Chapter 18: A Question! Do You Have a Secret Crush? [Please Keep Reading]

“I... I’ll check your pulse.”
Bai Qingxia looked at him, uncharacteristically taking the initiative in front of Lu Yuanqiu.
“Whatever.” Lu Yuanqiu casually pulled up his sleeve and laid his arm on the desk.
Only then did Bai Qingxia reach out, her slender, fair fingertips resting lightly on Lu Yuanqiu’s wrist.
At that moment, a girl in the back row suddenly called out in delight, “Teacher! Zheng Yifeng has a pregnancy pulse!”
All the students turned to look.
The speaker was Chen Fei, Zheng Yifeng’s deskmate. Lu Yuanqiu remembered her as a devoted fan of GD—back in 2010, Bigbang swept across Asia.
Right now, her hand was on Zheng Yifeng’s wrist, while he was fast asleep, drooling, utterly unaware that he had supposedly “fallen pregnant.”
Zhong Jincheng, never one to miss out on a joke, chimed in, “Whose is it? Is it yours, Princess Feifei?”
Chen Fei frowned, “Get lost!”
“Stop fooling around. I told you to check for lies, not for pregnancies.” The biology teacher’s lips twitched. “I was giving you a moment to relax—don’t want to relax? Fine, let’s keep going with the lesson.”
The entire class groaned in protest.
The biology teacher laughed, “Alright then, take this time to ask your deskmate a question. See if their pulse speeds up as they answer.”
The students quickly turned to face their seatmates. Poor Zhong Jincheng, without a partner, had to check his own pulse.
Lu Yuanqiu was unconcerned. “Ask away.”
Bai Qingxia thought for a moment, then said, “Do you like vegetables?”
Lu Yuanqiu’s lips twitched. “Not really… Idiot, can’t you ask something more exciting? Isn’t there anything about me you want to know? Ask anything you want.”
Of course there was, but Bai Qingxia didn’t dare.
She shook her head gently, looking at him with a calm face.
Lu Yuanqiu then turned his palm over, trapping Bai Qingxia’s delicate hand beneath his, and with a domineering gesture, pushed her sleeve up, revealing a sliver of her snowy, slender wrist. Just as his fingertip was about to press against the clearly marked vein, Bai Qingxia nervously pulled her hand back.
Lu Yuanqiu glared at her.
Are you nervous about hiding the buns, or about something else?
Do you have another secret?
He raised an eyebrow, “Why won’t you let me check your pulse?”
Bai Qingxia’s little face was serious. “Just no.”
“Then I’ll listen to your heartbeat,” Lu Yuanqiu said, slowly leaning closer to her chest.
The girl shrank back in alarm until her back was pressed firmly against the classroom wall, with nowhere left to retreat.
Seeing this, Lu Yuanqiu smirked shamelessly and continued to move his ear closer.
He knew when to stop, though, and didn’t actually press his ear to her chest. Breathing in the faint fragrance wafting from her, Lu Yuanqiu said,
“I’m going to start asking now.”
The girl stayed silent.
Lu Yuanqiu grinned wickedly. “Question: Do you have a secret crush on anyone?”

