Chapter 9

Jiang Nuan frantically shot meaningful looks at Song Hanyue. “Hanyue…”
Huo Jing, ever the bystander, chimed in with a smirk, “What’s wrong with the Math Olympiad Club? Just because you’re jealous over Wen Shuran doesn’t mean Yun Zhuoqing would be into him.”
Song Hanyue clenched her teeth, while Yun Zhuoqing considered for a moment before replying evenly, “I’ve made up my mind. Math Olympiad it is.”
Song Hanyue’s face instantly turned icy. She let out a cold laugh. “You’re all so obsessed with chasing after Wen Shuran, you must be blind.”
Huo Jing’s face darkened. He warned, “Song Hanyue, don’t go around projecting your ideas on everyone else.”
Without looking back, Song Hanyue stormed off.
Jiang Nuan sighed helplessly and explained: “Don’t be mad, Qingqing. Hanyue’s not a bad person, it’s just…the Math Olympiad Club is kind of a special case. The president is Hanyue’s childhood friend, Senior Wen Shuran. But ever since he got a girlfriend, Hanyue’s been acting like this. Anytime someone mentions Math Olympiad, she flips out. Please don’t take it to heart.”
Yun Zhuoqing filled out her application form without even looking up. “I won’t.”
“Glad to hear it! I knew you were level-headed…” Jiang Nuan finally relaxed.
Yun Zhuoqing paused mid-sentence and looked up, “Actually, I’m not that patient. It’s just, she hasn’t done anything to hurt me.”
Jiang Nuan started to protest, not taking that about her temper seriously. “But…she did snap at you…”
“That’s no big deal.” Yun Zhuoqing genuinely wasn’t upset. She even had the time to offer a warm smile to the nervous Jiang Nuan.
“She’s the one who’s mad, not me.” Even if Song Hanyue had thrown a fit, she’d only said a few harmless things and hadn’t even gotten physical. To Yun Zhuoqing, it was no different from a kid pitching a tantrum, except actual kids usually won’t give up until they get their way. Song Hanyue had given up in record time; honestly, even children were harder to handle.
Huo Jing, who had been quietly watching the whole time, found himself ever more intrigued.
Most people, when blasted like that by Song Hanyue, would at least feel embarrassed if not angry. Yun Zhuoqing’s calm, even generous, response was absolutely unique. Huo Jing didn’t know her that well, but everyone in their circle knew of Song Hanyue. Before this, the only one who’d ever been this tolerant toward her was Wen Shuran.
But Wen Shuran was insane. Yun Zhuoqing was not.
Once Yun Zhuoqing decided on the Math Olympiad Club, there was no turning back, besides, according to the info packet, it was the club with the fewest members. Fewer people meant less drama, which was exactly why she’d picked it.
After school, Yun Zhuoqing took her club application form and went to Math Olympiad Club alone. She ambled up the empty stairwell, but her luck that day was especially bad, two voices, drifting down from above, became impossible to ignore.
“You want to break up with me? Did I do something wrong?” the girl’s voice broke, pleading through tears.
The other voice was cold, almost heartless, talking to her like a stranger, not a boyfriend: “I’m sorry.”
The girl sobbed twice, “You, you want to break up, but do they agree? Don’t forget, your Wen family only got that project because of us. If you dump me, do you think your parents would be okay with it?”
Then came a long, heavy silence.
Yun Zhuoqing wasn’t the type to eavesdrop, especially not on something that already sounded way too complicated for a background character like her to get tangled up in. She didn’t hesitate, just stepped out of the stairwell, perfectly happy to wait for the elevator up to the top floor.
Which meant Yun Zhuoqing didn’t hear the girl’s voice collapse into heartbreak after she left: “Why do you treat me like this? You used to smile at me all the time! Wasn’t that your thing with me?”
Nor did she hear Wen Shuran’s cold, detached reply: “Even if they disagree, I’m breaking up with you either way.”
As if he was a stranger to the drama playing out in her words.
Yun Zhuoqing waited for the elevator from the first floor. By the time she finally rode up to the sixth floor, enough time had passed for everything downstairs to change shape.
