Two days after the incident, Jiang Xueli was still in this state.
And the rumors seemed to be gradually spreading to other classes.
However, just as the system had said, as a completely neutral observer, Lin Zhengran had indeed noticed some strange details. Given enough time, it would be easy for him to figure out the truth.
The third and fourth periods of the morning were PE. The teacher had everyone get into pairs to do sit-ups.
Everyone was free to choose their own partner.
For the most part, the girls partnered with other girls, and the boys with other boys.
But as one might expect, even if there was an even number of girls, the last one left would rather partner with a boy than with Jiang Xueli.
She was, of course, left out. The PE teacher asked, "Has everyone found a partner?"
"Teacher! Jiang Xueli still hasn't found a partner!" a boy raised his hand, gloating. Everyone turned to look, their gazes strangely unsettling.
Jiang Xueli stood there, her face deathly pale.
The PE teacher asked curiously, "Jiang Xueli? You can't find a partner? If you can't, then just wait for the first round to finish and find someone to help you then."
Someone, eager to stir up trouble, shouted, "Teacher, no one's going to help her! She's a thief. None of us will partner with her."
Jiang Xueli explained in a panic, "I'm not! I'm not a thief!"
"Yes, you are!" "Right, how dare you say you're not?!" "The teacher even removed you from your post!"
Hearing the word "thief," the PE teacher recalled that there had indeed been such an incident in this class recently. But he didn't press the matter. "Don't discuss this during PE! We're only here to discuss sports!" The teacher looked at Jiang Xueli. "Thief or not, don't you have a single friend in this class?"
The teacher's stare made Jiang Xueli's eyes turn red. She felt like he was looking at her exactly how one would look at a thief.
But she couldn't say a word.
Just then, someone in the crowd raised their hand. "Teacher, I'll partner with her."
Everyone, including the PE teacher, turned to look at the speaker. It was Lin Zhengran who had raised his hand.
Jiang Xueli stared at him in disbelief.
The PE teacher nodded, surprised. "Alright, Lin Zhengran and Jiang Xueli will be a pair, then. Okay everyone, let's warm up and get started!"
The crowd immediately started whispering again, and among the murmurs were some familiar rumors:
"I didn't believe it when people said they were a couple, but now it looks like it's true."
"Yeah, but how can Lin Zhengran have such bad taste? He likes a thief? He's the top student in our class."
"So they really are dating?"
Lin Zhengran shot the crowd a cold look. "What are you all talking about?"
Everyone in the class shut up. No one wanted to pick a fight with Lin Zhengran. After all, the guy was one of a kind—he was strong and had great grades. If he hadn't turned it down, he would've been made class president at the beginning of the year.
The PE teacher got everyone into their groups, and Lin Zhengran watched as Jiang Xueli walked over to him.
She was staring at him as if she'd seen a ghost.
Lin Zhengran frowned, nonplussed. "What's with that look? You're looking at me like I'm a monkey in a zoo."
"No, I'm not!" Jiang Xueli pursed her lips and answered quietly, "You… you're really willing to be my partner? Aren't you afraid people will start talking about you, too…?"
"You worry about a lot, don't you…" Lin Zhengran said with a nonchalant look. "First of all, the two of us have always been a topic of gossip in this class. Second, do you really think I'm the kind of person who cares what other people think? I couldn't care less about them, okay?"
Jiang Xueli looked a bit dazed. "That's true. You've always been strange. No one can figure you out."
The PE teacher called for everyone to begin the exercise.
Lin Zhengran sat on the grass, and Jiang Xueli held down his legs as he started his sit-ups.
She stared at Lin Zhengran's usual, unchanging expression. Hesitantly, she suddenly asked, "Do you believe me…?"
But her voice was too quiet, and Lin Zhengran didn't answer immediately. Jiang Xueli assumed he hadn't heard and lost the courage to ask a second time.
But after two more sit-ups, Lin Zhengran spoke.
"If I didn't believe you, I wouldn't have partnered with you. I think anyone in our class could be a thief, except you. After all, I can tell you really love being on the Discipline Committee. You wouldn't do something that would ruin something you love."
Jiang Xueli wasn't sure what she was feeling when she heard his words, only that the boy in front of her suddenly seemed incredibly handsome.
