Do You Really Believe Me?

Two days after it happened, Jiang Xueli had stayed in that state.

And the rumors seemed to have gradually spread to the other classes.

But just as the system had said, as an absolutely neutral bystander, Lin Zhengran had indeed noticed that something was off in certain details. Once enough time passed, it would be easy to see the clues.

The third and fourth periods that morning were PE Class, and the Physical Education Teacher had everyone split into pairs to do sit-ups.

They were free to choose their partners.

Most of the class paired girls with girls and boys with boys.

But as one might imagine, even though the number of girls happened to be even, the last girl would rather go find a boy than partner with Jiang Xueli.

Naturally, she was left over. The Physical Education Teacher asked, "Everyone paired up?"

"Teacher! Jiang Xueli still hasn't found a partner!" A boy gloating over the drama raised his hand, and everyone looked over one after another, their gazes indescribably strange.

Jiang Xueli stood there, her face deathly pale.

The Physical Education Teacher was curious. "Jiang Xueli? Why can't you find a partner? If you can't find one, then wait until the first group finishes practicing, and then just find anyone to help you."

Someone fanned the flames. "Teacher, no one's going to help her! She's a thief. None of us will partner with her."

Jiang Xueli explained in a panic, "I'm not! I'm not a thief!"

"You are!" "Yeah, you dare say you're not?!" "The teacher already removed you!"

When the Physical Education Teacher heard "thief," he remembered that this class really had had something like that happen a while back, but he did not ask further. "Don't discuss that in PE Class! You're only allowed to discuss PE matters!" The teacher looked at Jiang Xueli. "Whether you're a thief or not, do you really not have a single person you're close to normally?"

Under the teacher's gaze, Jiang Xueli's eyes reddened. She felt that the teacher's eyes were clearly the eyes one used to look at a thief.

But she could not say anything.

Just then, someone in the line suddenly raised his hand. "Teacher, I'll pair with her."

Everyone, along with the Physical Education Teacher, looked toward that person. The one raising his hand was Lin Zhengran.

Jiang Xueli also stared at him in disbelief.

The Physical Education Teacher nodded in surprise. "That's fine. Then Lin Zhengran and Jiang Xueli will be a pair. All right, everyone warm up and start practicing!"

The crowd started whispering again, and among them were inevitably some familiar bits of gossip:

"I didn't believe it when people used to say those two were dating, but now it looks like it's true."

"Yeah. But how can Lin Zhengran have such bad taste? He even likes a thief? He's the top student in our class."

"Are those two really dating?"

Lin Zhengran looked at everyone coldly. "What are you saying?"

The people in the class all shut their mouths. No one wanted to fight Lin Zhengran. After all, this guy was extremely unusual: good grades, strong body. If Lin Zhengran had not been unwilling to be class monitor, he might even have become class monitor when school started.

The Physical Education Teacher had everyone split up according to their groups. Lin Zhengran looked at Jiang Xueli as she came to his side.

She was staring at him as if she had seen a ghost.

Lin Zhengran frowned speechlessly. "What's with that look? It feels like you're looking at a monkey."

"I am not!" Jiang Xueli pressed her lips together and answered softly, "You—you're actually willing to partner with me? Aren't you afraid you'll be gossiped about too..."

"You really worry about a lot of things." Lin Zhengran looked completely unconcerned. "Leaving aside the fact that the two of us have always been the target of gossip in class, do you really think I'm the kind of person who cares what other people think? I don't even bother paying attention to them, okay?"

Jiang Xueli's face went a little blank. "True. You've always been weird. No one can figure you out."

The Physical Education Teacher started shouting for everyone to begin practicing.

Lin Zhengran sat down on the grass while Jiang Xueli held down his legs as he practiced sit-ups.

She stared at Lin Zhengran's expression, which was as normal as ever, and after hesitating, suddenly asked, "Do you believe me..."

But her voice was too quiet, and Lin Zhengran did not answer right away. Jiang Xueli thought he had not heard and no longer had the courage to ask a second time.

Who would have thought that after doing two sit-ups, Lin Zhengran would answer, "If I didn't believe you, I wouldn't have partnered with you. In our class, I think anyone could have stolen something, but not you. After all, I can tell you really like the position of Disciplinary Committee Member. You wouldn't do something that would ruin your own hobby."

Jiang Xueli did not even know what kind of feeling she had when she heard that. She only felt that the boy in front of her was extremely pleasing to the eye.

