Chapter 104: What Kind of Teammate?

“Stop shaking, stop shaking! I’m still up here!” Li Zhe pounded the edge of the bed, his voice hoarse as he shouted.

“If you’re uncomfortable up there, just change your position! How about he’s on top and you’re underneath? See if that works!” Ren Jiaxuan teased as he watched them, laughing so hard his hands trembled.

He Jingxuan leaned against Ren Jiaxuan, frowning. “This is really bizarre. We just had a fight with Dong Yanyan yesterday, and today everything’s turned into this mess. Could it be that Song Mingcheng was right? Dong Yanyan is a little witch! She curses anyone who crosses her!”

Sweet Sweet was displeased to hear that. “Nonsense! My Fifth Miss isn’t that kind of person. Ren Ge, what exactly happened that Saturday? My Fifth Miss went back crying like a flood, wouldn’t say a word, just said it was haunted. Did you two stop fighting that day?”

He Jingxuan suddenly understood and laughed. “So the rumor about the fourth floor being haunted came from her! It’s all been you two causing trouble these past few days. Now I get what’s going on.”

“Jiaxuan, look how much Yanyan cares about you. That day she ran crying all the way from the fourth floor to the first; I bet a lot of people saw. She was defending you,” Li Zhe said, lying on the bed and smiling.

“She’s defending Jiaxuan, and look what we’ve ended up like! If she really got angry, would we even be alive?” He Jingxuan exaggeratedly shook his head, tilting it in thought. “You guys should go to a temple to pray and drive away the bad luck. Which temple would be good?”

“Shut up! Don’t you dare talk about my Yanyan. Believe it or not, I’ll kick you out in one go!” Ren Jiaxuan fiercely waved his un-injected hand, using both hands and feet to try to kick He Jingxuan off the bed. He Jingxuan responded with the same, and they wrestled.

Sweet Sweet jumped over, flustered, pressing down on the two hands with needles, hopping in place and scolding, “Stop fighting, you’ll bruise yourselves!”

Ren Jiaxuan pulled out the needle in one motion. He Jingxuan screamed in pain, “You bastard! Why’d you pull out my needle?! It’s bleeding! It’s bleeding!”

Sweet Sweet hurriedly pressed on his hand to stop the bleeding.

Ren Jiaxuan reached out again to pull out his own needle, but Sweet Sweet quickly stopped him. He Jingxuan was quick and managed to pull out Ren Jiaxuan’s needle as well. Ren Jiaxuan raised his hand and looked at the bleeding wound on his hand.

“There’s still half a bottle of medicine left! Let me see if your fever’s gone down. If not, you’ll need another injection, which is such a hassle!” Sweet Sweet touched He Jingxuan’s forehead, then her own, then found a thermometer from the desk and clamped it on him.

“Sweet Sweet, check mine too,” Ren Jiaxuan shamelessly pleaded.

Sweet Sweet gave him an eye roll. “Go bother someone else! I’m not in the mood for you!”

“If you won’t pay attention to me, fine! I’ll go find Yanyan!” Ren Jiaxuan said as he scrambled to the upper bunk to find his clothes.

Sweet Sweet kindly reminded him from below, “Ren Ge, I only treat you like family, so listen to me. Don’t go find her now. This morning, both she and Song Mingcheng were called in for talks with the teacher. After class, their seats were moved apart. She sat by the wall all afternoon, didn’t say a word, didn’t eat—just spaced out. She’s probably full of anger with nowhere to vent. If you go now, you’ll just be walking into a trap.”

Ren Jiaxuan froze. “What? The teacher called her in? You’re kidding, right?”

He Jingxuan shrugged with a smirk. “It’s over. This is starting to look like something we did. Even if you jumped in the Yellow River, you couldn’t clear your name.”

Sweet Sweet looked confused. “Wasn’t it you and the teacher who dealt with Song Mingcheng and her?”

Ren Jiaxuan gave a bitter smile. “Do you think Ren Ge is that kind of person?”

Sweet Sweet laughed. “I think you are! Otherwise, with so many couples at our school, how come only they got reported? Too much of a coincidence! I don’t buy it. I advise you to change your target. You definitely don’t have a chance with the Fifth Miss.”

“Sweet Sweet, just because you said that, I can’t change targets. What kind of person would I be then?” Ren Jiaxuan laughed.

Sweet Sweet smiled back. “You just don’t understand her. If she likes someone, she loves them with all her heart. If she hates someone, she won’t even glance at them. Whether she gets along with someone can be decided by just a word. You know Yang Xiaohai from our class? They used to be close, like brothers, but suddenly they fell out and didn’t speak for two months. And Liu Siying—she and the Fifth Miss were like inseparable friends, almost like sharing a bed. But after that Xu Cheng incident, the Fifth Miss barely talks to her anymore. That day when you embarrassed her in front of our classmates, she was heartbroken. No matter how angry she is at you, she won’t curse you in front of others. It chills her to the bone.”

