Chapter 15 The Stifling Moment

The moment Tang Siwen took out her phone, Chen Yuan felt suffocated.

This girl, like Xia Xinyu, also had her own way of ninjutsu—thinking and doing.

He barely heard her hesitation; she just pulled out her phone like that.

The moment Tang Siwen took out her phone, Lao Mo was horrified.

He had set the rule himself: confiscate all phones found in school and return them upon graduation!

And Tang Siwen was openly provoking him, taking out her phone right in front of him.

At that moment, the air froze.

Both of them were praying like mad in their hearts—

Put it away, I'm telling you to put that phone away!

[What? Are phones not allowed in school?]

What do you think, young lady!

[Oh right, phones aren’t allowed in school. It's a school rule.]

You remember now!

"Add me on QQ later. I'll write it down for you," Tang Siwen said to Chen Yuan, putting her phone away.

"..." Chen Yuan grimaced as if he had a toothache and nodded in agreement, not uttering another word.

"Ahem." Clearing his throat, Lao Mo changed the subject and said, "The competition is on Sunday afternoon at two o'clock until five o'clock. The test center is at No. 1 High School. Your admission tickets will be issued in a few days. Don't be late, and don't go to the wrong place. There are many students taking the preliminary exam. Although Nos. 1 and 4 High Schools have more, this is based on ranking. Since you can score over 140 on today's test paper, the gap between you and them isn't that big."

Lao Mo said, seeing Tang Siwen wanting to say something but stopping, as if hearing her thoughts. He comforted her, "Today's exam was about 14 minutes shorter than a normal exam. Given the normal time, you could have scored 145. Being in the top hundred in our No. 11 High School doesn't necessarily mean you're worse than the students from Nos. 1 and 4 High Schools."

The top two high schools in Hai Dong were Xia Hai No. 1 High School and Xia Hai No. 4 High School.

Although No. 11 High School couldn't be mentioned in the same breath as No. 4, it was still a famous school in the top twenty in the province.

As his strongest fighter, Tang Siwen would definitely pass the preliminary exam.

"Chen Yuan." After encouraging Tang Siwen, he looked at Chen Yuan. "Do more practice problems these days. If you don't understand something, you can… ask your relative."

Chen Yuan had a talent for mathematics.

But strangely, it only showed today.

If it was really his cousin who taught him and opened his mind, then he might have a chance…

In any case, he had a much better chance than Zhang Zhuo.

He would believe it for now.

There were no better candidates anyway.

If they really won an award, according to Hai Dong Province's policy this year, it would add points to their college entrance exams, which would be a good thing for them.

"Ah… okay."

Chen Yuan didn't know what to say, but he always felt that Lao Mo was a bit of a scoundrel.

He had flexible moral standards.

Dating was not allowed, but dating a top student from No. 4 High School could improve his mathematics… Chen Yuan should go and have a good talk with her!

"Alright, go inside."

After giving them instructions, Lao Mo let them go back to the classroom.

Back in his seat, Chen Yuan flipped through the advanced mathematics textbook. After looking at a few pages, he suddenly closed it with a snap, covering his forehead with a rather complicated expression.

"What's wrong?" Zhou Fu asked curiously.

"Take a look." Chen Yuan pushed the textbook in front of her, wanting to see her reaction.

After flipping through it and glancing at it a few times, Zhou Fu's mood became slightly complicated. "How is there stuff beyond the syllabus?"

High school math Olympiads don't divide by grade; anyone can participate.

As a school on the edge of being a famous school, No. 11 High School's learning progress was faster than ordinary provincial key schools. By the first semester of the second year of high school, they would have learned all the content.

But now it was only a month and a half into the first year of high school. The last school-wide exam was during the collective tutoring during the summer vacation. In other words, they hadn't finished learning all the content yet, and the monthly exam craze hadn't started.

"There is some content that's beyond the syllabus, but not much… It's no problem to learn it these few days, but look at the difficulty," Chen Yuan continued.

Zhou Fu shook her head, not having any confidence at all. "I can't."

"Yeah, it's like a heavenly book."

"You and Tang Siwen should both only be registered for the first round, so you need to get at least 85 points on this kind of paper?"

"It seems like the preliminary round last year required 88 points to pass… You need to get almost 90 points out of 120 on these kinds of questions." Chen Yuan felt a little difficult and could only hope for the big shots in the exam room.

He hoped there would be more geniuses from No. 1 or No. 4 High School in the exam room.

Weak schools have no advantage in such competitions.

"Add oil, I believe in you." Clenching her fist, Zhou Fu gave Chen Yuan sincere encouragement.

[Even if he doesn't advance, being able to participate in this competition is already amazing for Chen Yuan.]

As expected, it was rare to find someone like Xia Xinyu who unconditionally and even unreasonably believed in him.

But Zhou Fu was another kind of kind—an encouraging personality.

During self-study, Lao Mo left the classroom because he had to eat, and the class monitor Zhang Chao temporarily took over.

Suddenly, there was some commotion coming from the front right of the class.

"Pass it to the back, to that side. Yes, him."

"Pass it to the back, to him."

"Pass it to the back, to Chen Yuan."

