Chapter 220: Chapter 148: Feels Like I’m Gonna Lose, Fam
Li Zhi irritably kicked the large dog doll a couple of times.
"Whatever, forget it. I’m going to take a shower. Why am I even worried that an idiot like Shen Yuan could score 650?"
Li Zhi turned the shower knob, and a warm stream of water instantly enveloped her slender ankles.
The bathroom quickly filled with steam.
Li Zhi planned to wash her hair today, but perhaps because she was preoccupied with Shen Yuan, she squeezed out too much shampoo. White foam slid down her shoulder blades, blooming into peach-scented clouds on the tile floor.
The moment her fingertips dug into the roots of her hair, the image of Shen Yuan chewing his pen while working through problems suddenly flashed into her mind.
Water droplets dripped from her earlobes. She remembered his foolish look of frustration as he wrestled with the Huanggang Paper. A soft huff escaped her throat, and she scrubbed her hair a little harder.
"That idiot..."
Dense clusters of formulas seemed to materialize in the swirling steam.
As the hot water cascaded over the nape of her neck, Li Zhi suddenly realized something.
’After checking the math answers, Shen Yuan’s score this time could very well jump to 115!’
’His English baseline is 140—no, wait, I should calculate Shen Yuan’s English at 145!’
’If his Science Composite score breaks 270 like he said, then the probability of that jerk scoring 650 is over 80%!’
SPLASH!
Water droplets flung from the ends of her hair splattered against the glass partition. Li Zhi snapped her head back to keep the foam from running into her eyes.
The rising steam enveloped her reddened ear tips as her fingers unconsciously tugged at a knot at the end of her hair.
"Impossible!"
Li Zhi stomped her foot hard.
As she bent her head to rinse the last of the foam from her hair, Li Zhi’s mind flashed back to the sharp glint in Shen Yuan’s eyes when he said, "I will definitely beat you."
So confident. So intense.
Li Zhi suddenly began to worry that she might lose.
The girl pressed her lips together, suddenly unsure of what to do.
In the billowing steam, she mechanically scrubbed with a loofah. Peach-scented foam slid down her waist and gathered in a small cloud at her feet.
"650 points..."
Li Zhi murmured to the tiles.
The girl suddenly clenched the loofah, and the mint-green mesh squeaked sharply in her palm.
But the next moment, the strength in her hand slackened as if in a daze.
A sigh escaped her, mingling with the sound of the shower as her fingers traced a path from her collarbone to her heart.
’Forget it. That guy, at the very most, he’ll only...’
Her teeth bit into her lower lip, leaving a pale mark.
In the bathroom, the sound of water stopped abruptly. She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself, the remaining water bleeding into the beige fabric in dark, cloud-like patterns.
Li Zhi looked at the fogged-up mirror. Her fingertip traced through the condensation on the glass, crookedly drawing a grinning pig’s head.
"If that idiot Shen Yuan dares to go too far, I’ll just kill him!"
After drying her hair, Li Zhi returned to her room.
As she finished changing into her pajamas, she saw a message from Shen Yuan.
Shen Yuan: "Good night, San Geng’s mom."
The message had been sent ten minutes ago, but knowing Shen Yuan, Li Zhi figured the idiot was probably still awake.
Sure enough, when Li Zhi sent a "good night" message back, Shen Yuan replied almost instantly.
Seeing Shen Yuan’s reply, the corner of Li Zhi’s mouth twitched.
Shen Yuan: "Will you wake me up again tomorrow?"
After staring at the message for a moment, Li Zhi replied with a simple "Yeah."
And very quickly, Shen Yuan messaged back.
The damn kid was a natural-born hype man.
One hundred percent of their conversations ended with a message from Shen Yuan.
Li Zhi had asked Shen Yuan about this once.
Shen Yuan’s reply was that a gentleman should never leave a lady hanging.
So, even if Li Zhi sometimes replied with a simple "Oh," Shen Yuan would still reply with an "Mhm."
Sometimes, Li Zhi would reply with a simple onomatopoeic character, and the two would fall into a back-and-forth conversation of just sounds.
But this time, Shen Yuan’s reply was one Li Zhi couldn’t answer.
The idiot kid had replied with "Mwah."
Early the next morning, Shen Yuan received a call from Li Zhi.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t a video call this time.
Shen Yuan could only listen to Li Bao’s sweet voice.
For Shen Yuan, there weren’t really any downsides to waking up early.
