DXXZL - 26

The group froze.

Zhu Xingyao looked up and saw Jiang Tu walking over, his face expressionless. He lowered his eyes to look at her—his gaze seemed devoid of emotion, yet also full of it, though she couldn’t decipher what lay beneath.

Was Xia Jin scared? Her previous arrogance vanished in an instant, and she silently stared at Jiang Tu standing beside Zhu Xingyao. Including Li Xixi and Ding Xiang, who had just returned, the four of them faced Xia Jin and Zhou Xiaoyu.

Just Jiang Tu’s presence alone exuded a suffocating pressure. His cold gaze was something Xia Jin found hard to bear.

Zhu Xingyao pursed her lips, her heart inexplicably tightening.

Li Xixi snapped out of her daze and quickly said: “Exactly! Stars didn’t hug Jiang Tu—it was just him protecting her from the water. What were you even thinking?” None of them had actually seen what happened that day; by the time they arrived, all they saw were two soaked figures. She herself had been shocked by the photo just now.

Jiang Tu asked: “Did you see clearly?”

Xia Jin: “…”

Jiang Tu narrowed his eyes slightly and directly took the phone from her hand.

The phone slipped out of Xia Jin’s grasp, and she froze: “Jiang Tu, what are you doing?”

Jiang Tu lowered his gaze, staring at the photo for a moment before speaking indifferently: “Delete this photo.” He quickly navigated to the delete option, pressing the confirmation button with deliberate force.

After deleting the photo, he handed the phone back to her.

Xia Jin hastily grabbed it, flipping through the gallery—sure enough, it was gone.

She quickly looked up at Jiang Tu, unable to accept his actions: “On what grounds did you delete my photo?”

“The person in the photo is me. Without my permission, you spread it around and used it to threaten others—why shouldn’t I delete it?” Jiang Tu kept his face cold throughout. “This incident was an accident, and Zhu Xingyao was merely caught up in it. Don’t mention anything about hugging or spreading rumors about her again.”

With that, he turned and walked toward his seat.

The others stood frozen, watching him as he moved.

Xia Jin had never been treated with such a cold and forceful attitude in her life. Her face alternated between red and pale, looking as if she might cry. Zhou Xiaoyu didn’t dare breathe loudly, regretting not leaving earlier…

A few seconds later.

Ding Xiang said: “That’s the first time I’ve heard Tu Ge speak so much at once.”

Li Xixi: “Who hasn’t?”

Zhu Xingyao turned to look at the boy’s retreating figure, her emotions tangled but unsurprised—this was exactly the kind of thing Jiang Tu would do. He picked up his backpack from the desk, closed the back door, and walked around to the front. Looking straight at her, he asked: “Are you coming or not?”

Zhu Xingyao adjusted her backpack strap, nodded, and said: “Let’s go.”

The group left, but Xia Jin remained, standing there stubbornly as if waiting for someone to comfort her.

Zhou Xiaoyu timidly said: “Let’s go. The classroom needs to be locked.”

Xia Jin bit her lip, angrily stormed out, and confronted them, glaring at Jiang Tu: “Jiang Tu, you’re being unreasonable!” With that, she turned and hurried away, clearly furious.

The group fell silent for a moment. Li Xixi said: “Ding Xiang, lock the door.”

Zhu Xingyao looked up at Jiang Tu and softly asked: “Do you think Xia Jin will cause trouble for you?” Having someone like Zhang Sheng was already annoying enough—if Xia Jin joined in, Jiang Tu’s school life would become unbearable…

Jiang Tu glanced down at her: “It doesn’t matter. Let’s head back first.”

The four descended the stairs. Zhu Xingyao and Li Xixi both had rides waiting for them, so they headed toward the school gate. Li Xixi smiled: “Tu Ge was so cool and cold just now! I’ve realized it—Tu Ge may seem cold on the outside, but he’s fiercely protective of those close to him…”

Zhu Xingyao chuckled faintly, glancing toward the bike shed, lost in thought.