Her heart was beating very fast. The mood that had been weighing on her for several days improved by more than half, and even the air seemed to turn fresh.

A faint smile surfaced on her face, mixed with an unobtrusive blush.

She pressed down on his legs a little harder.

At noon, the weather was gloomy, and it really started raining.

And the rain was not light.

When Lin Zhengran went to the back of the classroom during lunch to check, he did not find his umbrella. He instantly remembered that the last time it rained, he seemed to have taken it home and had not brought it back.

The people in the classroom had already gone to the cafeteria one after another.

When Jiang Xueli was about to go too, she saw Lin Zhengran walk out of the classroom empty-handed.

She looked at the umbrella in her hand and, as if possessed, followed after him.

When they reached the first floor of the Teaching Building, Lin Zhengran looked at the pouring rain continuously falling over the campus and asked the person behind him in confusion, "Why are you following me?"

Jiang Xueli, who had been tailing him from behind, froze. Then she came out from the corner and said haughtily, "Wh-who's following you?! What nonsense! I'm going to eat too. Of course I have to pass through here."

Lin Zhengran glanced back at her. Jiang Xueli pretended to look elsewhere, her double ponytails falling to her waist, looking especially playful.

She stammered, "Did you not bring an umbrella? How about... how about sharing mine? I've never shared an umbrella with a boy before, but I can't just watch you get soaked." She kept looking away, her eyes secretly darting toward Lin Zhengran.

Who would have thought Lin Zhengran would reply, "No need."

"No need?" Jiang Xueli was shocked. She walked up beside him. "How are you going to leave without an umbrella in rain this heavy? And didn't you say you weren't afraid of rumors? Are you actually scared to walk with me?!"

Lin Zhengran said plainly, "Mainly because you looked like you didn't want to go with me."

Jiang Xueli choked, clenching her little fists.

She said stubbornly, "Yes! I-I don't want to share an umbrella with you. After all, I'm a girl and you're a boy! People will gossip if we share an umbrella, but it's not like there's any other choice, is there?!"

Lin Zhengran stared curiously at that expression of hers. He had truly only ever seen it in fictional works. "Jiang Xueli, do you know what a tsundere is?"

Jiang Xueli let out an "ah" and shook her head. "Never heard of it. What's a tsundere?"

"Nothing. Just take it as me praising you."

Her expression turned strange, and she muttered, "Really... Why do I feel like it doesn't sound like that... I'll look it up online when I get home tonight, so are you going to share my umbrella or not? Hurry up and decide. A lot of people are watching us! I get embarrassed too, okay?"

There really were quite a few people in the first-floor hall looking their way. In elementary school, a boy and a girl sharing an umbrella together was indeed a rare sight.

Lin Zhengran said thanks, and only then did Jiang Xueli finally relax.

She held the umbrella over Lin Zhengran.

Since she was not tall, the umbrella was eventually taken over by Lin Zhengran. "Let me do it. Aren't your arms tired from stretching them so straight?"

Jiang Xueli put both hands behind her back and walked close beside him in the rain, shyly. "Who told you to grow so tall?"

Perhaps because the space under the umbrella felt very hidden, Jiang Xueli could not help asking again, "Do you really believe me? Believe that I didn't steal anything? All the classmates think I'm a thief."

"Didn't I already answer that in PE Class?" Seeing the expectant look in her eyes, he said helplessly, "I really do believe you. But I'm curious—are you just letting this matter go?"

Jiang Xueli answered happily, her hands clenched into fists. "Of course I'm not letting it go! I'm going to find out who framed me, then teach her a harsh lesson! And why did Jiang Xiao identify me as the one who took it? She was clearly lying. I have to investigate that too!"

"Oh? I really couldn't tell you had this much ambition. You've obviously been like a wilted plant these past two days."

Jiang Xueli said the opposite of what she meant. "Nonsense! Who said I was wilted? Aren't I perfectly fine now? Before, I just hadn't gotten over it for a moment."

Lin Zhengran chuckled and did not feel like commenting.

Jiang Xueli lowered her little fists and secretly looked at Lin Zhengran. Her double ponytails swayed with each step, and she was extremely happy.

"What are you laughing at? And laughing so ugly too."

At the entrance of the distant Teaching Building, Jiang Xiao stood holding two pink umbrellas, watching Lin Zhengran leave with Jiang Xueli.

Some things seemed to have backfired even more.

"Lin Zhengran."