Lemon Soda Candy - 77

That morning, He Mingyu still ended up winning the championship in the standing long jump.

In the afternoon, Yan Xingxi and Sheng Xiaowen participated in the shot put and javelin events, respectively. Like Zhou Anran, neither of them was particularly athletic. Their main goal in choosing these events was simply to participate, and as expected, they didn’t achieve any notable results.

The temperature in Nancheng rose another few degrees the next day. Shortly after 9 a.m., the sun was already beating down fiercely.

Chen Luobai arrived wearing a black baseball cap, which he soon plopped onto Zhou Anran’s head.

Zhou Anran watched the morning’s events wearing his cap.

Not long after the afternoon competitions began, Chen Luobai was called away by their math teacher.

When he returned, he slipped a can of soda into her hand again.

Zhou Anran looked down. Today, he had given her the same orange soda as yesterday. She tilted her head slightly and saw that he was holding the same cola as well.

His baseball cap was still on her head, yet her face instantly grew warm under the sun.

Zne Anran squeezed the soda can, her heart racing as she asked him in advance, “Are you sure you want the cola? Do you want to swap with me now?”

Chen Luobai shot her a glance, his tone deliberately drawn out, clearly teasing her. “I’ll pass for now.”

Zhou Anran’s face grew even warmer. “Then there’ll be no swapping later.”

Chen Luobai reached over and opened the pull-tab for her, the hair tie she’d given him still around his wrist. He grinned. “Why does it feel like my treatment’s gotten worse?”

Zhou Anran: “…”

Her face was burning. Not wanting to continue this topic, she took a small sip of soda and changed the subject. “What did the math teacher want?”

Chen Luobai opened his cola. “He talked about the midterm exams. Want to know your score?”

Huh?

Zhou Anran looked up at him again. “You know my score already? What is it?”

The corners of Chen Luobai’s lips quirked up. “Beg me, and I’ll tell you.”

Zhou Anran: “…?”

Was he getting addicted to bullying her?

“Forget it, then. I’ll find out by tomorrow at the latest anyway.”

“Really won’t beg?”

“No.”

Chen Luobai held his cola can, standing with a lazy posture. “Then I’ll beg you.”

Zhou Anran blinked. “Beg me for what?”

The boy’s voice was lazy and drawn out, clearly teasing her again. “Beg you to beg me?”

Zhou Anran couldn’t help laughing. “Chen Luobai, aren’t you bored?”

Chen Luobai nodded. “So now you’re bored of me already?”

He paused, then suddenly leaned a little closer, his voice dropping near her ear. “You just confessed to me yesterday and already want to renege?”

His warm breath brushed past her ear, making it tingle instantly. Afraid a teacher might see, she shifted away slightly to put some distance between them. Her face flushed as she retorted in a low voice, “As if. You’re the one bullying me.”

Chen Luobai’s eyebrows rose slightly. “How am I bullying you?”

Zhou Anran: “Making me beg you just to tell me my exam score.”

“So that’s what you call bullying?” Chen Luobai paused, giving her a meaningful look. “Then I’m afraid you don’t know what real bullying is.”

Zhou Anran: “…?”

She shifted even farther away.

“Fine, don’t tell me then.”

Chen Luobai watched her puffed-out cheeks, the corners of his lips curling up again. “147.”

?

Zhou Anran looked up, surprised. “You mean I got 147?”

Chen Luobai gave an “mm.” “Told you my back deskmate is amazing.”

Zhou Anran was a little surprised.

She knew she must have done well, she’d solved the final problems, though she’d been unsure about a couple smaller questions earlier on. She’d thought 145 would be the highest she could get, never expecting to score two points higher than she’d estimated.

The corners of her lips lifted too. “I should thank you for explaining those problems to me.”

The last two major problems happened to be ones he had gone over with her.

Chen Luobai lowered his voice. “How are you going to thank me? Surely not just with words?”

Zhou Anran took a sip of soda and thought for a moment. “I’ll treat you to a meal this afternoon?”

Chen Luobai: “Just me?”

Zhou Anran felt a little guilty. “I’d like to invite Xixi and the others too.”

If they found out she’d scored high in math, they’d definitely expect her to treat them.

Chen Luobai wore an expression that said “I knew it.” “Anyone else?”

Zhou Anran felt even more guilty. “And maybe Zhu Ran and the others?”

