Proactively Attracted chapter 38

Ears Turned Red

As he entered the classroom, Lu Xingjia immediately spotted Xu Feilong sitting in a corner, eyes wandering, legs bouncing restlessly.

Lu Xingjia casually glanced at the seat number stickers on the desks and realized they were sitting right next to each other.

…What a small, cruel world.

But he wasn’t afraid of him. He curved his lips into a smile, walked up to Xu Feilong, and even greeted him: “Hey! What a coincidence.”

“The hell?” Xu Feilong clearly got a shock when Lu Xingjia popped up out of nowhere. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to take the exam,” Lu Xingjia said casually as he began laying out his pencils, erasers, and calculator one by one. “What else would I be doing here? Purposefully getting close to you just to become friends?”

Maybe Lu Xingjia’s eyes were too bright, his gaze too intense—Xu Feilong actually flinched a little, momentarily unsure of how to respond.

He had had more than one nightmare about Qin Mudong—dreams where those black eyes stared him down coldly, knife in hand, asking why he’d approached him with hidden motives, used his friendship for amusement.

Late at night, in the silence, he sometimes felt the tiniest pang of regret. Maybe he had gone too far.

Maybe he did owe Qin Mudong an apology.

After they became “friends,” Qin Mudong had helped him a lot—not just with studies.

Back when he was shorter, sucked at basketball, and too stubborn to admit it, Qin Mudong stayed with him late into the night under the hoop, helping him practice, fetching his missed shots.

Later, when he got into a fight with students from another school, Qin Mudong was the one who held him back—and even took a hit for him.

Even when the lies came out, Qin Mudong still calmly stood in front of him, black eyes looking steadily into his, and asked what was really going on.

He had said, “I don’t trust others. I only trust you.”

The guilt only lingered for a second before Xu Feilong suppressed it again.

He comforted himself: who could really be blamed? Wasn’t it because Qin Mudong was the one with the personality issues?

Would a normal person act like that?

Qin Mudong was only nice to him because he had no friends.

You could tell just by the way he gave off that cold, gloomy vibe—who could stand being around that?

He was clearly mentally unstable. Otherwise, why else would he have no friends? Why else would he have cracked his skull open?

Having solidified his belief, Xu Feilong gave a cold snort: “You really that close with Qin Mudong? Don’t tell me he’s actually turned you into one of his kind?”

“That’s right,” Lu Xingjia didn’t deny it, just curled his lips into a smile. “We’re both lunatics—but even lunatics are better than you. Doesn’t that make you feel pathetic?”

“Even lunatics know how to treat other people’s feelings sincerely. Even a dog knows to repay kindness. And you?”

Lu Xingjia fiddled with the eraser on his desk, his tone casual but his sarcasm precise.

“You—!”

Xu Feilong was livid and about to snap back when the invigilator’s voice rang out.

“Alright, stop talking.”

The invigilator walked up to the podium and held up the sealed test papers for the students to see.

“Everyone take a look and confirm the seal is intact. I’ll now open the exam papers.”

As the test began to be distributed, Xu Feilong had no choice but to shut his mouth, though he still gave Lu Xingjia a vicious glare.

The test papers were being passed from the front row to the back—it was almost their turn.

Lu Xingjia smirked and glanced at Xu Feilong one last time. “Let’s see now if you can even do better than a lunatic.”

Just as he finished speaking, the papers reached their row. Lu Xingjia took one sheet and passed the rest back, then calmly filled in his name and student number and began answering questions.

Xu Feilong suddenly felt a jolt of unease, even dropping his paper to the floor.

He hurriedly picked it up, but his mind was already a mess. He hastily filled out the information and started reading the questions, but he couldn’t focus at all.

Beside him, Lu Xingjia was answering questions swiftly and had already flipped to the next page. Xu Feilong stared at the questions blindly, the characters swimming before his eyes like tadpoles mocking him.

Soon, sweat began to bead along his temple.

He had kept smearing Qin Mudong in his own mind, trying to convince himself he hadn’t done anything wrong. But when he realized that the person he had once looked down on was no longer affected by him—when he saw Qin Mudong had found a new friend and that both of them were better than him—his pride, which he once held so dearly, crumbled effortlessly.

His fingers gripped the pen tightly, but he couldn’t write a single word.

Lu Xingjia curled his lips slightly and ignored him, focusing on his exam.

Having spent so much time with Qin Mudong, Lu Xingjia had gradually developed his own way of approaching physics.

Qin Mudong once said that physics was pure—it was a discipline that studied the nature of matter and motion.

From quarks and protons to the vast cosmos, even the dirt by the roadside and the clouds in the sky shared the same set of rules.

Physics was fair. Complicated and obscure phenomena could be reduced to models, and through those models, one could find ways to solve problems. The joy of solving a difficult question was indescribable.

Now, Lu Xingjia finally understood that feeling.

He had never found doing problems so effortless before.

