After the weekend, the temperature in Nancheng suddenly dropped back to just above ten degrees. On Monday morning, as Zhou Anran returned to school, Mrs. He reminded her to put on an extra layer of clothing.
Upon reaching the teaching building, Zhou Anran and Yan Xingqian entered the classroom through the back door, arm in arm as usual.
As soon as they entered, Zhou Anran’s gaze habitually fell on the sixth desk in the second row. She heard an unfamiliar male student from the back row greet Yan Xingqian.
“Yan Xingqian, you’re pretty impressive. That video and those few sentences last Friday were satisfying. I didn’t know you were so knowledgeable about basketball.”
Yan Xingqian waved her hand dismissively. “No, no, I just happened to overhear some rules while watching a game with my dad a few days ago. I don’t know much about it.”
“Being able to remember and use it at a crucial moment after just overhearing it is still pretty awesome.”
Back in their seats, Yan Xingqian let out a small sigh. “It’s a good thing you guessed someone would mention this and prepare a script for me in advance. Otherwise, I’d be afraid of slipping up.”
Zhou Anran didn’t sit down immediately, instead taking out a tissue from her bag to wipe the desk.
Yan Xingqian continued in a lowered voice, “Actually, they should be praising you. Do you not want me to tell everyone that you were the one who took the video and told me what to say?”
Zhou Anran paused in her desk-wiping.
She had only wanted to help him on Friday, not seeking praise from anyone.
Moreover, she didn’t want to receive too much attention because of this. It would make her feel like the secret she had been carefully hiding was about to be exposed.
“No need,” Zhou Anran replied softly. “They’ll forget about it in a few days anyway. Besides, mentioning it now would seem like I’m fishing for compliments. It’s not a big deal, and I’m not good at handling these situations. Just help me out again, okay? I’ll treat you to milk tea tonight.”
“Alright, but it’s too hot today. I want iced lemon tea tonight,” Yan Xingqian yawned, about to slump onto her desk.
Zhou Anran held her back. “Wait a moment before you lie down. Let me wipe your desk first.”
After cleaning Yan Xingqian’s desk as well, Zhou Anran went to the back to throw away the tissue and then went out to wash her hands.
When she returned, she saw Lou Yiqi had just sat down in her seat.
Zhou Anran took her own seat.
Lou Yiqi turned slightly, her gaze towards Yan Xingqian seeming to hold a hint of scrutiny. “Yan Xingqian, when did you become so knowledgeable about basketball rules?”
Yan Xingqian looked up. “I’m not. It just so happened that in the game I watched with my dad a few days ago, a player committed a foot-planting foul. The commentator emphasized the rules about that, and I happened to remember it.”
“I see,” Lou Yiqi paused. “And you just happened to catch Chen Luobai being fouled on camera. Looks like our class is quite lucky.”
Yan Xingqian replied, “The ball was in his hands. I wasn’t focusing on his face when filming, so it’s normal to catch the footwork.”
Lou Yiqi rested her hand on Zhou Anran’s desk. “That’s true. But why didn’t you go to Qingting for dinner when Zhu Ran invited you last Friday? I was thinking if you went, I’d have a companion.”
This topic wasn’t within the range of the script Zhou Anran had prepared with her.
But since it didn’t involve basketball, Yan Xingqian wasn’t afraid of slipping up. She looked at Lou Yiqi with confusion. “Weren’t you with Yin Yizhen?”
Lou Yiqi was silent for a moment.
“Well, it was just me and her as the only girls. The rest were all boys,” she brought the topic back. “So why didn’t you go?”
Yan Xingqian still looked puzzled. “Why should I go? I’m not close with them, and my idol had an event that day.”
“Just for that?” Lou Yiqi seemed surprised.
Yan Xingqian: “What do you mean ‘just for that’? My idol hasn’t had an event in so long. Nothing’s more important than that, even if the sky were falling.”
Lou Yiqi: “…”
“Alright then,” she said, turning back around.
