Chapter 1 Honestly Speaking

To be honest, Chen Yuan had never stopped at Fourth High.

It wasn't that he was worried about running into Si Zongye and being challenged to make the little things from Eleventh High kowtow to him.

It was just that, having transferred from He Xiang, he basically hadn't had the opportunity to make friends at Fourth High, and there wasn't much of a commercial district there either, so there was no need to come.

He figured he'd arrive at Fourth High station at exactly six o'clock, which meant he'd have to wait half an hour in front of the school gate.

Taking out the crumpled red bill, Chen Yuan was grateful for Zhou Fu's timely help, because he really didn't have any money on him right now, and being broke while waiting was the worst.

As for the gold coins the old man dropped, those were handy tools he'd need later.

Best not to activate them for now.

During the short ride, Chen Yuan, sitting alone, listened to music and played on his phone.

Suddenly, a message from Zhou Fu popped up on QQ.

Zhou Fu: Li Youyou is sitting near us, it's still a bit awkward. Should I ask Teacher Mo to switch Tang Jian next to He Sijiao?

Seriously, what the hell do you think Tang Jian is?

Chen Yuan: Asking Lao Mo too often isn't a good thing. If you really want to switch, wait until after the monthly exam in half a month, and then bring it up if you do well.

Actually, Li Youyou is the one suffering the most being behind us.

Even if Chen Yuan felt a little strange, he wouldn't stop having fun because of her presence.

Her deterrent power was far less than Lao Mo's.

Zhou Fu: Okay.

Zhou Fu: Also, before she went back to the classroom today, I caught her and told her not to keep crying.

Chen Yuan: Didn't think you were so good at bullying people.

Zhou Fu: It's not bullying, you misunderstood.

Zhou Fu: I mean, you dragged her out, and she came back crying right after. People will get the wrong idea.

Chen Yuan: And what did you do?

Zhou Fu: I told her to wash her face and calm down before going back to the classroom. I figured there would only be a few girls who didn't want to participate in club activities in the class at that time, and they would definitely gossip if they saw Li Youyou. So I told her in advance to answer like that.

Chen Yuan: What do you mean, answer like that?

She's playing coy with me even on QQ. Mystery people, get out of Eleventh High.

Zhou Fu: It's a girl thing... hard to explain.

Zhou Fu: Anyway, it didn't ruin your reputation.

Whether she ruined his reputation was really hard to say.

If it were someone like He Sijiao, she would ruin his reputation even to his face.

And he wasn't even there. They were trash-talking him behind his back. How could he not be anxious?

Zhou Fu: But, do you think it ruins your reputation if the class knows that a girl likes you?

Just that? You should have said so earlier!

Suggest looping it by Zhou Yu's ear.

Chen Yuan: You mean, you had her explain to those girls that she wanted to get my attention, pissed me off, so I dragged her away?

After thinking it over, Chen Yuan could only come up with a logically consistent solution.

Otherwise, there was no way to explain his sudden rage.

Zhou Fu: !

What do you mean by just an exclamation point, you b*tch?

Zhou Fu: You're so smart, who would dare to be friends with you!

Oh, he guessed right.

As Chen Yuan thought, Li Youyou could only use a self-deprecating method to cover herself up, to show her apology.

In doing so, she slightly damaged her reputation, or at least lost some face. As for Chen Yuan, it also affected his public image, but he gained a little face.

Chen Yuan: My motto is, always blame others, never look for reasons in yourself.

Zhou Fu: That's really a golden saying, I should learn from you.

Chen Yuan: You're not nearly there yet.

After chatting a few more times and ending the conversation, Chen Yuan felt subtly complicated.

As a very close deskmate, he always wanted to… harmonize Zhou Fu's personality a bit.

Deprive her of some of her overly kind parts, reduce the proportion of the Holy Mother, and change her from being round to being sharp.

But it was always inappropriate to do this kind of thing himself.

Interference would lead to backlash.

It could only be said that Zhou Fu was at a disadvantage.

Of course, it was okay to suffer a little here. If it were somewhere else, Chen Yuan would strike hard.

This was his friend he paid friend fees for.

"Xuefu Road is here, passengers getting off please prepare..."

Before long, they arrived at the station.

After getting off the bus, Chen Yuan crossed the road. Not far away was the majestic main gate of Fourth High.

Because it had only been a little over a month since the start of the semester, the good news about the provincial liberal arts champion and the city science champion hadn't been taken down yet. Looking at it from a distance, it was so dazzling.

The prestige was too high.

One high school had won both the liberal arts and science champions in Xia Hai City.

And this had only happened once at Eleventh High. That time was what forced these two schools to become known as equal rivals.

If this trend continued, and they swept both champions again this year, Fourth High would probably surpass First High and become the number one sect in Hai Dong Prefecture.

