Chapter 54-Part 2

The classroom erupted into chatter, clearly discussing the matter. Nowadays, it wasn’t rare for boys to pursue girls, but when girls took the initiative to pursue boys, it attracted attention.

Especially for those girls who harbored their own feelings deep down, they tried to hide their emotions but couldn’t help feeling envious of others who dared to pursue so boldly.

Shen Zhi paid no attention to the gossip. He just lowered his head to get a book from his desk, but he felt a box instead.

When he took the box out, he found a small pink one, inside of which were bright red apples visible through the cracks. He raised an eyebrow slightly. No one should dare to put things in his desk without permission.

Unless…

He glanced slightly at Ji Ran, who was still busy writing, unaware that Shen Zhi had taken out the box from his desk.

Shen Zhi didn’t call her attention either; instead, he quietly opened the box.

Upon opening it, he noticed there was a pink heart beside the apple, with a carefully folded letter. As he pinched the pink heart, his fingertips tightened slightly.

Instead of opening it right away, he held onto the letter between his fingers and glanced at the girl in front of him.

Ji Ran was working on her physics test. She had been diligently studying physics lately; after all, she didn’t want to see her name in second place on the next exam.

But as she finished a question, she felt someone’s gaze nearby, so she turned her head.

Her eyes met Shen Zhi’s. At first, she maintained a calm expression, but as her gaze fell on his hand and the pink heart-shaped letter, she blinked subconsciously.

Shen Zhi softly asked, “Did you put this here?”

But before she could respond, he chuckled and teasingly asked, “What are you nervous about?”

“I’m not nervous; who says I’m nervous?” Ji Ran denied it instinctively, though deep down she knew she didn’t want to falter at this moment. So what if it was a love letter?

As she looked back at Shen Zhi fearlessly, he stared at her for a few seconds before leaning closer and reaching out to gently touch her eyelashes with his index finger.

Her lashes were particularly long and curved, fluffy to the touch.

Ji Ran froze.

It wasn’t until Shen Zhi chuckled softly and said, “When you’re nervous, you blink subconsciously,” that she realized why he touched her eyelashes.

But instead of feeling relieved by the clarification, her heart raced, her breath quickened, and she felt a rush of indescribable emotions.

It felt a little tingling and a bit itchy.

When Shen Zhi withdrew his finger, Ji Ran snapped out of her daze.

She watched as he continued to stare at the pink heart, and her fingers couldn’t help but scratch her palm as she self-deprecatingly said, “This heart looks a bit tacky, doesn’t it?”

Wen Qianxia was beside Ji Ran when she bought the apples.

So she encouraged Ji Ran to write a blessing to put inside, and she even taught Ji Ran how to fold a heart.

Ji Ran had never done such a thing before. She had plenty of friends who were skilled at folding paper stars or making paper straw stars to fill a bottle and give to boys they liked.

But Ji Ran had never done it.

She didn’t have anyone she liked, nor had she met anyone worthy of her folding a heart-shaped letter for.

But in this lifetime, she met him.

“I like it,” Shen Zhi said softly.

As soon as he finished speaking, the classroom suddenly went dark, followed by screams and cheers echoing throughout the entire school building.

The power was out.

If there was one thing students loved most during their school days, it would definitely be the unexpected power outages during evening self-study.

Because with no teachers around, there was no one to maintain order.

Shen Zhi reached into his pocket and took out his phone, checked the time, and said directly, “Let’s go.”

“Where?” Ji Ran asked instinctively. His words seemed to come out of nowhere.

Because of the power outage, it was pitch black around them. Before Ji Ran could react, she heard a warm, breathy voice saying, “I’m going to sell you.”

His tone was playful, something Ji Ran was least afraid of. She simply stood up.

But as they walked out into the corridor, Shen Zhi leaned against the railing, looking at the dark sky outside, and Ji Ran stood quietly beside him. But she felt a bit speechless. Was he really going to sell her?

More and more students crowded the corridor. Many students from Class 8 had also come out of their classrooms, facing the freshman building across from them. Students on the third floor of the freshman building were shining flashlights towards their direction.

The sophomores were a bit annoyed.

“Oh, come on, are they trying to provoke us?”

“Hey, freshmen across the way, dare to give us your names!”

The insults seemed to provoke the freshmen on the other side. Normally, they could maintain a superficially harmonious relationship between seniors and juniors, but with the power outage, it seemed like everyone gained some courage in the darkness.

The shouting from both sides intensified.

“You guys give us your names first!”

“So what if you’re sophomores? Just one year older than us.”

Amidst the clamor, there was suddenly a swooshing sound, followed by a burst of golden fireworks in the sky, illuminating half of the sky like velvet and turning it into a reddish-gold hue.

