How could he possibly like me?
The last class of the morning was Mr. Gao Guohua’s mathematics lesson.
Following the trend of previous teachers dragging out their classes, Gao Guohua also “lived up to expectations” and extended his lesson.
Eating hotpot takes time, and although the restaurant was near the school, it still required some effort to go back and forth. Zhang Shuxian was anxious, while Gao Guohua on the podium was still leisurely explaining concepts.
Yan Xingqian and Sheng Xiaowen had already come down from the sixth floor and were waiting outside the window.
Perhaps bored from waiting, when Zhou Anran’s gaze inadvertently looked out, those two were making faces at her.
Zhou Anran couldn’t help but smile, but seeing from the corner of her eye that Gao Guohua was about to turn around, she quickly hid her smile and continued to listen attentively.
Outside, the two girls’ gestures became increasingly exaggerated.
They had transferred from Class 2, so if not all the students in the classroom were familiar with them, at least everyone knew them. Many were amused and started laughing.
Gao Guohua noticed something was off and looked out the window.
Yan Xingqian and Sheng Xiaowen quickly pretended to look at the sky and the ground respectively, feigning an obedient waiting pose.
After dragging on for nearly five or six minutes, Gao Guohua finally announced the end of class.
Zhou Anran was hurriedly pulled out by Zhang Shuxian, not even getting a chance to secretly glance back at him.
As they ran out of the classroom, Zhou Anran saw Yan Xingqian and Sheng Xiaowen greeting Gao Guohua.
Gao Guohua, holding his teaching materials, spoke with a slightly warning tone but with a smile on his face: “Next time you can wait for people, but don’t disturb the class.”
Sheng Xiaowen, always bold, wasn’t afraid of him at all: “We only came after class ended. If you didn’t extend the class, Mr. Gao, we wouldn’t have had the chance to disturb anyone.”
Gao Guohua pretended to look stern: “Now that I’m not your homeroom teacher, you think I can’t manage you anymore?”
“How could that be?” Sheng Xiaowen and Yan Xingqian shook their heads in unison.
Gao Guohua asked a few more questions about their situation in the liberal arts class.
After he left, Zhang Shuxian hurriedly urged, “Hurry up, hurry up, or we won’t have enough time to eat.”
Zhang Shuxian had already reserved a table.
Upon arrival, the four were led to their seats by a waiter and began ordering.
When it came to drinks, Sheng Xiaowen suddenly remembered something and looked up: “Oh right, Anran, I heard Chen Luobai bought you a drink yesterday?”
Sheng Xiaowen had something to do last night and didn’t eat with them.
Zhou Anran’s heart skipped a beat, her fingers curling slightly around the plum juice: “Yes, it was just in passing.”
“If Chen Luobai wasn’t so arrogant and unlike the type to have secret crushes, and if he had barely spoken two words to you, I’d suspect he had other intentions. But he does seem to like treating people,” Sheng Xiaowen said, then lowered her head, “Is plum juice okay?”
Zhang Shuxian voted: “I’m okay with it.”
Yan Xingqian agreed: “Me too.”
Zhou Anran softly said: “I’m fine with it too.”
The previous topic was lightly brushed aside.
Yesterday, Tang Jianrui and others had teased a bit, but after returning to the classroom, no one seemed to mention it again.
Even her friends seemed to think it was an impossible thing.
Zhou Anran lowered her eyes and took a sip of lemon water, tasting a slight sourness.
So don’t overthink it.
He was just being casual.
Zhou Anran gently told herself in her heart.
They finished the hotpot meal in the air-conditioned restaurant, keeping an eye on the time. The group quickly rushed back to school, entering the classroom just as the pre-class bell rang.
The last class of the afternoon was English.
As soon as Lin Han entered the classroom, he smiled: “I heard all your other teachers extended their classes today, right?”
“Yes,” Zhu Ran called out from the back, “Mr. Lin, please don’t extend yours. Chen Luobai’s aunt’s daughter’s cousin’s sister-in-law’s sister’s grandmother is sick, and we’re planning to visit her at the hospital.”
This was nonsense, and Lin Han didn’t believe it. He joked, “Chen Luobai, is this true?”
Hearing the teacher call his name, Zhou Anran unconsciously sat up straighter.
“It’s not true, Mr. Lin,” Chen Luobai’s voice came from behind, clearly tinged with amusement, “It’s Zhu Ran who’s sick in the head, and I’m accompanying him to the hospital for a check-up.”
“Hey, you’re the one who’s sick in the head,” Zhu Ran retorted.
