“Sigh, forget it, I feel like I’m just in the way.” The boy exaggeratedly sighed, then swiftly stuffed his things into his backpack, “I’m leaving first, so I won’t be a third wheel and risk Lu not bringing me along for revision next time.”
Hua Yan felt his misunderstanding might be quite significant: “…We really aren’t dating, we’re just here to study.”
The boy hesitated for a moment: “Really?” Then he looked at Lu Chengsha.
Lu Chengsha still had no expression, his face even looked a bit puzzled: “She’s just like you.”
“How can that be the same! She is…” The boy’s tone paused, then he sat back down, suddenly smiling broadly, “So do I still have a chance?” He quickly took out his phone, “Classmate Hua, let’s add each other on WeChat. If you have any questions, come find me. He doesn’t use his phone at school, doesn’t even have a WeChat account, but I’m different, I’m available 24/7, always ready to help, guaranteed satisfaction…”
Hua Yan was initially about to scan the QR code, but hearing this, she subconsciously turned to look at Lu Chengsha.
Huh, you didn’t tell your classmates?
Lu Chengsha also turned his head to look at her, just as puzzled.
Hua Yan tried hard to signal with her eyes.
However, Lu Chengsha seemed unable to understand, he lowered his head slightly, leaned over and asked, “What do you want to say?”
Hua Yan suddenly felt her ears burning.
Before she could speak, the boy across the table put his phone away with a dejected expression: “…Forget it, I guess I still don’t stand a chance, I’m leaving! You two enjoy your food and drinks…and study hard!”
With that, he grabbed his bag and dashed away, leaving only Hua Yan and Lu Chengsha staring at each other.
Hua Yan originally wanted to ask why he didn’t tell others about his WeChat, but now she didn’t want to ask anymore.
So she lowered her head and focused on her work.
Lu Chengsha didn’t pursue it further either, and soon only the sound of their pens scratching on paper remained.
After writing for a while, Hua Yan couldn’t help but take out her phone for a look. Lu Chengsha’s WeChat avatar had changed, an unusually simple and crude photo of a flowerbed taken downstairs. The class group chat was abuzz with complaints about the monthly exam. She had just lowered her head to read when she heard Lu Chengsha’s voice: “…You’re not studying.”
Hmm?
Hua Yan looked up and met Lu Chengsha’s questioning gaze.
His dark eyes were deep, and Hua Yan inexplicably felt like she had been caught red-handed. She quickly put her phone aside and continued working on her tasks.
Before long, it was time for her daily gaming session. Usually, she would plug in her charger and leave the game running. However, the moment she opened the game interface and the background music started playing, Lu Chengsha turned to look at her again.
Hua Yan calmly closed the game, saying, “…Oops, I slipped, I was just checking the time.”
Under Lu Chengsha’s supervision, Hua Yan was surprisingly efficient. What usually took her half a day to complete was finished in just two hours, and she even managed to finish her Black Forest cake during the breaks.
She was about to check her answers when Lu Chengsha asked, “Are you done?”
Hua Yan nodded with satisfaction, “I finished all the subjects for the monthly exam.”
A long arm reached over and effortlessly took her exercise book. Before she could say “Ah,” she saw him pick up a pencil and start correcting her work.
Hua Yan held up the answer sheet, “Do you want the answers?”
Lu Chengsha didn’t even look up, “No need.”
…This person is really confident!
However, Lu Chengsha indeed looked exceptionally skilled as he quickly corrected her work, circling her mistakes. Then, he turned to her and asked seriously, “Do you want me to explain?”
It was hard to refuse.
He slightly turned to the side, explaining while helping her reinforce the key points.
A real-life teaching app!
Hua Yan had never been this serious about her pre-exam review in her life.
She had just stretched when she suddenly heard Lu Chengsha ask her, “Top 100, no problem, right?”
Hua Yan: “…”
Could you not ruin the moment like this?
***
When Hua Yan walked out of the exam hall, she was still in a daze.
Setting aside Chinese and English, this was the first time in her life that she felt she answered a math, physics, and chemistry exam so smoothly. She barely had any moments where she was stuck; she found solutions almost immediately.
