The two days of monthly exams flew by in a blink.
The weekend also passed quickly.
On Monday, the temperature in Nancheng dropped, with the highest temperature falling below 30 degrees Celsius, finally hinting at the approach of autumn.
As usual, Zhou An Ran arrived at school early. On this day, Xing Qian Yan didn’t accompany her to Class 2.
The two parted at the stairwell, and Zhou An Ran entered the classroom alone. After entering through the front door, she walked past her seat and stopped beside Luo Bai Chen’s desk.
Zhou An Ran tugged at the little rabbit charm hanging on the side of her schoolbag and took a deep breath. Her fingers hovered over the zipper of her bag.
There were already quite a few people in the classroom; boarding students always arrived particularly early.
Everyone seemed to be looking down at their books, but Zhou An Ran had an inexplicable feeling that eyes were on her.
Two seconds later, she let out a frustrated sigh and retreated to her seat.
Having not been here for a few days, Zhou An Ran didn’t rush to sit down. She first took out a wet wipe from her desk to clean her table and chair.
As she was almost finished wiping, someone tugged at her schoolbag from behind.
Zhou An Ran: “?!”
How did he come so early today? Thankfully, she hadn’t put anything in his desk earlier, or she might have been caught red-handed.
However, it seemed he wasn’t pulling on the handle of her bag this time, but rather somewhere on the diagonal back of the bag.
Zhou An Ran couldn’t help but turn around.
Then she saw the rabbit charm he had given her, which hung on the side of her bag, now pinched between the boy’s long, attractive fingers. The rabbit had already been scrunched into a ball, its strap pulled taut, as if it might snap with just a little more force.
Zhou An Ran’s heart leaped, and she almost reached out to pull his hand away: “Don’t break it!”
The girl’s soft voice reached his ears, and Luo Bai Chen’s fingers seemed to tingle along with his ears. He squeezed the rabbit charm again: “What’s the rush? If it breaks, I’ll buy you another one.”
Zhou An Ran felt like the rabbit was going to be ruined: “But it won’t be this one anymore.”
Luo Bai Chen raised his eyebrows slightly, seeing her furrowed brow: “Looks like you do like it.”
Zhou An Ran’s heart skipped a beat.
The more familiar she became with him, the lower her guard seemed to drop.
But he had given her a gift, so it should be okay if she revealed a little bit, right?
“Because it’s really cute,” Zhou An Ran tugged at the strap, trying to rescue the little rabbit from his hands. “Besides, when you gave it to me, was it meant to be pulled on like this?”
Luo Bai Chen: “That’s not it, it’s just—”
He paused.
Zhou An Ran: “Just what?”
Luo Bai Chen’s gaze moved from her delicate white fingertips back to the rabbit in his hand. He pinched the rabbit’s face, then looked back at her: “It does look like you.”
Zhou An Ran: “…?”
Xing Qian Yan and the others had said the same thing, but somehow when he said it, it felt particularly odd.
Especially since he continued to play with the rabbit as he spoke.
Her ears grew warm, and as his grip loosened, she quickly pulled the little rabbit back. Changing the subject, she asked, “Why did you come so early today?”
Luo Bai Chen watched as she simply took her bag off and hung it on her chair, clearly trying to prevent him from pulling at her rabbit again. He chuckled, then pulled his backpack forward, taking out a bottle of fresh milk and placing it on her desk. He drawled, “Isn’t it to learn from my new front-row classmate?”
Zhou An Ran’s heart rate suddenly increased by several beats. Both because of his “my new front-row classmate” remark and the bottle of milk on the desk.
On the second day of the monthly exam, he had also passed her a bottle through the window.
Including this one, it was already the third bottle.
Surely he couldn’t have brought an extra bottle of milk for three consecutive days?
Zhou An Ran glanced at him, unable to resist asking softly, “Why did you bring me milk again?”
Luo Bai Chen: “What do you think?”
Zhou An Ran blinked.
The boy’s hand suddenly raised, reaching towards her.
