And Class A only had forty students in total.

Jin Zhao was a little nervous. After all, with the streamed system, moving up was a pleasant surprise, but slipping down even a little could be very embarrassing—especially when she was thin-skinned to begin with.

Luo Heng and Ji Haoxuan were just as nervous as she was.

Ever since last semester’s incident, Ji Haoxuan’s grades had dropped badly. He also seemed to have conflicts with his family. This semester, he had even resigned as class monitor, taking on only the role of Chinese subject representative, and had applied to live in the school dorms.

As for Luo Heng, he was the classic type—lazy and panicked at the same time. On regular days he couldn’t even be bothered to do homework; when it came time to turn assignments in, he’d scramble around grabbing worksheets and copying wildly. Yet that didn’t stop him from worrying, all while being lazy, about getting brushed out.

During evening self-study, Jin Zhao lowered her head and worked on problems, hearing Luo Heng and his deskmate Cao Bo in the back row exchanging worry-laden “anxiety.”

One said, “If I get brushed out, it’ll be humiliating as hell. I’ll have to detour every time I see you Class A people—fuck that, I’d rather transfer schools than suffer this kind of disgrace.”

The other said, “Don’t say ‘you Class A,’ brother—we’re pretty much the same. If you’ve got a school in mind, remember to tell me. Let’s transfer together and still be desk mates next semester.”

“But then again, maybe someone else will be even more unlucky than us?”

“Great minds think alike. Come on, let’s look at the test first… What does this question mean? I can’t even understand the problem.”

“…Forget the test. Let’s chat a bit first to calm our nerves.”

Jin Zhao didn’t know whether the two of them managed to calm their nerves by spreading anxiety, but she herself had definitely been infected.

She even unconsciously stopped writing, pricked up her ears, and waited to hear which school they might discuss transferring to later. She wasn’t a pessimistic person, but having a Plan B wasn’t a bad thing, right?

“Stop listening. Do the problems.”

Meng Yanxi’s cold voice suddenly cut in, and at the same time he pushed a workbook over.

It was a math exercise book that wasn’t very thick to begin with, but because so many pages in the middle were folded over, it looked thick and puffed up.

Jin Zhao flipped it open casually. The book naturally fell open to one of the folded pages. Among the densely packed questions, one had been marked out by Meng Yanxi with a rough star.

Every folded page had problems he’d circled or marked.

Jin Zhao looked at him in confusion.

Meng Yanxi tapped the desktop with a finger. “Do these first. If you don’t understand, ask me.”

Math was Jin Zhao’s weakest subject. As long as she held on in math, she could basically stay steady in Class A.

Hearing this, Luo Heng in the back row eagerly leaned forward and cut in, “Me too! Brother Yan, mark some problems for us too?”

Cao Bo cruelly poured cold water on him. “Now you remember marking problems? You don’t burn incense usually and only hug the Buddha’s leg at the last minute, you might as well hurry up and find a school with me and transfer faster.”

Although that sounded extremely punchable, Jin Zhao found that it actually made a bit of sense.

Other subjects could perhaps be made up for with diligence. Only math—if you didn’t know it, you really didn’t know it.

As soon as her resolve wavered even a little, Meng Yanxi seemed to have mind-reading powers and coldly pushed the exercise book to her side. “Do the problems. They go where they go. It has nothing to do with you.”

Luo Heng immediately bristled. “Hey! That’s going too far, how are we—”

“Shut up.” Before he could finish, Meng Yanxi cut him off mercilessly.

Meng Yanxi’s icy demeanor was always intimidating. The two chatterboxes in the back row fell silent on the spot. Jin Zhao didn’t dare prick up her ears to eavesdrop anymore either. Hugging the math workbook he’d given her, she lowered her head and quietly worked through the problems.

After a while, she couldn’t help secretly turning her head to look at him.

The boy’s profile was sharply defined and handsome. One ear was fitted with a white earbud; when he looked at problems, his eyelids lowered, lashes long and dark. He looked cold and aloof, hard to approach.

