Chapter 9: A Gift
At first, the class monitor didn’t quite believe that Lin Wenbin would actually finish his homework on his own.
But after taking a quick look, she had to admit, this was impressive.
“Stop staring, I finished all of it.”
Wenbin looked a little annoyed, but he couldn’t really get mad.
Everyone used to think of him as the kind of guy who always rushed to finish homework at the last minute. Now that he suddenly changed for the better, anyone would feel a bit surprised.
“Alright then.” The monitor smiled again and then turned to look at Lin Muqing.
Compared to Wenbin, Muqing was always more responsible. Not only did she finish her own homework, but she also helped hand in her buddy’s homework too.
“Come see me after class. I have something to give you.”
After collecting the homework and before moving on to the next desk, the class monitor left a message for Muqing.
Then she walked away.
“Huh?”
By the time Muqing reacted, the monitor was already gone. She only saw her back and couldn’t see the expression on her face.
She wanted to catch up and ask what it was about, but the school bell rang, so she had to stay seated and get ready for morning reading.
“What did you do!?”
Just as she set her thoughts aside and was about to take out her book, Lin Wenbin couldn’t stay calm. He didn’t even touch his books, he just stared at Muqing and asked loudly.
“I didn’t do anything,” Muqing replied honestly. She really had no idea what he was talking about.
“You think I’m stupid? Why would she give you something for no reason? Be honest, did you do something during summer break behind my back!?”
He clearly didn’t believe her. Muqing looked innocent, but that only made Wenbin more suspicious. His eyes were full of doubt.
“I really didn’t. I didn’t even see her once during summer break.”
Muqing shrugged helplessly. She truly didn’t know what was going on and had no way to explain it.
During the holidays, all she did was either go to the cafe to work or stay home being a shut-in (well, sort of).
She didn’t even meet up with her good buddy Wenbin, let alone someone like the class monitor, with whom she wasn’t that close.
Although they did chat on WeChat from time to time, sharing interesting things, Muqing honestly just saw her as a friend. There were no weird thoughts involved.
“I don’t believe you!”
Still staring at Muqing, Wenbin refused to back down. Even though Muqing looked super innocent, he wasn’t convinced.
“…”
Speechless, Muqing saw the teacher walking into the classroom and gave up trying to explain.
“Believe what you want! Go ahead and be jealous!”
“You…”
Wenbin really wanted to slam the table and keep questioning Muqing, but when he saw the teacher, he calmed down.
He wasn’t scared of the teacher, but he was scared that the homeroom teacher would call his parents. That would mean no allowance next month.
Morning reading continued. Muqing wasn’t really expecting anything from the class monitor and had no idea what kind of gift she’d get. Honestly, she was mostly teasing Wenbin earlier just to mess with him.
The class monitor also had another identity, she was the class beauty. If Muqing really got a gift from her, she would definitely brag to Wenbin as much as possible.
The reason? It’s because that guy is rich and always shows off his anime figure collection in front of Muqing. So whenever she gets the chance, she has to get back at him.
As soon as the break started, Muqing shot a smug look at Lin Wenbin and then strutted out of the classroom like a total show-off.
“Class monitor, what does someone as small as me owe the honor of your attention?” Muqing smiled as she walked up to the class monitor’s desk.
When she saw Muqing arrive, the monitor slowly pulled out two boxes from her drawer and placed them on the desk.
“These are cookies I baked last night, and I wanted to give…”
Zhang Xiaoling looked a little unsure. As she made eye contact with Muqing, her face showed a bit of awkwardness.
She was too shy to say the second half of the sentence. It stayed stuck in her throat no matter how hard she tried.
“Ohhh~” Muqing dragged out the sound and then smiled as if she had figured everything out. “I get it now.”
“You… you get it?”
Hearing that, Zhang Xiaoling’s face suddenly turned a little red, and she looked a bit nervous.
“You want me to give it to him, right? Don’t worry, I got you.”
Muqing leaned in a little, pointed quietly to Ye Ziming, who was reading, and whispered to the class monitor.
Ye Ziming seemed to notice something. When Muqing looked his way, he suddenly raised his head and met her gaze.
Maybe that’s what people call chemistry.
“Ah—uh…”
Zhang Xiaoling froze, her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide like she didn’t know what to say.
Because Muqing had guessed part of it correctly… but not the whole truth.
“Ahem. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone,” Muqing added confidently when she saw Xiaoling’s reaction.
She picked up one of the boxes and turned to head back to her seat to deliver the gift.
Her good buddy, Ye Ziming, known as the “cool guy” and the “school heartthrob on the snowy mountain,” always had people trying to give him gifts. Muqing had helped deliver a bunch of them before.
Unfortunately, Ye Ziming never accepted them. No matter what the gift was, he’d always return it.
If someone gave him a pink love letter or something, he’d even report it to the teacher and have them deal with it privately.
As for things like cookies that couldn’t be returned? Well, they always ended up in Muqing’s belly.
“W-wait a second!”
Just as Muqing was about to leave, Zhang Xiaoling snapped out of it and quickly stopped her, picking up the second box.
“This one… is for you.” She raised her hand and quickly stuffed the small box into Muqing’s hand.
“Huh? I get one too?”
Muqing was a bit surprised and very happy. The little foodie looked at the monitor with confusion, but deep down she was already smiling wide.
“Uh… yeah.”
Zhang Xiaoling’s face looked a little stiff. It seemed like she had struggled in her mind for a while before finally nodding.
“Wow~ Thank you, class monitor! You’re such a good person!”
Muqing cheerfully handed her a “good person” card, then skipped back to her seat.
Before sitting down, she shot a smug look at Lin Wenbin, eyes full of teasing.
Her expression said, “Jealous much? Too bad~”
Watching Muqing walk away, Zhang Xiaoling suddenly collapsed onto her desk like a deflated balloon. She covered her head with her hands and mumbled to herself.
“Ughhh… I don’t want to be the ‘nice one’ anymore…”
Her deskmate covered her own face, or more like covered her eyes, clearly too embarrassed to keep watching what had just happened.
“Sigh… Why do you like him of all people? I mean yeah, he’s good-looking, a decent person, and smart too, with no real flaws…”
Her deskmate kept talking to herself, and while Zhang Xiaoling didn’t lift her head, her ears were standing straight up.
The first part was over, now she was eagerly waiting for what her deskmate would say next.