He's not cold at all,
He just doesn't talk much.
"Su Zai Zai the Little Fairy's Diary"
On Tuesday afternoon, Su Zai Zai went to the reading room as usual.
To her surprise, Zhang Lu Rang wasn't there.
Su Zai Zai panicked.
Could he be angry?
But she hadn't said anything harsh-she just mentioned in front of him that he only got three answers right on the cloze test...
Maybe top students have a stronger sense of pride...
But then she remembered how he called her a "fool" after she had called him the same. That showed he could be a bit petty.
Still, she couldn't just ask him why he wasn't going to the reading room anymore! That would make her intentions too obvious!
She wanted to please him but couldn't think of an excuse to do so.
No matter what...
...She decided to test the waters a little.
After the break between classes on Wednesday, she quickly ran back to the classroom, grabbed her water bottle, and headed up to the third floor.
After spending enough time observing, she had figured out Zhang Lu Rang's daily routine.
It was as regular as it could be.
After the first and third periods in the morning, he'd go to the restroom. After the second period, he'd go to refill his water bottle. In the afternoon, after the first period, he'd refill his water bottle, and after the second, he'd go to the restroom. After school, he'd first go to the cafeteria for dinner, then return to the dormitory to take a shower. After that, he'd come back to the classroom to get his books before heading to the reading room to study. During the evening self-study session, after the first period, he'd refill his water bottle, and after the second, he'd go to the restroom.
Sure enough, as soon as she reached the third floor, she saw Zhang Lu Rang coming out of the classroom with his water bottle.
Su Zai Zai quickly followed him, lining up behind him.
After some inner turmoil, she finally bit the bullet and called out, "Zhang Lu Rang."
He didn't respond or turn around.
Su Zai Zai grew anxious, scratching her head, unsure of what to say.
In her panic, she blurted out, "By the way, have you been studying your English vocabulary?"
The person in front of her remained silent.
Su Zai Zai immediately realized her mistake.
No! That's not what she meant to say!
She definitely didn't intend to humiliate him again...
No, she never meant to humiliate him at all!
Just as she was trying to figure out how to salvage the situation, the person in front of her finished filling his water bottle.
Zhang Lu Rang turned his head slightly, glanced at her, and muttered, "...Yeah."
At that moment, the tightly wound string in her mind suddenlysnapped, and fireworks exploded in her brain, making her feel dizzy.
Su Zai Zai stood frozen in place for a while.
It wasn't until someone behind her impatiently urged her to move that she snapped out of it.
Mumbling an apology, she walked back in a daze without even filling her water bottle.
Did the handsome guy just admit he's been studying his vocabulary?
Did he really start studying vocabulary because of what she said...
She wasn't imagining it, was she...
Oh my god.
Su Zai Zai stopped, leaning against the wall to steady her breathing.
She was so excited she felt like she might burst.
***
After school in the afternoon, Su Zai Zai eagerly rushed to the reading room.
But Zhang Lu Rang wasn't there again.
She was baffled and couldn't figure out what the handsome guywas thinking.
...So why hasn't he come!
Didn't his behavior earlier today count as him being nice to her?
She had to find out, or she wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.
Su Zai Zai forced herself to come up with a reason to see him.
After the last evening self-study session, Su Zai Zai headed straight to the honors class.
At that time, there were still about a dozen students studying in the honors class. Su Zai Zai waited outside for a while.
About ten minutes later, only Zhang Lu Rang was left in the classroom.
Su Zai Zai took a deep breath and walked in.
She hesitated for a moment, then sat in the seat in front of Zhang Lu Rang and turned to look at him.
Hearing the noise, Zhang Lu Rang instinctively looked up.
He seemed surprised to see her and stared blankly for a moment, looking somewhat cute.
But he quickly reverted to his usual indifferent and aloof expression.
"Uh, it's so hot, I just came in to cool off with the air conditioning,"Su Zai Zai blurted out, clearly making up an excuse.
Zhang Lu Rang: "..."
The classroom quickly fell silent again.
After a while, Su Zai Zai, trying to sound casual, asked, "By the way, why didn't you come to the reading room today?"
"Rehearsing for a performance," he replied flatly, not even looking up.
Oh.
Su Zai Zai breathed a sigh of relief.
Glancing at the workbook on his desk, she blinked and said, "You're working on English? Let me teach you."
"No need." He closed the workbook and tossed it aside.
As if expecting this response, Su Zai Zai quickly pulled out her physics workbook from her bag, flipped to a page, and pointed to a problem. "Then explain this one to me."
Zhang Lu Rang looked up, instinctively touched his neck, and softly said, "I don't know."
"You don't know? If you don't know, you should ask! How can you learn if you don't ask?" Su Zai Zai scolded him, then quickly changed her tone. "Let me explain it to you."
