“You bunch of brats who can’t even march properly,” the instructor said with a smile on the last day. “Study hard when you get back to school.”
It was break time now. After the closing ceremony in the afternoon, they would board the buses back to school.
The class sat in a circle, chatting with their instructor for a while.
Tang Shuxuan asked proactively: “Instructor, among the units you’ve trained, were we one of the better ones?”
Instructor: “Sorry to say, you’re the worst batch I’ve ever trained.”
The whole class burst into laughter.
Lin Zhexia sat under the shade of a tree. The seventh class faced the first class, allowing her to see the first class’s formation with just a glance.
Among the layered crowd, Chi Yao sat in the last row.
The young man had taken off his military training jacket and was napping in the back row.
Sunlight filtered through gaps in the shade, falling upon him.
The classmate beside him, who had a decent relationship with him, nudged him and said something. Chi Yao opened his eyes and, judging by his lip movements, said two words.
Lin Zhexia guessed those two words were likely “don’t bother.”
Chen Lin moved closer to her and said, “Did you know Chi Yao is even more famous now?”
Lin Zhexia didn’t immediately understand: “Huh?”
Chen Lin: “There were already many forum posts about him when school started, but now, because of his punishment, there’s a new wave of posts.”
Lin Zhexia couldn’t comprehend: “…Although twenty laps is quite a lot, it’s not worth making posts to hype it up.”
Chen Lin: “The focus isn’t the twenty laps—it’s climbing over the wall.”
As a key district school, Cheng’an No. 2 High School’s management wasn’t as strict as No. 1 High School, but there had rarely been records of violations. Among a group of well-behaved students focused on their studies, the term “climbing over the wall” somewhat exceeded imagination.
Chi Yao transformed from “that good-looking guy from Class 1” to “the good-looking guy who climbs walls at night.”
In short, he acquired a hint of dangerous charm.
Lin Zhexia had never adapted well to these forum gossip, so after a brief exchange, she changed the subject.
Just as she and Chen Lin were discussing a newly serialized manga, someone lightly tapped her shoulder from behind.
Lin Zhexia turned around to find a classmate.
The girl had short hair and appeared rather shy.
Since they weren’t familiar, she looked even more constrained, struggling for a while before finally uttering: “Lin Zhexia, do you know Chi Yao?”
Lin Zhexia: “…”
She now understood what Chen Lin meant by “more famous.”
The girl continued to struggle: “I…”
…
“I want…”
…
“To get his cont—”
Before Lin Zhexia could figure out how to respond—neither giving nor refusing seemed appropriate—while she was contemplating a strategy, the words “contact information” hadn’t even fully left the girl’s mouth when Tang Shuxuan, sitting in the front row, suddenly stood up.
Tang Shuxuan asked her: “You want Chi Yao’s contact information?”
The girl responded blankly: “Ah.”
Tang Shuxuan suddenly burst out with full vigor: “Sister, don’t do it!”
“What contact information? That Chi Yao, what’s worth thinking about him? Just because he’s a bit handsome—”
Speaking entirely as a victim, disregarding the other’s shocked expression, she earnestly advised: “I sincerely urge you, even dogs wouldn’t want Chi Yao’s contact information.”
Three hours later, on the way back to school.
Chen Lin sat with Lin Zhexia, recalling the scene from noon, still laughing uncontrollably: “Never mind her, even I was stunned standing there—a victim providing a firsthand account.”
Lin Zhexia, feeling as if she’d survived a disaster: “I was just worrying about how to respond when she stood up.”
Chen Lin: “In the future, if anyone asks you for his contact information, you can just direct them to Shuxuan.”
Lin Zhexia thought this sounded like an excellent idea.
After chatting for a while, she took out her phone to check the time.
She saw two messages from Lin He.
Lin He: What time will you be home?
Lin He: I’ve prepared dinner. Invite Chi Yao to join us.
So Lin Zhexia tapped on Chi Yao’s profile picture.
After tapping, she guessed the other side would respond with a question mark.
Sure enough.