He Didn’t Pay Attention to Who It Was
Suddenly, the harsh sound of a chair scraping against the floor echoed in the classroom.
It was the study representative, the only student still left in the classroom, standing up from their seat.
Zhou Anran abruptly snapped back to reality, realizing that her current behavior was no different from eavesdropping, which was entirely different from listening to him talk earlier in the day from the convenience of her seat.
Back then, he knew someone was sitting diagonally in front of him.
Moreover, Yan Xingqian was still waiting for her in the restroom downstairs.
Zhou Anran pressed her lips together and lifted her foot to continue walking toward her seat.
However, at that moment, that familiar voice finally sounded, carrying through the back door to her ears, still low and lazy, extremely listless.
“But senior, you’ve already—” The boy paused, the weariness in his voice more evident, “disturbed my sleep.”
The tension in her heart eased a little.
Yet it remained tightly wound, ready to constrict again at any moment.
But for the rest of the conversation, as the distance increased, she could no longer hear.
Zhou Anran returned to her seat, unzipped her backpack, and took something out to stuff into her school uniform jacket pocket.
As she was zipping up her bag, the sound of a chair being dragged came from behind. She paused her movements.
After a few seconds, Zhou Anran finally stood up.
Turning around, she saw that Chen Luobai had indeed returned to his seat.
The boy had once again laid his head on the desk, but this time he didn’t bury his entire face in his arms, leaving half of his smooth-lined profile exposed.
For the first time, it was just the two of them left in the classroom.
But Zhou Anran couldn’t calmly enjoy this rare opportunity to be alone with him. Her mind kept replaying the conversation she had just overheard.
Was the girl who had just come to find him the senior Zhu Ran had mentioned this morning?
But hadn’t he said this morning that the senior was asking him about math problems?
And that sentence he just said…
Was it a rejection of the senior’s request?
Because Zhou Anran hadn’t been able to hear the rest of their conversation, she couldn’t deduce the answer, only a bitter taste in her mouth.
Perhaps due to sleeping on his side or the light bothering his eyes, the boy in the back row shifted his head slightly, burying his entire face back into his arms.
Zhou Anran slowly withdrew her gaze. Afraid of disturbing his sleep, she didn’t use the back door this time.
She went out through the front door, and when passing by the back door, she hesitated for a few seconds before gently closing it.
The wind that had been sneaking in through the back door seemed to suddenly stop.
Chen Luobai lifted his head and glanced at the back door.
When he had come in earlier, there seemed to have been someone else in the classroom, but he hadn’t paid attention to who it was.
Chen Luobai laid his head back down on the desk.
But having been woken up halfway through his nap, it was difficult to resume the interrupted sleep.
Five minutes later, Chen Luobai lifted his head again, running his hand through his hair in frustration.
He got up, opened the back door that someone had closed, went downstairs, and walked to the basketball court.
Zhu Ran and Zong Kai were playing one-on-one.
Seeing him approach, both stopped their actions.
Zhu Ran walked over, dribbling the ball: “Oh, why has our Luo-ge come down again? Didn’t you say you were going to stay in the classroom to catch up on sleep? I just heard that senior came to confess to you again. Is your heart fluttering so much that you can’t sleep? Who was it this morning that told me the senior was asking him about math problems?”
Chen Luobai coldly stretched his wrists and ankles, not even sparing him a glance.
“It’s not like you just met him today,” Zong Kai responded instead.
The three of them had been in the same class from seventh to ninth grade in Er Zhong’s junior high division, though Zong Kai was now in Class 4.
“He’s always been considerate of girls’ feelings. Otherwise, with your big mouth blabbing in the classroom, your whole class would know that a senior confessed to him last week and was rejected. In two days, it would probably spread throughout the school.”
Zhu Ran grinned mischievously: “But clearly, the senior cares more about getting him than saving face.”
Chen Luobai, having finished warming up outside the three-point line, snatched the ball from his hand: “You’ve been going on about this all day. If you’re interested in that senior, just say so.”
As he spoke, he jumped and shot a three-pointer from where he stood.
