Тhе furthеr shе went, the sоftеr hеr vоiсe becаmе.
Beсause shе hаd sееn his fасe.
Thаt face… the one shе hаd beеn thinking abоut fоr sеvеnty-twо hоurs.
Тhе bоy’s brоws furrowed, his right hand rubbing his сhin. Вeаds of sweat dоtted his forеhead, his сhееks flushеd frоm thе sun. Нis eyеs lоwerеd slightlу, lоoking аt her соldly. "It’s fine."
Аftеr saуing that, he walkеd past her, hеаding tоward thе small shop.
Su Zаizаi wаs still stunned bу this unехресted strоkе of luсk, but seеing him about tо leаvе snаpреd hеr bаck to attеntion. Her head, dizzу from the heаt, suddenly сleаrеd.
She quiсkly followed him and grabbed his wrist.
The boy stopped and turned to look at her, his handsome brows and cold eyes sharp, the curve of his profile tense, clearly displeased.
Su Zaizai immediately let go of his hand as if she had been shocked. She swallowed nervously, her palms damp with sweat. The noisy chatter around her seemed to cut off abruptly, leaving only silence in her ears.
His presence felt magnified—clear, sharp, and lingering around her.
Su Zaizai wiped her hands on her school uniform pants, trying to dry the sweat.
Suddenly, the person in front of her seemed to notice something. The coldness in his eyes softened slightly, and his expression turned thoughtful.
Encouraged by this, she mustered the courage to ask shamelessly, "...What’s your name?"
Su Zaizai felt utterly hopeless.
So hopeless that life seemed meaningless.
Jiang Jia straddled a chair, placing a can of cola on Su Zaizai’s desk, grinning. "Hey, what’s wrong with you? I was only gone for a little while, and you’re already looking like this."
Su Zaizai glanced at her, her gaze vacant, and didn’t reply.
Jiang Jia thought for a moment. "Is it that time of the month?"
Since it was Jiang Jia, Su Zaizai decided to be honest, her expression sorrowful. "I’ve taken a liking to a boy."
"..." Jiang Jia nearly spat out the Sprite in her mouth.
"Sigh." Su Zaizai touched the tiny droplets of condensation on the cola can, her mood gloomy. "These droplets are like the endless tears in my heart."
Jiang Jia coughed a few times and reached out to pat her head. "...What’s going on? What boy? Have I seen him before? What’s he like? An old classmate or something?"
Su Zaizai was honest. "I don’t know if you’ve seen him, but it was my first time seeing him. I saw him a few days ago while waiting for you outside the small shop."
"Huh? Love at first sight?"
Su Zaizai nodded, thought for a moment, then sighed and added, "I ran into him again just now on my way back to the classroom, and I asked for his name."
Hearing this, Jiang Jia’s eyes lit up. "Wow, that’s fate! You actually ran into him again? What’s his name? I might know him!"
"Idiot."
"Can you talk properly? Why are you suddenly calling me an idiot for no reason!"
Su Zaizai lowered her gaze. "That’s what he said."
At that moment, she was truly stunned. How could he just start insulting her out of nowhere...
It felt a bit disillusioning.
But she quickly realized the truth, and the realization felt even worse than disillusionment.
Idiot...
What he probably meant was: My name is Idiot, isn’t that what you called me earlier?
How could she dare to ask any further after that...
Su Zaizai truly never expected him to have heard those words, and to have accurately figured out that she was talking about him!Jiang Jia flared up, slamming the table heavily as she angrily exclaimed, "Damn it, why the hell did he curse at you! Was it really necessary just to ask for a name? What a psycho!"
Her reaction made Su Zai Zai pause, looking up at her, hesitating to speak.
"What's wrong! Did I say something wrong? Are you actually going to defend him? What kind of taste do you have! You're definitely someone who only cares about looks and ignores what's inside, and you still say you're not interested in handsome guys? That's a load of crap!"
Seeing Jiang Jia so worked up, Su Zai Zai cleared her throat, speaking cautiously, "Well, I... it's just that... maybe... he heard me call him an idiot before..."
A moment of silence fell.
Jiang Jia: "...Forget what I just said."
Another moment of silence.
Jiang Jia couldn't help but ask, "Why did you curse at him?"
Su Zai Zai couldn't remember what she was thinking at the time either...
"I feel like, if he only said the word 'idiot' and nothing else, he probably doesn't have a good impression of you..." Jiang Jia's tone was careful, "He didn't leave any clues for you to find him again."
That seemed to be the case...
Su Zai Zai groaned in despair, "I regret it. Should I have just straightforwardly asked for his contact info... Ahhh, I was so nervous I couldn't think straight at the time."
Get the contact info first, then explain everything slowly later!
"You'd regret it even more if you asked."
"...Why?"
"Because he wouldn't give it to you."
"..."
"And you might get humiliated by him again because of it."
Jiang Jia patted her head, half-jokingly.
Su Zai Zai smiled, forcefully bending her fingers back, "Get lost."
Just as Jiang Jia was about to retaliate, the bell rang.
Seeing Su Zai Zai still looking dejected, she lost interest in teasing her and comforted her instead, "It's fine, you'll definitely run into him again. How big can this school be?"
Su Zai Zai was on the verge of tears, "Yeah, there are only sixty classes combined for the first and second years."
Jiang Jia was at a loss for words, "...Let's drink some Coke."
The English teacher walked in, and the class immediately fell silent.
Su Zai Zai composed herself, patted her cheeks with both hands, ready to channel her frustration into studying.
After calling the class to order, the English teacher spoke while flipping through materials on the podium.
