Chapter 57

Before the other person's deskmate arrived at school, Qu Qi decisively sat down in Chen Yue's seat and winked at He Qi.

He Qi was focused on the team fight, yelling in a low voice, "Marksman! Marksman! Marksman! ...Do you guys even know how to play?! Back down! Back down! ...You bunch of useless trash!"

Qu Qi clicked his tongue, and seeing that his screen had gone gray, he simply patted him on the shoulder: "Hey—"

"Ah!" He Qi was so startled that he almost dropped his phone, his eyes and mouth wide open. "A ghost!"

Qu Qi was so shocked by his words that she almost went deaf. She raised her hand to rub her ears, her brows furrowed like a rag: "What's wrong with you...?"

"Sister, I was wrong," He Qizheng said, his courage failing him as soon as he saw who it was. He clasped his hands together in prayer and immediately began to kneel obsequiously. "What are your orders?"

Qu Qi turned her head and looked around. Everyone in the class was doing their own thing, and there was no suspicious person. So she looked away with relief and leaned forward slightly to signal He Qi to come closer.

He Qi obediently moved a little closer.

Qu Qi whispered, "I just wanted to ask..."

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of a familiar figure.

"What did you ask?" He Qi was not paying attention to his surroundings. Seeing that Qu Qi stopped talking halfway through his sentence, he was a little puzzled. "Why did you stop halfway through your sentence?"

Qu Qi frantically tried to signal him to shut up with her eyes, but He Qizheng, that idiot, didn't understand at all and kept asking her what was wrong with her eyes and if they were cramping.

Qu Qi: "......"

I really want to rip the tendons out of your eyes and strangle you to death.

She turned her head slightly to broaden her peripheral vision.

The person seemed to sense something, slowed their pace as they passed by, and glanced in this direction.

Qu Qi froze instantly, turning his head sharply back to face He Qizheng, startling him once again.

"Your Majesty, what's wrong?" He Qizheng couldn't help but ask.

"Shut up," Qu Qi said in a whisper.

He Qi was also getting nervous because of her ghost-like posture. Thinking that something had happened, he straightened up and secretly looked up into the aisle behind her.

Wang Fu walked over gracefully and returned to her seat.

Wang Fu?

He Qizheng is enthusiastic about everything except studying, so he gets along very well in class. He is the first super social genius in this philosophy group, which is like an autistic group, to get to know everyone in the class. He is outgoing and can talk for a long time with anyone he randomly grabs. He and Qu Qi are known as the "trumpet flower duo" in the second year of high school.

But what's going on between Qu Qi and Wang Fu?

He Qi was a little confused.

Seeing that Wang Fu had returned to her seat and the crisis was over, Qu Qi breathed a sigh of relief, tossed her hair, and glared at He Qizheng, that idiot: "Are you stupid? I just gave you a look and you didn't understand at all!"

"What happened to Wang Fu? Did you do something to wrong her?" He Qi asked.

"Get lost," Qu Qi gave in. "You're so stupid, I'm just asking you, who is Wang Fu close to in Class 4?"

"Who in Class 4..." He Qi scratched his face and thought carefully, "An Jingwen, I guess. I haven't heard of Wang Fu getting close to anyone else besides her."

“Hmm, An Jingwen,” Qu Qi said, crossing his arms and glancing at him sideways, “doesn’t this name sound familiar?”

"Of course she sounds familiar, she's the top student in the science class, the academic genius!" He Qizheng said, even more puzzled, "What's wrong, she's... Holy crap!"

"Calling you an idiot is no exaggeration," Qu Qi pointed at him, looking utterly heartbroken. "Talking to you is such a waste of energy. I was just venting about the Chen Yue host incident in the group chat yesterday, and today you've already swallowed it all up with the porridge. I really..."

"Sister, sister, Your Majesty, I was wrong," He Qizheng quickly begged for forgiveness. "Then what did you want to ask me just now? Is there anything about this school that Your Majesty doesn't know?"

"Hmph," Qu Qi snorted, then, just to be safe, twisted her neck and scanned the room again before turning back and lowering her voice to ask, "You were in the same class as them in your first year of high school. I just want to ask you, Shen Yue and An Jingwen..."

A sudden chill ran down my back.

Judging from He Qizheng's frozen expression and the chilly breeze on his back, Qu Qi could roughly determine...

"What are you doing sitting here?" You Congxi's voice rang out from above.

Qu Qi stiffly moved his neck, pretending to be completely unconcerned and saying, "Oh, Xiao He, well, I have something to do, I'll be going now."

She slipped back to her seat right under You Congxi's nose, without moving her neck at all the time, which was quite bizarre.

You Congxi raised an eyebrow, looked at He Qizheng without saying a word.

"Grandma, I don't know anything! I was coerced!" He Qizheng betrayed Qu Qi in less than half a second.

"What coercion?" Shen Yue, who was a few steps behind, heard this scene, which sounded like a mob boss interrogating a traitor, as soon as he entered the room. He walked over casually, glanced at the girl standing next to him, and then turned back to ask, "Who coerced you?"

Qu Qi in the front seat grinned at him, and He Qi wiped non-existent sweat from his forehead and lied through his teeth: "Yin Zixuan, Yin Zixuan coerced me."

Shen Yue glanced at the empty front seat and was speechless, almost laughing: "Big brother, can you at least write a draft before you lie? Yin Zixuan didn't even show up and you've already taken the blame for this."

