An indirect kiss

The bells had not been specially adjusted for the placement exams, so the exam lasted two ninety-minute lessons plus the ten-minute break...

Qin An finished his essay and the questions in less than one lesson. He beckoned to Liao Yu...

Liao Yu came over and lowered her voice. "What is it?"

Delicate collarbones framed Liao Yu's fair neck, her fine skin spreading beneath them. The heavy pendant on her dazzling little silver chain had not fallen free, but was tightly caught in that fathomless, milky-white cleft, making one unable to help wondering whether a finger pushed inside would also be hard to pull out.

Sensing Qin An's wandering gaze peering inside, Liao Yu felt both embarrassed and angry. She had momentarily forgotten how precocious the child before her was and hurriedly covered her neckline...

Liao Yu struggled to suppress the urge to berate Qin An. First, this was an exam room; second, she was a little apprehensive herself. With a student who dared tell a teacher, "I'll strip off your underwear, pull out the elastic, and make a slingshot to shoot your butt," who knew what shocking words he might blurt out when she scolded him? Wouldn't that only embarrass her further?

"Could you check how many marks I'd get?" Qin An handed Liao Yu his paper...

Liao Yu stood beside him, the milky scent unique to a nursing young woman wafting into his nose. The tops of her long, slender legs were even higher than the desktop, strikingly displayed before Qin An's eyes, their graceful curves utterly alluring...

Liao Yu frowned at Qin An's paper, her brows alternately knitting and relaxing. After a quick read, she said, "Forty-something..."

Liao Yu's voice was not loud, but in the quiet classroom, everyone could hear it clearly...

Zhao Weiguo felt immensely satisfied, and Zhu Qinghe even gave a quiet chuckle...

Ye Zhulan glanced back, her eyes filled with worry...

"Surely not?" Qin An snatched his paper back. Though he had left plenty blank, his score should not have been that low...

Liao Yu finally seized the opportunity to vent a little of her anger. She had deliberately not lowered her voice just now, too. Seeing Qin An's puzzled gaze, she tapped his essay. "This essay gets zero..."

Qin An shook his head and held his paper down. He neither handed it in early nor revised it, instead taking out a sheet of blank paper and beginning to draw...

Seeing Qin An drawing reminded Liao Yu of that scene in the art room. Her expression stiffened slightly, and she quickly walked away from him...

Now Qin An could only pray that Liao Yu would not be marking his Chinese paper. He had not pinned much hope on his Chinese score, and even if it was a little poor, he would not mind too much...

The second exam was English, and the invigilator was Class 70's English teacher, Huang Yaohua. He was a veteran foreign-language teacher who had once taught Russian and was very well known throughout Qingshan Town...

Huang Yaohua swept his gaze over the classroom. "This paper is quite difficult. It contains a large number of unfamiliar words that you won't learn until the third year, but their meanings aren't hard to guess from the context..."

Huang Yaohua handed out the papers, his gaze focusing on the students from Class 70. By a remarkable coincidence, the students with the best English scores in Class 70 were all in this exam room. Huang Yaohua did not care whether the other students copied or sneaked looks; he only wanted to see how well his own students answered...

Huang Yaohua walked around the classroom, stopping to watch from time to time. Zhu Qinghe's speed and accuracy in particular pleased him greatly. He estimated that Zhu Qinghe could score over ninety...

Those students from Class 70 answered noticeably faster than the students from other classes. Even Zhao Weiguo fell somewhat short of them. Huang Yaohua had set this paper, and his students were more accustomed to his style of questions...

Hmm?

Huang Yaohua's gaze sharpened. What was Qin Huai's son doing?

Huang Yaohua walked over, only to discover that Qin An was actually drawing!

"Concentrate on the questions... try to finish before the exam ends. Don't disgrace your father..." For a teacher, having a son who performed poorly in the subject he taught was an absolute embarrassment. If he could not even teach his own son properly, could he teach other students well? Such a judgment would leave a person unable to voice his grievances, stifled with frustration...

"I've finished..." Qin An gave the figure he had drawn a Latin name, then pulled out his exam paper for Huang Yaohua to look at...

The exam had only begun half an hour ago!

Huang Yaohua checked it skeptically, an incredulous expression appearing on his face. "This essay... go outside. Don't stay here and disturb the others taking the exam..."

Qin An dawdled out of the classroom and glanced back at Ye Zhulan. She winked at him, and he understood, running downstairs to wait outside the teaching building...

All three third-year classes were taking exams, while the first- and second-year students were also in class. Qin An stood out conspicuously wandering around alone. After he had waited for about half an hour, Ye Zhulan came running downstairs...

Ye Zhulan and Qin An ran out of school and went to the patch of grass where they had lain together last time. The tea leaves around them were still dark green, enclosing them densely. This was a little world known only to the two of them...

Ye Zhulan naturally took Qin An's hand and sat down. Her hand was still warm and small...

Ye Zhulan took a lunch box out of her schoolbag and said with a beaming smile, "I brought something delicious. My dad brought it back from a business trip, and my mom cooked it. It's really good..."

Qin An glanced at Ye Zhulan's lunch box. It was Lock&Lock, a brand relatively uncommon in this era, and also one of the few brands that would rarely lack a "made in china" label later on...

An enticing aroma greeted him. Curled red shrimp formed ring after ring, covering the entire lunch box, their firm flesh glistening faintly with oil. Beneath the shrimp were large grains of white rice mixed with diced ham and cucumber slices...

"These are called Alaskan red shrimp. Try one..." Ye Zhulan picked up a shrimp with her chopsticks and pushed it toward Qin An's mouth...

"You eat first..." Qin An dodged it...

"Why?" Ye Zhulan was a little unhappy. She had been so delighted to bring Qin An something delicious, yet he actually seemed not to care much...

Ye Zhulan ate a shrimp and pursed her lips around the chopsticks. Pouting, she said a little reproachfully, "Try it. It's really good..."

When Ye Zhulan picked up another shrimp this time, Qin An did not refuse. He took the shrimp into his mouth, but also closed his lips around the chopsticks for a moment before releasing them, looking at Ye Zhulan with a broad, delighted smile...

Ye Zhulan was a little puzzled and touched her face. There was nothing wrong with her... A pink flush spread across it, and she lowered her head in embarrassment, lightly knocking her little fist against Qin An's knee...

"Now you understand, don't you? Smacking your lips around your chopsticks after eating is a bad habit, isn't it?" Having taken advantage, Qin An still played innocent. Naturally, the chopsticks carried the taste of Ye Zhulan's lips and mouth. It was not something one could actually taste, but both understood the intimacy conveyed by that little gesture, enough to set their hearts racing...

"I want more..." Qin An opened his mouth wide...

"You're not getting any!" Ye Zhulan turned away, though her eyes were full of smiles. She did not seem to have thought much of it before, but ever since Qin An's sudden confession, she had realized that feeding each other really did seem terribly embarrassing, especially when they were using just one pair of chopsticks. Did this count as an indirect kiss?

Ye Zhulan stole a glance at Qin An. He took a piece of chocolate wrapped in gold foil out of his schoolbag. "I brought you something to eat, too..."