Chapter 42

Seeing that the class arts performance on the central main stage was about to begin while Lu Yao still had not returned,

Lu Qi muttered in confusion, "Didn't he just go to the restroom? Why is he taking so long?"

Hearing Lu Qi say that, Jiang Bai could not help frowning as he looked toward the direction Lu Yao had left in.

When Lu Yao finally appeared within his field of vision, the corners of Jiang Bai's lips lifted slightly.

But the next second, when he noticed the white bandages wrapped around Lu Yao's hand, his gaze froze, and the softness in his eyes instantly turned into sharp, icy light.

Seeing that Lu Yao had returned with bandages around his hand, Lu Qi hurried over anxiously.

"Didn't you just go to the restroom? How did you manage to mess up your hand like this?"

Lu Yao reassured him calmly, "I accidentally fell on the way there and scraped some skin. I already went to the school infirmary and had the doctor treat it. It's nothing serious."

Lu Qi frowned and nagged, "Seriously, good thing it wasn't serious this time. You only hurt your hand, but you need to be more careful when you walk from now on."

Jiang Bai glanced over Lu Yao's clean white tracksuit, suspicion surfacing in his eyes.

If he had fallen, why was there not the slightest mark on Lu Yao's white tracksuit?

Hearing Lu Yao lie to Lu Qi and say that he had hurt his hand in a fall, Zhang Xinyang, who was sitting in the corner, stiffened slightly, his lips pressed into a thin line.

Had Lu Yao lied because he was worried Lu Qi would take his anger out on him?

Jiang Bai cast a cold glance at Zhang Xinyang, who had silently entered behind Lu Yao just moments earlier.

Noticing that Zhang Xinyang's expression seemed off, a chill rose in Jiang Bai's eyes. Was Lu Yao's injury connected to him?

The two-day School Sports Meet soon came to an end.

At noon on the day after the School Sports Meet ended, everyone was laughing and fooling around when they suddenly heard Lu Yao's voice over the noon broadcast. Curious, they all looked up toward the classroom speakers.

In fact, it was not just the students who were confused. Even You Yu had been shocked when his deskmate, Lu Yao, said he wanted to borrow the Broadcasting Station.

You Yu was the head of the Broadcasting Station. Every day during the noon break, the station held a midday broadcast.

Besides broadcasting its usual content, the Broadcasting Station also served another purpose: registering student PK matches.

To encourage healthy competition among students, Huiying High School had a special PK system.

This system was set up for all kinds of competitions between students. If two students wanted to compete in a particular talent, they could announce their PK through the Broadcasting Station and compete under the judgment and supervision of the whole school. The student issuing the challenge had to register the PK with the Broadcasting Station.

If Wang Shining had not brought it up yesterday, Lu Yao would not have known about this system in the first place.

After succinctly announcing over the broadcast that he and Wang Shining would compete in grades in the next monthly exam, Lu Yao got up and left the Broadcasting Station, leaving You Yu standing in front of the broadcast console in confusion.

When they heard that Lu Yao was actually going to compete with Wang Shining in grades, many people began asking curiously about Lu Yao's academic performance.

After all, everyone knew Wang Shining's grades. Before Xia Yue transferred here, although he had always ranked below Jiang Bai, being the perennial number two already proved how outstanding his grades were.

When they learned Lu Yao's ranking in the previous monthly exam, they all voiced their shock and confusion.

No, wasn't this a guaranteed loss? What the hell was Lu Yao thinking?!

With such a huge disparity in ability, they could guess the final result with their eyes closed.

By the time Lu Yao returned to class from the Broadcasting Station, the price he would have to pay if he lost the bet had already been spread to their class by Wang Shining.

Wang Shining did not mention a word about what price he would pay if he lost. Instead, he made sure everyone knew that Lu Yao would have to handle the Badminton Club's cleaning work for a month if he lost.

Mindful of Lu Qi's presence, the people in class only whispered among themselves.

"What beef does Lu Yao have with Wang Shining?"

"I don't know whether they have beef, but Lu Yao is definitely going to embarrass himself."

"The Badminton Club is huge. It usually takes more than twenty people to clean it. Can Lu Yao handle it alone? And for an entire month? That sounds exhausting!"

"No, why is Lu Yao competing with Wang Shining in grades? Lu Yao's grades aren't even as good as Lu Qi's. Isn't he just asking to be humiliated?"

