Chapter 26

The south of the Yangtze River in May has lost its gentle warmth. The sun is approaching the Tropic of Cancer, and the temperature is getting hotter day by day. The leaves have stopped rustling, and the lawn has transitioned from light green to dark green. There is no place to provide shade around the 800-meter red plastic track.

From the neatly lined-up long-distance runners came the sound of rising and falling panting, their slightly flushed faces and sweat-stained foreheads intertwining. This was a rare moment of exhaustion yet relaxation for the teenagers. Since entering their second year of high school, their weekly physical education classes had unsurprisingly been changed to biweekly. With only three physical education teachers and nearly forty classes in the first and second years combined, three or four classes were required to attend each class together.

During physical education class the week after Shang Qingsen's "confession" to Zhou Yiyu was rejected, he witnessed Zhou Yiyu using the same excuses, but with different results, to deceive her beloved. He immediately felt disgusted with his sworn brother. When the farce was over, he dragged Zhou Yiyu to a shady spot. Zhou Yiyu impatiently pressed, "You and I have been feeling a bit sensitive lately. It's better to avoid suspicion. What if I get misunderstood?"

"I don't even dislike you, how dare you dislike me? Stop arguing and just sit here and watch the show. Today, I'll show you what it means to really flirt with a man."

Zhou Yiyu was very interested in this topic. She urgently needed someone to share their experience. "What's the good show? Who is it? What gossip have you heard recently?"

Zhou Yiyu followed Shang Qingsen's gaze and found the protagonist of the gossip, a little girl with bangs and a ponytail. Looking around the whole school, there were a lot of girls like her. In addition, they were all wearing school uniforms, and there was almost no difference between them. Zhou Yiyu searched his brain inventory. There was no such person on the school celebrity list or blacklist. "You want me to look at her? What to look at? Those tacky bangs? I tell you, I won't cut it, even if you kill me!"

Shang Qingsen looked at her like she was stupid, pointed at another person not far from the little girl and said, "You know that person, right? Tang Chengting from Science Class 3, who's on the same celebrity list as your sister Qingtong."

"What does it have to do with me? Are you asking me to cheat on you now?"

"You're more of a jerk than a bitch. Fu Qingtong has never paid any attention to you, and Tang Chengting doesn't think much of you either." Shang Qingsen saw his brother's murderous expression and immediately changed the subject. "No, we're both chasing men, but that girl is more skillful than you. Recently, we've all been spreading rumors about Tang Chengting and this girl."

The physical education teacher blew the whistle three times in a row. Zhang Xingyan hooked his arm around Tang Chengting's shoulders and yelled to the group of people under the shade of the tree, "Assemble, Class 3 assemble, hurry up, the sooner we pass the exam, the sooner we pass the exam."

The school suddenly changed to a set of radio gymnastics this year. They have physical education classes every two weeks, but they are required to learn all of them before three classes. The assessment will be held in today's class. Those who fail the test have to go to the playground to learn again before evening self-study every day. Classes one and two did not have physical education classes for the joint exam today, so class three moved up to the first batch.

Zhou Yiyu watched the girl with bangs holding another girl's arm and swaying around until she felt dizzy. She pretended to approach them casually, wanting to hear what they were saying so she could gain experience and quickly take down Fu Qingtong. As soon as she got closer, she heard the girl with bangs complain, "It took me a month to learn the last set of radio gymnastics, and now I'm asked to take the test after only three attempts? Do you think I'm a god? This school is so perverted! I'm done. I won't be able to eat dinner anymore. Remember to bring me two big chicken legs from the cafeteria. Wow, I'm so miserable!"

Zhou Yiyu agreed with the school's perverted opinion. After all, she didn't know how to do it either. Then she said, "How about I quietly go to the bathroom and hide for a while, and you help me calculate the test. Anyway, the physical education teacher has so many students and doesn't know who I am." Zhou Yiyu secretly gave her a thumbs up. What a clever girl.

The exams were arranged in order of class rosters, and Tang Chengting was naturally the first in line. Zhou Yiyu discreetly inspected him, convinced he was a top student, even learning gymnastics so quickly—just as freakish as Fu Qingtong. When it was almost the turn of the girl with bangs, she secretly changed into her school uniform with the girl she'd just spoken to, and was about to slip away during the chaotic crowd when someone stopped her.

"Chen Huanong, where are you going? It's your turn soon, and you want to slip away?" Tang Chengting, with a sly smile, forced the person who was trying to sneak away to the back of the line and said in a tone that did not allow for argument, "Go take the exam."

