The two characters “Gu Lai” leaped off the page, written in a bold and flowing cursive script. The brushstrokes were sharp and fierce, and the overall composition was exceptionally free and unrestrained.
Gu Lai hadn’t expected that Gu Lai, who looked as gentle and translucent as jade, would have such a wild and unrestrained running-cursive handwriting.
Gu Lai gave the name list a brief scan, memorized the name of Cang Wei’s deskmate, and handed the slip back to Cang Wei. “Are you going to get lunch?”
“Mm.” Cang Wei snapped back to reality.
Gu Lai noticed that the corners of her mouth seemed to curve upward, though the expression was quickly blocked by her hair.
The sunlight was mild, and a gentle breeze blew softly.
There were three paths one could take from the teaching building to the cafeteria. Gu Lai and Cang Wei took the less-frequented narrow path.
On both sides of the path stood upright magnolia trees. Scattered magnolia blossoms unfolded on the branches, resembling white butterflies fluttering about.
“The environment at No. 7 High School is much better than my previous school,” Gu Lai said, sounding somewhat wistful.
Cang Wei glanced sideways, suddenly remembering An Xin’s complaint in the office: “Five hundred yuan a tree, truly a sight for sore eyes.”
Gu Lai clicked her tongue in amazement. This principal really knew how to spend money where it mattered least. Instead of fixing the dilapidated teaching building, he chose to spend money on planting trees and growing flowers.
Different world, same kind of principal.
Gu Lai hadn’t forgotten what happened just moments ago. After pondering it for a moment, she carefully weighed her words and spoke up: “Cang Wei, did I cause you any trouble?”
Gu Lai thought to herself that for someone like Cang Wei, who looked so aloof and cold, playing hard to get and taking a circuitous approach first was definitely the right strategy.
Cang Wei looked at her with a hint of incomprehension.
“Did Teacher An asking you to show me around ruin your plans to have lunch with Xia Tong?”
Xia Tong—the name Gu Lai had seen on the seating chart as Cang Wei’s deskmate.
Gu Lai gave herself a mental thumbs-up for her cleverness. Good friends in high school always stuck together, whether it was for meals or anything else.
Using this remark to subtly probe the relationship between Cang Wei and Xia Tong was simply perfection.
“I usually don’t eat lunch,” Cang Wei replied.
Instantly, Gu Lai recalled the plot from the original novel. In order to send gifts to the male lead, Cang Wei skipped lunch entirely, and rarely ate breakfast either.
There was a small pebble blocking the path ahead, and Gu Lai kicked it away forcefully. Subtly sizing Cang Wei up from head to toe, she thought: No wonder she’s so thin.
A sense of frustration welled up inside Gu Lai. She couldn’t quite describe the feeling, and it left a very sour taste in her mouth.
Seeing her suddenly fall silent and looking somewhat gloomy, Cang Wei felt a slight touch of perplexity. After a moment of thought, she seemed to grasp something.
Cang Wei said slowly, “Xia Tong and I are just classmates.”
As if feeling that wasn’t enough, she continued, “We choose our seats based on exam rankings. The middle seats are the best, so whoever scores higher sits there.”
“Is that so?” Gu Lai replied slowly, drawing out her words. “So whoever gets good grades gets to be your deskmate?”
Cang Wei looked at her without speaking.
“Then if I test well this time, can I be deskmates with Classmate Cang Wei too?” Gu Lai looked right at her with a sincere gaze.
“As you wish,” Cang Wei answered.
[System Prompt: Task progress at 3%]
The Cafeteria
Gu Lai belatedly realized her cheeks were burning hot. She felt too embarrassed to even look at Cang Wei.
They had only known each other for a few hours, yet she had blurtingly said something as rash as wanting to sit together.
If it weren’t for the system prompt at the end confirming that the task had progressed, she would have wanted to find a piece of tofu to bang her head against and knock herself out.
“What do you want to eat?”
