He Shot a Grin at Yang Jing. "Jing-jie, Are You
Still Settling Scores With Us?"
"What do you mean what did I just call you?" Sheng Wang played
dumb. It wasn't that he didn't want to answer on purpose, it was just the "My
Ge" that came out so smoothly towards other people, he couldn't bring
himself to say it towards Jiang Tian no matter what.
Probably out of the inexplicable competitive spirit of boys, Sheng
Wang thought.
Jiang Tian was still looking at him with his brows half-raised.
Sheng Wang wanted to standoff against him, but not even half a second
passed before he conceded. He removed his right hand from Jiang Tian's
fingers. "I called you didi."
(t/n: didi means Little brother, hence implying him to be of a lower ranking/hierarchy)
Pure boy Qiu Wenbin giggled as he witnessed their conversation.
Sheng Wang, who was on the losing end, finally became the general who was
gaining the upper hand at last. He lifted his chin, pleased with himself, and
said, "Ok, no more playing around, let's study."
He squeezed the joints of his right hand as though he was messing
around; he lowered his head, and started focusing on studying.
Out of his peripheral vision, Jiang Tian finally looked away and stuffed
in his earpiece after a beat. The water-based pen soundlessly spun between
his fingers. Occasionally, it would stop, and scritch-scratched against the
notebook.
Qiu Wenbin, who sat opposite him, started to figure out the correction
collection with a frown on his face. He took out a pair of scissors from his
pencil case, and didn't manage to bring himself to start cutting.
The homeroom teacher of Class 11 was old fashioned, there was no
such thing as turning a blind eye. No phones in the classroom, and they meant
it. Qiu Wenbin was a good student who followed the rules, and under the
oppression of his homeroom teacher, he had developed the good habit of not
playing on his phone. He was better than 90% of the students in this regard,
but he had gone slightly overboard with it.
After struggling by himself for so long, he finally recalled that the
phone is a tool too. He peered at the two top students in embarrassment
before realising that those two had not even looked up at any point, too
engrossed in what they were doing. Therefore, he hurriedly dug out his phone
and searched for a highly efficient method towards compiling a corrections
collection. He downloaded a camera scanner app for the time being, and
started taking pictures of the questions he made a mistake on.
This method was indeed much less troublesome than copying over.
There was a self-service printer in the residential block, all he needed to do
was to print out the questions and redo them on a regular basis.
The questions that he used to spend an entire night on copying, he only
took five minutes to back them up today.
God knows how long it has been since he felt the satisfaction of
finishing a task ahead of time; this was the first time he felt exhilaration when
it came to the matter of studying ever since he entered Fuzhong.
Qiu Wenbin wanted to express his gratitude towards Sheng Wang for
reminding him, but he also felt a little awkward about it.
He quickly glanced at the other person a few times. Just as he was
about to open his mouth, he saw the bigshot suddenly relaxing his fingers,
grabbing the pen that had been lying idly for twenty years now, and started
writing on the notebook.
Qiu Wenbin was befuddled for several moments when he finally
remembered: Oh yeah! Wasn't the bigshot practising his handwriting? Then
what exactly was he concentrating on for so long? The copybook?
A question mark gradually rose over Qiu Wenbin's head.
He suspected that the bigshot zoned out, but he had no proof, and
neither did he dare to ask him.
Shi Yu came out from the bathroom. His hair was only slightly longer
than a buzzcut, a few rough wipes with a towel and it would already be 70-
80% dry. As he cleaned the water out from his ears, he said to the others,
"I'm done, who's next?"
Sheng Wang replied with an "Mn". After he finished writing two
characters he then looked up to ask him, "What time is lights out in
Fuzhong?"
"11.20pm, I think," Shi Yu said.
"Oh, I'm not rushing then." Sheng Wang was done with today's
workload. He kept the copybook, and yet he also dug out another book.
Shi Yu sat down by the bed; he replied a few messages, and played a
round of games. He stood up when he felt that his hair was all dry. He was
spurred on by tonight, and he wanted to feel what it was like to be diligent
for once after so long.
But he had already completed the papers given out in the day by
rushing them before night self-study. Despite how his language homework
was copied, his English was also half-copied, was he seriously going to take
them out and redo them all over again?
He had been doing the bare minimum for such a long time now, that
other than these, he genuinely couldn't figure out he could at that moment.
Shi Yu went one round around the room, stopped by Jiang Tian and
tapped him. "Tian-ge."
