Chapter 20: The Contest
Chapter 20
The morning classes were two math and two Chinese. Chinese was still fine, with reading comprehension and reciting some poems and texts, but math class was going over yesterday's quiz, so Quan Zhisui was listening in a daze.
As soon as the lunch bell rang, she rushed out of the classroom, leaving the punctual Kong Mingze, who had just woken up, no time to call her. It also made Wei Shixu, who was walking to the back row, miss her.
Kong Mingze was an optimist. Seeing Wei Shixu's figure, he immediately jumped up, "Wei Shixu! Are you here to call me to eat lunch together?"
"No," Wei Shixu said and walked away.
Kong Mingze wanted to catch up, but there were many students rushing out of the classrooms after class, crowding the corridors, causing him to lose sight of her at once.
After missing Quan Zhisui and losing Wei Shixu, Kong Mingze grabbed Zhuge Ying at random.
Zhuge Ying: "?"
Kong Mingze: "Um, class president, let's eat lunch together?"
Zhuge Ying: "Okay."
Kong Mingze: "Thank you for honoring me, Class President!"
Several classmates around were laughing.
"Kong Mingze, why do you need someone to accompany you for meals every day?"
"Haha, he used to look for Wei Shixu every day, and now he looks for Quan Zhisui every day."
"He's almost annoyed them to death!"
"Our class president is patient. It's quite suitable for you to find her as a lunch mate."
"..."
Quan Zhisui walked quickly to the cafeteria alone and started eating at high speed.
She wasn't deliberately avoiding her classmates. Whether it was Kong Mingze or Zhuge Ying, they were both great. She just felt that Wei Shixu was too weird and wanted to keep her distance.
When she was halfway through her meal, Quan Zhisui saw those five problematic students from Grade 10 again.
They gathered together, first looking around, as if hiding from someone, then found an inconspicuous line and started cutting in line.
Oh, so they were hiding from her!
Quan Zhisui was too lazy to mind other's business. When she was almost done eating, she suddenly looked over there again.
Those five had almost gotten to the front of the line.
She got up and went over, grabbed one of them by the collar and pulled him out of the crowd.
That guy was frightened when he saw her and quickly waved his hands, "I didn't cut in line!"
"Do I care if you cut in line or not?" Quan Zhisui looked at him in confusion and asked, "I'm asking you, where's Zuo Zichen?"
The frightened guy shook his head desperately, "I don't know! Zuo didn't come to class today! Sister, how would I know Zuo's whereabouts? Don't make things difficult for me, I really don't know..."
Quan Zhisui released his collar and left the cafeteria. She was just a little curious and asked.
Whether Zuo Zichen came to school or not had nothing to do with her!
After lunch, back in the classroom.
Because Quan Zhisui had rushed out fast and eaten fast too, there weren't many people in the classroom yet, so she could finally have some peace and quiet.
With her mind blank, thinking of nothing, she felt the nature outside the window.
"Are you avoiding me?"
Okay, interrupted.
Quan Zhisui numbly turned her head to see Wei Shixu standing next to her, handing her a delicate little cake.
She didn't take it and came up with a reason to refuse, "I've eaten too many sweets these days, I can't eat any more."
Reasonable!
She practiced martial arts, how could she eat sweets every day?
"I see." Wei Shixu then threw the cake directly into the trash can.
Quan Zhisui: "..."
Damn, something's wrong with him!
Wei Shixu took out his phone with a calm face, "What other snacks do you want to eat then? I'll have someone go buy them."
Quan Zhisui looked at him expressionlessly, not saying a word. 𝒻𝑟𝑒𝓮𝔀ℯ𝓫𝓃𝑜𝓋𝑒𝘭.𝑐𝓸𝓶
Wei Shixu's gaze shifted from his phone to her face, looking straight into her eyes, also expressionless.
The two of them were like kings competing, neither willing to back down.
The weird atmosphere was even a little terrifying as the staredown went on for a long time, until Kong Mingze and Zhuge Ying's voices sounded at the classroom door.
Zhuge Ying: "How many days in a row have you bought milk tea? It's not good to drink it every day."
Kong Mingze: "Then I won't buy you milk tea tomorrow, and you can't ask me for homework."
Zhuge Ying: "There's no class tomorrow."
Kong Mingze: "Oh, right!"
The atmosphere between the two was harmonious when they walked in.
Zhuge Ying went back to her seat with her milk tea.
Kong Mingze was holding two unopened milk teas. He walked to his seat, saw Quan Zhisui sitting in the last row and Wei Shixu standing there.
Kong Mingze's heart tightened instantly!
He glanced at Quan Zhisui, retracted the hand subconsciously reaching out, hesitated for a moment, then handed it to Wei Shixu first, but it seemed to burn his hand and he retracted it again.
For several days in a row, he had been a little paranoid.
Finally, Kong Mingze sat down with a thud and opened both milk teas.
He'd drink them himself!
The class president was right! It’s not good to drink milk tea every day! He wouldn’t buy milk tea anymore!
Quan Zhisui was amused by Kong Mingze's cautious look. Her confrontation with Wei Shixu also relaxed.
She simply slumped on the desk and started taking a nap.
Surely no one would interrupt her nap now, right?
That would be rude!
Wei Shixu didn't bother her anymore either and went back to his seat.
Seeing the two separate, Kong Mingze breathed an imperceptible sigh of relief. He didn't know if it was his illusion, but he always felt that the two were about to fight just now!
That wouldn’t do!
One was his brother for many years, the other his new good friend.
Why were they always at odds?
...
In the afternoon class, Zhao Lin sent a message that Zuo Zhaoyuan had suddenly called him over for something urgent, Fang Yue was following Zuo Zhiyu, and Xu Kuang was still out sending Zhang Liufang.
With no one to pick up Quan Zhisui after school today.
Just right, she was going to hot pot with Kong Mingze and the others, no need for pickup.
As for Zuo Zichen, he hadn’t come to school today, whatever if he went home or was out messing around...
Quan Zhisui had been looking forward to the weekend and hot pot, but she wasn’t really looking forward to hot pot with Wei Shixu on the weekend.
When the last school bell rang, Kong Mingze was the most excited.
He practically jumped up and shouted, "Assemble! Hot pot squad! Let's go!"
Zhuge Ying glared back at him, "I'm here, stop yelling."
Quan Zhisui packed up her things and put on her backpack.
Wei Shixu stood empty-handed at the door. For his once-a-week trip home, he only brought his phone.
Kong Mingze was obviously overjoyed. He even circled Wei Shixu, "Wow! Has it been a long time since you had hot pot? It's rare for you to be so enthusiastic."
"Indeed," Wei Shixu said with a smile, his eyes meaningfully glancing at Quan Zhisui, "Fresh."
A fresh thrill.
Kong Mingze: "Huh? Not fresh, my hot pot broth is still the old recipe, hasn't changed!"
Wei Shixu didn't say anything more.
Zhuge Ying sighed speechlessly and said, "Let's go, fool."
Kong Mingze looked at Quan Zhisui, "Let's go, fool?"
Quan Zhisui: "???"
Just who was the fool here?
Suddenly there was a soft laugh. It came from Wei Shixu.
Kong Mingze looked proud, "See, you think Quan Zhisui is silly too, right?"
Wei Shixu: "Yes."
Quan Zhisui: "......"
Fine, she was a fool, so the two of them were idiots and lunatics.
Zhuge Ying sighed even longer, never having been so speechless before.