My classmate seems to want to have s*x with me - Chapter 38
“Uh, thanks.” Ding Chen didn’t hold back, reaching directly into the bag to grab a few pieces. “What are you looking at?”
“Uh… Hemingway’s short story collection.” Zhou Qian’an showed the cover to Ding Chen, “Looks pretty good.”
The tour bus carrying the students on their graduation trip swayed and rattled along the highway. It had been almost an hour since they set off, and the classmates were all in high spirits, laughing and playing around.
Ding Chen and Zhou Qian’an sat together, with Zhou Qian’an by the window. Qiu Yanzhen, sitting next to Zhang Yiting, was across the aisle from her, while Liu Ruoqing and Li Jiaying were in the seats in front of Qiu Yanzhen and the others.
“Don’t you get car sick?”
“I think it’s okay.”
The two didn’t talk much, perhaps the quietest people in the car. Qiu Yanzhen and Zhang Yiting shared a pair of headphones to listen to music, while chatting with Liu Ruiqing and Li Jiaying, who were peeking from the front seats.
“Which one is good?” Ding Chen glanced over there a few times and asked Zhou Qian’an with boredom, “I’ve only read The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway.”
“I’ve only read half of it,” Zhou Qian’an raised her head from the book. “Hmm… so far, I like the three gunshots the most.”
Zhou Qian’an flipped to the chapter she mentioned, placed the book in the middle, and they both leaned in to read together. Zhou Qian’an even shared her thoughts and insights as they read.
While chatting, Qiu Yanzhen occasionally stole glances at Ding Chen, seeing the two of them huddled together, not knowing what they were up to. However, it wasn’t long before Zhang Yiting called her over, with a mischievous expression, wanting to gossip.
The allure of gossip quickly drew Qiu Yanzhen’s attention away; she soon became immersed in Zhang Yiting’s vivid descriptions, temporarily putting aside the situation with Ding Chen.
Ding Chen didn’t notice Qiu Yanzhen’s gaze and continued discussing the book with Zhou Qian’an. However, halfway through the discussion, she started to feel a bit carsick. Seeing this, Zhou Qian’an closed the book, but she was still in high spirits and kept talking non-stop.
Actually, Ding Chen was quite interested in what Zhou Qian’an was saying, but she unconsciously kept thinking about the person in the next aisle.
“Ding Chen.” After Ding Chen had looked at Qiu Yanzhen for the umpteenth time, Zhou Qian’an finally stopped, “Do you want to go over and talk to them?”
Noticing that her distraction was somewhat disrespectful to the friend who was speaking, Ding Chen quickly turned her gaze back to Zhou Qian’an’s face, “No, sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Zhou Qian’an replied, then, looking thoughtful, after a while asked, “Have you been getting along well with Qiu Yanzhen recently?”
“Mm.” Hearing the keyword, Ding Chen’s expression clearly became unnatural for a moment. “Didn’t I start tutoring in math this semester? We were in the same class, and we chatted often, so we got to know each other.”
Zhou Qian’an nodded. She knew about the tutoring, but there was another matter in her mind that she didn’t know whether to mention. After a few seconds of hesitation, she waved her hand to signal Ding Chen to come a bit closer.
Ding Chen didn’t understand the situation but still leaned in. Zhou Qian’an then whispered, “Last time during evening self-study, I heard someone gossiping about you and Qiu Yanzhen.” She observed Ding Chen’s expression and, seeing her relatively calm, continued, “Hmm… they said they saw you two sneaking a kiss during lunch break.”
Ding Chen’s face instantly flushed; she immediately knew which day Zhou Qian’an was referring to.
At that time, the two had already expressed their feelings for each other. That day, the classmate sitting next to Qiu Yanzhen happened to be absent, so Qiu Yanzhen pulled her over to take a nap in that classmate’s seat. They leaned on the desk, very close to each other. Qiu Yanzhen looked at her with bright, sparkling eyes, and her heart raced fast, feeling as if Qiu Yanzhen’s gaze and her own gaze were intertwined with hers.
Not knowing how long it had been, Qiu Yanzhen suddenly looked around the classroom, and Ding Chen, not understanding why, straightened up as well. Then Qiu Yanzhen turned back and leaned close to her face. Before she could react, everything in front of her went black, and she felt the familiar soft touch of lips on hers.
It was just a fleeting kiss, like a dragonfly touching the water. The two of them quickly lay down to sleep as if nothing had happened. She remembered burying her face in her arms, and it took a long time for her body temperature to return to normal.
