Chapter 207: Sending Flowers

Starting from Wednesday, the final exam papers for all subjects had basically been reviewed.

After that, classes were mostly self-study.

But there were teachers like Ms. Ding, who played American TV dramas during class.

She called it "familiarizing students with spoken English," but in reality, she was just binge-watching her own shows and letting the classmates watch along.

Amid this relaxed atmosphere, the winter break homework was also distributed.

The winter break homework at Fuyi High didn't come in traditional booklets—it was all complete sets of exam papers.

Eight for Chinese, twelve for math, nine for English, seven for physics…

The quantity was large, but the questions were quite simple—each paper covered just one chapter from the textbook, nothing like the high-intensity exam papers.

Even so, with nine subjects combined, there were a full 68 papers.

With a one-month winter break, you'd need to write at least two and a half papers a day just to finish them all…

The good news was that the papers came with answer keys.

The bad news was that many answers gave only the final result, with no step-by-step solutions.

If this were the Li Luo of his past life, he would have never touched this kind of winter or summer homework.

He'd only start reluctantly copying a few days before school reopened.

And even then, he wouldn't copy actively in the first few days.

Only at midnight on the last day would he frantically write, pulling off a miracle.

But now it was different.

Now, standing at the very top of this key high school and looking down, Li Luo had gradually come to enjoy studying.

Even faced with so many papers, he found himself genuinely enjoying solving problems.

Each self-study period was forty minutes; with the Memory Palace helping him retrieve knowledge, and the papers themselves being basic, he could usually finish two or three papers per session.

At this pace, he could complete over twenty papers in a single day.

By Friday evening, all 68 papers were done—and he still felt a bit unsatisfied.

"Definitely much simpler than exam questions—hardly any were challenging," Li Luo said, putting all the completed papers into his desk drawer, deciding not to take them home.

Beside him, Yan Zhusheng was still struggling—she'd only finished about twenty papers in three days, with over forty left.

In this final exam, Yan Zhusheng ranked 187th in the entire school and made it into the top ten in her class, exactly at tenth place.

It was a significant improvement.

This was largely thanks to Li Luo's patient tutoring.

Whenever Yan Zhusheng encountered a problem she couldn't solve, she'd come to ask Li Luo, and since Li Luo had a "slacker mindset," he always broke everything down, explaining every tiny detail.

This gave Yan Zhusheng tremendous gains, and her grades steadily rose.

After all, she was planning to pursue the arts track; with her current scores, she could dominate among art students—if her art exam didn't fail, she could choose any music college in the country.

"Are you going to the rock club?" After the last class ended in the evening, Yan Zhusheng packed up her winter homework and turned to ask Li Luo.

Li Luo shook his head and stood up. "Let's eat first—I need to go to the literature club after dinner. The rock club can wait until Saturday."

"Alright," Yan Zhusheng nodded, then added, "The president might ask everyone tomorrow what they want to eat for the gathering. Do you have any preferences?"

"Do you have something in mind?"

"I want to eat your fried rice."

"That's a bit too high a bar—pick something everyone can accept."

"How about hot pot?" Yan Zhusheng tilted her head. "Senior sister treated me to it once."

"When did you two sneak off to eat alone?" Li Luo raised an eyebrow, surprised.

"A long time ago."

As they talked, they left the classroom, waited for Ying Chanxi at the stairwell, then met Xu Youyu on Houde Road.

The four of them went together to the cafeteria for dinner; Ying Chanxi casually swiped Li Luo's meal card and sat down at a window seat with their trays.

After dinner, Yan Zhusheng went alone to the rock club's activity, while Li Luo and the other two headed to the literature club's classroom.

As president, Xu Youyu stepped up and spoke briefly, then clapped her hands. "Winter break starts tomorrow—we won't see each other for over a month."

"So before we part, write a letter of blessing to your pen pal."

"It can be a summary of this semester, hopes for the future, or even an early Spring Festival greeting—the envelopes are already prepared for everyone."

