Chapter 104: Because I

Xu Qingzhou met her gaze without the slightest fear.

Seeing the two of them staring at each other, Song Yao raised an eyebrow and asked coolly, “Do you have something?”

Xu Qingzhou looked away and shrugged. “We saw each other this morning.”

“Hm?” Song Yao frowned at Zhang Qiong.

“Yeah, when we were heading to the cafeteria on Ninghe Road,” Zhang Qiong said, her gaze darkening as she looked pointedly at Xu Qingzhou: “But at the time, Xu Qingzhou was with a girl, and they seemed to be having a great conversation.”

She deliberately stressed the words “having a great conversation.”

Xu Qingzhou said lazily, “That woman is from the institute; she came to our lab for something. Senior Wang was busy, so he asked me to receive her.”

Xu Qingzhou sat down beside Xu Zhengyang and greeted both Xue Ying and him.

Read!{

Song Yao nodded slightly, said nothing but simply: “Let’s go,” and walked ahead toward the cafeteria.

“Today’s class meeting has two points to cover. First, university time passes quickly, so you must cherish it. Put aside binge-watching dramas and chasing idols—there’s no end to shows, and there’s no end to games.”

The filter shattered instantly.

He arrived at the classroom around 5:40.

After eating, Xu Qingzhou went straight to the School of Mathematics for the class meeting; he left his things at the library. Song Yao was watching. Oh, and now there was also Zhang Qiong.

Xue Ying’s eyes dimmed slightly as she nodded, disappointed.

Zhang Qiong, preoccupied, spoke casually. She believed Xu Qingzhou had deceived Song Yao and wanted to dig up all the old photos—but judging by the current situation, even if she showed them, Song Yao probably wouldn’t care.

“Classmates, without realizing it, you’ve already spent one month at Jingda.”

Xue Ying looked at Xu Qingzhou and invited: “Xu Qingzhou, this weekend we’re planning to visit the zoo. Do you want to come along?”

Although the room was crowded, it wasn’t noisy. Many were quietly reading; others spoke in hushed tones, waiting for Zhu Sitong.

“The zoo? I just went there recently, and I’ve got other things to handle.” Xu Qingzhou shook his head, refusing—he still had plenty of important matters to attend to.

This girl was quite persistent.

!.

Girls’ dorms are all the same, after all.

At that moment, Kong Xianbo and Zhai Ziqiang walked in. Hearing Xu Qingzhou’s remark, Kong Xianbo felt a sudden tightness in his chest. He exhaled inwardly and silently told himself: Stay calm—he’s just a show-off; don’t take it seriously.

Kong Xianbo certainly wouldn’t go either.

“I’ve got other plans this weekend,” Xu Zhengyang said with regret. Climbing a mountain with a beautiful senior was far better than going to the zoo.

“Braised pork rice is good,” Xu Qingzhou suggested from beside him.

Zhu Sitong was from Shandong Province and always spoke and acted with great boldness.

Still, impressive as he was, this excuse was a bit weak. If someone from the institute came, even if Senior Wang was busy, weren’t there others? Why send a first-year student to receive her?

Xu Qingzhou thought for a moment and nodded: “Maybe it’s because I’m not good at math.” Zhang Shuyi: “.”

The class meeting began. Harm Song Yao?

No, Xiao Yao, can’t you use your brain? Do you really believe him? Ahead, Song Yao and Xu Qingzhou were talking: “What are we eating?”

“Same as you.”

Zhai Ziqiang also shook his head, saying he had club activities.

The class meeting content was simple: just reminding everyone not to waste time.

After sighing, Zhang Shuyi asked curiously: “Then why didn’t you join any math competitions before? With your level, you’d definitely have made it into the national training team.”

The lunch passed without incident, though Xu Qingzhou and Song Yao ate normally, while Zhang Qiong ate in gloom.

Xu Zhengyang sighed inwardly. At the start of the semester, he’d truly thought Xue Ying was beautiful—but now, perhaps he’d realized that such a beautiful girl was also a love-struck fool.

On the way, Xu Qingzhou shook his head. Before absolute physical strength, all petty schemes were meaningless—he still remembered vividly the last shoulder throw.

Around six, Zhu Sitong walked in through the classroom door. Kong Xianbo went up and said everyone was present.

“What about you?” Zhang Shuyi looked at Xu Zhengyang and the others.

Xu Zhengyang smiled teasingly at Kong Xianbo and Zhai Ziqiang, who had just sat down: “You two came early today.”

Besides, he’d now realized that dating within the same class was ill-advised—it’d be hard to meet up later.

Those who got into Jingda were essentially the cream of the crop. Everyone seemed to have their own independent circle; even Song Yao and Zhang Qiong didn’t spend every day together but each was busy with their own affairs.

“Everyone’s so driven. No problem, Xiao Ying, we’ll go by ourselves,” Zhang Shuyi chimed in, diffusing the slightly awkward atmosphere.

Xu Zhengyang had already arrived and was chatting with Xue Ying and Zhang Shuyi, waving at Xu Qingzhou.

Song Yao turned to Zhang Qiong: “Xiao Qiong, what about you?”

“Bo-ge said to come early since it’s a class meeting—he needs to take attendance ahead of time,” Zhai Ziqiang said, pulling out his notebook from his bag and flipping to the page he’d last read.

Zhang Qiong remembered Song Yao saying Xu Qingzhou was involved in a project at the Physics Institute. Though she didn’t want to admit it, this scoundrel really was impressive.

She knew quite a bit about Xu Qingzhou’s affairs—for example, his lab had two senior brothers and one senior sister, and the experiment was now entering its next phase. Beside her, Zhang Qiong was stunned. Based on her understanding of Song Yao, this level of indifference was genuine.

Since September’s start, only one month had passed, but the girls’ dorm dynamics were already set: Song Yao and Zhang Qiong were close, while Teng Xiaojuan and Zhong Ruotong were both loners.

Kong Xianbo and Zhang Shuyi also got busy, contacting dorm leaders to check whether everyone in their dorms had arrived.

More people entered the classroom. Shen Yueqing and Qiao Yongjuan came in, glanced at Xue Ying and the others, didn’t approach, and sat down with Liang Quanjie’s group.

“Xu Qingzhou, I didn’t know you were really this good at math.”

But Xu Qingzhou felt that without experiencing something firsthand, one could never truly understand it. Generally, most people only realized suddenly when they were about to graduate in their senior year:

Holy shit, how the hell did I end up graduating already?!

In the latter half of the class meeting, Zhu Sitong raised his voice slightly.

“Also, I’d like to give special recognition to our class monitor, Kong Xianbo. Kong Xianbo’s paper was published as first author in the latest issue of ‘Annals of Mathematics.’”

(End of Chapter)