Another Monday arrived, and Zhang Shu moved to the fourth group at the northernmost side, while Sheng Xia took a seat by the window in the single column on the south side.
She was immensely grateful for the "quirky" seating arrangement at the affiliated high school.
Just as Xin Xiaohe had told her at the start of the term—it gives you a chance to be independent and clear-headed after a period of sitting with a desk mate.
That was exactly what she needed right now.
To be independent.
To be clear-headed.
Though they still had lunch and dinner together, true independence was impossible.
And true clarity of mind was unlikely too.
Still, she had become quite adept at navigating the stairs with her crutches, rarely needing Zhang Shu's help anymore.
Fortunately, life in senior year left little time for idle thoughts. With a clear direction, Sheng Xia was full of energy, tackling every problem with enthusiasm and a desire to simplify even the most complex solutions.
In the end, she never checked her actual ranking in the second monthly exam.
It didn’t matter anymore.
For her, this was a fresh start.
The fracture had brought many inconveniences, but it also sharpened her awareness of time’s passage. Every day, every half-day, every hour was crucial.
Seats changed, the countdown board on the podium flipped, and finally, the "2" in the hundreds place turned to a "1."
180 days left until the college entrance exam.
A full six months—half a year.
At this critical stage, the grade held a parents' meeting.
The affiliated high school was particularly averse to parents' meetings, discouraging parental interference in teaching activities. Given the school’s academic results, parents rarely complained.
Wang Lianhua had asked several times, "Why don’t you ever hold parents' meetings?"
Well, here it was.
After all, it was senior year—one meeting per semester was necessary.
Wang Wei set the theme for the parents' meeting: "Unifying Thoughts and Strengthening Resolve."
He even wrote a speech for it.
Originally, he had kept it under wraps, but Fu Jie playfully exposed it during class.
After revealing it, Fu Jie theatrically covered her mouth. "Oops, I’ve leaked Teacher Wang’s secret!"
The class erupted in laughter.
Only close colleagues dared to tease like this.
"The teachers here are really interesting," Sheng Xia explained to Wang Lianhua. "Very different from Second High."
So, all those under-the-table gifts from before? Best to skip them.
Wang Lianhua raised an eyebrow and remarked coolly, "Still young."
Sheng Xia chose silence.
The parents' meeting was scheduled for the last class on Saturday afternoon. That week, Sheng Xia and Zhang Shu were desk mates, seated conspicuously at the first desk in the third group—right under the teacher’s nose.
When Zhang Shu arrived in the classroom that afternoon, he noticed the girl seemed lost in thought.
"It’s not even dark yet, and you’re already daydreaming?" He waved a hand in front of her face.
Sheng Xia blinked and stared at him intently.
That look—
By now, Zhang Shu could discern the subtle differences in her pitiful expressions: joyful, resentful, or pleading.
This was the latter—confused, with a hint of desperation.
Originally standing, he sat down to meet her at eye level. "Alright, what is it?"
"Can I... put some things on your side?" she asked.
Zhang Shu frowned. Did she even need to ask?
Hadn’t she always just left things there without permission? Since when did she ask?But most of the time, she didn't do it on purpose. She had all sorts of odd little things that always seemed to fly around.
Zhang Shu raised an eyebrow. "With that attitude, what exactly are you planning to put on my desk?"
The girl avoided his gaze. "Just some of my stationery, that's all."
Zhang Shu had a hunch it wasn't that simple, but he nodded anyway. "If you take up too much space, you'll have to pay rent."
"I'll give you candy," Sheng Xia replied, handing him a chocolate.
Zhang Shu: "..."
Then he watched as she busied herself.
First, she put away his black pencil case into his drawer and replaced it with her grass-green one.
He found it strange—she already used a pen holder, so why did she need a pencil case?
Next, she stored his two brown-covered notebooks in his drawer and swapped them with her colorful, tablecloth-like notebooks, placing them at the very edge of the bookstand.
Then, she pulled out a sheet of stickers and asked, "Can I put these on your bookstand? They don't have glue, so they won't leave marks when peeled off."
Her expression was earnest. Though puzzled, Zhang Shu nodded.
She carefully selected a few and stuck them on the side of the bookstand closest to her. The patterns were vibrant—bows, strawberries, little cakes, floral prints...
Zhang Shu frowned. What the heck? So ugly.
Finally, she studied his desk thoughtfully for a moment before suddenly slapping her forehead as if struck by inspiration. "Oh! The water bottle!" she muttered.
Zhang Shu: "…?"
She reached for his water bottle, which sat in the top-right corner of his desk.
Unable to stand, she stretched her arm out while seated, her body practically leaning across him.
Caught off guard, Zhang Shu leaned back, raising his arms slightly to give her space.
A faint, sweet fragrance drifted into his senses. He turned his head away uncomfortably, his Adam's apple bobbing.
But as she leaned too far, she lost her balance the moment she grabbed his water bottle, tilting sideways toward his lap.
