Daydreaming about Me

Chapter 43

Lin Yujing didn’t know if her ears and head were red, but right now she just wanted Shen Juan to understand why the flowers were so red.

This kind of furious embarrassment was unprecedentedly intense, accompanied by difficulty breathing, stiff limbs, a blank mind, half of her body feeling numb and weak, and her heart pounding at 170 beats per minute—along with a series of other abnormal stress responses.

Lin Yujing snapped back to reality, scooting backward, trying to appear nonchalant: “Did you just touch a girl’s ear?”

“I was helping you,” Shen Juan said matter-of-factly, “Letting your thoroughly reddened ears air out and cool down with the wind will make you feel much clearer.”

“I don’t need any wind to feel clear, and my ears aren’t red,” Lin Yujing glared at him, her hackles raised, “In ancient times, your behavior would be called ruining my reputation, being a scoundrel, and you’d be drowned in a pig’s cage, did you know that?”

Shen Juan leaned back slowly: “Drowning in a pig’s cage is the punishment for adultery, which requires the mutual consent of both parties.”

The spark of Lin Yujing’s anger ignited instantly at the word “adultery,” and she glared at him incredulously: “I spit on that—!”

Her volume got away from her, and the English teacher turned around, giving her a loving glance.

Lin Yujing quickly turned her head, pretending to read her English book.

The English teacher smiled indulgently, paused, then resumed teaching.

Lin Yujing’s ears burned red, and the skin around them looked flushed too. She lay on her desk, burying her nose to her chin in the crook of her arm. After a moment, she raised her hand in a fluster to pull down the stray hair that had been tucked behind her ear, covering it again before lowering her head and hiding the lower half of her face completely.

If it weren’t for the fact that they were in class, she might have buried her whole head. The English teacher finally looked away, turning back to the podium.

The grading for the midterm exams was slightly slower than the monthly tests. The results were released on Tuesday afternoon, even though the teachers reportedly took the papers home over the weekend to grade them.

When Liu Fujian walked in, he was as cheerful as always, although he was like this every day. It’s said that when Li Lin and his team brought back the relay race certificate on the second day of the sports meet, Liu Fujian was almost moved to tears with joy, feeling that these kids were developing comprehensively, even more satisfying than Lin Yujing and Shen Juan scoring 700 points on their monthly exams.

In the last class meeting, Liu Fujian walked in with the roster, standing at the podium, and cheerfully announced, “In this midterm exam, our class has two students in the top fifty of the grade.”

Instantly, the gazes of the forty-something students in the class swept over simultaneously.

Liu Fujian paused, seemingly giving everyone time to admire the top students.

Lin Yujing had never felt so anxious under the scrutiny of others.

Liu Fujian smiled at them for ten seconds before slowly saying, “You might be curious about who they are. These two students are Lin Yujing and Shen Juan, exemplary students for the entire class. Let’s give them a round of applause.”

The entire class of ten obediently raised their hands and clapped loudly.

The applause was thunderous, sounding like a clapper board, crackling sharply. Lin Yujing: “…”

Shen Juan: “…”

Liu Fujian seemed extremely pleased. Once the applause died down, he continued, “This time the exam was a bit harder than the monthly test, and since half a semester has passed, the material was more extensive and complex. No one in the grade scored above 700 this time. Shen Juan scored 694, still ranking first in the grade. Let’s applaud again.”

Another round of applause erupted, even louder than before.

Lin Yujing: “…”

Shen Juan: “…”

Shen Juan paused for two seconds, turning to look at her.

Liu Fujian continued, “Lin Yujing scored 692, ranking second in the grade, just two points behind. Very good, let’s applaud again.”

Li Lin clapped so hard he nearly broke his hands, enthusiastically patting the desk corner behind her, “Lin Mei, you’re awesome!”

Lin Yujing was completely expressionless. Another two points short.

Was this some kind of curse?

Or a hex from the number 2?

Was Shen Juan doing this on purpose?

How could he be so precise with his score?

Lin Yujing never wanted to see the number 2, two, or any word representing two units in her life again.

For the rest of the class meeting, Lin Yujing didn’t want to say a single word. She even felt a sense of déjà vu, as if she had experienced this scene before, once again scoring two points less than Shen Juan.

Shen Juan remained silent until the end of class, then he raised his hand, lightly poking her arm with his index finger.

Lin Yujing stood up in a daze, making way for him, standing by the aisle desk, waiting for him to leave.

Shen Juan stood up and walked out of the classroom. Lin Yujing sat back down, still dazed.

Three seconds later, Shen Juan reappeared at the classroom door, looking down at her, “Lin Yujing.”

Lin Yujing looked up.

Shen Juan slightly raised his chin: “Come out.”

Lin Yujing sat there motionless, staring at him coldly.

Shen Juan sighed: “Are you stupid?”

Lin Yujing instantly retorted, “You’re the one who’s stupid.” Shen Juan: “Wanna talk?”

