six
Lu Yunian finally got up early on Monday, but not two days later, on August 31st, a week later.
Today, I left home with Ning Yi'en. When we arrived at school, morning self-study had not yet started, and the classroom was noisy.
"Wow, the sun's rising in the west! Lu Yunian, you're up so early today."
"The sun has really risen in the west, Wenxi, you actually care about whether I'm early or not." Lu Yunian casually put down his schoolbag, leaned back in his chair, and prepared to catch up on his sleep.
"Then you're wrong. I don't care when you come to school, I only care whether you've done your chemistry homework."
"What chemistry?!" His eyes snapped open, so excited he almost fell off his stool.
"The handwritten notes we got before the exam are supposed to be collected after the first period. I was thinking of using them as a reference, but you didn't write anything either. Let's share the burden, Xiao Lu. Good luck to you too." Wen Xi gave him a cheering gesture before turning back to her homework.
“Classmate,” Lu Yunian pulled the crumpled test paper out of his bag and smoothed it out, “You must have written it, right? Can I borrow it to take a look?”
Although he may not have realized it himself, in just two weeks, Lu Yunian had become quite adept at acting cute towards Ning Yien.
"Give."
"You're the best, my deskmate."
Looking up at the time, Lu Yunian realized there was still some time before morning reading began. Suddenly, he wasn't in a hurry anymore and started chatting with Ning Yi'en while writing.
"The results came out so slowly this time, it felt like being slowly tortured to death."
“It’s normal for the joint entrance exam to be slow.” Ning Yi’en was flipping through an extracurricular book in her hand, her tone flat. “It should be by noon at the latest.”
“Let’s take it slow,” Lu Yunian said. “We’ll change seats when the results come out. I don’t want to be separated from you, my deskmate.”
"Then let's not separate."
"I hope I do well on this test, so my fate is in my own hands." He sighed deeply. "Forget it, I'd better focus on finishing this chemistry assignment. I don't want to think about it anymore, I'll stop here."
Although he said he would shut up, Lu Yunian probably didn't spend more than a minute seriously copying.
"Did you guys post the correct answer to this before?"
Jiannan has a unique set of chemistry study materials, the culmination of the efforts of a retired senior chemistry teacher. Jiannan originally intended to rehire her to continue teaching, but the teacher declined. So the school settled for asking her to revise the entire set of materials each year, and occasionally come to the school to provide teaching guidance when she has time.
"Of course not, I wrote it myself over the weekend."
"Your handwriting is so similar to Teacher Ning's, they're practically identical, both so beautiful."
“Actually, it seems she only ever gives out the questions and never fills in the answers,” the morning reading bell rang, he closed his book and slowly rummaged through his textbook in the drawer.
"Although we say it's traditional and unnecessary, it's really just laziness. It's like how we haven't been willing to type up our handwritten manuscripts for so many years. Also, I think my handwriting is slightly better." After getting to know each other better, Ning Yi'en became much more talkative.
"They all look good, I don't care if they're electronic or handwritten, as long as they're useful."
Lu Yunian didn't know why Ning Yi'en said such things out of the blue—did he dislike Teacher Ning? Although there was no malice in his words.
Lu Yunian was somewhat embarrassed and didn't know how to smooth things over.
"However, I once took a class taught by Professor Ning. He was incredibly talented, and his study materials were amazing. He was practically a savior of chemistry."
"Actually, you're my savior too, deskmate," he said with a grin, leaning closer when Ning Yi'en didn't seem inclined to respond.
"It not only saved my injured hand and my hungry stomach, but also my soul, like the first ray of sunshine after a rainstorm... And now, having been pulled out of the water and fire once again, I am simply too..."
"Stop joking around, or you'll never finish copying." Ning Yi'en lightly tapped Lu Yunian's forehead with the book before he could say anything more cheesy. "If you need to brush up on chemistry... never mind, I won't give you any more promises, just start copying."
“I’ll eat any pie in the sky if you just offer me a picture, but Teacher Ning Yi’en, you have to teach me, I’ll definitely study hard.”
"Our teacher was really angry today." During the break before lunch, Yan Ting's friend from Class 2 came to chat with Yan Ting.
"Why? Aren't all the kids in your class obedient and well-behaved?"
"It's all because of the entrance exam. None of our class made it into the top five this time, and I heard that none of the top three were from Class One either."
My friend looked dejected. "The atmosphere in our class has been really depressing all day. I don't think it will be any better for the next three to five days."
"That materialization of politics and geography is really amazing! Has your class received its grades yet?"
"They haven't released it yet, which is causing a lot of anxiety. And I heard that the first place is Chunli."
"It couldn't be in our class, could it? Someone secretly improved behind our backs."
"Did you just check your grades?" Luo Yao put his legs up on the desk and arrogantly ordered Xu Qi next to him.
"I flipped through them all the way up to number 550, but there was nothing there." Xu Qi looked every bit the lackey.
"Make sure you've read it carefully. It would be awkward if you got a higher score than me later."
"Of course, he got in through connections. He did so poorly on the entrance exam; he'll probably be transferred to another class soon." Xu Qi nodded and bowed obsequiously.
However, he didn't actually look at it very carefully. During the break after the results were released, the office was crowded with students eager to know their scores. Xu Qi didn't squeeze to the computer or get "control" of the mouse. He just stood on the periphery, squinting at the screen for a long time.