Chen Huanong pitifully tugged at the corner of the man's school uniform. "I don't know how to do it. This is too difficult for me. I have poor coordination and time is so tight. If I fail the exam, I won't have dinner in the future and my grades will be deducted. Yingying..."

Back then, "The Legend of Zhen Huan" hadn't aired yet, otherwise Zhou Yiyu would have truly believed this girl could say something like, "I can't do it!" The plaintive tone was perfectly captured, and even she, a girl, couldn't handle it, let alone a straight man. She'd been expecting to hear Tang Chengting's response, but she never expected Tang Chengting to say a word. He just stared at Chen Huanong in silence for thirty seconds. The girl sighed, changed back into her school uniform, and silently walked to the front of the line. Zhou Yiyu was stunned. What kind of school had she gotten into? She'd never seen anyone more perverted than Fu Qingtong in her lifetime. "Big Brother, you're meddling too much. Who the hell do you think you are? This little girl's going to have no dinner!"

As expected, when the exam began, Chen Huanong completely lost track of the pace, practically watching others the entire time. After the PE teacher yelled, "Don't look at others, just do your own thing," Chen Huanong felt as desperate as if she hadn't brought her sanitary pads during her period. Just as she was about to give up, Mo Yiyan whispered, "Huahua, ten o'clock."

Chen Huanong didn't understand what was going on, so she turned her head to look in the direction Mo Yiyan was talking about. Tang Chengting, wearing a loose school uniform, stood out like a crane among chickens. Even from several meters away, Chen Huanong could clearly feel his "disdain". Tang Chengting pointed at her, then at himself, made an OK gesture, and then immediately turned around to demonstrate to her.

In the early summer of that year, on a playground filled with hundreds of people, a young man, like a scorching sun, carrying a touch of reluctance, two parts of helplessness, three parts of mischief, and four parts of innocence, stood alone within the girl's sight, diligently performing each gymnastics move, regardless of the others' gazes. He brought a sense of security to the bewildered young woman. No one could have predicted that in the years to come, the other emotions born of this sense of security would entangle them.

Chen Huanong passed the exam without a hitch. Tang Chengting slowly walked up to her, seeming to be courting her. "Chen Huanong, I'm so embarrassed today because of you. Did you know that people passing by are always looking at me? Oh, you can't even learn such a simple radio gymnastics. What else can I expect from you?"

Chen Huanong was unconvinced and said, "I can do so much more. I'm the one who makes your coffee every day!"

Tang Chengting snorted, "You're definitely the best person in the class who can make coffee this bad. One cup of your coffee is worth three cups from the canteen. I didn't even yawn the whole afternoon, mainly to save the money for two cups of coffee."

Chen Huanong's face was puffed up with anger, but he couldn't win the argument, so he could only kick the other person's calf in anger. Tang Chengting didn't dodge, looking at her with disdain, "Tsk tsk tsk tsk, a person should be able to withstand criticism. Look at you, your psychological quality is too poor, I just said a few words and you got angry, you will never get married in the future if you keep doing this."

"Okay, okay, this woman has finally finished her exams. It's such a trouble. Come with me quickly. Everyone is waiting for you at the tennis court!" Before Chen Huanong could fight back, Zhang Xingyan came over in a hurry and dragged Tang Chengting away. Before leaving, he didn't forget to complain. Chen Huanong then remembered that in the second half of every physical education class, the boys had a tennis game.

Tang Chengting took off his coat as he walked and threw it to Chen Huanong, "Watch my clothes carefully. Don't let a blade of grass fall on them, or you will have to write the English test yourself."

"Just write it yourself! Humph, what's so great about it." Chen Huanong muttered as he threw Tang Chengting's school uniform onto the lawn and sat down with his butt. His whole movement was smooth and flowing, and it was obvious that he was a repeat offender.

"Don't worry, if you wrote it yourself, whose would I copy from?" Mo Yiyan sat down next to her and patted her head. "Be good, we grown-ups are flexible. When it comes to homework, face and self-esteem are nothing."

"Momo, that's not what you said yesterday! You said we girls can give up everything but we have to maintain our dignity." Chen Huanong grabbed Mo Yiyan's hand, his eyes full of distrust. "Besides, if you want to copy his homework, just ask him yourself! How dare you betray your teammates!"

"I wanted to pass, but Tang Chengting wouldn't let me."

"That's bullshit! You two have known each other for such a long time, how could he not give it to me? If he didn't want to give it to you, why would he be so easy to talk to me and give it to me?"

Mo Yiyan looked embarrassed and said a little embarrassedly, "Huahua, it's mainly because you are too good at acting like a spoiled child..."

