The afternoon classes passed in a flash. Just as Yang Yulin was explaining the last major problem, Li Yun came in and knocked on the door.
“Teacher Yang, could you spare me five minutes? I have something to arrange.”
Yang Yulin couldn’t bear to let Jiang Wan stand outside any longer, so she called him in as she headed back to the office.
“Is this the class monitor’s handwriting?” Li Yun glanced at the blackboard, not paying much attention to the content, then suddenly pointed at the chemical formula on another section of the board and said, “And this NaOH next to it looks just like the class monitor’s writing too.”
The classroom erupted in laughter.
Jiang Wan was puzzled. He reached back and tapped the desk behind him.
“Lu Xingxing, what are they laughing at?”
Lu Xingheng: “I don’t know.”
Jiang Wan: “Then make something up.”
Lu Xingheng: “…”
Jiang Wan: “Why aren’t you saying anything again?”
Lu Xingheng tried his best to come up with something: “Maybe they’re laughing at the math formula on the blackboard.”
Jiang Wenyan’s spinning pen suddenly fell, landing precisely on the back of Jiang Wan’s hand.
“Be careful.” Jiang Wan placed the pen back for Jiang Wenyan and casually tidied up the scattered draft papers on his desk. Jiang Wan was still the same Jiang Wan—everything was as considerate and meticulous as ever.
But Jiang Wenyan was still annoyed.
“Brother.” Jiang Wenyan suddenly grabbed Jiang Wan’s left hand—it was ice-cold.
Jiang Wan tried to pull away but couldn’t break free.
“Little brother, in broad daylight, isn’t it a bit odd for two guys to hold hands?”
Usually, when Jiang Wan said something like this, Jiang Wenyan would have let go and teased him back.
But not this time.
Jiang Wenyan’s voice wasn’t gentle; it was awkward and strained. “I’m hot. Let me cool off a bit.”
“Is your stomach still hurting?” Jiang Wenyan asked again.
“Much better,” Jiang Wan replied. “It wasn’t that bad to begin with.”
Jiang Wenyan said matter-of-factly, “Then let me hold your hand for a while.”
Jiang Wenyan held on tightly, but it wasn’t uncomfortable.
Jiang Wan: “Little brother.”
Jiang Wenyan pretended to be fierce: “What now?”
Jiang Wan leaned in with a smile, his voice soft and gentle. “We’re still in the classroom. Why are you acting so clingy?”
Jiang Wenyan instantly bristled, his face flushing bright red. “I just want to hold your hand. Is that not allowed?”
Jiang Wan: “Sure, whatever you want.”
“The grade list has been posted. The class monitor is still first, but the school’s honor roll was put up yesterday and can’t be changed. Jiang Wenyan is still listed as first on it,” Li Yun said, finding the situation somewhat amusing. “I thought it would take a while to find the class monitor on that list, but he’s already dropped to over three hundred places. And there are even a bunch of girls drawing hearts under his name.”
“When I passed by earlier, while the third-year grade director wasn’t looking, I secretly drew a heart too.”
The classroom erupted in laughter again.
Amid the commotion, Jiang Wan leaned back. “Lu Xingxing, did you draw one for me?”
Lu Xingheng moved his lips, about to say something, when Jiang Wan was abruptly pulled back.
Jiang Wenyan: “Brother.”
Jiang Wan: “Yes, yes, I’m here.”
Jiang Wenyan was displeased: “After class, I’ll go draw one for you. Why ask him?”
Jiang Wan: “I was just teasing him.”
Jiang Wenyan: “Well, I’m going anyway. I’ll draw a whole bunch for you.”
Li Yun continued: “School’s starting soon. You all know that, right?”
“Ugh—”
A unified sound of disdain echoed through the classroom.
“What’s with the ‘ugh’? I don’t want school to start either,” Li Yun lowered her voice. “I don’t know what the school leadership is thinking. It’s all just formalism.”
“The freshmen just arrived and aren’t familiar with the school environment, the seniors are busy with internships, so the annoying opening ceremony falls on us juniors again.”
