The house Nan Xingwan rented was in the residential complex closest to No. 7 Middle School, the Sweet Orange Residential Complex.
Downstairs was a bus station, and it was just three stops straight to the subway entrance.
If she wanted to go back to Jiangbei District, she only needed to take one bus and then transfer to the subway for an hour. Compared with Zhang Chen’s place, it was much more convenient.
Nan Xingwan brought Zhang Chen straight home. This was still Zhang Chen’s first time visiting the place Nan Xingwan rented.
On the way there.
Nan Xingwan turned to Zhang Chen and said, “Don’t take what Lu Yicheng said to heart. I’m not close with him.”
“Huh?” Zhang Chen froze for a moment, then chuckled softly. “I didn’t take it to heart. I’m not close with him either.”
“That’s good.” Nan Xingwan nodded and got on the elevator with Zhang Chen. “He was a little harsh with his words today.”
“Yeah…” Zhang Chen thought to himself. Harsh? That was putting it mildly. If he had been more direct, he would have practically slapped the words “you’re not worthy” onto your face.
Without continuing to dig into the topic with Nan Xingwan, Zhang Chen changed the subject.
“Is your roommate not home?”
“She probably hasn’t come back yet…” Nan Xingwan answered. “I’m not really sure.”
“Male or female?”
“Definitely a girl. How could I possibly share a place with a boy?”
Nan Xingwan frowned, but as soon as the words left her mouth, she looked up at Zhang Chen and immediately fell silent.
Originally, she and Zhang Chen had planned to live together here. After all, their families knew each other well, and they had grown up together, so coming here would also mean they could look out for each other.
But later, for various reasons, it never happened.
Saying that suddenly reminded her of that matter.
“Oh…” Zhang Chen didn’t notice the change in Nan Xingwan’s tone. “So she’s from another class? Or a senior?”
“From another class. Number one in the whole school!” When mentioning her roommate, Nan Xingwan used the label that best summed her up.
“Number one in the whole school?!” Zhang Chen widened his eyes, and the elevator arrived at their floor right then.
The two got off the elevator, rounded a corner, and arrived at the doorway.
There were some cute stickers on the door; it was clearly a girl’s place…
“Yeah, she’s amazing!” Nan Xingwan said as she unlocked the door. “You have to be careful when talking to her!”
“Mm-hmm. A sect’s top genius, indeed.” Zhang Chen stroked his chin knowingly, thinking of his own glorious past.
How dare you provoke the sect’s number one genius? Are you really not afraid of my sect ancestor going all out to protect his own?
In no time, I’d make sure you had nowhere left to stand in the sect!
When the door opened, a sweet fragrance unique to girls drifted out.
From the entrance, they could see straight through to the balcony in the living room.
Warm sunlight spilled over the green potted plants on the balcony. There were two wooden stools and a small table. The living room was clean and tidy, with a few plush dolls on the sofa.
Only one pair of clean white slippers sat at the entrance. Nan Xingwan took off her shoes and stepped into them, then crouched down to get a temporary pair for Zhang Chen from the shoe cabinet.
After all, they were just two neat-freak high school girls. There were no shoes piled up at the entrance, and the whole place was not a mess.
Looking at it that way, the girl sharing the apartment with Nan Xingwan must also be pretty tidy. The two girls had actually kept the floor so clean it shone.
“Looks like no one is really here…” Zhang Chen changed his shoes and thought to himself.
Nan Xingwan, meanwhile, padded inside in her slippers.
The next second!
“Ha!”
“Ah!”
A girl suddenly jumped out and scared Nan Xingwan badly!
“Hahaha…” Xia Xintong burst into laughter, her shoulders shaking.
“You scared me to death, Xintong!” Nan Xingwan smacked the girl who had jumped out, and the two of them wrestled playfully for a bit.
They looked very close.
After the roughhousing, Nan Xingwan asked, “How did you get back so quickly?”
“I just came back since I had nothing to do. It’s Friday, so there’s no need to go to the competition club for extra tutoring.”
“Oh, oh… Don’t tell me you skipped the last period again and slipped away early, then sneaked straight back…” Nan Xingwan saw through her at a glance.
“Hehe, the teacher didn’t catch me anyway.” As she spoke, Xia Xintong finally noticed Zhang Chen coming out of the doorway.
She immediately took half a step back, her expression shifting from cheerful to serious in an instant!
Like a cat whose territory had been invaded, she bristled at once!
“Who are you!”
Zhang Chen lurched and nearly fell.
So I stood here right next to you for so long, and you didn’t even see me?
“Xintong, he’s my friend. You were asleep when I came back last night, so I didn’t tell you. He’ll be leaving in a bit after I finish packing.” Nan Xingwan quickly explained.
“Oh, your friend…” Xia Xintong’s guard slowly relaxed…
Zhang Chen waved in a friendly greeting. “Hello.”
Xia Xintong stared blankly at Zhang Chen: “…”
Without responding, she turned and walked back to her desk to continue working on her problems…
Seeing this, Zhang Chen was baffled. He spread his hands toward Nan Xingwan. “Is she angry?”
Nan Xingwan shook her head, unsurprised, and whispered, “It’s fine. Xintong is like that around strangers.”
“She has a faint robotic vibe…”
“Oh~” Zhang Chen nodded. “Got it…”
Then he asked one more thing: “You call her Xintong? What’s her name?”