Zhou Anran, sitting beside them, had listened to the entire exchange and inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
Yan Xingqian’s complete lack of interest in Chen Luobai allowed her to be so open and straightforward.
If it had been her just now, she probably couldn’t have managed it.
Zhou Anran took out her pen, intending to review some vocabulary, but perhaps due to her distraction, she accidentally flung the pen cap when she uncapped it.
She bent down to pick it up, and as she raised her head, she saw He Mingyu, who had moved to sit across the aisle from her, seemingly looking at her.
She wasn’t sure if he had overheard anything earlier.
On Friday, when the conflict suddenly erupted on the court and everyone’s attention was on Chen Luobai, she had discreetly slipped her phone into Yan Xingqian’s pocket. Their phones were the same model with identical cases.
Even if He Mingyu had been standing next to them, he shouldn’t have noticed anything, right?
“What’s wrong?” Zhou Anran asked him.
He Mingyu shook his head. “Nothing. I was going to ask you about a problem, but then I figured it out myself.”
Zhou Anran didn’t say anything more. She recapped her pen and lowered her head to review vocabulary.
Yan Xingqian nudged her with an elbow. “I’m going to secretly watch my idol’s activity from last Friday again. Ranran, can you keep an eye out for the teacher?”
Zhou Anran didn’t agree. “Aunt Song asked me to make sure you review vocabulary in the morning.”
“Just five minutes,” Yan Xingqian pleaded with her. “Come on, good Ranran, I’ve been helping you—”
Zhou Anran softly interrupted her. “Just five minutes.”
Yan Xingqian gave her a small OK gesture, then sneakily lowered her head.
Zhou Anran flipped through her English book, occasionally glancing back.
To see if the homeroom teacher was sneaking in from behind.
And to see if he had arrived.
As the five minutes were almost up, Dong Chen walked up the aisle from behind to Yan Xingqian’s side and suddenly tapped on her desk.
Yan Xingqian was startled. She looked up to see it was him and took off her earphones. “Dong Chen, are you sick? Why are you tapping on my desk for no reason? You scared me.”
Dong Chen spoke with a mischievous tone. “I’m collecting math homework. You’re not studying properly, being all sneaky, and you blame me for scaring you?”
Yan Xingqian glared at him irritably. “Who’s being sneaky? It’s still early, why are you collecting math homework now?”
As she spoke, she pulled out a test paper from her desk and slammed it on the table.
Dong Chen: “I’ll collect it whenever I want to.”
Yan Xingqian couldn’t be bothered to deal with him anymore and put her earphones back on.
Dong Chen rubbed his nose. “Zhou Anran, where’s yours?”
Zhou Anran handed him her paper and softly added, “Don’t keep scaring her. She can’t handle it.”
Dong Chen was silent for a moment, averting his gaze. “Who’s always scaring her?”
Zhou Anran didn’t respond. She went to pull out Yan Xingqian’s earphones again. “Five minutes are up. Quick, review your vocabulary.”
Yan Xingqian: “…”
“Wuwuwu, what benefit did my mom give you? I’ll give you ten times that.”
“Even a hundred times wouldn’t work,” Zhou Anran took out Yan Xingqian’s English book. “Hurry up and review your vocabulary. Don’t come crying to me later if you can’t write them out in the quiz.”
However, Yan Xingqian didn’t end up reviewing more than two words.
Because Sheng Xiaowen and Zhang Shuxian entered the classroom together. These two had been separated from them at the end of last Friday, and over the weekend, they had already asked about the basketball game on social media. Now that they were in the classroom, they came over to gossip more about last Friday’s game.
As it neared the start of self-study time, Zhou Anran still hadn’t heard the familiar voice from behind.
Taking advantage of the homework being passed forward from the back rows, she glanced back again. The sixth desk in that row was still empty.
Why hasn’t he arrived yet today?
Zhou Anran took the homework from the row behind, slowly turning back, and then suddenly saw the person she had been hoping to see appear at the classroom’s front door.
