After a long while, Sheng Qingxi still couldn’t persuade Lin Ran to take the snacks back. Dejected, she returned to the classroom to deal with the pile of snacks.
Thankfully, Lin Ran wasn’t so heartless as to take the bag with him. Sheng Qingxi put all the snacks back into the bag and placed it at her feet. Her legs were pitifully squeezed together, and for a moment, she couldn’t tell if she was eating the snacks or if the snacks were consuming her.
Lin Ran had said she could do whatever she wanted with the snacks. Thinking of this, Sheng Qingxi tentatively asked her desk mate, “Chen Yi, do you want some snacks? Is it okay if I share them with everyone?”
Chen Yi quickly shook her head, lowering her voice, “Who dares to eat the Demon King’s things? No one will take them.”
Sheng Qingxi couldn’t help but sigh. Why was everyone so afraid of Lin Ran?
With no other options, Sheng Qingxi decided to take the snacks home to share with the little ones.
That evening, when she went to the study room with Song Shiman, Lin Ran showed up again. Seeing him, Song Shiman grumbled discontentedly, “What’s with the study room teacher? Why are people coming in and out freely without any supervision?”
She spoke quietly, so only Gu Mingji beside her heard it.
Gu Mingji’s lips twitched slightly. Earlier that day, when he went to the office to see Jiang Mingyuan, he overheard Jiang discussing the study room quotas with Teacher Qu from Class One.
After the third-year students graduate, seven spots in the study room should open up, but the first-year students wouldn’t have access until the second semester. So, they decided to allocate four spots to the current second-year students after June.
Not long after Gu Mingji entered, he heard Teacher Qu insist on reserving one spot for Class One, specifically for Lin Ran.
Lin Ran’s reputation was well-known among the teachers.
Jiang Mingyuan didn’t immediately agree, so they both went to find Zhao Shuyue to discuss it further.
Gu Mingji had dropped off the week’s disciplinary list and left. He felt that the rumors were off. People said Sheng Qingxi liked Lin Ran, but from what he’d observed the past few days, it seemed more like Lin Ran was the one clinging to Sheng Qingxi.
Most of Sheng Qingxi’s attention was focused on her studies and on Song Shiman.
And Song Shiman seemed… odd.
Thinking of this, Gu Mingji said helplessly, “Song Shiman, it looks like Lin Ran might be coming here regularly. I overheard the Class One teacher asking for a spot for him in the study room.”
After speaking, Gu Mingji waited for Song Shiman’s reaction.
As expected, Song Shiman’s expression immediately changed.
She threw down her pen, fuming, “Is Lin Ran crazy?”
Ever since Lin Ran appeared, Sheng Qingxi had been paying less attention to her, even handing over homework correction duties to Gu Mingji. The only time she got with Sheng Qingxi these days was when they discussed questions.
Song Shiman felt like she and Lin Ran were destined to clash.
Gu Mingji was speechless, but despite not being the gossiping type, he couldn’t help asking, “Song Shiman, don’t you like Lin Ran? Shouldn’t you be jealous right now?”
Song Shiman shot him a glare. “What do you know? Between Lin Ran and Xiao Xi, who treats me better? I’m not blind.”
No matter how jealous she got, Lin Ran would never like her.
And recently, she realized that her feelings for Lin Ran were almost completely worn away, especially in the past few days. The closer she got to him, the more she could feel his bad attitude.
Lin Ran was downright unreasonable, and there were times she just wanted to seal his mouth shut.
Song Shiman glared angrily at Lin Ran.
Lin Ran’s senses were sharp. He lazily lifted his eyelids and gave her a fleeting glance before looking away.
Song Shiman: “…”
She became even angrier!
On the other side, Sheng Qingxi was busy writing a study plan for Lin Ran. He had a good memory and understanding, but he simply lacked the desire to study. Sheng Qingxi didn’t push Lin Ran as hard as she did Song Shiman because she had no idea how long Lin Ran’s enthusiasm would last.
