Lemon Soda Candy - 21

During exams, school always ends earlier than usual.

The last exam was English. When Chen Luobai finished the paper, there were still more than forty minutes left. He lowered his head to double-checked. After making sure there were no mistakes, he raised his hand to look at the time.

Thirty minutes left.

It was four o'clock in the afternoon, and the sun was shining brightly outside.

Chen Luobai still had to wait for Zhu Ran and didn't hand in his paper in advance. He simply moved the completed test paper and answer sheet to the side, rested his head on the table, and closed his eyes to sleep.

Class 1's English teacher, Lin Han, happened to be one of the invigilators in the first examination room this time.

Among the students writing diligently, one student lying down and sleeping in the first seat of the first row stood out. 

The first seat in the first row; everyone knew who was sitting there without needing to see his face. 

Lin Han walked down from the podium and glanced at the test paper next to him. All the answers marked on the visible part of the paper were correct. 

Lin Han returned to the podium.

Towards the end of the exam, the other invigilator had to leave urgently due to a call from home. Lin Han took on the task of collecting the papers and allowed the other person to leave first.

With the English exam finished, the summer vacation is just around the corner. The students quickly gathered their belongings, and soon the exam room was half empty.

The person in the first seat of the first row was still fast asleep.

Lin Han began collecting the exam papers from back to front.

As she reached the last seat of the first row, the student sitting there looked up and asked her, "Teacher Lin, shall I help you?"

Lin Han saw that it was the class monitor of Class 2, Liao Yanbo, she declined his offer, "No need.”

After collecting his papers, Lin Han remembered something and looked towards the front seat.

Chen Luobai was still sleeping.

Lin Han couldn't help but find it a little odd. 

There were a few Class 2 students in the first examination room, and Chen Luobai was quite the popular student, yet no one had bothered to wake him up.

Are these kids in such a hurry to go home?

Lin Han raised her hand and pointed at the first seat, "Go wake up Chen Luobai."

Liao Yanbo glanced over, his tone hesitant, retreating as he spoke, “Luo Ge gets grumpy when woken up. I don't dare to call him. Teacher Lin, please call him yourself. I'll leave first, bye, Teacher Lin."

Lin Han: "......?”

Chen Luobai got grumpy when woken up and you dare not call him, so you let her, the teacher, call him?

Did he not know what ‘honor a teacher and respect their teaching’ is? 

Liao Yanbo hurriedly left the room.

Lin Han laughed in anger.

By the time she reached Chen Luobai's seat, the examination room was already empty.

Lin Han took his paper and knocked on his desk twice.

No response.

Lin Han increased her strength and knocked a few more times.

The boy lying on the table raised his head, his eyes full of annoyance from being woken up. Upon seeing her, he froze for a moment and the annoyance subsided a little.

"Teacher Lin."

Lin Han: "...”

Okay, at least this one still knows to respect the teacher, and doesn’t take his temper out on her.

"Is my English exam that easy?" Lin Han held a pile of test papers with a disapproving look on her face, "I didn't see you sleeping in other subjects, but you slept for over half an hour during the English exam?”

Chen Luobai rubbed his eyes and said calmly, "It's not that the test is easy, I'm just too good.”

Lin Han was again exasperated and laughed, "That's not very modest of you. If you score even one point less on any questions besides the composition, I'll settle accounts with you next semester."

 

"Well then, Teacher Lin, you won't have that chance," Chen Luobai said as he stood up. "Goodbye, Teacher Lin.”

Chen Luobai went to the back of the room to grab his schoolbag, exited through the back door, and made his way to the third examination room to find Zhu Ran. As he passed by the second window of the second examination room, he casually glanced inside and stopped in his tracks.

The classroom was empty, there was only one person sitting next to this very window.

The girl was unzipping her school bag, reaching for the pencil case on the desk. Her shoulder-length hair was tucked behind her ears, revealing half of her fair face.

In contrast to the tearful expression she had the other days, the corners of her mouth were now slightly upturned, and there was a faint dimple on her cheek.

It turned out that her genuine smile was quite pleasant. 

It's rather cute. 

"Did you do well in the exam?”

