DXXZL - 31

After criticizing Zhou Yuan, Xie Ya returned to the office with Cao Shujun, carrying the test papers.

Zhu Xingyao and Li Xixi, who had been hiding behind the wall, both let out a sigh of relief. Lu Ji and the others walked over to them. Jiang Tu glanced coldly at Lu Ji, then lowered his head to speak to Zhu Xingyao. “I’m leaving first.”

He turned and walked away, his back exuding an air of aloofness.

Zhu Xingyao’s wrist still ached from where he had gripped it earlier, and she instinctively turned her head to watch his retreating figure. Lu Ji subtly blocked her view and asked quietly, “What did the teacher say just now? Were you so scared that you didn’t dare come out?”

Li Xixi quickly replied, “Cao just asked Teacher Xie out twice, and both times were rejected. You know how embarrassing that is. If students saw it, it would be so humiliating. Of course we had to hide. Plus...”

Zhu Xingyao quickly pulled her arm to stop her from continuing.

Li Xixi gasped and quickly changed the subject, “Anyway, if they knew we heard, we’d definitely get scolded.”

Zhou Yuan, who had just been unfairly criticized and scolded, twitched his lips.

Lu Ji looked down at Zhu Xingyao and asked, “Are you eating together later?”

Xu Xiangyang was tactful this time. He looked at Li Xixi and said, “I almost got you caught by the teacher earlier. I’ll treat you today, okay?”

Li Xixi looked at Zhu Xingyao. “Shall we go?”

Since there was an exam today, school ended earlier than usual. Zhu Xingyao checked the time and looked up to ask, “Shall we eat near the school gate? Afterward, I can go straight to my German class.”

Lu Ji asked, “What do you want to eat?”

Zhu Xingyao thought for a moment and said, “How about hot pot?”

The five of them went to a hot pot restaurant near the school gate. Xu Xiangyang dropped a bowl of pig brain into the bubbling broth, and Li Xixi poked at her rice, saying, “I didn’t expect you to like this kind of thing.”

A while later.

Xu Xiangyang placed the pig brain in her bowl and smiled. “It’s for you. Eat it to boost your brainpower so you won’t have to cheat next time.”

Li Xixi: “...”

She glared at him angrily and kicked him under the table.

The chairs and tables rattled noisily, the table shaking. Zhou Yuan turned and cursed, “Damn it! Xu Xiangyang, hurry up and make this lady happy!”

Lu Ji chuckled as he pressed down on the wobbling table leg and looked up at Zhu Xingyao, “Where are you going during winter break?”

Zhu Xingyao held back her laughter and tilted her head to look at him. “I’ll stay in Beijing for a few days and take lessons with Teacher Chen Lan.”

Lu Ji thought for a moment and asked, “Will you spend the Spring Festival in Jiangcheng?”

“I spend every Spring Festival with my grandparents.” Zhu Xingyao added, “They live in the neighboring city.”

It was only six o’clock after finishing their meal. Old Liu’s car was already waiting outside. Zhu Xingyao stood up, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and Lu Ji handed her scarf to her. She looked up and smiled at him, “Thank you.”

Li Xixi was dragged by Xu Xiangyang, walking behind with Zhou Yuan.

Lu Ji escorted Zhu Xingyao to the car and looked down at her. “Can I call you during the winter break?”

Zhu Xingyao found it a bit strange. Why did he need to ask for permission? Isn’t calling something you just do when you feel like it? Besides, he had sent her quite a few texts before. She nodded, “Sure.”

Lu Ji had deliberately asked. He felt that her nodding in agreement carried a different meaning than if he had just called her himself. With his hands in his pockets, he tilted his chin slightly and smiled. “Get in the car quickly, or you’ll be late.”

After Zhu Xingyao got in the car, Li Xixi and Xu Xiangyang also walked up to the car. She waved at them.

Two days later, winter break officially began.

Zhu Xingyao left for Beijing on the same day and didn’t return to Jiangcheng until the morning of New Year’s Eve. After dinner on New Year’s Eve, the family gathered around the TV to watch the Spring Festival Gala. Zhu Xingyao’s phone kept buzzing, filled with holiday greetings from classmates. Ding Yu nudged Zhu Yunping and glanced at their daughter. “Look at your daughter. Her phone is buzzing more than mine...”

Zhu Yunping laughed. “There’s no helping it. Our daughter is beautiful and loved, so naturally, many boys chase after her.”

Zhu Xingyao turned her head and cooed, “Dad!”

Ding Yu patted her head. “Just don’t start dating too early. You’re going abroad soon. If you started dating now, you’d be ruining some poor boy’s life, understand?”

At that moment, her phone suddenly rang.

It was Lu Ji calling.

Zhu Yunping glanced over, and Zhu Xingyao remembered the rumors swirling around. For a moment, panic struck her heart, but she quickly composed herself and stood up. “I won’t...” Her phone continued to ring, and she quickly said, “I’m going to take this call.”