Upon hearing this, Bai Qingxia’s ears turned bright red. Her wide, beautiful eyes darted away, her expression uneasy.
She immediately said, “So childish!”
“Of course not!”
Lu Yuanqiu chuckled. “You have to ask something spicy, of course.”
He leaned in, listening intently, but frowned—maybe the class was too noisy, or maybe he was too far away—he couldn’t hear her heartbeat at all.
Just then, the biology teacher clapped his hands, “Alright, alright, did everyone get a result?”
Lu Yuanqiu stood up helplessly. “No.”
He glanced at Bai Qingxia’s shy demeanor. Most likely, she did have a crush—but then again, in school, being asked such a question would make any teenager blush.
Having a secret crush or two was perfectly normal.
The biology teacher looked over. “Why not, Lu?”
Hu Caiwei turned around too. Just thinking about how Lu Yuanqiu and Bai Qingxia had been holding each other’s wrists made her feel a pang in her heart.
Since yesterday, her mind had been drifting—filled with nothing but Lu Yuanqiu.
Lu Yuanqiu laced his hands behind his head and said absentmindedly, “Because people’s hearts are separated by a thunderstorm.”
The morning classes ended, and soon it was lunchtime.
Hu Caiwei, dressed in a pleated skirt, sashayed her slim waist to the back row, her pale, supple legs catching Zhong Jincheng’s gaze in the corner.
“Lu Yuanqiu, can you have lunch with me today?”
“No, I’m studying.”
This time, Lu Yuanqiu really meant it. He took out his freshman textbook and started reading at his desk.
Hu Caiwei stamped her foot in anger. “Stop pretending! With your grades, what do you even have to study? Are you just trying to annoy me?”
At her words, Bai Qingxia shot Hu Caiwei a cold, icy glance, then lowered her head and continued with her studies.
Lu Yuanqiu slapped the desk, pointing at the classroom door. “If you know what’s good for you, leave on your own. Don’t make me force you.”
Hu Caiwei’s eyes filled with tears. Her lunch buddy quickly came over and pulled her away. “Come on, let’s go. Why bother with him?”
Hu Caiwei shot him one last glare before leaving.
Once everyone had gone, only Bai Qingxia and Lu Yuanqiu remained.
At one point, Bai Qingxia glanced at him and saw that he was indeed studying, using pens of different colors to annotate his graffiti-covered textbook.
Lu Yuanqiu’s change made Bai Qingxia smile involuntarily, but just then he looked over, so she quickly turned away, awkwardly flipping through the pages.
Time ticked by, and when it was her usual lunchtime, Bai Qingxia stood up. Lu Yuanqiu stood as well, stretching lazily. “Wow, that was productive. I bet there’s nothing left at the cafeteria.”
Bai Qingxia ignored him, shouldered her bag, and silently left the classroom, with Lu Yuanqiu following at a leisurely pace.
At the cafeteria window, Lu Yuanqiu looked on in astonishment as the short-haired auntie at the counter charged Bai Qingxia fifty cents for a bowl of rice, but charged him two yuan for the same thing.
Lu Yuanqiu licked his lips, annoyance bubbling up. “Auntie...”
The short-haired lady glared at him. “What is it?”

Lu Yuanqiu immediately smiled. “Nothing, you look beautiful today.”
He made his way to Bai Qingxia’s table and sat across from her.
The girl glanced up at him before lowering her head to eat her rice in tiny mouthfuls.
Lu Yuanqiu took out his backpack and unloaded all the snacks he’d bought from the supermarket onto the table.
“Hey, I knew if I studied late there wouldn’t be much left, so I brought snacks.”
He muttered to himself as he unwrapped a chicken drumstick, marinated egg, and spicy sausage, placing them onto his tray.
Just as he was about to eat, he suddenly stopped. “Huh? What’s up with me today? I’m not really hungry. Maybe I eat these snacks too often.”
He looked up at the girl across from him, took her tray, and swapped it with his own, which was now loaded with snacks.
“Forget it, let’s switch today.”
Bai Qingxia looked up in astonishment. Lu Yuanqiu immediately pointed at her. “Don’t you dare complain.”
Bai Qingxia stared at him, mouth shut, not uttering a word.
Lu Yuanqiu dug in.
The girl watched him quietly as he ate from the spot she’d just eaten, her long lashes fluttering gently.
“Mmm... delicious, really delicious. Why does your rice taste better than mine?” Lu Yuanqiu said with exaggerated relish, his expression both smug and infuriating.
But Bai Qingxia had no urge to hit him at all.
She quietly picked up her chopsticks and murmured in a tiny voice, “Thank you.”
Lu Yuanqiu pretended not to hear.
After a while, having finished all the rice on his plate, he spoke to the girl across from him. “By the way, my family’s supermarket needs a cashier tonight. This is your official notice: you’re hired.”
Bai Qingxia looked up in shock.
Lu Yuanqiu, still as overbearing as ever, pointed at her. “The pay is half what a regular employee gets. If you dare complain or refuse, I’ll make you suffer. You know what I mean.”
Bai Qingxia looked at him quietly, then sat up straight and nodded seriously, as if facing her boss. “No complaints. I’m willing.”
“Good.”
Lu Yuanqiu looked at her with satisfaction.
Bai Qingxia happily lowered her head and continued eating.
She ate only one marinated egg and half her rice.
Then she took out a lunchbox, hiding it on her lap so Lu Yuanqiu wouldn’t see the buns inside. She scraped the remaining rice, drumstick, egg, and sausage into the lunchbox.
Lu Yuanqiu was dumbfounded. “What are you doing?”
Bai Qingxia looked up. “I’m bringing it home for my father.”