MNL Chapter 45
by VolareChapter 45 My Pleasure, Desk Mate.
Just as Xu Jing was about to be buried by his own heartbeat, a voice suddenly came from the doorway.
“I’m really sorry, you’ve been waiting for a long time.” Wen Yi supported Lin Xiyan as she walked in, saying, “Xiyan fell on the road, and we went to the infirmary.”
Shen Yan had already withdrawn his hand and stood up, and Xu Jing also quickly got up.
“There are only ten minutes left before the end of the lunch break, let’s discuss it briefly.”
Wen Yi didn’t notice anything wrong with the scene in front of her. After all, it was normal for two academic giants to sit together and chat, but Lin Xiyan’s expression became a little strange after she came in.
“The student union requires the program names to be reported in five days, and there’s less than a month until New Year’s Day. You two academic gods, um… do you have any ideas?”
Shen Yan: “He plays the piano, I sing.”
Xu Jing realized at this moment that he had originally come to participate in this boring and time-wasting performance with the purpose of staying away from Shen Yan, but now, by some twist of fate, it had turned into him and Shen Yan performing on the same stage.
So the question arose again, what was Shen Yan’s reason for coming?
“Xu Jing, do you have any objections?”
Shen Yan didn’t give Xu Jing a chance to speak: “He doesn’t.”
“…”
Lin Xiyan’s gaze swept back and forth between the two of them, and she only felt that the strange feeling in her heart was growing stronger.
“Okay, I’ve already talked to Liang Yin, we can use the lunch break and the activity class on Friday for rehearsals, as well as physical education class. Just ask the teacher for leave. If it’s not enough, then I can only trouble you two to find other time.”
Wen Yi’s confidence was a little lacking when she spoke, after all, the two people in front of her were legendary figures in the grade, and it was already unexpected that they would agree to participate in this New Year’s Day performance.
But Shen Yan and Xu Jing didn’t feel anything about it, simply humming in agreement.
Wen Yi immediately breathed a sigh of relief. She was worried that these two would have bad tempers and would refuse to participate when they heard that they might have to take extra time, but Shen Yan and Xu Jing were both trustworthy people. They wouldn’t easily agree to other people’s requests, and once they agreed, they would complete it no matter how troublesome the process was.
“Then we’ll leave first?” After saying that, Wen Yi specially tugged at Lin Xiyan’s sleeve.
Lin Xiyan only glanced at Shen Yan out of the corner of her eye, and then pursed her lips, slowly walking out with support.
“Why didn’t you say anything just now?” Wen Yi couldn’t help but say as soon as they left the door, “What a great opportunity.”
Lin Xiyan was troubled, “What’s so great about it.”
“Look, I’m someone who knows you well, and Xu Jing is a boy. You can find a topic to talk to Shen Yan about.”
“I know, but don’t you think there’s something strange between Shen Yan and Xu Jing?”
“Huh?” Wen Yi was amused, “What’s strange?”
“I can’t say, but there’s a magnetic field in the way people get along.”
She just felt that the scene just now—the two people in front of the piano—was definitely not as simple as a normal chat.
Wen Yi’s mind was too straightforward to understand these roundabout ways of speaking, so she could only jokingly say, “I think you’re just bewitched by handsome guys, look at your potential, you’re a great beauty no matter what.”
Lin Xiyan gently pushed Wen Yi, “Shut up!”
On the other side, the two teenagers had just left the classroom.
Xu Jing asked Shen Yan’s back, “So why did you come to participate?”
Shen Yan closed the door of the music classroom, answering a question with a question, “Then why are you here?”
Before Xu Jing could answer, Shen Yan answered himself, “Oh, it’s to avoid me.”
“…”
He hadn’t said anything yet.
Shen Yan inserted the bolt, turned around and said, “I’m different.”
Xu Jing was a little dizzy from these words.
“What do you mean?”
The two were going downstairs, and there was a puddle of water on the last few steps. Xu Jing had seen it, and the person next to him said “be careful” and pulled him in a little. At the same time, a chuckle came from his ear, “Guess?”
He almost fell!
Xu Jing felt like he had fallen into a trap, maybe from the moment he came to the music classroom, or from the moment Lin Xiyan came to him, someone had already predicted his prediction.
Xu Jing wanted to ask clearly, but seeing Shen Yan acting like nothing had happened, he knew that he would definitely not get the answer he wanted.
Perhaps all this evasion these past few days was really just deceiving himself.
Listening to a certain someone humming a leisurely tune in his ear, Xu Jing’s mood was indescribably complicated, but in the midst of all these complicated feelings, there was one thing he firmly believed.
The barren land in his heart had once again ushered in a spring rain.
·
The day the monthly exam results came out, the people in the class were obviously more excited than usual.
Whether it was the class ranking or the grade ranking, Shen Yan was still the ironclad number one, but this time the second place became Xu Jing.
Xu Jing’s English score was twenty points higher than the midterm exam, and his grade ranking also changed from seventh to third. Li Qin’s mouth was almost closed with laughter, and she talked about it in the office all day long.
But Xu Jing felt that the main reason was that the materials Shen Yan brought that night were useful. Many similar questions appeared on the monthly exam paper, and even a few questions didn’t change the options.
Zhou Ji performed abnormally this time and dropped several places. Since the results came out, he had never left his seat. Basically no one in the class was familiar with him, and when they saw him, they could only pretend they didn’t see him.
“I’ve re-made a seating chart based on the cards you submitted last time.” Liang Yin pointed to the whiteboard, “Take a look, if you don’t have any objections, let’s start changing now.”
