All the seats were adjusted, the school bell rang, and the students filed out.
Pu Chen saw that everyone else waited until after lunch to move seats, so she didn't want to move in advance.
After arranging the books on the table, she took out her campus card from her backpack, picked up her cell phone, and followed the crowd to the cafeteria.
Pu Chen never liked to squeeze with others and couldn't outrun other students. In the past, whenever she went to the cafeteria to get food, she could basically miss the peak queue. Some students who eat fast had finished their meals by the time she got them.
Today was the earliest time she had gone to the cafeteria to eat since she started high school.
The corridors and stairs were crowded with people.
"I also want to sit at the same table with Qin Yu, but I'm not destined to do that."
"Why do you think Mr. Lu let Pu Chen and Qin Yu sit at the same table?"
"Pu Chen is not good at talking, so others are too embarrassed to ask her questions. You don't know how miserable Cheng Qiang has been these days sitting next to Qin Yu. During the break, the girls in our class dragged him out to ask about Qin Yu's situation. After school, he was surrounded by girls from other classes who asked him for Qin Yu's WeChat ID. Cheng Qiang, that honest boy, is almost annoyed to death. He just wants to study, so how can he have so much time to gossip with girls? Yesterday, I saw Cheng Qiang go to Teacher Lu, probably to change his seat."
"I see."
"Let me sit at the same table with Qin Yu. I'm not annoyed at all. No matter who comes to ask me about his affairs, I promise to tell him everything I know."
"Go to hell."
Several girls were chatting and laughing.
Pu Chen was used to going to the cafeteria late, and they subconsciously thought she was still in the classroom at this time, so they spoke without restraint. She followed behind them without them noticing, and there were people in front and behind her on the stairs, so she couldn't move forward or backward.
Finally they reached downstairs and Pu Chen turned a corner to avoid them.
It turned out that not being able to speak became an advantage when it came to sitting at the same table with Qin Yu. No matter what the reason was, she was already very content to be able to sit at the same table with Qin Yu.
Pu Chen ate faster than usual today. Ever since she could no longer speak due to vocal cord disease, she was slow in doing everything. She could never have imagined that one day she would feel "impatient" again.
And it was just a trivial matter of moving seats.
Until she was almost done eating, she didn't see Qin Yu coming to the cafeteria. Peng Jingyang came and sat at a table near the door with several classmates from their class. Qin Yu was nowhere to be seen.
Maybe he went to eat at a restaurant outside the school, she thought.
When Pu Chen finished his meal and walked out of the cafeteria, he received a message from Qin Yu: Please buy me a bottle of water and a loaf of bread, thank you.
She asked: Why don’t you come to the cafeteria for lunch
Qin Yu quickly replied to her: I’m busy.
Pu Chen didn't ask any more questions, unable to figure out whether he was in a good or bad mood.
Originally, she had no plans to go to the canteen today. She still had the candies and chocolates she bought a few days ago. After coming down the cafeteria steps, she turned and went to the canteen.
The canteen was crowded with girls who came to buy snacks after their meals. Although Director Sun had repeatedly forbidden students to bring snacks into the teaching building, few of them really obeyed the order. They all ate the snacks secretly and took the packaging bags outside the school and threw them away.
There are many kinds of bread on the shelves, stacked up in a whole layer.
Pu Chen doesn't like bread, and doesn't know which kind is good, so she took a picture and sent it to Qin Yu: What flavor do you want? There are too many types, and it's dizzying.
Qin Yu: I haven’t eaten them, so I don’t know which one is better. You can choose it yourself.
Pu Chen is a bit obsessed with appearance, so he picked out two loaves of bread with nice packaging.
When she was almost at the teaching building, Pu Chen was afraid of meeting the students and teachers on duty that week, so she stuffed the two loaves of bread into her school uniform pockets and put the bottle of water in her sleeve.
The loose school uniforms come into play at this time.
When she reached the classroom door, Pu Chen paused. Her desk was empty.
She walked quickly into the classroom and found not a single piece of paper in the hole of the desk.
"Your things have been moved to the fifth row." The classmate who was cleaning the table at the back told her.
Pu Chen nodded, looked back, and saw her water cup on the fifth row of seats, a row of textbooks neatly placed in the bookshelf, and her new deskmate Qin Yu leaning against the wall, reading a novel with one hand on his chin.
Pu Chen walked over, and Qin Yu raised his eyes: "Where is my lunch?"
Pu Chen reached out his hand from his school uniform sleeve, gave him the water, and took out two loaves of bread.
