Chapter 437 - 212: Li Zhi Decides to Go on the Offensive

Chapter 437: Chapter 212: Li Zhi Decides to Go on the Offensive

Li Zhi just couldn’t bring herself to say it.

Refuse?

She considered using yesterday’s excuse again, but Li Zhi knew she couldn’t say the words.

Besides, if she refused, Shen Yuan would be sad, wouldn’t he?

In the past, whenever Shen Yuan had put an arm around her or held her hand, Li Zhi would blush and struggle, feigning annoyance. But deep down, there was always a clear sense of habit and silent consent.

But now... that silent declaration hung between them, pushing them to a new critical point.

It just made them both feel lost and awkward.

Their easy banter and unspoken understanding suddenly seemed to have failed them.

Neither Shen Yuan nor Li Zhi dared to be the first to break the silence.

Speaking seemed harder than ever before, because the paper-thin barrier between them, almost transparent yet as heavy as a mountain, was about to be broken.

Just as the viscous silence was about to solidify around them, Li Zhi, perhaps sensing the oppressive atmosphere, finally moved.

She gave the brim of her loose hood a small tug. As if removing a layer of armor, she gently pulled the hood—which had been obscuring most of her face—back and let it fall.

As she did, soft strands of her hair fell loose, revealing her smooth forehead and her small, delicate ears.

In that instant, Shen Yuan’s gaze was caught as if by an invisible thread, unable to look away.

Her ears, bathed in the classroom’s bright sunlight, were now completely red.

From the pale white curve all the way to the small tips, they glowed with a heart-stopping, rosy pink hue.

Shen Yuan’s breath hitched.

All his uncertainty dissolved in an instant, like ice crystals dropped into hot syrup, the moment he saw the blush on her ear tips.

It was a feeling that made him go weak in the knees, even more so than the score of 663.

She was shy.

Shen Yuan knew, of course, what was making Li Zhi shy.

This gave him a sweet sense of victory far greater than any number on a report card.

As if sensing his gaze, Li Zhi suddenly turned her head.

She saw the corners of Shen Yuan’s mouth curl up into an uncontrollable grin, his eyes sparkling as if they held crushed starlight, astonishingly bright.

Seeing his unrestrained expression, Li Zhi felt as though she’d been burned by his scorching gaze. Her shyness intensified, and she immediately shot him a glare, pretending to be fierce.

"What are you looking at!"

But at this moment, her pink-dusted cheeks and wide-open eyes only registered as one thing in Shen Yuan’s mind, something even stronger—

Sweetness.

The unconcealable smugness on Shen Yuan’s lips spread into a full-blown grin. He leaned forward slightly, his voice low and soft, probing with words only the two of them could hear, breaking that viscous silence.

"Li Bao, about that... 663. It was right there on the report card, black and white. You saw it, right?"

Li Zhi’s fingers tightened around her pen. Her heart felt as if it had been scorched by his warm breath, and it burned even hotter.

Under Shen Yuan’s gaze, Li Zhi opened her mouth to speak.

But the first thing Shen Yuan heard wasn’t her voice—it was the school bell.

"BRRRRING—!!!"

The sharp, urgent sound of the bell for class to begin rang out like a savior, suddenly echoing throughout the classroom!

The sound was like a gust of wind, instantly scattering the suffocating ambiguity and pressure.

Li Zhi felt as if she’d been granted amnesty, her tense shoulders suddenly relaxing.

The searing breath that had been caught in her chest finally seemed to find an escape.

Her heart, which had been hammering in a panic just moments before, began to forcibly calm itself to the bell’s rhythmic urging, slowly recovering from its chaotic pace.

"Cl-Class is starting!"

Li Zhi hurriedly turned away, forcing all her attention onto the teacher who was slowly walking to the front of the class, as if the upcoming lesson was the only thing that could save her from this scorching situation.

Shen Yuan was taken aback by the bell. The corners of his mouth curved into a helpless smile, but he also secretly let out a breath of relief.

The thing that had almost been brought into the open was temporarily sealed back in his heart by the sudden bell.

’Fine... you got lucky.’

Shen Yuan thought to himself, but his gaze unconsciously drifted back to the still-pink curve of Li Zhi’s ear.

The bell stopped, and the teacher began the lesson.

The noise in the classroom died down, but between Shen Yuan and Li Zhi, the waves that had just been forcibly suppressed by the bell were merely waiting for the next opportunity to surge.

But what Shen Yuan didn’t expect was that he wouldn’t get another chance for the rest of the day.

When the first class ended, before he could say a word, he heard Li Zhi beside him say she was going to the restroom.

Before he could even respond, Li Zhi pushed on his back, forcing a path to slip away.

She didn’t even dare to look back at Shen Yuan’s face. With her head down, she hurriedly pushed her chair back, slipped out the back door as if escaping, and her figure quickly vanished into the crowd of students flooding the hallway.

Shen Yuan watched her retreating back disappear, his mouth still half-open.

He scratched the back of his head, feeling a frustrated sigh stuck in his chest.

When the bell rang for the end of the second class, Shen Yuan was much quicker.

The moment the bell stopped, he spun around, just in time to meet Li Zhi’s slightly raised gaze.

The girl looked away instantly, as if she’d been scalded.

"I’m going to the office. I have a question," Li Zhi said, clearing her throat and trying to keep her voice steady.

Before Shen Yuan could reply, the girl’s slender figure brushed past his back and slipped away.

Shen Yuan watched her disappear through the doorway, a helpless look on his face.

’Is there any question you, Li Zhi, wouldn’t already know the answer to?’

At the end of the third class, Shen Yuan stood up almost the instant the teacher dismissed them, his tall figure completely blocking Li Zhi’s only way out.