Jiang Tian's brow lightly scrunched up for a moment, and removed an
earpiece. He disliked the feeling of having his train of thoughts being
interrupted by people; his expression, which wasn't warm in the first place,
became more and more colder.
Shi Yu was a little sheepish, but he still asked, "What's that that you're
reading?"
Jiang Tian lifted up the cover of the book, indicating that he take a look
himself.
"Oh, this one," Shi Yu straightened up, "our physics teacher
recommended this one too, saying that your class uses this one for
competition preparation. Is it good? If it's good I'll go buy one too."
Jiang Tian: "It's so-so."
Shi Yu: "..."
They could feel him freezing to death from a table away.
As Sheng Wang said internally "I'm such an angel", he added on in the
midst of studying, "That book really is so-so, Old He picked like 10+
questions from it, and we'll be switching over to a new book after we're
done with those."
"This book is already useless after only 10+ questions?" Shi Yu was
stunned, "What else do you guys use then?"
"Quite a lot, actually. But we only pick a bit from every book." Sheng
Wang asked, "Do you want to do it? The books are all in the cabinet there,
you can take down the names if you want."
Shi Yu waved his hands. "I'm not the type to work hard, I'm just
asking."
Sheng Wang only smiled.
He initially wanted to say that the competition preparation classes in
Class A were open to everyone; recently, more and more people from Class
B had been gatecrashing the lesson. If you really wanted to participate in the
Olympiads you could come too.
However, judging from Shi Yu's reaction, he felt that there was no need
to mention that.
Shi Yu was standing next to Jiang Tian at the start. As he chatted, he
had shifted all the way to behind Sheng Wang.
"What's this that you're doing? English?" Shi Yu was much more
casual when conversing with him; he probably felt that he had a good
temperament and his grades weren't so good to the point of being
intimidating.
Sheng Wang: "Yup."
He too was also starting to get impatient. As he swept through the
questions, he replied perfunctorily, "Jing-jie said the Olympiad results will
be out soon, I'm studying first."
"Olympiad?" Shi Yu was briefly stumped before he realised. "Ohohoh,
you're talking about the English Olympiad from before"
"Mn."
"Uhh He Shi from my class went too," Shi Yu spoke while waving his
phone, "I was just chatting with her, I was like why was she so nervous."
Sheng Wang's expression was akin to having amnesia. He remembered
that other than Qi Jiahao and Li Yu, there were two girls from other classes
who participated. However, as to who's who, he had never figured out
clearly.
"The competition is already over, what are you still studying for?" Shi
Yu was even more mystified.
Sheng Wang replied mindlessly, "Maybe there'll be a semifinal."
Semifinal?
In the midst of bafflement, Shi Yu's phone vibrated once again. He Shi
replied to the previous teasing message he sent; she didn't appear to be in
high spirits.
Shi Yu took the chance to ask: that English Olympiad of yours still has
a semifinal?
This time round, He Shi was much quicker to respond: Yeah, why are
you asking this?
Shi Yu eyed the questions Sheng Wang was doing again, and typed: do
u need some preparations or sth? I've just seen a pretty decent competition
book, want it?
He Shi: ...
He Shi sent a meme: [You're fucking kidding me?]
Shi Yu: who's fucking kidding you
Shi Yu: really, do you want it?
He Shi: How about you go check the conditions for entering the
semifinals?
Shi Yu: too lazy to, what are they?
He Shi: Top 40 in the province
He Shi: You know what does it mean to be top 40 in the province?
He Shi: It means nothing you'll understand
Shi Yu: ...
Shi Yu did not expect ridicule from simply asking a question; even
though this was the girl he liked, he was also a little put on the spot.
His thumbs slammed as he typed: I'm just asking, if not forget it
He Shi: Your questions bring nothing but heartache...
Seeing that she sent a crying emoji, Shi Yu softened up again. He
replied: I didn't mean to do that, I saw Sheng Wang preparing, and I wanted
to help you out with a set too.
He Shi: Sheng Wang is preparing for semifinals???
He Shi: ...
He Shi: He came in from other province, he probably didn't exactly
understand the system here
She sent quite a few emojis that said she didn't know if she should
laugh or cry.
Shi Yu pondered: is top 40 really that difficult?
He Shi: Duh
He Shi: Haven't you discovered that our school silently acknowledged
that there wouldn't be a semifinal? Did you see anyone else preparing for
that?
Shi Yu: nope
He Shi: Our school hasn't seen anyone entering the top 40 in years,
English is Yizhong's homeground.
He Shi: If only I went to Yizhong instead...I'm no good at Fuzhong's
STEM niche
Afterwards, no matter what she said, Shi Yu was inattentive in his
replies.
