Daydreaming about Me

Chapter 26

“Can you go up a little more?”

“…”

“Hey, five centimeters to the left.”

“…Five centimeters make a difference?”

“Not really,” Lin Yujing said, gripping the wall. One foot was on Shen Juan’s arm, and the other was hooked over the wall edge. “It’s just a bit hard to move at this height.”

“…” Shen Juan sneered, voice suppressed. “Then what? Should I let you sit on my shoulders?”

“That would definitely be high enough,” Lin Yujing asked joyfully. “Can I?” “…”

Shen Juan took a deep breath, gritting his teeth. “Lin Yujing…”

“Hey, hey,” Lin Yujing placed her left foot on the wall, using her arms to prop herself up like on parallel bars. Her other foot lightly pushed off the wall as she climbed up.

Lin Yujing straddled the broken railing, swinging her legs. She looked down at him, smiling brightly. “How about that? Still pretty strong, right?”

Shen Juan leaned back slightly, not even angry anymore. “Strong. Can you get down from there?”

Lin Yujing glanced around. “I can. The ground here is higher than the other side.” Shen Juan nodded. “Alright, go ahead.”

Lin Yujing didn’t move. She sat on the wall, watching him for a while, her voice soft. “See you tomorrow, desk mate.”

Shen Juan looked up at her.

In the early autumn night, she lowered her head against the moonlight, her expression hidden in the shadows, barely revealing the curve of her brows and eyes.

Without waiting for his response, she flipped over and disappeared on the other side of the wall. She landed silently, like a night cat sleepwalking.

Shen Juan stared at the empty wall for a while, then lowered his head with a chuckle and turned to leave.

The area around Eighth High School was excellent. A ten-minute walk led to a shopping district. Shen Juan walked for about ten minutes before catching a cab near the mall.

It was past ten when he reached the studio. Shen Juan ran a hand through his hair and walked into the bathroom. Just as he took off his shirt, his phone buzzed twice in his jeans pocket.

Leaning against the sink, he pulled out his phone and unlocked it, simultaneously unbuckling his belt with one hand.

A message from a certain “anonymous warmth sender Little Lin” read: [Do you need some Yunnan Baiyao for your forehead?]

“…”

Teacher Lin, who hadn’t messaged him since sending physics materials last time, almost made Shen Juan forget who it was.

He pulled off his belt, silently smiling, and looked at his forehead in the mirror.

The swelling had gone down a lot, with only a slight bruise.

Shen Juan raised a hand, lightly pressing his fingertip against it, feeling a faint tingling pain.

Tsk, she didn’t hold back at all.

Putting down his phone, he turned on the faucet, splashing water on his face. The cool water flowed, and with his eyes closed, he suddenly pictured the girl’s reddened eyes.

He paused.

The girl’s eyes were wet, stubbornly holding back tears, looking pitifully aggrieved. When she looked at him with her pretty fox-like eyes, Shen Juan felt something collapse inside him.

He had originally gone out for a smoke break while drawing, not expecting to run into Lin Yujing.

Shen Juan admitted he was quite harsh. Some inexplicable frustration had been simmering since the afternoon and lingered into the night. Lin Yujing, who already seemed in a bad mood, ended up there, and he had to lash out at her.

He made her cry.

Shen Juan lifted his head, opened his eyes, and leaned over the sink.

Water dripped from his hair, sliding into his eyes, stinging slightly.

“Shen Juan,” he muttered to his reflection in the mirror. “You’re something else, making a girl cry.”

The Shen Juan in the mirror stared back blankly, unresponsive for a long time. The bathroom was silent except for the sound of running water.

Shen Juan’s shoulders slumped. He splashed water on his face again and sighed dejectedly. “I didn’t mean to bully her…”

The monthly exam lasted only one day, and regular classes resumed the next day. After the exam, everyone relaxed, with the next major test being the midterm.

Lin Yujing didn’t return to the dorm until ten last night. Despite being exhausted, she couldn’t fall asleep and ended up studying English compositions until 3:30 AM before finally dozing off.

