Chapter 46 Are You There? Show Me Some Black Silk Stockings

Lu You walked to the corridor outside Class 2, leaning against the railing to wait for Li Yu so they could go home together.

By this time, the evening self-study session had already ended, and many students were walking in groups past him.

His gaze passed through the classroom and settled on Tang Wan. As it happened, she also looked toward the corridor, and their eyes met.

Tang Wan exchanged a few words with Xu Nian and Li Yu, and Li Yu even nodded, seeming to agree to something.

Then she gathered a pile of clothes and her schoolbag in her arms and walked quickly out of the classroom.

Coming up to Lu You, she handed him the things in her hands and said, "Hold these for me for a second."

Lu You hung her schoolbag on his right forearm while using his left arm to cradle her clothes. He watched as she put on her garments one by one. First came the beige knee-length down jacket, followed by the beige knitted hat, beige scarf, beige gloves, and finally, she shouldered her schoolbag.

"Where's your snowman outfit?"

"I wore that for almost a week, so I took it to be washed."

"Do you always wear solid-colored outfits?"

"Yeah." Tang Wan straightened her hair and said, "It makes matching simple, so I don't have to overthink it. What's wrong, doesn't it look good?"

"How could that be? With your breathtaking beauty that puts birds to shame and makes the moon hide, anything you wear looks amazing."

Tang Wan nodded with a sense of gratification and said, "Very good, you have an eye for aesthetics."

After yesterday, Lu You roughly understood that Tang Wan was extremely confident in her appearance. If he praised her for being pretty, she would likely float up to the clouds nine times out of ten, so he changed the subject.

"Did you have something to say to me tonight?"

"Yes. Let's get going first."

The two of them walked along the path toward the underground parking garage.

Tang Wan pretended to be casual as she said, "You did really well on the midterm exams."

"It's alright, I just wrote down everything I knew how to do."

"Does that mean you knew how to do all the math, English, and physics?"

"It's mainly thanks to Teacher Tang's good teaching. Thank you, Teacher Tang, for the tutoring session last Saturday night," Lu You flattered her with a submissive expression.

"Cut it out." Tang Wan gave him a sideways glance. "My math score was a dozen points lower than yours, what could I possibly teach you? And you claimed your grades were poor, but look at the result? Your science scores left mine far behind, you're a big liar."

"I wasn't lying to you," Lu You hurriedly clarified. "My grades really were terrible in middle school."

"How terrible? Didn't you still manage to get into Chunhua?"

Lu You narrowed his eyes and said, "I never said I got in through the entrance examination."

"Huh?" Tang Wan froze, staring at him in shock. "Are you a rich second-generation kid who bought his way in?"

"Well..." Lu You thought about his family background and said, "I did get into Chunhua through connections, but I wouldn't consider myself a rich second-generation kid. My father knows the director of studies and the principal, so he asked them for a favor."

"Then what was your high school entrance exam score?"

"Not much, not little, exactly five hundred and fifty."

"You..." Tang Wan was left speechless, saying incredulously, "Your progress is way too fierce, right? How did you pull that off?"

"Just by sticking to studying every day and listening attentively in class, nothing special."

"Just that?"

"What else? There are no shortcuts to studying; the top student of the grade should know that very well."

Tang Wan naturally knew. Her grades were the result of good study habits and persevering endurance.

Lu You continued, "Besides, I knew very well that I would definitely choose the science track next semester, so I poured all my time and energy into those subjects. As for politics, history, and geography, I completely ignored them. Take a guess, what did I score in those three subjects?"

"How much?"

"I handed in blank papers for all three."

"Why?" Tang Wan couldn't understand at all. "Even if you didn't know, wouldn't randomly guessing the multiple-choice questions get you some points?"

"Because it's meaningless. Those three subjects are merely proficiency test subjects for me, so I'll just casually cope with them in the second year of high school and reach the university admission standard."

