Hmm?
Zhou Ping was stunned.
You know?
How do you know?
We've only met twice today, and I don't even know which class you're in...
His face remained impassive, but a storm raged in his heart.
"The performance just now was very exciting."
Zhou Ping quickly changed the subject, saying something relatively safe and polite.
However, if Zhang Sheng had been there, he would have been beating his chest in frustration.
Perhaps Zhou Ping hadn't realized it yet, but he was completely making awkward small talk.
"Thank you." Song Yuqi's smile deepened. She crossed her arms, watching him with an air of composure. "So, Junior Zhou Ping, you waited for me here just to tell me that?"
Her tone carried a hint of teasing.
Zhou Ping felt like he had been seen through.
He was silent for two seconds, then decided to stop beating around the bush.
Because beating around the bush is the least efficient way to communicate.
"I was waiting for you."
He looked up, meeting her eyes, his tone so frank it was almost unbelievable.
Now, it was Song Yuqi's turn to be stunned.
She had seen too many suitors who would blush and stammer, and also those overconfident men who thought they were handsome and would immediately ask for her contact information.
But someone like Zhou Ping, quietly blocking the path, then stating "I was waiting for you" in a calm, factual tone, was a first.
This junior is quite interesting.
"Waiting for me... to do what?"
This question completely stumped Zhou Ping.
His brain, accustomed to weighing all options, encountered an unresolvable command for the first time and completely crashed.
Yes, waiting for her to do what?
To figure out that increasingly clear melody in his head?
If he said that out loud, he himself would feel like a stalker and a lunatic.
Or because he was attracted to her on stage?
He couldn't say it; it was too silly, too mushy.
He hated uncontrollable trouble the most, but now, he had become the biggest trouble himself.
Seeing Zhou Ping's rare, dazed look, as if he'd been unplugged, Song Yuqi not only didn't feel offended but found it rather amusing.
She simply crossed her arms, watching him with an air of composure, the smile on her lips impossible to hide.
Her posture clearly showed that she wanted to see what kind of reason he could come up with.
The air solidified.
Silence stretched between the two.
"Never mind."
In the end, Song Yuqi was the first to lose patience, or perhaps she felt she had teased him enough.
"Let's walk and think."
She said, taking the lead. Her face, now free of makeup, appeared fresh and clean in the dim light of the corridor.
The tight string in Zhou Ping's heart suddenly loosened, and he almost instinctively followed her.
"Okay."
The two walked side by side in the quiet corridor, only their footsteps echoing in the empty space.
Zhou Ping cleared his throat, trying to regain some initiative and break the awkwardness.
"You live at..."
The words had barely left his mouth when he wanted to slap himself.
Checking her household registration?
He just wanted to ask if they were going the same way, but it came out like this.
Was there a worse opening line?
He was awkwardly thinking about how to salvage the conversation when Song Yuqi beside him suddenly let out a giggle, and she deftly took over the conversation.
"You don't need to ask me."
She stopped, turned around, and looked at him with sparkling eyes.
Zhou Ping was taken aback.
Song Yuqi tilted her head, a hint of slyness in her smile.
"I know where you live."
She leaned in a little closer, her voice soft, yet it was like a pebble dropped into Zhou Ping's heart.
"The villa area behind the school, right?"
Zhou Ping's brain, that central processor that always ran smoothly with exceptional computing power, now completely blue-screened.
The information gap was instantly erased, even reversed.
This feeling of being seen through made him uncomfortable all over.
Song Yuqi looked at his rare, dazed expression and could no longer hold back, letting out a giggle.
She found that she seemed to have a bit of a mischievous streak; she just liked seeing this expression on the junior's face.
She wasn't like this before.
"Junior, aren't you... underestimating your popularity in school a bit too much?" Song Yuqi pushed open the side door, and the evening breeze rustled her hair, bringing a touch of coolness.
She turned sideways, explaining with an air of composure.
"You don't even need to deliberately inquire."
"There's a new student in the first year of high school, handsome, incredibly rich, yet always looking like a lazy fish who hasn't woken up, but his grades are ridiculously good."
"You tell me, isn't it hard not to know about that?"
Zhou Ping instinctively reached out to hold the door open, letting Song Yuqi go out first.
This action was purely instinctive, faster than his brain's command.
Song Yuqi paused, looking back at his hand holding the door.
"It seems another rumor needs to be added."
"He's quite the gentleman."
Zhou Ping forcibly suppressed the disobedient upward curve of his lips, letting out a soft "Mm" from his nose, and followed her out, feigning composure.
"Senior's rumors are also quite a few."
"A future big star, a trainee for the Peninsula debut group. Shouldn't an ordinary student like me feel honored?"
He subtly threw the topic back.
The two walked one after another on the tree-lined path of the campus, the streetlights casting long shadows.
Students who hadn't left school yet saw this scene and couldn't help but turn their heads frequently, whispering to each other.
One was a prospective star senior about to go to Peninsula, and the other was a famous and influential junior throughout the school.
The sight of these two walking together was simply too impactful.
What was even more critical was the indescribable atmosphere between them, which made one's heart beat faster than any performance at the party...
And behind the bushes not far away, three heads were huddled together furtively.
"I told you! These two definitely have something going on!" Jack had a triumphant "everything is under control" look.
Wu Rui excitedly slapped his thigh, hissing in a lowered voice, "Awesome! Old Zhou has finally opened up!"
"Opened up?" Zhang Sheng smacked his lips, his expression incredibly vivid. "This is more than just opening up; this is practically rubbing his face on the ground!"
He remembered the sports day when they first started school.
At that time, they encouraged Zhou Ping to give water to the girls in their class, but he rebuffed them with a single word: "Troublesome."
Zhang Sheng still remembered his exact words at the time.
"Dating? That kind of thing, which only wastes time and consumes energy, even dogs don't do."
"It's only been this long..." Zhang Sheng was filled with emotion.
Old Zhou's "energy-saving" shell was finally shattered...
On the tree-lined path, Zhou Ping and Song Yuqi walked side by side.
They weren't oblivious to the whispers around them, but neither of them paid any attention.
As they walked, Song Yuqi suddenly stopped.
She turned around and looked at Zhou Ping very seriously.
The light, teasing atmosphere from before was gone; in the night, her eyes appeared particularly clear.
"Zhou Ping."
It was the first time she had called him by his full name like that.
"Now, can you tell me?"
"Why exactly did you wait for me there?"