The Silent World And Him - Chapter 23

Upon reaching the classroom, Pu Chen noticed that she had inadvertently put her mood diary into her school bag and brought it to school. She hurriedly stuffed it back into her bag like a thief; Qin Yu must not see this diary.

Qin Yu was reading a magazine and did not notice her little action.

After the early reading class ended, Pu Chen collected the holiday English homework. Qin Yu found his homework and handed it to her. Pu Chen was surprised that even after returning to Beijing, he still completed his homework on time and in full. Although he was the top student in the grade during the monthly exam, he often skimped on homework or simply did not do it at all, and the teachers never seemed to mind.

She asked, “Did you finish all the homework? Did you write the weekly journal?”

Qin Yu replied, “I only did the English homework.”

Pu Chen guessed the reason he only did the English homework: if he didn’t do it, Lu Baisheng would definitely give him trouble.

That must be the case.

Qin Yu teased her, “Class representative, I only did the English homework. Shouldn’t you give me a reward?”

Pu Chen handed him her phone with a typed message: “You only finished the English homework. You should go to Mr. Lu for a reward. Let’s see if he gives you one.”

Qin Yu laughed, “You’re threatening me.”

Pu Chen also laughed but still couldn’t look him in the eye calmly.

She stopped looking at him and walked to the podium with their English homework.

Because of her special situation, the classmates habitually placed their homework on the podium without her needing to remind them—except for the homework slacker, Yin Hao.

Yin Hao, along with Zhao Shu, were the only two students in the class who failed their English exams, but he was less serious about it than Zhao Shu.

Pu Chen walked up to the podium to sort out the homework books. Yin Hao was busy copying answers frantically.

Zhao Shu happened to come to hand in her English homework. She slapped Yin Hao on the head, “What were you doing during the holiday? Not doing your homework is ridiculous!”

As his former desk mate, Yin Hao always dared to be angry but not speak out against Zhao Shu’s ‘violence,’ silently enduring it. The last time he was beaten up by Zhao Shu was on Qin Yu’s first day in class when Zhao Shu complimented Qin Yu’s hairstyle, and Yin Hao said it looked like it had been styled in a cheap barbershop. Zhao Shu had taken care of him then.

Since the last seat adjustment, Mr. Lu had moved him to sit near the podium, so Zhao Shu rarely bothered him anymore; today was the first time again.

Zhao Shu poked his head and warned him, “Hurry up and write, don’t delay Pu Chen in collecting the homework.”

Yin Hao clasped his hands together in a pleading gesture to Zhao Shu, “You’re the boss, okay?”

He looked at Pu Chen with a pitiful expression, “Class representative, can we discuss something? There’s no English class this morning anyway. Can you turn in the homework during the big break? I didn’t mean to not do it. I forgot to bring the English homework home from the desk hole. Please help me out.”

Pu Chen, being easygoing, nodded: “Just finish it quickly.”

“Thank you, thank you,” Yin Hao expressed his gratitude.

Zhao Shu poked him in the forehead with her homework book again, “Don’t make it a habit. Next time, don’t give Pu Chen a hard time.”

After handing in her homework, Zhao Shu walked back to her seat with Pu Chen, “Next time, leave disobedient guys like Yin Hao to me. If he doesn’t hand in his homework on time, don’t bother with him. He’ll just push his luck further, and next time he’ll ask you to turn in the homework at noon.”

Pu Chen: “Next time there’s a holiday, I’ll remind him to bring his homework home.”

Zhao Shu laughed, “You’re too nice.”

Yin Hao kept his word and squeezed in time to finish his homework.

During the big break, Pu Chen took the collected English homework to Mr. Lu Baisheng’s office. Before stepping out of the classroom, she instinctively glanced at the boys gathered in the corridor to find Qin Yu.

Qin Yu wasn’t with them; he was standing by the window, taking off his school uniform. Having just finished the morning exercise and returned upstairs, he felt hot and tossed his school uniform onto his desk through the window.

Pu Chen retracted her gaze and headed to the office. She wasn’t the only girl who tried to steal a glance at Qin Yu whenever possible.

Qin Yu’s desk was right next to the window. He stretched his long arm to grab his water cup from the desk. Pu Chen’s cup was in the desk hole, a bit farther from the window. He stood on tiptoe and leaned over the windowsill to reach her cup.

He had the habit of filling her cup with water whenever he went to the water room, but Pu Chen never proactively helped him in return and always needed a reminder.

Qin Yu, holding two water cups in one hand and his phone in the other, took a quick break to play a game on his phone.

The girls passing by him always glanced back at him multiple times, but he never paid attention to them.

Suddenly, his vision darkened, and his shoulder hurt. Qin Yu was knocked back two steps by a boy running towards him, almost dropping his phone.

