Jiang Nian turned his head, always felt that Li Qingrong just smiled, it must be an illusion.
He had been staring at her profile, her mouth hadn’t moved at all.
So strange, let me take another look.
Seems like she didn’t smile, completely unaware of his direction. Unlike Yao Beibei, who could swallow a bun when she laughed, the class monitor mostly had gentle smiles.
That day at the sports meeting in the afternoon, under the passionate sunset, that brief smile still lingered in his memory.
A faint touch of pink, hard to describe with words.
Forget it, better get back to the exam paper.
Start with the multiple-choice in the science section, he decided to tackle Biology all the way down, skipping what he couldn’t solve.
However, if he sensed he could solve a tough one, he’d spend the time to work it out.
Science section consists of three subjects, the mind needs to switch from one to the other. If the order gets messed up, so does the flow.
In the end, he’s patching holes all over the place in a frenzy.
Jiang Nian has a solid foundation, but when it comes to slightly difficult questions, he’s stuck. So, he chooses to use the tried-and-true method.
First, finish all subject multiple-choice questions, then quickly tackle big Biology questions, swiftly insert big Chemistry questions, and finally do Physics.
Grab the points from easy to moderate difficulty questions first, then decide on the big questions based on remaining time. Selective focus to score more within limited time.
Half an hour into the exam, Sun Zhicheng hadn’t finished the Chemistry multiple-choice.
A drop of sweat fell on the paper, his mind buzzing right away.
Though he had napped at noon, he felt like being cursed continuously.
Holding the pen in a daze, he remembered the photo Lin Dong sent him at noon.
Making an already battered mood worse.
A ridiculous thought popped into his head unbidden.
Could Jiang Nian like Chen Yunyun?
Logically, that shouldn’t be the case.
They barely have any interaction, why suddenly... could it be that they added each other on QQ and chat every day?
He was not good with such matters; it seemed necessary to consult Brother Dong.
Lin Dong’s state wasn’t much better since that noon incident.
He couldn’t concentrate on the exam at all, feeling both nauseous and regretful.
As he worked on the exam paper, his mind grew increasingly chaotic. It wasn’t his first time with online dating, just the first being unboxed offline so closely by someone.
Things hadn’t reached a dire point yet; he was just momentarily flustered, fully aware of where those experienced in epic fails went wrong.
The confused in the situation, afraid of random actions, he must find an unrelated outsider to give him a hand...
While writing the paper, Lin Dong’s mind was filtering through potential candidates.
Preferably, solve the issue today in the afternoon or night. He anticipated Liuli would message him in the afternoon, and he definitely wouldn’t return to the dorm this afternoon.
If there’s no good solution, claiming his phone ran out of battery could temporarily delay till night to reply.
Even delay till tomorrow, but preferably not, since by tomorrow... things might become uncontrollable.
He didn’t know what might happen, after all, it was his first time encountering such an issue.
Thump thump thump, he could hear his own heart pounding fast. His mind racing as if on fire, among those he knew... who had a general relationship with him.
Ideally, never having spoken! Even if the solution wasn’t found, at least the secret wouldn’t leak.
Ten minutes before the exam ended.
Jiang Nian frantically searched for points, his peripheral vision caught Li Qingrong had put down her pen.
To be honest, he felt a bit defensive inside, how could everyone be so good at science.
Li Qingrong glanced at his paper with sideways eyes, her gaze had a hint of curious inquiry.
The exam ended, Jiang Nian took a deep breath, stopped his pen.
He irritably ruffled his hair, stood up from his seat and passed the answer sheet forward.
As he turned his head towards Li Qingrong, he saw her watching him curiously. His movements immediately slowed, awkwardly rubbed his neck.
Li Qingrong nodded, lowering her head to pack her stationery.
Jiang Nian already finished packing his stationery in a jiffy, just as he was about to leave, he felt something was missing.
So he turned back to Li Qingrong, observed for a while, then asked.
"This hairband and hairstyle look good together, did the class monitor do it yourself?"
Li Qingrong nodded slowly, "Mm."
"Looks pretty good." Jiang Nian grabbed his stationery bag and left.
He first threw his exam tools back on the desk, then moved his books from outside the classroom back inside, along with Zhang Ningzhi’s books.
Since the weekly tests meant no small self-study in the afternoon’s last period, most people chose to eat or go back to the dorm.
Jiang Nian was no exception, planning to eat at a stir-fry place at the West Gate of the school.
He liked eating alone, without any fuss.
During his mix in that circle, he had gained some interesting insights. While they were meant for wooing girls, they also worked for making friends.
Essentially, act according to the progress of the relationship.
Maintain a certain distance, avoid presumptions, this keeps things fresh and prevents many conflicts.
Though it sounded a bit rigid, it was very effective in practice.
For example, he never asked Zhang Ningzhi where she eats, fearing she’d feel embarrassed being asked too much. She might even try inviting him, but their relationship clearly hadn’t reached that stage.
If they ate together, what would they chat about?
People have a daily quota for conversation, especially critical in the energy-demanding senior year, if they stressfully chatted during meals.
No taste in the meal, and the chat quota would be exhausted.
"The right friendship" means doing the right things at the right time, being free for oneself, and letting friends be free too, without overthinking.