Chapter 408

December 31, Thursday morning.

Finally, it was the New Year's Day event day.

For Gao Er and Gao San students, this was already a fairly familiar routine.

Although they were also happy to get an extra day off and participate in the New Year's event, the fresh excitement they had as Gao Yi students was gone.

In comparison, the Gao Yi classmates were much more excited, since in middle school they had barely encountered such large-scale school events.

Not to mention that the New Year's event at Fu Yi High School, even by national standards, was a relatively rare type.

Therefore, compared to usual, the number of students who woke up early and rushed to school this morning had increased somewhat.

As a result, when Li Luo led Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng through the school gate toward the playground for morning jogging, they encountered many classmates who rarely saw them during regular school days.

Many eyes lingered on the three of them.

Li Luo had now fully grown accustomed to this situation.

"Li Luo, are you free this morning?" Yan Zhusheng asked Li Luo.

"What's up?"

"The class mini-game," Yan Zhusheng said. "Come with me to collect stamps."

"I promised to accompany Chanxi."

"Isn't Chanxi busy with student council patrol duties?" Yan Zhusheng asked, puzzled.

"I'm patrolling with her."

"Oh…" Yan Zhusheng nodded reluctantly. "Alright then."

Hearing Yan Zhusheng's disappointed tone, Ying Chanxi, walking on Li Luo's other side, felt a twinge of guilt.

After all, last year when Yan Zhusheng was in charge of the class mini-game in Class 8, Li Luo had accompanied her to collect stamps.

This year, she was again monopolizing Li Luo, and just to go on patrol with her—something rather dull.

Thinking of this, Ying Chanxi felt a bit embarrassed.

So when it reached eight o'clock in the morning and the principal's speech over the loudspeaker officially announced the start of the New Year's event:

Ying Chanxi, watching Li Luo follow her out of the classroom, took his hand and led him over to Yan Zhusheng, whispering, "Go have fun—you don't need to patrol with me. Go collect stamps with Zhusheng, and just let me get one draw later."

After speaking, Ying Chanxi turned and left the classroom, leaving Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng inside.

Watching Ying Chanxi's briskly retreating back, Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng exchanged a glance, both surprised.

Still, Yan Zhusheng was delighted to accept Ying Chanxi's small gift, secretly squeezing Li Luo's palm: "Then you're mine for the morning."

"Don't talk like I'm some object," Li Luo ruffled her hair. "Let's get going—try to collect all the stamps as fast as possible and get more chances to draw."

"Okay~" Yan Zhusheng nodded obediently, then watched as Li Luo took the stamp from Zhang Guohuang and stamped it directly onto their collection booklet, making her freeze in surprise.

"Class monitor, you cheated," Zhang Guohuang snatched back the stamp and complained.

"I'll buy you a milk tea later."

"Alright, alright," Zhang Guohuang grinned, nodding vigorously. "Our class's game is kinda boring anyway—stamping directly saves time."

"Zhang Guohuang, you're going to be amazing someday," Li Luo gave him a thumbs-up, then quickly led Yan Zhusheng out of Class 8.

Gao Er had a total of 16 classes—15 stamps left to collect.

Li Luo led Yan Zhusheng out of the classroom and headed straight upstairs.

Yan Zhusheng hugged her collection booklet, trotting happily beside Li Luo, whispering as they climbed the stairs: "I feel like Chanxi's gotten more generous."

"Huh?" Li Luo paused, startled. "She's never been stingy."

"She's not stingy," Yan Zhusheng said. "But when it comes to things involving Li Luo, she's still pretty possessive."

"Talking behind Chanxi's back, huh?" Li Luo laughed and poked her cheek.

"No, I'm complimenting her," Yan Zhusheng said cheerfully. "Before, Chanxi would never let you go with me."

"She just thought it'd be boring for you to patrol with me."

"Chanxi's so nice." Yan Zhusheng glanced around, then quietly slipped her small hand into Li Luo's palm—held it for only a few seconds before immediately letting go.

Li Luo glanced at her and whispered a reminder: "Be more careful in school—if a teacher sees, it'll be trouble."

"So I don't need to be careful at home?"

"When I tell you to be careful at home, do you listen?"

