I Might Have Fallen in Love With My Childhood Sweetheart
Chapter 35 - 32: Not Inferior

Chapter 35: Chapter 32: Not Inferior

Ruan Ruan was holding a bottle of yogurt, sipping it while climbing the stairs. It wasn’t particularly early or late to be coming to school, and she walked leisurely without any hurry.

The second-year class one was on the second floor, and the corridor by the stairwell on the second floor was a path all the teachers had to pass through. Usually, no student dared to blatantly stand there and chat.

But today, Ruan Ruan saw two exceptions in the corridor. There was a boy wearing a baseball cap, standing sideways to her with a girl obviously beside him.

Tsk, Ruan Ruan bit a big chunk from the steamed bun she had been holding all the way, lamenting in her heart: Are high school students these days so bold? Dating so openly without even avoiding the teachers?

This dog food she was being fed made even the steaming hot bun in her hand lose its savor.

Those two were on the left side of the corridor, while Ruan Ruan’s classroom was in the opposite direction. She continued forward while sucking on her yogurt, but when her peripheral vision caught sight of the girl, her steps suddenly halted.

Wait, why does that female student’s profile look so much like her own Ranran?

Ruan Ruan hastily took two steps back and used her peripheral vision again. Damn, it really was her Ranran.

Who was this overconfident person daring to hit on Ranran?

Since F High had many students, the corridors were also spaciously designed. There were more students passing by than just Ruan Ruan, so her tiptoeing movement didn’t attract Qingran’s attention.

Of course, Ji Yanchen wouldn’t notice a passerby either.

Ruan Ruan walked in the opposite direction and finally saw the facial features of the boy standing opposite Qingran.

The boy wore the black baseball cap backwards, exposing a clean forehead, phoenix eyes, graceful brows, a tall nose, and thin lips slightly pursed. He was a head taller than Qingran, standing as straight as a pine tree.

Holy crap! Ruan Ruan clutched her wildly beating heart. She was too taken by the looks of this male student; when did such a handsome guy appear in school, not at all inferior to School Grass Xie Ying’an?

The pair stood there, and Ruan Ruan couldn’t tell what they were talking about. The students passing by occasionally glanced over but then hurried on towards their classrooms.

Ruan Ruan moved a bit further down the corridor and positioned herself on the path Qingran would have to take back to her classroom, waiting anxiously and scratching her head in impatience.

She practically turned around to look in Qingran’s direction every 30 seconds, waiting and waiting, but Qingran didn’t come. When she turned her head back again, she instead saw Xie Ying’an.

Xie Ying’an stood unabashedly at the top of the stairs, looking towards Qingran and the boy around the corner. Despite looking against the light, Ruan Ruan couldn’t make out his expression.

Indeed, it wasn’t long before Qingran hastily said goodbye to the boy. She seemed to exchange glances with Xie Ying’an, and then the two of them began walking towards the classroom, one after the other.

Qingran had no expression on her face, while Xie Ying’an, walking behind her, looked even colder.

Ruan Ruan was thinking of sneaking back to the classroom by crouching and scurrying away, but during this critical moment, Qingran saw her.

"Ruannuan." She walked over quickly.

"Heh... heh," Ruan Ruan retracted her fleeing leg, pretending as if she had just arrived: "Ranran, did you just get here too? What a coincidence, hehe."

Qingran: "..."

How could Qingran subtly tell Ruan Ruan that she had been watching her the whole time she was talking to God Ji?

Xie Ying’an brushed past them, and Ruan Ruan waved and greeted him: "Hello, Brother An."

In the past, the least he would do is politely grunt a response, but today he wore a cold face, not even lifting his eyelids slightly.

Ruan Ruan swallowed her saliva and grasped Qingran’s arm: "What’s up with Brother An?"

Just yesterday he was all fine, laughing and chatting with them, and most importantly, he’d held a chubby doll for a long while, almost shattering her 5.0-caliber dog’s eyes; how had he become so aloof today?

Qingran shook her head, unsure if she didn’t know or simply didn’t want to say.

Xie Ying’an’s temper wasn’t particularly good, but it certainly wasn’t bad. Over the years, many students who wished to befriend him were not few in number, yet he remained distant and uninterested in making friends; other than Li Qingmo, the only one who managed to hang out with him was Su Chen, who shamelessly stuck around.

Entering the classroom, Ruan Ruan remembered that she had been so concerned about Brother An’s mood she forgot to ask Qingran who that handsome guy was.

Before Ruan Ruan could even get up from her seat, Old Wu walked over with a chemistry book and went up to the podium.

A few girls who were huddled together discussing God Ji hurried back to their seats upon seeing Old Wu approach.

Old Wu’s gaze swept around the classroom, and even though class wasn’t starting for another twenty minutes, there were still about ten students missing.

