Heartbroken Jocks

The exam bell rang across campus. The gate guard was probably opening the school gates about now. On exam days, school let out earlier than usual, and students could leave as soon as they finished.

Zhao Xiaobai stood up. "I'm going back to the classroom to get my notebook of mistakes. Let's meet at the milk tea shop in a bit."

Chen Zhao nodded. "I'll go save us a seat."

The milk tea shop by the school gate was spacious, with nearly a hundred seats. It was more like a fast-food restaurant than a milk tea shop. By the time Chen Zhao went in, more than half the seats were taken, so he had to sit by a window in the corner and wait.

The place smelled delicious, filled with the aromas of fried chicken, milk tea, fruit tea, and side dishes. Students trickled in, ordering a couple of burgers and a cup of fruit tea or something, then gathering in little groups to chat over food and drinks. The food was decent, and the prices weren't too high—somewhere between Wallace and KFC. Plenty of students with a bit of money to spare came here for lunch or dinner. Chen Zhao had been here once before, but his pockets had been tight, and he couldn't afford to eat here regularly. He hadn't come back since. Lately, he'd made a small fortune from livestreaming, so he could finally treat himself.

Four jocks sat down at the table beside Chen Zhao. They all ordered fruit tea and chicken wraps, chatting as they ate.

They were so close that Chen Zhao could hear everything they said.

"Come on, let's play Winner Winner Chicken Dinner. This season's almost over. Let's rank up to Star Diamond." A crew-cut guy pulled out his phone.

"I'm not playing. My phone screen's busted." With an awkward grin, a short-haired guy took his phone from his pocket. The screen was shattered like a spiderweb.

"Holy crap, that's insane! How'd it get that bad? Did you use your phone as a brick in a fight?" asked a thug-looking guy with an earring.

"No, no. I saw Zhao Xiaobai on my way to school today! I wanted to sneak a picture of her. I'd already taken out my phone when she looked back, and I got so startled my hand slipped." The short-haired guy scratched his head and smiled sheepishly. "Then my phone fell and broke."

"Did you get the picture?" another short-haired guy asked.

"Just one of her from behind." The short-haired guy with the broken phone smiled bashfully, sounding delighted.

"Come on, let us take a look!"

"Get lost. Why should you guys be looking at my wife?"

"Get over yourself. What do you mean, 'your wife'? Does Zhao Xiaobai even know you?"

"She doesn't know me now... but she will! I'm confessing to her after graduation!"

"Give it a rest, you coward. She only looked back and you dropped your phone. You think you've got the guts to confess to her?"

The jocks started trading jabs, laughing and teasing each other. They were clearly close friends, the kind who loved to joke around.

Chen Zhao listened in stunned silence. Was the guy with the broken phone secretly in love with Zhao Xiaobai?

The four jocks kept talking.

"I wonder what kind of guy Zhao Xiaobai likes."

"I hope she likes muscular guys. Look at these muscles I've built. Don't I look like Schwarzenegger? Don't I look like I could make her feel safe?"

"What do you know? You've overdone it. Your chest is bigger than hers. You look like a brute! Girls these days like tall guys. I'm six-foot-three... I might actually have a chance!"

"Forget it, guys. Next time I see her, I'm going straight up and confessing. I'll pursue her boldly and passionately. She won't be able to resist. A few years from now, I'll be marrying Zhao Xiaobai. You're all invited to the wedding—no cash gifts!"

Chen Zhao was dumbfounded.

A moment ago, he'd thought the guy with the broken phone was the only one in love with Zhao Xiaobai.

But after listening to them for a while, it seemed... all four of these jocks were interested in her!

Chen Zhao was a little surprised. He'd heard before that Zhao Xiaobai was the campus goddess: beautiful as a fairy, an outstanding student, and gentle and composed—the very image of a first love from school. At the time, he'd thought it was just something classmates joked about, since he himself hadn't felt anything for Zhao Xiaobai. But now, after waiting in the milk tea shop for only a little while, he'd found four of her admirers at the next table.

