Chapter 77: Whatever You Say Is Fine

“And also, seatmate, from the look of you, I bet your grades are pretty good, huh?”

“They're okay, not that great…”

“No worries, definitely better than mine.” He Shi plopped down into his seat with a carefree air, grinning at Chen Ziyi. “Take care of me, seatmate. From now on, I’ll be leaving my homework in your capable hands.”

Chen Ziyi was already a little dizzy from his barrage of words, nodding blankly. “Alright.”

Her first impression of this new classmate called He Shi was: this kid must be a chatterbox. His mouth never stopped, he talked so fast she genuinely couldn’t follow, only catching the final line: “Take care of me, seatmate.”

And just like that, muddle-headed, Chen Ziyi ended up sitting with He Shi for a whole week.

The experience, in fact, was quite pleasant.

Aside from He Shi pestering her every morning for homework to copy, aside from him occasionally distracting her when she was trying to pay attention in class—he was actually very considerate. Whenever her water bottle was nearly empty, he was always the first to notice and would rush off to refill it with hot water for her. Every now and then, he’d tell her jokes she’d never heard before, making her laugh out loud.

At first, Chen Ziyi wondered if he was being a little too nice—maybe he liked her? But every time he fetched her water, he’d say, “Let me do it, you’re my lifesaver for always lending me your homework. Think of this as my way of repaying you. You give me homework to copy, I’ll make sure you always have hot water.” And every time before telling a joke, he’d declare, “Hey, I heard a hilarious joke today. Let me tell it to you. If you can keep a straight face and not laugh, I’ll admit defeat.” Her suspicions would evaporate, and she even thought that having a fun boy as a friend wasn’t so bad after all.

But today, something unexpected happened—Yan Yi suddenly returned.

When he came back, he found that everything had changed.

His seatmate now sat next to another guy.

Three big question marks seemed to float above Yan Yi’s head as he asked Chen Ziyi, “Who’s this?”

Chen Ziyi replied, “He Shi.”

…?

“I mean, why is he sitting in my seat?”

Seeing Yan Yi had arrived, He Shi stood up and extended a hand. “Yan the superstar, right? Glad to meet you. But this is my seat now.”

“Isn’t it only fair to respect first come, first served? This is my seat, you’re sitting here now, and I’m not allowed to ask about it?”

“You can ask.”

“Then would you mind explaining?”

He Shi was still searching for words when Lu Yiqi stood up. “Brother Yan Yi.”

With Lu Yiqi stepping in, Yan Yi’s expression naturally softened.

She explained, “To be honest, I’m not entirely sure of all the reasons, but He Shi mentioned it to me. Since you’re often away for work and rarely at school, your seat was empty, so we let He Shi take it for now. After all, he attends class every day. It’s not like we’re abandoning you. It’s just that, well, He Shi isn’t exactly enthusiastic about studying, and Ziyi’s grades are pretty good, so we thought if they were seatmates, she could keep an eye on him and help him with his studies…”

She felt she could go on, but Yan Yi cut her off with a quiet “Mm.”

Mm? What does “Mm” mean?

Lu Yiqi glanced at Yan Yi.

She saw his expression had completely softened; he was even smiling a little at her. “No need to explain, whatever you say is fine. I’m hardly ever at school anyway.”