He had never met anyone with thicker skin than hers.
Su Zai Zai pulled out a pen and a notebook, stumbling through her explanation: "Um, this problem says it's uniform motion, so, um, the average speed..."
Zhang Lu Rang couldn't listen any longer.
Her explanation was full of holes and nonsense-she clearly didn't understand physics.
He pressed his lips together, picked up a pen, and quickly wrote out the correct solution on her notebook.
Su Zai Zai looked at what he had written. Even though it was brief, it was clear and concise. After thinking it over, she understood.
With a grateful expression, Su Zai Zai said, "I get it! Thank you!"
Zhang Lu Rang nodded, saying nothing.
"I'll teach you English to repay you."
"...No need."
"Then can I repay you in some other way?"
"..." Zhang Lu Rang hesitated, then relented, "Fine, go ahead."
Su Zai Zai beamed with joy, her eyes curving into crescents. She flipped to the page he had just been working on. "This one?"
"Yeah," he responded half-heartedly.
After getting his confirmation, Su Zai Zai looked at the problem and smoothly explained, "For this question, because 'not only' is at the beginning of the sentence, it requires partial inversion in the sentence structure. So, we can eliminate options A and B..."
After finishing her explanation, seeing no reaction from him, Su Zai Zai asked curiously, "Hey, did you understand this question?"
"Yeah," he responded, still half-heartedly.
"Then explain it back to me."
"Didn't get it? Should I explain it again?"
"Because 'not only' is at the beginning, the sentence requires partial inversion. Inversion, you know what that is, right? Blah blah blah... Did you get it this time?"
"...Yeah."
"Then explain it back to me."
"Still don't get it? I'll explain it again."
Finally unable to take it anymore, Zhang Lu Rang gave in, "Because 'not only' is at the beginning, the sentence requires partial inversion. And based on 'went' being in the past tense, the correctanswer is D."
Su Zai Zai clapped her hands in excitement and grinned. "Didn't I explain it well? Simple, clear, and easy to understand."
"..." He really didn't want to talk to her anymore.
"Don't think I'm bad at school," Su Zai Zai persisted, shamelessly defending herself when she saw his reaction. "I'm only bad at physics, chemistry, and math. My combined scores for politics, history, and geography are over 250!"
For once, Zhang Lu Rang retorted, "I'm only bad at English."
"...Oh." Su Zai Zai wasn't ready to give up, so she asked, "How many points did you get in politics, history, and geography on the last monthly exam?"
When he didn't answer, Su Zai Zai glanced at the bulletin board, walked over, and looked at the scores posted there.
Her eyes widened, shining like stars. "Wow, you're amazing! Aside from English, you have no weak subjects!"
Zhang Lu Rang paused, then asked, "What did you just call me?"
Su Zai Zai: "...Oh, Zhang Lu Rang."
Zhang Lu Rang stared at her for a moment before quietly starting to pack his things.
Su Zai Zai also put her physics workbook back into her bag andcasually asked, "So, are you planning to choose humanities or sciences?"
Zhang Lu Rang's goal was clear: "Sciences."
Su Zai Zai: "..."
Sciences, huh.
She didn't dwell on it long and asked, "By the way, what event are you participating in tomorrow?"
"The 100 meters."
"I'll bring you water, okay?"
This made Zhang Lu Rang raise his eyebrows slightly, as if he found it a bit amusing. "I might be competing against someone from your class."
Su Zai Zai thought about it and realized that might not be appropriate. "Yeah, maybe not then."
"Mm." He lazily stuffed his books into his bag and responded casually.
"How about I secretly bring it to you?"
"No need."
"Then I'll do it openly." Su Zai Zai grinned mischievously.
Zhang Lu Rang stood up and began closing the windows that hadn't been shut.
"Leaving? Let's go together."
On the way, Zhang Lu Rang remained silent.
Su Zai Zai chatted away next to him.
Zhang Lu Rang's pace gradually quickened.
Soon, they reached the area near the girls' dormitory.
Zhang Lu Rang sighed in relief and continued walking, noticeably slowing down.
Su Zai Zai stood still and called out to him, "Zhang Lu Rang."
He stopped and turned to look at her.
The silver light of the moon spilled down, the shadows of the trees dancing in the breeze.
Behind Su Zai Zai was the bright light from a lamp. She stood with the light behind her, her face half-covered in shadow.
But her eyes shone all the more brightly.
She smiled, her eyes curving like the crescent moon in the sky, clear and radiant.
"Good luck in the race tomorrow," she said.
Zhang Lu Rang's eyelids lowered as if he were pondering something.
After a moment, he looked up.
His gaze was clear as he calmly and steadily asked a question.
"Do you like me?"