Returning to Parents' Seventeen
Chapter 38: The Strange Boy

Chapter 38: Chapter 38: The Strange Boy

The next two days passed peacefully, and on Thursday, the monthly exam for the new month officially began at Mingzhi Middle School. The monthly exams at Mingzhi Middle School were separated by arts and sciences, with humanities students taking subjects related to their field and science students taking subjects that would appear in the science section of the college entrance exam.

There were fewer subjects, so the exams could all be finished in two days, Thursday and Friday.

Like midterms and finals, the seating for the monthly exams was arranged according to academic performance.

Xu Chuning was the top arts student, and her seat was the first in Class (1), while Shen Sinian was a transfer student and, temporarily lacking exam scores, was seated in the last classroom.

"You’re taking the exam in Class 1?" Knowing Xu Chuning would be in Class 1, Shen Sinian was somewhat worried, "Won’t the students from Lai the Madman’s class intentionally damage the desks to get back at you?"

Hearing Shen Sinian’s concern, Xu Chuning couldn’t help but laugh and cry, "You’re overthinking it, that won’t happen."

Shen Sinian was having breakfast and thought for a moment before saying to Xu Chuning, "I’m still not quite reassured. I’ll escort you to Class 1 later, then head to my own exam room."

Xu Chuning: "...Suit yourself."

They agreed and, after having breakfast, headed to school together.

On the way to school, Xu Chuning suddenly asked, "How come you aren’t with him today?"

"I asked him," Shen Sinian said irritably, "I suggested going to the diner for breakfast, and he turned me down."

Xu Chuning: "Oh."

Shen Sinian turned his head, observing Xu Chuning’s calm expression, and puzzledly ruffled his own dark, short hair, "Ningning, are you sure you guys haven’t had a fight?"

He’d calculated that the two hadn’t spoken for over a week already.

Xu Chuning: "Nope, what are you thinking about?"

Shen Sinian: "...You’re the ones overthinking it."

He said with a childlike innocence.

Xu Chuning: "..."

Shen Sinian pondered his own words and realized there was actually some sense to them.

However, Xu Chuning didn’t dwell on it too much. She went with him to the school, picked up her stationery for the exams from the classroom, and then they walked together to Class (1).

The students at the school were all nervous about the exams, and no one paid much attention to the pair of Xu Chuning and Shen Sinian.

After seeing Xu Chuning to her classroom, Shen Sinian admonished her with a few words before heading to his own exam site.

Shen Sinian had thought that arriving three minutes before the exam started would be late enough, but he hadn’t expected that the last classroom would be full of old hands, with about a dozen students showing up with the invigilator at the last possible moment.

"Classmate," a boy who arrived just in time sat next to him and tilted his chin up slightly at him, "are you the one who came in last place last time?"

He looked at Shen Sinian: "I haven’t seen you before."

Shen Sinian glanced at him indifferently, "I’m a transfer student."

"You’re the transfer student?" the boy with the buzz cut exclaimed, "From Class 6?"

Shen Sinian: "Yes, what can I do for you?"

"Damn!" the boy was shocked, "So it was you who beat up Zhao Hu?"

Hearing this familiar name, Shen Sinian lifted his eyelids slightly, "Are you his friend?"

"I’m his boss," the boy next to him said, "Let me introduce myself. Since you’ve beaten up Zhao Hu, from now on you’re my brother. My name is Yu Gaoyi. And you are?"

Shen Sinian raised an eyebrow, "Shen Sinian."

"Why does your name sound so bookish?" Yu Gaoyi was a bit puzzled.

Shen Sinian lifted his eyelids and said coldly, "My mother chose it, you have a problem with that?"

Yu Gaoyi: "..."

Noticing the two chatting, the invigilator coughed and said, "Quiet please, we are now going to distribute the test papers. Those who can do it, do it. Those who can’t, don’t disturb the other students—just sleep quietly."

The invigilator knew the level of the students in the last classroom and never had high expectations for them.

They only prayed that these students would be honest and quiet during the exam.