"I do," Yan Zhusheng nodded. "I'm very well-behaved."

"Well-behaved my foot."

"Li Luo, you're swearing at me—I'm telling Lin Yi."

"You've learned Chanxi's tactics well," Li Luo said, walking to the fourth floor, where the corner was empty, and gave her a light smack on the butt. "Stop joking around—let's go do the game."

"Oh." Yan Zhusheng rubbed her rear and obediently followed Li Luo, stepping first into Class 1.

The moment Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng entered Class 1, the classroom fell silent.

Many who hadn't noticed before, seeing others suddenly quiet, turned curiously toward the direction everyone was staring.

Seeing Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng, they looked enlightened.

Oh—it's them.

At that moment, everyone's eyes quickly shifted to the front of the classroom, landing on a figure patrolling there.

Ying Chanxi, seeing that Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng had chosen Class 1 first, was also surprised. She walked from the front door to the back where the queue formed and asked them: "How'd you get up here so fast?"

"Li Luo cheated," Yan Zhusheng held up her collection booklet, showing Ying Chanxi the Class 8 stamp.

"Don't make things up," Li Luo pressed down on her head and rubbed it hard. "I guessed you'd come to Class 1 first, so I followed you up."

"Hmph." Ying Chanxi didn't believe his excuse. After chatting briefly with them, she prepared to leave. "I'll keep patrolling—you two enjoy yourselves."

"Okay."

Watching the friendly exchange among the three, other students in Class 1 kept glancing over, then whispering to each other quietly.

Now many people at Fuyi High are reading Li Luo's I Am Really Not a Star, especially the Gao Er students, and this book has attracted countless new readers to Fuyi High.

Some of them even previously didn't know Chongran's true identity but were already reading this book.

After learning the truth, each of them instantly became missionaries of Fuyi High's Bible, spreading the book to classmates who hadn't read it yet.

Naturally, this included introductions to the female lead in the book.

Once everyone gradually matched the female lead with real-life girls, they felt like they'd discovered a new continent.

Even without joining any of the female leads' fan groups, they'd still privately chat with friends whenever they saw Li Luo interacting with Ying Chanxi and others, treating it as gossip.

The only good news was that since I Am Really Not a Star became Fuyi High's Bible, the number of girls coming to confess their feelings to Li Luo dropped sharply.

Most people still had self-awareness when facing outstanding girls like Yan Zhusheng and Ying Chanxi.

Many quietly buried their admiration for Li Luo inside, no longer writing him love letters or confessing directly, which greatly relieved Li Luo.

This year's class game was less boring than last year's—it was a balloon-clamping game.

Players had to find a partner, back-to-back clamp a balloon between them, and walk from the back row of the classroom to the blackboard.

One person would pick up chalk and make a random mark on the blackboard, then both would return to the starting point, back-to-back, and squeeze the balloon until it burst to pass.

If the balloon fell during the walk, burst prematurely, or failed to burst upon returning to the start, it counted as failure, and they had to rejoin the line.

The students at the front of the line were mostly boys paired with boys, and girls with girls.

It wasn't until Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng that the first boy-girl pair appeared today.

The class stuffed a balloon between them; after Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng clamped it with their backs, Li Luo said, "Take it slow—you better not slow me down."

"Then like this," Yan Zhusheng reached her arm backward and tightly gripped Li Luo's palm, "this way we'll know if our steps are in sync."

"... Alright."

Holding Yan Zhusheng's hand in front of so many classmates, Li Luo was momentarily stunned.

But he quickly recovered, gripping her hand tightly as they slowly walked toward the front podium.

Every eye in the classroom instantly focused on them; seeing how naturally they held hands, the boys muttered among themselves, while the girls couldn't help stealing glances, already imagining a romantic novel of hundreds of thousands of words.

When Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng reached the podium, Li Luo picked up chalk and made a random mark; then they immediately turned back and arrived at the finish line smoothly.

Next, Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng squeezed their hands together hard—the balloon burst, and at that instant, their backs pressed tightly together.

After successfully earning Fuyi High's stamp, Yan Zhusheng whispered to the class before leaving, "Next year, try having them face each other to squeeze the balloon."

Li Luo heard this and immediately turned black with annoyance, quickly dragging her away.

