"Xia Jinsu..."
Song Yunshen leaned over, glancing at the name with a peculiar look in his eyes.
What was going on with him lately? He seemed to be constantly running into pretty girls with the surname Xia. In his class, there was Xia Yunuo, who could read minds. At the rental property he took over from his dad, there was his middle school junior, Xia Keneng. And now, here was Xia Jinsu.
"You know her?" Song Yunshen asked out of curiosity.
He couldn’t be entirely sure yet if the owner of the Future Diary was indeed this sophomore senior named Xia Jinsu. But since Zhong Long was absolutely certain that Xia Jinsu was the prettiest one on the list, it fit his own aesthetic standards for a partner perfectly. Naturally, the prettier, the better.
Besides, Song Yunshen recalled the girl he had seen at the entrance of the English Club yesterday. She was truly stunning. Previously, Xia Yunuo was the only person in the entire school who could make him feel that way.
"Of course I know her," Zhong Long said, shaking his head theatrically. "Though I’m sure she doesn’t know me."
"Tell me the details."
"If it’s Xia Jinsu, you might as well give up, Brother Shen," Zhong Long advised instead of rushing into an introduction.
"What do you mean?"
"Xia Jinsu is completely focused on her studies. Word is that her parents are extremely strict, and she’s already rejected confessions from a ton of guys," Zhong Long said earnestly. "You don’t cross paths with her normally, so I don’t think you have a chance."
"I already told you, I’m not looking for a girlfriend," Song Yunshen said in exasperation. "Do you have any other information to add?"
Seeing his resolute expression, Zhong Long stopped trying to dissuade him and continued his introduction. "Xia Jinsu’s grades are excellent. She consistently ranks in the top ten of the sophomore class, occasionally breaking into the top three, and she even took first place in the midterms two months ago.
"She even went up on the podium during the flag-raising ceremony to give a speech and share her study tips. Don’t you remember?"
Hearing this, Song Yunshen tried his best to recall, only to find the effort completely useless. After all, during every flag-raising ceremony, he and Xu Zhuoyue would play the try-not-to-laugh challenge. Whoever broke first would automatically receive a death glare from their homeroom teacher, Mr. Zhang Zhidong.
Who in their right mind would pay attention to what the person on the podium was saying? From that far away, it was impossible to see their face clearly, no matter how pretty they were.
"No recollection at all," Song Yunshen shook his head again. "Anything else?"
"Oh, absolutely. I’ve got even more detailed intel." Zhong Long chuckled, rubbing his thumb and index finger together.
"Two meals," Song Yunshen rolled his eyes. "Hurry up."
"You got it!" Zhong Long picked up his phone, scrolled through it briefly, and then lowered his voice. "I’ll give you the gist of it now and send you a detailed copy later.
"Xia Jinsu. Class President of Sophomore Class Four and a student council executive.
"Her birthday is July 20th. She’s a Cancer. Gentle, detail-oriented, and highly principled. Currently single.
"She likes vegetables but isn’t a fan of meat. There’s no record of her having any favorite snacks.
"There’s a bunch of other miscellaneous info, but I won’t read it all out. I’ll send it to you on QQ so you can look it over yourself."
Song Yunshen listened intently and gave a slight nod, though he inexplicably felt a pang of discomfort in his heart. Even a campus information broker as formidable as Zhong Long could only guess that Xia Jinsu liked vegetables, disliked meat, and didn’t eat snacks. But Song Yunshen knew perfectly well that she simply couldn’t afford them.
Coming back to his senses, Song Yunshen couldn’t help but reach out and snatch Zhong Long’s phone, curiously peeking at his notepad app.
"Just how many girls’ profiles do you have saved on here?"
"Hey, hey, hey! Not that many, not that many!" Zhong Long hurriedly snatched his phone back, offering a sheepish grin. "Just earning some lunch money, you know?"
"I think I saw Xia Yunuo’s name in there too?"
