Dropping Shen Ying off at Yinan No. 1 High School, Brother Lin conscientiously escorted him up to the teaching building and delivered him right to the homeroom teacher before leaving the campus and driving back to Jiang Shi’s residence to pick him up.
Once the car smoothly pulled out from the neighborhood entrance, Brother Lin glanced in the rearview mirror and spoke in a gentle voice, “Xiao Shi, why didn’t you go to school with Shen Ying, and instead specifically told me to drop him off first? Actually, since I was picking him up from his house anyway, I could have conveniently given you a ride too.”
Jiang Shi, who had been quietly sitting in the backseat gazing out the window, raised his eyes at the sound and swept a glance across the rearview mirror.
Meeting his cold gaze, Brother Lin could only say, “Alright, I spoke out of turn.”
After the car drove on for a while longer, Jiang Shi suddenly looked up and asked Brother Lin, who was driving, “Did he ask about me?”
This was quite a good question indeed. For a moment, Brother Lin didn’t know whether to tell him the truth or fabricate a fact.
“It seems not.” Brother Lin ultimately chose to tell the truth, though adding the word “seems” gave it an evasive flavor instead.
It completely failed to sound tactful or serve any other purpose.
Hearing this answer, Jiang Shi’s emotions didn’t fluctuate much. He let out an “en” and continued looking out the window, as if it were entirely within his expectations.
“Right, I’m not sure if Shen Ying got into a conflict with someone,” Brother Lin mentioned, hesitating for a moment.
The moment those words fell, Jiang Shi instantly looked over at him.
“When I picked him up, I saw a bruise on his left cheekbone. I asked him what happened, and he said he bumped into something, but I reckon it was probably caused by someone else.”
After listening, Jiang Shi’s eyes seemed to be covered in a layer of frost, and the temperature inside the car plummeted by several degrees.
Having delivered the message, Brother Lin didn’t say another half-word to him and concentrated on driving.
When they were still two kilometers away from the school, however, Jiang Shi suddenly spoke up.
“Stop at that pharmacy up ahead.”
Hearing this, Brother Lin paused for two seconds, then quickly changed lanes when there was no car behind them. “Alright.”
Walking from the school gate to the classroom, the aura surrounding Jiang Shi felt wrapped in a layer of chilling frost, his brows and eyes condensed with coldness. Students passing by him who arrived at the school gate at the same time clearly recognized him, yet without exception, the moment their gazes swept across his face, they scurried away at lightning speed.
As Jiang Shi followed the crowd to the floor where his classroom was located, a sudden thought crossed his mind. Was following Sister Cheng’s advice truly the right choice?
The moment he heard Brother Lin say in the car that Shen Ying was injured, a burning sense of anxiety had surged straight up from the bottom of his heart, refusing to dissipate no matter what.
Since yesterday until now, Shen Ying seemed to have had no intention of letting him know about the injury. He had been completely in the dark, mistakenly thinking yesterday that Shen Ying simply hadn’t figured out how to send him a message, and let it go at that.
Yet now, the person was hurt, and Shen Ying still wasn’t willing to talk to him about it right away.
Arriving all the way at the classroom, Jiang Shi could clearly hear people discussing bits and pieces about a transfer student, a phenomenon that only intensified the irritation burning inside him.
And the uneasiness.
Stepping into the classroom, Jiang Shi’s very first action was to search for that figure lingering persistently in his mind. Fortunately, the moment he stepped through the door, he spotted him instantly.
When Shen Ying saw him, he looked genuinely happy, his eyes instantly lit up with joy, and he flashed him that familiar, handsome smile along with those faint dimples.
Yet today, this smile failed to bring Jiang Shi any comfort, because he saw with his own eyes the severe and obvious bruise on the left side of Shen Ying’s cheekbone.
The stuffy restlessness and uneasiness in his heart kept accelerating and compounding.
If he hadn’t listened to Sister Cheng’s suggestion, he originally could have avoided a situation where Shen Ying got hurt. He originally should have…
The homeroom teacher’s voice broke in, timely interrupting the frantic desires crazily sprouting in his heart once more.
“Everyone’s here, right? Hurry up and sit down!” Standing on the podium, Liu Yingjie glanced down at the audience, seeing that everyone except those on leave had arrived in the classroom, and spoke without any delay. “Now, I’d like to introduce our newly transferred student today… Jiang Shi? What are you standing there like a fool for? Sit down first.”
As soon as Liu Yingjie said this, all the students in the class whipped their heads back in unison, only to discover that Jiang Shi was standing right beside his desk, staring fixedly at the newly transferred student. Taking advantage of the opportunity, they openly began observing the new arrival.
The smile that had been hanging on the corners of Shen Ying’s lips upon seeing Jiang Shi vanished as he heard the teacher call Jiang Shi’s name, causing him to instantly straighten up.
When he turned his head to look back at Jiang Shi, he found that Jiang Shi, who had been staring at him all along, had already taken his seat, and his desk was positioned symmetrically right where the solitary desk stood.
“Alright, everyone sit down and stop whispering to each other. The teacher is here to formally introduce our new classmate to everyone. We don’t need the new student to come up to the podium for self-introductions, right? Honestly, I feel like a bunch of your smart alecks would just stare the poor kid into introversion.” Liu Yingjie voiced out the objective truth of the students’ thoughts and behaviors.
Sure enough, upon hearing this, one of the smart alecks boldly called out, “Don’t be like that, Teacher! I just walked into the classroom, I barely even looked at the new classmate yet!”
“Yeah, exactly! I’m still dazed!” The boy sitting in the third group from the front at the very back row chimed in as well.
