Chapter 14: The Essay and the Lie
Xiang Yang hung up the phone feeling a bit guilty. She knew Fu Guanxian was angry. The rare seriousness in his tone for that last sentence made her feel that when they met later, he would surely show her a long face.
She wanted to leave quickly.
She didn't want to see him.
However, she went through the consequences in her mind again and again.
If she just left like this, how would she hand the essay to him? If she didn't give it to him, he certainly wouldn't have written it, and naturally, he would be criticized by the teacher. If he got criticized harshly, would that debt also fall on her head?
The answer was undoubtedly yes.
Xiang Yang compared the two different outcomes of leaving and not leaving. In the end, she thought, it's better to die early and be reborn early.
While waiting for him, Xiang Yang took out a small English flashcard and started memorizing vocabulary. After a few minutes, she felt a tall shadow stop in front of her. She looked up and saw Fu Guanxian with a dark face, staring at her intently.
Xiang Yang was taken aback for a moment and hurriedly stuffed the English cards back into her backpack, fumbling to pull out the composition notebook and hand it to him.
Fu Guanxian remained expressionless the whole time.
She lowered her head and extended her hand.
He looked down at her and also reached out to take it.
Neither of them said a word.
Fu Guanxian took the composition notebook, glanced at it, took a deep breath, and finally said, “Are you sure this is for me?”
“Ah? What?” Xiang Yang was puzzled.
Fu Guanxian handed the notebook back to her, indicating she should look at the name, then spoke coldly, “Xiang Yang, it turns out you not only have poor hearing but also poor eyesight?”
Xiang Yang looked closely and realized that the class, name, and seat number written on it were all her information.
She hurriedly snatched the notebook from his hand, flipped to another identical one, and handed it to him, only this time the name and class on the cover were blank.
Fu Guanxian casually flipped through it and then looked deeply at her again.
Xiang Yang didn't dare to meet his gaze, but she didn't need to look; just by feeling, she knew that Fu Guanxian was angry at that moment.
She didn't dare to urge him to hurry and leave.
She didn't dare to remind him that if he didn't leave soon, he would be late.
After standing in agony for two or three minutes, Fu Guanxian snorted coldly and finally turned to walk toward the school gate.
Seeing this, Xiang Yang breathed a sigh of relief and hurried to catch up with him. But as she ran, she stopped again; if she passed Fu Guanxian, would he get angry again?
Xiang Yang could only cautiously follow behind him, keeping her distance.
Arriving at the teaching building, Xiang Yang saw Fu Guanxian going up the stairs, and she secretly breathed a sigh of relief, turning to run toward the stairs on the other side, jogging all the way to the classroom.
When Fu Guanxian reached the second floor, he stopped and glanced at her hurried figure, his brow furrowing even deeper.
Once Xiang Yang reached the classroom door, she quickly stopped, caught her breath, and then walked in.
Fortunately, the homeroom teacher wasn't in the classroom!
As Xiang Yang sat down at her desk, Hou Xingrou noticed her rapid breathing and turned to see her flushed face, asking, “Xiang Yang, what happened?”
Xiang Yang, while putting down her backpack, said, “I was afraid of being late, so I ran over.”
Hou Xingrou smiled and said, “What a miracle! Weren't you the first to arrive at the classroom for several weeks? I just came to see you weren't in, and I thought you were going to take a leave today.”
“I had too much homework last night and overslept this morning,” Xiang Yang thought for a moment and said.
Hou Xingrou replied, “Oh right, you're participating in the essay competition, so it's been tough lately. But it's strange, Ding Wanjun also came late today. She just arrived not long ago, and you came in right after.”
Xiang Yang glanced at Ding Wanjun's seat, and the latter happened to turn around to look at her.
The two of them were momentarily stunned, but in the end, Ding Wanjun smiled at her and turned back.
However, the next second, that smile immediately disappeared.
The tall, thin boy she saw at the school gate earlier was indeed Fu Guanxian.
Ding Wanjun pondered deeply about the relationship between Xiang Yang and Fu Guanxian.
Last night, the guidance teacher had mentioned that the essay must be handed over to her in the first period of the morning, or else she wouldn't have time to finish reading it before the afternoon class, and then she wouldn't be able to guide them one by one.
Xiang Yang took the essay to the fifth-floor teacher's office to hand it to the guidance teacher.
The teacher was very busy, searching for something. When she saw Xiang Yang handing over the composition notebook to her, she took it and placed it on top of another notebook, then said, “Xiang Yang, you and Fu Guanxian are on the same floor, right? Help the teacher find him and tell him to hurry and submit his essay. If I don't urge him, he won't get his essay to me until the afternoon. When you go down, please help me tell him to hurry and submit it.”
