The two returned to the classroom while eating popsicles to find most of their classmates already there, heads buried in their work.
Simply put, they were rushing to finish their homework.
This was a customary scene after every holiday break.
Especially under the demanding academic load of the third year of high school, it was rare for students to diligently complete their homework as assigned by the teachers after a rare break.
While Qin Tian was playing games at the internet café, Xia Nuannuan, sitting beside him, had finished her homework.
In the past, she sometimes couldn't finish it either.
It wasn't that she didn't want to do it, but the combined workload from various subjects was substantial, and there were problems she didn't know how to solve.
But this time was different. Qin Tian's one-on-one tutoring had made her homework completion smooth.
"Qin Tian, you didn't do your homework, did you? Want to copy mine?"
Xia Nuannuan whispered, her voice low.
Qiu Man and Cui Ying, seated in front, still overheard her. They exchanged glances, disdainful smiles appearing on their faces.
They remembered when she claimed to be a poor student as a pretense, and now she had exposed herself.
Not doing homework after returning home meant she was indeed a poor student.
As they thought this, they failed to realize they themselves were copying each other's homework.
They had gone shopping with Xu Ying today and had absolutely no time for homework, so they could only switch and copy what they had done the previous day.
"No need. While teaching you, I pretty much memorized it all."
Qin Tian smiled, tapped his head, and then proceeded to find the homework he hadn't even brought back.
While finishing the remaining popsicle, he filled in the answers at an astonishing speed.
For most of the simple questions, he didn't need to think; he just wrote down the answers.
For the more difficult ones, as he had said, he had memorized them while teaching Xia Nuannuan at the internet café.
Xia Nuannuan watched his speed, which seemed faster than copying, her eyes wide and her mouth forming an "O" shape.
Before long, the preliminary bell for evening study rang.
"Alright, class is about to start. Everyone quiet down and finish your homework. The subject representatives will collect it at the end of the period," the class monitor, Mu Nan, announced loudly.
Those who were still rushing their homework breathed a collective sigh of relief.
One class period should be enough.
This was also why the students of Class 10, both boys and girls, held a favorable impression of Mu Nan, their class monitor.
The classroom, which had been somewhat noisy, quickly fell silent.
The homeroom teacher, "King of Hell" Li, arrived at the classroom after the period ended.
In fact, he had already arrived at school much earlier.
His reason for waiting until after the period to come was to tacitly allow the students the first period to finish their homework.
As for copying homework, he knew it was impossible to completely prevent.
However, he rarely assigned Chinese homework before holidays.
At this moment, students like Zhang Peng, exhausted from playing games all night after the holiday, had finished copying their homework and were already sleeping soundly with their heads on their desks, some even snoring.
"Slap, slap!!"
Li Xueping clapped his hands heavily, the loud sound echoing, and shouted, "Wake up, sleepyheads! I have something to announce."
However, those asleep heard nothing, lying on their desks like dead fish, completely unresponsive.
Li Xueping's mouth twitched a few times, and he said with a dark expression, "Those who aren't awake, have the person next to you wake them up."
Zhang Peng and the others were then woken up, reluctantly sitting up, yawning as they looked at "King of Hell" Li.
"Pfft!"
Xia Nuannuan suddenly remembered something and couldn't help but cover her mouth and giggle.
"What are you laughing at that's so amusing?"
Qin Tian looked at her curiously.
Xia Nuannuan's eyes curved into crescents. She covered her mouth with her hand and whispered, "I remembered that time in class when you were sleeping and I woke you up, and you thought you were dreaming."
"Uh..."
Qin Tian wore an embarrassed expression.
"Hee hee..."
Xia Nuannuan laughed even more happily. She picked up a book and mimicked the action of "King of Hell" Li striking down at him that day.
Qin Tian rolled his eyes, "Nuannuan, I think you're getting more mischievous!"
As this girl's personality became more outgoing, she had also become more amusing.
"Mischievous?"
Xia Nuannuan paused, hearing the description for the first time.
"It means you're playfully cute!"
Qin Tian explained with a smile.
Xia Nuannuan's face instantly flushed red, and she refuted somewhat flusteredly, "I, I'm not mischievous at all!"
"Yes, very mischievous!"
"No, no."
Not far away, Xu Ying saw the two chatting and laughing, and a sudden, inexplicable anger welled up inside her.
"Xu Ying, what's wrong?"
Beside her, the bespectacled male deskmate asked her with concern, seeing that her mood seemed a bit off.
"Nothing."
Xu Ying frowned and replied impatiently.
The boy followed her gaze to Qin Tian and Xia Nuannuan and instantly understood. He said sternly, "It's them again. Xu Ying, it's all in the past. Why are you still getting angry with those two poor students? It's unnecessary!"
He had witnessed the argument between Xu Ying and Qin Tian before the holiday last week.
But he hadn't done anything.
This was because arguing or fighting wasn't his forte.
He absolutely refused to admit that he had been intimidated by Qin Tian's aura at the time.
"What's it to you!"
Xu Ying turned and glared at him furiously, her expression displeased. "Wu Xin, please, can you stop acting like you're amazing just because your grades are good?"
"I..."
The boy's face turned red from being retorted, leaving him speechless.
"You keep saying you like me. That day, when Qin Tian bullied me like that, you didn't dare to say a word. Now you're telling me not to be angry? Are you kidding me?"
Xu Ying became more agitated as she spoke, her voice unconsciously rising:
"Watching the girl you like get bullied, and you always rank in the top ten in the grade? What good is that? Let alone top ten, even if you were first in the grade, with you like this, no one will like you, understand?"
"Get lost, don't talk to me!"
After venting her anger, Xu Ying realized that everyone around was staring at them.
Even the homeroom teacher, "King of Hell" Li, standing by the podium, was glaring at them with a stern face.
Xu Ying's expression shifted a few times, and then she faced the situation with a sense of calm.
Anyway, she had already lost face that day, and everyone already knew about the enmity between her, Qin Tian, and Xia Nuannuan.
As for Wu Xin beside her, whose face had turned ashen from her words, she didn't care at all.
Wu Xin's academic performance was indeed good.
But in Xu Ying's eyes, who was more mature than girls her age, he was just a poor student, not her type.
"Everyone, please quiet down. I have an important matter to announce."
Up front, the homeroom teacher, "King of Hell" Li's voice rang out again, drawing the students' attention back.
"Starting this Wednesday, we will have the second mock college entrance examination. This time it will be an eight-school joint examination. Whether it's the time, question types, or difficulty, it will be as close to the actual college entrance examination as possible. You all need to prepare well and treat it with utmost seriousness."
As Li Yanwang finished speaking, the classroom erupted in a clamor.
"Ah... Why is there another exam!"
"I knew it. I was sure there would be a mock exam this week. It's over, it's over. I'll get beaten by my dad again."
"When will this torment end? I don't want to hear the word 'exam' anymore!"
"Just returned from the holiday, and this bad news comes. It's too tragic!"
"..."