It’s understandable that Xiang Di felt such a huge sense of disappointment.
After all, her love at first sight for Bo Jiangxin happened at the freshman orientation ceremony in her first year of high school.
Yan Shisi High School’s uniforms were divided into formal and casual styles.
At the orientation ceremony, all first-year students wore the formal style. Boys wore white shirts, long pants, vests, and ties, while girls wore white shirts, short skirts, and bow ties.
Putting on her high school uniform, Xiang Di felt like an adult. From today on, she was no longer a middle school kid.
Just then, Xiang Di, who was full of endless expectations for high school life, saw Bo Jiangxin, also a first-year student, go on stage to speak.
His cool, clear eyes held a trace of indifference.
With black hair, pale skin, and a tall, slender build, he resembled a winter pine tree covered in frost in a cold wind. When his deep voice reached Xiang Di’s ears through the microphone, though his tone was calm, emotionless, and the end of his sentences fell softly, it left a heavy mark on her heart.
Xiang Di had an aunt who loved watching idol dramas.
Her aunt doted on her the most, and even when she was tiny and understood nothing, her aunt would watch idol dramas with her.
Xiang Di’s mother often told her sister, “Your niece is so young, and you’re letting her watch this romance stuff. If she grows up to be a love-struck fool, it’ll be your fault for leading her astray.”
Her aunt would righteously retort, “You wouldn’t understand. I’m having Di Bao’er watch idol dramas so she can develop a good eye for men from a young age. That way, she won’t be easily tricked by just any guy who buys her a cup of bubble tea or cooks her a bowl of porridge.”
Many people say that girls who watch too many idol dramas tend to become love-struck, but on the other hand, watching idol dramas also has benefits.
The more you watch, the better your eye for choosing men becomes, and it’s hard to be impressed by ordinary guys.
This is why Xiang Di’s aunt remains unmarried, and all her ex-boyfriends, whether loyal or scoundrels in relationships, were at least handsome eye candy.
Her aunt always told Xiang Di from a young age, “Relationships break up anyway, and marriages can end in divorce. Instead of liking an ugly guy and getting hurt by him, why not just like a handsome and smart man?”
And so, Xiang Di was brainwashed by her aunt. From elementary to middle school, she met many boys, and some were interested in her, but she never encountered anyone she felt was worth liking.
Until the first-year high school orientation ceremony, when she saw Bo Jiangxin.
The first idol drama in Xiang Di’s life was “Itazura na Kiss,” which her aunt watched with her when she was in elementary school.
Her aunt’s favorite type of man was also like Irie Naoki: handsome, aloof, highly intelligent. If he came from a good family and had money, that was an even bigger bonus.
Unfortunately, men like that, when stripped of their idol drama halo, are usually pretentious in real life, lacking any personal charm beyond a pretty face, which is a turn-off.
So, Xiang Di had always been indifferent to this type.
Until she met Bo Jiangxin.
Suddenly, she understood her aunt’s earnest teachings.
Why like someone inferior to yourself? What’s worth liking about a man who’s not even as good as you? If you’re going to like an ordinary guy, you might as well just stay single.
Although Xiang Di only got into Shisi High School by sheer luck on her middle school entrance exam, their Shisi High School wasn’t particularly top-tier among key high schools in the city.
It would have been more reasonable for a top student like Bo Jiangxin, who excelled in all aspects, to go to a better school.
Later, Xiang Di heard from other classmates that Bo Jiangxin had transferred from an international middle school in the rich district.
Originally, his life path should have been to go directly to the high school section of the international school and then apply to study abroad, following an elite development path.
But for some reason, he came to a public high school and switched to the common college entrance examination route.
Given his background, anyone who encountered him would at least develop a secret crush on him, wouldn’t they?
Initially, she was attracted by his appearance and demeanor.
Over time, as she watched him longer, her feelings slowly fermented in her heart, and she continued to like him for three years.
Eventually, liking him became a habit.
Xiang Di didn’t know why she could persist for so long, even though Bo Jiangxin didn’t know who she was, she still liked him for so long.
Secret crush.
She simply admired strength; she liked excellence.
Men were everywhere, but even for a secret crush, she wanted to choose the best and most outstanding one.
The first time Xiang Di saw Bo Jiangxin, it was just as described in Kotoko’s love letter to Naoki-kun in “Itazura na Kiss”: from the moment she saw him, her heart felt as if it had been struck by a meteor.
Xiang Di murmured to herself, “Auntie, I think I’ve found my Naoki-kun.”
Unfortunately, she wasn’t Kotoko, nor did she have her courage and straightforwardness.
