Results

Scattered across the little wooden bed were Liao Yu's burgundy cotton bra, a black fitted top, and a little silk vest...

A little pale breast milk had dripped onto the floor. There was no telling whether it had leaked out on its own or Liao Yu had squeezed it out...

Qin An immediately understood that Liao Yu's breasts were engorged. He did know a little about this sort of thing...

Qin An had not expected to see such a scene. Although he had deliberately neglected to knock because he had wanted to play a prank, what he had just said had been foolish. The sight really was so striking that it could easily short-circuit a person's brain...

Only when Liao Yu noticed Qin An's gaze lingering on her chest did she realize what sort of scene this was. First came embarrassment, then mortified anger...

An ordinary child would most likely have blushed scarlet at the sight, never staring so openly. Thinking of how all her embarrassing moments had happened in front of Qin An, Liao Yu felt utterly wronged. What ill-fated clash had she brought upon herself? She had gotten him out of Class 68, and now things had only grown worse. In front of him, her dignity as a teacher had been torn to shreds...

Qin An's words made Liao Yu feel even more embarrassed, as though a little hooligan were teasing her. The heavy fullness of breasts as round and ample as hers already pressed against her chest, making it somewhat difficult to breathe. Sometimes, when she undid her bra, she really did want to let them breathe a little. But how did he seem to know these little private habits of women?

"I'll step outside..." Qin An set down the notebook. This woman really was slow on the uptake. She still had not thought to cover herself. Wasn't a woman's instinct at a time like this supposed to be to scream and then cover her chest?

Qin An rubbed his head, went out, and closed the door behind him...

How could Liao Yu dare scream? If Qin An really were a hooligan, she would have, but he wasn't. Everyone else regarded him as a thirteen-year-old child. If she screamed, wouldn't she still have to explain this embarrassing incident to others? She would only become a laughingstock...

In an instant, Liao Yu's face flushed scarlet, and her breasts swelled even more painfully, sending wave after wave of pain through her. She endured it as she put on her bra and top, then pushed open the door, only to discover Qin An still standing outside...

"What are you still doing here?" Liao Yu demanded irritably, her expression dark. She had suffered for nothing and let him get an eyeful...

"When your breasts are engorged, you mustn't squeeze them with your hands. That will only make them hurt more... At a time like this, you should fill a basin with hot water, then bare your upper body like you just did, bend over, and put those two balls of flesh into the water. Gently sway them, and that will ease the pain..." Qin An offered the advice out of kindness...

Balls of flesh? Anger surged through Liao Yu. She folded her arms over her chest and turned sideways, pretending not to have heard him...

Qin An could not be bothered with her either. He ran out and wheeled his bicycle off to pick up Li Xinlan...

A beautiful girl sat on the bicycle seat, wearing a shy expression as she softly told him amusing stories about school. The mischievous wind stirred her skirt and teased her long hair. Every so often, a bump sent her soft body against the boy's back, and both felt an innocent sweetness at the unfamiliar contact. Wasn't this gentle tenderness, these delicate feelings, far better than exchanging glares with Liao Yu?

For a genuine adolescent boy, a mature woman's enticing body and the effortless, natural allure she unwittingly revealed held an irresistible power. But Qin An preferred the girls around him, as innocent as blank sheets of paper and as delicate as dew-covered flower petals. He could cherish them carefully, watch their beauty bloom, and catch that fragrance so faint he had to hold his breath with care to perceive it. Wasn't that all the more worth treasuring?

Mature women were always around, while girlhood drifted farther and farther away...

The next day was Wednesday, and the exam results were posted first thing in the morning. The dean of studies, Kuang Haihan, had the finest brush calligraphy in the entire town middle school. He had neatly written some two hundred names in rank order across three large sheets of paper...

Li Hao looked up at the densely packed names and scores. There was no surprise in first place: it was still Sun Sun...

Zhu Qinghe was second, only a dozen or so points behind Sun Sun, a very narrow gap. Zhao Weiguo was third. Li Hao felt he had done rather poorly this time, yet he had still placed seventh. There was no one else from Class 69 ahead of him, which meant he had comfortably secured second place in Class 69...

Li Hao was delighted. He did not find Qin An's name until the third sheet...

"With results like these, he actually dared to bet with me!" Brimming with confidence, Li Hao imagined how he would ridicule Qin An later...

His smile and expression soon froze...

Mathematics, 100...

Physics, 100...

Chemistry, 100...

English, 100...

Those four hundreds stood glaringly beside Qin An's name, enough to make someone overlook the "Chinese 76, history 38, politics 22" that followed...

Li Hao had never seen such bizarre results. He rubbed his eyes. Had he misread them?

There was no mistake. Qin An's results showed a lopsidedness that was almost impossible to assess: full marks in four subjects, exactly four. His scores in those four subjects were not merely the highest in Class 69 but the highest in the entire grade, the only perfect scores...

How could he have received full marks in English too? Li Hao could not believe it. No one had ever received full marks for an English composition. Had Qin An's English really reached such an impeccable level?

Li Hao was not the only one gathered around the results. A crowd pointed and talked about Qin An's scores. Li Hao felt a sudden pang of unease, as though all these people were talking about him...

"Heh, looks like my Chinese paper didn't end up in Liao Yu's hands..." Qin An glanced at his Chinese score. He remembered Liao Yu saying his composition could only get a zero...

Standing nearby, Sun Sun looked at Qin An in disbelief, a complicated light in her eyes. She had never imagined his results would look like this...

His scores in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and English had even beaten hers. Although she was still first in the grade, Sun Sun no longer felt the slightest joy. No wonder he had refused her help with revision...

"Li Hao... Wait, you haven't forgotten our bet, have you?" Seeing Li Hao trying to slip away to one side, Qin An called him back...

"What bet... My overall score was second in the class. Look at yours-could you even make the top thirty? What's there to bet on..." Li Hao's expression was somewhat stiff. He saw that everyone around him was looking at him with contempt, especially Sun Sun...

He had once believed victory was certain and had loudly publicized his bet with Qin An before the exams. Almost the entire grade knew about it...

"Our bet was about who would place in the class's top three in more subjects... You don't have to be scared. I won't make you do anything awful... All you have to do is sing one line to me the first time you see me each day from now on..." Qin An would not let Li Hao off easily. With someone like him, if you did not seize the chance to slap him in the face, he would act as though you did not exist...

"What song?" Li Hao's expression eased a little. His greatest worry had been that Qin An would make him kneel or call him "Grandpa" or "Dad." Children these days were that blunt when it came to humiliating someone...

"Just like that, you conquered me... Just like that, you conquered me... Just like that, you conquered me..."

Qin An raised his voice and sang with full-throated vigor, brimming with smug delight...