Shen Mianmian and Lu Siyuan stood for an entire class, their legs aching. As soon as the bell rang, they hurriedly started their homework.
Wang Jingjing pulled a face as she urged them to write faster, complaining that they were slowing down her own pace of submitting homework.
Lu Siyuan was getting somewhat annoyed by her nagging, and with one deadly glare, she finally quieted down.
Just as they finished their homework, the bell for the next class rang.
Everyone once again gathered their concentration and entered the learning mode.
When the second class ended, Shen Mianmian went to the restroom, and just as she walked out of the classroom, Zhou Siyu chased after her.
As if nothing had happened, she followed Mianmian and asked,
"Sis, doesn’t Lu Siyuan have a bicycle? How come you both still ended up late?"
It was as if the one who had thrown a tantrum on the road before wasn’t her.
In this point, Shen Mianmian really admired Zhou Siyu; she could stretch and bend, changing faces as quickly as flipping through a book.
One second she could be your sworn enemy, and in the next, if she needed you, she was all love and devotion.
"We were delayed by a dog."
"A dog?" Zhou Siyu didn’t catch on and asked curiously, "Are there dogs on our way to school? How come I didn’t see one?" ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹✶𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲✶𝗻𝗲𝘁
Shen Mianmian spoke with an implication.
Zhou Siyu had something on her mind she wanted to ask, so she wasn’t really keen on figuring out where the stray dog had sprung from, but she pretended to show concern and asked, "It didn’t bite you, did it?"
"Lu Siyuan chased it away," Shen Mianmian said matter-of-factly.
Zhou Siyu felt somewhat disappointed, "Did you bump into anyone on the road?"
"Should I have bumped into someone?" Shen Mianmian paused mid-step, glancing at Zhou Siyu.
Zhou Siyu felt like she’d been seen through, and guiltily couldn’t meet Mianmian’s gaze.
"I was just asking casually. I’m in a hurry; I’ll go ahead."
Having said that, she started to jog away, leaving Shen Mianmian behind.
Initially just a suspicion, now Shen Mianmian was certain that Zhou Siyu was indeed in cahoots with Xu Haiyang.
This Zhou Siyu, to stop her from attending school, really had gone through a lot of trouble.
A sarcastic smile curled up on her lips.
Zhou Siyu probably wanted to attend school too much, so much that she had overlooked many things.
In truth, as long as Zhou Siyu excelled in her studies and had the ability to get into college, Shen Jianhua would support her even if it meant breaking the pot and selling iron.
Unfortunately, Zhou Siyu never saw this clearly, concentrating all her thoughts on Mianmian.
As she was lost in thought, suddenly someone whispered in her ear, "Hey, who do I see here but you, little carrot-top! You haven’t grown much taller, but your face is getting prettier."
Shen Mianmian turned her head and saw Du Xiaohui, all smiles showing his big white teeth.
After a year, this little brat had grown a bit taller.
He also looked sunnier and was not as annoying as before.
There were two or three other boys with him, walking side by side, all smiling slyly.
"Thanks for the compliment."
Shen Mianmian rolled her eyes and quickened her pace, and Du Xiaohui didn’t follow.
She was not sure what the boys were talking about, but they were laughing loudly, and it seemed one of them mentioned her name. She didn’t hear the rest clearly, but Du Xiaohui seemed unhappy and slapped that boy’s forehead.
In the third year of junior high, the schoolwork was heavy and, apart from going to the restroom, everyone mostly stayed in the classroom to study, including Shen Mianmian—hurrying there and hurrying back—
Not wanting to waste any time on learning.
As time went on, everyone was rapidly growing in an intangible way.
Every day was a new state of being.