“Sorry, Brother Yu, I’ll treat you to a drink at noon!” Yin Hao shouted as he ran into the classroom without stopping.

Just as Qin Yu steadied himself, another figure in a white T-shirt flashed past him, chasing after Yin Hao.

Yin Hao was notorious for being playful and mischievous. In the first year, he had friends and acquaintances in all twenty-eight classes.

Qin Yu wasn’t particularly close to Yin Hao; their only understanding was on the basketball court, where they played well together. Other classes’ boys were no match for their class when they teamed up.

The boy chasing Yin Hao wasn’t from their class. During the morning exercise, Yin Hao had gone downstairs to chat and provoke someone, who then chased him up to their classroom.

Yin Hao thought he would be safe in his own turf, but the other boy pursued him relentlessly into their class.

The two tussled from the back door to the front door, leaving chaos in their wake, even knocking a desk askew and scattering books from a backpack. Yin Hao accidentally kicked one of the books, but he didn’t notice.

“Yin Hao, you jerk! Try scaring me again next time!”

Next period is math class, and Yin Hao is most afraid of the math teacher. He has made a mess of the classroom and must quickly clean it up before the class starts.

He reluctantly gave up.

This playful incident ended only after Yin Hao agreed to treat the other party to a lavish meal for a week.

The boys left, and Yin Hao got up from the aisle, patting off invisible dust from his clothes.

His school uniform’s zipper had been torn, so he took it off, rolled it into a ball, and stuffed it into the desk’s hole. While apologizing to his classmates, he picked up the books scattered on the floor.

Although Yin Hao often speaks sharply, he knows when to bend and apologize. After saying a few nice words, none of his classmates held a grudge. They all picked up their fallen materials and books.

Yin Hao then realized that the desk he had knocked askew belonged to Pu Chen. She wasn’t in the classroom, nor in the hallway; she must have gone to deliver homework to Mr. Lu’s office.

He straightened Pu Chen’s desk, picked up the exercise books and notes from under it, and the classmate sitting in front of Pu Chen also helped tidy up a few books.

Pu Chen still hadn’t returned.

Yin Hao carefully checked and, after confirming that none of Pu Chen’s belongings were damaged, finally felt relieved and returned to his seat.

He unscrewed a bottle of mineral water and drank half of it in one go. As he lowered his head, he noticed a soft-covered diary lying by the desk leg, with a cherry blossom pink cover. It was sold in the school canteen, and many girls in the class bought it for notes and weekly journals.

He bent down to pick it up and opened the title page, but there was no name.

“Whose notebook is this?” Yin Hao turned around, waving the notebook in the air.

“Can’t you check for a name?” someone suggested.

“It should have a name.”

As he spoke, Yin Hao casually flipped through two pages and realized it was a diary, not a notebook. He thought it was the weekly journal assigned by the language teacher. “Let me read a few lines, you guys see whose it is and claim it quickly.”

Yin Hao put the bottle on the desk and opened to the latest diary entry. He even cleared his throat: “I don’t know if Qin Yu has returned, I haven’t seen him for three days. This afternoon, I passed by his apartment building six times, hoping to run into him returning from the airport…”

At this point, he sensed something was wrong.

The class erupted in an uproar.

No need to guess, this was some girl’s secret crush diary, not a weekly journal assigned by the language teacher.

The class monitor stood up and stopped Yin Hao: “Enough, stop reading. Put it away, and if anyone comes to claim it later, keep it confidential. Be a decent person, got it?”

Yin Hao responded to the class monitor: “Monitor, just tell us if this is your secret crush diary. Look how nervous you are.”

The class monitor, a girl, glared at him: “Yes, it’s my diary, so what?”

Yin Hao, with a playful grin, said, “Monitor, if you’re in love, then I’ll fall in love too. I’ll write a secret crush diary for the girl I like.” He casually flipped to the middle page:

[We have a new classmate, Qin Yu.]

[Today, Qin Yu talked to me. He asked where the headteacher’s office was. If only I could speak properly.]

Yin Hao, excited and careless, blurted out: “Oh my god! It’s Pu Chen’s…” diary.

His voice stopped abruptly.

At this point, he realized he had misspoken.

Everyone looked at each other, speechless.

Just then, Pu Chen returned from the office.

The classroom fell into a sudden, awkward silence.

Everyone’s eyes were on her, filled with curiosity and sympathy.

Pu Chen had never felt so panicked; she sensed something embarrassing had happened, but she had no clue what it was.

She looked at Qin Yu’s empty seat; he wasn’t in the classroom.

Pu Chen felt no sense of security, wishing he were there.

Under everyone’s gaze, Pu Chen timidly returned to her seat, trying to calm down. She noticed her desk was a bit messy, with books that were originally in her bag now on the desk.

Before she could figure out what had happened, Qin Yu and Zhao Shu entered through the front door, chatting. Instantly, they became the focus of gossip.

