Chapter 354: Campus Scholar System (26)

The First High School volleyball team has truly enjoyed a moment of glory this year.

Of course, as the big brother of Jiangcheng high schools—boasting the highest college entrance rate and winning competition awards until their hands went soft—they had been glorious in years past, but winning the Provincial Tournament championship and charging into the National League in a sports event was a first—like a bride getting into her sedan chair for the very first time!

Xie Yang has consequently become the darling of the teachers and students at First High School.

Seeing her on the road, they cannot help but break into smiles:

"Xie Yang, good luck in the league!"

"Xie Yang, you're the best! You've brought glory to our First High School!"

"Xie Yang, training is important, but be careful not to get hurt."

"Xie Yang, only going to the Canteen at this hour? Just finished training? The Da Shitang might be out of food; here! Take the teacher's meal card and go to the small canteen to order a couple of stir-fried dishes. Training is so hard, don't shortchange yourself."

Even the aunties serving food at the Canteen are incredibly enthusiastic when they see her:

"Child, so you're on the volleyball team? Did you just transfer this semester? No wonder I haven't seen you before... What do you want to eat today? Do you like eggplant with pork? I'll scoop you some extra meat."

"Child, you're Xie Yang from the volleyball team? Why are you so thin? Eat more!"

"Child, come, come, come, come to my station; I have red-braised pork today."

"..."

The students lined up behind Xie Yang were all stunned.

These serving aunties never have shaky hands when serving Xie Yang, and their eyes are especially sharp, scooping up big slices of meat with ease.

When it's their turn... ha! The Parkinson's returns.

But then again, if it were them serving Xie Yang, they might be even more outrageous than the aunties.

Isn't it just giving a few more pieces of meat in the chili stir-fried pork, or a few more chunks of egg in the tomato stir-fried eggs? Give, give, give! Who wouldn't want to spoil the hero who led the school volleyball team to win the Provincial Tournament championship and break into the National League?

Thus, every time Xie Yang goes to the Canteen, she feels overwhelmed by the favor.

Not only do the Canteen aunties enthusiastically pile food onto her tray, but classmates, whether she knows them or not, scramble to swipe their cards for her.

Once in a while is fine, but with this treatment every single time, Xie Yang really cannot bear it.

She simply gave her meal card to Jiang Yinian, asking him to help bring her food.

Jiang Yinian simply buys two portions and returns to the classroom to eat with her.

Generally speaking, the school does not allow students to dine in the classroom; if you come to eat in the classroom and I come to eat in the classroom, what would the classroom become? Not to mention the air being full of the smell of food, food waste is also a problem.

But with so many students in the school, it is inevitable that some encounter times when it is inconvenient to go to the Canteen, such as when they injure a leg during exercise, or when a girl has stomach pain during her period, so they ask classmates to help bring food.

In such cases, even if teachers see it, they turn a blind eye.

But Xie Yang and Jiang Yinian have neither injured arms or legs, nor any other special circumstances; how can they eat in the classroom every day?

Thus, the two found a relatively hidden corner on campus—a small pavilion that not many people visit at noon.

The pavilion happens to have two stone benches; one person sits on each, facing each other to eat.

It is quiet and cool here, and Xie Yang doesn't really want to leave after eating, so she simply brings her books and test papers, and after eating, she happens to coordinate with her Scholar deskmate to grind through the day's Task.

By the time the Task is finished, the lunch break is almost over, which neither affects class nor delays her from going to the volleyball team's intensive training after school; perfect.

Xie Wenteng inadvertently learned that his daughter hadn't been going to the Canteen for lunch lately, but instead was getting food from the Canteen and hiding in some corner of the campus to eat; he felt both pained and gratified.

He felt pained that his daughter couldn't even eat her lunch in peace at school; he felt gratified that his daughter had grown up—in the past, if she encountered such a thing, she would have complained to them long ago, but this time she not only didn't complain, she didn't even mention it.

If he hadn't happened to pass by First High School while out for a business engagement, just in time for the noon dismissal, and decided on a whim to go in, only to find her missing from the classroom and not in the Canteen, he would only have known after hearing it from her classmates.

