The once vast expanse of blue sky was now tinged with orange and red. Half of the sky was splashed with clouds that were a blend of orange and crimson, as if it were on fire. The entire teaching building was bathed in the gentle twilight. Just as Su Qinian uttered his last words, the school bell rang, cutting through the sky.
The whole teaching building instantly erupted in a frenzy. Lin Jinran looked down from a high place and saw that at the school gate, one or two people were lazily strolling forward at first. Then, like a dot turning into a line and then a surface, there was a large expanse of the intermingled colors of school uniforms. Like a river, they all rushed towards the school gate.
The evening breeze carried the coolness of early autumn and blew through the girl's long black hair.
She lowered her head to tuck the stray hairs behind her ears. With both hands propping on the railing, her clothes fluttered in the wind.
Su Qinian also stood up and quietly watched the crowd surging below like a tide. When most of the crowd had dispersed, he softly said, "Lin Jinran, let's go back."
"Okay, thank you, Su Qinian." Lin Jinran smiled sweetly. She picked up the test papers and pens on the ground, held them against her chest, and followed Su Qinian downstairs.
The classroom was basically empty. Lin Jinran and Su Qinian walked into the classroom when Lu Youchuan popped out from a corner and rushed straight towards them.
Lin Jinran: "?!"
"Brother Su, Sister Lin, you two are finally back." Lu Youchuan looked at the two of them languidly, just like a boudoir beauty with grievances.
"What's wrong with him?" Lin Jinran was puzzled and subconsciously asked the person beside her.
"You two don't know how long I've been waiting for you!" Before Su Qinian could answer, Lu Youchuan started to complain about their behavior. "I've been waiting and waiting. I've been waiting until the flowers are about to wither."
"Don't mind him." Su Qinian smiled faintly. "He's been like this since he was a kid. He's a noisy character. He's acting like this now because he's waiting to go for dinner with me."
Lin Jinran showed her understanding.
"Food is the paramount necessity of the people!" Lu Youchuan said with grief and indignation. He pointed at the timetable hanging on the blackboard. "Look, look. It's so late now. I'm about to starve to death."
Lin Jinran pursed her lips and smiled. "Then you two go for dinner first."
"Sister Lin, aren't you coming with us?" Lu Youchuan asked.
"No. I'll go later. There are still quite a lot of people now." Lin Jinran shook her head.
The way Lu Youchuan kept calling Brother Su and Sister Lin, if someone didn't know better, they might think she and Su Qinian were a couple.
"Go on, go on. It doesn't matter if there are a lot of people." Lu Youchuan glanced at Su Qinian's expression and then encouraged Lin Jinran. "The more people there are, the livelier it is. It'll be fun."
"Yes. It doesn't matter if there are a lot of people. It won't take a few extra minutes. Going out for dinner is like taking a break from our studies." Su Qinian said gently and stared at her intently.
"Come on, I really won't go. You two go by yourselves." Lin Jinran was a bit amused and annoyed. She insisted on her decision. She wasn't going.
Since the other person was so determined, Su Qinian didn't want to force her. He put away his things and left with Lu Youchuan.
The sound of their footsteps gradually faded away. Lin Jinran was left alone in the empty classroom. The fan on the ceiling was creaking as it turned.
She walked to the back wall and looked down at the report card. Her eyes slid down the list.
Su Qinian was in first place. Zhang Qiaozhi had indeed fallen back. She dropped from second in the grade to sixth, and she was also the third in the class.
Tao Wan's grades were quite good. She was eighth in the class and nineteenth in the grade.
Jiang Xiubin was fifth in the class and ninth in the grade.
Xie Wanyu was twenty - fifth in the class and sixty - seventh in the grade.
Lin Jinran now had a preliminary impression of the grades of the classmates she knew in the class. She returned to her seat, took out the paper that Su Qinian had written about her weak points, and read it carefully.
She went downstairs to have dinner in the middle. When she came back, quite a few people had come into the classroom one after another. Tao Wan had also returned.
As soon as she sat down, Tao Wan turned her head excitedly to chat with Lin Jinran.
"Tell me, what did you and Su Qinian do during the last class this afternoon?" Tao Wan grinned slyly. Her eyes were curved like crescent moons and were twinkling.
"Don't hide anything from me! I've already guessed that Su Qinian took the blame for you yesterday." Tao Wan quickly added.
"We were studying. What else could we do?" Lin Jinran raised her eyebrows. She took out the draft paper that Su Qinian had written for her and showed it to Tao Wan to prove her innocence.
Tao Wan took a quick look. It was indeed Su Qinian's handwriting. She stroked her chin and looked at the girl in front of her. Her skin was fair and delicate. Her eyelashes were long and black. Her glassy eyes were clear and clean, reflecting her own image.
Was she reluctant to talk about it? Tao Wan guessed. She decided to approach the topic from another angle.
She deliberately moved her stool back a bit. Tao Wan lay on the top of the back of the stool and tried to get closer. She showed a meaningful smile. "Lin Jinran, who do you think is the most beautiful in our class?"
"Isn't that an obvious fact?" Lin Jinran looked at her suspiciously. She felt that something was wrong with Tao Wan. How could she ask such a question?
Tao Wan coughed awkwardly. It was indeed an obvious fact. She had been careless and asked the wrong question.
So she chose to change the topic. "Then who do you think is the tallest in our class? I'm talking about natural height, not with height - increasing shoes."
Lin Jinran tried to recall the heights of the two classmates during their time together. She said uncertainly, "Is it Su Qinian?"
"But I feel like it's Jiang Xiubin. Have you noticed these two? Jiang Xiubin seems to be a bit taller."
"No. It's Su Qinian. He rarely wears shoes with height - increasing insoles. When I walk with him, I reach this position on him. I've never walked with Jiang Xiubin, but from a visual estimate, he's not as tall as Su Qinian."
Lin Jinran gestured with her hands and analyzed the situation in great detail.
"No, no. Jiang Xiubin should reach this position on you. He's taller than Su Qinian." Tao Wan pointed at a height on her and was very certain.
"That's impossible. Although I'm not good at math, I've noticed these details in daily life." Lin Jinran explained. "It should be here."
"Jiang Xiubin is 185 cm. What about Su Qinian?" Tao Wan asked again.
The topic of who was the tallest gradually developed into a comparison of who had the tallest deskmate.
Su Qinian's height?
Lin Jinran really didn't know. She paused for a moment. Out of loyalty to her deskmate, she stubbornly said that he was a bit taller than Jiang Xiubin.
"You don't know, do you?" Tao Wan hit the nail on the head. "Why don't you go and ask him later?"
Coincidentally, Su Qinian and Lu Youchuan walked in. Lin Jinran's eyes lit up. She smiled at Tao Wan as if to say, "Just wait for my good news."
"Su Qinian, how tall are you?" Lin Jinran waved in that direction.
Su Qinian was surprised. He strode over and asked in a bit of a daze, "What's up?"
"Nothing. Just give me a hug." Lin Jinran tilted her head back and smiled brightly.
A hug?
Su Qinian was still a bit confused and couldn't figure out what was going on. "Then... stand up?"
Huh? Shouldn't he just tell her the number? Why did he have to demonstrate?
Lin Jinran got up with a puzzled look on her face.
From Su Qinian's perspective, the girl had a delicate and beautiful face. Her features were exquisitely carved. Her eyes were filled with tiny stars. Her gaze was direct and full of expectation.
Su Qinian hesitated for a moment. After making sure he wasn't mistaken, he leaned in closer, bent down, and stretched out his hands to gently embrace her.
His heart was pounding so hard that it almost burst out of his chest.