Chen Luobai: “Did they explain any problems to you?”

Zhou Anran: “Well, Tang Jianrui invited us all to dinner for his birthday the other day.”

Chen Luobai watched her quietly without speaking.

Zhou Anran reached out and gently tugged the hem of his school uniform. “Is that okay?”

Chen Luobai’s fingers tightened around the cola can.

Two seconds later, they loosened. His tone was helpless yet amused.

“You’re acting cute with me now, how can I say no?”

At the sports meet closing ceremony that afternoon, the principal suddenly announced that the school basketball tournament would restart next spring.

The crowd below the stage instantly erupted.

In recent years, the school had been performing better and better in professional high school leagues, but the intramural basketball tournament had been suspended for several years. High school life was monotonous, day after day of tedious studying, so hearing there would be a major event next semester, everyone, whether they liked playing basketball or not, could hardly contain their excitement.

Class 2 was no exception.

On the way to eat off-campus after the closing ceremony, Zhou Anran heard several boys chattering incessantly about the basketball tournament next semester.

Once they entered a private room at the restaurant and the meal was halfway over, they returned to the topic.

Earlier, they’d been discussing what format the restarted tournament might take next spring; now, they were talking about which students in each class were decent players. Somehow, the conversation circled back to last semester’s game.

“Who knows if Hu Kun will play next semester,” Tang Jianrui said. “The principal didn’t specify whether specially admitted students are allowed to participate.”

Huang Shujie quickly finished a piece of pork rib. “Who cares if he plays or not? We’ve got Luo-ge. We crushed their class last semester, and we can do it again next semester.”

“True.” Tang Jianrui smiled. “And besides, we still have Lady Yan. If Hu Kun plays again next year, we’ll trouble Lady Yan to keep shielding us like last time.”

Yan Xingxi froze at that, instinctively shooting Zhou Anran a surprised look.

Didn't Chen Luobai already confessed to her? How come he still doesn’t know the truth about this?

But whatever Zhou Anran’s reason for keeping it secret, Yan Xingxi was firmly on her side. If Zhou Anran wanted to keep hiding it, she would naturally help. “Oh, that, I just happened to catch a game with my dad back then. I haven’t watched in ages, so I probably can’t help you guys.”

Zhou Anran had a bad feeling the moment Tang Jianrui suddenly mentioned Yan Xingxi.

She knew exactly how clever Chen Luobai was. That one unconscious glance Yan Xingxi had shot her in surprise was more than enough to give something away.

Sure enough, before she could figure out how to handle the situation, the boy’s lazy voice sounded by her ear. “It’s fine if you haven’t watched in a while. As long as you remember that rule from back then. Charging at the ball instead of the person is an unsportsmanlike foul, right?”

Yan Xingxi didn’t actually even know what an “unsportsmanlike foul” was. But since she’d supposedly “remembered the rules just from casually watching a game,” it wouldn’t make sense to claim she’d forgotten everything now. She thought back carefully; it seemed that was indeed what Zhou Anran had told her back then.

She was about to nod when a soft voice sounded quietly by her ear.

“Xixi.”

Yan Xingxi blinked.

In the next second, Chen Luobai was on his feet, grabbing Zhou Anran’s wrist.

“Come with me.”

The private room door opened, then closed.

After the two left, Tang Jianrui seemed to finally catch on. “Wait, didn’t Luo-ge get it backwards? Charging at the person instead of the ball is the foul, right?”

Yan Xingxi: “…”

No wonder Zhou Anran had tried to stop her.

Zhu Ran, who knew Chen Luobai best, had also incidentally noticed Yan Xingxi’s instinctive reaction and had roughly guessed the situation. “He didn’t get it backwards; he was trying to trick Yan Xingxi.”

“Huh?” Tang Jianrui was stunned, not quite understanding. “Why would he trick Yan Xingxi?”

Zhu Ran didn’t answer him, instead looking at Yan Xingxi. “Was it actually Zhou Anran who helped us that day?”

Yan Xingxi: “…”

Why were these guys so sharp?

She had no idea how they’d seen through it so easily, but unsure what Zhou Anran planned to do now, she didn’t admit it outright.

“What day?” She played dumb, then quickly changed the subject. “Why did those two run off in the middle of the meal?”

Sheng Xiaowen and Zhang Shuxian chimed in to help. “Maybe they thought we were too bright, third wheels blinding them.”

