Chapter 116: The Cute Sweetheart
Translator: Noodletown Translated Editor: Noodletown Translated
Hao Ren sat up, and Zhao Yanzi walked out of the pavilion toward the cafeteria.
The four classes in the morning had all ended, and the students from the Middle School Department and the High School Department rushed from the Academic Buildings toward the cafeteria.
With P.E. as the last class, Zhao Yanzi got off earlier. When she led Hao Ren into the cafeteria, the line was still short.
“Take this and find seats over there!” Zhao Yanzi tossed her sportswear to Hao Ren before pointing toward the seats near the window.
With her soft sportswear in his hand, Hao Ren could smell the slight fragrance on it. He walked to the area Zhao Yanzi was pointing at and sat down to wait.
Seeing Zhao Yanzi’s petite figure in the line with her pigtails trailing down her neck, Hao Ren thought back to what was going on and found the situation incredible.
Sometimes they fought like cats and dogs, but now, he has sneaked into her school and was having lunch with her…… A couple of minutes later, with two silver platters in hand, Zhao Yanzi walked over and sat across from Hao Ren.
At this moment, students began to pour into the cafeteria, and the lines suddenly got much longer.
Since Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi got to the cafeteria several minutes earlier, they avoided the trouble.
Zhao Yanzi was about to pick up her chopsticks and eat when a thought occurred to her. She picked up her platter and walked around the table to sit beside Hao Ren shoulder to shoulder.
“Oh, still need me as your shield?” Hao Ren saw through her trick.
“Since you are here, I shall make full use of you,” Zhao Yanzi told him, edging even closer to him.
The students in the cafeteria all wore the pale blue middle school uniforms or the black high school uniform. Hao Ren who didn’t belong here instantly stood out from the crowd.
Before long, all the students had noticed the outsider who was not old enough to be a teacher.
“Here, eat a piece of curry chicken,” noticing people’s attention on them, Zhao Yanzi warmed up with her role-playing. She put a piece of chicken onto Hao Ren’s platter intimately.
Hao Ren has had many meals in her home, and she had never done this before. Her motive of this sudden intimacy was apparent.
“Oh, Zhao Yanzi has a boyfriend… Not so handsome… Even Mingye in Class Three is more handsome than him…”
“Who’s that guy? Fatty, do you know him?”
“Isn’t Orange from Class Six in Grade 11 pursuing her? How come she suddenly has a boyfriend?”
“Is he from another school? How did he get in here? Which high school is he from? Hedgehog, you have a ton of friends. Ask them about him…”
Since there were a ton of the students there and the lines moved very slow, the gossip began to spread.
Zhao Yanzi’s choice of seats that were against the window offered everyone a clear view.
“Uncle, which high school did you attend?” while her shoulder touched Hao Ren’s, Zhao Yanzi asked him.
Her pigtails swayed slightly, and wisps of hair tickled Hao Ren’s neck.
“City North First High School,” Hao Ren answered her.
“Got it,” Zhao Yanzi busied herself with her lunch after that.
Suddenly a thought occurred to her and she said, “Oh, you have an excellent shooting skill.”
“We’ll have a basketball match next week, and I have been training every morning in the last while,” Hao Ren turned to look at her and asked, “Do you want to come and watch? It’s seven in the evening next Thursday. It won’t clash with your classes.”
“Since it won’t clash with my classes, I have no interest in it,” Hao Ren was speechless at Zhao Yanzi’s answer.
“Ok. If I have time, I’ll come and watch the match,” seeing Hao Ren’s disappointment, Zhao Yanzi relented.
“Good! It’s seven o’clock on Thursday. Can you find the stadium?” Hao Ren asked.
“What then? Will you pick me up?” Zhao Yanzi pouted slightly and said, “Since it’s your match, I’ll get my dad and mom to watch it together with me.”
“And then, you won’t have to do your homework on Thursday, right?” Hao Ren saw through her trick once again.
“Humph!” Zhao Yanzi poked the ends of her chopsticks into Hao Ren’s chest.
