Chapter 35

The second year of high school began, classes were reshuffled. The top hundred students from the previous semester's final exams were selected, and two new Elite Classes were formed. There wasn't much change, but some new faces were added, mostly boys. Every boy who came to register felt an inexplicable curiosity about Zhou Siyue and tried every possible way to subtly ask the old members about him.

However, Zhou Siyue's reputation was too good, and the answers they received were surprisingly consistent—'He's a very easygoing math prodigy.'

What was surprising was that Yang Chunzi went to the Elite Class for liberal arts.

Without a strong competitor, Kong Shadi finally became the only class beauty in this class, but Ding Xian felt that she wasn't as happy as she'd imagined, looking listless all day, and even her usual energetic squabbles with Song Ziqi lacked their former spirit.

The first Sunday in mid-September was the first round of the National Mathematics Competition. Zhou Siyue had clearly entered a state of frantic problem-solving again, and new classmates constantly came to greet him and chat, but Ding Xian blocked them all one by one.

"Sorry, he has a competition soon, next time, next time—"

Every time this happened, Zhou Siyue would take a moment from his busy schedule to look up and give her a meaningful glance that only they understood. At night, Ding Xian hid under her covers, unable to sleep, feeling soothed by his gaze, kicking her legs and clutching her blanket, rolling around with joy.

The two occasionally had a private meal together at a restaurant outside school. Ding Xian was afraid of wasting his time and didn't want to go, but he would just toss his papers aside, stand up, put his hands in his pockets, and walk off, "A little bit of time won't make a difference."

While eating, he focused intently on picking out cilantro. After finishing, he gently tapped his chopsticks on the edge of the bowl to shake off the tiny bits of vegetable stuck to the tips. Only then did he confidently lower his head to eat his rice.

'Doesn't eat cilantro.'

Ding Xian silently made a mental note.

Suddenly, a piece of fish appeared in her bowl. Ding Xian looked at him in surprise. The boy, under her gaze, somewhat unnaturally lowered his head and took a mouthful of rice, "Eat quickly."

She put the fish in her mouth and softly said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

His usual catchphrase.

Zhou Siyue didn't talk much and ate quickly, finishing his meal in just a few bites. Then he leaned lazily back in his chair, leisurely waiting for her, chatting casually with her about class matters.

Ding Xian, on her part, spared no effort in contributing gossip: "Did you know someone's been pursuing Shadi lately?"

Zhou Siyue raised an eyebrow, "Who's so lacking in discernment?"

Ding Xian glared at him, arguing with her bowl in hand: "How is liking Shadi 'lacking discernment'? Who is it discerning to like, then?" She stared at him, puffed up with anger, and a name unconsciously popped into her head, which she blurted out, "Yang Chunzi?"

As soon as she said it, she realized what she'd said, but words spoken are like spilled water—they cannot be taken back.

Zhou Siyue leaned back in his chair, his expression subtly shifting, and he coughed, "I didn't say that, don't just imagine things."

"Even if you don't say it, I know."

Ding Xian mumbled softly.

Zhou Siyue frowned: "What do you know?"

"You and Yang Chunzi used to be...?"

'Together.'

Before she could finish her sentence, she was directly interrupted by the person opposite her, "What are you thinking about all day?"

Seeing the boy across from her with a righteous expression, Ding Xian felt ashamed. She lowered her head slightly, no longer speaking or paying attention to him, like a little ostrich that had suffered a grievance, wishing she could bury her head in her rice.

"Hey."

Zhou Siyue stared at her for a while, then suddenly leaned forward, resting on the table's edge, his eyes meeting hers.

Ding Xian buried her head even lower.

He suddenly turned his head and smiled, his lips curving, and said with a hint of helplessness, "Alright, I admit I used to like her."

Although she had been mentally prepared, when she actually heard it, Ding Xian's little heart still gave a sharp pang. She buried her head even lower, and for some inexplicable reason, a tear fell into her rice. She didn't even notice it herself. She let out a small sound, quickly ate two more mouthfuls of rice, put down her chopsticks, and stood up, saying, "I'm done, let's go."

Zhou Siyue, however, didn't move, his eyes fixed on her bowl, "Sit down."

Ding Xian didn't move.

Zhou Siyue leaned back, hands in his pockets: "Alright, I was just kidding, I never liked her."

Ding Xian looked over in surprise, almost wanting to casually dump the bowl on his precious head, but she still stubbornly said: "It's fine if you did, who doesn't like handsome guys and beautiful girls? I also liked Xu Ke..."

Zhou Siyue suddenly let out a cold laugh.

"No means no."

After saying that, he pushed the table away and went to the front desk to pay. After paying, he ignored her and walked off, hands in his pockets.

During the afternoon class, Ding Xian thought about it and decided to clarify what happened at noon. She picked up her pen and neatly wrote a sentence on a piece of paper, then folded the note into a square, placed it at the base of the desk, and poked Zhou Siyue, who was busy solving problems.

The boy looked up and took it.

He opened it.

"Alright, I believe you. I didn't like Xu Ke either, I was just talking nonsense."

"I know."

He freely wrote down three words and directly threw it back to Ding Xian. As the note landed in her lap, the Chinese teacher on the podium glanced in their direction. Ding Xian's heart instantly leaped to her throat, clutching the note and cowering in the corner, trembling with fear. Yu Shujun didn't notice anything amiss and continued to lower her head, explaining the text in a loud voice.

Ding Xian let out a long breath, shot a fierce glare at Zhou Siyue, and then looked at the note.

