Chapter 350

The entrance exam lasts three days, with one main subject in the morning and two electives in the afternoon each day.

Although after class division in Gao Er, everyone has already chosen their three elective subjects, because the academic assessment in late October covers all subjects, the entrance exam still tests all nine subjects.

After finishing the physics and geography exams in the afternoon, Li Luo and the others ate dinner together, then Yan Zhusheng went ahead to the rock club.

As the future leader of the literature club, Li Luo first accompanied Xu Youyu and Ying Chanxi to the literature club's activity room.

What was called a meeting was just a simple arrangement for the club recruitment promotion three days later, assigning everyone their shift times for the recruitment booth.

After giving out these instructions, ordinary club members could leave.

After that, only the three of them remained in the room; Xu Youyu pulled out a list of names and handed it to Li Luo and Ying Chanxi.

"This list includes freshmen this year who won essay awards in junior high, plus one student who scored full marks on their high school entrance exam essay."

Xu Youyu smiled and said, "Last year, we came to recruit you into the club; this year, it's your turn to recruit new members."

"Wu Yihang, Su Lintian, Jiang Liuxian…" Li Luo glanced at the list, memorized the names and corresponding classes, then passed the list to Ying Chanxi and said, "There's someone I know—Jiang Liuxian is the vice-class monitor of Class Eight, right?"

"You remember that very clearly." Ying Chanxi shot him a glance. "Didn't you just compliment her for having an ethereal aura?"

"Don't slander me," Li Luo said sternly. "I said her name sounds ethereal—why are you twisting my words?"

"I think she's pretty too," Ying Chanxi pouted.

"But not as pretty as you."

Hearing this, Ying Chanxi's face flushed instantly; she fell silent, turned her head away with a shy smile, too embarrassed to let them see her expression.

When others praised her beauty, Ying Chanxi felt nothing—but Li Luo's dry compliment always made her cheeks burn red.

"What about me? What about me?" Xu Youyu chimed in cheerfully.

"Not as pretty as Senior Xu, alright?" Li Luo looked exasperated. "You two are so boring—do you really need to ask this?"

"I was just asking casually," Xu Youyu patted Li Luo's shoulder, then waved a hand. "No more business for now—I'll write up the material and booth applications later; just submit them at the next student council meeting."

"Alright." Li Luo nodded, turned, and waved. "I'll head over to the rock club first—you two go back to class."

"I'll come with you," Ying Chanxi hurried after Li Luo, jogging to his side. "There's nothing to do back in the classroom anyway."

"Then you two go ahead—I'm outta here," Xu Youyu waved goodbye and turned toward the Gao San teaching building.

Li Luo and Ying Chanxi arrived at the rock club's activity room on the second floor of the gymnasium, knocked, opened the door, and saw Niu Qingling, Xie Shuchen, and Yan Zhusheng.

Shao Heqi and Qian Siliang are both in Gao San and have automatically left the club; Niu Qingling, as president, remains to oversee recruitment and the initial adjustment period before stepping down after National Day.

Seeing Li Luo enter, Niu Qingling smiled and greeted him, then said: "Since we're short-handed, recruitment will be tough—we'll all have to work harder."

"Xie Shuchen has tasks with the math club—he's only free Wednesday afternoon and Friday evening."

"Yan Zhusheng is free all the time, but how about you, Li Luo?"

"Then I'll cover when Xie Shuchen isn't available," Li Luo said after listening. "Have you filled out the material and booth application forms yet? We're responsible for liaising with the student council for the rock club."

"Not yet—I'll give them to you tomorrow," Niu Qingling said. "As for the promotion plan…"

She turned to Yan Zhusheng and couldn't help laughing: "I think just having Zhusheng stand there will be the biggest draw."

"We can bring the microphone and speakers," Li Luo smiled. "And on the material request form, write something like: 'Anyone who signs up and can play an instrument gets a song from Zhusheng.'"

With over six hundred students in the grade, there must be more than just a few who play instruments.

But not all instrument players are interested in the rock club.