The orange-red ball traced an arc through the air, hitting the rim with a loud “bang” and bouncing out.
Chen Luobai clicked his tongue in frustration.
Zhu Ran, not even bothering to laugh at him, immediately retorted: “Don’t talk nonsense! My heart belongs to your sister Bingqin.”
Chen Luobai gave him a fleeting glance: “If you have the guts, say that in front of her.”
Zhu Ran: “…”
Yu Bingqin was Chen Luobai’s cousin, living in the neighboring city. She was three years older than them and true to her name, she was cold and cool, a real queen.
Zhu Ran quickly backed down: “I don’t have the guts.”
After admitting defeat, he sidled up to Chen Luobai, asking ingratiatingly: “Will Sister Bingqin come to your house for New Year’s greetings this year?”
Chen Luobai glanced at him, suddenly smiling: “Want to know?”
Zhu Ran: “Why else would I ask you?”
Chen Luobai jerked his chin: “Then help me get the ball back first.”
Zhu Ran scurried to the other side of the court, retrieved the ball, and handed it over with both hands, adding: “If you provide me with information, I’ll pay you back for the basketball shoes immediately at the beginning of next month, even if I have to skip meals.”
Chen Luobai’s lips still held a hint of a smile: “No need to rush with the money. I have another condition.”
Zhu Ran: “Please, go ahead.”
Chen Luobai didn’t answer immediately, just casually dribbling the ball in his hand a couple of times.
Zhu Ran, unable to get an answer, felt his heart was like the ball being bounced in Chen Luobai’s hand.
His heart… no, the orange-red basketball was thrown out again by Chen Luobai, this time steadily falling into the hoop.
Perhaps because the ball went in, someone’s mood improved a bit, and he finally spoke: “Just be mute in front of me for a week.”
Zhu Ran felt his heart drop along with the basketball.
He was a chatterbox, even muttering a few words during class. Asking him not to speak for a week was even harder than asking him to pay Chen Luobai back right now.
“Damn it! If you don’t want to tell me, fine. Are you just messing with me?”
Zong Kai was laughing so hard his shoulders shook: “You know his temper gets worse when he hasn’t slept well, yet you still choose to provoke him at this time.”
Zhu Ran’s gaze inadvertently swept across the sidelines, noticing that quite a few girls had gathered at the edge of the court. It was obvious who they were there for. He shook his head: “It’s a pity the school’s girls are deceived by someone’s looks, not knowing that this young master’s heart is black.”
Chen Luobai, who had retrieved the ball himself, heard this last evaluation and nodded expressionlessly: “My heart is black, is it? Fine, don’t ask me about my sister again next time.”
Zhu Ran immediately pointed at Zong Kai: “I was talking about him.”
Zong Kai laughed in exasperation: “Zhu Ran, do you have any shame left?”
Outside the court, a school bus suddenly drove past behind the girls in school uniforms. Zhu Ran’s sharp eyes caught a glimpse of someone on the bus.
“Looks like it’s the school team,” he turned to look at Chen Luobai. “Any regrets? If you had agreed to the coach back then, you’d probably be on that bus now.”
Chen Luobai glanced over, answering without much emotion: “What’s there to regret?”
Zhu Ran: “The high school league competition that only happens once in a lifetime.”
Chen Luobai threw the ball in his hand again: “A hobby isn’t the same as a dream.”
The school bus carrying the team players had long since driven away.
Zhu Ran withdrew his gaze, deliberately using an exaggerated tone: “That’s true. Our young master Chen still has billions in family assets waiting to inherit.”
“Idiot,” Chen Luobai cursed with a smile, the irritation from his disturbed sleep finally easing somewhat.
Zong Kai: “Ah Luo probably wants to be a lawyer like his aunt, right?”
Chen Luobai didn’t respond to this, just jerked his chin towards the opposite court again: “Should we call them over for a 3v3 game?”
*
When Zhou Anran returned to the classroom, she learned that Chen Luobai had played a 3v3 game with some boys from Class 6 in the afternoon.
