You Are My Constant Thought and Unforgettable Love - Chapter 7

Lu Nian turned her head to look at her. A small red mole on her neck was exceptionally striking, like a drop of cinnabar against skin as fair as snow.

Shen Xin looked at the word “Okay” written on the paper with such force it had nearly pierced through, then looked back at the mole on Lu Nian’s neck. She felt a persistent itch at the tip of her heart, as if it were being lightly scratched.

“Even if you won’t speak, couldn’t you at least write a few more words?” She lifted the corner of her mouth and lowered her voice.

The surrounding students were rustling about, discussing the matter regarding Lin Fei. No one paid any attention to their table. The noisier the people in front and behind them became, the quieter their little corner felt.

Lu Nian’s eyes lowered. Her entire body leaned over, her snowy-white elbow resting on Shen Xin’s side of the desk. Fine strands of hair fell across her forehead.

Holding her pen, she added two more words before and after the “Okay” on the scratch paper.

“It’s also okay.”

Shen Xin watched in dumbfounded amazement as Lu Nian even added an insertion mark for the correction. She couldn’t help but laugh. “If I say one more thing, are you going to expand this into a full long-form sentence?”

As soon as she finished speaking, Lu Nian pulled the scratchpad back toward herself, not giving her another glimpse.

Shen Xin smiled as she watched Lu Nian. Her little desk-mate shot her a cold, indifferent look… a look that held a hint of icy pride, as if saying, Take it or leave it.

Fine, this little beauty actually had quite a temper.

Lin Fei skipped class for the entire morning. Word was that she couldn’t be contacted, and no one knew where she had run off to.

After distributing snacks, Shen Xin had already blended in with the class. She turned around and said to the students behind her who were gossiping, “Maybe her self-confidence took a hit and she’s too embarrassed to see me.”

Just as the words left her mouth, Teacher Zeng’s voice drifted over from the door. “Whose self-confidence was damaged? Who’s too embarrassed to see you?”

The students who had been chattering incessantly a moment ago instantly fell silent. One by one, they looked toward Teacher Zeng at the door, trembling with trepidation.

Lu Nian froze for a second and looked back at Shen Xin.

Shen Xin took a sharp breath. No matter how you looked at it, this matter was tied to her; it was only natural for Teacher Zeng to come looking.

Under the gaze of the entire class, she slowly stood up. She had no choice but to follow Teacher Zeng.

As she left, the sleeve she had rolled up to her elbow was tugged. She looked back to see Lu Nian looking up at her. Her expression was faint, but the fingertips gripping the sleeve were turning white.

She’s actually worried about me, Shen Xin thought with a smile.

Lu Nian didn’t speak; her lips simply moved slightly.

Teacher Zeng looked back and saw that Shen Xin hadn’t caught up. She wasn’t in a position to rush her, so after a moment of hesitation, she said, “Student Shen, I won’t take up too much of your time.”

Hearing this, Shen Xin curved her index finger and tapped twice on the back of Lu Nian’s hand. It wasn’t too intimate, yet not overly distant. She figured Lu Nian wouldn’t dislike a couple of taps like this after all, it was the little desk-mate who had reached out first.

“Did you hear that? The teacher said she won’t take up too much of my time,” she said, looking down.

Lu Nian let go and nodded slightly. She quickly wrote a line on the paper…

“Studies are important. Cherish your time.”

Shen Xin: “…”

It seemed her new desk-mate truly cared about her academic progress.

It was recess, and the corridors were crowded, so Teacher Zeng led her toward the office. However, the office wasn’t empty either. Several teachers were squeezed into one room, with long tables pushed together and covered in various items. The whole office looked quite cramped.

Lin Fei was fairly famous in school. Everyone knew she was in Class 1…that her grades were poor and she loved making trouble.

The fact that she had skipped a whole morning of classes wasn’t just known to her own class; the news had spread throughout the school.

As they watched Teacher Zeng lead Shen Xin into the room, the teachers couldn’t help but steal glances. Though they said nothing, their ears were pricked up to listen.

“Did you and Lin Fei… have a bit of a disagreement?” Zeng Xi asked cautiously, choosing her words carefully.

Shen Xin wasn’t one to hide things, so she went with the flow. “She asked me to meet her in the small woods last night.”

Zeng Xi was silent for a long time. “Yesterday, some students said that you and Lin Fei were being ‘unsettled’ in the library. Is that true?”

“Yes,” Shen Xin nodded.

Teacher Zeng hesitated. She wasn’t tall and had to look up to speak to Shen Xin. Although she looked quite round and soft, her worried frown made her look rather pitiful.

Shen Xin thought to herself: I’ve admitted to it, but I certainly can’t say I almost beat Lin Fei up in the restroom.

“Can you tell me what happened yesterday?” Zeng Xi asked after some thought.

Shen Xin had no choice but to answer: “Yesterday, Lu Nian and I were self-studying in the library and happened to run into Lin Fei. She was jealous of how fast we were finishing the problems, so in a fit of pique, she soaked Lu Nian’s books in water. During evening self-study, she still wasn’t satisfied and challenged us to a ‘showdown in a sea of problems’ in the small woods. But the lighting at night is poor and doing problems is bad for the eyes, so Lu Nian and I stood her up. She’s probably in a bad mood, which is why she didn’t come this morning.”

She was practically spinning a fairy tale, but Shen Xin’s expression didn’t change. She spoke as if it were the absolute truth.