After all, he’d gone to bed early last night and had gotten plenty of sleep, so he was full of energy.
After getting ready, Shen Yuan took out his mistake notebook and started reviewing it.
He didn’t even put the notebook down on the way to school.
Watching him made Li Zhi’s heart tremble with anxiety.
"Hey, buddy, can you act normal for a second? You’re scaring me."
Hearing this, Shen Yuan turned to Li Zhi with a dark smile. "Just you wait. Wait for me to score over 650."
Li Zhi’s heart sank.
’Forget it. Win or lose, I’m never making a bet with this idiot Shen Yuan again.’
’If I keep betting against him, I’m done for.’
’I need to post on Xiaohongshu right now.’
’Fam, I made a bet with my cringey childhood friend, and I think I’m going to lose. What do I do?!’
...
"Hiss—"
"I might be screwed."
During the Science Composite exam, Shen Yuan stared at a major chemistry question, his mind feeling a little fuzzy.
’Is this right?’
’This is only the second major question! Why is it already this hard?’
’Where are my beakers? My experiment questions?’
’Oh, right, that was in the first question.’
Shen Yuan looked at the charts and the various questions about concentration, equilibrium constants, conversion rates, and curves.
It was giving him a bit of a headache.
It was difficult, but Shen Yuan gritted his teeth and pushed forward.
The problems weren’t unsolvable, just a lot more complex than the multiple-choice questions.
But if the second question already raised the difficulty to this level, he could only imagine what the rest would be like.
’I’ll just get as many of these chemistry questions right as I can!’
The chemistry section was difficult, but the physics section was standard.
Shen Yuan continued to work at his usual pace.
However, the sharp increase in the chemistry section’s difficulty had clearly made his time management a bit rushed.
Shen Yuan only managed to complete all the questions with five minutes to spare.
’What a thrilling battle!’
Shen Yuan dragged his exhausted body back to the classroom.
When Li Zhi returned, Shen Yuan heard Li Bao’s voice floating around him.
"The chemistry was a little hard this time. I wonder what score I’ll get."
Shen Yuan turned his head to look at Li Zhi.
He saw no trace of her previous anxiety on Li Bao’s face; she was practically bursting with energy!
The chemistry section had been hard, and Li Zhi felt like she was back in the game.
Seeing her smug expression, Shen Yuan gave a dry laugh. "Feeling confident, are we? If you’re so confident, you dare to raise the stakes?"
Hearing this, Li Zhi immediately reined herself in.
"No way. All bets are final. The only test left is English; for all I know, you’re sure you’ve got this now."
Shen Yuan snorted. "Go on, be smug. You’ll be the one crying when the scores come out!"
"Tch. We’ll see who’s crying then!"
The afternoon’s English exam was over quickly.
After the English exam ended, Old Zhou appeared in the classroom at just the right moment.
"You’re not being let out early this afternoon! However, there’s no class during evening self-study. We’ll watch a movie tonight. Class president, find out what everyone wants to see, and we’ll put it on."
Old Zhou then added, "For those who don’t want to watch the movie and would rather be on your phones, don’t be too loud. If you attract the attention of the teachers from the disciplinary office, I can’t help you!"
For the boarding students, this was great news.
But for the day students, it was a freaking disaster.
The early dismissal they had been expecting was gone.
Watch a movie in the classroom? Couldn’t they just watch a movie at home?
"Damn it!"
Hearing a THUD from the back row, Yang Ze turned to look at Zhou Shaojie.
Seeing Ah Jie slumped over his desk looking like all life had been drained from him, Yang Ze asked in confusion, "Jie, what’s wrong?"
"He’s dead. Finished the English exam only to find out there’s no early dismissal. A double whammy. He can’t go on," Shen Yuan commented dryly.
Shen Yuan, however, was actually looking forward to the movie.
’Just think,’ he mused, ’the classroom will be pitch-black, and Li Bao will be sitting right next to me, up against the wall.’
’Tsk.’
’Other couples all use this kind of opportunity to get lovey-dovey. If I were a little bolder, maybe I could... ’
’Never mind. Li Bao’s kicks really hurt.’
Shen Yuan dismissed his mischievous thoughts and turned to Li Zhi.
"Want to get some milk tea and snacks later?"
Li Bao nodded. "I want a Mango Pomelo Sago! I’m almost recovered!!"
"I know, I know!"
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