A New Desk Mate

"Class 11 is the only liberal arts experimental class in the entire grade. In this midterm exam, three students from regular classes actually made it into the top ten of the entire grade! Tell me, what's the point of having this experimental class?"

"I won't announce the total scores and rankings; they're posted next to the blackboard for you to see."

"Zhang Chao," Liu Shuying suddenly called out a name.

"Here!"

A short, stout boy stood up nervously.

Liu Shuying said, "You're always in the top eight of the grade, but this time you only got fourteenth place."

Zhang Chao lowered his head in shame.

Liu Shuying continued, "You're a diligent and hardworking student, so I won't say anything harsh. When the papers for each subject are handed out, you should carefully review your problems."

"Okay."

Zhang Chao buried his head even lower, as if getting fourteenth place in the entire grade was a heinous crime.

His score was definitely within the top fifty in the city!

Liu Shuying continued calling names: "Wei Xiaofeng..."

She called out six students in a row, but did not include Chen Guiliang.

Chen Guiliang knew very well that he had only done the multiple-choice questions in math and would definitely be called for a private chat after class.

After calling names, Liu Shuying said, "The papers for other subjects will be given to you tomorrow. Come up and get your English papers now. Zhou Jing, 131 points, a drop from the monthly exam..."

"Peng Yang, 106 points. You're very weak in certain subjects; you must make up for your English deficiency."

"Wu Meng, 147 points, first in the entire grade, keep it up."

"..."

Finally, it was Chen Guiliang's paper. Liu Shuying only stated the score without comment: "Chen Guiliang, 82 points."

Chen Guiliang walked up openly to collect his paper.

After passing the college English test, he hadn't touched English much. In the more than ten years since, the English vocabulary he encountered was basically related to work. He was already quite satisfied with scoring 82 points after being reborn.

But Liu Shuying was particularly disappointed in Chen Guiliang.

Xu Haibo scored 130 this time, which was his normal level.

Xie Yang scored 115, which was so-so. When this kid went to get his paper, he even couldn't help but flip his hair.

Guan Zhiqiang came back with his paper, happily saying, "I improved, 5 points higher than the monthly exam."

Chen Guiliang looked closely and immediately started laughing too.

Guan Zhiqiang's English score was 58... It could only be said that there was still a lot of room for improvement.

Even being reborn, Chen Guiliang found it hard to imagine what Guan Zhiqiang would be like as a leader in an art academy.

After handing out the papers, they started going over the questions.

Chen Guiliang listened attentively; his problem was that he had neglected English for too long.

He had forgotten words, forgotten phrase combinations, and even forgotten grammar.

Li Jun felt his chance had come. He moved his paper, which only scored 34 points, to the space between the two desks: "Student Bian, you don't have a paper, use mine to follow along."

"No need," Bian Guanyue refused decisively.

Li Jun, with a fawning smile, persisted, "Students should help each other."

Bian Guanyue pulled up the hood of her hoodie, covering most of her face, and took out her English textbook to silently memorize words.

Li Jun was met with a polite refusal and didn't know how to proceed.

He was afraid of leaving a bad impression on Bian Guanyue, so he pretended to listen to the teacher explain the paper. But he couldn't concentrate at all. Within two minutes, his mind wandered, and he sat there half-closing his eyes, dozing off.

Time passed little by little, and Liu Shuying finally finished explaining the English paper.

"Carefully review your respective problems. Chen Guiliang, come out for a moment." Liu Shuying said and walked out, planning to have a long private talk with Chen Guiliang in the corridor.

Guan Zhiqiang pressed down on his novel with one hand and patted Chen Guiliang with the other, as a gesture of comfort.

This guy was actually not a bad person.

Chen Guiliang followed the homeroom teacher out, and the classroom instantly became a bit noisier. Most students were studying seriously, while a few started chatting in low voices.

Li Jun took off the MP3 hanging around his neck and pushed it onto Bian Guanyue's desk, saying, "Want to listen to music?"

He was both showing off his Meizu MP3 and trying to listen to music with Bian Guanyue.

