The spring chill was biting, and the bone-chilling cold wind carried the unique coldness of winter as it swept in. The senior three students of No. 1 High School in Wannan City had already been back at school for half a month.
On the school's forum.
In the middle of the night, someone searched for the name "Lin Jinran" on the forum, and several posts instantly popped up.
"Do you guys know Lin Jinran from Class 1, Senior 3? Since she became deskmates with Su Qinian, her grades have been skyrocketing like a speeding train. Now she's in the top five of the grade."
"Don't be so competitive, okay? I just want to be friends with a handsome guy. Look at those eyes, that nose, and those lips. I'm totally smitten."
"I'm a student on the fourth floor of No. 1 High School in Wannan City. Last semester during the parents' meeting, I was standing outside with the students from the neighboring Class 1, waiting for the meeting to end. I was bored and looking out into the distance. Suddenly, I heard a lot of noise. I turned my head and saw the girls from Class 1 surrounding Lin Jinran. She looked like a helpless little lamb."
"And then? What happened?"
"I'll pull up a chair. Please let me know when there's an update. Thanks."
"Transfer me 50 yuan, and I'll share my secret with you."
"..."
"So I waited all night just for this one sentence??? I'm so disappointed."
"You just wait. I'll save up money and get someone to deal with you. You'd better not let me find out which class you're from."
"No wonder it stopped raining. You've just left me speechless."
"Can I give you fifty big slaps instead?"
"Let's disperse. It's unlikely there'll be any more updates."
"Don't go. I'll tell you now. I rented a father for the parents' meeting a few days ago, and my family found out. They beat me up and confiscated my phone. Sob."
"I'm dying of laughter. You deserve it, OP. Admit it. Did you do badly in the exam?"
"Cough cough. I'll make it short. I heard her classmates comforting her, telling her not to be sad. I was wondering at the time if she didn't do well in the exam or was scolded by her parents."
"Then I found out, no wonder Lin Jinran has such good grades. It turns out her parents are both dead. But she kept insisting that it wasn't true."
"She's such an inspiring and hardworking girl. It must be that her parents really passed away, and her classmates found out by accident, so they all comforted her."
"I feel so bad for her. Forcing a smile and trying to explain that it's not the case (I don't believe it at all)."
"Thank goodness Su Qinian is with her. Everyone around knows that Su Qinian is so nice and has a crush on Lin Jinran."
"The double top - student combo. I hope one day I can attend their wedding. It'll be so sweet to go from school to the wedding."
"I also want a super - smart deskmate like that. Please, God, give me one."
The person scrolled through the same post. It was all praise and sympathy for Lin Jinran, with few negative comments.
She simply exited and scrolled down the other posts. Most of them were praise and admiration for Lin Jinran.
There was even a special post where someone confessed their love to her and called her a goddess.
It was from half a year ago when Lin Jinran first came to the school.
"Do you guys like Lin Jinran so much? Don't you think she's pretentious? At the grade assembly, she ignored the school rules and used the playground as a stage to show off."
This person was chased and scolded by many.
In the dim night, the person peeping at the posts slowly curled up a faint smile, but the smile never reached her eyes.
She clicked on that person's profile and sent a private message: "Hi, I don't like Lin Jinran either. Can we be friends?"
In the early morning, the sky was a dull gray.
Lin Jinran came to the classroom, spread out her test papers, and started working on them. There would be a city - wide joint exam at the beginning of March, which was also the so - called first joint exam for senior three students.
After the start of the semester, there was an entrance exam, and Lin Jinran didn't perform as well as expected.
She dropped from the third place in the grade to the seventh.
The class teacher specifically talked to her and asked if anything had happened to her during the winter vacation.
Lin Jinran said no.
Suddenly, there was a "bang" beside her. A schoolbag was thrown onto the desk.
Along with it came the unique coldness of spring mixed with the fragrance of the boy's body wash.
Lin Jinran's heart skipped a beat, and her pen trembled.
A shadow fell over her. The boy gave a soft laugh, bent down, and looked at the test paper on her desk. "Jinran, you're so hardworking. You start doing test papers as soon as you come."
The smiling voice fell along with the shadow. The tail - end of the voice was lingering, with a faint tickling sensation, casually tugging at people's heartstrings.
Lin Jinran's face flushed slightly. She tightened her grip on the pen holder. When she looked up, she met the boy's clear and clean black eyes, as gentle as black jade.
Her heart was pounding like a little deer. Her face kept getting hotter, but she tried to remain calm.
Even after all this time, she was still easily charmed by this guy in front of her.
"What are you doing? Don't you know I did badly in the entrance exam? Do you think you can stop me from outperforming you by disturbing me like this?"
Lin Jinran widened her eyes and shouted dryly.
"No, I'm looking at the questions you're doing. Look at this medium - level question. There's a mistake here. Well, it's not entirely a mistake. Your method is just more complicated. It should be like this..."
Stroke by stroke, the words appeared on the paper. The boy's long - fingered hand held the ball - point pen that she had just held.
It seemed as if there was still a lingering warmth on it.
He just grabbed it, and the warmth of their fingertips merged.
Lin Jinran stared for a while before shifting her gaze. Half of the white scratch paper was filled with steps.
The pen was placed beside the scratch paper. The boy's figure quickly retreated, and only his teasing voice could be heard: "What are you looking at? Staring at me won't help. Hurry up and look at the scratch paper."
Lin Jinran: "..."
She playfully pushed Su Qinian, then proudly picked up the scratch paper and stared at it seriously, but murmured softly: "You know that just being good - looking won't get you anywhere."
Su Qinian: "..."
He was both angry and amused.
So Su Qinian propped his chin up with one hand. When she wasn't paying attention, he snatched the scratch paper from her hand with the other, slightly raised his eyebrows, and sighed mournfully.
"What did you say? Are you saying I'm not good - looking?"
This sounded... kind of strange.
Weird.
Lin Jinran glared at him directly and reached out to get the scratch paper.
The scratch paper was pulled back, and she missed it.
Su Qinian lamented self - pityingly: "Alas, what should I do? I've actually been called not good - looking. What should I do? What should I do?"
"Okay, okay, you're good - looking. You're very good - looking. You're the best - looking. Is that okay?" Lin Jinran widened her big eyes, which sparkled like stars.
Su Qinian was momentarily stunned, and the scratch paper in his hand was snatched away.
Lin Jinran murmured again: "Humph, the scratch paper finally ended up in my hands anyway."
As the class was about to start, Lin Jinran was about to start working on the next question when Lu Youchuan popped his head in through the front door and shouted loudly.
"Lin Jinran, someone's here to see you. She said she's your... sister?"