Locking away my heart and love! Going back to 2000 to be a top student again.

Xu Su's voice was calm, which sounded almost ruthless to Xi Zirong.

The boy was taken aback by these sudden words and remained speechless for a long while before finally muttering, "Why?"

Xu Su waited patiently, and after hearing his words, she pursed her lips and said truthfully, "I feel that we have been getting too close lately, Xi Zirong. I have said before that I will not date early."

Xi Zirong's eyes were filled with panic. She raised her hand to grab her, but Xu Su quickly dodged it.

She frowned: "Look, you've gotten into the habit of touching me like this, Xi Zirong. What do you think our relationship is? Are we lovers? Holding hands and hugging all the time."

The boy was tall and had long legs. After his outstretched hand was dodged, he paused for a moment and then withdrew it.

Xi Zirong's eyes slowly regained their calm. He looked at Xu Su in silence for a few seconds, then tried to smile, but the smile was somewhat stiff: "Is it because I hugged you yesterday? I'm sorry, I won't do it again next time. Can you please not do it?"

The boy's nervous and helpless appearance was truly touching. Any other girl his age would probably not have wanted to disappoint him.

But the person in front of him was Xu Su, who firmly believed that what she was doing now was truly for his own good.

Xu Su ignored his smile, saying, "It's not just because of that."

She spoke without a trace of expression on her face, "Xi Zirong, please stop liking me. Your liking puts a lot of pressure on me. I always feel like I'm hurting you, and the longer I spend with you, the more I feel this way."

Xu Su had previously thought that the affection between young people wouldn't last, but after seeing Xi Zirong like this, she had long since changed her mind.

Therefore, she must get away from Xi Zirong as soon as possible, so as not to let her get in too deep.

She already has Zhou Mochen entangled with her, so how could she have the right to provoke others? That lunatic, who knows what he'd do if he found out about Xi Zirong's existence.

Moreover, her only goal right now is to study hard.

"I'm sorry." Xi Zirong's stiff smile couldn't be maintained, as if he was afraid she would turn around and leave at any moment. He spoke very quickly, "It was my fault. I will never put pressure on you again, and I will never lay a hand on you. You didn't hurt me. I've been very happy these days. Please don't draw a line between us, okay?"

It was a cloudy day, with gusts of cold wind sweeping in from time to time. Xu Su stood there, her face stinging from the cold wind, but more than the pain on her face, she felt a surge of irritation.

Why is it that everyone is so unreasonable? I wanted to just walk away and ignore them, but seeing Xi Zirong's expression that looked like she was about to cry, Xu Su couldn't bring herself to say anything harsh.

She felt utterly helpless: "I didn't mean to cut ties with you. Didn't I say we're still good classmates? That's what we've always been. Why are you acting like a couple in a TV drama is going through a breakup?"

Xu Su really didn't understand; she truly didn't understand.

"Is it because we've been spending too much time together lately while you've been tutoring me that you've misunderstood something?" Xu Su turned her head away, unwilling to look at him, afraid that she would soften her heart. "Xi Zirong, what I mean now is that I don't need your one-on-one tutoring next semester. If I don't understand something, I'll ask you. We'll still be good classmates. Can you understand?"

Human communication uses language as one method, but in addition to language, body language, facial expressions, and eye contact can also convey the meaning of what the other person wants to express.

For example, at this moment, Xi Zirong could tell from the girl's words, body language, and even the expression on her profile that she was very impatient.

She was getting impatient with her own internal struggles.

Xi Zirong knew that she should be sensible and take the initiative to return to the position of an ordinary classmate. She was right. Their time together had given him the wrong impression that their relationship was at least beyond that of ordinary classmates.

It turns out it was a misunderstanding.

The light in the boy's eyes gradually faded, and the two remained locked in a stalemate for a while.

Just as Xu Su thought he had figured things out and was about to leave, Xi Zirong said, "Can we be friends?"

His voice was very soft, but Xu Su still heard it all.

"..."

Reason told Xu Su that she should coldly and ruthlessly refuse and sever all possible ties, but looking at the boy's expectant gaze, and considering how long he had tutored her, Xu Su just couldn't bring herself to tell him that they couldn't even be friends.

After a moment of silence, Xu Su nodded: "We've always been friends, but Xi Zirong, please don't act so strangely like you did yesterday afternoon. I really don't like it."

Xu Su really disliked being suddenly hugged tightly and unable to break free.

Xi Zirong was taken aback, his eyes darting away. He said somewhat embarrassedly, "I promise I won't do it again, really, I..."

Xu Su quickly waved her hand to stop him, "Don't tell me these things, I don't want to hear them. I'm going back to the classroom, do as you please."

After saying that, she ran away in a flash, afraid that he would say something like "I feel sorry for you" or something similar, trying to affect her determination to study.

Watching the girl's departing figure, Xi Zirong stood there in a daze, and after a long while, she smiled helplessly.

~~~~~~~~~~

After the last exam in the afternoon, Xu Su waited for a while downstairs in the teaching building until Huang Feng and Qian Jia came down.

Xu Su asked Huang Feng for her phone number and wrote it down on a small note, promising to call her when she had time during her vacation.

As for Qian Jia, she is a boarding student and will not be able to go home until tomorrow morning. She will have to stay at school for another night. Her home is in a small town in a small county, and there is no telephone installed at home yet.

We won't see each other again until the sixth day of the first lunar month.

After spending a semester together, they had developed a deep bond. The three said goodbye to each other before Xu Su left the school.

Zhou Mochen's car was still parked in the same old spot. Seeing the car from afar made Xu Su feel a little down.

To be honest, she would rather talk to ten Xi Zirongs than face Zhou Mochen alone.

There's nothing else to it but my mind is troubled.

The thought that this was the last time I would ride in his car this year gave me a little bit of a boost.

In any case, everything in this life is ultimately moving in a positive direction.

Look, isn't this lunatic much more normal than he was in his previous life?

Zhou Mochen looked at the girl climbing onto the car, his expression softening, and asked, "How did the exam go? Are you confident you can get the 1,500 scholarship?"

He's clever enough to know she wants the top-tier scholarship.

Xu Su glanced at him and said without much emotion, "You'll know when school starts. I know I did okay on the test, but the other students did just as well. What if they did even better?"

The competition among high-scoring students at the No. 1 High School in the city is fierce; sometimes a difference of just one point can mean the difference in ranking.

Getting into the top three in your age group isn't that easy; not everyone is a monster like Xi Zirong.