Chapter 98: You're the smartest
Chapter 98: You're the smartest
When Cheng Bing came out after taking a shower, Meng Xiaoyang's book stall had just been set up.
The sheer number of books a high school graduate has is quite astonishing, especially considering that Meng Xiaoyang himself has many supplementary teaching materials, as well as textbooks and materials from his first and second years of high school, all of which are well-preserved.
Cheng Bing's hair was dripping wet, and he was drying it on the balcony without coming in. Fang Yuenian peeked out and saw a blurry shadow of him in the midday sun.
I must say, my brother Cheng is really good-looking. He was a little stunned when he looked at him. Then he saw that he was wearing loose shorts, revealing half of his beautiful long legs. Fang Yuenian blushed and her heart was pounding. She quickly covered her face with her novel.
After tidying himself up simply, Cheng Bing, being young, showed no signs of fatigue and looked every bit the handsome young man.
He walked up to Fang Yuenian and noticed that he was holding a book called "After Cultivating Immortality, I Have a Multitude of Wives and Concubines" in his hand, so he frowned.
Fang Yuenian had no idea what he was reading. He put down his book, looked at the person, and asked, "You're only wearing shorts? It's not that hot today."
Cheng Bing looked down at herself. "I don't have any clean trousers right now, and you're wearing two."
Fang Yuenian exclaimed "Ah!" and, remembering that she hadn't washed her clothes for the past two days, quickly rolled off the bed. "I'll get you mine!"
Chen Yu, who had been observing for a while, couldn't help but say, "You two are being a bit dramatic. Besides, Nian-ge, can your Cheng-ge even fit into your pants? I bet they're too short."
Wang Wei: "Hahahahahaha."
Fang Yuenian: "Why does it need to be so long? It can..."
Cheng Bing chimed in, "As long as it covers your knees, do you think that's enough?"
Chen Yu: "Hahahaha, well, it's not like it can only cover the knees..."
Fang Yuenian sat back down, puffing out her cheeks: "Fine, whatever."
His face was gloomy, as if the words "immoral" were written all over his face.
Cheng Bing smiled and said, "Hurry up and give me that book. Don't read it anymore."
Fang Yuenian belatedly realized what was happening and glanced suspiciously at the book he had just casually opened. He was immediately shocked by the utterly shameless title of the book.
"Who borrowed this book?" He avoided it like the plague, throwing it to the winds. "I didn't read it. I went to get my clothes."
Cheng Bing, having passed the appearance and conduct inspection, finally went out. The group then took turns showering, and after all that, Chen Yu and Wang Wei finally fell into a deep sleep.
After Meng Xiaoyang had finished organizing some of the books, he inadvertently discovered some previously saved exam score slips and sat down to look at them with great interest.
Fang Yuenian finished washing the clothes and was carrying a pile of laundry downstairs to use the washing machine when she passed by. "What are you looking at?"
“Look.” Meng Xiaoyang stretched out his hand.
Fang Yuenian saw the crumpled grade sheet in his hand.
That exam result was probably the worst in Meng Xiaoyang's high school academic career, and also the only time he had ever fallen from first place in his class, which happened at the end of his junior year. Fang Yuenian quickly remembered that he had injured his hand at that time, and was also somewhat affected by He Linjie's matter, so she chuckled softly and said, "Although he didn't do very well on the exam, he is still determined despite his disability, so it's understandable."
Meng Xiaoyang smiled, took back the report card, and stared at the number 3 in her class ranking. "That morning, I was tutoring my uncle's child. In the afternoon, I went to the mailroom at the entrance of the community to pick up a letter from the school. I was mentally prepared then. When I got home, I casually mentioned my grades to my aunt, and she said, 'Xiaoyang, you did so well! You got third in the whole class! Junjun, you need to study with your brother Xiaoyang, understand?'"
Fang Yuenian was stunned: "Huh?"
Meng Xiaoyang shook his head. "I've forgotten why I told them about my grades. They always thought that being third in the class was my best result, so they brought it up, since they'd never mentioned it before."
Fang Yuenian's expression was also not good. She reached out and patted his shoulder, "It's okay, ignore them."
Meng Xiaoyang was already used to it. He smiled faintly and suddenly turned to look at Fang Yuenian, "Want to do laundry? Let's go together, and then go out to buy some things. I happen to have something I want to ask you."