She could only ensure that as long as Lin Ran showed up, she would teach him, as long as he was willing to listen.
Lin Ran, however, wasn’t looking at the books. While Sheng Qingxi kept her head down, focused on writing, Lin Ran simply stared at her.
Sheng Qingxi was already used to people’s gazes falling on her, whether during her school days or after she started working. But when the owner of the gaze was Lin Ran, she found it oddly unsettling.
Her hand hesitated for a moment.
In a soft voice, Sheng Qingxi said, “Lin Ran, stop looking at me.”
Lin Ran completely ignored her, maintaining his position, unmoving.
Just then, Teacher Qu quietly sneaked into the study room with his hands behind his back. He had gone to the classroom earlier but couldn’t find Lin Ran. After asking He Mo, he learned that the troublemaker had run off to the study room.
Teacher Qu had come to see if Lin Ran was actually studying.
As soon as Teacher Qu reached the window, he saw Lin Ran slouching with terrible posture, staring intently at the beautiful girl across from him. This wasn’t studying—he was clearly here to bother someone!
With a frustrated sigh, Teacher Qu shot Lin Ran a disappointed look. After a moment of hesitation, he couldn’t hold back and walked through the slightly ajar back door.
Lin Ran noticed Teacher Qu’s arrival but didn’t say anything, simply raising a hand in acknowledgment.
Faced with several curious pairs of eyes, Teacher Qu forced a smile. But as soon as he got closer to Lin Ran, his expression turned serious. Leaning down, he lowered his voice, “Lin Ran, what’s going on? Weren’t you here to study?”
Lin Ran knew exactly what Teacher Qu was thinking, so he casually pulled out the test paper he had completed the previous day and handed it over.
With a flourish and a confident look.
Teacher Qu stared at the bright red score of 57 on the paper and fell silent. He quickly scanned the test—it was well-designed, covering all the key points of the first-year math curriculum.
Glancing at the girl beside Lin Ran, Teacher Qu saw that she was writing something—clearly a study plan for Lin Ran.
It turned out Lin Ran was actually here to study.
Teacher Qu had never seen Sheng Qingxi before, so he scratched his head and tried to recall. A girl this pretty would be hard to forget, even for someone his age.
Leaning closer to Lin Ran, Teacher Qu whispered, “Where did you trick this girl from? What class is she in?”
Lin Ran, unbothered, replied coldly, “Teacher Qu, you’re disturbing my studies.”
Teacher Qu: “…”
Fine, he left.
Before walking out, Teacher Qu tossed one last comment over his shoulder: “I’ll be watching to see what rank you get in next month’s exam.”
Lin Ran snorted softly.
Sheng Qingxi spent most of the evening working on Lin Ran’s study plan. She set aside an hour to help Song Shiman with her homework, leaving Lin Ran to entertain himself during that time.
Lin Ran, however, was clearly dissatisfied. “I’m here to study, not to play.”
Seeing his serious expression, Sheng Qingxi couldn’t help but smile. “Then read for a while. You can memorize some poems or classical texts; I’ve marked the sections for you.”
Lin Ran: “…”
Why did he even speak up? Wasn’t his phone entertaining enough?
Lin Ran opened his Chinese textbook and glanced at a few lines. The flowery classical poems held no appeal for him; he had zero motivation to memorize them. Out of the corner of his eye, he sneaked a look at Sheng Qingxi and Song Shiman across from him.
But when he raised his head, his gaze happened to lock with Gu Mingji’s.
Lin Ran didn’t feel any embarrassment about being caught sneaking a glance; he just kept staring at the people across from him.
Gu Mingji silently lowered his head, unable to figure out what exactly Lin Ran thought about Sheng Qingxi.
Sheng Qingxi was very patient while explaining the problems, and most of the time she was praising Song Shiman for her progress. When she smiled and patted Song Shiman’s head, Song Shiman would smile shyly in return.
Lin Ran: ?
