Chapter 71

I'm not very happy.

The two didn't speak for the first time until after morning exercises the next day. Zhan Xinyue had just reached the classroom door when she ran into Xu Shen. He glanced at her and naturally leaned closer.

“Before, if we bumped into each other in the hallway, we would quickly go back to our respective classes. I never thought we could walk into the same classroom now. It feels quite magical,” Xu Shen said with a smile.

Zhan Xinyue turned her head to look at him: "Is this why you insisted on transferring classes?"

“Right.” Xu Shen ran a hand through his hair. “But not entirely.”

The two had already entered the classroom. Xu Shen's seat was at the very front, but he didn't move to the front row. Instead, he followed Zhan Xinyue to the back.

Zhan Xinyue asked, "What's the other reason?"

Xu Shen: "There's another reason I'm still thinking about."

Seeing Zhan Xinyue sit down, he casually pulled out Shi Ziqian's chair next to him and sat down beside her. "What are your thoughts on my transferring classes?"

Zhan Xinyue: "Should I have any thoughts?"

“Yes, then…” His voice lowered a few decibels, tinged with a rare hint of shyness, “Would you be happy to see me?”

"Do you want to hear the truth?" Zhan Xinyue didn't look at him. "To be honest, I'm not very happy."

Xu Shen was taken aback: "Why?"

Zhan Xinyue sighed deeply: "You're being a bit too willful. Changing classes is such a big decision, and you just do it like that. Everyone says you changed classes for me, but did you discuss it with me beforehand?"

Xu Shen explained, "I wanted to give you a surprise."

"Is it a surprise or a shock? Xu Shen, you're really too self-centered sometimes. You suddenly caused this mess, and now everyone's watching me. I really don't like this feeling, and I really don't like you acting like this."

Xu Shen: "I'm sorry, but I really didn't tell anyone that I transferred classes for you."

"Do I need to tell you that? After what you've done in the past, anyone can guess. You've always been high-profile, but not everyone likes to be the center of attention. Do you know how much trouble this causes others?"

Xu Shen hesitated for a moment: "I really didn't expect this matter to cause you so much trouble. I'm truly sorry. I will explain to those people in the class and make sure they don't affect you anymore."

Zhan Xinyue rubbed her forehead wearily: "Alright, your explanation will only make things worse. Since things have come to this, let's just leave it at that."

"Okay, let's not talk about that anymore. Let me tell you something interesting." Xu Shen's face showed a hint of cautious flattery. "Last weekend, my parents and I went to a newly opened furniture mall. We came across a shop where the owner happened to be there, and my parents started chatting with him. And guess what? That guy turned out to be your dad! Isn't that a coincidence?"

Zhan Xinyue: "And then?"

"That's all, I just feel like we're really destined to meet. I only vaguely knew your family was in business before, but I never expected to stumble upon your store by chance. And you know what? Your furniture is really beautiful, my mom especially loves it..."

Zhan Xinyue gently interrupted him: "Xu Shen, when did you find out my family is in business?"

Xu Shen recalled for a while: "It's been a while, I forgot who mentioned it once, but I remembered it."

Zhan Xinyue: "Our family is indeed in business. My dad owns several shops, and our family's financial situation is pretty good right now."

Xu Shen raised an eyebrow and said jokingly, "Why are you suddenly bringing this up? Have we reached the point where we need to reveal our financial situation to each other?"

"It's nothing much," Zhan Xinyue said, looking at him. "But there's something I've always been curious about, but I've been too embarrassed to ask you. I hope you won't mind if I tell you?"

"What is it? Go ahead and ask, why would I mind?" Xu Shen turned his head, looking like he was listening intently. "It seems I have something that can pique your curiosity, which is quite amusing."

“It’s just that my family is quite wealthy, and you only said that because you know that…” Zhan Xinyue didn’t finish her sentence, and quickly shook her head. “Never mind, I shouldn’t have said that. Just pretend you didn’t hear it.”

Xu Shen's smile gradually froze, and the corners of his mouth visibly drooped down, as if it took him a long time to understand what she meant. "What does this mean... Is that the kind of person you see me as?"

Zhan Xinyue pursed her lips: "I was just asking, don't take it to heart, maybe I'm overthinking it."

“There’s no reason for liking someone, you just like them.” Xu Shen’s lips formed a straight line. “My family is an ordinary family, but we’re not starving. How could you think of me like that…”

Zhan Xinyue lowered her voice a few decibels: "Sorry, just pretend I didn't say that."

"It's nothing." Xu Shen forced a smile. "I'll go to the restroom first."

Xu Shen returned to his dormitory quite late that evening. His room was a four-person room with bunk beds and desks underneath. The lights were still on, and two people on the beds were studying at small tables. He didn't feel like talking, so he simply took off his coat and went into the washroom.

Yu Bai had just finished showering and was drying his hair when he caught sight of him and immediately bumped him with his shoulder: "Hey, you're back. How was it in Class 10? After all that trouble transferring, are you finally feeling comfortable?"

"That feels good." Xu Shen gave him a lazy glare, got up and went into the bathroom, slamming him out the door. "Get out of the way. I'm exhausted, I'm going to take a shower."

"What are you tired for? Listen to my advice, brother. If you get tired easily, it might be because your kidneys are a bit weak. You should take care of them." Yu Bai said from outside.

Xu Shen's voice came through the door: "Get lost."

Perhaps because of Zhan Xinyue's words, Xu Shen didn't spend much time near her for the next two days. However, he didn't seem to be affected by her at all, and continued to chat and laugh with the people around him in the classroom all day long.

Two days later, the monthly exam arrived.