“Tofu,” Gu Lai blurted out without thinking.
Cang Wei wore a subtle expression. Seeing Gu Lai’s flushed face and figuring that she had thin skin, she decided to play along: “There’s no tofu today.”
“No, I don’t want tofu,” Gu Lai said, snapping back to senses, whereupon her cheeks grew even hotter.
“Whatever you’re eating, I’ll eat.” With that, Gu Lai tightly pressed her lips together and looked away.
No. 7 High School had four cafeterias, and since this one wasn’t crowded, they barely had to wait in line.
Cang Wei chose the self-service dish window. Gu Lai randomly pointed at a few dishes, and Cang Wei stood beside her to swipe her meal card.
With their trays in hand, the two of them sat facing each other.
Sensing Cang Wei’s gaze, Gu Lai still felt somewhat awkward, so she simply gritted her teeth and pretended not to notice.
When people feel awkward, they always want to keep busy with something. Gu Lai chose to busy herself with stuffing her face.
After taking her first bite, Gu Lai fell silent. Refusing to believe it, Gu Lai tasted the remaining two dishes as well, and then completely surrendered.
What was wrong with this cafeteria? How could they make such simple dishes taste this terrible?
Just as Gu Lai was sighing heavily, a pair of chopsticks picked up a chicken leg and placed it onto her plate.
“The chopsticks haven’t been used yet,” Cang Wei explained.
“I don’t mind,” Gu Lai said, though as soon as the words left her mouth, she felt something was off. Still unable to take it back, she buried her head and continued eating.
Well, this chicken leg is passable, I suppose, Gu Lai muttered inwardly.
After a few minutes of silence, Gu Lai stole a glance at Cang Wei and saw her eating her rice in a leisurely, almost grain-by-grain manner.
Remembering what Cang Wei had said earlier, Gu Lai spoke up to ask, “You said earlier that you don’t usually eat lunch. Why is that?”
“I don’t feel like eating,” Cang Wei replied in a flat tone.
Liars. Remembering the plot of the original book, Gu Lai felt a sharp ache in her heart, yet not a single word came out.
When they finished eating, there was still some time left before the noon break, so the two of them took a walk around the campus. Seeing other energetic students, Gu Lai said with a trace of envy, “They’ve got so much energy.”
Ever since she stepped into university, that “living human” spark had nearly faded away from Gu Lai entirely.
Cang Wei didn’t pick up on the remark.
Gu Lai touched the tip of her nose, remembering that Cang Wei had paid for lunch earlier: “How much was the meal? I’ll pay you back later.”
Cang Wei shook her head. “No need.”
She’s actually a pretty nice person. Considering Cang Wei’s financial situation, Gu Lai decided to treat her to a couple of extra meals over the next few days—being too thin was bad for one’s health.
To foster a closer bond, Gu Lai pondered for a moment and asked, “Cang Wei, do you use QQ?”
It wasn’t that Gu Lai loved using QQ, but for high school students of this era and age group, they probably didn’t even know what WeChat was.
Cang Wei: “Mm.”
Hearing her reply, Gu Lai made a move to pull out her phone. But Cang Wei was quicker, pressing her slightly cool fingertips down onto Gu Lai’s wrist.
Gu Lai looked at Cang Wei with a puzzled expression.
“Confiscated,” Cang Wei explained upon catching sight of the academic affairs director passing by not far away.
Gu Lai had an epiphany. She was a high school student now, and the school definitely didn’t allow students to bring phones, let alone pull one out in plain sight.
“I completely forgot about that. Thanks a lot,” Gu Lai said with a sheepish smile as she pulled her hand back.
Cang Wei loosened her fingertips, but instead of withdrawing her hand, she wrapped it around Gu Lai’s wrist instead, leading her forward.
Gu Lai went along with it smoothly. The tactile sensation coming from her wrist felt a bit awkward, but she chose not to pull away for the moment.
Gu Lai’s feelings were somewhat subtle.
