14. Scheming

After the two-day weekend, Monday morning arrived, and the results of the midterm exams were posted on the bulletin board at the front of the classroom. Pei Huan was startled to see such a crowd gathered at the doorway. Driven by curiosity, she patted a girl's shoulder. "Hey, Li Huan, what's everyone crowding around for?"

Li Huan, who had been craning her neck in vain to see her own results, turned to Pei Huan and replied, "The grades are out. Everyone's checking them."

Pei Huan nodded in understanding and, seeing the throng before the list, gave up on checking her results for the moment. Just then, Li Xuan arrived as well. He nodded at Pei Huan in greeting. Pei Huan took a seat, pulled her homework from her bag, and laid it out on her desk. Suddenly, Li Xuan said, "Now that midterms are over, there will be a parent-teacher meeting."

"Parent-teacher meeting?" Pei Huan was taken aback.

"Yeah, didn't the homeroom teacher mention it before the exam?" Li Xuan shot her a glance and then, as if suddenly realizing something, added, "You weren't paying attention in class again, were you?"

Pei Huan scratched her nose awkwardly and said nothing more.

Never mind the parent-teacher meeting—she didn't even know how she'd done on the midterms. If she did poorly, she might have to be frugal with her allowance for the next month.

Finally, when the crowd at the front of the room thinned a little, Pei Huan got up to check the results. She started searching from her previous ranking in the last monthly exam but didn't see her name. Habitually, she looked further down, but still nothing. A faint nervousness crept in.

Could it be that her results weren’t posted?

Looking a few rows higher, she finally found her name. Compared to the last exam, her ranking had improved by several places, and her total score was much higher. A smile broke out on Pei Huan's face—she was genuinely excited.

Her allowance was saved.

Perhaps because she was so happy, when she saw Lu Yinghuai walking into the classroom with his backpack, she blurted out the good news without thinking, "Lu Yinghuai, do you know? My pocket money is saved!"

Lu Yinghuai looked at her smiling face and after a few seconds replied, "Congratulations."

Three simple words, but a heartfelt congratulation. Pei Huan was so caught up in her joy that she didn't notice the increasingly strange looks from those around her.

Everyone had long heard that Pei Huan and Lu Yinghuai's relationship was unusual. Now, they weren't even bothering to avoid suspicion?

Thinking this, everyone turned their heads to glance at Lu Yinghuai's deskmate, Yuan Tao, who sat with her head down, reading study materials as if unaware of anything happening around her.

Another round of whispers rippled through the crowd.

Yuan Tao, though appearing absorbed in her book, had certainly noticed the natural interaction between the two just now. She hid it well, but deep down, jealousy was driving her mad.

Clearly, she was the one most suited for Lu Yinghuai. Why did Pei Huan always steal the spotlight?

When no one was looking, Yuan Tao shot a resentful glance at Pei Huan's back, her eyes icy cold.

Pei Huan, brimming with joy, returned to her seat, ready to share the good news with Li Xuan. But he raised his hand to stop her. "Wait, I know what you're going to say. You want to tell me your grades improved, right?"

"Yeah, how did you know?" Pei Huan couldn’t stop grinning.

Li Xuan looked utterly exasperated. "You just announced it so loudly to Lu Yinghuai in front of the whole class—even the deaf could hear it."

"Are you jealous because my grades improved?" Pei Huan was so happy her words tumbled out incoherently.

"Why would I be jealous?" Li Xuan looked at her as if she were being ridiculous. "I ranked above you this time, you know."

He watched, amused, as Pei Huan's face shifted from elation to a blank stare.

"I have something on my mind. Gotta go," Pei Huan muttered, turning away from Li Xuan.

But Li Xuan wasn’t done. All day long, he kept casually bringing up the fact that he'd ranked above her. Finally, Pei Huan couldn't take it anymore and glared at him. "Say it one more time and I'll tape your mouth shut."

Li Xuan finally toned it down, though the smugness lingered on his face.

That afternoon in homeroom, Ma Fei told everyone to pack up and line up in the hallway. As Li Xuan packed, he remarked, "I finally got to be your deskmate for a month, and now we're being split up again so soon."

"Reluctant to leave me, are you?" Pei Huan joked as she packed.

"Of course," Li Xuan replied smoothly. "After you’re gone, who will sneak snacks and whisper with me in class?"

Pei Huan rolled her eyes. "So basically, the two of us together never did anything good."

"Well, not entirely," Li Xuan chuckled.

They didn’t chat long. After packing, they started toward the door. As Pei Huan reached the entrance, a shadow fell over her. She looked up to see Lu Yinghuai.

He handed her his backpack. "Hold this for me, I need to use the restroom."

