On the other side, after they had walked some distance, Liang Zhiyi couldn’t help but glance back at Pei Chen’s retreating figure.
Noticing her gaze, Liang Tongzhou followed it. “What are you looking at? Isn’t that guy your deskmate?”
Liang Zhiyi mumbled, “Why do you care so much?”
With nothing else to do, Liang Zhiyi decided to return to her class’s base to find Ji Fei’er.
As they sat in the stands, Ji Fei’er teased her, “So, have you come to your senses? Not sticking to Pei Chen anymore?”
Upon hearing this, Liang Zhiyi’s face showed a hint of dejection, but she responded with feigned arrogance, “I’m not going to bother with him.”
“Look at you, saying one thing and meaning another.”
The girl huffed lightly, turning her gaze to the field. After a while, she noticed Pei Chen walking up from the stands below.
He was dressed in a white shirt and black school pants, his thin lips and straight nose giving him a distant, serene aura, like a quiet mountain in the distance.
It was as if he had cast a spell on her.
One look, and she was captivated.
Liang Zhiyi forced herself to look away, rubbing her nose in frustration and avoiding his sight.
She continued chatting with Ji Fei’er, but soon noticed Pei Chen distributing water bottles that the class had bought to the students.
When he reached Liang Zhiyi and Ji Fei’er, he handed them two bottles of water, his deep voice asking, “Would you like some water?”
Liang Zhiyi noticed the condensation on the bottle, cold to the touch, with a few droplets clinging to his long fingers.
Ji Fei’er accepted hers and thanked him, but Liang Zhiyi didn’t reach out to take one. She simply said, “No thanks, I’m not thirsty.”
As she finished speaking, she didn’t look up to see Pei Chen’s face, but she noticed his hands hesitate for a moment.
Pei Chen retracted his hand and left shortly after.
She wasn’t trying to give him the cold shoulder; it was just that she felt her period was coming, and she couldn’t drink anything cold.
Afterward, she lifted her head and focused on watching the competition.
Throughout the entire day, Liang Zhiyi didn’t initiate any conversation with Pei Chen, and the two barely interacted.
To top it off, her already gloomy mood coincided with the arrival of her period.
The first day of the sports meet ended, and sure enough, her period started that evening.
Whenever her period came, she felt like a little rabbit with its tail caught—no longer energetic or lively.
Although her menstrual cramps weren’t severe, they left her feeling especially tired and drowsy.
The night passed, and by the third morning, she arrived at the classroom feeling too drained to speak. She simply laid her head down on the desk and dozed off, ignoring everyone.
Before the morning events began, the class monitor announced that everyone had to finish writing six cheering essays by that morning. They needed to be collected by noon so the broadcasting station could tally the points in the afternoon.
When it was time for the competitions, the students gradually made their way downstairs to the class base. However, Liang Zhiyi felt too unwell to move, so she asked Ji Fei’er to go in her place.
With only a few people left in the classroom, the silence was palpable. The girl curled up in the back corner, laying on the desk as she slowly wrote her essays, her mind foggy with fatigue.
After a while, Pei Chen walked in through the back door.
He had left something in the classroom and had come back to retrieve it.
As he entered, the first thing he noticed was Liang Zhiyi slumped over her desk.
A flicker of emotion crossed his eyes as he approached and saw her holding a pen, slowly writing her cheering essays, her head bobbing sleepily, eyes barely open.
After a few seconds of silence, he couldn’t help but ask in a low voice:
“What’s wrong with you?”
Hearing his voice, Liang Zhiyi turned her head to look at him, stunned for a few seconds.
This was the first time they had spoken in the past two days.
She then shook her head and lowered her gaze again. “Nothing, I’m just a little tired…”
The room fell silent again, and it seemed like he didn’t press further.
She rubbed her eyes and was about to continue writing when suddenly, a can of Red Bull was placed in front of her.
Pei Chen cleared his throat lightly and said:
“Drink some; it’ll help you stay awake.”
Liang Zhiyi was bewildered: Red Bull? Really?
She half-buried her face in her arms, pushing the can away in exasperation, her voice soft and muffled: “I don’t want it…”
“What?” He didn’t catch what she said.
Feeling her cheeks flush slightly, Liang Zhiyi puffed her cheeks and looked up at him, a bit annoyed, “I’m feeling unwell because of my period, not because I’m just tired, okay?”
“…”
Pei Chen realized what she meant, and a subtle awkwardness flickered across his face.
He lowered his gaze and noticed that Liang Zhiyi did look more worn out than usual. Her complexion was pale, with a few beads of sweat on her nose, and her lips were slightly colorless—she looked weak.
His eyes darkened slightly. “Do you want to go to the infirmary?”
Liang Zhiyi looked at him, puzzled.
“If every girl had to go to the hospital for her period, would there even be enough room in the hospital?”
