Chapter 69: The New Semester
Chapter 69: The New Semester
The Spring Festival is over in a flash.
Students have a slightly longer holiday, so Cheng Xiaoxiao doesn't have much time to stay at home. On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, Fang Yuenian went with her to see her off. However, she was deeply moved by the scene of Cheng Qiuyan and Lin Guohui seeing their daughter off with tears in their eyes, and she was in a daze for a long time after returning home.
After the new semester started, the weather was still very cold, and it snowed several times. Many students in the class caught colds. The peak of the flu season has not yet passed, and the school is still carrying out regular disinfection. The homeroom teacher reminds everyone to wear more clothes and keep warm every day. Boarding students have also reduced the number of times they go home and spend most of their time on campus.
That afternoon after class, Fang Yuenian, Li Peixiang, and Meng Xiaoyang ate noodles in the second canteen.
They don't eat noodles very often because the wait time is relatively long, but they occasionally want to try something different, so they got together a few times before finally deciding to come today.
The lady at the noodle stall happened to be a parent of one of the students in their class who was accompanying their child to school.
One reason parents accompany their children to school is to keep an eye on them during their adolescence, but more often it's to ensure they get good food. The cafeteria food always feels insufficient in nutrition, and they have to rush. Therefore, this auntie felt particularly sorry for the children eating in the cafeteria and was very generous with the noodles and toppings. The three of them sweetly called her auntie and bought four bowls of generously portioned beef noodles. They found an empty table, sat down, and started chatting.
Since returning from the New Year, Meng Xiaoyang has become noticeably more cheerful and has grown a bit. Her previous weak and listless appearance has improved slightly, and she looks even prettier now.
Li Peixiang's curly hair was reportedly trimmed before the Lunar New Year, but it has grown back now, looking somewhat wildly growing. He is already the tallest in the class, almost taller than Cheng Bing.
“My throat hurts so much,” Li Peixiang said. “I’m a bass voice, so why is it so hard on my voice?”
Meng Xiaoyang couldn't wait any longer, so he scooped up two spoonfuls of soup and drank them down, then whispered, "My throat hurts too."
These past two days they've been rehearsing for a patriotic song competition organized by the grade. This competition is very formal, and every class is practicing hard. Every afternoon, the entire teaching building can be filled with rousing songs.
The songs chosen by Class 1 required vocal parts, which was particularly difficult. Fang Yuenian and Li Peixiang were basses, while Meng Xiaoyang was a tenor. After each rehearsal, they felt that their voices were overused, and they envied the songs chosen by the class next door that didn't require them to shout.
Li Peixiang rummaged through the cilantro in his bowl with his chopsticks, then put the few slices of beef into Meng Xiaoyang's bowl and asked, "When is School Heartthrob Cheng coming?"
Fang Yuenian glanced at their noodle bowls and saw Meng Xiaoyang frown but not say anything, so she looked away and said, "It'll be ready soon."
"I've noticed that Cheng, the school heartthrob, seems to be in a pretty good mood lately," Li Peixiang said casually.
Meng Xiaoyang glanced at him: "When was the most recent time?"
"It's been two months since school started, and you seem to be in a pretty good mood. Is it because you're confident you'll get first place?" Li Peixiang said, looking at Fang Yuenian.
Fang Yuenian asked, puzzled, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I'm asking you about the situation. I think he'll get first place sooner or later."
Fang Yuenian was secretly pleased, but didn't show it too obviously, saying in a flat tone, "More or less."
Meng Xiaoyang yawned and said, "You should worry about yourself."
Li Peixiang: "I'm quite worried. Although I can't compare with the two, no, three top students, I'm still making progress. I feel good about myself right now, and getting into the top 200 in the midterm exam may not be a dream."
Meng Xiaoyang smiled and said, "That would be great."
Li Peixiang laughed, "Don't look down on me. Do you think it's easy for me? But if I get into the top 200, I'll get a deluxe MP5 player. I'll lend it to you two boarding students who never leave the campus."
