The matter of martial arts bonus points was initially intended to be announced after careful consideration by the grade level, but Zhai Jiajing’s mother caused a scene at the school, insisting that with Zhai Jiajing’s bonus points, she was guaranteed admission to a top-tier university, and thus the school couldn’t take any disciplinary action against her. So, the decision was made to announce it abruptly, without any prior preparation.
At the same time, Zhai Jiajing decided to drop out of school. Rumor had it that she planned to transfer to another prestigious school in Xingcheng. In reality, her issue was more of a matter of character, and she hadn’t caused any substantial visible harm to the school or her classmates, so the school couldn’t impose severe punishment on her. Moreover, her academic performance was still excellent, and admission to a top-tier university wasn’t out of reach, even without the bonus points. So, the consensus among the grade level was to give her a warning, have her write a reflection, and then apologize to those involved.
However, upon learning about the cancellation of the martial arts bonus points, Zhai Jiajing suddenly volunteered to drop out of school.
This outcome didn’t surprise Shen Xingruo. Someone like Zhai Jiajing wouldn’t tolerate being bossed around at Mingli High School.
After school in the evening, Lu Xingyan made a special effort to walk over to Shen Xingruo’s seat from the front row. Ruan Wen, being perceptive, quickly found an excuse to leave, pretending she needed to use the restroom.
But before Lu Xingyan could sit down and say anything, Li Chengfan waved at him from nearby. “Hey, Yanyan, let’s go, let’s grab dinner!”
Lu Xingyan glanced at Shen Xingruo. “You’re not coming for dinner?”
Shen Xingruo replied, “Not feeling hungry.”
Lu Xingyan casually tousled her hair. “Do you want me to get you something?”
Shen Xingruo brushed his hand away, then pondered for a moment. “How about bringing me a cup of milk tea, white peach oolong with light cheese, hot, and just three-quarters sugar today? I don’t want it too sweet.”
“And then, an omelette rice, without ketchup. Also, bring a bottle of instant coffee, Nescafe Silky Smooth. I feel a bit tired; I might need a pick-me-up tonight.”
“…You call that not being hungry?”
Shen Xingruo pretended not to hear and continued, “Since your goldfish brain can’t seem to remember, I’ll send you a message on WeChat.”
How considerate.
Lu Xingyan returned to his seat to grab his phone, then joined Li Chengfan and the others as they left the classroom.
As they exited through the back door, he caught a glimpse of a familiar figure heading toward another classroom. He paused for a moment before retracing his steps back to the back door. There, he saw Zhai Jiajing standing near the front door, shouting from a distance, “Shen Xingruo, I need to talk to you.”
Shen Xingruo remained seated and unmoved. “Then come in and talk.”
Zhai Jiajing insisted, “Come to the corridor. Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to you.”
Shen Xingruo remained quiet for three seconds before getting up. As she walked out, she noticed Lu Xingyan still standing by the back door. She sent him the things she needed via WeChat along with a message, “Go have dinner; I’m fine.”
After a moment of contemplation, Lu Xingyan realized it was broad daylight, and there were still people around in school. Zhai Jiajing probably wouldn’t do anything to harm her, so he finally walked away, albeit with several glances back.
During dinner time, the teaching building was relatively empty, with only occasional students wandering around. Shen Xingruo and Zhai Jiajing stood side by side in front of the railing, gazing at the playground.
Zhai Jiajing remained silent for a while, prompting Shen Xingruo to urge, “If you have something to say, just say it.”
Zhai Jiajing turned to her, suddenly mocking, “Shen Xingruo, do you have some emotional blockage? After all, we’ve shared a dorm for a semester. Don’t you have any complex feelings?”
Shen Xingruo remained silent.
“Then again, you were pretty ruthless towards Li Ting back then, erupting at her in front of the whole class.”
“I think you’re the one with emotional issues. I shared a dorm with you for a semester, and He Siyue has been in the same class as you for over a year. Yet, when it comes to setting traps, you show no mercy.”
Shen Xingruo remained calm.
“You don’t understand. I’m fed up. Do you know how difficult it is to live under someone else’s shadow?”
“Every time my mom calls me, she uses you two to pressure me. I dream of you two getting out of my life as soon as possible.”
“I don’t understand, and I don’t want to.”
“Your logic is quite strange. Instead of focusing on improving yourself when you’re not outstanding enough, you blame others for being too outstanding. But transferring schools won’t necessarily make things better for you,” Shen Xingruo retorted, feeling irritated. “If you just want to talk about irrelevant things, you can spare me. I have no interest in your journey.”
She turned around.
Zhai Jiajing called out from behind, “Shen Xingruo!”
Shen Xingruo paused slightly.
“Do you know when I started to dislike you?” Zhai Jiajing continued.
Shen Xingruo didn’t look back. “Probably since you copied my study notes, or maybe even earlier.”
In reality, she had once sensed Zhai Jiajing’s goodwill. So, even though she knew Zhai Jiajing probably copied her study notes, she pretended not to know and didn’t investigate further. When she helped Wang Youfu organize files and discovered that Zhai Jiajing and Yang Fang were classmates in middle school, she didn’t want to speculate maliciously about what Zhai Jiajing might have done. She knew that this incident might lead to people criticizing her for being aggressive behind her back. But before her aggression, there had been countless instances of tolerance born from that tiny bit of goodwill.
Lu Xingyan wasn’t sure if he was worried that Shen Xingruo might be bullied or for some other reason, but he quickly bought everything.
Just after Shen Xingruo finished talking to Zhai Jiajing, he carried a bag of items into the teaching building. Seeing Shen Xingruo looking all right, he felt slightly relieved. “I’ve bought everything. Today, there’s a buy-one-get-one-free deal on omelet rice. I’ve also packed one for myself. Shall we go in?”
