Chapter 141: One-Shot Wonder

January, the final monthly exam of the semester arrived.

Once it was over, winter break would begin.

The final vacation of high school.

After finishing the exam, Yan He packed his bag, ready to head home.

In the classroom, a few students were comparing answers, estimating their scores.

Li Pengfei said excitedly, "Old Lu, I feel like this is the best I've ever performed."

"That confident? Then won't your dad give you a huge red envelope for the New Year?" Yan He teased.

Li Pengfei scoffed, "Who cares about the red envelope? The point is, I'm awesome, you know? I think I can break into the top 300 in the grade this time, believe it or not?"

Li Pengfei had indeed worked hard this semester, making visible progress with every exam.

"If I don't surpass him this time, I will the next. Anyway, I'll definitely surpass him once before the college entrance exam," Li Pengfei said with full confidence.

Yan He was just packing his things, ready to leave.

"I was wrong," Li Pengfei immediately admitted, "I'm sorry, please forgive me. Please tell me, what do I have to do for you to forgive me?"

"Yeah, and holding hands too," Yan He added immediately, then complained, "You're such a good actor."

Li Zhibai and Yan Liang looked at each other.

He was stunned himself, wishing he could find a hole to crawl into!

Before he transmigrated, he wouldn't say he had a hollow leg, but he could at least hold his own in a drinking bout! How could this body be so pathetic? Just a bottom-of-the-glass of whiskey, and he was out?!

Where was he supposed to put his reputation!

Yan He came to his senses, feeling so awkward he didn't want to leave the room.

To think he had believed Li Pengfei was honest—a guy with thick eyebrows and big eyes, lying without blinking, not a hint of guilt! Damn!

Yan He deeply doubted his own judgment.

"Well, he didn't wrong you."

Yan He walked forward, happening to pass the cafe he had visited with Chen Ziyan before.

But this was the only cafe nearby.

It was rare for the three of them to be together today.

"Yeah." Yan Liang nodded, took a deep breath, and said, "Prepared for so long, it's time to put it to the test."

"Yo, Luo Zicheng really looks down on you," Jiang Haitian said as soon as he saw it.

He noticed, but didn't pay it any mind.

In the middle of winter, there weren't many people in the cafe.

—Li Pengfei is just purely kind-hearted; giving Xu Zijun pink gloves was probably just out of sympathy, nothing to do with liking her.

—How could Li Pengfei and Xu Zijun possibly be together? There's absolutely no ambiguity between them.

"Heh." Yan He answered the phone and let out two cold laughs.

He could already imagine how Li Zhibai and Yan Liang would mock him.

Yan He was speechless: "Try to be a decent human being."

But this only made Xu Zijun's face turn even redder, and she turned and ran toward the school.

However, after struggling for a long time, he finally opened the door and walked out.

"Just, just the last two months, sigh, we aren't officially together, just chatting."

Yan He turned to look at Li Zhibai again: "Li Zhibai, you too. You're the most famous of the three of us, how can you be so laid back? You have to keep getting more famous, be even more famous than that idiot Ma Zhiyuan!"

"No way?" He looked at Yan He in surprise.

Yan Liang looked in surprise at Yan He, who had suddenly gone glassy-eyed; his two cheeks were as red as if they were burning.

"I... I still have some things to do, you go ahead," Li Pengfei said, "Someone is coming to pick me up later."

Yan He entered the door and saw them sitting on the living room carpet with a bottle of whiskey on the coffee table. He looked at them in surprise.

Hello?

But Jiang Haitian said: "Fei-ge, you were just saying you wanted to score better than Luo Zicheng, but this top 300 won't beat Luo Zicheng."

Li Pengfei and Xu Zijun both heard it.

Yan He and Li Pengfei were both day students and didn't have dorms to clean out.

Li Zhibai waved his hand: "Why bother with all that superficial stuff? Anyway, I've already said it: from now on, no one is allowed to deny this brotherhood, understand?"

Yan Liang held Yan He's shoulder, "Hey, you aren't drunk, are you?"

"Don't scold me, but, Old Lu, you have to keep this secret for me. Her skin is thin, she can't handle others' gossip," Li Pengfei said, "And if Teacher Liu finds out, it'll be a disaster."

