Secretly Liking Him - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Shen Yanzhi has now truly become famous at High School No. 1. There’s no need to mention low-level tactics like girls from other classes intentionally walking past their classroom.

People from other grades came, and surprisingly, some even ran over from the affiliated middle school, turning the perfectly good Class 1, Grade 10 into something like a tourist attraction—a top-tier one at that—filled with groups of people pretending to just be passing by.

Gu Xun once caught the young girl from his next-door neighbor’s house. Relying on the fact that she knew him, she actually called Gu Xun out by name to answer her.

Gu Xun: “…Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell your parents?”

Even though it was currently lunch break, this still wasn’t a time she should be appearing here!

Xue Jiawen asked him: “Would you?”

Gu Xun: “That’s hard to say.”

Xue Jiawen stuck out her tongue, trying to act spoiled: “Brother Gu Xun…”

Gu Xun: “Be more serious with your attitude!”

Last time she was still calling him to perform cross-talk comedy! Now it’s “Brother Gu Xun”! Does she think he’s stupid!

Xue Jiawen’s expression became especially pitiful: “Brother Gu Xunnn…”

Then a bunch of seventh-grade girls surrounded Gu Xun calling him “Brother.” The scene was quite touching.

Gu Xun felt that if this continued, he was at risk of getting arrested. He quickly pulled some distance away from them: “Talk properly!”

Xue Jiawen jumped out and said: “Brother Gu Xun, help us get an autograph, won’t you?”

Gu Xun thought he had misheard: “Huh???”

Xue Jiawen’s expression was even a bit shy: “The autograph of that big handsome guy in your class, Shen Yanzhi…”

Gu Xun turned his face to look at Shen Yanzhi inside the classroom, thinking to himself that this guy was on pace to make his idol debut!

Then Gu Xun turned and asked: “Is it not okay if I sign for you?”

Xue Jiawen answered him with her facial expression.

Gu Xun: “…What’s with this look of disdain?”

Xue Jiawen: “…It wasn’t especially disdainful.”

Gu Xun huffed twice. Anger rose from his heart and malice grew in his gut. He bared a mouthful of big white teeth and smiled very insidiously: “You guys wait here.”

After saying that, he snatched the notebooks from the girls’ hands and headed straight for Shen Yanzhi.

Shen Yanzhi looked at the pink and tender notebooks in front of him and asked with some confusion: “What’s this?”

Gu Xun said: “Come, come, come, these are all your fans’ little notebooks. Sign a name in every book!”

Shen Yanzhi shook his head with a smile, thinking Gu Xun was just being mischievous, but he still took the pen and signed them for him. After finishing, he asked: “And then?”

Gu Xun raised an eyebrow: “And then give the pen to me!”

Shen Yanzhi handed the pen to him.

Gu Xun took the pen and began signing his own name right next to Shen Yanzhi’s signature.

Seeing this situation from outside the door, the little girls couldn’t help but scream: “Ah! Don’t, don’t, don’t!”

How could Gu Xun listen to them? With a shua shua sound, he signed his name on all of them. When he was done, he even admired it himself, thinking it looked quite beautiful.

Then, clutching the little notebooks, he went back, shoved them into Xue Jiawen’s hands, and coolly returned to his seat.

The notebooks in Xue Jiawen’s hands were snatched back by their respective owners. After opening them, they all let out a wail.

The feeling was as if [the beautiful] Pan Jinlian had been paired with [the ugly] Wu Dalang, or as if Xi Shi had been drowned in a pond…

Hearing the wails of the little girls outside the door, Gu Xun felt incredibly refreshed. Hee hee, you said you looked down on me? Now they’re bound together, let’s see what you do now!

Shen Yanzhi saw his look of suppressed glee and couldn’t help but smile, asking: “That happy?”

Gu Xun raised an eyebrow: “You bet!”

But after his happiness passed, he felt a bit of a small, conflicted tangle about whether what he did was a bit too much.

