Another Monday – Zhang Shu moved to the fourth group on the northernmost side, while Sheng Xia sat in the single row by the window on the south side.

She was incredibly grateful for the Affiliated School’s “peculiar” seating arrangement.

Just as Xin Xiaohe had told her at the start of the semester – after spending some time as deskmates, it lets you be independent and clear-headed.

She needed that right now.

To be independent.

To be clear-headed.

Although they still had lunch and dinner together, it was impossible to be truly independent.

And not possible to be truly clear-headed either.

However, she had become quite skilled at going up and down stairs with her crutch, basically not needing Zhang Shu’s help anymore.

Fortunately, senior year life didn’t leave much time for unnecessary thoughts. With a clear direction, Sheng Xia was full of motivation, approaching every problem with enthusiasm and developing a desire to simplify complex problem-solving.

She never went to look at her actual ranking from the second monthly exam.

It didn’t matter anymore.

For her, this was a new starting point.

The fracture had brought her many inconveniences in daily life, but it also made her more sensitive to the passage of time. Because every day, every half day, every hour was crucial.

Seats changed again and again, and the countdown board on the podium flipped and flipped, finally turning the “2” in the hundreds place to “1”.

180 days until the college entrance exam.

A full 6 months, half a year.

At this special stage, the grade held a parents’ meeting.

The Affiliated School particularly disliked and discouraged parent meetings, not wanting parents to interfere too much with teaching activities. After all, with their teaching results being what they were, parents had little to say.

Wang Lianhua had asked several times, “Why don’t you ever have parent meetings?”

Well, here it was now.

After all, it was a senior year – once per semester was necessary.

Wang Wei set the theme for the parents’ meeting: “Unifying Thoughts, Concentrating Power.”

Wang Wei had even written a speech for the parents’ meeting.

He had been keeping it under wraps, but Feng Jie ended up revealing it jokingly during class.

After saying it, Feng Jie pretended to cover her mouth, “Oh my, I leaked Teacher Wang’s secret!”

The whole class burst into laughter.

Only someone with a good relationship would dare to do that.

“The teachers at the Affiliated School are all very interesting,” Sheng Xia explained to Wang Lianhua like this, “Very different from Second High.”

So, those previous under-the-table gifts and such could be forgotten.

Wang Lianhua raised an eyebrow, commenting lightly: “Still young.”

Sheng Xia chose to remain silent.

The parents’ meeting was scheduled for the last class on Saturday afternoon. This week, Sheng Xia and Zhang Shu were deskmates, in a very conspicuous position – the first desk in the third group, right under the teachers’ noses.

When he arrived at the classroom in the afternoon, Zhang Shu noticed the girl seemed lost in thought.

“It’s not even dark yet, why are you sleepwalking already?” Zhang Shu waved his hand in front of her face.

Sheng Xia blinked, staring at him steadily.

That look—

By now, Zhang Shu could distinguish the subtle differences in her anxious expressions: joyful, resentful, or seeking help.

This time it was the latter, with a hint of pleading in her confusion.

Zhang Shu had been standing, looking down at her, but seeing that pitiful look, he sat down to be at eye level with her. “Tell me, what is it?”

“Can I… put some things on your side?” the girl spoke up.

Zhang Shu frowned – did she need to ask?

Didn’t she already put things wherever she wanted? When had she ever asked him?

Though most times she wasn’t doing it intentionally, she had lots of odd things that would end up scattered around.

Zhang Shu raised an eyebrow, “Given your attitude, what exactly are you planning to put on my desk?”

The girl’s eyes darted away, “Just some of my stationery.”

Zhang Shu sensed it wasn’t that simple, but still nodded, “If it takes up too much space, you’ll have to pay rent.”

“I’ll treat you to candy,” Sheng Xia responded, giving him a chocolate.

Zhang Shu: …

Then, he watched her busily at work.

First, she put his black pencil case into his drawer and replaced it with her grass-green one.

He was puzzled – she always used a pen holder, so why did she need a pencil case?

Next, she put his two brown-covered notebooks into his drawer and replaced them with her colorful, tablecloth-like notebooks, inserting them at the edge of the bookstand.

Then, she took out a sheet of stickers and asked, “Can I put these on your bookstand? They don’t have glue, they won’t leave marks when removed.”

Her expression was serious. Zhang Shu didn’t understand but still nodded.

She carefully selected a few and stuck them on the bookstand closer to her side. The patterns were colorful – bows, strawberries, little cakes, floral prints…

Zhang Shu’s brows furrowed tightly – what was this? So ugly.

Finally, she pondered his desk for a moment, suddenly patting her head as if having an epiphany, muttering: “And the water bottle!”

Zhang Shu: …?

She moved to take his water bottle, which was placed in the upper right corner of the desk.

Unable to stand, she sat there reaching out with her arm, practically lying across his front.

Zhang Shu leaned back abruptly, hands half-raised to give her space.