The class was quiet for a second, and then immediately burst into an uproar.
“I’ll go? I’ll go? The two academic gods are sitting together?”
“I’ll go, really? Isn’t this a strong alliance, a divine couple?”
“Shut up, you divine couple.” Cha Fei’ang kicked the stool of the boy who said this, “If you can’t speak, then shut up.”
Liang Yin was always careful. Since she said that, she must have put a lot of effort into this seating chart. In addition to being shocked by this, the people in the class didn’t have any other opinions.
Changing seats was always a source of joy and sorrow during school. Zhou Ji changed from the last row to the middle position, Sun Hao didn’t get to sit with Lin Xiyan as he wished, Lin Xiyan was also further away from Shen Yan, and instead Cha Fei’ang picked up the cheap and changed to the front of Xu Jing.
Almost everyone was changing seats with laughter and chatter, only Zhou Ji lowered his head, silently organizing his things, and when he was about to leave, he found that Xu Jing had put a note on his desk.
Zhou Ji raised his head in a daze, only to see that the other party didn’t say anything. He picked up his schoolbag from the ground and walked past him. Zhou Ji picked up the note in confusion. There were only two words on the back, and the handwriting was as clear and neat as if it had been carved with a knife, very beautiful.
—Add oil.
Zhou Ji’s nose felt sore, and he almost shed tears.
He had always known that he was not likable. Not only was his appearance ordinary, he didn’t like to talk, and he didn’t have any special skills. Apart from being good at studying, it could be said that he was useless. From childhood to adulthood, he was always the least noticeable one no matter where he was. He had gradually accepted these things, and he had begun not to have any expectations for other people’s concern, but now, Zhou Ji tightly held the note in his hand, and indescribable emotions surged like a tide.
Xu Jing changed from one corner to another, and Shen Yan was the only person in the class who didn’t need to move. Mao Chengyu planned to leave and thought about saying goodbye to Shen Yan. He turned his head and saw that the academic god who he had been sitting next to for almost a semester and hadn’t said a few words to was being extremely considerate to the newly arrived Xu Jing, saying, “Good afternoon, my desk mate.”
Mao Chengyu: “…”
He vaguely remembered that when he sat next to Shen Yan on the first day of school, this person didn’t even give him a straight look, let alone say hello so kindly.
Mao Chengyu didn’t believe it and insisted on staying in place to watch for a while, but then he saw Shen Yan get up and take Xu Jing’s schoolbag, and also help align the two people’s desks, put things away, and his voice was gentler than ever before.
The little person in Mao Chengyu’s heart knelt down and shouted, this is impossible, this must be an illusion! It must be an illusion caused by him studying too hard recently!
Xu Jing sat down after putting away his books, turned his head to look at Shen Yan, and said, “Why do you look like you’ve succeeded in a conspiracy?”
Shen Yan was obviously in a good mood, and the curved silkworm-like lines under his eyes were faintly visible. He supported his head with one hand and looked back, “How can you say that I’ve succeeded in a conspiracy? I’m clearly in high spirits because of a happy event.”
Xu Jing didn’t know how many waves had turned over in his heart, but his face was still unmoved, “Oh? Is that so?”
The corners of Shen Yan’s mouth curved, “Of course.”
Cha Fei’ang still sat with Zheng Tong. Because there were too many miscellaneous things, the two people moved like a family with their belongings for a long time. When they came, they saw the two people in the back chatting, and they only felt a burst of numbness in their scalps.
They were obviously closer than a normal social distance. Shen Yan’s head was slightly lowered, his expression was gentle, and his mouth was smiling. Xu Jing was organizing his books, occasionally looking up to reply a few words, and avoiding eye contact after only a moment.
That scene didn’t look like the way boys interacted at all, but instead had a sense of flirting. Cha Fei’ang instantly thought of the phrase “divine couple.”
But he quickly threw this idea out of his head, what a mess!
Changing seats took up half of the class time. Liang Yin didn’t assign any other homework, and gave out a list of new words and phrases for them to memorize. It was rare to have such an easy class, and the people around them were new, so the atmosphere in the class finally became a lot more active after class.
Shen Yan looked at the English materials on Xu Jing’s desk and took the opportunity to talk to his new desk mate, “You did well on the English test this time.”
Xu Jing didn’t hide anything and said truthfully, “The one that Li Qin organized was useful.”
Shen Yan was stunned, “You said this was organized for you by Li Qin?”
“Otherwise?” Xu Jing glanced at Shen Yan and said, “Did you organize it?”
Shen Yan poked his cheek with his tongue, almost laughing out of anger.
For this English material, he had flipped through dozens of past monthly exam papers and workbooks, and he was afraid that Xu Jing wouldn’t understand it, so the analysis he wrote was more detailed than the auxiliary books bought outside. He was just short of marking the phonetic symbols and teaching this person how to learn by hand.
As a result, he didn’t sleep well for three whole nights.
Xu Jing noticed that something was wrong and asked suspiciously, “How did you guess the questions?”
Shen Yan heard the surprise hidden in those words, so while cheering in his heart, he lightly said, “Li Qin said in class that questions similar to the previous years’ papers would appear on this monthly exam. I just guessed.”
“Just”, “guessed”
The thing that Xu Jing couldn’t stand the most before was other people showing off in front of him, but Shen Yan.
Nevermind, this person really has the strength.
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” Shen Yan smiled lightly, his tone low and pleasant, “My pleasure.”