Chapter 10: She Was Late?
Happy times always flew by quickly.
Neither of them noticed the time, and they tutored until half past eleven.
"I have to go back. I have class tomorrow," Nan Xingwan said, tidying up. Because she was in a hurry, she came to the First High School empty-handed, without a schoolbag.
"Okay, I'll walk you out," Zhang Chen said, getting up and taking two hundred yuan from his bedside table.
"No need. You have to get up early tomorrow too. Go to bed early. I'll come again to tutor you tomorrow..." Nan Xingwan said, while continuing the hair-tying operation that she had intended to do two hours ago.
She held a hair tie in her mouth and her hair in both hands.
Seeing this, Zhang Chen stepped forward and naturally held her hair for her, smoothing it back.
Her hair was very soft and smooth, looking and feeling like hand-spun silk threads, cool and comfortable.
Nan Xingwan suddenly froze slightly, her earlobes turning red in the blink of an eye.
But seeing that Zhang Chen was indeed just holding her hair for her, she endured the burning sensation and tied her hair up with the hair tie...
She walked to the door.
"You really don't need to walk me. You should rest now. You have to get up early tomorrow, so you need to get enough sleep." Seeing that Zhang Chen was still following her as she was about to leave, she said to him again.
Zhang Chen tilted his head, remaining silent: "..."
When she stepped one foot out, Zhang Chen immediately followed suit, stepping one foot out...
Nan Xingwan turned back and looked at Zhang Chen helplessly, frowning and puffing out her cheeks like a small ball...
...
"Why do you insist on walking me? You could be memorizing a few more words with this time."
Watching Zhang Chen lock the door, Nan Xingwan complained reluctantly, a hint of resentment in her voice.
Although she said that, she was actually secretly delighted that Zhang Chen was willing to walk her.
Zhang Chen also knew she was just saying the opposite of what she felt, so he directly ignored her complaints.
He led her out of the residential building, through a dilapidated alley, and finally arrived at a relatively bustling street.
As they passed a stall still selling oden and small noodles, he turned to Nan Xingwan and asked, "Are you hungry? I'll buy you a bowl of noodles."
Nan Xingwan wasn't hungry initially, but hearing Zhang Chen offer to buy her food, she "honestly" nodded immediately: "Yes."
"Boss, two bowls of noodles. One with green onions, an egg, and sausage. The other, the same, but without green onions."
Soon, the two of them were walking and eating a bowl of small noodles.
Nan Xingwan's bowl was the one without green onions.
"Are there still buses at this hour?" Zhang Chen finished his small noodles in a few bites, even drinking all the hot soup.
"The 209 passes through Sweet City University, so its last shift is at 12 AM." Nan Xingwan ate very slowly, not only because she was a girl, but also because of the small detail of no green onions.
She hadn't expected Zhang Chen to still remember her dislike for green onions.
"Oh..." Zhang Chen understood. No wonder...
It was a service for university students who liked to catch the last bus back to their dorms at night, wasn't it?
How thoughtful.
They chatted intermittently, and soon arrived at the bus stop not far away.
Because it was already very late, there was no one at the bus stop.
Even so, Nan Xingwan still urged Zhang Chen to go back, saying she would be fine waiting for the bus alone.
Zhang Chen, with his hands in his pockets, glanced at Nan Xingwan, still ignoring her request, and directly sat on the bench next to the bus stop.
He showed her with his actions that he wouldn't.
He insisted on staying with her.
Nan Xingwan was quite helpless at this, but the corners of her mouth quietly curved upwards.
They waited until 11:50 PM before the last bus arrived at the station.
Only after seeing Nan Xingwan get on the bus did Zhang Chen wave his hand and slowly walk back.
The first thing Nan Xingwan did after getting on the bus was to go to the very back seat and look out the rear window at the gradually receding figure.
To be honest, it was so late, and as a girl, she was naturally afraid of walking alone at night.
Even just waiting for the bus alone at the bus stop, she would feel a little lonely and scared.
She just liked to act tough.
But today's Zhang Chen seemed to see through her stubbornness.
It was very different...
...
The next day.
Zhang Chen, arriving in the classroom with dark circles under his eyes, saw the scene of various class representatives collecting homework before morning self-study.
However, these class representatives almost always skipped him when they came to his desk.
They wouldn't even symbolically ask about his homework.
No wonder he just stopped doing it; it turned out the class representatives didn't even collect his.
But that was fine; he hadn't done any homework yesterday anyway.
After being tutored in physics and mathematics by Nan Xingwan for an entire evening, he had reviewed units from more than half the textbook.
After seeing Nan Xingwan off, he went home and tidied up his room and books, and he also figured out his approximate academic situation.