“The higher-ups require each class to contribute at least two performances.”
A boy shouted from below, “Sister Yun, we’re the Advanced Class!”
“Yeah! Teacher, we’re Advanced Class A.”
“Damn! The youngest in our class is only eighteen, what status do we have, daring to make the Advanced Class perform!”
Li Yun was amused, “Does being Advanced Class A mean you don’t have to attend the opening ceremony?”
This time the response wasn’t as unified as before, somewhat lifeless, “No—”
“Class monitor.” Li Yun looked toward Jiang Wan, “Same old rules.”
“If no one volunteers, we’ll draw lots. Whoever gets picked performs a talent.”
After saying this, Li Yun made a shushing gesture, “No shouting, no table slamming.”
“Class monitor, the teaching group is having a big meeting. Keep an eye on discipline.”
Class A had strong “disruption” abilities. Sometimes when they got rowdy, even Li Yun couldn’t handle it, but strangely, they all listened to Jiang Wan.
After Li Yun left, Jiang Wan intentionally or unintentionally tapped Lu Xingheng’s desk compartment, “Lu Xingxing, do you have any talents?”
Jiang Wenyan tried to pull him again.
This time Jiang Wan turned back on his own, “Little brother wants to perform a talent?”
“No!” Jiang Wenyan made conversation, “There’s a problem I don’t understand.”
Jiang Wan: “Which one?”
Jiang Wenyan randomly pointed at one.
The question stem was too simple, not even a medium-level problem.
Even if Jiang Wan was slow to react, he could tell, “Little brother, do you have some misunderstanding with Lu Xingxing?”
Jiang Wenyan: “Why Lu Xingxing.”
Jiang Wan: “Then are you Jiang Wenwen?”
Jiang Wenyan felt inexplicably irritable, his grip unconsciously tightening, hurting Jiang Wan.
“Mm…”
Jiang Wan softly inhaled. Since they were close, Lu Xingheng heard and thought Jiang Wan had bumped his knee again.
Lu Xingheng: “Jiang Wan.”
“Hmm?”
“You can have some candy.”
Jiang Wenyan frowned, “What candy? Not allowed.”
“Little brother.” Jiang Wan’s voice was slightly soft, enduring the pain.
Jiang Wenyan instantly let go, only then noticing Jiang Wan’s hand, which he had been gripping, was congested and even somewhat red.
“Delicate you.” Jiang Wenyan complained verbally while gently massaging it.
Jiang Wan rubbed his eyes.
Jiang Wenyan whispered: “Sleepy again?”
Jiang Wan immediately yawned, “I’ll sleep for a bit first.”
“Okay.”
Jiang Wenyan carefully touched Jiang Wan’s stomach through his school uniform jacket.
Jiang Wan drowsily: “What are you doing…”
Jiang Wenyan: “Afraid you’re hiding something from me again.”
“I’ll massage it for you, you sleep.”
Jiang Wan lay down for a while, but the classroom window leaked cold air, making it impossible to sleep.
Dizzy from sleepiness, Jiang Wan instinctively reached for candy. The candy jar Lu Xingheng gave was easy to open, but inside were chocolates, beautifully packaged ones.
Jiang Wan was too lazy to unwrap it. He reached back, holding the chocolate behind him.
Lu Xingheng: “Low blood sugar?”
Jiang Wan drowsily chose selective deafness.
Jiang Wenyan was solving problems nearby, his scratch paper scattered again, taking up half of Jiang Wan’s desk. Jiang Wenyan could only hear the problems speaking.
No one paid attention to Lu Xingheng.
Lu Xingheng panicked for a moment. He crouched beside Jiang Wan, unwrapped a piece of chocolate, and brought it to Jiang Wan’s lips, “Open up.”
“Oh…”
Jiang Wan, still dazed, was about to fall asleep again, only lightly biting a small piece.
The classroom remained quiet for quite some time, until a classmate’s phone, forgotten on silent mode, emitted a soft “click” from the camera.
In the frame were Jiang Wan and Lu Xingheng.