Xia Yanchun felt a pang of guilt in her heart. Why was Shi Yan looking over here for no reason, and so intently at that?
She absolutely, definitely saw it!
It was all Shen Nian's fault, daring to act like that in the classroom!
Xia Yanchun immediately gathered her things, ignoring Shen Nian, and quietly returned to her own seat.
Shen Nian scratched his cheek, puzzled, his gaze following her. But Xia Yanchun paid him no mind at all, instead leaning close to Li Shiyan and whispering, who knows what they were discussing.
There wasn't much he could do in the classroom anyway, so he didn't mind much that she went back. He took a sip of the brown sugar water and lowered his head to review his own materials.
Xia Yanchun pinched Li Shiyan's soft cheek lightly, frowning slightly. "What were you looking at just now?"
Li Shiyan blinked, looking somewhat innocent as she pulled Xia Yanchun's cool hand away, her voice soft. "I saw Shen Nian bothering you... he touched your finger..."
"Whew..." Xia Yanchun let out a sigh of relief, the flicker of panic in her heart settling down.
It was all Shen Nian's fault, being so bold in public. She didn't even dare imagine what he might do during the lunch break, if they were the only two left in the classroom.
Xia Yanchun was glad she had pulled her hand back quickly. If she had been bold enough to interact with Shen Nian, or just let him tease her without stopping, and Li Shiyan had seen that, it would have been impossible to explain.
"Hehe, you and Shen Nian get along so well," Li Shiyan laughed again, hooking her finger with Xia Yanchun's. "You don't even get mad when he bothers you."
"Who says I'm not mad!"
"Were you really mad?" Li Shiyan tilted her head. Honestly, she hadn't sensed it.
Come to think of it, since she'd known Xia Yanchun, she'd never really seen her get truly angry when hanging out with Shen Nian. Occasionally, if he annoyed her too much, she'd just curse at him a bit.
If she were really angry, shouldn't she stop talking and ignore him? Even if they argued today, Shen Nian would start a conversation with Xia Yanchun again after a while, and she would still reply, just with a less friendly tone.
"I can't get too angry with so many people around, right? It's not even good to yell..." Xia Yanchun explained.
"Hmm..."
That did make sense. If they made a scene, everyone would definitely look over.
Fine, she'd consider Xia Yanchun as having been angry.
"But I still think you two have a really good relationship."
"It's not good at all. It's just the way we interact, we're used to it..."
"Childhood friends, huh."
"......"
Xia Yanchun bit her lower lip, not refuting it. Li Shiyan knew she and Shen Nian were from the same hometown and had gone from elementary school all the way to high school together, so there was no need to explain.
Besides, it was the truth.
Before becoming rivals, she and Shen Nian were first and foremost childhood friends.
Inseparable since childhood, two little... well, two little schemers with eight hundred tricks up their sleeves each.
At nine in the morning, the bell rang, shattering the review atmosphere, and the classroom instantly became lively.
"I pray to the God of Mathematics, may I know all the answers, guess all correctly." Ma Mingfan clasped his hands together, having already become a devout follower of the Math God.
Shen Nian broke out in a cold sweat. "Isn't the morning exam Chinese?"
"What do you know? I pray once in the morning and once in the afternoon, so the Math God will spare me an extra glance."
"Wow, praying twice? You're the real Prayer King."
"I sacrifice ten years of Shen Nian's life in exchange for all my guesses being correct!"
"Damn you, trying to kill your own father?"
Shen Nian chased Ma Mingfan, kicking and shoving him all the way out of the classroom.
Well, what could you do? Eighteen was just the rebellious age. Ma Mingfan clearly had hit his rebellious phase. As a father, of course, he chose to forgive him.
As the only person in Cinan No.2 High School who had ever been a father, Shen Nian's face always wore a kindness his peers lacked... the middle part is forgotten, the latter part is forgotten.
Both Shen Nian and Xia Yanchun were assigned to their own class for the exam, their seats separated by an aisle. Shen Nian sat in front, Xia Yanchun sat behind.
The first mock exam was quite formal, following the scale of the college entrance exam completely. The test papers even had sealed envelopes, which the invigilator opened in front of everyone.
When the papers were handed out, Shen Nian scanned through them directly, looking completely at ease. While others were still working on the multiple-choice questions, he had already started on the fill-in-the-blanks section.
He wrote quickly and neatly, an effect of his Micro-light training. Although the Micro-light training didn't seem very remarkable, it was essentially quite overpowered.
