She didn’t know what that person wanted to do.

Xu You thought somewhat wearily, holding that cup of hot drink in her hand, silently quiet the whole way.

Suddenly feeling someone watching her, Xu You came back to her senses and met Chen Xiao’s gaze.

She smiled at Xu You, her voice faint as it sounded: “A’Chai, who bought you the milk tea?”

After a few seconds of silence, Xu You asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, just a bit curious.”

Xu You didn’t know that Chen Xiao’s mind had already started fantasizing wildly. She shook her head, “I don’t know either…”

“Don’t pretend!”

Chen Xiao had a serious expression, pressing on: “Tell me, are you having an affair with someone?!”

An affair?!

This word scared Xu You.

It was too absurd. She had only transferred schools a few days ago, hadn’t even recognized everyone yet. An affair with whom…

“Where is your mind going?”

Xu You didn’t know what to say, a bit anxious, making two “aiya” sounds, “Your imagination is too rich.”

“It must be a classmate from your class who bought it!”

Chen Xiao, seeing Xu You’s appearance, thought she really didn’t know and began analyzing in detail: “But the male students in your class are all quite high quality. Many are handsome, and many have good family backgrounds too. You could say it’s a class with very high quality in the grade…”

It seemed girls of this age were all very concerned about various gossip matters in the grade, and often gathered together to share.

Xu You was obviously distracted.

Chen Xiao continued, pulling her along and getting more and more excited as she spoke: “Maybe you’ve already been noticed by some male student in your class, A’Chai!”

“That…” Xu You didn’t want to continue discussing this kind of thing and began changing the topic, “Do you know where the multimedia classroom is?”

“Multimedia classroom?” Chen Xiao’s train of thought stopped, frowning in confusion, “Why do you need to go there?”

Xu You answered: “Our teacher posted the exam room distribution for tomorrow’s monthly exam. I’m taking the test there.”

“Oh, oh, oh.” Chen Xiao reacted, “You’re a transfer student. I totally forgot. But that exam room is all those students at the bottom of the rankings.”

Xu You nodded to indicate she knew.

The two had just walked into the school, turning a corner from the tree-lined path, and an academic building appeared before their eyes.

Chen Xiao pointed across from the fountain, saying to Xu You: “Look, next to the music room, the first floor is the multimedia classroom.”

Xu You looked in the direction she pointed, silently remembering it in her heart.

—

According to No. 1 High’s custom, there was no morning self-study on exam days.

Because arts and sciences classes hadn’t been separated yet, all subjects had to be tested for both liberal arts and sciences comprehensive exams.

The first day, morning was Chinese, afternoon was science comprehensive, evening was liberal arts comprehensive.

The second day, morning was math, afternoon was English.

Xu You set her alarm for 6 o’clock to get up. She quietly put on her clothes, climbed down from bed, finished getting ready, and sat at the desk silently reading compositions for half an hour.

After a while longer, her roommates got up one by one.

Liao Yuemin rubbed her eyes yawning, passing by Xu You’s area, greeting her listlessly: “Youyou, up so early.”

Xu You responded, packed up her books, and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face.

Before going out, she filled her large water cup with hot water, then put it in her backpack.

Taking the breakfast bought from the cafeteria, Xu You slowly walked to the exam room, with students passing by in small groups around her.

In the early morning campus, several osmanthus trees were planted by the roadside. It was the flowering season. When the cool breeze blew, the faint floral fragrance drifted and dispersed.

The sky was slightly bright, golden light sprinkling across the horizon.

Arriving at the exam room, Xu You found her seat and sat down, took out her books, and began reviewing while eating her breakfast.

8:30 was exam time.

Xu You looked down at her watch. It was already 8 o’clock, but there were still very few people in the exam room.

After another ten minutes or so, people gradually increased.

Li Jieyi came together with Song Yifan and Xie Ci. The few of them didn’t bring anything, just took a pen, swaggering one after another into the exam room.

His hand draped over Song Yifan’s shoulder, standing at the doorway scanning around, asking: “Bro, where’s my light of hope sitting? Point her out to me.”

Song Yifan craned his neck, looking everywhere.

“There, over there!” He pointed to the right front, “Your light, your goddess of hope.”

Li Jieyi’s gaze looked over, casually sweeping.

A slender back sat quietly not far away, head lowered, black ponytail hanging on her shoulders.

Xu You focused on looking at her textbook, concentrating fully on reciting poetry, when she suddenly felt someone poke her back.

She turned her head to look, and a head suddenly appeared right in front of her.

Xu You reflexively leaned back, making a “ya” sound.

That soft, gentle exclamation made several male students present laugh.

Some even quietly imitated it a few times.

Song Yifan lay on the desk behind her, grinning shamelessly and saying: “Sister, let’s make a deal, okay?”

“What?” Xu You’s gaze moved up, discovering two more male students standing beside her.

One she didn’t recognize, and one was…

The instant Xie Ci and she made eye contact, Xu You froze for a moment, quickly looking away.

Song Yifan pointed to Li Jieyi beside him and said, “This is my bro. He’ll be sitting next to you later. During the exam, can you let him copy a bit?”

After reacting for two seconds.

Xu You asked blankly, “How do I let him copy? The teacher…”

She had never done this kind of thing before, not a bit of experience.

Song Yifan familiarly patted her shoulder, gesturing for her not to worry, “You don’t need to do anything. Just hold up your paper slightly to let him see some multiple choice questions.”

Li Jieyi looked at the docile, school uniform-wearing, delicate female student in front of him.

In his heart he secretly sighed, no wonder, no wonder.

“Little sister, thanks so much. My living expenses for next month depend entirely on you. After the exam, I’ll treat you to a meal.” Li Jieyi said.