They only acted out of line in the classroom that one time, and unexpectedly, that moment was seen. Luckily, Qiu Yanzhen had scouted ahead.
Zhou Qian’an saw Ding Chen’s ears turn red and her body froze, and she knew in her heart that the truth of this gossip was probably quite accurate.
“Are you two dating?” Her voice was still kept very low; if Ding Chen hadn’t been close, it would have been impossible to hear in the noisy car. “How come I didn’t know?”
“We’ve only been dating for a short while,” Ding Chen’s voice was as soft as a mosquito’s buzz, “and we haven’t even talked about these things.”
Although they have known each other for over a year, she and Zhou Qian’an rarely talked about relationship topics. Ding Chen wasn’t very interested in such matters before, and Zhou Qian’an never asked or brought up these kinds of things.
“Then from now on, we’ve talked.”
“I thought you weren’t interested in these.”
“Not really, I’ve heard a lot of gossip,” Zhou Qian’an smiled slightly, “and I read romance novels.”
“Is that true?”
“Why would I lie to you?”
“Then why don’t you ever share anything with me?”
“Because the last time we talked about this kind of stuff, you seemed completely uninterested, so I thought you weren’t into it.”
Ding Chen was silent for a moment, “I’m interested now.”
“Oh, so there really wasn’t anything before?” Zhou Qian’an asked.
Ding Chen’s silence was a tacit agreement. Just as Zhou Qian’an was about to ask her in detail about the development between her and Qiu Yanzhen, she caught a sharp gaze from the opposite seat out of the corner of her eye, almost piercing through her and Ding Chen. When Zhou Qian’an looked over, Qiu Yanzhen had already averted her gaze and continued chatting with the person next to her as if nothing had happened.
Zhou Qian’an secretly chuckled to herself; she hadn’t expected this gentle person to have such fierce eyes. Looking at Ding Chen, whose face was flushed, hmm… She also hadn’t expected her friend to behave like this when it came to love.
She found the scene quite amusing, but still slightly distanced herself from Ding Chen, although from Qiu Yanzhen’s perspective, it didn’t make much difference.
“How dare you kiss in the classroom?” Zhou Qian’an completely set aside her novel, feeling that finally something more interesting than the book had appeared. “But I didn’t hear anything bad, and they were chatting quite excitedly.”
Ding Chen was full of questions, “What do they have to be excited about?”
“Probably gone crazy from the hype.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Shipping crazy,” Zhou Qian’an repeated and explained, “It’s derived from the term ‘ship,’ which is short for ‘couple.’ It means some people become obsessed with the romantic relationships of characters in dramas, novels, or comics.”
“Is it like how fujoshi like certain pairings?” Ding Chen thought for a moment and tried to understand the new term by relating it to something similar from her surroundings.
“Yes! Exactly!”
Ding Chen was silent for a moment, not quite understanding and feeling a bit embarrassed. “We only did that once in the classroom,” she explained, turning back to address Zhou Qian’an’s initial question. “Usually, we just hug.”
“I didn’t realize Qiu Yanzhen was that kind of person,” Zhou Qian’an said. When she first heard those people gossiping, she was a bit surprised. “They said she covered your eyes and kissed you, and they described it vividly.”
This is a bit too detailed, Ding Chen’s face showed signs of getting warmer again upon hearing this.
“You didn’t see it, but Qiu Yanzhen’s contrast almost killed them,” Zhou Qian’an said with a click of her tongue, then added, “Oh right, you too. They said they originally thought you were heartless, but then they saw your expression after the kiss…”
“Shut up.”
“Are you shy?”
Ding Chen shot a glance at the grinning person, using her eyes to warn her.
“But you really do give people a sense of distance most of the time.” Zhou Qian’an slightly restrained herself, but it was really only a little, “Although it seems like you get along well with everyone.”
“Is there?” Ding Chen pondered, “Isn’t it okay?”
“You are just the me who dares to speak.”
“Doesn’t it seem like I’m not interested in anything other than novels?”
Zhou Qian’an looked at her with a subtle expression, “Your description is so accurate, it’s almost exactly like that, except for not being obsessed with the novel.”
“……”
“And besides, I’m not interested in anything other than novels.”
Ding Chen looked back at Zhou Qian’an with a “you better” expression, while the latter shrugged, not intending to explain or argue further.
“So what were you looking at just now?” Zhou Qian’an changed the subject and continued the conversation about Ding Chen and Qiu Yanzhen.
