Chapter 28

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

"Looking for a girl, right? I’ll shout for you."

The boys immediately became enthusiastic.

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

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

Perhaps because of the boost from last night, she felt that even just quietly reading, this boy had a hazy halo about him.

Perhaps it 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 to look and fell silent.

The Patek Philippe had been bought too?

"Zhai Da!"

With this shout, filled with jealousy and a cracked voice, half the class heard it, and dozens of eyes turned 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, who was waving excitedly, and the group of boys with expressions as if their fathers had died.

Zhai Da closed his book gracefully; he didn't need Yang Fan to get up, he just pushed off and hopped out of his seat.

He walked over with long, confident strides.

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

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

Sorry, wrong script; 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 knew well that the most important thing to maintain this persona was "leaving space."

Don't express; let people imagine.

Don't expose what you know; let people guess.

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

Sorry, 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 him, so the two of them looked out 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 wrong?"

Zhai Da was a man of few words: "Sorry, I was in the shower."

Lu Siwen nodded and didn't ask further.

Although she had sent those four or five messages over the course of three or four hours.

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

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

Zhai Da: "Occasionally, but not much."

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

The other person’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.

It made her feel so silly...

Lu Siwen bit her lip and gathered her courage: "Student Zhai, I actually... also like to write a bit. 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, but then she heard:

"But exchanging ideas is quite good."

Lu Siwen’s mood brightened again.

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

The special blue color was recognizable 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.

There were rich people in Dongyang County, and in fact, the poorer the county, the greater the wealth gap.

Whether it was running a factory or doing foreign trade, there were plenty of opportunities for wealth in the scattered north; if a family had assets of a hundred million or 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 attending Maofang Middle School... perhaps the family business was all in Dongyang County and they couldn't leave?

Lu Siwen had a strong sense of "not being grounded," which surely came from her family and parents.

Her speech was only of spring breezes and sunset clouds; her heart knew nothing of the mundane struggles of life.

However, this "lack of grounding," 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, this contains some things I’ve written... mainly modern poetry and prose, and some micro-fiction. 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 took it anyway.

"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 actually 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 diary...

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

Exchanging works—a standard operation for literary youths.

Zhai Da thought to himself, I have nothing, just "High School Math Lecture X" that never stops.

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

But he said: "Not many, maybe not enough to be compiled into a book. If there’s a chance, I’ll send them to you via text."

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 to sleep last night, and when she woke up, she found it stained with drool; she was too embarrassed to bring it again.

It was hard to explain...

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

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

"I saw you using a traditional fountain pen to write last night. Is 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 that:

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

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

That would be troublesome...

Buying it with money was almost impossible, and she wasn't short of money...

But to leave a foreshadowing, Zhai Da still said:

"Oh... I actually practiced fountain pen calligraphy before, 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 feel for 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 ahead. Zhai Da took the initiative to say he was going back to study.

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 right now.

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

In the future, he might not rule out giving up on obtaining [Equipment] because it was too much trouble.

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

He cast his distracting thoughts to the back of his mind, ignored the faint peeking from the class, and continued reciting 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 when suffering the same blow, some people can stand back up?

And get noticed by more girls...

Why!