And so, completely unprepared, Yun Zhuoqing walked right out of the elevator and almost collided with Wen Shuran, who was standing there waiting to go back down.
Yun Zhuoqing kept her composure as if nothing had happened. She barely spared Wen Shuran a glance, she’d always been good at not letting her eyes wander where they shouldn’t.
Wen Shuran, though, frowned slightly.
If he remembered the timing right, the elevator had paused for a moment on the fifth floor. But, as far as he knew, none of the student clubs on five met today, and only that one girl had left. If she was headed for the sixth floor, she wouldn’t have stopped at five at all.
Unless, maybe, she’d gotten on at the fifth to ride up one floor to six.
Wen Shuran lowered his gaze, thinking back to that moment, after he announced the breakup, when there’d been a quiet pause. He was almost sure he’d heard faint footsteps.
He glanced at Yun Zhuoqing’s retreating figure; she slipped right into the Math Olympiad Club room at that moment.
Yun Zhuoqing carried her application in, nodding to the club staff and another applicant who, like her, was here to hand in paperwork. It was the start of sophomore year, so new faces weren’t unusual, though it did highlight just how dead this club was. Apart from the two of them, no one else was there to apply.
The guy sitting inside seemed grateful for any sign of life, enthusiastically greeting them both, even Yun Zhuoqing, as plain as could be: “Hey there, here to join Math Olympiad too? Come on in! New Class 10 girls like you have great taste, and this guy too!”
The other applicant kept silent. The club boy looked awkward, throwing Yun Zhuoqing a desperate glance for help.
Yun Zhuoqing thought it over, then answered honestly: “I’m not a first-year. I’m a junior.”
That left the boy floundering in even more awkwardness; he forced a dry laugh. “Oh, so, you’re not a new student, huh? Looks like we’re in the same year, then.”
“Wait, then you’re the transfer student? The one from Class A?” The boy’s gears finally clicked into place.
The silent one suddenly looked up, staring at Yun Zhuoqing’s face, as if to confirm something.
Yun Zhuoqing nodded.
Since neither visitor seemed like a chatterbox, the club boy didn’t waste time. He handed them test papers. “Welcome! But just so you know, club policy: everyone’s gotta do a quick test so we can get a sense of your level. I’m sure you both love Math Olympiad or you wouldn’t be here, no pressure, it’s got some tough questions and some easy ones. Passing is the minimum, but it’s not hard.”
What happened if you didn’t pass? He left that part hanging.
Truth was, every year loads of kids tried to join, and most were only here for Wen Shuran. To keep random girls from joining just for the club president, everyone had to pass the test. Accomplished its purpose, too, more than a few lovesick girls flunked and got weeded out.
This year, since Wen Shuran somehow ended up with a girlfriend, there weren’t as many fangirls lining up. But this transfer student, apparently out of the loop, charged right in anyway. The club boy mentally sighed, finally, a new girl this year, but odds were she’d be rejected too.
He knew Yun Zhuoqing was a special-admit student. So what? The last one who tried for Math Olympiad flunked, too. Good grades didn’t guarantee Math Olympiad skill, most special-admit students came from poor backgrounds with little training, so failing the club test was routine.
And honestly, Yun Zhuoqing seemed more average than the last one. At least that girl had a nice face, but Wen Shuran had been just as strict.
The club boy could only pin his hopes on the other applicant now.
The test lasted an hour. When he saw Yun Zhuoqing finish ten minutes early, his hope for this year evaporated completely, and soon after, the boy named Yun Gu put his pen down too.
Both of them looked utterly relaxed. The club boy all but tore his hair out, looked like he wouldn’t recruit a single soul this year.
Yun Zhuoqing and Yun Gu left together. In the elevator, Yun Gu, quiet until now, suddenly spoke: “Have you met your new deskmate yet?”
Yun Zhuoqing stared straight ahead, not answering.
He hadn’t said her name, how would she know if he was talking to her or just talking to himself?
Yun Gu stared at the back that somehow managed to be quieter than him, then snorted and stepped out as soon as the doors slid open.
