Six-Six-Six and Mutual Business Flattery

Lunch break ended. After brushing his teeth and washing his face, Ma Mingfan couldn't be bothered to fix his hair. There was a chunk sticking up that made him look just like Mori Ran.

As long as you don't feel awkward, it isn't awkward. Possessing an iron will, Ma Mingfan had long since stopped caring about the judgment of strangers.

After all, no one was looking at him anyway. Several guys didn't even notice the cowlick. It wasn't like he walked out with a greasy, unwashed mess; this kind of frizz, formed by sleeping positions, was a common sight among high school students.

Lately, he had expanded his training regimen.

"Idiot TV," "Tolerance for Stupidity Challenge"—he could watch all sorts of brain-rot videos and blood-pressure-raising blunders online twenty times over without changing his expression.

There were quite a few people leaving the dorms; some went to the campus store, while others headed straight for the academic building. Ma Mingfan went to the store to buy a bottle of water, and it was only when he walked out that he noticed Liang Jing following behind him.

"Sugar-free green tea? You've got taste." Liang Jing glanced at the green tea in his hand and spoke first, giving him a subtle thumbs-up.

Ma Mingfan was stunned. He looked down—dammit, the son of a b*tch, he bought the wrong one!

Even a dog wouldn't drink sugar-free green tea.

He had intended to say exactly that, but seeing Liang Jing holding an identical bottle of sugar-free green tea, he swallowed his words.

As a high-class individual, he wouldn't insult a girl to her face. He wasn't Shen Nian, after all.

He usually insulted people behind their backs.

It had been a whole ten minutes since he last mentioned how Liang Jing, fully geared in iron armor, failed to beat a single baby zombie.

The Yellow River's waters move from heaven... Hahaha, he was feeling poetic.

Liang Jing lived up to her name; she was quiet and didn't talk much. She had a bit of a "wallflower" attribute. If they hadn't accidentally taken the same bus, sat together, and because the connection was bad, ended up playing Minecraft where he let her play for a bit, Ma Mingfan felt he wouldn't have had any contact with her throughout all three years of high school.

Although she was invisible in real life, her presence in the game was anything but low.

Every weekend she wanted to play Minecraft with him. After playing for a while on Saturday night, when he logged back into the save file on Sunday noon, Liang Jing had pretty much finished the house that was previously incomplete.

Liang Jing would play secretly when he wasn't around, yet the game progression remained zero. Even with good equipment, she didn't dare go mining. Every day she just mined stone, chopped trees, and found decorations to make the house look fancy.

Without him, she'd never reach the Ender Dragon in her lifetime.

How did she manage to be so laid-back yet so addicted at the same time?

Seeing he didn't reply, Liang Jing assumed he didn't want to talk to her. She pursed her lips, fell silent, and dutifully walked back toward the classroom.

As she passed him, Ma Mingfan snapped out of it. "Indeed, great taste. Here, it's yours."

He held out the green tea.

This stuff was truly awful—bitter. It wasn't as good as Oriental Leaf, worse than the two-yuan Yineng, worse than the one-yuan saline water, and worse than the fifty-cent sugar water. Anyone who could stomach this was a god.

"Um, maybe not..." Liang Jing was a bit embarrassed about accepting a drink from a boy...

"Never mind then." Ma Mingfan decided he would tear off the plastic label later and give it to Chen Dong, pretending it was regular green tea.

That's what bros are for.

Liang Jing: "..."

Alright then.

"Let's hurry, feels like we're late. Pre-class reading is coming up, and the English teacher is going to spot-check recitations."

"Holy sh*t!"

"Don't tell me you didn't memorize it..."

"No, I'm out of dictation notebooks."

Ma Mingfan ran back into the campus store. Liang Jing stood there, unsure whether to wait or leave, feeling somewhat awkward.

Waiting felt weird since they had only met by chance, but leaving felt rude; he might think she had no manners since they were just chatting, and buying something only took half a minute.

She chose the former; being weird was more acceptable than leaving a bad impression.

"Class is about to start, why haven't you left yet?" Ma Mingfan came out of the store, surprised.

"..."

"Let's go, let's go."

Liang Jing turned and headed toward the classroom.

Ma Mingfan followed behind, noticing her swaying ponytail, which reached all the way down to her shoulder blades.