He had already said thank you, so Xu You didn’t know even more how to refuse. After hesitating slightly for a while, she still nodded hesitantly, “Uh, no need to treat me…”

There were still over ten minutes until the exam started. The invigilating teacher was already sitting on the podium at the front counting test papers.

Li Jieyi finished chatting nonsense with Xie Ci and jumped down from the desk. Just as he was about to walk back to his seat, he seemed to remember something and came back to ask: “A’Ci, let me ask you something.”

“Speak.” Xie Ci lazily leaned on the desk reading a basketball magazine.

“Just that.”

Li Jieyi raised one arm and pressed it on his shoulder, asking in a low voice, “Why were you staring at that girl just now? You think she’s good-looking?”

Xie Ci continued looking at the magazine, his face expressionless.

Li Jieyi pushed him again, “Give me an answer?”

“What answer?” He was impatient.

“Do you think she’s pretty?”

After Xie Ci heard this, he looked up and glanced at him, lightly making an “mm” sound, asking: “What do you want to do?”

When Li Jieyi walked back to his seat, he was still thinking in his heart: Good thing he didn’t just tell Xie Ci that he kind of wanted to pursue this type of girl like Xu You.

Because this exam room was very large, there were two teachers sitting one in front and one in back, but they managed things very loosely. After handing out the papers, they sat there and started playing on their phones.

Two and a half hours, the exam ended at eleven o’clock.

The moment the bell rang, there were already very few people left in the exam room. Most people had handed in their papers early and left.

This was Li Jieyi’s first time so seriously completing an 800-character essay in an exam.

After finishing writing, he was exhausted, collapsing on his seat.

Song Yifan came to find him. Seeing his half-dead appearance, he said amusedly: “What’s the matter? Already wilted?”

“Almost.” Li Jieyi swept up the scratch paper on the desk and crumpled it into a ball, leaning over to thank the female student beside him, “Thank you, classmate.”

Xu You was simply organizing the things on her desk. After putting the pencil case into her backpack, she zipped it up.

She stood up and held the water cup from the desk in her arms, nodding, “You’re welcome.”

Then she left.

—

Afternoon was the science comprehensive exam.

Xu You, afraid she wouldn’t have enough scratch paper, specially brought a few sheets of white paper.

After Li Jieyi tasted the ‘care’ of an academic genius in the morning, before the exam he kept talking to Xu You, constantly getting familiar, “Hey classmate, where are you from? How old are you? Why do you look so young? After the exam, how about I treat you to a meal?”

Xu You was lowering her head organizing things, answering intermittently.

Just as she found the notebook in her backpack, her desk was suddenly hit by a force and tilted to one side.

Two male students were tangling and fighting beside her.

The desk body shook violently. The water cup fell over, water flowing from the not-tightly-closed rim, instantly flooding the entire desk. Xu You’s clothes were also soaked.

She got up from her seat, crying out in alarm, hurriedly supporting the cup.

At the same time, Li Jieyi also reacted.

He stood up, impatiently cursing at those two male students: “Fu Yishun, are you sick?”

The male student who bumped into Xu You’s desk wasn’t backing down, cursing back with anger: “So what? I bumped it. You have a problem with that?”

The atmosphere between the two was explosive.

Just then Xie Ci and Song Yifan walked over from behind.

Xie Ci frowned, sizing up Xu You standing to the side. Seeing her sleeves were all wet, he turned his head and asked Li Jieyi: “What happened?”

“Fu Yishun knocked over Xu You’s water cup.”

“It’s fine, it’ll dry in a while.” Xu You wiped the desk with tissue, interrupting them, “You guys quickly go back to your seats. The exam is about to start.”

Xie Ci acted as if he hadn’t heard, pushing Fu Yishun’s shoulder, his chin raised especially arrogantly, “What’s going on? Are you fucking blind?”

The people around didn’t dare say a word, watching the two people in conflict. No one dared step forward to stop them.

In the end, it was the invigilating teacher who came down from the podium, separated the crowd, and said to them: “What are you all doing! Quickly go back to your seats! The exam is about to start!”

Before Fu Yishun left, he glared at them viciously, saying: “Just wait.”

—

Xie Ci switched positions with the person in front of Xu You. As soon as the exam started, he lay down to sleep.

Halfway through the science comprehensive exam, after Xu You finished writing the multiple choice questions and filled in the answer sheet, she put it aside.

Li Jieyi sensibly raised his head and started copying.

Xu You flipped her test paper over and began writing the large questions on the back.

After writing for a while, a ball of paper was suddenly thrown onto her desk. She was startled.

After a few seconds, her back was hit again.

Xu You turned her head. The male student who had knocked over her water cup earlier, sitting diagonally behind, continued throwing paper balls this way.

This time it was a bit off, just hitting the head of the person sleeping.

Xu You pressed her lips together, lowered her head to continue writing the test, ignoring the harassment from behind.

The paper balls kept being thrown.

Xie Ci lifted his head from his arms, turning around.

Xu You lay on the desk, holding her pen writing the science comprehensive exam.

Beside her were scattered a few paper balls.

Her long lashes lowered, her features delicate, shadows covering under her eyes, concealing all emotions.

“—Are you fucking looking to die?”

In the quiet exam room, suddenly a thunderous roar.

The examinees present, including the teachers, turned their heads toward the source of the sound all at once.

Xie Ci had lost his temper, violently pushing away his desk and standing up, randomly grabbing a book, walking to Fu Yishun’s location.

Smack.

One book, the wind lifting the pages rustling and flapping, smashed straight into Fu Yishun’s face.

Everyone was stunned by his fierceness.

Xie Ci kicked Fu Yishun’s desk crooked with one foot, pointing at him and saying: “If you’ve got guts, try throwing one more today. Do you believe I’ll make you eat them all?”