Chapter 68: The Cannon Fodder Sister of the Female Lead (Part 20)

"Mmm, get on, let’s go home."

Jiang Lai was just about to sit down when she suddenly noticed a white cushion strapped to the back seat of the bicycle.

She pursed her lips and smiled, settled down while biting a chestnut, and Cheng Lie started to pedal the bicycle.

The first half of the road wasn’t as bumpy and rugged as the country road, so Cheng Lie rode steadily, allowing Jiang Lai to let go and peel the chestnuts, tossing them one by one into her mouth.

She was originally prepared to brave the piercing cold wind and walk home. Unexpectedly, now she could sit on a soft cushion, lean against a human windbreak, and enjoy a bag of warm chestnuts, feeling sweet and satisfied.

"Here, have one."

Cheng Lie was looking ahead, when suddenly the little girl sitting behind leaned over, her whole body against him, stretching her arm out in front of him. Her hands were red from the cold, holding a whole chestnut kernel, which she awkwardly pushed towards his face.

With no other choice, Cheng Lie leaned forward and took the chestnut from Jiang Lai’s hand with his mouth.

As she withdrew her hand, her soft hand brushed against Cheng Lie’s ear, like a snowflake falling, chilly and smooth.

"Heartbeat Value changed, current Heartbeat Index: thirty-seven."

The country road was vast and open, with winds blowing from all directions, carrying a biting chill that penetrated to the bone, impossible to block out no matter how one tried.

The chestnuts in Jiang Lai’s arms still had some warmth, and Cheng Lie in front of her blocked most of the wind for her.

She loudly asked.

"Are you cold?"

Cheng Lie’s voice was scattered by the wind.

"Not cold."

"Let me give you my scarf, if you catch a cold, who will give me a ride home next week?"

Saying so, Jiang Lai took off the red scarf from her neck and wrapped it around Cheng Lie’s neck from behind, tying a knot at the end.

"Heartbeat Value changed, the current Heartbeat Value: forty."

So easy to convince him.

At the village entrance, Cheng Lie stopped and handed the scarf back to Jiang Lai.

"You don’t get cold riding, you wear it."

"It’s okay, you have to go back anyway, you wear it for now. Bring it back to me when school starts."

Saying this, Jiang Lai turned and left, leaving Cheng Lie holding the scarf, watching her figure gradually disappear.

——

This winter arrived quickly, and for the first time, Jiang Lai didn’t see snow in the winter. She felt a bit regretful, rubbing her hands as she sat inside watching the kids outside playing with stones.

The final exams were approaching; after this first-year final, it would be the selection exams for the third year.

On exam day, Jiang Lai, to prevent her hands from going numb from the cold, specially filled a glass bottle with hot water and tucked it into the desk’s cubbyhole, rubbing it in her hands before the exam started.

The first Chinese exam went smoothly, except for her hand going a bit numb at the end during the essay writing.

After the English exam, the water in the glass bottle had completely cooled. The next exam was in thirty minutes, and Jiang Lai thought of getting some hot water. Unexpectedly, having just returned from the water station, she looked down and saw a hot water bottle sitting in the desk’s cubbyhole.

The hot water bottle was about two palm sizes big, pink, a bit hot on the lap, just right for keeping warm during exams.

And so, with the help of this hot water bottle, Jiang Lai successfully completed two days of final exams.

After the exams came the winter break. When Jiang Lai returned to the dorm to pack, she saw Zhou Juan lying motionless on her desk, her shoulders occasionally twitching, seemingly crying.

Jiang Lai, acting as if she hadn’t seen it, continued to pack her things, listening to the roommates who came back afterwards going over to comfort Zhou Juan.

Then, Zhou Juan’s crying grew louder.

Jiang Lai didn’t really care how loud she cried; what she cared about was Zhou Juan crying on her desk, getting in her way of taking things.

"Could you please go cry at your own desk? I need to get my stuff."

Zhou Juan wiped her tears, glaring at Jiang Lai with red eyes.

"Don’t you have any compassion? You’re too selfish!"

Jiang Lai sighed, her tone cold.

"It would be a waste to use my compassion on you. I’d rather help an old granny cross the road. Now move."

Everyone had witnessed Jiang Lai’s temper; she was generally friendly unless provoked, at which point she could be quite fierce, and everyone maintained a respectful distance from her.

Zhou Juan had also seen how she dealt with Li Huihui before, and angrily stood up, wiping her tears.

Jiang Lai took some books from the drawer and stuffed them into her bag. At this moment, Zhou Juan suddenly saw something, pointed, and shouted.

"Isn’t that Teacher Hu’s notebook?! Where did you get it?!"

Teacher Hu, the homeroom teacher and the class’s math teacher.

Everyone gathered around too, and indeed saw that familiar brown leather notebook with side clasps, which the math teacher always brought to class to explain common mistakes.

Zhou Juan, having seemingly discovered a major secret, reached to grab the notebook, only to have her hand slapped away by Jiang Lai.

"Isn’t this notebook Teacher Hu’s?!"

"None of your business."

"Did you steal Teacher Hu’s notebook... or wait, did Teacher Hu give it to you? Are you related or something? Why would he give you his lesson plan book? No wonder you always ace the math tests every month—it turns out someone’s been giving you extra help!"

This stirred the crowd, as many felt disheartened from the challenging math exam. Now witnessing this scene, a sense of doubt surfaced among them.

"Jiang Lai, tell everyone what’s going on. It wouldn’t be good if there’s a misunderstanding."

Even Li Huihui, who usually avoided Jiang Lai, couldn’t resist joining the fray.

"Missing a month’s lessons yet still topping the grade, constantly reading for leisure, and never getting into trouble with Teacher Hu. I always suspected there was something fishy going on."

However, some spoke up in defense of Jiang Lai, recalling her helpfulness in explaining problems to them.

"Jiang Lai’s incredible when explaining problems to us. It’s unfair to accuse her of fake results just out of jealousy."

"Then why did she become the leader of the math interest group right after joining? Usually, it’s a senior who’s the leader, a top student. Jiang Lai’s only a first-year—why her?"

Jiang Lai couldn’t help but frown.

She just wanted to go home and eat dumplings. Liu Shuping had promised her meat dumplings if she did well in the finals.

She hadn’t had much meat for almost a month, and now she was stuck in a situation like this.

Zhou Juan interpreted her silence as a lack of explanation and unleashed all her pent-up grievances.

"You must give us a reasonable explanation! Why does Teacher Hu give you special treatment alone?!"

"Which eye of yours saw him giving me special treatment?"

"Then how do you explain this notebook?!"