s hand from striking, Lu Xingyan still seemed a bit out of it.
—This was too unreal.
However, Chen Tao didn’t notice his lack of focus. To Chen Tao, Lǜ Xīngyán’s expressionless demeanor signaled an impending outburst.
Although he had repeated a year, he had still heard of Lǜ Xīngyán’s reputation. Rumor had it that Lǜ Xīngyán was fierce in fights, but he didn’t seem particularly fond of brawling or hanging out with troublemakers. His circle consisted of spoilt young masters from well-off families. Chen Tao had heard during his sophomore year that Lǜ Xīngyán had been in a fight. The instigator was one of the school’s troublemakers, assuming the newcomer was just a wealthy but cowardly kid, trying to provoke him, only to end up looking foolish. Moreover, with Lǜ Xīngyán’s family background and influence, getting injured in a fight would be the least of one’s worries, as it could lead to expulsion. What was the point?
With this in mind, Chen Tao asked, “Lǜ Xīngyán, is this your girlfriend?” Lǜ Xīngyán remained silent. Chen Tao took his silence as consent and nodded, “Okay, I got it. I just returned to school and don’t want to clash with you. You should have said she was your girlfriend earlier, then there wouldn’t have been an issue.” With that said, he even nodded toward Shen Xīngruò, “Sorry, beauty, my bad.”
As Chen Tao finished speaking, the exam preparation bell rang. The invigilator, holding the exam papers, walked in, adjusted their glasses, and cleared their throat, “The exam is about to start. Please put away anything unrelated to the exam on the podium and return to your seats.”
Lǜ Xīngyán didn’t know what to say. He simply shrugged off Chen Tao’s hand and glanced back at Shen Xīngruò—this time, he truly gave her a look that said, “Wait for me.” Shen Xīngruò, as always, remained remarkably calm.
Two hours later, the English exam ended. In the last exam room, there was no discussion about answers after the exam. The room was filled with liberated cheers. Shen Xīngruò was still packing her things when she heard some boys discussing which internet café to go to for gaming.
After packing up, she grabbed her backpack and prepared to leave the exam room. Passing by the front door, Lǜ Xīngyán was still slouched in his seat, not moving, twirling a pen in his hand, tilting his head slightly to look at her.
“Hey, Shen Xīngruò.”
She looked at him. “What’s up?”
A pause. “Aren’t you going to say something?”
“Say what?”
“You’re still pretending.” Shen Xīngruò paused for a moment. “Oh, thank you.” Then she left.
Lǜ Xīngyán was still twirling the pen. His fingers paused for a moment, and the pen slipped out of his hand, rolling onto the floor. He watched Shen Xīngruò’s retreating figure, that surreal feeling resurfacing once again.
But he wasn’t in a rush. They would have to go home together after finishing the exams today, and he would surely get an explanation.
On the third-floor staircase, Shen Xīngruò ran into Shí Qìn and Lǐ Tīng. The two girls, who had previously ignored each other, were now discussing answers.
Both were sixteen or seventeen years old, lived in the same dormitory, and had no deep-seated grudges. They could be at odds one day and playing together the next, as normal as can be.
Seeing Shen Xīngruò, Shí Qìn quickly pulled her into the discussion. “Hey, Xīngruò, what exactly are we supposed to write in the English essay? I didn’t understand the question at all.”
“It’s about writing a letter of application for Peter to study in China based on the contents of the pictures.”
Shí Qìn exclaimed, “Ah? I thought it was about summarizing Peter’s achievements during his study in China! Oh no, I’m doomed!”
Lǐ Tīng reassured her, “It’s okay. Even if you fill the paper, you’ll still get marks. Last semester, I didn’t understand the essay question either, but I still got a seven.”
Then she turned to Shen Xīngruò. “Hey, Shen Xīngruò, do you think this exam was difficult?”
“It was okay.”
“And how do you think you did?”
Shen Xīngruò pondered for a moment. “It was all right.”
Lǐ Tīng didn’t say anything further, just pursed her lips.
As the three of them reached the ground floor, laughter came from behind them. Turning around, Lǐ Tīng’s eyes lit up, and she enthusiastically greeted someone, “Chén Zhú! Yú Méngmeng! Qián Jiāyuè!”
Seeing it was Lǐ Tīng, the three girls also greeted her, but not overly warmly. They didn’t engage in much conversation and quickly continued on their way. Shen Xīngruò felt the girl with the bun on her head looked familiar, but her memory was average at best. After staring for a while, she still couldn’t recall where she had seen her before.
Seeing her staring at Chén Zhú’s back, Lǐ Tīng spoke up, “That’s Chén Zhú from Class Three. She was quite famous back in Mínglǐ Junior High. She’s good friends with Lǜ Xīngyán and his group.”
Lǜ Xīngyán.
Shí Qìn naturally knew about Chén Zhú too and couldn’t resist gossiping, “I heard their group went to the seaside during winter break. Hey, did she date Lǜ Xīngyán? I also heard that Lǜ Xīngyán went to her birthday party recently.”
At the mention of Chén Zhú’s birthday, Lǐ Tīng became somewhat uncomfortable. She had even prepared a gift, assuming Chén Zhú would invite her. But she didn’t.
Lǐ Tīng steered the conversation away from Chén Zhú’s birthday, but Shen Xīngruò had already remembered—this was the girl who had been dumped by Lǜ Xīngyán last time, then cried her heart out by the Star Lake begging for reconciliation. Judging by her radiant appearance, it seemed she either got back together lightning-fast or swiftly moved on from the emotional wreckage Lǜ Xīngyán left behind. Shen Xīngruò leaned towards the latter.
Sitting next to Lǜ Xīngyán recently, with his perpetual “I could sleep for another forty-eight hours” expression, he didn’t seem like a lovestruck young man.
Uncle Liú had parked the car early at the corner of Shūxiāng Road, waiting for them. Shen Xīngruò returned to her dorm briefly. When she got into the car, Lǜ Xīngyán was already sprawled in the backseat playing a game. Faintly, she heard a “Victory” before Lǜ Xīngyán tossed his phone aside and glanced at her.
After exchanging a brief gaze with him, Shen Xīngruò messaged her roommates for a while. When she noticed Lǜ Xīngyán still staring at her, she asked, “Is something wrong?”
Lǜ Xīngyán cut straight to the point, “That guy was going to hit you. Why didn’t you call me?”
Shen Xīngruò didn’t even blink. “We’re in the same class, I sit next to you, and live in your house. If I get hit, won’t it be embarrassing for you?”
Lǜ Xīngyán:?