MNL Chapter 55

Chapter 55: Clues, No Answer.

Chapter 55: Clues, No Answer.

Countless rings had echoed through the entire spring. Before anyone knew it, the cicada’s song had already drowned out the rustling of turning pages through the dense foliage.

“Jing-ge, I know summer means more mosquitoes, but aren’t you attracting them a bit too much?”

Physical education class had just ended. Xu Jing had been playing ball for the entire class, working up quite a sweat, and naturally unbuttoned his collar. Cha Fei’ang, though sharp-eyed, wasn’t the brightest, and without thinking, assumed it was mosquito bites.

Xu Jing had been a little nervous when he noticed Cha Fei’ang staring at his neck for a while. After all, the dense red marks weren’t from mosquitoes at all, but the result of someone’s three-hour masterpiece.

His skin was fair, and any slight mark would become very obvious on it, not to mention a whole patch of red. But if it wasn’t something he couldn’t let others see, who the hell would want to wear their school uniform so tightly buttoned up in this scorching, thirty-something-degree weather?

Xu Jing coldly snorted. The perpetrator didn’t react much upon hearing this, only a faint smile appeared at the corner of his lips.

“Oh, right, I went to the office last time and heard the old homeroom teacher saying we’re having a parent-teacher conference next week.”

“Parent-teacher conference?” Xu Jing frowned.

“Yeah, it’s about our midterm exams last time.” Cha Fei’ang spun the basketball in his hand, a worried expression on his face. “The midterms were a complete mess, the math was just awful to look at. I’m definitely going to get chased around and beaten by my dad when I get back.”

“Ah, I really envy Shen Yan’s grades. Facing parent-teacher conferences is never a concern for mortals like us.” Cha Fei’ang sighed deeply.

Who told him to be born with a good brain?

Hearing this, Xu Jing subconsciously glanced at Shen Yan.

Shen Yan’s expression was calm, and he said, “Is that so?”

“Yeah, anyway, your dad definitely won’t chase you around the streets to beat you.”

“…”

Xu Jing was truly impressed by this person’s ability to mention what others wanted to avoid.

“Jing-ge, what’s wrong? Are your eyes uncomfortable? Why are you winking at me?”

Xu Jing said irritably, “Your crush just walked past.”

Hearing this, Cha Fei’ang instantly understood, saying, “Damn it, now that you mention it, I remember I have to bring her a drink. I’m not saying anything else, Jing-ge, Yan-shen, I’m leaving first.”

Cha Fei’ang was as swift as the wind, and disappeared in a flash.

“So you can lie too.”

The tone that came over was somewhat teasing. Xu Jing thought, it’s all for you.

He hated lying the most.

Shen Yan reached out and gently put his arm around Xu Jing’s shoulder, saying, “Thank you, but you don’t need to worry about me being unhappy because of a few words from others. Your boyfriend isn’t that fragile.”

“Being narcissistic.” Xu Jing feigned composure, saying, “I just think he was too noisy over there.”

Shen Yan smiled and didn’t expose him.

The next day, during language class, Liang Yin announced the parent-teacher conference. Of course, not only Cha Fei’ang, but several other boys were also complaining, saying that they would definitely be beaten when they got home, and hoped that Liang Yin would be lenient.

Liang Yin only smiled and didn’t say anything, and called Shen Yan away after class.

“There’s a comprehensive ability competition specifically for high school students in the province at the end of this semester. After discussion by the grade level group, we have selected you and three other students to take the exam.”

Shen Yan was quiet for a moment, and then asked, “Xu Jing was not selected?”

Liang Yin hummed, saying, “Xu Jing’s other grades are indeed very good, but his English… This is a comprehensive ability competition, and students participating in the competition cannot be weak in any subject.”

“Does this competition affect the college entrance exam?”

“This competition ranks according to the total score of Chinese, mathematics, English, and physics. A certain percentage will enter the interview, and the top fifteen have the qualifications to be recommended to C9 universities. The rest also have priority admission to universities.”

Hearing this, it was more than just an effect, it was simply a very important watershed.

“What’s wrong? Do you have any concerns?”

“If Xu Jing’s English can be improved to above 120 before then, can he participate in this competition?”

“…”

Liang Yin was quiet for two seconds, and slowly said, “The teacher knows that you have a very high level of achievement in learning, and hopes that you can get a good score in this comprehensive competition. Xu Jing is also very good. If he can’t participate in this exam, I believe that after the next two years of study, his English will definitely improve a lot, but this provincial exam is full of experts, and the teacher still hopes that you will prepare with all your heart.”

Liang Yin could see from Shen Yan’s serious expression that he was not joking. Judging from Xu Jing’s current English level, this was simply an impossible thing to achieve. Therefore, she also expressed her meaning very clearly, hoping that Shen Yan would spend more energy on himself and not waste time.

Shen Yan naturally understood what Liang Yin meant, so he didn’t say anything more.

“Tsk.” Li Qin appeared behind Liang Yin with a thermos cup, raised her eyebrows as she looked at Shen Yan’s back, and said, “I didn’t hear wrong, did I? Xu Jing’s English scores are almost beyond my help, and Shen Yan actually said that he wants to improve the person’s score to more than 120 points in a month?”

Li Qin laughed as she spoke, and Liang Yin just shook her head helplessly.

“That’s not necessarily true.” Zhou Yan’s leisurely voice came from behind the newspaper, “The waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves ahead.”

“Teacher Zhou, this is simply an insult to my professional strength.” Li Qin said that she couldn’t tolerate it. She put down her cup, walked to Zhou Yan’s side, and raised her voice, “Although my teaching time is not as long as yours, the average English score of the classes I have taught in the college entrance examination has never been lower than 130.”

