Chapter 143: The Imminent Senior Year

As they took the subway home from school, Zhu Yingning remembered Zou Hao's words and casually asked Xu Sirui, who was sitting next to her, "Did you come to see me at noon? Zou Hao said he saw you."

Xu Sirui was listening to music through his headphones, his long eyelashes drooping as he stared at the toe of the person across from him, seemingly intently yet absentmindedly. It wasn't until Zhu Yingning nudged him that he pulled down one of his headphones and asked what was wrong. She repeated everything she'd said, and he slowly, with a startled, slow "Oh," said, "Nothing." "I don't know why your campus card was in my bag. I came down here at noon to return it to you."

"So it's with you. I thought I left it at home."

She didn't have a meal card at noon, so she used Wu Bo's meal card.

After saying this, a few minutes passed before Zhu Yingning suddenly realized that since he had come down to return the school card to her, why had he left before she even got it? Just as she was wondering, wanting to find him to ask for clarification, the subway arrived at the station. The evening rush hour crowd of people leaving work rushed in, and they had to squeeze through the crowd. Every day at this time, she had to be extremely vigilant to fight the crowd, lest she accidentally get stuck getting off the subway. So she had to put the topic aside for the time being.

After squeezing out of the subway, the question in her mind was naturally crushed by the crowd. She completely forgot about it and walked home behind Xu Sirui with an empty mind.

After finishing dinner and homework at home, when she was about to take a shower, she remembered the stickers she had promised Zhang Jiacheng at noon, so she pulled out her storage box and squatted on the ground to search for them.

After searching for a long time, she finally found the bag of stickers from a corner. She held the slightly wrinkled sticker package and wondered whether she should rewrap it with the unused gift paper to make it look better.

Before she stood up and moved, she saw a figure cast by the light at the door. She opened her eyes slightly and looked over. Xu Sirui was standing in the light like a ghost, with his arms folded. He didn't say a word, just leaning against the door frame and looking at her. She didn't know how long he was looking at her, his eyes were heavy and scattered.

It was quite scary to be hit by this unexpected thing. She was still scared and asked him why he was just standing there without calling anyone, and asked him if there was anything wrong.

He shook his head without saying a word and threw the piece of paper in his arms to her.

Zhu Yingning took it with both hands and looked down. It turned out to be her campus card.

She subconsciously said thank you, then remembered the question she had forgotten at the subway station. She looked up and was about to ask, but there was no one at the door. She walked out and skillfully looked at the crack of Xu Sirui's bedroom door, but it was dark.

He has turned off the lights and gone to bed.

**

Since they are about to enter their third year of high school this year, after the new semester began, the school frequently created anxiety and pressure for these sophomores, telling them in different ways every day that their third year of high school is imminent and that if they don't work hard in this last semester of their second year of high school, everything will be over.

Zhu Yingning wasn't particularly affected. Since her freshman year, her daily study schedule had been focused on the college entrance exam, leaving her with little room to squeeze in extracurricular time. The best she could do was quit her tutoring job and focus on studying. But she wasn't planning on doing that yet; she wanted to wait until her senior year before resigning.

But the rest of the class was undoubtedly affected by this depressing atmosphere. Wu Bo complained to her many times, saying, "Brother Yang is really messing with my mentality. I could have done well on the exam, but now he's making me anxious and blundering. I don't understand the point of spreading anxiety like this. Damn, I've been thinking about this so much these past few nights that I can't sleep."

"I don't understand either." Zhu Yingning sighed.

"Speaking of which, have you ever thought about which university you want to apply to in the future?"

"I plan to apply to a local 985 university in Beijing."

Zou Hao passed by and interrupted, "You can definitely get into a Tier 2 985 university. It's not impossible to get into Tier 1 in your senior year. I don't have such high expectations. I just want to get into a bottom tier 985 university or a top tier 211 university."

"A low-tier 985 university is called 'less demanding'?!" Wu Bo became even more anxious after hearing this, and ripped his hair hard. "Oh, forget it. I shouldn't have discussed these issues with you academic elites."

She glanced at Zhang Jiacheng, knowing he was also a top student, so she immediately glanced away and turned to look at Shao Yanjun. Her grades were a comfort to her, but Wu Bo doubted she would get mad if she asked her directly, "Which university are you going to?" So, she picked a soft spot and asked Dai Yize, "Hey, what about you?"

Dai Yize was clipping his nails with a pair of nail clippers. His hand trembled at the words, and he narrowly avoided slicing off a piece of flesh. He put down the clippers, took a deep breath, and exhaled, looking gloomy. "Can we not discuss such a boring topic?"

When the new semester started, his parents suddenly realized that if they didn't push their son, he would have no education. They kept nagging him every day, telling him that if he didn't get into university, he would have to go to the factory to screw screws. There were no connections at home for him to rely on. Coupled with Hong Qingyang's brainwashing, Dai Yize himself became anxious.

He wanted to study fashion design, but in China, most fashion design programs require an art exam, and since he hadn't studied art systematically, it was too late to switch to a specialty student program. The only option left was to study abroad, but tuition was expensive. He discussed this with his parents, who said, "We've had a little money these days, so we can pay for the tuition, but whether you can pass the exam is up to you. Do you think your poor English is enough for studying abroad?"

