My Desk Mate is My Fiancée - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Zhong Xiu, Who Do You Choose?

The person speaking was an Alpha boy, possessing a husky, heavy smoker’s voice that didn’t match his age.

He had thick eyebrows, large eyes, a prominent tear mole beneath his eye, and a buzz cut. His school uniform zipper was open, revealing a black tank top underneath. His arms had colorful tattoos, the rivets on his earlobes sparkled, and a cigarette was tucked behind his ear.

This kind of rebellious attire usually didn’t appear on the Experimental High School campus, but the teachers were tired of scolding him, and since he was incorrigible, they simply let him be.

“Cheng-ge,” the Omega boy behind him hesitated, afraid that he might cause trouble in the cafeteria.

This Omega was neatly dressed; his school uniform was somehow worn like a suit. The sleeve of his left arm was banded with the prominent red insignia: Student Council.

Everyone’s ears perked up again. They heard the two Alphas—one the grade-topping goddess, the other the school’s bottom-ranking heartthrob, who were rumored to be cousins—had never been seen together in public.

“Is that so? Pigs like to eat potatoes too, so you came following the smell?” Lin Xi, holding her tray, didn’t even turn around. “But unfortunately, the potatoes for humans are all gone now. If you want some, you’ll have to go to Grandpa’s place.”

A burst of laughter erupted from the surroundings. Lin Yucheng’s words had truly implicated too many people. While insulting Lin Xi, he had simultaneously insulted all the students who ate potatoes. Furthermore, the school cafeteria food wasn’t that bad.

The sneer on Lin Yucheng’s face slowly disappeared. He narrowed his eyes slightly and his face darkened.

“Alright, alright, everyone quiet down,” the Student Council President behind him grabbed his arm. Most students here sided more with Lin Xi, and since she was a top-tier Alpha with excellent grades, provoking her wouldn’t end well for them.

Lin Yucheng truly couldn’t swallow his anger. It seemed that every time he clashed with Lin Xi, he returned defeated.

Whether it was the matter of presentation, where his rank was inferior to Lin Xi’s, or the fact that in Shen Zhi Qiu’s eyes, there was only ever Lin Xi.

He violently shook his shoulder, pushing the Omega away. He stepped forward and grabbed Lin Xi’s collar, but Lin Xi quickly turned around, pinning his wrist behind his back, immobilizing him. Lin Xi looked at him expressionlessly. The difference in their Alpha auras was immediately apparent.

“Damn it, let go of me.” The tear mole under his eye was slightly distorted by the reflection of his malice. Lin Yucheng could only resent that his rank was inferior to hers.

“Lin Xi, let’s go,” Zhong Xiu felt that Lin Yucheng was full of danger, like a ticking time bomb that could go off at any moment.

“Mhm.”

“You probably don’t know this,” Lin Yucheng, released, took a breath, rubbing his wrist and speaking in his low, magnetic voice. “I heard that because your aunt and uncle got into a car accident, Grandpa was so worried he got sick.”

Lin Xi paused again. Zhong Xiu suddenly had a bad feeling.

“If they hadn’t rushed back to celebrate your birthday, they wouldn’t have gotten into a car accident and become vegetative. Lin Xi, don’t you feel any guilt at all?”

“See? Even Zhi Qiu couldn’t stand you, which is why the forum posts were deleted.” He poked the table, as if poking her in the back.

“What? Was that why the posts were deleted? Did Shen Zhi Qiu and Lin Xi break up?”

“Lin Xi’s parents really got into a car accident? That’s too tragic. A happy occasion turned into a funeral.”

“And she still has the nerve to come take the exam.”

“…”

Listening to these comments, Lin Xi neither responded nor explained, putting her tray in the collection box as if she hadn’t heard anything. Since she wasn’t speaking, Zhong Xiu couldn’t say anything either and silently followed her.

Reaching the back door of the classroom, Lin Xi still didn’t stop. She seemed to be heading directly to her exam seat, which was the first seat by the front door of Science Class 1.

“Lin Xi.”

Zhong Xiu noticed that the gift box from her seat was gone. She didn’t know if Lin Xi had taken it herself or if the person taking the exam there had tucked it into the desk.

Lin Xi, called out to, slightly turned around. Her brown pupils revealed no emotion.

Although they were only standing at the front and back doors of the classroom, the shadows cast in the hallway seemed to separate them by a great distance.

“Don’t forget to go to the back street after school. I’m treating you to egg waffles,” Zhong Xiu said with her hands behind her back.

The small white cloud charm hanging on the black backpack’s zipper lightly trembled. Lin Xi nodded, “Got it.”

“Wait.”

As Lin Xi was about to step into the classroom, Zhong Xiu looked at her shadow across the room and slowly walked toward her.

“And this.”

She took out a milk carton from the side pocket of her backpack. It was exactly the same as the one at Lin Xi’s house last night, but it looked big in Zhong Xiu’s small palm.

“It’s pure milk,” Zhong Xiu said, her eyes curving in a smile.

Milk came in several flavors, but she remembered Lin Xi’s favorite, so it wouldn’t end up forgotten in a corner like the candy on the windowsill.

“Thank you,” Lin Xi paused, then took the milk.

It was warm.

Lin Xi sat down in her exam seat and placed the carton in the upper left corner of her desk, where a patch of sunlight fell.

Perhaps that way, it wouldn’t cool down so fast.

Science Class 1 was the first examination room. Science students sat near the door, and Arts students sat by the window. The desks artificially drew a dividing line between them. Lin Xi had just sat down when someone tapped her desk.

