Chapter 31

Chi Ning and Qin Heng exchanged a glance, both understanding. The person who had sought out Yue Yaozong was actually Sun Boxing.

Wang Quan asked, "How do you know him? Haven't you considered that someone might be using you as a pawn?"

Yue Yaozong's face turned bright red.

So what if he was being used as a pawn? The other guy was willing to give him money he might not earn in three years all at once.

"How did you meet him?" Qin Heng reached out and patted Yue Yaozong's lower back in a threatening manner. "Talk."

Yue Yaozong trembled. "The construction site where I work part-time on weekends is contracted by his family. I met him while moving bricks. I complained about you guys a few times, and he overheard me. Early this morning, he called me out and gave me the money..."

Chi Ning was speechless.

It seemed he had provoked Sun Boxing a little too badly yesterday. The guy was so desperate that he had resorted to every ridiculous trick imaginable.

He asked softly, "What was that person's name?"

"Sun..." Yue Yaozong thought for a moment. "Sun... Sun Bai Xing? Or Sun Bu Xing? Three dots next to a bai."

The gorgeous English teacher, who had been eavesdropping for quite a while, was speechless. "Bo! Fine, you don't know foreign languages and think Hua Nation people shouldn't speak foreign nonsense. But how do you not even know Chinese characters? Can't you try to improve yourself? Even Qin Heng knows he needs to study!"

Qin Heng:?

Why was she comparing him to Yue Yaozong? Wasn't that an insult to him?

Qin Heng and Yue Yaozong exchanged a glance, then turned their heads away in mutual disgust.

Wang Quan wanted to invite their parents over to discuss the educational issues of this bunch of troublemakers, but half the students in Blue Sky Class had no parents. Even if he wanted to invite them, he could not.

Qin Heng did have a father now, but he had done this to seek justice for a friend. It counted as acting out of righteous loyalty, so calling in his parent to lecture him did not seem appropriate.

So...

"Each of you will write a 3,000-word self-criticism and hand it to your homeroom teacher. Yue Yaozong, tomorrow you'll give a self-criticism speech at the flag-raising ceremony. Qin Heng and Chi Ning..."

Wang Quan paused. "Go back. If something like this happens again, tell a teacher directly. We'll find a way to deal with it."

Chi Ning nodded obediently, slipped his hand into his pocket, and secretly saved the recording he had just made.

The two of them turned and left the office together.

Chi Ning had something on his mind and failed to notice Qin Heng suddenly stopping ahead of him.

He bumped straight into Qin Heng's back.

He let out a muffled sound and took a step back, looking slightly lost. "What is it?"

Qin Heng pursed his lips in thought. How could Chi Ning be so smart? He had figured out that Yue Yaozong had taken money merely from his clothes and phone.

Never before had Qin Heng felt the distance between himself and Chi Ning so vast.

Qin Heng let out a soft breath and asked quietly, "Tell me... how many places do you think I can move up in the next monthly exam?"

Chapter 31

Chi Ning:...

Honestly, probably not by much.

Qin Heng had only just finished making up for the basics, while No. 1 High School's senior-year monthly exams tested students' overall command of high school knowledge.

It was perfectly normal for Qin Heng not to do well this time.

Chi Ning said, "Maybe... around fifty places?"

Qin Heng still wanted to struggle. "Not even a hundred?"

Lately, he had either been studying with his godfather or studying with Chi Ning. He had been going nonstop from morning to night. Even so, he could only move up fifty places?

"You really are smart," Chi Ning praised him cautiously, and a smile had just begun to appear on Qin Heng's face.

Then Chi Ning continued, "But the other students at No. 1 High School aren't slacking off either. You're studying, and so are they."

That was already the most tactful thing he could think of saying.

Chi Ning paused with difficulty, then reached out and patted Qin Heng on the shoulder. "Comrade Little Qin, outside Class 18 lies a sea of stars."

Qin Heng:...

How could a 37-degree mouth with cinnamon-colored lips say something so cold?

That one word, comrade, shattered every thought that had risen around Chi Ning's little belly. He instantly became clear-headed and utterly free of desire.

Qin Heng walked Chi Ning to the stairwell, then returned to Class 18 to conquer that sea of stars.

Chi Ning climbed the stairs and made his way to the door of Class 1, where he saw Ye Xinran leaning over the railing outside to get some air.

Ye Xinran rested his elbows on the railing, half his forearms exposed. His face was lit by the morning sun, giving him the air of a gloomy, cool, top-student male lead from a campus novel.

Chi Ning raised a hand and touched his own face. He had been taking things a little too easy lately, and his face had gained some flesh. When he looked in the mirror that morning, his cheeks had already become slightly rounded.

Unlike in his previous life, when he had been so thin that his cheeks were hollow, as if he could not afford food.

Chi Ning did not want to disturb Ye Xinran, nor did he want to make meaningless small talk, so he turned to leave.

But Ye Xinran spoke calmly. "What did you mean just now?"

