Chapter 59: Aftermath Of The “confession”
Do you have something you need, young man?
This was Xiang Chuan’s only feeling as she stared at the handsome face in front of her, which could be considered full of spirit even by 21st Century aesthetics.
The moment Ainuo shouted that sentence, all the classmates in the classroom stopped their respective topics or tasks at hand, and more than thirty pairs of eyes all turned to Ainuo in the center of the classroom and Xiang Chuan, who hadn’t stood up from her seat after class.
Xiang Chuan no longer minded that modern windows didn’t reflect light, because at least it proved they were very soundproof; otherwise, the students from other classes passing by in the corridor would probably run over from the window side to watch.
“Ai… Ainuo Classmate.”
Xiang Chuan thought she was very calm, but as soon as she opened her mouth, her pronunciation was a bit unclear. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, briefly sorted out her thoughts, then reopened her eyes and looked straight at Ainuo, as if the person who had just been lying on the desk unwilling to face it with shifting eyes wasn’t the same one.
“Ainuo Classmate, this matter isn’t suitable for us to discuss in the classroom right now. If you have questions you want to ask, you can come find me during lunch break or even club activities in the afternoon.”
Xiang Chuan said calmly, though her heart was still a bit uneasy.
She really had no experience handling youth emotional disputes— in her previous life, she was a student no one paid attention to during school, and after graduation became a corporate slave with no interest in real-life men—
“I have club activities in the afternoon, so I can’t come.”
Whole class: …
The reason Ainuo gave this time left Xiang Chuan, Ouyang Yating beside her, and Liang Gong all in stunned silence: such a pragmatic reason! Completely irrefutable!
“Then let’s talk during lunch break?” Xiang Chuan coughed lightly twice and readjusted her state.
“Why save something that can be cleared up during the break for rest time?” Ainuo countered, “Don’t you take a nap at noon?”
Whole class: …………
This handsome young man’s pragmatic statement once again left everyone in stunned silence.
“Uh… alright.”
Xiang Chuan couldn’t refute; after all, she couldn’t encourage him to sacrifice proper rest time and school activity time to solve her personal problem with her. Though solving it in the classroom during break was a bit inappropriate for the occasion, to avoid prolonged delays, she resigned herself to it.
“Yesterday, you rejected me using the reason that I’m a little boy—why?”
As soon as yesterday was mentioned, Ainuo gritted his teeth. After his confession was rejected yesterday, when he returned to the club activity room, he was teased by same-year members for half a day, and somehow the seniors found out too. Now he was called little boy or handsome young man within the club, which was somewhat insulting for a youth about to enter adulthood.
“Just, the literal meaning?” Xiang Chuan blinked her eyes. “You’re not an adult yet, so aren’t you a little boy?”
As soon as she said this, Ainuo’s veins bulged: “Aren’t we both sixteen? How much older are you than me?!”
Wow.
All Class 8 members, including Ouyang Yating and Liang Gong, who were watching the situation unfold, simultaneously had these two words appear in their minds. Ouyang Yating and Liang Gong couldn’t help but hold their foreheads, while most other Class 8 members were basically in spectator mode.
A few exceptions.
“No wonder the classroom is so noisy~”
A ghostly voice sounded behind Ainuo, making him shiver. Then a pair of jade hands reached out from both sides of his neck and squeezed toward the center hard, causing Ainuo’s whole body to fall backward.
“Ugh…!?”
Ainuo was now in a magical pose: his head was held at her waist by her arm, his waist bent backward, barely supporting his tottering body. The one who put him into this backbend-like pose was Nancy, who had just returned from outside the classroom, with Chou Manman standing beside her, who had gone out with her.
“Xiang Chuan, are you okay?” Chou Manman went around Ainuo to Xiang Chuan’s side. “I saw him yelling at you as soon as I came in.”
“Yeah… actually it’s fine?” Xiang Chuan laughed haha, waved her hand to reassure her, then looked at Nancy: “Nancy, you’d better let go of Ainuo Classmate quickly. Maintaining this pose for a long time would be very uncomfortable for most people.”
“It’s fine, I know my limits, but since you say so, Xiang Chuan—”
With that, Nancy propped her elbow on Ainuo’s back and pushed him forward. Ainuo’s whole body lunged toward Xiang Chuan’s desk due to inertia, startling Xiang Chuan into jumping up from her seat.
“Cough cough cough! You… cough cough! Na… cough cough!!”
Ainuo turned around with difficulty and pointed fiercely at Nancy, wanting to say something while out of breath, but due to mild oxygen deprivation, he couldn’t speak smoothly.
“This isn’t my fault. I saw you yelling at someone as soon as I came in.” Nancy raised her eyebrows. “What? Want to argue with me? Sure, then let’s go find Aunt Allison for arbitration.”
“Cough cough…! Don’t… drag my mother into everything!” Ainuo was truly furious from the embarrassment. “And you attacked me without distinguishing right from wrong. Who would be in the right then isn’t certain!”
“Oh?” Nancy looked at Xiang Chuan, then at Ouyang Yating standing nearby, and asked: “Can you sum it up in one or two sentences?”
“He…” “Brat bet on fake confession, got rejected, came to argue in a huff.” Xiang Chuan, the excellent liberal arts student, summarized it in one sentence, not in vain for all the meeting summaries and project summaries she did for her superior in her previous life.
So sharp! But completely accurate!
Nancy looked at the surrounding classmates with inquiring eyes, and they all nodded in unison. At least the information revealed in the recent dialogue was exactly that.
Then Nancy looked at Ainuo with the eyes one uses for an idiot: “You think you’re in the right here?”
“This matter has nothing to do with you, right? Before you just laid hands on me, had you even been involved in this?” Ainuo roared.
“Hmph~?” Nancy’s smile grew even brighter, but Ouyang Yating and Ainuo, who knew her, both sensed trouble. “Fine, stepping back, maybe no direct relation to me, but you fake confessed to Xiang Chuan, right?”
“Fake… fake confession is between me and this guy! I’m just telling this guy right now… ouch!”
Ainuo excitedly pointed at Xiang Chuan, only to have her slap his hand down, his finger slamming onto the desk, hurting a lot. Ainuo looked at Xiang Chuan in surprise. In his view, she seemed like the type of girl who was sharp-tongued but not one to resort to hands, so why now…
“Don’t point at people with your finger.” Xiang Chuan frowned. “It’s very impolite, which is why I don’t like young ones.”
Alright, now Ainuo went from brat to impolite brat in an instant.
His face darkened as he opened his mouth wanting to say something, but seeing Ouyang Yating’s icy gaze nearby and Nancy’s smiling-yet-not-smiling expression, he suddenly lost his courage.
At that moment, the class bell rang.
“…We’ll continue next time. This matter must be cleared up.”
Leaving those words, Ainuo returned to his seat somewhat embarrassed, and the other classmates began preparing for the next class.
Xiang Chuan looked at Ainuo’s back with a conflicted expression:
Huh? There’s a next time?
