He's already like this, just go along with it.

Shen Nian didn’t say anything, because he genuinely couldn’t understand why some people looked down on others despite having only a slight advantage.

High scores in English, but not so impressive overall—yes, Shen Nian couldn’t match Lan Fukai in English, but in other subjects, he wasn’t necessarily worse. Lan Fukai excelled in English, but Shen Nian was just as strong in math.

The world’s full of all kinds of birds, Shen Nian thought, and with that, he let it go.

It was like a game where everyone interacted happily, saying "GG" (good game) when they won and "NT" (nice try) when they lost. But some people, the moment they gained even the slightest edge, would start trash-talking—"bot," "not taking apprentices," "any real players here?" "EZ."

In games, the two sides were opponents, so provoking each other could at least be justified as strategy. But in real life, Shen Nian had no idea what he’d done to make Lan Fukai despise him so much, treating him like an enemy at every turn.

Pathetic.

Well, if that’s how he was, might as well humor him.

Seeing Shen Nian glance at him once before ignoring him, Lan Fukai didn’t press further.

Just an English noob, after all.

If not for the fear of "bad company corrupts good character," Lan Fukai wouldn’t even spare Shen Nian a glance—lest he drag down high-achievers like Xia Yanchun and Li Shiyan.

Didn’t he know the saying "birds of a feather flock together"?

The low-scorers sat together, the high-scorers sat together—that was common sense. No teacher would pair a top student with the class troublemaker, afraid the troublemaker might rub off on the genius.

But some people lacked self-awareness. Despite mediocre grades, they insisted on hanging around Xia Yanchun. That just wasn’t right.

And calling himself the "English King"? That title hadn’t come from Xia Yanchun or Lan Fukai—no, it was Shen Nian who’d said it. Ridiculous.

In Lan Fukai’s eyes, Xia Yanchun should be discussing academics with him, not fooling around with Shen Nian.

A storm raged in his mind, but Lan Fukai’s expression remained perfectly calm.

Better to curse internally than say everything out loud. Who knew if Shen Nian, humiliated, might snap and throw a punch?

Shen Nian was a towering 1.8 meters tall. Lan Fukai couldn’t beat him, didn’t dare to, and wouldn’t stoop to it anyway.

Being ruled by emotions was a sign of poor upbringing and weak intellect. He was a rational human, not some impulsive animal.

Soon, Yan Yuzhu began pacing the classroom, dictating words one by one for the spelling test.

"Cheek, meaning ‘face.’"

"Damage, meaning ‘harm or injury.’"

"Courageous, meaning ‘brave.’"

"..."

Shen Nian breezed through it effortlessly. Times had changed—now, far from disliking English, he’d even started to enjoy it a little.

Once the spark of motivation for learning ignited, it was hard to extinguish before tasting failure.

Simple logic: just don’t fail, right?

His room for improvement was vast—"bear with me." But his room for regression? Tiny. No space left.

When you’re already scoring 45 out of 100, how much worse can failure really be?

Almost as soon as Yan Yuzhu finished speaking each word, Shen Nian smoothly wrote it on the blackboard, even sparing a glance at the ditzy Li Shiyan beside him.

Noticing his gaze, Li Shiyan—assuming he didn’t know the answers—shifted slightly to give him a better view, hoping to save him from Yan Yuzhu’s punitive copying assignments.

Shen Nian smirked, shaking his head. Tsk tsk. Bro’s unstoppable now.

Then he glanced at Lan Fukai next to him. Oh, perfect—shielded like it’s a survival game where sharing answers means elimination.

Thirty-seven words in total. Shen Nian hadn’t expected so many, so he wrote the first few large, only to realize space was running out. The rest ended up ant-sized.

Even Yan Yuzhu broke a sweat. "Shen Nian, you should pay more attention to neatness. Clear handwriting might earn you some extra points on essays."

"Take Li Shiyan as an example—her writing is very tidy."

"Got it, teacher," Shen Nian nodded.

Yan Yuzhu then checked all four students’ work. Despite Li Shiyan’s strong English skills, she’d misspelled three words.

"Three mistakes. Keep working hard."

"Mhm," Li Shiyan replied shyly, bobbing her head slightly.

"Li Shiyan’s handwriting is beautiful, and she got most right. Everyone, feel free to ask her for study tips later."

Next in line was Shen Nian.

He cleared his throat, ready to humbly accept praise and casually remark, "Just takes hands, really."

But Yan Yuzhu glanced at him… and walked straight to the girls’ side. "Let’s see how our class representative did..."

"A few mistakes, but much better than before. Keep it up, Chen Qiuyu."

"Thank you, teacher."

Shen Nian: "..."

Seriously? Erased from existence? Just gonna ignore me, huh?

Shaking with rage—this was blatant emotional abuse!

Teacher, you wouldn’t want people knowing you’re leading the charge in bullying students, would you?

Hope you can keep ignoring me forever...

The moment that office is empty, bro’s going in for some mischief—every last Wangzai Milk stolen!

"Now, let’s check the subject representative’s..."

Lan Fukai straightened his back. As the English rep, he’d written all thirty-seven words correctly—as expected.

Technically, the rep should be the top English student, but Xia Yanchun was just too OP, making his position less secure.

"The subject representative did well too, but two words were misspelled. Review them later," Yan Yuzhu said mildly.

"Understood, teacher. Slipped up this time," Lan Fukai nodded.

Finally, Yan Yuzhu turned to Shen Nian.

Checking word by word, she was genuinely surprised—all correct.

"Shen Nian… full marks this time. What incredible progress! I still remember in sophomore year, you couldn’t even cheat off a note perfectly. Your hard work lately hasn’t gone unnoticed!"

"So impressive..." Even Li Shiyan blinked in astonishment.

And here she’d been trying to let him copy—he’d aced it!

Her nose felt warm, like a little red ball might pop out any second.

Shen Nian scratched his head goofily, the praise hitting him right in the heart.

He decided to bless the class with a speech:

"Oh, it’s nothing, teacher. You’re too kind. I just study while others rest."

"Knowing my grades were weak, I pushed myself relentlessly—studying during meals, burning the midnight oil till 2:30 AM, sleeping at 3, up by 6. And of course, it’s all thanks to your guidance, or I’d never have aced this."

Yan Yuzhu: "?"

Who asked?

Now he’s giving a TED Talk? What a circus.

The class erupted.

"Secretly grinding, huh? We’re all anti-grind, and this snake’s out here bragging!"

"There’s a rat in the ranks. No names."

"Shut him up! Someone shut him up!"

"3 AM to 6 AM? What kind of superhuman—"

"Don’t fall for it, guys! I saw him playing Naruto at 2:30 AM this summer!"

"Wait, so he’s grinding grades AND games? Shen Nian, you monster!"

"After class—Aluba him!"

The room buzzed with laughter and chaos.

Everyone, that is, except Lan Fukai.

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