Taken off guard, Pei Huan accepted the bag, staring in surprise at his retreating figure before quietly joining the line.

With the top student, Lu Yinghuai, off in the restroom, Ma Fei, not wanting to waste time, let the second-ranked student choose their seat first.

One by one, students filed in, but Lu Yinghuai still hadn't returned. Lost in thought as she gazed at the azure sky outside, Pei Huan heard Ma Fei call her name. She snapped back to reality, carried Lu Yinghuai's bag, and entered the classroom.

She looked around—Li Xuan and Wang Xun had paired up; Tang Yue had a new seatmate. Pei Huan chose a spot in the third group, second to last row, and set Lu Yinghuai's backpack on the seat beside her.

Soon more students trickled in. A boy approached the seat next to Pei Huan and asked tentatively, "Is anyone sitting here?"

Before Pei Huan could answer, Lu Yinghuai appeared, saying to the boy, "Excuse me."

The boy, not sure where Lu Yinghuai had come from, moved aside as told, and Lu Yinghuai sat down next to Pei Huan as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Seeing the boy hesitate, Lu Yinghuai looked up, his tone chilly. "It's taken now."

The boy had no choice but to find another seat.

Pei Huan was still confused by this turn of events. She looked at Lu Yinghuai for a long moment before asking, "What took you so long in the restroom?"

"Wasn't feeling well," was all Lu Yinghuai offered.

Seeing she wouldn’t get any more out of him, Pei Huan gave up.

Yuan Tao and Tao Ranxi became seatmates. Together, they glanced toward Pei Huan and Lu Yinghuai. Tao Ranxi snorted, "Some people really have no sense of boundaries."

"Who knows," Yuan Tao replied scornfully. "Maybe she just can't resist a handsome face and throws herself at him."

Her voice was low; only Tao Ranxi heard her.

The two exchanged biting remarks while, in her seat, Pei Huan suddenly sneezed.

Who was talking about her behind her back?

After the seating reshuffle, Ma Fei scanned the classroom from the podium, clearly pleased that the troublemakers Pei Huan and Li Xuan had finally been separated. He said a few words and dismissed everyone.

After school, someone invited Pei Huan to play basketball. She quickly packed up, called out a goodbye to Lu Yinghuai, and hurried out.

Lu Yinghuai watched her leave, his gaze lingering on the seat beside him, a faint smile in his eyes.

All the effort he’d put in to become her deskmate hadn’t been for nothing after all.

He could still recall the confusion in Pei Huan’s eyes when they ended up sitting together again, as if she couldn’t believe it was real.

But so what? As long as he could sit next to her, that was enough.

Before Pei Huan, Lu Yinghuai didn't know what it meant to like someone, or to love. No one had ever taught him, no one had ever told him. He was always aloof, not fond of talking, preferring to stay closed off in his own world, letting no one in—and not wishing to step out himself.

But after meeting Pei Huan, many things began to unfold beyond his expectations.

This girl, who always brought him surprises, had left a deep impression on his mind.

When everyone else was too afraid to speak to him—or approached only out of admiration—Pei Huan alone would pester him with her wild ideas. Even when he ignored her, she would go on and on about things he could never quite understand.

She would gently remind others to draw the curtains when he was napping at noon. Although he didn’t believe in such sudden kindness at the time, he was inexplicably surprised by it.

Helping someone always required something in return, or so Lu Yinghuai thought.

But Pei Huan was always casual, never mentioning anything she'd done for him—not even once.

Perhaps it was then that a seed quietly sprouted in his heart.

Lu Yinghuai zipped up his backpack and made his way to the classroom door, feeling better than he had in a long time.

Meanwhile, Pei Huan was on the basketball court, leaning against the wall, catching her breath and sipping water after a game.

"Your skills have improved again, Pei Huan. Have you been secretly training with someone?" Li Xuan teased.

"Oh, shut up! Didn’t you see me buried in my books all last month?" Pei Huan replied with a laugh.

Some boys from her old first-year class joined in, joking, "Was there ever a time when Sister Huan buried herself in her books? That’s rare!"

"You guys don’t know. When Pei Huan got serious back then, I thought she was preparing for Tsinghua or Peking University," Wang Xun quipped.

Pei Huan kicked him lightly. "Don’t talk nonsense! If I could get into Tsinghua or Peking, I’d be invincible."

Everyone burst out laughing. The sunset cast long shadows across the court, the air filled with the sounds of youth—laughter and the thud of basketballs hitting the floor. Pei Huan took a sip of water, gazing at the scene before her, unable to hold back a sigh.

An ordinary, unremarkable, yet vibrant high school life.

After another round, Pei Huan said goodbye to her friends and headed home.