Lunchtime.
Cheng Siyi closed her lesson plan and, instead of heading to the third-floor faculty cafeteria, turned and went down to the first-floor student dining hall.
She found Pu Yu and Xu Suiran eating together in a corner.
“Mind if I join you?” Cheng Siyi asked with a smile, holding her tray.
“Teacher Cheng!” Xu Suiran’s eyes lit up, and she quickly moved her tray aside. “Sit, sit! The sweet and sour pork today is super delicious!”
After sitting down, Cheng Siyi chatted with the two girls about the food for a bit before naturally steering the conversation to the main topic.
“We’ll be rearranging seats during this afternoon’s homeroom.”
“Huh?” Xu Suiran’s mouthful of meat instantly lost its appeal. “Can you put me and Xiao Yu together? Or at least in the same row? I can’t finish my English homework without her, wuwuwu…”
Cheng Siyi shook her head gently. “This time, seats will be arranged based on academic performance, using a ‘one-to-one assistance’ model.”
She looked at Xu Suiran seriously. “Both you and Xiao Yu need to improve in physics. If you sit together, your weaknesses will overlap, and it won’t help you push each other forward.”
After saying this, she put down her chopsticks and turned her gaze to Pu Yu, who had been quietly eating.
“By the way, Xiao Yu. If I arrange for you to sit with Yuan Su again, would you be willing?”
Pu Yu’s hand holding the chopsticks paused, her clear eyes showing surprise.
Observing her expression, Cheng Siyi explained gently, “I asked your physics teacher, and he said Yuan Su has been quite effective in explaining problems to you. Although Yuan Su may seem laid-back usually, he’s truly top-tier in science subjects.”
“Of course, if you feel burdened or under any psychological pressure, you must tell me. I’ll just follow the normal seating arrangement.”
Before Pu Yu could speak, Xu Suiran beside her grew anxious first.
She blurted out, “Xiao Yu will definitely agree! That day in the county town, she even swore—”
“Sui Sui!” Pu Yu’s cheeks flushed slightly, and she quickly interrupted.
Cheng Siyi raised an eyebrow in surprise, looking inquisitively at Pu Yu.
Pu Yu’s ears felt warm, but she didn’t avoid the teacher’s gaze.
She looked up softly and said, “I’m willing, Teacher.”
Her amber eyes held no hesitation, only a gentle firmness.
“Yuan Su… he’s actually a good person, not as difficult to get along with as everyone says. His way of explaining problems is very clear, and he’s helped me a lot.”
Seeing the student’s candid demeanor, Cheng Siyi’s lingering concerns completely vanished.
She half-jokingly reminded, “Alright, then let’s try it for another month. But we’ve agreed—if your grade ranking drops below the top twenty, or if he influences you to skip homework, I’ll ‘forcefully’ move you next month.”
Pu Yu smiled, her eyes curving. “That won’t happen, Teacher Cheng.”
Xu Suiran sat beside them, wanting to say something but holding back. She was tempted to share some gossip with Teacher Cheng but didn’t dare. Fine, she’d endure it!
This little sprout hasn’t even broken through the surface yet.
If it got nipped, where would she go for gossip!
During the afternoon homeroom, the classroom was in chaos.
The screeching sound of desks and chairs scraping against the floor echoed one after another, as students carried their books like they were moving house, weaving through the aisles.
The new seating chart was already posted on the blackboard.
“How did I get assigned to the first row? Is this so I can get a close-up view of the math teacher’s beard?”
“Class monitor, please, can you move me to the back?”
Xu Suiran also squeezed in to take a look. She had been assigned to the third row in the middle.
Her deskmate was Song Jinnian, the class monitor of Grade 12 Class 2, also a top student who consistently ranked first in the class and among the top three in the grade.
“Wahh… Xiaoyu…” Xu Suiran hugged Pu Yu’s arm, pretending to cry. “I’m going to sit with the class monitor now. I won’t be able to pass you notes during class anymore. It feels like breaking up and moving away—so painful.”
Pu Yu couldn’t help but laugh and patted her back. “It’s not that exaggerated. We can still walk together after class and when school ends.”
“It’s not the same!” Xu Suiran grumbled for a while but eventually resigned herself, carrying that stack of romance magazines as she moved away.
Pu Yu remained seated in her spot.
All around, people were busy moving books and changing seats.
Only this corner, like an island forgotten by the sea, remained as quiet as ever.
Yuan Su entered the classroom just as the warning bell rang.
He had just returned from the repair shop, his black hair slightly messy, carrying a faint, lingering scent of rust.
“By the way, why is Pu Yu still sitting there?”
“No one wants to be deskmates with Yuan Su, right? Our class has an even number of students, so there aren’t any extra desks.”
“She’s really unlucky. Won’t her family make a fuss about it?”
“My mom definitely wouldn’t let me get too close to him. I heard that recently, debt collectors with knives were blocking his doorstep. It’s terrifying.”
Yuan Su entered through the back door and happened to bump into the classmates gossiping.
The two of them panicked, stammering as they spoke:
“Yuan… Yuan Su…”
The young man ignored them. His gaze swept across the chaotic classroom, and his brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.
He walked straight to the last row.
He had expected to see an empty desk.
Instead, that dark, smooth head was still tilted there.
Yuan Su paused mid-step, his eyes lingering on her for a moment before he pulled out the chair and sat down.
“Aren’t you moving?”
His voice was soft, like the evening wind, carrying hesitation and uncertainty.
Pu Yu looked up, her eyes reflecting a gentle, clean smile as she met his gaze. “No, I’m not moving. Teacher Cheng said we should continue being deskmates.”
Truthfully, as she said this, she felt a bit inexplicably nervous.
Back in the county town, it had been a spur-of-the-moment excuse to placate Sui Sui. Looking back now, the determination and possessiveness in those words—“we’ll always be deskmates”—felt so embarrassing she wanted to crawl into a hole.
Would he think she was being clingy?
Or that she was an ungrateful nuisance?
After hearing her, Yuan Su shoved his backpack into the desk drawer, his movements somewhat rough.
Teacher Cheng said.
Not her.
So it was Cheng Siyi who wanted them to continue being deskmates.
He turned his head, his dark eyes fixed on Pu Yu, his tone carrying a hint of inexplicable awkwardness and coldness:
“Do you want me to help you move a new desk?”
Pu Yu was taken aback. “What?”
“Isn’t it because there aren’t any empty seats that you’re reluctantly squeezing in here with me?”
The young man’s jaw tightened, as if stating a simple, undeniable fact.
In his understanding, aside from being forced by circumstances, no one would willingly get close to Yuan Su—the one burdened with endless troubles and dragging along a family mired in a muddy pit.
Pu Yu was stunned for a moment before she understood the meaning behind his words.
So that’s what he thought.
Assuming she had no choice but to stay here due to the lack of available seats.
Pu Yu set down the book she was organizing, turned around, and looked earnestly at his profile. “If I wanted to leave, would you help me move a new desk?”
Yuan Su fell silent for two seconds.
His Adam’s apple bobbed, and he let out a very low “Mhm.”
That single word was light and crisp, yet carried a muffled, bitter undertone.