Chapter 64: Basking in the Sun
Xiao Luohan recognized Dan Yuanyuan. Besides Dan Yuanyuan and Xie Xitong, she could also name the other students who participated in the performance.
But it was Dan Yuanyuan’s first time seeing her. Since class hadn’t started yet, she asked curiously, “What’s your name? How did you come to Si Ling?”
“Xiao Luohan,” she replied, picking up a sticky note and writing her name for her to see.
Dan Yuanyuan gasped, her eyes lighting up. “Your handwriting is so beautiful! If you had come earlier, the blackboard newspaper—”
“No, no! Xiao Luo’s health isn’t good, she’s allergic to dust and paint!” Jiang Xue immediately interrupted.
Then she said apologetically to Xiao Luohan, “Yuanyuan is our class’s arts committee member. She’s in charge of the performance planning I mentioned before, and also the blackboard newspaper at the back of the classroom.”
Although Xiao Luohan had read and heard about Dan Yuanyuan’s responsibilities from Jiang Xue, seeing the “person” in the flesh standing before her was a different feeling.
“Oh! Of course I wouldn’t actually make Xiao Luo write it!” Dan Yuanyuan said, smiling at Jiang Xue. “I would have Xiao Luo write a template, and you would copy it onto the blackboard!”
Jiang Xue: …?
She opened her mouth, about to retort as usual, but then felt she shouldn’t leave a bad impression on Xiao Luo, so she changed her tone. “That’s not a bad idea.”
Dan Yuanyuan’s smile froze.
“So protective…” she muttered after recovering, then patted Jiang Xue’s shoulder meaningfully and returned to her seat with her water bottle.
Xiao Luohan looked at Jiang Xue, a little confused.
She could tell that Jiang Xue and Dan Yuanyuan had a good relationship and understood the meaning of Dan Yuanyuan’s words before leaving, but precisely because she understood, she wasn’t sure how to act in front of Jiang Xue in this situation.
So, she simply presented this dilemma to Jiang Xue, playing the role of the confused and helpless newcomer.
Jiang Xue coughed lightly and waited until the students getting water behind them had dispersed before explaining, “Yuanyuan is sometimes joking, don’t take it seriously. I’ll respond to her.”
Xiao Luohan nodded and asked softly, “Then, what if I also want to be friends with her?”
“You can either retort with a joke, or give a polite smile,” Jiang Xue patiently explained. “She likes you, and she’ll remember your reaction. Next time, she won’t make this kind of joke with you and will only talk about serious matters.”
“Likes?” Although she could sense that Dan Yuanyuan didn’t have that kind of interest in her, Xiao Luohan still deliberately pointed out the word.
“Just that she thinks you’re compatible,” Jiang Xue said. “But for now, it’s just her unilateral thought. Whether or not to be friends with her is up to you. Friendship is a two-way street.”
Just then, she saw the history teacher enter the classroom, followed by the AV club member, who quickly turned on the computer, moved the portable blackboard to the side, and revealed the projection screen on the wall.
Xiao Luohan’s attention was captured by the AV club member’s actions.
Jiang Xue didn’t disturb her and took out her review materials for the next class.
As class time approached, she said to Xiao Luohan, “Read my book first. If you’re interested, I’ll get you the textbook and workbook during the long break.”
Xiao Luohan knew from reading the diary that Jiang Xue had submitted a request to the school a long time ago and had always been exempt from the long break exercises.
This was a physical limitation, a congenital defect. Even though she had received treatment as a child, she hadn’t fully recovered. Even now, the seemingly healthy Jiang Xue couldn’t engage in strenuous exercise for extended periods.
Ms. Wei had even cried about it several times, and even Ms. Jiang felt troubled.
But Jiang Xue herself was optimistic.
If she couldn’t run fast, she could still jog! She could control her own pace and rest whenever she wanted. How freeing!
Besides, there were rarely any situations in her daily life that required strenuous exercise, so life went on as usual.
The two morning classes were both liberal arts, one history and one Chinese. Xiao Luohan listened attentively throughout, confident that she could grasp the essentials of these two subjects in a short time.
During the long break, after most of the students had gone to the playground for exercises, Jiang Xue took Xiao Luohan to the logistics department.
Since it wasn’t Monday, when the flag-raising ceremony was held, the teacher in charge was usually present in the logistics department during the long break.
Xiao Luohan walked up to the female teacher, who looked to be in her fifties, and obediently followed her instructions, raising her arms and straightening her back, so she could take her measurements.
The teacher in the logistics department was familiar with the Jiang family. Before Jiang Xue could even speak, she said slowly, “Your sister has already transferred the uniform fee to me. Alright, you can go back and rest. Remember to come and pick it up next week at this time.”
“Do you want to get the textbooks, or watch them do exercises in the hallway first?” Jiang Xue asked after they left the logistics department. “Our school has too many classes, and some classes run laps around the teaching building. I sometimes bask in the sun in the hallway and watch them run.”
Xiao Luohan wasn’t very interested in watching the exercises, but she liked basking in the sun, so she expressed her preference.
Jiang Xue thought for a moment, then headed towards the club building. “Then let’s try our luck.”
Xiao Luohan had been to that building a few times and was familiar with it.
The long break wasn’t over yet, and no one was coming up the stairs, so she took Xiao Luohan straight to the spiral staircase, quickly reaching the gardening club’s succulent glass room.