He had arrived in the classroom only a few steps earlier than Jiang Shi, and upon seeing an extra desk and an unfamiliar face behind him, more than half of his sleepiness instantly vanished.
“Tao Ruiyu, of all people you’re always the latest one entering the classroom. If you’re not dazed, who is? It’s just that you happened not to be late today, otherwise I’d punish you.” Liu Yingjie seemed to get a headache just looking at Tao Ruiyu. “The new classmate will be spending the next two years living and breathing alongside you all, you’ll have plenty of time to look later. Don’t go actually frightening the kid into introversion.”
Shen Ying: ?
“However, Shen Ying.” Liu Yingjie on the podium spoke toward the back of the classroom. “You should still stand up as a formality, otherwise this bunch of monkey like new classmates of yours won’t have their minds on class for the entire day.”
Since the homeroom teacher had put it that way, Shen Ying naturally cooperated and stood up at the very first moment. Without even needing Liu Yingjie to prompt him further, he introduced himself calmly and fluently, “Hello everyone, my name is Shen Ying.”
Following his simple self-introduction and the ending of his name, the classroom instantly erupted into enthusiastic applause, accompanied by primitive, howling cheers.
“Alright, Shen Ying, you can sit down first.” Liu Yingjie also raised her hand to applaud, nodding approvingly at Shen Ying’s poised and generous attitude. “Classmate Shen Ying has transferred from another school in this city. The learning pace at his previous school is much slower than ours, but the teacher has already looked into it, his learning ability is quite impressive, and he has a lot of talent. Now that he’s transferring into our class, I believe that in the near future, he will surely bring glory and color to our class. Therefore, if you all have the time and energy on regular days, the teacher hopes you can take the initiative to help our new classmate catch up with our curriculum as soon as possible. Of course, just reminding him of a thing or two is fine too, make sure it doesn’t affect your own studies, understand?”
After introducing the new student’s situation, Liu Yingjie wedged in a bit more “lecture time.” She wasn’t just the homeroom teacher for Class 3, she was also their Chinese language teacher.
“Alright, morning study is about to start. Go do whatever you need to do, and if you need to use the restroom, go as quickly as possible. Don’t always run off to the bathroom claiming a stomachache during morning study just to slack off.” Liu Yingjie picked up her portable lesson plan book as she spoke.
Seeing this, amid the students dragging out their replies to the teacher, Shen Ying seized the right moment to call out and stop Liu Yingjie, “Teacher, wait a moment. I’d like to adjust my seating arrangement, is that alright?”
Liu Yingjie’s foot paused mid-step. Hearing this, she stood on the podium and looked toward him. “It’s fine, I suppose, but for today you might just have to make do and sit over there. We have a student who asked for leave today, once she comes back to school tomorrow, you can come to the office to find me, and I’ll figure out how to…”
“No, Teacher.” Shen Ying stood up and hastily explained, “I’m fine sitting right back here. I just wanted to ask if I could exceptionally be allowed a desk mate. I noticed everyone in the class has individual desks.”
Liu Yingjie honestly hadn’t expected this to be what he meant, but she still replied, “Here’s the thing: our entire school uses single desks and single seating. I don’t advise you all doing anything special, and what’s more, I believe single desks are more conducive to helping you focus during class. Do you understand?”
“Teacher, there are only two of us in this very last row anyway.” Shen Ying glanced in the direction where Jiang Shi was sitting, his tone carrying a persuasive plea. “Please just let me share a table with Classmate Jiang Shi. Besides, this way, wider spaces can be left on both left and right sides, making it much more convenient for other students to move around.”
As these words fell, not only did Liu Yingjie’s expression pause, but the entire class looked back at him in absolute synchronization, as if frightened out of their wits by what he said, their eyes flashing with utter astonishment.
Zhao Lingfan, who had helped him move his desk, reacted even more dramatically: he silently crossed both hands over his chest, frantically gesturing for him not to do this.
“You’re saying you want to sit with Jiang Shi?” After a brief pause, Liu Yingjie finally seemed to process what he meant.
“Yes, Teacher. May I, please?”
“I suppose it’s alright since there are only two of you in the back row anyway.” Liu Yingjie’s mind was already made up, her expression returned to normal as she looked toward Jiang Shi. “What about you, Jiang Shi? Are you willing to be desk mates with the new classmate? If the two of you agree on this, move your desks yourselves before morning study starts. Just shift them right to the middle, it really will make it easier for other classmates to walk by between classes.”
The homeroom teacher’s directive fell, and Shen Ying immediately looked over at Jiang Shi with eager anticipation. Meanwhile, Jiang Shi had been staring at him unblinkingly from god knows when.
The emotion expressed in the depths of his gaze was identical to the look Jiang Shi had when Shen Ying first met him at the internet café entrance.
At the time, Shen Ying had thought Jiang Shi’s gaze was very strange because he couldn’t quite read it, even mistakenly wondering at first if Jiang Shi had vision problems. But at this moment, he felt he had finally deciphered it.
Jiang Shi was hoping that he would take the initiative to approach him, get closer to him, and be friends with him, which was why, eager to know his name, he had gone through the trouble of chasing him all the way to the hospital.
Thinking of this, Shen Ying felt that his earlier idea to share a table with Jiang Shi was a brilliant stroke of genius.
Inside the classroom, all the students were waiting for Jiang Shi’s reply just like Shen Ying. For a brief moment, a rare silence settled over the room.
“Yes.”
Jiang Shi finally spoke.
For Shen Ying, this answer was entirely within expectation, but he was too busy exchanging a heartfelt smile with Jiang Shi to notice the utterly shocked and disbelieving expressions plastered across the surrounding classmates’ faces.