Chapter 22: Early Love Right Under His Nose
“Don’t drag me into this, I’m terrified!” Liu An’an’s breathless voice suggested she had carried something heavy up the stairs.
“Wait a minute, An’an, I’ll reward you with a bag of chips.”
Wen Xia came out of the bathroom, placed her phone on the bed, and then lunged at Jiang Yan, pushing her onto the bed. She began tickling her, grinning as she said, “Your ‘death’ has arrived.”
Jiang Yan struggled to escape, laughing so hard she could barely breathe. “Hahaha… Xia Xia, I… I was wrong! An’an… help me… hahahaha…”
“I can’t hear, I can’t hear, I can’t hear…”
Liu An’an grinned mischievously. She pulled an apple from her bag and began eating it, enjoying the show as she eagerly encouraged Wen Xia to “t*rture” Jiang Yan. “Xia Xia, tickle her waist. That’s the part she’s most ticklish.”
“Liu… hahahaha… An… haha… An…” Jiang Yan couldn’t stop laughing, her cheeks flushed.
After a few minutes, Wen Xia finally stopped, laying down on the bed and catching her breath. “Yan Yan, if you try to matchmake me with other boys again, I’ll really ‘kill’ you.”
Jiang Yan, having endured the ‘torture,’ had learned her lesson. “Xia Xia, I’ll never do it again.”
After catching her breath, she turned to Wen Xia and asked, “Xia Xia, you really don’t like Jiang Xu, do you? I think he’s been really good to you.”
Liu An’an agreed, adding, “I agree.”
“He’s nice, but we’re not a match,” Wen Xia shook her head.
Hearing this, Jiang Yan sat up and exchanged a look with Liu An’an. It was clear—there was no chance.
“Not even a little bit of feeling?” Liu An’an asked curiously.
Seeing the two of them staring at her, determined to get to the bottom of it, Wen Xia sat up, handed each of them a “lollipop,” and pulled out her trump card—Wen De.
“No, there’s nothing to it. Don’t mention it again. Your Uncle Wen made me watch that youth-focused program today, reminding me not to get involved in early relationships.”
At the mention of Wen De, both Jiang Yan and Liu An’an instinctively shrank back. Jiang Yan weakly said, “Xia Xia, please don’t tell Uncle Wen about this. I’m scared he’ll chop me into pieces.”
Wen Xia was about to reply when a girl with straight bangs entered the room—it was Zhou Qing, a dormmate.
Their relationship was neither good nor bad, and they didn’t have much communication.
With someone else in the room, Wen Xia and the others stopped talking. They grabbed their books, locked up their valuables, and headed to the classroom.
It was only 5:20, and there were only a few students in the classroom. Most of the classmates were determined to enjoy the last minute of their break.
“Wen Xia, help me get some water.” A male voice called out, and a water bottle was tossed her way.
Fortunately, Wen Xia reacted quickly and caught it. She looked toward the last row by the window where a boy was sitting. He had a rebellious air, sitting casually at his desk with slightly long hair and a pretty decent face.
This was Qiao Yu, on every teacher’s blacklist.
Before Wen Xia, Jiang Yan, Liu An’an, and Qiao Yu split into science and arts tracks, they were all in the same class. Wen Xia had been Qiao Yu’s desk mate for a semester, with Jiang Yan and Liu An’an sitting ahead of them.
“Get it yourself.”
She placed the bottle on the teacher’s desk and returned to her seat.
Qiao Yu walked over with one hand in his pocket, looking as casual as ever. He raised an eyebrow at Wen Xia. “I haven’t been here for a few weeks, and this is how you treat me? Too heartless.” After saying this, he took the water and tilted his head back, drinking a large gulp.
When Wen Xia ignored him, he sat down in front of her. As she worked on her math test, he whistled. “Wow, what’s the wind blowing today?”
Jiang Yan and Liu An’an exchanged a look. It was clear—hopeless.
