Avoiding Suspicion Part 1

Was he talking about focusing on this...!

Seeing Kong Xuan really concentrating, Tan Xiao felt both amused and helpless being so close to him. "Was I talking about focusing on this?"

Kong Xuan looked at him blankly, what else could it be?

Their faces were just inches apart, eyes locked.

Seeing his innocent gaze, Tan Xiao felt a sense of defeat.

"What?" Kong Xuan pressed.

Tan Xiao wanted to say something but hesitated. For a moment, he couldn't bear to tell him the truth.

His finger unconsciously traced over the problem set. When Kong Xuan saw it, he instantly realized and let go in embarrassed annoyance. What kind of unreasonable statement was that, of course focusing meant on the most important thing! Hmph, he went back to doing the problems.

Seeing Kong Xuan's lips moving slightly, holding back grumbling, Tan Xiao chuckled to himself. He leaned over and gave Kong Xuan a firm nudge. "Do the problems properly. We'll take a break in half an hour."

Kong Xuan: "...Okay!"

......

Time seemed to pass so slowly, but once it's over, you're surprised by how fast it went. In the blink of an eye, senior year of high school had already started early in August, entering a new round of review.

But this time coming to school, Kong Xuan's feelings were quite different. Or rather, his self-perception had changed.

Haha, these people were all single.

After feeling smug, Kong Xuan's vigilance as a top enforcer of the heavenly realm was also aroused.

"We need to avoid suspicion."

Kong Xuan said to Tan Xiao, his eyes sharp.

Entering the mortal world, he had to abide by the school rules everywhere, including respecting teachers, not cheating, etc. The school rules also specified regulations on relationships between students. Although according to the experience of the seniors, as long as it wasn't discovered, it didn't count as a violation. But what if by some chance it was found out?

Kong Xuan was worried that his efforts would be in vain, losing the big picture for a small detail, so he was naturally extra cautious.

In the past few days, Tan Xiao was surprised to see Kong Xuan, who usually wanted to wrap him up in feathers, being so serious. Moreover, he took the initiative to say they should avoid suspicion.

Originally, Tan Xiao had planned to find an opportunity to chat depending on the situation, telling Kong Xuan not to be too showy and to restrain his peacock nature. "Then what do you say we should do?"

"Don't stick so close to me," Kong Xuan said heavily. He frowned, looking worried. "If Teacher Ji sees, or someone in charge of discipline tattles, it could cause big trouble."

"Okay, then you can take your hand back." Tan Xiao said, "It seems there's a teacher up ahead, might be the head teacher."

"...We're not in the classroom yet, I know what I'm doing!" Kong Xuan pulled his hand out of Tan Xiao's pocket. He was standing on Tan Xiao's right, but his left hand was in Tan Xiao's left pocket, like he was half-hugging Tan Xiao. He argued, "Besides, this is a flexible action. If the head teacher sees, I'll just say I was getting something."

"Oh, so impressive. Then do you still want to eat lunch together?" Tan Xiao asked him. They always used to eat takeout alone together.

Kong Xuan pondered for a moment. He wasn't quite sure. Some standards, in the past, Kong Xuan felt were taken for granted. But it was different now. His own mindset had issues. He felt like everything might expose his thoughts.

"We can get it together but you eat at your desk and I eat at mine." Arriving at the classroom, Kong Xuan used tape to mark another line on the desk surface that already had a natural divider.

It could be said that he stuck the divider together, or that he emphasized this mark, reminding each other. It was quite meaningful.

Tan Xiao hadn't seen this stuff since elementary school. "What is this for?"

Kong Xuan: "Milky Way*."

*T/N: Legends says that the famous pair of lovers, the cowherd and weaver girl, were separated by the Goddess with the Milky Way.

Tan Xiao: "??"

Kong Xuan carefully observed that the teacher hadn't come yet and no classmates were paying attention to them. He said in a low voice, "We can't casually lean over anymore."

This was his warning to himself. Seeing it meant he had to muster self-control.

"I get it." Seeing Kong Xuan's cautious appearance, Tan Xiao just found it adorable. He couldn't help saying, "Then since the teacher isn't here yet..."

He placed a book over that line on the desk and put his hand under his head, tapping. "Magpie Bridge*."

*T/N: Once a year, magpies would use their bodies to form a bridge that allowed the cowherd and weaver girl to meet

Tan Xiao was so smart. Kong Xuan was secretly delighted. Under the double cover of the high stack of books on the desk and the flipped over book, he also reached out and hooked Tan Xiao's hand.

This way they didn't have to squeeze their shoulders over and it wouldn't be uncomfortable.

......

"Did anyone see the fireball meteor over the break?" The geography teacher started the first conversation of the new semester with a casual topic.

This fireball landed right in Nanchu. Just in their class, a third of the students witnessed it, all still awake at that time.