Fang Yuenian thought he had something he wanted to talk about, so she immediately agreed, and the two of them each carried two basins of clothes downstairs.
The public washing machine downstairs requires coins. Because the dormitory manager is a complete germaphobe and obsessive-compulsive, it has always been kept relatively clean. The two threw their clothes into the washing machine and then went out together.
Most of the senior high school students stayed at school today; they were either out having fun or coming back to catch up on sleep. Since it was the weekend, the school was quite quiet.
As they crossed the Ink Plum Square, Fang Yuenian asked, "What are you buying?"
“We’ve run out of tape, and we’re thinking of buying two more storage boxes.” Meng Xiaoyang said.
"oh."
Meng Xiaoyang looked at him and said, "I have something to ask you."
"Um?"
Meng Xiaoyang considered for a moment, "This morning, you and Cheng Bing probably just... slept, right?"
Fang Yue Nian almost choked out of thin air.
"……ah?"
Meng Xiaoyang coughed. "I didn't mean anything by it. I just wanted to show some concern for you."
Fang Yuenian didn't know how to respond for a long time.
Meng Xiaoyang grinned, "No, really? I... I think I can't be mistaken..."
"Stop, stop, stop," Fang Yuenian hurriedly tried to stop him, "Don't talk to me about this, I don't want to talk to you about it right now."
Meng Xiaoyang felt relieved. After a while, he lowered his voice and said, "I will be happy for you."
Fang Yuenian's face flushed, and she muttered, "How did you know, I..."
Meng Xiaoyang smiled and said, "How could I not see something so obvious? I'm not stupid."
Fang Yuenian couldn't stand the feeling that she was the only fool. "Fine, fine, you're the smartest."
One glared angrily, the other smugly; after a couple of seconds of staring at each other, they both laughed simultaneously.
I first went out to sell maocai (a type of Sichuan hot pot) in my first year of high school; who would have thought it would be like this today?
No matter what, their relationship was destined to be closer than others. Although they couldn't be completely open with each other on many things, that was because they had grown up and young people always had their own pride and were unwilling to easily talk about their childhood pains. But they could generally understand each other and comfort each other.
Cheng Bing's class gathering lasted until late at night, but fortunately she returned before the dormitory curfew.
When he entered, everyone had taken a nap all afternoon and was now full of energy, having a late-night chat.
"So I was really angry. I said, if you like Cheng Bing, go after her yourself. I just confessed to you, and you're asking me to set you up? Is that so bad? Do you think I'm that great?"
Amid Chen Yu's indignant voice, Cheng Bing pushed open the door and entered, asking, "What are you talking about me about?"
Fang Yue Nian didn't go upstairs to sleep. Instead, she fiddled with the storage box that Meng Xiaoyang had just bought that afternoon at the table. Although she had already asked him via text message before, she was still immediately happy to see him back in person. Seeing that he looked normal and didn't smell of alcohol, she was even happier.
“Tell me about peach blossoms you don’t know,” he said, now more open, treating it as a joke, “Have you been drinking?”
“No,” Cheng Bing said, closing the door behind her. As he approached, she took a step back. “I smell of smoke.”
"ah?"
Chen Yu spoke first: "No way, there are guys in Class 18 who smoke?"
Cheng Bing said, "Mm."
"I can't believe it, I really don't understand the world of top students."
Fang Yuenian asked, "Do you want to take another shower?"
"Um."
"I washed all the clothes this afternoon, and they're all dry now. You can pick any of them to wear."
"Okay." Cheng Bing gently nudged his elbow and went to the balcony.
Chen Yu felt the atmosphere was a bit strange, but couldn't quite put his finger on it. Finally, he said awkwardly, "Don't say that, but we're a bit like girlfriends who are controlling their husbands."
Fang Yuenian couldn't catch her breath and seized on the strange point: "You're already a husband, so why are you still a girlfriend?"
Meng Xiaoyang coughed and changed the subject, "I'm not going to collect them anymore," he said, closing the storage box roughly, "I'll just leave them like this for now."
Chen Yu then changed the subject, saying, "Never mind, let's go to sleep early. We're having a farewell dinner tomorrow too."