Qin Yu was stunned for a moment before he took the thing she gave him. It was her. If it was something someone else took out from their sleeves, he would definitely not eat it.
Pu Chen asked: Did you help me move it
Qin Yu nodded and explained why he helped her move the books: "I'm going to take a nap soon, and it will disturb me if you move the books after dinner."
Pu Chen never thought that this was the reason why he offered to help, but she still said: Thank you.
She pulled over a chair and sat down gently.
She herself didn't understand why she had to move the chair so carefully.
Qin Yu ate half a piece of bread and drank a bottle of water of average taste to make do with his lunch.
"How much is it in total?" he asked Pu Chen.
Pu Chen: 12 She was just about to continue typing, saying that he didn’t need to pay, she would treat him, to thank him for helping move things and delaying his going to the cafeteria to eat.
After typing a few words, Qin Yu said, "I owe you first. I'll treat you next time. Don't refuse then."
Pu Chen: No need to be so polite.
For some reason, every time Qin Yu read the text she edited, he could always imagine her tone, the soft and gentle one.
There was silence for about half a minute.
Qin Yu asked her: "Which breakfast restaurant on the street in front of your house is good?"
Pu Chen: I don’t know. I never eat breakfast outside. My father always cooks for me.
Qin Yu nodded. Apart from being good at marriage and divorce, he couldn't seem to find any other impressive qualities of his father.
Pu Chen followed up by saying: When I get home from school, I will ask my dad to ask the neighbors around to see which breakfast shop has the best food.
Qin Yu finished looking at her phone and glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, "Thank you."
He took out an eye mask from his schoolbag, put it on, and took a nap on the table.
Pu Chen took out a workbook from the bookshelf and opened a page at random. She couldn't calm down and could only write something at random. She turned the pages and wrote very quietly for fear of disturbing Qin Yu.
This cautiousness continued until the next morning.
Pu Chen never took the initiative to talk to Qin Yu during class breaks, and Qin Yu always had the same posture during get out of class, with his forehead supported and concentrating on reading an original English novel.
Sometimes she heard a "rustling" sound, and when she glanced over, she found that Qin Yu had flipped through several pages in a row. Did he really understand the novel
She also found that after changing his seat, he no longer went outside to the corridor to play games during breaks.
I don’t know if it’s because he was sitting inside and it was inconvenient for him to go out.
Pu Chen took her little hand warmer, stood up and made room for him so that it would be convenient for him to go in and out. She walked around outside the classroom before returning.
Qin Yu looked at her: "Where have you been?"
Pu Chen: Just go to the corridor outside to get some fresh air.
Qin Yu asked: "Isn't it cold?"
Pu Chen: A little bit, it’s okay.
Qin Yu: "Don't go out in such a cold day."
After saying that, he lowered his head to read his novel.
Pu Chen didn't know how to respond, so he simply unscrewed the water from the cup and drank it.
When the bell rang for the last class in the morning, Qin Yu squeezed out from behind her and ran straight to the cafeteria.
Without the motivation to change seats, Pu Chen walked to the cafeteria slowly today.
"Pu Chen." Someone called her name in the noisy cafeteria.
At first Pu Chen thought she had heard it wrong. How could Qin Yu call her at this time? She went over in the direction of the voice. Qin Yu motioned for her to sit over. Peng Jingyang was sitting next to him.
Under the gazes of countless gossipers or envious people, Pu Chen walked to Qin Yu's table at a loss.
"Sit down." Qin Yu pointed his chin at the empty seat in front of him.
Pu Chen sat down opposite Qin Yu, feeling very uncomfortable. She regretted sitting here. Not only did she have to endure the gossiping looks from the people around her, but her plate was right next to Qin Yu's. Her heartbeat quickened.
Qin Yu and Peng Jingyang were afraid that she would feel reserved, so they continued with the previous topic.
Pu Chen listened for half a minute and finally understood that they were talking about games. She thought that a top student like Peng Jingyang didn't play games.
Qin Yu looked at Pu Chen's plate, which had two vegetarian dishes and a portion of braised shrimp, while Peng Jingyang had ordered two portions of vegetables and half a braised fish for lunch today.
These two people are quite compatible in terms of food preferences.
Qin Yu asked Pu Chen: "Are the shrimps delicious?"
Pu Chen nodded. Her favorite dish in the cafeteria was braised shrimp.
Qin Yu picked up a braised prawn from Pu Chen's plate with the other end of his chopsticks and ate it with a frown.