It was like he was a carefree child playing in the sand at the beach—every step of exploration filled with delightful surprises.

Before long, Lu Xingjia had finished the first six questions, leaving only the two final big ones.

He let out a small sigh of relief and glanced out the window at the beautiful scenery. He suddenly noticed the school’s design was quite interesting—the teaching buildings were side by side, and from this window, he could see the building Qin Mudong was in.

First floor, second floor…

His gaze moved upward until he spotted a small, blurry figure.

It was far away, the person was only the size of a soybean, but Lu Xingjia was still utterly certain—that was Qin Mudong.

His heart skipped two beats before settling into a steady, powerful rhythm.

A bright smile bloomed on his face as he turned back and continued writing out the last questions, stroke by stroke.

The exam was nearing its end. Lu Xingjia capped his pen in satisfaction while Xu Feilong was still wiping cold sweat from his brow.

After three hours, Xu Feilong had only managed to answer two or three questions. The rest of his paper was largely blank—he couldn’t figure anything out.

When the bell rang, he slammed the desk in frustration but could only watch helplessly as his mess of an answer sheet was collected.

He slumped in his chair, only two words flashing through his mind:

It’s over.

Lu Xingjia, light and relaxed, packed his stationery cheerfully and casually glanced at Xu Feilong. “Not leaving yet?”

Xu Feilong glared daggers at him.

But Lu Xingjia gave him no chance to speak and walked straight out of the classroom.

After a full morning of exams, he was hungry—and more importantly, eager to see Qin Mudong!

He walked briskly out the school gate. The bus was already waiting there.

The seat beside Qin Mudong was still empty. Lu Xingjia grinned and asked cheekily if it was taken. Then, after hearing the expected “no,” he sat down beside him with a satisfied smile.

With the competition exam finished, the training camp was also coming to an end.

After lunch and a brief rest at the camp, Lu Xingjia was lying on his bed, not yet asleep, when the teacher called all the students to gather in the auditorium—probably for a closing ceremony of sorts.

Qiu Ruifeng had been sticking close to Ji Angran this whole time, which conveniently gave Lu Xingjia the perfect excuse to stick close to Qin Mudong.

He went to Qin Mudong’s dorm to ask if he wanted to go together.

As soon as Qin Mudong saw him, his expression softened and he nodded slightly. “Okay.”

Lu Xingjia leaned against the doorframe, waiting. “Then hurry up. I still want to grab some candy on the way.”

Qin Mudong, surprisingly obedient, packed up quickly in just a few moves. “Let’s go.”

The usually cold and aloof top student suddenly behaved like an obedient puppy.

Qin Mudong’s roommates were so shocked their jaws almost dropped. One guy with glasses pulled Lu Xingjia aside and asked, “You’re Qin god’s friend?!”

Lu Xingjia froze for a moment before realizing who “Qin god” was. He glanced at Qin Mudong, then simply admitted, “Yeah, I am.”

“That’s great, really great.” The guy with glasses repeated, and the whole dorm started looking at Lu Xingjia differently.

Like they were in the presence of a divine being.

…Well, duh—being able to tame such a cold academic genius? He had to be some kind of divine being himself!

Lu Xingjia could pretty much guess what they were thinking. He snuck another look at Qin Mudong and found that not only was he unbothered, but he even looked a bit puzzled as he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing!” Lu Xingjia grinned, letting them think whatever they wanted, and walked out of the dorm building side by side with Qin Mudong.

They took a detour to a nearby convenience store to buy milk candy, and by the time they got to the auditorium, all the seats were taken.

Lu Xingjia popped a candy into his mouth and offered one to Qin Mudong as well. With the candy muffling his voice, he mumbled, “Mmm, let’s just stand in the back. I don’t feel like squeezing up front.”

Qin Mudong, naturally, had no objections. He stood silently next to Lu Xingjia and popped the candy into his mouth too.

After a while, the teacher began to speak.

There was a long summary first, followed by various hopes and expectations. Lu Xingjia found it boring and began sneaking glances at Qin Mudong.

Well—“sneaking” might be a stretch. He was pretty blatant about it.

His heated gaze lingered on Qin Mudong’s well-defined collarbone, then moved upward, past his pale, slender neck.

Then he suddenly noticed… Qin Mudong’s earlobes had turned red!

Did he notice he was being stared at?

Lu Xingjia’s heart skipped an irregular beat. Embarrassed, he quickly looked away.

He awkwardly tried to think of something to say to ease the tension, but just then, the previously closed door suddenly swung open.

Three boys tiptoed in, with the one in the lead signaling Lu Xingjia to stay quiet.

Lu Xingjia saw them and froze.

Wasn’t that Xu Feilong?

Xu Feilong was clearly just as surprised. He blurted out, “Why is it always you?!”

Yeah, I’d like to ask the same!

Who wants to run into you, anyway?

Lu Xingjia shot him a glare. “That’s my line!”

