Not a single one encountered in the previous life, yet two at once in this one—Jiang Shengyan clearly had a weakness for good-looking people.
"What's wrong with you?" Xu Jingyu asked again, watching the girl squat there motionless and lost in thought.
Jiang Shengyan snapped back to reality, her face instantly turning red. She hurriedly stood up and waved her hands. "Nothing, it didn't hit me." Feeling somewhat embarrassed that she had just stood there staring blankly at him, she pretended to be very busy.
Shen Jingyan, standing next to Xu Jingyu, looked at the girl's blushing cheeks, raised an eyebrow, and said in a low voice, "Really nothing? You looked completely out of it."
"Really nothing." Jiang Shengyan thought she was utterly pathetic, acting as if she had never seen a handsome guy before—though she really had never seen anyone quite this handsome...
"Hold out your hand," Shen Jingyan said, frowning slightly as he noticed what looked like a scratch on the back of her hand.
Without quite understanding why, Jiang Shengyan still held out her hand, palm facing up.
Shen Jingyan let out a helpless sigh and spoke again. "Flip it over. You scraped your hand, and you didn't even feel it?"
Jiang Shengyan turned her hand over and saw a small scratch on the back, likely caused by the basketball brushing past her skin just moments earlier.
"It didn't hurt much, so I didn't really notice," Jiang Shengyan said, looking at the wound with a casual shrug.
Xu Jingyu felt a pang of guilt, considering he was the one who had thrown the ball in the first place.
Shen Jingyan gave him a light smack on the shoulder and said with disdain, "What are you standing around for? Why don't you go buy some iodine disinfectant and band-aids to clean her up?" Shen Jingyan genuinely couldn't fathom how the guy had managed to throw a ball straight at someone.
"Oh right, I'll go right now. Little sister, wait here for a second, I'll be right back!" Xu Jingyu suddenly realized, turned around, and dashed off to buy them.
"It's fine, really, no need. It's just a little scratch, it'll heal in a couple of days," Jiang Shengyan felt it was entirely unnecessary.
"Give him a chance to redeem himself. Have a seat here," Shen Jingyan teased, pointing to the bench beside them.
Jiang Shengyan looked up at the young man.
Under the streetlamp, the boy stood in a lazy, relaxed posture. Tall and slender, he must have been around 180 centimeters. His bangs hung down naturally, casting shadows from the light beneath his thin eyelids. His jawline was sharp, and an offhand smile played across his face.
Jiang Shengyan was left speechless. She walked over and sat down on the bench, thinking that this handsome guy's smile was somewhat rakish. Even she, an adult with a mental age in her twenties, felt a bit captivated—good thing her willpower was at least barely holding up.
Seeing her sit down, Shen Jingyan told his other basketball-playing friends to head home first.
Before long, Xu Jingyu came running back, carrying the supplies.
Just as he was about to disinfect Jiang Shengyan's wound himself, his phone suddenly rang. His mother told him to rush home immediately because something had come up, so he shoved the iodine bottle into Shen Jingyan's hands and hurriedly packed up his things.
"Brother Yan, sorry to trouble you, but could you disinfect the little sister's wound for her? My mom's making me head back right away, sounds like an emergency. Thanks a lot!"
He then turned back to Jiang Shengyan and apologized. "Sorry about today, little sister. I'll treat you to a meal another day to make up for it. I've got an urgent matter now, so I'll have Brother Yan help you clean the wound. I'm off first."
Little sister? Her mental age was twenty-one. Glancing at their height, Jiang Shengyan chose not to argue.
"It's fine, no need. If you've got somewhere to be, hurry on back," Jiang Shengyan smiled faintly.
Xu Jingyu finished packing his things and hurried off.
Shen Jingyan gave a soft, amused click of his tongue.
Jiang Shengyan felt a bit awkward. "I'll do it myself."
"Don't move!" Shen Jingyan said, his thin lips parting slightly.
He opened the bottle of iodine. "It might sting a little," he said in a low voice, dipping a cotton swab into the antiseptic and gently applying it to her wound.
Jiang Shengyan still couldn't help hissing softly. The boy immediately stopped and looked at her. "Does it hurt a lot?"
"Iodine usually has alcohol in it, it stings a bit," she pressed her lips together.
The boy lightened his touch even further.
His eyelashes were very long, casting a shadow beneath his eyes. Jiang Shengyan noticed a black stud earring in his left ear, glinting faintly in the streetlight.