They were in luck; the glass room was open today.
Shelves filled with various succulents lined the walls of the glass room, and stools were scattered around for visitors to bask in the sun.
Being able to observe the succulents up close was a delight. Xiao Luohan admired them one by one, and when she saw one she particularly liked, she asked Jiang Xue to take a picture, so they could buy the same one for their home later.
She wasn’t sure if she could be responsible for a cat or a dog, but she had grown vegetables and tended to flowers with her mother, so she felt confident in taking care of plants, especially low-maintenance succulents.
“When I was still participating in club activities, I loved basking in the sun here,” Jiang Xue reminisced, sitting down on a stool. “Once, I came here at noon. There were comfortable lounge chairs in the glass room back then, and I even fell asleep, not even woken up by the bell for newspaper reading class. In the end, it was Teacher Ai, who was in charge of this place, who came looking for me after receiving a call from my homeroom teacher.”
Her homeroom teacher in her freshman year and her current one weren’t the same person. Her freshman year homeroom teacher was an elderly woman nearing retirement, very strict and by-the-book.
“My homeroom teacher criticized me for being too carefree afterwards, but I felt that since I hadn’t disturbed anyone, and only accidentally overslept, it was just a small, unintentional mistake, and there was no need to make such a big deal out of it.”
Jiang Xue continued, “Later, when I was also in a position of looking after other students, I understood where her worries came from.”
Xiao Luohan sat beside her, basking in the sun, listening to her reminisce.
Compared to actively speaking, she preferred listening.
Seeing that she was willing to listen, Jiang Xue shared more stories from her time in the club.
It wasn’t until she heard the music signaling the end of the long break that she suddenly remembered she had forgotten to take Xiao Luo to get her textbooks.
“No rush, we should be able to get them during lunch break or after dinner, right?” Xiao Luohan, also influenced by her relaxed state, became more patient. “If not, there’s still the long break tomorrow.”
“That’s not the point… sigh!” Jiang Xue sighed with a wry smile. “I’m always like this, getting carried away by whatever I’m interested in at the moment.”
She had promised to take Xiao Luo to get her textbooks, but halfway there, she had suddenly decided to bring her here to bask in the sun and look at succulents.
Xiao Luohan, however, didn’t think this was something to worry about. She smiled faintly. “It’s alright, it’s not an urgent matter. If it were truly urgent, you would have prioritized it.”
Because of these words, on their way back, she couldn’t help but think of the things Jiang Xue had done for her.
Senior year was the most crucial and stressful time, yet Jiang Xue had put her studies aside to save her, a princess in distress from a feudal society, even taking four days off.
Fortunately, her situation hadn’t affected Jiang Xue’s important matters, nor had it wasted too much of her time. Otherwise, she would truly blame herself for affecting Jiang Xue’s future.
Xiao Luohan didn’t know that Jiang Xue was also thinking about this.
But she didn’t feel that her choice to help Xiao Luo was a “whim.” She sincerely wanted to save this girl, hoping to see her life improve day by day.
Since her original environment wasn’t good, she would help her escape and place her in a more suitable environment for her physical and mental well-being.
If she had to say, she was simply taking advantage of her favorable circumstances and abilities, and having encountered such a rare “supernatural event,” she had done her best to help.
Fortunately, the outcome was good. Otherwise, this incident from her youth would probably become a lifelong regret.
Lost in their own thoughts, the two returned to the classroom accompanied by the energetic background music.
The students who had returned earlier were already opening the windows for ventilation. As soon as Jiang Xue saw that the window beside her seat was wide open, she hurried over and quickly closed it, afraid that the cold wind would harm the frail Xiao Luo. The third period was math class, reviewing the test papers from the previous day.
Jiang Xue had been abroad that day, but she had already seen the test paper from Xie Xitong on the plane and had also done it herself, but she hadn’t had time to grade it yet.
Now, as the teacher read out the answers, she graded her paper and then, as usual, listened attentively to the lecture.
Even if there were problems she didn’t understand, she could always ask A-Xi and her older sister later, but she preferred to solve problems independently.
Sometimes, during math class, if the teacher’s pace was fast, she wouldn’t even dare bend down to pick up a dropped pen, afraid that if she got distracted, she would miss the most crucial steps.
As a result, she was completely immersed in the mysteries of mathematics for the entire class. It wasn’t until near the end of class that Jiang Xue realized she had completely ignored Xiao Luohan.
Panicked, she quickly wrote a note on her scratch paper and pushed it over: 【I’m sorry! I was too focused! Don’t worry or be afraid if you don’t understand this class. Even my older sister wouldn’t dare get distracted!】
As she handed over the note, she glanced at Xiao Luohan’s desk and found that she was doing… elementary school arithmetic?
Jiang Xue was puzzled for half a minute before remembering that this was the workbook she had given her last night.
Although there was also mathematics in the ancient world, and Xiao Luohan had managed account books, Arabic numerals were another special “language” for her. Before understanding mathematical formulas, she had to first familiarize herself with the commonly used numbers and symbols of this world.
—After hearing her explanation last night, Xiao Luohan had happily accepted the arithmetic workbook.
So for the entire math class, she had been diligently working on the problems. By the time Jiang Xue wrote her the note, she had already progressed from single-digit addition and subtraction to mixed operations with fractions and parentheses.
Leave a Reply