Fang Qingze looked at the note, somewhat curious as to why she would suddenly seek him out, and by passing a note of all things!
You must know that at No. 7 High School, passing notes between boys and girls was a major tabu! The contents of the note might not contain any forbidden knowledge related to romance.
However, if certain gossips happened to catch sight of it, in a couple of days the two of them might end up rumored to be in an "underground relationship."
It wasn't as if such wrongful incidents hadn't happened in the school before. The end result was that both the boy and the girl would have their parents called in.
Then, both sides would get "fifty strokes of the board" each and be taken home by their respective parents, told to go back and reflect for a few days. You couldn't even explain yourself if you tried—what a miserable affair!
God forbid such a thing!
Wait a second, I don't have parents! Thinking of this, Fang Qingze suddenly felt like laughing. Are you kidding me? I am not afraid of having parents called in at all! For the first time in his life, he felt that not having parents to boss him around was actually a good thing.
"Hiss—could she possibly like me?" Fang Qingze looked at Ye Chuqing, then looked at the note, and finally gently pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking some rather bizarre thoughts out of his head.
This kind of thing was completely impossible. Having been desk-mates sitting one behind the other for two months, their relationship was just like that of strangers, with almost no communication in daily life. How could there possibly be any sparks of love?
Well... wait, no. It seemed they had spoken a few words to each other after all.That was the second week after Ye Chuqing's arrival. Figuring they were seatmates—one in front of the other—and shouldn't keep acting like total strangers, Fang Qingze decided he wanted to improve his relationship with the person sitting in front of him.
So, during a break, Fang Qingze reached out with his index finger and gave Ye Chuqing's shoulder a gentle poke. At that exact moment, her body seemed to stiffen slightly. She turned around and quietly looked at him.
Fang Qingze met her beautiful eyes. Was it his imagination, or did he actually catch a hint of anticipation in the young girl's eyes?
Suddenly feeling a bit awkward, he blurted out, "Uh, hey there. My name is Fang Qingze—*Fang* like instant noodles, *Qing* like the clear sky, *Ze* like blessings. What's your name?"
The moment the words left his mouth, he instantly regretted them. *Damn it, if I remember correctly, she introduced herself when she first arrived! How could I forget? Though I really wasn't paying attention back then.*
Sure enough, the girl in front of him froze for a second, her red lips parting slightly as her cool, crisp voice carried a hint of disbelief: "You... you don't know who I am?"
"Sorry about that," Fang Qingze said. "The day you came to the class, I stayed up way too late playing video games the night before, so I was nodding off the whole morning and completely missed your name."He lied without batting an eye. There was no helping it; he certainly couldn't say: "I simply didn't pay any attention to you that day, which is why I didn't know your name." That would show a terrible lack of social awareness.
Besides, even though he had been looking at the scenery instead of her that day, they hadn't known each other. There was no way she could have been staring at what he was doing on her very first day in the classroom, right? Hahaha, how could that be?
"Aloof and handsome"—that was how the boys in the class described Fang Qingze.
In truth, Fang Qingze didn't think he was all that aloof; he simply felt that certain social interactions were truly unnecessary.
His life consisted of going to school by day and working at night. He didn't have much spare time to spend socializing with peers, and he knew very little about the games, anime, and movies they talked about, leaving him essentially unable to join the conversation.
Anyway, he figured that high school friendships and romances wouldn't necessarily last into the future. Countless couples were deeply in love in high school only to go their separate ways in college. At the barbecue restaurant, Fang Qingze had seen plenty of people coming in to eat farewell meals after breaking up...
Sometimes, putting on an aloof front wasn't such a bad thing.
His eyes naturally carried a world-weary look, as if only the lower halves of his pupils were ever visible.
Therefore, he didn't need to put on a special act; he just had to make sure he spoke as little as possible.
Consequently, although relationships among high school boys were generally quite harmonious, Fang Qingze had been far too taciturn over the past two years.
The moment anyone locked eyes with his world-weary gaze, any thought of wanting to converse with him would vanish. As a result, almost nobody ever took the initiative to talk to him.
Aside from routine communication and greetings, he didn't have any close friends at school.
This meant he had almost no interactions in the class. Without conversations with the boys, naturally there were no discussions about this or that girl, and he usually never heard the name of the person sitting right in front of him.
Furthermore, the subject teachers in Class 16 almost never called on students to answer questions, so nearly two weeks had passed, and he still didn't know his desk mate's name...
Ye Chuqing lowered her head and fell silent for a moment. She realized they were completely on different wavelengths.
Looking at Ye Chuqing's long eyelashes, Fang Qingze frowned, wondering: *Is she angry? Just because I didn't remember her name?*
"Ye Chuqing. *Ye* as in maple leaf, *chu* as in the beginning, *qing* as in a clear day."
Fang Qingze's eyes lit up, and he nodded gently at the girl in front of him: "Got it, I'll remember!"
Ye Chuqing nodded in return, giving him a complex look just before turning around.
*The last time we met, we were only seven years old. So many years have passed, and everyone has changed a lot. Plus, I never told him my name back then anyway. If he forgot, he forgot—at least we've met again. We'll take it slow...*
Watching the graceful back of the girl in front of him, Fang Qingze felt somewhat baffled by the look she had given him at the end.However, he did not dwell on it. Now that he knew her name, they were no longer strangers, and their relationship had taken a step forward.
