Chapter Forty

"What exactly do you want?!"

Sun Zhe could no longer tolerate it.

Zhou Mo said with a smile, "I'm here to apologize to you."

Sun Zhe: "Who apologizes like that?!"

“You,” Zhou Mo looked at Sun Zhe with amusement, “when you forced Yu Xi’s head to apologize to Shawn Ke, weren’t you acting just as entitled as this? You used Yu Xi as a stepping stone to climb the social ladder. You thought Yu Xi was just a pitiful orphan no one wanted. You didn’t know what was going on behind the scenes, so you used him recklessly. He was like an idiot, lacking emotion and a reference point, so he used you disgusting trash as his reference. I’ve seen all the movies he’s watched, and I really can’t imagine how he developed his current personality. After all, weren’t all his previous movies bad?”

"He watched The Truman Show, The Shawshank Redemption, Infernal Affairs, and Empresses in the Palace. How could he not understand the black and white of this world?"

Zhou Mo's smile faded, ignoring the shock in Sun Zhe's eyes. "I know a lot more. Do you know why I insisted on choosing Zhengyang? You were one of the factors, though not a major one."

"That fight was our first meeting, but I've known you for a long time, Sun Zhe."

Sun Zhe didn't know if it was a sequela of the concussion, but he felt cold all over. He groped for the blanket with his hands, trying to draw some warmth, but the inanimate object, devoid of human body temperature, was destined to provide no comfort or feedback.

"You..." Sun Zhe's mouth seemed to be pressed down by something heavy, preventing him from making any sound.

Zhou Mo leaned forward, her cold gaze bearing a striking resemblance to Yu Xi's. Sun Zhe felt that the person sitting in front of him was both Yu Xi and Zhou Mo; he couldn't tell them apart or see them clearly.

“This is just the beginning. If I hadn’t read those criminal laws, if I were a vulgar and barbaric person.” Zhou Mo raised her hand to touch the wound on the back of Sun Zhe’s head. Sun Zhe felt the pain but couldn’t make a sound. The psychological pressure affected his movements. “I would have killed you with that blow. If one blow didn’t kill you, I would have beaten you until you died.”

A sharp pain shot through the back of his head, and Sun Zhe instinctively cried for help. At that moment, Zhou Mo released his grip. Sun Zhe gasped for breath and leaned against the headboard. He stared intently at Zhou Mo, fearing that she might do something inhumane the next second.

Zhou Mo helplessly shrugged. "Unfortunately, I'm an honest and law-abiding citizen. Oh, I forgot, I came here to apologize to you. I said a lot of things but didn't get to the point. No wonder you look unhappy."

"I'm sorry, Sun Zhe. I'll be more careful next time."

Zhou Mo tried to pat Sun Zhe on the shoulder to show friendliness, but Sun Zhe trembled and dodged away.

Zhou Mo's hand missed its target, but she didn't care at all.

"It's almost time, I need to go pick up my high school senior."

Zhou Mo stood up with her arms crossed, her playful expression vanishing. "The next time we meet will probably be in Zhengyang City. I really hope you can take me to meet Li Zhenliang then."

Sun Zhe looked at Zhou Mo in disbelief.

How did she know? It was Li Zhenliang's.

Zhou Mo raised a finger to her lips and gestured "Shh."

At the high school gate, Zhou Mo was grilling gluten in her left hand and cold noodles in her right, with a bag of roasted nuts hanging on her arm. She was grilling with both hands, her mouth never idle. She would look up from time to time, but she still missed someone.

Yu Xi walked over and saw Zhou Mo still engrossed in eating. "Is it good?"

"It's delicious. It's the third one over there. The taste is just right. I used to be restricted from eating it properly."

Yu Xi crossed her arms. "Oh ho, you called on me? You think I'm not being nosy enough?"

Zhou Mo belatedly looked up, licking the chili pepper from her lips. "I left you a skewer, extra spicy."

Yu Xi was amused by her silly look. He took out a small pack of tissues from his pocket, pulled one out and wiped Zhou Mo's mouth. "Graduation means you're all set for life, senior. Didn't you see the younger students whispering about you? Their dreams are probably about to burst."

Zhou Mo obediently raised her face for Yu Xi to wipe, mainly because she really didn't have any more hands to do this. "Hey, food is the first necessity of the people. There's a saying, 'When you're full and warm, you think of lust.' This shows that you can only think about other things after you're full."

Zhou Mo held another skewer of gluten to Yu Xi's mouth, and Yu Xi, not minding the greasy skewer, simply reached out and took it. Zhou Mo even tried to take the schoolbag from Yu Xi's shoulder from the parent next to them, but Yu Xi politely declined without saying a word.

However, Zhou Mo still managed to determine the true weight of the backpack.

"Are there any books inside?"

"There are exam papers."

"Aren't you going to study beforehand?"

"I am Yu Xi."

Zhou Mo rolled her eyes speechlessly. "So you think I'm playing along with your puns?"

What kinds of roasted nuts and seeds did you buy?

Zhou Mo's attention was immediately diverted, and she began to boast about the three-in-one roasted nuts she bought for twelve yuan, "It has pine nuts, walnuts, and milk dates in it. These milk dates taste so good, so creamy and sweet."