Jiang Tu mounted his bike, suddenly pausing, staring intently at the ground.

“Zhu Xingyao, how shameless of you! You say you don’t like Jiang Tu, so why were you hugging him?”

Xia Jin’s earlier words echoed in his mind.

“You say you don’t like Jiang Tu…”

Zhu Xingyao had said she didn’t like him.

And she blushed when she was with Lu Ji.

His heart ached. Lowering his eyes, he clenched his jaw and tightened his grip on the handlebars. A few seconds later, he suddenly pedaled off, startling Ding Xiang, who had just pushed his bike out. Ding Xiang muttered: “Why rush off so fast? I was about to ask if we could eat together…”

________________________________________

After a busy weekend, Zhu Xingyao had completely forgotten about the incident. On Monday, she bumped into Xia Jin at the school gate and was glared at, which reminded her that they now had unresolved tension between them.

Back in the classroom, Li Xixi was humming a song with her headphones on, while Ding Xiang was copying math homework. Without looking up, he said: “Tu Ge, lend me your physics homework later—I’ll copy it.”

Jiang Tu pushed his glasses up and replied: “I haven’t finished it.”

“Then hurry up and write it,” Zhu Xingyao said, standing between the two desks and looking down at him. “I’ll be collecting assignments soon.”

He glanced up at her and gave a low hum of acknowledgment.

Not long after the sports meet ended, preparations for midterms began. During morning reading, Cao Shujun entered the classroom and reminded everyone: “Midterms are approaching. Take them seriously.”

Zhu Xingyao hid her German vocabulary list under her Chinese textbook, quietly practicing and reciting in a soft voice.

Suddenly, Li Xixi leaned over and whispered: “Stars, teach me a few German words every day. And a few sentences too—I’ll be able to show off later and pretend I know multiple languages.”

“Which ones?” Zhu Xingyao smiled.

“Chinese, English, German, and our hometown dialect.”

“Alright.”

During the break, Zhu Xingyao taught Li Xixi German. Her voice was pleasant, and she worked hard, already able to recite an entire passage.

Jiang Tu glanced up at her—he didn’t understand a word of German.

Ding Xiang spun his pen: “Why are you learning German, Li Xixi? You’re not going abroad.”

Li Xixi: “Have you ever heard of ‘the sea of knowledge has no boundaries’?”

When Zhu Xingyao started teaching again, Ding Xiang joined in, learning a few phrases. Turning to Jiang Tu, she blinked: “Tu Ge, do you want to learn together?”

Jiang Tu looked at her.

Zhu Xingyao blinked again: “I can teach you all together.”

He shifted slightly, lowering his textbook, and looked at her: “Alright, where do we start?”

Zhu Xingyao: “…”

She hadn’t expected him to agree. His expression remained calm and aloof, showing no trace of frivolity—unlike Li Xixi and Ding Xiang, who were casually learning a few phrases just to show off their knowledge of a foreign language…

It seemed that whatever he did, he approached it with seriousness and focus.

She shouldn’t have asked! Suddenly, she felt the pressure mounting. She herself had only been studying German for a few months, barely scratching the surface, and now she was supposed to teach others…

She hesitated: “Then… should we start with vocabulary?”

“It’s up to you,” Jiang Tu said calmly, looking at her.

Zhu Xingyao paused, pursed her lips, and whispered: “Let me think about what to start with first. You’re so serious—it’s making me nervous… It feels like I need to prepare a lesson plan or something.”

Jiang Tu’s lips curved slightly: “You can take it easy. No need to be nervous.”

The last time he had asked her, “Is learning German difficult?” That time, he had wanted her to recite German phrases in front of him—he wanted to learn too—but then Ding Xiang and Li Xixi interrupted, and the topic was dropped.

Ding Xiang burst into laughter.

Li Xixi turned her head, grinning: “Little Teacher Zhu, don’t be nervous.”

Zhu Xingyao: “…”

She glanced at Ding Xiang and Li Xixi, then looked at Jiang Tu: “I’ll go back and find my old textbooks, organize them, and bring them to you guys… Let’s wait until after the midterms though, so it doesn’t interfere with the exams.”