Fireworks were actually set off.

The shouting gradually faded as everyone’s attention was drawn to the unexpected fireworks. Soon, various fireworks blossomed in the sky one after another, rendering the entire sky into different colors and illuminating the faces of the students in the corridor.

Ji Ran looked up at the distant fireworks. In big cities, fireworks were almost extinct ten years later, yet here they were. The students in the corridor began to cheer, and someone suddenly played Christmas songs on their phone.

The classic Christmas music, accompanied by the dazzling fireworks, became an unforgettable memory for many.

There was always a moment in youth worth remembering forever.

Perhaps this moment was such a moment.

Shen Zhi glanced at the girl beside him, her gaze focused and earnest, and he chuckled softly. “Is it beautiful?”

Ji Ran nodded.

In fact, it wasn’t the fireworks that were beautiful. She had seen more magnificent fireworks displays during her travels around the world. But on this Christmas night, with snow falling and darkness all around, the person standing beside her was him.

Even if they were just standing quietly next to each other, Ji Ran couldn’t help but feel a tremor in her heart.

It was just too beautiful at this moment.

As the fireworks continued, the entire corridor was crowded with students, except for the noticeable space left empty next to Shen Zhi and Ji Ran. At this moment, no one dared to stand next to the “Demon King.”

Before long, as the fireworks seemed to come to an end, Ji Ran looked somewhat reluctantly at the distance, suddenly hearing some commotion around her.

“What’s that flying thing?”

“Where?”

“Look over there; it’s flying towards us.”

At first, it was very dark, so many people didn’t see it. But as it got closer, many people were amazed to see the aircraft-like thing hovering in the air.

Surprisingly, Ji Ran recognized it at a glance. It was a drone.

However, the development of drones in China started relatively late, and it wasn’t until a few years later that they became popular. Therefore, it wasn’t surprising that many students didn’t recognize it.

But not everyone was unfamiliar with it.

A boy in the corridor gasped and shouted, “Holy crap, it’s a drone, an actual drone. How did this thing fly to our school?”

“What’s a drone?”

The boy was a tech enthusiast who liked reading tech magazines. He had seen a drone once at a technology exhibition, but this was the first time he had seen one in real life.

He immediately explained, “These drones are only in the US; they have to be imported. I saw them at the exhibition last time, and they said they cost tens of thousands each.”

As he was explaining, a banner dropped from the drone.

The font on the banner was fluorescent, like the kind of fluorescent signs you see at night while driving, so bright that as soon as the banner dropped, everyone could see the words on it.

— Ji Ran, Happy Birthday.

The whole building went crazy. Screams, whistles, and stomping feet filled the air, causing the students on the ground floor to look up, afraid that the people on the upper floors might stomp through the ceiling.

Although it was a birthday wish, no one thought it was just a simple birthday greeting. It was clearly a bold declaration of love from a boy to the school’s beauty, but it was too audacious and daring to do it openly in the school like this.

What’s the difference between this and a public confession? It was like being brazenly reckless.

And so direct.

Suddenly, many people had a name in mind, something that was very likely, but no one dared to say it out loud.

After all, their previous rumors were quite sensational.

The affair between the academic genius and the beautiful, sweet school belle who sat together unavoidably attracted gossip. Fan fiction about them was already appearing on online forums.

Ji Ran stared fixedly at the banner in the sky, snowflakes drifting down, and the cold wind causing the banner to sway back and forth, until she turned her head to look at the boy beside her.

The deep winter night felt exceptionally chilly, the cold wind cutting like knives against her cheeks.

The surroundings were very dark, but in the faint light, she looked at Shen Zhi.

The boy’s dark eyes were slightly narrowed, with sharp eyebrows and a prominent nose. The contours of his profile were particularly sharp and three-dimensional. Enhanced by the darkness of the night, his features exuded a sense of mystery, as if enveloped in intense darkness.

Until the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

With this subtle change of expression, he seemed to dispel the gloominess, suddenly appearing exceptionally cheerful.

Ji Ran’s eyes watched intently without blinking as the banner continued to flutter in the air.

Happy Birthday.

In fact, even she had forgotten that in a few hours, when the clock struck midnight, she would celebrate her birthday.

She gradually stopped looking forward to her birthday.

Under their gaze, Ji Ran’s heartbeat gradually accelerated, and her ears seemed to be pounded by drumbeats, one after another, making her increasingly nervous and eager.

Even her ears felt a bit hot.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Shen Zhi spoke softly.

“Ran Ran, thank you for appearing.”

Appearing in my life, becoming that eternal light shining upon me.