Chapter 21

He followed his gaze, his mouth agape, then suddenly froze. Only when someone behind him exclaimed "Holy shit!" did he close his mouth and repeat, "Holy shit!"

The boys who surged forward all saw it, and Jian Sheng actually laughed?

That smile was genuine, without any mockery or sarcasm.

She not only smiled, but she also smiled at Chen Zhoujing.

"Damn, she was sulking and yelling at you yesterday, how come she's changed her attitude today?" He Shang muttered.

Xu Xiao swallowed hard: "Could she have multiple personalities...?"

"Get lost." Chen Zhoujing couldn't stop smiling. He cursed at them and slowly walked to his seat.

Five or six boys standing at the back door started to jeer.

This piqued the interest of many people, who all turned to look in this direction.

Jian Sheng felt a little embarrassed, so he looked away and buried himself in his book.

Behind her, Chen Zhoujing could barely contain his laughter.

Since last night, whenever I think of Jian Sheng, my chest keeps pounding...

“I’m going…” Chen Zhou touched his chest, looking at her soft hair.

"Oh my god." He thought to himself several times, and couldn't help but say it out loud.

“I’m going,” someone suddenly echoed him from the side.

Chen Zhou turned to look at him in surprise.

Xu Yanghe adjusted his glasses and began singing with a completely expressionless face: "It's love at first sight~"

His serious expression made many people in the back row burst into laughter.

Jian Sheng froze upon hearing the noise, but all around her was laughter.

Hahahahahahahahaha.

"Are you crazy, Xu Yanghe? Don't be so ridiculous."

Chen Zhou's face darkened, and he slapped the table: "Class is starting, class is starting, the teacher is here."

As soon as he finished speaking, all those who had been mocking him turned back.

Within two minutes, Zhong Mei actually arrived.

She patted the podium, unscrewed her cup and took a few sips of water, then calmly walked back and forth on the podium twice, making the hearts of the people below beat along with the clatter of her high heels.

Jian Sheng straightened his back, suppressing the unstable emotions in his chest, and waited for Zhong Mei to speak.

Two people didn't take the exam last week: Chen Zhoujing and Zhao Chengyang.

Zhong Mei first warned the two of them, and then explained the overall situation of the class.

She coughed. "And this time...?"

"You all did well on the exam. Everyone has improved in the monthly exam." She nodded with satisfaction and looked behind Jian Sheng. "I really have to praise Chen Zhoujing for this. He was the one who suggested the reform of this study group and helped me with the overall analysis and rearrangement. The final result is indeed good."

"Everyone's overall grades have improved. I analyzed each group separately. The first group is Xu Yanghe's group, not bad. The second group is Chen Zhoujing's group. If you get punished and miss the exam again because of fighting, even the grade director can't protect you."

"Did you hear me?" Zhong Mei said sternly.

"I heard you, teacher, it won't happen."

The clear, gentle voice came from behind Jian Sheng. She clenched her hands on her arms and her ears felt hot.

He clearly said... that was a task assigned by Teacher Zhong.

It turned out that he arranged it together with Teacher Zhong.

Back row.

"Damn it, Chen Zhoujing, I was wondering why the teacher didn't group me with Gu Zhenyi. Turns out it was you who separated us." Next to Chen Zhoujing, a boy wearing gold-rimmed glasses and with his hair parted in a side part covered his mouth and whispered to him.

Chen Zhou's brow twitched in surprise: "Huh?"

"You like her?" he belatedly realized. "Don't you two argue every day?"

He widened his eyes. In the past, they had always been in the same group every time they were assigned to a group. After arguing for a year, Chen Zhoujing said, "Did you two develop feelings for each other while arguing?"

He Shang chimed in, "He did it on purpose! How could you be so stupid? You can't even see that? This isn't an argument, it's flirting, isn't it, Xu Xiu?"

Xu Xiu rolled his eyes: "Get lost!"

"Damn it, you like Jian Sheng, so you went to the teacher to put you two together. You can't break up other true loves, that's too much!" he said to Chen Zhoujing.

"Oh my god, sorry bro, I really didn't see that coming." Chen Zhoujing scratched his head, still a little dazed.

"It's okay, just focus on being okay with Jian Sheng, don't worry about me." Xu Xiu gave a look that suggested he was about to cry.

"No..." Chen Zhou suddenly realized, "No, you're tricking me, buddy."