As he read the message, he was hesitating if he should remind Sheng
Wang. After all, it wouldn't feel good to prepare for nothing.
Sheng Wang certainly didn't know what he was talking about, he could
only hear how his phone was vibrating non-stop, while Shi Yu was
scratching his head like a black monkey.
"Do you want to say something?" Sheng Wang couldn't help it.
"Ah," Shi Yu gave a hoarse laugh. He pointed at his phone. "No, I was
just chatting with He Shi. I wanted to buy her an Olympiad assessment book,
she said she definitely wouldn't be entering semifinals and therefore has no
use for it. Is the semifinals really hard to get in?"
Shi Yu was like a long legged heron, he started testing the waters with
his legs. He was much more tactful than Jiang Tian, he even knew to create a
natural lead-in.
(t/n: Probably referring to this meme, the caption says "at the verge of seeking death".)
Sheng Wang was rather calm on the contrary. "A little, Jing-jie said top
40 in the province is all it takes."
Shi Yu: "...you knew?"
Sheng Wang: "?"
"Nothing," Shi Yu pointed at the book, "do continue."
After he spoke his thumbs flew as he typed in WeChat: Sheng Wang
knew the conditions for semifinals
He Shi: Huh?
Shi Yu: he probably thought that he could create Fuzhong history
Shi Yu: confident
Shi Yu: badass
Shi Yu: can't wait to see it
He Shi: …...
Shi Yu didn't actually dislike Sheng Wang, neither was he targeting
Sheng Wang on purpose. It was just that he was a little unused to an overly
frank personality like his.
He himself wasn't exactly hardworking on a normal basis, every time
there was an exam or a competition he would modestly say, "I'm screwed, I
didn't really prepare, I'm just here to pad the results."
This type of person had seen too many people similar to him, upon
seeing someone who seriously said "I think I'll be fine", one would think that
the other was kind of too full of themself. It was likely the mindset from
teenage rebellion stirring trouble or something, he wanted to see the madman
mess up.
At the beginning, they all viewed Jiang Tian like that too. However,
Jiang Tian was too stable and not once did he ever mess up, he even brought
them to their knees. His usual gaming, drinking, and sports bros called Jiang
Tian "cheat mode" behind his back.
Never would he ever think that the heavens had sent a Sheng Wang.
According to the rules of probability, he would definitely mess up
this time, Shi Yu thought.
There was no way that cheat modes come in buy one get one free!
Three days after this conversation, the results for the English Olympiad
came out.
Yang Jing was in a black skirt with a golden rim as she walked into the
classroom. Even as she opened the doors, it was followed by a gust of wind.
She slapped the papers she was about to go through on the table, and propped
herself against the edge of the table with only one palm. She looked down on
the entire class from above.
Her face remained stony, the students below started panicking.
Gao Tianyang leaned backwards with his back kept ramrod straight,
whispering to Sheng Wang, "Why does Jing-jie's face look like someone
died? The Olympiad got screwed up?"
Sheng Wang's lips nearly didn't move at all, the words came out more
like a hum. "I don't know, the group of teachers have a tight mouth. Until
today, I haven't heard a single thing either."
Gao Tianyang: "Then did Jing-jie give you and Tian-ge any orders?
You two have the most potential to get a prize, right?"
Sheng Wang thought a bit, and said, "She did."
Gao Tianyang: "What was it?"
Sheng Wang said, "The two of us handed in ahead of time, she declared
last time to tell us to watch out, she'll settle scores with us when the results
are out."
Gao Tianyang: "..."
Yang Jing pursed her lips, her already horizontal lips even sunk a little.
Just as the atmosphere in Class A was about to turn solid, this madame
finally deigned to open her golden mouth. "The outcome of the Olympiad is
out, let me just talk about it for a bit."
Her tone was breezy, the students didn't dare to breathe either.
Yang Jing stuck out a slender pointer finger, saying, "I have two
certificates in total with me, one second prize, one first prize."
Most of the students heaved a sigh of relief, internally saying, a prize
is all we need, if not Jing-jie will take everyone down with her.
Gao Tianyang went all the way to directly slumping over, he shot a
thumbs up behind him, saying, "Good sign, now all we need is to see who's
the second and who's the first prize here. To be honest, there's not much of a
difference here, a prize is good enough."
Sheng Wang raised an eyebrow, and his hand quietly snuck into his bag.
