She originally had two math papers. The last time she passed a note to Jiang Su during the evening self-study, she returned one of the clean papers as well.
How did it end up back in her school bag?
More precisely, when did Jiang Su quietly slip this paper back into her bag?
Actually, Lin Wei didn't necessarily have to swap out this paper with Jiang Su. Zeng Jian really liked her, always considering her his most proud student. While he seemed to be harsh on her, in reality, he held high expectations of her.
Zeng Jian rarely praised her, but she once overheard him boasting about her to the math teacher from the class next door while she was in his office. So she knew that even if she handed in this stained paper, Zeng Jian still wouldn't have done anything to her.
She wanted to avoid this kind of situation as much as possible, and as much as possible not to show off in front of Song Jin.
However, this was her ideal plan; if Jiang Su wasn't willing, she wouldn't insist.
Lin Wei really didn't expect Jiang Su to return the paper.
So, him saying, "Leave your phone number, then we're familiar," the previous night, was he... making a preliminary compromise with her?
That not working, he slipped in the paper as another sign of compromise?
The more Lin Wei thought about it, the more she felt that her desk mate was a bit... mysterious.
This didn't match up with his rumored personality. Given his reputation for exacting revenge for the pettiest offenses and being a ruthless school bully, how could he possibly compromise?
…
Walking out the back door of the classroom, Jiang Su glanced through the window at his little deskmate who was explaining the problem to someone else.
The male student, whose name wasn't known, hadn't paid attention to the problem at all; his eyes had been focused on the little girl at the desk in front of him.
"Susu, Susu…."
Xu Shu rushed over, calling out as if his life depended on it, and carrying an empty school bag, "We've been waiting for you at the stairs for a while, what are you daydreaming about?"
Jiang Su nonchalantly withdrew his gaze and moved towards Xu Shu, his face expressionless.
When the two were about to bump into each other, Jiang Su deftly stepped to the side, ignoring the approaching Xu Shu, as if he didn't exist and stepped around him.
"Susu!" Xu Shu changed direction and caught up with Jiang Su.
He raised his arm, just about to put it around Jiang Su's shoulder.
As if knowing his intentions, Jiang Su looked sideways at him without moving his head.
Xu Shu's arm stopped. Under Jiang Su's gaze, he slowly moved it in a big circle before placing it on Cheng Zhu's shoulder instead.
Cheng Zhu unceremoniously shrugged off Xu Shu's arm: "Get lost."
"No, I won't!" Xu Shu's arm stuck again on Cheng Zhu's shoulder.
Cheng Zhu: "I fucking told you to get lost."
"…"
Cheng Zhu: "Damn it, get the fuck off me."
"…"
Cheng Zhu: "City Lord, help me out, get this idiot off me."
Jiang Su glanced at Xu Shu who was sitting on Cheng Zhu and walked past them without showing any compassion, heading downstairs.
When Jiang Su reached the second floor, Cheng Zhu was chasing Xu Shu from upstairs.
Within a blink of an eye, the two of them disappeared around the corner of the stairs.
Jiang Su wasn't in a hurry and leisurely ambled down the stairs.
When he emerged from the school building, Xu Shu and Cheng Zhu had finished their quarrel. One leaned against a street lamp, the other sat on the edge of a flower bed, panting and bickering back and forth.
Jiang Su walked past the two of them, a look on his face that screamed "I don't know these two idiots" and kept walking without sparing them a glance.
"Wait for me, Susu." Xu Shu and Cheng Zhu followed him, one in front and the other behind.
Just as Jiang Su was about to call for a car outside the school gates, Xu Shu shouted, "Wait a moment, let's go to the milk tea shop across the street for a cigarette first…"
Xu Shu looked at the time on his phone as he spoke, "Just five minutes, at most five minutes, and my goddess will appear."
Jiang Su pulled up a ride-hailing app: "Not interested."
"No no no, City Lord, don't act on impulse, really my goddess is a real goddess." To seek resonance, Xu Shu didn't forget to drag Cheng Zhu into it: "If you don't believe me, ask City Lord."
Taking off his school uniform and tying it to his school bag, Cheng Zhu said, "Although that idiot Xu Shu has had countless goddesses, this time this goddess is worth seeing."
Jiang Su: "Still not interested."
Ten minutes later, Jiang Su who was standing at the entrance of the milk tea shop, lifted his eyes from his phone irritably: "Are we going or not?"
"Wait a little longer." Xu Shu, biting a cigarette, leaned his neck towards the direction of the school gate, "Really strange, every time at this point, I'd be able to see her. Why can't I see her today?"
Jiang Su, who couldn't be bothered to deal with Xu Shu, lowered his head and continued to play his game.
About ten more minutes later, Xu Shu, who had been squatting on the ground waiting, popped up like a spring, "She's here, she's here."
Jiang Su, who was barely hanging on in the game, didn't even move his eyes.
"Cheng Zhu, cover for me a bit. I want to take a photo... quick, quick, quick. The bus will be here soon, then I won't be able to take a picture... Susu, did you see? The girl in the school uniform with a ponytail standing under the Chen Enci ad board, that's my goddess..."
In Xu Shu's incessant chatter, Jiang Su casually glanced in the direction mentioned, only to have his gaze stop abruptly.
He saw a familiar figure.
Pausing for three seconds, Jiang Su looked at Xu Shu taking pictures facing the opposite side and squinted his eyes, "Who's under the ad board?"
"Chen Enci, don't tell me you don't know who Chen Enci is, weren't you watching the TV show he acted in just a few days ago?"
Jiang Su didn't respond, his gaze moved across the road again.
Little deskmate was carrying a backpack and hugging a plastic bag.
Perhaps it was because she was too thin, but he felt the weight she was carrying.
She seemed to have sighed, her head lowered as she gazed at her toes kicking the ground.
Soon the bus came, and, not long after, the bus left. The space under the billboard across the road was empty.
Xu Shu, admiring the pictures he took on his phone, gushed, "My goddess is truly beautiful, every picture of hers is charming. I ran into my goddess by chance at the end of last month. Whenever I have the time, I squat here to catch a glimpse of her. Counting now, I've collected almost a hundred pictures. The only regret is that I haven't met my goddess in school yet. If I do, I will know which class my goddess is in…"
Jiang Su glanced at Xu Shu whose face was foolishly smiling at his phone.
"I can't stand it, the more I look, the more beautiful my goddess becomes…" Completely immersed in the beauty before him, Xu Shu leaned down as if to kiss the phone screen.
Jiang Su reached out, grabbing Xu Shu's collar and forced his face in front of Cheng Zhu.
Xu Shu: "Mmmmuah."
Cheng Zhu: "..."
Xu Shu: "..."
Xu Shu: "Damn it, Jiang Su, what are you doing?!"
Cheng Zhu: "Holy shit, Xu Shu, are you repulsed or not, Muah your grandpa!"
Xu Shu: "Who the hell wants to Muah you, I was going to Muah my…."
Before Xu Shu could finish speaking, Jiang Su grabbed him by the collar and turned him to face himself: "Lin Wei, Senior Two Class One, lives next to me, is my deskmate."
"… How do you know?" Xu Shu reacted for a moment. When he realized the key point, he remembered that Jiang Su was supposed to be indifferent to women. "No, what's your relationship with her?"
"We've undone a button," Jiang Su responded.