"Pass it to the back to Chen Yuan."

"Brother, take a look at who I am."

When Zhou Yu's roommate who played *Genshin Impact* handed him a note and asked him to pass it to Chen Yuan, Chen Yuan caught him, poked his shoulder, and asked, "Who gave it to you?"

The *otaku* brother pointed to the front right. Following the direction, the students in the front right also pointed forward, finally locking onto Tang Siwen.

What's this about? A QQ number?

Chen Yuan opened the note, and there was a string of QQ numbers on it. Through this number, he could add Tang Siwen's QQ.

Want it? I'll sell it to you for a hundred bucks.

What? Want Xia Xinyu's QQ number?

Get lost. I wouldn't sell it for ten thousand.

QQ verification answer: Doupi (tofu skin)

Hiss… what kind of verification answer is *doupi*?

Could it be something like "My favorite food is"?

That's too self-centered. Who would know that?

Since it's a QQ used at school, it must be the kind of verification that classmates can know the answer to.

Thinking like this, Chen Yuan secretly took out his phone and added the QQ.

Then, a friend request verification question popped up.

What does the fourth window in the cafeteria first floor breakfast area sell?

"..."

Mine.

Putting his phone back in his pocket, Chen Yuan didn't plan to add the friend right now, lest that girl accept his friend request during class.

If she got caught playing with her phone in class, even Lao Mo couldn't protect her.

And his phone, as a disposable pawn that could be sacrificed at any time, would definitely be confiscated without explanation.

It could only be said that if he went to No. 4 High School as an undercover agent with Tang Siwen, he would be exposed by this girl in less than a day.

At that time, with Chen Yuan's personality, if No. 4 High School used coercion and enticement to interrogate and co-opt him, he wouldn't be able to resist the *meiren ji* (beauty trap).

"Did Teacher Mo ask you and Tang Siwen to help each other?" Zhou Fu asked curiously.

"After all, the two of us from our class are going to take the exam."

"Then you…" Zhou Fu turned her head, looking at the seemingly high-and-mighty little beauty, and said uncertainly, "Can you really communicate with her?"

Putting aside the habit of arbitrarily labeling people and not being aware of her privileged status…

"You can try to make friends with her. It's simpler than you think," Chen Yuan suggested.

"Ah, this… I don't dare." Zhou Fu shook her head, telling the truth.

With her grades and looks, if she was really easy to make friends with, why would she always be so aloof and independent after so long?

Because you don't know she's a ditz.

The one-hour evening self-study ended quickly. More than a dozen day students in the class left the classroom like this.

And Tang Siwen, who had passed him a note during class, ignored him during this break and continued to lower her head, seriously burying herself in writing the test paper.

For her, every minute of her time was not to be wasted.

In this test-oriented, winner-shames-loser educational environment, it was not inappropriate for her to have privileges.

However, she used the least annoying way to use her privileges—Huh? I don't know anything?

"What's wrong?" After leaving the classroom, Chen Yuan asked in confusion, seeing Zhou Fu lingering in place for a moment.

[If I go home with him, I'll be a third wheel again.]

[But going to the bus stop alone feels a bit awkward.]

[How about going to the station with him and then making an excuse that I have a date with my mom today, so I won't take that bus?]

Whatever you want, I'm fine with it.

"Mm-hmm, it's nothing."

Just like that, Chen Yuan and Zhou Fu arrived at the bus stop together.

The buzzing thoughts surged like a tide again.

There was no way around it. He could only put on his headphones and play the English song that won the Golden Melody Award in the Chinese music scene at maximum volume—"Wait Wait Wait."

While waiting, the 737 arrived.

Although the headphones were too loud and he couldn't hear what she was saying clearly, Chen Yuan, who had heard her inner thoughts just now, knew what she wanted to express. So he nodded slightly to Zhou Fu to signal his understanding and then got on the bus.

However, the moment he sat down, he was surprised to find that Zhou Fu had also boarded the bus.

Hiss… did the plan change?

However, she was looking down at her phone and didn't try to talk to him, so he didn't care and continued to send messages to Xia Xinyu.

The bus continued to Jiangning Road, and Zhou Fu didn't get off. Chen Yuan was a little panicked at first, but as they approached Xuefu Road station, Zhou Fu stood up, waved to him, and said goodbye with a smile.

Chen Yuan raised his hand: "Bye."

Seeing Chen Yuan's natural expression, Zhou Fu breathed a sigh of relief.

I can help his little girlfriend save a seat, so I'm somewhat useful, right…

"Xuefu Road is here. Passengers getting off, please prepare. Next stop—"

After the bus passed the towering gate of No. 4 High School, Chen Yuan somewhat impolitely used his bag to temporarily occupy the seat next to him, waiting until Xia Xinyu came before he gave it up.

Fortunately, Zhou Fu left early today, otherwise the scene from yesterday might have been repeated.

"Hee hee."

Xia Xinyu smiled faintly at him and sat down in the seat. Chen Yuan also took off his headphones, no longer fearing the complicated inner thoughts, after all, her inner thoughts gave people a sense of peace.

Until Xia Xinyu curiously turned to look at him.

[My butt just sat down… why is it so warm?]