MNL Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Return – Am I More Attractive?

Chapter 33: Return – Am I More Attractive?

In the competition venue, some people were acting restless, either deliberately making noise by flipping through their papers, or making subtle clicking sounds. All of this was simply to show off their ease this time, thereby disrupting the mindset of others.

But with half an hour left before the end of the exam, everyone watched as the boy sitting in the far corner suddenly stood up and calmly handed in his paper.

The crowd still furiously writing: “…?”

After leaving the examination hall, Shen Yan had already descended several steps, but as if remembering something, he suddenly stopped and turned back.

In less than five minutes, Xu Jing was seen walking out of another examination hall with his black pencil case. He was obviously stunned when he saw Shen Yan leaning against the wall. In that moment, someone approached from not far away.

“Faster than I expected.”

Xu Jing: “…”

A cold glance swept over, falling into Shen Yan’s eyes, but in his mind, it spawned a completely unrelated word.

Cute.

The corridor was originally only occupied by the two of them, but at this moment, another person came out of the classroom in the far corner, his footsteps excessively loud.

Xu Jing and Shen Yan looked back and found that this person was swaggering and had no proper posture. Even wearing a school uniform, it couldn’t hide the hooligan aura emanating from his whole body.

“Yo, you guys from Linhe No.1 High School, your uniforms are quite nice.” The boy smiled and whistled at them.

Shen Yan had no reaction, and Xu Jing was expressionless.

“By the way, you guys also think this competition is easy, right? I didn’t even review before the exam. Sigh, if I had known, I would have played another game last night.”

A long pause.

Shen Yan turned to look at Xu Jing, “What do you want to eat for lunch today?”

Boy: “…”

Xu Jing’s expression was indifferent, but he still replied, “Whatever.”

“That Yangzhou fried rice place near the entrance?”

“Okay.”

“…………”

Can’t you guys hear me talking?

Since Wu Songyue had specifically emphasized before the exam that they were forbidden from handing in their papers early, Shen Yan and Xu Jing didn’t return to the waiting area. They just found a place to pass the time. Although that boy was as familiar as Cha Fei’ang, unfortunately, the two he encountered this time were not easygoing. After several unanswered attempts, he felt it was pointless and quickly walked away with a lack of interest.

“Xu Jing.”

Shen Yan leaned against the corner, his voice a little lazy. He folded his arms across his chest, half of his face hidden in the dim interior. His brow bones were sharp, and his expression looked unpredictable. People often said that Shen Yan’s first impression was that of an unapproachable school bully.

But at this moment, Xu Jing just raised his eyelids and glanced at him, still expressionless, and didn’t respond.

To this reaction, Shen Yan was not angry, but gently raised his eyebrows and took a few steps forward.

“Still angry?”

The usually cold voice was deliberately softened, sounding as if he was coaxing someone in their ear, with a unique tenderness.

Xu Jing half-lifted his head, and that overly outstanding face crashed into his eyes, causing his heart to beat faster uncontrollably.

“Don’t get so close.”

“I can,” Shen Yan said, “but answer my question first.”

Xu Jing endured the urge to punch him and replied, “I’m not that bored.”

Shen Yan bent down slightly, “So you’re not angry anymore?”

He wasn’t really angry at Shen Yan, he was just too tired from not sleeping well to talk. It was just that this person had to bump into him at this time and kept asking this question.

After a long stalemate, Xu Jing coldly hummed a sound. Shen Yan seemed unsatisfied after hearing it, so he didn’t retreat at all, but instead moved forward a little.

Even though the space was so empty, Shen Yan’s actions made it seem cramped.

“What does ‘hmm’ mean?”

If anyone in Class Four saw the scene at this time, they would definitely be so surprised that they would think either they were out of their minds, or these two had been possessed by some demon.

But coincidentally, the person who stumbled upon this scene was Lu Haichuan, who had just left the examination hall and wanted to go to the restroom.

The pop song he was humming abruptly stopped, and a curse word blurted out. Looking at the two people in the corner in such an intimate posture, Lu Haichuan was like a thunderbolt, and after a few seconds, he swallowed and looked up, suspiciously looking at the extremely obvious men’s restroom sign above his head.

??!

These two are…?

Shen Yan turned his head upon hearing the sound, his brow furrowing in displeasure.

Lu Haichuan, who was facing him, had an extremely innocent face. He felt that going into the restroom now was not an option, and retreating was even worse. In the end, he could only laugh awkwardly twice.

“Well, good morning?”

The two people in the corner were obviously unwilling to greet him at this time. Lu Haichuan wished he could immediately disappear from their sight, but fortunately, he had a thick skin and immediately ran into the restroom.

“Aren’t you going to move?”

Sensing that the air pressure around Xu Jing was getting lower and lower, Shen Yan smiled leisurely. After a moment, he straightened up and pulled away from each other.

On the way back, the atmosphere in the bus was obviously much heavier than when they came. The difficulty of this year’s geography competition paper was unexpected. Many question types were unprepared for even by the students of Linhe No.1 High School. The psychological endurance of girls was far inferior to that of boys, and several of them looked pale and seemed about to cry.