"What did you say? What will I do? When will I do it?"

According to China's famous Wang Jingze Law, the truth may be late, but the "true fragrance" warning will definitely appear. Chen Huanong is biased in subjects. He doesn't have to worry about Chinese and math. He is the kind of person who can learn well in class with his eyes closed. The only subject he fails in is English. It's strange to say that his performance in exams is not so bad that it will make people angry. But he is called to the office as soon as he does homework. Mo Yiyan always lies outside the door and hears the fifty-year-old English teacher inside say in a tone of disappointment, "Chen Huanong, what's wrong with you? Such simple multiple-choice questions, even if you guess, you can't only get two questions right, right? I see that you are very serious in class, why can't you learn well?"

Mo Yiyan's lips twitched with laughter, and he ran back to imitate Zhang Xingyan and the others. Everyone around him, four or five tables away, knew that Chen Huanong always slept like a pig in English class. How could he be serious? Chen Huanong returned to his seat, feeling aggrieved, along with two copies of his English teacher's "caring" gifts—common grammar mistakes.

"Huahua, keep going! When Heaven bestows great responsibilities upon a man, it will surely subject him to torment, exhaustion, hunger, and poverty, and may even lead to setbacks in his plans. This is to inspire his heart and strengthen his nature, so that he can achieve what he cannot already do."

Chen Huanong threw the exercises to her and said, "Then I will pass this important task to you. I am not talented enough to take on such a big responsibility."

"I'm not talented, and I don't want to take on the responsibility." The two looked at each other and laughed.

After laughing, Chen Huanong asked Mo Yiyan with a bitter face, "What should I do? The old man said that if more than half of the answers are wrong, I will have to write two every day. Oh my god, this is killing me!"

Mo Yiyan spread his hands and said, "My English is only so-so. I basically rely on luck. If I fail miserably, it will be very disastrous. I dare not do it for you. How about you ask Tang Chengting for help?"

"You want me to ask the English teacher's minions to help me cheat? Believe it or not, as soon as I asked, he dragged me to the English teacher's office! No, I don't dare."

"Yeah, after all, Old Tang is the English class representative. He just told us not to copy homework at the class meeting this morning. We're a bit arrogant!"

That being said, Mo Yiyan's proposal was very tempting. The science class wasn't very good at English, and Tang Chengting was one of the few who wasn't particularly good at any subject. If he could help, there wouldn't be any worries about this extra task. Chen Huanong glanced back at Tang Chengting furtively, then glanced at the two densely packed exercise papers in front of her. She closed her eyes, made up her mind, turned around, and called out to Tang Chengting in what she thought was the sweetest voice.

Mo Yiyan spat out a mouthful of water, and Zhang Xingyan fell off the bench in shock. Only the person being called out remained incredibly calm, saying without even looking up, "Straighten your tongue and speak."

"The English teacher assigned two papers. If I do poorly on them, I'll have to do two every day. It's too difficult. Considering that I serve you tea and water every day, please save the child!"

"Since when have you been serving me tea and water every day?"

"I see. That's because I didn't do it well enough before. If you can write it for me, I'll give you a cup of coffee every morning and evening, plus breakfast for you for a month. Isn't that a great deal?"

"Zhang Xingyan can also help me with these things! I don't think it's worth it."

"Zhang Xingyan is no good. He oversleeps every day. You might as well rely on Mo Yiyan! (Mo Yiyan??? What do you mean?) Old Tang, you can't just stand by and watch me die. If I have to write two more English papers every day, I'll go crazy. If I go crazy, you won't have an easy time around me!"

"Is this your attitude when asking for help?"

Chen Huanong, hearing this as if it were a joke, immediately shook his head like a rattle. "No, no, no, I'm wrong. Old Tang, you're the best. You're handsome and kindhearted. You definitely won't watch an innocent child die tragically at the hands of an English test paper. Please, the most handsome and powerful Tang Chengting in the universe. Oh, Old Tang, I see you're even more handsome now than you were a minute ago! Handsome Old Tang, I'm leaving my test paper in your hands! Just tell me what you want to eat tonight, and I'll buy it for you."

Mo Yiyan and Zhang Xingyan's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Zhang Xingyan repeatedly cupped his hands in a fist. "When it comes to the art of flattery, Chen Huanong is truly a role model for us." From this point on, Chen Huanong had opened the door to a new world. Whenever he encountered something he couldn't handle, he'd cling to Tang Chengting's thighs and flatter him. Once wasn't enough, twice. His learning journey became incredibly smooth, and even Mo Yiyan and the others benefited from it.

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