Her eyes widened slightly as she watched his hand come closer and closer. Her heart raced faster and faster until his hand stopped just an inch from her forehead…
It stopped.
Then slowly moved horizontally back to rest on his shoulder.
“You’re just a bit taller than my shoulder.”
Zhou An Ran: “…”
Her highly suspended heart plummeted back down.
She defended herself in a small voice: “I’m 162 centimeters now.”
It’s just that he was too tall.
Luo Bai Chen looked her up and down: “Really 162?”
“Forget it if you don’t believe me.” Zhou An Ran felt a bit annoyed, unsure if it was because she had misunderstood something earlier or because of his disbelieving tone. She wiped the last small corner of her desk. “I’m going to wash my hands.”
After washing her hands, Zhou An Ran entered through the front door, keeping her head down without looking at him, but she could see from the corner of her eye that the boy had already returned to his seat.
She sat down at her desk and pulled out an English textbook, intending to memorize vocabulary.
Just as she opened the English book, a piece of chocolate was tossed from behind, landing right in the middle of her book.
Zhou An Ran: “…?”
Why was he throwing chocolate at her again?
A small paper ball was also tossed from behind.
Zhou An Ran picked up the paper ball and unfolded it.
On the crumpled paper, the boy’s handwriting was still beautiful.
“Don’t be angry anymore.”
Zhou An Ran’s lips curled up slightly.
As if remembering something, she picked up her bag hanging on the chair, unzipped it, and reached inside, feeling a small box.
She hadn’t expected him to give her something on the day they returned from the National Day holiday. Whether out of politeness or personal desire, she wanted to give him a small gift in return, so she went shopping with Xing Qian Yan and the others over the weekend.
It was just a small box, but Zhou An Ran felt it weigh a thousand pounds in her palm as if she couldn’t lift it.
Her palm was slightly damp with sweat.
That afternoon, she had spent a long time choosing before finally settling on a red wristband.
Xiao Wen Sheng had said at the time that what she chose didn’t matter; what mattered was whether she dared to give it to him.
Who would have thought she’d be so right? She didn’t dare to give it.
Zhou An Ran puffed out her cheeks in frustration.
Perhaps not receiving a response from her, the boy behind her started throwing things onto her desk again.
One piece of chocolate.
Two pieces.
Three pieces.
…
Zhou An Ran’s lips curved up again as if she had found some courage to support herself. She quickly took the box out of her bag and tossed it backward onto his desk.
Luo Bai Chen’s voice immediately came from behind: “What’s this?”
Zhou An Ran’s face and ears burned intensely. She opened her mouth but couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud. Throwing him a gift might have already used up her courage for the day.
She hung her bag back up and buried her flushed face on the desk.
Someone lightly kicked her chair from behind.
Luo Bai Chen called out to her.
“Zhou An Ran.”
Zhou An Ran bit her lip, reached for her pen, wrote a few words on that crumpled note, and tossed it back.
Luo Bai Chen picked up the small paper ball on his desk and unfolded it.
Below his handwriting were five small, neat characters written by the girl—
“A gift in return for the rabbit.”
*
It seemed that the teachers of various subjects had spent the weekend grading papers.
That afternoon, test papers from different subjects were handed out one after another, and the grade rankings were released early.
Zhou An Ran’s ranking had improved by two places compared to last semester’s final exam, and she had even tied for first place in English with a certain someone.
In the afternoon, after having lunch with Xing Qian Yan and the others, she had just returned to her seat when Ming Yu He came over with his English test paper to ask her questions.
Zhou An Ran lowered her head to explain it to him once, and when she looked up, she found that Ming Yu He wasn’t looking at the test paper, but seemed to be staring at her face.
“What’s wrong?”
Ming Yu He: “You—”
He said one word, then suddenly stopped, his gaze moving past her to look behind her.
Zhou An Ran couldn’t help but turn her head as well.
Luo Bai Chen had just entered through the back door, followed by Ran Zhu and their large group of friends.