"Ahem... Are you interested in Xia Yunuo’s info too, Brother Shen?" Zhong Long asked, wiggling his eyebrows. "I see her coming to you for math help a lot lately. Isn’t that a much safer bet than Xia Jinsu?"
"Send me Xia Yunuo’s too."
"Uh... about that..."
"Three meals."
"You got it!"
"By the way, where are you getting all this information from?" Song Yunshen asked, genuinely puzzled.
"In this day and age, information is money," Zhong Long declared. "In our freshman year, Xia Yunuo is definitely one of the most popular girls.
"A lot of guys from other classes want to dig up info on her.
"But they can’t just go up and ask Xia Yunuo or the other girls in our class directly, so who else can they ask but us guys?"
"Then why do you even have Xia Jinsu’s information?" Song Yunshen pressed.
"I’m expanding my business, of course," Zhong Long chuckled. "I also offer breakfast ordering, homework copying, phone rentals, and food delivery services. Care to check out my catalog, Brother Shen?"
Song Yunshen fell silent for a moment before saying, "That won’t be necessary."
"Well, let me know if you need anything in the future." Zhong Long handed the roster back to Song Yunshen. "I don’t need to look up anyone else on here, right?"
"Not for now." Song Yunshen took the chart back and turned around in his seat. He planned to drop by Sophomore Class Four and take a look. At the very least, he needed to confirm whether this senior named Xia Jinsu was actually the girl he had seen at the English Club yesterday.
With that thought, Song Yunshen hesitated no longer. He got up immediately and headed straight for the sophomore teaching building.
Unfortunately, it was only a little past four in the afternoon, and Xia Jinsu didn’t seem to have arrived at school yet. Song Yunshen couldn’t find her in the Class Four classroom.
After evening self-study began, Song Yunshen went to check again during the first break, but he still couldn’t find her. He had no idea where she could have gone. Could she have called in sick? Pondering this, Song Yunshen temporarily abandoned the idea of meeting her today, deciding to try again tomorrow.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to check again during the second break. The main issue was...
"Umm..."
"Take a seat, take a seat! I need to use the restroom," Xu Zhuoyue said with a cheeky grin, jumping out of his chair the moment he saw Xia Yunuo approaching with her math workbook.
"Thank you," Xia Yunuo said with a calm expression. She seamlessly slid into Xu Zhuoyue’s seat and showed her workbook to Song Yunshen.
"Which question?" Song Yunshen was already completely used to this routine. After all, Xia Yunuo had been coming to him with math questions after the second evening study session almost every single day lately. Today was clearly no exception.
"Is my charm really just that irresistible?" he thought. Or perhaps Xia Yunuo was just genuinely eager to learn.
"This problem isn’t difficult. You just need to draw an auxiliary line right here," Song Yunshen said after a quick glance at the question, launching into his explanation. "Take a look. Doesn’t it become completely clear once you do this? The key to solving these types of problems lies in figuring out where to place the auxiliary line. Think about it..."
Song Yunshen explained it seriously and meticulously, taking full account of her current math proficiency. He broke the concept down step by step, explaining it in the simplest terms.
Xia Yunuo listened attentively, though she felt a bit helpless when she stole a glance at his profile.
"Is my charm really just that irresistible?"
Hearing his voice pop into her head again, Xia Yunuo sighed.
"He is incredibly handsome, but isn’t he being a bit too narcissistic?" she thought.
Just as that thought crossed her mind, Xia Yunuo noticed Song Yunshen pause his explanation and suddenly turn to look at her.
"I-Is something wrong?"
"It’s nothing," Song Yunshen replied. He fought hard to suppress the corners of his lips from twitching upward and returned to his earnest explanation.
" ’He is incredibly handsome...’ My, oh my. Even though I know I’m good-looking, you can’t just keep staring at my face, Xia Yunuo. Pay attention to the lesson, will you? Otherwise, aren’t I just wasting my breath here?"