Chapter 33: A Peculiar Train of Thought

She looked up in surprise, and upon seeing who was before her, she subconsciously took a step back.

It was the boy who had given her black goji berries and hot milk tea.

He was still wearing those stained khaki shorts, but had changed into a black T-shirt; his shoulders were covered in white flakes—dandruff.

The other party wore a smile, but for some reason, seeing this smile made Shen Ci feel a sense of dread.

Before Shen Ci could speak, a bouquet of flowers appeared before her.

It was a vibrant bunch of red roses.

Shen Ci shook her head in mild alarm and hurriedly refused: "I'm sorry, classmate, this isn't appropriate."

Hao Penghui seemed not to have expected Shen Ci to refuse him; his smile stiffened, and he blinked, asking, "You... you don't like roses, do you?"

"It's not about the flowers. I cannot accept your gifts without reason. Let's just forget about the black goji berries and milk tea from before; please don't do this again in the future."

Shen Ci tried to use a tactful tone to communicate, as she felt this person had a strange, manic quality—in short, he didn't seem safe.

Yet, upon hearing Shen Ci's words, Hao Penghui wore an expression of disbelief: "What do you mean 'without reason'? Don't you like me? You were the one who hinted at it first!"

"Huh?"

Shen Ci was dumbfounded. She said with a look of confusion, "Classmate, have you misunderstood something? I don't even know you; I've never even seen you before. When did I ever hint at anything to you?"

Hao Penghui, hearing this, acted righteously indignant: "It was about that grant! The teacher said you were the one who voluntarily gave it up for me. If you didn't like me, why would you voluntarily give the grant to me?"

Shen Ci:...

So, is his academic performance so good because he uses all his brainpower on studying?

She never imagined that the culprit behind this farce was the grant she had voluntarily given up.

"Classmate, you really have misunderstood. I voluntarily gave up the grant for personal reasons; it has nothing to do with you. After I gave it up, there was an extra spot, and the teacher gave it to you—that wasn't something I controlled."

"Is it possible that the teacher just gave you the spot because your grades were good and you happened to meet the criteria?"

"Impossible!" Hao Penghui shook his head with firm conviction. "I applied for a year last year and didn't get a grant spot. This spot is only mine because you gave it up for me!"

"This spot only became available because I voluntarily gave it up. It wasn't because I wanted to give it to you; who the teacher gives it to has nothing to do with me!"

"But if you hadn't given it up, there wouldn't have been this spot, and I wouldn't have received it!"

Shen Ci:...

Fine. The train of thought in the Mathematics Department is truly peculiar. Is their logical thinking always this "unreasonable"?

Shen Ci decided to give up arguing about cause and effect with him. She gathered her courage and spoke clearly: "In short, I don't know you. Who receives the grant is arranged by the school; I have no right to interfere, so there is even less of a basis for any 'hinting' or 'liking' you."

"Your recent behavior has caused me great distress, so I implore you to stop. Can you do that?"

This sentence was very direct. Shen Ci believed that anyone who could understand human speech would certainly understand her meaning.

As a result, Hao Penghui widened his eyes: "Then why don't you like me?"

Shen Ci was almost amused to the point of anger. Looking at the person before her, she wanted to blurt out, "Do I need a reason not to like you? Because you don't wash your hair? Because you don't change your pants? Because there's a damp, rotting smell on you?"

Her patience exhausted, she instantly lost the desire to communicate with him. She sighed helplessly: "I have spoken very clearly. If you still don't understand, there is nothing I can do."

Having said that, she turned to leave, but was blocked by the other party, who refused to let her go.

Shen Ci had to step back to maintain distance, but at that moment, a basketball flew in from the side and, with a 'Bang!', landed accurately on Hao Penghui's head.

Hao Penghui stumbled and nearly fell.

Shen Ci turned back in surprise to see Qu Yang jogging over, glaring at Hao Penghui: "What are you doing?"

Facing the sudden appearance of Qu Yang, Hao Penghui was visibly intimidated. He darted his eyes around, not daring to answer Qu Yang.

Seeing his cowardly look, Qu Yang couldn't be bothered to waste words on him. He turned to Shen Ci and asked, "Are you okay?"

Shen Ci nodded gratefully. If Qu Yang hadn't appeared, she had been planning to use her phone to ask Li Laoshi for help.

"Get lost, and stay away from her in the future!" Qu Yang scolded Hao Penghui.

Hao Penghui kept his head down, not daring to make a sound. Hearing this, he turned and ran. Seeing this, Shen Ci finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She was truly afraid that if he got agitated, he would force some physical contact; just thinking about it made her skin crawl with disgust.

"Thanks. I still need to go to the Principal's office. I'll thank you properly later." Shen Ci's expression returned to normal, and she waved at Qu Yang, intending to leave.

"I'll walk you there." Qu Yang gathered his courage. Seeing Shen Ci look at him, he said flusteredly, "I don't know if that guy has gone far yet."

"They're still waiting for you to play basketball."

Shen Ci looked at the dozen or so boys gathered on the basketball court not far away; clearly, they were all waiting for Qu Yang.

When they saw Shen Ci looking over, the boys excitedly catcalled and whistled, clearly teasing Shen Ci and Qu Yang.

"It's fine. I'll come back after I walk you there."

Having said that, he didn't wait for Shen Ci to object. He picked up the basketball that had rolled to the ground, tossed it toward the court, and walked ahead of Shen Ci.

Seeing this, Shen Ci had no choice but to follow.

Behind her, the boys' laughter rang out again.

Along the way, Qu Yang was as silent as if he had been struck dumb. Although his legs were long and his strides large, he deliberately slowed his pace, walking just a little bit in front of Shen Ci.

Shen Ci looked at his back; there was a faint, fine sheen of moisture on his short hair. After walking for about ten minutes, he finally stopped and turned around.

"We're here. You can go up."

"Sorry to trouble you. Thank you," Shen Ci said.

Qu Yang didn't speak again, but followed Shen Ci with his gaze until she entered the administration building.

She went all the way to the top floor. Before she even reached the door of the Principal's office, she could faintly hear a manic, shrill voice. Li Laoshi had already secretly messaged her about the specific situation, so after arriving outside the door, she knocked directly on the door of the Principal's office.

The sound inside stopped abruptly, and the door opened immediately. It was Li Jianguo who opened the door.

Seeing that it was Shen Ci, Li Jianguo gave her a look that said "this is very troublesome." As Shen Ci entered, he whispered by her side, "Speak less, don't worry, the teacher is here."

Shen Ci gave him a grateful smile, then walked into the Principal's office with poise. Ignoring Li Mu, who was glaring with such rage that she seemed to want to grind her into dust, she greeted the Principal and the Dean: "Principal, Director Sun, I'm here!" ===== CHAPTER 34 =====