Chapter 82

Although money wasn’t an issue, Zhenzhen was still incredibly excited about winning the special scholarship. After all, it was a recognition of her hard work and dedication last semester. Seeing Li Mingzhen’s flushed, excited little face, the professor smiled and encouraged her, “Since you’ve chosen to take on three majors at once, you’ll need to keep up this spirit—unafraid of hardship, determined to study thoroughly and deeply. I hope you can maintain this drive in the future and aim to win the special scholarship again next year.” With a nod to Zhenzhen, the professor opened the textbook and began the lecture.

In this era, students admired academic excellence the most. A few students in the journalism department who were interested in Zhenzhen quietly kept their feelings to themselves—how could they dare to like someone whose grades they couldn’t even match? But Zhenzhen was completely unaware of this. Aside from being familiar with a few dormmates, she usually just exchanged nods with others—at most, acquaintances.

The second major class was French. Zhenzhen always went to French class alone, usually sitting wherever there was an empty seat. The journalism building was a bit of a distance from the French classroom, so she hurried over with her water bottle and backpack, weaving through two teaching buildings. By then, aside from those who’d gone to the bathroom, all the students were already seated, reviewing content from the previous semester. The atmosphere was thick with focus and study.

Zhenzhen glanced around the room to find a seat, when suddenly someone tapped her on the shoulder from behind. She turned to see Xi Junjie smiling warmly at her. “I saved you a seat. Want to sit with me?”

“Sure!” Zhenzhen replied with a cheerful smile, following Xi Junjie to a middle seat in the third row.

She stowed her backpack under the desk and pulled out her textbook. Just as she opened her water bottle and took a couple of sips, she noticed a student next to her—one of the Northeastern guys—staring at her in shock.

Zhenzhen didn’t know his name, but his thick Northeastern accent always came through in French class, often making everyone laugh. So she had a bit of an impression of him.

“What’re you staring at?” Zhenzhen immediately blurted out in a Northeastern dialect.

“Ah! You’re from the Northeast too? Never noticed before!” The guy’s eyes lit up, and he started dragging his chair over toward her.

Xi Junjie had been paying attention to Zhenzhen the whole time. Seeing Liu Chenglin trying to cozy up to her, he quickly stuck out his leg and stepped on the chair, face darkening. “Back off!”

“I was just trying to chat with my girl here!” Liu Chenglin rolled his eyes, then turned to Zhenzhen with a sincere look. “Sis, don’t be fooled by his polished looks. He’s got tricks up his sleeve. I’m telling you, good guys like me are rare these days.”

Zhenzhen couldn’t stop herself from laughing as she saw Xi Junjie’s eyebrows tighten. Xi Junjie coldly glanced past Zhenzhen and sneered at Liu Chenglin. “Ask her if she even knows your name.”

“Of course she does! We’ve been classmates for a whole semester.” Liu Chenglin looked confidently at Zhenzhen. “We even sat together twice, remember?”

Zhenzhen thought hard but honestly had no memory of that. She could only smile and shake her head. “Sorry, I don’t remember.” Seeing Liu Chenglin’s shocked expression, she added another jab with a helpless look, “By the way, what’s your name again?”

“Oh my god, I can’t even talk about it anymore. My heart’s shattered into eight pieces.” Liu Chenglin looked devastated, as if he might bang his head on the desk in sorrow.

Xi Junjie couldn’t help but chuckle. He leaned over and whispered to Zhenzhen, “Let’s switch seats. Don’t let him distract you from class.”

Zhenzhen gave him a sideways glance and mouthed, “So petty,” then stood up and swapped seats with him.

That kind of teasing term—usually reserved for couples—coming out of Zhenzhen’s mouth, made Xi Junjie’s ears turn red. He switched seats with her and positioned himself to block Liu Chenglin’s view.

Liu Chenglin, having sulked enough, decided to make another impression. But as he looked up, all he saw was Xi Junjie’s cold smirk and a sarcastic echo of the line Zhenzhen had just used: “What’re you staring at?”

“So what if I’m staring at you?” Liu Chenglin shot back, lifting his chin defiantly.

“Want to go another round with me?” Xi Junjie asked, completely at ease. “Pick your event—basketball, running, sparring—up to you.”

Liu Chenglin recalled how, even with his towering 6’1” frame, he had lost to Xi Junjie at basketball, and even in a sparring match. A wave of sadness came over him. He huffed and turned his head away. “Not staring anymore.”

Zhenzhen was practically laughing out loud at this dramatics. She poked Xi Junjie in the waist, and he immediately tensed up, turning stiffly toward her. “What is it?” he asked softly.

Zhenzhen had no concept that poking a guy’s waist was a bit too intimate. She covered her mouth, giggling. “Your classmate is seriously hilarious.”

Xi Junjie turned his head slightly and whispered, “He lost a basketball match to me yesterday. Now he has to fetch hot water for me for a whole month.”

