You Still Can't Forget Your Orleans Roasted Chicken

The midterm exams began with Chinese language at nine in the morning.

Shen Nian wasn't assigned to the same exam room as Xia Yanchun or Li Shiyan; Ma Mingfan and Chen Dong were also downstairs. He could only follow a few classmates to another classroom to take the test.

For the two-and-a-half-hour Chinese exam, he finished all the questions, including the essay, in just an hour and a half—every answer space filled.

Looking it over, it was quite neat, with very few wrong characters.

He used to blot out mistakes, making the whole paper look messy, and had been called out by his middle school teachers several times for it. Now, he didn't have that worry anymore, rarely even drawing slashes through errors.

[Glimmer Training] was working its subtle magic in the background. Ah, the hand of the system.

While other students were still scribbling furiously, Shen Nian was already thinking about how to kill the remaining hour.

After class, the stairwell was a swarming crowd. Even Usain Bolt, if he were on Shen Nian's floor at this spot, wouldn't get a hot meal.

But Jackie Chan could—he doesn't take the ordinary path.

As soon as Shen Nian reached the cafeteria, he spotted Xia Yanchun and Li Shiyan in the line next to his. The two girls glanced his way, pretended not to see him, and continued their chattering.

Shen Nian remembered their classroom was on the first floor. Probably, taking advantage of being unusually close to the cafeteria, they had agreed to head straight for lunch after class.

Infuriating! The post-class eaters occupied the most advantageous location, while the pre-class eaters were stuck on the garbage high floors. Was the school using an ELO matchmaking system to control the speed of getting to the cafeteria?

Otherwise, it was hard to explain why he, from a high floor, would end up queuing at roughly the same spot as those two from the low floors.

Both girls had chosen one meat and one vegetable dish. After getting their food, they waited for Shen Nian for a bit.

If they hadn't waited, Shen Nian would have gone looking for them anyway. Besides, Shen Nian was alone, and they usually ate together. Letting him eat by himself now felt weird.

"Eating so much, and you still say you're not a bottomless pit." Xia Yanchun watched him order. This guy actually picked three meat dishes, no vegetables at all, a heaping bowl—enough for her to eat all day!

"I burn a lot of calories. Didn't sleep well last night, and I ran over ten kilometers today," Shen Nian grinned. "As for why I didn't sleep well last night, I won't tell you that."

Xia Yanchun glared at him angrily. "Who wants to know?"

Li Shiyan looked confused. How did they start bickering the moment they met?

The three found an empty table. Listening to their little squabble, Li Shiyan learned that Shen Nian actually exercised every morning, her eyes sparkling.

"You exercise every day? That's amazing!"

"Of course."

"I want to exercise too, but I can never get up, hehe."

"Skill issue. I can get up."

"..."

Li Shiyan, who was just smiling, stopped smiling instantly, her little face falling as she buried herself in her food.

Shen Nian was just too over-the-top. She was just an ordinary girl and couldn't handle him. Better let the crafty one deal with him. Xia Yanchun had known Shen Nian for so long, she must have her ways.

Xia Yanchun kept watching Shen Nian shovel food down. Using the school-issued spoon for speed, he scooped huge mouthfuls of rice and meat, stuffed them in, swallowed, and immediately went for the next spoonful. Just watching made Xia Yanchun feel a sugar crash. She hurriedly reminded him,

"Eating so fast, aren't you afraid of choking? Can't you act a bit more like an adult?"

"Hungry," Shen Nian couldn't be bothered to argue, thinking to himself, where did this nag come from? Even eating gets micromanaged.

"You still don't need to be that fast."

"Thank you for the kind reminder, Class President. I am enlightened. From now on, I shall eat with refined elegance."

So Shen Nian scooped a huge spoonful, slowly put it in his mouth, slowly chewed, slowly swallowed...

“Forget it. If you choke to death, we'll just have a feast. Remember to tell your parents you like Orleans roasted chicken.”

You still can't forget your Orleans roasted chicken...

After the meal, Shen Nian dragged Xia Yanchun into buying him a drink, to test her generosity.

Xia Yanchun had no choice. Sighing, she treated it as compensation for asking such invasive questions yesterday and dutifully paid.

"Eek, I won!"

Shen Nian bought an energy drink, which cost six-fifty at the school store. Unscrewing the cap, he won a prize—another bottle. He went to redeem it and had Xia Yanchun open it.

"Looks like we won again?"

"Hehehe."

They redeemed a third bottle. Unfortunately, no win this time, but Shen Nian was quite satisfied.

He wondered if his Lucky Star was at work, though the probability of consecutive "win another bottle" wasn't that small. Even before the system, he'd had such lucky streaks.

Three drinks for the price of one. Xia Yanchun felt a little thrill inside—she loved getting bargains like this.

She hadn't planned to drink so much, but now she had to. Since the caps were given to the store owner, she took a big gulp first to prevent it from spilling while walking, as the bottle was too full.

"Aren't you afraid you won't sleep later? These energy drinks fight fatigue," Shen Nian asked, surprised.

"If I can't sleep, so be it. It's good for staying awake during the exam. Besides, I slept well yesterday; two hours shouldn't be a problem."

"So you teased me and then slept soundly, huh? You slept comfortably, but I couldn't, babe. I was up before four today."

"Who told you to get up so early?" Xia Yanchun immediately felt a pang of guilt.

She had messaged him close to midnight. If Shen Nian wasn't lying, that meant he'd slept at most four hours from yesterday until now!

And there were midterms today...

Thinking of this, she felt a little twinge of remorse.

But it wasn't her who made Shen Nian get up at four. It was Shen Nian choosing to exercise early knowing he lacked sleep, while she went to bed right after sending the message. This really couldn't be blamed on her.

Xia Yanchun looked at his energetic appearance and grew a bit suspicious.

"Did you really get up at four to exercise? You don't have any dark circles."

"Really. Later, upstairs, I'll secretly show you my phone. The fitness app has a record."

"If you dare lie to me, I'll beat you to death."

"If you can't beat me and I turn the tables, does that trigger a defeat CG?"

"Go to hell!"

"Ow, damn it, don't pinch..."

Shen Nian was terrified. One day, his waist would be twisted into a pretzel by Xia Yanchun.

Turns out, before, Chun Bao was just pretending to pinch him—it didn't hurt. But when she really pinched, the damage was high. The crafty Chun Bao, knowing his jacket wasn't zipped, specifically slipped her hand under his shirt to pinch.

At school, no hugging or touching was allowed, but she didn't consider that when pinching him. Shen Nian had already surrendered.

Xia Yanchun pinched to her heart's content.

Confirmed: the current Shen Nian would not fight back.

Shen Nian, who wanted to nibble the grass near his nest, now had a weakness. If he dared fight back even once, that grass would be out of reach.

Xia Yanchun hummed triumphantly, feeling like Shen Nian was the hairy-faced, thunder-god-mouthed Monkey King, and she was the Buddha. No matter how high Shen Nian jumped, he couldn't escape her palm.

Continue to keep Shen Nian in check~

Yanxi reminds you: Due to Tomato requesting over 3 million daily visits, which is causing excessive server pressure, it is now recommended that you use sources from other big players.