As she spoke, she took out a jujube from the open hole of the roasted snacks and brought it to Yu Xi's lips.

Yu Xi didn't really like this kind of milky stuff, but perhaps the summer evening breeze was too gentle, neutralizing the milky smell he disliked and adding a touch of sweetness. Yu Xi bit into the milk date and rolled it into his mouth with his tongue.

The taste is just so-so.

But seeing Zhou Mo's expectant gaze, he suppressed his taste buds and said, "Mmm, it really is delicious."

Zhou Mo laughed so hard her eyes disappeared.

Now that I've learned how to make people happy, this milk date tastes just so-so.

"Walnut kernels."

The streetlights slowly lengthened the shadows of the two of them side by side. Yu Xi suddenly spoke up, and Zhou Mo, without any questions, made a condition: "Zhou Ce, if you can get into the top eighty on the list, I'll do it for you."

This is Zhou Mo's estimate of Yu Xi's current ranking after several tests.

She felt that Yu Xi might be hiding her true abilities, but she didn't want to push Yu Xi too hard before leaving, so she set this goal, which wasn't too difficult.

Yu Xi accepted the challenge without saying anything.

The weekly test is a comprehensive test that senior high school students take every Saturday afternoon. It serves two purposes: first, to assess their mastery of high school material, and second, to allow teachers to identify and address any gaps in their knowledge.

"One more jujube?"

"No, thank you."

"Isn't it delicious?"

"...Even if it's delicious, you can't eat too much."

Zhou Mo laughed so hard she bent over, and Yu Xi stood there silently waiting for her to finish laughing. The two of them stood side by side without any one in front of or behind her.

The shadow disappears and reappears under the streetlights, lengthens and shortens, over and over again.

The days of a senior high school student are like the shadows under these streetlights, repeating themselves day after day in a repetitive cycle.

And so, Yu Xi faced the first exam of her life.

Compared to other senior high school students, Yu Xi was calm and seemed like an outlier.

After observing Yu Xi for a week, Ning Xiangjian found that Yu Xi should be a good student. She doesn't talk in class and doesn't go out to play after class. Although her notebook is clean and without a single word, she always gives her the feeling that she is a hidden academic genius.

She tried asking Yu Xi about the topic, but before she could even say yes or no, she ran away like a deserter after just one glance from him.

After a few times, Yu Xi ignored her words and completely disregarded her.

Ning Xiangjian knew it was her own problem, but she didn't know how to solve it. Her worried look was noticed by her friend sitting in front of her.

"Xiangjian."

"No, please don't. The exam is coming up soon. Don't say anything that might mislead me."

"How could you say that?" The student in front of him leaned over, glancing at Yu Xi with a look that seemed to be intentionally or unintentionally. "Do you like your deskmate?"

"Don't talk nonsense!"

Ning Xiangjian's commotion was too loud, and many people who were reciting their lessons and trying to cram at the last minute gave her annoyed looks. Ning Xiangjian bit her lip awkwardly and lowered her head. "Stop talking nonsense." She couldn't help but glance at Yu Xi and found that he was ignoring her as always. A sense of grievance welled up in her heart.

Before the student in front of her could say anything, the teacher had already come to hand out the test papers, so she had no choice but to turn back and face judgment.

Yu Xi was truly oblivious to everything else, her mind solely focused on stewed pears and walnuts.

Zhou Mo was leaving, and he didn't know when he would be able to eat this again. Yu Xi was a little dissatisfied with Zhou Mo's conditional behavior, but only a little.

The sadness of parting was quickly dispelled.

He opened the door to freedom for Zhou Mo himself. When Zhou Mo revealed that the admission notice was fake, Yu Xi knew he was doomed. He was completely stuck with Zhou Mo.

However, Yu Xi was not angry about this, because Zhou Mo's test was also a way of showing her affection for Yu Xi.

Regardless of the outcome, it's good that she's willing to go to the trouble for me.

Yu Xi was the first in the class to hand in his paper. The homeroom teacher already disliked Yu Xi, but since Yu Xi had always been well-behaved in class, he couldn't directly confront him. After all, schools weren't places where teachers could have absolute authority anymore. These students had become increasingly independent after being exposed to the internet, and they were the second cohort to take the college entrance exam after the earthquake. The education bureau was still observing them, and if anything happened, his path to advancement would become very difficult.

Although the homeroom teacher is petty, he still considers the big picture when it matters.

Now he seemed to have finally found Yu Xi's weakness, and he mocked her in front of the whole class, "Finished answering? Some people don't think that just because they have extra help, their grades will be outstanding. Some people seem to do well on tests, but they're actually just so-so. If people don't learn the good things and only learn the bad things, how can they get good grades?"

Yu Xi glanced at the homeroom teacher indifferently, said nothing, put the test paper in front of her, took the test paper for the next subject, and continued to answer the questions.

The homeroom teacher's anger flared even more when she realized she was being ignored.

"No, if someone sees your test paper and leaks the questions, who will be held responsible for the cheating—you or them? Move your table over here and sit here."

Yu Xi didn't care where she did her homework; she moved a table and chairs and started writing her test.

However, someone had no intention of letting Yu Xi write her exam paper in peace.