The next morning, she overslept. By the time she woke up, the morning self-study session was over.

Instantly awake, she rushed to brush her teeth and wash her face, but still arrived five minutes late for the first period.

It was Mr. Wang’s class.

Feeling a bit hopeless, Lin Yujing thought she might be doomed to rewrite Ohm’s law 500 times.

To her surprise, Shen Juan was already there, leaning on his desk, looking at her. Lin Yujing silently glanced at him before turning to Mr. Wang, head lowered. “Mr. Wang, I’m sorry for being late.”

Mr. Wang was in a good mood today. Standing by the podium, looking as tall as her, holding a transparent circuit diagram model, he waved his hand enthusiastically. “Go sit down! Overslept, huh? Your desk mate’s already here, hasn’t even slept!”

Lin Yujing sat down, and Mr. Wang continued teaching. She pulled out her physics book, feeling a bit dazed after just waking up, and randomly opened a page.

Spacing out for a bit, she noticed Shen Juan’s hand flipping a few pages forward in her book.

Snapping back to reality, she turned to him.

Mr. Wang was passionately teaching at the podium, while Lin Yujing leaned closer, tilting her head and staring at him.

Shen Juan glanced up and moved slightly.

“Don’t move,” Lin Yujing whispered.

Shen Juan blinked.

“It’s a bit bruised,” she frowned, looking at his forehead. “I didn’t use much force…” Shen Juan: “How much more did you want to use?”

“I thought you’d dodge,” Lin Yujing whispered. “We agreed to fight, but who knew you wouldn’t dodge and came at me head-on. I thought it was some new tactic you street guys use.”

“…”

Shen Juan thought, not only did I face her head-on, but I also opened my arms, okay? I thought you wanted to hug me, but who knew you’d just come up and punch me?

Shen Juan felt a bit complicated. Normally, if a girl was going to cry, it would probably be because of the former situation, not the latter. But his desk mate truly was unpredictable.

Just as he lifted his eyes, he saw Lin Yujing reaching out her hand towards him. He instinctively tilted his head and raised an eyebrow, “What are you doing?”

Lin Yujing’s fingers paused in front of him, “I’m just going to move your hair to the side,” she said, her fingertips lightly brushing through his bangs, adjusting them a couple of times until she was satisfied. “There, that covers it. Otherwise, it would affect your cool, intimidating look.”

“…”

Shen Juan sighed, “My desk mate is really…”

Lin Yujing looked at him expressionlessly, “Really what? Do you have any complaints about your desk mate?”

“No,” Shen Juan replied, “No complaints.”

Just as he finished speaking, a piece of chalk flew through the air with a “whoosh” and hit him.

“Shen Juan! Can you stop talking to your desk mate? You finally come to class on time, not to sleep, but to chat? Stand up and listen!” Mr. Wang bellowed.

Shen Juan: “…”

Lin Yujing stifled her laughter, laying her head on the desk. Li Lin, sitting behind them, was in shock.

He had a clear view of their interactions. Over the past month, his understanding of the so-called school tyrant Shen Juan had been constantly overturned.

The students of Class 10 had noticed that despite Shen Juan’s reputation, he was usually quiet and unassuming. He even said thank you when talking to people and accepted punishments from teachers without complaint. When Mr. Wang made him write Ohm’s law a thousand times, he did it diligently and without protest.

It was quite different from the rumors.

Li Lin and the others, who sat behind Shen Juan, felt this difference deeply. Shen Juan showed extraordinary patience and gentleness towards his new desk mate. They had never seen him get angry. Often, when it seemed like Lin Yujing was about to be pinned to the wall by the school tyrant, he just looked at her silently and sighed.

Li Lin exchanged glances with Ye Zi’ang, sharing another round of silent communication. What’s going on? What’s really going on?

Their interactions were becoming increasingly suspicious.

Li Lin felt a bit horrified.

