Chapter 33: A Peculiar Way of Thinking

Chapter 33: Bizarre Logic

She looked up in surprise, and when she saw the person in front of her, she instinctively took a step back.

It was the boy who had given her the black wolfberries and hot milk tea.

He was still wearing those stained khaki shorts, but he had changed into a black T-shirt; a patch of white skin on his shoulder was covered in scattered dandruff.

A smile hung on his face, but for some reason, seeing that smile only made Shen Ci feel a sense of creeping dread.

Before Shen Ci could speak, a bouquet of flowers appeared before her.

They were passionate red roses.

Shen Ci shook her head with a look of slight alarm and quickly declined, "I'm sorry, classmate, this isn't appropriate."

Hao Penghui seemed not to have expected her to refuse him. Upon hearing her words, the smile on his face froze, and he blinked, asking, "You... you don't like roses, do you?"

"It's not about the flowers. I can't accept things from you for no reason. Let's forget about the black wolfberries and the milk tea from before; please don't do this again in the future."

Shen Ci tried her best to communicate with a tactful tone because she felt an inexplicable sense of "craziness" coming from the person in front of her—in short, he felt unsafe.

But after hearing her words, Hao Penghui actually wore an expression of disbelief: "What do you mean 'for no reason'? Don't you like me? You were the one who hinted at it first!"

"Huh?"

Shen Ci was completely stunned, looking at him with utter confusion. "Classmate, have you misunderstood something? I don't even know you. I've never even seen you before. When did I ever hint at anything?"

Hearing this, Hao Penghui actually spoke with an air of righteousness: "It was that scholarship! The teacher said you proactively gave it up for me. If you didn't like me, why would you proactively give the scholarship to me?"

Shen Ci:...

So, the reason he had such good grades was because he used his entire brain for studying, was it?

She never expected that the culprit behind this misunderstanding would be the scholarship she had voluntarily waived.

"Classmate, you really have it wrong. I waived the scholarship for personal reasons; it has nothing to do with you. After it was waived, an extra slot became available and the teacher gave it to you. I didn't manipulate that."

"Is it possible that it was simply because you have good grades and happened to meet the criteria, so the teacher gave the slot to you?"

"Impossible!" Hao Penghui shook his head with firm conviction. "I applied all of last year and never got a scholarship slot. I only have this slot because you gave it to me!"

"That slot only became available because I waived it; it wasn't because I was giving it to you. Whoever the teacher gives it to has nothing to do with me!"

"But if you hadn't given it up, there wouldn't have been a slot, and I wouldn't have received it!"

Shen Ci:...

Fine. The logic of a Mathematics major is truly bizarre. Their logical thinking is just "unreasonable" like this, isn't it?

Shen Ci decided to stop arguing about cause and effect with him and summoned her courage to speak more directly: "In short, I don't know you. Who gets the scholarship is arranged by the school; I have no right to intervene. Therefore, there is no such thing as me hinting at anything or liking you."

"Your recent behavior has caused me great distress, so I ask you to stop while you're ahead, alright?"

This was already quite blunt. Shen Ci believed that as long as he could understand human language, he would understand her meaning.

Instead, Hao Penghui glared at her: "Then why don't you like me?"

Shen Ci was almost laughed out of anger. Looking at the person in front of her, she really wanted to snap: "Do I need a reason not to like you? Because you don't wash your hair? Because you don't change your pants? Because you smell like damp rot?"

Her patience ran out, and she instantly lost the desire to communicate with him. She let out a helpless sigh. "I have made myself very clear. If you still can't understand that, then there's nothing I can do."

Having said that, she turned to leave, but he persistently blocked her path.

Shen Ci had to take a step back to maintain her distance, but unexpectedly, a basketball flew in from the side, hitting Hao Penghui squarely on the head with a loud *thud*.

Hao Penghui stumbled, nearly falling over.

Shen Ci turned around in surprise and saw Qu Yang jogging up to them, glaring at Hao Penghui. "What are you doing?"

Facing the sudden appearance of Qu Yang, Hao Penghui showed visible cowardice. His eyes darted around nervously, but he didn't dare answer Qu Yang's question.

Seeing his spineless behavior, Qu Yang didn't bother wasting words on him. He turned to Shen Ci and asked, "Are you okay?"

Shen Ci shook her head gratefully. If Qu Yang hadn't appeared suddenly, she had been planning to use her phone to call Director Li for help.

"Get lost, and stay away from her in the future!" Qu Yang barked at Hao Penghui.

Hao Penghui kept his head down, not daring to breathe a word. Upon hearing this, he turned and ran. Seeing this, Shen Ci breathed a sigh of relief.

She was truly afraid that if he got agitated, he might try to force physical contact with her; just thinking about it made her skin crawl with disgust.

"Thanks. I still have to go to the Principal's office. I'll thank you properly later." Shen Ci's expression returned to normal as she waved goodbye to Qu Yang.

"I'll walk you there," Qu Yang said, gathering his courage. Seeing Shen Ci look at him, he added flusteredly, "I'm not sure if that guy has gone far yet."

"They're still waiting for you to play ball."

Shen Ci looked at the dozen or so boys gathered on the basketball court nearby; they were clearly waiting for Qu Yang.

When they saw Shen Ci looking over, the boys excitedly began to jeer and whistle, clearly teasing Shen Ci and Qu Yang.

"It's fine. I'll come back after I drop you off."

Without waiting for Shen Ci to object, he picked up the basketball rolling on the ground, tossed it toward the court, and walked ahead of her.

Seeing this, Shen Ci had no choice but to follow.

The laughter of the boys rose behind them once more.

Along the way, Qu Yang was as silent as if he had been struck mute. Although he had long legs and a large stride, he deliberately slowed his pace to walk just slightly ahead of Shen Ci.

Shen Ci watched his back; there was a faint, fine sheen of moisture on his short hair. It took about ten minutes before he stopped and turned around.

"We're here. Go on up."

"Thank you for the trouble," Shen Ci said.

Qu Yang said nothing more, merely following her with his eyes until she entered the administration building.

She made her way to the top floor. Before even reaching the Principal's office, she could faintly hear shrill, frantic voices. Director Li had already sent her a secret message explaining the situation, so upon reaching the door, she knocked directly on the Principal's office door.

The noise inside stopped abruptly, and then the door opened. It was Li Jianguo who opened it.

Seeing that it was Shen Ci, Li Jianguo gave her a "this is very troublesome" look. Taking advantage of the moment Shen Ci entered, he whispered beside her, "Don't say much. Don't worry, the teachers are here."

Shen Ci gave him a grateful smile, then walked into the Principal's office with poise. Ignoring Mother Li, who was looking so furious she seemed ready to grind her with her eyes into dust, she greeted the Principal and the Dean of Students: "Principal, Director Sun, I'm here!"

(End of Chapter)