He’s not aloof at all,
He just doesn’t talk much.

Fairy Su Zai Zai’s Diary

On Tuesday afternoon, Su Zai Zai went to the reading room as usual.

To her surprise, she didn’t run into Zhang Lu Rang.

Su Zai Zai panicked.

Could he be angry?

But she didn’t say anything that bad! All she did was mention in front of him that he only got three questions right on his cloze test…

Maybe top students have a stronger sense of pride…

But thinking about how he still had to argue back after she called him a “idiot” once, it showed that he was a little petty.

Still, she couldn’t just go ask him why he didn’t come to the reading room! That would make her intentions too obvious!

She wanted to make up with him but couldn’t think of a good excuse.

No matter what.

…She had to test the waters first.

—

After the morning exercises on Wednesday, she rushed back to the classroom, grabbed her water bottle, and ran up to the third floor.

After a while, she had memorized Zhang Lu Rang’s daily routine.

It couldn’t be any more predictable.

After the first and third periods in the morning, he went to the restroom. After the second period, he went to get water.

After the first period in the afternoon, he refilled his water bottle. After the second period, he went to the restroom.

After school in the afternoon, he went to the cafeteria for dinner, then back to the dorm to shower. After that, he returned to the classroom to grab his books and then went to the reading room to study.

During night self-study, after the first period, he refilled his water. After the second period, he went to the restroom.

Sure enough, as soon as she reached the third floor, she saw Zhang Lu Rang walking out of his classroom with his water bottle.

Su Zai Zai quickly followed behind him and lined up after him.

After struggling internally for a moment, she finally gritted her teeth and called his name, “Zhang Lu Rang.”

He ignored her and didn’t even look back.

Su Zai Zai got anxious, scratching her head, at a complete loss for words.

In her panic, she blurted out without thinking, “Oh right, have you been memorizing English vocabulary?”

The person in front of her fell even more silent.

Su Zai Zai immediately realized—

No! That’s not what she meant to say!

She definitely didn’t mean to insult him again…

No, wait, she never had any intention of insulting him in the first place!

Just as she was frantically trying to salvage the situation, the person in front of her finished filling his bottle.

Zhang Lu Rang turned his head and glanced at her, answering in a muffled voice, “…Yeah.”

In that moment, the taut string in her mind was suddenly ignited—fireworks exploded in her brain, scattering wildly before her eyes, making her dizzy.

Su Zai Zai stood frozen in place for a long while.

It wasn’t until the people behind her started getting impatient and urged her forward that she snapped back to reality.

Mumbling an apology, she didn’t even bother to fill her bottle and walked back in a daze.

Just now, did the beautiful top student actually admit he was memorizing vocabulary?

Did he start studying vocabulary because of what she said…?

She didn’t just imagine that, right…?

Oh my god.

Su Zai Zai stopped in her tracks, leaned against the wall, and took a deep breath to steady herself.

She was so excited she could explode.

—

After school in the afternoon, Su Zai Zai rushed to the reading room in high spirits.

Still, no Zhang Lu Rang.

She was completely confused now, unable to figure out what the beautiful top student was thinking.

…So why wasn’t he coming?!

Didn’t his actions today count as a goodwill gesture toward her?!

She had to ask, or she wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.

Su Zai Zai forcibly came up with an excuse to see him.

—

After the last period of night self-study, Su Zai Zai headed straight for the advanced class.

At this time, there were still about a dozen students studying inside. She waited outside for a while.

Ten minutes later, only Zhang Lu Rang was left in the classroom.

Taking a deep breath, Su Zai Zai walked in.

She hesitated for a moment before sitting in the seat in front of Zhang Lu Rang and turning to look at him.

Hearing the noise, Zhang Lu Rang instinctively raised his head.

Seeing that it was her, he was momentarily stunned.

He looked dazed, almost a little cute.

But soon, he reverted to his usual indifferent and aloof demeanor.

“Uh, it’s so hot. I came in to cool off with the AC,” Su Zai Zai said, making up the worst excuse ever.

Zhang Lu Rang: “……”

The classroom fell silent.

After a while, Su Zai Zai spoke again, acting like she was just casually asking, “Oh right, why didn’t you come to the reading room today?”

“Rehearsal for a performance,” he said flatly, without even looking up.

Oh.

Su Zai Zai let out a sigh of relief.

Glancing at the practice book on his desk, she blinked and said, “Are you doing English? I can teach you.”

“No need.” He closed the book and set it aside.

As if she had expected this response, Su Zai Zai immediately pulled out a physics practice book from her bag, flipped to a page, and pointed at a question. “Then explain this one to me.”

Zhang Lu Rang looked up, subconsciously rubbed his neck, and said softly, “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? If you don’t know, you should ask! How can you learn if you don’t ask?” Su Zai Zai frowned in disapproval before quickly switching tones. “I’ll explain it to you.”

“……”

He had never met anyone as thick-skinned as her.