Fang Yuenian, who was inexplicably molded into a clay figure, wasn't entirely angry. In his relationship with Cheng Bing, Cheng Bing had always been the one in charge of him, but... husband?
Hey, what are you thinking about?
·
The class reunion of Class 18 in the third year of high school was held in a restaurant owned by one of their classmates. The two adjacent large private rooms were so crowded that even with the screens removed, they were still packed with people.
Every science class in the entire grade has a few outstanding students, but over the past three years, the two experimental classes have kept the top three in the grade and rarely ranked in the top ten. They are undoubtedly top classes. Class 18's overall performance is better than Class 17's. Therefore, today's gathering can be considered a grand gathering of top students.
When the banquet began, the homeroom teacher came over and gave a brief speech. The gist of it was that the fifty or so young people here would go to different parts of the country to study different majors in the future, and perhaps some of them would become top figures or outstanding talents in certain fields. Many people think that university is the ivory tower for youth, growth and exploration of unknown fields and knowledge, but in fact, the three years of youthful years spent with classmates in high school are just as precious and irreplaceable.
The homeroom teacher rarely spoke so emotionally, and several students immediately teared up. The boys put their arms around each other's shoulders, and the girls linked arms to wipe each other's tears, creating a heartwarming scene.
However, once the teacher left in the second half of the session, the students started to run wild.
—At this age, the kids don't yet have the sense that time flies. This phase of their youthful days has come to an end, but there's always another one to come. Anyway, the exams are over, so why not have some fun now?
Cheng Bing was later dragged to play the classic, old-fashioned game Truth or Dare, where he was once again asked about his girlfriend, a question that had been circulating for three years.
Many people were already convinced that this girlfriend was fictitious, but since they hadn't heard a response from her personally, Cheng Bing was put in a difficult position, and the truth or falsehood was entirely up to him. So he said:
"I really don't have a girlfriend, never have."
Zhang Qing stood to the side, showing no surprise whatsoever.
She felt an unprecedented sense of relaxation, and the obsession in her heart seemed to instantly become a thing of the past as the bell rang signaling the end of the college entrance examination.
Several of his close friends playfully punched him on the shoulder, saying, "Not bad, you're really good at this! Hey, aren't you afraid the teacher will take it seriously and give you trouble?"
"If you were in the top ten every day, your teacher would probably pretend not to know if you were in a relationship," someone said sarcastically. "If you're like some other people, your teacher might even have to give you relationship counseling."
These words sounded sarcastic and spoiled the mood, but fortunately Zhang Qing didn't react.
Immediately, someone interrupted, turning the conversation back to Cheng Bing: "Hey, Cheng Bing, tell me the truth, out of all those girls in school who have confessed to you, haven't you been interested in any of them?"
Several girls quieted down, extremely curious about the answer to this question.
Cheng Bing remained calm and composed amidst the sudden silence. Facing the expectant gazes of the crowd, she said, "No, because I have someone I like."
After a brief moment of stunned silence, the people around him erupted in a series of exclamations of "Wow!" and "Hooray!"
"Holy crap! What kind of plot twist is this?"
"I knew something was going on! Otherwise, how could he not have any feelings of attraction during puberty?"
"Who is she? Is she the one you claim is your girlfriend? A junior high classmate? Holy crap, no way, even the handsome school heartthrob Cheng had a crush on her for three years..."
"No, no, no, isn't the point that our school heartthrob Cheng is clearly in a crush, but he's acting like it's real and telling everyone he's already his girlfriend? Wow, isn't that a bit too infatuated..."
One sentence sparked countless discussions, but unfortunately Cheng Bing refused to reveal any more.
He was mainly worried that Fang Yuenian would be unhappy, so he wanted to follow Cheng Bing's wishes and start the story from when they went to preschool together as children.
After the party ended, someone suggested going to sing karaoke all night. Cheng Bing left first, saying she had to go back to her dorm. On the way, she texted Fang Yuenian to ask what she was doing.
Fang Yuenian said they were still sorting through books and insisted that Chen Yu return all the miscellaneous books before the dinner tomorrow. Then she cautiously asked him when they would finish, and upon learning they were already done, Fang Yuenian sent a string of happy tildes. Author's Note:
Thank you for reading this book.
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