Chapter 28 Part 2

He had already taken out his test papers for each subject and was starting to look them over carefully against his score report.

By evening, the grade-wide ranking list was posted.

Everyone discovered that the first and second places had swapped this time.

This wasn't originally something worth discussing much, but Zhou Wan was Lu Xixiao's rumored girlfriend.

Soon, people started discussing it on the school's online forum.

[A study god is a study god, even dating doesn't affect her grades.]

[This isn't 'dating doesn't affect her grades,' this is 'her grades actually went up after a breakup!']

[Is Zhou Wan's brain even human? I've seen Lu Xixiao's previous girlfriends, and whenever they got dumped, they'd all cry and make a fuss and lose a ton of weight.]

[Speaking of which, after the breakup, Zhou Wan really didn't seem to have any reaction at all.]

[Poster above, stop guessing that they broke up. I saw them eating together at a barbecue restaurant just yesterday. They're still together.]

[What the fuck? That's even more terrifying. It's been over a month since the first time I saw Lu Xixiao waiting for Zhou Wan at the school gate, right? Has Lu Xixiao ever had a girlfriend for more than a month?!]

...

Zhou Wan scanned through the posts.

No one knew that she and Lu Xixiao had only officially gotten together yesterday.

Today was only the second day.

However, on the second day of their relationship, with school about to end, the two of them still hadn't talked.

Lu Xixiao hadn't come to school at all today.

Zhou Wan didn't know what a normal chatting frequency was for a couple, so she figured she would just contact him after school.

The final bell rang.

Zhou Wan packed her things and went to the physics competition class with Jiang Yan.

All the subject teachers had gone over the monthly exam papers today. Previously, Jiang Yan had almost always gotten full marks in science and math, but this time he hadn't done well in math, which was why he ended up in second place.

Zhou Wan had looked at the mistakes on his paper. It was strange; he hadn't gotten the most difficult questions wrong, but had made some careless errors. Jiang Yan was clearly not such a careless person.

"Jiang Yan," Zhou Wan asked, "have you not been resting well lately?"

Jiang Yan pressed his temples. "Yeah, I've been going to bed very late recently."

"Actually, if you had performed normally in math, you would have still been first place this time," Zhou Wan said. "We're only in our second year, there's still over a year until the college entrance exams. Don't be too stressed."

Jiang Yan glanced at her and nodded. "Yeah."

After a moment, he added, "Zhou Wan, actually, I'm not jealous that you got first place."

Zhou Wan turned her head.

"I told you a long time ago, you're very smart. If you went all out, I wouldn't be your opponent. So in my eyes, you are a banner, urging and motivating me to study hard and not to fall behind."

Jiang Yan said, "Of course it's not easy to hold on to the first place position, so I have to work very, very hard."

"With your current grades, you can definitely get into a top major at a prestigious university. First place and second place aren't actually that important."

In Zhou Wan's opinion, the rank wasn't important. What was more important was to compare with oneself; as long as she wasn't regressing compared to her past self, it was fine.

"You don't understand." Jiang Yan smiled. "First place is first place. Second place is nothing. This is even more true in the future when you enter society."

Zhou Wan thought about it. She didn't need others to remember her, so she didn't care whether she was first or not.

Perhaps, Jiang Yan was born into that kind of family.

In his perception, the one who was seen by everyone, who enjoyed glory and wealth, was Shen Lan, while his mother, Jiang Wensheng, could never stand in the sunlight.

That's why he valued fame and fortune so much, why he wanted to stand out, to one day let Jiang Wensheng live a life of wealth, and also to one day return to the Lu Family honorably and gain Lu Zhongyue's approval.

But in this matter, the main culprit was Lu Zhongyue.

Jiang Yan didn't hate Lu Zhongyue, but instead hated Lu Xixiao and Shen Lan, who were also victims.

Although Zhou Wan and Jiang Yan had been friends for many years, at this moment, she still felt aggrieved and indignant for Lu Xixiao.

He was clearly the one who had been wronged the most.

He had done nothing wrong, and he didn't even have a chance to make a choice. He had powerlessly ended up in this situation, but who was there to feel sorry for him, to stand up for him?

