The Beauty Said She Has A Secret Crush On Me - Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Zhuang Lu and Wu Nianxi had not yet reached the Shaw Building when the bell rang. When they arrived at the classroom on the second floor, the Discipline Protection Department officer was standing outside the door with the attendance sheet. They were just two minutes away from being marked as absent. The young officer, a freshman, seriously asked for their names and put a checkmark on the sheet.

Wu Nianxi still pulled Zhuang Lu toward the back door. Zhuang Lu quietly apologized to her. “My bad.” Wu Nianxi blinked, indicating the apology was unnecessary, but Zhuang Lu knew this was the first time Wu Nianxi had been late for class without being officially recorded.

Neither of them noticed the young freshman’s ardent gaze following Wu Nianxi’s retreating figure. The senior is truly beautiful. Even the way she bends down and quietly walks into the classroom is exceptionally beautiful, like an escaping princess. The young freshman thought for a moment, took an eraser from his bag, and erased the checkmark next to Wu Nianxi’s name on the record sheet. Just as he finished erasing, another Discipline Protection Department officer walked over after using the restroom.

“It’s already ten minutes into the class. We can go now. I’ll drop this sheet off at the office on my way.” The young freshman put the sheet into his backpack without waiting for the other person’s response, secretly tucking in the eraser as well.

Wu Nianxi was completely oblivious. She felt that being late for class with Zhuang Lu was no big deal. Winning the National Scholarship last academic year was enough to make her parents happy. At worst, she would just work a bit harder on the exams this year, so she wasn’t worried about the activity points.

However, her heart was restless, clawing with the desire to ask Zhuang Lu something, but she only looked at her chubby profile and remained silent. She was meticulous, and she had already recalled that Zhuang Lu had left without saying goodbye to Wen Zhuo.

At the scene earlier, Wu Nianxi hadn’t reacted immediately to Wen Zhuo’s words, but sitting down now, quietly reflecting on Zhuang Lu’s words and actions, it was like the current sunshine gradually illuminating the world, brightening the sky, nurturing even the decayed. Regardless of the reason, violence would never represent justice between people. Confucius said, “Repay grievance with directness,” and perhaps this was the only way to find ultimate fairness.

On the other side, as the International Private Law class ended, Wen Zhuo knocked on Yu Hu’s desk with his bag.

“Scram!” Yu Hu, who was slumped on the desk, snarled without lifting his head.

Wen Zhuo’s expression was calm. He just bent down and whispered, “Come up to the rooftop.”

The Shaw Building had two rooftops. One was the main building’s rooftop, the highest, which was empty save for a few cigarette butts in the corner. The other was the annex building’s rooftop. The annex was only three stories high, and that rooftop was landscaped like a sky garden, making it a favorite spot for couples during class breaks.

Wen Zhuo stood on the main building’s rooftop with his bag. A gust of wind blew, messing up his hair. A few strands fell over his eyes, obscuring his unreadable expression.

Yu Hu also came up. He was agitatedly smoking a cigarette, looking nothing like the sunny, handsome forward on the football field. In the smoke-filled silence, Wen Zhuo spoke. “Do you know about Cai and Zhang’s relationship?”

Yu Hu took a harsh drag of his cigarette and swore, “If I fucking knew, would I have gotten involved with her! I’m disgusted with myself!”

Wen Zhuo understood Yu Hu’s meaning. Yu Hu was the team’s forward, tall, long-legged, and good-looking. Many girls chased him, but he always kept things strictly professional and never played ambiguous games with those girls. If he met a shyer girl, he would subtly hint that he wasn’t interested. If he met one who confessed boldly, he would rack his brains for reasons to refuse. So, many girls pursued him, and many were rejected, but almost none broke off contact just because of the rejection.

Wen Zhuo’s tone softened a little. “Did you sleep with her?”

Yu Hu mumbled, “Yes.”

Wen Zhuo frowned. “What are you planning to do now?”

Yu Hu grabbed his head in frustration. “I don’t know.” He lit another cigarette, and a hint of hesitation entered his voice. “She called me at nine, saying Zhang Kunrong is still bothering her.”

Wen Zhuo looked at Yu Hu and knew he had gone soft. He remained silent, waiting for Yu Hu to continue. “Brother, she said she genuinely likes me. She said she broke up with Zhang Kunrong in early August when she started pursuing me in early September.”

Wen Zhuo didn’t speak. The two fell into silence. After a few minutes, Wen Zhuo put out the cigarette at Yu Hu’s mouth. “During the first class, I went to find Zhang Kunrong’s buddy. He said they went to a hotel after Zhang’s birthday party at the end of August. Yu Hu, talk clearly with Cai Jing. Break up.”

Leaving the rooftop, Wen Zhuo’s mind was still haunted by the image of Yu Hu—the always high-spirited person sitting dejectedly on the ground, eyes tightly closed, with tear traces near the corners.

As Wen Zhuo walked out of the Shaw Building, he happened to make eye contact with Zhuang Lu, who was descending the stairs. Perhaps both were surprised to see each other in the massive flow of people. Wen Zhuo didn’t have time to react, but he put on a smile, which carried some goodwill and testing. Zhuang Lu was nearly expressionless. Her gaze was slightly shifty. She just nodded, looked away, and didn’t look at Wen Zhuo again.

