Chapter 8: Could That Letter Be a Love Letter?

To her surprise, there was actually a letter inside!

If it was just to thank her for helping him review the material, why was there an envelope? Was such a small thing worth a written note of gratitude? A sticky note would have sufficed; an envelope seemed far too formal.

But soon, she thought of another possibility. Could it be that Chen Ye had prepared this gift for Su Siyun, but since Su Siyun didn't accept it, he turned around and gave it directly to her instead? Based on his past patterns, however, he should have asked her to pass it along, not given it to her directly. But since there was an envelope inside, she would definitely be able to find the truth within its contents.

Besides, if Chen Ye truly intended the gift for her, there would be no harm in opening the thank-you letter and then returning the gift so he could get a refund. On the other hand, if Chen Ye had simply flown into a humiliating rage after being rejected by Su Siyun and shoved the embarrassing gift onto her because he didn't want it anymore... then she probably wouldn't give a guy like that the time of day again.

Regardless, she had to return the gift. Chen Ye's background and family situation meant he really needed the money; she couldn't just keep it for herself. If the store had a strict no-return policy, she would simply buy the gift from him at its original price.

Her mind made up, Jiang Xin immediately sprang into action. She temporarily put the clothes back in her bedroom, then returned to the dining room. Taking the small notepad hanging across her chest, she wrote a quick line—SCRIBBLE SCRIBBLE SCRIBBLE—and held it up for Su Hongshan to see.

[A classmate with very good grades gave this to me. I helped him review some material.]

"Oh, so that's how it is," Su Hongshan said with a smile, immediately following up with, "A boy or a girl?"

Jiang Xin raised a hand to the side of her head and waved it forward twice.

"A boy." Su Hongshan's smile stiffened for a second, but he quickly recovered his natural expression. Pretending to be nonchalant, he waved his hand and said, "It's nothing, Dad was just asking. Go ahead and take that to your room."

Jiang Xin took a deep breath, nodded, and carried the bag back to her bedroom.

Watching his younger daughter's retreating back, Su Hongshan scratched his head, at a loss for words. His daughter was growing up. As a father, there were some things he couldn't pry too deeply into; her mother had to be the one to talk to her. But Jiang Xin's relationship with her mother was rather mediocre.

"Looks like I'll have to have a good talk with Jiang Xin's mother tonight," Su Hongshan thought.

As for Jiang Xin, after placing the gift on her bed, she picked up her clothes again and headed to the bathroom. Summer showers didn't take long. Before long, she stepped out of the bathroom wearing a beige short-sleeved nightgown patterned with Hello Kitty. She poured herself a glass of water and returned to her room.

Sitting at her desk with her bare feet propped up on the stool, she turned on her computer and logged into QQ. She glanced to see if anyone had sent her any messages, but aside from a few female classmates asking how she did on her exams, there was nothing new.

However, a message that had been pushed down the list soon caught her eye, causing her pupils to constrict slightly. The contact note was a simple name: Jiang He. The message itself was equally brief: "How did your exams go?"

Jiang Xin's hand suddenly tightened around the mouse, but she quickly relaxed her grip. Her throat bobbed. Gently pursing her moist lips, she eventually clicked open the chat window and typed a short reply.

[Not bad.]

Then she immediately closed the chat window as if avoiding it like the plague, her finger scrolling the mouse wheel up and down restlessly. But a second later, her finger stopped. She stared fixedly at that name in her chat list.

Sitting up a little straighter, she took her feet off the stool; holding that posture for too long made her chest and knees feel uncomfortably squished. Pulling her gaze away from the computer screen, Jiang Xin turned around and looked at the gift bag sitting on her bed.

She got up to grab the bag, sat back down, and opened it, revealing the exquisitely packaged envelope inside. She bit her lip, a trace of conflict flashing across her face as if she were wrestling with a difficult decision. In the end, however, she reached in and pulled the envelope out.

She flipped it over a few times but didn't see anything indicating the recipient. Biting her lip, Jiang Xin had no choice but to lift the tuck-in flap. She pulled out the folded letter paper, took a deep breath with a small pout, and slowly unfolded it.

[I like you.]

These were the first words Jiang Xin saw. She wasn't surprised, though. After all, she had already mentally prepared herself for this to be a love letter—albeit one meant for her older sister, Su Siyun.

Continuing to read, Jiang Xin silently recited the neat yet very Zhang Yang characters on the letter paper. Chen Ye's running script was quite good.

But as she read further down, a light pink flush crept onto her fair cheeks, growing redder and redder. Her small, cute ears instantly turned a fiery crimson, the lobes looking as translucent and enticing as rubies under the desk lamp. Even her breathing grew short and rapid.

Why wasn't her sister's name in this love letter?! Instead... instead, between the lines...

[We've never spoken, but...]

[Your silence is like a shout to me...]

[Your excellence makes it hard for me to catch up, but I won't stop...]

Reading this, Jiang Xin felt like she could hear her heart pounding against her ribs like a rapid drumbeat. The shyness and bewilderment in her heart made her press her lips tightly together. Her long, slender eyebrows drooped at the sides, giving her an incredibly flustered expression.

But a second later, a message notification suddenly chimed from the speakers. Feeling as though a noose had been loosened from her neck, she let out a long sigh of relief and immediately folded up the half-read letter. However, when her gaze shifted back to the computer screen, her just-calmed little heart began to pound violently once again.

Clicking on the chat window, she saw that Chen Ye had sent her two messages.

"Is he here to get that love letter back?" Jiang Xin wondered, blinking as she looked back at the letter paper she had set aside.

After a moment, she placed her feet back on the stool. Resting her chin on her knees, she wrapped her arms around her calves and placed her hands on the keyboard. Staring at those two sentences in the chat window, she had absolutely no idea how to reply. Her long, fair, and slightly plump fingers hovered over the keys, hesitant to press down.

Even her feet resting on the stool seemed to share her inner turmoil, her cute little toes curling tightly inward. Two slender blue veins could be seen bulging against her pale insteps.

Finally, Jiang Xin made her decision and typed a short reply.

[At home.]

Soon after, Chen Ye's reply popped up in the chat window.

[I'm coming over right now.]

And then... there was no 'then'.

"Huh, doesn't he need to ask for my address?" Jiang Xin wondered, her mind spinning.

But she didn't have time to worry about that now. She pressed both hands against her warming cheeks, then shoved the letter back into the envelope. Thankfully, it wasn't the glued-shut kind of envelope; otherwise, she wouldn't have even had the chance to pretend she hadn't seen it.

But... why did Chen Ye write those things?!

"Never spoken," "your silence," "your excellence."

A girl in their class who had never spoken to Chen Ye, was always silent, and had better grades than him... Jiang Xin could pinpoint the answer without even thinking.

It was only her.

But didn't Chen Ye like her older sister? Why would he confess his feelings to her out of nowhere?!

She figured that even if she told the truth in the class group chat right now, no one would believe it was real.

"What? Chen Ye confessed to you?"

"Stop joking. Does your sister know Chen Ye doesn't like her?"

The replies would probably all look exactly like that.