That is, he could score around 70 in Chinese, 30 in math, if he was lucky he could guess three or four tens in English, and the three subjects of physics, chemistry, and biology combined would only be around 100 points...
He was a true underachiever...
And the reason he tidied his room was, of course, because he didn't want a girl to see his messy side again.
He then took a shower and blow-dried his hair, and by the time he finished, it was already 2 AM.
Then he woke up at 7 AM, having slept for less than 5 hours in total!
No wonder high school students are most prone to sudden death; sleeping so little and doing such tiring work, it would be strange if they didn't drop dead...
Zhang Chen lay on his desk, planning to take a nap amidst the familiar noise of the classroom.
At this moment, the classroom would suddenly become quiet.
Generally, this was when the homeroom teacher appeared.
Zhang Chen looked up and saw that Deng Xianbing had already placed his teacup on the podium, his hands behind his back, scanning the class with a stern, grim expression.
But fortunately, he didn't utter the famous saying, "Among the entire grade, your class is the noisiest."
Deng Xianbing scanned the room, and when he saw Zhang Chen, he was slightly stunned, not recognizing him at first glance.
Because Zhang Chen had cut his hair and dyed it back to black, his current normal student appearance made him somewhat unfamiliar.
After all, Deng Xianbing, as his homeroom teacher, had told him countless times to cut his yellow hair, but he never listened!
He hadn't expected that after the betting agreement, he would actually go and cut it?
What also surprised him was that he came so early today?
By common sense, Zhang Chen, like the other few old-timers in the class, always arrived in the classroom just in time.
He looked back at the clock hanging above the blackboard, suspecting that he himself was late today rather than Zhang Chen being early.
But after seeing the clock clearly show 7:25, he confirmed that this time Zhang Chen had indeed not arrived just in time.
This kid, is this a sign he's really going to turn over a new leaf?
But if he came early and wasn't reading, what was the deal with him catching up on sleep?
Deng Xianbing pursed his lips, ultimately not having any substantial change in his opinion of Zhang Chen.
Soon, a few minutes later, it was 7:30 AM.
The remaining few old-timers in the class arrived precisely on time.
They almost simultaneously shouted their attendance to Deng Xianbing at the classroom door...
Duan Chenxu was at the back door, still stuffing half a pickled bun into his mouth, chewing away. He was shocked to see Zhang Chen perfectly intact and slumped on his desk!
"No way? What's going on? Chen Ge is actually early!?"
"No way? What's with the black hair!? Chen Ge, where's your yellow hair?!"
"No way, handsome, who are you? Give me back my Chen Ge!"
"How is it possible to eat breakfast and not be late at the same time!"
"Could it be... Chen Ge didn't eat breakfast today?!"
The few people at the door communicated with their eyes, while Zhang Chen was slumped with his back to the back door, completely ignoring their intense gazes.
Equally intense was Su Yu, who sat in the front row.
When she arrived in the classroom and saw Zhang Chen in his seat, she wondered why he was so early today.
Not only had he re-dyed his hair, but he also had a refreshing new haircut, which made her almost not recognize him.
Immediately, she looked at Zhang Chen's desk to see what breakfast he had brought her today.
Because all along, Zhang Chen would always buy breakfast just in time and then place it on her desk as he passed by.
Although she didn't necessarily accept it, her deskmate and friends would often ask her for the breakfast.
She would then, with the attitude of not accepting it but also fearing waste, give the breakfast to them.
This way, she both rejected Zhang Chen, earned a good reputation, and gained face in front of her friends.
But today, she rummaged through her drawer, looked at her desk, and even checked with her deskmates on both sides, confirming that Zhang Chen had not brought her breakfast!
What did he mean?
Was he giving up?
Or had the homeroom teacher or Bai Xiruo said something in the office yesterday?
Deng Xianbing impatiently rolled his eyes at the few of them, sighing. He had already scolded them countless times, and he was truly tired of these few old-timers.
So he frowned unhappily and said, "Go to the back and read your books standing up."
After he finished speaking, a few of them shrugged indifferently and walked into the classroom, still smiling.
Anyone who has been to school knows that standing alone might feel embarrassing, but a group of people, especially a group of good brothers, is different.
As the few of them stood at the back of the classroom, it was as if the gods had returned to their places...
Duan Chenxu walked to his seat, put down his schoolbag, and didn't forget to poke Zhang Chen, who was resting.
How dare he betray the organization? He should be punished!
Zhang Chen, already sleepy, was on the verge of swearing and beating him, but when he looked up, he saw that besides the few who had just entered the classroom, another figure who shouldn't be late appeared at the door.
Bai Xiruo's face was flushed, looking as if she had just run intensely, and her voice was still a little breathless:
"Rep-report."
...
...