A moment later, she looked up at Su Zai Zai, "Class representative, I left my lesson plan in Class One. It's a blue folder, probably on the podium. Go get it for me."
Su Zai Zai nodded, stood up, walked out of the classroom, and strode toward the advanced class.
Afraid of keeping the teacher and classmates waiting too long, she eventually broke into a light jog.
She ran all the way to the door of the advanced class, her footsteps making a "tap-tap-tap" sound accompanied by the wind.
Slightly out of breath, her hair a bit loose and messy, she called out, "Reporting."
Seeing the teacher wave her over, she walked to the side of the podium and whispered, "Teacher, I'm here to get Teacher Chen's lesson plan. She said it's on the podium."
The teacher rummaged around and handed her a blue folder, "This one?"
"Yes, yes, thank you, teacher." With that, she prepared to leave.
Su Zai Zai turned around, her gaze inadvertently sweeping across most of the classroom.
Suddenly, she noticed a boy sitting in the outer seat of the third row in the first group.His head was lowered, focused intently on writing something on paper, completely undisturbed by her presence. From this angle, she could see most of his face—his nose fair and high-bridged, the corners of his lips slightly upturned.
His back was ramrod straight, his demeanor firm and resolute.
The light fell on his eyelashes, casting a fan-shaped shadow beneath his eyes.
Su Zai Zai calmly averted her gaze and walked out of the classroom as if nothing had happened.
On her way back to her own classroom, she was so excited she almost felt like rolling all the way there.
Unable to contain herself, Su Zai Zai bounced on the spot a couple of times, thinking to herself that if it weren’t for class already being in session, she could probably scream nonstop for an hour.
What incredible luck!
She was so grateful to her English teacher, ahhhhh!
After sitting down, Su Zai Zai passed a note to Jiang Jia.
—Last time you mentioned there were two handsome guys in the advanced class, one named Zhang Lu Rang. What’s the other one’s name?
Jiang Jia glanced at her, puzzled by the sudden question, but obediently wrote a name on the note.
—Zhou Xuyin.
Su Zai Zai licked her lips, crumpled the note into a ball, and whispered, “Which one is better-looking?”
The guy she had her eye on was absolutely stunning! No one could compare to him!
Jiang Jia grabbed Su Zai Zai’s hand. With the English teacher present, she didn’t dare make too much of a scene, so her voice was soft but her tone was excited: “I haven’t seen him myself, but from what I’ve heard, it’s definitely Zhou Xuyin!”
“Zhou Xuyin…?”
“Yeah! Damn, I heard he’s drop-dead gorgeous!”
Drop-dead gorgeous.
Even his casual glance… truly was drop-dead gorgeous.
Chapter Four
Today…
Too upset to talk about it, haha.
—From Su Zai Zai’s Little Fairy Diary
After the first class in the afternoon ended, Su Zai Zai immediately stood up.
Just as she was about to head out of the classroom, the prelude music for eye exercises started playing over the broadcast.
Su Zai Zai immediately sat back down and groaned in frustration.
Jiang Jia was speechless. “What’s wrong with you?”
Without batting an eye, Su Zai Zai lied: “My bladder’s about to burst.”
Once the eye exercises were over, Su Zai Zai rushed to the third floor where the advanced class for first-year students was located, pretending she needed to use the restroom there. Unfortunately, she didn’t run into her handsome crush.
She didn’t hurry back, deliberately lingering in the hallway for a while.
But even until the class bell rang, she didn’t bump into him.
Even though she didn’t see him, Su Zai Zai was incredibly nervous…
Her heart felt like it was about to leap out of her chest, her breaths short and rapid as if she couldn’t get enough oxygen, her cheeks flushed bright red.
When the second class ended, she shamelessly dragged Jiang Jia along with her.
Su Zai Zai couldn’t stop talking about her crush: “I’m telling you, Zhou Xuyin is just too good-looking! He’s super captivating! How can a guy look like that? I can’t take it anymore, ahhhhh Zhou Xuyin…”
His eyes, his nose, his lips, blah blah blah…
Jiang Jia: “…”
Truly, a lovesick fool is a terrifying sight.
The two of them walked downstairs, turned left after reaching the third floor.
At a glance, they spotted “Zhou Xuyin” walking toward them from the far end of the hallway.
He approached them, glanced briefly at the two of them as he looked up, then quickly averted his gaze.Su Zai Zai's breath hitched. She tightened her grip on Jiang Jia's hand, turning to her as if fleeing in panic, and abruptly changed the subject: "What are we eating tonight?"
Jiang Jia was momentarily stunned, her mind still filled with the three words Su Zai Zai had just drilled into her. Without thinking, she blurted out: "Zhou Xuyin?"
Zhang Lu Rang glanced over.
Su Zai Zai's face instantly flushed crimson. She tugged at Jiang Jia, quickening their pace.
Once inside the women's restroom, Su Zai Zai looked utterly distraught: "What do I do? Do you think he heard us saying we were going to eat him... I feel like crying ahhhhh!"
Jiang Jia was incredulous: "He just passed by? How did I not notice?"
Su Zai Zai dragged Jiang Jia back outside.
At that moment, Zhang Lu Rang happened to reach the corner. He turned, revealing half of his profile.
Jiang Jia squinted, then quickly shook her head: "Too far, can't see clearly... I was too focused on listening to you just now, I didn't notice anything else."
The two walked back into the restroom.
Su Zai Zai turned on the faucet and splashed water on her face, her expression gloomy: "Oh my god, I feel like whenever he's within my line of sight, I get so nervous..."
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