Chapter 81: The Letter War

When it was nearly one in the afternoon, Duan Qintian checked the time and said from the podium: "Students who have finished writing their letters may begin delivering them; if you have plans this afternoon, just let me know and you may leave directly."

As soon as he spoke, many students rose to their feet.

Some classmates who had joined the club together exchanged letters with each other.

A few bolder boys walked over to Ying Chanxi's desk, placed a letter in front of her, then turned away awkwardly.

Ying Chanxi was still writing her second letter; she looked up, saw the letter, blinked, politely said thank you, then returned to writing.

But soon, another letter appeared before Ying Chanxi.

Liu Shaowen appeared beside her desk, smiling, and handed her a letter: "Monitor, this is for you."

After saying this, he seemed afraid his intent was too obvious, so he added: "Only the two of us from our class came here—I don't know anyone else…"

As he spoke, Liu Shaowen pulled out another envelope and handed it to Li Luo: "Since your cousin is here too, could you two please take it?"

With that, Liu Shaowen waved goodbye, appearing utterly unconcerned.

He thought he'd acted quite cool, but Li Luo stared at the letter from Liu Shaowen on the desk and couldn't help but feel amused and exasperated.

Though he'd once fantasized that someone besides Ying Chanxi might send him a letter, at least it should've been a girl, right?

What the hell is this—some guy sending him a letter?

Liu Shaowen was truly bored—trying to hide his intentions, but any idiot could see through this.

Li Luo sighed helplessly; he couldn't just throw it away, so he politely accepted Liu Shaowen's letter.

After that, perhaps emboldened by the two boys before them, several more boys came over to Ying Chanxi and delivered letters.

Of course, to show they weren't choosing Ying Chanxi just for her looks, many boys wrote one or two extra letters and sent them to other girls—or even boys.

But only the letter addressed to Ying Chanxi likely took them the most time and effort.

Among them, even a Gao Er senior approached Ying Chanxi, handed her his letter, and took the chance to strike up a conversation.

"You're from Class One, right? So am I—I'm a year above you. You mentioned joining the Math Club earlier; if you have any competition questions, feel free to ask me anytime."

"Mm, thank you," Ying Chanxi politely accepted the envelope, offering no further response.

The Gao Er senior didn't press further; he smiled and walked off, but glanced at Li Luo before leaving, curious about the boy's relationship with Ying Chanxi.

He'd overheard one of the boys mention they were cousins?

"What a windfall," Li Luo muttered, eyeing the pile of letters before Ying Chanxi. "I only got one—given to me like charity."

"Jealous? Envious?" Ying Chanxi snorted, then extended her hand toward Li Luo. "Where's mine? Hand it over."

"You've got so many already—do you really need mine?"

"You talk too much," Ying Chanxi glared at him, leaned over eagerly, and examined his two envelopes closely. "Which one is it?"

"Didn't you plan to ask me for it first? Why not bring me your letter first?"

"I already said it's not for you," Ying Chanxi insisted, pulling back and picking up her pen to resume writing.

It was all those people's fault—they'd interrupted her, and now her letter wasn't finished.

At that moment, Hua Xiuxiu, having finished her letter on the other side of the classroom, handed one to Lin Yuan beside her, making him beam with delight.

Then Hua Xiuxiu stood up, walked over to Li Luo, and handed him a letter: "Monitor, this is for you."

"Oh, thanks," Li Luo said, surprised as he took it. "Sorry, I didn't prepare anything for you."

"It's fine," Hua Xiuxiu smiled. "This isn't meant as an invitation to be pen pals. I just had some things I couldn't say face-to-face—writing them down made it easier."

"Then I'll accept it. Thank you," Li Luo nodded, thanking her again.

Beside him, Ying Chanxi silently continued writing her letter, gripping her pen tighter, lips pressed together as she stole glances at Hua Xiuxiu, then at Li Luo.

After Hua Xiuxiu left, Ying Chanxi let out a dry laugh. "Got a story there?"

"Probably a confession letter," Li Luo said, tucking Hua Xiuxiu's envelope away casually.

"A confession letter?" Ying Chanxi blinked.

"Hmph," Li Luo snorted. "Of course—it's her confession of regret for not running for monitor!"

"You're still hung up on that?" Ying Chanxi was speechless. Li Luo had already complained about it at lunch—she hadn't expected him to still be holding a grudge.

But Li Luo's interruption had somehow dissolved her earlier inner unease; she turned back to her letter and resumed writing.

After spending a little more time, Ying Chanxi sealed her finished letter, glanced at Li Luo beside her, then picked up the two pre-packaged envelopes on the desk and stood up.

She ignored Li Luo and walked toward the front.

As soon as Ying Chanxi rose, dozens of eyes turned toward her.

Many boys lifted their heads, curious to see who she would deliver her letter to.