The whole class burst into laughter.
Including Zhang Shuxian, many people turned back to watch the commotion. Zhou Anran took the opportunity to turn back with everyone else.
Chen Luobai had just turned back from Zhu Ran’s direction, his smile not yet fully faded, giving him a somewhat casual air.
Whether it was because he had turned slightly off-center, Zhou Anran’s gaze suddenly met his in mid-air.
Zhou Anran didn’t have time to react.
The next second, she saw the boy’s eyebrow slightly raised.
Zhou Anran’s heart immediately skipped a big beat. She hurriedly turned back, but her mind was still full of his eyebrow-raising gesture towards her direction.
Had he noticed her looking at him?
Or was he looking at someone else just now?
The boy sitting in front of her seemed quite familiar with him, and most of the boys in the class were more familiar with him than she was, at least much more than she was with him.
It probably wasn’t directed at her.
When her wildly beating heart finally calmed down a bit, Zhou Anran belatedly felt regretful.
Why was she hiding anyway?
Everyone was looking in his direction, it was normal for her to look too. Hiding made it seem abnormal.
But he never noticed her anyway.
It shouldn’t matter, right?
It’s just that for some reason these past two days, even though she had secretly looked at him for a year without being discovered before.
Yesterday and today she hardly dared to look at him, yet she was almost caught twice.
“Alright,” Lin Han smiled and tapped the desk, “Stop the chatter, class is starting. If you keep this up, I really will extend the class today.”
Zhou Anran gently shook her head, letting the hair tucked behind her ear fall forward to hide her slightly reddened ears. She also pushed down those random thoughts and looked up to attentively listen to Lin Han’s lecture.
In the end, Lin Han became the only teacher that day who didn’t extend the class.
After class ended on time, Zhou Anran didn’t dare to look back again. She hurriedly pulled Zhang Shuxian and quickly walked out.
“Anran, what’s going on with you today? It’s rare to see you so eager to leave after class,” Zhang Shuxian found it strange.
Once out of the classroom, Zhou Anran let out a small sigh of relief: “It’s nothing, just in a hurry to take you to eat bullfrog.”
“What bullfrog?” Zhang Shuxian asked.
Zhou Anran: “Qianqian and the others agreed with me to treat you to another meal of bullfrog this afternoon.”
Zhang Shuxian was stunned for a moment, then her face broke into a smile. She playfully went to tickle Zhou Anran: “Oh you, when did you all secretly plan this behind my back?”
Zhou Anran laughed and dodged her attack: “So, are you going or not?”
“Of course, of course,” Zhang Shuxian took her hand again.
The dry-pot bullfrog restaurant was also near the school.
Eating bullfrog didn’t take as long as hotpot. When the four of them returned, there was still some time before evening self-study began.
After entering the teaching building, Yan Xingqian and Sheng Xiaowen went back to the sixth floor together. Zhang Shuxian was stopped at the door by her classmates from Class 3 to chat, so Zhou Anran entered the classroom alone.
Walking to her seat, Zhou Anran saw her English book placed diagonally on the edge of her desk, with almost half of it hanging off as if it was about to fall.
Zhou Anran couldn’t help but find it strange.
She always arranged her books neatly before leaving, never having the habit of leaving things messy.
What was going on with this English book?
Had someone accidentally knocked it down and helped put it back carelessly?
She wondered if it had gotten dirty from touching the floor.
Zhou Anran stood by the desk and casually flipped through the book.
But there seemed to be something stuck inside, and she flipped right to that page.
There was a piece of paper inserted.
To be precise, it looked like a short love letter—
“Thank you for the medicine that day, I liked it, and I like you too.”
There was no signature on the letter.
But just like a certain face and a certain voice, this handwriting was something she had replayed countless times in her mind.
It was too familiar to be mistaken.
It was Chen Luobai’s handwriting.
The sounds inside and outside the classroom seemed to suddenly disappear, and Zhou Anran could only hear her heartbeat getting faster and faster.
Chen Luobai wrote her a love letter.
How could this be possible?
But if it wasn’t for her, why would it appear on her desk, inserted in her English textbook?
And that first sentence on it.
Thank you for the medicine that day.
Was he referring to the iodine cotton swabs she gave him that day?
So he did recognize her that day?
Recognized her, so that’s why he bought her a drink yesterday, and why there’s this love letter today?
But it’s impossible.
Some so many girls gave him things, beautiful and excellent ones weren’t lacking, and he had been her classmate for over a year and had barely noticed her. How could he possibly like her just because she gave him medicine once?