“Classmate Shen, don’t you realize I don’t want to say a single word to you right now?” Lin Yujing said slowly, “I used to never know what it felt like to hate someone to the bone. Now I know, thanks to you.”

Shen Juan laughed in exasperation, taking two steps forward, leaning on her desk, and said in a low voice, “If you don’t want to come out on your own, I don’t mind playing rogue again, like carrying you out.”

He seemed a bit irritated, his dark eyes heavy, exuding pressure. When he said the first half of his sentence, Lin Yujing almost thought he was about to fight.

Then he finished with the word “carry.”

Lin Yujing opened her mouth, instinctively looking around.

After the midterm exams last week, they had just started evening self-study sessions, so there was a half-hour break after the last class before returning to self-study.

Half the class had gone to dinner, Li Lin and his group were discussing the basketball game at the back row, and a few class monitors were munching on meat pies while doing worksheets, not paying attention to them.

Lin Yujing cleared her throat, stood up, and walked out with him.

Freshmen didn’t have evening self-study, so they were already dismissed. In the campus, freshmen students with backpacks could be seen trickling out.

Lin Yujing walked to the end of the corridor by the window, leaning against the windowsill, waiting for Shen Juan to speak first.

Shen Juan leaned against the wall opposite her. The corridor lights were yellowish, slightly dimmer than the bright classroom lights. They stared at each other for a while before Shen Juan frowned and said, “I know this matters to you a lot, but I…”

“Don’t you care?” Lin Yujing asked.

“About what, grades?” Shen Juan replied indifferently, “Not really.”

Lin Yujing nodded, “Did you purposely answer two questions wrong in this midterm exam?”

Shen Juan didn’t even think about it, “No.”

“You see!” Lin Yujing slapped the cold marble windowsill, “How can you say no? You must have racked your brains to beat me.”

Shen Juan: “…”

Lin Yujing rubbed her palm, which was a bit sore from the slap, lowered her head, and suddenly sighed.

“Classmate Shen, I accept my loss gracefully,” Lin Yujing said with a despondent expression, “You did score two points higher than me this time. We agreed before that whoever scores higher wins, so I’ll give you the scholarship this time.”

Her attitude changed abruptly, and Shen Juan raised an eyebrow.

Lin Yujing continued, “But there’s something I’d like to discuss with you.”

Shen Juan remained calm, “Sure, go ahead.”

“When you get that first prize certificate and scholarship, can you let me touch it?” Lin Yujing asked cautiously.

“…?”

Shen Juan didn’t respond, puzzled by her request.

But this didn’t affect Lin Yujing’s performance. She had already immersed herself in the role.

The girl stood obediently by the window, with the warm orange light of dusk streaming through the corridor window, casting a fine halo around her. She looked at him quietly.

Her appearance was naturally non-aggressive and very harmless. According to Jiang Han, her first impression was that of a naïve fairy.

The little fairy lowered her eyes, her long lashes casting shadows, concealing her emotions, and she spoke softly, “To be honest, Classmate Shen, I actually come from a village, Lianhua Village. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it, but it’s very poor, and we feed pigs every day. I really feel lucky to be able to come to this big city to study. I’ve never received a scholarship before, especially such a large sum of money, so I just want to touch it…”

Lin Yujing sniffled lightly, “By the way, I haven’t told you my real name. I’m actually called Lin Cuihua.”

“…”

Shen Juan remained silent for at least ten seconds, standing there motionless, just staring at her. Just as Lin Yujing was about to lift her head, he finally spoke, “You just want to touch it?”

Lin Yujing didn’t look up and silently nodded.

“Okay,” Shen Juan said, “No problem, I’ll let you touch it.”

“…”

Lin Yujing: ?

Lin Yujing instantly stopped sniffling and looked up at him expressionlessly, “Shen Juan, don’t you have any sympathy?”

“Sympathy? I knew you looked familiar,” Shen Juan said.

Lin Yujing didn’t get it, “What?”

“How many years did you live in Lianhua Village?” Shen Juan asked.

Lin Yujing felt he was setting her up and didn’t respond.

Shen Juan curled his lips and lazily said, “You should know Lianhua Village’s neighboring HeYe Village, right?”

“…”

I know nothing.

Shen Juan: “You should know. Maybe you’ve even seen me. In our village, we not only feed pigs but also farm.”

“…”

I’m seriously believing this nonsense.

Lin Yujing couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Just as she was about to speak, Shen Juan continued, “It’s indeed not easy to come to the city to study. You know, I now live alone in a studio and have to earn my living expenses myself.”

Lin Yujing was stunned.

Shen Juan added, “And Shen Juan isn’t my real name either,” he paused for half a second, “Call me Shen Tiezhu.”

Lin Yujing: “…”

Lin Yujing wasn’t lying when she said she was from a village.

Her respected father, Mr. Meng Weiguo, once made his way from the village to the capital to study, becoming the only young man in their village’s history not to have to farm or feed pigs.

Eventually, he married the only daughter of a chairman from the capital, having a happy marriage and a successful career.

