Chapter 28

"Who are you looking for? I know everyone."

"Looking for some girl, right? I'll shout and call her for you."

The few boys immediately became enthusiastic.

Lu Siwen stood on tiptoe and scanned the room, distressed: "I don't know his name either..."

Finally, she saw that boy in the seat by the window.

She didn't know if it was because of the bonus from last night, but she felt that even just quietly reading a book, this boy had a hazy halo about him.

Perhaps that wasn't an illusion, because the sunlight happened to fall on Zhai Da's book.

"Can you help me call that boy?"

The group of boys turned their heads to look and fell into silence.

Had the Patek Philippe been bought too?

"Zhai Da!"

This shout, filled with jealousy and a cracked voice, was heard by half the class, and dozens of eyes looked toward the back door in unison.

And the protagonist of the event frowned and looked up, wanting to see which son was missing his daddy.

Scared the hell out of me! Did you eat too much smoked chicken!

Then he saw Lu Siwen waving excitedly, and the group of boys with expressions as strange as if their fathers had died.

Zhai Da stylishly closed his book, and without needing Yang Fan to get up, he pushed off with his hands and hopped out of his seat.

He strode over.

People have two hands, so having both a Vacheron Constantin and a Patek Philippe, is that very strange?

In the corner of the corridor, Zhai Da had his hands in his pockets, not knowing what is right...

Sorry, I crossed the lines; he was just maintaining the persona of a literary youth, gazing out the window.

He wasn't a literary youth, but he had encountered many, and he knew deeply that to maintain this persona, the most important thing was "leaving space."

Don't express, but let people imagine.

Don't expose what you know, but let people guess.

After all, most literary youths don't know much... they've only read "To Live," "One Hundred Years of Solitude," and "The Moon and Sixpence"; they are probably about ten Maupassants away from being truly "literary."

Sorry, I said it wrong, it's Maupassant.

Lu Siwen looked at Zhai Da's calm eyes and, sure enough, became curious; what was Student Zhai thinking about?

She just felt it was impolite to stare at the other person, so the two of them looked at the window together.

Zhai Da had once again successfully created and integrated into a "literary atmosphere."

"Student Zhai... did you receive the message I sent you last night? Could it be that the phone number was entered incorrectly?"

Zhai Da was sparing with his words: "Sorry, I was in the shower."

Lu Siwen nodded and didn't ask much more.

Although she had sent four or five messages last night, spread out over three or four hours.

If he had been in the shower the whole time, he would have been soaked through...

"Student Zhai, that micro-novel of yours... it was written really well. Do you have a habit of writing usually?"

Zhai Da: "Occasionally, but not much."

Lu Siwen looked at the playground outside the window, feeling a bit stuck.

The other party's desire to communicate seemed very weak...

As expected of someone with such good writing skills, being a bit cold and aloof is normal!

She actually didn't know why she had come to find Zhai Da.

Even though she had tossed and turned all night, when she was truly face-to-face, she felt empty inside.

She felt so silly...

Lu Siwen pursed her lips, gathered her courage, and said: "Student Zhai, I actually... also like to write a little. I want to ask you for some writing tips..."

Zhai Da finally had a different reaction and turned his head: "I just write casually myself; I can't teach you."

Lu Siwen's gathered courage retreated again, but then she heard:

"But exchanging ideas is quite good."

Lu Siwen's mood brightened up again.

Having made a certain resolution in her heart, Lu Siwen blushed and took out a notebook—not the one from yesterday, but a more high-end one.

The special blue color could be recognized at a glance as "Tiffany," because this color code is called "Tiffany Blue."

It wasn't expensive; after all, it was just a notebook.

But it had quite a bit of class.

This girl's family background was probably even better than Zhai Da had imagined.

Dongyang County also had rich people; in fact, the poorer the county, the greater the wealth gap.

Whether opening a factory or doing foreign trade, there were plenty of opportunities for wealth in the scattered North; if some family had assets of hundreds of millions or even more, Zhai Da wouldn't be surprised at all.

Those who became rich later cannot imagine how rich those who became rich first are; their pocket money might be longer than your bank password.