Gu Xun asked: “Was I a bit over the top just now? Should I buy a few new notebooks later to pay them back?”

Wang Xiaosong came in from outside, looking back even as he walked in.

Only after he reached Gu Xun and the others did he ask: “Gu Xun, what did you two do?”

Gu Xun was confused by the question: “Huh? What?”

Wang Xiaosong pointed outside: “They’re all talking about you and A-Yan, whispering and muttering. I don’t know what they’re saying, it’s just…”

Wang Xiaosong shuddered: “Their laughter is too terrifying.”

Gu Xun also turned his face to look. Those few little girls, who were originally looking quite miserable, for some reason were now surrounded by a bunch of high school girls, huddling together and whispering.

Each one looked like they had taken stimulants. When they looked back, the gaze they directed at him and Shen Yanzhi was practically like a wolf’s predatory light.

Gu Xun involuntarily swallowed a mouthful of saliva: “Why do I feel so creeped out…”

Shen Yanzhi: “…It is a bit.”

Gu Xun wasn’t the type to sit and wait for death; he liked to take the initiative. So, he scurried to the door again.

Facing those wolf-like gazes head-on, Gu Xun couldn’t help but shrink back a bit before asking: “Uh… how about, how about I buy you guys new notebooks?”

The girls who had been disgusted to death just a moment ago now shook their heads like rattle-drums, chirping: “It’s great! Just like this!”

Then Gu Xun watched as they ran away happily clutching their notebooks.

Gu Xun: “…”

Gu Xun turned to look at those high school girls: “…Did you guys brainwash them?”

Otherwise, how could they change so fast???

Those few girls all had expressions of “smiling without speaking”—extremely mysterious and profound. They exchanged glances and walked away laughing.

Gu Xun couldn’t help but think back to the situation when he met those old classmates this morning. How similar it was…

Gu Xun raised his hand and scratched his head. He couldn’t figure out the reason, and even when he turned back, he had no clue.

Wang Xiaosong asked: “Did you find out anything?”

Gu Xun: “No… they all had that expression of gently stroking my dog head and smiling without speaking.”

Shen Yanzhi burst out laughing because of his description. Leaning against the chair, he tilted his head to look at him: “You…”

Gu Xun understood instantly: “Yeah, yeah, when I go crazy, I even roast myself.”

Then he continued to be conflicted: “What do you think those girls are thinking!”

Wang Xiaosong said: “If I knew that, would I still be hanging out with you?”

Gu Xun: “…Why not?”

Wang Xiaosong: “What do you think? Is now the time to be tangled up in this question?”

Gu Xun looked at Shen Yanzhi again. Shen Yanzhi shook his head at him, indicating he wasn’t very clear about it either.

Gu Xun finally had to conclude: “…Forget it, ‘don’t guess a girl’s mind, you won’t understand it even after all that guessing’.”

Gu Xun asked again: “For future lunches, I plan to still go home to eat. What about you guys?”

They had just raided the cafeteria “dungeon” as a group and felt that High School No. 1 and Middle School No. 1 were indeed brothers; even the cafeteria food was equally terrible—both were at a hell-difficulty level.

Wang Xiaosong nodded: “Either ride the bike home or go to the convenience store. Are there any other choices?”

Gu Xun: “Isn’t bringing lunch also a choice?”

Wang Xiaosong: “Have you forgotten the time the food got stuffed until it turned sour?”

Gu Xun: “…”

Gu Xun turned to look at Shen Yanzhi: “A-Yan, what about you?”

Shen Yanzhi thought for a bit. Likely feeling the cafeteria was indeed a bit unbearable, he said: “Convenience store. There’s no one at my home.”

Gu Xun immediately said: “How can eating at the convenience store all the time be okay! How about you go to my house to eat?”

Wang Xiaosong looked at him with a gaze like he was looking at a traitor: “…Last time I went to your house to eat, you even told me to eat less and only gave me one bowl of rice!”

Gu Xun said: “I did that for your own good. If you kept going like that, it was going to affect your health, you know!”

