You Like The Smart Ones? You Should Have Said So Sooner! - Chapter 31

Chapter 31: So You Have This Side to You Too

When they got back to the classroom, the bell had just rung for the end of class.

Qin Mian, Song Ying, and Yu Canxing carried the snacks up to the podium. This movement caused the students below to stare intently. After a long day of tedious problem-solving, any slight change in the routine was a rare curiosity to them.

Ding Zi instructed, “Thanks for the hard work, you three. Take the bags and hand the stuff out.” He then turned to the whole class: “You’ve worked hard at your studies. I bought some snacks for everyone—take whatever you want.”

Instantly, it was like a drop of water hitting boiling oil; the class exploded. While the girls remained somewhat composed, the boys regressed to a primitive state.

“Waaaaah! Food!!!” “Teacher Ding, I love you to death!!!” “Teacher Ding! You are my eternal god!” “Sob, sob… Teacher Ding is the best!”

When Song Ying passed the boys’ section carrying a bag, a group of them swarmed like hungry tigers, burying their heads into the snack bag. The sheer force of the rush made Song Ying stumble back a couple of steps.

“……”

Qin Mian looked on in disgust. “Take it easy. You’re going to knock Song Ying over.”

“We got it, Brother Mian! We won’t hurt your Brother Song!” one boy joked mischievously.

“Wow, wow! I ship it—” Lin Zhixia said with an excited face.

“……” Qin Mian cast a chilly glance at the speaker. “Even snacks can’t shut your mouth.”

Song Ying’s eyes were brimming with amusement, and he couldn’t hide the upward curve of his lips. Ding Zi watched the two of them, his gaze thoughtful as it bounced between them.

The bags contained everything—chocolates, potato chips, chicken feet, lollipops… more than enough for the whole class.

Lin Zhixia picked a bag of cucumber-flavored chips from the bag Qin Mian was holding. “Thanks!”

“You’re welcome. Just try to put away that lewd smile on your face.”

Lin Zhixia’s eyes widened in shock as she scolded him with a laugh, “What do you mean lewd?! This is a fairy’s sweet smile, don’t you understand?”

“……Heh,” Qin Mian nodded perfunctorily. “I understand, I understand.”

“Hmph! For the sake of the chips, this fairy won’t settle scores with you!”

Jiang Mengqian watched the interaction between Qin Mian and Lin Zhixia with envy. Realizing Qin Mian was about to reach her desk, she nervously gripped the hem of her shirt.

When Qin Mian finally stood before her, her mind went blank. She didn’t dare lift her head and just grabbed something at random from the bag.

Qin Mian paused. His pleasant voice rang in her ear: “Is that all you’re eating?”

He saw that she had only taken a single piece of chocolate from such a large bag. “Take some more.”

Seeing the girl didn’t respond, Qin Mian pulled out a bag of potato chips and placed it on her tidy desk. By the time Jiang Mengqian regained her senses, Qin Mian had already moved on.

She exhaled sharply, trying to calm her racing heart and cooling her burning cheeks. Remembering that she hadn’t responded to his question or thanked him, she felt incredibly frustrated with herself. Her eyes fell on the tomato-flavored chips; she picked them up like a treasure and didn’t eat them even when school ended.

After that incident, Jiang Mengqian gathered the courage to send Qin Mian a WeChat message to thank him, receiving a “no problem” in return. From then on, she would occasionally ask him questions. For some reason, she felt he was very patient with her, explaining problems in more detail than he did for others.

But she could also sense that Qin Mian didn’t like her in that way.

After the Nth time seeing Qin Mian explain a problem to Jiang Mengqian with such gentleness, Song Ying finally couldn’t take it anymore.

He grabbed his exercise book and, under Qin Mian’s confused gaze, placed it on Qin Mian’s desk, even thoughtfully turning it the right way around for him.

..What are you doing?”

Song Ying said pitifully, “I don’t know how to do this one either.”

Qin Mian was initially a bit excited. Do I finally get a chance to teach Song Ying? But after glancing at the problem, his grin vanished instantly.

.Are you freaking kidding me?”

This was the exact problem he had just explained to Jiang Mengqian. It was a medium-difficulty question; for Song Ying, it should be elementary. Qin Mian stared coldly at the person in front of him, wondering what kind of fit he was throwing. There was no way Song Ying didn’t know this. If he really didn’t, Qin Mian would eat the test paper.

He paused, then decided to play along with Song Ying’s act. “What a coincidence, I don’t know it either.”

Song Ying blinked innocently. “Huh? But didn’t you just explain it to someone else?”

“I was just talking nonsense back then. How could I teach Academic God Song?” Qin Mian made up a story with a straight face, suggesting, “How about we both go ask Old Ding?”

Song Ying choked.

No joke—if he and Qin Mian brought a problem like this to Ding Zi, Ding Zi would probably take them to the hospital for a brain CT overnight.

Song Ying sheepishly picked up his workbook, trying to recover: “……Then never mind, I’ll probably figure it out if I think about it myself.”

Qin Mian rolled his eyes. “What do you actually want? If you have something to say, say it.”

Hearing his cold tone, Song Ying bit his lip as if hurt, complaining, “Why are you being so mean to me?”

He looked as pitiful as could be. Someone who didn’t know better would think Qin Mian was bullying him.

“……” Qin Mian felt like his eyes had been opened. He stared at his “stranger” of a seatmate in shock. “You… what the hell…”

How was he being mean?

Then, Qin Mian couldn’t help but laugh. “……So you have this side to you too?”

Song Ying raised his eyebrows noncommittally, stating his true intention: “I just feel like you’re particularly different toward Jiang Mengqian. Are you—”

He met Qin Mian’s eyes and didn’t finish the sentence.

But Qin Mian understood instantly. Like a startled cat, he jumped straight up from his chair. “How is that possible! What kind of nonsense are you thinking!”

The atmosphere between them froze. Song Ying stared blankly at the standing Qin Mian, the smile frozen on his face. A bad premonition suddenly surged in his heart.

He remained silent for a moment, then forced a smile. “Why are you so worked up?”

Qin Mian also fell silent. He was deep in thought.

What’s going on? Why am I so worked up? It felt as though he was subconsciously afraid of Song Ying misunderstanding him.

…Dammit, Qin Mian, get it together.

Seeing Qin Mian ignore him, Song Ying’s heart went cold—ice cold. This time, he really couldn’t force a smile.