Page 24

As Qiao Shiyu spoke, her gaze swept over the boxed lunches, sandwiches, and sushi scattered across the grass. She raised a hand to shield her eyes from the blazing sun overhead and smiled faintly. "Such beautiful weather, and you guys are having a picnic on the field? You really know how to have fun!"

Yue Bin waved at Qiao Shiyu with a beaming smile. "Eating in the cafeteria all the time gets boring. Want some?"

As he spoke, Yue Bin pointed at the half-box of sushi on the grass. "There's even corn salad sushi, your favorite."

Zhang Yang, who had been struggling to push forward, lurched ahead when Yue Bin suddenly let go. He flew straight past Lu Chi and landed face-first on the grass.

"Ow!" Zhang Yang clutched his throbbing forehead and nose. "That hurt like hell!"

"Are you okay?" Lu Chi jumped in alarm and hurriedly pulled out a tissue to hand him. "You're not bleeding, are you?"

"No!" Zhang Yang took the tissue and pressed it to his nose, shaking his head gloomily.

Qiao Shiyu curled her lips, her gaze settling on Lu Chi. "I haven't congratulated you on placing first in the entire grade yet."

Lu Chi blinked and smiled. "Thank you."

"But I never expected you to have Photographic Memory, either." The campus beauty Qiao sighed softly. Her gaze swept over Zhang Yang and Yue Bin as she said wistfully, "I clearly knew you first, but somehow you ended up closer to Yue Bin and Zhang Yang. I don't know why, but I just feel so unwilling to accept it."

Lu Chi: "..."

Yue Bin threw an arm around Lu Chi's shoulders and laughed smugly. "Nothing we can do about that. We live together, after all. This is the friendship born of men living together. Girls like you wouldn't understand."

Qiao Shiyu: "..."

Lu Chi shoved Yue Bin's paw away with a look of disgust. Such embarrassing, pointless, cringe-worthy lines—how did this guy even manage to say them out loud? Who gave him the nerve?

Qiao Shiyu also inhaled helplessly. She had known Yue Bin for so many years, yet she still felt like she had never found a way to communicate with him smoothly. That was because someone always dragged every conversation down to the level he was most familiar with, then used his abundant experience to defeat everyone who tried to talk to him!

"Enough about that. Anyway, I came to invite you to my birthday party." As Qiao Shiyu spoke, she held an exquisite invitation out to Lu Chi. Her eyes curved as she smiled. "My birthday is June sixth. I hope you'll come too."

Lu Chi silently calculated what day of the week June sixth fell on, then shook his head. "That's Sunday. I need to stay home with my little sister."

"You mean little Miao Miao?" Qiao Shiyu said with a warm smile. "You can bring your sister with you. We're going to the horse ranch that day anyway, so I can teach little Miao Miao how to ride."

Yue Bin and Zhang Yang leaned in at the same time and asked gloomily, "Is Lu Chi the only one getting an invitation?"

Qiao Shiyu rolled her eyes. "Do you two even need invitations?"

Yue Bin grinned and hooked an arm around Lu Chi's neck. "Come on too. I can teach you how to ride a horse."

Just as Lu Chi was about to speak, a cool voice suddenly came from behind him. "Are you Lu Chi, the one who scored 702 points on this week's test?"

Lu Chi froze slightly. When he turned around, he felt as though a shadow loomed over him. He instinctively leaned back and saw a boy standing behind him, about 1.75 meters tall, with delicate features and an aloof air.

"Zhuo Yue!" Zhang Yang was the first to react. He darted in front of Lu Chi and demanded, "What do you want?"

Zhuo Yue took two steps back in disgust, but his gaze remained fixed firmly on Lu Chi. "Congratulations on getting first place in the grade. I heard you went from failing to scoring this well in just one month, so you must have some effective study methods. Are you interested in joining our study group? We could exchange ideas and help each other."

"Hey!" Zhang Yang glared furiously at Zhuo Yue. "I'm talking to you! Didn't you hear me?"

Zhuo Yue completely ignored the fuming Zhang Yang. With one hand in his pocket, he explained to Lu Chi, "Our study group currently has only eight members, and all of them are in the top ten on the grade rankings. If you join us, I'm sure it will help your studies even more."

All of them were in the top ten on the grade rankings?

Lu Chi secretly glanced at Yue Bin beside him.

Zhuo Yue noticed Lu Chi's look and smiled. "Classmate Yue Bin has not joined our study group. He is probably not interested in scholarships."

"Scholarships?"

"That's right." Zhuo Yue nodded. "Yanda Affiliated High School has a rule: in the final exam of every semester, students who place in the top three of the entire grade receive an 8,000-yuan scholarship. Fourth and fifth place receive 4,000 yuan, sixth through tenth receive 2,000 yuan, and the top one hundred in the grade can have their tuition and fees waived."

At this point, Zhuo Yue paused slightly. "But this reward system is only appealing to students from poor families like us. Rich kids like Classmate Yue Bin obviously wouldn't care about a few thousand yuan."

"Competition at Yanda Affiliated High School is fierce. Getting first in the grade this time doesn't mean you'll make the top ten in the final exams as well. If you're interested in keeping your ranking more stable, you can join our study group."

"We study in the school library every evening from seven to nine-thirty. If you're interested, just come find us in the library tonight."

After saying that, Zhuo Yue waved at Lu Chi and turned to leave.

Lu Chi frowned and turned to look at Yue Bin.

Noticing Lu Chi's confusion, Yue Bin said casually, "I joined that study group before, but we didn't really get along, so I left later."

Yue Bin seemed reluctant to discuss it, but Zhang Yang muttered resentfully, "Of course you couldn't get along! Who could get along with someone who tattles to teachers behind everyone's backs?"

Tattles?

Lu Chi raised an eyebrow and looked at Yue Bin.

Yue Bin awkwardly lifted his head to look at the sky.

Qiao Shiyu, who had been standing nearby watching, explained, "Back when Yue Bin joined Zhuo Yue's study group, the group was allowed to study independently in the library instead of attending evening self-study. So Yue Bin took advantage of that rule to skip evening self-study. Of course, he didn't go to the library either—he ran off to an internet café outside school to play games."