Her act was certainly interpreted as intimacy in the eyes of the students. The guys were filled with jealousy and envy while the girls were astonished at Zi’s blatant show. Zhao Yanzi, the center of the attention, was so bold that she brought her boyfriend into the school. After all, she was a student of Class Two! The first and second classes of every grade were the key classes where the students came from ordinary families but had excellent grades. Students usually referred to these classes as the “Ordinary Classes”.
As a student of the “Ordinary Class”, Zhao Yanzi was haughty and cute. She was admired by all the self-important guys.
Seeing the unfriendly glances cast his way, Hao Ren knew that they were Zhao Yanzi’s admirers, either publicly or secretly.
“It seems I, the to-be Fuma, have a lot of competitors. The middle-schoolers nowadays are well-grown, and a lot of them are almost 1.8 meters tall…” Hao Ren thought.
Seeing the rage in the guys’ eyes, Zhao Yanzi didn’t want to make trouble for Hao Ren. She dragged Hao Ren up and said, “We’re done. Let’s get out of here! Take the platters!”
Hao Ren grabbed Zhao Yanzi’s sportswear and draped it onto his shoulder, and this roused another wave of jealousy among the guys and confirmed the conjecture about their relationship.
After they walked the sink behind the cafeteria, Zhao Yanzi handed her platter to Hao Ren and said, “According to the school rules, we must wash our own platters. Here is my platter.”
Hao Ren saw some students who had finished lunch earlier washing their platters at the sink. With a glance at Zhao Yanzi, he dumped the leftovers into a barrel beside the sink before rinsing the platters.
He looked around and found that there were some student couples around, and the boys were all helping the girls wash their platters as a show of their affection.
“Well, it seems to be the unwritten tradition of their school. Zhao Yanzi is acknowledging me by letting me wash her platter….” Hao Ren thought while washing.
After rinsing them thoroughly, he put the clean platters into another barrel. The cafeteria would cleanse the platters again before sterilizing them; the school wanted the students to wash their own platters, so they would learn how to clean and won’t get too lazy.
Seeing the middle-schoolers leave the sinks while talking and laughing, Hao Ren felt as if he was back in his middle school days.
During the lunch break, the area around the cafeteria was full of students, and some teachers could be seen passing the place. Not daring to cross the line, Zhao Yanzi copied other student couples and walked close to Hao Ren instead of holding his hand.
However, walking together on this conservative campus with their hands touching occasionally was a loud declaration of their status.
The occasional touching of their hands gave Hao Ren a taste of temptation, but he was not bold enough to take Zhao Yanzi’s hand. After all, they were in her school.
Furthermore, Zhao Yanzi still called him “Uncle”, and it would be weird to hold her hand on the campus… Zhao Yanzi walked Hao Ren to the gate of the school, and he thought it was the end of their act as lovers. However, Zhao Yanzi said, “It’s still early. Walk with me to the shop near the school.”
As a half-boarding school, LingZhao Middle School opened its gate at lunch break, and the students could go out and eat at the nearby restaurant.
Right now, the gate was open, and Hao Ren walked out with the flow of students.
Once outside, he heaved a sigh of relief as he was finally out of the territory of the school.
Glancing at Zhao Yanzi walking alongside him, Hao Ren reached out and grabbed her smooth and soft hand.
Surprised, she turned to look at Hao Ren, but she didn’t shake his hand off. Instead, she dragged him to the small shop next to the school.
In the gift shop, Zhao Yanzi looked around the decorative trinkets while holding Hao Ren’s hand.
“Zi, is he your boyfriend?” some girls in the shop walked over and asked Zhao Yanzi curiously.
“Yeah,” Zhao Yanzi confirmed their conjecture.
The girls took the opportunity to check Hao Ren out, looking at him from his face to his feet and finally at their tightly held hands.
“Which grade is he in? He isn’t from our school, is he?” another girl asked Zhao Yanzi.
“He is in the Eleventh Grade, and he is from City North First High School!” Zhao Yanzi answered.
It dawned on Hao Ren why Zhao Yanzi had asked about which high school he went to. He was embarrassed to hear her degrade him from a second-year university student to a Grade 11 student.
