Chapter 17: Testing Each Other's Pulse for Lies in Biology Class

“Huh?” Su Xiaoya was momentarily taken aback.

At that moment, Lu Yuanqiu stood up and walked toward his younger sister’s room.

The room of the fourteen-year-old girl was the epitome of girlishness: a pink bed, pink desk and chairs, pink stuffed toys, pink wallpaper and posters. Stepping inside felt as if one had plunged straight into a sea of pink.

It was delicate and romantic.

There was no helping it—she was their parents’ biological daughter, and Lu Yuanqiu was the one they’d picked up from the trash.

But as far as he could recall, Bai Qingxia seemed to like pink as well.

“What are you doing in here?”

Lu Yidong sat at the edge of her bed, hugging a plush bear. She looked up at her brother, pouting in clear displeasure.

Leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, Lu Yuanqiu grinned. “Let me tell you a secret—I was actually on pretty good terms with that man in the overalls when I was in middle school.”

Lu Yidong’s face froze in surprise. “Really?”

He nodded. “Yeah, that uncle is very gentle and kind—he never bullies anyone. But a lot of middle schoolers used to pick on him, so I protected him a few times.”

Lu Yidong shot her brother a look of genuine surprise.

Her brother, notorious since middle school as a “bad student,” actually had such a kind side?

She nodded. “That’s right! Uncle is really nice. At lunch today, I saw a beautiful lady sitting on the steps across the street, feeding him rice out of kindness.”

Lu Yuanqiu neither confirmed nor denied it. Aside from those who liked to bully him, the man in overalls was actually quite popular at No. 65 Middle School. After all, he was clean, handsome, and gentle.

But pitiful as well.

No one really knew why he was so fixated on lingering by the school gate at No. 65. It was as if he was possessed by some obsession—no matter how often he was bullied, he refused to leave.

With that in mind, Lu Yuanqiu cautioned his sister, “It’s good that you want to protect him—I support you. But if you ever run into trouble you can’t handle, let me know immediately. I’ll be there right away, understand?”

“Okay!”

Lu Yidong beamed, her little feet swinging, looking especially adorable. For a moment, she suddenly felt like her brother wasn’t as annoying as before.

It did seem like he’d changed a bit since yesterday, though she couldn’t quite put her finger on how.

After leaving his sister’s room, Lu Yuanqiu went straight back to his own. He pulled out a dust-covered cardboard box from under the bed—inside were all the textbooks from his first and second years of high school.

Thank goodness he hadn’t sold them to the scrap collector, he thought with a shudder—something he really might have done in the past.

He cleaned up the books and moved them all onto his desk.

He was practically starting from scratch with the first and second year material—he’d never paid attention in class.

He vaguely remembered that the teachers’ most common comment about him was, “This kid is actually quite smart, he just doesn’t put his mind to studying.”

This time, I, Lu Yuanqiu, will put my mind to studying!

Let’s see whether all you teachers actually meant it when you said I was smart!

But... reading really does make you sleepy...

Half an hour later.

Lu Yidong, in shorts that revealed her fair calves, walked in with a plate of fruit, pushing open her brother’s door. Her voice was sweet as she called, “Brother~ Brother~ Mom cut up some fruit and asked me to bring it to you—Mom!!! Lu Yuanqiu’s hanged himself!!!”

Her sugary tone instantly turned into a scream of terror.

Inside the room.

Lu Yuanqiu sat at his desk with his textbooks open. A rope dangled from the ceiling, pulled taut around his neck.

“Ugh—I love studying—ugh—I mustn’t fall asleep—”

Like a lunatic, he was gagging, eyes rolling, making pitiful noises as if struggling against fate.

“Hanging oneself to keep awake” (the hanging version).

...

Lucheng No. 7 High School was considered second-tier among the city’s top schools.

The best was Lucheng No. 1 High. Rumor had it that their teaching style was very hands-off and relied on the students’ own initiative, yet their college entrance rate for first-tier universities still reached an astonishing 90%.

No. 7, on the other hand, enforced strict rules—a closed, regimented system. Their own first-tier university rate hovered around 50%.

The next day, Lu Yuanqiu rode his bicycle to school.

Anyone who knew him would have been shocked to see him at the gate at this hour. It was only 7 a.m.—he used to arrive only after morning reading was over.

I must study. I love studying. I won’t consider myself human unless I top the city in the exams... Lu Yuanqiu muttered, pushing his bike along, sporting dark circles and a red mark on his neck as he reached the gate.

Just then, he noticed Hu Caiwei being stopped by a teacher.

“It’s bad enough you’re not wearing your uniform in the morning, but your skirt is so short! Which grade and class are you in?”

The bespectacled teacher scolded sternly.

Hu Caiwei hung her head, looking guilty. She was wearing a white T-shirt and a blue pleated skirt, her long, fair legs drawing every gaze.

Lu Yuanqiu paid her no mind, wheeling his bicycle through the gate.

Hu Caiwei looked up abruptly, and when she saw his back, she rubbed her eyes in disbelief.

Had the sun risen in the west today? Lu Yuanqiu was actually here so early?!

...

Dong, dong, dong, dong.

The bell for the first biology class rang.

Zheng Yifeng slapped his handsome face onto the desk and immediately began to snore.

Lu Yuanqiu quietly stuffed the buns he’d bought into Bai Qingxia’s desk. “Don’t talk nonsense—eat them at break.”

“You...” Bai Qingxia stared at the red marks on his neck, hesitating.

“Don’t worry. I studied too late last night—tied a rope around my neck to keep myself awake,” Lu Yuanqiu explained.

Bai Qingxia looked at him in disbelief, then, composing herself, said coldly, “I wasn’t worried.”

Lu Yuanqiu grinned, closed his eyes, and laid his head on the desk.

There was no point listening to lectures now—he had no foundation, and it all sounded like gibberish.

He lay there partly to rest, partly to consolidate what he’d studied last night in his mind.

Bai Qingxia touched the warm buns, pursing her lips. While Lu Yuanqiu slept, she quietly snuck two of them into her own lunchbox.

Lu Yuanqiu actually noticed, but chose not to say anything.

Ten minutes later, he lifted his head. As soon as she saw him awake, Bai Qingxia, as if she had rehearsed it a thousand times, hurriedly turned to him and solemnly confessed, “I... I stole two buns just now.”

He turned to her, smiling, “So you took them—so what? Why report it to me?”

Bai Qingxia looked down, embarrassed, and quickly turned away, her ears bright red.

She really wasn’t good at lying.

Yet for the first time, Lu Yuanqiu found someone’s awkward honesty oddly endearing.

His feelings for Bai Qingxia were complicated—he wanted her, deeply.

At that moment, the biology teacher spoke from the podium.

“A normal person’s heart rate is between sixty and ninety beats per minute. By the way, do you know how a polygraph works? Pulse is one of the indicators. Now, try measuring your deskmate’s pulse.”

A pulse-based lie detector?

Lu Yuanqiu found it a bit boring and turned around.

Bai Qingxia, however, grew flustered, quickly hiding both hands behind her back and eyeing him warily.

“...What are you doing?” Lu Yuanqiu asked, puzzled.