Chapter 31: The Next Day

Looks like it's a bit better than expected. Feng Yan slowly got up and began his daytime life.

"Right!" Feng Yan muttered to himself, "Today is the first day of winter break!"

Speaking of which, they should be on break by now, right? Thinking about this, Feng Yan again recalled the homeroom teacher's words, and a sad expression appeared on his face again. It's quite evident that, for Feng Yan—or for Chen Hao—that matter is a kind of punishment, or rather a kind of game: for the class, losing a few people would directly raise the average score, and then the praise would belong to the homeroom teacher themselves.

"Is it for the homeroom teacher's performance?" Feng Yan still muttered to himself, then while putting on his clothes and brushing his teeth, after finishing all that, he went to the kitchen to get a bowl and eat.

Grandma watched Feng Yan eat, showing a kind gaze at Feng Yan; Feng Yan was already seventeen, looking like half a grown man. Grandma watched Feng Yan gulp down porridge in big mouthfuls, one hand holding a fried dough stick; Feng Yan took a bite, the fried dough stick made a crisp sound, then Feng Yan chewed in big mouthfuls, making a sound in his mouth, then the other hand picked up the bowl of porridge and poured it directly into his mouth, making a gurgling sound.

Then Feng Yan put down his chopsticks, saw Grandma watching him eat, felt there was something, and directly asked: "Grandma, is there something?"

Grandma looked at him and said earnestly, "Little Feng, I know, are you a bad student? Though everyone goes astray, who hasn't made a mistake? We are bad students, we know that, so let's study well. A few days ago, your homeroom teacher called and asked me to come over, but I couldn't go. Grandma is old; in a few years she'll be seventy, and she's not as spry as before. You, at school, cause less trouble, and on vacation read more books, ah, child."

Hearing those words, Feng Yan felt a sourness in his heart, but could he? Yes, he couldn't tell Grandma that, because he was late, the homeroom teacher made him stand outside for half a day straight, until his uncle came and he was called to the office, and then that very night he directly ran a fever and was hospitalized; he also couldn't tell Grandma that his final exam was consequently scratched off the list by the homeroom teacher. He thought for a long time, then finally smiled and said, "Grandma, don't worry, I may have poor grades, but I don't talk back to him, so the teacher won't single me out for trouble, right? If he scolds me, I let him scold; if he hits me, I endure it, because he's the teacher and I'm the student—students being educated by teachers isn't exactly abnormal, is it?"

Grandma nodded and smiled, saying, "That's good; that's really my grandson."

"Well then, Grandma, I'll go wash the bowls and then take a walk." After saying that, Feng Yan began to tidy up the bowls and chopsticks. Then the kitchen sounded with water, Grandma broke into a smile, showing a relieved expression.

After the bowls were washed, Feng Yan went out onto the street, because today was the first day of winter break, and many vehicles were stopped there, all of them used to bring students home; the drivers opened the doors, Feng Yan saw that actually there weren't many people inside, but the vehicles were already filled mostly with luggage.

"Am I saying I'm lucky? Or that I learned early?" Feng Yan muttered to himself.

"Long time no see, Feng Yan, how have you been lately?" Feng Yan turned his head and saw Yang Xin calling him; Feng Yan turned away, about to leave. Yang Xin grabbed Feng Yan and continued, "Don't go, I still want to properly talk about my affairs with Wang Tingwan! Believe me, you'll definitely be interested."

"I don't want to see you, I don't want to hear you speak—liar, you dog with a rotten tongue!" Feng Yan shouted.

"How much you dislike me, I just started scolding—speaking frankly, is it really okay to say that about an old friend?" Yang Xin looked at Feng Yan's angry expression, revealed a mocking smile, and continued, "Look at you, you're now like a lovelorn loser, so decadent! This isn't the Feng Yan I know."

Feng Yan told himself to calm down, slowly regained his composure, and said with a smile, "Yeah, I'm really not like the you you know. In your eyes, I'm just a silly oaf! Is that so? Ah, what a pity—I shouldn't have chopped off my hand back then; I should have just chopped off your head. Though that arrow really almost ended my game, but I'm a beta tester, so it's fine—that weapon is still quite suitable for you, assassination, just like your nature, you like to fire cold shots."