“Looking for me?” The Omega was petite, wearing a plaid school skirt, gentle and moving, attracting the attention of all the Alphas around.

“Mhm,” Lin Xi took the gift box out of her backpack and handed it over. “Is this yours?”

“A birthday gift,” Shen Zhi Qiu smiled and nodded.

The rumors of discord and deleted posts between the two instantly began to crumble under the Omega’s smile.

“Take it back,” Lin Xi got up and placed the box on the windowsill outside.

“Why?” Shen Zhi Qiu didn’t react for a while. When she realized what was happening, her eyes showed some guilt.

The Lin and Shen families had been business partners for many years. When they were very young, both sets of parents planned a marriage alliance. If there had been no accident, they should have been engaged by now.

The Shen family broke the promise first. After all, the person with the most authority in the Lin family now was Lin Keqin. The day Lin Xi presented, Shen Zhi Qiu was being taken by her parents to meet Lin Yucheng.

“My birthday has passed.”

“I already bought it. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a birthday gift.” In any case, Shen Zhi Qiu wanted to compensate her.

“Then what kind of gift is it?”

Faced with an Alpha who insisted on a proper reason for receiving a gift, Shen Zhi Qiu was at a loss. “It’s not a gift. This pen model is newly released this year. It saves you the trouble of buying it yourself.”

The topic ended here. No Alpha would refuse such an Omega.

“But,” Lin Xi picked up the fountain pen lying between her notebooks, “I already have one.”

Shen Zhi Qiu looked puzzled. When she ordered this pen, the counter staff hadn’t told her that Lin Xi already owned this model.

With so many people watching, it was inconvenient for her to say more to Lin Xi. She quickly took the gift box and returned to her seat.

The afternoon exam was Math. The atmosphere after the exam was completely different from the Chinese exam. Everyone hurried back to the classroom, discussing the last two notoriously difficult problems, eager to check the answers to the long-answer questions first.

If they found their results matched others, their faces would light up with a triumphant smile, talking more vigorously, eager to elaborate on their entire thought process during the exam. Otherwise, they looked wilted, like eggplants beaten by frost.

“Lin Xi, does the answer to the last question have two solutions? Positive and negative two times the square root of three.”

Everyone’s answers varied wildly. One student couldn’t bear it anymore and rushed over to Lin Xi for a definite answer.

This was the study genius. Old Tang usually used her papers as the standard answer. The classroom instantly quieted down. Everyone held their breath, waiting for her to speak.

Especially Zhai Yong. In his opinion, there were no particularly difficult or “weird” problems in the exam paper today, except for the last one, where he was also unsure about one part.

“I forgot.” Lin Xi didn’t even lift her head.

“You can forget that?” The classmate was a little incredulous.

If Zhong Xiu were here, she would know it was true. Lin Xi never memorized answers. All she left in Zhong Xiu’s notebook were problem-solving processes. Sometimes when Zhong Xiu asked her for the answer, she would tell Zhong Xiu to look at the reference answer in the back. She simply didn’t remember those specific numbers.

“Tch, what an act. If you don’t want to say it, then don’t. It’s not like she’s the only one who can solve it,” a Beta boy in the back row glanced at Lin Xi and scoffed. “So what if she presented as a top-tier Alpha? If I could exchange my presentation for my parents’ lives, I wouldn’t do it.”

“Exchanging your presentation? You must have the qualification to present first! Do you?” An Alpha student in the class, angered by the Beta’s words, slapped the desk and spoke unhappily.

“I don’t care to.”

“You can’t even care if you wanted to. Of course he doesn’t care.”

“What the hell did you say?” The offended Beta’s emotions flared up. He pointed at the Alpha and shouted.

“I said you Betas. What about it? If you have the ability, solve the problem yourself. Don’t ask Lin Xi. What’s with the passive-aggressive comments?”

The long-standing resentment between the Alphas and Betas in Science Class 1 had been brewing since the first year of high school, starting with the class monitor election between Lin Xi and Zhai Yong. Back then, their votes were the same. The awkward part was that all the Alphas in the class voted for Lin Xi, and all the Beta boys voted for Zhai Yong, leaving only Zhong Xiu, who was on extended leave.

Old Tang was also in a difficult position. The outcome ended with Lin Xi choosing to be the academic representative because Lin Xi hadn’t actively run for class monitor. Other Alphas had put her name on the ballot. Alphas admired strength; her score when entering Experimental High School was the highest. Who else would they choose but her? Zhai Yong, on the other hand, volunteered. He had been a class monitor since childhood and was rich in work experience.

When the results came out, the Alphas were unconvinced. They couldn’t accept a Beta as class monitor, and privately, they only listened to Lin Xi, even though Lin Xi hadn’t presented yet.

This behavior, combined with Lin Xi’s voluntary withdrawal, deeply hurt Zhai Yong’s self-esteem. The position of class monitor felt like charity, and the Betas were also very dissatisfied.

Between the Alphas and Betas who hadn’t yet entered the cruel adult world, there still existed simple contradictions and conflicts. Both sides instinctively fought each other in such a blunt manner, which was either unfortunate or a different kind of luck.

“We may be passive-aggressive, but we’re better than you Alphas who are heartless. Her parents are like that, and she still has the heart to come and take the monthly exam. I know I couldn’t do it,” another Beta joined the argument.

The pen in Lin Xi’s hand paused, then she turned to the next page and continued writing.

The student who asked for the answer hadn’t expected things to escalate like this and scratched his head, feeling helpless.

When Zhong Xiu returned, she saw the classmates in the room divided into two groups, tensions running high, as if a fight was about to break out any second.

“Zhong Xiu, who do you choose?”