He grabbed his hair and asked his desk mate in confusion, “What’s going on? Aren’t we supposed to have PE class? Wait, didn’t we finish PE exams last week?”
“Not exactly. It seems like there’s a lecture today by a famous artist for the art students from a few classes upstairs,” explained the deskmate.
Li Chengfan responded, “And you know this?”
The desk mate continued, “My senior from the first year is in Class Five. She’s an art student, and her grades in art are pretty good. Plus, her family has some connections with the school. She’s been talking about this for a while. This artist is quite influential. Oh, and about recommendation letters, they may seem useless at first glance, but look at our school principal’s official recommendation. It’s equivalent to a guaranteed admission.”
Recommendation letters and guaranteed admissions were worlds away from Li Chengfan’s life. He had zero interest in them and, after listening, yawned and went back to sleep.
On the other hand, Lu Xingyan perked up at the news. He playfully rubbed Shen Xingru’s head and teased, “Is it your dad? Did he tell you he’s coming to see you?”
Shen Xingruo paused for a moment and then gave Lu Xingyan a blank expression, followed by a swift kick.
“What are you looking at?” she retorted.
Her father started with a display of affection but had grown too lazy to continue. Now he didn’t even bother calling.
Lu Xingyan winced from the kick and then scrutinized Shen Xingru, “Are you embarrassed?”
“Hey, has your dad ever called you even once?” he continued.
Shen Xingruo felt stifled. Her efficiency during self-study plummeted, and she ended up not even attempting the questions, opting to sleep instead.
Shen Xingruo slept through until the end of class.
When she groggily woke up, she got up to fetch some warm water. Lu Xingyan asked her to bring back a cup, but she wasn’t in a good mood and replied curtly, “Then you might as well wait until you die.”
Lu Xingyan got up and joined her to fetch water.
The water fountain was located at the east end of each floor, near the teachers’ offices.
Shen Xingruo held a cup in one hand and stifled a yawn with the other, still not fully awake.
Lu Xingyan walked alongside her, teasing her from time to time and occasionally ruffling her hair.
Shen Xingruo frowned and tilted her head away, “Stop messing up my hair. It’s already a mess because of you.”
“You’re good at passing the blame. Your hair was already a mess from your sleepiness,” Lu Xingyan replied, playfully ruffling her loosely tied hair.
Her hair was soft and smooth, making it quite comfortable to touch, almost irresistible.
They arrived at the water fountain, each taking a side to fill their cups.
Shen Xingruo seemed a bit distracted, the water filled to the brim, spilling over. She took a step back and switched off the faucet.
Lu Xingyan stood to her right, reached around her shoulder, and patted her left one.
“Do you believe I’ll splash you?” Shen Xingruo turned to Lu Xingyan on her left and said.
She subconsciously knew Lu Xingyan was on her right, but for some reason, today she felt out of sorts. Her body instinctively turned to the left, and when she saw the person approaching, she couldn’t stop her movement in time—
A quarter of the overflowing water splashed onto the newcomer.
Lu Xingyan looked at his water cup, oblivious to the situation beside him. He casually extended his hand again and affectionately ruffled her hair. “You splash, then you wash my clothes.”
The corridor suddenly quieted down.
Among the group at the corner, no one spoke, only the headmaster and the class teacher of Class Five stared at Shen Xingruo with disbelief.
Seeing Shen Xingruo’s lack of response, the headmaster had to speak up himself. He smiled apologetically at the middle-aged man leading the group. “Sorry, sorry, Teacher Shen, let me take you to the office to change clothes first?”
Then he turned around, hands behind his back, and sternly criticized Shen Xingruo and Lu Xingyan. “How did you get the water? Just fetching water and yet messing around! Which classes are you two from? I’ll ask your class teachers what’s going on with you two!”
Shen Xingruo stared at the middle-aged man, eyes blinking without a word for a long time.
Lu Xingyan turned his head, also stunned. Though he remained calm on the surface, his mind was in turmoil. He even praised himself internally for being a prophet; if he couldn’t get into college in the future, perhaps he could set up a fortune-telling booth outside Shen Xingruo’s school.
No, setting up a booth was too lowbrow. He could open a fortune-telling shop.
Lost in his whimsical thoughts, he completely ignored the headmaster’s second admonition. The words went in one ear and out the other.
The air fell silent for a moment.
Finally breaking the silence after a long pause, Shen Xingruo called out, “Dad.”
Lu Xingyan also recognized Shen Guangyao, and the rehearsed line in his mind was “Uncle Shen, hello.” Maybe influenced by Shen Xingruo, what came out of his mouth was—
“Hello, Dad.”