These words made Dai Yize want to commit suicide. Only then did he realize that he had no plan for his future.

The problem of English has been bothering him for several days. His situation is not much better than Wu Bo's. He feels sleepy as soon as he sits at his desk and tries to cram, but as soon as he lies down on the bed, he becomes as energetic as Wu Song fighting a tiger.

He couldn't get any comfort from Shao Yanjun, because her situation was different. Her parents had long known their daughter wasn't cut out for education, and their attitude towards her had always been that if she could study, she could, but if she couldn't, forget it. If she really couldn't get into university, they would invest some money in her and let her open her own business.

Shao Yanjun was very satisfied with this. She even planned to open a bar and form her own band in the bar.

"Don't you want to study at all?" Dai Yize wanted to cry but had no tears. He found that deep down in his heart he still wanted to continue studying.

Shao Yanjun was playing with his phone and crossing his legs when he replied, "Whatever, whoever you love."

This sentence broke Dai Yize's fragile heart again.

He was feeling anxious, while Wu Bo looked at his expression and felt a little comforted by his anxious face. However, this relief soon vanished when he thought about his own achievements.

Perhaps it was because there was always a way out when the car reached the mountain. Extremely anxious, she recalled the Saturday tutoring class in her freshman year of high school and screamed. She grabbed Zhu Yingning's hand, her knees weakened, and she almost knelt down in front of her: "Yingning, do you still remember our Saturday tutoring class in our freshman year of high school? If I say now that I want to relive this tutoring class, will you think I'm shameless? Wuuwuwu..."

Their freshman year tutoring naturally ceased with Xu Sirui's return to normal and the end of that semester. Since the tutoring had originally been for Xu Sirui, and Guo Yingying had switched to studying broadcasting as an arts major, embarking on a completely different path from theirs, Zhu Yingning didn't specifically run it again.

Seeing Wu Bo about to fall to the ground, Zhu Yingning quickly helped her up, neither crying nor laughing: "Of course, you can, but I have to tutor on weekends, so I'm only free on Saturday afternoons."

"It's okay, it's okay. One afternoon is enough. You don't know how much my grades have improved under your guidance. After you left, I went back to my old ways." Wu Bo sobbed a few more times.

Zou Hao, who was listening intently, immediately said, "I want to go too."

"Sure." Zhu Yingning agreed readily.

"What? What are you talking about?" Dai Yize excitedly leaned forward. "What kind of tutoring? Can it help me improve my English?"

"I can only teach you how to study. English requires accumulation, and it mainly depends on your private efforts in daily life."

Dai Yize pondered for a moment, remembering Zhu Yingning's serious and responsible attitude towards their study group last semester. Thinking about it, it seemed like there was no teacher more patient than her. He couldn't understand what others said, so he could only absorb a fraction of what she said. So he immediately said, "I can do it! Take me with you on any study activities you want to organize."

Zhu Yingning was very pleased and patted his head like a dog: "Dai Yize, you have grown up."

Dai Yize: “?”

After everyone left, Zhu Yingning thought about talking to Xu Sirui first. After all, he was borrowing his house, so he had to get his consent first, and he could also invite him to come along.

She was lost in thought when someone poked her back with a pen cap. She could now accurately tell whether it was Dai Yize or Zhang Jiacheng calling her based on the strength, texture, and direction of the poke. She turned to look at Zhang Jiacheng, asking him what he wanted with her eyes.

"Can I join in?" he asked with a chuckle.

Zhang Jiacheng's grades weren't in need of remedial training; after a semester of adaptation, he was now consistently ranked within the top 60 in the class. Her grades, like Xu Sirui's, fluctuated within the top 20. While there seemed to be some distance between them, those in the top 100 generally had their own unique study methods, and there wasn't much they could learn from each other.

However, Zhu Yingning was extremely tolerant of anyone willing to learn. She nodded out of habit at first, but then, thinking of Xu Sirui, she changed her tune and said, "I need to ask my friend's opinion first, since this is happening at his house."

Zhang Jiacheng was stunned. He didn't expect her not to agree directly. Hearing her mention Xu Sirui, he felt a subtle feeling in his heart, but he nodded gently, put on a smile and said it was okay: "Then ask and tell me."

**

There were still two minutes before school was over and Xu Sirui had already packed his schoolbag.

Their homeroom teacher had recently been imitating Hong Qingyang's example, putting pressure on them. Many students had delayed their departures, hoping to stay and study a little longer. Xu Sirui, of course, wasn't one of them. He was used to doing things his own way and scoffed at the "study till you die" philosophy. After the teacher had just finished telling them that if they didn't work hard in their youth, they would regret it later in life, he'd walked out with a rather disrespectful air as the bell rang.

He has good grades, so teachers usually turn a blind eye, shake their heads and nag, "It would be great if some students could be as active going to school as they are leaving school," and let it go.

Xu Sirui walked to the stairs and was about to go down to Zhu Yingning's floor to find her when he heard a voice coming from behind.

"Si Rui, wait."

It’s Feng Da.