Chapter 4
#Xuezhang, can you really tell the difference between a secret admirer and an assassin?#
The list of ten people was instantly filtered down by four. Yuan Man really wanted to applaud his own brilliant reasoning skills!
The names and classes of the remaining six people were earnestly copied into a notebook by Yuan Man.
Among the six, there were two Grade 1 junior girls, three Grade 2 classmates, and the last one was a Grade 3 xuejie.
It was just that…
“I don’t know a single one of these girls…” Yuan Man practically had the word dumbfounded written on his face.
Xu Jingyou, who hadn’t spoken for a while, finally opened his mouth. His expression was gloomy, and his tone wasn’t great either. “What, did you think the person who wrote you the love letter was a classmate sitting right next to you?”
“Yeah!” Yuan Man said self-righteously. “I don’t know them, but they unilaterally know me. That’s a bit too unfair. We’ve never had contact before, so why on earth do they have a crush on me?”
At this point, the boy paused, touching his own face with a mix of shyness and unconcealable pride. “Alright, I admit I do have a bit of beauty. If they fell for me because of my external appearance, I suppose that’s excusable…”
Xu Jingyou almost laughed out of anger. He interrupted him, “Xuezhang, do you actually understand what a secret crush is?”
“?”
“A secret crush has nothing to do with the person being crushed on. From beginning to end, it is the crusher’s solo performance.”
Xu Jingyou had never been this rash before. Perhaps he was truly dizzy with anger, causing him to discard his disguise and recklessly pour out the words hidden in the bottom of his heart.
“Every time they brush past you on campus, every time they search for your figure on the playground, every time they watch you play-fighting with friends in the hallway… They didn’t participate in any of these things. From beginning to end, they hid to the side, watching silently as a bystander.
“Do you think they lack the courage to walk up to you?
“No—it’s because they don’t want to cause you trouble. That is why they decided to treat this matter as a secret belonging only to themselves, tasting the bitterness and sweetness alone.”
But after saying it… he regretted it.
Because Yuan Man’s eyes instantly lit up. He immediately leaned in, firing off questions like a machine gun. “Wow, you understand the mind of a secret admirer so well! Did you have a secret crush too?”
“…”
“Who is it? Who is it? Is it a classmate in your class? Tell me, come on, tell me! My lips are sealed, I absolutely won’t tell anyone!” Yuan Man grabbed his arm and shook it back and forth, looking like he wouldn’t give up until he got the gossip, completely failing to notice that his poor xuedi was about to crumble.
Xu Jingyou clenched his back molars before peeling Yuan Man off his arm.
“Listen to me. The key point of a secret crush lies in the word ‘secret.’ If they walked up to you, it wouldn’t be a secret crush anymore.”
Yuan Man pouted. “But the behaviors you just described—hiding in the dark to peek at me, silently watching my every move—it doesn’t sound like they have a crush on me.”
Xu Jingyou: “?”
Yuan Man’s eyes darted around, checking left and right to make sure no one was watching them. Only then did he cover his mouth with his hand, lean in close to Xu Jingyou, and whisper nervously, “—It sounds like they want to assassinate me.”
Xu Jingyou: “…Yuan Man, get out.”
…
Xu Jingyou originally thought that after Yuan Man got the borrower list, he would settle down for a while and stop coming to brush up his presence and pluck at Xu Jingyou’s heartstrings.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he arrived at school the next day, that figure appeared before his eyes again—and this time, he appeared in his classroom, in his seat!
The boy about to step into the class stiffened his expression, took a step back out of the classroom, and looked up at the metal class sign hanging on the door.
Correct, Grade 1 Class 3, not Grade 2 Class 3.
He looked into the classroom again. The seat by the window in the sixth row was originally his. But now, a boy with a dimple was sitting in his seat, his uniform jacket unzipped, legs crossed and bouncing, looking as if every joint in his body was temporarily installed—clattering and loose, without a shred of seriousness.
Yuan Man was clearly acting like the king of the mountain, yet he didn’t seem like a hooligan at all, only making people feel he was approachable and interesting. He was surrounded three layers deep by people—a group of juniors who had long admired him were gathered around, fighting to talk to him.
“Xuezhang Yuan Man, who are you looking for?”
“Do you really know Xu Jingyou?”
“Can I add you on QQ? Can I ask you questions if I don’t understand the homework?”
“Xuezhang, do you play Honor of Kings? Let’s team up next time.”
“Xuezhang, do you remember me? Before I moved, I lived in the same neighborhood as you. I always saw you on the way to cram school…”
You say a sentence, she says a sentence.
What should have been the morning reading time had turned into Yuan Man’s fan meet-and-greet. He seemed born to be a magnet; wherever he appeared, everyone couldn’t help but lean toward him.
Xu Jingyou watched coldly as they fawned over him.
A bunch of suck-ups.
Do they even understand what they’re sucking up to?
The boy strode into the class. He was tall, seemingly suppressing even the lights on the ceiling. His figure pressed down heavily like a mountain, casting a shadow over the group of fawning students.
Everyone shivered simultaneously: Strange, why does the back of my neck feel prickly?
Yuan Man, surrounded by the crowd, was the first to see him. His eyes lit up, and he raised his hand to greet him. “Xu Jingyou, you’re finally here! I’ve been waiting for you for ages!”
