Chapter 3: Wen Xia’s Change
Suddenly, a boy’s voice came from behind, “Wen Xia.”
Wen Xia looked over, and saw a boy from the last row, holding a pack of spicy strips and pointing at them, asking if she wanted some.
He had dark skin, a few pimples on his forehead, and decent features. He was the class’s sports representative, and his name seemed to be Jiang Xu.
This boy liked her for three whole years. After graduating from high school, he confessed to her, but she rejected him. They lost contact after that. Later, she heard that he became a physical education teacher at a middle school.
Wen Xia shook her head and then withdrew her gaze.
Liu An’an gave her a meaningful look and teasingly said, “Xia Xia, do you feel anything for him?”
Jiang Xu was tall, not unattractive, and his parents were teachers. Many girls liked him.
Jiang Yan seemed particularly interested in the topic, leaning over from behind, her long eyelashes fluttering. “Xia Xia, come on, tell us?”
Wen Xia rolled her eyes at the two of them and lightly tapped Jiang Yan on the head. “What are you talking about? Don’t make things up. As for him, I…”
“Xia Xia!” Liu An’an suddenly shouted.
Wen Xia jumped in surprise. “What?” Then she followed Liu An’an’s gaze to the side and found Jiang Xu standing next to her.
There were several bags of spicy strips on the table.
“What are you guys talking about? It sounds so interesting. Share with me,” Jiang Xu said.
He liked playing basketball, and there was a faint smell of sweat on him. Wen Xia didn’t like that scent. “Jiang Xu, could you move over a little?”
Jiang Xu, not understanding, asked, “What’s wrong? What did I do to upset you?”
“Jiang Xu! Go back to your seat!”
At some point, Cao Jun had entered the classroom. Seeing Jiang Xu sitting next to Wen Xia, he immediately scolded him.
Jiang Xu quickly stood up, returned the stool, and with a grin said to Cao Jun, “Old Cao, you nearly gave me a heart attack.”
Someone in the class laughed out loud, and soon the whole class burst into laughter.
“Don’t try to talk your way out of it. Later, I’ll call your mom and tell her to give you a good scolding,” Cao Jun glared at him.
Then he scanned the class. “Everyone, hurry up and sleep. Otherwise, you’ll be dozing off in class this afternoon. I have two periods this afternoon. If I catch anyone sleeping, you’ll come with me to the playground and let the whole school admire your beautiful sleeping faces!”
The whole class laughed, but soon, everyone had their heads down, resting on their desks.
Wen Xia wasn’t tired. She looked at the timetable: two physics lessons and one math class in the afternoon.
All subjects where people “nap.”
She took out her physics book. It had already been three weeks of classes, yet the book was still brand new, clearly showing how little she liked studying before.
Chapter One: Understanding the Generation of Static Electricity…
Cao Jun walked over, glanced at her, and knocked on her desk. “Don’t read now, sleep for twenty minutes.”
“Teacher Cao, I’m not sleepy,” Wen Xia smiled at him.
She needed to catch up on the material she had missed and the knowledge from her first year of high school.
Cao Jun didn’t say anything else. He looked at her for a while and then left the classroom.
In the afternoon, Cao Jun kept an eye on Wen Xia.
Basically, he was watching to see if she was dozing off.
However, for both periods, Wen Xia paid full attention to the lessons and even took notes, which really surprised him.
At one point, he couldn’t help but call her up to answer a question. “Wen Xia, answer this: What are the basic properties of an electric field?”
Suddenly being called on, Wen Xia froze for a moment, quickly glanced at her book, then looked up and answered, “It exerts a force on any charge placed within it.”
“Very good, you answered correctly. Sit down.” Cao Jun looked at her with a pleased expression.
After the second period, Cao Jun took his book and returned to the office. He said to the math teacher, Liu Zhiwei, who was focused on preparing lessons, “Wen Xia actually listened to the lesson today. I called on her to answer a question, and she actually got it right.”
Liu Zhiwei adjusted his glasses. “She surprised me too this morning. Later, Teacher Xue said she had been scolded by her.”
Cao Jun hadn’t heard of this, but he could guess what Wen Xia had done. He took a sip from his water cup. “I wonder how long Wen Xia will keep this up. Well, I don’t expect much from her—just don’t sleep during class.”
…
Over the next few days, teachers from various subjects were surprised to find that Wen Xia had started listening to the lessons. She began taking notes, and she did the assigned homework properly.
Especially during English class, the English teacher, Zhao Jing, noticed that Wen Xia’s pronunciation was spot-on.
In fact, it was even more standard than hers.
After mentioning it in the office, the teachers from all subjects started paying close attention to Wen Xia.
Wen Xia didn’t know this. She was packing her bag, shoving her books inside.
It was Friday, and the morning classes had already finished. There were just two more lessons in the afternoon before the school day would end.
Liu An’an glanced at her. “Xia Xia, are you really carrying so many books?”
“Yeah, didn’t the teachers assign homework?” Wen Xia said.
She looked at the note on the table—math homework, exercises 1 to 3, and to finish all the problems in Chapter 2 of the workbook.
She bent down to find the workbook in her drawer.
“Xia Xia, you’re still doing homework even after a couple of days off?” Liu An’an felt like Wen Xia had completely changed.
Wen Xia nodded. “Yeah.”
Perhaps it was because of the simplicity of their student years, but seeing her like this, Liu An’an also felt she should take her homework home, so she started packing up as well.
Soon, it was time for the second class of the afternoon. Usually, the second class on Friday afternoons was the homeroom teacher’s class.
With ten minutes left in class, the students began to fidget, secretly packing their things.
Cao Jun knew they weren’t paying attention to the lesson anymore. “Alright, we’ll stop here for today. I’ve assigned the homework: page 35 in the textbook, do questions 1 and 2 in your notebooks. As for the workbook, complete the multiple-choice questions 1 to 7.”
After assigning the homework, he started discussing safety issues for when the students went home.
Jiang Yan poked Wen Xia in the back. “Xia Xia, want to go home together after school?”
She lived on the same route as Wen Xia, while Liu An’an lived in the opposite direction.
Wen Xia glanced at the homeroom teacher, who was still babbling on, then slightly turned her head and whispered, “You go ahead, my cousin is coming to pick me up and take me to his place for dinner.”
“Okay,” Jiang Yan nodded.
A moment later, the school bell rang, and the announcement came through the loudspeaker: “Students, it’s time to go home…”
With Cao Jun’s wave, the students rushed out of the classroom like a swarm.
“Xia Xia, An’an and I are leaving,” Jiang Yan waved at Wen Xia.
“Okay.”
Wen Xia exited the classroom, and Jiang Xu walked up to her. “Wen Xia, let me buy you some bubble tea.”
His tanned face seemed a little awkward, but his bright eyes were strikingly clear.
“I’m not going, I’m in a hurry to get home,” Wen Xia shook her head and then started down the stairs.
Jiang Xu followed her, “Come on, that bubble tea shop is your favorite, right?”
“I don’t like bubble tea anymore.”
“Then how about some barbecue?”
“I don’t want any either.”
“How about chicken tenders?”
This wasn’t getting anywhere, so Wen Xia stopped and turned to him seriously. “Jiang Xu, I don’t like any of that.”
Jiang Xu paused, then raised his hand to scratch the back of his head, looking a little cautious. “Wen Xia, did I do something to offend you?”
Wen Xia had been quite indifferent to him these past few days.
She had always been distant, but it had never felt like this—there was a clear and definite distance between them now.