“…didn’t see anything.”
Zhou Qian’an glanced at Qiu Yanzhen subtly. The latter and Zhang Yiting were talking closely together, just like she and Ding Chen, and the two were laughing happily about something.
“What are you laughing at?” Looking at Zhou Qian’an’s slightly sinister smile, Ding Chen inexplicably felt as if her inner thoughts were being seen through.
“Just chatting with a friend, and you get jealous too?”
“I don’t have any!”
Ding Chen’s voice unconsciously got a bit louder. She felt that Qiu Yanzhen was definitely looking at her. She didn’t dare to turn around and could only glare fiercely at Zhou Qian’an.
“If there’s nothing, then there’s nothing. Why get so worked up?” Zhou Qian’an was still being cheeky. “So you want to go over and sit with her?”
Ding Chen didn’t want to admit that she had both. She crossed her arms, leaned back on the chair, and shot Zhou Qian’an an annoyed glance, “You’re so annoying.”
She even suspected that Zhou Qian’an had mind-reading abilities; otherwise, how could she guess her thoughts so accurately?
“Hey, so who confessed first between you two?” Zhou Qian’an completely ignored Ding Chen’s glare and continued gossiping.
“…She was the first.” Ding Chen was talking about her feelings with her peers for the first time. She felt a bit shy and kept her gaze on her own shoes.
Zhou Qian’an usually doesn’t talk much, but when it comes to topics she’s interested in—mostly novels and the like—she can’t stop talking, as if she’s a different person.
“Really? I thought it was you,” Zhou Qian’an said in surprise.
“Why?”
“I feel like you don’t overthink things; you just do whatever comes to mind.”
Hearing this, Ding Chen couldn’t help but recall the scene of her first time doing that kind of thing with Qiu Yanzhen at the cram school.
Zhou Qian’an probably actually knows herself quite well, right?
“She’s braver than most.” Ding Chen didn’t deny Zhou Qian’an’s words. Thinking of Qiu Yanzhen expressing her feelings, her tone softened.
Zhou Qian’an was given goosebumps, “So how do you call her?”
“Just call her Yanzhen,” Ding Chen replied, “Your focus is so strange.”
“How could that be?” Zhou Qian’an protested, then continued, “So ordinary! Don’t you have any special nicknames or anything?”
“Nope,” Ding Chen said, “Is that strange?”
“It’s not that it’s strange or anything, it’s just that I often see couples in novels having nicknames, so I was just curious if you two have any,” Zhou Qian’an replied. “So what does she call you? Just Ding Chen?”
“Yeah.”
“So how did you two end up together?”
“……Why should I tell you?”
“You’re so stingy.”
“Who cares about you.”
“Come on, just tell me—”
“If you keep making noise, I’ll switch places with Liu Ruoqing.”
“Wow, you’re too ruthless!” Zhou Qian’an looked at Ding Chen with a terrified expression.
Zhou Qian’an is a slow-to-warm-up person and is least adept at dealing with someone like Liu Ruoqing, who is so friendly and outgoing. Moreover, for some reason, Ruoqing has recently taken a keen interest in her, and that enthusiasm is simply overwhelming.
“You’re really scared of her, aren’t you?” Ding Chen found it amusing to see Zhou Qian’an settle down immediately.
“You don’t understand.” Zhou Qian’an’s face showed pain.
While the two were exchanging words, the leader of the graduation trip suggested that the classmates sing. Just then, a song finished, and the microphone was passed to Qiu Yanzhen. She interrupted their conversation and handed over another microphone, “Do you want to sing?”
Zhou Qian’an immediately shut her mouth, shook her head, and waved her hands to pretend to be mute. Asking her to sing in front of the whole class was practically asking for her life. Ding Chen also felt a bit awkward; she and Zhou Qian’an had just been in their own little chat room, so she couldn’t get into the same high spirits as everyone else.
“Then I’ll sing for Yiting?” Qiu Yanzhen saw that Ding Chen was a bit troubled and didn’t force her.
Ding Chen nodded, but when the melody of the prelude started, she froze. She looked up at the screen displaying the lyrics ahead; it was a well-known duet love song.
Zhang Yiting sings very well, Qiu Yanzhen doesn’t sing particularly well, but they both stay in tune and their voices are soft and pleasant to listen to. Ding Chen listened to the whole song with a blank expression, while Zhou Qian’an next to her was almost dying of laughter.
Hmph, it’s all technique with no emotion. Ding Chen clapped her hands while silently judging.
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