Not only did she have leftover scratch paper, but she also had enough time to go back and check for any basic calculation errors.
Normally, she would be extremely nervous cramming at the last minute before an exam, but this time she was unusually calm.
Could studying well actually be this enjoyable?
The last subject was physics, and there were complaints all around her.
“This exam was way too hard…”
“I felt like every question was familiar, like déjà vu, but I couldn’t solve any of them…”
“I guessed several multiple-choice questions… Who wants to check answers with me?”
Hua Yan smiled slightly and sent a message to Lu Chengsha.
Xiao Hua: Finished the exam. [Spinning.gif] [ThrowingFlowers.gif]
She only received Lu Chengsha’s reply after getting home.
Teaching App: How did it go?
Xiao Hua: Get ready to treat me to a meal! [Proud.jpg]
Teaching App: [ThrowingFlowers.gif]
Xiao Hua: ???
Xiao Hua: Is this really you?
Xiao Hua: Who are you? Why are you using Lu Chengsha’s phone?
Half a minute later.
Teaching App is calling.
—Swipe to answer.
Ah… she almost forgot, this person can’t take a joke.
***
The results came out a week later. As per the usual practice of Zhengyi High, the rankings were posted publicly, and the next exam’s seating was assigned according to these results, reflecting a very utilitarian approach. It’s said that Tingjian Experimental School is even more extreme in this regard.
Now that the two schools are next to each other, the red ranking lists were posted right in the middle, with rows on both sides of the railing, emphasizing competition to the fullest.
Some were happy, some were sad.
The first thing Hua Yan saw when she went down was Lu Chengsha at the top of the list. The top ten names were written in gold ink, and the first place name was especially large, particularly the character “杀” (Sha), which seemed to penetrate the paper, almost like it was written on a Qisha Stele.
“Why did Lu Chengsha come down here!”
“Wow, doesn’t he usually ignore the rankings? Could it be that he feels he didn’t do well this time?”
With good results naturally comes a kind of aura, and coupled with his good looks, when Lu Chengsha came down, the crowded area in front of the list parted like the Red Sea, making way for him. However, Lu Chengsha didn’t look back and turned in another direction.
“…Did he go the wrong way!”
“First place is over there…!”
Hua Yan quickly composed herself and began searching for her name.
—64th place, Hua Yan
She was stunned. Although she had a feeling she would do well, she never expected to rank this high. With a bit more effort, the top 50 might even be within reach. Of course, the scope of the exam was limited, but…
Who cares!
Hua Yan immediately took out her phone to take a picture as a keepsake.
This might be the highest rank she ever achieved in her life.
Just as she finished taking the photo, she heard a familiar voice behind her, slightly regretful: “…Didn’t make the top 50.”
Hua Yan instantly retorted, “It’s already really good! Your standards are too high!”
Through the gap between the bulletin boards, she saw Lu Chengsha slowly walk to the middle of the two boards. Unconsciously, she moved closer too. After a brief and inexplicable moment of eye contact, she remembered, “…You said you’d treat me to a meal!”
Lu Chengsha suddenly looked away and said, “Mm… Let’s go.”
“Go? Where to?”
Lu Chengsha succinctly replied, “To eat.”
Hua Yan: “…???”
They’re going to eat just like that!?
Lu Chengsha walked ahead, and she instinctively followed. As they walked, she noticed more and more people staring at them.
They kept walking until they reached the cafeteria, and the number of people staring at them didn’t decrease but instead increased.
When Hua Yan snapped back to reality, she was already holding a meal tray that Lu Chengsha had handed her, filled with a generous portion of food. She immediately looked up at him. Lu Chengsha had already efficiently served himself a portion, swiped his meal card, and turned to ask her, “What do you want to eat?”
Hua Yan never expected that Lu Chengsha’s idea of treating her to a meal would be to eat in the school cafeteria.
She felt a surge of dissatisfaction.