She ran to the balcony and answered just before the call disconnected.

“I thought you weren’t going to pick up,” Lu Ji’s side was quiet. He seemed to exhale in relief and softly laughed. “Happy New Year, Zhu Xingyao.”

“I was in the living room just now,” Zhu Xingyao explained and then said, “Happy New Year.”

“Watching the Spring Festival Gala?”

“Mm-hmm.”

The call lasted only a few minutes. Fearing that Zhu Yunping and Ding Yu might overthink things, Zhu Xingyao hung up and quickly returned. In small cities, fireworks aren’t strictly restricted. After the gala ended, Zhu Xingyao followed a few of her cousins to the rooftop to set off fireworks. Amidst the dazzling bursts of fireworks in the sky, her phone buzzed again.

She took out her phone to check.

Jiang Tu: “Happy New Year.”

Previously, she had sent out a group text greeting, but Jiang Tu’s simple four words clearly weren’t part of a mass message. She carefully typed out a reply: “Brother Tu, Happy New Year.”

...

Hexi Alley, 00:08 AM.

Jiang Tu leaned against the bed with his legs crossed, looking down at his phone. The TV in the living room had been fixed, and unusually, Jiang Jinhui and Shu Xian sat together watching the Spring Festival Gala all night.

The reason wasn’t complicated—someone had spread news that the demolition documents would definitely be issued by the end of the year. But some people still didn’t believe it. “Every year they say it will happen this year, but how many years have we waited already!”

That person insisted, “This time it’s definitely true! If not, I’ll give you a thousand yuan!”

On the eve of New Year’s, Chen Yi even brought people over, causing chaos in the house. At that time, Shu Xian could still calmly say, “You better not act reckless this year. If you cause trouble again, I…”

Jiang Jinhui impatiently interrupted, “You’ve said it over ten times already. Can you stop? Don’t you understand that small gambling is harmless?”

Shu Xian sneered, “That’s what rich people say. What ‘harmless gambling’ are you talking about when you’re neck-deep in high-interest debt?”

Jiang Jinhui cursed, “Will you ever stop, woman? Aren’t you just unhappy because half of the compensation money will go to paying off my debts? Let me tell you, whether you like it or not, that’s how it’s going to be!”

Indeed, as usual, their conversation inevitably devolved into an argument.

Jiang Tu lit a cigarette with an impassive expression, then pulled out his MP3 player and put on his headphones to listen to German audio recordings.

After the grueling Spring Festival passed, the new semester of Grade 11 began.

In March, Jiangcheng No. 1 High School posted the results of the National Physics Olympiad Winter Camp in the honor board. Lu Ji and Xu Xiangyang won national gold medals and secured early admission to Tsinghua and Peking University. The school only had two students admitted to these prestigious universities this year, and they were displayed alongside other students who won silver medals. Each student had a single portrait photo attached.

In the photo, Lu Ji wore his training uniform, his clear eyes and sunny smile attracting a group of girls to gather around the honor board and gossip: “Lu Ji is so handsome, and he got into Tsinghua. He’s amazing...”

“Doesn’t that mean his senior year will be super relaxed? He can just play around and pass?”

“Not necessarily. He can still date! Isn’t it said that he’s pursuing Zhu Xingyao? Now that he’s already been admitted to university, he can focus on chasing his goddess.”

“But Zhu Xingyao is going abroad.”

“One goes abroad, one gets early admission—it’s perfect! If these god-like figures don’t date in high school, they’ll definitely regret it later in life!”

...

The next day, Friday morning, another photo appeared on the honor board.

Someone had pasted Zhu Xingyao’s photo next to Lu Ji’s. Jiang Tu stood emotionlessly in front of the honor board, reached out, and tore down Zhu Xingyao’s photo. When he returned to the classroom, it was still early—half an hour before morning reading class—and the room was empty except for him.

He held the photo in his hand. In it, the girl in her school uniform sat at a desk, tilting her head slightly as if looking somewhere off-camera. Her large, bright eyes made her look beautiful even though the photo was clearly taken without her knowledge. She appeared a little awkward but still stunning.

She looked good no matter how she was photographed.

Jiang Tu slipped the photo into a textbook and placed the book into his bag.

Ten minutes before morning reading class, the classroom began to fill with students. Xia Jin’s expression wasn’t great; the photo she had secretly pasted the night before had been torn down again. She had expected to see everyone gathered around the honor board in the morning.

But there was nothing!

Zhou Xiaoyu didn’t know what she was upset about and cautiously asked, “Xia Jin, why are you so upset?”

Xia Jin impatiently replied, “It’s nothing.”

For three consecutive days, Jiang Tu arrived at school half an hour early and removed Zhu Xingyao’s photo from the honor board each day. On the fourth evening, when the sky had already darkened and only the senior year students were still studying, Jiang Tu leaned against a tree near the archway next to the experimental building. A lit cigarette dangled from his lips as he smoked, his cold gaze fixed on the figure slowly approaching the honor board.