Inexplicably, the image of Shen Nian teasing Xia Yanchun's ponytail floated into Ma Mingfan's mind, and he recalled Shen Nian's words.

Was he close with Liang Jing?

Apart from playing games together, there wasn't much else.

Suddenly touching her hair would be a death wish. He didn't want to find himself labeled as a Roger on Xiaohongshu later.

Back in the classroom, Ma Mingfan handed the green tea with the label torn off to Chen Dong. "Don't say your bro doesn't look out for you. I bought you green tea, so what should you call me?"

Chen Dong wasn't an idiot. "I'll call you a dumbass. Who knows what this is."

"Look at you talking like that. Can't you see it's unopened? The plastic wrap was torn, so I just ripped it off. Talk about no good deed going unpunished. I'll just give it to Shen Nian then."

"Hey, hey, hey, why didn't you say so sooner?" Seeing that it really was unopened, Chen Dong's attitude did a 180.

"What should you call me?"

Chen Dong remained silent, focusing solely on opening the bottle.

He'd hold back for now; it wouldn't be too late to call him a dumbass after he drank it.

Wait, why was it bitter?

Chen Dong nearly gagged.

"This is sugar-free, isn't it?"

"Hahahahahaha!"

"Screw you!"

Chen Dong officially declared that sugar-free green tea was a beverage even worse than sugar-free milk tea.

Shen Nian looked at the two of them as if they were fools, his "benevolent father" persona coming online as he distributed a duck foot to each of them.

The bell rang for pre-class reading, and Yan Yuzhu arrived in the classroom shortly after.

"I'm picking four students to come up for vocabulary dictation. The scope covers all units from all three grades. Those not picked will use their dictation notebooks, which will be collected for inspection later."

If this were the past, Shen Nian would have fainted from fear.

Vocabulary from the entire high school curriculum—he couldn't even finish making cheat sheets for that.

Fortunately, he no longer feared English. Thanks to high-focus, long-duration study sessions, English words were deeply rooted in his mind, remembered clearly even without recent review.

"Shen Nian, Lan Fukai, and let's find two girls..."

Shen Nian broke into a sweat. *Bro, I scored so high, why am I still getting called on?*

*Shouldn't you pick the ones who look the most panicked?*

The two guys she called were both good at English. Was she afraid that if others did the dictation, they'd get it wrong and have to do punishment lines?

This grievance wouldn't be easily settled without two cans of Wangzai milk.

Shen Nian actually hadn't been called to the podium for dictation in a while. Since the scope was large this time, she probably grabbed two students with good English to serve as examples...

Lan Fukai was right next to Shen Nian. Sensing an inexplicable gaze from Lan Fukai, Shen Nian shot a look back.

Lan Fukai guiltily looked away.

Shen Nian: "..."

*Bro, I scored seven hundred points; you can't possibly still be looking down on my English. Is your English score even higher than mine?*

*If you dare mock me again, I'll send your mom flying.*

Luckily, Lan Fukai only glanced and didn't say anything.

During the dictation, as soon as Yan Yuzhu read a word, Shen Nian wrote it down immediately. It was quite effortless. She read about thirty words, and Shen Nian didn't make a single mistake.

Lan Fukai actually missed two... which was still pretty good, considering he was a high-scoring English student.

Shen Nian remembered that this guy had actually improved a bit lately; his first mock exam score was nearly six hundred.

Of course, one couldn't rule out a fluke performance.

Anyway, wish him success.

Shen Nian, you're really making this look easy. After all, you went from scoring a fifty to a whopping one hundred and forty. Anyone looking to make progress should definitely ask Shen Nian about his study methods.

Yan Yuzhu tossed out the casual compliment, indulging the typical high schooler's desire to show off a little.

Shen Nian scratched his head. Oh, stop, not at all. Anyone still hoping to claw their way up should just go to the teacher for a customized study plan. You'll improve effortlessly.

That works too. If you want to improve, feel free to come chat with me in the office during evening study hall. But remember, raising your grades ultimately depends on your own effort. Still, everyone should really follow Shen Nian's example.

Wow, smooth. Talk about a classic case of mutual flattery.

Shen Nian smiled with relief.

Could this get any more ridiculous? What was left to say?

The end-of-term Honor Roll was essentially free advertising for Bishop Wangzai, paving the way for the Wangzai disciples to take over No. 2 High School.