And yet, just one offhand sentence was enough to make the milk candy she’d secretly tucked away in her heart melt all over again, until even her breathing tasted sweet.

They go where they go. It has nothing to do with you.

Meng Yanxi seemed to sense her peeking. His gaze shifted slightly. Jin Zhao startled and hurriedly lowered her head to do the problems.

Jin Zhao discovered that Meng Yanxi wasn’t actually bad at explaining questions. He was just not familiar with people and a bit cold. Once you got to know him, you’d realize he was actually quite helpful.

His logic was formidable, and he was very good at integrating concepts. Those complicated problems that seemed utterly directionless—he only needed to glance at them once, and it was as if he were a machine, automatically categorizing them from simple to complex. Whenever Jin Zhao asked him about a problem, he could immediately pinpoint what her real difficulty was, then mark out similar questions for her from easy to hard, helping her completely conquer that knowledge point.

With the help of her helpful deskmate, Jin Zhao’s condition during this semester’s final exams was better than ever. It was as if her meridians had suddenly been unblocked—her pen flew across the page. For the first time, she finished every single math question, and even had over ten minutes left to check her work. This was something the former her wouldn’t have dared to imagine.

In the affiliated middle school’s second year, after the final exams they wouldn’t go on break immediately. There would be another week of makeup classes. Teachers of each subject usually used this time to go over exam papers and, based on the results, patch up gaps in learning for the entire second year.

The overall grade rankings were released three days later.

Jin Zhao shot straight up to fifteenth in the grade—her highest ranking ever. She held onto the score slip for a long time, reluctant to let go, as if afraid she’d misread it, flipping it over again and again.

Meng Yanxi entered the classroom behind her and stood by her side for a while before she noticed. When she came back to her senses, she hurriedly stood up to make room for him. Her attentive manner made Meng Yanxi suspect that if she had wings, she’d fly circles around him.

“Thank you.”

As Meng Yanxi passed by her, she whispered softly by his ear.

He sat back down at the window seat and lifted his eyelids slightly. “If you stop listening to Luo Heng’s nonsense, I’ll thank you.”

Jin Zhao didn’t react in time. “Huh?”

Meng Yanxi looked at his deskmate’s blank, dazed expression, suddenly shook his head, and let out a light laugh that sounded like a breath of air. It was unclear who exactly he was laughing at.

“Nothing.”

Before the exams, Luo Heng had talked big nonstop, saying he’d transfer schools if he fell out of Class A. In the end, he still passed steadily together with Cao Bo.

Si Tian commented mercilessly, “Luo Heng is exactly that kind of annoying guy—before every exam he shouts ‘I’m done for, I’m done for,’ and once the results come out, he’s the steadiest one of all!”

Luo Heng really was the steadiest—he’d been firmly planted at thirty-eighth place for two full years, four semesters in a row.

Put nicely, that was thirty-eighth. Put bluntly, it was third from last. His deskmate Cao Bo was second from last.

And this time, the very last place went to Ji Haoxuan. Even so, Class A had managed a clean pass—no one dropped out.

Luo Heng was exasperated into laughter by Si Tian and shot back, “Want this kind of ‘blessing’ for yourself?”

Si Tian started making a scene. “I don’t care—whoever’s the steadiest treats! I want hotpot, I want barbecue!”

Luo Heng shot back rudely, “Want a flatbread instead?”

Si Tian ignored him and had already started rounding people up on her own, asking Meng Yanxi and Lu Jingyue, “Brother Yan, Brother Yue, Luo Heng’s treating—are you going?”

Luo Heng was so annoyed he was speechless and gave her a thumbs-up.

Lu Jingyue watched the group from the back, like he was watching a circus performance, rocking his chair as he said, “If Meng Yanxi goes, I’ll go.”

Meng Yanxi: “Not going.”

Si Tian had already made up her mind to fleece Luo Heng and didn’t care whether Meng Yanxi or Lu Jingyue were going. She grabbed Jin Zhao’s hand and said, “Then the two of us will go!”