Wang Xiaosong: “…I really thank you!”

Gu Xun then continued to ask Shen Yanzhi: “How about it? My mom’s cooking is really delicious. Besides, aren’t our families originally relatives anyway? There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

Shen Yanzhi looked a bit hesitant. After all, they weren’t that familiar yet; going to someone else’s house to eat like this felt a bit inappropriate.

Gu Xun, however, made the decision himself: “It’s settled! I’ll tell my mom when I get back!”

Shen Yanzhi thought for another moment before saying: “Okay, but I need to pay for the meal costs.”

Gu Xun didn’t have a problem with this. He was currently being raised by his parents too, so it wasn’t right to grandiosely say it wouldn’t cost anything.

Wang Xiaosong: “How about I also pay your family for meal costs?”

Gu Xun looked at him: “Would your mom agree?”

Eating at the cafeteria is one thing, but when you’re almost home and then go to someone else’s house to eat—that’s another thing entirely…

Wang Xiaosong: “…My mom would probably grab a tool and thrash me.”

Gu Xun patted his shoulder: “Look on the bright side, your mom’s cooking is much better than the cafeteria’s.”

Wang Xiaosong: “…”

How was he supposed to look on the bright side of this! Who could teach him!

Once they had basically met all their main subject teachers, it was about time for school to let out. Since it was the first day of school, the teachers collectively agreed not to assign any homework.

Gu Xun walked out with his backpack, unable to stop muttering: “How great would it be if there could be no homework forever.”

Wang Xiaosong seconded: “Yeah!”

Shen Yanzhi maintained his rationality: “That’s not very likely.”

Gu Xun: “…So just don’t say it out loud. Can’t you let me keep a little bit of beautiful fantasy?”

Shen Yanzhi laughed and nodded: “I’ll pay attention next time.”

Gu Xun was left without a temper by his smile: “Fine, you’re handsome, you can say whatever you want.”

They chatted all the way back. When they were halfway home, a guy from behind chased up to them: “Gu Xun! Gu Xun!”

Gu Xun turned his face: “What’s up!”

That guy was quite tired from running, saying intermittently while panting: “You… you be careful on the road. Someone is going to block you!”

Gu Xun found it strange, feeling this was quite a novel occurrence: “Huh? Block me?”

Wang Xiaosong spoke in a tone as if it had finally happened: “Finally, someone is going to deal with you.”

Gu Xun glared at him: “Be careful I don’t drag you down with me as a funeral sacrifice.”

The guy who came to deliver the message was called Shi Juntao. He was the one who had scared Gu Xun back when they were playing ball, saying Song Xinxin’s dad was coming.

Looking at him, Gu Xun felt he was unreliable: “Where did you get this news? Is it real or fake?”

Seeing him like this, Shi Juntao felt his character was being questioned: “Why would I lie to you!”

They moved slowly toward a shaded area. Shi Juntao said to them: “There’s a student athlete in my class, heard he’s an apprentice of Song Xinxin’s dad. When school just let out, I heard him calling his buddies, saying they were going to block you on the road!”

Gu Xun was helpless. What kind of mess was this! If he actually had something going on with Song Xinxin, then fine! The key was that there was nothing at all!

It was one thing to be sought out by her dad, but why was his dad’s apprentice coming too!

Gu Xun: “What the hell does it have to do with him!”

Shi Juntao suddenly looked at Gu Xun with a “you know” expression. Gu Xun looked completely dazed: “If you have something to say, say it!”

Shi Juntao: “Are you stupid! Of course he likes Song Xinxin! Don’t you think Song Xinxin is quite pretty?”

Gu Xun: “…I think I am personally prettier.”

Shi Juntao: “…”

Wang Xiaosong: “Let me interrupt you guys.”

Gu Xun: “What?”

Wang Xiaosong pointed to a few boys in front of them who were clearly quite bulky: “There.”

Gu Xun turned to look at Shi Juntao: “Next time there’s something like this, could you please notify me a bit earlier?!”