If you mess with me, I'll laugh it off; if I mess with you, you'd better laugh it off too.

Someone barged in without a second thought, and Xia Yanchun couldn’t do anything about it.

If Shen Nian was here to study, she’d actually welcome it.

Next week was the monthly exam, followed by the sports meet, and then National Day. The week after exams was always the most relaxed.

It was probably the easiest time in high school life.

Shen Nian had already entered Xia Yanchun’s room and plopped himself at her desk like he owned the place. The AC in her room was pretty much always on, but it wasn’t that cool—guys preferred blasting it at 16°C, while girls usually kept it at 24°C, just enough to not feel hot.

"Did you bring your dictation notebook? I’ll test you on the vocab," Xia Yanchun said, following him in and sitting primly on the edge of her bed, her snow-white legs catching the eye.

Shen Nian gave them a serious once-over before straightening up. "I only brought the vocab list. Sorry to trouble you, Chunbao."

"Don’t call me Chunbao, or I’ll call you Haki Nian."

"Why not Nianbao?"

"Dream on. You’re not even close to being a ‘bao.’ Go eat a big serving of delusion." Xia Yanchun’s lips twitched as she pulled out a dictation notebook from her bag and tossed it at him. "Hurry up and get ready. How far have you gotten with the vocab?"

"Almost done. Just 200 words left."

"Liar." Xia Yanchun didn’t buy it at all. "I’d believe you if you said you memorized 2,000, but ‘almost done’? You think I’m stupid?"

"It’s true."

I’ve got cheats, okay? Is it really that weird to finish 3,500 English words? Especially when I’ve only got 200 left.

Back when the system first gave him that 12-hour buff, Shen Nian had pulled an all-nighter and memorized hundreds. Later, with his newfound determination, he cut back on sleep, skipped naps, and put all other subjects aside just to grind vocab. That’s how he managed to finish over 3,000 words.

Koby from One Piece awakened Conqueror’s Haki in two years. Me finishing all these words in a month—what’s the big deal?

Some people could memorize this much in less than a month. Shen Nian figured he was just a hardworking guy with a tiny advantage.

A little cheat doesn’t count as cheating. I’m still legit.

Xia Yanchun eyed him skeptically. "Fine, I’ll test you on the whole book then. Get one wrong, and you owe me 50 bucks."

"Are you robbing me?"

"You’re the one who said you’re ‘almost done.’"

"How does me finishing the vocab mean I have to pay you for mistakes?" Shen Nian frowned. I get called ‘handsome’ by random bikers outside—do I really look that dumb to you?

"Alright, alright, let’s start."

Xia Yanchun didn’t want to argue. She began reading out words one by one.

Shen Nian wrote each one down, then glanced at her, intending to hurry her along—but his gaze automatically locked onto her legs.

Oops, forgot to turn that off. Keep going.

At first, it was fine, but after a few too many looks, Xia Yanchun got annoyed. She pouted, tossed a small pillow over her lap, and her tone when reciting words turned noticeably colder.

Her good mood from potentially scamming 400 bucks was fading fast.

Shen Nian behaved after that, focusing on the dictation. By the time Xia Yanchun stopped, they’d gone through nearly 150 words.

Truthfully, not many people finished memorizing 3,500 words right at the start of senior year.

Even Li Shiyan hadn’t finished them all—she still made mistakes during dictations on the podium. Shen Nian had only scored in the 80s on last week’s quiz, so claiming he was "almost done" after just a week wasn’t convincing.

"Going all out, huh? My hand’s dead. Here, check!" Shen Nian shook out his wrist, the page now crammed with dizzying rows of English words.

"Let me see."

Xia Yanchun got up and leaned over to inspect his work, her pink-tipped finger tracing each word. She circled mistakes in red, but by the end, there were only three.

"See how awesome I am?"

"Fine, you’re awesome. But still not as good as me—I’ve memorized all of them."

"Then let me test you. Bet on it, we have to bet!" Shen Nian slammed the desk and stood up.

"Too lazy. I’m confident enough—believe me or not, up to you." Xia Yanchun smirked, reveling in Shen Nian’s frustration.

This is what a rival’s all about.

Shen Nian scoffed. Whatever, you’ve got the higher score now. Just wait till my total score surpasses yours—then we’ll see who’s gloating.

"Since I worked so hard, shouldn’t you give me a reward?" Shen Nian suddenly grinned.

"I’m not your mom. Want to call me ‘Mommy’ a few times?"

"Damn, Xia Yanchun."

Shen Nian fake-gasped, then dashed out to grab a peanut snack bar. He tore off the wrapper and plopped back beside her, pretending to sulk.

"Seriously, no reward? You were the one pushing me to study. Now that I’ve put in the effort, I get nothing? So demotivating. Guess I’ll just slack off from now on."

"Not my problem. Alright, scram already."

"Nope." Shen Nian scooted closer. "Actually, I’ve got a request. Can you show me your hair ties?"

"Didn’t I already give you one?"

"I just want to look. Not taking any."

"……"

Confused but obliging, Xia Yanchun pulled out a small box from her drawer, filled with hair ties.

Some had cute little charms. Shen Nian picked through them, squeezing each one, but none triggered the system prompt.

The remaining [Poetry and Painting Raft] and [Wind and Song Bell] quests were still a mystery—no clues at all.

"What the heck are you so disappointed about…?"

Xia Yanchun could clearly sense his mood shift. Who gets let down by hair ties?

Sketchy motives, weird behavior. Definitely up to no good.

"You wouldn’t understand my sorrow." Shen Nian sighed dramatically—totally faking it.

He hadn’t expected much anyway. The main goal was studying.

After more dictation practice with Xia Yanchun, this time on common grammar, Shen Nian felt even more confident. The monthly exam’s difficulty was unknown, but his English score wouldn’t be stuck in the 40s or 50s anymore.

He figured he could at least score 90 in English, maybe even break 600 total.

"Think you can outscore Lan Fukai in the monthly exam?" Xia Yanchun licked her peanut snack bar.

"Lan Fukai? If I don’t beat him, I’ll do a handstand and crap myself."

"That confident?" She side-eyed him.

"His total score wasn’t that much higher than mine to begin with. I’m better at math, he’s better at English. Now that my English’s improved, unless his math suddenly gets way better, he’s got no edge."

"If he does level up his math and beats me, then sure, props to him. But if he doesn’t? Total clown. I never cared about him anyway."

You wanna compare English scores? Fine. But when it’s math and total score, you better keep that same energy.

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