The first class of the second year was Chinese, taught by none other than their homeroom teacher, Chen Yongchao.
Zhang Zhaomu couldn't judge how good a teacher he was. After all, he hadn't listened at all.
He hadn't forgotten that he was supposed to help Chen Zhenzhen with her makeover, so he opened Taobao and picked out a cream-white women's blouse and a dark green, high-waisted A-line pleated miniskirt. Figuring Chen Zhenzhen probably didn't have shoes to match, he also chose a pair of round-toed school sandals.
He had originally wanted to pick out some small accessories to add a little flair, but then he suddenly remembered that she was an oddball among girls and didn't even have her ears pierced.
So he just bought some headbands and hair ties, which would come in handy when styling her hair.
Before closing the app, Zhang Zhaomu looked over the shopping cart and couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing. He couldn't resist opening the search bar again and typing in "white stockings."
I'm purely doing this to make the outfit look better!
Zhang Zhaomu easily convinced himself and added a pair of over-the-knee white stockings to the cart.
Then he opened WeChat, tapped on the chat with the nickname "Furiously Kicking the Cripple's Good Leg," and sent all the links over in one go.
The total came to a little over two hundred yuan, which he figured wouldn't be much of a burden for Chen Zhenzhen. Her family wasn't wealthy, but she was a girl, after all, and got quite a lot of spending money.
She had said she hadn't brought her phone today, so Zhang Zhaomu didn't expect a reply. He closed WeChat, glanced at Chen Yongchao at the lectern, and opened a novel site.
This is getting addictive!
Chen Yongchao really was as relaxed in class as he had said. He stayed at the lectern for the entire period and didn't have the bad habit of wandering around. The other two math classes that afternoon were much the same; the teacher didn't seem inclined to spend too much energy on discipline.
Probably because there were so many poor students in Class Nine that even if the teachers wanted to keep them in line, they couldn't manage them all.
Evening self-study was even more relaxed. Since the students with special talents mostly took their specialized classes during evening self-study, the classroom emptied out by half when it began.
As for Chen Yongchao, he appeared only briefly during the first evening self-study period in his capacity as homeroom teacher, warning everyone not to be noisy. After that, he was nowhere to be seen.
Zhang Zhaomu strongly suspected the man had already gotten off work early and gone home.
All in all, life in Class Nine was even better than it had been in his first year. Zhang Zhaomu happily read novels all day, though it was a shame this one's pacing was rather slow. The protagonist was still in the ambiguous stage with several female characters and hadn't gotten to first base.
Hearing the bell ring at the end of evening self-study, Zhang Zhaomu rubbed his brow to ease the strain on his eyes from staring at his phone for so long. He couldn't resist glancing to the side again.
Though they were deskmates, he and Xiang Qing hadn't exchanged a single word all day.
His only impression was that the girl could sit still for a surprisingly long time. Apart from going to the bathroom, she spent basically all her time studying.
She was also very, very quiet. Even when other classmates came over specifically to talk to her, she only responded with words like "mm" and "oh." It wasn't quite right to call her aloof: she answered everything they said, but never with anything of substance.
On top of that, she never looked anyone in the eye, giving the impression that she was a little impatient. The conversations quickly fizzled out, leaving the others to walk away awkwardly.
Zhang Zhaomu felt that she was completely out of place in Class Nine. She would be better suited to somewhere like Class One, where there were tryhards everywhere. But come to think of it, Chen Yongchao seemed to have said she had transferred from No. 3 High School, so she probably wouldn't stay in Class Nine for long anyway.
After the next monthly exam, their time as deskmates would probably come to an end. She would surely transfer to another class better suited to studying.
Thinking about it, he felt a little regretful. Although he couldn't really strike up a conversation with her, being able to turn his head and occasionally see such a beauty between stretches of playing on his phone was quite a pleasant thing.
Night had fully fallen. Zhang Zhaomu went downstairs and walked to the door of Science Class One, only to find that class still hadn't ended. Its brilliantly bald homeroom teacher was droning on at the lectern.
After a moment's thought, Zhang Zhaomu mischievously hid behind the stairwell entrance.
A few minutes later, Chen Zhenzhen and another girl came out, sighing. Zhang Zhaomu suddenly sprang at them with a shout.
The two girls went rigid with fright and nearly jumped into the ceiling.
When Chen Zhenzhen recovered and saw the triumphant grin on Zhang Zhaomu's face, she couldn't help kicking at him. "Zhang Zaowan, what's wrong with you? How childish can you be?"
"You looked like you were out of it, so I thought I'd wake you up a little." Zhang Zhaomu dodged her attack with practiced, nimble footwork, teasing her as he did.
"You nearly scared my soul out of my body!" Chen Zhenzhen looked furious.
The girl beside her had also gotten a huge fright, but her attention was quickly drawn to Zhang Zhaomu's face. She looked at him, then at Chen Zhenzhen, and recovered from her fright in an instant. A gossipy look appeared on her face as she secretly poked Chen Zhenzhen in the side. "Zhenzhen, is this handsome guy your-you know?"
"My what?" Chen Zhenzhen turned her head, not catching on right away.
"You know." The girl gave her a suggestive smile.
"That's right." Zhang Zhaomu squeezed over and nodded openly.
"I'm her dad."
"Get lost!" Chen Zhenzhen grabbed Zhang Zhaomu's school uniform in exasperation and marched forward, calling back as she went, "Xiao Zi, I'm leaving with this idiot. See you tomorrow."
"Who's that gossipmonger? I haven't seen her before." Zhang Zhaomu glanced back as well and asked in a low voice.
"My deskmate," Chen Zhenzhen replied irritably. "What gossipmonger? Her name is Wang Qianzi. Don't give people nicknames the moment you meet them."
"It's our first time meeting, but I can tell this person's urge to gossip is written into her DNA." After that quip, Zhang Zhaomu moved on to another subject.
"I sent you the links to the clothes. Don't forget to buy them when you get back tonight."
"I don't have the energy to think about that right now." Chen Zhenzhen sounded drained. "Starting this afternoon, right up until the end of evening self-study, I did three whole exam papers in a row! Three!"
"Huh?" Zhang Zhaomu paused. "Isn't it still early for the monthly exam?"
"They said it was a placement test." Chen Zhenzhen immediately gritted her teeth. "But the papers were obviously way too hard! I suspect that baldy wanted to put us in our place!"
"I don't understand the troubles of a top student." Zhang Zhaomu, who had played on his phone all day, waved a hand. "Anyway, don't forget to buy the clothes."
He emphasized, "You have to buy everything in the links I sent you. If even one or two things are missing, the effect will be greatly diminished."
Chen Zhenzhen gave him a suspicious look. "Why do I feel like you look a little guilty saying that?"
"No! Of course not! Don't slander me!"