Returning to Parents' Seventeen
Chapter 82 Aren’t They Having an Affair?

Chapter 82: Chapter 82 Aren’t They Having an Affair?

Locking eyes for a moment, Deng Xitong was half-doubtful, "Really?"

Xu Chuning: "Mhm."

She lowered her eyes and looked at her, "You continue, I’ll take a little nap."

Deng Xitong: "..."

She hesitated and nodded, "Forget it, I won’t look anymore."

She was afraid of being caught by the teacher.

Xu Chuning chuckled softly, "Sorry."

"It’s okay," Deng Xitong didn’t mind her scaring herself, she whispered, "What kind of nightmare did you have just now?"

Xu Chuning paused, blinked gently, "I can’t remember, it just felt pretty scary."

Deng Xitong gave an "oh," not suspecting anything further, "Have you been under a lot of stress lately?"

She also tended to have nightmares when she was stressed.

Hearing Deng Xitong ask this, Xu Chuning felt a bit guilty and embarrassed that Deng Xitong really believed she had a nightmare.

After a few seconds of silence, she shook her head, "It’s okay, today might just be an exception."

Deng Xitong understood, consoling her, "Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Your grades are not an issue. Besides, it’s just a final exam, not the college entrance exam."

Xu Chuning made a sound of agreement: "I know, don’t worry."

But even if it was just a final exam, this exam was extremely crucial for Xu Chuning. She needed to win the scholarship provided by Mingzhi Middle School to the top student of each semester, to alleviate the financial burden on her and You Shuzhen.

After making small talk for a while, Deng Xitong chatted with classmates who had woken up in front of her, and Xu Chuning glanced at the time, feeling it was no longer ideal for a nap, she took out her English textbook to memorize vocabulary.

Besides math, her English was not so good either.

The education Xu Chuning had received before junior high was quite basic; lacking a good English teacher, her spoken English lagged behind other students. Therefore, whenever she had time, she would listen to spoken English training and memorize all the vocabulary.

If her circumstances permitted, she would have liked to watch more foreign movies to improve her listening comprehension of English.

When Shen Sinian woke up from his nap, he happened to see Xu Chuning bowing her head seriously reading a book, her neck slender and her eyelashes slightly drooping in focus, captivating him, and couldn’t help but feel proud, truly worthy of being his mom.

While looking, a voice emerged beside him, "Brother Nian, what are you looking at?"

Shen Sinian turned his head; it was He Jianzhang, a classmate sitting across the aisle next to him.

Both of them sat in the same row and played basketball together, so they got along pretty well.

Hearing this, he glanced at him, "Nothing."

He Jianzhang clicked his tongue, tilted his chin up slightly, "Don’t think I didn’t see it." He hooked Shen Sinian’s shoulder, lowered his voice, "You were obviously looking at Xu Chuning."

Saying this, he looked at Shen Sinian mysteriously, curiously asking, "I wanted to ask before, are you and Xu Chuning really just ordinary classmates?"

Everyone in the class could see that Shen Sinian and Xu Chuning had an unusual relationship.

Before Shen Sinian transferred to this school, Xu Chuning seldom interacted with students of the school or class, even with other girls, she didn’t socialize much.

Of course, this was not because Xu Chuning was aloof, but rather she was more mature than most girls; having experienced a lot from a young age, when everyone else was a carefree high school student, just focusing on studies, she had to help out at her family’s small shop early and late.

Besides helping at the shop, the rest of the time in school, she was almost always reading; she was like a study machine with no hobbies and who wouldn’t inquire about any gossip.

She had no interest in anything other than studying and earning money.

Whenever other students occasionally wanted to talk to her, they were afraid of disturbing her studies and delaying her learning.

"Of course not." Shen Sinian answered He Jianzhang without much thought.

He Jianzhang widened his eyes, gasped, "I knew it, I had noticed—"

He hadn’t finished his sentence, when Shen Sinian gave him a cold look, "We’re still friends."

He Jianzhang: "..."

He choked on his words, incredulously staring, "... Just friends?"

"What else?" Shen Sinian asked.

He Jianzhang stuttered, staring at Shen Sinian’s candid demeanor and stuttered again, "You don’t have those kinds of feelings for her?"

"What kind?" Shen Sinian didn’t catch on.

He Jianzhang: "... Are you really clueless or pretending not to know?"

Shen Sinian: "What?"

He Jianzhang wanted to say something more, but the class bell rang. He sighed, "Forget it, I’ll talk to you after class."

Shen Sinian, puzzled, "Okay."

He withdrew his gaze from him and turned towards Xu Chuning, "Ningning."

Xu Chuning closed her English book and turned to look at him, "What’s up?"

Shen Sinian lowered his voice, "Why did Shen Yubai look for you at noon?"

He had wanted to ask during lunch, but other classmates were resting then, and he did not want to disturb them, so he held back. Later, he fell asleep on the desk.

...

Xu Chuning did not expect Shen Sinian to be curious about this too; she lightly exclaimed, "Nothing much, just discussing something about my mom."

Shen Sinian narrowed his eyes, immediately serious, "What happened to Aunt You? Wasn’t the report fine?"

Xu Chuning saw his anxious expression and softly chuckled, "Indeed, it’s fine. He was just telling me the advice from the experts, advising me to keep a closer watch over my mom and be more attentive."

Hearing this, Shen Sinian breathed a sigh of relief, "That’s good then."

As the words fell, he whispered again, "But this matter, he could have mentioned it in front of everyone."

It wasn’t a big secret.

Why did Shen Yubai make it so mysterious?

Xu Chuning paused slightly, and for some reason, did not tell Shen Sinian about Shen Yubai playing the piano for her.

She vaguely responded, "Class is starting."

Shen Sinian, still puzzled, nodded. He still couldn’t understand why Shen Yubai didn’t discuss You Shuzhen’s matter openly but instead called Xu Chuning to a secluded place to talk.

...

Xu Chuning did not excessively dwell on what Shen Sinian was thinking. Once class resumed, she gathered her wandering thoughts and focused on the lesson.

After class, Xu Chuning and Deng Xitong got up to go to the restroom.

As she entered the restroom, she overheard classmates discussing, "Did you guys hear?"

"What?"

"During lunch break, Shen Yubai from the international class took a girl to the art building."

"What? Really? What were they doing there?"

"Who knows, a boy and a girl going to the art building when no class is there, what else could they be doing?"

"No way, is Shen Yubai in a relationship?"

Hearing this, Xu Chuning stopped in her tracks; Deng Xitong beside her widened her eyes, turning to look at her, wordlessly asking: They’re not talking about you, are they?

Before Xu Chuning could open her mouth to reply, she heard an even more shocking bit of gossip, "What about Shen Sinian then?! Aren’t they involved?"

Xu Chuning: "..."