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Chapter 7 – Desk mate

“…Yesterday, Aunt Zhou came back and brought two old hens they raised in the countryside. I specifically had her cook them into a soup to nourish you. She started simmering it this morning, and when I left, the whole house was filled with the aroma!” Pei Yue chattered away from the passenger seat, completely unaware of the icy atmosphere in the backseat.

Lu Xingyan remained expressionless, his mind filled with the phrase, “With a lighter, I could also light incense for your grave.” This thought had crossed his mind so many times that he even conjured up a vivid image— a lonely grave in the wilderness, with a worn-out wooden sign standing upright, surrounded by overgrown weeds.

In his imagination, Shen Xingruo inserted a cheap incense bought from the roadside in front of his grave, then calmly lit them one by one with a lighter. Then she would scoff, stand up, brush the ashes off her hands, and briskly pull out his wooden sign, declaring that he wasn’t even worthy of a name in death.

“…What’s with your attitude, Lu Xingyan?! I’m talking to you!” The car stopped at a red light, and Lu Shan couldn’t help but turn around to scold him.

Lu Xingyan snapped out of his thoughts, and raised his eyelids to glance at his father, “What?”

Pei Yue interjected, “Your dad asked about your grades from last semester.”

Lu Xingyan remained silent.

Mingli was quite considerate, and to ensure students had a peaceful break during the summer and winter holidays, they always announced the results of the final exams at the beginning of the next semester. This semester, the results were posted on the second day of school, with detailed three-page reports pinned at the back of the classroom, including individual subject rankings and other less common data.

Li Chengfan had a strong sense of pride. When he saw the rankings, he exclaimed in frustration, “What’s the school trying to do? Are they exposing us completely?!”

Initially, nobody paid much attention to the bottom few on the last page, but Li’s outburst prompted some to flip through.

Well, those few at the bottom seemed to perform consistently poorly in every subject.

Shen Xingruo listened to the exam analysis class and carefully examined the class’s grades. She roughly estimated and gained a preliminary understanding of the student’s level in Mingli and her performance relative to it.

From the results of this final exam, He Siyue and Di Jiajing could be considered among the top students in the grade. But overall, Class One was trailing behind in the three humanities and social sciences experimental classes. As for Lu Xingyan, he truly was at the bottom of the class.

Seeing Lu Xingyan silent, Lu Shan turned to Shen Xingruo, “Xingruo, what do you think he scored?”

Shen Xingruo paused for a moment. “I didn’t pay much attention, but I think it was 297?”

“It’s 337.”

Lu Xingyan suddenly spoke, shooting Shen Xingruo a glance as if he was quite dissatisfied with her underreporting his score by forty points.

Lu Shan choked up for a moment, suddenly feeling that he shouldn’t have had any unrealistic expectations about Lu Xingyan.

Pei Yue remained composed. After Lu Xingyan reported his score, she was still focused on photo editing, her face displaying an air of “I’ve long known his real level.”

That evening at dinner, after finishing their meal, Lu Xingyan and Shen Xingruo each went back to their rooms, and the night passed without incident.

The next morning, Lu Shan had to fly to the capital for some urgent matter; he didn’t even have time for breakfast before leaving. Whether it was a coincidence or planned, as soon as Lu Shan left, Lu Xingyan came downstairs, carrying his backpack as if he were about to leave.

Pei Yue asked, “Where are you going so early?”

“Classmate’s birthday.” He casually grabbed a slice of toast from the table, stuck it in his mouth, and took a few sips of milk.

Shen Xingruo suddenly stopped, staring at the glass of milk, unblinking.

Lu Xingyan noticed her gaze, glanced at the milk in his hand, then inadvertently spotted another empty glass on the table, and suddenly understood something.

Pei Yue didn’t pay much attention and continued to ask, “Classmate? Why didn’t you take Ruo Ruo with you?”

“High school classmates, she doesn’t know them.”

“Are you coming back for dinner tonight?”

“No.”

Lu Xingyan didn’t bother to say more; he just walked out and waved before leaving.

“You see, all he does all day is wander around instead of studying. He lacks ambition! When his dad and I were young, we were nothing like this. I don’t know who he’s taking after!”

“Oh, I swear, one of these days he’s going to drive me so crazy that I’ll end up with white hair…”

Shen Xingruo quietly listened to Pei Yue’s ramblings, discreetly pushing the glass of milk tainted by Lu Xingyan away.

Lu Xingyan didn’t go far. Today was Chen Zhu’s birthday, and they had already arranged for a villa party by Fallen Star Lake, organized by Shen Xingruo herself.

Xu Chengzhou and others brought ingredients and seasonings and had a barbecue on the lawn outside the villa at noon.

Lu Xingyan didn’t know what he was thinking about. He held a skewer of chicken wings, flipping them back and forth over the fire until they were almost burnt, yet he didn’t eat them.

“Lu Xingyan, your chicken wings are about to burn! What are you thinking?” Chen Zhu, in the middle of a conversation, noticed the wings and shouted at him.

Only then did Lu Xingyan come back to his senses, and he casually handed the wings to her. “You eat them.”

Chen Zhu leaned back, looking disgusted. “Forget it, I’m not risking my life.”

“Come on, Miss Zhu, you’re ungrateful. Young Master Lu condescends to grill chicken wings for you and look at you, you’re so disdainful,” one of the guys teased.

“Why not? Can’t I be disgusted?”

“Sure, sure, birthday girl, whatever you say!” Chen Zhu clicked her tongue in annoyance.

Today was her birthday, and she deliberately wore a bright red dress, the bold color complementing her perfectly. With a birthday crown perched on her head, she looked lively and animated, chatting and laughing with everyone.