Outside the private room, Zhou Anran let Chen Luobai lead her all the way out of the restaurant.

The late autumn night had a distinct chill.

Under the streetlights, the tall boy turned to face her, his voice deeper than the night.

“It was you who helped me that day, wasn’t it?”

Zhou Anran didn’t keep it from him any longer and gave a slight nod.

A guess that he hardly dared believe surfaced in Chen Luobai’s mind. He felt a chaotic rush of emotions surging uncontrollably in his chest. “Why did you help me? Weren’t we ‘not familiar’? I don’t remember helping you with anything before that.”

Zhou Anran wasn’t at all surprised by this exposure.

She knew exactly how smart he was.

Back then, she’d been able to fool him with the “not familiar” excuse precisely because he really didn’t know her well then. He had never noticed her before; he knew nothing about her, so he’d easily believed all her fabricated reasons.

But over the past two months, especially after the National Day break, they had become deskmates, spending almost every day together. If not completely, he was now very familiar with her.

If not this small matter, it would have been another. If not today, it would have been tomorrow, or some day in the future.

All he needed was the slightest clue, and he could easily see through most of her hidden secrets.

But he liked her back now, so she wasn’t afraid of being found out at all.

Zhou Anran gently kicked at a fallen leaf by her feet. “You did help me.”

Chen Luobai was taken aback. “I did?”

Zhou Anran nodded. Though she was sure of his feelings now, confessing these things still made her a little shy, so she kept her head down, playing with the leaves. “On the first day of high school, I almost fell on the second floor. You caught me.”

Chen Luobai was abruptly pulled back to that rainy day in his memory.

He’d been rushing upstairs and, seeing someone about to fall, had reached out to steady them. It happened so fast he hadn’t paid attention to where his hand landed, ending up around the girl’s slender, soft waist.

He was uncharacteristically flustered, hadn't looked at her face nor thought about it again afterward.

Chen Luobai’s throat felt tight. “That was you?”

Zhou Anran nodded. “And another time, Tang Jianrui and the others were playing basketball on the court and accidentally hit the ball out of bounds. It almost hit me, but you caught it for me.”

Chen Luobai vaguely remembered that too.

But he’d just intercepted a ball on impulse and hadn’t even considered it helping, so he hadn’t noticed at all who had almost been hit.

So they’d crossed paths that early on.

So he’d missed her for so long.

“Why didn’t you—”

Chen Luobai’s heart was filled with a bitter ache. He’d meant to ask why she hadn’t told him, but halfway through the question, it felt unnecessary.

Never mind her introverted nature.

Given how he’d overlooked her back then, how could she have possibly brought it up?

No wonder she’d tried to run off after handing him the note that day.

No wonder she hadn’t dared to look at him at first.

No wonder she’d always agreed so readily to whatever he said, and when he made her angry, she’d be coaxed so easily.

“That day—” Chen Luobai’s throat clogged. “The day before finals last semester, when you were crying on the rooftop, was it because of me?”

Zhou Anran: “…”

How had he managed to figure that out too?

Even now, thinking about it made her feel a little embarrassed.

She pressed her lips together but still didn’t want to hide it from him, mainly because she couldn’t anyway.

“Mm.”

Chen Luobai closed his eyes.

No wonder the more he’d tried to comfort her that day, the harder she’d cried.

“I’m sorry.”

Zhou Anran: “You don’t need to apologize to me.”

It wasn’t like he’d made her fall for him.

All the heartache and sadness back then were choices she’d made herself.

Besides, liking him hadn’t only brought heartache and sadness. Occasionally, when he glanced her way, or when she accidentally bought the same thing as him, she’d secretly feel happy for a long time.

And because he was so, so outstanding, she’d found more motivation to improve herself.

She never felt that he owed her anything just because he hadn’t noticed her.

“You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Chen Luobai looked down at her for a couple of seconds, then suddenly reached out and took her hand again. “Will you come with me?”

Zhou Anran was startled. “Where to?”

Chen Luobai led her forward. “To make it up to you on behalf of that rather blind Chen Luobai from back then.”

Zhou Anran let him lead her a few steps before hurriedly saying, “I told you, you didn’t owe me anything.”

Chen Luobai: “Then let me make up for the regrets of my past self.”

Zhou Anran blinked, then remembered something. “Wait, I haven’t paid the bill yet.”