But good times didn’t last long.

As for Shen Juan, Lin Yujing initially thought he was just talking nonsense, but when he mentioned, “I live alone in a studio and have to earn my living expenses,” she wavered a bit.

Because that seemed to be true.

She had seen it with her own eyes when Shen Juan inadvertently mentioned it to her once.

Lin Yujing felt his story was partly true and partly false. The part about HeYe Village and such was obviously made up; even a fool could tell.

“I think you look familiar. Have we met at the village entrance before?” This kind of talk, Lin Yujing didn’t even want to bother with.

But he might really have financial difficulties and need to earn his living expenses himself.

So, the scholarship was indeed more important to him. Lin Yujing didn’t need the money; Lin Zhi sent her living expenses every month, ten times the scholarship amount.

Lin Yujing started to feel confused.

Maybe she should just let it go. Besides, she did lose the exam.

Lying on her bed, Lin Yujing muttered to herself, “Lin Yujing, what’s wrong with you? Are you secretly scoring lower than him on purpose because you like him?”

She paused, covering her face with one hand, and sighed, “Nonsense, am I crazy?”

The first round of the basketball tournament started the following week. There were no distinctions between science and liberal arts classes, and opponents were chosen randomly by drawing lots for the preliminary matches.

The preliminary matches were elimination rounds. The winning class advanced, and the losing class was directly eliminated, with no further involvement in the last basketball tournament of their high school life.

Class 10 barely managed to gather five starters and two substitutes, a total of seven players. With so many boys, everyone could play a little, though the difference was between playing poorly and playing worse.

The day before the match, the sports committee member went to the sports department to draw lots and came back looking dejected.

Song Zhiming walked over and patted his shoulder, “Old Yu, how did it go?” “Not good,” Yu Pengfei said weakly, “Class 7.”

Song Zhiming: “… Damn, what luck! How many times have I told you to wash your hands after using the bathroom?”

“I didn’t wash,” Yu Pengfei roared angrily, “As soon as I entered the sports department, Class 7’s sports committee member hooked my neck and said we didn’t need to draw lots. He wanted to compete with our class, talking nonsense for ten minutes. He must be related to Old Jiang.”

Song Zhiming: “Did the sports teacher agree?”

“Agreed,” Yu Pengfei said weakly, “You know he loves excitement. He agreed without a second thought.”

Song Zhiming was still hopeful, “Did the other classes have any objections?”

Yu Pengfei looked at him, “Old Song, are you brain-dead? Class 7 is so strong; other classes would rather face them in the finals. Why would they object?”

They all gathered around Li Lin, each looking desperate, which made Lin Yujing find it amusing, “Why are you all so down? We managed to gather five players. We might not lose.”

Song Zhiming looked at her with a strained expression, “Boss Lin, why do you think we won’t lose just because we have five players?”

Lin Yujing counted on her fingers, “You, the sports committee member, Wang Yiyang, aren’t you all good at basketball? And our tallest guy, what’s his name?”

“Just call him Old Gao. He’s tall, and we all call him that. It’s not important,” Song Zhiming said, “Do you know who our team’s PG is?”

Li Lin uncomfortably shrugged his shoulder. “Who?” Lin Yujing asked.

“Li Lin.”

“…”

“This is the idiot Li Lin, who’s 1.7 meters tall and keeps having his chrysanthemum tea spiked with thick broth cubes every day. After searching for the culprit for an entire semester plus two months without finding out, it turns out it was me all along,” Song Zhiming said numbly. “Boss Lin, do you think our class has any hope with someone like this playing point guard?”

Li Lin turned his head and looked at him expressionlessly. “So it was you.”

“Look around. Besides me, who else from our class transferred to Class Ten with you?” Song Zhiming said.

Li Lin sighed. “Forget it. I don’t have the energy to argue with you right now,” he said, collapsing, “What am I supposed to do? I’m already the best among these substitutes!”

“…”

Lin Yujing was silent for two seconds before asking, “Why don’t you ask Shen Juan?” As soon as she said this, everyone fell silent.

Song Zhiming instinctively glanced at Shen Juan, who was reading with his head propped up. After months of being classmates with this top student, the biggest progress they had made was finally daring to chat in his presence.

Song Zhiming mouthed silently to Lin Yujing: “Don’t dare.”

Lin Yujing nodded, made an OK gesture, tilted her head, and turned to Shen Juan.

After she said that, Shen Juan looked up at her. Since they were chatting right next to him, he had been half-listening, and it was impossible to pretend he didn’t hear his name being mentioned.

Shen Juan raised his eyebrows at her.

“Classmate Shen,” Lin Yujing leaned sideways, speaking in a very non-standard A City accent, “Are you going to play in the basketball game?”

Without thinking, Shen Juan quickly replied, “Not going to.” Lin Yujing didn’t understand: “Huh?”

“Not playing,” Shen Juan said.

Author’s Note:

Ladies, get ready for a major plot twist.

I’ll just call him Shen Tiezhu, what do you think? I think it’s great