The boy's eyes drooped slightly, his gaze as deep as a pool. Su Qinian twitched the corner of his mouth, his voice turning cold. "Lu Youchuan, stop talking nonsense. Are you trying to play matchmaker here?" Lu Youchuan immediately fell silent, making a motion of zipping his mouth shut, and obediently stood behind him.
However, his eyes would occasionally glance over at the podium on the playground, filled with a curious eagerness for some drama.
Su Qinian had, of course, witnessed the whole thing. Just thinking about it made his brows furrow imperceptibly. His dark eyes were swirling with unnamed emotions.
Recently, Lin Jinran had indeed become much quieter. Usually when she approached him, it was only to discuss or solve problems. Rarely did she touch on other topics.
Even her attitude had turned a bit colder.
He thought it was because Lin Jinran had been so busy practicing hosting and studying that she was simply too tired, which had led to her cold demeanor.
Lin Jinran had never mentioned the new boy who had appeared beside her.
He didn't know what the two people beside the podium were talking about, but they both burst out laughing. Their laughter could be faintly heard from here.
Su Qinian stared silently at Lin Jinran, whose eyes were curved into a smile. A nagging jealousy welled up inside him.
Out of sight, out of mind. He simply averted his gaze and stared intently at the ground, trying not to think or look.
Over there, Lin Jinran and Song Langqing were talking about the English teacher's slip of the tongue earlier, and they couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Immediately, they remembered that this was a grade assembly, so they quickly stifled their laughter and stood up straight.
There was still a short while before the grade assembly officially began. Lin Jinran looked to her left and found her class by following the row of class flags.
As the class monitor, Su Qinian was standing at the very front.
Lin Jinran's eyes lit up. She wanted to greet him with her eyes, but then she noticed that Su Qinian was looking elsewhere and didn't even glance in her direction.
She was a bit puzzled and also a bit strange.
During this period, after finishing her schoolwork, she would go to learn hosting and practice her broadcasting voice.
The amount of talking she did in a day was almost as much as she would in two or three days.
When she came to the classroom during the day, her mouth would be sore. Unless it was necessary, Lin Jinran would rather not talk and just rest more. She looked as pitiful as a wilted cabbage.
The grade assembly officially began. Lin Jinran took a deep breath, straightened her back, and walked onto the stage with the microphone in her hand.
She looked down at the densely packed crowd. The number of people was about the same as the last time someone spoke.
The students standing in the front looked up curiously at the new face on the stage. Some were surprised, some were curious, and some were envious.
A multitude of emotions intertwined, converging into a bright, searing gaze that was directed at her.
Just like many times before, she had also been just one of the insignificant crowd, counting the items on the grade assembly agenda and estimating when it would end.
But now was different from before. She was standing under this sky, being watched by everyone.
Lin Jinran wore a smile on her face. Her clear voice was transmitted through the microphone to everyone on the playground.
"Respected leaders, dear teachers and classmates, good morning. I am the host of this assembly, Lin Jinran from Class 1, Senior 3..."
To strive for perfection, she had already memorized every word of the hosting script, so the hosting cards in her hand had become nothing more than a prop.
She stood on the stage, her plain cheeks seemingly glowing, looking extremely clear.
One sentence after another was slowly transmitted to every corner of the playground.
The first item of the grade assembly...
The second item of the grade assembly...
The third item of the grade assembly...
The fourth item of the grade assembly...
"Today's grade assembly is hereby concluded. Please follow the instructions of the grade director and exit in an orderly manner."
As her voice faded, Lin Jinran bowed deeply, handed the microphone to the grade director who was striding onto the stage, and then stepped off the stage.
Song Langqing was waiting for her off the stage. Lin Jinran said with a beaming smile, "Your task is successfully completed. It's time to go back to class."
"No, I still have one more task." Song Langqing sighed. Under Lin Jinran's puzzled gaze, he pulled her towards the back of the playground stage.
"Hey, what's that guy doing? Sister Lin has already finished hosting. What is he pulling Sister Lin for?"
Lu Youchuan was constantly paying attention to the situation over there. As soon as he saw Song Langqing pulling Lin Jinran in another direction, he started shouting.
A million thoughts flashed through Lu Youchuan's mind. Suddenly, a most terrifying thought popped into his head, and he blurted out, "What is he trying to do? Could he be trying to confess his love?"
A cold, piercing gaze shot over from the front.
Lu Youchuan immediately shut his mouth.
"Su Qinian, let's go. It's our turn to leave." Class teacher Zhou Ping walked from the back to the front and instructed.
Su Qinian had no choice but to hold up the class flag and follow the crowd forward.
As he passed by the stage set up on the playground, he turned his head to look, but he didn't see anything.
"What's going on? You brought me here so mysteriously." Lin Jinran was puzzled as she followed behind him.
The person in front stopped and turned sideways. A bouquet of sunflowers was quietly placed in the corner.
Lin Jinran was stunned. She looked at the sunflowers and then at Song Langqing. Her mood was extremely complicated.
"Song Langqing, what do you mean by this?"
Song Langqing tugged at his hair in annoyance and directly showed her the chat records on his phone. "I'm annoyed too. My mom insisted that I buy you a bouquet of flowers to congratulate you on your first hosting.
"Tell me, why did she have to buy flowers? If someone sees this, what will happen to my reputation? And what about your innocence?"
"So you brought this bouquet of flowers here early in the morning and then hid it here?"
Lin Jinran scrolled through the chat records. It was indeed Aunt Ying's idea. She couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time.
Right, why did she have to buy flowers? What if someone saw it and misunderstood?
Song Langqing nodded and sighed again, complaining, "Sister, my task is done. Remember to praise me more in front of my mom. I'm still counting on her to give me more pocket money."
"Okay, okay, okay." Lin Jinran agreed. She returned the phone to Song Langqing. "You should hurry back. There's still class later."
Song Langqing couldn't wait to leave now. A boy, a girl, and a bouquet of flowers.
If someone saw this, who knew what kind of rumors would spread.
So he ran away in a flash.
It was better that he left. Now it was Lin Jinran's turn to have a headache.
She first took a photo of the flowers and sent it to Aunt Ying, and then edited a message and sent it as well.
It was nothing more than thanking Aunt Ying for her kindness and saying that it was hard for Song Langqing to pick up the flowers early in the morning.
All the classes on the playground had left. Lin Jinran picked up the flowers and held them on her left side. She deliberately went up the other side of the senior 3 teaching building to avoid the teaching affairs office on the first floor.
She carried the flowers back to her class. As soon as she entered the classroom, the noisy class immediately fell silent. Everyone looked at the back door as if they were watching a show.