It's just that high school was too formulaic and rigid, making it hard to fully showcase the effects of Micro-light training during this period.
For the two-and-a-half-hour Chinese exam, Shen Nian only spent a little over an hour and a half. He left two blank lines at the end of his essay, his format standard and proper.
Xia Yanchun, sitting behind him, was still writing her essay, her slightly frozen hands making her characters a bit crooked and prone to mistakes.
Looking up, she saw Shen Nian already sprawled on the desk, his outstretched legs twitching slightly.
This guy...
Xia Yanchun narrowed her eyes. How long had it been? Could he have finished already?
The Chinese exam included an essay. For some of the more obscure essay prompts, she needed ten minutes or so just to figure out what to write.
Yet Shen Nian was already done... Someone who could score 688 points couldn't possibly have stopped writing without finishing the mock exam paper, right?
A sense of crisis exploded in Xia Yanchun's heart. She focused seriously on the exam, rereading questionable questions twice, and wrote until the last ten minutes.
Being surpassed by Shen Nian in grades? That must not happen!
The bell rang, and the invigilator collected the papers.
Shen Nian went to the restroom. It was crowded, and by the time he returned, most of his classmates were back in their seats.
"How'd it go?" Shen Nian stood next to Xia Yanchun's desk, smiling lightly.
"Moderate difficulty," Xia Yanchun cleared her throat. "Let me see your paper."
"You're starting to check answers too now?"
"Is that not allowed? I want to see how many you got right."
"Well, it's just that usually people ask you for answers. It's rare for you to ask someone else." Shen Nian handed her his paper. "Afraid you didn't do as well as me, huh?"
"Not at all. I just want to take a look."
Xia Yanchun compared Shen Nian's Chinese multiple-choice answers.
Their answers were exactly the same...
"Let's go, stop checking. Time for lunch."
"Not hungry," Xia Yanchun muttered.
"If you're not hungry at school, let's eat outside then."
"Fine."
"Why so glum? You really are afraid you won't score higher than me, aren't you?"
"How could that be!"
"Those who want to win don't wear smiles on their faces, and you're not smiling."
Xia Yanchun was speechless. She bared her teeth in a completely unprofessional fake smile.
"You're such an idiot. Let's go."
"You're the idiot!"
Xia Yanchun huffily packed her bag, stuffing her water bottle inside.
When Li Shiyan returned to the classroom, Xia Yanchun told her, then left the school gate with Shen Nian.
It was still quite cold outside. The wind had picked up today, and before long Xia Yanchun's nose started running. Sniffling, her nose turned red.
She shoved her backpack at Shen Nian, tucking both hands into her pockets. "You're treating."
"Got it, got it. It's not like I'm broke." Shen Nian smoothed her wind-tousled hair. "How about we make a bet on our total scores this time? That should be fair."
"To go easy on you, I'd better not bet with you. I don't want you saying I bullied you."
"Come on, we're not that far apart now."
"Just say you don't want to bet!"
Xia Yanchun was very confident in her grades. As a top student, she had her own little pride. Not betting with Shen Nian on grades was purely because she didn't want to.
Back when her grades completely crushed Shen Nian's, she never bet with him. Now that the gap between them was so small, she was even less likely to.
Always going on about betting, betting, betting... is Shen Nian really that confident he can win?
Xia Yanchun felt frustrated, thinking Shen Nian never even considered losing. If he lost, he'd have to call her 'big sister'!
He never liked calling her that before.
It seems the attraction of getting a kiss now completely outweighs the resistance to calling her 'big sister'...
That awful Shen Nian!
Xia Yanchun snorted two hot puffs of air from her nose, stuffed her hands in her pockets, and butted her forehead against Shen Nian's arm like a little calf pushing someone, bumping him back a couple of unsteady steps.
"Hey, hey, why are you bumping into me?"
"To bump some sense into you, you pervert!"
"Huh?? How am I a pervert?"
Yanxi reminds you: Due to Tomato requesting over 3 million daily visits causing excessive server pressure, it is now recommended you use sources from other big platforms.
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
end. Thus one must continue to cultivate, and become a saint or great emperor, in order to prolong one's life. Chen Xia, however, completely reversed this. Since his transmigration, he has gained immortality, and also a system that awards him with attribute points for every year he lives. Thus between the myriad worlds, the legend of an unparalleled senior appeared. "A gentleman takes revenge; it is never too late even after ten thousand years." "When you were at your peak I yielded, now in your old age I shall trample on you." - Chen Xia
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