A strong hand steadied her elbow, and her heart skipped a beat—
Thank goodness, she didn't fall.
At the same time, warm breath brushed her ear as she heard Zhang Shu chuckle softly and whisper, "How can you be this adorable?"
Sheng Xia's heartbeat, which had just returned to normal, immediately faltered again.
Zhang Shu's expression was utterly resigned. If he still didn't realize what she was up to after all this, he'd have wasted all that time sitting beside her.
After her "renovation," one glance at his desk now made it unmistakably look like a girl's workspace.
Was she worried her mom would find out her deskmate was a boy during the parent-teacher meeting?
Zhang Shu couldn't even laugh. How could someone's thought process be this simple?
If her mom exchanged even a few words with his sister, wouldn't the truth come out?
Sheng Xia quickly straightened up, the ear he'd whispered into now tinged with pink.
Lately, he'd been spouting all sorts of strange remarks, and she was starting to build immunity.
Not that they didn't affect her—she just automatically filtered them out and tossed them into the mental recycle bin, ignoring them completely.
She'd made up her mind after that night of the QQ Space battle—her mental storage was full, and she could only process files related to studying.
Now, she was still holding his water bottle, unsure what to do with it. The drawer was already full.
"Can you put your water bottle in your backpack and take it with you later?" she finally asked.
Because of the parent-teacher meeting, the school was letting everyone leave early.
Since there was still evening self-study and they couldn't go home with their parents, there was no need to wait around. Many had already made plans to take advantage of this rare free time to relax.For example, Xin Xiaohe and her dormmates had arranged to go play board games with Yang Linyu's dorm.
And Zhang Shu and Han Xiao's group had plans to play basketball.
Sometimes when he played basketball, he didn't bring a bag—just hung it on the back of his chair.
That wouldn’t do. His bag reeked of too much masculine energy—it had to be taken away.
Zhang Shu pressed his lips together, barely holding back laughter, his eyes brimming with amusement as he nodded. "Alright."
What else could he say besides "alright"?
Sheng Xia was satisfied. "Thanks."
Zhang Shu: "No problem."
At four in the afternoon, the senior year classes ended, and parents began arriving.
"Shu, let's go!"
Han Xiao and the others were waiting for Zhang Shu at the entrance. Wu Pengcheng noticed Sheng Xia looking over and waved. "Hey, beautiful!"
Sheng Xia: "..."
Zhou Yingxiang was seeing Sheng Xia’s face clearly for the first time and froze for a second, muttering, "Is this Shu’s goddess?"
Sheng Xia was sitting at the first desk, very close to the door, and heard every word.
Did he think he was being quiet?
Zhang Shu tossed his water bottle into his backpack and glanced at the girl’s calm profile. "Want to check again?"
Just to make sure he wasn’t leaving behind anything else with "masculine energy."
The thought made Zhang Shu chuckle to himself, not even realizing how smug his smile looked.
Sheng Xia looked up and actually scanned the area before confirming, "Nothing else."
"Then I’ll go?"
"Mm."
"Oooohhh!"
"Come on, it’s just a game—no need for a full report!"
"We’ll be back soon, beautiful! We’ll return Shu to you by tonight."
"Seriously, enough already. No wonder Lao Hou’s lost weight—he’s been stuffed full of dog food every day, no appetite left for actual meals!"
"A 1.95-meter-tall human lightbulb, shining extra bright, huh, Lao Hou?"
Hou Junqi: "Screw you. Life’s hard."
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
These guys—every time they ran into her, it was like this. So annoying! Sheng Xia ignored them, lowering her head to search for her vocabulary notebook.
Zhang Shu shot them a sharp look, and the group finally quieted down.
The boys left the teaching building.
Only then did Sheng Xia look up.
Such a dazzling group.
Such a noisy group.
The sound of their banter grew fainter as they walked away.
Han Xiao was complaining, "My dad’s definitely gonna whip me tonight. My last exam scores were a disaster. Shu, give me some pointers?"
Zhang Shu chuckled. "Just accept it. The world needs ordinary people too..."
Han Xiao: "..."
The group: "HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Huh?
But hadn’t he said before that she should believe she could do better next time?
Did he just say things randomly? And she had taken them as gospel.
Sheng Xia shook her head.
With her leg still bothering her, she didn’t feel like going anywhere. She stayed sitting under the corridor stairs, flipping through her vocabulary notebook.
Lu Youze was also one of the few who hadn’t gone out to eat or have fun.
The two ran into each other under the corridor and exchanged smiles.
"Studying vocab?" Lu Youze sat beside her and asked.
"Yeah." Sheng Xia noticed the TOEFL textbook in his hands and blinked in surprise. "You’re already preparing for TOEFL?"
Lu Youze nodded. "Yeah, planning to study abroad."
Sheng Xia: "For undergrad?"
Another nod. "Mm. My grades don’t give me much advantage domestically."
