After getting on the bus, Xia Xinyu and Chen Yuan chose a pair of window seats in the back row.

After settling in, Xia Xinyu took out her English book and began to silently recite, moving her lips without making a sound.

Chen Yuan, on the other hand, put his earphones in and closed his eyes to listen to music as soon as he got on the bus.

"What are you listening to?" Xia Xinyu asked curiously.

Although there were fewer people on the bus than on the subway, there were still dozens of people in a confined space. The number of people simultaneously emitting their thoughts was rarely less than two. When there were more people, it was like a cacophony of voices, like having a Tencent cloud meeting inside his head, constantly chattering.

Only by wearing headphones and turning the music up as loud as possible could he feel slightly at ease.

"Listening to English songs, memorizing vocabulary," Chen Yuan replied casually, without opening his eyes.

"Oh..."

Looking sideways at Chen Yuan and straining to hear the faint sounds leaking from his earphones, Xia Xinyu didn't hear any English lyrics.

'Cause I got a crush on you who you...'

No, there were English lyrics after all.

He looks so tired; he must have stayed up late last night. And the reason for staying up late probably had nothing to do with studying... No, that's too arbitrary. It would be more accurate to say it had little to do with studying.

If I could see his report card, I'd know how to give him targeted tutoring.

That's right. I heard the head teacher say last time that his English was too poor and needed improvement.

English is a skill where talent is important, but that's for people who want more improvement and breakthroughs.

As for the language environment, Chen Yuan, now a high school student, couldn't hope to achieve the same fluency as students from Xia Hai City.

Chen Yuan and I, both out-of-towners, came from not-so-great junior high schools. Of course, by "not-so-great," I don't mean in terms of "test-taking" but in terms of "quality."

Although Xia Xinyu's English scores could consistently stay around 130, she never had tutoring in junior high school, attended an ordinary public elementary school, and certainly didn't have bilingual kindergarten. She was able to achieve this score entirely through one thing – the efforts of a small-town test-taking machine.

Because Xia Xinyu was a small-town test-taking machine, she had a powerful plan to improve Chen Yuan's scores.

When Chen Yuan was resting with his eyes closed, enjoying his music, Xia Xinyu suddenly took his phone, startling him. He opened his eyes in confusion and asked, "Huh?"

Xia Xinyu didn't speak. First, she unlocked the phone using Chen Yuan's face, then continued operating it.

Soon, Chen Yuan's ears were filled with clear pronunciation, moderate speed, and《High School English Vocabulary Audio》with spelling and definitions after each word.

No, what are you doing?

"You can't memorize words by listening to English songs; you need to memorize the vocabulary for the exams directly," Xia Xinyu explained without any guilt, putting Chen Yuan's phone back into his pocket.

Who listens to English vocabulary first thing in the morning...

Chen Yuan resisted inwardly, because the feeling of knowledge being crammed into his brain was terrible. The guards stationed at his eardrums had already reported to him—Report to the brain, the intruders are hostile, should we expel them?

Forget it, forget it. Since it's recommended by an acquaintance, let them in.

In fact, Chen Yuan understood that improving his Chinese score by ten points wouldn't be as significant as passing his English exam.

And the scores on the Gaokao, don't differentiate between subjects. A point is a point, without high or low status.

The reason he resisted English so much was precisely because he wasn't good at it.

This leads to a common bad habit among struggling students—they like to focus on the subjects they excel in, content with the three or four points they manage to gain.

In reality, this is a form of avoidance.

When Chen Yuan first came to 11 High School as a day student, he discovered that any local Xia Hai residents who could get into 11 High School were exceptionally good at English. Some even spoke English like native speakers, standard and fluent, worthy of being a translator in the past.

Chen Yuan's family wasn't poor; they were an ordinary working-class family in a county town. He had also attended many tutoring classes in the third year of junior high school, including English. However, this was different from the Xia Hai residents who had almost integrated English into their daily lives.

He couldn't compete, couldn't compete at all.

Over time, he neglected his weak subject of English and grew to dislike it.

But this was clearly an excuse.

Xia Xinyu next to him, her conditions would only be worse than his.

But she integrated doing test questions into her life.

The chances of a noble son from a poor family were small, but there were always such examples.

Xia Xinyu next to him was still reciting words, quite focused.

In youth campus TV dramas and novels, when the male and female leads sit next to each other on the bus, they share one earphone and listen to music together...

It can only be said that even with superpowers, Chen Yuan's life remains realistic.

