At the entrance of No. 1 High School, Xuan Xia, who had been waiting, saw Pei Chen walking out of the school gate and teased him, “Where did you go just now? I thought you came out first.”
Pei Chen suppressed his emotions and replied hoarsely, “I went to the restroom.”
Xuan Xia didn’t think much of it and slung his arm over Pei Chen’s shoulder, laughing with the other team members around them, “Alright then, let’s head back.”
Most of the boys on the school team had to take the bus, so the group walked towards the bus stop together. Liang Tongzhou didn’t have his driver pick him up either; he walked with them.
Everyone happily chatted about the game that night, occasionally teasing someone about a mistake they made while playing, joking and laughing the whole way.
As they walked, Liang Tongzhou’s phone rang in his pocket.
He took it out and saw it was from Liang Zhiyi.
He answered, and she excitedly asked, “Is your game over? How did it go? Did you win?!”
Liang Zhiyi had just returned from their grandmother’s house that evening, and as soon as she got home, she wanted to call him to ask about the basketball game.
Liang Tongzhou smiled, “Our team is so strong, how could we not win?”
“Wow, that’s great! Awesome!” Liang Zhiyi said happily, “So, have all your team members left? Is Pei Chen next to you?”
“Why bother with so much buildup, isn’t the last question the one you really wanted to ask?”
“Uh…”
Liang Tongzhou laughed, “If you want to talk to Pei Chen, why don’t you call him directly? Why go through me?”
Pei Chen, who was walking beside him, looked over, his gaze pausing slightly. The boys around them who heard this stopped in their tracks and excitedly exclaimed, “Oh!!!”
Hearing the commotion on the other end of the line, Liang Zhiyi, for once, felt a bit embarrassed, “It’s just that his phone didn’t go through, if he’s next to you, can you hand him the phone for a second…”
Liang Tongzhou chuckled and eventually handed the phone to Pei Chen, “Here, my sister wants to talk to you.”
The surrounding teammates, unaware of the situation, eagerly crowded around, making a deafening racket, “Put it on speaker! Speaker!”
“…”
Pei Chen’s expression darkened, and helplessly, he took the phone and walked a little further away.
He spoke into the phone, and Liang Zhiyi laughed, “Pei Chen, I just called you, but you didn’t answer. Why didn’t you pick up my call?”
Pei Chen took out his phone and glanced at it, “It was on silent.”
“Oh, okay,” the girl chuckled softly, her voice tender, “How did you play tonight? Did you win easily? It’s such a pity I couldn’t be there to cheer you on.”
“I only played for a short while tonight, mostly the second team was on the court.”
“So, when’s your next group match?”
“Next Wednesday.”
“I remember it’s an away game, right?”
“Yeah.”
Liang Zhiyi chuckled, “Then I’ll definitely come to watch your game.”
Pei Chen’s gaze flickered, and in a low voice, he said, “You have classes the next day, it’s better not to come.”
She didn’t really need to take every game so seriously; it would be tiring.
“It’s fine. I’ll finish my homework early so I can go. I don’t want to miss any of your games.”
A soft warmth settled in Pei Chen’s heart.
Liang Zhiyi continued to chat with him, expressing her concern and urging him to get a good rest when he got home. Finally, the “little sparrow” mentioned she was going to take a bath and then hung up the phone.
Pei Chen walked back to the group of boys, handing the phone back to Liang Tongzhou. The others smirked mischievously, “What were you talking about that you had to be so sneaky?”
“Pei Chen, did you know that Liang Tongzhou’s sister actually likes you? Damn, I just found out today!”
“Pei Chen, so what’s the deal between you and Tongzhou’s sister now?”
Pei Chen remained silent, his lips moved slightly, but he didn’t respond.
“Alright, why are you all being so nosy, asking so many questions…”
In the end, it was Xuan Xia who stepped in and changed the subject.
Although everyone was curious, they were also quite respectful. Seeing that Liang Tongzhou didn’t pry, they didn’t push Pei Chen too much about his private matters.
As Pei Chen walked, the words the girl had just said kept echoing in his mind, filling his heart with a soft, warm feeling.
The weekend brought sunny weather to Lincheng, with the temperature slightly rising.
Two days passed, and on Monday morning, students began arriving at school.
In Class 9, many students were chatting, some of them discussing last Saturday’s basketball game, particularly how No. 1 High won smoothly and how handsome Xuan Xia and Pei Chen looked while playing.
Another part of the conversation was about the midterm exam results.
The exams had been mostly graded over the weekend, and the scores were basically out. Some students had even gone directly to the teachers to ask about their results.
Before the early morning study session began, Tong Sisi went to the office to hand in some late English homework. She overheard a few English teachers chatting:
“Yeah, in this district-wide exam, only two students scored this high, and one of them is from your Class 9.”
“I saw that essay; it’s even better than the model answer. Old Li can finally be at ease—who knows, maybe next year’s city-wide top scorer in English will come from your class!”
“I’ll definitely be looking forward to that, hahaha…”
Tong Sisi, after hearing those words, quickly handed in her homework and hurried back to the classroom.
She sat down next to Sang Xunling and, in front of a few friends, excitedly said, “Lingling, I just overheard Mr. Li and some other teachers talking in the office—they seemed to be talking about you!”
“About me?”
“They said your English score might be the highest in the district. Only two people scored that high.”
The friends around them exclaimed, “Wow, Lingling, you’re amazing!”