“Anran,” Zhang Shuxian’s voice suddenly sounded beside her ear, “What are you spacing out about standing by your seat?”
Zhou Anran’s heart skipped a heavy beat. She suddenly came back to her senses and abruptly closed the English book.
“What are you thinking about? Why are you so jumpy?” Zhang Shuxian saw her dazed look and couldn’t help but ask another question.
Zhou Anran’s mind was still full of that love letter. She barely heard what Zhang Shuxian said and just randomly responded: “Do you want to go in?”
“Yes, I want to go in,” Zhang Shuxian said, “Can you move aside a bit?”
Zhou Anran mechanically stepped back, standing next to the desk behind.
Lou Yiqi had also returned to the classroom at some point, with Yin Yizhen following her. The two were standing by their seats, playfully pushing each other.
Zhang Shuxian was blocked by them and couldn’t come over immediately.
Over there, Lou Yiqi, for some reason, laughed and pushed Yin Yizhen again. Yin Yizhen took a big step back, her hand unconsciously swinging back, seeming to accidentally knock something to the ground.
Yin Yizhen turned her head and saw it was an English book.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she crouched down to pick it up.
“You don’t need to—” Zhou Anran remembered belatedly that there was something inserted in the book and wanted to stop her, but it was already too late.
Yin Yizhen crouched down, picked up the English book, and then remembered that the position just now was Zhou Anran’s, so this book should be hers.
Her mood became complicated for a moment.
Hearing Zhou Anran’s voice, Yin Yizhen was about to turn her head but first saw that there was still a piece of paper under the book as if it had been inserted in the English book and accidentally fell out.
The paper was face up, with only a short sentence on it, but the handwriting was unmistakably familiar.
She had once asked Zong Kai to help borrow his notes.
Even though she had seen him smiling and leaning toward Zhou Anran to talk that day at the supermarket entrance, Yin Yizhen still found it unbelievable at this moment.
Someone like Chen Luobai would take the initiative to write a love letter to a girl?
Yin Yizhen stood up holding that piece of paper, looked at Zhou Anran, and as if still holding onto some hope, softly asked: “Did Chen Luobai write this for you?”
Zhou Anran was still a bit slow to react, but at this moment, another sudden change occurred.
Lou Yiqi, who had been standing motionless to the side, suddenly snatched the paper from Yin Yizhen’s hand upon hearing those words.
After glancing at its contents, she appeared extremely surprised, her expression changing dramatically in an instant.
“How is this possible?” Lou Yiqi looked directly at Zhou Anran. “How could Chen Luobai possibly write you a love letter?”
Her voice was infinitely louder than Yin Yizhen’s earlier statement. With evening self-study about to begin, most of the class had arrived, and all eyes turned towards them at once.
Zhou Anran had never experienced such a situation before. A wave of dizziness washed over her, and her mind went blank in an instant.
“What on earth are you talking about?” Zhang Shuxian sensed something was amiss and moved closer to take a look.
As she did so, she too was momentarily stunned.
Lou Yiqi’s face, however, still bore an expression of utter surprise. She looked at Zhou Anran, then carefully examined the paper in her hand, as if discovering something. “You forged his handwriting and wrote it to yourself, didn’t you? I knew Chen Luobai couldn’t possibly write you a love letter. Even if Chen Luobai were to write someone a love letter, he wouldn’t use paper from an ordinary notebook. Moreover, this paper has been cut short. I didn’t expect this from you, Zhou Anran—”
“Lou Yiqi, what nonsense are you spouting?” Zhang Shuxian interrupted. She had finally grasped the situation. This love letter that had fallen out of Zhou Anran’s English book was clearly in Chen Luobai’s handwriting.
But Zhou Anran was not the type to forge someone’s handwriting to write herself a love letter. Recalling the events of the previous night, Zhang Shuxian added, “Why couldn’t Chen Luobai write Anran a love letter? He even treated her to a drink yesterday.”
Interrupted, Lou Yiqi’s attitude seemed to grow even more agitated. “Chen Luobai has bought me drinks too. What does that prove? You’re closer to her now, so of course you’re taking her side. But ask her, if she’s not guilty, why isn’t she saying anything in her defense?”
Zhou Anran stood rooted to the spot, feeling as though all the warmth was draining from her body despite the hot weather. Her hands and feet turned ice-cold.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to defend herself.
She simply didn’t know how to respond.
She had never been good at arguing with others. It was always after an argument that she would think of what she should have said. Lou Yiqi’s attitude was agitated, her words coming out rapid-fire, leaving Zhou Anran little chance to interject.