"You two are both younger than me, I've always seen you as my little brothers," Li Zhibai said, "That dog Zhou Ping'an insists on some elimination round after the group disbands, only taking three people. I don't know which three he'll pick, but you two remember, the three of us have lived in the same room for nearly three years. No one is allowed to forget; we'll always be brothers, got it?"

Li Pengfei looked at Yan He's departing back, then at Xu Zijun's running figure, sighed, and chased after Xu Zijun.

This winter... is truly full of surprises.

A few scattered people.

"I didn't see anything," he said, even as he turned away.

It was impossible to squeeze onto the bus now, and he didn't want to try.

"I give up. How could I ever dare to ask him to drink again?"

After Yan He woke up, he recalled every second before he passed out the night before with perfect clarity.

Used to it.

But Yan Liang was already awake, sitting in the living room putting on his socks.

Yan He nodded: "Believe it, of course I believe it."

"Yan Liang, you have to show them, you know?"

"Is he really that pathetic at drinking?"

Wait, that is—

They weren't lowering their voices at all, so Luo Zicheng heard them, of course.

Yan He looked at him, was silent for a moment, turned around, and walked in the other direction.

Pushing open the cafe door, the wind blew in, piercing his neck, making him shiver, and he quickly took the scarf from his bag to wrap around himself.

Yan Liang nodded, his eyes shining, and said: "Li Zhibai, although I've always been jealous of you, you're completely different from the other rich kids I know. We'll always be brothers."

Yan He: "I don't want to hear any of that nonsense right now. I just want to ask, how do you plan to compensate me for tricking me? I went to help you trick Luo Zicheng with such passion, only to find out it wasn't Luo Zicheng who got tricked, but me."

"Fine." Yan He nodded.

Yan He sat there, attracting several people to sneak photos.

Seeing Xu Zijun's stunned expression, Li Pengfei turned his head to look over with her.

Night fell, and the light curtain from the streetlamps could only radiate a small area.

Xu Zijun turned her head, about to say something to him, and then, her expression also froze.

Yan Liang shook his head, saying: "No drinking. I feel like if I don't, I'll be tossing and turning in bed with anxiety all night, so I might as well have a little to help me sleep."

"You're going to take the exam tomorrow?"

He suddenly laughed, looking at Li Zhibai and Yan Liang, and said: "It's so good to know you two."

"Yan He, whose side are you on?"

"Stop acting. Your acting is so good, I won't be fooled again," Yan He said immediately, "Who was the one who swore up and down they weren't with Xu Zijun?"

Yan He drank a cup of alcohol—well, just the bottom of the glass—and only felt a fiery, stinging sensation in his throat, his stomach starting to burn. He didn't understand what was good about alcohol; he'd only had it a few times, and every time, he got dizzy.

Now... what a slap in the face!

Yan He wished he could rush to Li Pengfei right now and roar "you dog" at him ten thousand times, but Xu Zijun was still there, and the two of them had kept things so tightly under wraps that Yan He "kindly" chose to "turn a blind eye."

How could he not have discovered the truth? How could he have been fooled by that dog Li Pengfei?

"Drinking?"

Li Zhibai chuckled and said: "I stole it from my dad's wine cabinet. We have to celebrate for Yan Liang today; he's going to take the Jingyi art exam tomorrow. Wish him success."

She saw Yan He.

"Drunk? How could I be drunk?" Yan He waved his hand immediately, "What did I even drink?"

At this rate, it would take an hour for the crowd to clear out.

He couldn't help but shake his head.

Li Zhibai and Yan Liang were waiting for him.

"..."

"One-shot wonder?"

Yan He looked in disbelief at the entrance of a small alley ahead, where Li Pengfei was walking out holding Xu Zijun's hand. Just as they walked out, Xu Zijun suddenly shook off Li Pengfei's hand, and then, he watched Li Pengfei helplessly scratch the back of his head and say something to Xu Zijun.

Li Zhibai was stunned.

Just as Yan He was about to walk back, he glanced out of the corner of his eye and suddenly froze.

Recently, Li Zhibai had been busy with his regular variety show, where he had a performance segment every episode. As the show aired, his popularity slowly recovered.

Most of them were parents of boarding students, who had come to pick up quilts, bedsheets, and the like now that the break had started.

Li Zhibai laughed out loud, "Old Lu, you've finished your exams today anyway, and winter break starts tomorrow, it's fine to have a little, right?"