The teachers in the office were dumbstruck, looking up in disbelief.

Zeng Xi: “…”

She asked suspiciously, “Are you serious?”

Shen Xin nodded. “Of course. Speaking of which, I forgot to mention the books to you, Teacher. Several of Lu Nian’s books are unusable now.”

Zeng Xi had rushed to the library after hearing about the incident the previous day. She had indeed seen several waterlogged books being carried out by the cleaning lady. Unfortunately, the ink had blurred, and she couldn’t tell who they belonged to.

“But Lin Fei has never even handed in her homework, so why would she… do problems with you?” Zeng Xi said, sounding a bit embarrassed for her.

“She’s turned over a new leaf.” Shen Xin looked righteous. Although she was wearing her school uniform today, the blue tint at the tips of her hair hadn’t been dyed back to black yet, making her words not entirely convincing. “Really, it’s the absolute truth.”

Zeng Xi took a deep breath and, in the end, actually believed Shen Xin’s nonsense.

Shen Xin returned to the classroom just in time to see Lu Nian looking out expectantly.

The moment the little desk-mate saw her, she quickly lowered her eyes, looking completely indifferent as if the person who had been gazing longingly a second ago wasn’t her.

If it weren’t for Shen Xin’s sharp eyes, she definitely wouldn’t have known this little desk-mate had two faces.

“Waiting for me?” Shen Xin sat back down and asked with a smile in her eyes.

Lu Nian was scribbling randomly on her scratchpad. Hearing the voice, she finally turned her head to give her a side-glance.

“I came back quite punctually,” Shen Xin said to herself.

Lu Nian looked down. Her usually straight back was slightly curved, her pen moving across the notebook. The oversized school uniform draped over her back couldn’t hide the clear lines of her shoulder blades, which showed a faint silhouette.

Shen Xin looked at the hand holding the pen. Perhaps because her posture was wrong, the middle finger was being pressed until it turned red. A line of text gradually formed under the pen.

“The class representative collected the homework. They didn’t find yours.”

Shen Xin felt a pang of bitterness. She hadn’t even written it; how could they find it?

Lu Nian turned to look at her again, her reddened finger still pressing hard against the pen.

Shen Xin looked and looked, then reached out her hand and covered Lu Nian’s fingers. “Your grip is wrong. Let me teach you.”

Lu Nian was stunned for a moment. Before she could move her hand away, the back of it was covered.

As for Lin Fei, her luck was as bad as her personality. She returned to school the very next day, but it happened to be during the Principal’s address.

It was Shen Xin’s first time seeing such a spectacle at her new school. All the teachers and students were standing in neat rows, listening quietly to the Principal’s speech on stage. Standing near the front, she was curious and turned her head to look back.

With that turn, she caught sight of Lin Fei acting suspiciously, weaving through the crowd, trying to sneak back to the classroom.

Since Lin Fei’s demerit was somewhat related to her, Shen Xin felt a bit guilty, so she called out Lin Fei’s name.

The voice wasn’t particularly loud or soft, but it happened to ring out just as the Principal finished a sentence.

The playground fell into a dead silence, with only that voice echoing.

Lu Nian froze. She immediately reached out to tug Shen Xin’s sleeve. She kept her face expressionless, looking toward the Principal, but her hands were moving non-stop.

Gazing eyes from all directions swiveled toward them, landing on Shen Xin.

Shen Xin felt like her back was being pricked by needles. She was still turned sideways with her back to the podium a clear sign of disrespect toward the Principal.

“That student there, it seems your views differ from mine. Would you like to come up and share your insights?” The voice from the speakers was exceptionally loud; close up, it would surely have been deafening.

Shen Xin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Could she even say “no”?

Her body went stiff. Even the sneaking Lin Fei froze in her tracks.

Lu Nian’s face was cold. Standing beside Shen Xin, she was also subjected to the collective scrutiny.

Under the gaze of so many people and the Principal’s strangely expectant look, Shen Xin no matter how reluctant had to walk through the crowd and up to the stage.

She took the microphone from the Principal and actually started speaking.

Below, Lu Nian listened, thinking the person on stage looked like a fool. That slow, leisurely tone coming through the amplification system was slightly different from her usual voice, yet it remained mellow and slow, as if vibrating from the chest, carrying a unique, low-pitched charm that sounded like she was smiling.

Lu Nian’s ears buzzed. She lowered her eyes and tried to move her lips just like Shen Xin, but she still couldn’t make a sound.

On stage, Shen Xin was playing word games with the Principal. She even managed to drag Lin Fei into it, making the “Big Sister” hiding in the crowd take a metaphorical bullet.

What did she say? She claimed that Lin Fei wanted to bet with her on who would get a higher score on the final exam. She and Lu Nian were one team, while Lin Fei and her followers were the other a battle for supremacy. She claimed she hadn’t expected Lin Fei to be so dedicated that she’d try to sneak back to the classroom early to study.

The audience below was dumbfounded. For a moment, they couldn’t tell if Shen Xin was being serious; her expression was far too earnest.

The Principal was silent for a long time. Finally, he took the lead in applauding. “Loving to learn is a good thing, but leaving early is still inappropriate.”

Standing at the back, Lin Fei’s face was flushed red with embarrassment. This was more humiliating than a direct major demerit.

Lu Nian never expected she would be dragged into this. She thought to herself that this time, there really was no way to keep a low profile.

Whose fault was it? It had to be that grinning fool on the podium.

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