One particular curve function had to be explained three times, and Song Shiman still didn’t get it. Even Lin Ran had understood by then. Lin Ran glanced at Sheng Qingxi—this girl didn’t get frustrated at all; instead, she comforted the visibly frustrated Song Shiman.
The two of them spent an hour on just a few problems.
By the time the bell rang, Song Shiman still felt downcast, convinced she was just too slow.
Seeing her in such a low mood, Sheng Qingxi leaned over and whispered something in her ear. Instantly, Song Shiman’s head shot up, eyes sparkling as she looked at Sheng Qingxi. “Really?” she asked for confirmation.
Sheng Qingxi nodded.
As a result, Song Shiman walked off beaming.
Meanwhile, Lin Ran had no idea what those two had talked about because he was back in the classroom throwing a fit.
The reason? His two coins from 2009 and 2018 were missing.
Lin Ran had searched his entire desk but couldn’t find those two coins. He’d even checked the floor. He Mo and Xie Zhen were also helping him search, but after a long while, they still couldn’t find them.
With a dark expression, Lin Ran stared at his desk and kicked over a nearby chair in frustration.
The loud crash of the chair hitting the floor startled the few people still in the classroom. They all turned their heads cautiously to look, and for a moment, the entire room fell silent.
Xie Zhen swallowed nervously and asked, “Brother Ran, where did you put those two coins today?”
Lin Ran frowned at his desk and replied coldly, “I left them right on top of the desk.”
No one in their class would dare touch Lin Ran’s things, especially not just for two coins. But since they couldn’t find them right now, there wasn’t much they could do. Sheng Qingxi was still waiting for him.
Lin Ran threw out a sharp, “I’ll check the security footage tomorrow,” before walking off.
He Mo and Xie Zhen exchanged helpless looks.
He Mo suggested, “Ah Zhen, should we just find two coins to replace them for Brother Ran tomorrow?”
Xie Zhen shook his head, disapproving. “Brother Ran will definitely notice. Have you ever looked closely at those two coins?”
He Mo: “No.”
Xie Zhen: “Well, there you go. If we replace them and he notices, he’ll only get angrier.”
“Sigh.”
Both of them sighed in unison.
–
When Lin Ran returned to the study room to meet Sheng Qingxi, she was already waiting with two large bags of snacks in her hands. She hadn’t even thought to set them down on the ground, just stood there holding them awkwardly.
He bent down slightly to take the two bags from her hands and casually asked, “Taking them back to eat?”
Sheng Qingxi followed behind him, saying, “I’m taking them back to share with the kids. There’s too much, I can’t finish it all.”
Lin Ran didn’t respond, but his heart felt a bit uneasy.
She was always thinking of others. Even with him and Song Shiman, she was considerate, let alone with the little kids.
In front of Sheng Qingxi, Lin Ran suppressed the irritation building inside him. It wasn’t until they reached the bus stop that Lin Ran began to feel a quiet sense of anticipation. He was waiting for Sheng Qingxi to give him coins.
The moment the thought crossed his mind, Lin Ran felt a bit ridiculous, maybe even strange. But he still followed his genuine feelings.
As Sheng Qingxi searched for money, she realized she didn’t have any extra coins—she’d used them when she and Song Shiman were out earlier.
Sheng Qingxi pursed her lips and said, “Lin Ran, I only have two yuan left. You’ll have to pay with your phone.”
Lin Ran hadn’t expected that after all this waiting, this was the result. It felt awkward to suggest she give him the coins and he’d pay the fare after boarding—it sounded too weird, even to him.
After Sheng Qingxi finished speaking, she cautiously glanced at Lin Ran. His face remained expressionless, seemingly the same as usual, but Sheng Qingxi sensed that he might be a bit unhappy.
Across the street was a snack shop, and the next 113 bus wouldn’t arrive for another five minutes. Sheng Qingxi thought for a moment, then told Lin Ran she was going to buy some water before jogging across the road.