"Teacher, I heard someone found a meteorite, and someone's window was even shattered by it."

"Does the teacher know where this meteor came from? Is it from Mars?"

"It hasn't been analyzed yet, so we don't know for now," the teacher coughed. "We only know it was a relatively large meteor. I also have a relative who found a meteorite fragment, but it was taken away for astronomical research.

"Fireballs are quite bright, but if you want to talk about being beautiful, meteor showers are better. Every year when we pass through meteor swarms, we can actually see meteor showers, like the Perseid meteor shower."

As the geography teacher spoke, his gaze couldn't help sweeping back and forth between Tan Xiao and Kong Xuan.

He glanced over several times.

Kong Xuan's heart tightened. Indeed, it must be that his and Tan Xiao's gazes at each other were too obvious, noticed by the cunning geography teacher who sensed a bit of intimacy.

Fortunately, the geography teacher didn't say much more. Maybe as a minor subject teacher, he didn't want to meddle too much.

During the Chinese class, the Chinese teacher discussed the meteor from another angle. "In ancient times, we paid great attention to celestial phenomena. Fireballs were often called broom stars because their appearance was quite similar to comets. They were also considered a kind of warning from the heavens. The emperor would think he had done something wrong.

"Or, people believed that wherever it fell, there would be war. A famous instance was during the Western Han dynasty. It was recorded that the Tiangou star fell, leading to the Rebellion of the Seven States, with blood flowing into rivers. But we modern people all know that the so-called Tiangou star falling to earth was actually a fireball meteor."

As the Chinese teacher spoke, he raised his glasses. His gaze also swept back and forth between Tan Xiao and Kong Xuan, revealing a hint of suspicion in his eyes.

Kong Xuan: Ah? Even nearsighted eyes are sharp?

Tan Xiao didn't notice. Hearing the Chinese teacher mention the Tiangou star, his heart inexplicably raced. Perhaps it was because those few Huodous had caused too much trouble before, making people a bit on edge. Once bitten by a snake, you fear the well rope for ten years.

But thinking carefully, with the celestial anomaly, plus the one in a million coincidence giving rise to the Huodous, there shouldn't be anything to worry about, right?

The chaos of the Huodous was almost at its end. Tan Xiao had promised Tan Chunying that he would focus more on his studies in his senior year, and had also informed Mu Fei about it.

He emphasized that academics should be the priority, and that there would be plenty of time for other things after entering university. For now, Ah Jin would continue to assist with the writing.

With that in mind, Tan Xiao quickly regained his focus and followed the teacher's steady pace in the review session.

As the class ended, Kong Xuan whispered to Tan Xiao, "I suspect we've been found out."

"That's impossible," Tan Xiao didn't take it to heart, feeling that it was unlikely and that Kong Xuan was just being paranoid.

Although Kong Xuan hated not having a grand stage to openly announce their relationship to the world, he knew what was important!

Seeing that Tan Xiao still didn't believe him, Kong Xuan sighed and painfully removed the "magpie bridge" bit by bit.

Just then, Ji Huiming walked into the classroom and stood by their seats for a moment before saying, "Kong Xuan, Tan Xiao, come to my office for a bit."

Ji Huiming turned and walked out first, "Come quickly."

The other students in the class all turned their heads to look. After entering senior year, it seemed that everyone rarely got up and moved around during breaks, unlike before when they would want to touch a basketball even if the break was only ten minutes.

Now, if there was nothing to do, everyone stayed in their original positions. Any slight movement would catch everyone's attention.

Seeing these two being called to the office, the students in Class 3 analyzed their head teacher's expression and felt that it might not be a particularly good thing.

Kong Xuan's heart turned icy cold. He knew it!

"Xiao bro, I believe it's not your fault," Lin Yang expressed his stance in a low voice.

Tan Xiao thought for a moment and smiled at him.

Of course it wasn't Tan Xiao's fault. What could they do if they couldn't hide it? Kong Xuan now understood even more why Tan Xiao was reluctant to reveal it at the beginning.

But Kong Xuan wasn't particularly flustered either. He thought there should still be room for arguing.

......

On the way to the office, Kong Xuan didn't dare to walk close to Tan Xiao anymore. Tan Xiao deliberately reached out to grab Kong Xuan's hand, but Kong Xuan shook it off in horror and looked at Tan Xiao: How dare you still commit crimes in the face of adversity!

Tan Xiao looked at him innocently.

When they reached the office door, Tan Xiao went in first, followed by Kong Xuan a step behind. They happened to see several teachers sending off a spirited elderly gentleman. "Teacher Lin, we're relieved that you're in good health."

"Traditional Chinese medicine is really amazing."

Tan Xiao didn't recognize the face, but hearing them call him Teacher Lin, he knew it should be a retired old teacher from another grade.