Si Tian and Luo Heng were childhood friends and close. How could Jin Zhao butt in so shamelessly? She hurriedly shook her head to refuse, but Si Tian spoke first: “You have to go! If you don’t, we’re not friends anymore!”

Jin Zhao was stunned. Was this still a thing, ganging up to fleece someone?

She really liked Si Tian’s personality and didn’t want to fall out with her, but she also couldn’t bring herself to fleece Luo Heng for no reason. After thinking it over, she suggested, “Then let’s split the bill. It’s almost vacation anyway, we can go barbecue at Xishan.”

Xishan lay in the western suburbs of Suiyi and was a famous autumn-viewing spot in the city. Every October, when the hills were dyed in layers of color, plenty of out-of-town tourists came to check it out. At other times it wasn’t as crowded, but year-round there were always people going over there—to hike, barbecue, camp.

They were high school students, so staying overnight outside wasn’t allowed, but hiking a bit and having barbecue there, then returning the same day, was more than enough.

Luo Heng thought the suggestion was good and immediately stated his position. “If we’re going to Xishan, no need to split—I’ll treat.”

Si Tian said, “You were treating anyway. You still want to wriggle out of it?”

Cao Bo said, “If Luo Heng’s treating, I’m definitely going. Free food not eaten is food wasted, count me in.”

Si Tian started counting heads. “Zhao Zhao, me, Luo Heng, Cao Bo—okay, four people, that’s enough—”

Before she could finish, Meng Yanxi suddenly lifted his eyelids and said with an air of magnanimity, “Then let’s go.”

Lu Jingyue, who had been watching the show from behind, cleared his throat lightly and followed up in a serious tone, “Then I’ll go too.”

Si Tian’s gaze swept over those two stiff, pretentious guys. Being generous, she didn’t make an issue of it. “Fine, we’ll take you two as well—six people total.”

The good news was that the affiliated middle school’s final exams were on July 1st, and summer vacation officially started on July 8th. The bad news was that it only lasted ten days—they had to come back for remedial classes on July 18th.

In those years, the slogan of “reducing academic burden” hadn’t been shouted so loudly yet. The school administration’s attitude was extremely arrogant and borderline unhinged. In Chen Shu’s own words: “What are you dreaming about? You’ll be in third year soon—this time next year you’ll be filling out college preferences, and you still want a vacation? If I were you, I wouldn’t even be able to laugh when I heard ‘vacation.’ I’d cry while angrily grinding out thirty practice papers.”

The entire class really did cry together.

The hike was scheduled for July 9th, the first day of vacation, which happened to be a Saturday. Jin Zhao, sticking to her “better fewer troubles than more” mindset, didn’t tell Jin Wenhui that it was vacation. She still went out early in the morning with her backpack as usual—only the books inside had been replaced with snacks.

Meng Yanxi was afraid of spiders. Worried there might be spiders on the mountain, she secretly tucked a bottle of insecticide into her bag as well.

Outside the residential compound, a black seven-seater nanny van was already waiting by the roadside. The driver got out to open the door for her. Lu Jingyue, Luo Heng, Si Tian, and Cao Bo were already seated inside. There were two seats in the second row—Meng Yanxi was sitting in the inner one. At the driver’s signal, Jin Zhao sat down beside Meng Yanxi.

Xishan was over two hours’ drive from the city. The group set off in high spirits.

Only then did Jin Zhao realize—AA was her idea, treating was Luo Heng’s idea, but the money was paid by Meng Yanxi alone.

The car was his. The driver was his. Breakfast was bought by him. He had even prepared water for everyone—one bottle each of goji berry and chrysanthemum tea.

When Jin Zhao saw the all-too-familiar drink bottle, her hand trembled, and the water almost dropped to the ground.

She had been fretting last night that with vacation starting, she wouldn’t be able to slip goji berry and chrysanthemum tea into his desk drawer anymore. She’d fallen asleep with her mind full of goji berry and chrysanthemum tea—only for the manifestation to come so fast. Early that morning, Meng Yanxi handed everyone a bottle of goji berry and chrysanthemum tea.

No, no—don’t do this. She felt guilty.