She had seen the name Cang Wei countless times in the book, and had imagined her appearance and voice in many different ways. Yet today, she was finally seeing her and hearing her in person.
Cang Wei was originally a non-existent person. Yet at this moment, she was standing right in front of her, and she could even feel her slightly cool body temperature.
Lost in thought, Gu Lai failed to notice that Cang Wei had already stopped walking ahead.
And so, she crashed straight into her.
Gu Lai raised her head, looking embarrassed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”
Cang Wei looked at her slightly reddish nose tip and motioned that she was fine.
Gu Lai offered an awkward smile. This place should be right behind the flag-raising platform; apart from the two of them, there was nobody else around.
A shadow was cast, blocking out almost all the sunlight. A few ladders were scattered messily on the ground.
“There’s no one here,” Cang Wei said, pulling out her phone from her clothes with effortless naturalness. Pausing for two seconds, she added, “And no surveillance cameras either.”
Nodding, Gu Lai took out her phone as well, silently complaining to herself: She looks so obedient and well-behaved, who would have thought she’s actually a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
The two added each other as friends, and Gu Lai sent a cute sticker.
Cang Wei glanced at her phone. “We should head back to the classroom.”
During the noon break, the classroom was dead silent. Gu Lai couldn’t fall asleep. Not only did they have to sleep resting their heads on their desks, but the chairs were exceptionally hard and uncomfortably stiff.
Leaning against the podium, Gu Lai’s left side was completely shielded and safe. Since she wasn’t sleeping anyway, she decided to play on her smartphone.
Shielding herself under her school uniform jacket, Gu Lai eagerly browsed through Cang Wei’s QQ Zone.
Sorry, this user has not activated QQ Zone yet.
A flock of crows flew across Gu Lai’s mind.
She had originally wanted to learn more about Cang Wei so she could cater to her interests and quickly become good friends with her. Now it seemed that plan was going down the drain.
Not having one didn’t matter, Gu Lai thought. She had already completed 3% of the task today, and victory was within arm’s reach.
Turning off the screen, Gu Lai retreated in defeat. Feeling a little bit disgruntled, Gu Lai turned her head to look at the culprit behind it all.
Unexpectedly, Cang Wei wasn’t taking a nap either.
Supporting her chin with her left hand, her long eyelashes curved slightly as she lowered her gaze to read a book.
So pretty. Gu Lai sighed from the bottom of her heart.
Seriously, does the male lead in this book have some kind of eye condition? Such a gorgeous beauty—who wouldn’t have their heart flutter when looking at her?
Perhaps Gu Lai’s gaze was too intense; Cang Wei suddenly lifted her eyes to meet hers.
Instantly, the corners of Cang Wei’s mouth hooked upward slightly, and her right index finger pressed against her lips in a hush gesture.
Gu Lai nodded repeatedly, feeling inexplicably flustered. She turned around, burying her face directly into her arms.
Wait— Gu Lai realized belatedly —why on earth was I feeling so guilty?
When the noon break ended, the first class of the afternoon was physics. As the saying goes, physics is like walking in the clouds, with no rhyme or reason to it. Gu Lai practically wanted to black out and faint on the spot.
Even though Gu Lai had good grades back in the day, she had chosen the humanities track and was someone who completely avoided physics.
It was precisely because listening to physics felt like listening to a heavenly script that Gu Lai had chosen a pure humanities combination. Never had she expected that, after twists and turns, she would rekindle her romance with physics.
Oh no, it was a debt of bad karma.
Immediately afterward, Gu Lai realized another thing. Since this was a physics class, it meant Class 7 was a science track class.
Total darkness. She had told Cang Wei at noon that she wanted to sit with her, but now that dream was probably dead in the water.
Strange to say, Gu Lai’s mathematics was exceptional, but her physics was shockingly poor. Even one-on-one tutoring with a so-called gold-medal teacher yielded virtually no results.