"How do you know again?"

"What you're thinking, how could I not know?"

"Hmph, then do you know what my dream is?"

"You actually have a dream?"

"Zhou, Si, Yue."

"Mhm, your dream is me."

"Shameless. My dream is to be a painter, like my uncle."

"Good dream."

"Are you looking down on me?"

"How could I dare?"

"I really like drawing."

"I know."

It was that phrase again. In Ding Xian's later memories, she remembered that the phrase Zhou Siyue said to her most often was, 'I know, I know, I know.'

But what she was thinking, did he really know?

The two of them didn't actually pass notes much, but every single one was collected by Ding Xian and tucked into a small notebook. Later, during her year of retaking classes, she got through it by relying on those notes. Every time she missed him, she would pull out these notes and read them over and over until she knew them by heart, backwards and forwards.

Every time she wrote a long string of words, his replies were always just two or three characters.

But that's a story for later.

Two days before the first round, Liu Jiang suddenly called Ding Xian for a talk. They had just finished lunch, and there were no other teachers in the office. At that moment, an ominous premonition surged in her heart.

"What's going on with you and Zhou Siyue?"

That one sentence left Ding Xian dumbfounded, as if she'd been struck on the head with a stick; she stood frozen in place.

Immediately after, he said, "Someone said you and Zhou Siyue are dating. Ding Xian, don't be foolish, what time is it now?"

"Teacher, we... we're not."

Ding Xian trembled all over, her expression flustered. Indeed they weren't; she and Zhou Siyue hadn't reached that stage yet.

"One of you is a competition student, the other a promising talent. Don't be foolish at this critical juncture. Even if there's anything, wait until after the college entrance exam, understand?"

"Teacher, we really aren't..."

Liu Jiang waved his hand and sighed: "When others told me about this, I actually didn't believe it in my heart. After all, Zhou Siyue doesn't look like the type to date. But someone said they saw you two often eating together, and there's a bit of a spark. As your teacher, I think I should give you a heads-up."

Ding Xian: "..."

Liu Jiang continued: "Of course, I believe in you two; how could someone in a relationship have such stable grades? But sometimes you need to be careful to avoid suspicion. If a boy and girl are too close, people will inevitably gossip. Especially for girls, how unpleasant is it to have rumors spread about you behind your back? Zhou Siyue has a competition in a few days, so I won't talk to him for now. Go back and switch seats, have Song Ziqi move over and sit with him."

Since childhood, Ding Xian had never been criticized by a teacher face-to-face, let alone being called into the office by a teacher to discuss such matters. Her mind was completely muddled; she wished she could find a hole to crawl into and didn't know what to do except nod.

Liu Jiang nodded, "Go back and pay attention to your interactions with boys."

These words instantly made Ding Xian feel humiliated and utterly mortified, as if she were a girl who didn't study and only focused on messing around with boys.

When Zhou Siyue returned to the classroom, Ding Xian had already moved to sit next to Kong Shadi. Song Ziqi was sitting in Ding Xian's seat, flipping through a book, and looked at him leisurely with a resentful expression: "Oh, my nemesis."

Zhou Siyue pulled out his chair and sat down, leaning against the backrest. He glanced at Ding Xian's back and said: "What's wrong with that girl now?"

Song Ziqi shook his head, "A woman's mind is hard to guess."

During the afternoon class, Zhou Siyue proactively wrote a note and asked Kong Shadi to pass it to Ding Xian.

"Can I read it?" Kong Shadi asked.

Zhou Siyue replied indifferently: "If you want to die, go ahead and try."

Kong Shadi: "As if."

She returned to her seat and handed the note to Ding Xian.

Ding Xian opened it.

"I don't know what you're angry about. Whether I'm wrong or not, fine, I'll say sorry. Alright, you can come back now."

His attitude of being willing to accommodate her no matter what, coupled with his cynical tone, almost made Ding Xian cry. Kong Shadi looked at her in surprise, her expression changing like a movie star's as she looked at a piece of paper: "It can't be that serious, what did it say?" She tried to snatch a glance, but Ding Xian quickly pressed the note down, covering the words with one hand, and with the other, wrote:

"You should focus on your exam first. Good luck with the first round."

She finished writing and handed it to Kong Shadi, reminding her: "No peeking."

"Hmph, as if. You two are really cut from the same cloth."

In a blink of an eye, half a semester passed.

The National Competition results were announced on Tieba. Zhou Siyue and He Xingwen both didn't make it into the National Team, only winning second and third prizes respectively.

Third High School still didn't win a first prize this year.

Later, Kong Shadi found out that during the first round of the exam, Zhou Siyue was called to the office by a teacher who said someone had reported him for cheating. Several teachers from the expert panel asked the police to review surveillance footage for a day, only to discover it was a false alarm. Yang Weitao had made a fuss in the office about this for a long time, insisting that someone had intentionally caused trouble, attempting to affect Zhou Siyue's exam.

The expert panel retorted with a single sentence: "Would someone truly capable be affected by something like this?"

Yang Weitao's face turned crimson with anger: "Believe me, he's a genius in mathematics!"

"But the facts show he only got a second prize."

"That was because he was affected by others!"

"Teacher Yang, I understand your feelings. Gold always shines, and there's still a chance next year. You should believe in him just like we do."

...

Zhou Siyue skipped two classes.

When Ding Xian found him, he was standing under the basketball hoop, his broad back slightly arched, dribbling the ball with his head down, and beside him stood Yang Chunzi, who had just finished physical education class.