I made it to lunch break by eating super spicy konjac.
Zhang Zhaomu slumped onto the table, wanting nothing more than to fall asleep and die.
Unfortunately, Duan Chan'er didn't let him off the hook either. She went straight to the back row and dragged him up.
"If you really want to sleep, wouldn't it be more comfortable to sleep at home than lying down in the classroom?" she said. "It's only a few minutes' walk anyway."
"Just call me when the food is ready."
"Okay..." Zhang Zhaomu walked unsteadily out of the classroom alongside Duan Chan'er, completely oblivious to the subtle changes in the expressions of the other students inside.
A murmur of discussion arose immediately after the two figures disappeared.
"It seems like there's something going on between the class monitor and Duan Chan'er!"
"Is there something going on? If I heard correctly, Duan Chan'er said 'go home to sleep,' right?"
"Living together?!!"
"Is the progress this fast? This is... this is so exciting!"
"It feels like neither of them is acting at all! Aren't they afraid Old Chen will cause trouble?"
Amidst this lively discussion, the atmosphere near the back door was surprisingly subdued.
"Brother Jie, don't be too sad." Kang Hao patted Xu Xiujie on the shoulder and comforted him, "Even if they're together, it doesn't mean anything. As long as you're persistent enough, maybe there'll be a chance in the future?"
"Shut up!" Xu Xiujie glared at him. " Duan Chan'er could never be interested in Zhang Zhaomu. It's just the girls in the class spreading rumors!"
"You can fool your buddies, but don't fool yourself." Kang Hao sighed. "This isn't just hearsay; didn't you hear Duan Chan'er's words clearly just now?"
Another sports student said timidly, "On the bright side, they've only just started living together; maybe they haven't gone that far yet?"
Xu Xiujie clenched his fists and glared at him. "Say that again and I'll beat you up!"
"Fine, I won't say then." The PE student immediately shrank back.
"They were just trying to comfort you," Kang Hao advised. "Why did you break down so suddenly? Didn't you say before that you weren't thinking about pursuing Duan Chan'er, and that you were happy just to see her every day?"
Even if she has a boyfriend, you can still quietly admire her happiness.
"Damn!" Xu Xiujie felt a real blow pierce his chest. He took a deep breath and said sarcastically, "You're making so many assumptions based on just Duan Chan'er tongue by Duan Chan'er?"
" Xiang Qing and Zhang Zhaomu pass notes in class every day, and sometimes they even use the same pair of chopsticks to eat. These tangible signs of intimacy are much more convincing than a single statement."
Kang Hao's face immediately turned green.
"Huh?" The PE student's mouth dropped open. "You mean the class monitor is two-timing?"
"Shut up!"
Kang Hao and Xu Xiujie roared in unison.
Zhang Zhaomu truly had no energy to care about rumors and gossip.
As soon as he arrived at Duan Chan'er's house, he collapsed onto the sofa and instantly fell into a deep sleep.
Duan Chan'er prepared the goat milk, fed Barbecue and September, and then looked at Zhang Zhaomu on the sofa.
I couldn't resist moving a little closer.
"He has the face of a leading man..."
She looked at Zhang Zhaomu's features with a somewhat peculiar feeling. "Are boys creatures that grow up in a very short time?"
Leaving aside her impression of Zhang Zhaomu from her first year of high school, even in the past week or so, she felt that Zhang Zhaomu's appearance and temperament had changed quite a bit.
At the beginning of the semester, he seemed like a sunny guy with a Refined lifestyle and a clean-cut appearance. But in the last couple of days, I've noticed a mysterious aura about him that I can't quite describe.
Perhaps it's a change in posture?
Duan Chan'er recalled that she always felt that the other person had a relaxed and elegant feeling in their every move, and even though they were just lying quietly at this moment, it was still impossible not to take a second look.
It must be said that modeling was one of the important reasons why Duan Chan'er was able to become familiar with Zhang Zhaomu in such a short time.
She doesn't deny this, after all, as an online novelist, she knows all too well the importance of modeling.
For example, if he arranges for a tall, handsome protagonist to accidentally bump into a young girl on the street, that's called a "first encounter." But if the same plot is changed to a portly middle-aged man, the trajectory naturally becomes "the girl being molested needs a hero to save her."
Zhang Zhaomu's model clearly belongs to the former category.
"But this guy is completely different from the protagonist I wrote." Duan Chan'er couldn't help but chuckle again.
The protagonist in her story is an undisputed scumbag who will stop at nothing to build a harem. As for Zhang Zhaomu? This guy is so clueless that he doesn't even realize that others have a crush on him.
However, for Duan Chan'er, this was a different kind of sense of security. If Zhang Zhaomu were really the kind of person whose mind was full of lust, she probably wouldn't have let him into her house the first time, let alone let him lie on the sofa and sleep so openly.
The lunch break wasn't too long, Duan Chan'er blanched the pig's trotters and then used a pressure cooker to cook them until tender.
He also cooked two side dishes, and after all the food was on the table, he walked back to the sofa and gently patted Zhang Zhaomu on the shoulder.
Then Zhang Zhaomu suddenly shuddered, straightened his back, and sat up abruptly.
Duan Chan'er gasped softly, startled by the other party's sudden reaction, and leaned back slightly.
"Sorry." Zhang Zhaomu rubbed his eyes, his tone a little guilty. "Did I scare you?"
"No... no." Duan Chan'er looked at the sofa, then at Zhang Zhaomu: "On the contrary, I feel like I startled you. You actually managed to jump up from a lying position to a sitting position... you have pretty strong back muscles."
"Ha... haha..." Zhang Zhaomu chuckled awkwardly, making up an excuse:
"Because I was having a nightmare, I dreamt I was walking in a dark alley, and suddenly a hand reached up from behind my shoulder, so I jumped up..."
"I understand." Duan Chan'er nodded. "When I was little, I watched a movie called ' The Wicked Ghost.' I didn't dare sleep with the lights off for a month. Sometimes I had nightmares, and I would jump out of bed in fright."
"... I've seen that movie too. It's a childhood trauma." Zhang Zhaomu's expression immediately became even more uncomfortable. "Stop, let's not talk about this."
If there's one type of game that this game addict would absolutely never touch, it's horror games.
This is certainly not out of cowardice, but rather because I maintain a sense of awe for the unknown! No one can guarantee that there's really nothing under the bed!
Duan Chan'er's cooking skills were as good as ever; the braised pig's trotters were tender and flavorful.
I feel like you've spoiled my palate.
Zhang Zhaomu sighed, "No, I need to eat a lot in the cafeteria this afternoon to counteract the effects, so I won't have trouble adjusting later."
Duan Chan'er immediately smiled.
This guy doesn't play by the rules. Normally, shouldn't that sentence be followed by, "What if you don't like the food in the cafeteria anymore?"
Then you expect others to casually reply, "Then I'll just make it for you every day."
Although I certainly wouldn't answer like that, and would only smile and remain silent, but...
"The class monitor is really too naive in this regard!"