"Do you know that the homeroom teacher asked about you and Lin Jinran last night? He found out that neither of you showed up for the three evening self - study sessions."
Zhang Qiaozhi tightened the straps of her schoolbag and forced a smile.
Su Qinian's gaze turned cold. He lifted his eyelids and glanced casually at Zhang Qiaozhi, then said nonchalantly, "Oh."
His voice was cold and clear, like ice - cold water, with not a trace of warmth.
The early - morning wind blew in with a bit of chill. Hearing the single word "oh", the smile on Zhang Qiaozhi's face froze.
On the contrary, Lin Jinran let out a surprised cry, widened her eyes and asked, "The homeroom teacher knows we weren't there last night?!!!"
How come she didn't know anything about it?
Lin Jinran quickly took out her phone. When she turned it on, she found that it had automatically shut down due to lack of battery.
Lin Jinran: "..."
Su Qinian's gaze immediately softened. He let out a soft laugh, and his chest rose and fell with the laughter. "It's okay. We'll go back later and apologize to him."
"I hope he won't punish us," Lin Jinran murmured softly. Just then, the shop owner served their soy milk and fried dough sticks. Lin Jinran rented a power bank and put it aside to charge.
"If you like a crispy texture, you can have a sip of soy milk and then a bite of the fried dough stick. If you prefer a softer texture, dipping the fried dough stick in soy milk is also very delicious..."
Su Qinian demonstrated his way of eating. He liked to dip the fried dough stick in soy milk. First, he opened the lid of the soy milk and directly soaked the fried dough stick in it. A few seconds later, he took it out and took a bite, letting out a satisfied sigh.
Lin Jinran shook her head with a smile. "I like the crispy texture. I prefer to have a sip of soy milk and then a bite of the fried dough stick."
Her preference was completely different from Su Qinian's.
Zhang Qiaozhi stood in front of them, looking down at their familiarity. She felt like a transparent person, as they didn't even glance at her and completely ignored her.
She gritted her teeth, suppressing the anger that flashed in her eyes. With a shallow smile, she said, "Class monitor, Lin Jinran, I won't disturb you while you're having breakfast. I'll go back to the classroom first."
No one responded to her.
Zhang Qiaozhi took a deep breath and turned away.
As soon as she left, Lin Jinran let out a sigh of relief and started eating casually. She still remembered Qia Songyue's exhortation before leaving.
Zhang Qiaozhi was not a good person.
It was Zhang Qiaozhi who had arranged for those female students who transferred away before.
It had nothing to do with Qia Songyue.
Moreover, during this period... Lin Jinran had checked the school forum and found that someone had taken a photo of her throwing away Lin Tingnian's bread, which had caused the subsequent misunderstanding.
There was a traitor in Class One who was unhappy with her.
Furthermore, judging from the angle of the photo, it corresponded to Zhang Qiaozhi's group. Zhang Qiaozhi... might have been fueling the flames at that time.
Lost in thought, Lin Jinran suddenly lost her appetite for the soy milk and fried dough sticks in her hand. She took a bite and chewed mechanically, finding it tasteless.
But as she ate, seeing Su Qinian enjoying his food, her taste buds seemed to wake up, and she gradually began to appreciate the deliciousness of the soy milk and fried dough sticks.
Lin Jinran lowered her eyes and smiled.
The first class in the morning was a Chinese class. It was the time when people were most tired after staying up all night. Lin Jinran propped up her Chinese review materials so that when she lowered her head and lay down, it could just block the Chinese teacher's sight.
She let out a long yawn and wanted to see how Su Qinian was doing beside her. When she turned her head, she saw that Su Qinian was propping up his drowsy head with one hand, while the other hand was tightly holding a ball - point pen, scribbling on the scratch paper. His eyes were slightly closed, and his lips were moving. She didn't know what he was saying.
Huh? Lin Jinran became interested. She forced open her heavy eyelids and leaned over to take a look. The scratch paper was full of scribbles. And every word he mumbled in his daze fell into Lin Jinran's ears.
"The late emperor began his enterprise but passed away before half of it was completed... By the next year, the government functioned well, the people were in harmony, and all that had been abandoned was restored... Soft were her red hands, mellow the yellow wine, two golden orioles sang amid the green willows..."
Today, the Chinese teacher would focus on explaining ancient poems and verses in class. Before going to sleep with his head propped up, Su Qinian had deliberately flipped his review materials to the page about ancient poems and verses.
Next to the podium, the Chinese teacher was summarizing the examination methods for ancient poems and verses. Beside her, Su Qinian was mumbling in his dream, his words not making much sense.
A faint smile appeared on Lin Jinran's lips. She yawned again. She was so sleepy that she could hardly keep her eyes open.
She adjusted the position of the review materials and was just about to lie down to sleep when she heard a "bang". Lin Jinran was startled and turned to look.
The hand that had been propping up Su Qinian's head finally gave way, and his head directly hit the desk with a "bang". The hand that had been tightly holding the ball - point pen bounced up like a spring, and the pen rolled onto the ground.
Su Qinian himself tried hard to open his heavy eyelids and woke up in a daze.
Most of Lin Jinran's drowsiness was gone. The students in the class were all attracted and looked over. The Chinese teacher standing next to the podium raised an eyebrow and said coldly, "Su Qinian!"
"Here!" With a swift movement like a carp rolling, Su Qinian stood up. His voice was loud and firm, as if he was about to join the Party. But his eyelids were still very heavy and kept drooping.
The Chinese teacher stared at him and asked, "Su Qinian, I remember you left two blanks for the ancient - poem questions in the entrance exam at the beginning of this semester, but you answered all of them correctly in the joint exam. Do you actually know them or not? This is a good opportunity for me to ask. You just need to answer the second half of the sentence. If you answer correctly, you can sit down. If not, stand at the back and wake up."
Lin Jinran was sweating for Su Qinian. Just from listening to his nonsense in his sleep, she knew this guy was unreliable.
He had really walked right into the trap.
Normally, the Chinese teacher wouldn't be so difficult on students.
The Chinese teacher casually glanced at the poems in the review materials and said, "When a friend comes from afar."
Su Qinian murmured unconsciously, "When a friend comes from afar, one must first subject him to toil, starve his body, leave him in poverty, whip him dozens of times, and drive him to another courtyard. Confucius said, 'Isn't it a joy?'"
Lin Jinran: "!!!"
The Chinese teacher's eyes bulged. "Su Qinian, what are you talking about? When your friend comes, instead of treating him well, you want to torture his body. Not satisfied with that, you even want to beat him and drive him away to another place?
"Look at what you're doing. Who would still want to be your friend!"
The students in the class burst into laughter.
Huh? Su Qinian slowly opened his eyes. His vision was hazy. He looked blankly at the Chinese teacher whose eyes were almost popping out and also saw the students in the class all looking at him and laughing.
What had happened?
He tried hard to think. He seemed to have said something, and then the students in the class had laughed?
He couldn't remember what he had said.
He was so sleepy that he felt as if his brain was covered by something. Everything in front of him became blurred and distant. Su Qinian realized that he was standing up and that the Chinese teacher had asked him a question. He tried to open his heavy eyelids, but the drowsiness came in like a tidal wave. He kept wavering between being awake and being drowsy.