Moreover, at this moment, she hadn’t even grasped the situation fully.
She didn’t know where this love letter had come from.
She didn’t believe that Chen Luobai would write her a love letter.
And until Lou Yiqi mentioned it, she hadn’t even noticed that a small portion of the paper had been cut off.
Why would it have been cut?
Seeing that she didn’t immediately respond, Lou Yiqi’s tone grew even more certain. “Besides, we’ve been classmates for over a year. Have you ever seen Chen Luobai say a word to her? He probably doesn’t even know her name.”
“Whose name don’t I know?” A familiar, deep voice suddenly rang out.
Zhou Anran abruptly raised her head to see Chen Luobai standing at the back door, with Zhu Ran and his group behind him.
The last trace of color drained from her face.
Why did he have to return at this precise moment?
It had only been a minute or two since the discovery of this love letter, but the successive shocks had left Zhou Anran’s already slow-moving brain even more sluggish.
Before she could think of how to respond, Lou Yiqi was already waving the paper in her hand.
“Chen Luobai, did you write a love letter to Zhou Anran?”
As soon as Lou Yiqi finished her question, Zhou Anran saw Chen Luobai pause, his face showing obvious surprise.
The last tiny shred of her wishful thinking shattered into dust at that moment. As he turned his head to look in her direction, she quickly lowered her head in embarrassment.
Chen Luobai stood at the back door, observing the girl not far away. Her head was half-lowered, her face mostly hidden by her hair, making it seem even smaller than usual. Unlike yesterday afternoon when she stood before him, looking obedient and quiet, her face slightly flushed as if she had just finished exercising.
At this moment, that small face looked even paler than when he had encountered her crying on the rooftop, almost devoid of any color.
Chen Luobai frowned slightly, strode over, and pulled the paper from Lou Yiqi’s hand.
After seeing its contents clearly, his brow furrowed even more.
Lou Yiqi observed his reaction, and the last bit of suspense in her heart completely settled. She turned her face slightly.
“Zhou Anran, Chen Luobai is here now. Do you dare to say to his face that this love letter was written by him to you?”
Zhou Anran tried her best to calm herself down.
But even now, she truly didn’t understand what was going on with this letter. She could only deduce from his surprised reaction earlier that, regardless of what the truth might be, it was impossible that he had written her a love letter.
How should she explain?
Tell the whole truth?
Would he believe her?
Zhou Anran bit her lip tightly.
But Lou Yiqi didn’t give her much time to think or hesitate, immediately pressing further: “What’s wrong? Too afraid to ask? I told you this letter couldn’t possibly be from Chen Luobai to you—”
Chen Luobai hadn’t fully grasped the situation either at this point.
The paper in his hand was clearly the love letter he had written for Zong Kai, so how did it end up in their classroom, and apparently in her possession?
Was Zong Kai interested in her?
Where had the signature gone?
And how had others discovered it?
As another demanding question reached his ears, Chen Luobai frowned and looked up.
The girl diagonally in front of him had her eyelashes lowered, her slender white fingers intertwined, her lips bitten white. She looked so embarrassed and distressed that she might cry at any moment.
In that instant, Chen Luobai didn’t know what he was thinking when he interrupted: “I wrote it for her.”
As soon as Chen Luobai finished speaking, it was as if someone had hit the pause button in the classroom. Even the air seemed to freeze.
Lou Yiqi’s unfinished words stuck in her throat.
Zhou Anran suddenly raised her head, her gaze meeting the boys from across the space. Before she could discern anything, a stern voice suddenly rang out.
“What love letter?”
The headteacher had somehow appeared at the front door, his face was dark with anger. “What do you think this place is? Chen Luobai, and the other one called Zhou Anran, right? Come with me to the office.”
After the two “involved parties” were called away, the classroom finally resumed its normal state.
Zhang Shuxian worriedly withdrew her gaze from the doorway and fixed it on Lou Yiqi’s face, her voice cold: “Are you satisfied now?”
Lou Yiqi opened her mouth, wanting to say that she hadn’t meant to slander Zhou Anran, that she had genuinely been too surprised and truly believed forgery was the only possibility. But how could this be?
How could Chen Luobai admit to it?
How could Chen Luobai possibly write her a love letter?
Yin Yizhen, who hadn’t spoken again until now, also looked at her.
“Didn’t you tell me—” Yin Yizhen stared directly at her, “that you liked Zhu Ran? Why are you more agitated than me about Chen Luobai writing a love letter to someone else?”
