MNL Chapter 41
by VolareLinhe No.1 High School values school discipline and ethos above all else, apart from academic performance. Regarding the recent incident, the academic affairs office issued a severe warning to Zhang Dong, stating that such rumor-driven storms should not occur again. If discovered, those involved in severe cases would be expelled.
Rumors come and go quickly. Furthermore, Shen Yan won first prize in the geography competition. The previous events seemed as if they had never happened, and he once again became an unattainable academic god in everyone’s eyes.
“Classmates, don’t rush. Let our literary committee member say a few words.” Wen Yi’s voice was loud, stopping those who were about to leave the classroom after class.
Lin Xiyan had a soft and approachable personality and was good-looking, so the people in the class respectfully quieted down.
“The New Year’s Eve gala is coming up soon. The school has informed us that each class needs to prepare one or two programs. If you have any good suggestions or want to sign up, let me know. I hope everyone will actively participate.”
With exams approaching, everyone was suffering under the pressure of homework. Now, hearing about an event, the class instantly exploded with excitement.
“Can it be any kind of program?”
The voice came from somewhere. Lin Xiyan was about to explain, but Wen Yi, knowing the nature of these people, that they couldn’t come up with any good ideas, frowned and asked, “For example?”
“Let Cha Fei’ang do a pole dance.”
The classroom instantly erupted with deafening laughter.
Cha Fei’ang’s burly physique doing a pole dance would be hilarious. Wen Yi found the thought eye-watering.
Lin Xiyan also laughed, two small dimples appearing on her fair face.
Cha Fei’ang, however, didn’t rush up to make a scene as usual. Instead, he gave the boy who said that the middle finger without turning his head, and then continued to work on what he was doing.
Xu Jing was puzzled. He looked forward and saw that Cha Fei’ang had several balls of white yarn in his arms and a scarf that was already taking shape in his hand.
There was also a pink bear on the scarf. Xu Jing’s mouth twitched.
“The monthly exam is coming soon, and you have the leisure for this?” Zheng Tong put his arm around Cha Fei’ang’s shoulder, saying meaningfully, “Indeed, the power of love is great.”
Cha Fei’ang shook him off, laughing, “Go, go, go, don’t bother me.”
Zhou Ji poked Cha Fei’ang’s back, looking earnest and sincere, “The school leaders have been strict recently. Teachers often come to the classroom to observe our classes.”
Zhou Ji spoke slowly. Cha Fei’ang was a little impatient at first, but after listening, he knew that the other party meant well, so he nodded and said, “Okay, I got it.”
However, whether Zhou Ji’s mouth was blessed or cursed, before a day had passed, Cha Fei’ang’s scarf was confiscated by Liang Yin during a class inspection.
“My scarf, boo hoo hoo…” Cha Fei’ang lay on Xu Jing, crying bitterly, “That’s not an ordinary scarf. It’s a scarf that I crocheted stitch by stitch, and it’s already taken shape.”
Xu Jing mocked mercilessly, “Who told you to take it out during class?”
“I just wanted to admire it, who knew the homeroom teacher was behind me.” Cha Fei’ang became even more saddened as he spoke.
“If you get snot on me, I guarantee you’ll cry even worse than you are now.” Xu Jing pushed Cha Fei’ang’s head away.
Cha Fei’ang couldn’t care about anything now, all he could think about was that scarf.
“Brother Jing, what should I do now? I was planning to give it to her in a couple of days.”
Xu Jing snorted and said, “So, who is she?”
He had been listening to Cha Fei’ang’s love affairs for almost two weeks, and still didn’t know who the girl was. Every time he asked, the other party would stammer and refuse to say, as if he was hiding some major secret that was difficult to reveal.
Sure enough, as soon as he said this, Cha Fei’ang instantly looked embarrassed.
It was rare that they had sunny weather during PE class, and Xu Jing, who had been detained by the edge of the playground for almost twenty minutes, turned to leave.
“Wait—wait! Brother Jing, I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you, okay?” Cha Fei’ang pulled and dragged Xu Jing back, then realized that Xu Jing didn’t like being touched, and quickly let go of his hand, whispering, “Actually, I don’t know who she is yet.”
Xu Jing: “…”
Do you want to hear what you’re saying?
Cha Fei’ang looked hesitant, “It’s like this, I met her on our school’s forum. At first, we just chatted casually, but later… you know, Brother Jing.”
Xu Jing subconsciously wanted to say how could I possibly know.
But in an instant, a strong sense of identification arose in his heart.
At this moment, there were excited screams from the basketball court. Xu Jing looked up and saw a tall, thin figure dribbling the ball between his legs. His movements were fast and steady. When he was several meters away from the center point, he suddenly held the ball and jumped into the air as if he had calculated it accurately. The basketball drew a perfect parabola in the air, and finally landed steadily in the basket. The people in front couldn’t stop him.
Xu Jing knew who it was with one glance at the ball skills and posture.
“So what should I do now, Brother Jing? Is it too late for me to knit a new one?”
Xu Jing couldn’t focus on watching the game because of the noise, so he had to withdraw his gaze and said with impatience, “Liang Yin is easy to talk to, you can try, maybe you can get it back.”
Cha Fei’ang pondered for a moment and said, “Then if she asks me for a reason, do I need to answer truthfully?”
Xu Jing looked at him like he was an idiot, saying, “Then you’ll get another demerit.”
Everyone knew that Linhe No.1 High School strictly prohibited dating. The school was densely covered with surveillance cameras, and the teachers on duty stayed in the surveillance room for three days and three nights just to find those few young couples.
“Just say your family member’s birthday is coming up, appeal to her emotions, understand?”
The people on the playground gradually dispersed. Xu Jing left this sentence and turned to leave. Cha Fei’ang was lost in thought on the spot…
Because class had just ended, the supermarket was very crowded. Xu Jing was about to leave when he saw a well-defined hand handing him a bottle of Assam milk tea.
The refreshing mint scent came over him, Xu Jing knew who it was without looking at the face.
He took the drink and said, “Nice shot.”
“Nice chat.”
Shen Yan’s voice was faint, and he couldn’t hear any emotion. Xu Jing felt a chill down his spine.
“You’re spying on me?”
As soon as he said that, Shen Yan deliberately tilted his head to look at Xu Jing, his tone full of playfulness, “No, I’m watching openly.”
“…”
His heartbeat inexplicably quickened. Xu Jing pretended to be calm and unscrewed the milk tea bottle cap, drinking most of the bottle in one gulp.
“Are you going to participate in the New Year’s Eve performance?”
“Do I look like such a boring person?”
“I just have an idea.”
Xu Jing looked over in confusion.
“The pole dance they mentioned last time, I think you’re more suitable than Cha Fei’ang.” Shen Yan held back his laughter.
“…” Xu Jing’s face instantly darkened, “Suitable my ass, don’t think I won’t teach you a lesson just because I have an injured leg.”
Shen Yan didn’t care, laughing, “Don’t you still have two legs?”
Naive as Xu Jing was, he hadn’t realized the meaning of this sentence for a while.
It wasn’t until he saw the other party’s malicious expression that he realized he was being teased.
“You want to try?”
“Wh…what?”
The corners of Xu Jing’s mouth slightly turned up, saying word by word, “I’ll teach you a lesson with my other leg.”
Shen Yan’s expression stiffened slightly, and Xu Jing felt refreshed.
But two seconds later, he saw the other party nod, seriously saying, “Okay, come to my room tonight.”
Xu Jing almost spat out the milk tea in his mouth.
If the two lived far apart, that would be one thing, but they happened to be neighbors, exaggeratingly speaking, all the movements in this house would become devoid of secrets as long as the other party paid attention.
A joking sentence instantly became intriguing.
On the way back to the classroom, both of them tacitly remained silent.
Because Liang Yin was only temporarily acting as the homeroom teacher at the beginning, she hardly mentioned any systematic class rules and requirements in the first few months. However, just two days ago, the original teacher who was going to teach this class resigned. After discussion, the school decided to let Liang Yin continue to serve as the homeroom teacher of class 104.
Although Liang Yin was easy to talk to most of the time, her strictness was enough to make them tremble with fear. In addition, she recently proposed to choose seats based on grades, and the people in the class were even more motivated to study for this reason.
Not to mention Zhou Ji, whether there was this rule or not, he was always buried in his studies. And Shen Yan was the opposite, he was completely a talented player. Whether it was listening to lectures or studying on his own, anyway, he only needed to browse something once to master what others could only learn after reading six or seven times. And he could easily get everything right on homework or exams, no wonder he easily aroused hatred.
Xu Jing didn’t know why he had been distracted ever since he came back from PE class. Maybe even earlier, his thoughts had begun to be unable to concentrate. He drifted and drifted until he reached that person.
Shen Yan gave him a contradictory and subtle feeling. Sometimes this person was clearly standing in front of him, but he felt that the two of them were very far apart. There seemed to be an invisible crack between them that Shen Yan had split open, and this crack was a distance that he could not cross no matter what. However, sometimes Xu Jing felt that Shen Yan’s eyes were unclear, like a predator deliberately seducing, but whenever he couldn’t help but approach, he would find that he had hit a wall again.
“Xu Jing, Xu Jing!” Zhou Ji called out as he nudged Xu Jing with his elbow, “The English teacher is calling you.”
Only then did Xu Jing hear him. He raised his head and saw Li Qin standing at the front door waving at him. He put down the pen in his hand, got up, and walked out.
“Damn, that’s so scary, there hasn’t been an exam recently, has there?”
“I don’t know, but I think Ms. Li’s expression is very serious. Brother Jing might be finished.”
Shen Yan listened to the quiet discussion around him without showing any expression.
“Yan Shen, that… I didn’t mean to look.” Mao Chengyu swallowed, his tone very hesitant, “Isn’t the answer to this third question B?”
Hearing this, Shen Yan’s gaze swept back.
Two seconds later, the simplest set question was changed back to the correct answer.
Mao Chengyu didn’t know how much courage it took to ask this question. He preferred to believe that there was something wrong with the question rather than believe that Shen Yan had done it wrong.
Shen Yan looked towards the door again.
“Yan—”
Mao Chengyu was about to ask a question that he hadn’t understood in class today when he saw the person next to him suddenly get up and leave the classroom without turning his head.
Inside the office.
“Xu Jing, the final exam is coming up after the monthly exam. Do you have a goal for your English grades?”
“No.”
Li Qin choked, still unwilling to give up, “Then are you writing any English tutoring books?”
“No.”
Li Qin: “…”
You don’t have to be so honest.
“Teacher, you were looking for me.”
A low voice came from the side. Xu Jing frowned slightly when he heard it.
Li Qin looked at Shen Yan in confusion, “When did I look for you?”
Shen Yan nodded calmly, “Then I was mistaken.”
After saying that, he was about to leave. Li Qin seemed to have thought of something and stopped Shen Yan, “Wait, there is something.”
Li Qin took out a data sheet of English grades in the grade from the drawer and placed it in front of Xu Jing.
“In the last unified exam, our class was only 0.3 points away from first place in English average score.”
Xu Jing’s English grades since the start of school can only be described as terrible. Although she didn’t say it clearly, the meaning was obvious.
“Here’s a tutoring book, take it and finish writing it. If you don’t understand, ask Shen Yan or come and ask me. Hand it in to me for inspection the day before the final exam.” Li Qin turned her head to Shen Yan and said, “I think the two of you have a pretty good relationship, help him out.”
Xu Jing thought to himself, help out, this person is definitely going to say something like he doesn’t have time.
“I should.” Shen Yan said.
Li Qin contentedly stuffed the book into Xu Jing’s arms, “That’s good, okay, you two go back to evening self-study.”
Seeing Li Qin and Shen Yan reaching a consensus, Xu Jing looked at Shen Yan with a displeased expression.
Did anyone ask for his opinion here?
Shen Yan also glanced back lightly, as if saying, is your opinion important?