Even Club President Duan Qintian glanced over instinctively, a small hope stirring in his chest.

Though he'd have to step down from the club after National Day, that didn't stop him from becoming a pen pal.

The club had no strict rule requiring pen pals to be members.

But non-members might not be very interested in becoming pen pals in the first place.

In fact, Duan Qintian had only ever written one letter—to Xu Youyu back in his first year.

Unfortunately, Xu Youyu, who'd received over a dozen letters then, never replied to any of the boys—so the matter faded away.

Now, Ying Chanxi walked straight toward the podium, her beauty and aura matching Xu Youyu's, leaving Duan Qintian genuinely awestruck.

The boys who had already given letters to Ying Chanxi now held their breath, imagining possibilities, hearts pounding wildly.

Two letters.

Ying Chanxi was holding two letters!

Many noticed this detail and felt their chances were still good.

Duan Qintian watched as Ying Chanxi approached the podium, swallowing involuntarily.

But the next second, he was disappointed.

Because Ying Chanxi extended her hand, smiling brightly, and placed one of her letters into the hands of Xu Youyu, seated in the front row.

"Senior, this is for you."

"Okay, thanks, Xixi." Xu Youyu smiled as she took the envelope, then pulled out a letter she had written by hand from her drawer and handed it to Ying Chanxi. "This one's mine—take it."

Judging by the two girls' demeanor, it seemed they had known each other for a long time.

The people around them then looked as if they had just understood something, their gazes shifting to the remaining envelope in Ying Chanxi's hand; some boys' eyes grew almost feverish.

But at that moment, Xu Youyu, who had been sitting, suddenly stood up and reached into her drawer to pull out another letter.

Even Duan Qintian raised an eyebrow, surprised.

In his memory, Xu Youyu had only exchanged letters with a female classmate back in her first year of high school—after that, she had never written to anyone else.

So now, besides Ying Chanxi, whom she clearly already knew, Xu Youyu had written another letter to give to someone?

Freshmen in their first year didn't grasp the weight of this, but the second-year members of the club knew perfectly well.

Xu Youyu wasn't just the one and only golden flower of their literature club—she was also vice president of the student council, and this year she was very likely to become president.

At the same time, she had consistently maintained the top grade in her year, rarely ever surpassed.

Scoring high on Chinese composition was routine for her; after every exam, her essays were always displayed on the bulletin board.

Such a girl had never before voluntarily written a letter to a boy.

Thinking this, Duan Qintian couldn't help but guess that perhaps one of the first-year girls Xu Youyu knew had received the letter.

As he thought this, Xu Youyu and Ying Chanxi had already walked off together in the direction Ying Chanxi had come from.

Almost everyone's eyes were fixed on the two graceful figures, staring intently at the envelopes in their hands.

Until they stopped in front of Li Luo's seat and simultaneously handed out their envelopes.

This act instantly shattered countless jaws.

"Here, take it." Ying Chanxi turned her head away, speaking casually.

"If my letter isn't in either of these, you're dead." Xu Youyu smiled at Li Luo, placed her letter on the desk, then looked at the two letters Li Luo had written and delivered her threat with a smile.

The entire classroom fell silent.

Only Li Luo rolled his eyes at the two, then casually picked up the two letters on the desk and handed them to Ying Chanxi and Xu Youyu.

With the exchange complete, Xu Youyu nodded in satisfaction, gave him a look that said "good job," fanned herself with the envelope, and turned to walk back to her seat.

Ying Chanxi returned to her own seat, carefully placing Li Luo's letter into a compartment of her backpack, then swept her arm across the desk to gather the other envelopes and shoved them all in at once.

Xu Youyu in the front row did much the same—she kept Li Luo's and Ying Chanxi's letters separate, while tossing the rest of the boys' letters randomly into her backpack.

Li Luo didn't bother with any of that—he'd received only four letters total, stuffed them into his backpack, then stood up with Ying Chanxi and went to bid farewell to Duan Qintian, the club president.

"Mm, go ahead if you have something to do." Duan Qintian nodded at the two, approving their request.

Meanwhile, Xu Youyu had finished packing her bag, greeted Duan Qintian, and walked out of the classroom.

At that exact moment, Qin Yawei suddenly stood up, walked over to Li Luo, and handed him an envelope.

"Take this," Qin Yawei said, glancing at Xu Youyu.

Li Luo blinked, took the vice president's envelope, still confused, and politely said, "Thank you, Senior Qin," as he received it under the watchful eyes of Ying Chanxi, Xu Youyu, and the rest of the class.

Beside him, Ying Chanxi silently stared at Qin Yawei for several seconds, said nothing, and turned to walk out of the classroom.

Then, amid the envious and jealous gazes of many boys, Li Luo followed Ying Chanxi out.