Not just physics, her chemistry was also a masterpiece, forming an ultimate dynamic duo alongside physics.
The physics teacher for Class 7 was an old man who spoke very slowly. Hearing him drone on made Gu Lai’s eyelids droop continuously.
The sleep she missed out on at noon was going to be made up during physics class. Right before falling asleep, Gu Lai’s last thought was: Does No. 7 High School crack down on students sleeping in class?
It was a good dream.
When Gu Lai opened her eyes again, the teacher had changed. It must have been the chemistry teacher, who was also an old man. He spoke with a bit of a thick tongue, spraying spit everywhere.
To Gu Lai, this made no difference whatsoever. Closing her eyes tightly, Gu Lai resumed her slumber.
Ding-ling—
With the bell ringing for goodness knows which class, Gu Lai finally stretched lazily and slowly woke up.
Cang Wei walked up to the podium for her duty as class cleaner and saw that she had woken up. “You’ve got pretty good luck. Two people who were sleeping were just hauled away.”
Gu Lai said nonchalantly, “True, my luck is always great.” Then she asked, “What period is this?”
Gu Lai didn’t feel in the wrong at all. People naturally need to sleep when they’re tired, right?
“The seventh period.”
After the eighth period ended, the number of students in the hallway increased noticeably. Day students could go straight home without attending evening self-study, and the system had assigned Gu Lai the status of a day student.
Cang Wei seemed to be a day student too?
Thinking about this, Gu Lai turned to look. She saw that Cang Wei’s desk was completely empty, and she had already walked to the classroom door.
You’re moving fast, Classmate Cang Wei.
Gu Lai quickly got up and chased after her. “Cang Wei, let’s walk together.” Cang Wei glanced at her and gradually slowed her pace so the two of them could walk side by side.
Once outside the school gates, Bishan Residential Area, where Gu Lai lived, required turning left.
Since the distance wasn’t far, and considering that pilot guy, Gu Lai preferred to walk home.
“I live in Bishan Residential Area, so I have to go left. So then, see you tomorrow?” With parting imminent, Gu Lai bid Cang Wei a polite farewell.
“I live in Bishan too.” Not just Gu Lai, but Cang Wei herself was somewhat surprised at this moment.
Although Bishan Residential Area covered a large area, it only had a few buildings and not many residents.
If they lived in the same residential area, why had she never seen Gu Lai before? Or was she newly moved in? Cang Wei felt a bit puzzled inside, but didn’t show it on her face.
Meanwhile, Gu Lai was nodding in satisfaction internally. This system actually did something reliable for once. Living close to Cang Wei was going to make things so much more convenient.
Since their destination was the same, Gu Lai was all the more determined to walk with Cang Wei. Along the way, Gu Lai transformed into a census worker, dragging Cang Wei along to ask about this and that.
Although Cang Wei was aloof, she answered every question asked.
The evening breeze caressed them softly, and fallen leaves twirled on the ground. Gu Lai’s smooth strands of hair were lifted by the breeze, and a faint fragrance drifted into the air that Cang Wei breathed.
Soon, the two arrived at Bishan Residential Area.
Gu Lai felt immensely pleased. After a round of conversation, she figured she had gotten to know Cang Wei quite well. This would undoubtedly add bricks and tiles to completing her task.
“By the way, Cang Wei, which building do you live in?” Gu Lai asked tentatively, as if anticipating something.
“Building 2, 301.”
Gu Lai revealed an as-expected expression. When she left home this morning, her room number was 302, and it was also in Building 2.
She and Cang Wei not only lived in the same residential area and the same unit, but they were also next-door neighbors. The system had really gone all out for the sake of the task, stopping just short of making them live in the same apartment.
Seeing her fall silent, Cang Wei raised a long eyebrow. “You…?”
Gu Lai nodded. “Yes.”
A moment of silence ensued.
Arriving at the doorway of 302, Gu Lai took a deep breath, looked at the person beside her, and spoke softly.