CH 88

When Miaomiao arrived at school the next day, she heard that the headteacher was being transferred; therefore, he couldn’t continue teaching them.

“Class president. Do you want to collect some money and then buy some gifts together?” A member of the literature and arts committee approached her and asked.

Miaomiao: “You organize it. When the time comes, you and the others will give the gifts to him.”

She never thought that the headteacher would be transferred to another school. At most, she believed that he simply wouldn’t be their headteacher anymore.

Miaomiao was not ready to deliver the gift to him. After all, a very unpleasant occurrence happened between the two yesterday. If she approached him, the headteacher would certainly be displeased as well. Her classmate saying their farewells to him should suffice. In this case, she chose not to appear before him.

The literary and arts committee member also remembered yesterday’s fiasco, so he fully understood her reluctance to appear in front of their teacher.

Everyone began collecting the money in order to purchase a parting gift. Miaomiao also contributed ten yuan.

A substitute teacher came in to take over the first class of the teacher. She used to be the headteacher of Class 7, but now, she also had to oversee Miaomiao’s class as well as the adjacent class.

As class president, Miaomiao naturally had to pass on some things to the new teacher.

The second class had concluded, so the arts committee leader took the class to bid farewell to the headteacher. Miaomiao saw Zhou Yuan firmly ensconced in his chair when she returned from the office.

“You didn’t go?” he asked curiously as he produced a packet of yogurt from under the desk; then, he asked her, “Do you want it?”

Miaomiao felt a sense of nostalgia when he offered her the yogurt. She observed him as he read his book while sipping the yogurt.

What happened yesterday has really left a strong impression on her heart. She felt great discomfort yesterday, and this discomfort lasted for a good while, which caused her to doubt herself. But she had eased up today.

The rest of the day passed by smoothly. Eventually, the day of their trip to the hot springs was coming up. They went in the morning, but Miaomiao forgot to bring a swimsuit. The hot spring sold some swimsuits, but they weren’t cheap. So, she decided to go to the city store to buy one since it didn’t cost an arm and a leg there.

Miaomiao told Jingjing about her plan. Jingjing also didn’t bring her swimsuit either, which forced both of them to go out to buy swimsuits when noon came.

“So, how’s Zhou Yuan?” Jingjing asked as they walked. Jingjing clung onto Miaomiao’s hand.

“He’s good,” Miaomiao replied. “He’s very smart. No matter how much knowledge he attains, he could immediately draw inferences from it once he learns it.”

Jingjing narrowed her eyes, “You’re boasting a lot. Quickly tell me, do you like Zhou Yuan?”

Miaomiao saw this opportunity and hurriedly chimed in, “I like him? I’m not sure about that. It’s similar to how you feel about Deng Feng.”

Miaomiao didn’t mean to imply that her liking for Zhou Yuan resembled Jingjing’s liking for Deng Feng. She intended to assist Deng Feng with his problem.

Jingjing nodded, “Well, if you say so. I think you’re way too innocent.”

Miaomiao: “…” Poor Deng Feng. He has to deal with this.

At this point, they had already reached a lingerie shop, which had quite a few swimsuits on display.

After browsing through the selection, Miaomiao found a swimsuit that she had seen before.

Jingjing selected one as well, and they both tried out their respective outfits in the fitting room.

Miaomiao hasn’t donned a swimsuit in quite a long time, and her adolescent body has completely changed in half a year. Whenever Miaomiao looked at her chest, she always felt a tincture of uneasiness.

Jingjing came out at this time as well. When she saw Miaomiao, she was shocked, “Miaomiao, you…”

Miaomiao: “Don’t say anything.”

Jingjing: “I want to grow too…”

Miaomiao: “…” I have no idea what you’re talking about.

Miaomiao had a thin waist and no excess fat on the other parts of her body. She looked good in everything she wore due to her thin frame.

After a while of browsing and trying out the swimsuits, the two decided on their swimsuits.

Within her mind, Miaomiao pictured the four of them soaking in the hot springs together. While she felt somewhat embarrassed, she comforted herself that it was just like swimming…

Afternoon arrived, and they set out. They sat in the car, and Jingjing began talking about the interesting things that occurred in class.

However, whenever she discussed the happenings in her class, she also incessantly kept bringing up Zhao Mu.

“It’s very funny. It was originally a business for only a couple of us, but because of Zhao Mu, it suddenly became a business for him alone.”

Miaomiao: “Zhao Mu is funny. By the way, Deng Feng won a championship. He’s awesome!”

Zhou Yuan, who had remained silent, turned his head and stared at Miaomiao. He watched her with his full attention while she was mentioning Deng Feng’s achievements.

His gaze almost seemed to firmly bore into her, and it didn’t even budge an inch as he kept his eyes on her.

Miaomiao’s attention was focused on Jingjing and Deng Feng, so she naturally did not notice his piercing gaze.

After she had uttered that, Miaomiao swerved her head and looked at Zhou Yuan who was next to her, “Zhou Yuan. What do you think?”

Miaomiao met Zhou Yuan’s gaze.

“Zhou Yuan?” Miaomiao sensed that Zhou Yuan’s gaze was unusual, so she called him.

“I guess so.” In reality, he wasn’t paying attention to their colloquy.

The four people arrived at the lodging place, and they set their luggage into the room. Then, they visited a restaurant to order roasted lamb. Afterwards, they carried their luggage to the open-air hot springs in the mountains.

The open-air hot springs were much better, but they were more expensive to visit; therefore, not too many people were present in comparison to the larger hot springs at the foot of the mountain.

Boys and girls had to change their clothing in separate rooms, so they disappeared into their respective changing rooms before finally coming out adorned with their new swimwear. When Miaomiao and Jingjing appeared with their swimsuits, they noticed that the two boys had already begun soaking in the hot spring.

Miaomiao blushed. She felt a tinge of shame, for she found this very strange that she was going to bask in the hot springs as a grown-up with everyone.

She also participated in a school swimming contest when she was in middle school. At that time, lattices of scars still covered her body, but she felt no shame at that time.

Now I feel ashamed because my body…has grown?

Jingjing was much more gleeful. She wore a pale yellow swimsuit and sprang into the water with a plop.

Caparisoned with a pink floral swimsuit, Miaomiao also sprang into the water. She tried not to look at Zhou Yuan, for the embarrassment would consume her.

As soon as she was in the water, Jingjing dragged her to the boys’ side.

“Come on. Let’s race,” Jingjing suggested.

“The pool is too small. It’s not suitable for racing,” Miaomiao retorted.

The open-air hot spring pools were all irregularly shaped and weren’t very big; therefore, it wasn’t suitable for race-swimming.

“It’s so boring because we can’t play any games,” Jingjing chirped.

Miaomiao was actually okay when she dove into the water since she wasn’t very tall. The water reached up to her shoulders, so she wasn’t particularly embarrassed since the watery coverture concealed her body to a certain extent.

When she turned her head, she noticed that Zhou Yuan was peering at her.

The two were facing each other.