Somehow, the conversation drifted back to Lu Xingyan. “Hey, Lu Dashaoye, why didn’t we just go to your place directly? It would have been much simpler. I spent ten minutes looking for this place.”

Lu Xingyan didn’t respond or even lift his eyes. He acted as if he hadn’t heard, tossing some unwanted chicken wings onto the grill before cracking open a beer.

Chen Zhu interjected, “Why would I go to his house for my birthday? That’s ridiculous.”

Chen Zhu had mentioned it to Lu Xingyan on WeChat before, suggesting they could just go to his place for her birthday since they used to hang out there often. She didn’t think much about it, but Lu Xingyan had simply replied, “Inconvenient,” without explaining why.

As they continued to barbecue and later cut the cake, they chatted among themselves.

“There’s a transfer student in Class 1, right? I keep hearing people talk about her.”

“YeAh that transfer student is really pretty!”

Ben He, from Class 1, confirmed, “Indeed, she’s quite beautiful.”

“I think her name is Shen Xingruo, and it’s such a lovely name.”

“Hey, speaking of this transfer student, I find it strange. I’ve been to Class 1 several times, but I’ve never seen her,” Xu Chengzhou pondered, elbowing Lu Xingyan, “What do you think?”

Lu Xingyan had been asked this question at least eighteen times by now. He casually replied, “If I say she’s beautiful, do you think she could become the global beauty pageant champion?”

Xu Chengzhou was momentarily stunned, deciding to elevate Lu Xingyan to the top of the Sarcasm Masters list.

In the afternoon, they sang songs and played cards. Lu Xingyan played a few rounds of poker, but Xu Chengzhou was too damn indecisive; it took him forever to play a single card. Fed up with waiting, Lu Xingyan threw the cards to Ben He and went outside to smoke.

Although he wasn’t a heavy smoker, he lit one anyway, taking a few puffs before tossing it away.

Suddenly, Chen Zhu came out of the house, holding her phone in both hands, her eyes red and swollen. Something was wrong.

Lu Xingyan flicked the ash from his cigarette and casually asked, “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Without lifting her head, Chen Zhu walked outside without a word.

Lu Xingyan didn’t want to get involved, but since it was by Fallen Star Lake, and people drowned there almost every year, he put out his cigarette and followed her.

When they reached the outside, Chen Zhu couldn’t hold back her tears any longer. “He has a girlfriend now! He has a girlfriend already! Sob… and he posted pictures of them together on my birthday!”

Lu Xingyan took her phone and glanced at it. It turned out her childhood sweetheart, Xiao Baiyang, had posted lovey-dovey photos on his social media.

Chen Zhu: “It must be that girl who posted it! She’s declaring war against me!!”

“You’re overthinking it. This sounds like the guy’s tone,” Lu Xingyan remarked.

Chen Zhu choked for three seconds before bursting into louder sobs.

Lu Xingyan: “…”

It was strange. This time, he didn’t feel anything special. He just felt Chen Zhu’s crying was giving him a headache.

He didn’t know what to say, as he had never been good at comforting people. After standing there for a while, all he managed to say was, “Stop crying.”

Chen Zhu didn’t even hear what he said. She was completely engulfed in the one-sided heartbreak, crying more vigorously as she became more invested in her grief.

Lu Xingyan stood there indifferently for two minutes. Unable to bear it any longer, he called Xu Chengzhou and asked him to quickly find a few girls to come over.

While waiting, Lu Xingyan pondered the ultimate question of life—why did he ever like her? No, it shouldn’t be liked.

It all started with a game of Truth or Dare. Lu Xingyan was asked what type of girl he liked. He casually mentioned a few criteria and was criticized for not being sincere enough. They insisted he provide a reference.

After some thought, and not finding anyone else around who wasn’t annoying and could have a normal interaction, he mentioned, “Someone like Chen Zhu, I guess.”

In the end, he didn’t know how it happened. The phrase “like Chen Zhu” got automatically translated to just “Chen Zhu.” His buddies kept arranging scenes for him with Chen Zhu, pushing him to spend more time alone with her.

As time went on, he started feeling as if he had been brainwashed, convincing himself that he must like Chen Zhu. Recently, when he found out that Chen Zhu liked her childhood friend, he initially felt genuinely upset. But the next day, he woke up completely accepting the fact and decided to no longer harbor a one-sided affection for Chen Zhu.

On the other side, Shen Xingruo woke up from her nap, practiced the piano for a while, and then planned to study at the library. Over the past two years, the city government has been vigorously promoting the development of the area around the North City’s Falling Star Lake. They even relocated the city library nearby, which was just a ten-minute walk from the Lu family’s residence.

Shen Xingruo slung her backpack over her shoulder, hands in her pockets, listening to some music as she strolled along the Falling Star Lake. Suddenly, she caught sight of a familiar figure ahead and paused. It was Lu Xingyan.

Beside Lu Xingyan stood a girl, her hair disheveled, crying her heart out. Lu Xingyan, on the other hand, leaned casually against a tree trunk, watching indifferently.

At first glance, it looked like a typical breakup scenario where the guy was indifferent while the girl was in tears, desperately trying to salvage the relationship. Knowing it wasn’t her business to intervene, Shen Xingruo decided to take a detour.

Lu Xingyan didn’t return home until after eleven at night. Shen Xingruo happened to be downstairs getting a drink and seeing his exhausted and lazy demeanor, she couldn’t help but imagine a draining melodrama of breaking up and pleading to stay together.

On Sunday, both of them stayed at home, not even exchanging a glance. Shen Xingruo felt that this was fine and hoped it would stay this way in the future. However, when she returned to school in the evening, she heard some unsettling news from Shi Qin, “Xingruo, we’re changing seats tomorrow. The seating chart is in the group. Guess who’s your new desk mate? It’s Lu Xingyan!”

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