"Our homeroom teacher teaches language and literature. His last name is Zhang, but we all call him Old Bao in private. He looks stern, but he’s actually pretty nice.
"The math teacher is Teacher Song. He’s my uncle, but don’t call him ’uncle’ at school. Just call him ’teacher.’ He doesn’t like revealing our family ties at school.
"The English teacher is Teacher Jiang. She’s a gorgeous beauty—kind, sweet, and cute. You can call her Pei Pei in private. If you ever get peckish, you can go to her office and snag some of her snacks.
"The physics teacher is Teacher Gu. He’s young and a bit handsome. His teaching style is relaxed and humorous, and he’s very easy to talk to. His only flaw is that he’s quite short, so don’t bring up his height in front of Gu.
"The chemistry teacher is Teacher Luo. He’s all about test scores—he only looks at your grades, not who you are. If your grades are good, you can do whatever you want; if they’re bad, he’ll tear you a new one.
"Hmm... that’s all for now. After all, today is test day, and you’re mainly taking math, physics, and chemistry..."
"Holy crap!"
At this point, Song Yunshen suddenly let out a shout, startling Xia Keneng so badly she nearly choked on her breakfast.
"Why did you yell out of nowhere?" Xia Keneng swallowed the meat bun in her mouth, let out a satisfied sigh, and asked in confusion.
"There’s an exam today!" Song Yunshen’s face was etched with worry. "If it were tomorrow, that would be one thing, but damn it, today’s tests are all science subjects!"
"Huh?" Xia Keneng finally processed this. Her mouth stopped chewing on the bun as she asked, slightly panicked, "You guys have exams today, too?"
"Yeah... you do too?"
"Yeah..." Xia Keneng blinked. "We’re taking math and science."
In middle school, "science" was just physics, chemistry, and biology rolled into one massive subject. Song Yunshen had been through it before, so he naturally understood right away.
"It’s fine on your end. My grades in the sciences are pretty good," Song Yunshen said, rubbing his temples. "But over on my side... *Sigh*... forget it. Just keep faking sick all the way."
Song Yunshen couldn’t expect an eighth-grader to complete a tenth-grade science exam. That was asking way too much. It wasn’t like Xia Keneng was some competitive academic genius.
"Then what do we do? Just fake being sick?" Xia Keneng scratched her head, unable to come up with a better idea either.
"Yeah, that’s our only option." Song Yunshen let out a long sigh.
Fortunately, his allowance for this summer vacation wasn’t tied to his final exam scores. Otherwise, this situation would have severely crippled his wallet. The sciences were his strongest subjects. Without those scores to boost his average, he didn’t even dare to imagine how terrible his final ranking would be. Previously, with those subjects backing him up, he could at least break into the top three hundred in his grade. If he failed all his science classes, he’d likely hit rock bottom in his class!
"Should I try my best?" Xia Keneng asked softly. "At the very least, I can still get some points on the multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions."
"Yeah... just do your best. It’s not your fault anyway," Song Yunshen sighed. "Also, remember to flip through my notebooks and look at my everyday handwriting. Try to imitate it during the exam."
"Oh, okay." Xia Keneng hadn’t expected Song Yunshen to be so meticulous as to even consider handwriting.
Finally, Xia Keneng arrived at the school gates. She hung up the call with Song Yunshen and put her phone away.
As she stepped into Ningjiang Middle School, Xia Keneng felt a thrill of excitement. She never expected that, as an eighth-grader, she would get to walk into a high school classroom ahead of schedule. Wait, which class did Song Yunshen say he was in again? Class Five of the tenth grade, right? That sounded a bit familiar. Wait a minute! Wasn’t her second oldest sister in Class Five?!
Xia Keneng froze, her expression suddenly turning very strange.
At the end of the corridor in the girls’ dormitory at Shulan Middle School, Song Yunshen put away his phone, took a deep breath, and slowly let it out. After calming himself down, he walked back to Xia Keneng’s dorm room.
Shulan Middle School was a private junior high, and its tuition was significantly more expensive than that of public schools. This was probably one of the reasons Yan Zhenxia’s family was somewhat financially strapped. But despite the high cost, the school’s academic performance was genuinely excellent. In the Ningjiang District of Linhang City, Shulan Middle School was undoubtedly the absolute leader among schools. As a result, parents in Ningjiang District racked their brains and did everything they could to send their kids there.
For a low-income family like Yan Zhenxia’s to support their child’s enrollment at Shulan Middle School, they must have paid a hefty price. On the other hand, it also meant Xia Keneng was capable enough to pass the entrance exam on her own merit.