Ever since Li Luo became famous at school, more and more girls in the literature club had started writing him letters.

Almost every month, Li Luo received five or six letters from these girls.

As vice president of the literature club, he had to collect submissions, so he couldn't avoid it—each time he went to gather papers, he'd inevitably receive a pen pal letter too.

Even though he'd never replied to a single one, the girls' initiative kept coming.

It left him somewhat stunned.

Everyone says girls are reserved creatures, but in his past life, he'd never seen so many girls with such proactive initiative.

Of course, besides them, Ying Chanxi and Xu Youyu would occasionally get whimsical, refusing to speak normally and instead writing him letters.

Just little everyday things—complaining, venting, sharing funny incidents from class.

As for family stories, since all three lived under the same roof and knew each other inside out, there was nothing worth mentioning.

Li Luo would still reply seriously, talking about some things in Class Eight.

Like Zhang Guohuang, the gossipmonger, who constantly spread rumors around class.

Who from which class was dating whom, who broke up with whom, then got back together with someone else within half a day.

Even at Fuyi High, such things weren't rare.

There was even a boy with excellent grades who sneaked into the girls' dormitory late at night to surprise his girlfriend, scaring the other girls so badly they reported him to the teacher and got him disciplined.

These things used to be things Li Luo didn't pay attention to, but because Zhang Guohuang shared them nonstop in class, he ended up forced to record them.

For example, Ban's Hua Xiuxiu and Lin Yuan, Ren Zheng and Fang Chen—Li Luo, bored in his letter, wrote about them casually.

Now that the semester is ending, it's time to write letters again.

Li Luo reluctantly took out paper and pen, spinning his pen while glancing at Ying Chanxi beside him, only to see her solemnly pull out a very elegant fountain pen, lay the paper flat, and proceed with great ceremony.

"Huh? You're actually using it?" Li Luo glanced at the fountain pen in Ying Chanxi's hand and recognized it as the one he'd won in the New Year's Eve raffle, "Is it good?"

"It's great," Ying Chanxi said, blushing slightly, "I used this pen to write you that last letter—didn't you notice?"

"Oh, no wonder the ink color wasn't like a regular black pen." Li Luo nodded in understanding, then smiled, "Then after you finish, lend it to me—I want to see if it feels comfortable."

"First tell me who you're writing to," Ying Chanxi eyed him warily, "or I won't lend it."

"Just you and Senior Yan. I've never written to anyone else."

"Really? I've seen you get plenty of letters before—didn't you reply to a single one?" Ying Chanxi asked skeptically.

"Obviously not," Li Luo shook his head. "Your suspicion disappoints me."

"Hmph." Ying Chanxi puffed out her cheeks and turned her head away. "Who knows?"

"So, will you lend it or not?"

"You can borrow the letter I wrote to you."

"Not the one to Senior Yan? You're so stingy."

"Mind your own business. Use it or don't."

"Fine. Are you writing now? If not, let me write first."

"Here." Ying Chanxi handed him the pen, then repeated, "Only write my letter."

"Got it."

Li Luo spun the fountain pen in his hand—it was much heavier than his own, and the feel was quite nice.

Ying Chanxi took excellent care of it; it clearly wasn't used often, and looked as good as new.

After laying the paper flat, Li Luo paused only briefly before beginning to write, calmly putting ink to paper.

Ying Chanxi had intended to sneak a peek, but Li Luo noticed immediately and blocked her view with his hand; she huffed, pretending she wasn't interested at all.

Yet her eyes kept glancing sideways, but all were blocked by Li Luo.

Soon, Li Luo finished the letter, then deliberately spread out another sheet of paper as if to write more.

Seeing this, Ying Chanxi instantly reached out and snatched the pen back: "I told you—only my letter! Don't cheat!"

Li Luo had only been teasing her; seeing her reaction so strong, he propped his chin and chuckled, "Fine, fine, take it back. You just want me to use this pen for your letter, is that it?"