As soon as Lu Yao entered the classroom and returned to his seat, Lu Qi patted his shoulder with a grave expression.

"There's no turning back once the arrow leaves the bow! Don't worry. There's still more than half a month before the next monthly exam. I'll definitely help you improve."

Lu Yao raised an eyebrow. "You?"

Lu Qi answered confidently, "Of course not just me. I'm also planning to hire a team of top teachers to give you intensive training over the next half month."

Lu Yao said, "Forget the top teachers. I think having you tutor me will be more than enough."

Hearing how much Lu Yao trusted his abilities, Lu Qi could not help smiling smugly.

But when he thought of what would happen if Lu Yao lost the bet, he still could not hide his concern as he advised, "How about I hire a few more tutors for you? That would be safer."

Lu Yao said, "Really, there's no need."

Noticing the bandages around Lu Yao's right hand, Ye Muqing, who was sitting nearby, could not help frowning. "Lu Yao, you're right-handed, aren't you? Do you want to talk to Wang Shining and see if you can change the date of the competition? Otherwise, your right hand will be injured during this time. That's too much of a disadvantage."

Lu Yao lowered his eyes and looked at the tightly wrapped bandages on his right hand.

Remembering what he had seen yesterday, his voice carried a chill. "There's no need to change the date."

Unlike Lu Qi, Ye Muqing, and the others, Jiang Bai was not worried about Lu Yao's bet with Wang Shining.

Jiang Bai had always paid close attention to Lu Yao. Moreover, Lu Yao was merely lazy and had never deliberately hidden his true abilities. Jiang Bai had long picked up enough clues to infer that Lu Yao's actual grades were probably no worse than his own.

What Jiang Bai was truly curious about was why Lu Yao had gotten into a dispute with Wang Shining. His intuition told him that the reason behind it was related to Lu Yao's current injury.

Everyone had thought they would next see Lu Yao studying diligently, but during the afternoon classes, he still slept lazily through them.

Hearing the noise in the classroom after class, Lu Yao's raven-feather lashes fluttered slightly, casting a faint fan-shaped shadow beneath his eyes.

He slowly opened his eyes. Looking at the blurry figure beside him, his gaze carried the faint bewilderment of someone who had just woken up.

Noticing that Lu Yao's gaze had landed on him, Jiang Bai knew Lu Yao had merely just woken up and had not fully regained his senses, but the corners of his lips still could not help lifting.

Whenever Lu Yao looked at him like this after waking up, it always gave him a lingering illusion, as though Lu Yao's entire being was tied to him.

Lu Yao raised a hand and pressed at his head, which felt a little swollen from sleeping.

"Want a piece of candy to wake yourself up?"

Lu Yao looked up. A clear, translucent candy lay in Jiang Bai's fair palm.

Lu Yao had just raised his right hand to take the candy when he froze for a moment, then remembered that his right hand was currently wrapped in bandages and his fingers could not move freely.

Just as he was about to switch to his left hand, Jiang Bai chuckled, pinched the candy lightly between his fingertips, and held it to Lu Yao's lips.

"Here."

Lu Yao froze for a moment, then lowered his head and parted his lips slightly, his tongue deftly curling forward.

The instant his warm, wet tongue accidentally brushed against Jiang Bai's cool, dry fingertip, both Jiang Bai and Lu Yao felt an electric softness and numbness spread through the depths of their burning hearts.

Jiang Bai's heated breathing faltered for a moment.

He forcibly suppressed the turbulent, complicated emotions in his eyes, allowing the trembling sensation spreading from the depths of his soul to wash over his body, while maintaining an outward appearance of calm composure.

Lu Yao could not help secretly glancing at Jiang Bai from the corner of his eye. Seeing Jiang Bai's calm expression, as though he had not noticed that brief contact, Lu Yao somehow quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

The faint restlessness in his heart also seemed to gradually fade away.

He narrowed his eyes, allowing the sweet but not cloying milky flavor to slowly spread through his mouth, while a hint of languidness gradually appeared in his cool eyes.

Noticing that Lu Yao's gaze had moved away from him, Jiang Bai lowered his eyes halfway and lightly rubbed the fingertip that had just been touched. The scorching heat in that patch of skin had yet to fade.