Zhenzhen’s eyes widened in surprise. She held up two fingers. “Twice a day?”

Xi Junjie nodded. Zhenzhen broke into a big smile, her eyes curling up as she gave him a thumbs up. “You’re so bad.”

Since all the other students were reading aloud with their ears covered, Zhenzhen and Xi Junjie’s quiet conversation went unnoticed.

In the last class, the professor had already handed out grade reports, so this time, they jumped straight into grammar and vocabulary. The students diligently followed along, repeating after the professor, even Liu Chenglin doing his best to suppress his accent and speak as clearly as possible.

As soon as the bell rang, the professor packed up and left, and the French majors scrambled to their feet, ready to head to the cafeteria.

Xi Junjie was absentmindedly packing up, glancing at Zhenzhen, wondering if he should ask her to lunch. At school, it was generally assumed that guys and girls who ate together were either dating or close to it. It hadn’t been a big deal before term started, but now with more students around, he was worried Zhenzhen might feel awkward.

Zhenzhen, having packed up her bag, looked up to see him hesitating and instantly understood what was going through his mind. Since her next class was still in this building, she planned to eat nearby anyway. So she looked straight at him and said cheerfully, “Let’s have lunch together!”

Xi Junjie’s inner turmoil instantly vanished. In that moment, the sky looked bluer, the birds chirped sweeter—everything seemed beautiful.

His dormmates had planned to go to the cafeteria together, but when they called Xi Junjie, they were nearly blinded by the grin on his face. Liu Chenglin elbowed the guy next to him and nodded at Xi Junjie. “We’ve lived with him for months, and I’ve never seen him this happy.”

“Well, no kidding!” the guy muttered. “You’re built like a bear, if it were me, I wouldn’t be smiling either.”

“Oh come on, you guys just don’t know how to appreciate true manliness.” Liu Chenglin waved dismissively, sighing. “Back in my hometown, girls love guys like me.”

The guy patted his shoulder sympathetically, then pointed discreetly at Zhenzhen. “Stop dreaming. Even your hometown girls prefer the good-looking ones like Xi Junjie. You? No chance.”

Xi Junjie overheard their muttering but didn’t care. For the first time, he didn’t bother organizing his books neatly. He just shoved everything into his bag, then handed the whole thing to Liu Chenglin—backpack and all—while keeping his eyes fixed on Zhenzhen.

“What the heck? Just carry it yourself,” Liu Chenglin looked baffled as he hugged Xi Junjie’s backpack. “It’s not even heavy.”

Without even turning his head, Xi Junjie replied, “I’ll let you off two days of fetching water. I’ll also help you practice your spoken French tonight.”

“You’re the best, man. No one else is willing to practice conversation with me.” Liu Chenglin happily slung Xi Junjie’s backpack over his shoulder. “Deal, then!”

A nearby classmate couldn’t help but mutter, “Who else dares to practice with you? Your pronunciation’s already a mess—if we pick up your Northeastern accent on top of that, we might as well not have taken the class.”

Xi Junjie didn’t have time to respond. He saw that Zhenzhen was already about to walk out of the classroom, so he quickly caught up to her and reached out to adjust the slipping strap of her backpack from her shoulder, attentively saying, “Let me carry it for you!”

Zhenzhen looked at Xi Junjie in surprise. She really hadn’t expected that the “chase-the-girl” tactics popular in the future would already come so naturally to him.

With a bunch of classmates waiting behind them to exit the classroom, Zhenzhen didn’t argue or hesitate. She simply let go and allowed him to take the bag. That small action crushed the hearts of all the classmates behind them. Xi Junjie had always stood out in the French department—with looks, presence, and especially that flawlessly authentic French accent, he was way ahead of any other guy in class. Plenty of girls had quietly fallen for him.

Even though most of the female classmates were still pretty reserved and didn’t even dare speak to Xi Junjie unless spoken to, deep down they all harbored hope—maybe one day he’d discover their inner beauty. But dreams were sweet, and reality harsh. Before he could ever notice anyone’s inner beauty, Xi Junjie had already been captivated by the outer beauty of Li Mingzhen.

A group of girls tried to maintain their composure as they watched Xi Junjie grinning like a fool beside Li Mingzhen. No matter how jealous they felt, there was nothing they could do. After all, when Li Mingzhen and Xi Junjie stood side by side—him handsome, her beautiful—they just looked right. It was pleasing to the eye, plain and simple.

As for academic performance, there was no contest. In the very first French class this semester, the professor had used Xi Junjie and Li Mingzhen’s final exam dialogue to teach grammar and vocabulary. Xi Junjie’s heartfelt opening line had made every girl blush and set their hearts pounding like a drum. They all stared at the professor with silent resentment: What lousy luck—why didn’t I draw that role? If I had, the one he’d be smiling at now might have been me.