Although puzzled, Qiao Ze shook his head and said honestly, "No."
Su Mucheng stared at Qiao Ze and pressed on, "Then what kind of girl do you like?"
Qiao Ze thought for a moment, then shook his head again, saying, "I haven't thought about it."
Su Mucheng wrinkled her delicate nose, tilted her head, and asked, "But you can be certain you're not into guys, right?"
Qiao Ze answered earnestly, "Yes."
Instantly, Su Mucheng's face relaxed, breaking into a radiant smile. She reached out with her fair little hand and said, "Let's start over. My name is Su Mucheng, the class representative of Basic Mathematics Class 1. On behalf of our class, I welcome you, new student Qiao Ze."
Qiao Ze hesitated for a moment but extended his hand politely and gently shook hands with Su Mucheng, saying, "Thank you."
...
"Ahem, uh, could you two not act like we don't exist?" Zhang Zhou said with a miserable face.
"Exactly!" Gu Zhengliang chimed in sourly.
This was a scenario he had not anticipated.
Zhang Zhou was certain that at least eighty percent of the male students in class had thoughts about Su Mucheng.
After all, Su was the girl with the best grades and also the most beautiful in the class.
This included the original three guys from Room 408 and even that guy who was inexplicably switched to another dorm.
Zhang Zhou suspected that Chen Yiwen's desperate efforts to catch up with Su Mucheng's grades definitely included a notion of showing off in front of the girl he admired.
Yet, everything happening now could shatter everyone's beautiful dreams.
The normally aloof class representative was actually taking the initiative to ask the newbie about having a girlfriend and verifying his sexual orientation... Was this a move to chase after him actively?
Everyone was expecting to see a blockbuster with scholarly clashes, but instead, they got an arthouse film about gravitational pull.
Zhang Zhou was already regretting the praises he had sung for Qiao Ze on WeChat.
His goddess fantasy was crushed!
...
"We didn't ignore you!"
Su Mucheng glanced at the two, then turned to Qiao Ze and said, "It's getting late today. I'm going to head back now. Tomorrow morning at 8:10 is the mandatory lecture on Ordinary Differential Equations in Science Building Room 301. I will go there early to save a seat for you. Do you prefer the front, middle, or back row?"
Qiao Ze thought for a moment and replied, "The back row, I guess. I've always sat at the back."
Su Mucheng nodded, then continued to ask naturally, "Great! Are you used to getting up early? Do you need me to bring you breakfast?"
"She even wants to bring you breakfast?" Zhang Zhou added.
Qiao Ze asked in surprise, "But you invited me for dinner tonight, too, didn't you? What does that prove?"
"I..." A mouthful of metaphorical old blood nearly spurted out of Zhang Zhou.
He looked at Qiao Ze, who seemed genuinely clueless and not faking it, and couldn't take it anymore. He rushed to the table, picked up his phone, and directly messaged Cheng on WeChat, bluntly asking, "Su Mucheng, just tell us, are you planning to pursue our new academic genius, right?"
Soon, the reply came from the other side: "Yes, what's the matter? Do you plan to help me?"
Zhang Zhou felt as if his heart was being carved by a little knife, but he stubbornly showed Qiao Ze the WeChat conversation, saying, "See for yourself, she admitted it."
Qiao Ze glanced at it; his expression remained unchanged as he silently mulled over it for a moment before simply responding, "Oh."
"Oh? And then?" Zhang Zhou pressed Qiao Ze for a reaction.
"What do you mean, 'and then'?" Qiao Ze was still puzzled.
"Your thoughts? Don't you really have any thoughts at all? Like a bit of pride, a little thrill?" Zhang Zhou implored him for a reaction.
Qiao Ze slightly knit his brows in contemplation.
This left Zhang Zhou and Gu Zhengliang stunned.
After all, this guy had never shown such an expression even when he was studying English papers.
It was as if he was pondering a difficult problem of epic proportions for a question that should have been answered off the top of his head?
A moment later, he shook his head and said very seriously, "No."
Then he added, "Perhaps because I've never thought about these kinds of things."
"And what if you start thinking about them from today?" Zhang Zhou couldn't help but inquire further.
"Then we'll talk about it in the future," Qiao Ze replied nonchalantly, then turned his head and walked into the bathroom on the balcony.
He didn't want to continue this pointless discussion anymore.
A dejected Zhang Zhou glanced at Gu Zhengliang and then relayed Qiao Ze's reaction via WeChat in its entirety.
"Hey Cheng, it's not that I don't want to help you, but it's quite clear that the new academic star of our class still hasn't come to his senses!"
"Ha, you don't understand at all. High intelligence works that way. Do you think he is yearning for the so-called love and sweetness that comes with the first milk tea of autumn, filled with a rancid smell? Wrong. What he seeks are the brilliant fireworks produced by a pure collision of thoughts!"
After reading this response, Zhang Zhou was convinced that both individuals were beyond help!
Nor was he!
He was so tired!