Zhou Wan thought that she could probably finally understand Lu Xixiao's personality now.

He lacked love, was afraid of being lonely, and didn't like to be alone, but he also disliked noise.

He had bound himself up tightly, giving no one a chance to truly walk into his heart.

That's why he had so many fair-weather friends and had had many girlfriends, but very few people truly understood him.

Once someone became too proactive or too aggressive, he would feel that his territory was being invaded, and he would become irritable, disgusted, and want to shake them off.

...

The competition class ended, and Zhou Wan and Jiang Yan walked out of the school together.

Suddenly, her gaze paused. She saw Lu Xixiao standing not far away.

She smiled faintly and walked quickly towards him, but Jiang Yan suddenly called out to her.

Zhou Wan knew what he wanted to say, but this time she didn't give him the chance. She turned back, waved at Jiang Yan, and said crisply, "See you Monday."

Lu Xixiao watched the little girl in her school uniform run up to him, her face and clothes clean and pure. He casually glanced at Jiang Yan, then retracted his gaze and placed his hand on Zhou Wan's shoulder.

"What do you want to eat?" he asked.

"Anything is fine."

Lu Xixiao was a picky eater, so the places he took her to were all delicious.

This time, they went to a Japanese restaurant.

This kind of Japanese restaurant was very expensive. Zhou Wan had only ever had the kind of sushi available for delivery, so she copied the way Lu Xixiao ate.

The fish was very tender and melted in her mouth.

The foie gras was also very tender.

It was just that she wasn't used to wasabi.

Midway through the meal, Jiang Fan called. The music on his end was noisy, and he urged Lu Xixiao to come over quickly.

Lu Xixiao lowered his eyes. "Not going."

"Master Xiao, how long has it been since you last came? We've all been waiting for you, lonely every night," Jiang Fan said theatrically.

Lu Xixiao pursed his lips in disgust. "Get lost."

He hung up after saying that.

Zhou Wan said, "Aren't you going?"

"We'll see." Lu Xixiao took a couple of sips of his cold drink. "What are you doing later?"

'When you're dating, you have to spend time and effort together.'

Zhou Wan thought to herself.

It just meant she would have to stay up late doing homework again when she got home.

"I don't have anything to do. If you want to go, I can go with you."

Lu Xixiao raised his eyes and an eyebrow. "They're at a KTV, you want to go?"

Zhou Wan pursed her lips and nodded.

He chuckled. "Then let's go."

Zhou Wan watched him as he smiled.

Actually, Lu Xixiao was very handsome when he smiled. His brows and eyes would relax, and those eyes that were always blank and placid would ripple with rare emotion. He was lazy, looking unrestrained and casual, an explosion of hormones.

Zhou Wan couldn't help but lift the corners of her mouth into a small smile as well.

The current Lu Xixiao should be happy, right?

After finishing dinner, the two went downstairs. Lu Xixiao stood at the cashier's counter to pay. Zhou Wan glanced at the receipt and was shocked. They had just spent over a thousand yuan.

Zhou Wan had never eaten such expensive food.

While Lu Xixiao was calling a taxi, she couldn't help but say, "Lu Xixiao, can we not come to this place anymore in the future?"

He turned his head. "Was it not good?"

"It was delicious," Zhou Wan said softly, "but it's too expensive."

His expression was as usual. "Then we'll go to a different place next time."

Zhou Wan nodded. "I'll transfer the money to you in a bit."

"What money?"

"For the meal. It was too expensive, let me go halves with you."

Lu Xixiao chuckled. "Zhou Wan, this isn't something you should be worrying about."

She didn't understand and looked up at Lu Xixiao, stunned.

He finished calling the taxi, put his phone back in his pocket, and leaned in close.

Zhou Wan subconsciously leaned back a little, her eyes wide as she looked at Lu Xixiao's approaching face at close range, her nose filling with his scent.

His voice was deep, laced with a teasing smile. "What you should be worrying about is watching my money carefully, and not letting me spend it on other girls."

Zhou Wan was stunned for a moment. Three seconds later, a blush crept up her cheeks.