This time, Class 10 was the last exam room. Zhan Xinyue, based on her score from missing several exams last time, was able to stay in her class for the exam once again.

Before the exam started, the students left the classroom and headed to their respective exam rooms. Most of the students in Class 10, even if they weren't in the first or second exam rooms, were in relatively early exam rooms. She was clearly an anomaly, staying in the last exam room.

Zhan Xinyue picked up her pencil case and walked against the flow of people out of the classroom to the back corner. Just as she found a seat, someone in front of her also walked against the flow, said "Hi" to her, and sat down in the seat in front of her.

Xu Shen also fell to the bottom of the class because he missed the last exam.

Sitting in front of Zhan Xinyue was Xu Shen, a new student from Class 10, and behind her was the classmate who had missed all subjects in the last monthly exam due to gastroenteritis. Unfortunately, the last three seats in the last exam room were taken by the three students from Class 10 of the experimental class.

When Lao Zhou and another proctor entered through the front door side by side, carrying the exam papers, they glanced back and their expressions immediately became indescribable, as if they wanted to slap their foreheads and die.

In this situation, even Xu Shen was sensible enough not to act rashly and sat quietly waiting for the papers to be distributed. Apart from greeting Zhan Xinyue when he first sat down, the two of them did not say anything else.

After the exam was finally over and the papers were collected, Old Zhou stood on the podium and glanced over in our direction before leaving. The meaning of that glance was clear: If you guys embarrass me again in this exam, just you wait.

Zhan Xinyue felt even more pressured by his glance. Although her next subject was English, she still went to the bookshelf at the back of the classroom and found her math error notebook, preparing to review the mistakes a few more times.

Just as he opened the notebook, Xu Shen leaned against the table and slowly turned his head: "Is Lao Zhou always this scary? I'm starting to wonder if transferring to this class was a mistake."

Two days passed, and he seemed to have forgotten the unpleasantness of that day, speaking in the same tone as usual.

Zhan Xinyue said, "Don't worry, it's not too late to regret it now. Don't forget that you promised Lao Fang that if your total score didn't improve by 20 points this time, you would have to go back to Class 1. You should worry about whether you'll have to carry a desk back home after this exam."

After hearing this, Xu Shen laughed instead: "My total score in the last exam was less than 300, let alone 20 points. It would be difficult for me not to score 200 points higher this time."

Zhan Xinyue remained silent for a moment; she had completely forgotten about this. Old Fang had clearly intended to discourage him by making this condition, but he hadn't expected Xu Shen to exploit such a loophole.

"Consider yourself lucky," Zhan Xinyue muttered, then buried her head in her work again.

Xu Shen turned around and put his hand on her desk: "You're so worried about me? You even know that I promised Lao Fang this. I think I told him about this in the office."

Zhan Xinyue stared down at the formulas in her notebook without looking up: "Your transfer to another class caused such a stir, what you said to Lao Fang has already been spread throughout the class."

Xu Shen said with a hint of regret, "With fame comes trouble."

Seeing that Zhan Xinyue was not paying much attention to him and was busy reviewing her wrong questions, he couldn't help but exclaim, "Xinyue, you study so hard!"

Zhan Xinyue said self-deprecatingly, "It's just that the early bird catches the worm."

Xu Shen glanced curiously at her desk a few times: "But isn't the subject supposed to be English? Why are you looking at math?"

Zhan Xinyue: "You can understand it as me being quite worried about mathematics, so I need to make plans early."

Xu Shen nodded. "I understand. It seems you are very confident in your English."

Zhan Xinyue: "Judging from your relaxed demeanor, I think you're quite confident in every subject."

"Where is it?" Xu Shen turned back leisurely. "I need to memorize some vocabulary too. After all, I'll have to show some ability to stay in Class 10."

The area finally quieted down, and Zhan Xinyue breathed a sigh of relief, but Xu Shen suddenly turned around again.

"What is it now?" Zhan Xinyue was almost at her wit's end. "I really need to review."

"I know, just one last thing, I'll give you something nice."

Xu Shen reached out his hand towards her, and then a jet-black ballpoint pen gently landed on her desk. It was a very simple design, slightly thicker than a regular ballpoint pen, with several large gold characters on the pen body: "Passing the Imperial Examination".

"This is my lucky charm. I bought it the night before the high school entrance exam. I used this pen to finish the entire exam and ended up in the top 50 in the city, getting a perfect score in math. As you know, the high school entrance exam is relatively easy and doesn't differentiate much, so ranking requires a bit of luck. That's why I've always felt that it brought me good luck."

Zhan Xinyue raised an eyebrow: "Is this mainly to reveal that you were in the top 50 in the high school entrance exam?"

Xu Shen chuckled, "Oh dear, you spotted me. Was it that obvious?" Despite his words, he didn't seem embarrassed at being caught out, and continued, "But that's just a side note. Anyway, this is a very special pen. Although its refill has been replaced many times, I've kept the pen itself, only using it for major exams. Since you've been so diligent for this exam, I'm giving it to you. Don't be too nervous; use this pen to answer the questions later, it will bring you good luck."

Zhan Xinyue stared at the pen for a while. The gold lettering had faded a bit, but it was clear that the owner had taken good care of it; the pen was clean and without any scratches. She reached out and took it, saying, "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Xu Shen said. "Don't worry, the God of Exams will favor everyone who works hard."

Zhan Xinyue lowered her eyes: "You just gave me the lucky charm like that, what about your exam?"

Xu Shen didn't care at all and said mysteriously, "It's okay, I have another thing I can rely on."

"What?"

Xu Shen turned away with a smile, leaving behind a few words: "Strength, that's it."