“Shen Yan, what do you think?” The class monitor of Class Five was sitting next to Shen Yan and Xu Jing. He actually wanted to ask as soon as he got on the bus, but he was afraid that what the other party said would Strike and strike himself, so he waited until they were halfway there before speaking.

Because the bus was very quiet, the surrounding people instantly shifted their attention as soon as he spoke.

According to his usual personality, Xu Jing thought that Shen Yan would definitely casually reply with “easy” or “not bad.” Plus, this person had handed in his paper early as always. But unexpectedly, a few seconds later, he heard from the side, “Quite difficult.”

Although the tone was calm and difficult to believe, he was, after all, Shen Yan, the top student in the grade.

“Ah? Really?” The class monitor of Class Five was surprised and delighted. “Even you think it’s difficult?”

Several girls sitting in the front couldn’t help but turn their heads, and their faces seemed to finally have some color.

“Class monitor, Shen Yan is joking with you. I’m in the same examination hall as him, and he handed in his paper half an hour early.” A boy couldn’t wait to interject.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m in the same examination hall as Yan Shen. I saw it too.”

Everyone looked over now. Wu Songyue coughed twice, about to stop this post-exam discussion, when he heard his student, whose geography scores were always close to perfect, calmly humming, “Couldn’t write it, too lazy to write.”

Wu Songyue: “…”

Xu Jing twitched the corner of his mouth and happened to meet Wu Songyue’s death stare for two seconds when he looked up.

“What about you?”

“…” Xu Jing thought for a while and replied, “Me too.”

Wu Songyue took a deep breath, raised his eyebrows high, and was about to explode, but he encountered the bus driver slamming on the brakes.

“Oh my god!”

A pig-killing-like sound immediately came from the bus. Everyone watched as Wu Songyue, caught off guard, fell onto the boy closest to him because he lost his balance. The weight of 180 pounds sent the other party’s glasses flying several meters away.

The scene was chaotic.

“Wow, teacher, are you okay?!” The class monitor of Class Five hurried forward to help him up, his voice almost breaking through the roof of the bus.

“It’s okay.” Wu Songyue couldn’t get up for a long time, his whole face flushed red. “Cough cough, I’m fine!”

The boy who was crushed laboriously raised one hand and wailed, “The one who’s not okay is me…”

“Quick, quick, quickly help Teacher Wu up. I think this warrior is about to die.”

“Is everything alright?” The driver was worried, afraid of losing his annual bonus because of this.

“Just now, an electric bike suddenly appeared in front. Fortunately, I braked in time. By the way, if you don’t want to get off the bus, don’t just stand up casually. It’s very dangerous, understand?”

Wu Songyue staggered and shouted at the same time, “Sorry, sorry, driver, you continue to drive, we’re fine here.”

Then he faced his students again.

“See, people my age can’t take the excitement. If you were all like Shen Yan and Xu Jing, I could live a few years less.”

A burst of muffled laughter came from the corner. Someone couldn’t help but break the silence first, and the ridiculous tone directly enlivened the atmosphere. The bus finally became lively again.

“To hell with it, it’s just a competition. Anyway, I’ve done my best.”

“Yeah, no matter what the result, at least I was serious.”

“I agree! If I don’t win a prize, I’ll just treat it as wasting a trial card. I’ll fight again next time.”

…

The voices became more and more excited. Although the words they said at this time didn’t have much depth, they were more comforting than famous quotes. The expressions of the several girls who had been wearing heavy faces just now eased a lot after this commotion. They gradually smiled and began to joke about their exams.

The scenery outside the bus window flowed by, the falling sycamore leaves, the passing vendors, every frame was fleeting. Those annoying pressures and the volatile emotions of adolescence rose and fell like tides.

“Damn, you guys look quickly, isn’t that a rainbow?”

Upon hearing the sound, everyone looked outside in unison, only to see a faint colored outline appearing vaguely on the light blue horizon, deepening continuously, and finally solidifying.

“Why are you looking at me?” Thinking that the person next to him was turning his head to do something again, Xu Jing asked like a hedgehog.

“Who’s looking at you?” Shen Yan said, “Can’t I look at the scenery?”

Xu Jing snorted coldly and suddenly said, “Am I more attractive?”

Shen Yan’s eyelid twitched, and he couldn’t help but hum in question.

So the person who said this and the person who heard this fell silent.

When Xu Jing cursed the fifth swear word in his heart, and even had the idea of getting off the bus halfway, he heard, “No.”

The voice was not loud, the kind that could easily be ignored if you didn’t listen carefully, but he didn’t miss it.

Xu Jing’s fingertips, casually resting on his school pants, moved slightly, and his heart seemed to be strummed twice, causing an unnamed ripple to rise for a moment.

He was a little flustered.

Because there was no response, the two became quiet again. They seemed to always be like this recently. That subtle emotion, which should not have happened between them, was like a signpost about to guide them to a path of no return, and the end of these clues pieced together was covered with thorns.

But now, someone has witnessed all of this.

Lu Haichuan, who was sitting behind Shen Yan, not only heard the conversation between the two, but also took in all the subtle actions. In addition, recalling what happened a few hours ago, Lu Haichuan’s expression could no longer be described as distorted.

He felt that his world, and the savior at the center of the world for whom he almost wanted to be grateful, were all starting to collapse.