Sheng Xia fell silent. His scores were solid enough for a top-tier 211 university, and with some effort, he could even aim for a 985.
If even his grades weren’t competitive, then what hope did she have?
But then again, with his family background, many kids went abroad much earlier—some even in middle school.Sheng Xia chimed in, "If you had this plan, why didn't you join the international class back then?"
Lu Youze replied, "I didn't have this idea when I first started high school. My grandfather had just passed away, and the family was in chaos."
Hmm... family secrets of the wealthy.
The topic had taken a rather deep turn, and Sheng Xia instinctively avoided it, shifting the conversation. "So, which country are you planning to go to?"
"The U.S."
"That's impressive."
"Ha," Lu Youze said self-deprecatingly, "Just a coward running away from reality."
Sheng Xia: ...
She could tell that Lu Youze's state had been declining all semester, completely different from when they first met at the start of the school year. He now exuded an air of defeat.
"Not at all. Getting into a good school in the U.S. is really hard too. It's just a different path, but it's all about becoming a better version of yourself, isn't it?" Sheng Xia said.
Lu Youze pursed his lips, lost in thought, but nodded anyway. "Yeah."
At that moment, applause erupted from the classroom. It sounded like the parent representative was speaking.
"Good afternoon, parents. I am Lu Youze's guardian."
Lu Youze's father?
Given his position as a director at Junlan, being a parent representative was more than fitting. But Sheng Xia was surprised. Someone as busy as his father would actually attend a parent-teacher meeting? And his voice sounded quite young.
"That's my uncle. My dad has never attended any of my parent-teacher meetings." Perhaps noticing Sheng Xia's confusion, Lu Youze suddenly spoke up.
Sheng Xia looked up and saw the loneliness in his eyes.
She comforted him, "My dad hasn't either..."
They exchanged a glance, and Lu Youze smiled faintly. "My uncle never used to come either. He's not here for me."
If not for him, then who?
Sheng Xia didn't know how to respond and silently returned to her vocabulary flashcards.
The parent-teacher meeting lasted nearly an hour. When it ended, Sheng Xia's phone rang. Wang Lianhua said she needed to talk to the teachers and asked Sheng Xia to wait a little longer.
Sheng Xia had expected this and wasn't surprised.
Soon, the parents dispersed, and the school building quieted down. Sheng Xia remained seated, steadfastly continuing her vocabulary review.
Lu Youze, however, also stayed put. Sheng Xia assumed his uncle was talking to the teachers and didn't think much of it.
After a while, a familiar voice reached her ears.
"Let's wait until after their college entrance exams to talk about it." A woman's voice, cold and elegant even in tone.
It was Zhang Sujin.
"How about the end of this semester? The New Year would be a good time for everyone to meet. They're classmates now; one more meeting won't hurt." A deep, magnetic male voice.
The same voice that had spoken earlier during the meeting.
Sheng Xia instinctively turned to look at Lu Youze, who gave a silent laugh.
It was hard to define what kind of smile it was, but it certainly wasn't one of joy.
Zhang Shu's sister and Lu Youze's uncle?
They were talking by the corridor, hidden from view by the staircase, unaware of the boy and girl nearby.
Naturally, Sheng Xia couldn't see them either.
But their conversation was crystal clear.
It seemed Lu Youze knew about this and was troubled by it.
Sheng Xia couldn't help but wonder: What about Zhang Shu? Did he know?
Over there, Zhang Sujin's words gave her the answer.
"There's no rush. Let's wait until after the exams. Xiao Shu doesn't know yet. I need some time."
The man sighed. "Wouldn't he be happy for you to settle down sooner?"
"We'll talk more tomorrow. Not here.""Every time this topic comes up, you avoid it. There's nothing shameful about it, can't we even talk? What exactly about me embarrasses you so much?"
"That's not what I meant. Let's go first. The shop is about to serve meals, I need to head over."
Zhang Sujin left, with Lu Youze's uncle following closely behind.
As they walked out of the covered corridor, Sheng Xia and the others could see their retreating figures from where they stood.
Lu Youze's uncle was tall and broad-shouldered, dressed in a casual yet well-tailored suit that exuded quiet elegance.
From the back, they looked perfectly matched.
But...
Earlier, Zhang Shu had mentioned that his sister started raising him when she was about her age. So if she was 17 then, she must be around 34 or 35 now?
Yet Lu Youze's uncle looked—
That head of brown hair, styled in that distinctly Korean fashion, hardly seemed like it belonged to a man in his thirties or forties.
Wow, a younger lover?
Sheng Xia was startled by her own thoughts and quickly lowered her head. She shouldn't be making judgments about other people's family matters.
"I should get going," Lu Youze said. "If my uncle forgets he has a nephew, the nephew should remember his uncle. I'm going to find my uncle. What about you, are you going to eat?"
Sheng Xia replied, "I'm waiting for my mom."
"Then I'll head off first."
"Okay."
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