Yan Xingqian didn’t suffer from menstrual cramps, so she was as lively as ever even during her period.
After eating rice with toppings outside school, Yan Xingqian dragged her to buy a cup of milk tea and then browsed a nearby stationery store for a few rounds, perfectly missing this basketball game.
Zhou Anran later learned that 3v3 is only played on half court and that the national team would stand on the highest podium for this event.
But that night, as she listened to her classmates discussing how Chen Luobai had scored six three-pointers in the afternoon, leading Zhu Ran and Zong Kai to a complete victory over several boys from Class 6, she only felt regret for not being able to see her favorite boy’s appearance on the basketball court today.
He must have been incredibly dazzling and spirited.
However, the afternoon’s basketball game wasn’t the only hot topic in the class. Equally discussed was the incident of a senior coming to confess to Chen Luobai in the afternoon.
Unlike the open and high-profile discussions about the basketball game, this was mostly gossiped about in small groups of girls in the class, speaking in hushed tones.
The few girls sitting next to Zhou Anran across the aisle were among them.
“I asked around, seems her name is Xie something, a senior from an ordinary class in the second year. So brave, coming directly to our class to corner Chen Luobai,” said a girl named Cai Yue.
Another girl named Zhang Shuxian chimed in: “Is it Xie Yufei? That surname is quite rare. Should be the campus beauty of the second year.”
“Campus beauty, huh.” Cai Yue marveled, “No wonder she’s so brave.”
“I’ve seen that Xie senior, I think she looks quite ordinary,” the entertainment committee member Lou Yiqi interjected at this point.
“How is she ordinary? If I looked like her, I’d be grinning in my sleep,” Zhang Shuxian glanced at her, suddenly with a teasing tone. “I’ve noticed you mentioning Chen Luobai quite often. Don’t tell me you like him yourself, so—”
Before she could finish, her mouth was covered by Lou Yiqi’s hand.
The girl’s face turned bright red: “Are you trying to kill me? If you keep talking nonsense, I won’t share any gossip with you guys in the future.”
Zhang Shuxian mumbled an apology through the hand: “I’m sorry.”
Lou Yiqi finally let go, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear: “I just think, among the girls brave enough to confess to Chen Luobai directly, which one isn’t beautiful? This Xie senior, among them, really doesn’t stand out that much.”
Cai Yue nodded: “That’s true.”
Lou Yiqi fidgeted with her fingers, then asked: “So did Chen Luobai accept her confession or not?”
Cai Yue: “I asked about that too. He didn’t accept.”
“…”
Zhou Anran lowered her head to work on her math homework.
The hand holding her pen finally relaxed a bit.
He Mingyu, sitting behind her, gently poked her shoulder with his pen: “Zhou Anran, can you help me understand what this sentence means?”
Zhou Anran turned around.
He Mingyu pushed the book in front of him towards her, pointing at an underlined English sentence: “This one.”
Zhou Anran straightened the book and lowered her eyes to look.
He Mingyu’s gaze fell on her dense, butterfly wing-like eyelashes for a moment before looking away.
Zhou Anran pointed at a word in the sentence: “In this sentence, ‘black’ means ‘angry, hateful’.”
He Mingyu looked down again: “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
As Zhou Anran looked up, her gaze unconsciously fell towards the sixth desk in the second row again.
The seat was still empty.
She heard that after finishing the 3v3 game, he had taken Zhu Ran and the others out for a meal, even inviting the three boys from Class 6 to join.
But now it was almost time for evening self-study to begin.
If he didn’t come back soon, he’d probably be late.
Zhou Anran slowly turned her head back.
Lou Yiqi and the other girls had changed the topic to a recently popular TV drama, but it seemed that other girls diagonally behind were starting to discuss the afternoon’s confession incident.
The familiar name occasionally reached her ears.
Zhou Anran belatedly began to guess why he had lied to Zhu Ran this morning.
But she didn’t expect that his casually made-up lie would soon spark a new trend in the school.
Author’s Note:
Tomorrow’s update might be changed to 9 AM.
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