Xu Jingyou asked him, “Why are you here? It’s morning reading time, why aren’t you in your classroom?”
Yuan Man raised his right arm, shaking the red armband on it ostentatiously. “Here, acting on imperial orders, walking before the Emperor!”
Four large characters were printed on the red armband: Discipline Committee.
Their school had a rule: students arrived at seven o’clock, and during morning reading, “Discipline Inspection Committee Members” would go to each class to inspect attendance. This week, it just so happened that someone Yuan Man knew was the committee member. He had sweet-talked and scammed the red armband from them, running over here to “abuse power for personal gain.”
Yuan Man jumped up from the seat, bypassed the others, and sidled up to Xu Jingyou, babbling, “What a coincidence! Not only are our class numbers the same, but our seats are the same too. I used to sit in this exact spot! I wonder if it’s the same desk.
“Our school’s desks are always wobbly here or there. I picked for a long time back then to find one with four legs of equal length. Too bad we couldn’t take the desks with us when we changed classrooms.
“However, to prevent anyone from taking my treasure desk, I carved my name under the desk drawer. If this is really the same desk, just feel here—”
He grabbed Xu Jingyou’s hand, gesturing for him to feel under the desk drawer, but Xu Jingyou flung his hand away abruptly.
The boy looked at him, brows slightly furrowed behind the lenses. “Xuezhang, what exactly are you here to find me for? Didn’t you already get the borrower list?”
“Shh, shh, shh!” Terrified that someone would hear his little secret, Yuan Man forcefully dragged Xu Jingyou out of the classroom, leaving the other xuedis and xuejies behind.
They didn’t know that the moment the classroom door closed, the class instantly exploded. Everyone was loudly discussing how on earth they knew each other, and why the most popular xuezhang was friends with the class’s most reclusive straight-A student.
In the corner of the stairwell, with no one around, it was perfect for whispering.
The sound of morning reading drifting from some unknown classroom, accompanied by the campus’s first blooming crabapple flowers, landed lightly on their shoulders.
Amidst the scent of crabapple flowers, Yuan Man put his hands on his hips, speaking first to gain the upper hand. “Xu Jingyou, what kind of person do you take me for? I genuinely consider you a friend. Did you think I would just use you once and throw you away?”
“…” The boy’s expression faltered slightly. “I didn’t mean that, I thought—”
“You’re so useful, I definitely can’t just use you once!” Yuan Man suddenly changed his tune, fishing a small notebook out of his uniform pocket and pointing to the names on it. “I can’t investigate so many secret admirers all by myself. You have to help me!”
Xu Jingyou: “?”
How can someone talk about “using” people so self-righteously?
He laughed in anger. “Why should I help you investigate your secret admirers?”
Yuan Man: “Because we’re friends!”
“Did you ever notify me about the fact that we are friends?”
“Do I need to specially notify you? Since you helped me, you are my friend; since you are my friend, then you have to continue helping me!”
Xu Jingyou swayed on his feet, feeling confused by the circular logic. His brilliant mind, which he took pride in, turned into a ball of yarn tangled by a cat in front of Yuan Man.
He held his forehead. “…Wait, wait. I think there’s something wrong with your logic.”
Yuan Man waved his hand grandly. “We can talk about logic later, let’s talk about the investigation first!”
Xu Jingyou: “…”
He had never seen such a shameless person.
The saddest part was, this incredibly shameless person was his “hero.”
Seeing that Xu Jingyou had been persuaded (in reality, he was just too angry to speak), Yuan Man hurriedly tapped the small notebook. “Let’s hurry up and get to business! I used my own connections yesterday to ask around about these six girls, and I’ve already preliminarily eliminated three.
“This girl is a celebrity fangirl, she definitely won’t look at classmates around her, pass; this girl has a boy she’s ambiguous with, pass; this girl is focused only on studying and has no intention of puppy love, also pass… Now there are only three left. Look, isn’t victory within reach?”
Three names on the notebook had been crossed out one by one, leaving the last three names neatly aligned.
[Yang Meng, Grade 2 (Class 13).
Shen Xilan, Grade 3 (Class 8).
Feng Lin Huijuan, Grade 1 (Class 4).]
Yuan Man pointed to the first name. “Let’s start with this one! Yang Meng, Grade 2 Class 13, average grades, President of our school’s Anime Club.”
He looked up at Xu Jingyou and bumped him with his shoulder. “I’ve decided! —You go undercover in the Anime Club!”
Xu Jingyou thought he heard wrong. “…Who?”
Yuan Man: “You.”
Xu Jingyou: “Why not you?”
Yuan Man looked at him strangely. “How could you ask such a silly question? If I go to her club, that would be too obvious. That would startle the snake in the grass!”
Xu Jingyou: “…”
What do you mean ‘startle the snake’? Can Yuan Man actually tell the difference between a secret admirer and an assassin?
Xu Jingyou’s hand reached behind his back and clenched, reminding himself to cruelly refuse. “Xuezhang, please find someone better qualified for this matter. The only two anime I’ve seen are Doraemon and Crayon Shin-chan. I wouldn’t even pass the Anime Club interview.”
“Aiya, it’s okay, I can give you special training!” Yuan Man had already made full preparations and actively reached out his hand to him. “I have lots of manga books at home—Xu Jingyou, come to my house after school!”
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