An Jing finally burst through the main gate of Small City No. 2 Middle School with ten minutes to spare before being late.
Right behind him, two boys were stopped by the duty teacher.
He could vaguely hear the teacher’s scolding and the students’ inner complaints.
“Your hair is so long! It’s covering your eyes! What kind of appearance is that?!”
“Teacher, I’ve been busy with studies recently…”
“Junior high doesn’t mean no holidays! If you don’t have time for a haircut, then I’ll take you to get one today!”
“Ah—”
“That old hag! Always checking hair!”
“She probably checks others’ hair because she has so little herself!”
Those resentful voices were quickly drowned out by the surrounding chaotic thoughts.
An Jing was no longer sprinting to avoid being late; his destination wasn’t the classroom, but—
The restroom.
He strongly suspected he had already leaked a few drops, but he could only hold it in now, because the light of hope was in sight.
Although this “hope” smelled a little…
“Phew… I survived… I didn’t drink that much water today, so why do I need to go to the restroom so badly…?”
An Jing didn’t want to admit this was due to being too frequent that night, but the thought still couldn’t help but flash through his mind.
After draining the excess water, the chaotic voices that had been constantly ringing in his head finally quieted down.
An Jing splashed cold water on his sweaty face, letting out a long sigh: “Phew… superpowers aren’t that easy to use after all…”
***
Around 7:40 AM, morning reading had already begun in the classroom.
However, the homeroom teacher hadn’t arrived yet, so quite a few people were still furiously writing.
Don’t doubt it; even in junior high, those who copy homework still copied.
But not all those who copied homework had terrible test scores.
Some people assigned themselves more challenging homework, so they didn’t waste time on the school-assigned work.
Actually, only Monday’s homework was submitted.
At other times, many people probably wouldn’t even bother to copy.
An Jing and Fang Qiang were in the same large group, but one was in the last row and the other in the first.
No doubt, that kid was moved up because he wasn’t serious in class, and they even specifically assigned the diligent school beauty as his deskmate.
“Holy crap, why are you just getting here, kid?”
Fang Qiang, furiously writing, suddenly looked up and glared fiercely at An Jing.
“Damn it, you said you’d come early to let me ‘C’ the homework, where were you?”
“Cough… I woke up late today.”
An Jing scratched his head.
“Anyway, others will lend you theirs to copy, whose is this?”
“Zhu Ying’s.”
“Oh, oh, oh.”
An Jing grinned teasingly.
“Doesn’t she usually not lend her homework to others to ‘C’?”
“That must mean I’m charming!”
“Keep dreaming…”
An Jing rolled his eyes dramatically.
Zhu Ying wasn’t at her seat right now.
Several assignments due today were on her desk, suggesting she had gone somewhere else early in the morning.
She was a class cadre, so she might have gone to a meeting with a teacher.
“Aha, I get it. You took it yourself, didn’t you, kid?”
“Bullshit…”
Fang Qiang looked a bit guilty.
“Tsk tsk, does her homework book have a scent?”
“Uh… yeah, a little.”
“Tsk tsk tsk—”
An Jing was about to tease him, when he saw something slide out of Zhu Ying’s drawer.
It was probably stuffed too full.
After all, there had been a lot of test papers recently, and the drawer couldn’t hold them all, so many people just stacked them all on their desks.
He squatted down, reached out through the table legs, and picked up the item that had fallen to the floor.
It was a thick book, and it looked like a manga.
Before he could even make out the words on it, he heard a gasp from behind him.
“Eek! What are you doing?!”
“Huh? Huh…!”
An Jing turned around and saw the petite Zhu Ying staring at him, her small face slightly red—or more accurately, staring at the manga in his hand.
“I was passing by and saw it fall out, so I thought I’d pick it up for you.”
Zhu Ying used her hand, mostly hidden in her sleeve, to cover her small face, quickly snatched the manga back from An Jing’s hand, and clutched it tightly to her chest.
“I didn’t look… I really just picked it up for you. If you don’t believe me, ask A-Qiang.”
However, Fang Qiang had already put Zhu Ying’s homework book back and was pretending nothing happened, organizing the homework he had finished copying: “What? I didn’t see anything?”
“Speak up during morning reading, everyone! It’s early morning, why are you all so spiritless?”
The homeroom teacher’s voice rang out.
An Jing didn’t bother to explain further, quickly scurried to his seat in the last row, hung his backpack on his chair, and then pulled out his homework books one by one.
He was still trying to recall the name of that manga.
He vaguely remembered…
It seemed to be called S Girl M… M what?
***
An Jing had barely sat down and followed morning reading for a short while when the bell for Monday’s morning assembly rang, accompanied by the overly loud athlete’s march that made his ears feel calloused.
The only silver lining was that junior high students didn’t have to line up on the playground; they just had to listen in the classroom.
Students would do their own things at this time.
