The head teacher was in the middle of teaching a reading comprehension lesson.
Suddenly, he noticed Shen Yanli, a student who had always been extremely serious in class and never spoke to the people around him, zoning out during the lesson.
This felt a bit unbelievable to him.
However, he chose to let it slide.
What could Shen Yanli possibly be talking about? It definitely had to be related to his studies.
Su Nanye had been keeping a close eye on Shen Yanli and Su Ning.
Suddenly seeing Shen Yanli take the initiative to talk to his sister,
he instantly flew into a rage, complaining to Ji Yang, “That Shen Yanli is something else, he is just too bad!”
Not noticing the situation, Ji Yang asked, “What happened?”
Su Nanye narrowed his left eye. “He intentionally talked to my sister during class to distract her from studying! Tell me, isn’t that shady?”
Ji Yang scratched his green hair. “Huh? There’s such a thing?”
Could Shen Yanli pull off something so childish?
Su Nanye was entirely certain. “That’s exactly what it is, such a shady bastard!”
The rainbow-haired punk kept talking to the green-haired boy.
The head teacher spotted them immediately and frowned. “Su Nanye, since you’re so good at lecturing, why don’t you come up here and give the lecture?”
Getting called out yet again, Su Nanye twitched the corner of his mouth. “I don’t have a teaching license.”
The head teacher put on a cold face. “No teaching license? Then what are you lecturing about down there?”
Su Nanye: “That’s why I’m lecturing down there.”
The head teacher: “Oh!”
The head teacher was absolutely furious. “I am definitely going to call your parents!”
The interlude between Su Nanye and the head teacher managed to capture everyone’s attention.
However, that did not include Shen Yanli.
His pair of cool, attractive peach-blossom eyes fixed unblinkingly on Su Ning like that.
Su Ning had no idea why Shen Yanli couldn’t even handle putting on a simple pain-relief patch, so she could only whisper, “I’ll teach you after class.”
Hearing this reply, Shen Yanli turned his head back without much expression.
For the entire class, he kept clutching the pain-relief patch in his hand.
The slightly pungent scent of the patch lingered around the tip of his nose,
completely masking the faint, elusive fragrance that belonged uniquely to Su Ning floating in the air.
This made him feel quite uncomfortable and even more restless.
Finally, class was over.
The young girl hurried over to his side.
Shen Yanli lifted his eyelids.
For a split second, he wanted to bury his head in her shoulder and deeply inhale the scent on her body.
Until the fragrance from her began to slowly blend into his breathing,
the restlessness and unease deep inside Shen Yanli gradually dissipated.
“Let me see the pain-relief patch,” Su Ning spoke up.
Shen Yanli handed the patch he was holding over to her.
Taking it, Su Ning noticed that the patch had already been warmed up by his grip.
Examining it closely, she said, “This is very simple. You just peel off this outer layer and you can stick it on.”
“I’ll just put it on for you directly.”
Just as Su Ning was about to peel back the protective layer of the patch,
a slender-jointed hand suddenly grabbed her wrist. “No need.”
Su Ning looked up at him. “I bought them already, if you don’t use them it’s a complete waste.”
Feeling the slippery and soft texture of the young girl’s hand, Shen Yanli’s fingertips trembled almost uncontrollably.
Pulling his hand back and managing the tremor, he said, “I still have to go work a part-time job at the restaurant tonight, and I’ll be washing dishes afterwards. It’ll get wet, so I’ll just put it on myself when I get back tonight.”
Su Ning blinked. “It’s no big deal. There are ten patches in this pack, so if it gets wet, you can just change to a new one.”
In a crisp, cold voice, Shen Yanli maintained his stance. “No need.”
The smell of this pain-relief patch was too strong; he didn’t like it.
Besides, this tiny scratch on the back of his hand was nothing at all.
Unable to force Shen Yanli into wearing the patch, Su Ning backed down. “Alright then.”
She placed the patch back on his desk.