Song Yunshen vaguely remembered that Shulan Middle School’s tuition alone was eight thousand per semester, which came out to sixteen thousand a year. Not to mention the various miscellaneous school fees, accommodation costs, and basic living expenses. Song Yunshen used to be a student at Shulan Middle School himself, and his Aunt Ruan Zheng was Xia Keneng’s homeroom teacher. Because of this, he was quite familiar with the school’s situation. Over the course of a year, even if they lived frugally, the expenses would probably exceed twenty thousand. For a relatively impoverished family, this was indeed a massive expense.
Lost in these thoughts, Song Yunshen returned to the dorm room, only to find that all three roommates were still waiting for him.
"Ningning, you’re back." A girl, who was half a head shorter than Xia Keneng, sat on the edge of the bed closest to the door. "Hurry up and change your clothes so we can go eat breakfast together," she said to Song Yunshen.
When he left the dorm earlier, Song Yunshen had used the excuse of needing to call home, telling them to go ahead and eat without him. He hadn’t expected that none of them would leave, choosing to wait for him instead.
Song Yunshen nodded. As he walked past the first girl’s bed, he casually glanced at the name tag stuck to the bed frame and read the name "Kong Xi." This petite girl was likely Xia Keneng’s deskmate. Looking at the top bunk of the same frame, the tag read "Xiao Mengdie." Hmm... that must be the girl across the aisle with the cute twin tails. As for the girl on the bottom bunk of Xia Keneng’s bed, that was "Yang Wan," who sat right in front of her in class. With her long, flowing hair, she really did exude a gentle and graceful aura.
He wondered how they would react if they knew a man’s soul currently resided inside Xia Keneng’s body. It was a pity he hadn’t seen anything when they were changing clothes earlier... No, no, no... He was a gentleman! How could he do something like that?!
Song Yunshen reined in the perverted thoughts bubbling up from the depths of his mind. He silently opened Xia Keneng’s closet and pulled out a clean bra.
At that moment, Yang Wan and Kong Xi were sitting together, whispering to each other as they looked at a phone. Taking a deep breath to adjust his mindset, Song Yunshen finally stripped off his pajamas and slowly closed his eyes.
He didn’t know if it was muscle memory at work, but there were no mishaps when putting on the bra; in fact, the process went smoothly. Then again, Xia Keneng wouldn’t know whether he looked or not. Sneaking a little peek wouldn’t hurt, right?
No, absolutely not. He had made her a promise. As the saying went, a true gentleman remained virtuous even when alone. He was an authentic gentleman; he couldn’t do something so unseemly. A gentleman was judged by his actions, not his thoughts. Merely thinking about it was one thing, but actually acting on those thoughts was best avoided. Once a bottom line was crossed, it would only lead to breaking new ones time and time again.
After successfully putting on the bra, Song Yunshen breathed a sigh of relief. He opened his eyes and was just about to grab the school uniform when he realized someone was standing right in front of him.
"I’m so jealous." Xiao Mengdie had walked over at some point. She reached out and poked his bra. "Why won’t mine grow?"
Song Yunshen felt incredibly awkward. He quickly took two steps back and hurriedly threw on Xia Keneng’s uniform. "Stop poking around. Let’s go, let’s go get breakfast."
The three roommates clearly followed Xia Keneng’s lead, immediately falling into step behind him. The four of them headed out together, leaving the dorm and walking toward the school cafeteria. But just as they reached the entrance, a boy blocked their path.
"Xu Lingcheng, do you need something?" Yang Wan asked with a frown. "The fight between you and Ningning was already settled with the teachers, wasn’t it?"
Hearing this, Song Yunshen immediately raised an eyebrow. He thought to himself, so this is the guy who got beaten to tears by Xia Keneng.
The boy remained silent, merely staring at Song Yunshen with tightly clenched fists, looking as though he might strike at any moment. This made Song Yunshen frown slightly, wondering if the guy was really about to start a fight right out of the gate.
After keeping his guard up for what felt like ages, the boy’s face suddenly flushed red. Finally mustering his courage, he blurted out to Song Yunshen: "Xia Keneng, thank you for helping me last time!"
As soon as those words left his mouth, Kong Xi and the others went wide-eyed, their faces filled with utter disbelief.
Song Yunshen was even more flabbergasted. Being suddenly thanked by a boy first thing in the morning left him completely caught off guard. He thought to himself, "Holy crap! Bro, what is your deal?! Are you insane?! Did Xia Keneng literally punch the sense out of your brain?"