Xu Xiu chuckled: "You admitted it yourself."

"I didn't, I'm not!" Chen Zhoujing suddenly raised his voice, drawing the attention of many people.

"What are you doing, Chen Zhoujing!" Zhong Mei, who was praising Lin You enthusiastically from the podium, shouted at the commotion.

Chen Zhou suddenly stood up, his face flushed as he glanced at Jian Sheng's back and looked up at Zhong Mei: "I...I need to go to the toilet, teacher."

"You want to go to the bathroom as soon as my class starts, right? You're not allowed to go. You'll get punished, and you still want to go to the bathroom." Zhong Mei rejected him with abstract words.

Chen Zhou exclaimed in surprise, "So you can't go to the toilet after being punished..." He murmured, then looked down at Jian Sheng's head, suddenly realizing something.

Oh no... I forgot about that.

When I told her last time that it was arranged by Teacher Zhong... the sky fell down.

Oh no, I hope she's angry.

The person who was worried about getting angry couldn't listen to anything at this moment. Her head was buzzing. She really believed that it was Zhong Mei who arranged it, after all, she had always taken good care of her.

Jian Sheng clenched his fists, realizing he owed yet another favor...

"This time, we also need to give special praise to someone." Zhong Mei had already stepped down from above and was getting closer and closer to Jian Sheng. It wasn't until she spoke again that Jian Sheng realized what was happening.

"The one who has made the most progress in the class this time is Jian Sheng. He has improved a lot in just over a month. Everyone should learn from him. He has already gone from the bottom to the middle of the mountain. Some people are still at the bottom and don't know what they are doing. Isn't that right, Xu Xiu!"

“Bring your phone up!” Zhong Mei suddenly turned around.

Startled, Xu Xiu dropped his phone to the ground.

Then, Jian Sheng heard a heart-wrenching scream from behind.

She turned her head and saw Zhong Mei pinching the gold-framed ear. Startled, she turned her head away.

"You're amazing." A compliment.

Jian Sheng felt a poke in her left arm. She turned around and saw Qi Jing carefully poking her with the tip of a pen.

Seeing her turn her head, she widened her eyes, raised her hand, and made an innocent expression: "I didn't touch you."

Jian Sheng blinked and said, "I'm sorry."

"Huh?" Qi Jing was taken aback, then shook her raised hand. "No, no, there's no need to apologize..."

"It's nothing, and I didn't even notice your feelings..." A hint of guilt flashed in her eyes as she spoke.

“It’s because I couldn’t control my emotions and kept getting angry,” Jian said.

"No, no, no, it's me..."

"It wasn't you two, it was me, it was me, it was me!" Chen Zhoujing suddenly leaned over the table and said to the two of them, "It's all my fault. I shouldn't have fought. This whole mess is my fault. Ladies, don't blame yourselves. It's all my fault."

The two froze and turned to look at him.

Not knowing when he had been eavesdropping, Qi Jing pursed her lips and said, "You're crazy."

Chen Zhou was startled and choked: "Why are you saying the same thing as Lin You, that I'm admitting my mistake?"

"Then apologize," Qi Jing said.

"Pfft." Xu Yanghe laughed out loud.

Several people looked over.

"I said you've been apologizing back and forth over this little thing... You apologize, I want to see it too." Halfway through his sentence, he sensed that Chen Zhoujing's gaze was a bit off, so he changed direction, chuckled, and gestured for him to leave.

When all three eyes turned to him, Chen Zhoujing suddenly found himself speechless.

He sat up straight, his gaze falling on Jian Sheng, who was looking at him!

Chen Zhoujing's Adam's apple bobbed, and he turned his head away, a smile playing on his lips as he said, "I'm sorry."

Xu Yanghe shrugged: "Isn't that good? OK, all three of them have apologized, a happy ending, they've made up!"

With his embellishments, the group couldn't help but laugh.

The bell rang just then.

Zhong Mei's voice stopped in the back row. She reminded everyone to prepare their test papers for the next class and then left.

Several figures began to run wildly outside the window; inside the classroom, there was sorrow, joy, and quiet conversation.

The laughter of the four students in the back row seemed out of place in the classroom, but under the morning sunlight, their usual oppressive second year of high school was filled with youthful exuberance.

In the front row, Xu Xiaxia pulled Lin You along.

She was about to call out to Qi Jing when she saw four people laughing: "What are you doing? What gossip are you talking about?"

