Chapter 23: I'll Wait for You in the Woods Behind the School

It was Monday morning.

With a steamed bun dangling from his mouth, Jiang Yubai slipped into the classroom just as the bell rang, yet again. He shoved his snack-stuffed backpack into his desk cubby, glanced up at the wall clock, and hurriedly took a few large bites of his bun.

However, he ate far too fast. A massive mouthful of dense filling and dough got stuck right in his throat, refusing to go up or down. Jiang Yubai immediately choked. He scrambled to feel around in his desk for his water bottle, but it was empty!

He thought, "Damn it, where is my water!"

Only then did he remember that he seemed to have forgotten to refill it after drinking it all on Friday.

"COUGH, COUGH, COUGH..."

Holding his breath and coughing forcefully, he urgently turned to look at Lin Jianxia, his eyes filled with a plea for help.

Lin Jianxia had been quietly memorizing English vocabulary. She had no idea the guy next to her would pull such a stunt out of nowhere. She hesitated for a moment before taking her own water bottle out of her desk cubby.

The moment she lifted the bottle, Jiang Yubai snatched it like he had just seen a savior. He twisted off the cap, tilted his head back, and poured the water into his mouth from a distance.

Lin Jianxia's eyes widened instantly. She thought, "I meant for you to pour it into your cup! Who told you to drink straight from the bottle!!"

Finally washing down the stuck bun, Jiang Yubai let out a long sigh of relief. He turned his head and said sincerely, "Thank you, you're a lifesaver."

Lin Jianxia glared at him for a long while but ultimately did nothing. She merely snatched her bottle back in a huff.

She thought, "I should have just let you choke to death!"

Jiang Yubai naturally had no idea what this girl was secretly cursing him about. He simply rubbed his chest and casually pulled out his English textbook, placing it on his desk.

He had already called Landlord Li of Jinxiu New Village yesterday to get an understanding of the room he was about to move into. Even though it was a fully furnished apartment that didn't require major renovations, the existing furniture was simply too old. Replacing the furniture and giving the walls a simple paint job meant it would take at least a week before he could move in.

That meant he still had to eat his own cooking for a whole week.

He thought, "Sigh... I should have mooched a dinner at Lin Jianxia's house before leaving..."

Jiang Yubai sighed with deep regret and then tilted his head to look at his deskmate. Lin Jianxia's face was expressionless, her gaze fixed on the English textbook on her desk. She showed no reaction to his stare, clearly still sulking.

He thought, "Hmm... doing that really was a bit inappropriate..."

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Yubai grabbed his scratchpad and SCRATCH, SCRATCH wrote down:

[It was an emergency just now, sorry, sorry!]

After writing that, he took a carton of yogurt from his backpack, pressed it lightly against the scratchpad, and pushed them both to the edge of Lin Jianxia's desk.

To Jiang Yubai's surprise, however, Lin Jianxia merely glanced at it before retracting her gaze. Her eyes fell back onto her textbook, showing not the slightest intention of accepting his apology.

He thought, "Hey, is that really necessary?"

Jiang Yubai blanked for a moment. He took the scratchpad back and wrote again:

[I say, Lin Tingwan, back at your house your sister wouldn't let us talk, but now you should at least chat with me a bit, right?]

But after he passed it over this time, Lin Jianxia's reaction was even stronger. She raised a hand to press her temple and simply leaned her body toward the other side, looking entirely unwilling to communicate.

This abnormal behavior left Jiang Yubai completely stunned.

He thought, "That's not right... Does she completely not care about exposing her disguise anymore? Isn't she afraid I'll find out that this isn't how 'Lin Tingwan' should react at all?"

With that in mind, Jiang Yubai stubbornly tried a few more times. But no matter what topic he brought up or what kind of snacks he swapped in, the girl beside him remained completely unmoved, not even batting an eyelid.

He thought, "Does... Lin Jianxia really mind others using her water bottle that much?"

Looking at her still-unresponsive profile, Jiang Yubai, slightly questioning his life choices, pulled his scratchpad back and thoroughly gave up trying.

