"Мm."
Zhаng Lurаng сlosed thе ехеrсise book аnd рlacеd it in the drawеr аs wеll.
Sееing him likе this, Ye Zhenхin also felt a bit bored. Аftеr bidding him farеwell, shе wаlkеd оut.
Zhang Lurаng tооk оut his mаth teхtbook and bеgаn prеviewing. It wasn’t until it was аlmost time fоr the dormitоrу сurfеw thаt hе stаrted pасking up tо rеturn.
Нe рulled оut thе books hе nеedеd from the desk оr the drawer.
Finаllу, his gаze lаnded on the Еnglish Соmpulsоrу 1 tехtbооk, and hе рickеd it up.
Su Zаizai’s words frоm eаrliеr еchоеd in his mind.
—"Dоn’t just grind thrоugh exerсises. Memorizing voсabulary рropеrly is mоrе useful."
Нe didn’t pay it much mind, casually tossing the book back on top of the stack on the desk.
Then he walked over to the door and switched off the power.
Exiting through the front door, he closed it and turned to walk toward the back door. As he was about to close it, Zhang Lurang inexplicably recalled how Su Zaizai had looked earlier while reciting the periodic table.
...Could it be that when he was doing English exercises, he looked the same way in others’ eyes?
No way.
Zhang Lurang scratched his head and stood still for a moment.
In the end, he walked back to his seat and, using the light from the corridor shining into the classroom, picked up the topmost book again.
...Might as well memorize it.
Chapter 10
He’s not aloof at all,
he just doesn’t talk much.
—From Su Zaizai’s Little Fairy Diary
On Tuesday afternoon, Su Zaizai went to the reading room as usual.
To her surprise, she didn’t run into Zhang Lurang.
Su Zaizai panicked.
Was he angry?
She hadn’t said anything much, had she? She’d only mentioned in front of him that he’d only gotten three questions right on the cloze test...
Maybe top students had stronger self-esteem...
But thinking back to how he’d retorted after she called him an “idiot,” it was clear he was a bit petty.
Still, she couldn’t just go ask him why he wasn’t going to the reading room! Otherwise, her motives would be way too obvious!
Even if she wanted to win him over, she couldn’t think of an excuse to do so.
No matter what.
...She’d just test the waters first.
After the Wednesday morning break, she immediately ran back to the classroom, grabbed her water bottle, and hurried to the third floor.
Over time, she’d figured out Zhang Lurang’s daily routine.
It was as regular as it could get.
During the first and third breaks in the morning, he’d go to the restroom; during the second break, he’d go refill his water. In the afternoon, he’d refill his water during the first break and go to the restroom during the second. After school, he’d go to the cafeteria to eat, return to the dorm to shower, then come back to the classroom to grab his books before heading to the reading room to study. During the first break in the evening self-study, he’d refill his water, and during the second break, he’d go to the restroom.
Sure enough, as soon as she reached the third floor, she saw Zhang Lurang walking out of the classroom with his water bottle.
Su Zaizai quickly followed, lining up behind him.
After wrestling with herself internally, Su Zaizai finally gritted her teeth and called out, "Zhang Lurang."
Zhang Lurang ignored her, not even turning his head.
Su Zaizai grew so anxious she scratched her head and ears, unsure what to say for a moment.
In her panic, the words slipped out before she could think: "By the way, have you memorized the English vocabulary yet?"
The person in front of her fell even more silent.
Su Zaizai immediately realized her mistake.
No! That wasn’t what she meant to say!
She absolutely didn’t intend to humiliate him again...
Wait, she’d never wanted to humiliate him in the first place!
Just as she was still trying to figure out how to salvage the situation, the person in front of her had already finished refilling his water.Zhang Lurang turned his head to glance at her, responding in a muffled voice, "...Yeah."
At that moment, the tightly wound string in her mind suddenly ignited. Fireworks exploded in her head, scattering chaotically before her eyes, making her dizzy and disoriented.
Su Zaizai stood frozen in place for a long moment.
It wasn’t until someone behind her impatiently urged her to move that she snapped back to reality.
She apologized, and without even fetching water, she walked back in a daze.
Just now… did the great beauty admit he was memorizing vocabulary?
Did he start memorizing words because of what she said…
It couldn’t have been her imagination, right…
Oh my god.
Su Zaizai stopped walking, leaning against the wall to steady her breathing.
She was so excited she felt like she was about to explode.
After school ended in the afternoon, Su Zaizai eagerly rushed to the reading room.
She still didn’t run into Zhang Lurang.
She was starting to feel confused, completely unable to figure out the great beauty’s thoughts.
...So why didn’t he come!
Didn’t the way he acted today count as being nice to her!
She had to ask him clearly, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.
Su Zaizai forced herself to come up with a reason to see him.
After the last class of evening self-study, Su Zaizai headed straight for the advanced class.
At that time, there were still over ten people studying in the advanced class. Su Zaizai waited outside for a while.
More than ten minutes later, only Zhang Lurang remained in the classroom.
Su Zaizai took a deep breath and walked in.
She hesitated for a moment before sitting in the seat in front of Zhang Lurang, turning to look at him.
Hearing the noise, Zhang Lurang instinctively looked up.
Seemingly not expecting it to be her, he froze for a moment, looking a bit dazed and somewhat cute.
Soon, he returned to his usual calm and indifferent demeanor.
