Chapter 38

From the moment Xie Ning appeared, the commotion in the classroom had not stopped.

Su Wan thought Xie Ning might have come to find her for something, but after sitting down, Xie Ning showed no intention of leaving. She even took a physics textbook out of her schoolbag and placed it on the desk, looking as if she intended to listen to class seriously.

Su Wan felt that there was nothing more absurd in the world than this.

Her gaze lingered on Xie Ning for a moment before she slowly turned her head and looked toward the person on the podium, her eyes full of worry. She was afraid the physics teacher would get angry and throw Xie Ning straight out of the classroom.

The other students in the classroom also looked completely confused. They basically all recognized Xie Ning. After all, in the entire school, there was one and only one girl as beautiful as her.

People whispered among themselves, and some secretly took out their phones to take pictures of Xie Ning. After taking photos, they discussed it in the campus group. Some even tagged Su Xingheng and asked what exactly was going on, and why Xie Ning had appeared in a second-year classroom.

Teacher Sun did not understand the situation either and was just about to ask Xie Ning when Principal Zou called him from the doorway and explained the situation. Teacher Sun smiled and said, “All right, all right, no problem. Leave it to me.”

He returned to the classroom, flipped through his lecture notes, and patiently waited for the commotion to stop.

A few minutes later, the classroom fell completely silent. Everyone stopped discussing and returned their attention to Teacher Sun.

Teacher Sun smiled and said, “Looks like the students in our class are all very excited. The moment Student Xie Ning came in, everyone couldn’t wait to welcome her.”

Everyone was shocked. Su Wan’s lips also parted slightly. She turned her face to look at Xie Ning but said nothing.

It was not because she was especially disciplined. She was simply used ​read the original at bailiantales.com​to not communicating with anyone, especially in the classroom.

After transferring into this class, she had spoken to people on her own initiative fewer than ten times, and those few times had only been because her class duties required it.

The homeroom teacher saw that she was too wooden and dull, so she arranged for Su Wan to be the subject representative, asking her to collect homework from her classmates every morning. Every time, there would always be someone who handed it in late or refused to hand it in at all, and Su Wan had to negotiate with them.

Homeroom teacher Old Yang believed this was good for developing a student’s personality. But she did not know that, for Su Wan, this kind of thing was practically torture.

She did not avoid communicating with people because she was timid. She simply disliked people, and disliked communicating with people even more.

There were more than forty people in a class. Some had no manners, some gave her nicknames, some liked ordering people around, and some liked touching others. Counting it all up, there were not many normal students. Among the normal ones, most only minded their own business. Most were cold like her and turned a blind eye when someone in class was bullied. Some even laughed along and became accomplices to the bullies.

Su Wan was not the one bullied the worst. The worst off was a boy sitting behind her. That boy was short, with many freckles on his face. He looked sickly at a glance, clearly the type who would differentiate into an Omega in the future.

In fact, his file did indeed say “differentiation tendency: Omega.”

Although the homeroom teacher repeatedly emphasized that Omegas should be given more care and help, under ordinary circumstances, female Omegas received a lot of care, while male Omegas received more ridicule and bullying.

After male Omegas differentiated, they would grow a uterus. To most people, this was simply a disgrace.

In this class, Su Wan’s nickname was “country bumpkin,” while the boy behind her was nicknamed “dead gay.” Su Wan had heard that the boy liked a male Alpha in third year and had even confessed to him. The result was that the entire class found out he liked male Alphas, and he gloriously earned the nickname “dead gay.” This experience was rather similar to what Su Wan had gone through in junior high.

She knew very clearly that if anyone discovered she liked Xie Ning, the ridicule she received would far surpass the boy behind her.

Su Wan did not speak to Xie Ning. Xie Ning only thought she was a good student who followed classroom discipline and did [unauthorized copy]not disturb her. At the subject teacher’s invitation, she stood up and gave a self-introduction.

“I’m Xie Ning.” She straightened her back slightly, lifted her eyelids, and looked toward the podium as she introduced herself.

“…” The key point was… was there anyone here who did not know she was Xie Ning?

Teacher Sun smiled kindly and said, “We all know you’re Xie Ning. We want to learn more about you. Could you say a little more?”

