Two or three days passed in the blink of an eye—

Yingchuan Middle School, Senior High Division.

Xie Jingcheng looked down at the message Chaochao had sent him on his phone, asking if he wanted her to pick him up after school today.

Xie Jingcheng raised his thumb and paused for a few seconds.

Sure, what would you like to eat? I'll bring it over for you.

But as soon as he finished typing, it was deleted to a blank screen. He brought the phone close to his lips and sent a voice message, still having to take care of the illiterate kid.

The reason Xie Jingcheng said that...

Chaochao had visited Yingchuan several times before, mainly to see if her two older brothers were having a hard time going to school. She even brought a bag of small cakes that she and Aunt Ning had created together.

But often, no matter where she is on campus, she can always follow the aroma of food to the cafeteria entrance, and then she will find that she loves all the dishes she has tried!

Including all the small snacks at the dessert window!

After Xie Jingcheng finished sending the message, he put down his phone and silently counted 1…2…3…

The phone on the table vibrated.

Chaochao: [Okay, okay! I want to eat that...that yellow, flaky pancake, and a red bean and coconut ball! It's sweet and super delicious, hehe]

Xie Jingcheng chuckled softly, scrolling up the chat history. It was almost entirely filled with long, densely packed messages from Xiao Tuanzi. Ever since she learned to use voice-to-text, her talkative nature had finally been put to the test.

He leaned back lazily, his fingertips swiping across the screen.

Xu Yizhou, who lived just across the aisle, had been relentlessly teased by his teachers for almost a month. Finally, yesterday he was declared dead after all attempts to save him failed, and now he's playing games in revenge, sporting dark circles under his eyes.

Yes, I played all night and didn't sleep a wink.

But he seemed incredibly energetic, capable of doing twenty pull-ups on the spot. He gritted his teeth and shouted, "Go ahead and do it! Go ahead and do it!"

As Xie Jingcheng tapped his phone screen and gave him a sharp, stern look, Xu Yizhou's furious outburst instantly subsided, his expression turning pitiful, like a wronged little wife.

If it weren't for Cheng-ge's sudden rise to become a top student, ranking first or second, would he have been relentlessly pursued by those fierce and aggressive teachers every day?

His affected expression stung Xie Jingcheng's eyes, and he frowned and turned away, his disdain evident.

Xu Yizhou's fragile little heart was instantly hurt even more.

Waaah, he doesn't want to live anymore! I'm going to tell Chaochao on him later.

Compared to the quiet back of the classroom, the front was much more lively, with students gathered in small groups to discuss the newly released list of results from the five-school joint exam.

Yu Ci and Xie Jingcheng, these two veteran and newly emerging academic geniuses, are not only unmatched in Yingchuan, but they also went on a rampage in the five-school joint exam with a huge number of top students. Their total scores in seven subjects were far ahead of the competition, and the school leaders praised them several times, their faces beaming with joy.

But that wasn't the main point of discussion among the students.

After all, we're classmates every day, seeing each other all the time, so we've long been numb to it. These two geniuses are just too brilliant; they're not even human.

"Class monitor, you've actually fallen out of the top ten in the grade this time?!"

"Um……"

Ni Keming frowned and responded, picking up the test paper that had been handed out an hour earlier and looking at it. His classmate, worried he might be upset, quickly comforted him:

"The last question on the math paper in this joint exam was incredibly difficult, it was simply beyond human capabilities... Of course, Yu Shen and Xie Shen have already been stripped of their human status."

Someone immediately chimed in, "That's right, the college entrance exam wouldn't have such difficult questions."

Ni Keming waved to them and said, "It's okay." In fact, dropping to eleventh place didn't affect him much. His seemingly downcast expression just now was because he was struggling with how to solve the last question.

After reading the reference answer, I felt something was off; it was too complicated. I spent three whole sheets of scratch paper working on it but still couldn't find a direction.

The class monitor left the noisy chattering crowd, clutching the test paper and looking back. Yu Ci must have been taken away by the biology competition teacher to share her experience and wasn't in the classroom. Only one other person remained present.

Ni Keming glanced at Xie Jingcheng, who was sitting in the last row of the classroom, and silently swallowed. Even though Xie Jingcheng was just sitting there looking at his phone and hadn't done anything, Ni Keming still couldn't help feeling scared.

He usually asks the class monitor, Yu Ci, questions, but as everyone has seen, the class monitor has been busy with family matters lately, and he feels embarrassed to keep taking up his time.

But he has never asked Xie Jingcheng any questions.

Although he was exceptionally talented and had an amazingly quick mind, his reputation as a "school bully" (besides being a top student) was so strong that his classmates subconsciously kept their distance, not daring to upset him.

Besides, Ni Keming still has the embarrassing story of being caught red-handed in a blunder last time! Every time I think of the scene of him and Chaochao meowing through the grass, I can't help but dig my toes into the ground.

He took a deep breath and, with a sense of resignation, walked to the back of the classroom. He was already thinking about how to gracefully leave if he was rejected.

The result, however, was quite unexpected—

Xie Jingcheng didn't refuse. Although his tone was cold, he still dutifully explained it to him. His previously stalled train of thought suddenly became clear, and he excitedly said, "Ah... ah, yes, that's how it is..."

While Xie Jingcheng and the class monitor were explaining the problem, the students' lively conversation continued.

Some people still find it hard to understand.

"Even the class monitor, who's always been in the top ten, has been squeezed out?"

"The tenth place is... let me see... Yu Ning? Never heard of her?"

"I seem to remember her. She was in Class 6 of the regular class. Her grades were pretty good before, around 60th or 70th in the grade."

"Now that you mention it, I remember something. She sat behind me during one of the monthly exams. She looked gloomy, and she wouldn't talk to me. She seemed difficult to get along with."

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