Zhou An Ran’s gaze met his in mid-air, and her heartbeat, quite uncontrollably, quickened a bit again.
She turned back to Ming Yu He and asked, “What were you going to say to me?”
Ming Yu He looked at the small dimple that had unconsciously appeared on her cheek: “Nothing, just wanted to say thank you.”
Zhou An Ran: “No need to thank me.”
He Mingyu said nothing more, picked up his test paper, and returned to his seat.
Zhou Anran perked up her ears to listen for any sounds from behind, but unlike usual, she didn’t hear him joking around with Zhu Ran and the others.
Just as she was debating whether to turn around and sneak another glance, she saw the boy’s long-fingered hand prop itself on her desk. He leaned against the edge of her table, his voice sounding faintly above her head.
“What were you chatting about with him?”
“With who?” Zhou Anran looked up at him. “He Mingyu?”
Chen Luobai’s expression remained neutral. “Mm.”
Zhou Anran inexplicably felt like he seemed a bit unhappy.
Surely he couldn’t be jealous that she was just talking to He Mingyu.
She didn’t dare assume too much, but equally didn’t want him to misunderstand: “He came to ask me about a few English questions.”
Chen Luobai: “Which ones?”
“The last cloze test question and the first question of the second reading comprehension passage.” Zhou Anran couldn’t help but quietly ask another question, “What’s wrong?”
Chen Luobai: “Can you explain them to me too?”
Zhou Anran: “…?”
“Do you need me to explain questions to you?”
Seeing her sprawled on the desk, obediently talking to him, Chen Luobai suddenly lost his irritation: “Then how about I explain them to you?”
Eh?
Zhou Anran asked confusedly: “You’ll explain them to me?”
Chen Luobai gave an “Mm” of assent: “The ones you got wrong if I know them, I’ll explain them all to you. Want that?”
Zhou Anran’s heart started racing again, and she gave him a slight nod, then asked: “Won’t it interfere with your studying?”
“How could explaining a few questions to you interfere with anything.” Chen Luobai rapped his knuckles on her desk. “Give me your math and science test papers first.”
Zhou Anran found the papers and handed them to him.
The boy raised the hand hanging at his other side, and Zhou Anran saw he was holding something that looked like ice cream. Chen Luobai placed the ice cream on her desk: “Eat this first, I’ll call you in a bit.”
At that moment, Tang Jianrui and Huang Shujie came sauntering over from behind, arms slung around each other’s shoulders, laughing and joking.
“Luo-ge, how come you don’t explain questions to me?”
“I knew there was a reason Luo-ge got an extra ice cream. I asked him for it but he wouldn’t give it to me.”
Chen Luobai pulled out a chair and glanced at them lazily: “Are you two sitting in front of me too?”
Tang Jianrui: “I used to sit diagonally in front of you, but I didn’t get this treatment.”
Huang Shujie: “Sitting diagonally in front isn’t enough, you also have to have the surname ‘Zhou’—”
Chen Luobai stretched out his foot to kick him, laughing as he scolded: “You guys that bored?”
Tang Jianrui and Huang Shujie ran off, laughing again.
The tips of Zhou Anran’s ears grew hot once more as she slowly opened the ice cream lid.
Zhang Shuxian passed a note over from the side.
“If Chen Luobai doesn’t like you, I’ll write my name backward from now on.”
Zhou Anran: “…?”
That wasn’t necessary.
She scooped up a spoonful of ice cream and put it in her mouth, the sweet flavor immediately filling her mouth.
Perhaps because he was only looking at her wrong answers, Chen Luobai went through the papers very quickly. Zhou Anran hadn’t even finished her small box of ice cream when she heard his voice behind her, seemingly talking to Zhu Ran.
“Switch seats with her.”
Zhu Ran looked up and glanced forward, his tone mischievous: “Why should I?”
Chen Luobai lowered his eyes slightly, his gaze falling on Zhu Ran’s feet: “Because of those new basketball shoes you’ve been eyeing.”