"But writing a bit more could raise your overall total score, right?"

"Whether I write or not, my science scores won't change at all, and the college entrance exam only looks at those."

"That actually... makes sense." Tang Wan understood his thought process to some extent. "Then I should try that too; studying nine subjects at once is just too time-consuming. Especially politics, looking at it gives me a headache."

"Are you choosing the science track next semester too?"

"Yeah, I don't like pure memorization subjects; solving physics problems is a bit more interesting."

At this moment, Lu You recalled a promise made before the exams and said, "Tang Wan, do you remember what you said before the tests?"

"What..." Tang Wan was just about to ask what he meant when a flash of inspiration crossed her mind.

She quickly averted her head, pretending she didn't remember anything, and said with a stiff tone, "I... I don't think I s... said anything at all."

"It's fine, I'll help you jog your memory. At the time, you said if you did well in math, you would agree to one request of mine."

"No, I didn't say that," Tang Wan resorted to playing dead.

"Let me think, yesterday when we were watching that video, how did Zhang whatever-his-name treat his girlfriend again?" Lu You put on a thoughtful expression.

"Don't, don't, don't, I remember! I remember!" Tang Wan didn't dare to welsh on the deal anymore. That greasy behavior was terrifying just to think about, and if she were to be disgusted like that once, she probably wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully for days.

"You really remember?"

"Really!" Tang Wan said with absolute finality. "Spit it out, what is your demand? Let's make it clear first, it can't be anything improper."

Lu You looked left and right to make sure no one else could hear, then leaned into her ear and whispered, "Wear black silk stockings."

Tang Wan paused for a moment, her face turning red at a visible speed. Clenching her fists, she threw a punch upward.

Lu You was prepared and easily caught her fist, enclosing it within his palm, and continued to tease, "It's just an article of clothing, is that really out of the question?"

"Get lost!" Tang Wan was both embarrassed and annoyed. "How could I possibly agree to something so indecent!"

"What's indecent about that? Isn't it quite nice? Plenty of girls wear them."

"Then go look at them! I said it's indecent, so it's indecent! I'm never wearing them."

"What a pity." Lu You lowered his gaze and said regretfully, "If you wore them, you'd definitely look especially good."

"You, you, you let go of me! I don't want to talk to you anymore!"

Tang Wan broke free from his grasp and walked quickly forward.

Lu You hurriedly caught up and placated her, "Calm down, calm down. I was just joking, don't take it seriously."

Tang Wan stopped in her tracks, shot him a cold, scathing glare, and scolded, "Pervert!"

"Hey!" Lu You refused to accept this verdict. "How am I a pervert? I wanted to see you wear them, not just demand that you wear them."

"You're still talking!"

Seeing the way Tang Wan was grinding her teeth, Lu You knew when to quit while he was ahead.

"I'll stop talking. Let me propose a proper request instead."

Tang Wan let out a breath, continuously fanning her face with her hands, and said, "Fine, go ahead."

Lu You adjusted his mood and said earnestly, "If we're in the same class next semester, be my desk mate."

Hearing his words, Tang Wan lowered her head, pulled up her scarf to cover her face, and asked weakly, "Is that your request?"

"Yes. Can you agree to it?"

Tang Wan remained silent for a long time before slowly nodding and whispering softly, "I agree."

The heavy stone in Lu You's chest finally landed, and a warm current mixed with joy and happiness surged from the bottom of his heart, spreading through his entire body.

"Then let's hurry home, it's getting a bit late."

"Wait a minute."

Just as Lu You was about to take a step, he was called back.

"Is there anything else?"

Tang Wan reached out, grabbed his clothes, and murmured softly, "Tang Wan wants to ask you, can you walk her home tonight?"

Lu You looked into her eyes, which were like clear pools of water, sparkling, bright, and clean.

"With the utmost pleasure."

...