"""

...

The exam officially began, and under the stern gaze of the invigilating teacher, Yu Gaoyi temporarily dared not make a sound.

The first subject to be tested was Chinese.

Shen Sinian received the test paper, flipped through it, then picked up a pen from the side and began to answer the questions.

Yu Gaoyi, beside him, wrote down his own name, finished all the multiple-choice questions first, and then started to twirl his pen out of sheer boredom. When he inadvertently turned his head, he caught a glimpse of Shen Sinian’s test paper which had quite a bit of content written on it.

Yu Gaoyi paused, squinted his eyes and sighed - the transfer student is so naive, does he really think that just because he writes a lot, the teacher will give him marks?

He really underestimated the strictness of Mingzhi Middle School’s teachers.

Shen Sinian was unaware of the tumult of thoughts Yu Gaoyi had about him doing the Chinese test. He had told Shen Yubai that he was the top of his grade; he wasn’t boasting, his academic performance was indeed pretty good.

In his first year of high school, Shen Sinian had already completed all the high school courses.

As for Yu Gaoyi, the only reason he thought his academic performance was similar to Shen Sinian’s was purely because Shen Sinian was even better at fighting than him. His fixed mindset made him think that someone like Shen Sinian, who could fight so well, definitely couldn’t have good grades.

"No way, bro," noticing that Shen Sinian had started writing his essay, Yu Gaoyi couldn’t help but whisper, "You even know how to write essays?"

Shen Sinian glanced at him, "Aren’t essays very simple?"

Yu Gaoyi: "..."

He looked at him and after a moment of silence said, "Forget it, you write. At least there are some marks for the format of the paper."

"..."

After the Chinese exam, it was time for lunch.

The friendship between boys is strange and can develop very rapidly.

Shen Sinian was pondering whether to go have lunch with Xu Chuning or find Shen Yubai when Yu Gaoyi beat him to it, slapping his shoulder, "Bro, wanna have lunch together? Tell me about how you beat up Zhao Hu?"

When Shen Sinian fought with Zhao Hu, Yu Gaoyi happened to be resting at home due to an injury and had taken a week off.

If it hadn’t been for that, he wouldn’t have only just met Shen Sinian.

Hearing this, Shen Sinian was puzzled, "What’s there to talk about?"

Yu Gaoyi: "Eh, how can there not be? I want to know what Zhao Hu looked like after you beat him up, was it really like the other students said, with his nose swollen, face bruised, and tears all over his face?"

Shen Sinian: "..."

Speechless for a few seconds, he asked, "Do you have a grudge against Zhao Hu?"

"Yeah," said Yu Gaoyi, "irreconcilable differences."

Shen Sinian choked up, "I’ll tell you next time, I’m going to have lunch with my classmate."

Yu Gaoyi was slightly disappointed, "You already have plans?"

Shen Sinian: "Yeah."

Yu Gaoyi sighed, "Alright then."

Suddenly, he asked Shen Sinian again, "Would you and your classmate mind an extra person?"

After a moment of silence, Shen Sinian, remembering what Xu Chuning had said to him about hoping he could make more friends here and meet more people, nodded, "Let’s go together."

The two headed towards (Class 6), and when Yu Gaoyi saw Shen Sinian talking with a beautiful girl and then walking out with her, he was stunned, incredulously saying, "Bro, your classmate is a girl?"

Shen Sinian: "Any problem with that?"

Yu Gaoyi: "...No."

He secretly gave Shen Sinian a thumbs up, "Awesome."

Just arrived and already dating such a beautiful girl, he is indeed the guy who beat Zhao Hu until his nose was swollen and his face bruised.

Shen Sinian had no idea what Yu Gaoyi was thinking; they walked to the canteen together, and to their slight surprise, Shen Yubai was also there to have lunch today.

As fate would have it, they ran into each other right at the entrance of the canteen.

Seeing the unfamiliar boy standing next to Xu Chuning, Shen Yubai’s brows imperceptibly furrowed.

"""