A fragrant scent entered his nose. Zhang Shu awkwardly turned his head, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

But because she was leaning at too steep an angle, just as she got hold of his water bottle she suddenly lost balance, her body tilting toward his knees.

Her elbow was caught by a strong hand. Her heart skipped a beat—

Fortunately, she hadn’t fallen.

At the same time, warm breath brushed her ear as she heard Zhang Shu chuckle softly and say, “How can you be so cute?”

Sheng Xia’s just-steadied heartbeat went irregular again.

Zhang Shu’s expression was extremely helpless. If by now he didn’t know what she was up to, all that time as deskmates would have been wasted.

After her “makeover,” one looked at his desk and it was completely a girl’s desk.

During the upcoming parents’ meeting, was she afraid of her mom finding out her deskmate was a boy?

Zhang Shu couldn’t even laugh anymore – how could someone’s thought process be so simple?

If her mom chatted with his sister for even a moment, wouldn’t it all be exposed?

Sheng Xia quickly sat up straight, the ear he had whispered into showing a hint of pink.

He had been saying strange things lately, and she had developed some immunity.

It wasn’t that there was no emotional impact, but she automatically filtered it into the recycle bin, ignoring it.

After that QQ Space battle that night, she had figured it out – her current memory was insufficient, and she could only process study-related files.

But now, she was still holding his water bottle, not knowing what to do with it – the drawer was already full.

“Your water bottle, can you put it in your backpack and take it with you later?” she still asked.

Because of the parents’ meeting, the grade would let students out early.

And since there was still evening study hall and they couldn’t go home with their parents, many people had already made plans to relax during this precious free time.

For example, Xin Xiaohe’s dormitory had arranged to play board games with Yang Linyu’s dormitory.

For example, Zhang Shu and Han Xiao had arranged to play basketball.

Sometimes when he played basketball, he didn’t carry his bag, just hung it on the back of his chair.

That wouldn’t work – his bag had too strong a masculine presence, it had to go.

Zhang Shu pressed his lips together, holding back laughter, his eyes full of mirth as he nodded, “Okay.”

What else could he say besides okay?

Sheng Xia was satisfied: “Thank you.”

Zhang Shu: “No problem.”

At four in the afternoon, the seniors were dismissed, and parents began arriving.

“Shu, let’s go!”

Han Xiao and the others were waiting for Zhang Shu at the door. Wu Pengcheng saw Sheng Xia look over and waved, “Hi, beautiful!”

Sheng Xia: …

Zhou Yingxiang was seeing Sheng Xia’s face properly for the first time. He stared for a moment and muttered, “Is this Brother Shu’s goddess?”

Sheng Xia was at the first desk, very close to the door, and heard everything.

Did he think he was being quiet?

Zhang Shu threw his water bottle into his backpack, glancing at the girl’s serene profile, and asked, “Want to check one more time?”

Make sure he hadn’t left anything with a masculine presence.

Thinking of this, Zhang Shu smiled to himself again, not even realizing how dazzling his smile was.

Sheng Xia looked up, actually scanning around once more, finishing her inspection, “Nothing else.”

“Then can I go?”

“Mm.”

“Ooh la la!”

“Alright alright, it’s just basketball, why need to report in!”

“We’ll bring him back soon, beautiful, returning Brother Shu to you tonight.”

“This is too much, no wonder old Hou’s getting thin, eating dog food all day – who’d have an appetite for real food!”

“A 1.95-meter giant lightbulb, pretty bright eh, old Hou?”

Hou Junqi: “Get lost! My heart is bitter.”

“Hahahahaha!”

These guys, were always like this whenever they met, so annoying! Sheng Xia didn’t want to deal with them, lowering her head to look for her vocabulary book.

Zhang Shu shot them a glance, and the group finally quieted down.

The group left the teaching building.

Only then did Sheng Xia look up.

Such a dazzling group of people.

Such a noisy group of people.

The sound of young men’s bickering grew more distant.

Han Xiao was complaining: “My dad’s going to lecture me tonight. My last monthly exam scores were embarrassingly bad. Shu, can you tutor me some more?”

Zhang Shu laughed, “Accept your fate, you have to allow for the existence of ordinary people in this world…”

Han Xiao: …

The group: “Hahahahahahaha!”

Hmm?

But hadn’t he said to believe the next time would work out?

Were many of his words just casually said? And she had taken them as golden rules.

Sheng Xia shook her head.

With her leg condition, she didn’t want to go anywhere, so she sat under the connecting corridor stairs, studying vocabulary.

Lu Youze was also among those who didn’t go out for food and fun.

They met under the connecting corridor and smiled at each other.

“Studying vocabulary?” Lu Youze sat beside her and asked.

“Mm,” Sheng Xia noticed the TOEFL textbook in his hand, surprised, “Are you already preparing for TOEFL?”

Lu Youze said: “Yeah, planning to study abroad.”

Sheng Xia said: “For undergraduate studies?”

Lu Youze nodded, “Yes, my grades don’t give me much advantage domestically.”

