Lin Zhexia: “…I suggest you don’t push your luck.”
When she got home, Wei Ping was still working overtime, so she told Lin He about what happened at the market.
Lin He cracked sunflower seeds while asking, “Did you finish that cotton candy?”
Lin Zhexia: “Little He, I told you so much, and all you care about is the cotton candy?”
She continued, “Yes, I finished it. It was sickeningly sweet.”
After describing all the delicious food at the market, Lin Zhexia clutched the photo in her pocket and, for some reason, suddenly blurted out: “Mom.”
Lin He watched TV, not pausing her seed-cracking: “What is it?”
Lin Zhexia: “Something else happened at the market today.”
Lin He continued watching while listening.
“We wanted to take a photo, but we didn’t realize it was a couple’s photo studio,” Lin Zhexia said nervously, carefully observing Lin He’s expression, “So I ended up taking photos with Chi Yao.”
On TV, the main characters were arguing, and Lin He watched with interest.
Her expression didn’t change at all from what Lin Zhexia had just said.
Lin Zhexia repeated: “Chi Yao and I, accidentally, took a couple’s photo.”
Lin He: “I heard you, I’m not deaf.”
“…”
Lin He looked confused: “So what’s the problem? It’s just a photo.”
“Are you two dating?” Lin He asked.
“No,” Lin Zhexia replied glumly.
“Then that’s the end of it,” Lin He said. “If you ask me, that vendor is strange, having conditions for taking photos—aren’t they just driving customers away?”
When Lin Zhexia brought this up, she had a self-destructive attitude.
She was willing to risk suspicion, willing to be scolded by Lin He.
But none of that happened.
Lin He, like everyone else—like Tang Shuxuan and Xu Ting—simply wouldn’t suspect anything between her and Chi Yao.
Lin He didn’t think anything of an ordinary photo together, and urged, “Go take a shower now, get some rest early. By the way, haven’t you finished your homework yet?”
After showering, Lin Zhexia spent a long time trying to solve a math problem without success.
She closed her math workbook, spread the photo on the desk, and solemnly wrote today’s date on the back of the photo with a black pen.
After looking at it for a while, she tucked the photo into the fairy tale book where she kept her wish cards.
After autumn, the first semester of sophomore year was approaching its end.
Their sophomore curriculum was very intensive. In one year, they needed to complete not only the sophomore content but also half of the junior year material, to leave ample time for comprehensive review and mock exams in their senior year.
Lin Zhexia’s grades were decent in her freshman year, but in her sophomore year, she began showing subject imbalance, especially in mathematics. The deeper they went, the less satisfactory her test results became.
Solid geometry, functions—these were all her weak points.
Sometimes, even when Chi Yao had explained problems to her, if the conditions changed slightly, she would make mistakes again.
The final exams lasted three days.
She seemed to have a grudge against final exams. Just like last winter’s exam, she caught a cold before this one, too.
After finishing the math exam, Lin Zhexia knew she was in trouble.
For the last few major problems, she left two blanks.
Chen Lin: “Desk mate, you don’t look so good.”
Lin Zhexia slumped on the desk, feeling dizzy: “I think I failed the exam.”
Chen Lin: “The math problems were very difficult this time. The average score probably won’t be high either. Don’t worry too much. Think about how winter break starts tomorrow—cheer up a bit.”
Lin Zhexia didn’t say anything more.
Near the end of the school day, Chi Yao sent her a message.
Chi: Old Liu needs to see me tonight
Chi: Wait for me a while
Looking at the contact name “Chi,” she replied: Got it.
“By the way,” Chen Lin sneaked over and whispered, “Do you remember the gossip about Chi Yao when he went to the physics competition?”
Because of her cold, Lin Zhexia’s mind was slow to react: “What?”
Chen Lin: “The one about someone confessing to him. Nobody knew who it was then, but recently people are saying it was Shen Shanshan, who’s already transferred to another school.”
Chen Lin, worthy of her reputation in the gossip world, always had first-hand information: “Shen Shanshan confessed to Chi Yao. Didn’t he tell you?”
Lin Zhexia didn’t answer her question. She gathered her energy and asked instead: “How do you know?”
Chen Lin said, “School forum.”