What he didn't know was that Lin Jianxia beside him, seeing him finally stop, also let out a heavy sigh of relief in her heart. She certainly wasn't angry about the water bottle issue. Rather... she truly couldn't reply.

After all, she was going to completely confess to this guy Jiang Yubai today. If she were still using her younger sister's name right now and seriously telling Jiang Yubai what "Lin Jianxia" liked or hated...

It would be better to just kill her.

She could already imagine his reactions: "Wait, you apologized to me on 'Lin Jianxia's' behalf before, but it turned out it was just you all along?

"So when I pestered you all day about Lin Jianxia's preferences, it was actually you answering yourself?

"No wonder you kept stopping me from chatting with your sister at home; you were just afraid of blowing your cover!"

The moment she imagined the scenarios that might unfold later, Lin Jianxia wished she could dig a hole and dive right into it.

Especially since all these conversations were written down in black and white on the scratchpad! If Jiang Yubai's personality was a bit more malicious, he could tie her to a chair and recite the chat logs from the notebook with dramatic cadence...

Thinking of this, Lin Jianxia began to seriously consider whether she should snatch that scratchpad from Jiang Yubai's hands right now and destroy it on the spot.

As for when to lay her cards on the table?

In a place Jiang Yubai couldn't see, Lin Jianxia frowned with a face devoid of all hope.

She thought, "Let me wait a little longer..."

After the flag-raising ceremony ended, Jiang Yubai had just returned to the classroom when he saw Li Yang in the back row winking at him with a very bizarre expression.

He thought, "What is this guy up to..."

Curious, Jiang Yubai had barely walked over when Li Yang impatiently leaned in.

"Hey, hey, hey, Jiang," he lowered his voice, acting all mysterious. "I say, Jiang, is there... really something going on between you and Lin Tingwan?"

Jiang Yubai hadn't expected him to open with that and was instantly left a bit speechless. "No, where on earth did you hear that from? Did it spread from the girls again?"

"Ah? It's a rumor again?" Li Yang's face immediately filled with disappointment. "I heard them telling it so vividly."

"That's what you said last time, too." Jiang Yubai furrowed his brow. "First, tell me exactly what you heard."

Seeing his serious expression, Li Yang stopped beating around the bush. He scratched his head and told the truth. "It's just... I heard someone say that you already have Zhao Yun and Li Qiuyue, yet that wasn't enough for you, Jiang. You've also extended your evil claws toward Lin Tingwan.

"At first, everyone didn't believe it, but then someone said they saw with their own eyes that you were passing notes with Lin Tingwan, and even used her water bottle this morning...

"Now it's spreading all over the class that you're a... ahem, scumbag."

Jiang Yubai spoke with a speechless look on his face, "No, the stuff about Zhao Yun and Li Qiuyue is purely made up, so whatever. But how did me passing a note get twisted into something like this?"

Li Yang stroked his chin and nodded solemnly. "I think... maybe some girl has a secret crush on you."

"Crazy."

Jiang Yubai rolled his eyes at him in annoyance. He didn't take it to heart, simply turning around and walking straight back to his seat.

After settling into his chair, he spun his pen, his gaze unwittingly drifting back to his deskmate. Rather than obsessing over who was making things up about him behind his back, he was better off figuring out why Lin Jianxia was being so awkward.

He thought, "I clearly didn't drink directly from the rim. I just poured a couple mouthfuls from a distance. Is it really worth staying mad this long?"

Just as he was thinking this, he saw Lin Jianxia take a deep breath. As if she had made some sort of resolve, she reached for the scratchpad at the corner of her desk, quickly wrote down a line, and pushed it over.

He thought, "Huh? Is she finally done being mad?"

Jiang Yubai raised an eyebrow and took the notebook. The moment he read the contents clearly, he froze in place.

[Don't leave right after school. I'll wait for you in the small grove behind the school.]

He read this line over and over again, turning his head in disbelief.

Lin Jianxia was staring straight ahead at the textbook on her desk, but the tips of her ears were so red they looked like they were on fire.

He thought, "Damn, was he actually right?"