Su Xianyan was still a man of his word. Since she said the reward she wanted was for him to come home every day, during that period, he really did return home every evening.
As for what happened that night with Cha Yiguan and Ye Xiaoxiao—and the incident where she left his finger covered in saliva—neither of them brought it up again.
More than a month later, Cheng Simian’s injury healed, and school resumed. During the early days of the new term, Su Xianyan’s whereabouts became even more unpredictable. Sometimes she wouldn’t see him even once in an entire week.
Monday morning.
As usual, the class was doing morning reading. What Cheng Simian hated most was reading aloud together—she couldn’t focus, and it felt like a waste of time. Just as morning reading was coming to an end, the homeroom teacher suddenly walked in, followed by a boy wearing the school uniform.
The moment the boy entered, the classroom fell silent.
Cheng Simian followed everyone’s gaze. Her eyes immediately brightened.
Oh—he’s handsome.
A boy who looked very clean and quiet, with fair skin and handsome, well-defined features. His long, slightly curled eyelashes were especially thick. At the homeroom teacher’s request, he greeted everyone in the classroom. His voice was pleasant to hear, and the girls in the class immediately grew restless, breaking into excited whispers.
Cheng Simian smiled. The boys in their class were, well… not exactly perfect. Now that such a handsome boy had suddenly appeared, it was only natural for the girls’ hearts to start fluttering.
“Wait—what did he say his name was?” Cheng Simian turned to ask Fu Ziwen.
Fu Ziwen’s face was flushed. “Su Jianan.”
“Su?” Cheng Simian raised an eyebrow in surprise. Ever since meeting Su Xianyan, she’d developed an inexplicable fondness for anyone with the surname Su.
“Simian, Simian… he’s walking toward us,” Fu Ziwen said excitedly, clutching Cheng Simian’s hand under the desk. “The teacher told him to sit in the seat in front of us!”
Cheng Simian grimaced in pain.
“Loosen—loosen your grip!”
“Hello.” The boy didn’t sit down immediately. He first greeted his desk mate, then turned to greet the two students behind him. Polite and restrained, he clearly came from a family that emphasized good upbringing.
Fu Ziwen quickly said hello. Propping her chin on her hand, Cheng Simian also responded, “Mm, hello.”
The boy nodded and sat down in his seat.
Once class began, the entire classroom seemed to fill with a pink, romantic atmosphere. The girls couldn’t help stealing glances at the porcelain-white boy, while the boys, naturally, felt their territory had been invaded. So what if he’s handsome? What’s the big deal!
There was a PE class that morning.
The class paired up in twos for badminton practice. Originally, the number of students was even and everyone had a fixed partner. Now that there was a new transfer student, someone was inevitably left without a partner.
“Is there any group on the boys’ side that can let Su join?” the PE teacher asked.
The boys fell silent. A few of them looked reluctant.
“Teacher, badminton is played by two people. How are three people supposed to play?”
“Then rotate,” the teacher said, turning to Su Jianan. “Su, choose a group to join.”
Su Jianan glanced around. He could tell he wasn’t very welcome.
“No need, teacher.”
“How can that be? Are you just not going to participate in PE?” the teacher said. Just then, someone suddenly raised her hand high.
“Teacher, he can join us!”
Cheng Simian froze and turned to look at Fu Ziwen in surprise. Join us? Why didn’t she discuss it first?!
The teacher, who had been worrying about this, was delighted to see someone volunteer.
“Alright then. Student Su, you can join Cheng Simian and Fu Ziwen’s group.”
Cheng Simian: “……”
The girls in the class: You can do that?! If only we’d known, we would’ve raised our hands too!
“Hey, Wenzi,” Cheng Simian said incredulously, “since when were you this much of a fangirl?”
“Shh,” Fu Ziwen giggled. “We’re just helping a new classmate.”
“Please. You just think he’s good-looking.”
Fu Ziwen immediately made a shushing gesture.
“He’s coming over!”
Su Jianan walked toward them holding a racket, a shy smile on his clean, fair face.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, you’re welcome! You’re new here—of course we should help,” Fu Ziwen said quickly.
Cheng Simian rolled her eyes.
“Alright, let’s start already. Who’s first?”
“You two go first. I’ll watch,” Su Jianan said.
Fu Ziwen nudged Cheng Simian.
“That’s kind of embarrassing though…”
“What’s embarrassing about it?” Cheng Simian shot her a look. “Go stand over there. Playing badminton isn’t some ‘yield-the-pear’ courtesy ritual.”
Fu Ziwen: “……”
Su Jianan let out a small laugh. His already pale complexion somehow became even more eye-catching. Cheng Simian glanced at him and felt something strange—a vague sense of familiarity she couldn’t explain.
After a few rounds, Cheng Simian and Fu Ziwen stepped aside, because the guy on the opposite side clearly wasn’t paying attention to the game at all.
When it was Su Jianan’s turn to play, Cheng Simian sat on a stone bench and watched. What completely stunned her was his skill—or rather, his lack of it. It wasn’t just bad; it was terrible. Had this guy never touched a badminton racket before?