Even a school tyrant couldn’t escape the bonds of emotions. Sometimes, the throes of adolescence came unbidden, unstoppable.

After the monthly exams, there were many activities at Eighth High School, including the autumn sports meet at the end of October.

In the last period before lunch, Mr. Liu Fujang used the last few minutes to talk about it, which excited the whole class.

Class 10 had good students, such as the class president and representatives of each subject, all of whom were top scorers in the exams. They were more concerned about when the monthly exam results would be released than events like the sports meet.

The class president, tasked with this mission, went to Mr. Liu’s office and returned with definite news, “It seems math has been graded, but the scores haven’t been distributed yet. Science is still being graded, and language might take the longest.”

Exam papers were usually graded by examination room and then redistributed to each class. After giving his report, the class president added with a sneer, “Apparently,

someone in the last examination room copied answers so blatantly that they even copied the wrong ones. They’ll be a laughingstock if they did that.”

The class president went to the front of the classroom to check the list of exam takers. “Let me read out who from Class 10 was in the last examination room—starting from the end, Lin Yujing, Shen—”

The class president’s voice abruptly stopped, like a chick being choked. He turned around, opened his mouth, “Shen Juan, I’m sorry…”

Shen Juan, yawning at his desk, said, “Don’t mind me, go on.”

Threat.

A threat from the boss.

The class president, panicking, tried to figure out what Shen Juan meant and how to avoid his wrath.

Li Lin, who had started talking to Shen Juan occasionally after playing a game together, patted Lin Yujing’s shoulder, “Hey, was that high score yours?”

Lin Yujing, usually low-key, turned around, “Ah, maybe. I don’t know.”

“Don’t worry, our school grades quickly,” Li Lin said. “Since math is already done, all the scores will be out by the end of the day, and the grade rankings will be ready by tomorrow.”

Lin Yujing muttered that in her previous school, the rankings were out by the afternoon.

Lin Yujing underestimated the efficiency of Eighth High’s teachers. After the third period in the afternoon, Mr. Liu Fujang came in and called her out.

He also called Shen Juan.

When Mr. Liu entered, Shen Juan was idly spinning a pen at his desk, seemingly reading a book, though it didn’t look like he was really paying attention.

They followed Mr. Liu to the biology department office. Once inside, the entire sophomore biology faculty turned to look at them.

Mr. Liu’s face was red, looking like he was holding back anger.

Lin Yujing quickly reviewed if she had done anything to anger the teachers. Maybe it was because she was caught climbing the wall yesterday? Eighth High did have a lot of surveillance cameras.

She lowered her eyes, quickly thinking of how to look pitiful, but before she could act, Mr. Liu suddenly shouted, “Such good kids!”

Lin Yujing was startled, nearly jumping.

She looked up to see Mr. Liu, face full of emotion, struggling to contain a smile that seemed ready to split his face.

It dawned on her that he wasn’t angry but holding back laughter.

Mr. Liu looked like he was about to burst into laughter, “I know you’re all concerned about your exam results. At your level, every point matters a lot.”

Lin Yujing felt confused, unsure if he was mocking her or what. Did she fill in the answer sheet wrong?

“The grade rankings aren’t out yet; they’ll be ready tomorrow. But I can show you your scores now. Normally, I shouldn’t show them privately, but I just can’t help it.” Mr. Liu’s smile widened as he lowered his voice, “Keep it quiet, I’ll show you secretly.”

Bending over dramatically, Mr. Liu pulled a report card from a file and beckoned them over.

“…”

Lin Yujing and Shen Juan leaned in.

The three of them huddled together like they were on a secret mission. Mr. Liu carefully, sneakily, revealed the report card, only showing half of it.

Even half was enough.

Lin Yujing, looking upside down, clearly saw the top two lines. Second line: Lin Yujing, total score 701.

First line: Shen Juan, total score 703.

“…”

Lin Yujing: What the hell???

Author’s Note:

Shen Juan: It’s alright, I didn’t perform particularly well. It’s all thanks to Teacher Lin.