That evening, Bai Jiangxin said he wasn’t feeling very well and directly asked for leave.
With the bell for evening self-study ringing, everyone was running toward the classrooms; only he went against the flow, walking out of the teaching building.
He didn’t want to come to school tomorrow either, but with the intense pressure of studying in senior year, asking for leave wasn’t easy—teacher approval was required, and it also had to be requested by a parent.
After returning home, Bai Jiangxin had no choice but to call his father, Bai Guang, saying he wanted to take a day off.
The man on the other end of the phone seemed very busy—so busy that after answering his son’s call, he continued talking to his subordinates for another half a minute before replying, “What are you taking leave for?”
Bai Jiangxin couldn’t even be bothered to find an excuse. Saying he wasn’t feeling well, he directly said, “Nothing. I just want to stay at home for a day.”
Generally, when parents hear that, if they don’t ask clearly about the reason for the leave, they would absolutely not approve it.
“Change my flight for me. I’m leaving tonight.”
Then came another rustle of papers, and Bai Guang said, “Alright, I’ll have my secretary call your homeroom teacher later to ask for leave.”
Bai Jiangxin gave an mm.
“Anything else?”
“No.”
“The college entrance exam is coming up. Balance your study and rest time yourself.”
“Mm.”
After hanging up, Bai Jiangxin glanced around the house. Staying at home wasn’t very interesting, but at least it was quiet.
The quiet house had no one in it. The housekeeper had also gone back to her room to rest. Bai Jiangxin tilted his head back, leaned against the sofa, and stared blankly at the glass chandelier hanging down from the second-floor ceiling. His headache finally eased a little.
How pathetic—growing up to this age, this was the first time he had been scared by a girl’s inner thoughts to the point of hiding at home.
If not for this accident, he would never have noticed Xiang Di, this unfamiliar classmate, nor would he have discovered that she liked him.
It wasn’t that he had never accidentally run into other people’s inner thoughts. The last time he heard the inner thoughts of the opposite sex was last year, when he got the flu. A nurse was drawing his blood, deftly inserting the needle into the vein while cursing colleague Doctor XX to die sooner.
The time before that was during a class break exercise in the first year of high school. When the formation dispersed, it was chaotic. A girl bumped into him; he reached out to steady her slightly, and ended up hearing her inner thoughts.
【It worked! Bai Jiangxin helped me, hehe.】
Later, the girl ran off. Ye Minjia nudged his arm ambiguously, saying that the girl’s expression looked a bit shy—was she interested in him?
“Could it be that she deliberately bumped into you?”
Bai Jiangxin only denied it flatly. “What nonsense are you talking about.”
So back then, at the milk tea shop, when he heard Xiang Di’s inner thoughts, aside from slightly frowning at her calling him “husband,” he had no extra reaction at all and directly treated it as if he hadn’t heard anything.
But this girl was clearly not as simple and harmless as she looked on the outside.
Rather than saying she liked him, it would be more accurate to say she treated him as a great tonic.
Throughout that torturous afternoon, her mind only held two things.
Studying and him.
Either he heard her complaining about how exhausting it was—having just finished one mock exam paper only to be given another key-school review paper or he heard her rejoicing—
【Good thing my husband is here. The moment I see my husband’s handsome face, I’m instantly healed~】
【Isn’t it just doing exam papers? Bring me another eight hundred, no problem at all!】
It was unbearably noisy.
A girl who looked so delicate and quiet on the outside, how could her inner drama be this loud and this lustful.
Anyway, now that he was home, those eight hundred papers were her problem. She could work hard on her own.
He’d stay home for a day first, then go back to school the day after and take a look. He hoped that by then, he would no longer hear the incessant inner muttering of some groundhog with a thief’s heart but no thief’s courage.
─── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ───
Bai Jiangxin took leave from evening self-study.
Xiang Di’s source of spiritual nourishment was gone.
She drifted through the entire evening self-study in a daze. Then the next morning, she came cheerfully for morning self-study, full of anticipation to see him—but even after morning self-study ended and the bell for the first period rang, Bai Jiangxin still hadn’t come.