Meng Xiaoyang calmly shook his head: "Not interested."
“Don’t be uninterested,” Li Peixiang said. “I begged for a long time to get this.”
Meng Xiaoyang: "The school doesn't allow electronic devices, and besides, you don't have any yet."
"There definitely will be some, you two can take them back to the dorm to play with."
Li Peixiang then turned to Fang Yuenian and urged, "Brother Nian, how about we go to the internet cafe together next time? You don't know, several of our top ten classmates go to the internet cafe every week to relax for a couple of hours before getting back to studying."
Fang Yuenian coldly replied, "No interest."
Li Peixiang was devastated when his sales pitch failed, lamenting, "I really don't know what kind of magic the school has that makes you two stay here so long."
Meng Xiaoyang smiled silently, while Li Peixiang said listlessly, "How about I change the reward? I feel like the MP5 is worthless. I can't play it during class, and I might as well play on the computer when I have free time at home on weekends."
At that time, they did not know that these MP345s would eventually become obsolete items due to the development of the times. However, Li Peixiang did not ask for the MP5s later. Instead, he asked for a few tickets to the Cultural and Sports Center. He planned to invite the four of them to watch a game on a weekend. However, Fang Yuenian and Cheng Bing were both busy at that time, so only Meng Xiaoyang went with him in the end.
The longer Fang Yuenian spent with Meng Xiaoyang, the more she realized that he was really good at laughing, with an absurdly low threshold for laughter. Moreover, his grades were among the best in Class 1, and he usually ranked in the top 30 in the grade when he performed normally. In the last monthly exam, he even made it into the top 20. It is said that he is quite famous in the experimental class now.
After all, there are only about 10 or 20 students in the top 100 of the grade who are not in the experimental class, and most of them are over 50.
Fang Yuenian's grades, as he said, remained between forty and fifty, which was both funny and frustrating. However, no one, including his parents, himself, and his homeroom teacher, demanded that he improve further. Mainly, he hadn't chosen his major yet, and if he really wanted to improve, he could wait until his second year of high school.
When Cheng Bing arrived, the cafeteria was already crowded. He looked around as he entered, and Fang Yuenian, who had been staring at the entrance, immediately waved, "Over here!"
Cheng Bing walked over quickly and said, "Sorry for the delay."
"It's alright, it's alright, the noodles are at just the right temperature!" Li Peixiang waved his hand, and Fang Yuenian pulled him down to sit. "Alright, alright, let's eat!"
"Are you practicing singing?" Meng Xiaoyang picked up his chopsticks and asked casually, "We didn't seem to hear you singing when we came downstairs."
"Yes, I practiced singing, and I practiced it one more time," Cheng Bing replied.
He glanced at the bowl of noodles and noticed that he had quite a lot of beef in his portion, so he quickly and smoothly handed it all to Fang Yuenian.
This time, the person who quietly turned their gaze towards them was Meng Xiaoyang.
Fang Yuenian chuckled to herself as she ate her noodles, saying, "I originally thought our class's song was difficult enough, but compared to yours, it's still easy."
Li Peixiang quickly said, "Oh right, I remember now, the song 'Class 18' is called... something like... Under the Bright Sunshine..."
“Under the Brilliant Sunshine,” Meng Xiaoyang corrected slowly.
“Yes, yes,” Li Peixiang quickly admitted his mistake. “We can’t be disrespectful to revolutionary songs, but this one is too difficult. Huang Xuewei even told me that.”
Fang Yuenian moved closer to Cheng Bing and asked, "Does your throat hurt?"
Cheng Bing: "I'm fine. How about you?"
"I'm fine," Fang Yuenian chewed on a piece of beef. "By the way, will your class buy costumes for the performance?"
Before Cheng Bing could speak, Li Peixiang quickly interjected, "Don't ask nonsense, okay? Keep it a secret. All details about the performance must be kept confidential. We're competitors, Brother Nian, you should be more considerate."