After completing her exam, Zhou Anran accidentally knocked the cap off her favorite pen. It took her a while to find the cap, which was why she hasn't left yet. 

She noticed a shadow appeared on the window next to her. Before she could turn her head to look, she heard his voice.

Zhou Anran's heart skipped a beat. 

He was in the first examination room and was about to pass by her side.

Who was he talking to? She recalled that Zhu Ran should be in the third examination room, while Tang Jianrui and the others were likely in rooms further back. Was it other classmates? 

As Zhou Anran was stuffing the pencil case into her school bag, she couldn't help but look up secretly.

In the next second, her eyes met the boy's slightly smiling eyes.

The afternoon sunlight streamed through the handrail and shone into the corridor, casting a beam of light just above the shoulder line of the boy's school uniform.

But nothing was as dazzling as the smile on his face.

There was no one else around him.

Then he was...

Talking to her?

Zhou Anran was so stunned that she forgot to stop what she was doing.

Because she was looking away, the pencil case did not fall accurately into the school bag, and instead brushed against it before falling to the ground.

Zhou Anran snapped back to reality. 

Chen Luobai watched as her expression changed from stunned to slightly nervous. She seemed to want to pick up the pencil case, but for some reason, her movement suddenly stopped.  

He didn't expect her to react so strongly to his casual words to her. He couldn't help but laugh, "Did I scare you?”

Zhou Anran: “…”

How is it that every time she ran into him, she embarrassed herself?

Fortunately, when she tried to bend down to pick up the pencil case just now, the hair that had been tucked behind her ear fell down again, just enough to cover her slightly flushed ear.

She clutched the pencil case tightly to mask her nervousness, she didn't dare to look back at his smiling eyes and just shook her head, whispered, "...No.”

Chen Luobai's gaze fell on her cheeks for a second.

The faint dimple from earlier was gone.

A thought flashed through his mind, so fast he couldn't catch it.

Just then, Zhu Ran's voice suddenly interrupted, "Chen Luobai, what are you doing there?” 

He stopped thinking about it and casually waved his hand to the girl through the window, "I'm leaving, see you next semester.”

When Zhou Anran looked up again, the boy outside the window had already disappeared. 

The air conditioner in the classroom had long been turned off, hot summer wind was blowing in through the cracks in the windows.

The shadows of trees swaying gently in the corridor, sunlight streamed through the windows, and tiny specks of dust floated in the air.

Zhou Anran sat in a daze, her heart beating louder than the cicadas' chirping.

Chen Luobai approached Zhu Ran, "Let's go."

Zhu Ran, carrying his school bag on one shoulder, glanced back at the place Chen Luobai just stood, "Who were you talking to just now?"

"A girl from our class." Chen Luobai replied.

"You? Talking to a girl from our class?" Zhu Ran stopped in his tracks. "Who is it? I'll go take a look?”

"What are you doing?" Chen Luobai hooked his neck and led him forward, "Come on, we'll miss the bus.”

Zhu Ran was still curious, "Say, which girl is it?"

"It's the girl who sits with Yan—" Chen Luobai paused, unable to recall the other's name, "with the one who helped us at the game last time.”

"Yan Xingxi’s deskmate?" Zhu Ran also tried to remember,"I think her name is Zhou Anran.”

Chen Luobai finally matched the name to the person. "That's her.”

"No." Zhu Ran was even more intrigued now, "You can't even remember her name, how did you end up talking to her?”

"Before the exam, I saw her crying on the rooftop due to study pressure. I was passing by just now and saw her—” Chen Luobai's mind flashed back to the faint dimple, "smiling happily, so I casually asked how she did in the exam. I didn't expect her to–”

"Ignore you.”Zhu Ran blurted out. 

Chen Luobai loosened his grip on his neck, cursing through his smile, "Get lost.”

Zhu Ran justified himself,"But, seriously, Yan Xingxi and her friends don't seem to be that interested in you. After helping us last time, I invited her to have a meal with us but she declined, Zhou Anran seemed to be right next to her at that time. They also never greeted when they saw us.”