"N-No, I don't!" Ying Chanxi stammered. "It's just that there's only so much ink left—if you write another letter, it'll run out, and I didn't bring the ink bottle to class."

"Oh, I see." Li Luo reluctantly accepted her excuse and laughed, "Then hurry and write. If there's ink left after you're done, I'll use it to write Senior Yan a letter."

"Get lost," Ying Chanxi snapped, face darkening. "I'll be writing for a long time. Go write your own."

The two bickered as they continued writing letters.

Li Luo wrote quickly; after finishing both letters, he sealed them neatly in envelopes.

Ying Chanxi, however, was still writing her letter to Li Luo—pausing often, pondering deeply, choosing every word with care.

As Li Luo propped his chin watching her focused profile, several girls handed him envelopes.

After politely thanking them, Li Luo tucked the letters away and also collected a few letters for Ying Chanxi from boys.

Naturally, Liu Shaowen was among them.

"Li Luo, did you ask the president?" Liu Shaowen placed his letter on Ying Chanxi's desk and asked casually, "About the literature club dinner I mentioned during last week's exam?"

"I asked," Li Luo said. "The president said the club's too large to organize a group dinner. Better to arrange smaller gatherings among friends."

"Then…" Liu Shaowen winked at him, his meaning clear.

But Ying Chanxi suddenly said, "I'm traveling abroad after the holiday—I won't have time for a dinner."

"Oh… I see…" Liu Shaowen, hearing her reiterate this, lowered his head and gave up his plan to meet Ying Chanxi during winter break.

By six-thirty in the evening,

everyone in the activity room had finished writing their pen-pal letters, delivered them, and departed.

Ying Chanxi, too, finally completed her task—after finishing both letters, she carefully sealed them in envelopes.

Xu Youyu rose from the podium and walked down, handing each of them an envelope: "Take these. Time to return to class for evening self-study."

"Mm." Ying Chanxi nodded, and together with Li Luo, handed their two letters to the other two.

Then the three tidied up the envelopes others had given them, packed their haul, and returned to their respective classrooms.

"More letters?"

At the back window seat of Class Eight, Yan Zhusheng, seeing him enter with seven or eight letters spread on his desk, asked curiously.

Some girls, too shy to hand letters directly to Li Luo, would come to the back door of Class Eight and ask a classmate to slip them to him.

Occasionally, when Li Luo wasn't in class, the student who received the letter would pass it to Yan Zhusheng to deliver.

So Yan Zhusheng knew Li Luo often received letters—and it was through her casual mentions during meals at Bihai Lanting that Ying Chanxi learned the details.

"Mm. Time to review the memorials again," Li Luo rubbed his neck and sat at his desk. "Good thing I finished my homework—nothing else to do tonight."

Hearing this, Yan Zhusheng glanced at Li Luo, then at her own forty-odd remaining exam papers, and pursed her lips unhappily.

"Li Luo."

"Hmm?"

"Can I write you a letter too?"

"You're not in the literature club—why write a letter?" Li Luo looked at her strangely. "Just say it outright. You're not holding back something you want to yell at me, are you?"

Yan Zhusheng actually thought about it, then shook her head seriously: "I don't have anything to yell at you about—but I have something else."

"Then just say it. As long as it's not yelling, I'll listen."

"No." Yan Zhusheng, seeing he wouldn't budge, buried her head back in her homework—but after class, she added, "My flight's on the second next month at four p. m. I'll need to get to the airport by noon."

"Number two?" Li Luo recalled—Ying Chanxi had left as number four, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Nothing." Yan Zhusheng stood up, walked over to Xu Yinghuan, patted her shoulder, and went to the restroom with her.

Li Luo chuckled and shook his head, putting away the letters the other girls had given him after the first class.

When the bell for the second class rang, he finally took out the letters from Xu Youyu and Ying Chanxi, opened them, and read them carefully.