As for why a child from such a family was studying at Textile... perhaps the family business was all in Dongyang County and they couldn't get away?

Lu Siwen had a strong sense of "not being grounded" about her, which must have come from her family and parents.

When she spoke, there was only spring breeze and sunset clouds; in her heart, there were no mundane worries about daily necessities.

However, this "not being grounded," combined with her 30% innocence, 30% literary air, and 94% pure and lovely appearance, was not off-putting.

Lu Siwen offered the Tiffany notebook with both hands and said solemnly: "Student Zhai, inside here are some things I usually write... mainly modern poetry and prose, and some micro-novels. If you don't mind... could you help me take a look?"

Zhai Da took the notebook; there was a pen clipped to the side, but unfortunately, it wasn't the fountain pen from yesterday, but a blue ink pen that came with the Tiffany set.

But Zhai Da still took it.

"I will read it carefully. Thank you for trusting me."

The blush on Lu Siwen's face didn't fade for a long time; she had been writing since she was a child, but the number of times she had truly let someone see it could be counted on one hand. Besides a girl friend in junior high, Zhai Da was the first.

To put it bluntly, even her parents weren't allowed to flip through her notebooks.

Lu Siwen suddenly realized a bit late that this didn't seem any different from handing over her own diary...

But it was too late to regret it now. Lu Siwen composed herself and said expectantly: "Does Student Zhai have... any works you've recorded? I'd also like to read them..."

Exchanging works—a standard operation for literary youths.

Zhai Da thought to himself, I don't have a damn thing; every day it's "High School Mathematics Lecture X" non-stop.

Last night he had stubbornly tackled the seventh lecture, reading it a full five times...

But he said out loud: "Not many, perhaps not enough to be compiled into a volume. If there's an opportunity, I'll send them to you via text message."

Lu Siwen nodded happily.

"By the way, did you bring that piece of paper from yesterday?"

Lu Siwen clenched her fingers and said weakly: "I accidentally got it dirty..."

She had held it to her chest while sleeping last night, and when she woke up, she found it stained with drool; she was truly too embarrassed to bring it again.

It was hard to explain...

Zhai Da nodded, silently calculating in his heart the probability of getting that pen if he brought it up now.

It should be very difficult... but at least he should steer the conversation toward it once.

"I saw you using a traditional fountain pen to write things last night; isn't it inconvenient? Do you have to carry ink with you?"

Lu Siwen didn't feel the topic was abrupt, or perhaps she felt that literary youths were just like this:

"Not entirely; I still use a gel pen for homework. That fountain pen was left to me by my grandfather, and I only take it out when I need to think and record words."

Zhai Da thought "damn" in his heart... left by her grandfather? It wouldn't be a keepsake, would it!

This was going to be troublesome...

Buying it with money was almost impossible, and the other party wasn't short of money...

However, in order to leave a foreshadowing, Zhai Da still said:

"Oh... I actually practiced fountain pen calligraphy in the past, but I stopped using it later. Perhaps a fountain pen really can give more inspiration for writing."

Lu Siwen nodded: "The ink marks left by a fountain pen do have a more realistic sense of writing."

The two weren't that familiar yet, so they didn't have that much to say; rather than awkward chatting, it was better to stop while they were ahead. Zhai Da took the initiative to indicate that he was going back to study first.

Lu Siwen nodded, and the two parted ways.

Returning to the classroom, Zhai Da was lost in thought.

He still preferred "special items" that could be bought with money, even if he didn't have much money for the time being.

Things that couldn't be bought with money, or that required certain prerequisites before money could be used, would greatly increase the energy he needed to expend.

In the future, he might not rule out giving up on acquiring 【Equipment】 because it was too much trouble.

After all, "special items" are infinite, but human energy is limited...

Casting distracting thoughts to the back of his mind for now, Zhai Da ignored the occasional peeking in the class and continued to memorize ancient poems and texts.

His desk-mate Yang Fan was still slumped over his desk, lazy and decadent, but his mind couldn't be calm for a long time.

Why is it that after suffering the same blow, some people can just stand back up?

And get noticed by even more girls...

Why!