When the figure looked around, he extinguished the cigarette and tossed it into a nearby trash can. Then, he strode forward.

Xia Jin was just about to paste another photo onto the board when she suddenly heard footsteps. She quickly hid her hands behind her back.

The next moment, the person approached.

She didn’t even have time to see his face; all she could smell was the faint scent of tobacco. Her hand was suddenly grabbed, and the photo was snatched away. Panic surged through her as she abruptly looked up, meeting Jiang Tu’s icy gaze. Her heart began to pound wildly.

Jiang Tu took the photo, released her hand, and pushed her back a couple of steps.

His face remained emotionless, his eyes colder than ever. “Don’t ever do this again.”

With that, he turned to leave.

“Wait.”

Xia Jin snapped out of her daze and ran forward a few steps to call out to him.

Jiang Tu didn’t stop.

Xia Jin bit her lip, glaring at his retreating figure. As he was about to disappear into the distance, she finally couldn’t hold back and shouted, “Do you like Zhu Xingyao? Otherwise, why would you care about this matter?”

Jiang Tu’s steps faltered. He turned to look at her. The sky was already dark, with only the streetlights illuminating the area. His expression was hidden in the dim light, and his voice was colder than before. “What I choose to do has nothing to do with you.”

He turned and continued walking.

Xia Jin froze in place, suddenly recalling how his hair had brushed against her face when he approached her. Her heart raced uncontrollably. But he was completely devoted to Zhu Xingyao! Xia Jin suddenly felt不甘 and impulsively ran forward, blocking his path.

Jiang Tu narrowed his eyes slightly. Xia Jin looked up at him and quickly said, “Jiang Tu, I know your family owes a lot of money. If… if you’re with me, I can help you pay it off. I have plenty of pocket money—it’s more than enough to help you. If it’s not enough, I can ask my dad or my brother for more.”

As she spoke, she grew increasingly excited. Yes! Jiang Tu’s family needed money, and her family had plenty! With this realization, she suddenly felt confident and looked at Jiang Tu expectantly, certain he would agree.

Jiang Tu glanced down at her and suddenly smiled, but his eyes were colder than ever. “Do I look like someone begging for money?”

Without another word, he walked past her and strode away.

Xia Jin stood frozen in place, only realizing after a long while that Jiang Tu had rejected her.

This was the first time she had ever confessed to a boy—and been rejected.

...

Zhu Xingyao knew nothing about any of this. She was fully focused on learning German and preparing for the TestDaF Level 4 exam in November. Day by day, April arrived. Before the Friday afternoon class meeting, Cao Ming rushed into the classroom, whispering mysteriously, “Did you guys hear? I just saw Old Cao trying to ask Teacher Xie out for dinner—and she rejected him! Rejected him!”

Cao Shujun’s pursuit of Teacher Xie had become something of a semi-public secret, especially among the students of Class 1 and Class 2. Everyone knew about it.

Hearing Cao Ming’s words, some boys burst into laughter. “Did Old Cao manage to get Teacher Xie to go out with him today?”

The entire class responded in unison: “No!”

Xu Xiangyang added lazily, “If you shout so loudly, Old Cao might come after you.”

In fact, Cao Shujun had already heard everything by the time he reached the stairwell. His lips twitched slightly as he entered the classroom with his teaching materials.

The classroom immediately fell silent.

Standing on the podium, Cao Shujun scanned the students and said frankly, “I indeed didn’t succeed in asking Teacher Xie out. However, she did say that if our class’s average score surpasses Class 2’s in the midterm exam, she’d agree to have dinner with me.”

A chorus of “Wow”s erupted from the students below.

Someone asked, “Really?”

Another student teased, “Teacher, isn’t this just a roundabout way to motivate us to study harder?”

Cao Shujun rested his hands on the podium and smiled. “Of course it’s true. So whether or not I can go out with Teacher Xie depends on all of you. Besides, studying hard isn’t for me—it’s for yourselves.”

Even if it was a roundabout tactic, it still spurred the students’ motivation to study.

During break time, Zhu Xingyao turned around holding a test paper and quietly placed it on Jiang Tu’s desk. “Brother Tu, can you explain this question to me? I got stuck halfway through.”

Jiang Tu looked up at her and replied, “Alright.”

Li Xixi leaned over to listen as Jiang Tu explained the problem, exclaiming, “I need to study harder too! If Old Cao doesn’t manage to win over Teacher Xie, I feel like it’d be my fault for dragging the class down…”

Xu Xiangyang turned around lazily and called out, “Li Xixi, move over to sit with me. I’ll tutor you—I’ve got plenty of free time.” Having already secured early admission, his workload was significantly lighter, and many students sought his help with problems.

Li Xixi hesitated, her face turning slightly red. She quickly replied, “No way! If I leave, who will Zhu Xingyao sit with?”

At that moment, Jiang Tu’s pencil lead snapped as he forcefully drew an auxiliary line.