“They’re congratulating Jian Sheng on his progress,” Qi Jing said, looking up.

"Yeah, they jumped from the bottom of the class to the twenties in one go, that's a huge improvement," Xu Yanghe said, adjusting his glasses.

Chen Zhou nodded in surprise and echoed, "That's amazing! They're almost catching up with Xu Yanghe."

"Are you crazy?" Xu Yanghe punched him when he was caught in the crossfire, then smiled and said to Jian Sheng, "I do admit you're pretty good, but don't go too far, or I'll be scared to death. If I drop one rank, my mom will scold me to death."

Jian Sheng sensed the seriousness beneath his smile and waved her hand, saying, "You're among the top students in the class, while I'm far behind."

"Ignore him, we'll take him down in the midterms." Chen Zhou winked at Jian Sheng and grinned confidently.

"Team Leader Xu, you really need to work harder. Our team relies on you and Xu Xiu. Their team has four people: Chen Zhoujing, who is first in the grade; Lin You, the class monitor; Qi Jing, who is consistently in the top twenty; and Jian Sheng, who just joined, is a latent talent with accumulated knowledge. You need to be careful. Good luck!" Xu Xiaxia said, rubbing her arms. She really took Chen Zhoujing's words seriously.

“Yeah, Team Leader Xu, you need to step up your game.” Xu Xiu, who had been lying down to the side, leaned over. “Our teacher confiscated my phone for a month, so I probably won’t be able to study properly.”

Xu Yanghe's face darkened: "Get lost! The teacher is talking about grades, and you're playing on your phone. You think you're so great?"

"There's nothing I can do. Gu Zhenyi's birthday is next week, and I'm picking out a gift for her," Xu Xiu sighed.

Xu Yanghe raised an eyebrow, said "Oh," and then said to Xu Xiaxia, "You'd better improve your English quickly. Our group is a few points behind you. Keep it up, you can do it. Let's make sure Chen Zhoujing can't be so cocky anymore. We'll take him down sooner or later!"

“Okay, you’re right.” Xu Xiaxia was fired up.

Beside her, Lin You withdrew her gaze from Jian Sheng's smiling lips and curled her lips into a smile: "You should deal with Xu Yang and He Chao first, and become the group leader first."

"I advise you not to target me so much, Lin You!" Xu Yanghe said angrily. "Don't think that just because you're the class monitor I won't dare to surpass you."

"You can't surpass him." Chen Zhou leaned back in his chair, raised an eyebrow, and a smile appeared on his lips.

“Yes, you can’t surpass it,” Qi Jing said.

Xu Xiaxia couldn't help but say, "I'm on Lin You's side."

Xu Xiu interjected, "You're being too unrealistic, Xu Yanghe."

Xu Yanghe's gaze fell on Jian Sheng, and everyone else looked over as well.

Jian Sheng widened her eyes slightly, looked at Xu Yanghe, and said apologetically, "Your math is pretty good. I think Lin You has strong overall abilities. Keep it up."

"Wow!"

"Simple voice, I'm done with love!!!"

Xu Yanghe shouted.

"Watch your mouth. Who cares about your love? How disgusting!" Xu Yanghe lay on the table, pretending to be in pain, and even took a punch from Chen Zhoujing.

"You're all targeting me." His crying was fake, and no one paid him any attention.

Several people gathered around Jian Sheng's seat and laughed.

Jian Sheng inexplicably felt quite relaxed.

At noon, she went to the cafeteria with Lin You and the others. She walked behind them. When they were almost at the cafeteria, Xu Xiaxia, who had been talking loudly in front of her, stopped talking at some point. She waited for a while until Jian Sheng came up and walked alongside her.

Jian Sheng sensed her movement and turned to look at her.

"I didn't mean to last time."

"I'm sorry about last time."

The two spoke in unison, paused for a moment afterward, and then burst into laughter.

"You look beautiful when you smile," Xu Xiaxia said.

"Thanks."

Conflicts arise invisibly, and some people struggle with them for a long time, some keep them bottled up and wait for time to resolve them, and some break up altogether. But there are always some conflicts that both people try their best to find an opportunity to talk about.

Jian Sheng truly listened to Chen Zhoujing's words and what Lin You had said last time; this time, all she heard were kind words.

This new environment may not be bad.

But just when she was starting to feel happy, some thorns would pop up and prick her hard.

It made her very upset.