Sharing one pair of earphones, each listening to one, how romantic, like a couple.

Bian Guanyue seemed to dislike talking. She reached into her backpack, took out an MP3, and placed it on the desk, indicating that she also had one.

Li Jun glanced at the brand: Samsung.

His expression was a bit awkward, and he silently put away his Meizu.

Still unwilling to give up, Li Jun took out his phone again: "What's Student Bian's phone number?"

Still showing off, and trying to pick up a girl at the same time.

His phone was a Sony Ericsson T618, with an official price of 3800 yuan, but the actual price was over 4000 yuan. It was a hot item, so you had to pay a premium to get it.

"Slap!"

Bian Guanyue clearly guessed his thoughts. She immediately pulled out a large iPhone 6 and slapped it directly on the table: "Don't bother me."

The Nokia 6600 had an official price of 4680 yuan, which was even more expensive than the premium-priced Sony Ericsson.

Li Jun instantly froze there.

He was annoying because of his foul mouth and his poor academic performance. There were only two things he could show off: one was that he was tall and good at basketball, and the other was that his family was rich and lacked nothing.

Now it was obvious that Bian Guanyue was richer than him.

He couldn't possibly drag a girl out for a one-on-one game and try to save face by playing basketball, could he?

He subtly stuffed his phone back into his pocket and cautiously probed, "Student Bian, does your dad do business in Rong City?"

Bian Guanyue said, "My dad is a gangster. He just got out of prison."

As soon as she said this, the conversation was dead.

Li Jun was scratching his head in frustration. His usual method of picking up girls had failed, and he really didn't know what to do next.

But he couldn't bear to give up just like that, because Bian Guanyue was too beautiful.

Outside the classroom door, in the corridor.

Liu Shuying said with a stern face, "You've caused trouble several times this semester. Under normal circumstances, you should have been advised to withdraw and expelled long ago. Do you know why you were only put on probation?"

Chen Guiliang sincerely said gratefully, "Thank you, Teacher Liu, for helping me plead my case."

Liu Shuying shook her head, "My pleading with the principal was only a secondary factor. The school didn't expel you because your academic performance is still good. You can at least get into a second-tier university, a first-tier university with a little effort, and possibly a key university if you study hard."

"Sigh," Chen Guiliang sighed.

Liu Shuying continued, "Before the division into arts and science streams, I taught you English in Class 1. I know how good your entrance exam scores were. You were 56th in the city for the high school entrance exam! You only lost a few points in Chinese, Math, and English. For other subjects, you got full marks in the high school entrance exam. If you had studied hard from the first year of high school, you could have possibly gotten into Tsinghua or Peking University."

Chen Guiliang laughed heartily. He was still very satisfied with his high school entrance exam scores.

Liu Shuying said again, "When we divided into arts and science classes, your math and physics scores were both above 95 (out of 100). I don't know why you insisted on choosing the arts stream, but no matter what stream you choose, you should focus on studying. You are a student, why are you always getting involved in all those messy things?"

Chen Guiliang was speechless.

Because even he himself felt that his three years of high school were quite absurd.

But he didn't regret it, he just thought it was ridiculous.

Liu Shuying said, "Li Jun's family has someone in office, and Guan Zhiqiang's family is doing business. Their parents are rich and powerful, so they don't have to worry about the future no matter how much they mess around and play. What about you? A left-behind child, besides studying hard, what other way do you have to change your life?"

Chen Guiliang strongly agreed, "Teacher is right."

Liu Shuying said heartbrokenly, "Although you often caused trouble before and didn't focus on studying, at least you were serious during exams. What about this time? You only did the multiple-choice questions for math and handed in the paper, your English score dropped by more than 30 points, and your comprehensive arts score dropped by more than 50 points. If this continues, the school will really expel you!"

Chen Guiliang promised, "I will definitely correct myself."

Liu Shuying said, "There will be a parent-teacher meeting next weekend. You must ask your parents to come."

