Chapter 35: Chapter 34: She Had No Interest in Playing These ’Puppy Love’ Games

The bell rang, signaling the start of the last class of the morning. It was Teacher Wu’s class again.

Back in the office, Xi Zirong remained silent.

Teacher Wu’s smile slowly faded. He glanced at Xu Su. “You can go back to the classroom first.”

Xu Su wasn’t sure what she was thinking, but she couldn’t help but turn to look at Xi Zirong before she left.

Her eyes landed on the tips of his ears, which were bright red.

’…’ Xu Su was speechless.

The moment she returned to the classroom, more than fifty pairs of eyes swiveled in her direction, all of them looking like a crowd hungry for gossip.

As the creator of said “gossip,” Xu Su walked back to her seat in extreme embarrassment.

She had just sat down when Chen Huiyu, her deskmate, whispered, “The class president isn’t back yet?”

Xu Su shook her head and replied, “He’s still in Teacher Wu’s office.”

Xu Su noticed that many students around them were pretending to be engrossed in their books, but were actually straining their ears to overhear their conversation.

As her deskmate, Chen Huiyu had a prime location for getting the latest scoop. She lowered her voice even more, almost speaking in a breathy whisper, “Susu, are you and the class president dating?”

Her previous deskmate, Luo Huayang, had asked the same question over two months ago. Back then, Xu Su had been able to deny it with righteous conviction.

Now, for some reason, she felt a little guilty, even though she didn’t think she had anything to feel guilty about.

She paused. Seeing the eager, knowledge-hungry look on her deskmate’s face, she still answered, “No.”

Before long, Teacher Wu and Xi Zirong returned to the classroom together.

Xi Zirong’s expression was back to normal, his usual calm and composed self. Xu Su kept her head down as he walked back to his seat, avoiding his gaze.

No one knew what the homeroom teacher had said to Xi Zirong in the office. In any case, the dispute between classmates, started by Fu Zichen, was now over.

The bell for the end of the last morning class rang. The moment Teacher Wu stepped out of the room, Huang Feng eagerly rushed over.

“Let’s go, let’s go! Susu, time for lunch!”

She was practically vibrating with excitement, positively buzzing with the need to gossip.

It seemed she had finally figured out why the homeroom teacher had specifically kept Xu Su and Xi Zirong behind that morning.

Qian Jia was right beside Huang Feng, her eyes shining as she looked at Xu Su, and then at Xi Zirong in the seat behind her.

“…” Xu Su paused for a moment, then packed up her books and followed them out, not once looking back.

In the cafeteria, Xu Su sat across from Huang Feng and Qian Jia. The three of them had eaten lunch together every day since the start of school.

Xu Su’s throat was sore, so she was having congee for lunch again. Enduring the stares of the two girls across from her, she took a few sips before saying with a hint of resignation, “If you have something to ask, just ask. Don’t keep staring at me like that.”

Huang Feng’s eyes lit up. This was the moment she had been waiting for. She was the first to ask, “Does the class president like you?”

“Cough… cough.”

Xu Su choked on a mouthful of congee, caught off guard by the blunt question. She took the napkin Qian Jia handed her, wiped her lips, and said, “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. You guys know I barely ever talk to him.”

Qian Jia nodded. With such juicy gossip on the table, her own lunch suddenly seemed bland. She said thoughtfully, “I think, given the class president’s personality, he’s not the type of person who would go out of his way to take a female classmate to the nurse’s office for medicine. I’m certain he likes you.”

Huang Feng agreed emphatically. “Exactly! I knew it when he told us to go on ahead. He had other plans all along. Way to go, my dear Susu! You’ve captured the heart of our grade’s study god. That’s amazing.”

After saying this, the two of them exchanged a look, both incredibly proud of their friend’s charm.

Meanwhile, Xu Su was stunned by Qian Jia’s words. “Don’t tell me the whole class knows Xi Zirong took me to the nurse’s office?”

’How could that have spread in just one class period?’

Xu Su’s gaze shifted to Huang Feng. “Was it you?”

Huang Feng waved her hands dismissively. “It wasn’t me! It was Fu Zichen. She came back to the classroom crying her eyes out after leaving the office. A bunch of students surrounded her to comfort her, and then she blurted out everything Xi Zirong had said in the office.”

’That explains it.’

Xu Su could already imagine what her classmates were thinking about her and Xi Zirong.

They either thought they were secretly dating, or… that Xi Zirong liked her.

Huang Feng said, “Fu Zichen is so petty. She made such a huge fuss just because you didn’t ask her for leave. Does she really think being vice president makes her the boss?”

Xu Su also felt a little awkward. She had been completely baffled when it happened, but thinking back on it now, it really was petty. They were supposed to be students, not actors in some drama about fighting over a boy.

Qian Jia chuckled. “Haven’t you guys heard the rumors in the first-year grade? She and Xi Zirong are first and second in the grade rankings, plus one’s the class president and the other’s the vice president. Students are always mentioning their names together. It’s not impossible that she has some ideas of her own.”

Huang Feng seemed to recall something too. “I remember Fu Zichen also went to Experimental Middle School. She must have known Xi Zirong back then. Tsk tsk, could this be a love triangle?”

In just a few sentences, they had analyzed the situation and gotten the gist of it. Xu Su couldn’t help but marvel that the top students who made it into the honors class could deduce things with such accuracy, even when it came to gossip.

But Xu Su couldn’t just come out and say that Fu Zichen liked Xi Zirong. After all, Xi Zirong himself hadn’t even said it explicitly.

“Fu Zichen is usually quite popular in class, and she always seems so quiet and gentle. I can’t believe she’s so unreasonable. I was so mad at the time.”

Huang Feng said smugly, “I wasn’t going to take that from her. Now Old Wu has made it clear: anyone can request leave from anyone, regardless of gender. She’s ridiculous, acting like someone from ancient times, thinking all the girls’ requests for leave have to go through her.”

Xu Su was touched that Huang Feng had stood up for her in class. She tried to placate her, “Let it go, let it go. Teacher Wu said the matter is over. Let’s not let it affect our relationships with our classmates.”

As it turned out, what Huang Feng had said was completely right.

Fu Zichen was indeed very popular in class.

At least, after this incident, Xu Su clearly felt a shift in the attitudes of many of the girls in class toward her.

After lunch, she returned to the classroom. Xu Su went to fill her water bottle, getting ready to take her medicine.

Two girls from her class were at the water dispenser. Normally, although they didn’t talk much, they were on friendly enough terms to nod, smile, and say hello if they met in the hallway. But now, when they saw Xu Su approach, they shot her a sideways glance and their movements, which had been almost finished, suddenly became slow and deliberate.

The smile Xu Su had been about to offer froze on her face. She silently got in line behind them to wait.

She waited for several long minutes before they finally left, without acknowledging her even once.

Xu Su filled her bottle in silence and returned to the classroom, only to find the culprit, Xi Zirong, already sitting at his desk.

He was surrounded by several other boys, creating a lively scene. A few of them were even standing next to Xu Su’s desk.

When they saw Xu Su enter, the group fell silent in unison, and the boys standing by her desk quickly made way for her.

Xu Su suddenly felt a wave of annoyance. She had no interest in playing these “puppy love” games.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep