Shen Xingruo naturally didn’t take Lu Xingyan’s words seriously. She tossed her notebook onto his desk and assigned him a task, saying, “I’ve reorganized the parts on non-finite verbs and fixed phrases for you. Even someone who has studied English for a few years can understand it. Don’t give me excuses about not understanding anymore.”
“After reading it, write the ‘Little Topic Drills.’ They’re all multiple-choice questions, and won’t take much time. I’ve already folded the pages you need to write on.”
Lu Xingyan flipped through the notes and workbook lazily, and replied, “Yes, ma’am.”
“Alright, cut the English. With your English level, I thought you were cursing my mom.”
Shen Xingruo didn’t look at him again, busying herself with organizing her desk.
Lu Xingyan was accustomed to her mockery. He chuckled lightly, tapped her desk, and said with interest, “Oh, by the way, Miss Shen, since your birthday is approaching, I’ve prepared a thank-you gift for you.”
Lu Xingyan had just been reminded by Li Chengfan and the others that his birthday was coming up when he subconsciously remembered that Shen Xingruo and he shared the same birthday.
Shen Xingruo also realized this—
Her birthday was approaching, which meant Lu Xingyan’s birthday was approaching too.
She glanced at Lu Xingyan and asked, “Are you trying to blackmail me?”
“Forget it, even if you give me a gift, I won’t return the favor.”
“…”
“No, why are you so narrow-minded?”
Lu Xingyan never even thought that his heartfelt preparation of a gift would be interpreted so wildly by Shen Xingru. He turned to her and asked, “Can you clarify? Do you see me as that petty?”
“…”
Shen Xingruo looked at him, considering that he was still her student, and decided not to respond.
She conveyed a very clear message with her eyes—yes, indeed, you’re even smaller in stature than the Seven Dwarfs. In the future, don’t ask for such self-inflicted humiliation.
Lu Xingyan was quite adept at interpreting eye signals. Understanding her meaning, he felt tempted to take out the white peacock he had just ordered online and smacked her in the face with it.
He had prepared such a unique birthday gift, yet this girl had no appreciation for it at all—she was simply heartless.
Shen Xingruo didn’t have time to tend to his shattered virgin heart. When the bell rang, she and Shi Qin and Zhai Jiajing went back to their dorms together.
Today, they have just received the detailed schedule for the final exams. On the way back to their dorm, Shi Qin flipped through her phone calendar, counting the days, “One, two, three, four, five… Fifteen days, no, sixteen days, ah! Only sixteen days left!”
Then Shi Qin noticed something else, “Xingru, Xingru, your birthday happens to be the day before the exam!”
Shi Qin made a note of Shen Xingru’s birthday, coincidentally, this year her birthday fell on the eve of the final exams.
Shi Qin asked, “Are you turning seventeen this year?”
Shen Xingruo recalled, “Yes.”
Zhai Jiajing glanced at the calendar in Shi Qin’s hand and suddenly stopped, then instinctively asked, “Xingru, you and Lu…”
Shi Qin and Shen Xingruo looked over at the sound of her voice.
Zhai Jiajing quickly corrected herself, “I mean, what do you like? So we can prepare a birthday gift for you.”
“Oh, no need.”
Shen Xingruo shook her head lightly.
After all, apart from money, she didn’t lack anything. She couldn’t just let people directly transfer money via WeChat or Alipay.
Before she could finish her sentence, Shi Qin interrupted, insisting, “We must get her a gift.”
Shi Qin was absent-minded, looked at her phone, and realized she still hadn’t received any missed calls that tonight.
Since she arrived in Xingcheng, Shen Guangyao called her at least twice a week.
Most of the time, she didn’t answer.
In a week, there might be one or two times when she would pick up, giving cold and indifferent responses. Shen Guangyao would briefly update her on recent events, usually lasting less than three minutes before she would make an excuse to end the call.
But this week was almost over, and Shen Guangyao hadn’t called her.
During the days of the college entrance examination, the freshmen and sophomores were on break, so both Shen Xingruo and Lu Xingyan stayed at home.
Lu Xingyan noticed that Shen Xingruo had been somewhat distant lately.
During lunchtime, Star City TV would broadcast news from various exam centers.
Typically, they would interview parents anxiously waiting outside, interview the candidates after the exams, and also cover stories about kind-hearted people assisting candidates and stories of confused students going to the wrong exam venues and missing the exams. Mentioning that next year it would be their turn, they showed interest in keeping track of the news.
Lu Xingyan, who was on the brink of facing the college entrance exam, was quite engrossed in the news, while the parents of candidates who were on the brink of facing the college entrance exam were still browsing the internet for leaked essay topics.
But Shen Xingruo seemed indifferent, not even bothering to glance at the TV.
Evening tutoring proceeded as usual, but Shen Xingruo seemed too disinterested to even scold him properly. At most, she would shoot him a glance that said, “You useless brat, you’re not helping at all,” and didn’t lecture him much.
It was extremely unusual.
During a break, Lu Xingyan offered a slice of pear to Shen Xingru.
She frowned and leaned back, clearly resistant.
Lu Xingyan didn’t insist and ate it himself. “Teacher Shen, why have you been so down these days? Are you on your period?”
“Eating won’t shut your mouth.”
“Of course not, just a piece of pear won’t do it, but maybe a kiss from you would.”
Lu Xingyan’s words were half serious and half playful.
Shen Xingruo grabbed the “Little Topic Drills” and tapped his head with them. “Shut up. You’re about to turn seventeen, and yet you’re still so brainless. With your behavior, I doubt you’ll ever score over 400 in the college entrance exam.”
Okay.
He was overthinking.
Teacher Shen was as sharp as ever, maintaining her precise and crushing wartime demeanor.
The vacation during the college entrance exam days soon came to an end.
When they returned to school, the banners cheering for the college entrance exam were still hanging at the gate of Mingli High School, but there were noticeably fewer students than usual.
In the morning when they arrived at the classroom, Shen Xingruo hadn’t attended the morning self-study. She had been called to the office by Wang Youfu along with He Siyue.
When good students were called away, it was ninety-nine percent of the time for a good reason.
He Siyue returned during the morning self-study, and someone curiously asked him what good news he had received.
He smiled and said, “City’s Best Three Selection.”
“Why didn’t Shen Xingruo come back?”
He Siyue paused for a moment. “Teacher Wang asked her to stay; probably had something else to discuss.”
Lu Xingyan overheard this.
He was playing with Shen Xingru’s Rubik’s Cube. She had taught him the formula for solving it, but he hadn’t quite mastered it yet. His thoughts were disrupted, and he couldn’t remember where he had left off.
When the morning self-study ended, Shen Xingruo returned from the office.
Lu Xingyan asked, “What did Wang Youfu want from you?”
“Oh, he wanted to talk about learning martial arts.”
She didn’t take it seriously and just casually responded.
Lu Xingyan asked, “What martial arts are you learning? You have this skill, so why don’t you use it when showing off, instead of always using me as a target?”
Shen Xingruo glanced at him. “It’s not what you think. I don’t need you for this. Participating in the training can give you extra points for the college entrance exam.”
Upon hearing this, Lu Xingyan became interested. “That’s a good deal. How can I learn? I want to give it a try too.”
Shen Xingruo stared at him, too lazy to explain any further. “Shut up.”
While Lu Xingyan was clueless about this, Siyue understood it very well.
The martial arts bonus points were already an open secret at Xingcheng High School. The provincial special talent bonus point system stipulated that students who ranked in the top six in the provincial martial arts competition would receive 20 bonus points, while those in the city-level competition would get 10 points.
However, “martial arts” was a general term. It was divided into eight categories of competition, such as knives, spears, swords, and sticks, and there were separate competitions for men and women, as well as city-level and school-level competitions.
In reality, there were a total of 192 spots available for bonus points through these competitions.
Not many schools had the qualifications to participate in these competitions, and there were very few participants who had professional standards. Many events had no participants at all, which created a loophole for bonus points.
During the summer vacation of the second year of high school, several prestigious schools in Xingcheng would train a group of top students to participate in martial arts training, ensuring that they could earn bonus points in competitions and strive for excellence in the college entrance exam.
The top scholars of Mingli High School two years ago were not just scholars based on raw scores; they were scholars who had received bonus points from martial arts.
Wang Youfu had asked Shen Xingruo about this matter but had not asked He Siyue.
He Siyue felt a bit uncomfortable hearing Shen Xingruo talk about it now.
But then he heard Shen Xingruo say, “I didn’t agree to it.”
Lu Xingyan said, “Just learning a bit can earn you extra points. Why didn’t you agree?”
“What’s the difference between this and buying points? Don’t you think it’s unfair?”
“I can’t stop others from exploiting loopholes, but I can choose not to exploit this loophole myself. Besides, I don’t need to do this to get into the university I want.”
“Then you’re quite principled.” Lu Xingyan joked casually, not taking it seriously since he didn’t understand much about it.
Shen Xingruo couldn’t be bothered to explain to him either. She had presented an even more principled stance when discussing it with Wang Youfu, leaving him somewhat stunned and deeply convinced.
In reality, the higher-ups had begun to pay attention to the issue of martial arts bonus points in the past two years as well.
In Xingcheng, the allocation of martial arts slots to various schools had tightened slightly. Previously, Mingli High School could enroll students in the top twenty of both science and liberal arts classes by paying for training.
Not anymore. Although there were slightly more spots for the science class, the liberal arts class only had a total of three spots now.
Shen Xingruo readily gave up the twenty points, which surprised the top students who heard about it.
He Siyue had thought that Shen Xingruo would decline the spots and they would fall to him, but in the end, they went to Zhai Jiajing.
He felt even more disappointed.
As the footsteps of the final exams drew nearer, the soon-to-be seniors began to feel the urgency of time.
Class One was a science experimental class with no art students, but there were quite a few art students in regular classes. They had been preparing for training recently, and some had even left school early to attend training.
Previously, Pei Yue had considered having Lu Xingyan learn broadcasting or scriptwriting to boost his art grades in the college entrance exam. But after careful inquiry, she decided against it.