Chen Luobai raised his eyebrows, "You're always following me around, maybe they simply just want nothing to do with you, why are you dragging me into it?” 

"Okay." Zhu Ran nodded, "Let's just say they want nothing to do with either of us. So what exactly did you not expect?” 

Chen Luobai recalled the series of subtle expressions on the girl's face and paused for a second, "She was too timid.”

***

It was only after Zhou Anran came out of the examination room that she remembered they still had to go back to their classroom for another class meeting before they could leave the school. 

Why did he say ‘see you next semester’? 

Won't they see each other again when they return to the classroom later? 

Downstairs, Yan Xingxi and the rest were waiting for her in the shade on the first floor.

The moment she saw her coming, Yan Xingxi asked, "Ranran, what took you so long?”

"That's right." Sheng Xiaowen also said, “I didn't see you when I passed by the second examination room. I thought you had left already. But Xixi said you wouldn't leave without telling us first.”

Zhou Anran walked to their side, pursed her lips, she didn't dare to mention Chen Luobai, and just said,"I dropped my pen cap and was searching for it for a while. I might have been kneeling down when you passed by.”

Sheng Xiaowen: “No wonder.”

Yan Xingxi pulled her, "Let's hurry back to the classroom. It's too hot out here.”

The exam was over, and they were only one class meeting away from the vacation.

The classroom was more lively than ever.

Zhou Anran walked in with her friends through the back door and instinctively glanced towards his seat.

He wasn't there.

The books on the table had also been cleared away.

Zhou Anran thought about his ‘See you next semester’ and remembered the afternoon when he taught her to skip class, and couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.

He won't skip class, will he?

Their homeroom teacher will definitely attend this class meeting.

However, all the teachers seemed to have a soft spot for him. As long as it was not a major violation or something that would affect his studies, the teachers would turn a blind eye and not be too strict with him.

Even if he did skip class, he would probably be fine.

But before she even passed by his seat, someone already answered her question.

Class monitor Liao Yanbo stood next to his seat and asked Tang Jianrui, "Ruirui, Luo Ge hasn't come back yet? Could it be that Teacher Lin didn't wake him up?”

"Teacher Lin?" Tang Jianrui turned around.

Liao Yanbo: "He finished the English exam early then slept in the examination room. He was still asleep when I left. I didn't dare to wake him, so I asked Teacher Lin to help. But he hasn't returned yet. Did Teacher Lin forget to wake him up?”

"I doubt it." Tang Jianrui said, "Even if Teacher Lin did wake him up, Luo Ge still won't come back. He and Zhu Ran are going out to play, they already asked Lao Gao permission a long time ago.”

So, that's what happened.

Zhou Anran breathed a sigh of relief.

The class meeting started, Gao Guohua stood on the podium and delivered a long speech. It was nothing more than words like don't be too complacent during the holidays, don't forget about study, and be careful when going out to play.

Zhou Anran didn't hear a word, her mind was still preoccupied by the boy's ‘See you next semester’.

Someone nudged her elbow. 

Zhou Anran noticed Yan Xingxi sliding a small notebook towards her, on which she wrote, "Did you find money again, why are you smiling so happily?” 

Zhou Anran: "..."

Was she? 

 

She secretly glanced at Yan Xingxi, wanting to share everything with her, but when the pen touched the paper, she was too embarrassed to write a word about him.

In the end, she gave up again.

Zhou Anran wrote back to her in the book, "I think I did well on the exam, I'll buy you a drink later.” 

Once the class meeting was over, Sheng Xiaowen and Zhang Shuxian overheard Yan Xingxi mentioning that Zhou Anran would buy her drinks, they each grabbed one of Zhou Anran's hands. 

"The listener gets a share, right?"

"I won't let you go back today if you don't treat me.”

Zhou Anran curled the corners of her lips, "I didn't say no.”

When they passed by the mini-mart, the group of four entered and grabbed a soft drink each.

For some reason, Zhou Anran chose a bottle of lemon-flavored soda. The sour and sweet bubbles popped inside the cold bottle of soda, bursting all the way into her heart, exploding little by little.

The wind and sunshine that day were warm and gentle.

---

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