Su Qing clutched the dead phone and put it in her pocket.
Zhang Yihan had been standing by the table, his face flushed, a bit uneasy from being teased.
He just stared at Su Qing and said eagerly.
"Su Qing, let me take you to the infirmary. Your clothes are wet, you need to change them, or you'll catch a cold easily."
He had clearly noticed something was wrong when he first met Su Qing.
Although there weren't many people in the classroom, the few remaining eyes were still scanning their position.
"I said I don't need it."
Her voice was utterly cold, and she refused without even raising her eyelids. Her pale face, hidden beneath the collar of her school uniform, pursed her lips as she gathered the textbooks on her desk, placing the now-wet physics book on the table.
She pulled out her notebook, intending to take notes.
Zhang Yihan didn't give up. He sat down on his seat, looking at her, then at the physics textbook she had taken out.
"Su Qing, are you angry..."
"Just now during class."
He was rambling, his words incoherent. Seeing Su Qing about to take out her notebook, Zhang Yihan frantically pulled out his notes from his desk and placed them next to Su Qing.
"Su Qing, these are my notes. You can take a look."
Zhang Yihan's eyes flashed with self-blame. "I'm sorry. It's all my fault for insisting on talking to you. Teacher Tang didn't mean to. Don't be angry."
As he said this, perhaps because the classroom was empty, the boy grew bolder. He placed his hand on Su Qing's arm and gently shook it...
In an instant, Su Qing quickly stood up from her seat and looked at Zhang Yihan.
"You apologize. I said it's okay. Could you please not disturb me while I'm studying?"
The girl's temper was suppressed to the extreme. She pursed her lips and stared at Zhang Yihan, her expression filled with coldness and displeasure.
Zhang Yihan was clearly not expecting such a strong reaction. He sat up straight, his hand falling empty.
Su Qing didn't want to be so awkward with everyone. Even if she wanted to hysterically ask, "What did I do wrong? Why did he insist on talking to me? Why was I am the one who leaving?"
This made Su Qing feel a slight dislike for Zhang Yihan, but she suppressed her emotions well, not letting them show.
However, when Zhang Yihan tried to touch her, even as he was trying to comfort her, she felt like it was all a joke.
He was saying that he was wrong.
He said so, so she should forgive him, right?
Su Qing pursed her lips for a moment, then slowly opened her mouth, her face expressionless.
"Whether I'm angry or not is none of your business, but your every move right now is clearly disturbing me."
Each word she spoke, her once soft voice now taking on a deeper depth, even her eyes tinged with a dark hue.
Su Qing looked strange to Zhang Yihan. A fleeting image of a young man flashed through his mind, and he felt a resemblance between her and Jiang Sui.
How could a soft, tender girl resemble that boy...?
"Su Qing, I..." Zhang Yihan was at a loss for words, unwilling to meet Su Qing's cold gaze. He wanted to say something more.
The words "Whether I'm angry or not is none of your business" were truly hurtful to Zhang Yihan. In his closed-minded mind, he simply assumed it was because of him that Su Qing had left the class.
He blamed herself, yet was unaware of it. He felt guilty, yet blindly ignorant.
Why?
Because Tang Lihui was the instigator, but no one dared to assign blame. Or perhaps, initially, everyone assumed Su Qing was to blame, creating a protective barrier for the noble figure standing on the podium.
Su Qing pursed her lips in silence and began to pack her things.
The cramped, filthy, and ignorant space chilled her heart like an ice cellar.
Hanging her head, she could still feel the burning pain on her cheeks. She shouldered her backpack and headed outside.
Without asking for leave or going home, Su Qing hide in the grass at a corner of Wuzhen No. 1 Middle School.
Leaning against the wall, half-crouched, her phone in vibrate, her eyes fixed on the green leaves. It was noon, those taking lunch breaks were taking them, and the place was utterly quiet, devoid of any sound.
Her clothes, half wet, clung to her, making her feel uncomfortable. Su Qing shifted from her squatting position to a sitting position, using her school bag as a cushion. She pursed her lips and stared at the recording in her phone, not clicking on it, but simply watching silently.
She hadn't deliberately recorded the conversation. After the last incident, she'd regained her vigilance, similar to how she'd been in Jiangcheng. Whenever she was alone, she'd record.
Her fingertips clenched tightly, and it was impossible to guess what was lingering in the girl's eyes.
Her phone vibrated, and Su Qing's gaze fell on the message on the screen. Clicking it, she discovered a photo.
The person inside was incredibly familiar. It was Jiang Sui... and he wasn't alone. Standing next to him was a girl in a skirt, her back turned, her face obscured. Su Qing's loose hair obscured her expression.
She looked at the words that lit up on the screen.
Self-awareness is the most important thing for a person.
After deleting the text message, Su Qing emptied the trash can and rubbed her fingertips. After a deep mental torn, she finally called Jiang Sui.
The only answer she got was the electric busy tone from the receiver.
The beeping sound echoed perfectly in her heart.
She seemed to have never called Jiang Sui before. This was the first time, but no one answered.
After hanging up and slipping the phone back into her pocket, Su Qing looked at the densely packed words on her physics textbook, frowning and rubbing her brows.
She kept telling herself over and over again.
Su Qing, you can do it, you can do it, you can do it.
For the entire afternoon, she tormented herself with exercises, like a maniac, until class was almost over.
Even during her study session, she didn't drink a sip of water, never even raising her head, pounding away at exercises and checking answers until everything else was emptied out of her mind, leaving only math, physics, and chemistry formulas and English vocabulary.
She didn't stop until the bell rang. After her study session, Su Qing pursed her lips and watched her classmates trickle out of the classroom.
After a moment's hesitation, Su Qing still clenched her fingers, shouldering her backpack.
She took a deep breath and headed home, the only sound of her phone vibrating in her pocket unbearable.
The timing was perfect.
It was Jiang Sui calling. Su Qing pursed her lips, lowered her head, and licked her dry lips...