CH 24.1

On Sunday morning, Zhou Sisi received a call from the head teacher.

“Sisi, since your home is close to the school, come over at eight o’clock to help the teacher mark the exam papers, okay?”

“I ……”

“There’s a lot of work to be done, the higher-ups are pushing hard, it just so happens that yours, Qi Minhuo’s and Guo Qin’s home are not far from school, so come over here, okay?”

Having left with no options Zhou Sisi could only agree, and hurriedly sent a WeChat message to Lu Xi before leaving, saying that the make-up class this morning was canceled.

It wasn’t until after correcting the math papers of the two classes that Zhou Sisi received a reply from the other side: Oh.

In summer the temperature rose early and the office was a bit stuffy and hot.

Zhou Sisi rubbed her eyes and stood up for a short rest.

“Are you tired?” Wu Lan was also dazzled by the computer screen and twisted her upper body twice in position.

Zhou Sisi: “It’s okay. I am not too tired.”

“My wrists and eyes are tired.” Guo Qin said. “It’s so hot, teacher.”

Wu Lan patted her head as she said, “How come I forgot to turn on the air conditioner? Is 25°C okay?”

“Mm.” Zhou Sisi had no opinion.

Guo Qin volunteered. “Teacher, I’ll turn it on.”

“Sisi, go next door to see how they are doing.” Wu Lan ordered.

On the way to another office, Zhou Sisi looked at the lush green branches outside the corridor.

This one was from a banyan tree, the other one was a mango tree, and there was only one in the neighborhood.

Zhou Sisi’s eyes moved, she seemed to have forgotten to bring Lu Xi breakfast.

…Speaking of not going for make-up classes this morning, so it should be about the same as no breakfast by default. He shouldn’t be hungry.

What was she thinking? He was not a three-year-old child.

Zhou Sisi shook her head and smiled, from her inexplicable guilt and concern.

“Sisi!” Qi Minhui, who came back from the bathroom, shouted, “How many copies did you finish?”

Zhou Sisi: “Two classes.”

“You are very fast.” Qi Minhui gave a thumbs up.

While they were talking, they entered the office where Qi Minhui and other three students were correcting their papers.

“You’re here too.” Yuan Xuchao, who was sitting at the second computer desk at the entrance, looked surprised, “What question did you correct?”

Zhou Sisi glanced at his screen before replying, “18 questions. We have different subjects.”

Due to the urgency of switching the monthly exam paper to paperless, because of the anonymous paperless marking system, other teachers also called on students to be helpers.

Yuan Xuchao: “Which subject?”

Zhou Sisi: “Physics.”

“Oh. Science should be more difficult to correct than our history, thank you for your hard work.” Yuan Xuchao’s words were very clever.

Zhou Sisi replied honestly: “Not necessarily.”

Under the same amount of questions, the subjective questions of liberal arts were sometimes more difficult to correct than the fill-in-the-blank questions of science.

The boy at the last table looked at Zhou Sisi and asked Yuan Xuchao, “Which class is this girl from?”

“Science key class.” Yuan Xuchao replied vaguely.

“Hey classmate, are you from class 1, class 2 or class 3?” The boy winked his left eye and directly asked Zhou Sisi.

Zhou Sisi’s expression was calm and replied. “Class 1.”

Yuan Xuchao was displeased with the interjection of his classmate and brought up a new topic. “Sisi, do you want to go for a barbecue at noon? Wanda has a new Korean barbecue joint, which is very good – Qi Minhuo, Liu Hua, will you come together?”

Qi Minhui, who was not familiar with Yuan Xuchao at all, pointed at herself in confusion, “Me?”

“I’m not going.” Zhou Sisi said apologetically. “I’m going home for dinner.”

“I’m not going either.” Qi Minhuo immediately stated.

Yuan Xuchao was a little embarrassed. “Okay.”

Liu Hua, the boy at the back table, grinned crookedly. “Beauty, give us some face, look at Yuan Xuchao he wants you to go.”

Qi Minhuo would not think that this “beauty” referred to herself.

Zhou Sisi simply ignored the unorthodox comment from a strange classmate: “Teacher Wu asked me to ask about your progress in grading papers.”

After going home for lunch, Zhou Sisi sent a text message to Lu Xi before the lunch break: At three o’clock in the afternoon, I’ll come for the make-up lesson, okay?

After waiting for a long time, there was no reply from the other end.

When she was about to fall asleep in a daze, her phone vibrated twice.

Lu Xi: Oh.

…the boy’s temper is really bad.

Zhou Sisi curled her lips helplessly. The sleepiness she had accumulated dissipated, so she simply got up and did a handwritten copy of the theme of the campus culture festival assigned by her teacher.

At 2:57, Zhou Sisi stood in front of Lu Xi’s house with a slight frown.

After knocking several times, the door was still not open.

She leaned close to the door of Lu Xi’s house and listened.

There seemed to be no movement inside.

Is he still taking a nap?

Bowing her head, she opened the contact list from her phone.

There was a faint sound of thudding under the corridor which seemed to be getting closer and closer, wondering who was running up the stairway.

She turned to the stairs.

Unexpectedly, she saw Lu Xi who strode up.

He rested his hands on his knees, bowed his upper body, his short hair was messy, and there were beads of sweat on his temples.

Like running a long distance, or experiencing intense exercise.

“I… came back…” As he raised his face, the corners of his lips were bruised, and the cheeks were red and swollen.

Zhou Sisi’s heart skipped a beat, and noticed that the front of his white T-shirt was dirty, and there were also inch-long red bloodstains on his arms. “You went to fight?”

“…” Lu Xi was speechless, and there was an inexplicable lapse that blocked his throat.

She silently waited for his reply.

The sound of cicadas and hot light poured in from the corridor window, and the air gradually solidified.

Zhou Sisi pursed her lips and turned to leave.

But her wrist suddenly tightened.