You Congxi went back to his seat, probably too lazy to argue with these idiots anymore.

Shen Yue clicked his tongue as he watched the girl's retreating figure, then turned and pointed at He Qizheng: "If You Xiaoyu gets into a fight with me, I'll hold you responsible."

"We're not brothers," He Qizheng felt more wronged than Dou E, "You brought this trouble upon yourself and are blaming me for it?!"

"...What trouble?" Shen Yue was pulling out a chair to sit down when he heard this and stopped, a sense of foreboding rising in his heart.

“Don’t blame your deskmate, You Xiaoyu…” Under You Congxi’s probing gaze, Qu Qi revealed her conversation with He Qizheng. Glancing at You Congxi’s expressionless face, she felt extremely uneasy. “I was just asking for you, but I have a feeling they definitely didn’t talk. After all, even I, who has firsthand information about our school, haven’t heard of it…”

"Hmm." You Congxi didn't react much, as if she was just talking about the love-hate relationship between two random passersby, Zhang San and Li Si.

There will be quizzes for each subject today, and morning reading will be canceled and replaced with a short self-study session. The purpose is to give students more time to review.

Class 7's academic performance was far ahead of other liberal arts classes. No matter how much they messed around during the week, when it came to exams, they would be like Sun Wukong trapped under the Five Finger Mountain, obediently burying their heads in their studies.

After all, a big tree is not to be trifled with.

Qu Qi saw her casually take out her notebook and start reading, and in a fit of breath, she almost choked herself.

She even began to doubt whether You Congxi really liked Shen Yue. After all, based on her experience of dating two or three people in one year and eight people in three years during junior high school, You Congxi not only did not show any affection for Shen Yue in normal times, but also showed no sense of crisis when a suspected rival appeared.

Tang Miaosong, who is well-versed in the psychology of high school students, personally oversees the morning self-study sessions.

Although it was a quiz, it wasn't much different from a formal exam; the only difference was that the exam was conducted in the same classroom with desks set up. If it was even slightly different from a regular class, the students' minds would soar like inflated balloons to outer space.

Tang Miaosong sat on the podium and scanned the room with his eyes. At this moment, no one would be so foolish as to try anything underhanded.

Shen Yue explained that the note was in a situation where sending it or not sending it was both inappropriate.

Not only was there an external crisis, but internally, he felt that writing these words down and explaining them in person were two completely different things. After hesitating for a few seconds, he tore up his fourth draft of the note and decided to explain it to You Congxi in person after self-study.

After hearing He Qizheng's words, he broke out in a cold sweat. He had almost forgotten that he had signed up for this event and that his partner was An Jingwen!

He glanced at the girl at the table in front of him, scratched his head in frustration, and sighed.

What kind of mess is this...?

Unfortunately, there's a saying that misfortunes never come singly.

As soon as morning self-study ended, while the students in Class 7 were busy moving their desks and chairs, Shen Yue was about to walk over to find You Congxi when the male Chinese language representative from the next class stopped him, saying that the new exercise book had arrived and he needed to go to the academic affairs office to get the textbooks.

Recalling Xun Songyue's fierce face after he defied the imperial decree, Shen Yue could only suppress his eagerness to explain and hurriedly followed the students from the next class to get their textbooks.

At the time, he thought that since they were in the same class, he could explain why he couldn't find an opportunity.

I just can't find an opportunity.

After carrying the heavy textbooks to the Chinese language office, the class bell rang, usually around this time when the test papers would be handed out. Shen Yue hurriedly rushed back, entering the classroom just as the bell was about to ring.

While tidying up his desk, he glanced at You Congxi, hoping to make eye contact with her when she turned around to pass him the test paper, so she would wait for him after class. However, Shen Yue's eyes were already sore from staring, but the girl didn't turn around. With his back turned, he raised his hand and passed the test paper directly to Yin Zixuan.

Shen Yue reluctantly took the test paper, thinking that he could only hurry up after class.

When get out of class ended, Shen Yue, who was sitting in the last row, was collecting the papers. He thought it was like a pillow being handed to someone who was sleepy. He was about to ask You Congxi to keep the paper for him when he got it, but just as he stood up, he saw You Congxi put the paper on the table and walk out.

"Hey You..." "Brother Yue, could you please collect my test paper? I'm about to burst..."

Before he could even speak, the guy with the buzz cut in the next row slapped his test paper at him and hunched over as he dashed toward the toilet.

Shen Yue: "......"

I don't know if it's because I'm having bad luck today, but I haven't been able to find a chance to talk to You Congxi alone all morning. Either there's an emergency or You Congxi has disappeared.

If Qu Qi hadn't said that everything was normal with You Congxi, Shen Yue would have thought that You Congxi was going to break off their friendship.

As the last class of the morning ended, Shen Yue called out to You Congxi first: "Hey, You Xiaoyu!"

The students, who had been taking exams all morning, were like monkeys just released from the Five Finger Mountain. The classroom was noisy and chaotic. Chen Yue's voice wasn't loud, but it was immediately drowned out by the noise of other people and desks.

Shen Yue clutched the exam paper, holding onto no hope.

"What?" The girl's voice came through the quacking of dozens of ducks.

Shen Yue's eyes lit up: "Wait for me a moment, I have..."

Knock knock.

“Shen Yue,” An Jingwen stood at the back door and made a knocking gesture, “Shall we go over our lines during lunch break?”