"Nothing." Chi Ning fanned the air at him with his hand. "I just think you should eat more. Didn't my dad give you enough money? You're so skinny you look like you can't afford food. One gust of wind and you'll float away."

The fingers gripping the railing tightened. "I'm not short of money now..."

He asked, "There seem to be a lot of reporters waiting for you at the entrance. How did you get in?"

Chi Ning answered concisely, "Climbed the wall."

Ye Xinran pressed, "Are you okay?"

Chi Ning was utterly baffled. "If I weren't okay, would I be standing here?"

Strange. Ye Xinran usually seemed pretty smart, so why did he suddenly seem like he was just trying to make conversation?

"If you have something to say, say it."

Skip all that pointless small-talk nonsense.

Ye Xinran:...

"May I ask, do you know MBTI?"

Without even looking up, Chi Ning said, "What MBTI?"

"It's a personality test. It's fairly popular in M Nation right now, and people there often use the results of personality tests as career references."

Ye Xinran paused. "I saw it on foreign websites. I took it when I was competing over there. I'm ISFJ."

"Practical, responsible, loyal."

Chi Ning:?

Why was he suddenly complimenting himself?

"Are you submitting a résumé to me?"

It sounded like an interview.

Ye Xinran took a deep breath. "No. I just think you should be INTJ: rational, independent, and somewhat..."

sharp-tongued

and arrogant."

Chi Ning gave an oh. "I'm not really independent."

He was a little salted fish planning to live off dividends for the rest of his life.

Besides... he was probably just a little bad at talking. He was not sharp-tongued, was he?

"Although everything has its reason for existing, I still think frameworks like this, similar to horoscopes, will only subtly influence your personality. Rather than using something like this as a basis for how you act or choose friends, you might as well treat it as entertainment."

Chi Ning frowned. "I'd still, um... rather you brought questions you can't solve to ask me about. What do you think?"

That way, neither of them would waste time on unnecessary small talk and chatter.

Ye Xinran fell silent, somewhat frustrated. Chi Ning was definitely the hardest person to please he had ever encountered in his short life.

He could not spend the rest of his life bringing an unsolvable question every time he wanted to approach Chi Ning.

How else could things progress to the next step?

That was what he thought, but he said, "I understand."

Chi Ning gave an mm and turned to enter the classroom.

But as he sat down, he suddenly thought of Qin Heng.

Whether in his previous life or this one, Qin Heng always had something concrete to say whenever he came to find him, and always had a reason for it.

Whether he was bringing bayberry juice or asking if Chi Ning wanted to read or play basketball together, he always went straight to the point without wasting even a moment. When Chi Ning was in the same space as Qin Heng, he seemed to forget socializing was even a thing.

It was very comfortable.

Chi Ning licked his lips and propped his head up as he looked out the window.

First period was math. To the students in the competition class, the teacher was more like a mascot. Everyone generally studied on their own below, only taking questions they could not solve up to ask.

Chi Ning could openly enjoy the view or make up problems for himself to solve.

Class 1 was on the top floor, and the seats had rotated once in the month since school began.

Chi Ning had moved from a seat by the corridor to one beside the windows overlooking the field.

With a turn of his head, he could see the boys and girls racing around on the field.

With just one glance downward, he spotted Qin Heng lining up beside the sandpit.

Class 18's first period was actually PE?

Chi Ning sat up a little straighter, and all his senses sharpened at that moment.

A faint whistle sounded, and Qin Heng sprinted from the far end of the track. Every stride he took was long, as though he might ride the wind into the air. His jacket billowed in the breeze. He leaped lightly before the sandpit, soaring like an eagle standing in empty air.

Qin Heng landed one foot in the sandpit and ran forward a few steps from inertia.

Zhang Qiuwen went over and hooked an arm around his shoulders, grinning. "Not bad, bro."

Chi Ning could not hear him, but for some reason, he felt certain that was how Zhang Qiuwen had praised him.

There did not seem to be many people in Class 18 who were close to Qin Heng. Aside from Zhang Qiuwen, the other students deliberately kept their distance from him, seeming to fear and respect him instinctively.

"Chi Ning... Chi Ning?" Li Qiuhe poked Chi Ning in the back with his pen. "Stop spacing out. The teacher's calling you."

Chi Ning snapped back to his senses and walked up to the podium.

The math teacher said quietly, "The Class 2 students sorted out the questions in your notes that they couldn't understand. They want to invite you over to explain them. If you're willing to go, their math teacher said he'll treat Class 1 to KFC today."

"Class 2's teacher has money. If you go teach them, I'll have him order ten family buckets for us."

Chi Ning nodded obediently, thinking that this tutoring fee was really outrageous.

Li Qiuhe had a sudden idea. "Then if our class rented out God Chi every day, wouldn't we get family buckets every day in senior year?"

The math teacher at the podium rolled his eyes. "Keep dreaming."

Chi Ning laughed too. "Drinking carbonated beverages long-term affects the body's calcium absorption, affects development, and also..."

Kills sperm.

"Anyway, you can't drink it every day."

For teenage boys, nothing mattered more than height.