Chapter 02: Daskmate | When Flowers Fall On Campus by Jibei Ruishi

 The school bell rang — Ding ding ding — and Mr. Wu shouted, 

“Class time! Get your books ready!”

Fan Jiade not paying attention to Mr. Wu’s order continued fiddling with something at his seat idly.

Jia Qiuyue glanced at Fan Jiade, furrowing her brows in concern and couldn't help but ask,

“Why aren’t you paying attention?” 

Fan Jiade, without looking at her, replied, 

“I’m used to it. My grades are always at the bottom every year. I might as well give up and just aim for a vocational diploma.”

Hearing that, Jia Qiuyue’s eyes widened in disbelief. She exclaimed, 

“How can you give up? The college entrance exam only happens once! If you lose this chance, it’s gone forever. Even if we fail, we have to keep trying.”

She blurted it out loudly. The whole class turned to look at her. 

Mr. Wu, clearly agitated, hurled a piece of chalk and barked, 

“Fan Jiade! Are you trying to give me more work? It’s bad enough you're talking to the new student — now you're arguing?”

Fan Jiade slammed the desk and stood up, declaring,

“It was me. I started the conversation.” 

Mr. Wu’s face darkened with anger as he nodded sternly. 

“You’ve got guts, huh? Come see me in my office after class.”

Fan Jiade slumped back down into his seat, unconcerned, and resumed being idle. 

Jia Qiuyue, watching him with a mix of surprise and admiration, felt an unexpected flutter in her chest. She tore a piece of paper and, after hesitating briefly, wrote:

“I’m really curious — why did you take the blame for me?”

She passed the note to Fan Jiade. He glanced at it, smiled a bit in amusement, and scribbled back:

“Tch, I was just bored. Wanted to piss off old Wu. It’s not like I wanted to take the blame for you!”

Fan Jiade passed the note back. After reading it, Jia Qiuyue’s face  flushed red a bit. Then she wrote another message:

“Well, thanks anyway. But you have to promise me one thing: let’s get into Zhengxin University together. I’ll give you a surprise when we make it.”

As she passed the note again, Nong Yi, the girl sitting behind her, noticed. She suddenly stood up and declared loudly, 

“Teacher, Jia Qiuyue is writing love notes during class!”

The room erupted in laughter. Jia Qiuyue’s face turned more crimson as she slowly lowered her head in embarrassment.

Unable to bear it, Fan Jiade shot to his feet and snapped, 

“What are you all laughing at? So what if they’re love notes? Yeah, she was wrong this time, but people make mistakes. We can always change”

The classroom fell into a hushed silence.

The bell rang again. Mr. Wu let out a heavy sigh and said, 

“You two, come to my office.”

Jia Qiuyue and Fan Jiade followed him quietly. Once seated in his chair, Mr. Wu looked at them with a stern expression.

“You two! I was going to punish both of you. But Jia Qiuyue just transferred here and isn’t familiar with the rules yet, so Fan Jiade, you're getting a demerit.”

Jia Qiuyue stepped forward quickly, voice trembling slightly. 

“Teacher, this was all my fault. It had nothing to do with Fan Jiade. If you must punish someone, punish me.”

Fan Jiade stepped up beside her, his tone firm interrupted her. 

“No, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have talked to her during class.”

They began arguing over who should take responsibility. Mr. Wu watched them for a moment, then sighed again.

“Alright, alright. I’ll just give you both a warning this time. But no more next time, understood?”

Both replied in unison, 

“Understood.”

As they walked out of the office, Jia Qiuyue looked up at him, cheeks tinged pink. 

“Thank you for earlier,” 

she murmured.

Fan Jiade glanced at her, a rare softness in his voice. 

“No need to thank me. You also said some things that made sense earlier. Let’s just say we’re even now.”