Xu Si had completely reverted to how he was before meeting Jiang Qiao. Or perhaps he was even more detached than before. He smiled less and less, appearing cold and unapproachable to everyone. He skipped classes more frequently – his seat in the classroom was often empty.
February 16th, Tuesday. Jiang Qiao looked back to see his seat empty again. Xu Si had skipped class again. All morning passed without any sign of him. It wasn’t until noon that he finally returned, sleeping at his desk. He lifted his head briefly, meeting Jiang Qiao’s backward glance. She noticed the bandage on his face – he’d been fighting again. Xu Si had no reaction and just went back to sleeping.
During afternoon PE class, Jiang Qiao didn’t watch Xu Si play basketball anymore. But when she heard cheering from the court, she couldn’t help peering through the green fence. She didn’t see him – he wasn’t there.
Shen Mo walked over to Jiang Qiao with a lollipop in her mouth: “What are you looking at? Looking for Xu Si? He’s not here, left right after dismissal.”
Jiang Qiao shook her head: “No, I wasn’t.”
Shen Mo put her arm around her shoulders: “What’s wrong? Did you two have a fight?”
Jiang Qiao shook her head: “No, nothing’s wrong.”
Shen Mo didn’t press further, just pulled out a handful of lollipops: “Pick a flavor.”
Jiang Qiao took a strawberry one.
Shen Mo turned to Luo Xing: “Choose one.”
“Thanks.” Luo Xing took an orange one.
Luo Xing suddenly realized that Shen Mo, who looked fierce and arrogant, wasn’t actually that scary.
After chatting with Jiang Qiao for a while, Shen Mo went to find her friends.
Jiang Qiao and Luo Xing watched other girls playing games on the field. Suddenly, without warning, she felt dizzy. Before fainting, Jiang Qiao heard several panicked voices. It seemed like Luo Xing was calling her name.
When Jiang Qiao woke up, she found herself in the infirmary bed again, with a strawberry candy still in her mouth.
Luo Xing couldn’t help saying: “Qiao Qiao, you scared me to death.”
“I saw you faint from far away, nearly scared me to death.”
“It’s nothing, just low blood sugar.”
The school nurse looked at Jiang Qiao and couldn’t help repeating what she’d said before: “You’re too thin, you need to eat more.”
Shen Mo agreed: “You really are too thin, it’s worrying to see.”
She remembered during the school sports meet when Jiang Qiao wore a dress – she was very thin then, and seemed even thinner now.
Jiang Qiao nodded: “Okay.”
Then she asked them: “Did you bring me here?”
At this, Shen Mo paused before answering: “No, it was Xu Si. He said he had something to do and left.”
When she saw Jiang Qiao faint, she ran over, but Xu Si was faster. The wind ruffled the young man’s hair as he ran quickly, stopping in front of Jiang Qiao, gently lifting her head to rest against him, then asking Luo Xing: “What happened? Low blood sugar again?”
“She suddenly fainted, seems like low blood sugar.”
“I’ll take her to the infirmary.”
After speaking, Xu Si took a candy from his pocket, put it in her mouth, then picked up Jiang Qiao and ran toward the infirmary. She looked so small in his arms.
He felt she was even thinner than last time, lighter too. It was winter, she was wearing so many clothes, how could she be lighter?
Luo Xing and Shen Mo could barely keep up with Xu Si’s pace.
Xu Si put her down in the infirmary and prepared to leave.
Shen Mo asked him: “Why are you leaving right after bringing her?”
Xu Si looked back at Jiang Qiao: “I have something to do.”
Shen Mo said nothing, watching him leave. She felt something was odd between these two lately. Even during last week’s PE class, she hadn’t seen them talk at all, not even one word.
Learning it was Xu Si who brought her, Jiang Qiao paused: “I see.”
“Qiao Qiao, do you want to rest a bit longer?”
Jiang Qiao shook her head: “No need, I’m fine.”
Back in class, Jiang Qiao didn’t see Xu Si again. Even until evening self-study, he hadn’t returned.
Wang Lin thought he was diligent enough during evening study until he sat next to Jiang Qiao. The first time he saw her working on school materials, he didn’t think much of it, but later he looked carefully and found she was almost finished with the advanced sections. She worked on materials every day, studying and previewing on her own.
Today after finishing the school materials, she took out her own study materials.
Wang Lin glanced at it.
Hiss.
He couldn’t understand a single question.
He watched her circling and marking things, then writing down some solution steps.
He couldn’t help asking: “Study god Jiang, what problems are you working on?”
Jiang Qiao showed him the cover: “Just advanced Olympic competition problems.”
Wang Lin thought: Well, study gods are different – he couldn’t even do regular Olympic problems, and she was already doing advanced versions.
“Why did you only write down a few steps?”
Jiang Qiao pointed at the steps: “Usually if I can solve it at a glance, I’ll skip it. For challenging ones, I’ll write rough steps. Only for the really difficult ones do I write out detailed steps.”
Wang Lin: “Study god Jiang, you know what, that’s really time-efficient.”
Bad news was he couldn’t do that.
Jiang Qiao nodded and said: “It is time-efficient, that’s why I usually solve problems this way.”
Wang Lin felt he’d become more studious since sitting next to study god Jiang.
“But I hadn’t seen you working on this material before, is it new, study god Jiang?”
After asking, Wang Lin felt foolish – she’d already completed half the book, yet he was asking if it was new.
“No, I usually work on it at home. Today I finished early so I started on this one.”
“Study god Jiang, sitting next to you constantly motivates me to study. I need to get back to my problems.”
Jiang Qiao smiled at his words.
Wang Lin instantly felt energized – he could do it! He would tackle three sets of test papers tonight.
…
Xu Si went to the supermarket and bought several bags of candy.
At checkout, Yang Shi Kun looked at the bags of candy in his hands, confused: “Brother Si, since when did you like candy so much?”
Xu Si didn’t answer, just paid and put the candy in his pockets.
Because Jiang Qiao had fainted from low blood sugar before.
So after that day, he always carried candy in his pockets.
At first, it was just in case.
Later, it was because he wanted to buy them for her, wanted to give them to her.
…
Xu Si didn’t return until the second period of evening self-study.
Jiang Qiao glanced up at him, then looked down again.
During break, she went to his desk and said softly: “Thank you for today.”
Xu Si didn’t look up: “It was nothing.”
Jiang Qiao felt an inexplicable distance.
Like strangers.
Xu Si watched her back, wanting to tell her to eat more, she was too thin now.
He touched the candy bag in his drawer.
Somehow remembered when he first found a bag of candy in his drawer.
She really got embarrassed easily.
And was very cute.
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