Chapter 32: Chu Saiying

In the afternoon, the sound of cicadas continued to chirp outside the teaching building.

During breaks, the corridors were always filled with students playing and fooling around.

Lu Yan He did not stand up; he was organizing the notes he had hastily written during the previous class.

Li Pengfei suddenly walked up in front of Lu Yan He and asked, "Lu Yan He, did you cheat?"

Lu Yan He looked up at him with a speechless expression, momentarily at a loss for words: "..."

Li Pengfei wore a puzzled look: "Otherwise, how could you improve so drastically all at once? I heard that even in today's impromptu vocabulary dictation, you only missed five words; that defies common sense."

Lu Yan He made an "uh" sound, then said, "Because I happened to do a dictation of my own last night."

Li Pengfei wore an expression of utter disbelief.

"Happened to?"

"Yes," Lu Yan He said. "I just finished memorizing the English vocabulary for the first semester of Grade Ten."

Li Pengfei stared at Lu Yan He with a strange expression.

After a few seconds, he finally said, "Alright then, consider it your good luck."

Lu Yan He made an "mm" sound.

"Chen Qin and I made another bet," Li Pengfei suddenly said.

"What did you bet on?"

"We bet on who can score higher than the other in the next exam," Li Pengfei said. "I originally didn't plan to bet, but his words provoked me. Why is it that you haven't attended class for so long, yet with just a casual effort you can improve so much, while I can't? I want to see if I can surpass you."

Lu Yan He: "Do whatever you want."

Li Pengfei glared at Lu Yan He: "You don't believe I can surpass you?"

Lu Yan He looked at Li Pengfei helplessly and said, "Why do you think you can surpass me?"

Li Pengfei looked at Lu Yan He.

Lu Yan He looked at Li Pengfei.

The two stared at each other, eye to eye.

One second.

Two seconds.

Li Pengfei suddenly broke free from his petrified state; he stepped back one pace with agile movements in the narrow aisle between the desks, pointing at Lu Yan He in an exaggerated posture.

"Damn! You're actually so arrogant! You've successfully angered me!"

Lu Yan He didn't know what to say.

In the September classroom, an air of youth unique to schools flowed through the atmosphere. The sunlight also seemed fuller and more brilliant than elsewhere; the noisy classroom, no matter how you looked at it, never felt tidy, yet every face was brimming with youthful vitality.

Lu Yan He said helplessly, "I'm not being arrogant, Li Pengfei. I don't want to compete with you; I just—"

"He's just looking for another way out, Li Pengfei," a somewhat sharp, mocking voice suddenly appeared.

Both Lu Yan He and Li Pengfei couldn't help but look in surprise at this suddenly appearing person.

Lu Yan He found the information corresponding to the person before him in his memory.

Chu Saiying.

If Lu Yan He had to describe his first impression of Chu Saiying in one sentence, he would say, isn't this just an Asian version of Malfoy? That's right, the Malfoy from the "Harry Potter" movies.

Whether it was the original body's impression of Chu Saiying or Lu Yan He's first impression of Chu Saiying, both fit the image of Malfoy.

A Gao Zhongsheng, yet he combed his hair into a slicked-back style; that head of dark, oily hair made Lu Yan He wonder exactly how much hair gel had been used.

Of course, the most crucial thing was the arrogant expression on Chu Saiying's face, the same air of supreme arrogance as Malfoy.

Both were second-generation rich kids whose families had mines; compared to him, Li Pengfei was like the son of a landlord who had suddenly become wealthy overnight. Chu Saiying exuded a refined elegance from head to toe, the result of receiving a good education and living in affluent conditions since childhood, which made Lu Yan He subconsciously feel... pretentious.

After all, this wasn't some noble school; it was merely an ordinary high school. Li Pengfei at most showed off his newly bought designer brands in class, never distinguishing himself from other classmates, and still played and fooled around with them.

Chu Saiying, however, believed he and the other classmates were not from the same world; he was extremely arrogant, never participated in class activities, and only added a few classmates as friends. The reason was simple; in his words, "Since these are people I'll delete after graduating in Gao San, why waste time adding them as friends now?"

Li Pengfei was one of the few people in the class whom Chu Saiying deigned to look at directly—in Chu Saiying's eyes, Li Pengfei's family and his own belonged to the same class.

Li Pengfei looked at him in surprise and said, "You're back?"

Chu Saiying nodded: "That's right, I'm back."

He asked, "I'm surprised; why didn't you go to the interview?"

Li Pengfei forced a smile and chuckled twice, saying, "Is there any point in me going to an interview with my English level? I wouldn't understand a word they said."

Chu Saiying: "As long as the sponsorship is sufficient, even if you only know one sentence, 'Hello', their school gates will open to you."

Li Pengfei: "Then which school gate did you knock open?"

Chu Saiying smiled slightly: "Unfortunately, I only received invitations from a few Ivy League schools."

"Damn, Chu Saiying, did you really get an invitation from a prestigious Ivy League university in the US?" Someone nearby immediately chimed in with an exaggerated volume as if playing the role of a sidekick.

Chu Saiying glanced at the person beside him and said, "Chen Pei, don't speak so loudly; it's not such a remarkable thing."

Chen Pei: "Getting an invitation from a prestigious Ivy League university in the US doesn't count as remarkable? You're too modest!"

In this world, there was still the United States, and there were still Ivy League universities.

While everyone was still striving hard for the College Entrance Examination, some had already embarked on the path of studying abroad. In this school, it was actually not rare; there were always a few students from wealthy families with channels and connections who, while everyone else was whipped by the fierce landlord of the College Entrance Examination, unable to stop for even a moment and forced to turn in circles like a donkey pulling a millstone, had already taken another path, no longer needing to fight with the million-strong army for that shaky little bridge.

Chu Saiying's sudden appearance attracted the attention of most of the classmates.

He was immediately surrounded by other classmates, curiously asking for details about his trip to the Ivy League schools in America.

In this era, the world across the ocean was no longer mythologized and gilded as it was twenty years ago, but it was still another world, another kind of life; for this group of students living a repetitive life like a donkey pulling a millstone every day along the three-point line, it represented freshness, beauty, and dreams.

Lu Yan He took the opportunity to extricate himself from the commotion and walked out of the classroom.

He put both hands in his trouser pockets and walked toward the restroom.

Li Pengfei's voice suddenly chased after him: "Do you really plan to seriously take the College Entrance Examination and go to university?"

Lu Yan He nodded.

"Why didn't you chat a bit more with Chu Saiying?" he asked.

Li Pengfei curled his lips, wearing an expression of clear impatience toward Chu Saiying.

"Can't find common ground with him." Li Pengfei, mimicking Lu Yan He, shoved both hands into his trouser pockets and walked over to him. "Aren't you taking the art entrance exam?"

Lu Yan He said, "Even if you take the art entrance exam, you still have to take the national college entrance exam; the cultural subject scores count just the same."

"Then isn't it a breeze to get in? My dad even wants me to go the art exam route," Li Pengfei said.

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