“Yeah, if he really had good grades, he wouldn’t be in our class.” Luo Yao pulled his coat over his head. “You keep an eye on him. When he comes into the classroom, call me and make him suffer and admit his mistake.”
"Tell me what you like to eat, and next time I treat you to a meal, it'll have to be something you like, right?" Lu Yunian and Ning Yi'en were walking back to the classroom after finishing their meal.
Do you like to eat fish? Or chicken, duck, beef, or lamb?
"I'm not actually a picky eater, it's just that the food in the cafeteria is awful." Ning Yi'en genuinely felt this way; the food was so bad that it put him in a bad mood. "The fish was good, and the rest was alright, but the lamb was just so-so."
"Then don't look so gloomy, or are you worried about your grades?"
"I'm not frowning, I'm just not smiling," he said, giving Lu Yunian a slight smirk. "This isn't frowning, is it? But it's tiring. As for grades, there's probably nothing to worry about..."
"What do you have to worry about? Five hundred and fifty-five."
Before she could finish speaking, Luo Yao, who was sitting by the back door, interrupted her, "Even if it's worse, it can't be worse than the last college entrance exam, right?"
Ning Yi'en glanced at him, said nothing, and continued walking inside.
"You!" Lu Yunian wanted to argue with him, but Ning Yi'en pulled him back.
"Still not saying anything? Is it because you know your grades and are too scared to speak?" Xu Qi chimed in from the side.
"It's okay, don't worry about it."
Ning Yi'en remained unmoved, only turning her head to say a few words to Lu Yunian.
"Why aren't you responding?" Actually, Luo Yao was a little annoyed and reached out to push him, but Ning Yi'en dodged him.
Ning Yi'en originally planned to go straight back to his seat, but seeing how "inseparable" the two of them were, he looked up and scanned the ceiling before walking toward the podium.
"Brother, we..." Seeing that Ning Yi'en's expression remained unchanged, Xu Qi looked at Luo Yao and asked.
"I don't believe it." Luo Yao said in a low voice, "Wait until he calms down. Lu Yunian probably won't be able to calm down either. That's fine too."
Then he strode after the two men, "Hey, Sanwu! I remember you weren't this pathetic before, how come you're deaf or mute now?"
Ning Yi'en heard all of this, but he felt it was harmless. He wasn't a volatile or easily provoked person. But wait, there was someone with him now.
"No matter what they say or what nasty things they say, don't get angry, don't yell back, and don't stand up for me, okay?" he whispered in Lu Yunian's ear.
"Why?"
Lu Yunian couldn't understand it at all. His upbringing had made him someone who would take revenge on the spot. He didn't understand why Ning Yi'en had been holding back. If he could, he would grab Luo Yao right now and give him a good beating.
“It’s unnecessary and not worth it,” Ning Yi’en raised her hand, intending to pat Lu Yunian’s head, but then felt it was inappropriate to leave it in mid-air, so she stiffly lowered it. “Good boy, we’ll be good.”
"Actually..." Actually, it's okay to touch. It's strange, an indescribable discomfort welled up inside me, but it wasn't entirely discomfort, like my face suddenly burning and my heart racing.
—But he couldn't figure out why. Having never been attracted to anyone or thought about his own sexual orientation, he couldn't understand the feelings that were growing in his heart. Perhaps he was just too angry.
However, he didn't have much time to think before the people behind him started cursing again, "Actually, I think he's not a coward, he's a piece of trash—hey, it even rhymes a bit, isn't it Brother Sanwu, hahahahaha."
"Why do you have to come to the front? What, do you want the whole class to know that you're a backdoor slut who got in through connections? You're a despicable, underhanded bastard."
"How did a student with such poor grades end up in Jiannan Class 3? It's hard to guess."
"Do you think it might be," he didn't continue, but he made two disgusting duck quacks, and then burst into laughter with the people around him.
Ning Yi'en simply leaned against the door frame without raising her head, letting out a cold laugh as they were getting into high spirits.
Lu Yunian had long since lost patience with the story, but Ning Yi'en held his hand down with one hand, forcing him to suppress all his emotions.
The two of them continued their back-and-forth insults for several minutes, but Ning Yi'en remained unmoved and calm. Then Luo Yao had a sudden inspiration and started insulting his friend.
"And your group of friends, that guy, that blond mixed-race guy, he's in cahoots with you, disgusting stuff."
He counted the people on his fingers while watching Ning Yi'en's expression. "And that girl, what's her name again? Never mind, let's talk about this girl in our class, what's her name again..."
"Tang Xuanling," Xu Qi quickly interjected.
"Yes, yes, but I think we shouldn't call her Xuanling anymore. Let's just change her name to Xuanyin, hahaha. If people ask, we can say it comes from an idiom."
"Why aren't you saying anything, Lu Yunian? You're no better than me, always pretending, getting such a low score and still staying in our class..."
Lu Yunian didn't know what happened next, because when he started cursing Ning Yi'en's friend, Ning Yi'en's expression changed, and she made a despicable gesture at Luo Yao, and seemed to mouth something, but Lu Yunian didn't see it.
Luo Yao pointed at Ning Yi'en, wanting to curse him again, but as soon as he reached out, Ning Yi'en grabbed his arm tightly.
Then, while Lu Yunian was still in a daze, Ning Yi'en pulled Luo Yao back half a step and punched him hard in the face.
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