Peng Jingyang looked at Qin Yu in confusion. Wasn't this man the kind of person who would rather die than eat fish or shrimp
Qin Yu picked two of the best sweet and sour spareribs from his plate and gave them to Pu Chen: "You borrow and you return. The shrimp tastes good, you try the spareribs."
At this moment, Pu Chen felt that the noisy sound in the cafeteria was blocked by something. She could not hear anything but the thumping of her own heartbeat.
--
After evening self-study that night, Qin Yu sent her a message: Are there any questions you don’t understand in today’s math, physics and chemistry homework
Pu Chen thought he was here to rush for the answer. I haven't finished yet. If I don't know the answer, I will search for it on the Internet. If I can't find it, I will ask Peng Jingyang.
Qin Yu didn't reply. He turned on the computer and played a few games. He won every time, which was boring. He found the math competition test paper on the bookshelf and started practicing questions.
In the following days, every night at 9:30, Pu Chen received messages from Qin Yu urging her to send in the answers to her homework.
A month later, the final exams came.
Pu Chen and Qin Yu were assigned to different examination rooms, which were far away from each other and located in two teaching buildings.
There was no need to attend evening self-study classes during the exam period, and no homework. She didn't contact Qin Yu for three consecutive days, and the chat messages between them on WeChat were still stuck on the night before the exam.
The bell rang to signal the end of the last exam, and the campus was more jubilant than usual.
After the exam, they went back to their classrooms.
Lu Bosheng waited for a long time, and only Qin Yu hadn't arrived yet. He asked, "Who is Qin Yu in the same examination room with?"
Zhao Shu raised her hand. She came out of the examination room and saw Qin Yu going downstairs and walking towards the east gate of the school. The school supermarket was also in that direction, so it seemed that he was not going to buy anything.
As a poor student, she lied for Qin Yu: "Teacher Lu, Qin Yu must have something urgent. He got a call after the exam and left in a hurry."
Lu Baisheng said "hmm". He always spoke briefly. He informed them to rest at home for a few days and return to school on the weekend, and then announced the end of school.
Pu Chen just left the classroom when she received a message from her aunt. Her aunt came to pick her up after class today. She ran all the way to the school gate as if she had a small motor under her feet.
"Pu Chen." Someone called her from behind.
Pu Chen stopped and looked back. She called out silently, "Teacher Lu."
Lu Bosheng caught up with him from behind and said with a smile, "Why are you walking so fast?"
Pu Chen took out his mobile phone and typed: My aunt is waiting for me at the school gate.
Lu Baisheng stared at his phone, slightly dazed.
He said, “Then hurry over.”
Pu Chen walked towards the gate and headed towards the parking lot.
When Lu Bosheng drove to the school gate, he saw the aunt and nephew being intimate on the roadside. Pu Wenxin had a great temperament, and with her delicate makeup, she looked bright and sexy, and passers-by couldn't help but look back at her a few more times.
From a distance, Lu Baisheng looked at Pu Wenxin. She was thinner than before.
Pu Wenxin hadn't seen her niece for a long time. She picked her up. Pu Chen was almost as tall as her, so it was very difficult for her to hold her. "See if our Chen Bao is heavy."
Pu Chen smiled silently. She felt a little embarrassed as she was stared at by the students passing by.
Pu Wenxin put her down and said, "You are thinner than during the summer vacation. Is it because of the pressure of exams during this period?"
Pu Chen shook her head to indicate that she had not lost weight. She took her aunt's arm and crossed the road: Aunt, how come you have time to come back today
Pu Wenxin: "I came here to discuss a project and will return to Shanghai tomorrow morning."
Just stay at home for a day.
Pu Chen was reluctant to leave and hugged his aunt's arm tightly.
Pu Wenxin promised her niece: "I will take my annual leave during the Chinese New Year and stay at home with you for a few more days."
As they were talking, the two walked into the alley.
When Pu Chen saw the people at the door of the hotel, she paused. Qin Yu was facing sideways in her direction. There was a row of chairs against the wall at the door of the hotel for customers to queue up. Qin Yu was sitting at the front of the queue.
This restaurant is an Internet celebrity restaurant and is very famous in this area. Whether it is the dishes, service or the dining environment in the store, it is impeccable. The only drawback is that there are too many people and you have to wait in line for a long time.
After the exam, he didn't go to the classroom for the class meeting. She thought he had something important to do, but it turned out that he came to queue up for dinner.