Everyone believed Qin Yu liked Zhao Shu and had been pursuing her since the first monthly exam, even asking Pu Chen to help.

But Pu Chen secretly liked Qin Yu.

One was the boy she liked, the other her only friend in class. Pu Chen helped her crush pursue her best friend daily, which was heart-wrenching.

The worst part was, now everyone knew about it.

Zhao Shu noticed the odd stares and saw Yin Hao’s guilty expression while sitting by the podium. She knocked on his desk and asked, “Hey, what’s going on?”

The diary was still in Yin Hao’s hand, feeling like a hot potato. He didn’t know what to do with it.

“What’s going on?” Zhao Shu asked impatiently.

At this point, there was no hiding it. Besides the few involved, everyone in the class already knew. Yin Hao decided to tell the truth: “I accidentally read Pu Chen’s secret crush diary.”

“Wham!”

Puchen heard the sound of her self-esteem shattering.

Then, as her blood rushed to her head, she momentarily couldn’t think. For a brief moment, everything went black, and she couldn’t see anything. Puchen clutched her backpack straps inside the desk, her body overwhelmed by a wave of shame and embarrassment.

She stared straight at the ordinary-looking diary in Yin Hao’s hand. She had clearly left it in her bag, where no one would have reason to go through her things. How could it be that she left for the office and came back to this?

Everyone was looking at her now, and her face burned with a shame worse than a public slap. Puchen dug her nails into her fingers, the pain being the only thing reminding her she was still alive. She didn’t dare look at Qin Yu, feeling utterly humiliated. How would he see her now that he knew she liked him? She didn’t dare to think. She was terrified of seeing disdain in his eyes. Even a hint of rejection would be unbearable.

Puchen’s mind was a mess, her legs weak. She forgot to stand up and take her diary back, just sitting there, wishing to disappear completely.

Yin Hao felt terrible seeing Puchen so distressed. He had never felt such regret in his life, fearing that his actions today might push her over the edge. He quickly looked at Qin Yu. “Brother Yu, it’s all my fault. I accidentally knocked over Puchen’s desk while fighting with someone, and the diary must have fallen out. I didn’t realize it was her diary. Can you pretend you don’t know she likes you? Please don’t blame her. If you’re mad, take it out on me.”

“What did you say?!” Qin Yu couldn’t believe his ears, his voice rising in shock.

Yin Hao didn’t understand why Qin Yu was reacting so strongly. Driven by a desperate need to fix things, he rambled on, “Brother, please, let’s talk this out. She only likes you, she didn’t confess or bother you. Please don’t be mad. Everyone in our class likes Puchen. She’s so great. Don’t compare her to other girls who like you. She… she…”

Yin Hao couldn’t finish his sentence, feeling helpless. He flipped to the last page of the diary in a final attempt to make things right. “Look for yourself. You don’t know how much we envy you. Please don’t ignore her. I’m begging you.”

The cherry blossom pink diary ended up in Qin Yu’s hands. He recognized Puchen’s delicate handwriting. When he looked at Puchen again, she had her head down, isolated from the world. Holding the diary, he strode to the fifth row and stood in front of her desk.

Puchen didn’t look up, but she knew it was him. She could sense his presence from the corner of her eye and feel the unique aura that set him apart from others. She didn’t know how to face him. The world in her heart that was solely his had collapsed.

Qin Yu gently placed the diary on her desk. He had only read the last entry and didn’t know how long she had liked him. Looking down at her, seeing only the top of her head, he softly asked, “I’ve liked you since the day I transferred here. What about you?”

The classroom fell even quieter, everyone stunned, even Zhao Shu.

Puchen abruptly looked up, her eyes meeting his.

Qin Yu continued, not just expressing his feelings but also speaking for the whole class to hear. “I made Zhao Shu and Peng Jingyang eat with us so I could be with you. I worked hard to get the first place to bring you breakfast. The notes I lent you were specially made to address your weak points. I don’t need those notes. You wanted to study hard, so I started to take my studies seriously. I couldn’t explain the problems to you otherwise.”

He then leaned closer, whispering just for her, “You kept mentioning Peng Jingyang, so I thought you liked him.”

Puchen shook her head repeatedly, wanting to tell him it wasn’t true. She could never like Peng Jingyang.

Qin Yu said, “I know now, it wasn’t him.”

The bell rang, snapping everyone out of their daze.

Qin Yu squeezed past Puchen to his seat. Apologizing, he said, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gone to the break room. If I had been here, this wouldn’t have happened. You would have found me right away.”

Indeed, she had instinctively looked for him when she sensed the odd looks from others. Holding back her tears, Puchen finally broke down, feeling a grievance not caused by him. Hearing his words, she couldn’t stop her tears.

Qin Yu quickly grabbed some tissues, softly comforting her, “Don’t cry, okay?”