“Your deskmate’s a total psycho. If you’re smart, you’ll steer clear.” His tone, for all its warning, was laced with provocation, like he couldn’t wait to see Yun Zhuoqing crash and burn.
Yun Zhuoqing didn’t respond.
Yun Gu had never been flat-out ignored this badly in his life, but it didn’t put him off. He pressed on: “She’s got a twisted personality. Everyone falls for her whole innocent act, but I see right through her. Just about everyone in this school is an idiot, they only trust what they see, never what’s right in front of their noses. I never bother talking to morons like that. Or are you one of those idiots too?”
He was a little shorter than Yun Zhuoqing, tilting his chin up to glare at her, determined to get some kind of reaction.
Yun Zhuoqing sighed, “You really are a ray of sunshine.”
Yun Gu was floored by her assessment. “Me? Sunny?”
He’d been called sullen, brooding, even zombie-like. But “cheerful”? That was a first.
His cheeks flushed, maybe from anger. “You, I try to warn you, and you just insult me!”
And with that, he stormed off without waiting for Yun Zhuoqing to explain.
Yun Zhuoqing had no intention of explaining, anyway. She let him run off without a glance, not noticing how he slowed down, then sped up again in a huff when it was clear she wasn’t going to chase after him.
Yun Gu thought he was being ridiculous. Why was he spilling all this to someone he’d met twice? Sure, that crazy girl was bad news, but she was good at playing innocent; if she heard he was talking trash about her, who knew what revenge she’d cook up?
Had he gone completely nuts today?
At her own pace, Yun Zhuoqing strolled towards the dorms, the setting sun bathing Yuying High’s campus in warm gold. She wasn’t about to miss out on scenery like this.
But wow, arguments seemed to be everywhere today. As Yun Zhuoqing neared the classroom building, shouting caught her ear again.
No surprise, this place thrived on melodrama.
This time, Yun Zhuoqing recognized a familiar voice.
“...I told you already, we’re just friends. I don’t like him!”
“I don’t believe you! Then why did he break up with me, huh? It’s gotta be because of you, you must’ve said something to him to make him dump me!”
“You really don’t know why he broke up with you? You don’t remember how you two even got together?” Song Hanyue’s voice was growing edgier by the second.
“...Then why now? Why didn’t he dump me before? Why did he do it today? I bet you went and talked to him, I bet you pushed him to do it!” The other girl was sounding more and more sure of herself.
“I did not!” Song Hanyue was about to lose it. She had no idea which cosmic force decided she should take the fall for Wen Shuran’s mess, his drama, his consequences, all dumped on her head. It was absurd. She hadn’t even talked to Wen Shuran in over a month! He could have dumped his girlfriend a month ago and Hanyue would still get blamed somehow, but come on, she hadn’t seen him at all since school started!
Yun Zhuoqing walked right on by, starting to second-guess herself. Should she really have joined the Math Olympiad Club? It was like ever since she signed up, trouble kept finding her. But wasn’t her whole point in joining to avoid drama?
Maybe... she should go find that club guy and say she changed her mind? He hadn’t exactly seemed eager for her to join. If she quit now, it probably wouldn’t even register for him.
“Yun Zhuoqing!”
Yun Zhuoqing kept her poker face, not missing a step.
“Don’t pretend you can’t hear me, Yun Zhuoqing, I see you!” Song Hanyue called after her, frustrated. Normally she wouldn’t call out twice, but she was desperate to dump off the drama Wen Shuran had landed her with. Holding back her irritation, she yelled again.
Yun Zhuoqing realized she couldn’t walk away from this one and stopped.
“She’s the new transfer student this semester, we hardly know each other, she wouldn’t lie for me. Yun Zhuoqing, I haven’t even seen Wen Shuran since term started, and you haven’t seen him in our class, right?” Song Hanyue stared Yun Zhuoqing down, like she’d die if the answer was “no.”
Yun Zhuoqing flicked a glance at the other girl with tears in her eyes, understanding that Song Hanyue just wanted to put an end to this. But she also knew, trying to convince someone who already thinks you’re guilty? Impossible.
Still, she went along and nodded: “That’s right.”