“Switch seats, right.” Zhu Ran immediately changed his tune. “However you want to switch, for however long you want. Do you want me to give up my seat next to you to her permanently?”
Chen Luobai’s gaze shifted slightly forward, landing on the girl with her head lowered, the corner of his mouth curling up: “Not necessary for now, it might block her view if she moves over here now.”
Zhou Anran was about to eat the last bite of ice cream when she heard this and paused.
So that’s what he meant by bringing her fresh milk this morning?
By now, Zhu Ran had walked over to her side: “Zhou Anran, want to switch seats?”
Zhou Anran finished her ice cream, stuffed the box into the small trash bag hanging nearby to throw away later, gave an “Mm” of assent, and stood up. As she did so, she tidied up her desk, pulled out a draft book and notebook, then made way.
Chen Luobai looked up to see Zhu Ran sitting down in her seat, his dark eyes narrowing slightly.
Zhou Anran walked to his side and saw that his chair was almost pushed back against his neighbor’s desk, leaving no space. She quietly reminded him: “I can’t get in.”
Chen Luobai slowly turned his gaze back, letting it fall on Zhu Ran’s seat before finally returning to her: “You sit in my seat.”
In the front row, Zhu Ran let out a soft “tsk” and exchanged a glance with Zhang Shuxian.
The two of them simultaneously moved their chairs forward a bit.
To give the pair behind them some space, and also to avoid being subjected to any more public displays of affection.
Zhou Anran blinked.
Why was he letting her sit in his seat again?
But Chen Luobai’s words didn’t seem to be asking for her opinion; as soon as he finished speaking, he had already switched to Zhu Ran’s seat.
Zhou Anran had come over to listen to his explanations, so naturally, she was willing to accommodate him.
Of course, she was also more than happy to sit in his seat.
It’s just that there was still a desk between the front and back rows, but sitting at the same desk as him, there would be no barrier between them.
He hadn’t sat next to a girl before, so Zhou Anran didn’t know if he was happy or not about being so close to her.
Chen Luobai had just laid out the test papers when he looked up and saw that she was practically sitting on the edge of his desk.
He almost laughed in exasperation: “Why are you sitting so far away? Do you want me to shout to explain the questions to you?”
Zhou Anran: “…”
It did seem a bit far.
But—
“You don’t need to shout,” she protested softly.
Chen Luobai raised his chin expressionlessly: “Come closer, you’ll disturb others.”
Zhou Anran gave an “Oh” and obediently moved over a bit.
“A little closer.”
“Oh.”
Somehow, it ended up with her close enough to smell the fresh scent of his body.
Zhou Anran felt like there was a shaken bottle of soda in her heart, with tiny bubbles constantly rising to the surface.
She tilted her head to secretly glance at the boy’s well-defined profile beside her, quickly lowering her head again before he noticed. She watched as he casually twirled his pen a couple of times, then pointed the tip at the math test paper.
“This multiple choice question you got wrong and the second-to-last big question are pretty similar in type.”
This was the first time Zhou Anran had heard him explain questions.
Most of the class had asked him questions before, and quite a few from other classes had come to ask him too.
But she had never dared to ask him before.
Chen Luobai’s explanations were very logical, and his focus was different from the teachers’. The teachers taught them how to solve problems, while he specifically analyzed for her why she got each question wrong, what traps she fell into, or where her thought process went astray.
It gave her a sudden feeling of enlightenment.
Zhou Anran quickly settled down to listen.
She thought this time he was just explaining questions to her on a whim.
But from that day on, whether it was regular homework or small quizzes, he would carefully explain all the questions she couldn’t do.
After that, during break times and self-study periods, Zhou Anran began to frequently switch seats with Zhu Ran, but each time Chen Luobai still wouldn’t let her sit in Zhu Ran’s seat, only letting her sit in his seat.
Once, before evening self-study, while he was explaining questions to her, they happened to be caught by the Dean of Students.