Her heart pounded. The gloom that had been weighing her down for days lifted, and even the air seemed to feel fresher.
A faint smile appeared on her face, tinged with a subtle blush.
She held down his legs a little more firmly.
At noon, the sky grew overcast, and it began to rain.
And it wasn't a light drizzle, either.
When it was time for lunch, Lin Zhengran checked the back of the classroom but couldn't find his umbrella. He suddenly remembered taking it home during the last downpour and forgetting to bring it back.
Everyone else in the classroom had already left for the cafeteria.
As Jiang Xueli was about to leave, she saw Lin Zhengran walk out of the classroom empty-handed.
She glanced at the umbrella in her hand and, on a whim, followed him.
When they reached the first floor of the school building, Lin Zhengran was staring out at the downpour drenching the campus when he turned and asked the person behind him, "Why are you following me?"
Jiang Xueli, who had been trailing him, froze. She stepped out from around the corner and said defensively, "Who… Who's following you?! That's ridiculous! I'm going to lunch, so of course I have to pass through here."
Lin Zhengran glanced back at her. Jiang Xueli pretended to look away, her twin ponytails falling playfully to her waist.
She stammered, "You didn't bring an umbrella, did you? How about… How about we share mine? I mean, I've never shared an umbrella with a boy before, but I can't just watch you get soaked." She kept looking away, her eyes secretly sneaking glances at Lin Zhengran.
But to her surprise, Lin Zhengran simply replied, "No, thanks."
"No, thanks?" Jiang Xueli was shocked. She walked up to him. "How are you going to get there in this downpour without an umbrella? Besides, didn't you say you aren't afraid of rumors? Are you actually scared to walk with me?!"
Lin Zhengran said nonchalantly, "Mostly because it looks like you're the one who doesn't want to walk with me."
Jiang Xueli was speechless, clenching her little fists.
She said stubbornly, "Yes! I… I don't want to share an umbrella with you! After all, I'm a girl and you're a boy! People will gossip if we share an umbrella, but we don't have a choice, do we?!"
Lin Zhengran stared at her expression with curiosity, the kind he'd only ever seen in fiction. "Jiang Xueli, do you know what 'tsundere' means?"
Jiang Xueli blinked and shook her head. "Never heard of it. What's 'tsundere'?"
"It's nothing. Just take it as a compliment."
She gave him a strange look and mumbled, "Is that so… I don't feel like it is… I'll look it up online tonight and see what it means. So, are you going to share my umbrella or not? Hurry up and decide, a lot of people are staring at us! I get shy, you know?"
Indeed, quite a few people in the first-floor lobby were looking their way. In elementary school, it was a rare sight for a boy and a girl to share an umbrella.
Lin Zhengran said his thanks, and Jiang Xueli finally relaxed.
She held the umbrella over Lin Zhengran.
Since she wasn't very tall, Lin Zhengran eventually took the umbrella from her. "Here, let me. Isn't your arm tired from holding it up so straight?"
Jiang Xueli put her hands behind her back, walking shyly beside him in the rain. "It's your fault for being so tall."
Perhaps because the space under the umbrella felt so private, Jiang Xueli couldn't help but ask again, "Do you really believe me? That I didn't steal anything? Everyone in class thinks I'm a thief."
"Didn't I already answer that in PE?" Seeing her hopeful expression, he sighed. "Yes, I really believe you. But I'm curious, are you just going to let this go?"
Jiang Xueli's mood brightened as she retorted, clenching both hands into fists, "Of course I can't just let it go! I'm going to find out who framed me and teach them a lesson! And… why did Jiang Xiao claim it was me? She's clearly lying, and I'm going to find out why!"
"Oh? I didn't realize you had so much fight in you. You've been completely listless for the past two days."
Jiang Xueli said one thing but meant another. "Nonsense! Who said I was listless? I'm perfectly fine now. I just… hadn't recovered from the shock yet."
Lin Zhengran chuckled but didn't comment.
Jiang Xueli lowered her fists and peeked at Lin Zhengran, her twin ponytails swaying with every happy step she took.
"What are you smiling at? You look ridiculous."
From the entrance of a distant school building, Jiang Xiao held two pink umbrellas, her gaze fixed on Lin Zhengran as he walked away with Jiang Xueli.
It seemed some things had backfired spectacularly.
"Lin Zhengran…"