The girls again turned their gazes to Hao Ren. Seeing his embarrassed expression, they teased, “Your boyfriend is quite shy!”
They thought Hao Ren was shy of being seen with his “girlfriend”, though he was actually embarrassed about the lie she told about him
“He’s just pretending to be shy! In fact, he is quite aggressive when he’s alone with me,” Zhao Yanzi told them.
Exasperated, Hao Ren tightened his grip on Zhao Yanzi’s hand as a warning.
“He looks bookish and must be a Tri-Merit Student. I’m surprised that you are into this type of guys,” another girl commented.
“Yeah. He looks like a good boy!” the other girls agreed.
“You are on the dot,” Hao Ren thought while looking at the girls who were gossiping.
“Well, stop gossiping. It’s his first time at our school, and I’m going to show him around!” Zhao Yanzi waved them away, though she hoped the girls would spread the word around.
With her swaying pigtails, she continued into the depth of the shop. In the cell phone straps zone, she let go of Hao Ren’s hand and began to peruse the displayed items.
“Which looks better? This one or that one?” finally, she picked up two different crystal straps and showed them to Hao Ren.
“The one to the left is more to your style,” Hao Ren gave her his opinion.
“Good! I’ll take this one!” pleased, Zhao Yanzi took the strap and led Hao Ren to the exit of the shop.
She stopped at the cashier.
Hao Ren glanced at her for a few seconds, and it dawned on him that she was waiting for him to pay for the strap.
“Little greedy girl, you even want me to pay for such a little thing,” Hao Ren thought as he dug out his wallet and paid for the straps.
They were back on the sun-lit pavement outside of the shop.
“Well, your mission is done. You can go now,” tugging her sportswear from Hao Ren’s shoulder, Zhao Yanzi waved him away.
Seeing the disapproval on Hao Ren’s face, she pouted and said, “I didn’t plan to use you; you came here on your own free will…”
Looking at her, Hao Ren thought for a moment and asked, “I did you a favor. Don’t you think I deserve a reward?”
“Reward?” Zhao Yanzi raised her bright eyes and asked, “What reward do you want?”
“Something…” Hao Ren blinked his eyes and said, “…better than holding hands.”
Zhao Yanzi curled her lips and gave him a disdainful look. She said directly, “Don’t talk in riddles! You just want a kiss!”
“Ugh…” Hao Ren was surprised that middle-school girls were so open nowadays.
He had meant to tease her, but Zhao Yanzi gestured to him and said, “Close your eyes!”
“Forget it; I was teasing! I’m going now,” startled, Hao Ren turned to go.
Zhao Yanzi grabbed his hand and said, “Close your eyes!”
“She intends to force me? In front of all the students coming and going?” Hao Ren thought.
“Close your eyes!” Zhao Yanzi urged him again before pinching him hard on his arm. Hao Ren grimaced at the pain.
Resigned, Hao Ren turned his back to the passersby and closed his eyes.
Zhao Yanzi placed her hands on his shoulders, and her slight breath was touching his neck…
“Keep your eyes closed!” Zhao Yanzi warned.
Hao Ren coughed a little and braced himself for whatever she planned to do to him.
Feeling her fingers fumbling around his neck for half a minute, Hao Ren couldn’t help but complain, “Are you done?”
“Stop bothering me! I need to go slow with this!” Zhao Yanzi retorted.
Hao Ren coughed again and stood there in embarrassment.
“Done!” Zhao Yanzi suddenly declared after a short while.
“Done?” Hao Ren was puzzled.
Seeing his puzzlement, Zhao Yanzi glared at him and yelled, “What did you think I was going to do?”
“I thought you were going to…”
Before he could finish, Zhao Yanzi’s small fist landed on his mouth.
Of course, there wasn’t much force in the punch. Her fist was a little soft, and it tempted Hao Ren to bite it.
Zhao Yanzi withdrew her fist with a slight blush and said, “I attached a pendant to your necklace. My dad gave it to me, and it could increase your cultivation speed by at least 10%. Since I have no use for it, you can take it.”
Hao Ren looked down and saw a thumb-sized waterdrop-shaped amber attached to the necklace that Su Han gave him.
