Chapter 63: 「Take the cigarettes, put the stuff down.」

Bai Chuyue said, "For this year's Mathematics Competition, Xianxing Education Institution also plans to find students from outside to organize a competition team. The activities for solving problems and winning awards during this period are all to prepare for recruiting students for this competition. It's probably a student from some other school who has come over."

A few people prepared to go over and join the fun, but at the classroom entrance, many teachers were gathered around watching.

They couldn't get in either.

And inside the classroom, the chalk in Shen Li's hand, as she wrote, suddenly made a soft 'clack' sound and slipped from her fingers.

The sound of the chalk hitting the floor wasn't loud, but it was exceptionally clear in the quiet environment.

The several teachers surrounding the problem looked over, their gazes following her movements.

Shen Li crouched down to pick up the chalk from the floor, her gaze inadvertently sweeping over the tips of her shoes, and she discovered that the shoelace on her left foot had come undone at some point.

Xu Zhouyuan wanted to see which top student it was, but he was blocked by the podium and couldn't see anyone at all.

Zhou Mingyu glanced at his phone, "Stop looking, what's there to see? Xie Qin is still waiting to go back to class, it's already this late, and our Vice Class Monitor should be at the classroom too."

Xie Qin's languid gaze looked over inadvertently, but he happened to be blocked by a teacher from seeing that back, and he didn't see clearly who it was either.

The few of them left, unconcerned.

Shen Li tied her shoelace and picked up the chalk to stand up; such a small interlude did not interrupt her train of thought for solving the problem.

She continued solving the problem on the blackboard...

Bai Chuyue was also curious about what the girl Xie Qin was chasing looked like; she happened to be free, so she went to their classroom.

But she didn't expect that with ten minutes left until class, the seat that should have been occupied was actually empty.

Only Zhang Zixin was sitting next to Shen Li's seat, applying nail polish.

Xu Zhouyuan: "Strange, where is our Vice Class Monitor? She hasn't come even at this hour."

"Wife, didn't you see her?"

Zhang Zixin blew on her freshly painted fingernails to let them dry faster, "Nope, I've been in the classroom since one o'clock, and I haven't seen her either."

"Here, she left her phone in the dorm, I even brought it over for her."

Zhou Mingyu and Qiao Lang returned to their seats and saw the pile of snacks on the table, "Damn, who gave this? Let me flip through it to see if there are any love letters."

Zhang Zixin laughed, "What kind of daydreaming are you doing here in broad daylight! Shen Li went home for a trip and brought these back; you guys can look and divide them yourselves."

Qiao Lang: "I like this one, the pastry is made like a flower."

"Try it."

He unwrapped the packaging and took a bite, "It's rose and red bean paste filling, the taste is not bad."

Bai Chuyue stood with Xie Qin at the back classroom door, asked him for a cigarette, and teased, "Xie Qin, this girlfriend of yours is quite something; the food she brought isn't cheap at all. She's really splurged and spent quite a bit of money. She bought off the brothers around you so quickly, but... I'm not that easy to dismiss; I must examine her."

Xu Zhouyuan was curious when he heard this, "It's just a few pieces of pastry, how much could it cost."

Bai Chuyue leaned against the back classroom door, exhaling smoke, and raised an eyebrow, "This is a specialty from Su Shi, the Jinhuantianhua Gift Box from Xiangweiju; one box costs about six hundred or more."

They were also startled when they heard this.

Xu Zhouyuan: "Damn, just these few pieces of pastry, over six hundred. The Vice Class Monitor's family is wealthy, that's impressive!"

Zhou Mingyu joked, "If it really doesn't work out, Brother Qin can just marry into her family."

"Anyway, he can't catch up to the Vice Class Monitor; with our Brother Qin's looks, if he just gives himself away, the Vice Class Monitor surely wouldn't refuse."

Speaking of this, Xu Zhouyuan got excited, "You guys don't know, last time... this dog Xie Qin called me early in the morning, asking me to pick him up at the high-speed rail station, damn! I thought it was some big deal..."