Shen Yanli tucked the patch back into its packaging, zipped the seal shut, and slid it into the side of his desk closest to the aisle.
Right at that moment, Su Nanye swaggered over once more.
Glaring fiercely at Shen Yanli, he snapped, “You shady bastard! If you’ve got guts, come at me! Don’t sneak around taking shots at Su Ning!”
Shocked, Su Ning asked, “Huh? Is he taking shots at me?”
Su Nanye narrowed his eyes. “Can’t you tell? He intentionally talked to you during class just to mess with your studies!”
Su Ning: “Oh!”
Shen Yanli’s school uniform zipper remained pulled all the way up to the top, and he didn’t even bother lifting his head to look at Su Nanye.
Su Nanye slammed a fist onto his desk. “Did you hear me?”
Only then did Shen Yanli raise his head. Refusing to offer any explanation, he simply replied in an indifferent tone, “Come at you? Is there even any room left to mess up your studies?”
Su Nanye: “Oh!”
Su Nanye had arrived full of fiery rage, and he left with even greater fiery rage.
If it weren’t for the fact that Su Ning was right here, he really would have thrown punches!
Time flew by quickly.
Since Shen Yanli was absent during evening self-study, the math class representative handed out test papers for everyone to work on.
Though time had stepped backward by twenty years,
the core knowledge points tested on the college entrance examination didn’t differ drastically.
Even though Su Ning had a passion for art, her academic performance had never been poor.
Originally, she had plenty of confidence in her own college entrance exam prospects.
Not to mention a hundred percent chance of getting into Tsinghua or Peking University, getting into a tier-one 985 university would still be a breeze.
Therefore, tackling these test papers now didn’t feel particularly strenuous for her.
When the first session of evening self-study ended,
a few of the younger cronies came to the classroom doorway to call Su Nanye out to go play internet games.
Reflexively, Su Nanye started to stand up and follow them.
With a loud shout, Su Ning called out, “Su Nanye!”
Reacting faster than his brain, Su Nanye immediately sat right back down.
Then, waving a hand at the cronies outside, he called out, “I’m not going, don’t ever call me out for that again from now on.”
The entire class was stunned.
Su Nanye skipping evening internet games was practically equivalent to the sun rising from the west.
Both the number one student in Class 4 and the very last student in the class were rare visitors during evening self-study.
For the top student, the teachers felt no supervision was needed; for the bottom student, they felt supervision was useless.
The cronies were equally shocked, and the yellow-haired crony rushed straight into the classroom to feel his forehead. “Boss, are you running a fever? Why are you talking nonsense?”
Shoving him away impatiently, Su Nanye snapped, “Get lost. I’m going to study hard from now on.”
The yellow-haired crony asked seriously, “Boss, why are you suddenly wasting your time on studying?”
All of his cronies burst out laughing.
“Hahahaha!”
The rest of the classmates joined in and laughed as well.
Furious, Su Nanye barked, “Just you wait and see! Watch me not rank second to last next time!”
Everyone: “Oh!”
Uttering the most cowardly words with the most intimidating tone!
The three sessions of evening self-study concluded amidst a chorus of yawns from everyone.
Their home wasn’t very far from the school.
Su Nanye had always been a day student, riding a sidecar motorcycle to and from school.
Right now, Su Ning was sitting inside the sidecar.
Originally, Su Jianheng had planned to arrange a chauffeur to pick her up and drop her off.
However, Su Ning preferred to spend some alone time with her brother.
She merely placed a strict demand on him to drive slower!
The night sky was dotted with countless stars.
A gentle breeze fluttered Su Nanye’s bangs, and an unprecedented wave of happiness suddenly washed over him!
“Brother, your grades really are too terrible!”
Hearing Su Ning say that, Su Nanye’s happiness vanished instantly.
Pouting, he muttered, “I’ll work hard.”
Brushing a strand of hair away from her face, Su Ning said, “Brother, I know you’re somewhat bitter about Mom and Dad not caring about you or paying attention to you, but our lives are still very long. In the past, you suffered a lot of setbacks just because you didn’t get into university.”
