Chapter 36

Lin ChuSui started a new small chat group: [Beauties of No.1 Middle School South City].

She added Xu JiaNing, Lu Chi, Zhang ChengYu and Lu TianBai into the group—

"I'm gathering everyone here to discuss what to do about the school genius."

Zhang ChengYu: "I'm sensing conspiracy."

Lu Chi: "Get him drunk and then...?"

Lin ChuSui sent a [disdain] emoji, then briefly recounted what happened with the planchette that night.

Lu Chi: "So what's your plan? Do another séance and summon Lin Shu out?"

Lin ChuSui: "So I want everyone to put their heads together and think of good ways to prove that XiaoYan is my dad."

Zhang ChengYu: "I feel like someone as great as Lin Shu couldn't possibly be associated with a shady guy like XiaoYan. If Lin Shu was like him, I would've had QQ Candy poison him long ago."

Lin ChuSui: "Even if there's only a 0.1% chance, I want to give it a try."

Lu Chi: "What if he's not? Are you prepared to not feel disappointed after all these years? It's time to let it go, girl. @Lu TianBai, talk some sense into your bestie."

Lu TianBai: "@Lin ChuSui, I really don't think XiaoYan and Uncle are alike at all. They're completely different people."

Lin ChuSui: "Actually this was all @Xu JiaNing's idea. Bestie, feel free to debate him on this."

Lu TianBai: "Oh, well...I guess I can kind of see some similarities between the school genius and Uncle Lin. They both treat Little Chu so nicely and are so supportive! Likes!" Lu Chi: "..."

"How did I end up with such a fickle friend?"

Zhang ChengYu: "Another séance probably won't accomplish much, but I follow a paranormal researcher who specializes in weird supernatural stuff. We can take the school genius to them and see if something's up."

Lin ChuSui: "Sounds promising. It was hard enough getting XiaoYan to agree to meet up, so this is my one shot."

Zhang ChengYu: "They have a physical location in South City. Business has been good supposedly, but you'd have to book in advance. It's worth a try."

Lin ChuSui: "I'm down, Bro Octopus is reliable."

Lu Chi: "The school genius is busy with work every weekend. How did you convince him to sacrifice his precious money-making time for your experiments?"

Lin ChuSui: "Because I promised I'd enter the essay writing contest."

Lu Chi: "You're entering the contest?? What are you writing about?"

Lin ChuSui: "Haven't decided yet. I have a preliminary title in mind, not sure if it can win anything though."

Lu Chi: "You want to win?"

Lin ChuSui: "The school genius gets first place in everything, but I can't occasionally win an essay contest?"

Lu Chi: "Ambitious!"

Lin ChuSui: "I did some research. For this essay contest, there's an audience favorite award in addition to the expert judging. I've decided to go for it."

Expert judging was out of the question. Lin ChuSui's name had been blacklisted by all the teachers. They'd probably skip over her essay as soon as they saw her name.

Lu TianBai: "Awesome, awesome! For the audience favorite award, we can go vote for you on the school admin system!"

Lin ChuSui: "Considering the school genius's popularity and fame, I plan to ride his coattails. My essay title will be 'My Genius Deskmate's Everyday Life.' What do you guys think?"

Lu Chi: "With the school genius's popularity, you'll definitely get lots of votes."

Lin ChuSui: "Right?"

Zhang ChengYu: "I suggest changing the title. It lacks punch."

Lin ChuSui: "What do you suggest, Bro Octopus?" Zhang ChengYu: "'Shocking! The School Genius's Unknown Secrets - You Won't Believe What He's Been Hiding!' "

Lin ChuSui: "Bro Octopus, you're a genius!"

Lu Chi: "I like it!"

...

That night, Lin ChuSui was inspired and stayed up late finishing her essay. She submitted it to the language representative first thing in the morning.

It just so happened that Xu JiaNing was also submitting his essay.

"Big bro is entering the essay contest too?"

Xu JiaNing looked at her expressionlessly and mocked, "If even the failing student is entering, why can't I?"

Lin ChuSui craned her neck to see his essay title—

"Shocking! The Unknown Secrets of Dream of the Red Chamber - You Won't Believe What Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu Were Up To!"

"..."

The corners of Lin ChuSui's mouth twitched. "You...actually took Bro Octopus seriously."

Xu JiaNing said solemnly, "I feel this fits well with the theme of my analytical essay. Zhang ChengYu may not have the best grades, but he has creativity."

"What creativity! You can find tons of titles like this in your dad's middle-aged friend circle!"

"Is that so?"

"As your elder, I advise you to reconsider the title. You'll never win anything with this."

Xu JiaNing didn't think there was anything wrong with his essay. He submitted it to the language rep.

The language rep was a gentle, quiet girl who also worshipped Xu JiaNing. She felt he had an indescribable literary aura.

She took his essay reverently, full of admiration—

"Shocking! The Unknown Secrets of Dream of the Red Chamber - You Won't Believe What Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu Were Up To!"

The language rep looked at Xu JiaNing in disbelief, a bit disillusioned.

Lin ChuSui smiled and said, "Now you know what kind of style girls like?"

Xu JiaNing didn't care. He said coldly, "Failing students have no right to compete with me."

Lin ChuSui laughed. "We'll see who has the last laugh!"

...

After class, Lu Chi nimbly vaulted through the open window into the classroom.

The girls cried out in shock at his bold entrance.

He moved swiftly, leaping right over to the seat behind Lin ChuSui and noisily chugged half a bottle of mineral water.