Xie Ba, pained for his daughter, made a prompt decision: "Starting tomorrow, I'll have Lao Song deliver your lunch. Lunch is the most important of the three meals; how can you just make do? You must eat well!"

Xie Ma actually preferred buying an apartment across from the school and hiring a part-time worker to cook lunch for her daughter, so that after school at noon, her daughter would not only have hot food to eat, but could also take a short nap afterward to recharge.

"Daughter, you choose for yourself; you must pick one of these two."

Xie Yang: "..."

After thinking for a moment, she tentatively asked: "If we buy an apartment across from the school, can I also live there at night?"

"That won't do!" Xie Ma frowned, "The largest single-room apartment across from First High School is only about fifty square meters; it's too small for our family to move in, and it's not safe for you to live alone. You still have to come home after school, otherwise your father and I won't be at ease."

She knew it would be like this.

Xie Yang sighed inwardly.

In the end, she chose to trouble Lao Song.

Lao Song smiled brightly: "No trouble, no trouble at all! If Miss didn't let me pick her up and drop her off, I'd be worried about losing my job!"

"..."

After this, Xie Yang also started eating the loving meals delivered from home at noon.

Three meat dishes, two vegetable dishes, one soup, plus a serving of fruit and a dessert.

Even with her good appetite, she couldn't eat that much.

Fortunately, there was a little partner to eat with and grind through Tasks with, so it didn't go to waste.

Jiang Yinian felt embarrassed to share her food every meal, so he would use the weekends to bake some cookies she liked, or boil some herbal tea or fruit tea his grandmother was good at making, and bring them for her to eat during breaks.

The two parties involved were open and aboveboard, but the surrounding classmates didn't think so.

Seeing them disappear as soon as the lunch break started, and then return to the classroom together when the break ended, and often sharing food during class breaks, they couldn't help but cast meaningful smiles at the two.

Du Huaiyao was caught by Xie Yang once while staring at them with a motherly smile: "What's so funny? Tell me about it."

Du Huaiyao: "..."

Did he dare say it?

However, out of kindness, he still gave Xie Yang a subtle reminder:

"That, you haven't been here long since transferring from Deya, so you might not know that our First High School is quite strict about this. Especially Lao Fan, he watches every day, and few people can escape his fiery eyes. If you ask me, you two had better be careful before the College Entrance Examination; if you get caught by Lao Fan, it won't be good to have your parents called in."

"..."

"..."

What is this guy talking about?

Xie Yang and Jiang Yinian looked at each other in dismay.

They were just hiding in the pavilion to eat lunch in peace and incidentally grind a Task, yet they were actually misunderstood by a classmate as dating?

It was truly laughable.

"You're overthinking it! That's not the case at all." Xie Yang waved her hand at Du Huaiyao.

Du Huaiyao had an "I understand" expression on his face and gave her a thumbs-up:

"Right! That's exactly how it should be! Even if you're caught on the spot by Lao Fan, you absolutely cannot admit it. If you admit it, it's over; you'll definitely be called in by your parents. If you don't admit it, you might still be able to muddle through."

"..."

Fortunately, she would not be eating lunch at school for a while—

The National League had officially kicked off, and the First High School team was going to Nancheng to play the matches.

The schedule was for ten days.

Unless they were eliminated, they would have to stay in Nancheng for the full ten days.

After the meeting, she returned to the classroom, and Xie Yang tilted her head to look at Jiang Yinian, thinking to herself that she would have no way to cooperate with him to complete the Tasks for these ten days.

She herself would be fine; at most, her progress bar would stagnate for a while, but he would be the unlucky one. According to the Main System, he would face electric shock punishment if he failed a Task, and ten days without doing Tasks meant ten days of electric shocks... tsk, truly miserable.

Jiang Yinian was confused by her gaze, so he raised his head and asked, "Is something the matter?"

Xie Yang deliberated and said, "Our volleyball team is leaving for Nancheng tomorrow, and if everything goes as expected, we will play for the full ten days. During this period..."

"Don't worry, I will help you catch up on the missed lessons." Before she could finish, Jiang Yinian took over the conversation, "You can just focus on the competition with peace of mind."

"..."

Du Huaiyao turned his head and winked at Xie Yang: "Touched?"

"..."

What was this guy imagining in his head all day long?