"Jiangning Road is approaching. Passengers getting off, please prepare. Next stop—Xuefu Road."

After the bus announcement, Xia Xinyu put her books into her bag.

At this moment, the bus arrived at the stop.

Not many people got off the bus, but a small wave of people got on.

Among this small wave of people, there was a large wave of people.

Hiss... isn't that Zhou Fu?

Chen Yuan immediately saw the girl wearing the 11 High School uniform, and she also saw him and Xia Xinyu because she had to walk to the middle of the bus.

[It's that girl again...]

[They're going to school together?]

The girl's somewhat depressed voice made Chen Yuan feel a little embarrassed.

Some things can't be helped.

It can only be said... everyone has a specific magnetic field. Zhou Yu is like mobile yellow fertilizer, attracting those flies and dogs (the protagonist is sometimes illiterate, wanting to say opportunists) to each other, while Chen Yuan...

It's embarrassing, but it's just the characteristic of 'girls all like to play with me.'

"I'm getting off at Xuefu Road," Xia Xinyu said to Chen Yuan.

"Yeah, I only have three stops left."

Haijing District has seven high schools. Among them, the top school, and also the top school in the entire Xia Hai City, is Xia Hai Fourth High School. The second is 11 High School, a second-tier strong school among provincial key schools. Then there are 17 High School, the bottom of the provincial key schools, 63 High School and 19 High School, both city key schools, 43 High School and 46 High School, both ordinary high schools, and the private high school, Haihui High School.

Xuefu Road and the two stops after it are full of good schools such as Chongming Elementary School, Fourth Junior High School, Fourth High School, and Eleventh High School, and are the location of Haijing District's cultural heritage.

Of course, Eleventh High School was shamelessly forced in by a certain Han, the secretary of the Tenth Middle School.

In short, there are many students getting off at these stops, and many nerdy top students, so the probability of encountering classmates is naturally high.

When Xia Xinyu was preparing to get off the bus, she noticed that there was another classmate on the bus, so after saying goodbye to Chen Yuan, she stood with that girl in front of the back door of the bus, holding onto the handrail while waiting for their stop.

What the two of them were saying, the sound was too small to really hear.

But the thoughts, after taking off the earphones, could be heard clearly.

[Xia Xinyu hasn't been to school these past few days. How does she suddenly have a boyfriend from 11 High School?]

[Ugh... ran into a big-mouthed girl, she won't go around saying anything in class later, right?]

[So interesting, I've never seen her laughing and talking with a boy. I'll tell the others about this later!]

[Whatever, there's no way to stop it, so be it...]

After Xia Xinyu finished saying this in her heart, she also gave him a slightly honest and aggrieved look.

This guy, she has a pretty good attitude.

"Xuefu Road is here. Passengers getting off, please prepare. Next stop..."

The back door of the bus slowly opened.

Before getting off the bus, Xia Xinyu, side by side with her classmate, smiled and waved at him again.

Chen Yuan was stunned for a moment, then also waved back slightly.

[Eek, is Xia Xinyu declaring her sovereignty? How bold.]

You noisy woman, why do you have so much to say!

Fortunately, the two of them quickly got off, and an Eleventh High School boy sat down in the empty seat next to him.

And at the moment he sat down, Chen Yuan suddenly felt Zhou Fu's gaze, which she quickly withdrew.

[This won't do]

"..."

Chen Yuan, who was sensitive to the word "do," felt offended, after all, the advertising slogan says—it's important for a man to be handsome, but it's even more important whether he *can do it*.

This Zhou Fu is so strange.

Even after hearing her thoughts, there was an indescribable strangeness.

Just like that, after a few stops, Chen Yuan got off the bus. And Zhou Fu, as if deliberately avoiding him, took a detour and got off from the back door of the extended bus, then parted ways with him.

Without thinking too much about it, Chen Yuan entered the school gate.

"Aaaaaah!"

Suddenly, the shrill screams of the girls' high school attracted his attention. Following his gaze, Chen Yuan saw a rat the size of a fist on the ground, looking left and right while squeaking. On its head, there was a red health bar.

And it was rapidly disappearing.

"Take this!"

Just like the Monkey King fighting the White Bone Demon, Uncle Ye, the security guard, was like a demon-subduing master descended from the heavens, truly the king of security guards on earth. He slammed the rat into a rat pancake with a steel-wire broom, causing the girls to scream again, for various reasons.

And looking at the rat's health bar, which was now empty, Chen Yuan realized—

The refreshed superpower hasn't disappeared!