"Li Luo."

"What?"

"Let's buy some balloons—we can play this game next birthday."

"You just want to hug me."

"Mm," Yan Zhusheng nodded unashamedly, then added, "But I've never tried that feeling of hugging right after bursting the balloon—let's try it next time."

Yan Zhusheng was like a curious child.

Last year, because the New Year's event kept her in the classroom all morning, she didn't get to play other classes' games.

This year, she finally got to play, and learned quite a few new moves.

After that, the two of them proceeded class by class, tackling each one in turn.

Thanks to their seamless coordination, they breezed through five challenges and six obstacles, completing all sixteen stamps by 9:30.

After getting the final stamp in Class 16, Yan Zhusheng grabbed Li Luo's hand and rushed excitedly toward the prize-drawing area on Houde Road, achieving a top-50 finish and earning each of them six draws.

"You finished that fast?" Ying Chanxi happened to be patrolling nearby; Li Luo called out to her, and she drifted over.

"Xixi, come quick," Yan Zhusheng pulled Ying Chanxi to the prize box, "we have twelve draws total—four each is perfect."

"I only need one draw."

"No, draw four," Yan Zhusheng hugged Ying Chanxi affectionately, "I won't let you go until you've drawn."

Ying Chanxi had no choice but to reach into the prize box and pull out four slips.

The student council member in charge of drawing took the slips from the president and checked them one by one, then said, "Three participation prizes, one third prize."

The other student council member immediately handed out three bags of candy and a pencil case.

Then it was Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng's turn; after drawing, they mostly got participation prizes—no luck like last year.

Soon, all three were carrying arms full of candy bags: White Rabbit milk candies, fruit candies, jelly candies—various kinds.

"I'll go back to help in the class now," Yan Zhusheng said after drawing.

Li Luo kept one bag of White Rabbit milk candies, handed the rest to Yan Zhusheng to take back, and stayed with Ying Chanxi, saying, "Then I'll accompany you on patrol?"

"Sure," Ying Chanxi handed all her prizes to Yan Zhusheng and nodded to Li Luo.

"So where have you patrolled so far?"

"I just finished touring the Gao Yi teaching building," Ying Chanxi pointed toward the Gao San building, "next, I'm heading there."

"Then let's go," Li Luo tore open the White Rabbit candy wrapper, shoved all the candies into his pocket, then pulled out one, unwrapped it, and held it to Ying Chanxi's lips.

Ying Chanxi instinctively opened her mouth and leaned forward—she missed, then watched Li Luo smile as he slipped it into his own mouth.

"Li Luo!" Ying Chanxi chased him, hitting him playfully; soon they ran into the Gao San teaching building.

When Ying Chanxi caught up, she lightly hit him a few times, and he pulled out another White Rabbit candy, unwrapped it, and waved it in front of her.

This time, Ying Chanxi ignored him, huffed, and turned her head away.

Li Luo held the candy to her left—she turned her face right.

Finally, Li Luo couldn't take it anymore—he reached out with his other hand, pinched her cheek gently, and shoved the candy into her mouth.

"Mmm…"

"Hey hey," Xu Youyu's voice suddenly came from beside them, "you two, tone it down—you're still at school."

Hearing the familiar voice, Ying Chanxi made two muffled sounds, sucked the candy into her mouth, then turned to look—she found Xu Youyu leaning against the wall by the first-floor staircase, smiling at them.

"Senior, have you finished collecting your seals?" Ying Chanxi asked, her cheeks slightly flushed, changing the subject.

"Not yet," Xu Youyu shook her head. "I'm not really interested in these little games, and some require two people to cooperate—I can't play them alone."

"You could find a classmate to join you."

"I don't have any particularly close classmates," Xu Youyu said with a smiling gaze at Ying Chanxi, then winked at her. "Unless you lend me Li Luo—that might work."

Hearing Xu Youyu's words, Ying Chanxi hesitated for a moment, looking at Xu Youyu leaning alone against the wall, then finally nodded. "Y-yes, sure. Li Luo isn't busy right now anyway."

"Huh?" Xu Youyu blinked, clearly stunned by the answer.

She'd only been joking—why had XiXi actually agreed?