This guy was such a typical clueless guy…
Liang Zhiyi continued writing her essays. Seeing this, Pei Chen sat down at his desk, retrieved what he had come for, and turned to see her still nodding off, pen in hand.
His throat tightened, and he couldn’t help but suggest, “If you’re feeling really bad, you should take a nap.”
Liang Zhiyi rested her chin on the desk and rubbed her nose. “I can’t. I still have three more essays to write, and they’re due this morning.”
After a moment of silence, Pei Chen offered, “I’ll talk to the class monitor. You can submit them in the afternoon.”
She blinked, “Really…?”
“Yeah, get some rest.”
Liang Zhiyi pressed her lips together, then whispered, “Thank you.”
At that moment, Sang Xunling walked into the classroom, and upon seeing them together, she looked momentarily surprised. After grabbing her water bottle, she walked over, a hint of surprise in her expression.
“Pei Chen, why are you still in the classroom?”
“I came to grab something.”
Sang Xunling glanced at the slumped-over Liang Zhiyi before looking back at Pei Chen with a smile. “Did you get what you needed? Let’s go downstairs together. The girls’ 800-meter final is about to start.”
Hearing this, Liang Zhiyi felt a pang of jealousy in her heart. A moment later, she caught a glimpse of Pei Chen standing up out of the corner of her eye.
Her little jar of jealousy tipped over, and she quickly turned her face inward, not wanting to see them.
He can go watch the competition with someone else.
What does it matter to her…
Pei Chen stood up, his gaze unintentionally lingering on the girl lying on the desk. His eyes deepened, his throat dry, but in the end, he said nothing and turned to leave.
As they walked downstairs, Sang Xunling, following beside him, casually remarked, “There are a lot of events this morning. The homeroom teacher wants everyone to come down to watch. Why didn’t Liang Zhiyi come down? She’s just staying in the classroom, sleeping.”
She smiled softly, her voice laced with concern, “But then again, she’s new to our class. It’s understandable that she doesn’t feel much attachment to us yet and doesn’t have a strong sense of belonging…”
“She’s not staying up there because she doesn’t want to. She’s not feeling well,” Pei Chen interrupted, his tone firm.
Suddenly, Pei Chen’s cold voice interrupted her.
Sang Xunling’s face stiffened at his response, and she forced a dry laugh. “Oh, I see. I must have misunderstood…”
Pei Chen kept his gaze forward, his expression indifferent, and said nothing more.
Sang Xunling could feel the coldness in his demeanor. She clenched her fists slightly, her expression growing more reserved as she silently followed beside him.
When they reached the base, many students were chatting and writing their cheering essays.
As the competition was about to start, someone called out to Pei Chen, “Come on, let’s go watch the competition together.”
Pei Chen responded calmly, “You guys go ahead.”
The sun was blazing, casting its rays into the base, and many people couldn’t stand the heat, opting to stand in the shade. However, Pei Chen pulled out a chair and sat down at a desk in the base, right under the scorching sun.
Everyone looked at him, puzzled: ???
Seeing that he seemed to have something important on his mind, they decided not to disturb him.
The sports day continued in full swing.
Meanwhile, back in the classroom, Liang Zhiyi lay with her head on the desk, replaying the earlier scene in her mind, feeling as if she had eaten something sour, her heart filled with jealousy.
Seeing him getting close to another girl made her intensely jealous.
There were always girls around him, vying for his attention.
When he saw she wasn’t feeling well, he didn’t seem to care—he just walked away…
Liang Zhiyi admitted to herself that she was becoming overly sensitive.
But she couldn’t control these feelings of jealousy…
She hated Pei Chen so much.
She would never be nice to him again. Boo-hoo…
Biting her lip lightly, she buried her face in her notebook, the exhaustion and drowsiness gradually overtaking her.
In the end, she couldn’t resist the sleepiness and dozed off.
She slept for almost an hour.
The sunlight outside softened as it filtered through the window, warming her gently. After a while, she rubbed her eyes and slowly woke up from her nap.
Feeling a bit more refreshed after her sleep, she sat up, and just then, she saw the class monitor entering the classroom with a stack of cheering essays.
The learning committee member glanced at her and started walking toward the third and fourth rows. Thinking she was about to be reminded about her essays, Liang Zhiyi quickly said, “I’ll write them now and give them to you right away.”
“Hmm? Are you talking about writing the cheering essays?”
The learning committee member seemed puzzled. “Didn’t the class president just write them for you?”
“What?”
The learning committee member casually handed her the essays in their hand. “Here, take these. You have no idea how hot it is outside today. I saw him down at the base under the scorching sun, writing these just now. He also asked me to tell you to rest well.”
Liang Zhiyi took the papers and saw that three essays had already been written, the handwriting neat and clear, with her name at the top.
And this handwriting—she recognized it all too well.
It was Pei Chen’s.
As she looked at the essays, she felt a sudden sting at the tip of her nose.
That idiot…