If we use Yan Zhusheng as bait to attract these students early, it's better than them not even bothering to sign up because they're uninterested.

Remember, after Niu Qingling and the other Gao San members leave, only three Gao Er students will remain in the club.

If we can't gather even a basic band lineup, it'll be embarrassing.

Sure, we could have Xie Shuchen handle keyboards, Li Luo play guitar, and Yan Zhusheng handle bass and vocals.

But we still need a new drummer, right?

So the rock club still desperately needs fresh blood.

Unlike the literature club, where membership size doesn't really affect activities.

So comparatively, the rock club has to work harder at recruitment—or we'll face a serious talent gap.

…

September 1st, Tuesday.

The second morning of the entrance exam.

Lin Suifeng arrived again at the school track at the usual time, ready for morning jogging.

Seeing no one else on the track, he put down his bag and began jogging at a pace much slower than usual.

Only when he spotted a familiar figure approaching the track entrance did he slightly increase his speed, then feign surprise as if just noticing Li Luo, running up to him.

At this moment, Lin Suifeng realized only three people had come today—the Gao San student council president wasn't here.

But seeing the tall senior with the long ponytail arrive, Lin Suifeng's face lit up with anticipation.

"Good morning, seniors," Lin Suifeng stepped forward and greeted them warmly.

"Oh, good morning," Li Luo nodded at Lin Suifeng. "Since you're here, I've got a task for you—go to Class Two of Gao San at noon and find Senior Niu Qingling."

"Go with Jiang Liuxian and get her to submit the material and booth application forms."

"If they're not done yet, nudge her—go back again in the evening."

"Oh, okay," Lin Suifeng nodded, then his eyes involuntarily stole a glance at Yan Zhusheng. "What about the literature club?"

"Senior Xu will send the literature club's forms directly to me—no need to trouble you with collecting them."

"I understand," Lin Suifeng nodded, glancing again at Yan Zhusheng.

But Yan Zhusheng remained silent; Lin Suifeng didn't dare ask her name outright, so after Li Luo finished speaking, he politely took his leave and continued jogging alone.

Meanwhile, Li Luo and the other two put down their bags, warmed up, and began jogging along the track.

Midway through the run, Yan Zhusheng whispered quietly: "That boy just now…"

"What about him?"

"He looked at me several times."

"You're pretty, isn't it normal to sneak glances at you?"

"But he only looked at Chanxi once, and at me four times," Yan Zhusheng said. "Am I four times as beautiful as Chanxi?"

Li Luo: "…"

Ying Chanxi: "…"

"Don't be so self-absorbed," Li Luo said helplessly. "Maybe she just met Chanxi yesterday, but doesn't know you, so she glanced a few extra times."

"Oh."

……

The three days of the entrance exam passed in the blink of an eye.

After the exam ended, the date became September 3rd.

Fuyi High School officially began classes, and the schedule for Class 8 of Gao Er was freshly released.

Morning classes proceeded as usual; teachers gave brief self-introductions, then moved straight into lessons.

The Chinese teacher for Class 8 was still the homeroom teacher, Kong Jun; the English teacher was Teacher Ding Xiang.

In the afternoon, right after lunch break ended, Li Luo, Ying Chanxi, and Yan Zhusheng tidied their desks, picked up their history textbooks and pencil cases, and stood up to leave the classroom, heading toward Class 16.

That's right.

The first period in the afternoon was history class.

Since Class 8 of Gao Er had physics, chemistry, and geography as its three elective subjects, and no history, Li Luo and the two girls had to switch classrooms and attend Class 16's history lesson.

To accommodate the rotating class system, three extra desks and chairs had been added to Class 16's room.

Li Luo led the two girls toward the…

"Oh, okay," Ying Chanxi nodded, glanced at the textbook and pencil case in her hand, and suddenly had an idea; she followed Li Luo's instruction and hurried toward Class 16.

When they arrived at Class 16, Jin Yuting saw Ying Chanxi enter and immediately rushed forward happily, pulling her to the empty seat beside her.