“Mm.” Xie Ning thought for a moment and said, “I came here to study seriously and get into Tsinghua or Peking University together with my younger sister Su Wan.”

Su Wan: “…”

Everyone burst into delighted laughter. Someone was inspired, stood up, and took the lead in clapping. The others followed and applauded too.

“Senior Xie Ning, I also want to get into Tsinghua or Peking University. I’ll study hard too!”

“Xie Ning, I want to study with you!”

“Charge forward! Everyone work hard together! Everyone must get into a famous university!”

Xie Ning: “…” No, what does you getting into a famous university have to do with us?

She said, “From now on, Su Wan and I are deskmates. I hope you’ll take good care of her and not fail to appreciate what’s good for you.”

The whole group laughed. Teacher Sun [bailiantales.com]said with great grace, “Student Xie Ning, please take good care of us in the future too.”

Xie Ning raised her hand and said, “Please continue teaching.”

Su Wan felt as if she were dreaming. She glanced at Xie Ning from the corner of her eye, smelling her scent, and her heartbeat became very fast.

Xie Ning turned to look at her. Only then did Su Wan press her lips together slightly at her.

Xie Ning leaned over, placed her textbook in front of Su Wan, and asked beside her ear, “What page are we on?”

Su Wan opened the book for her and tapped a finger on a structural force diagram. Xie Ning said, “Thank you.”

Su Wan’s face felt a little hot. After turning her face away, she suddenly thought… should she have said “you’re welcome” just now?

Teacher Sun drew diagrams on the podium. Su Wan took notes along with him, but as she listened, her mind began to wander.

For the next twenty minutes, Su Wan lost focus countless times. Every time, she was either thinking about Xie Ning or thinking about what Xie Ning was thinking.

In the past, no matter how difficult the class was, she could concentrate fully and listen to the teacher until the very last minute. This was the first time in her life that her thoughts had wandered so far away. But Xie Ning was sitting so close to her. Su Wan simply could not keep herself from thinking about her.

She felt she had gone a little mad. After finally holding on until the last minute, Teacher Sun assigned homework and announced the end of class. She wanted to go outside to get some air and wash her face in the bathroom, to stop herself from thinking nonsense. But at this moment, Xie Ning called out to her, “Wanwan!”

Su Wan froze slightly, turned back to look at her, and uneasily raised a hand to brush her bangs aside.

Xie Ning tilted her head and looked at her, her expression aggrieved. “Wanwan, ​bailiantales.com​why are you ignoring me?”

Su Wan gave an “ah,” her eyes dodging. She said, “I’m going to the bathroom. Are you going?”

“Sure.” Xie Ning stood up. “I’ll go with you.”

Someone at the front desk asked, “Senior Xie Ning, should we still call you senior in the future?”

“Senior, will you be staying in our class from now on? Will you transfer back to third year later?”

Su Wan also wanted to know the answer. She stopped and looked at Xie Ning. Xie Ning said, “I’ll stay here until graduation.”

“Oh my god, after we graduate, I can brag to people that Xie Ning and I were classmates!”

“Su Wan, I’m so jealous of you. Xie Ning treats you so well!”

“Xie Ning, do you still need another younger sister? I want to be your younger sister too!”

Su Wan was at a loss and looked toward Xie Ning, a smile hidden in her eyes.

Xie Ning held her hand. “Come on. Let’s go to the bathroom.”

“I’m going too, I’m going too!”

“I want to go too!”

The neighboring class started spreading rumors that Xie Ning was forming cliques in class, bringing more than ten people with her even when going to the bathroom.

But most of them were girls. Yesterday, Xie Ning had spoken over the broadcast to call out Ma Chuchu and organized students to work together to stop the frenzied Alphas, saving these people. So in their hearts, they were very grateful to Xie Ning.

Especially the weaker Omegas. Some had differentiated early and were already able to release pheromones. Huddling together for warmth was their nature, and following behind Xie Ning made them feel safer.

Xie Ning also had no reason to chase them away. She wanted to talk with Su Wan alone for a while, but after only a few minutes, the class bell rang.

Xie Ning returned to the classroom and continued listening seriously.

In front of her future wife, she had to perform well and let Su Wan see her serious side.

But during third period, something went a little wrong. The English teacher seemed to deliberately make things difficult for Xie Ning. She asked Xie Ning to stand and read the text aloud, and every time Xie Ning read to a certain point, the teacher interrupted her.

