As Zhai Jiajing left and the rumors gradually died down, the dust finally settled on the principal’s recommendation list.
Winter came quietly to Xingcheng.
In December, the trees were sparse, and the cold wind was biting.
At six-thirty every morning when getting up, the sky outside was always gloomy, with very faint light.
Even at seven-fifteen when leaving, it wasn’t much brighter, with only a few pedestrians on the road, and a thin layer of frost on the leaves of the green belt.
The southern wind was damp and cold, blowing fiercely as if it carried ice and snow, making the cheeks sting.
After a few more blows, the pain turned numb, and only when touching with fingertips could one feel the icy chill.
The fact that Shen Xingruo and Lu Xingyan were living together was already public knowledge, so they no longer bothered to avoid suspicion and went out together every day.
“Are we going or not?” At seven-fifteen, Lu Xingyan leaned against the door of Shen Xingruo’s room with his backpack slung over one shoulder, urging, “We’ll be late if we don’t go now.”
“Coming.” Shen Xingruo responded while grabbing a scarf.
Lu Xingyan couldn’t wait and picked up her backpack, heading out first.
Just before getting into the elevator, Aunt Zhou handed Shen Xingruo a cup of ginger tea with brown sugar.
Shen Xingruo was having her period again, feeling particularly sensitive to the cold these days.
Plus, the classroom Mingli didn’t have air conditioning, making it especially difficult to endure during class.
She wore a tight-fitting down jacket under her winter uniform, and two pairs of socks, and brought along a series of equipment such as hats, gloves, and scarves.
When they reached downstairs, Lu Xingyan saw Shen Xingruo taking out a hot water bottle from her backpack and asked, “Another new one?”
“No, the class monitor gave it to me.” Shen Xingruo held the hot water bottle in one hand and adjusted her scarf with the other.
Lu Xingyan was puzzled.
“When did he give it to you? I sit next to him, how come I didn’t know he secretly gave you gifts?”
“It’s not like it’s a holiday or your birthday, why would he randomly give you gifts? And you accepted it?”
Lu Xingyan snatched the hot water bottle and also adjusted her scarf.
“Why are you making such a fuss?”
Shen Xingruo pulled back her scarf and tied it securely.
She didn’t think much of it at first, but Lu Xingyan kept pestering her the whole way, making her feel dizzy, so she had to explain.
Yesterday at noon, she went to the boutique with Shi Qin and Ruan Wen to look at gloves, coincidentally, He Siyue was also there buying water-based pens.
Shi Qin teased He Siyue, saying he should treat them since he was recommended by the principal.
Then Siyue readily agreed and bought each of them a hot water bottle.
After confirming that the three hot water bottles were the same color, size, and price, Lu Xingyan finally believed that this was a very innocent act of paying.
But he still reached his cold hand into Shen Xingruo’s scarf, chilling her neck.
Shen Xingruo exclaimed, “Take it off!”
Lu Xingyan obediently took his hand away and casually said, “This hot water bottle is of poor quality. Look, I’ve been warming it for so long, but my hands are still cold. I won’t take it. I’ll buy you a new one later.”
“…,”
Lu Xingyan continued, “By the way, don’t let boys pay for you casually in the future. You know you’ll owe them a favor, right?”
“…,”
Shen Xingruo thought for a moment and said seriously, “You’re not wrong. Then I’ll give the class monitor a gift for Christmas. What do you guys like?”
“… No, I haven’t finished yet. We indeed owe them a favor, but not all favors need to be repaid.”
“No, need.”
“Yes, need.”
“In that case, I’ll buy a hot water bottle later to repay the favor for you. You can consider this favor owed to me, and just give me the Christmas gift.”
Finding such an excellent solution, Lu Xingyan suddenly felt like a genius.
Shen Xingruo thought for a moment, “Then I won’t repay it.”
With that, she glanced at the time and briskly walked ahead.
“Hey, Shen Xingruo, why are you like this?”
Lu Xingyan shouted from where he stood, then quickly caught up with her.
Christmas was approaching, and as they entered Mingli campus, they could see a big Christmas tree in front of the library, still green and without any gifts or bells hanging on it yet.
Many doors and windows of the teaching building were also decorated with snowflakes and stickers of Santa Claus.
As they walked towards the teaching building, Lu Xingyan was still bargaining with Shen Xingruo about the Christmas gift.
Shen Xingruo was too lazy to argue with him. She had planned to just say a few words to brush him off, but suddenly, she paused and looked up at the sky, “It’s snowing.”
Lu Xingyan followed her gaze, “Where? It usually snows in Xingcheng around the Chinese New Year, and you just got hit by bird poop.”
Shen Xingruo “…”