Forget writing a love letter to confess, she didn’t even dare to go up and talk to Bo Jiangxin.
However, thankfully, she wasn’t stupid, and her personality was good.
If she didn’t dare to confess, then she’d quietly work hard to get closer to him, and then even closer.
From barely making it into Shisi High School by the admissions cutoff score on her middle school exam, to now sitting in a key class and becoming deskmates with her beloved “Naoki-kun,” she was truly getting closer and closer to him.
However, in this biology exam, even she scored ninety-two points, but Bo Jiangxin, who was as cool and noble as the moon in the sky and whom she admired, only scored sixty-eight points.
“I don’t mean to look down on sixty-eight points. Sixty-eight points is good, with a six and an eight, it’s very auspicious. But why did she work so hard for the past two years to get herself into the key class?”
[Alas, the romantic vibe is suddenly gone by more than half.]
It felt inexplicably like her idol, whom she had followed for three years, suddenly had a scandal.
Even Xiang Di felt that she was being a bit too snobbish, so she quickly tried to rationalize it in her mind.
[It’s okay, at least he’s still handsome. Just think of him as a silly husband.]
Bo Jiangxin’s face was now stonier than a rock.
She was still trying to be reasonable?
Ridiculous.
A group of people gathered to look at Bo Jiangxin’s scores.
The evening self-study classroom was a mess. The biology teacher clapped on the podium, maintaining discipline.
“Alright, alright, everyone return to your seats. When the dean comes later, he’ll complain again that our class is the noisyest in the entire grade.”
Everyone reluctantly returned to their seats.
Someone still found Bo Jiangxin’s score incredible and asked, “Teacher, did you make a mistake grading Bo Jiangxin’s paper?”
The biology teacher said, “No mistake. Bo Jiangxin wasn’t feeling well that night. He didn’t finish the test paper; the last two major questions were left blank, so thirty points were directly lost.”
Everyone immediately showed an “I told you so” expression.
So, it was because he didn’t do two major questions. As expected, the study god was still the study god; no scandal there.
Ye Minjia also suddenly remembered that Bo Jiangxin did seem unwell during the exam that day; the latter half of his paper was almost empty.
Suddenly, he felt incredibly defeated.
Although he scored better than Bo Jiangxin this time, Bo Jiangxin’s lower score was due to illness, so he couldn’t be considered a clear winner.
Liang Qianqian, next to him, was pleased and gloated.
“Face reality, Class Monitor. With Bo Jiangxin around, you still want to be number one?”
Ye Minjia retorted impolitely, “Garbage who scored 89, don’t talk to me.”
The biology teacher then said from the podium, “This test paper was relatively simple, so there’s no need to go over everything. You and your deskmate should exchange papers, see if there are any questions you answered incorrectly due to carelessness, explain them to each other, and for questions no one understands, I’ll explain them uniformly.”
The classroom started buzzing again. After learning the reason, Xiang Di also breathed a sigh of relief.
[Good, good. It’s because he didn’t do the major questions that he only scored sixty-eight. My husband’s romantic vibe is still there.]
Bo Jiangxin scoffed coldly.
That’s really a shame.
He originally thought he could finally be free, and wouldn’t have to be her pornographic film protagonist anymore.
The teacher asked deskmates to exchange papers. Xiang Di lightly coughed and gathered her courage to speak, “Um, should we exchange papers?”
Bo Jiangxin directly refused, “No need.”
Xiang Di hummed, “Then the two major questions you didn’t write…”
Did he still need her to teach him? Bo Jiangxin pulled at his lip and asked her, “You wrote them all, so what did you score?”
Not sensing the sarcasm in his tone, Xiang Di honestly said, “Ninety-two.”
Bo Jiangxin’s expression froze, and his face instantly darkened a few shades.
That night, he was so disturbed by the scenes she imagined in her mind that he didn’t even finish the test paper, scoring his lowest ever.
And she actually used him to score ninety-two?
Even if her study method was abnormal, being able to score ninety-two was her own ability, and he had nothing to say about it.
But why did she suddenly become disenchanted with him just because she misunderstood that his ability was only sixty-eight points, thinking he wasn’t the study god who crushed everyone in her heart?
He had thought Xiang Di would be different, but now it seemed Xiang Di was no different from those people.
Her liking was too superficial, so superficial that it was no different from theirs.
When he was in private school before, he seemed very popular in school, had many friends, and many girls liked him.
But he knew very well that he wasn’t actually likable.
The reason those people were still willing to associate with him was purely because being friends with him gave them face, and his father was rich and powerful, which would be a good resource for future connections after graduation.
Grandpa was right, the human heart is complex, and being able to read minds is not a good thing, because not everyone will truly love you, even your closest relatives.