________________________________________

Thursday afternoon brought a computer class. As usual, Class 2 would finish before Class 1 took over. The computer lab was located in the experimental building behind the senior three classrooms. Everyone arrived a few minutes early. Jiang Tu walked to the corridor outside the classroom. Lin Jiayu, sitting by the rear window, turned to look at him, her expression somewhat dazed.

Jiang Tu glanced at her, his gaze landing on the QQ chat window she had open. The photo he had deleted was now enlarged on her screen.

It was impossible to miss.

He paused for a moment, then quickly walked over, lowering his voice: “Close it. Why are you enlarging it like this?”

Lin Jiayu hurriedly closed the chat window, looking as if she wanted to say something but held back. Class had already ended, but as usual, some students lingered to use the internet a little longer. Jiang Tu stepped inside and stood behind Lin Jiayu: “I’ll sit here.”

“Oh, okay.” She quickly stood up, unplugging the MP3 data cable.

Zhu Xingyao and Li Xixi entered to find seats. As Lin Jiayu left, she glanced back at Zhu Xingyao, recalling the photo. In it, Zhu Xingyao’s hair had been soaking wet, and though she looked disheveled, she still appeared beautiful.

She was simply too shocked that Jiang Tu had hugged her…

Perhaps no one knew Jiang Tu better than her—they had grown up together since childhood. She had never seen him get so close to any girl, let alone hug one… It could be explained away as him being a guy protecting a girl.

But…

She still found Jiang Tu’s gaze in that moment unfamiliar—she had never seen such an expression from him before.

Zhu Xingyao smiled at Lin Jiayu: “What’s wrong?”

Lin Jiayu shook her head, returning a smile before leaving. She forgot to log out of her QQ and came running back, calling from the doorway: “Jiang Tu, help me log out of QQ.”

Jiang Tu paused briefly, not turning around, and hummed in acknowledgment.

Lin Jiayu had a habit of meticulously organizing her QQ friend list, even categorizing them into groups. The person who had sent her the photo was a girl named Du Yanyan from Class 15. Their chat window was still open, and the conversation was brief.

Du Yanyan: Is Jiang Tu your boyfriend?

Lin Jiayu: No, he isn’t. He doesn’t like me. All the rumors have been cleared up—don’t spread misinformation.

Du Yanyan: Alright, I understand. By the way, I took a picture of him and Zhu Xingyao that day—I’ll show it to you.

And then there was the photo.

Jiang Tu frowned slightly. Was this Du Yanyan planning to circulate the photo everywhere? He lowered his head and typed out a message.

A few seconds later, his gaze fixed on the photo.

In the end, Jiang Tu saved the photo onto a USB drive and his phone.

________________________________________

At a little past ten on Saturday night, Jiang Tu returned to Hexi Alley from the coffee shop. Lin Jiayu was sitting in his living room watching Jiang Lu do homework. As Jiang Tu headed toward his room, she followed him.

Jiang Tu turned to look at her: “Why are you following me?”

Lin Jiayu glanced at Jiang Lu and whispered: “It’s nothing really. Du Yanyan told me she received a QQ message telling her not to spread the photo around. But I didn’t send that message…”

“I did,” Jiang Tu said flatly.

Lin Jiayu bit her lip, looking up at him: “Actually, I’ve been thinking about that photo a lot these past few days. I know Lu Ji likes Zhu Xingyao—I overheard Zhou Yuan talking to him about it. Plus, there are rumors going around in class—it’s almost like it’s not a secret anymore. Anyway, Lu Ji is pursuing Zhu Xingyao… I thought about it, and Lu Ji is handsome, comes from a good family, has a sunny personality, and is kind to everyone. A lot of girls like him…”

Jiang Tu grew impatient: “What exactly are you trying to say?”

“I…” Lin Jiayu looked up at him, asking cautiously, “Jiang Tu, do you like Zhu Xingyao?”