After missing the shuttlecock yet again, Su Jianan said apologetically to Fu Ziwen,
“Sorry…”
“It’s—it’s okay,” Fu Ziwen said, waving her racket.
People in the class kept sneaking looks at Su Jianan. The girls were there for his looks, while the boys had simply found entertainment.
“Damn, new guy, your skills are kind of tragic, aren’t they? You can’t even beat a girl?” one boy mocked.
“Exactly. All looks, no ability.”
“Haha, if I played against him, I’d probably die just picking up shuttlecocks.”
…
Several boys laughed openly. The girls glared angrily at them, but no one dared say anything—after all… what they said was true.
“Stop it,” Fu Ziwen muttered softly.
“Ziwen, why don’t you play with me instead? Playing with him is boring,” another boy said.
Fu Ziwen glanced at Su Jianan, looking awkward.
Su Jianan stared at his racket, forcing a small smile.
“Ziwen, I really don’t know how to play. You should go play with someone else…”
“See? Even he admits it,” the boys laughed louder.
Suddenly, one of the boys who had been laughing smugly let out a cry of pain and crouched down, clutching his ankle.
Everyone looked over, confused.
Su Jianan happened to have his head lowered and clearly saw a badminton racket fly over and smash into the boy’s foot. Startled, he turned to look at the person who had thrown it.
Cheng Simian was sitting on the stone bench, lazily yawning. She raised an eyebrow and looked at the group of boys.
“You guys that bored, huh?”
The boys froze, exchanged glances, and didn’t dare say anything.
“Damn it, Cheng Simian! What the hell are you doing?!” The boy who’d been hit clutched his ankle, unable to stand. Since he was the one injured, staying silent would’ve been too humiliating.
Cheng Simian curled her lips into a smile and slowly walked toward him.
“What do you think I’m doing? You were disturbing my teammate’s practice. I was just reminding you.”
“You can’t just hit people!” the boy shouted up at her.
Looking down at him, Cheng Simian’s gaze turned cold.
“You can mock people at will, but I can’t hit at will?”
The boy choked. “I—what does it have to do with you?!”
“Then what does his bad badminton have to do with you?” Cheng Simian shot back. She swept her gaze over the group of boys, her tone sharp. “Go back and practice. Stop standing around watching the show.”
The injured boy tried to say something more, but someone behind him pulled him back and whispered,
“Drop it. She’s not someone you want to mess with.”
The boy froze.
Cheng Simian had behaved so well lately that they’d almost forgotten—this seemingly innocent, cute girl used to be a full-fledged problem student.
The boy glared at her, angry but unwilling to speak up, and was helped away.
Only after they left did Cheng Simian turn to Su Jianan.
“Hey—your badminton’s that bad. Don’t tell me this is your first time playing.”
Su Jianan looked at Cheng Simian with a mix of surprise and… admiration.
In his quiet, uneventful world, he had never met a girl who lived so boldly, so dominantly.
“I—I really am playing for the first time,” he admitted.
Cheng Simian was speechless.
“Then why didn’t you say so?”
“I was afraid that if I did, you wouldn’t let me join you anymore,” Su Jianan said with an embarrassed smile. “Cheng… thank you for earlier.”
“No need.” Cheng Simian waved it off. “How about this—have Wenzi teach you the basics, like how to serve.”
Fu Ziwen immediately nodded.
“Sure, no problem.”
Just then, the PE teacher suddenly jogged over.
“Su—Su Jianan.”
“Teacher.”
The PE teacher was slightly out of breath.
“A-Are you okay?”
Su Jianan nodded.
“I’m fine.”
“That’s good, that’s good.” The teacher patted his chest as if still shaken. “Student Su, from now on you’re exempt from PE class. Absolutely—absolutely no strenuous exercise.”
Su Jianan frowned slightly.
“Teacher, I’m really okay.”
“No, you’re not allowed. Your family specifically instructed us—no intense activity,” the teacher said, then turned to Cheng Simian and Fu Ziwen. “You heard me. Don’t let him exercise.”
With that, he finally relaxed and walked away.
Cheng Simian glanced at Su Jianan.
“What’s wrong with you?”
Fu Ziwen looked worried.
“Do you have some kind of health problem, Su?”
Su Jianan paused for a moment before answering calmly,
“I’m fine. I just had a serious illness before. The doctor said I shouldn’t do strenuous exercise.”
“Then why were you still playing?” Cheng Simian grabbed his racket from his hand. “Go sit over there. Wenzi, let’s play.”
“Cheng—!” Su Jianan suddenly reached out and grabbed her arm.
Cheng Simian looked at him in confusion.
“What is it?”
Su Jianan smiled shyly. Under the sunlight, his youthful face looked almost translucent. He asked softly,
“Are… are we friends now?”
Cheng Simian turned to Fu Ziwen, her face full of question marks.
Fu Ziwen laughed.
“Of course we are. We’ll be together for a long time from now on.”
Su Jianan’s eyes lit up instantly.
“Really? I don’t have many friends. I’m so happy you’re willing to be friends with me.”
Fu Ziwen blinked. A good-looking guy like this has trouble making friends? The girls in class could form a line…
As for Cheng Simian, she felt a bit baffled.
This kid… is he kind of dumb?