……
Ye Chuqing waved her hand in front of Fang Qingze again, pulling him back from his memories.
The latter composed himself, thought for a long time, and then wrote fluently on the paper with his gel pen:
"Because I'm not sleepy!" He nodded with satisfaction.
The corner of Ye Chuqing's mouth twitched slightly. She looked at the young man's satisfied smile: *So you spent all that time thinking, just to give me an answer like that?*
*You really know how to make conversation.*
Sighing inwardly, Ye Chuqing pinched the note between two slender, scallion-like fingers, turned around, and slumped over her desk, seemingly preparing for a midday nap.
The brief exchange ended just as it began—much like certain activities where one party hasn't even gotten into the groove yet, and the other cries, "No, no, I can't, I really can't anymore!"
Of course, that refers to intense sports like badminton or tennis, where the one with less stamina naturally loses out quickly~
Looking at the back of the girl in front of him slumped over her desk, Fang Qingze couldn't quite figure out what was wrong with her.
*Not being sleepy, so not sleeping—isn't that completely normal? I don't think there's anything wrong with that answer.*
*What's up with you, front desk? You start a conversation and then cut it off for no reason—that's very impolite, hey!*
That being said, her figure really was amazing. The slightly oversized school uniform clung to her back at the moment, accentuating her slender waist and vest, which traced a perfect curve down to her hips, with her long, dark hair draped loosely over her back.
Had she always worn her hair down?
Fang Qingze felt a slight itch in his heart. He really wanted to reach out and touch her hair; it looked so dark, glossy, and silky that it had to feel great!
He shook his head to chase this strange thought out of his mind.
Fang Qingze also slumped over his desk, trying to ignore the sound of the rain outside the window to see if he could fall asleep.
………
The afternoon classes passed quickly. During this time, Ye Chuqing neither passed any notes to Fang Qingze nor spoke to him, as if nothing had happened during the lunch break.
"Woohoo~"
"Time to eat, time to eat!"
There is a widely circulated maxim from the old world: "If you aren't enthusiastic about eating meals, something is wrong with your brain!"
Chen Hao, an avid foodie, knew this doctrine well. The exact moment the bell rang for the end of the last class, he and Zhang Wen led the foodies of Class 16 in a dash toward the podium, grabbing their phones from the storage bags with lightning speed and bolting out of the classroom.
These kids were still somewhat polite, though; as they passed the elderly teacher collecting teaching materials on the podium, they actually slowed their pace and said, "Goodbye, teacher!"
The elderly teacher's surname was Li. In his mid-fifties and nearing retirement, his wrinkled face bore the traces of time, yet it wore a kind smile.
Teacher Li looked at them with a smile: "Alright, alright, all of you walk slowly. There's plenty of time, no need to rush."
……
"Hoo..."
After about ten minutes, Fang Qingze finally put down his pen, closed his textbook, and let out a relaxed breath. He had already finished all of today's homework and tomorrow's lessons, meaning he could head off to work with peace of mind.
He packed up a few items, stood up, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and walked toward the front of the classroom. It was only then that he noticed the girl in front of him hadn't left yet either.
At the moment, they were the only two people left in the classroom. She was sitting quietly at her desk looking at her phone, resembling a snow lotus high up in the mountains.
Fang Qingze inexplicably thought of the note she had given him at noon. Perhaps driven by the notion of courtesy demanding reciprocity, he couldn't help stopping as he passed her desk, turning to ask, "Class has been over for a while. Aren't you going to dinner?"
Ye Chuqing paused in her manipulation of her phone. She looked up, revealing her fair and clean face. Staring straight into Fang Qingze's eyes, she spoke softly, "I'm going home to eat."
Fang Qingze was stunned. "Aren't you staying for evening self-study?"
The young girl blinked, didn't answer his question, and instead retorted, "Don't you get to skip it too?"
*Me? The school gave me a special privilege for that!*
Fang Qingze suddenly fell silent. *Well, true—he wouldn't be the only one with such a privilege.* It was just that, as far as he knew, he was the only person who had been allowed to skip evening self-study in all these years.
"Oh... Then, why aren't you going home yet?"
"I'm waiting for someone."
"Oh."
Sensing that they couldn't keep talking without it getting awkward, Fang Qingze said, "Well... since you're waiting for someone, I'll head out first."
"Mm." Ye Chuqing nodded slightly.
Fang Qingze turned, walked up to the podium, fished his phone out of the first phone storage bag next to the blackboard, and left the classroom.
Just as he reached the door, a phone ringtone echoed through the classroom. Glancing back, Fang Qingze saw that the girl in front of him had also stood up, put on her bag, and held her phone to her ear as if talking to someone.
Without lingering, Fang Qingze turned and headed downstairs. The rain had stopped long ago, and the sky had cleared. Puddles of various sizes remained scattered across the concrete ground, reflecting the sunset and evening glow on the horizon.
As he slowly walked toward the school gate, he opened a messaging app on his phone and sent a message to his head teacher: "Teacher, I'm off to work."
……