Lu Xingyan was neither suitable for broadcasting nor scriptwriting…
Especially scriptwriting. His wooden-headedness would probably struggle even to retell the story of Snow White.
On Wednesday afternoon, during the self-study class, a group of students suddenly rushed past the corridor, making a commotion. It was as if they were evacuating due to an earthquake. Li Chengfan, who was dozing off, was awakened by the noise.
He grabbed his hair and asked his desk mate in confusion, “What’s going on? Aren’t we supposed to have PE class? Wait, didn’t we finish PE exams last week?”
“Not exactly. It seems like there’s a lecture today by a famous artist for the art students from a few classes upstairs,” explained the deskmate.
Li Chengfan responded, “And you know this?”
The desk mate continued, “My senior from the first year is in Class Five. She’s an art student, and her grades in art are pretty good. Plus, her family has some connections with the school. She’s been talking about this for a while. This artist is quite influential. Oh, and about recommendation letters, they may seem useless at first glance, but look at our school principal’s official recommendation. It’s equivalent to a guaranteed admission.”
Recommendation letters and guaranteed admissions were worlds away from Li Chengfan’s life. He had zero interest in them and, after listening, yawned and went back to sleep.
On the other hand, Lu Xingyan perked up at the news. He playfully rubbed Shen Xingru’s head and teased, “Is it your dad? Did he tell you he’s coming to see you?”
Shen Xingruo paused for a moment and then gave Lu Xingyan a blank expression, followed by a swift kick.
“What are you looking at?” she retorted.
Her father started with a display of affection but had grown too lazy to continue. Now he didn’t even bother calling.
Lu Xingyan winced from the kick and then scrutinized Shen Xingru, “Are you embarrassed?”
“Hey, has your dad ever called you even once?” he continued.
Shen Xingruo felt stifled. Her efficiency during self-study plummeted, and she ended up not even attempting the questions, opting to sleep instead.
Shen Xingruo slept through until the end of class.
When she groggily woke up, she got up to fetch some warm water. Lu Xingyan asked her to bring back a cup, but she wasn’t in a good mood and replied curtly, “Then you might as well wait until you die.”
Lu Xingyan got up and joined her to fetch water.
The water fountain was located at the east end of each floor, near the teachers’ offices.
Shen Xingruo held a cup in one hand and stifled a yawn with the other, still not fully awake.
Lu Xingyan walked alongside her, teasing her from time to time and occasionally ruffling her hair.
Shen Xingruo frowned and tilted her head away, “Stop messing up my hair. It’s already a mess because of you.”
“You’re good at passing the blame. Your hair was already a mess from your sleepiness,” Lu Xingyan replied, playfully ruffling her loosely tied hair.
Her hair was soft and smooth, making it quite comfortable to touch, almost irresistible.
They arrived at the water fountain, each taking a side to fill their cups.
Shen Xingruo seemed a bit distracted, the water filled to the brim, spilling over. She took a step back and switched off the faucet.
Lu Xingyan stood to her right, reached around her shoulder, and patted her left one.
“Do you believe I’ll splash you?” Shen Xingruo turned to Lu Xingyan on her left and said.
She subconsciously knew Lu Xingyan was on her right, but for some reason, today she felt out of sorts. Her body instinctively turned to the left, and when she saw the person approaching, she couldn’t stop her movement in time—
A quarter of the overflowing water splashed onto the newcomer.
Lu Xingyan looked at his water cup, oblivious to the situation beside him. He casually extended his hand again and affectionately ruffled her hair. “You splash, then you wash my clothes.”
The corridor suddenly quieted down.
Among the group at the corner, no one spoke, only the headmaster and the class teacher of Class Five stared at Shen Xingruo with disbelief.
Seeing Shen Xingruo’s lack of response, the headmaster had to speak up himself. He smiled apologetically at the middle-aged man leading the group. “Sorry, sorry, Teacher Shen, let me take you to the office to change clothes first?”
Then he turned around, hands behind his back, and sternly criticized Shen Xingruo and Lu Xingyan. “How did you get the water? Just fetching water and yet messing around! Which classes are you two from? I’ll ask your class teachers what’s going on with you two!”
Shen Xingruo stared at the middle-aged man, eyes blinking without a word for a long time.
Lu Xingyan turned his head, also stunned. Though he remained calm on the surface, his mind was in turmoil. He even praised himself internally for being a prophet; if he couldn’t get into college in the future, perhaps he could set up a fortune-telling booth outside Shen Xingruo’s school.
No, setting up a booth was too lowbrow. He could open a fortune-telling shop.
Lost in his whimsical thoughts, he completely ignored the headmaster’s second admonition. The words went in one ear and out the other.
The air fell silent for a moment.
Finally breaking the silence after a long pause, Shen Xingruo called out, “Dad.”
Lu Xingyan also recognized Shen Guangyao, and the rehearsed line in his mind was “Uncle Shen, hello.” Maybe influenced by Shen Xingruo, what came out of his mouth was—
“Hello, Dad.”