Fang Yuenian glared at him, then turned to Cheng Bing and smiled, "Then I won't ask. I'll see when the time comes anyway."
Cheng Bing smiled slightly at him, but didn't say anything.
Seeing the two of them like this, Li Peixiang felt something was off for some reason, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it, so he changed the subject and said, "Cheng, the school heartthrob, I heard you changed seats again. Are you now sitting next to Zhang Qing?"
He had barely finished speaking when Fang Yuenian choked.
He was choking badly, so he put down his chopsticks, pushed the bowl away, covered his mouth to suppress his cough, and frantically tried to pull a tissue out of his pocket with his other hand.
Cheng Bing quickly took out a tissue and handed it to him, patting his back and saying, "I'll go buy a bottle of water."
"No, no, no," Fang Yuenian coughed, her face turning red, "No need."
Li Peixiang looked completely innocent and asked blankly, "What's wrong?"
Fang Yuenian coughed one last time, and said weakly, "It's nothing, I just choked."
Cheng Bing looked at him and asked, "Are you really alright?"
“Yeah,” Fang Yuenian nodded, “It choked me to death.”
Li Peixiang was still grinning foolishly and said, "I thought you were so surprised to hear that Cheng Xiaocao and Zhang Qing were deskmates. What's wrong? Are you going to tell his girlfriend?"
Meng Xiaoyang kicked him under the table, stunning him.
"What are you doing?"
Fang Yuenian ignored him and turned to Cheng Bing, asking, "Are you sitting next to Zhang Qing?"
"We just changed seats this afternoon," Cheng Bing glanced at Li Peixiang, "You found out pretty quickly."
Li Peixiang felt that there was something wrong with his eyes, and chuckled twice: "Ah, I happened to run into Huang Xuewei at the small supermarket this afternoon."
Fang Yuenian rolled her eyes almost imperceptibly. "I really want to change seats too."
Li Peixiang: "What? Brother Nian, you don't want me anymore?"
Fang Yuenian: "If you really don't want to, why don't you go and be Meng Xiaoyang's deskmate?"
Meng Xiaoyang: "I don't want to."
Li Peixiang couldn't understand why he was suddenly being disliked by the two of them, and his heart shattered instantly. "Damn it! What did I do?"
Meng Xiaoyang sighed and buried his head in his noodles. Cheng Bing said to Fang Yuenian, "I'll tell you more tonight."
Fang Yuenian gave a weak hum, "Oh."
Li Peixiang: "...?"
After finishing her meal, Fang Yuenian quickly tidied up her dorm room and then went back to the classroom. Meng Xiaoyang was on the phone with his grandmother, so she let him go ahead on his own.
As soon as he entered the classroom, Li Peixiang greeted him, "Brother Nian, you're here so early?"
He was chatting with someone; they hadn't started studying yet, so everyone was quite relaxed.
Fang Yuenian originally didn't intend to pay attention to him, but she couldn't help herself. Finally, she patted his shoulder, turned him around, and whispered, "Besides Zhang Qing, who else is Brother Cheng's deskmate?"
Li Peixiang was just waiting for him to ask, so he immediately started talking, saying, "You don't know, some people say that their homeroom teacher heard about their rumored relationship and deliberately put them together. Anyway, their homeroom teacher is always like that, he does things in a very sinister way. But some people also say that Zhang Qing made a request to their homeroom teacher, saying that she wanted to sit next to Cheng, the school heartthrob. You know, Zhang Qing is the top student in the grade, so of course the homeroom teacher agreed to her request."
Fang Yuenian was stunned by this unprecedented operation.
"Holy crap... Seriously? Is that even possible?"
Li Peixiang also shook his head: "I don't understand. There's another guy, so Cheng Bing didn't sit next to Zhang Qing, so it shouldn't have much of an impact. But you still shouldn't tell his girlfriend, she'll definitely be angry if she finds out."
Fang Yuenian cursed under her breath.
Damn it, how can we only care about Zhang Qing and ignore Cheng Bing?
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