It was class time, and the silence was profound.
In the dimly lit triangular space of the stairwell, only the sound of their breathing broke the stillness.
The air carried faint scents of fresh grass and orange blossoms.
Lu Xingyan was completely stunned.
What was she doing?
Did she not know that boys and girls shouldn’t have physical contact?
Didn’t she know that boys’ lips are very sensitive?
Why did she look so calm, as if she were just applying lipstick to herself?
Damn, she’s too close! Move away from me!
Before Lu Xingyan could finish mentally dramatizing the situation, Shen Xingruo withdrew her hand.
“All done.”
She quietly exhaled and took a step back.
Lu Xingyan stood there, motionless and silent, his gaze falling slightly on Shen Xingruo’s lips.
It wasn’t until Shen Xingruo pulled him to the classroom door that he snapped out of his daze.
Shen Xingruo knocked lightly on the door and called out, “May we come in?”
Seeing the two of them together, Mr. Wang Youfu was slightly surprised.
When he first entered the classroom, Mr. Wang noticed that the two attractive students were absent.
He casually asked about them, but no one in the class knew where they were. Only the class monitor, He Siyue, mentioned that neither of them had attended the morning assembly.
Mr. Wang didn’t pay much attention to it, intending to look for them after class.
He had already imagined numerous reasons for Shen Xingruo’s absence. As for Lu Xingyan, he had already mentally stamped him as a class skipper.
“What happened? Why are you just getting here?”
Shen Xingruo, calm as ever, looked at Mr. Wang and said, “Mr. Wang, on my way to school this morning, I saw Lu Xingyan sitting by the roadside, unable to move. I asked him what was wrong, but he wouldn’t say. He looked very pale, so I suggested taking a taxi to the hospital. He refused, saying it was an old ailment and didn’t need a hospital visit.”
She turned her head and glanced at Lu Xingyan, “Lu Xingyan has a chronic back problem. He often experiences intermittent soreness and numbness. I went to the pharmacy to buy him some medicine, and after applying it, we rested by the roadside for half an hour before he could walk again.”
Just as Mr. Wang was about to ask something, Shen Xingruo continued, “Mr. Wang, I didn’t have my phone with me, and Lu Xingyan’s phone was dead, so we couldn’t call to inform you. Sorry about that.”
Mr. Wang paused, his mouth opening and closing as if reconsidering his next words.
Hmm… the explanation seems complete and believable.
Besides, with Lu Xingyan looking so pale and expressionless, it seemed like he was ill.
As Mr. Wang let his thoughts wander, he speculated that Lu Xingyan’s frequent tardiness might be due to his back pain.
So young and not even an adult, how did he end up with chronic back pain?
Mr. Wang looked at Lu Xingyan with some pity and offered a few words of encouragement, advising him to seek proper treatment. He then praised Shen Xingruo for her helpfulness, calling her a role model for everyone. After that, he let them return to their seats.
Only half the class remained.
Before long, the bell rang to signal the end of the period.
Shen Xingruo helped Ruan Wen carry a stack of workbooks, following Mr. Wang out of the classroom.
As soon as Mr. Wang left, Lu Xingyan’s friends swarmed around him—
“Whoa, Xingyan, what’s going on? You have back problems???”
“Dude, if you’re not feeling well, you should just take a sick leave and go home.”
“When did you get this chronic issue, Xingyan? I had no idea!”
“Is it a herniated disc or what? You need to treat that early. This stuff can mess with your future happiness!”
Lu Xingyan, who had been resting his head on one hand and spinning a pen with the other, was suddenly surrounded by these chattering friends, all talking about his “back.” His brows twitched, and his wandering mind started to refocus.
From their babble, he pieced together the situation he had overlooked earlier.
He got annoyed. “Can you all shut up? Who said I have back problems?”
They all turned in unison to look at Shen Xingruo, who had just returned to the classroom after delivering the workbooks.
The bell for the next class rang, and the group scattered. Shen Xingruo returned to her seat, took out her book, and said to Lu Xingyan, “By the way, you should borrow some makeup remover from one of the girls you know.”
Makeup remover, my foot. During that half of the class, he’d unconsciously licked his lips twenty-eight times.
Lu Xingyan didn’t respond, directly asking, “Did you just tell everyone I have back problems?”
“…”
“You heard what I said. What’s the issue?”
She looked quite innocent.
“If you wanted me to pretend to be sick, couldn’t you have said I had a stomach ache and sent me to the infirmary?”
Shen Xingruo thought for a moment. “You have a bit of a reputation at Mingli. If you were too sick to walk and needed a girl to take you to the infirmary, wouldn’t that be embarrassing? Just imagine that scene…”