Looks like she really was the campus goddess!

Speak of the devil.

The milk tea shop door swung open, and a white dress drifted in like a cloud beneath the sunlight. Zhao Xiaobai stood in the doorway and glanced around the shop. When she spotted Chen Zhao by the window in the corner, she smiled and hurried over, dropping into the seat across from him.

"What would you like to eat? My treat. We can talk while we eat," Zhao Xiaobai suggested.

"Clatter!" A phone hit the floor. One of the jocks at the next table bent down to pick it up.

It was the same short-haired guy whose phone screen was shattered like a spiderweb. He'd been fiddling with it when he saw Zhao Xiaobai head straight over and sit across from a guy, even offering to buy him a meal. He was so devastated and dazed that he dropped his phone again...

Chen Zhao glanced at the four jocks at the next table. They'd all gone quiet, their faces turning green.

The short-haired guy with the broken phone seemed to have red eyes. He pressed his lips together and said nothing. After taking a couple of sips of fruit tea, he suddenly stood up, grabbed his drink and chicken wrap, and left without looking back.

The other three jocks stood up too, grabbed their fruit teas, and hurried out.

If heartbreak made a sound, those jocks' departure would have been accompanied by a loud crunch. Their hearts were all shattered!

Obviously, they all thought Chen Zhao was Zhao Xiaobai's boyfriend. They'd spent ages discussing their beautiful dreams of marrying her, only to discover she was right there beside them. Mortified, they all got up and fled. Chen Zhao didn't even have time to explain.

Chen Zhao gave a wry smile. Who would've thought he'd run into something like this?

Whatever. Let them misunderstand.

"It doesn't seem right for you to treat me. I can pay, or we can split the bill," Chen Zhao said, coming back to himself.

"But you still have to explain the problems to me, right? Think of it as a fee for your hard work. I can't have you do it for free!" Zhao Xiaobai insisted, getting to her feet. "I'll order you teriyaki chicken rice and an orange tea. Is that okay?"

"Sure." Chen Zhao nodded.

A few minutes later, they each had a serving of teriyaki chicken rice and a large cup of orange tea in front of them. After eating for a while, Zhao Xiaobai took a thick black notebook out of her bag and opened it. It was filled with page after page of copied questions she'd gotten wrong.

Chen Zhao leaned over the table and looked at the problems Zhao Xiaobai pointed out. They were all obscure, tricky math olympiad questions. But for someone as clever as Chen Zhao, it took only ten or twenty seconds to work out an approach, and at most a minute to calculate the answer in his head. Then he began explaining them to her.

Explaining things to a top student was easy. He didn't need to go into much detail; he could draw a simple auxiliary line or mention which method to use, and Zhao Xiaobai would immediately understand.

It took an hour, but they finally worked through all the problems.

Zhao Xiaobai was delighted. When she checked the time, she saw that the afternoon exam wasn't far off, so she took out a few exercise books and decided to review for a while.

Chen Zhao saw the books she pulled out: the Hengshui Golden Exam Compilation. He hadn't looked through them before, so he asked Zhao Xiaobai if he could borrow one to read. He knew full well that a good brain alone wouldn't be enough to get high marks in all his upcoming exams; he'd also have to grind through practice questions. Whenever he came across a workbook he hadn't seen before, he'd work through it, so he wouldn't feel nervous in the exams.

Zhao Xiaobai took all the exercise books out of her bag and stacked them into a tall pile. "I've got books for every subject," she said boldly. "Read whichever ones you want."

The afternoon exam was Chinese, so Chen Zhao picked up a Chinese workbook and started flipping through it.

He read incredibly fast!

He took in ten lines at a glance!

Page after page.

Before long, he'd breezed through more than half the book.

"You have to read carefully!" Zhao Xiaobai noticed Chen Zhao flipping through page after page and frowned. "If there's anything you don't know, go over it repeatedly. Reading this fast won't help!"

Chen Zhao shook his head. "I have a photographic memory. Once I've seen something, I can remember it."