Gu Junxiao stopped abruptly, paused for a moment, then turned and said with a forced smile, "I don't know you. But I've seen you a few times at No. 8 Middle School. We're not... not close." He avoided Su Jinning's gaze and casually straightened his clothes.
"Not familiar?" Su Jinning looked at Gu Junxiao with a strange gaze and asked him softly.
"Not familiar with them," Gu Junxiao denied without hesitation. He coughed lightly and changed the subject: "Our class is having a flag-raising ceremony this week, let's go." With that, he quickly turned and walked towards the school gate.
Su Jinning's gaze just now seemed to be a warning to him not to lie. It made him feel very uneasy. He suddenly remembered what happened yesterday, and an ominous premonition arose within him.
Su Jinning watched Gu Junxiao's feigned composure as he walked away, sighed slowly, and strolled into the school gate.
He still wanted Shen Moyu to tell him about their affair in person someday.
At 7:25, all the students had already lined up downstairs. The once empty back playground was suddenly filled with people, and there was a lot of noise. Wei Teng's "hello, hello" voice could be heard from time to time over the loudspeaker as he tested the microphone.
Su Jinning stood irritably in the middle of the crowd, staring blankly at the teaching building, but she didn't know what she was thinking.
"Hey! Brother Ning, Brother Ning!" Chen Hang rushed over, panting, and asked, "Have you seen the top student?"
Su Jinning snapped out of her thoughts, a little confused: "What's wrong?"
"We were checking attendance just now, and he wasn't here. The teacher is really worried," Chen Hang said, pointing to the podium.
"He didn't come?" Su Jinning's lazy expression turned anxious in a flash. He subconsciously looked towards the back gate of the school: "He's never late, how could he not come?"
Chen Hang was speechless for a moment, then became serious: "He's not answering my calls, why don't you call again?"
Su Jinning pursed her lips, looked away from the back door, and fell silent.
Seeing that Su Jinning was in a bad mood and knew she wouldn't talk to him, Chen Hang simply took out his phone and said, "Then I'll ask her again."
“No need.” Su Jinning suddenly spoke, stopping Chen Hang’s movement with one hand, and looked back at him: “He won’t look at his phone when he’s busy, so you don’t need to worry about it.” Su Jinning then looked back at the back door: “I’ll go find him.”
Before Chen Hang could react, Su Jinning took advantage of the crowd's cover, bent down, and ran out of the group in a flash.
Chen Hang blinked twice, then suddenly exclaimed as if he'd been bitten on the butt by a dog, "Holy crap, Brother Ning! You're the flag raiser? What kind of monster are you from in your past life?"
The sound wasn't loud, but it still attracted a lot of attention. Chen Hang realized it was best not to make a fuss and quickly shut his mouth.
"What's going on? Where did Brother Ning go?" Song Wenmiao asked, peeking out from the side.
Chen Hang twitched his nose and sighed softly, "Infatuated with socialist brotherhood."
However, this clearly means that he has been left with this mess. When Jin Shuoshuo comes over to question him, he will have to outwit and outmaneuver the teacher.
"Damn it..." Chen Hangsheng closed his eyes in despair, and in a daze, he felt that life was nothing more than this.
Su Jinning grabbed the edge of the wall and leaped over it with ease. She glanced left and right, then strode towards Shen Moyu's house.
He took out his phone and dialed Shen Moyu's number. The call lasted for a minute before he finally hung up. No answer on the phone, no replies on WeChat—he'd try contacting her.
If someone who is never late for school suddenly shows up without even saying hello, it's hard not to suspect something is wrong.
It's certain that Shen Moyu won't tell Chen Hang about Song Wenmiao, but even he doesn't know what it is.
Su Jinning got a little anxious and simply started running.
The national anthem resounded throughout the campus, but the atmosphere, which should have been solemn, suddenly became awkward. Because the flag-raiser was absent.