"Then I'll have a little." Yan He nodded, putting down his bag, "This really is worth celebrating in advance. Good luck, Yan Liang, you must get into Jingyi."

"Yeah." Yan Liang nodded.

He finished speaking, rolled his eyes, and lay down on the floor.

It was freezing outside in winter, and he didn't want to brave the biting wind to find somewhere else.

He had indeed suspected that the two of them had some issues, but he trusted that dog Li Pengfei too much. He always felt that if Li Pengfei were really with Xu Zijun, he wouldn't hide it, or if he did, he would leave clues. As it turned out, this slap in the face was solid!

Not long after getting on the bus, Li Pengfei called.

Yan Liang thought carefully and said: "I don't think I've ever really drunk with him? Maybe just beer."

Freezing cold.

This was where Su Su was stabbed by Yuan Yi.

"I'm on your side, but I am very, very dissatisfied with you right now." Yan He said.

Li Zhibai was grabbed by the collar and stared in shock.

"What, are the three of us doing a 'Peach Garden Oath' today?"

Li Zhibai still hadn't woken up.

He had been studying until about 8:00 PM when Li Zhibai called to ask when he was coming back.

"Shall we go?" Yan He asked Li Pengfei.

Anyway, everyone had a phone, and now, as long as you were good-looking, if you didn't get photographed two or three times a day, it just meant you hadn't left the house.

"That's two different things! I really thought he knew something at first. Luckily you analyzed it later that he was the one who stole my package and was just guessing. I was relieved. He just happened to guess right by accident."

He wasn't in a hurry to go back anyway.

Li Pengfei sighed and didn't speak.

Yan He looked at Yan Liang in surprise upon hearing this.

These were all thoughts that had occupied his mind. Yan He had thought he understood Li Pengfei quite well and firmly believed Li Pengfei's claim that he didn't like Xu Zijun at all.

Yan He thought of his previous thoughts and his attitude toward Li Pengfei and Xu Zijun, and wished he could find a hole to jump into.

If he could, Yan He really didn't want to choose this cafe.

"But I'm a bit sleepy. Let me sleep for a while, and then I'll drink with you guys." He mumbled.

He had to face it eventually.

He hung up the phone.

Li Pengfei: "... She won't let me tell anyone."

"No, when did you two get together? This underground work is too good."

As it turned out, because all the students were going home for the break, not only was the bus stop crowded, but the road at the school gate was completely blocked.

"Then why are you drinking?" Yan He asked in surprise, "Shouldn't you be preparing well and getting to sleep early?"

At this moment, many parents appeared in the corridor outside the classroom.

Yan Liang, for the sake of art exam preparation, didn't come back to sleep every few days.

"Fine, understood."

"Impressive, Fei-ge, you admit your mistakes so quickly at a time like this." Yan He was truly speechless, "Get lost, get lost, I'll keep your secret."

Li Zhibai only poured them each a bottom-of-the-glass.

He looked back at them and showed a look of disdain.

Yan He suddenly grabbed Yan Liang's hand, leaned in close to look at him, and said: "I can't take the art exam, you have to take it for both of us, get into Jingyi, and let that dog Zhou Ping'an know what it means to have dog eyes that look down on people. You'll definitely be more famous than Ma Zhiyuan in the future, really, believe me, you'll be especially great."

To think, Luo Zicheng was the one who accidentally stumbled upon the truth!

Although Luo Zicheng didn't really know the truth, he just associated it with the truth.

"He can look down on me all he wants, just wait." Li Pengfei looked at Luo Zicheng and sneered.

Yan He entered this cafe, found a place to sit, ordered a waffle and a latte, took out his books, and prepared to study there for two hours.

Yan He also laughed.

"Yo, you're awake." Yan Liang saw him come out of the room, immediately grinned, and shouted, "The Wine God."

Li Zhibai and Yan Liang looked in disbelief at the person who had suddenly collapsed on the floor.

Her gaze met Yan He's.

He looked in surprise at the bus stop, which was comparable to a Spring Festival travel rush scene, and decided to tactically find a place to sit for a while.

Yan Liang laughed out loud, his laughter hearty: "Who could have guessed you were a one-shot wonder."

"Oh, no, you're not even a one-shot wonder, you're a one-sip wonder." Yan Liang nodded, "Li Zhibai said it, you collapse after one sip."

Yan He: "..." ===== CHAPTER 142 =====