Chapter 6: What Exactly Do You Want?

"Eat, eat, eat! That's all you know how to do!

"Couldn't you eat on your way to school? Couldn't you eat at home? How many times have I caught you eating in the classroom now?

"Jiang Yubai, is this how a subject representative sets an example for the class?"

Jiang Yubai stood obediently at his desk, head bowed, striking the perfect posture of a student meekly taking a scolding. However, the half-eaten steamed bun still hanging from his mouth made him look rather comical.

Seeing his appearance, Zhang Shufang fumed with annoyance and scolded harshly, "You're still holding it in your mouth! Hurry up and finish that bun! Don't dawdle and waste everyone's time!"

Finally receiving his orders, Jiang Yubai nodded in satisfaction. He stuffed the rest of the bun into his mouth in two or three bites and mumbled, "Ms. Zhang, where am I moving to?" He was entirely unafraid. After all, he was the homeroom teacher's favorite math representative.

"The first row, of course," Ms. Zhang urged. "Zhao Yun, you move to the side for now and make room for him."

Zhao Yun pursed her lips and nodded with some reluctance.

The rest of the class wasn't surprised by this arrangement. Everyone knew that Lin Tingwan's hearing was poor. Even if someone stood right in front of her to speak, she often acted as if she couldn't hear a thing. Because of this, no matter how the class seating was rotated, her spot remained virtually unchanged, forever anchored at the very center of the front row.

Jiang Yubai quickly gathered the dictionaries and textbooks stacked along the window ledge back onto his desk, then swept small items like his water bottle and pencil case into his backpack.

"Jiang, take care..." Li Yang looked at him with exaggerated affection. "When you reach the front lines, be sure to remember your brother holding down the fort in the rear."

"Get lost, I'm not moving to another country. Don't forget about lunch," Jiang Yubai retorted, shooting him a massive eye roll. With that, he gripped the edges of his slightly battered desk, lifted it with a grunt, and waddled unsteadily toward the front of the classroom.

"Next, Meng Ze, Xiao Chengyun—"

At the podium, Zhang Shufang continued calling out names group by group, while Jiang Yubai set his desk down right next to Lin Tingwan's. Without the wall ledge to lean on, there was nowhere to put his thick dictionaries, so he had to temporarily balance them on the corner of his desk. Once his water bottle and other odds and ends were neatly arranged, Jiang Yubai clapped the dust off his hands, looked around, and finally rested his gaze on his new desk mate.

She sat with a perfectly straight back, her fair side profile looking like a painting. Her high ponytail swayed slightly, a few stray hairs brushing past her ear, and a faint, pleasant fragrance drifted through the air. All around them, the scraping of desks and the chatter of classmates rose and fell, but Lin Tingwan seemed completely undisturbed. She kept her head slightly lowered, her gaze resting quietly on the open book before her, as if everything happening around her had absolutely nothing to do with her.

Jiang Yubai discreetly withdrew his gaze and rubbed his chin, feeling a bit awkward inside. Before today, the class had always maintained a strict rule of separating boys and girls, making this the first time Jiang Yubai had ever had a female desk mate. Not to mention... this particular desk mate was someone he had just run into yesterday.

"Lin Tingwan?" Jiang Yubai called out tentatively.

The girl beside him acted as if she hadn't heard a thing. Let alone a response, her upright posture didn't shift in the slightest.

Jiang Yubai's face showed no surprise—or rather, this was the most normal reaction. Whether it was a boy or a girl, and no matter the reason for approaching her, Lin Tingwan was always enveloped in this silence. Even when classmates had to pass along mandatory instructions, the girl would simply nod or shake her head, offering no further response. After this happened enough times, the students could only attribute it all to her well-known hearing problem. Over time, people stopped going out of their way to talk to her.

"Alright, settle down." Seeing that everyone had changed seats, Zhang Shufang patted the podium. "Hurry up and organize your things. Morning study period will proceed as usual. No whispering, and get into a studying mindset as soon as possible."

After giving a few more instructions, she glanced around the room. Upon confirming that everything was in order, she picked up her lesson plans and teacup, turned around, and left the classroom.

As soon as the homeroom teacher left, low whispers rippled through the classroom once more. Most of the students were organizing their desks and packing their books away, taking the opportunity to chat quietly with their new desk mates.

Jiang Yubai evaluated his new seat. His desk was almost touching the podium, giving him an unobstructed view of the room. At the same time, it was a blind spot right under the teacher's nose, making it the perfect location for pulling little stunts. If his former desk mate, Li Yang, were sitting next to him, the guy would have been thrilled. Given Li Yang's personality, passing notes or drawing a Gobang board in a textbook would have kept them happily entertained for an entire period.

At this thought, Jiang Yubai's gaze subconsciously drifted back to his new desk mate. Despite her withdrawn nature, Lin Tingwan's popularity in their grade remained incredibly high. Mention her name, and there was hardly anyone who didn't know her. Aside from her widely known condition, the main reason for this was undoubtedly her flawless appearance.

He had to admit, good-looking people always enjoyed a certain privilege. If someone had a plain face and refused to talk or interact with others, they'd most likely be labeled a reclusive weirdo. But paired with a face like hers, that same silence and aloofness magically transformed into an aura of cool, mysterious independence.

Jiang Yubai studied Lin Tingwan out of the corner of his eye. Sure, she was pretty, and definitely easy on the eyes... But... she wasn't a bro! Being stuck with a desk mate like this, who was he supposed to play Gobang with during study hall? He couldn't exactly just stare at her for a whole period to kill time, could he?

As his thoughts wandered, Jiang Yubai suddenly noticed a strange detail. He thought, "Wait a minute, why is Lin Tingwan's language arts textbook... still on this page?" Even if the post-chapter discussion questions were incredibly thought-provoking, nobody stared at the exact same page for over ten minutes.

Frowning, Jiang Yubai shifted his gaze from the textbook straight up to the girl's delicate face. Yes, her intense focus and posture remained identical. Aside from the fact that she had been staring blankly at the same page for ten minutes without moving, everything seemed normal.

After a moment of thought, he casually pulled a brand-new scratchpad from his desk, wrote down, "Hello, Lin Tingwan!", and slid it over. The notebook crossed the small gap between their desks silently, coming to rest quietly on Lin Tingwan's side.

Jiang Yubai clearly saw Lin Tingwan's eyes dart over in a flash. Her gaze lingered on the scratchpad for a split second before quickly darting back to her textbook, resuming her statue-like stillness.

Jiang Yubai found this amusing. He thought, "This girl... she seems to be hiding from me."

He scoffed internally, snatched the scratchpad back, and with a quick SCRATCH, SCRATCH, he scribbled another line of text and pushed it back across the desk. Lin Tingwan's brows furrowed imperceptibly. Yet, as if drawn by some invisible force, her gaze fell once again upon the open page.

"Have you gathered enough money for your sister's rent yet?"

The moment she read the sentence, Lin Tingwan's shoulders tensed up for a barely noticeable second. She took a deep breath, finally reached for the notebook, quickly scribbled a few words, and shoved it back toward him with unexpected force.

Jiang Yubai took it and looked down. Six large words sat boldly on the page:

"What exactly do you want?"