Their little commotion was nothing compared to the sudden noise at the front—the atmosphere in the hall suddenly heated up.

Lu Xingjia looked around in confusion, about to ask someone what was happening, when Qin Mudong calmly said, “The results are out.”

“The results are out?!” Lu Xingjia echoed in disbelief, stunned on the spot.

“No joke! I saw the teacher holding the results sheet!” a student in the front row shouted excitedly, not even caring who he was responding to.

Results from the preliminary contest came out fast—usually graded the same day and posted the next morning.

This was before online score-checking existed. The results were printed on paper lists for everyone to see. The training camp had pulled some strings to get the list early.

The teacher at the podium received the results and couldn’t stop smiling as he looked through them.

“Our city performed very well this time—really excellent,” he said.

The students below started heckling him to read out the scores. The teacher, in high spirits, picked up the microphone and really started reading.

“I won’t say too much. I’ll just read the top 30. We still have the experimental test coming up.”

The contest had two parts: theory and experiment. Top scorers in theory earned provincial first, second, or third prizes. Those who earned first prize would compete in the experimental section for a chance at the provincial team.

Lu Xingjia instantly tensed up and sneaked a look at Qin Mudong beside him.

Xu Feilong was even more nervous—fidgeting non-stop, touching everything.

The first name announced was, naturally, Qin Mudong’s.

Gasps echoed through the hall, but Qin Mudong remained calm, his expression unchanged.

The teacher continued reading names, and Lu Xingjia silently counted along.

10, 20, 25…

Before he knew it, they were approaching the 30th name.

Xu Feilong sneered, despite not hearing his own name yet. He still took the opportunity to mock Lu Xingjia, “Tch, and here I thought you were something special. Turns out, not so much.”

Lu Xingjia ignored him, holding his breath and staring at the podium.

28, 29, 30…

“Lu Xingjia.”

He actually heard his name!

Xu Feilong’s face turned ghost-white, then quickly darkened into an ugly shade of green.

Lu Xingjia had no time to care about him. Overcome with excitement, he pounced on Qin Mudong and shouted, “It’s really me! It’s really me! I got provincial first!”

Suddenly hugged tightly, Qin Mudong froze, staring at the thrilled boy in front of him, his own body stiff.

Then slowly, he wrapped his arms around Lu Xingjia and held him tightly in return.

None of Xu Feilong’s group made the cut either. Seeing Lu Xingjia so overjoyed, they looked completely defeated.

After all, they had mocked him behind his back more than once.

They tried to console each other, but no one could find the right words. They just stood there awkwardly.

“Don’t mind them,” Xu Feilong waved his hand. “It’s just a physics competition exam, what’s the big deal?”

This time, none of his little followers echoed him.

“Long Ge,” after a moment, one of the boys spoke, “Weren’t we a bit too much?”

“How were we too much?” Xu Feilong frowned.

Another person suddenly blurted out, “I haven’t studied properly in so long.”

“Same here,” someone else chimed in, “We’ve just been playing basketball, chatting, skipping class, and going online every day. We’ve totally neglected our studies.”

All of them were only children, sent by their hopeful parents to study physics competition prep. Hanging out together, goofing off, and chatting was fun, but after the results came out, they realized something was wrong.

They’d spent all their time forming cliques and had gradually forgotten what they were really supposed to be doing.

“What’s with you guys?” Xu Feilong said. “Did you forget how those two cursed at me? We can’t just let it go like this!”

“Let it go, Long Ge, it’s pointless to dwell on the past,” the first boy who spoke patted Xu Feilong’s shoulder. “Let’s… let’s just go back and study hard. At this rate, we won’t even get into college.”

With that, he was the first to walk over to Lu Xingjia and Qin Mudong, stood up straight, and said, “Congratulations.”

Then he lowered his head. “And… sorry. We said a lot of bad things about you two behind your backs. We won’t do it again.”

Lu Xingjia was stunned. He hadn’t expected things to take this turn.

Then again, when he thought about it, those so-called “friends” of theirs were indeed fake — always busy forming cliques, teasing girls, and never doing anything meaningful.

Once that boy took the lead, the other two also gathered around Lu Xingjia and Qin Mudong, apologizing one by one and admitting their mistakes.

Xu Feilong’s face went completely dark. He stood there stiffly, not knowing whether to stay or leave. In the end, he gave a cold snort and walked away by himself.

Qin Mudong lowered his eyes, treating them as if they were invisible. Lu Xingjia took a deep breath and said, “I hope we don’t run into each other again. Take care of yourselves.”

He pulled Qin Mudong through the noisy crowd and walked out of the auditorium.

Even if the apologies seemed sincere now, he couldn’t bring himself to forgive those people.

To them, this might just be a youthful and ignorant mistake from their school days.
But to the ones they hurt, it was an eternal scar.

Lu Xingjia thought, You all let down the best person in the world. But I won’t.