"Our class has only 37 people, so these three extra seats are perfect for you," Jin Yuting said cheerfully. "Chanxi, how about you sit next to me?"

Looking at the three empty seats beside and behind Jin Yuting, Ying Chanxi hesitated for only a second, then quietly placed her and Li Luo's textbooks on the desk behind, and told Yan Zhusheng: "Zhusheng, sit in front."

"Chanxi, I'm taller—you should sit in front."

"No, no," Ying Chanxi pushed Yan Zhusheng into the seat beside Jin Yuting, then plopped herself down in the seat behind Yan Zhusheng. "If I sit with Tingting, I'll end up whispering to her in class and it'll mess up my learning."

Jin Yuting: "…"

Jin Yuting opened her mouth, speechless.

But when Li Luo returned from the restroom and walked over to sit in the empty seat beside Ying Chanxi, Jin Yuting fell silent.

With several minutes left before class, several girls from the former Class 8 of Gao Yi came over to greet Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng.

Including Chen Zhongqi, Zhu Huiyan, and Shi Yanran.

In addition, Shen Shuhua, the class monitor of Class 16, walked over and politely said to Li Luo: "Welcome to our class. If you have any questions or needs, just let me know—treat this like your own class, no need to be formal."

After a few minutes of small talk, Shen Shuhua returned to her seat.

Her desk partner, Dong Mengjie, smiled mischievously and whispered: "Li Luo's here—now you can have class together. Don't you have any thoughts about that, little Shu?"

"Y-You shouldn't say things like that," Shen Shuhua tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her cheeks slightly flushed. "I'm just the class monitor—I went over to say hello."

A few minutes later, the history class bell rang.

The teacher who entered was Teacher Yang, the homeroom teacher of Class 16 and also their history teacher.

Teacher Yang stepped onto the podium, adjusted his glasses, scanned the room, then fixed his gaze on the three students in the back row, and smiled slightly: "Li Luo, Ying Chanxi, Yan Zhusheng from Class 8, right?"

Seeing Li Luo and the two girls nod, Teacher Yang continued: "Those three desks are reserved for you—you can use them to store things. If you have any other problems, just ask our class monitor, Shen Shuhua."

As he spoke, Teacher Yang looked at Shen Shuhua, who immediately stood up and nodded, then said: "I've already greeted Li Luo and the others after class."

"Good," Teacher Yang nodded. "Alright, let's not waste time—let's begin."

For Li Luo and Ying Chanxi, history class was no challenge at all.

Ying Chanxi had already completed all high school coursework; she was now just reviewing, and if she could score a hundred on the elective exam, she wouldn't even need to attend future classes.

Li Luo, meanwhile, had the Memory Palace—after borrowing the history textbook from Xu Youyu and reading through it entirely, the subject held no difficulties for him.

After all, among humanities subjects, only geography might require some problem-solving like science; history and politics mostly involved memorization.

Once you could study like Li Luo—with open-book access—the difficulty plummeted.

So after class began, Ying Chanxi, unusually, didn't pay attention or do homework—instead, she quietly passed Li Luo a note.

【Ying Chanxi】: Boring.

【Li Luo】: You could do homework.

【Ying Chanxi】: Didn't bring any. What about you?

【Li Luo】: Neither did I.

【Ying Chanxi】: We've learned everything—seems like there's nothing to do.

【Li Luo】: Want to play five-in-a-row?

【Ying Chanxi】: How?

【Li Luo】: Wait.

Li Luo pulled out his scratch paper and drew vertical lines with a ruler, forming a grid with the existing horizontal lines.

Then he drew an "×" at the center.

【Li Luo】: Draw O. Whoever loses more has to treat the other to dinner.

【Ying Chanxi】: You're already using my card, you know.

【Li Luo】: True. So what's the penalty for losing?

【Ying Chanxi】: The loser has to bring the other's textbook to the next history class.

【Li Luo】：Fine.

More than ten minutes later.

【Li Luo】：Why are you so weak?

【Ying Chanxi】：You talk too much. Next time I'll just grab your textbook for you. A bet's a bet.