"Was there really someone who'd made it to high school without ever passing notes in class?"
Zhang Zhaomu clearly didn't believe her. He wrote, "Especially a girl like you. Boys should be passing you notes and trying to chat you up all the time."
Xiang Qing wrote back, "Those aren't notes. They're love letters."
"They're two different things. I absolutely can't read love letters, much less reply to them."
What? Were love letters, painstakingly written and brimming with heartfelt feelings, some kind of dangerous object that would explode if she so much as glanced at them?
"The ones boys write are love letters, but the ones girls write would be notes, right?" Zhang Zhaomu countered.
"I did get one once, but I don't know who wrote it. It was full of insults." Xiang Qing's words were plain and unadorned. "I still remember everything it said. I'll write it out from memory for you later."
Zhang Zhaomu hurriedly replied, "There's really no need."
It seemed this girl wasn't very popular with other girls, either...
But when he thought about her seemingly unusual way of thinking, the cold treatment that came naturally when she spoke to others, and her looks, which were all too easy to envy, it was hardly surprising.
The fact that they had only written an insulting note, without resorting to further bullying, showed that the educational environment in this regard had improved in recent years.
"I've always been a little envious of people who pass notes to chat in class, so I've wanted to try it." Xiang Qing wrote quickly. "But I couldn't find anyone to pass notes to. Suddenly passing someone a note would be too strange. Luckily, you passed me one first."
Zhang Zhaomu couldn't help covering his face.
He had passed her that note to apologize because he had accidentally failed to suppress Cat's instincts, and she wouldn't speak to him! Had he unwittingly given her exactly what she wanted, giving her a reason to start passing notes without restraint?
Given how much this girl liked to share, Zhang Zhaomu felt he had opened Pandora's box.
Just as he was about to write a reply, the bell rang for the end of class.
Zhang Zhaomu casually stuffed the note into his desk and said to Xiang Qing, "We can't talk during class, but it should be fine now that class is over, right?"
He still wasn't used to communicating in writing. If he could say it aloud, why bother putting pen to paper?
Xiang Qing glanced quickly at Zhang Zhaomu, then lowered her head again. Her voice was very soft. "Mm."
"So why did you transfer from No. 3 High School to No. 1 High School?" Zhang Zhaomu asked.
Xiang Qing's cherry lips parted slightly. After a long while, she finally managed one word. "Because..."
Zhang Zhaomu: "?"
After waiting a while without hearing anything more, Zhang Zhaomu couldn't help asking, "And the rest?"
Xiang Qing: "Well... mm."
Zhang Zhaomu: "Can you stop saying 'mm'?"
Xiang Qing's cheeks flushed slightly, and she nodded gently. "Okay."
"Can you say a couple more words?" Zhang Zhaomu asked.
"All right."
"Fuck."
They couldn't communicate at all.
Although she was a little better than before and could say one or two more words, she still responded to everything without saying anything of substance.
This time, Zhang Zhaomu no longer suspected she was giving him the cold shoulder.
She simply wasn't good at talking to boys. No, maybe she simply wasn't good at talking to humans!
What a waste of such a pretty little cherry mouth.
During the ten-minute break, Zhang Zhaomu would normally have stayed in the classroom playing on his phone unless he needed the bathroom. But today, he really couldn't sit still. All he could think about was going outside and frolicking around.
As he passed the back door, he saw an indescribable sight.
Several sports students were sitting on one another's laps in a long chain, every one of them wearing an utterly proud expression.
Well, at that rate, if all the boys in the class gathered at the track and field ground, they would only need to bring one bench.
Zhang Zhaomu really wanted to sweep the legs out from under that one bench. The sight of them all tumbling over one another would surely be spectacular...
Unfortunately, he was the class monitor, so he really couldn't do something that excessive.
So as he passed them, he merely found himself swiping an empty mineral water bottle from one of the sports students and tossing it into the trash can behind him to the side.
Ignoring their astonished looks, Zhang Zhaomu sauntered down the stairs and came to the door of science class one.
Chen Zhenzhen was wearing a baby-blue, square-necked, short-sleeved top with a denim A-line pinafore dress, giving her a fresh, summery look. She was hunched over, writing something with her brow tightly furrowed.
It was Wang Qianzi, sitting idly beside her, who poked her and teased, "Your special someone's here to see you."
"I told you, Zhang Zaowan and I are just friends!" Chen Zhenzhen protested reflexively, turning toward the classroom door.
"I never said Zhang Zhaomu was the one looking for you." Wang Qianzi grinned mischievously. "Why did you assume it was him?"
"I..." Chen Zhenzhen opened her mouth, unable to keep from feeling a little embarrassed. She gave Wang Qianzi a thump, got up, and walked to the classroom door. She glared at Zhang Zhaomu and said irritably:
"Our homeroom teacher is teaching the next class."
Zhang Zhaomu was puzzled. "So?"
"So there's absolutely no way I can skip class. If you want to play games, go ahead by yourself. I'll find you at noon."
Zhang Zhaomu: "...Chen Zhen, do you really think the only reason I'd come looking for you is to play games?"
Chen Zhenzhen thought for a moment. "At least at this time of day, I can't think of any other possibility."
"It's only a ten-minute break. You can't possibly have come to find someone to go to the bathroom with you, right?"
Zhang Zhaomu gave an awkward chuckle. "If you dare go into the boys' bathroom, I suppose that's not out of the question."
"Zhang Zaowan, if you're that bored, take on a few more styling jobs. Quite a few girls in my class have been pestering me all day, asking me to put them in touch with you. They're even offering a hundred yuan if I can get them to the front of the queue," Chen Zhenzhen said, exasperated.
"That's a thing?!" Zhang Zhaomu was immediately startled. "Then remember to give me half!"
"Someone also said that if I could play matchmaker, she'd cover all my drinks and snacks at school for the next two years." Chen Zhenzhen narrowed her eyes. "How about taking one for the team?"
"Forget it. I sell my skills, not my body."
Zhang Zhaomu's attention was drawn to Chen Zhenzhen's buns. He had to admit, after he had taught her last time, she had done a pretty good job of tying them.
They were quite neat.
So he couldn't resist reaching out and poking them.
Chen Zhenzhen slapped Zhang Zhaomu's hand away. "Stop it! You'll mess up my hair!"
She dared to fight back?
He swallowed his anger around his classmates, but did he have to suppress his desires around his best friend too? Wouldn't that make having a best friend a complete waste?
Evil rose in Zhang Zhaomu's heart, and he sent both hands into action, grabbing the two buns on her head, one in each hand.
Chen Zhenzhen's whole body jolted, and a look of disbelief appeared on her face.
"What-are-you-doing!!!"
She practically forced the words out through her teeth, a red flush rising swiftly across her fair cheeks.
That color clearly wasn't the blush of a bashful maiden, but the blazing fury of a female leopard.