Sang Xunling was pleasantly surprised but also a bit skeptical, “But I only scored 145. Is that really the highest?”
“That’s pretty high already. This English test was particularly tough. So far, I haven’t heard of anyone scoring higher than you. I heard Pei Chen only got 144 this time.”
“Besides, Lingling, you’re always scoring first in English for the grade. I bet it’s definitely you.”
Sang Xunling had always taken pride in her English scores. Although Pei Chen had consistently ranked first in the grade, English wasn’t his strongest subject, and he didn’t always outperform her in that area.
Hearing the early praise from others made Sang Xunling feel like she was floating on air, her lips curving into an uncontrollable smile.
Before the bell rang for the second English class that morning, the teacher arrived a few minutes early and asked the students to hand out the English answer sheets.
A student, hurrying over to Pei Chen’s desk, heard the English teacher calling him and hastily placed the answer sheet on Pei Chen’s desk.
At that moment, a few classmates gathered around, and upon seeing the score on top, their eyes widened in shock:
“Holy crap, 148.5!”
“That’s incredible! As expected of Pei Shen!”
Many students rushed over to see the score after hearing it. Pei Chen looked at the answer sheet, a flicker of surprise crossing his eyes before he spoke up:
“This isn’t mine.”
His gaze fell on the name on the paper, and then he turned slightly, looking at the girl who was resting her head beside him.
At that moment, she had her eyes closed and was still sound asleep.
The surrounding students, upon seeing the name on the paper, were instantly stunned.
Holy crap!
A small but noticeable commotion erupted around Pei Chen. Sang Xunling, sitting in the front row, turned around and saw the scene. She was surprised but also felt a sense of pride.
She had scored higher than Pei Chen this time.
Soon, the bell rang for class to start, and everyone returned to their seats. Liang Zhiyi also woke up.
Last night, she couldn’t resist binge-watching a drama and ended up staying up late, so she was really sleepy this morning…
She sat up straight and saw Pei Chen place an answer sheet in front of her. “It’s yours.”
She glanced at the score, didn’t say anything, and continued rubbing her eyes groggily, looking adorably drowsy.
Pei Chen’s peripheral vision lingered on her.
She’s that calm about it?
After class began, the English teacher briefly discussed the overall results of the exam. “Since this test was quite difficult, the scores weren’t very high. The average score for the grade was 101, but our class did relatively well. And there are a few students who deserve special recognition for scoring exceptionally high.”
The English teacher looked at Liang Zhiyi and smiled, “Our classmate Liang Zhiyi scored 148.5, tying for first place in the entire district with a student from No. 3 High. Scoring above 140 on this paper is an impressive feat.”
“Wow…”
Many students turned to look at her in astonishment.
Sang Xunling, hearing this: ?!?!
Liang Zhiyi scored that high?!
The girls in the class who disliked Liang Zhiyi, including Tong Sisi, were all stunned.
Tong Sisi realized she had guessed wrong about who the teachers were talking about and awkwardly glanced at Sang Xunling, who was now gripping her pen tightly, feeling a wave of shame wash over her as she recalled how happy she had been just moments ago.
The teacher, who hadn’t paid much attention to Liang Zhiyi before, was surprised by her achievement and praised her extensively, especially her perfect-score essay.
After complimenting a few other students, the teacher began going over the test paper. Liang Zhiyi’s paper was borrowed by someone who wanted to see it, and she turned to Pei Chen, asking softly:
“Pei Chen, how many points did you get?”
Pei Chen told her his score. The girl rested her chin in her hand and sighed, “I didn’t expect to score higher than you.”
When Liang Zhiyi’s paper was returned, Pei Chen looked at it, and out of scholarly curiosity, he hesitated before asking, “Can I take a look?”
The girl was momentarily surprised but then handed him her paper with a smile, “Go ahead.”
Pei Chen examined her essay while Liang Zhiyi rested her head on her arms on the desk, leaning closer to him, her dimples showing as she looked up at him expectantly, as if waiting for praise:
“Do you think I did well?”
Pei Chen finished reading and replied, “You did very well.”
He genuinely thought so; there were many beautifully written sentences that really impressed him.
He asked her quietly, “How did you get so good at English?”
Liang Zhiyi looked at him and asked seriously, “Pei Chen, do you know how you can tell when a boy starts liking a girl?”
Pei Chen’s gaze paused for a moment.
“…No.”
“It’s when he starts to feel curious about her.”
“……”
What kind of nonsense is that?
Seeing his speechless expression made the girl laugh, but then she became serious and shared some of her years of experience in learning English. Pei Chen, watching her serious demeanor, felt a slight stir in his heart, unable to look away.
After she finished, Liang Zhiyi rested her chin in her hand and smiled at him, “So, do you think I’m really smart?”
The boy calmly looked away, “Sometimes, you really are pretty smart.”
“Hey, are you saying that sometimes I’m not smart?”
He turned his head to glance at her.
As if to say: Don’t you know when?
Liang Zhiyi thought back to the time she fell while trying to catch crabs by the sea and, feeling both embarrassed and annoyed, puffed out her cheeks and slumped forward on her desk. But as she moved, the chair she was sitting on let out a particularly loud “squeak,” drawing attention from those around her.
“……”
She wanted to bury her face in her hands.
The chair she was sitting on had some issues, and any slight movement would make a noise, which was especially noticeable in the quiet classroom.