Chen Guiliang said, "Teacher Liu, you know. My parents are working in other places, and other relatives coming to the parent-teacher meeting is just a formality. Isn't it better to use the 8 yuan round-trip bus fare to eat two more meals of meat?"

Liu Shuying was so angry she laughed. She really didn't know how to manage this strange student.

Chen Guiliang was actually also very tired. He clearly had the soul of a 40-year-old, but because of the ridiculous things he did in high school, he had to pretend to be a little kid and obediently take the scolding.

After a few seconds of silence, Liu Shuying said, "Take care of yourself. Go call Wang Chunlei out."

Chen Guiliang finally got his freedom. He walked back to the classroom with light steps and shouted loudly, "Wang Chunlei, Teacher Liu is calling for you!"

A boy wearing glasses heard this and looked nervous. He braced himself and got up to walk out.

Chen Guiliang returned to his seat and continued to look at his English mistakes.

Bian Guanyue didn't know what Li Jun said, but she stood up impatiently. She saw Guan Zhiqiang drooling while reading a novel, looking foolish and stupid, and confirmed that he was a good candidate for a deskmate.

So, Bian Guanyue picked up her schoolbag and walked up to Chen Guiliang: "Classmate, can we switch seats?"

"No," Chen Guiliang didn't even lift his head and continued to flip through the English test paper.

Bian Guanyue seemed to have misheard and forced a polite smile: "Thank you."

Chen Guiliang repeated, "I said no."

Bian Guanyue: "..."

In his previous life, before rebirth, Chen Guiliang had foolishly agreed.

If he had switched to be deskmates with Li Jun, what was the difference between that and sitting next to a pile of shit? He was disgusted enough in his previous life.

Bian Guanyue, however, didn't know Chen Guiliang's thoughts. No boy had ever refused her request. Chen Guiliang's decisive "no" instantly stumped her.

After thinking for a moment, she decided that Chen Guiliang's attitude was also suitable for a deskmate, so Bian Guanyue said to Guan Zhiqiang again, "Classmate, can we switch seats?"

Guan Zhiqiang's brain had a long reaction time. He was stunned for a few seconds before reacting and smiling foolishly at the girl: "Ah? Oh, okay."

After saying that, this guy packed up his things and moved.

He carried his textbooks, test papers, novels, schoolbag, and exercise books all at once to Li Jun's side and said happily, "Hoho, we're deskmates again."

Li Jun muttered gloomily, "Only an idiot would want to share a desk with you."

Guan Zhiqiang turned back and grinned foolishly at Chen Guiliang again, "Great Hero Chen, Li Jun called you an idiot."

Chen Guiliang ignored him, not bothering to stoop to the level of two simpletons.

He suddenly remembered something and finally looked up at Bian Guanyue, "Just a heads-up."

"What is it?" Bian Guanyue asked.

Chen Guiliang said, "You'd better change the desk too."

Bian Guanyue asked doubtfully, "Why?"

Chen Guiliang pointed at the desk Guan Zhiqiang had left behind, "Nobody knows where the old boogers are hidden on this desk. That student Guan who just moved, not only drools when he reads novels, but he also likes to pick his nose."

Bian Guanyue felt a wave of nausea. She had just put her schoolbag on the desk and quickly picked it up again.

Her schoolbag was no longer pure; she planned to get a new one.

Bian Guanyue carried her schoolbag to change desks, and Guan Zhiqiang happily agreed.

Li Jun was still trying to be helpful, "Student Bian, I'm strong, I can help you move it."

"No need," Bian Guanyue refused again.

(Old Wang has never met Yue Guan in person, nor has he chatted with him online. The female protagonist has absolutely nothing to do with Yue Guan. In the comment section and chapter discussions of this book, it's best not to joke about other authors. I don't mind, but it's not good if the mentioned authors see it.)

(Also, based on suggestions from readers, starting tomorrow, the update times will be changed to 8 AM and 6 PM. This is convenient for slacking off at work and reading a chapter after work.)

(Thanks to sfqk, transformed, and successor - three great lords - for their Alliance Leader rewards.)