But at that moment, he was explaining seriously, and she was listening intently, so neither of them noticed that the classroom had suddenly gone quiet.
By the time he had finished explaining all the questions to her, the classroom had long since returned to its noisy state.
Zhang Shuxian turned back from the front row to look at her.
“The Dean of Students just came by.”
Zhou Anran: “?”
“The Dean of Students came?” Her heart skipped a beat. “When?”
Zhu Ran also turned around from the front: “About ten minutes ago, Old Zhao stood behind you two for a long time with a serious face, seeing you sitting so close together. He’ll probably call you to the office later.”
Chen Luobai casually tore off a piece of draft paper, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it at him: “Why are you scaring her? Don’t you know she’s timid?”
Zhu Ran laughed as he dodged the paper ball attack, his tone teasing: “How would I know if she’s timid or not?”
Chen Luobai couldn’t be bothered to deal with him. He tilted his head slightly, his gaze falling on the girl’s snow-white profile: “Don’t listen to him. With Old Zhao’s temper, if there was a problem, he would have made a scene right then and there.”
Zhou Anran thought about it and realized he was right.
She breathed a small sigh of relief.
He was explaining questions to her; she didn’t want to get him in trouble and criticized too.
Zhang Shuxian turned around and leaned on the back of her chair, suddenly laughing uncontrollably: “Actually, Zhu Ran wasn’t lying. At first, Old Zhao did stand behind you with a serious face for a long time. Then, hearing you constantly discussing questions, so focused that you didn’t even notice he was there, he finally left with a look of satisfaction on his face.”
Zhou Anran: “…?”
The school’s autumn sports meet this year was scheduled for early November.
Today was when each class was signing up for events.
Seeing that they had finished discussing questions and were now chatting, Tang Jianrui came over with the sign-up sheet to persuade them: “Luo-ge, just sign up for any event, high jump, long jump, running, anything.”
Chen Luobai: “Not signing up.”
“Come on, Luo-ge.” Tang Jianrui didn’t give up. “I know you think the sports meet is noisy, but isn’t playing basketball even noisier? If you sign up for an event like the high jump at the sports meet, it’ll only bother you for a few minutes. I’ll buy you a drink that day.”
Chen Luobai gave him a bored glance: “Do I need you to buy me a drink?”
Tang Jianrui: “This is about winning glory for our class!”
Chen Luobai: “Haven’t I won enough glory for our class?”
Tang Jianrui was left speechless, wanting to give up but unwilling to. His gaze suddenly fell on the girl next to Chen Luobai, as if he had found a new savior: “Zhou Anran, can you help me persuade Luo-ge?”
Zhou Anran glanced at the sign-up sheet in his hand: “How about I sign up for one?”
“Than—” Tang Jianrui was halfway through saying thank you when he realized something was off. “Huh? You’re signing up?”
Zhou Anran nodded: “Is that okay? Are all the spots for girls filled?”
Tang Jianrui: “No, none of the girls’ events are full. If you want to sign up, you can choose any event.”
Zhou Anran took the sign-up sheet and looked at it.
She wasn’t good at any sports events, especially long-distance running which required endurance. She was completely incapable of that.
In the end, she reluctantly chose the 50-meter sprint.
Tang Jianrui’s persuasion had failed, but not completely. In the end, he didn’t try to convince them further and walked away with a dejected look on his face.
After he had walked a few steps away, Chen Luobai turned to the girl beside him again, lowering his voice: “Why didn’t you try to persuade me to participate?”
Zhou Anran let out an “Ah” and turned to look at him: “If you don’t want to participate, why should I persuade you?”
Chen Luobai didn’t respond, just stared at her silently.
Zhou Anran felt uneasy under his gaze and began to wonder if her previous statement had revealed something again.
But really.
She genuinely didn’t want to persuade him to do something he didn’t want to do.
Chen Luobai suddenly smiled.
“It’s just as well that I’m not participating.”
Zhou Anran: “…?”
“What’s just as well?”
“It’s just as well that I can accompany you when you run.”