Lin ChuSui turned back coldly, "Lu, please restrain your surging hormones so you don't give us athletes a bad name."

"Bad name? What misunderstanding does Lin have about me?" Lu Chi slapped his left bicep. "When I flex this muscle, it dazzles them!"

After he said this, a blushing girl came over. Lu Chi looked smug, ready to greet her.

But before he could speak, the girl walked right past him and shyly offered an imported chocolate bar to Xu JiaNing beside him. "Xu JiaNing, please have this. My dad brought it back from England. I thought you might... miss the taste."

"Thanks, but I don't eat sweets." Xu JiaNing put down his pen and glanced at the drooling Lu Chi. "Please give it to someone who wants it."

The girl left reluctantly.

Lin ChuSui laughed and said, "Now you know what girls like?"

Lu Chi looked over at Xu JiaNing, immaculate in his button-down shirt with neat hair and fair skin.

Lu Chi gritted his teeth resentfully, "How could I, a masculine Chinese man, lose to this fake foreign devil?"

Lin ChuSui patted Lu Chi's bicep. "Guys like you...also have a market." "Really?"

"Mm. You can look for sisters in the personals section of the newspaper. For the next ten years, no need to try too hard..."

"..."

Zhang ChengYu walked in and came over to Lin ChuSui. "The ghost busting mission this weekend is probably cancelled."

Lin ChuSui: "I wrote a 3000 character essay! What do you mean cancelled??"

Zhang ChengYu chugged some water and said, "I was just in the office helping the P.E. teacher upload grades. I overheard Teacher Qin say he assigned XiaoYan to accompany some school guests this weekend since his grades are good and his English isn't bad."

Upon hearing this, Xu JiaNing put down his pen in disbelief. "Good at English? Who in our grade has better spoken English than me?"

Zhang ChengYu laughed. "You're third in our grade. XiaoYan ranked above you, and there's the second placer Qiao DanQi, so you're after them."

"Judging by grades alone." Xu JiaNing resentfully rolled his eyes. "Chinese education is doomed."

Lin ChuSui didn't care about the state of Chinese education. She slammed the table angrily and yelled, "How can this be? I wrote a 3000 word essay!"

"It's a rare opportunity to be with the reporters the whole time. He'll definitely get TV coverage and a nice entry in his resume. A greedy, selfish and ambitious guy like XiaoYan would definitely seize this chance."

Lin ChuSui was sincerely angry, clenching her fists: "If he dares! If he dares to be an untrustworthy scoundrel, I will... beat him to death!"

The class bell rang, and Xiao Yan returned to the classroom and sat back next to Lin ChuSui, taking out his textbooks to prepare for class.

Lin ChuSui had been holding back all this time, and didn't say anything or pay any attention to him.

From the back row, Lu Chi lightly poked Lin ChuSui's back with the tip of his pen to remind her - wasn't she going to beat that untrustworthy "scoundrel" to death? Hurry up and do it!

Lin ChuSui awkwardly observed Xiao Yan next to her, his lazy and aloof face showed no trace of emotion at all.

He must have already talked it over with Teacher Qin, after all, hosting foreign guests was a rare opportunity.

Behind her, Lu Chi kept poking Lin ChuSui's back insistently with the tip of his pen, urging her to take action quickly.

Lin ChuSui took out some scrap paper, flipped it open, and wrote Xiao Yan a short note.

She had intended to condemn him in writing, but when she put pen to paper, she thought of him working at the Xieting Club, and of the debt collectors who had come to their door.

So the notebook that she passed to Xiao Yan had the following written in sloppy grade-school handwriting:

"If you're busy this weekend, we can reschedule. Official business comes first. [smiley face]"

Xiao Yan hadn't intended to reply to her during class time originally. He glanced at the notebook, and his gaze calmly fell upon that friendly smiley face.

He still picked up his black ballpoint pen, uncapped it, and wrote below her words:

"I'll be there, don't worry."

Seeing him write those words stroke by stroke in a bold and elegant script, Lin ChuSui looked up in astonishment.

Meeting Xiao Yan's deep gaze accidentally made her heart beat even faster.

She shifted her eyes away awkwardly, and wrote in the notebook: "But Teacher Qin gave you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

She knew that to their homeroom teacher Mr. Qin, Xiao Yan was an absolute treasured gem in the palm of his hand. If it wasn't an extremely good training opportunity, Mr. Qin definitely wouldn't have let him waste time participating.

After all, every minute of the school genius's time was precious.

"You should go, don't give up such a great chance. We can make plans to hang out some other time."

Lin ChuSui passed the notebook over to Xiao Yan, blinking her eyes very sincerely as she looked at him.

Xiao Yan gazed at that line of childish grade-school handwriting, and his writing paused for a moment. He wrote: "To you, I don't want to break my promise."

After writing this line, Xiao Yan deliberated for a bit, then crossed out the words "To you" -

"I don't want to break my promise."

Lin ChuSui took the notebook and looked at that line, then at Xiao Yan's expression, feeling somewhat complicated.

Outside the window, the ginkgo tree happened to be at the stage where its yellow leaves were drifting down in abundance, and the autumn breeze blew coolly, with no feeling of desolation at all.

Xiao Yan had a distant look, gazing intently at the blackboard. The upward curve at the corner of his eyes seemed to reveal some gentleness, in stark contrast with his cold and hard temperament.

Sometimes, Lin ChuSui really didn't understand the thought processes of these elite students.

Did crossing out "To you" mean that she couldn't see it anymore?