Last time round, Sheng Mingyang went to the administration office. He
wasn't sure what kind of scolding Big Mouth Xu went through, either way he
returned his phone the next day, and warned: don't let him catch him for a
second time.
Therefore, Sheng Wang became much more well-behaved—he changed
all notifications to silent in all propriety; the screen would light up, but it
wouldn't vibrate. He even forced Jiang Tian to change too.
He jabbed into Jiang Tian's WeChat, and speedily typed: wanna bet?
Jiang Tian: what?
Sticker: who's first who's second
Jiang Tian: stake
Stickers: I want skewers!
Jiang Tian: ok
Sticker: do you want to guess what prize you'll get?
Jiang Tian: not the second for sure
Sticker: ...
Sticker: what a coincidence, I too also don't think I'll get the second
prize
Just as he was one-sidedly fighting Jiang Tian with memes, Yang Jing
spoke again.
"First, let us congratulate the rep." Yang Jing said, "Qi Jiahao has
performed within expectations, and has gotten a second prize."
The entire class was momentarily quiet, before a few sparse claps
came in from here and there. A sizable portion of the class all turned to look
at the back row, including Gao Tianyang.
"The heck's happening?!" Gao Tianyang mouthed exaggeratedly, "One
of you didn't get it???"
Sheng Wang pressed his fingers, indicating him to chill out a little.
The moment Gao Tianyang turned back, he sent a new message to Jiang
Tian: ok, now we can guess if you're ded or I'm ded
Jiang Tian: I don't think I'm ded.
Sheng Wang one-sidedly picked a fight via memes again.
The sparse applause stopped, Yang Jing continued, "Then let us also
congratulate our class monitor, student Li Yu. The class monitor gave me a
pleasant surprise this time round, but I wouldn't call this a performance out of
the ordinary. You just get nervous too easily, as long as you plan your time
well and relax, you deserve good grades. See, you surpassed the rep this
time. You, have gotten a first prize."
Li Yu was cute and had a nice personality, her classmates all quite
liked her too. Normally, there would already be table slamming and cheers,
but there was none today. Even Li Yu herself didn't manage to feel excited.
Because everyone all turned to look at Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian in
that instant.
Gao Tianyang's eyeballs were nearly falling out of his sockets. "No
way, you two..."
Sheng Wang felt a little wronged, but was also rather surprised at the
same time. In his honest opinion, he thought he did pretty well, otherwise he
wouldn't hand in ahead of time. As for Jiang Tian...he was a little conceited
when it came to exams, but he definitely wasn't the type to mess around; he
ought to have done well too.
It was at this time that Yang Jing opened her mouth again. "I've just
said, I only have two certificates with me. One first prize, one second prize.
I've finished announcing which prize goes to who. But there are four people
who participated in our class, so what's going on when the remaining two
didn't get their certificates?"
Yeah!
40+ pairs of eyes were all on her, waiting for her to continue.
Yang Jing took a dramatic pause, and said, "That's because they will
need to participate in the next round of exams."
The entire class was completely thrown off, and next it all dawned
upon them like a comet, the buzz of discussion was like boiling water
entering hot oil, and it all exploded.
"Yes, the top 40 in the province will be participating in a training
camp, and after the training camp, will be the semifinals. If you can still get a
placing, it will be on the national level. If not, it will be the first prize in the
province instead." Yang Jing pointed at Jiang Tian, "You, 11th place in the
province."
She also pointed at Sheng Wang, "You, 5th place in the province. You
two only have a difference of two marks, the brats in the middle were all
from Yizhong. But, that's okay—"
Yang Jing finally couldn't keep it up anymore, she cracked into a grin,
and lifted her chin as she said, "Each of you already earned a voucher for
advance admission. It's the first time that our school has two top 40 at once
from the same batch, you literally made history. Therefore, you definitely
have a spot on the wall of honour!"
She raised her pitch, and smiled as she asked, "Is our class badass?"
"BAD—ASS!!!"
The entire block could hear Class A's ghostly howls, Class B even felt
as though their ceiling was about to collapse.
The other classes all received a scare, and as they all knew from their
teachers of this, the entire block reached boiling point.
Gao Tianyang grabbed Sheng Wang's shoulders and shook him back
and forth; he was jubilant.
Sheng Wang pushed through his dizziness with an iron will and sent his
deskmate from the back last two messages—
Sticker: we're equals
Stickers: therefore, two meals of skewers!
After he sent that, he shot a grin at Yang Jing. "Jing-jie, are you still
settling scores with us?"
Yang Jing scolded with a laugh, "To hell with settling! Don't pretend
that you aren't happy!"