She wanted to know why he hadn’t come to class yet, but didn’t dare ask anyone.
Someone who usually had absolutely no interaction with Bai Jiangxin suddenly asking why he didn’t come to class—how was that any different from a werewolf outing herself.
There was nothing she could do; after all, she was secretly in love.
So afraid of letting anyone find out that even her concern for him couldn’t be spoken openly.
Luckily, the subject teacher also cared about Bai Jiangxin and directly asked, “Eh, where’s Bai Jiangxin?”
Xiang Di silently said thank you to the teacher in her heart.
This time, Ye Minjia didn’t say that Bai Jiangxin had gone to the bathroom, but said, “Teacher, Bai Jiangxin is sick. He took leave today.”
The teacher gave an oh, told the students to take out the exam papers assigned yesterday, and began the lesson.
Xiang Di absentmindedly took out her paper.
Throughout the rest of the day, Xiang Di kept finding chances to casually turn her head and look toward Bai Jiangxin’s seat.
She knew he wasn’t there, but his seat had long since become the resting place of every inch of her peripheral vision.
Just like in first and second year of high school—back then, Xiang Di was still in a parallel class, passing by his classroom countless times, running through the corridors of the entire grade, all just to engineer a single expressionless brush past him.
Even though it wouldn’t attract his attention, it was already enough to make her happy for the whole day over those few seconds.
Xiang Di patted her own face.
Forget it, forget it—don’t think back on such sour, painful memories anymore.
She had finally managed to test into the key class and was already in the same class as Bai Jiangxin. She was already very lucky.
Everything should be thought of in a positive way. She believed he would definitely return to school for class very soon.
─── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ───
Optimistic people were always a bit luckier.
Bai Jiangxin returned to school for class the very next day.
A morning just like any other—the air carried a chill, the corridors and classrooms were filled with the sounds of reciting texts. Bai Jiangxin slung his backpack over one shoulder, hands in his pockets, and lazily went upstairs.
Xiang Di was standing in the corridor, pulling Liang Qianqian along as she recited an English essay.
What she was reciting was a template essay about advocating a low-carbon lifestyle.
“Resently, it is very popular to live a low-carbon life—”
Her pronunciation wasn’t particularly standard, but she made up for it with her earnest attitude. Her voice was sweet, and her pauses and intonation were like a child chanting a nursery rhyme, one word popping out after another.
Just as he reached the top of the stairs, he heard her reciting English. After listening for a few seconds, Bai Jiangxin relaxed slightly.
It should have worn off.
But the next second, Xiang Di, who had suddenly gotten stuck, began darting her eyes around and directly met his gaze.
【Ah!】
Bai Jiangxin withdrew the relief he’d felt a second earlier.
It hadn’t worn off. He could still hear the groundhog’s screams.
If he’d known earlier, he should’ve taken a few more days off. Now his dad had gone abroad on a business trip and had even less time to answer his calls.
Then he heard her delighted voice again.
【So great, so great! He really only took one day off!】
【I can see my husband again today, hehe.】
【Lucky girl—it’s me!】
Right. The luckiest person in the world was her, and this learning great tonic of his had delivered itself right to her doorstep again.
Bai Jiangxin walked into the classroom expressionlessly.
Ye Minjia, who was already seated inside, looked especially surprised when he saw him. “Damn, you recovered that fast?”
“Not recovered.”
He’d thought it was already fine, but it turned out to be the same.
It was just one cup of milk tea—when on earth would the groundhog’s screaming disappear.
“You’re not better yet and you still came back to class? Bro, do you really have to love studying this much?”
Bai Jiangxin ignored him. Ye Minjia muttered, “Who are you trying to outdo, huh? You already got first place in the eight-school joint exam. What’s a few days of skipping class going to do? Can’t you give me a bit of breathing room?”
Complaining with his mouth, his hands were still honestly organizing his mistake notebook.
Bai Jiangxin suddenly asked him, “You really don’t want to see me come to class that badly?”
