He looked at her for a long moment, then smiled to himself.
Yun Mi was about to head upstairs with the bowl when she suddenly heard a question from behind: "How many problems are you still stuck on?"
Yun Mi turned to look at him, wary. "What?"
Chen Yiyang stood in the warm yellow light.
The young man's face was slightly tilted, his low, hoarse voice laced with sleepiness. Yun Mi was stunned for a moment.
Could it be that he was going to stay with her? Was he being generous? Yun Mi almost got moved to tears by her own imagination and started to like Chen Yiyang. She said, "It's so late. You should go to bed. You've already helped me a lot..."
Before she finished, Chen Yiyang stepped forward. He carried a clean, dry mint scent, and his presence was hot and restless. Yun Mi's heart skipped a beat as she heard Chen Yiyang's indifferent remark, "It's not for you."
"???"
The boy's slippers scraped noisily on the wooden floor. His low, magnetic teenage voice said something unpleasant: "It's for winning. Not losing."
What?!
Yun Mi watched as he hurried past her, suddenly not sleepy at all.
She snorted and quickly ran up the stairs. She muttered, "Jerk."
---
The jerk had tutored her for a total of only seven or eight hours, but it was pretty useful.
Time passed quickly. The monthly exam was scheduled for Monday. The exams at Shanfu usually lasted three days.
By the time the exam came, Yun Mi felt confident.
She arrived at the exam hall before 8 AM, hugging her book and silently reciting: "The country is broken, mountains and rivers remain..."
A group of boys in school uniforms came noisily from the other end of the corridor. Someone lazily dragged out the words and continued, "The home is harmonious, all affairs prosper."
Ding Yuan spotted who it was and immediately rolled her eyes, raising her voice to scold, "Xie Yue, are you looking for death?!"
Exam seats were randomly assigned across the grade.
Yun Mi's gaze swept through the crowd and immediately landed on Chen Yiyang.
The boy was carrying only a transparent pencil case, quietly standing by the pile of books at the classroom door. His figure was straight, his expression cold. He was looking at a textbook, his whole demeanor serious, his sharp black eyes like blades.
—They were even in the same exam hall.
These past few days, Chen Yiyang had been studying with her, utilitarian and cold. Apart from explaining knowledge points, he didn't talk to her much.
The girl unconsciously lowered her eyes.
She wondered what Chen Yiyang really thought of her.
Yun Mi hurriedly stuffed her Chinese textbook into her canvas bag. Suddenly, a few ambiguous comments drifted from the queue: "Isn't that Chen Yiyang?"
Over the past few days, Jiang Wenshao had spread screenshots and created buzz, so many people knew about their bet.
Those guys from Class 2 sneered: "I really don't understand what the study god was thinking. Life was too smooth, so he had to hit a wall himself. Bringing a dead weight into the class and still daring to bet on the average score? This time, he'll fall from his pedestal."
Yun Mi had been working so hard these days precisely because she hated those damn comments. She originally wanted to ignore them, but then she heard faint agreement with undisguised mockery: "Class 1 just isn't good enough now."
"What are you talking about?" Yun Mi spoke up anyway.
Chen Yiyang, who had been looking down, slowly raised his eyes at her voice, hearing Yun Mi's clearer tone.
Yun Mi lifted her chin slightly, turned her head to look at the boys from Class 2, and said calmly and clearly, "The outcome isn't decided yet, and you're already celebrating?"
The invigilator urged them to enter the exam hall. Yun Mi turned back and, before stepping into the classroom, casually dropped, "We'll see."
She "hmph"ed and her gaze accidentally met Chen Yiyang's dark eyes.
The boy stood in the crowd, looking down at her.
"?"
Damn.
Why was he smiling when he was being insulted?
...
Shanfu's monthly exam papers were always graded the same day they were taken.
The last subject ended at 3 PM, and the results were all out by 4 PM.
Yun Mi returned to the classroom. The entire hallway was buzzing with talk about the bet.
Chen Yiyang had taken all the fire onto himself, so naturally all eyes were on him.
Yun Mi's chest tightened. She subconsciously searched for Chen Yiyang. Just as she reached the stairwell, she heard sharp, piercing argument voices from downstairs.
"Chen Yiyang, what are you going to do about it?"
Xie Yue and Chen Yiyang had just left the classroom when Jiang Wenshao and his group surrounded them.
Xie Yue, already pent up with anger, said coldly, "Someone who only got in through connections still dares to strut around here."
Jiang Wenshao, hit right where it hurt, flared up in anger: "What did you say?!"
Enraged and embarrassed, Jiang Wenshao rushed forward to grab Xie Yue, but Chen Yiyang raised his hand to stop him.