“Uh, it’s so hot, I came in to enjoy the air conditioning,” Su Zaizai said, her words as transparent as a clumsy lie.
Zhang Lurang: “...”
The classroom fell silent once again.
After a while, Su Zaizai, pretending as if she were just casually asking, spoke up: “By the way, why didn’t you come to the reading room today?”
“Rehearsing for a performance,” he replied without even looking up, his tone indifferent.
Oh.
Su Zaizai breathed a sigh of relief.
Glancing at the exercise book on his desk, Su Zaizai blinked and said, “You’re working on English? I can teach you.”
“No need,” he said, closing the exercise book and tossing it aside.
As if she had anticipated his response, Su Zaizai quickly pulled out her physics exercise book from her backpack, flipped to a page, and pointed to a problem: “Then can you explain this problem to me?”
Zhang Lurang looked up, instinctively touching his neck, and said softly, “I don’t know how.”
“You don’t know? If you don’t know, you should ask! How can you learn if you don’t ask?” Su Zaizai frowned, scolding him, before immediately shifting gears. “Let me explain it to you.”
“...”
He had truly never met anyone with a thicker face than hers.
Su Zaizai took out a pen and a rough draft notebook, stumbling through her explanation: “Uh, this problem says it’s uniform motion, so, uh, the average velocity…”
Zhang Lurang listened for a moment before he couldn’t take it anymore.
Full of holes, talking nonsense, a physics illiterate.
Pursing his lips, he picked up a pen and directly wrote out a simple solution process on her rough draft notebook.
Su Zaizai picked it up and looked it over. Although he hadn’t written much, it was clear and concise. After thinking about it for a moment, she understood.
Su Zaizai put on a grateful expression: “I get it now! Thanks!”
Zhang Lurang nodded without saying a word.
“Let me teach you English to repay you.”
“…No need.”"Then I'll repay you in another way?"
"..." Zhang Lurang fell silent for a moment. "Go ahead."
Su Zaizai happily curved her eyes, flipping to the page he had just done. "This question?"
"Mm." He replied perfunctorily.
After getting his response, Su Zaizai looked at the question and explained fluently: "For this question, because 'not only' is at the beginning of the sentence, the sentence requires partial inversion. That way, we can eliminate options A and B..."
After finishing her explanation, seeing he had no reaction, Su Zaizai asked curiously, "Hey, did you understand this question or not?"
"Mm." He continued to be perfunctory.
"Then explain it back to me."
"..."
"Don't understand?" Su Zaizai tilted her head and continued, "Then I'll explain it again."
"..."
"Because 'not only' is at the beginning of the sentence, the sentence requires partial inversion. Inversion—do you know what inversion is? Blah blah blah... Did you understand this time?"
"...Mm."
"Then explain it to me."
"..."
"Still don't understand? Then I'll explain it again."
Zhang Lurang, unable to bear it any longer, finally gave in and spoke: "Because 'not only' is at the beginning of the sentence, the sentence requires partial inversion. Then, based on the 'went' later, we know it's past tense, so choose D."
Su Zaizai excitedly clapped her hands and said with a grin, "Wasn't my explanation great? Simple, clear, and easy to understand."
"..." He really didn't want to talk to her.
"Don't think I'm bad at all subjects." Seeing his reaction, Su Zaizai shamelessly defended herself. "I'm only bad at physics, chemistry, and math. My politics, history, and geography scores add up to over 250!"
Zhang Lurang rarely spoke up to retort: "I'm only bad at English."
"...Oh." Still unwilling to give up, Su Zaizai continued asking, "Then how many points did your politics, history, and geography scores add up to in the last monthly exam?"
Seeing he didn't intend to answer, Su Zaizai glanced at the bulletin board, walked over, and looked at the score list posted there.
Her eyes widened, sparkling like stars: "Lurang, you're amazing! Besides English, you're not biased toward any subject at all!"
Zhang Lurang paused, then asked, "What did you call me?"
Su Zaizai: "...Ah, Zhang Lurang."
Zhang Lurang stared at her for a while, silently starting to pack his things.
Su Zaizai also put her physics workbook back into her bag and casually asked, "So, are you planning to choose liberal arts or sciences?"
Zhang Lurang's goal was clear: "Sciences."
Su Zaizai: "..."
Sciences.
She didn't dwell on it for long and continued asking, "By the way, what event are you participating in tomorrow?"
"100-meter dash."
"Should I bring you water?"
This made Zhang Lurang look up, his eyebrows slightly raised as if he found it somewhat amusing: "I might be competing against people from your class."
Su Zaizai thought about it and also felt it might not be appropriate: "Seems like it, then I won't bring it."
"Mm." He lazily stuffed his books into his bag, casually responding.
"Maybe I'll secretly bring it for you?"
"No need."
"Then I'll do it openly." Su Zaizai grinned cheekily.
"..."
Zhang Lurang stood up and started closing the windows in the classroom that were left open.
"Leaving? Let's go together."
"..."
Along the way, Zhang Lurang remained very quiet.
Su Zaizai chattered beside him.
Zhang Lurang gradually quickened his pace.
Soon, they reached the area of the girls' dormitory.Zhang Lurang breathed a sigh of relief and continued walking, his pace noticeably slowing down.
Su Zaizai stood in place and called out to him, "Zhang Lurang."
He stopped and looked back.
Silver moonlight poured down, the shadows of the trees swaying gently.
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