“That’s with others! With me, she makes an exception! You just watch!” Ren Jiaxuan sniffed sharply, quickly put on his clothes, jumped off the bed, slipped on his shoes, and rushed out.

He Jingxuan shrugged helplessly.

“Old Six, hurry and bring him back! He hasn’t even washed his face! Going out looking so messy will ruin our broadcasting class’s image!” Li Zhe shouted from above.

He Jingxuan pretended not to hear.

*

The two afternoon classes passed quickly. As soon as the math teacher left, the students erupted into cheers and commotion.

Dong Yanyan sat at her desk with a furrowed brow, helplessly staring at the advanced math problems in her workbook. She finally understood the meaning of the saying: “Don’t fear a godlike opponent; fear a teammate who’s a pig.”

For the entire morning and afternoon, Leng Yue kept hurrying her on without stop! She had just crawled out from the ocean of waveform graphs and various circuits, her mind still swirling with resistors, capacitors, and transistors. Then the math teacher piled on a bunch of homework, making her realize that the gentle and diligent sister in the dorm actually believed in a philosophy of utilitarianism when it came to studying.

“Fifth Miss, you’ve only managed to do two problems all this time! When will we be able to go shopping? It’ll be dinner soon!” Leng Yue said softly but with a hint of impatience as she tapped the desk.

For the first time, Dong Yanyan felt an urge to smack her! Her mind was about to explode, and she was still nagging!

“Sis, how about you watch some TV first? You keep pushing me and I’ve got no ideas left,” Dong Yanyan said, grabbing her head in frustration.

Leng Yue understood and sighed wistfully. “Ah, Old Three was so much better.”

“If she’s so good, go find her. She’s not far,” Dong Yanyan smiled.

Leng Yue glanced back then looked disappointed again, whispering, “But she’s got good grades. I don’t want to interfere.”

Dong Yanyan turned around and saw that indeed, the top students in class were gathered in a circle around Liu Ying and Song Mingcheng, heads close together, fiercely discussing some problems.

She knew she couldn’t join their discussion. Those problems had dozens of solutions; she didn’t understand why they bothered with so many when one would do for the exam. It was just brains idling away!

Looking around her, Liu Qiang and Xin Ran sat in front, Gu Xiaohan and Du Xinmeng beside, and behind were Leng Haoyang and Yang Ruining—all eagerly waiting for her homework.

She finally tasted the feeling of standing out from the crowd—provided she could finish the homework quickly and be ready to explain it to them, just like Liu Ying always did! The pressure was like a mountain. o(╯□╰)o

She glanced at Liu Siying not far away, sitting alone with headphones on.

“Why don’t you borrow some from her first? She’d be happy to lend them,” Dong Yanyan said awkwardly.

Leng Haoyang frowned. “Dong Yanyan, can you get these problems done for me? You’re wasting our time, and that’s wasting life, got it?”

“Exactly, you’ve held us up all afternoon. I’m not waiting anymore. I’ll find you after dinner!” Gu Xiaohan complained, tapping her desk and carrying a hot water bag as she left.

Dong Yanyan was utterly speechless. She lowered her head, put on her headphones, and resigned herself to finishing the homework. She’d skip dinner if she had to. Actually, she liked this feeling—being needed was better than being abandoned.

“Yanyan, so you’re here! I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”

Someone touched her hand. She casually tucked her short hair behind her ear, shook her aching arm, and smiled helplessly. “Wait, almost done!”

Minutes later, she finished the last advanced math problem, exhaled deeply, and generously tossed the workbook to Liu Qiang in front, who happily accepted it with thanks.

She stretched and turned, only to find someone sitting beside her... Yes! The piglike teammate was taken care of, but now the godlike opponent had appeared again! These past days, he had been constantly lowering his standards in front of her; she hardly recognized him anymore.

“Excuse me, I need to get through,” she said flatly.

Ren Jiaxuan looked momentarily embarrassed but quickly recovered, smiling gently. “Yanyan, I’m here to apologize. I really didn’t mean it that day. I don’t know how you misunderstood me. Please don’t be mad.”

Dong Yanyan smiled indifferently. “I’ve thought it over calmly these past days. Maybe I overreacted. I was really scared at that moment, and I didn’t mean to hit you. Sorry.” She had thought about it later—back when she was bored, she sparred with Xu Cheng, who was the weakest among the boys. Still, within two moves, he knocked her down with no chance to fight back. If Ren Jiaxuan had intended to molest her, she wouldn’t have been able to hit him so hard as to give him a swollen head. So at worst, he was a guy who tried to kiss her and failed. But what really upset her now wasn’t that incident—it was that he cursed her in front of classmates and even tried to hit her. Such a shady man made her feel unsafe.