After settling the bill, Zhou Anran let Chen Luobai take her to a nearby arcade.

On a Friday night, the arcade was crowded. Zhou Anran followed him as he wove through the bustling crowd, finally stopping in front of a row of claw machines.

“Are we here to play the claw machine?”

Chen Luobai made an affirmative sound while buying tokens. “You like rabbits, right? However many you want, I’ll win them all for you tonight.”

Zhou Anran had been here once before with Yan Xingxi and the others.

All four of them had tried these claw machines, and not a single one had managed to win a plushie. Often, the claw would sway just as it reached the chute, and the plushie would tumble back into the machine.

She thought about warning him, but seeing his tense jawline, she worried that stopping him might make him feel worse, so she kept quiet.

When Chen Luobai inserted the tokens and placed his hand on the joystick, her heart lifted slightly.

The small white rabbit was grabbed by the mechanical claw, swaying unsteadily as it moved toward the chute, and then…

It actually fell right out.

Huh?

He really knew how to do it!

Chen Luobai bent down to pick up the little rabbit. As soon as he turned around, he saw the look of delight on the girl’s face, even the shallow dimples beside her lips appearing. The restless agitation and regret churning in his heart finally eased a little.

He stuffed the rabbit into her arms. “Hold it properly.”

Zhou Anran watched him turn back to continue playing.

Soon, a second rabbit joined the one in her arms.

Then a third, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth…

“That’s enough, okay?” Zhou Anran said softly. “I can’t hold any more.”

Chen Luobai picked up the seventh rabbit and turned around.

The girl was holding a whole armful of rabbits. With her sweet, adorable looks and an embrace full of equally soft, white rabbits, the scene was exceptionally cute.

Chen Luobai’s lips curved into a smile as he tucked the seventh one into her arms. “Wait here.”

Zhou Anran, seeing him finally smile, felt a wave of relief.

She stood there for a moment, then saw Chen Luobai returning with a small cart.

Zhou Anran placed all the rabbits from her arms into the cart.

Chen Luobai rested a hand on the cart. “Should we go for more rabbits, or do you want something else?”

Zhou Anran: “Anything is fine.”

As long as he was happy.

Chen Luobai pushed the cart to the second machine nearby. “Then I’ll get you a few of each.”

Then the third, the fourth…

Soon, the small cart was full too.

Zhou Anran, noticing his jaw was no longer as tense as before, asked gently, “Isn’t this enough? How many are you planning to get?”

Chen Luobai didn’t turn back. “How about 365? One for every day the Chen Luobai from first year should have given you.”

Zhou Anran’s lips curved. “The owner will throw us out.”

The boy turned his head, eyebrows lifting slightly. “You’re my accomplice now. If the owner throws anyone out, it’ll be both of us. Scared?”

Zhou Anran: “…”

What accomplice?

Her lips still tilted upward. “Very scared.”

She paused, then mustered the courage to reach out and pull his hand from the joystick. “So this is enough, okay? Do you remember you still owe me one favor? I want to use it now. What’s past is past, I’m really happy now. And there are already a few dozen here. You can just give me one or two per month on behalf of Chen Luobai from first year. Otherwise, my home won’t have space for them all. Don’t be upset, and don’t feel any regret.”

Chen Luobai’s gaze fell to her hand wrapped around his wrist.

Zhou Anran’s ears warmed, but she didn’t let go.

“Zhou Anran.” Chen Luobai’s heart softened unbearably. He called her name in a gentle voice. “Silly, when I gave you that favor, it was for you to make a request for yourself, not for you to make one for my sake.”

Zhou Anran looked up at him. “But since the favor is mine, what I ask for is up to me. Don’t tell me you’re going back on your word now.”

Chen Luobai gazed intently at her without responding.

Zhou Anran couldn’t help asking again, her voice soft, “If you’re a man of your word, then can you please not be upset anymore?”

Chen Luobai lowered his eyes again, his gaze landing on her hand holding his wrist. After a second, it returned to her face. He looked at her quietly for a couple of seconds, then let his hand slide down slightly, intertwining his fingers with hers.

Zhou Anran felt her fingers being gently parted one by one.

The arcade’s warm lighting cast a gentle glow on the boy’s expression, and his voice was low and tender.

“Alright. Whatever my future girlfriend says.”

---

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