"What school are you from?" he asked as he applied the band-aid. "What's your name?"
He figured this girl was probably a few grades junior to him; she looked so thin and small, wandering out this late without a care about getting abducted.
"Jiang Shengyan. My scores aren't out yet," she paused, "though barring any surprises, it should be Huaicheng No. 1 High School."
Shen Jingyan looked up, a trace of surprise flashing in his eyes. "What a coincidence, I'm at Huaicheng No. 1 High School too. Shen Jingyan." He hadn't expected her to be his age; she really didn't look like it.
Jiang Shengyan was somewhat astonished. She suddenly remembered the name Shen Jingyan.
She remembered that in her previous life, the title of "academic genius" belonging to Shen Jingyan had circulated throughout the school, but Jiang Shengyan had never seen him in person.
He was in the key class, which was in a different building from the regular classes, and during both his second and third years of high school, he frequently participated in various competitions, rarely spending much time at school. Regarding this academic prodigy, many people only heard his name without ever seeing his face—they only knew he was formidable and constantly winning awards.
Any news Jiang Shengyan had ever heard about Shen Jingyan came occasionally from her classmates. Back in high school, Jiang Shengyan's personality hadn't been cheerful at all; she was even quite melancholic, often cooped up in the classroom studying or feeling down.
Deep down, she had felt a mix of envy and inferiority toward the academic genius her classmates talked about. If she could, she genuinely would have loved to steal his brain and install it in her own head.
He stood up, packed up the supplies, and said, "Let's go, I'll walk you home."
Jiang Shengyan shook her head. "No need, I can go back by myself."
Shen Jingyan didn't press the matter either, merely saying, "Then get home safe."
"Okay!" Jiang Shengyan stood up and turned to leave.
After walking a few steps, she couldn't help looking back. Shen Jingyan was still standing right where he was, and seeing her turn around, he gave her a wave.
The light stretched his shadow long, extending all the way to her feet.
Back home, Jiang Shengyan sat at her desk, shook her head to clear it, and sorted out her thoughts. Stealing a brain was definitely out of the question—she'd better just study hard and develop her own brainpower instead.
She picked up her pen, calmed her mind, and finished two more practice test papers.
Days passed by, and Jiang Shengyan executed her plan step by step, though she occasionally thought of that academic prodigy.
In the meantime, the high school entrance exam scores were released. Seeing that Jiang Shengyan had genuinely been admitted to Huaicheng No. 1 High School, Father Jiang and Mother Jiang were overjoyed and took their daughter out for a lavish dinner.
Sheng Yue took Jiang Shengyan out to pick out several new outfits. Seeing that her daughter had finally stopped choosing those baggy, oversized clothes, she felt a profound sense of relief that her daughter had finally seen the light and found a style that suited her.
After the scores came out, Father Jiang asked her if she needed him to have a word with the school to transfer her into a parallel class with a more responsible head teacher. Jiang Shengyan declined. In her previous life, she had thought it didn't much matter and had transferred.
In truth, for the current Jiang Shengyan, the difference wasn't all that significant. The head teacher of that class was indeed very responsible—he taught mathematics, specifically advanced math for the key classes, and his teaching results were exceptionally stellar.
In her past life, Jiang Shengyan hadn't been happy in that class; in this life, she would leave it to fate and let nature take its course. Whichever class she was assigned to, she would go; after all, classes would be divided again anyway after choosing between arts and sciences.
Regarding their daughter's choice, Father Jiang raised no objections and expressed full support for whatever she decided.
In the blink of an eye, the day before the start of the semester arrived. After more than two months of focused study, Jiang Shengyan had grown increasingly adept at her academics.
She had roughly covered the required material for two books in each subject, memorized nearly all the required literary texts for Chinese, and learned the vast majority of English vocabulary. It was a deeply fulfilling sense of achievement.
After the physical conditioning of this period, Jiang Shengyan looked at herself in the mirror and felt quite satisfied.
Her skin was fair and delicate without a single flaw, her almond-shaped eyes watery and sparkling with tiny points of starlight. Her face was striking and vivid—cold yet dazzling, like a blooming white rose: thorny, yet radiating charm. Her legs were straight and slender. All her hard work over such a long time had finally paid off, and Jiang Shengyan was deeply gratified.
School started tomorrow. That evening, Jiang Shengyan packed everything she would need for the new term into her schoolbag and went to bed early.