“Qiao Yu, don’t disturb me while I do my homework.” Wen Xia tapped his shoulder with her book, signaling for him to leave.
She planned to redo the math test.
“You do yours.” Qiao Yu showed no sign of leaving.
“Xia Xia.”
Suddenly, a deep, magnetic voice called her name.
The boy with messy hair stood at the door, glancing at the boy in front of Wen Xia. His narrow eyes narrowed slightly, revealing a hint of danger.
Liu An’an, even more excited than Wen Xia, waved her hand. “Handsome cousin, you can come in.”
“Handsome cousin’s gaze earlier was so A-level, wasn’t it?!” Jiang Yan turned to Liu An’an.
Wen Xia: “…”
A-level my foot. That was a death glare.
As she was lost in thought, Qin Mo took a few long strides into the room, holding two bags of things. Liu An’an quickly moved aside and sat at Jiang Yan’s desk.
Qiao Yu gave Qin Mo a look, slowly stood up, grabbed his water bottle, and returned to his seat.
“Cousin, why did you buy so much?” Wen Xia looked at the two bags, which were taking up almost all the space in the middle.
“I bought three of each.”
Qin Mo explained briefly, his gaze falling on her math test paper. “Redoing it?”
Wen Xia nodded.
“Then you do it, and I’ll just watch from the side.” Qin Mo glanced at the clock; it was 5:30, and they still had about 20 minutes.
His voice was so smooth.
Wen Xia felt her cheeks heat up slightly as she picked up her pen and began working. Five or six minutes passed.
A long, pale hand reached over, and a finger pointed at the ninth multiple-choice question on her math test. “This isn’t right. You’ve carried the answer into the question—calculate it again.”
Wen Xia recalculated it, but it was clearly wrong. She frowned. “It’s wrong.”
Qin Mo restrained the urge to pat her head, “You made a mistake in your third step of solving the problem…”
He took the pen, carefully explaining the formulas and problem-solving steps to her. After a few minutes, he asked, “Do you understand?”
Wen Xia’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “Cousin, you’re so… impressive.” Then, her peripheral vision caught something, and she immediately fell silent.
“…”
She glanced over at Liu An’an and Jiang Yan. Why didn’t they even cough?
Liu An’an and Jiang Yan blinked innocently. They had coughed; it was just that you two were too focused.
Wen Xia felt a little guilty. “Teacher Cao.”
Cao Jun looked relaxed, his expression gentle. “Hmm, reviewing the test papers?”
This was the usual way he treated good students.
Wen Xia nodded.
Cao Jun turned to Qin Mo. “Qin Mo, aren’t you going to evening self-study today?”
“I’m not going today.”
Qin Mo stood up, blocking Cao Jun’s view of half his face. He glanced at the clock, which showed 5:50, then said, “Xia Xia, I’m leaving.”
Hearing that he wasn’t going to self-study, Cao Jun kindly said, “You haven’t finished explaining the problems, you can continue.” He added, “We don’t have lessons during evening study time.”
He was curious to see the top student in the school and, well, to learn a little about their study methods.
Wen Xia: “…”
She remained silent.
Seeing the opportunity to be with Wen Xia, Qin Mo’s eyes flashed with a smile, and he calmly said, “Would it trouble Teacher Cao?”
Cao Jun chuckled, not minding at all. “No trouble, you continue with your problem-solving. I won’t disturb you. And Liu An’an and Jiang Yan, sit together and don’t gossip.”
Later, he found out that an early love was going on right under his nose.
After he left, Qin Mo sat back down, propping his head up with one hand, smiling. “Xia Xia, continue.”
Before long, the clock hit 6:00, and the classmates in the room noticed that there was another boy sitting in class.
The usually lively classroom was now completely quiet, except for the occasional sound of Qin Mo explaining the problems.
This silence was maintained because Teacher Cao was standing by the window on the balcony, keeping an eye on them.