Old Wu’s face visibly darkened. On average, every time he looked around the classroom, two students would enter. When the bell for the start of class finally rang, the rest of the students had arrived.

Ruan Ruan secretly cursed her luck.

Sure enough, Old Wu once again force-fed them a hefty bowl of motivational speeches.

"...What time is it, my students? I’m not asking you to rise at the crow of a rooster or to forget about sleep and food, but at the very least you should be diligent and hardworking. Are you studying for someone else?..."

Old Wu was passionately lecturing on the podium. Whether the other students were taking it in or not, Qingran certainly wasn’t. She seemed to be looking down at her book, but her thoughts had long since flown away.

Ji Yanchen, the variable in the book, had always been distant from her. Recently, however, he had inexplicably drawn closer, and she keenly sensed something unusual but could never figure out why.

Perhaps it was an innate personality flaw that made this young man’s intelligence extraordinary amongst his peers, setting numerous records in the field of mathematics. At only sixteen or seventeen, he was revered by his contemporaries as a godlike figure.

But it was this same personality flaw that prevented him from integrating into the lives of ordinary people. Wherever he went, he was always alone.

Qingran had seen Ji Yanchen around school before. The renowned God Ji, wherever he appeared in school, inevitably attracted a chorus of controversial remarks in his wake.

Some said such a genius was to be envied and resented.

Others said he was high above the rest, worlds apart from the likes of ordinary people.

And still others said that he lived in solitude in his own world, so isolated that he would rather be an ordinary person than remain as God Ji.

God Ji, who had always been reluctant to show his true face to the crowd, now uncharacteristically donned a baseball cap and revealed his usually well-concealed features, which was akin to a prickly hedgehog exposing its soft underbelly to others.

Moreover, the possibility that this earth-shattering change in God Ji could be because of her caused some panic in Qingran.

She could not clearly remember the first time she met him. This time, however, she watched carefully. God Ji did not look directly at her; his gaze fell on empty space as he lifted his hair to shed his disguise, but his heart was not at peace.

He seemed just like a restless, anxious child.

Qingran couldn’t help but sound the alarm within her heart. This kind of scenario, where an exception is made for one person, often appeared in romance novels.

In "School Grass’s Eleventh Girl," initially, God Ji was only mentioned briefly. To this day, Qingran couldn’t remember why her past self would have bothered to read such a novel.

When she was calm, she would often imagine various storylines. The male lead’s plot had not officially started yet. According to the book, at this point, Xie Ying’an’s deskmate should be Wen Shiyi, but now, due to her transformation, there had been a slight deviation.

So what about God Ji?

Why did the author suddenly devote more detail to this young man who was cruelly abandoned by heaven and then pitied and picked up again?

Qingran wondered if she had inadvertently helped Ji Yanchen in the past, which is why this young man’s attitude toward her was an exception compared to others?

She had thought about this question since the day she saw Ji Yanchen feeding the cat. But ever since she could remember, she had been well-protected and never had the chance to help anyone else.

So, could God Ji be mistaken about her?

Xie Ying’an watched quietly as Qingran folded and then smoothed out the corner of her chemistry book, over and over. Her fingertips were round, the pink nails with white lunulas shining healthily. Her brows were slightly furrowed, obviously immersed in her own thoughts.

He turned his face away, feeling a sense of oppression in his chest at the sight of Qingran standing together with Ji Yanchen, which seemed to grow heavier no matter how hard he breathed.

Xie Ying’an had grown up with Ji Yanchen. Although Ji Yanchen liked to use his long hair to cover his features, over a decade he had inevitably seen his true face a few times.

Ji Yanchen’s mother was a dancer renowned for her beauty and temperament in their community, and Ji Yanchen’s father was a military man with dignified features. It goes without saying that Ji Yanchen’s looks could not be deficient.

Old Wu on the podium had already started a new lesson. Xie Ying’an picked up his pen and opened his notebook.

Ji Yanchen was always a loner, and Li Qingran was not fond of socializing. How did the two of them come to know each other? And why would Ji Yanchen be willing to show his face to Li Qingran?

The neat pages of his notebook became a mess as he scribbled, and then he paused, his pen stopping suddenly as he remembered the figure he had seen under that old tree after rushing to find Qingran following physics class.

He had seen clearly from around the corner, the black figure familiar to him, feeding cats with Qingran. By the time he got there, the figure had vanished.

The figure from that day overlapped perfectly with the one today.

Ji Yanchen...

He murmured the name and suddenly left the classroom, abandoning his textbook and pen.

Qingran was taken aback, watching as Old Wu stopped lecturing and the entire classroom, including the teacher, watched him leave.

"Xie Ying’an!"

Behind him resounded Old Wu’s roar of anger.

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