“It’s ‘ai,’ not ‘ei.’ You read it wrong. Xie Ning, read it again.”

The first and second times, Xie Ning corrected herself along with the teacher. But being interrupted again and again caused what was already a long paragraph to take a very long time to finish.

“Xie Ning, it’s ‘advertisement.’ The stress is on the first syllable. Repeat after me: advertisement.”

Xie Ning put down the textbook, somewhat losing patience.

Someone raised a hand and said, “Teacher, didn’t [stolen content]you say last time that the stress was on ‘ver’? And when you corrected her earlier, wasn’t her pronunciation of ‘ai’ correct?”

On the podium, the teacher said with a stern face, “When did I say the stress was later?”

“You said it.”

“When you taught it last time, you said the stress was later.”

Once they started arguing, even more time was dragged out. Xie Ning had been standing for twenty minutes, which meant half the class had been spent standing as punishment.

This was not much in itself, but the woman on the podium repeatedly acted self-righteous, and Xie Ning truly could not bear it anymore.

“The stress on the first syllable is American pronunciation. The stress later is British pronunciation,” Xie Ning said coldly. “Earlier, ‘schedule’ pronounced with ‘sh’ is British pronunciation, while ‘sk’ is American pronunciation. If you want me to use British pronunciation, I can use a British accent all the way through. Please don’t interrupt me again, and don’t keep changing the standard. Otherwise, I’ll question your teaching ability.”

The woman on the podium froze. Someone took out an electronic dictionary to look it up, then stood up and said, “Teacher, Student Xie Ning is right. You got it wrong. And what you taught last time was also advertisement.”

The woman clearly could not justify herself. She lowered her head and began looking through the vocabulary list. After a while, she did not announce the result and only said, “All right, Xie Ning, you may sit down. Su Wan, read the rest for her.”

Su Wan: “?”

Hearing Su Wan’s name, a small burst of laughter spread through the class. Xie Ning heard someone mutter “country bumpkin” under their breath, while the rest were even more delighted to watch the spectacle.

Xie Ning: “?”

She was still standing. She lowered her head to look at Su Wan and saw that Su Wan looked somewhat unwilling, so she immediately said, “I’m almost done reading. Let me finish.”

The teacher said nothing. Xie Ning directly picked up the book and fluently read the final paragraph.

When the final sound fell, Xie Ning sat down. At that moment, a burst of enthusiastic applause sounded in the class, lasting for more than half a minute.

At their stage, although their pronunciation was standard, most of them were still in a state of stiff recitation, finding it hard to enter the rhythm of English. But Xie Ning’s authentic London accent was just like the original audio they usually heard in films, thoroughly winning them over.

Su Wan did not clap. She knew everyone’s attention was focused on Xie Ning. Whether those people were usually filthy and wretched, or bright and imposing, at this moment, they had all hidden their ugly side and were fully expressing goodwill and flattery. This made Su Wan feel incomparably disgusted.

At exactly twelve, the morning classes ended, and all the students surged toward the cafeteria.

Xie Ning felt a little tired and slumped in the narrow chair. She asked Su Wan, “Where are we eating?”

Su Wan finished packing her things and said as if it were only natural, “The cafeteria.”

Xie Ning said, “Studying is so tiring. We should still eat something good to reward ourselves.”

Su Wan had already stood up. Xie Ning hurriedly followed her. “Wanwan, wait for me.”

Su Wan waited at the classroom door, but Xie Ning had not come out yet. She leaned her head in and saw Xie Ning stopping in front of Su Wan’s desk, looking at something.

Su Wan had put everything into her drawer. Nothing was left on the desk. What was Xie Ning looking at?

Almost everyone in the classroom had left. Su Wan said, “Xie Ning, hurry up.”

Xie Ning touched Su Wan’s desk and lifted her face with a smile. “Coming, coming.”

Usually, Su Wan got her food alone, sat in a corner of the cafeteria alone to finish eating, returned her tray alone, then went back to the classroom alone, and afterward took the bus home alone.

Three points and one line. To her, that was everyday life.

Xie Ning’s appearance meant that when she went to class, people paid attention to her; when she ate, people paid attention to her; and perhaps even after school, people would still pay attention to her.