He had experienced so much before, so he should feel nothing at this point. Bo Jiangxin couldn’t quite articulate what he was angry about, or what he was disappointed about.
One moment she liked him, the next she didn’t like him, liking him to the point of fantasizing about making love, saying she liked everything about him, but as soon as he didn’t score well, she immediately didn’t like him as much.
Did she like him as a person, or did she like that he could be first in the grade?
If he couldn’t be first in the grade, if someone else was first, would she now be secretly crushing on someone else?
Seeing Bo Jiangxin not speak, Xiang Di good-temperedly asked again.
Looking.
Snapping back to reality, Bo Jiangxin said coldly, “No need.”
His distant attitude left Xiang Di feeling a bit helpless for a moment.
She awkwardly said “Oh” and lowered her head, staring at her own test paper.
The discussions in the classroom were lively.
She looked up and around, everyone was discussing test papers with their deskmates, only she and Bo Jiangxin were like strangers.
Not wanting to be alone, she turned her head, wanting to find Qianqian to discuss, but Qianqian was happily bickering with the class monitor and didn’t notice her at all.
It felt like she was back at the beginning of her third year of high school.
She had just gotten into the key class, and although she had fulfilled her wish of being in the same class as the boy she liked, that feeling of not knowing anyone in the class still made her feel lonely and uneasy.
She liked Bo Jiangxin, but one Bo Jiangxin wasn’t enough for her to overcome that initial loneliness. What she needed more were friends.
Fortunately, she slowly got to know the girls in the class later, and even found Qianqian, a good friend with whom she ate and went to the restroom together.
Xiang Di, who was originally very excited about being deskmates with Bo Jiangxin, suddenly felt her excitement change after being treated coldly by Bo Jiangxin.
Suddenly, she felt that being deskmates with the boy she liked wasn’t such a happy thing after all.
Being inexplicably given the cold shoulder by the boy she had a crush on, compared to that small hint of bitterness and sadness, Xiang Di, who had never lacked love since childhood, felt more resentment and indignation in her heart.
[What’s with the attitude? I didn’t offend you, I was nice to you, why are you so cold to me?]
[People with secret crushes also have dignity and human rights, okay? I’m not your sycophant, don’t just throw tantrums at me because I have a crush on you.]
[So what if you didn’t do well this time? It’s not my fault you didn’t do well, what does it have to do with me? Such a bad attitude, I’ll draw a circle and curse you to score sixty-eight again next time!]
Bo Jiangxin’s eyelids flickered, and he turned his head to look at her.
The girl pouted, her delicate eyebrows tightly furrowed, visibly unhappy.
She was sprawled on the desk, resting her head on her arm, holding a pen, and actually drew a circle on a piece of scratch paper.
She, the culprit, still had the nerve to feel wronged and even curse him?
Noticing him looking at her, Xiang Di pursed her lips, turned her head away, showing him the back of her head, and continued drawing circles.
[It’s still happier to be deskmates with Qianqian.]
Bo Jiangxin pursed his lips, a shadow darkening his brows.
She liked being deskmates with others so much, then he would grant her wish.
Perfect, he wouldn’t have to consider her feelings anymore.
After class, he would go back to the homeroom teacher and ask the teacher to separate them.
She was disenchanted with him; she would probably like someone else soon.
He couldn’t ask for more.
Now his world would finally return to peace, and he wouldn’t have to act in pornographic films in her mind anymore.
He thanked her.
This “thank you” was said with a rather gritted-teeth fierceness.
The more Bo Jiangxin thought about it, the angrier he got.
He sneered inwardly, unable to wait until after class, wishing he could drag her to the homeroom teacher to change seats right now.
Meanwhile, Xiang Di was completely unaware. After a long complaint in her heart, she finally felt satisfied with her internal rant and sighed deeply.
[What’s the use of cursing him? Xiang Di, admit it, you still like Bo Jiangxin, hopelessly so.]
Looking at the back of her head and hearing her helpless sigh in her mind, Bo Jiangxin was suddenly stunned.
What did she mean, she still liked him?
Before he could even process her sudden, unannounced confession, she was already shouting in her mind again.
[Ahhh, but being given the cold shoulder still makes me so angry!]
[Bo Jiangxin, I’m going to punish you to be my sycophant.]
Bo Jiangxin frowned.
Be her sycophant? Only if he was crazy.
[I’m going to punish you to be my sycophant and fawn over me a hundred times! Until I’m satisfied!]
…Was she speaking Chinese?
While Bo Jiangxin was momentarily stunned, Xiang Di had already begun her cowardly, imaginary revenge.