Zhou Yan adjusted his glasses and said faintly, “Oh.”

Li Qin: “…”

Laughter spread throughout the office.

Xu Jing was lying on the table reading a manga book that Cha Fei’ang had just brought two days ago. The next class was English, and he was planning to finish reading the rest of the content. As a result, before he could turn the page, the book was taken away.

Xu Jing turned his head to look at Shen Yan, who was sitting down, and hmm’d in confusion.

“What’s wrong?”

Shen Yan randomly pulled out a brand new English book from Xu Jing’s neat pile of books, and spread it out in front of the two of them.

Xu Jing said with a puzzled look, “What does this mean?”

“Listen to the class properly.”

“…” Xu Jing raised his eyes to look at Shen Yan, and said, “Here it comes again?”

Xu Jing didn’t take it seriously, and was about to take back the manga book, but Shen Yan raised his hand and took it even further away.

Xu Jing was a little angry, but he still suppressed his temper, and asked, “I did pretty well on the midterm exams, right? My English didn’t regress compared to last time either, so why do you want me to learn?”

It was indeed not a step backwards, but ridiculously stable.

If Xu Jing really didn’t know anything about English, Shen Yan would suspect that he was controlling his score.

“What did Liang Yin say to you?”

“Nothing, just simply want to help you improve your English.”

Xu Jing frowned and said, “No need.”

“Do you just want your English to always be bad? Does that make you very happy?”

Zheng Tong, who heard the movement, couldn’t help but look back, only to feel a strong smell of gunpowder coming towards him like crazy.

So he quickly turned his head back to avoid being affected.

The already sultry weather made people feel unhappy, and he hadn’t been lectured in this tone since he was so old. Xu Jing’s expression instantly turned gloomy.

After a few seconds of long eye contact, Shen Yan also realized that his emotions had just been a little out of control. He was about to open his mouth to explain, but Xu Jing had already gotten up and took back the manga book, leaving him with only an extremely indifferent side face.

The hand that was emptied seemed a little awkward. At this time, the class bell also rang. Because it was inconvenient to speak, Shen Yan didn’t expect things to become so serious at first. He originally planned to apologize to Xu Jing after the English class, after all, his tone was indeed not good just now. But as soon as the class bell rang, Xu Jing got up and walked out, not giving him a chance to speak at all.

This made Shen Yan also lose his temper. He was clearly doing it with good intentions. So he calmed down in his seat for a while, until class started before he suddenly realized that the person next to him hadn’t come back.

While Du Qing was drawing a force analysis diagram on the blackboard, Cha Fei’ang turned his head and muttered in a low voice, “Yan-shen, I saw Jing-ge walking towards the school gate after coming out of the office during the break. He didn’t pay attention to me when I said hello to him. What’s wrong with him?”

Shen Yan frowned. He didn’t expect Xu Jing to leave school directly because of this matter.

At this time, Du Qing’s voice came from the podium, “This question is a bit difficult, let’s have Shen Yan answer it.”

Every time it was physics class, it was the most tense moment for Class Four, because Du Qing was the most fond of asking questions among all the teachers, and his mouth was also very venomous. He often liked to tease those students who couldn’t answer the questions. In order to avoid being too embarrassed after standing up, everyone listened very carefully, and even Cha Fei’ang didn’t dare to relax.

But this has also become the highlight of physics class, especially the boys who are usually more noisy. After being called up by Du Qing, they can only obediently be trained, and then receive a series of laughter. Even the thickest-skinned will feel embarrassed.

However, this time it was Shen Yan who was called up. This person is the walking standard answer. Can the boss who is number one in the grade have a question that he can’t answer?

However, Shen Yan responded to them with silence.

This made those students who had done the question fall into self-doubt.

“Shen Yan, can’t you do this question?” Du Qing obviously didn’t expect it either, so he looked at the empty seat next to him and said with a joking expression, “Student Xu Jing is not here, so you can’t even do the question anymore?”

There was a burst of laughter in the class.

Zheng Tong took advantage of this opportunity to turn his head and say, “Choose B, Yan-shen.”

“What?! Cha Fei’ang looked at his scratch paper and quickly denied, “Choose A, don’t mislead Yan-shen, choose A!”

“Okay, I’m just joking, don’t talk nonsense when you go out, otherwise how can these two handsome lads find girlfriends.” Du Qing signaled the class to quiet down, and looked at Shen Yan again and said, “I don’t think you can’t do this question.”

Shen Yan: “D”

Zheng Tong: “…”

Cha Fei’ang: “…”

Just when the two of them were very confident in their answers, they saw Du Qing nod his head and say, “Not bad, this question is indeed D, sit down.”

Looking at their dense scratch paper, the two said in unison, “Damn it!”

After a class that was thrilling and frightening, Du Qing left, and the class collapsed in unison.

“It’s not Yan-shen, how did you calculate that question?” Cha Fei’ang couldn’t figure it out after thinking about it for a whole class. Shen Yan didn’t even move his pen, but he didn’t even choose one of his and Zheng Tong’s answers. Are the two of them that bad?

The key is that he still answered correctly.

“Yeah, how did you do it?” Zheng Tong said.

“After looking at your problem-solving steps, I eliminated two wrong answers and relied on luck for the rest.”

Zheng Tong and Cha Fei’ang: “…”

It feels like their IQs have been raped.

Although he was concerned about the person next to him, Shen Yan was a little competitive this time. He didn’t ask for leave, nor did he skip class. It wasn’t until the end of evening self-study that he couldn’t help but call Xu Jing.

Unfortunately, there was no answer.