Sheng Xia fell silent. With his grades, wasn’t a top 211 university guaranteed, and even a 985 university possible with some effort?

If his grades weren’t advantageous, then she shouldn’t even bother struggling.

Though, with his family background, many people went abroad in high school, or even earlier.

Sheng Xia commented: “If you had this plan, why didn’t you join the international class initially?”

Lu Youze said: “I didn’t have this thought when first starting high school. My grandfather had just passed away then, and things were chaotic at home.”

Hmm… rich family secrets.

The topic had gotten a bit deep, so Sheng Xia instinctively avoided it, changing the subject: “So which country are you planning to go to?”

“America.”

“That’s impressive.”

“Ha,” Lu Youze was rather self-mocking, “Just a coward avoiding reality.”

Sheng Xia: …

She could see that Lu Youze’s state had been declining all semester, completely different from when they first met at the start of school. His whole person exuded defeat.

“Not at all, good American schools are also very, very hard to get into. It’s just a different path, isn’t it all for becoming a better version of yourself?” Sheng Xia said.

Lu Youze pressed his lips together, lost in thought, but still nodded: “Mm.”

At this moment, applause came from the classroom – from the sound of it, it was the parent representative speaking.

“Good afternoon, parents. I am Lu Youze’s parent.”

Lu Youze’s father?

Being the director of Junlan would more than qualify him to be a parent representative. But Sheng Xia was quite surprised – would his father, being so busy, come to a parent meeting? And the voice sounded quite young.

“That’s my uncle, my dad has never attended any of my parent meetings,” Lu Youze suddenly spoke, perhaps seeing Sheng Xia’s confusion.

Sheng Xia looked up, seeing the loneliness in his eyes.

She consoled him: “My dad has never attended either…”

They exchanged glances, and Lu Youze smiled slightly: “My uncle never used to attend either. He’s not here for me.”

Not for him, then for whom?

Sheng Xia didn’t know how to respond, so she silently continued studying vocabulary.

The parent meeting lasted nearly an hour before ending. Sheng Xia’s phone rang – Wang Lianhua said she needed to talk with the subject teachers and told Sheng Xia to wait a bit longer.

Sheng Xia had expected this and wasn’t surprised.

Soon after, the parents dispersed and the teaching building became quiet. Sheng Xia remained unmoved, continuing to study vocabulary.

Lu Youze hadn’t moved either. Sheng Xia just assumed his uncle was probably talking to teachers too, not thinking much of it.

After a while, she heard a familiar voice.

“Let’s wait until after their college entrance exam to discuss this.” A woman’s voice – just from hearing it, one could imagine a cool and beautiful figure.

It was Zhang Sujin.

“Let’s finish this semester. The New Year would be perfect for meeting together. They’re classmates, after all, one more meeting won’t hurt.” A male voice, very magnetic.

It was the voice that had just spoken on the podium.

Sheng Xia instinctively turned to look at Lu Youze, only to see him smile silently.

It was hard to define what kind of smile it was, but it certainly wasn’t a joyful one.

Zhang Shu’s sister and Lu Youze’s uncle?

They were talking by the connecting corridor. Because of the stairs’ cover, they couldn’t see the boy and girl on this side.

Naturally, Sheng Xia couldn’t see them either.

But their conversation was crystal clear.

It seemed Lu Youze knew about this, and it troubled him.

Sheng Xia couldn’t help wondering: What about Zhang Shu, did he know?

On the other side, Zhang Sujin’s words gave Sheng Xia the answer.

“It can wait that long too. Let’s wait until after the college entrance exam. Little Shu doesn’t know yet, I need some time.”

The male voice sighed, “Doesn’t he want you to resolve your life’s big matter soon?”

“Let’s talk about this when we meet tomorrow, not here.”

“Every time we talk about this you avoid it. There’s nothing shameful about it, we can’t even talk? Am I really that embarrassing to you?”

“That’s not what I meant. Let’s go, the restaurant needs to start dinner service, I have to go.”

Zhang Sujin left, with Lu Youze’s uncle following behind.

When they walked out of the connecting corridor, Sheng Xia and Lu Youze could see their backs.

Lu Youze’s uncle was tall and well-built, wearing casual formal wear that was understated yet well-fitted, and very distinguished.

Their silhouettes made quite a matching pair.

However…

Zhang Shu had said his sister started taking care of him when she was about Sheng Xia’s age, so she was 17 then, making her around 34 or 35 now.

But Lu Youze’s uncle looked—

That brown hair, styled in Korean fashion, certainly couldn’t belong to a man in his forties.

Wow, a younger man?

Sheng Xia was startled by her thoughts and quickly lowered her head. How could she be judging other people’s family matters? She shouldn’t.

“I’m heading back first,” Lu Youze said, “Uncle forgot he has a nephew, but the nephew must remember his uncle. I’m going to find my uncle. Are you going to eat?”

Sheng Xia said: “I’m waiting for my mom.”

“Then I’ll go first.”

“Okay.”