With the drop in temperature, the boys had returned to wearing their spring uniforms. His jacket zipper was undone, hanging loosely on his body, his bag slung over one shoulder, his figure tall and straight.
He seemed to be carrying a transparent bag, though she couldn’t tell what was inside.
He was turning his head, talking to Zhu Ran, who was half-hidden behind him.
Perhaps due to something Zhu Ran said, Chen Luobai suddenly turned his head to look in her direction.
Zhou Anran hurriedly averted her gaze.
But she could still see their situation from the corner of her eye.
She saw him enter with Zhu Ran.
She saw him walk into the aisle between the first and second rows.
She saw him…
Stop at their row.
Zhou Anran felt like her breath had stopped for a moment too.
She couldn’t help but lift her head slightly, still not daring to look directly at his face, but her view was clearer than before.
Zhou Anran saw him raise his hand, the small mole on his wrist bone catching her eye. She also saw that what he was carrying was a bag from the school’s small supermarket, seemingly filled with snacks.
She saw him place that bag of snacks on Yan Xingqian’s desk.
The familiar, clear voice of the boy sounded very close.
“Thanks for last Friday.”
Zhu Ran added to his words: “This is from all of us. Yan the Heroine, you were amazing. If it weren’t for your video and those few sentences last Friday, we would have still won for sure, but it wouldn’t have been this easy.”
Yan Xingqian was stunned for a moment.
This scenario wasn’t within the range of scripts Zhou Anran had prepared with her either.
Yan Xingqian turned her head slightly, only to see Zhou Anran with her head lowered. She blinked, then had to improvise on her own: “You don’t need to thank me. I just happened to catch it on camera and just happened to know that rule. Didn’t you say you were fighting for the class’s honor? Anyone else in the class would have done the same. There’s no need to thank me.”
“Alright, but keep the snacks anyway. It’s not much,” Zhu Ran didn’t elaborate further. “Anyway, if you need any help in the future, just let us know.”
After the two tall boys left, Yan Xingqian quietly let out a sigh of relief.
She put the snacks on her lap first, intending to ask Zhou Anran how to handle these things. But when she turned her head, she saw that Zhou Anran had, at some point, slumped onto her desk.
“Ranran,” Yan Xingqian asked worriedly, “What’s wrong?”
Zhou Anran’s voice sounded muffled: “It’s nothing. My stomach just hurts a bit.”
Yan Xingqian: “What’s wrong? Do you want me to accompany you to the school infirmary?”
“No need,” Zhou Anran said. “It’s probably just my period coming.”
Yan Xingqian immediately relaxed: “Then you rest for a while. I’ll let the teacher know if they come.”
Zhou Anran made a soft sound of agreement, her voice so faint she could barely hear it herself.
She buried her entire face in her arms, feeling a sense of sourness gradually rising in her nose.
But what was there to be sad about?
When she chose to put the phone in Yan Xingqian’s school uniform pocket on Friday, she should have anticipated this scene.
Perhaps it was because she could disregard praise and attention from everyone else, but couldn’t ignore any of his actions.
This perfunctory thank you, she originally had the chance to hear him say it to her personally.
She had given up that chance with her own hands.
Perhaps it was because she knew clearly that the so-called fear of embarrassment, fear of her secret being exposed, were all excuses she made for herself.
In reality, she was just a coward who didn’t dare to take a step closer to him.
During the long break that morning, Hu Kun and the others apologized to Tang Jianrui in front of the whole school.
That day, no matter where Zhou Anran went in the school, she could hear people discussing last Friday’s basketball game, discussing Chen Luobai’s step-back three-pointer and his no-look bounce pass.
But because of his perfunctory thank you in the morning, Zhou Anran felt listless all morning. Even during her lunchtime nap in the classroom, she couldn’t rest peacefully.
Half-asleep, she heard someone talking in the front row. The voice was exceptionally sweet, sounding like Yin Yizhen.
She said, “Do you think I should ask Chen Luobai out to play this weekend?”