Shen Xingruo nodded, taking her portion of the food and her milk tea and coffee from him. She never looked back.
Throughout, Lu Xingyan’s gaze remained solely on Shen Xingruo.
Zhai Jiajing watched the two enter the classroom, then turned back, staring blankly at the distant playground. If she had been braver before Shen Xingruo appeared, would the course of events have been different? She had many chances to get closer to Lu Xingyan. But now, the only thing worth celebrating seemed to be that in Lu Xingyan’s eyes, she was merely an insignificant passerby, not a despicable admirer.
She quietly watched the last leaf fall from the bald ginkgo tree, thinking that winter must be coming.
She should also withdraw from Lu Xingyan’s sight as a despicable passerby. Perhaps she never existed in his sight at all.
Even though the omelet rice, milk tea, and coffee were all set, Shen Xingruo didn’t have any appetite.
Lu Xingyan scooped a spoonful from her bowl. “Why aren’t you eating? This egg tastes pretty good, unlike the scrambled eggs made by Aunt Zhou, which always turn out old and tough.”
“It’s strange. Aunt Zhou cooks other dishes pretty well, but why does she always make the eggs so average…”
“You’re done for. I’ll tell Aunt Zhou when I go back tonight that you don’t like her cooking.”
Shen Xingruo refocused, inserted the straw into the milk tea, and held it to warm her hands.
“Hey, you’re pretty good at blackening people’s names. I only mentioned the eggs.”
Seeing Shen Xingruo holding the milk tea but showing no intention of drinking it, Lu Xingyan leaned in to take a sip.
Shen Xingruo timely shifted away, showing her disdain almost overtly, as if she were about to say, “Get your dirty mouth away.”
Lu Xingyan reluctantly withdrew, not pushing it further.
But he never seemed to enjoy his omelet rice, always trying to scoop from Shen Xingruo’s instead, and always finding some excuse like “yours tastes better” or “yours is more tender,” which sounded shameless.
Though there weren’t many people in the classroom at the moment, there were still a few quiet invisible ones sitting in the corner.
These invisible ones displayed their potential for invisibility to the fullest, pretending not to see the intimate familiarity of the two as if they were alone, just lowering their heads and playing with their phones, while internally ranting:
“If Lu Xingyan and Shen Xingruo aren’t dating, I’ll livestream myself committing seppuku on the spot!”
“What did I do wrong? I shouldn’t have stayed in the classroom to eat!”
“Lu Xingyan is obscene! He said Shen Xingruo is more delicious and tender! Oh my god, I’m truly shocked! So obscene!”
“Is Shen Xingruo a concubine of the Lu family? Why aren’t their parents intervening in their relationship being reported?!”
Lu Xingyan and Shen Xingruo were completely oblivious to all of this.
They bickered back and forth, one sentence after another, and a single omelet rice meal seemed to last until most of their classmates returned to the classroom and they still hadn’t finished eating.
It wasn’t until Shen Xingruo unintentionally caught sight of Ruan Wen entering the classroom, but seemed hesitant to come over because Lu Xingyan was eating there, that she realized they had been eating for quite a while.
She tapped Lu Xingyan’s lunchbox with her chopsticks and said coldly, “Are you finished? Finish up and clean up, then hurry up and leave.”
Using “get lost” instead of “leave” was already her last bit of gentleness.
Lu Xingyan retorted, “What are you rushing for? If you don’t eat properly, how will you have the energy to write the test during evening self-study?”
Shen Xingruo shot back, “With your talent, do you need the energy to write the test?”
Lu Xingyan immediately caught on. She was mocking him for slacking off a few days ago when he copied an answer sheet for the supplementary test directly from someone else, only to find out later that he copied the answers in the wrong order because he wasn’t paying attention.
Of course, he pretended not to know and casually countered, “How can I be as talented as Sister Qie? She transferred here less than a year ago and managed to drive away two people and make another one shut down.”
Li Ting returned after finishing his meal, passing by nearby with an expressionless face, but inwardly snickering, “I didn’t shut down. I’m passionate about learning now, striving for excellence every day, and single-mindedly devoted to studying, without any desires or demands. My state of mind is something people like you, ranked outside of the top 1000 in the grade, who don’t study and just go home to inherit the family business, can’t understand.”
Shen Xingruo seemed to have eyes in the back of her head as she suddenly turned around, “Li Ting, Ms. Zhang asked you to submit the Chinese composition from a few days ago. She wants to include it in the next edition of outstanding compositions.”
Li Ting was taken aback, “Oh, okay.”
Then, as if he’d seen a ghost, he quickly left.
After Li Ting left the classroom with the test paper, Shen Xingruo turned to Lu Xingyan and said, “Look at her, where’s the shutdown?”
“Seems like you need a lesson. Maybe I’ll see your composition in the next edition of Outstanding Compositions in the next semester.”
Lu Xingyan was speechless.
Shen Xingruo continued, “Forget it, why would I even expect someone who only knows how to use Edison inventing the light bulb and Sima Qian suffering palace punishment as examples in their argumentative essays to make it into the outstanding compositions selection.”
“Oh, I remember one time you even wrote it as Sima Guang suffering palace punishment.”
Lu Xingyan remained silent.
“Keep quiet, Sister Qie. I’m going to tidy up now and go back to rewrite the test paper.”
With that, he closed the lunchbox, stuffed the trash generated from this meal into a plastic bag, and then got up.
With her sharp tongue, he shouldn’t worry about her being bullied by Zhai Jiajing.
Who knows how deep of a psychological shadow Zhai Jiajing left behind before leaving?