Thinking about competing with such monsters on Friday, Chen Yuan felt happy.

Why happy?

Otherwise, would he be happy if half the exam room was from Eleventh High, or even worse than Eleventh High?

"Still half an hour before she comes out."

Looking at the time, Chen Yuan found a milk tea shop near the school gate, and then, using Zhou Fu's money, ordered a Super A Cheese Peach and sat down at the bar.

You still gotta drink this at Gu Ming.

Mango Pomelo Sago is just pure garbage, it ate the early market blank red profit, the sales champion is just a thief, it won’t get my approval.

[Why is a guy from Eleventh High here?]

[Is he waiting for someone? Looks like he's alone.]

[While he's not looking, quickly take a picture and send it to my bestie hehe...]

Just as the girl was about to pick up her phone, Chen Yuan suddenly turned around, leaning against the bar, slurping on his cheese peach tea.

Seeing this, the girl quickly put down her phone and pretended to send a message.

Fourth High little thing, sneaking photos of your Eleventh High master?

Don't let me catch you, or I'll check your phone.

But at this time, there were still people running out to drink milk tea, and quite a few of them.

It seemed that Fourth High was about the same as Eleventh High. Students would ask for leave during evening self-study to sneak out and drink milk tea.

He remembered when he was in the first year of high school, there was a guy in his class whose family ran a clinic, and he often wrote drip prescriptions for the boys in the class. At that time, the boarding students relied on his fake notes to often run out for lavish meals.

It was a pity that his parents found out later and almost used a scalpel to stab that guy. If the classmates hadn't stopped them, that guy would probably be done for.

Those who prescribe drips for the masses must not be stabbed to death with a scalpel!

Glug, glug, after sucking in the last bit of the milk tea storm, which was so good he wanted to stomp his jiojio, Chen Yuan looked at the time. Ten minutes left.

So he walked to the cashier, picked out a few things, and said, "One Super A Cheese Peach, normal ice… wait."

The cashier stopped her fingers, waiting with a smile.

Can Xia Xinyu drink ice today?

The last time she was… how the hell would I know when the last time was?

They didn't even know each other yet.

Just ask directly?

She should be in self-study at this time, with no time to answer him.

Besides, it wasn't easy to ask such a question.

"Then make it less ice, half sugar."

To be safe, he'd go with less ice. That way, even if she really couldn't drink it, it would turn into room temperature after a while, even if the taste was a little worse.

One cheese peach tea was 17, two was 34. Chen Yuan had spent two people's worth of living expenses in just a short while.

Money really didn't last.

But how should he explain it to Xia Xinyu later?

That he robbed it from Zhou Yu?

But money was different from robbing drinks, there was robbing and returning, she'd probably still consider it borrowing.

Actually, telling the truth was fine. She just didn't want him to ask his mom for money, making her look like the kind of girl who ‘spends a guy's money in high school’… never mind.

Some of Xia Xinyu's views weren't completely correct to begin with. If he just let her suffer like this, she would really think that eternal thrift and long-term restraint should be the norm in life.

The shop wasn't crowded, and the milk tea was ready in three minutes.

Then, Chen Yuan walked out of the milk tea shop with the Super A Cheese Peach.

At this time, there were already many parents waiting at the school gate.

Fourth High, like Eleventh High, was a boarding high school, but about one-fifth of the students were day students. Of these day students, about one-third were from surrounding counties and cities.

This was the reason why the gap between prestigious schools and ordinary high schools was widening.

Schools like Fourth High and First High not only recruited students in the city, but also specially recruited top students from surrounding counties and cities after the annual high school entrance exam.

Because of the golden reputation of the top two schools in Hai Dong Province, they didn't even need to promise ‘scholarships’ and ‘tuition waivers.’ Parents would break their heads to send their children here, and parents with good conditions would also rent houses to accompany them.

He and Xia Xinyu lived alone for different reasons, but what they had in common was—they didn't support accompanying students, and they had relatively independent personalities.

But looking at these students being picked up by their parents, Chen Yuan was still quite envious.

Hmph, he kinda missed his mom and the old man.

While waiting, school let out.

The folding iron gate below Fourth High slowly opened, and more and more Fourth High students in white uniforms walked out of the school gate.

Standing in the crowd of parents, Chen Yuan, with his height of 183cm, which was definitely tall in Hai Dong, had a very wide field of vision.

But after waiting for a while, the chattering voices became more and more noisy, and he decided to find another place.

However, just then, he suddenly saw a hand raised in his direction in the crowd.

As the hand was raised, the sleeve slid down, revealing a fair and slender wrist.

Xia Xinyu, in the crowd, saw him and waved to him with a smile. Even though there were female students walking side by side on her left and right, she didn't flinch or act shy in the slightest.