“Xia Xintong.” Nan Xingwan answered honestly, then looked around the living room. “Sit in the living room for a while. I’ll go pack my things.”
“Sure, go ahead.” Hearing that name, Zhang Chen’s heart skipped a beat, and he tiptoed toward the living room.
He carefully observed Xia Xintong, who was working on problems at the desk nearby…
Xia Xintong, in the book, was one of the male lead’s harem members. Not only were her grades beyond reproach, but her extracurricular skills like the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting were all mastered to the fullest!
Her mother was a university professor. Because it was a single-parent family, she made Xia Xintong learn to be strong and gradually pushed her to prove herself.
From a young age, Xia Xintong had been held to extremely high standards, always following only one rule: she had to be first!
Whether it was grades or hobbies like the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, as long as she put in the effort, she had to come first!
Xia Xintong had grown up under immense pressure.
And such a state would sooner or later lead to trouble. Later, she would stumble in an exam, fail to get first place, and be met with her mother’s denial.
In despair, the male lead would appear at just the right time and help her come out of the shadows…
In the book, she had always been portrayed as someone under great pressure, and Zhang Chen had always thought of Xia Xintong as a quiet, melancholic girl with a slightly dull, robotic air.
But now that he looked at her…
A high ponytail, the way she sneaked little glances at him while doing her homework, and how she had just jumped out to scare Nan Xingwan…
This didn’t seem like someone under that much pressure at all?
On the contrary… she was quite lively and cute…
Zhang Chen narrowed his eyes slightly, amused by Xia Xintong’s anxious expression.
Could she be afraid that I might steal something?
Just then, Xia Xintong suddenly stood up and walked expressionlessly toward the kitchen refrigerator.
Hearing the sound of her rummaging in the fridge, Zhang Chen soon saw her take out three ice cream bars.
Then she tore one open, held it in her mouth, and walked straight over to Zhang Chen with the remaining two.
“Have an ice cream.”
“?? Ah… thanks.” Zhang Chen was a little flattered and accepted it with both hands.
After giving one to Zhang Chen, she turned and walked to Nan Xingwan’s room, giving the other ice cream to Nan Xingwan.
After that, she returned to her seat.
Zhang Chen tore open the wrapper and looked around for a trash can.
She stood up again, took the trash can out from behind the sofa, and placed it in front of Zhang Chen.
“Ah… thanks. You could have just told me it was behind the sofa and I could have gotten it myself.”
Zhang Chen felt that she was like a robot with pre-written code, only capable of executing instructions.
“Oh.” Xia Xintong agreed, then went back to her seat while eating her ice cream.
Before long, Zhang Chen finished his ice cream, but Nan Xingwan still had not finished packing.
Having nothing to do, he stood up.
The moment he got up, he clearly saw Xia Xintong, who had been thinking about her problems, suddenly flinch.
??
No, she really is like a cat…
She’s on guard against me from head to toe, isn’t she?
Zhang Chen refused to believe it and walked over to Xia Xintong, taking the chance to look at what she was writing.
Seeing Zhang Chen come over, Xia Xintong seemed to receive a command and immediately stood up, walking back into the kitchen from the other side.
The sound of her rummaging through things soon followed…
Zhang Chen’s mouth twitched…
She really was guarding against him…
But by now he had already reached the desk, so he lowered his head to look at the problem she was working on.
“Why is this math competition problem too… are you about to compete?” Zhang Chen pulled over her test papers to take a look.
Seeing the incorrect auxiliary lines she had drawn on the diagrams of the test papers…
“That’s wrong…” Zhang Chen casually picked up the pen beside him and drew in two new lines for her…
He looked at the other problems too, and there were basically no issues.
“Not bad…”
Just then, Xia Xintong came back from the refrigerator with another ice cream bar and handed one to Zhang Chen.
“Didn’t I just eat one?” Zhang Chen took it, looking confused.
“I’ll treat you to another one.”
“Oh… thanks.”
After taking the ice cream, Nan Xingwan came out wearing her school bag. “All right, Zhang Chen, let’s go.”
“Xintong, I’m leaving. See you next week~”
“Mm, bye, Xingxing.” Xia Xintong let out a relieved breath and waved to Nan Xingwan.
Zhang Chen clearly heard that sigh!
You sighed just now, didn’t you? What was that supposed to mean!?
So giving me ice cream was just to keep me on the sofa and stop me from moving around?
Zhang Chen raised an eyebrow and looked Xia Xintong over again, his nostrils flaring in annoyance.
Xia Xintong avoided his gaze and innocently looked up at the ceiling.
What an obvious brush-off!
Fine, fine, she is nothing like the robotic girl described in the book!
Xia Xintong, you are a little too clever!
…
After Zhang Chen and Nan Xingwan left, Xia Xintong sat back down in her seat.
She pouted unhappily.
Today, Zhang Chen had eaten two of her ice cream bars.
She hated Zhang Chen…
Then she adjusted herself and started working on the problems again.
But she discovered that two new auxiliary lines had appeared on the test papers.
She stared blankly for two seconds, then frowned, and suddenly felt that the entire diagram had been transformed!
It seemed as if the figure could be cleverly split apart using those two lines!?
Strange… she hadn’t drawn those two auxiliary lines herself.
Could it have been Zhang Chen who helped her draw them just now?
He was amazing!