"Guess what happened..."

Xu Zhouyuan embellished the story and spilled everything he knew.

Bai Chuyue didn't take it to heart when she heard them talking; she had known Xie Qin for three years in high school, didn't she know his character?

It was just a momentary impulse; even if he caught her, it wouldn't last long.

She tapped the ash from the cigarette in her hand, walked into the classroom, and threw the cigarette butt into the trash can at the back, "Looks like there's no chance to see her this time; my tutoring class is about to start soon."

"Since I'm not full yet, you wouldn't mind if I took some food from you, would you?"

Xie Qin glanced at her: "You wish."

Bai Chuyue laughed: "No, when did you become so stingy?"

As he spoke, Xie Qin took a pack of cigarettes that had just been opened, with only a few missing, out of his pocket and tossed it to her: "Take the cigarettes, put the stuff down."

Xu Zhouyuan chimed in from the side: "We wouldn't dare give away things given by our Vice Class Monitor to others."

Bai Chuyue held the cigarettes he tossed over and suddenly laughed out loud, "Xie Qin, you're incredible. You've even stopped smoking since you started dating!"

Xie Qin threw away the cigarette butt in his hand, pulled out a chair, and sat down: "Get lost! Close the door!"

"Fine! I'm not losing out either, two-hundred-a-pack cigarettes, might as well take them." Before leaving, Bai Chuyue spoke again: "... Let's gather again when you're free."

Her tutoring class was near Chengde University, not far away, so if she wanted to come over, she could just walk a few steps and be there.

Most people's attendance on Monday was quite good; except for a few students who had asked for leave and hadn't arrived yet, almost the entire class was present.

Zhao Zhouyuan arrived in the last five minutes before class, passing the attendance sheet one by one, letting them sign it themselves.

The head teacher walked in from the back door and saw that the seat behind her was empty.

She asked Zhao Zhouyuan a few questions, then left without saying anything.

After the attendance sheet was signed, Xu Zhouyuan tossed it in front of Zhao Zhouyuan.

Zhao Zhouyuan was startled, but she didn't dare to make a sound; she saw Zhou Mingyu signing the names of Xu Zhouyuan, Qiao Lang, Zhang Zixin, Xie Qin, and Shen Li all by himself, all in his handwriting.

She raised her head and glanced at Zhou Mingyu, who was talking to Qiao Lang next to him.

No one noticed that Zhao Zhouyuan took tape out of her pencil case, tore off Shen Li's name, closed the attendance sheet, and stuffed it back into the desk as if nothing had happened.

Xie Qin was looking down, playing a game, when a figure appeared in his peripheral vision in front of the classroom, and he lifted his eyes to take a look.

Then he lowered his gaze again and continued watching the game.

It was quiet like this for only a moment.

Ten-plus minutes after class started.

In the corridor outside the classroom, a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly came, from far to near, sounding exceptionally clear.

The head teacher, guarding the classroom door and specifically watching for students skipping class, looked up at the sound and, upon catching sight of the tardy Shen Li, immediately called out to stop her.

Past the start of class, the only person who would arrive now was none other than Shen Li.

Several gazes from inside the classroom looked over.

"Oh my, our Vice Class Monitor got caught being late and was taken away for a lecture."

"That shouldn't be the case."

The few snacks Shen Li had brought were already nearly finished by those few people.

"Have you seen the notice posted in the group chat? The school is organizing a few students with relatively good grades to participate in the Mathematics Competition. The teacher thought your grades shouldn't be bad, so I wanted to ask for your opinion on whether you'd like to participate; if you can make it to the city-level competition, you could receive this year's full scholarship for outstanding students, and you could also... be exempt from all miscellaneous school fees."

Shen Li refused in a mild tone: "I'm sorry, Teacher, I don't want to participate in this competition."

The head teacher was puzzled: "Why? This is a very good opportunity to perform; I have also looked into it, and Haishi High School is the high school with the highest advancement rate in the entire city. You are a student who came from that school, so your grades certainly won't be bad."

"If you have any concerns, you can tell the teacher."