Chapter 955
IF150
Lin Yuehua gripped her trouser leg tightly, her body trembling slightly. She hated herself like this, so humble, so humiliated, so silently tortured.
But this was her only way out; she had no other choice.
People who have nothing but are not yet in dire straits often have an unusually high sense of self-esteem, because they have nothing left but so-called "pride." That is the least valuable thing, yet it is their last fig leaf. It is all they have.
Ms. Fan finally noticed the unnatural atmosphere in the class. She frowned slightly, perhaps sensing something, and wanted to quickly end the topic.
"it is good!"
Suddenly, a burst of applause broke the silence. Under everyone's watchful eyes, Li Zhuangsheng, his face slightly flushed, stood up and clapped loudly.
Everyone was stunned by Li Zhuangsheng's sudden outburst.
"Li Zhuangsheng, what are you doing?" Teacher Fan's eyes widened.
"I think what you said, Teacher Fan, is absolutely right!" Li Zhuangsheng clapped and nodded, a few tears welling up in his eyes. "We should take pride in unity and mutual assistance, and be ashamed of harming others for personal gain! As high school classmates, we should indeed help each other!"
"Oh, oh..." Teacher Fan nodded blankly, even he hadn't reacted yet, and stammered in agreement, "You're absolutely right."
"So I'll donate five hundred!" Li Zhuangsheng said loudly.
"Oh, oh, that's good, that's good... Li Zhuangsheng has a great spirit of unity and friendship, not bad, not bad." Teacher Fan nodded again.
"Yes, actually, the main thing is, I really like Lin Yuehua!" Li Zhuangsheng gritted his teeth, suppressing his shame, and said each word clearly.
"Whoosh!"
The class erupted in an uproar, and Lin Yuehua looked up in astonishment.
"I think Lin Yuehua is really cool. She's academically excellent, has a cool and aloof personality, is incredibly focused, and works very hard. And I think, 'A sword's sharpness comes from honing, and plum blossoms' fragrance from bitter cold,' she's practically like a female protagonist from a two-dimensional world—no misfortune can break her, so I…"
"Stop, stop, stop!" Teacher Fan couldn't stand it anymore and hurriedly stopped Li Zhuangsheng's "public confession." "Lin Yuehua is indeed very outstanding, and it's normal for you to like her. We should all learn from her and improve our grades!"
"Oh, oh, oh..." Li Zhuangsheng's face was burning hot, and he nodded vigorously.
Witnessing such an exciting scene, the whole class's attention was successfully shifted to Li Zhuangsheng. The strange and awkward atmosphere was swept away and replaced by teasing and mocking glances at Li Zhuangsheng.
"Please sit down first, we still have some things to discuss in our class meeting!"
Teacher Fan glared at Li Zhuangsheng, grinding his teeth in displeasure at Li Zhuangsheng's mischief. He remembered Li Zhuangsheng as a quiet and well-behaved student; he didn't know what had gotten into him. However, it wasn't a good time to argue with him.
Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Li Zhuangsheng nodded hesitantly and tactfully sat down.
"Um, don't get me wrong, I just mean, the kind of liking that comes with being a human being... she really is amazing."
Whether it was intentional to cover up the truth or an instinctive desire to explain, Li Zhuangsheng explained in a low voice as he sat down.
"Oh—" Several strange, incomprehensible sounds came from the people around.
Li Zhuangsheng's face was burning hot. He glanced furtively at his deskmate, only to find that the other person was also staring blankly at him.
The two looked at each other for a fleeting moment, then simultaneously looked away.
Was she blushing too? No way, could she have misunderstood too? Li Zhuangsheng sighed inwardly, then tried to reassure himself. She couldn't possibly misunderstand; he'd already said it was just human affection. Maybe she was touched that someone in the class liked her?
Please, please don't misunderstand, and please don't reject me, okay? If I get rejected by a girl I don't like, I might as well die!
As the initial excitement subsided, Li Zhuangsheng felt a pang of regret. Perhaps he could have calmed down and thought of a different way to help Lin Yuehua escape the awkward atmosphere.
He glanced at Lin Yuehua again, and Lin Yuehua was still looking at him, but this time she did not avoid his gaze. Instead, Li Zhuangsheng awkwardly ran away again.
At least she didn't seem as embarrassed as before. Sometimes people suffer because of loneliness.
Li Zhuangsheng sighed deeply. Oh well, I was just doing a good deed. At least I helped her.
Just thinking about the strange looks and even teasing from his classmates in the future made Li Zhuangsheng want to bang his head on the ground.
Ugh……
The class meeting proceeded as scheduled, but Li Zhuangsheng was somewhat restless. Although he didn't look up, he could still feel his deskmate's gaze occasionally drifting towards him.
Will she be angry about the embarrassing things I said in public? Hey, I was just trying to help you!
Li Zhuangsheng was restless and lost in thought. Lin Yuehua, who was beside him, would glance at him from time to time with a strange look in her eyes. Perhaps even she herself did not know what she was feeling.
She could tell that Li Zhuangsheng was helping her out of a difficult situation, pulling her out of that embarrassing predicament.
I just don't know what he meant by those words. They were really inexplicable, and he didn't explain them clearly.
Lin Yuehua thought to herself that the other person probably didn't like her as a girl, since even she could see that Zhu Zhixue had feelings for Li Zhuangsheng. She didn't think any boy would choose her over Zhu Zhixue, given that she was both fierce and unattractive.
Despite her low emotional intelligence, Lin Yuehua was very self-aware. She knew she was unpopular in class and that her personality was extremely unlikable. She had never been praised for any of her strengths outside of academics.
Of course, she didn't blame anyone; she had always felt indifferent, until this very moment.
Li Zhuangsheng must have been speaking from the heart. Even without romantic feelings, he still likes me as a human being, otherwise, why would he speak up for me?
So, there really are people who like me. Lin Yuehua thought to herself.
The orange-red sunset slowly spread, entering the field of vision and drawing a bright boundary in the classroom. Lin Yuehua turned her head, gazing absently at the slowly descending embers outside the window. Unbeknownst to her, the color gradually faded, two birds flew across the twilight, and a lonely, dark purple tinged the horizon.
As Teacher Fan's voice seemed to grow increasingly faint, Lin Yuehua vaguely came back to her senses, her image reflected in the blurry glass window.
She looked at her thin, ordinary reflection in the mirror, then glanced at Li Zhuangsheng beside her, and slightly adjusted her posture so that the two of them appeared to be very close.
She silently curved the corners of her mouth into a smile, then returned to her original sitting posture. What an ordinary face, and such a mean person, Lin Yuehua thought to herself. (End of Chapter)