Slowly leaving the small plaza in front of the Shaw Building with the crowd, Zhuang Lu felt a momentary pang of emotion. Then she heard Wu Nianxi say, “Someone invited me to play Werewolf tonight. Zhuāng Zhuāng, come with me.”

The beautiful Wu beside her looked at her quietly, her beauty undiminished. Zhuang Lu felt that her male god was gone, but her goddess was still here. However, she had never liked board games and could only scratch her head. “I’m not really interested.”

In the afternoon, Zhuang Lu, wearing a large black T-shirt and a wool coat, headed to the gym against a light, unbothersome breeze. This semester’s physical education class was about to end. It was time to start memorizing the names of the Tai Chi moves. Yes, that was the exam content for the Tai Chi elective—memorizing the move names.

Just after class, she walked out of the gym and saw the tiny Wu Nianxi, bundled in an oversized, BF-style denim jacket. Her loose hair was blown by the wind, caressing her clean face. Wu Nianxi looked like a girl from the South; it felt like only the misty air of Jiangnan could have shaped this soft, delicate person. Her beauty was such that simply standing by the roadside, just standing there, looked like a professional photoshoot.

But this kind of beauty, upon seeing Zhuang Lu, ran toward her like a swallow, hugging Zhuang Lu’s thick arm and starting to coax her. “After dinner, let’s go play, please, please!~”

Zhuang Lu always felt that board games were a waste of time. She thought it would be better to go to the library and read some miscellaneous books.

Here was the most beautiful woman in the world, yet, unfortunately, this oblivious person couldn’t see it.

Wu Nianxi went to the gathering alone. She saw a person in the group who looked both familiar and unfamiliar, but she didn’t pay attention. She only heard everyone call him Qián Gān. She was generally indifferent and simply didn’t care what people she didn’t care about were called or what their surname was.

She was surprisingly skilled at the board game this time. She mysteriously stayed until the last few rounds in every game. In the final round, a boy who had been voted out said, “I think Qián Gān and Sister Nianxi are very suspicious. It felt like they were colluding in the early rounds. In the first round, Qián Gān, as a Werewolf, didn’t kill Sister Nianxi. In the second round, Qián Gān, as the Seer, should have checked four people’s identities to survive four rounds, but he only mentioned three. I suspect the first person he checked was Sister Nianxi. He knew she was a Werewolf but didn’t tell everyone. And it’s the same this round. There are three people left, and Sister Nianxi is the only Werewolf, yet she voted me out! What the heck! Zhang Qián Gān, can you play the game properly! I’m an innocent ordinary citizen. All I do every day is close my eyes when it’s dark and open them when it’s light!!!”

The boy was a bit volatile and sharp-tongued. Wu Nianxi glanced at Zhang Qián Gān. Zhang Qián Gān happened to be looking at her as well. Their eyes met in mid-air. Zhang Qián Gān offered a smile. He was not bad-looking, with a short buzz cut and large eyes, giving him a very boyish charm. The youthful, naive big boy had his own captivating qualities, but Wu Nianxi’s heart leaped. It seemed she caught the scent of being liked. She quickly shifted her gaze away and didn’t speak another word to Zhang Qián Gān until she returned to her dorm.

The next day, seeing Zhang Qián Gān on the podium calling roll, she realized why he looked familiar. Her first time being late at Jingda was marked with a check by this young officer.

Thinking of that little checkmark, she was reminded again of being late with Zhuang Lu. She completely missed the gaze Zhang Qián Gān sent her from the podium, filled with the admiration unique to youth.

After the roll call ended, Zhang Qián Gān reluctantly left, and the Public Writing class teacher began the lecture.

Zhuang Lu’s Kindle had just arrived, and she was in the honeymoon phase, unable to put it down. Wu Nianxi, sitting next to her, was one of the few students listening attentively in class.

The Public Writing class was particularly dull, with the teacher rigidly explaining formats from a PowerPoint presentation. Sun Rui, sitting in front of Wu Nianxi, suddenly turned around and handed her phone to Wu Nianxi. “Look at this. Oh my goodness!”

Sun Rui and Wu Nianxi weren’t close friends, but they had some interaction because they were both class committee members. With no conflict of interest, they communicated with smiles and slowly developed some feeling for each other. However, this was the first time Sun Rui had shared gossip with Wu Nianxi, perhaps because Sun Rui’s good friend was sick and on leave.

Wu Nianxi took the phone and saw that it was about Cai Jing. A thread about Cai Jing’s nude photo scandal was rapidly escalating on the school’s forum, having quickly surpassed three thousand replies and still climbing. Wu Nianxi looked at the thread starter’s avatar and guessed it might be one of the two boys from yesterday morning.

Wu Nianxi guessed correctly. The thread starter was not Zhang Kunrong, but Zhang Kunrong’s tall friend from that morning. Seeing Zhang Kunrong drinking to drown his sorrows, he felt angry. He happened to know the moderator of the school forum, and after discussing it, the post was operationalized.

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