I'll Wait for You in the Little Woods Behind the School

Monday morning.

With a bun clenched between his teeth, Jiang Yubai once again slipped into the classroom right as the bell rang.

He shoved his snack-stuffed backpack into his desk, glanced up at the clock, and hurriedly took several big bites of the bun.

But he had eaten far too quickly. A huge mouthful of filling and dough got stuck in his throat, neither going down nor coming back up.

Jiang Yubai immediately choked, fumbling for the water bottle in his desk—empty!

Damn it, where's the water?!

Only then did he remember that after finishing his water on Friday, he apparently had not refilled it.

"Cough, cough-cough..."

Holding back his breath as he coughed miserably, he urgently turned toward Lin Jianxia, his eyes full of pleading.

Lin Jianxia had been quietly memorizing English vocabulary. Who would have thought the guy beside her would suddenly pull something like this?

After hesitating for a moment, she still took her own water bottle out of her desk.

The moment she picked it up, Jiang Yubai snatched it from her like he had seen a savior. He twisted off the cap, tilted his head back, and poured water into his mouth without touching the bottle.

Lin Jianxia's eyes flew wide open—

I meant for you to pour it into a cup! Who told you to drink straight from the bottle?!

After finally washing down the stuck bun, Jiang Yubai let out a long breath and turned to her sincerely.

"Thanks. You really saved me."

Lin Jianxia glared at him for a long while, but in the end, she did nothing. She merely took back her cup with a sulky expression.

I should've just let you choke to death!

Naturally, Jiang Yubai had no idea what she was grumbling about internally. He simply rubbed his chest and pulled out his English textbook, placing it in front of him.

He had already called Landlady Li from Splendid New Village yesterday and learned about the room he would be moving into.

Although it was a fully renovated apartment and did not need redecorating, the original furniture was far too old. Replacing it and giving the walls a simple fresh coat of paint would take at least a week before the place was livable.

Which meant he still had to eat his own cooking for an entire week.

Sigh... I should've stayed for dinner at Lin Jianxia's place before leaving...

Jiang Yubai sighed regretfully, then turned to look at his deskmate.

Lin Jianxia had no expression on her face. Her gaze rested on the English textbook on her desk, and she showed no reaction whatsoever to his stare. Clearly, she was still sulking.

Hmm... maybe that really was a little inappropriate...

After some thought, Jiang Yubai grabbed his scratch pad and scribbled down:

"Things were urgent just now. Sorry, sorry."

After writing it, he took a carton of yogurt from his backpack, lightly placed it on the scratch pad, and pushed them both to Lin Jianxia's side of the desk.

But to Jiang Yubai's surprise, Lin Jianxia merely glanced at them before looking away, returning her gaze to the textbook. She showed no intention of accepting them.

Hey, is that really necessary?

Jiang Yubai froze slightly. He took back the scratch pad and wrote again:

"Hey, Lin Tingwan, your sister wouldn't let the two of us talk at home before. Now you should at least chat with me, right?"

But after he passed it over this time, Lin Jianxia's reaction was even stronger.

She raised a hand to press against her temple, then simply turned her body slightly in the other direction, looking entirely unwilling to communicate.

That unusual behavior left Jiang Yubai completely dumbfounded.

That's not right... Does she not care at all about being exposed?

Isn't she afraid I'll realize this isn't how "Lin Tingwan" should react at all?

Thinking of this, Jiang Yubai stubbornly tried several more times. But no matter the topic, no matter what snacks he switched to, the girl beside him remained unmoved and did not even raise her eyelids.

Could it be... Lin Jianxia really cared that much about someone using her cup?

Looking at her still-unresponsive profile, Jiang Yubai, who was beginning to question his life choices, took back the scratch pad and gave up completely.

What he did not know was that when Lin Jianxia saw that he had finally settled down, she too let out a heavy sigh of relief inside.

Of course, she was not angry over the cup. It was just that... she truly could not reply.

After all, today was the day she would come clean to Jiang Yubai. If she were still using her sister's name now and seriously told Jiang Yubai what "Lin Jianxia" liked and disliked...

She might as well just die.

—So you were the one who apologized to me on behalf of 'Lin Jianxia' back then?

—And when I kept pestering you every day to ask about Lin Jianxia's preferences, all those answers were actually from you?

—No wonder you kept stopping me from talking to your sister at home. You were afraid of getting exposed!

The moment she imagined the scenes that might unfold later, Lin Jianxia wanted nothing more than to dig a hole and crawl into it.

Especially since all those conversations were written down in black and white on that scratch pad!

If Jiang Yubai had an even worse personality, he might tie her to a chair and theatrically recite the chat records from the notebook...

At that thought, Lin Jianxia had already begun seriously considering whether she should snatch the scratch pad from Jiang Yubai right now and destroy it on the spot.

As for when to come clean?

Where Jiang Yubai could not see, Lin Jianxia wore a miserable little expression.

I'll wait a little longer...

After the flag-raising ceremony ended, Jiang Yubai had just returned to the classroom when he saw Li Yang in the back row waggling his eyebrows at him with an extremely strange expression.

What is this guy up to...?

Curious, Jiang Yubai had barely walked over when Li Yang impatiently leaned in.

"Hey, hey, hey, Brother Jiang," he lowered his voice mysteriously. "Tell me, Brother Jiang, do you and Lin Tingwan... actually have something going on?"

Jiang Yubai had not expected that to be his opening line and was instantly speechless. "No, where exactly did you hear that from? Did it come from the girls again?"

"Huh? It's another rumor?" Li Yang immediately looked disappointed. "The way they told it sounded so convincing."

"You said the same thing last time." Jiang Yubai frowned. "Tell me first—what exactly did you hear?"

Seeing his serious expression, Li Yang stopped being cryptic. He scratched his head and told the truth.

"Well... I heard someone say that having Zhao Yun and Li Qiuyue wasn't enough for you, Brother Jiang, so you even reached your claws toward Lin Tingwan."

"At first, nobody believed it, but then someone said they saw you passing notes with Lin Tingwan, and that you even used her water bottle this morning..."

"Now the whole class is spreading it around, saying you're a... cough, scumbag."

Jiang Yubai spoke with a helpless look on his face.

"No, the stuff about Zhao Yun and Li Qiuyue being complete nonsense is one thing, but how did passing a note turn into this?"

Li Yang stroked his chin and nodded solemnly. "I think maybe some girl has a crush on you."

"Are you insane?"

Jiang Yubai shot him an annoyed look, did not take it to heart, and turned around to head straight back to his seat.

Once seated, he spun his pen between his fingers, and his gaze drifted back to his deskmate.

Rather than worrying about who was spreading rumors about him, he should figure out what exactly Lin Jianxia was sulking about.

He had not even put his mouth on the bottle. He had only drunk from a distance a couple of times. Was it really worth staying mad this long?

Just as he was thinking about it, Lin Jianxia took a deep breath as if she had made up her mind. She reached for the scratch pad at the corner of the desk, quickly wrote a line, and pushed it over.

Hmm? She's finally not angry anymore?

Jiang Yubai raised his brows as he took the notebook. The instant he saw what was written, he froze in place.

"Don't leave after school. I'll wait for you in the little woods behind the school."

He read the line over and over again before turning his head in disbelief.

Lin Jianxia was staring straight at the textbook on her desk, but the tips of her ears were so red they looked ready to burn.

—Holy shit, could those people really have been right?