She was very unused to this way of things.

What disgusted her even more were those gazes coveting Xie Ning at every moment.

Xie Ning dawdled on the road. One moment she stopped to tie her shoelaces, the next she had to redo her hair. By the time Su Wan followed her to the cafeteria, even the lines at the serving windows were gone.

“What’s left?” Xie Ning asked the cafeteria auntie.

“There are still potatoes and cabbage,” the auntie said. “If you want them, I’ll give you a bit of each.”

Su Wan did not mind at all. Usually, she ate these two dishes. Sometimes, she would also get a portion of radish with two red chilies sprinkled on top. The taste was quite good too.

She was about to tell the auntie when Xie Ning stopped her. “Ah, let’s not eat these. I’ll have someone deliver food for us.”

“?” Su Wan glanced at her but did not scold her for anything. She only said, “Next time I’ll come unauthorized copy earlier and get food for you first. Tell me what you want to eat in advance, okay?”

How could Xie Ning possibly let Su Wan do that kind of errand? She only wanted Su Wan to accompany her alone. She did not want to squeeze through the crowd with her, did not want to be disturbed, and did not want to sit in the noisy hall, where even eating had to be rushed.

More importantly, she wanted Su Wan to be able to eat better food. She wanted her to grow fair and plump, nourish her body, and stay away from illness and pain in the future. Once, because Su Wan had been physically weak, she had been unable to complete the hiking trip in Iceland. Now, this stage was the perfect time to build a good foundation, and once they graduated, Xie Ning would take her there.

Starting from now, she was going to raise Wanwan on plenty of fish and meat, making her gain a little more flesh.

Xie Ning shook her head and said disappointedly, “Sure enough, I still don’t like cafeteria food.”

Su Wan: “Ah?”

“I don’t know why. Maybe after differentiating, I became more sensitive,” Xie Ning said. “Just smelling the potatoes makes me want to throw up.”

Su Wan grew nervous. “Then what will you do?”

“I’ll have someone deliver food,” Xie Ning said, holding Su Wan’s hand. “I’ll have them deliver an extra portion. Eat with me.”

Su Wan was still a little hesitant, but Xie Ning took her hand and was about to leave the cafeteria.

At the door, they ran into Su Xingheng, who had just finished eating. He was standing at the entrance waiting for Su Jin. When he saw Xie Ning, he hurriedly followed and asked, “A Ning, is your body all right?”

“Not good,” Xie Ning said. “Your sister and I still haven’t eaten.”

“How did that happen?” Su Xingheng checked his watch. “It’s almost twelve-thirty. How about I go outside and Read on BaiLianTales get food for you? You two go back to the classroom and wait for me?”

Xie Ning glanced at Su Xingheng. “Is that all right? I was already planning to go out to eat with Wanwan.”

“You two had better not run around. I’ll borrow an electric scooter. I can make the trip quickly,” Su Xingheng said. “Tell me what you want to eat. I’ll take care of everything!”

Xie Ning smiled, her eyes curving. She said, “Really? Then I’ll have to trouble you today.”

“No trouble, no trouble.” Su Xingheng laughed foolishly. “I’ll tell you once I’ve bought the food. You two go back to the classroom and wait for me!”

After saying that, he did not even bother greeting Su Jin and sprinted off to borrow an electric scooter.

Toward Su Xingheng, Xie Ning had always felt that no matter how she teased him, it would never be excessive. As long as she thought of what he had done in her previous life, she wished she could cut him into a thousand pieces.

Su Wan looked at Su Xingheng’s attentive manner and stayed silent with a dark expression. Only after he had gone far away did she say to Xie Ning, “He only likes your pheromones.”

Xie Ning looked at Su Wan in surprise and gave an “oh.”

Su Wan paused, then said, “The attraction brought by pheromones is only a brief impulse that makes someone’s head heat up. It’s different from true liking. This kind of impulse won’t last long, Xie Ning. You need to recognize that clearly.”

Xie Ning gave an “uh” and looked at Su Wan with interest. She said, “Then how do you explain Ma Chuchu’s mother using pheromones to fascinate six men for twenty years?”

Su Wan’s face cooled. At that moment, Xie Ning’s heart skipped. She realized she had said the wrong thing.

Author’s Note:

Listen to that. Are those words a human should say?