Lu You rode his little electric scooter, carrying Tang Wan, and guided by her directions, drove to the base of a building within a residential complex.

"This is where I live."

Lu You looked up at the apartment building, which was about twenty stories high with quite a few windows still lit, and asked, "Which floor is your home on?"

Tang Wan pointed in a direction and said, "On 1302. Look, the one with the greenery on the balcony."

Lu You looked in the direction she pointed and saw a balcony with lights on, where the shadows of flower and plant branches were faintly visible.

"Yeah, I see it." As he spoke, he silently carved Tang Wan's home location and apartment number into his heart.

"Thank you for bringing me back tonight."

"You can skip the thanks and give me something practical. Like the bla—"

"Take it or leave it!" Several dozen minutes ago, Tang Wan had deeply realized that Lu You was a pervert who would always push an inch to get a mile, and she couldn't let him finish casting his spell.

"Hurry back, it's already very late today."

Still feeling reluctant, Lu You carefully probed, "Or, white ones are fine too."

Anger rushed straight to Tang Wan's head, and she scolded, "Get lost! I don't want to see you today!"

With that, she turned around, swiped her access card, and vanished into the stairwell.

"If you won't wear them, you won't, why get so angry?" Lu You muttered quietly to himself, put his helmet back on, and drove away.

...

When Lu You returned home, it was already past eleven o'clock. Lu Jiayan was upstairs coaxing their little sister to sleep, and on the ground floor living room, only Shen Youyin was still watching television while waiting for him to come home.

"I'm back." Lu You walked into the living room and poured himself a glass of water to drink.

Shen Youyin looked at him and asked, "Why are you so late today? You usually get back around ten-forty, you're more than half an hour late today."

"I walked a classmate home today, so I was a bit late," Lu You answered truthfully.

"That girl named Tang Wan?"

"Yeah, it's her."

Shen Youyin blinked, her interest piqued as she asked, "Things are progressing nicely, you're even walking people home now! When are you bringing her here to meet us?"

"That's a long way off. Honestly, shouldn't you parents be caring about midterm exam scores? Why are you so interested in her?"

"What are your grades like, as if I don't know?" Shen Youyin gave him a contemptuous look. "Hearing about them would only make me mad, might as well gossip, it's much more interesting."

Lu You felt that his mother was truly a rare specimen; nearly forty years old and still acting like a young girl, probably because his old man protected her too well.

"I'm going to take a shower and sleep, we have the flag-raising ceremony tomorrow morning."

With that, he walked toward his own floor.

"Remember to tell me if there's any progress!"

"Tell you my foot!"

...

On the other side.

After drying her hair, Tang Wan took off her down jacket, turned off the lights, and quickly burrowed under the cotton quilt. Lying flat on her bed, she thought about the time she spent with Lu You today, a smile appearing on her face without her even realizing it.

"His science grades really are good. I can't fall behind either; even if I can't surpass him, I can't let him widen the gap."

"He also said he wants to be my desk mate next semester. He probably doesn't hate me, right?"

Suddenly, a flush returned to Tang Wan's face.

"I really didn't expect him to be such a big pervert, he actually wanted to see me wear black silk stockings. There's no way I'd agree to that."

Yet the next second, Tang Wan's inner resolve wavered a little, as if two little people were fighting inside her.

Little Person A: "How about trying it on just once? He said I'd definitely look really good in them."

Little Person B: "What nonsense are you thinking! You can't wear them! That kind of indecent thing is not for you to wear."

Little Person A: "Plenty of girls wear them on the street, how can it count as indecent?"

Little Person B: "No! No! It just feels too suggestive when worn, I'm still a high school student, I can't wear them."

Little Person A: "It's not like you're wearing them out on the street, just for his eyes alone, it'll be fine."

...

In the end, right before she drifted off to sleep in a haze, Tang Wan made a decision: she could wear them, but she would have to wait until she got into university. If they ended up together then, she would wear them for him to see.