Having his spirited teenage inner thoughts laid bare,
Su Nanye’s eye rims turned red. “I know.”
Turning her head to look at Su Nanye under the moonlight, Su Ning said, “Brother, let’s take the college entrance exam together!”
Feeling as though a rock-solid pillar of support had suddenly appeared behind him,
Su Nanye’s tear-misted eyes lit up with a bright glow. “Okay!”
Neither of the siblings spoke another word.
Amidst the roar of the motorcycle engine and the brilliance of the starlight, they raced toward a new future.
Upon returning home, Su Ning received the gift Su Jianheng had bought for her.
A pink flip phone.
Su Nanye had been wanting a mobile phone for ages, and he jutted out his lower lip in a pout. “Dad, buy me one too.”
Mobile phones in this era were still quite expensive.
A subpar one cost around two thousand yuan, while a good one went for seven to eight thousand.
The allowance Su Nanye had on hand was nowhere near enough to buy one.
Giving him a sideways glance, Su Jianheng retorted, “In your dreams!”
Slinging his school bag over one shoulder, Su Nanye strode upstairs. “Hmph! If you’re not buying one, fine by me. I didn’t want it that badly anyway!”
Standing at the second-floor landing, he added, “You definitely aren’t my biological dad, you must be my step-dad!”
Su Jianheng: “Oh!”
This was truly the first time Su Ning was using such an old-school gadget.
Fiddling with it in her hands for a while, she realized that after getting used to smartphones, this thing really wasn’t very interesting.
The internet speed was dreadfully slow and the photos came out blurry.
Still, she smiled at Su Jianheng and said, “Thank you, Dad! Buy one for Brother too, will you? It’ll make it much more convenient for me to chat with him.”
The daughter looked up at him with big, sparkling eyes.
Su Jianheng’s heart melted into an absolute puddle, and he immediately agreed, “Alright, alright, I’ll buy him one tomorrow too.”
“Oh right, how was your first day at school today? Was the food in the cafeteria good? Can you keep up with the coursework?”
Su Ning answered each question one by one.
Then she asked, “Dad, why don’t you show some care for Brother? He’s only eighteen too, and he’s just as eager for parental affection.”
Su Jianheng’s handsome face darkened slightly, feeling rather wronged.
“It’s not that I don’t care about him, but he’s in his rebellious phase and refuses to walk the straight and narrow. Just looking at him makes my blood boil! And he finds me pretty grating too; every time we talk, we end up arguing after two sentences.”
In her past life, Su Ning had read opinions from education experts arguing that the so-called rebellious phase was actually a pseudo-problem.
It mainly stemmed from parents and children failing to communicate properly.
Having reached eighteen herself in her previous life, Su Ning had never experienced a rebellious phase of her own.
Pondering for a moment, she suggested, “Dad, why don’t you try being a bit gentler the next time you talk to Brother?”
Su Jianheng belonged to the tough-guy type; the only people he was ever gentle with were his wife and his daughter.
Rubbing his chin, he muttered, “I’ll give it a try next time.”
Before long, the next day arrived.
During the long recess, Su Ning once again dragged Chen Lanxin along to the restroom.
Chen Lanxin hadn’t asked her yesterday.
Today, she couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Su Ning, why did you buy a pain-relief patch for Shen Yanli?”
And the guy hadn’t even appreciated it, refusing to put it on.
Not knowing how to explain, Su Ning casually fabricated an excuse. “Because he’s good-looking, isn’t he? Don’t you think so?”
Aesthetics were an entirely subjective matter.
Yet the moment Shen Yanli transferred into Huizhong, he single-handedly unified everyone’s aesthetic standards.
It was impossible to claim otherwise, so Chen Lanxin nodded. “I think so too.”
The two girls chatting and chirping away didn’t notice the tall, handsome boy following closely behind them.
The ear wearing the hearing aid twitched slightly, and he lowered his gaze.
Oh, so it was because he was good-looking.