“Wait a minute.” Zhu Ran, who had been worried too, was taken aback when he heard this. “How did I get involved in this? Don’t project your messy thoughts onto me. I already have someone I like.”
Tang Jianrui and the others also wore worried expressions: “Lao Zhu, what’s going on? Does Luo-ge really like Zhou Anran?”
Zhu Ran was equally confused: “How would I know what’s going on?”
*
“What’s going on?”
Meanwhile, upon reaching the office, the head teacher asked the same question. He placed the confiscated love letter on his desk, his gaze sweeping over the girl with her head lowered and snow-white face, finally landing on Chen Luobai.
From what he had heard earlier, it seemed Chen Luobai was the initiator.
“Chen Luobai, you speak first.”
Chen Luobai didn’t know how the love letter he had written for Zong Kai had ended up in her possession. He didn’t even know why he had publicly admitted to writing it for her just now.
In that moment earlier, he hadn’t given it much thought.
Perhaps it was because, regardless of how the love letter had come into her hands, he had indeed written it.
It was he who had caused her to fall into that awkward situation of being suspected and accused.
Chen Luobai wasn’t afraid of dealing with teachers. On the way here, he had already thought of a solution.
Telling the truth, more or less, would suffice.
The love letter was something he had written for someone else, and he didn’t know how it had ended up in her possession. The whole incident had nothing to do with her. This would both exonerate her and explain to her why he had publicly admitted to it earlier.
But just as he was about to enter, his gaze inadvertently caught the first sentence of the love letter, and a possibility that he hadn’t considered in the classroom suddenly flashed through his mind.
He suddenly hesitated about whether to tell the whole truth.
If his guess was correct, wouldn’t it be better to explain to her privately rather than in front of the teacher?
In his moment of hesitation, Chen Luobai suddenly saw the person beside him move.
The girl who barely dared to speak to him, whose height reached just about his shoulder level, thin and delicate, suddenly stood in front of him.
That soft, pleasant voice with a slightly grainy texture still sounded gentle, but unlike when she spoke to him, it didn’t sound timid. It was soft yet firm.
“Teacher Zhao, this has nothing to do with him.”
Chen Luobai was suddenly taken aback.
The short walk from the classroom to the office, without the interference of others, had allowed Zhou Anran to calm down considerably.
Regardless of how that love letter had appeared in her book, it couldn’t possibly have been written to her by him.
Perhaps when she first saw the letter, there had been a glimmer of wishful thinking in her heart, but that glimmer had been thoroughly shattered later.
Apart from suspecting that she had forged his handwriting, she agreed with almost every word Lou Yiqi had said. This was why she hadn’t known how to refute earlier.
Because Chen Luobai indeed couldn’t have written her a love letter.
When he entered the room and heard Lou Yiqi’s words, the surprise evident on his face was enough to prove this fact.
Although she didn’t know why he had admitted to it, perhaps it was again due to his good upbringing, unable to bear seeing her in such an awkward situation.
But regardless of the reason, he had indeed helped her again, truly pulling her out of that extremely embarrassing state.
And it was precisely because he had helped her that he was now called to the office with her.
Zhou Anran still remembered the incident last semester when a pair of senior students were caught dating by the head teacher, resulting in both of them receiving demerits and public criticism. Zhang Shuxian and the others had said that the school was always very strict about such matters.
This time might not be as severe.
But although he wasn’t a particularly well-behaved student, he had always been well-liked by teachers and had never even received ordinary criticism. How could he be put in a situation where he might face public criticism just for helping her?
Zhou Anran raised her head. At this moment, her mind felt both very clear and extremely muddled. Her hand, hanging at her side, slowly clenched: “Teacher Zhao, it has nothing to do with him. I forged his handwriting for fun. I didn’t expect my classmates to find out. The love letter wasn’t written by him to me. No one writing a love letter would be so careless as to use paper from a notebook, let alone paper that’s been cut short. If you don’t believe me, you can ask around in our class. He’s not at all familiar with me. We’ve been classmates for over a year, and he’s only spoken to me five times, totaling just twenty-three sentences. He doesn’t even remember my name. There’s no way he could like me.”
Chen Luobai understood every word she said, but each word was beyond his expectations.
Or rather, from the moment she stood in front of him, something seemed to have completely escaped his control.
He stood there in a daze, his gaze fixed on her slender back.
The girl in front of him, having finished this speech, seemed to have used up all her courage and strength. She suddenly half-crouched down, her voice faintly tinged with a sob.
“How could he possibly like me?”