Ye Minjia tugged at the corner of his lips. “Yeah. Got the guts to hit me?”
Long used to Ye Minjia’s punchable tone, Bai Jiangxin just looked at him calmly.
There was no movement for a long time. Ye Minjia thought he’d taken it seriously and was just about to explain that he’d been joking, when Bai Jiangxin spoke again in a flat voice, “Then help me think of an excuse to tell the homeroom teacher so I can take a few more days off.”
“Huh?” Ye Minjia blinked. “Wait, I didn’t mean that—”
Before he could finish, the class bell rang. The students who’d been reciting in the corridor filed back into the classroom one after another.
Xiang Di also hopped her way in, a little tune still playing in her heart.
Bai Jiangxin glanced at her, quickly withdrew his gaze, and impatiently ordered Ye Minjia, “If you don’t want to see me, then hurry up and help me think of an excuse to ask for leave and go home.”
The first period was their homeroom teacher’s chemistry class. Just as Ye Minjia was about to explain, Chen Jinghua walked in carrying a thermos cup.
Before class, Chen Jinghua first checked on the students’ health.
“So, lately the weather’s been going back and forth, and the flu virus is making the rounds again. Usually, pay more attention to keeping warm and personal hygiene. Don’t get sick at this critical moment, there are only a few months left. Miss one more day of class, and you’ll lose another point on the college entrance exam, got it?”
Listless responses drifted up from below.
“Got it…”
What kind of damn senior year was this, couldn’t even get sick. Was there any human rights left at all?
Chen Jinghua then asked Bai Jiangxin, “Bai Jiangxin, is your flu better?”
He directly assumed that Bai Jiangxin had taken leave yesterday because he’d caught the flu.
Bai Jiangxin was just about to say that he wasn’t better yet and wanted to go home and rest for a few more days, when he heard someone’s worried voice again.
【So he really did catch the flu.】
【But the flu shouldn’t clear up completely that fast, right?】
【Even though I really want to see my husband every day, health is more important. It’d be better for him to rest at home for a few more days.】
【A few days ago I heard Mom talking about which medicine works best for the flu. I think we bought a few boxes at home. I wonder if my husband bought that medicine. I really want to give it to him to take… forget it, he’s not familiar with me at all, he definitely wouldn’t accept it. I shouldn’t humiliate myself.】
【Or maybe think of a way to tell the class monitor, then have the class monitor tell him… but that’d be too obvious. Would the class monitor notice that I like him? That’d be so embarrassing…】
【Ahhh, I’m so torn!】
【It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t know me or doesn’t like me, but my husband absolutely has to be healthy. Dear heavens, please bless him, please bless him.】
With the weather recently turning cool one moment and warm the next, it really was easy to get sick.
If it really came down to it, she had a strong constitution and had rarely fallen ill since childhood. If possible, she could even share some of it with Bai Jiangxin.
At this moment, it wasn’t because she wanted to see the person she liked at school every day that she was praying to the heavens, but simply hoping that the person she liked would be healthy, free from illness and misfortune.
“Bai Jiangxin.” Chen Jinghua reminded him again. “The teacher is asking you, are you better now?”
Bai Jiangxin snapped back to his senses.
His lowered long lashes concealed his cool, undisturbed eyes. His Adam’s apple moved slightly as he gave a faint mm.
“Better.” The corner of Bai Jiangxin’s lips lifted imperceptibly as he added another sentence, “Teacher, don’t worry. I’m completely better now.”
Someone else was reassured as well.
【Yay!】
【Completely better—just a tiny flu, taken down!】
【As expected of my husband. Aside from that one aspect being questionable, his physical condition in all other aspects is amazing!】
Bai Jiangxin’s face darkened.
He should go home after all.
Could he ask her—could her train of thought, even for just one second, stay as straightforward and adorable as it had just been, instead of veering off into strange territory?
And also, even though it had nothing to do with her and he had no thoughts about her at all, he was amazing in every aspect. There was no need for her to question it.