Su Zai Zai pulled out a pen and a scratch pad, stumbling as she began her explanation. “Uh, so this problem mentions uniform motion, and, um, so the average speed…”

After listening for a moment, Zhang Lu Rang couldn’t take it anymore.

Full of mistakes. Complete nonsense. Physics illiterate.

Pressing his lips together, he picked up his pen and wrote a simple solution on her scratch pad.

Su Zai Zai picked it up and looked at it. Though he wrote very little, it was clear and concise. After thinking for a moment, she understood.

She gave him a grateful look. “I got it! Thanks!”

Zhang Lu Rang nodded without saying anything.

“I’ll teach you English to repay you.”

“…No need.”

“Then I’ll find another way to repay you?”

“……” Zhang Lu Rang fell silent for a moment. “Go ahead, explain.”

Su Zai Zai’s eyes curved happily as she flipped to the page he had just worked on. “This question?”

“Mm.” He responded perfunctorily.

After getting his answer, Su Zai Zai looked at the question and explained fluently, “For this question, since ‘not only’ is at the beginning of the sentence, it requires partial inversion. That means we can eliminate A and B…”

After finishing her explanation and seeing no reaction from him, Su Zai Zai asked curiously, “Hey, did you understand this question?”

“Mm.” He continued his half-hearted response.

“Then explain it to me.”

“…”

“You don’t understand?” Su Zai Zai tilted her head and continued, “Then I’ll explain it again.”

“…”

“Since ‘not only’ is at the beginning of the sentence, it requires partial inversion. Inversion—you know what inversion is, right? Blah blah blah… Did you get it this time?”

“… Mm.”

“Then explain it to me.”

“…”

“Still don’t get it? Then I’ll explain it again.”

Zhang Lu Rang couldn’t take it anymore and finally relented, speaking as if in surrender, “Since ‘not only’ is at the beginning of the sentence, the sentence needs partial inversion. And since ‘went’ follows, it indicates past tense, so the correct answer is D.”

Su Zai Zai clapped her hands excitedly and grinned. “Wasn’t my explanation great? Simple, clear, and easy to understand.”

“…” He really didn’t want to talk to her.

“Don’t assume I have bad grades.” Seeing his reaction, Su Zai Zai shamelessly defended herself. “I’m just bad at physics, chemistry, and math. But my politics, history, and geography scores add up to over 250!”

Zhang Lu Rang, for once, countered her, “I’m only bad at English.”

“… Oh.” Su Zai Zai wasn’t discouraged and pressed on, “Then how many points did you get in politics, history, and geography in the last monthly exam?”

Seeing that he had no intention of answering, Su Zai Zai glanced at the bulletin board, walked over, and checked the score sheet.

Her eyes widened, shining as brightly as the stars. “Lu Rang, you’re amazing! Aside from English, you’re completely well-rounded!”

Zhang Lu Rang paused for a moment before asking, “What did you just call me?”

Su Zai Zai: “…Uh, Zhang Lu Rang.”

Zhang Lu Rang stared at her for a while, then silently started packing up his things.

Su Zai Zai also put her physics workbook back into her bag and casually asked, “Are you choosing liberal arts or science?”

Zhang Lu Rang answered without hesitation, “Science.”

Su Zai Zai: “…”

Science, huh.

She didn’t dwell on it for long and continued asking, “By the way, what event are you competing in tomorrow?”

“The 100-meter dash.”

“I’ll bring you some water!”

Zhang Lu Rang lifted his eyes slightly, his brows raising a little, as if he found it amusing. “I might be competing against someone from your class.”

Su Zai Zai thought about it and realized that might be awkward. “That’s true… then I won’t bring it.”

“Mm.” He lazily stuffed his books into his bag, responding absentmindedly.

“How about I secretly bring it to you?”

“No need.”

“Then I’ll just do it openly.” Su Zai Zai grinned mischievously.

“…”

Zhang Lu Rang stood up and went to close the classroom windows that had been left open.

“Leaving? Let’s go together.”

“…”

On the way back, Zhang Lu Rang remained silent.

Meanwhile, Su Zai Zai chattered non-stop beside him.

Zhang Lu Rang’s pace gradually quickened.

Before long, they reached the girls’ dormitory area.

Zhang Lu Rang finally let out a sigh of relief, slowed his steps, and continued walking forward at a more relaxed pace.

Su Zai Zai stopped where she was and called out to him, “Zhang Lu Rang.”

He halted and turned around.

Silver moonlight spilled down, casting shifting shadows beneath the trees.

Behind Su Zai Zai, the dormitory lights shone brightly. She stood against the light, her face half-covered in shadow.

But her eyes seemed even brighter in contrast.

She smiled, her eyes curving like the crescent moon in the sky, clear and luminous.

“Good luck in the race tomorrow,” she said.

Zhang Lu Rang’s gaze lowered slightly as if he was contemplating something.

After a moment, he looked up.

His eyes were clear, and from his throat came a calm, composed question.

“Do you like me?”