Those who hadn’t finished copying continued to copy, diligent ones continued to review, and those who hadn’t slept well the night before used this time to catch up on sleep.
Although An Jing had gone to bed early yesterday, he felt he hadn’t slept well either.
After a big yawn, he simply laid his whole body down on the desk.
“An Jing?”
The voice came from beside him.
“Hmm…?”
An Jing replied weakly.
“You went out with Zhu Ying this weekend?”
“Huh?”
An Jing suddenly looked up, staring at his brown-skinned female deskmate.
“Are you a busybody? And it wasn’t ‘going out,’ it was a coincidence, we just had some snacks together.”
His deskmate was the class monitor of Class Five, and also the tallest girl in the entire class. Although she was only about one meter seventy-two…
“Oh~”
“Damn it, A-Qiang was there too that day, it wasn’t just me and her, don’t look at me like that.”
An Jing pouted.
“How could Zhu Ying be interested in me? If she’s looking for someone, she’d definitely look for a handsome guy.”
“Huh, you don’t think you’re handsome?”
“What kind of handsome am I?”
An Jing answered instinctively.
“True… you’re cute…”
“What kind of cute?!”
“You’re very cute right now?”
“Zhang Qiqi, are you hallucinating today?”
“Ahahaha…”
“So, how did you know?”
“Someone told me. She saw it that day.”
“Who?”
“I can’t tell you that, of course.”
“Tch… you girls are so gossipy,” An Jing mumbled lazily.
Zhang Qiqi extended her slender finger and suddenly pinched his cheek gently: “Niangao!”
“Huh—? What are you doing?”
“Did you wash your face clean today? I remember it felt greasy when I pinched it before.”
“None of your business…”
An Jing’s eyes almost rolled to the heavens.
“I’ll do whatever I want.”
Zhang Qiqi was a girl who loved to joke around.
As long as it wasn’t a too difficult boy, she would usually go up and tease him.
As his deskmate, An Jing was often “teased.”
But if you thought she liked you because of that, you’d be greatly mistaken.
This girl was purely ill-natured and full of mischievous fun.
Earlier at lunch, she even touched Fang Qiang’s head, deliberately watching his dandruff fly and land on his plate…
“No dandruff today?”
“You’re asking for a beating, aren’t you?”
An Jing glared at her angrily.
“Damn it, can I just get some sleep?”
“Quiet, or I’ll write your name down, okay?”
An Jing closed his mouth, sullenly turning his head away.
It was a good thing she had some looks, otherwise, An Jing wouldn’t have been able to endure half the semester.
“Raise the national flag, play the national anthem…”
“All students stand up.”
The ponytail behind the homeroom teacher swayed back and forth.
She raised her hands, gesturing for the students to quickly stand up.
An Jing, who had just laid down, had to get up with his classmates again.
As soon as the national anthem finished, he immediately lay back down.
Next were various speeches.
The repetitive, circular talk always went back and forth, serving as the best lullaby at this time.
“Ahem, next I’ll just say a few words…”
***
An Jing was woken up by a cacophony of noise.
He groggily opened his eyes, and before he could make out anything, he felt a soft body crash into his arms.
“Ugh! What the heck—”
When he saw Zhu Ying’s delicate little face, An Jing immediately swallowed the rest of his words back down.
Time seemed to freeze at this moment.
All his senses became acute.
He could smell Zhu Ying’s faint scent, which smelled a bit like lemon.
Strands of fine hair were so clear at this moment, and a few of them were gently tickling his cheek.
Her body was very soft, like a piece of glutinous rice cake that could be chewed for a long time.
She didn’t immediately stand up but clutched her forehead, which seemed a little red and swollen.
His deskmate, Zhang Qiqi, immediately stood up and shouted, pointing at the culprit: “Sun Wei! You bumped into someone, shouldn’t you come back and apologize?”
Sun Wei, who was chasing and playing with other boys, stopped: “Oh… did I bump into someone?”
“Over here!”
“Oh, oh, sorry about that!”
The short Sun Wei apologized perfunctorily, then turned and rushed out of the classroom again.
Sun Wei was also a good friend of An Jing.
This guy was always wrestling and playing with other students, darting around like a monkey, and often, those “chasing” him were girls.
He wondered if that meant his relationship with girls was good or bad?
At this point, Zhu Ying had stayed in An Jing’s arms for too long.
Many students had realized what was happening, and their faces broke into smiles, enjoying the spectacle.
“Phew… are you okay?”
Zhu Ying’s ears were red.
She slowly stood up from An Jing and quietly asked, looking back.
“I’m fine, I’m a big man, my bones are strong. How about you, are you okay?”
“Should we go to the infirmary?”
“No need, thank you.”
“Still looking? Still looking? She’s already back at her seat, okay?”
“Zhang Qiqi, no one will think you’re mute if you don’t talk.”
“Ahahaha…”