After Feng Yan finished speaking, he also showed a hint of mockery, observing Yang Xin's changes; seeing Yang Xin's face flush red then turn pale, Feng Yan turned and left directly, leaving only Yang Xin standing there, watching Feng Yan's figure gradually fade away.

"It seems those who anger me are even harsher than I am," Feng Yan said. Seeing a barbecue stall ahead, with food steaming hot, he walked straight over and shouted to the boss: "Boss, give me two grilled sausages, plus two grilled wheat gluten. No chili sauce." "Okay, it'll be ready soon!" the boss replied. Soon after, he handed the grilled food to Feng Yan, who, after finishing, immediately started eating big mouthfuls, and in a moment got his mouth full of oil.

Feng Yan took out a tissue from his pocket, wiped his mouth, saw the girl in front of him pulling a password box, with bedding on top; Feng Yan's mouth curled up, then he sneaked behind the girl, snatched the password box from her hand, and said: "How could such a heavy thing be let a beautiful lady pull? Let me do it."

Hearing that familiar voice, the face that had been tense from having the password box snatched gradually relaxed; she lifted her head, saw the person before her, smiled, exhaled, and said relaxedly: "It's you, Feng Yan."

"How come you only now realize it's me? Lin Xiyan?" Feng Yan teased, "Where's your family? Why didn't they come pick you up?"

Lin Xiyan replied: "They have something going on; they can't get away right now."

"Alright, I knew as much," Feng Yan said.

Then Lin Xiyan asked him: "Why don't you have any luggage? Did you go back yesterday?"

"No." Feng Yan replied somewhat dejectedly, "I didn't even take the exam; my name was simply crossed off the list by the homeroom teacher."

Hearing that, Lin Xiyan felt a bit guilty and said: "Sorry, I didn't know it was like that."

"It's fine, actually this is okay; just as a student without grades..." Feng Yan said here, looking very dejected but deliberately lifting his spirits, because he didn't want his friend to worry about him, he continued: "It's nothing, really just having no grades."

The two said nothing, slowly walking out of the main street into the alley; Feng Yan helped Lin Xiyan pull her luggage, Lin Xiyan beside Feng Yan, they walked side by side. At that moment Feng Yan thought: "How nice, such a girl can still move the heart, but why..." Lin Xiyan stopped her steps, pulled back whatever Feng Yan was holding, and said: "I'm home." Feng Yan nodded and said: "If anything like this happens again, come find me for help." Lin Xiyan nodded, then Feng Yan turned around, preparing to leave.

"Wait a minute!" Lin Xiyan grabbed Feng Yan and asked: "What kind of girl do you like?"

Feng Yan turned his head and said: "If I have to say, I quite like a girl like you; of course, this is just a joke—I'm already friends with you, which is great enough, so I don't hope for any further development, because that would be a luxury. Then, goodbye."

Feng Yan waved his hand, slowly walked out of the alley, back onto the main street, walking home along the way. All along, the fact that the teacher had canceled his final exam had already been three days past; Feng Yan walked forward, not looking back.

Lin Xiyan was on the rooftop, watching Feng Yan slowly walk home down the road; at that moment Feng Yan reached a downhill slope, turned a corner, saw Lin Xiyan on the rooftop, waved at her, thinking: "This is getting interesting." Then he continued on his way.

Lin Xiyan watched Feng Yan, thinking of her waving, picked up the item from his pocket—the game's activator—and thought: "They've already reached Ju Ren Guo; will the dancer I crafted with the Adventurer's Book still be by his side?"

Back home, Grandma had already started preparing lunch; Feng Yan helped Grandma get lunch ready. After lunch, the sun was fine, so they took out the blankets to air them, and the whole afternoon passed just like that.

At night, the stars hung in the sky; Feng Yan took out his eye mask and said: "Well then, let's begin!"