"What's going on? Where's the flag raiser?" Wei Teng's angry voice came through the loudspeaker. Jin Shuoshuo, also seething with anger, stormed up to Chen Hang: "What's going on? I haven't even been able to contact Shen Moyu yet, where is he?"
Chen Hang closed his eyes resignedly, then said with an awkward laugh, "Teacher, he, he went to the toilet, he has diarrhea! Hahaha, I'll take over, I'll go."
"He went to the toilet right before the flag-raising ceremony? What's going on?" Jin Shuoshuo said angrily.
"Yeah, yeah, the teacher is right, let's hurry up and go raise the flag!" Chen Hang quickly pushed Jin Shuoshuo, who was spitting everywhere, forward.
"I'll definitely teach him a lesson when he gets back. And Shen Moyu, he didn't come to school without saying a word and didn't answer the phone..." Jin Shuoshuo was furious and kept complaining with his arms crossed.
While she wasn't looking, Chen Hang quickly took out his phone and sent a message to Su Jinning.
Aviation Manager: Where have you guys been? Have you found them yet? The teacher is looking for you!
When his phone beeped, Su Jinning quickly took it out to check, but when he saw that it was from Chen Hang, he didn't even look at it before stuffing it into his pocket.
Aside from Shen Moyu, he doesn't have time to check anyone else's news right now.
He ran incredibly fast, searching every route Shen Moyu would inevitably take. He even knocked on his door at his house, but no one answered. Besides that, he called him no less than ten times, but no one answered.
Finally, he was so exhausted that he could barely stand and leaned his head back against the tree trunk.
Fear was slowly consuming his heart. He was truly afraid, afraid that something would happen to Shen Moyu.
But this search is like looking for a needle in a haystack; how long will it take to find it?
"Damn it!" Su Jinning was furious. She took off her coat from her waist and threw it on the ground. Then she stomped on it twice.
"So angry?"
The voice Su Jinning had been waiting for suddenly rang out from behind him. He was stunned for a moment, then turned around abruptly.
Sure enough, it was Shen Moyu's face that appeared.
Su Jinning held his breath, staring at the smiling person in front of him. Only after confirming that the mud-covered man was Shen Moyu did he let out a long sigh of relief and look at him seriously: "Where did you go? You didn't go to school, you didn't answer your phone, and no one was home! I thought something had happened to you! And!" Su Jinning frowned: "What happened to you covered in mud?"
She had probably just finished running; Su Jinning was still panting heavily, her pure white t-shirt soaked with sweat in several places. Beads of sweat clung to her hair, and she glared at him angrily.
Shen Moyu looked over and was stunned. He knew that those were the traces left by Su Jinning as she hurriedly searched for him.
"Woof!"
"Holy crap!" Su Jinning reflexively took two steps back, his earlier lecturing expression vanishing in an instant. He stared blankly at the bundle wrapped in school uniform in Shen Moyu's arms. He was certain that the dog's bark had come from there.
Shen Moyu quickly patted the puppy in his arms, repeatedly saying, "Okay, okay, sweetie, it doesn't hurt."
Su Jinning was completely stunned, panting heavily, unable to utter a single word for a moment.
After calming the puppy in his arms, Shen Moyu looked up and smiled, comforting the large dog that was quite frightened: "It's okay, it's just an injured stray dog, a very small one." After saying that, he looked at Su Jinning with a reassuring gaze.
But clearly, Su Jinning, who was standing not far away, hadn't reacted yet. He stared at Shen Moyu in disbelief, as if he were reading a world wonder story.
"It doesn't bite, come and take a look." Seeing that Su Jinning was hesitant to come over, Shen Moyu took two steps and walked directly in front of him.
"Hey!" Su Jinning glanced at it and was about to run away when Shen Moyu grabbed her.
"What's wrong? You're afraid of such a small dog?" Shen Moyu grabbed his wrist and stared at him with amusement: "That's really unworthy of the title of school bully at No. 1 High School."