Xiang Yang was stunned, not knowing how to respond for a moment. She really wanted to ask the teacher if she could send someone else to find Fu Guanxian, but she looked at the teacher who was busy searching for materials and finally had to reply hesitantly with one word, “Okay.”
As Xiang Yang went down the stairs, she kept thinking about how to call Fu Guanxian when she saw him in the classroom.
If he wasn't in the classroom, where would she go to find him?
Xiang Yang was troubled all the way until she reached the classroom door and saw a few boys standing in the corridor by the front door, playing around. One boy looked a bit familiar; he seemed to be the one who urged Fu Guanxian to play basketball last time.
Lian Rui saw Xiang Yang staring at him and thought for a moment, and he also remembered who she was.
Xiang Yang stood not far from him, thinking about how to start a conversation.
However, Lian Rui, recalling who she was, instinctively shouted, “Guanxian! Guanxian!”
Fu Guanxian, who was just walking out of the classroom, had an unfriendly expression and said, “What are you shouting for!”
Lian Rui chuckled awkwardly, “No, no, no!” The surrounding boys all knew Fu Guanxian was in a bad mood today and unanimously agreed it was best not to provoke him. However, Lian Rui still pointed in Xiang Yang's direction, “I think I saw someone familiar.”
“What does it matter to me if you saw someone familiar? Why are you telling me?”
“No, this familiar person seems like last time…”
Before Lian Rui could finish his sentence, Fu Guanxian looked in the direction he was pointing and saw Xiang Yang standing in the corner. He suddenly smiled and said to Lian Rui, “Lian Rui, you must be seeing things.” After saying that, he withdrew his gaze and stopped looking at Xiang Yang.
“Not at all! I clearly saw her last time…”
“That… the guidance teacher asked you to take the essay to her right now.” Xiang Yang stood there awkwardly, steeling herself to say it.
Her voice was a bit soft, but several people still heard it.
Guidance teacher, essay, wasn't that related to Fu Guanxian?
A few boys all turned their gazes toward Fu Guanxian.
Fu Guanxian turned around and smiled, “Excuse me? Are you speaking to me, classmate?”
“…” Xiang Yang was stunned, staring blankly at him.
What was Fu Guanxian doing again?
“Do we know each other, classmate?” Fu Guanxian repeated.
“Fu Guanxian…” Xiang Yang thought, he must be doing this on purpose.
“Oh, so you still know my name, what an honor. By the way, you told me to submit the essay, right? Why don't you be a good person to the end and deliver it for me too?”
“…” Xiang Yang was at a loss for words and immediately said, “The teacher asked me to pass on the message to you, I've passed it on, and I hope you hurry and submit it.”
“Ha ha, I'm not going to submit it, what are you going to do about it?”
“…” She couldn't do anything.
“I'm leaving.” After Xiang Yang said this, she quickly walked in the direction of her classroom. But all the way, her heart was pounding. It felt as tense as when she was the first to be called on by the teacher at the beginning of the school year, even more so than during the last recitation competition.
As Xiang Yang walked away, she didn't hear her classmates teasing Fu Guanxian.
“Oh, Guanxian, do you know that beautiful girl from just now?”
Fu Guanxian didn't say anything and shot him a glare.
The classmates' teasing grew even louder, “You definitely know her! Isn't that right?”
“Hey, why do I feel like she looks a bit familiar?”
Lian Rui chimed in, “I also think she looks familiar.”
“Of course, you'd think she looks familiar, you think everyone who's ugly looks familiar,” Fu Guanxian said with a dark face.
Lian Rui retorted, “No, no, I really think she looks familiar. Oh wait! I remember! Isn't she the one who got the highest score in the midterm exam for the first year? She even went on stage to receive an award last time. I remember someone pointed at her and told me her skin was very fair…”
Fu Guanxian's face darkened further, “Well, compared to you, her skin is indeed a bit fairer, because she's a fool.”
Lian Rui was left speechless by Fu Guanxian's words, not knowing how to respond.
Fu Guanxian didn't stay any longer and turned to head back to the classroom.
Other classmates called out to him, “Why are you going back in again?”
Fu Guanxian impatiently said, “To submit the essay! Or are you going to help me take it upstairs to the teacher?”
The boy shook his head repeatedly, “I wouldn't dare! You better go yourself!”
Fu Guanxian thought, considering Xiang Yang's feelings, it was better for him to deliver it himself!
When Fu Guanxian handed the composition notebook to the teacher, she praised him, “Fu Guanxian, well done! This year you've finally learned to be sensible and don't need the teacher to keep urging you. I have a deep impression of you from last year, because you gave me quite a headache…”
“Ha ha…” Fu Guanxian was already calculating in his mind that he didn't want Xiang Yang to write tonight's essay because he didn't want to submit it again.
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