It wasn’t that the cafeteria food was bad—Tingjian Experimental School’s cafeteria was famous for its good food, offering a wide variety of choices. The problem was… she had worked so hard for the exam, and Lu Chengsha thought a meal in the cafeteria would suffice?
Hua Yan immediately expressed her displeasure.
Lu Chengsha, holding his tray, pondered for a moment before saying, “…How about I treat you for a week?”
It’s not about the duration, it’s…
It’s…
Hua Yan herself wasn’t sure. As she was thinking, Lu Chengsha quickly finished getting his food. Then he paused, walked back to her, and handed her his meal card between two fingers, almost like giving her a bank card.
Well, it was sort of like that…
Tingjian’s meal card was linked to the students’ bank accounts, used for meals, shopping, and paying tuition. The card was black with silver etching of Lu Chengsha’s name, the school name, and his ID photo.
But she still had to eat.
Feeling conflicted, Hua Yan used Lu Chengsha’s card to buy her meal and sat across from him to eat.
It was then that she realized the stares from around them had grown increasingly intense and filled with gossip. She lowered her head and her hand trembled slightly as a flood of WeChat messages poured in.
The first one was from her deskmate: “Hua Hua, why are you eating with Lu Chengsha! When did you two meet? How could you not tell me! How far have you two gotten?”
Hua Yan quickly replied.
Xiao Hua: It’s not what you think!
Xiao Hua: We are very pure…
Xiao Hua: …classmates.
As she was typing, she nervously glanced at Lu Chengsha. He was getting a bowl of soup from the nearby pot. After a moment’s thought, he placed the bowl in front of her and went to get another for himself.
Her deskmate’s messages had escalated to a virtual scream: “Hua Hua, wake up! Pure classmates don’t eat alone together! Especially when you’re not even from the same school! Look around at the other boys and girls eating together!”
Hua Yan immediately glanced around.
To the left-front, a well-known couple.
To the right-front, a newly rumored couple.
To the right-back…
Ah, this…
But they had studied alone together before.
Hua Yan was momentarily unsure. Should she move to another seat to eat? Lu Chengsha had already returned with his soup, looking extremely calm. He held his chopsticks with perfect posture, eating quickly yet elegantly, showing no sign of discomfort.
His calmness was contagious.
Hua Yan steadied herself, thinking, after all, they really were just pure classmates right now!
With a clear conscience, she had nothing to fear!
She immediately picked up her chopsticks and started eating.
***
That night, the top trending post on Tingjian’s campus forum BBS was:
#TreeHole# OMG! Did anyone see Lu the Academic God eating alone with a pretty girl in the cafeteria? Shocking! Everyone knows that eating alone in the cafeteria is almost equivalent to an official announcement of a relationship!
— Saw it, completely shocked!
— Thought I was seeing things.
— Me too +1
— Seeing things +2
— Seeing things + my ID number
— What pretty girl, that’s the school flower from Zhengyi High next door!
— You guys are probably talking about Hua Yan from Class 3 of Zhengyi High, right? Last time we all sneaked over to her class to see her… My deskmate swore he’d marry her on the spot, he even dreamt about her during lunch break, shouting “Yan Yan, Yan Yan, don’t leave me” in his sleep…
— Didn’t you guys splash water to wake him up?
— OMG, how long has the school year started? When did Lu the Academic God make his move, silently and unnoticed…
— Isn’t he not interested in girls?
— Isn’t he not interested in boys either?
— Isn’t he just a human answer machine?
— Why does an answer machine get a pretty girlfriend while I’m still single…
— OMG, I’ve been holding this in for half a month, and I can finally say it! He is no answer machine; he’s totally using studying as an excuse to flirt! I’ve seen Lu the Academic God tutoring the school flower from Zheng Yi High outside of school. Not only does he ask her what she doesn’t understand, but he also highlights key points and exam scopes for her… His tone is so patient and meticulous while explaining the material, and he even stretches his arm to rest on the back of her chair while tutoring… Tsk, tsk, tsk, he was this close to pulling her into his arms. I couldn’t bear to watch.
— Who knew being good at studying could be used like this?
— Envy, envy.
— Goodbye, everyone. I’m off to study too!