Chapter 92: So Touched, Let Me Hold You for a Moment

"My... gift?"

Lu Yuanqiu blinked, stunned, not quite understanding what he had just heard.

Bai Qingxia had painstakingly copied that notebook for a very long time; he remembered it clearly, and the impression it left on him was deep.

He vaguely recalled that it began on the day the monthly exam ended. She had started copying in the classroom. When he saw the girl at her notes, he had even leaned over to ask her something, nearly ending up kissing her.

Then came the parents' meeting. Lu Yuanqiu brought his mother to the rooftop, and when he found her in the corner, she was sitting on the ground, fully absorbed in copying notes.

The last memory was from when he was hospitalized. Whenever the girl had a free moment, she would sit by the desk and quietly take out her notes to copy them.

But Lu Yuanqiu had always thought that, since it was senior year, Bai Qingxia had done it to prepare for a systematic review.

He never could have imagined.

This was actually a gift the girl had lovingly prepared for him over half a month.

Lu Yuanqiu gave a soft laugh, his feelings suddenly a little complicated as he took the notebook back and opened it again. The three words on the first page were exactly the same as the handwriting from that year’s vote.

The notes inside were also neat and beautiful, and the girl had even used pens of different colors to make meticulous annotations.

As he turned the pages, the expression on Lu Yuanqiu’s face gradually changed, and suddenly he remembered.

That morning after the monthly exam ended, he had told the student in front of him that his textbooks were blank, and that if he had listened carefully in class and taken notes before, reviewing now would be much easier.

So it had been then that Bai Qingxia had quietly taken it to heart...

The notebook was thick, and every page inside was so beautifully written it felt like a love letter. Held in the young man’s hands, it now seemed unbearably heavy.

"What should I do? I’m touched."

Lu Yuanqiu closed the book, shook his head lightly, and said to her with a smile.

At his words, Bai Qingxia smiled shyly and lifted a small finger to point at the notebook. "It has notes for every subject. When you review, just follow along with the textbooks. I marked the page numbers and sections for you."

But Lu Yuanqiu no longer had the heart to care about what was in the notes. He spread his arms and said with a serious expression, "I don’t care. I’m touched, all right? Let me hug you."

Bai Qingxia’s smile instantly froze. Then she lowered her eyes in silence, the tips of her ears turning red.

She shook her head gently and refused, "No."

"What? No? You dare say no?"

Lu Yuanqiu leaned toward her with his arms wide open like a rogue. "No way. You have to let me hug you. Not even Jesus can stop me. That’s what I said."

Bai Qingxia panicked, looking up at him both flustered and annoyed. She drew her arms in and backed toward the corner, wanting to get away from him, but there was nowhere to run in that cramped space.

"Heh heh heh—"

Lu Yuanqiu laughed as he leaned closer. The girl’s delicate fragrance was already washing over him; he was just about to succeed.

"Lu Yuanqiu!"

"Ow, ow, ow—ouch!"

A hand appeared in time to pinch his ear and lift his head up.

Liu Wei did not know when she had appeared beside them. With a fierce expression, she said, "If Jesus can’t stop you, can the homeroom teacher stop you?!"

"So it’s you, Lu Yuanqiu! You only pick on Bai Qingxia when I’m not around, is that it?! You’ve really gotten out of hand lately!"

Seeing her homeroom teacher arrive just in time, Bai Qingxia finally breathed out. She hurriedly reached out to shield Lu Yuanqiu’s head. "Teacher, he didn’t bully me. Don’t pinch him..."

Hearing Bai Qingxia speak up for that little scoundrel, Liu Wei finally let go of Lu Yuanqiu’s ear and adjusted her glasses, warning him darkly, "Lu Yuanqiu, if I catch you harassing Bai Qingxia again, I’ll call your parents immediately! I’ll have your father come discipline you!"

"Got it, got it. Next time I’ll just pick a time when you can’t see me."

Lu Yuanqiu rubbed his ear as he spoke.

Liu Wei was just about to raise her hand again, but Lu Yuanqiu shifted in a flash and jumped a meter away from his seat, then struck a solemn opening pose like Ip Man.

"Teacher, weren’t you here to talk about the basketball game?"

Wang Haoran spoke from the side.

"Right, right. I was almost angered into a daze by this kid." Liu Wei rubbed her forehead and said, "Teacher Wang asked me to check with you lot—have you bought your team jerseys yet?"

Wang Haoran shook his head. "Because of Lu Yuanqiu being hospitalized, we never had time to discuss it together."

Hearing that it was about the basketball game, Zheng Yifeng, who had been sleeping, slowly lifted his head, and Gao Qiang and Zhong Jincheng came over as well.

Liu Wei frowned. "Then there isn’t enough time to have jerseys made. You can buy them ready-made, but they won’t have the class name on them."

"Couldn’t we just find someone to embroider something on the back?" Gao Qiang suggested.

"Find who?" Liu Wei asked.

"Her!"

A voice sounded from the side then. Liu Wei turned and saw Lu Yuanqiu extending a finger to poke Bai Qingxia’s right cheek.

A small dent formed in the girl’s soft, fair skin.

Seeing this, Liu Wei flared up again and swatted his hand away. "Get your hand off her!"

Lu Yuanqiu withdrew his hand and continued, "Bai Qingxia knows embroidery. She’s really good at it. I’ve seen her work."

The girl looked up at him with difficulty, both hands gripping tightly on her knees.

Liu Wei immediately laughed. "Oh? Qingxia, that’s impressive."

Lu Yuanqiu leaned his head forward and added, "She’s really incredibly deft."

Liu Wei pushed his face away in disgust and smiled at Bai Qingxia. "Then I’ll leave the class names on all five jerseys to you, Qingxia."

Bai Qingxia sat there拘谨地 and quickly nodded. "Okay."

Only then did Liu Wei look back at the class and bring up the second matter. "Um... Teacher Wang asked me to ask whether any girls in our class have learned dance, preferably with some basic experience. Pick two or three to join cheerleading training."

The classroom fell utterly silent.

Bai Qingxia lifted her eyes slightly at that, but remained silent.

Liu Wei settled for the next best thing. "Anyone who wants to join the cheer squad? Even if you haven’t learned dance, that’s fine! They’ll teach everyone together anyway."

Hu Caiwei immediately shot her hand up high.

Seeing this, Chen Fei was unwilling to be outdone and raised her arm too. "Me too!"

"All right then, just the two of you. Report to Teacher Wang Ping during afternoon PE."

Liu Wei waved a hand. Then she turned and saw that Lu Yuanqiu was again bending over to tease Bai Qingxia, who was sitting on the stool, making the girl shrink her neck and blush repeatedly.

Noticing the homeroom teacher’s gaze, Lu Yuanqiu promptly stood up, regained his solemn expression, and reached out to touch the window beside him, sighing, "This glass is really transparent."

...

At noon, in the cafeteria.

Cao Shuang carried his meal and headed toward Lu Yuanqiu, but he suddenly caught sight of the grade director, Ge Rintian, sitting at a table ahead and eating.

Ge Rintian was eating while wrestling with a loose thread on his clothes, not noticing him.

Cao Shuang swallowed hard and quickly detoured around him.

As a delinquent student, even if he had done nothing bad, the moment he saw the grade director he would react like a mouse seeing a cat.