"I won't catch a cold either, sweetie, take off your clothes and give them to me." Gu Chen, shirtless, held up a hoodie. "If you don't give them to me, I won't wear any clothes either."
"..." They gave in.
Xiang Yu lay head to head with Gu Chen on the upper bunk. There were some things she couldn't figure out, and she always needed to ask the system.
-Xiangyu: Only constellations bound to the system have this tattoo, right?
-System: Yes.
Xiang Yu has a white tiger tattoo on his body. Although Wang Zehao just mentioned it casually, he was very sensitive to this topic and felt it was necessary to ask about it.
-Xiangyu: Is it possible that other constellations are around me?
-System: Possibly.
The system answered the questions in a rigid and targeted manner, without saying a single extra word, like a robot.
-Xiangyu: ...You seem to be avoiding this topic.
-System: Information between the constellations is kept confidential. Although I know detailed information about each of you, unfortunately, I must take confidentiality measures without the permission of both parties.
-System: Sorry, White Tiger, after all, there have been serious incidents in the past due to improper confidentiality among the four constellations.
-Xiangyu: It's okay.
It must be admitted that Xiang Yu is the most obedient of the constellations bound to the system this generation. Whether it is something called emotion or something else, the system suddenly couldn't bear to suppress the other party's question so simply.
-System: But I can contact other constellations and ask if you need to have a friendly gathering.
-Xiangyu: No need, I was just asking casually.
Xiang Yu's original intention was not to hold any kind of gathering; he was simply curious about the other constellations.
But when he said that, the system was no longer on his side.
All of this conversation took place in Xiangyu's mind; to outsiders, the other person appeared to be simply sleeping peacefully.
That was about it; his eyes were tightly closed, and he was about to enter a deep sleep. Just as he was about to fall asleep, his mind stirred again.
System: The Vermilion Bird constellation has agreed.
System: Xuanwu Constellation has agreed.
-System: Azure Dragon Constellation has declined.
-System: The Vermilion Bird constellation launches a questioning offensive against the Azure Dragon constellation.
The system's automatic notification sound stopped abruptly at this point.
Just when Xiang Yu thought it was over, another system notification appeared in his mind.
System: Azure Dragon Constellation has agreed.
-System: Does Baihu Xingxiu agree to provide the current city?
This was the first time Xiangyu had ever seen the system use other functions.
-Xiangyu: Agreed.
-System: Randomly select one of the four constellations' cities as the gathering city, and select the central area of the gathering city as the gathering place.
System: Gathering City: City X. City Center: Shengdu.
-System: Please select a gathering time for the White Tiger constellation.
-Xiangyu: Weekday evenings, weekends.
-System: The final time is set for Friday evening three weeks from now.
System: Please confirm the White Tiger constellation.
For the next week and a half, the entire school was preparing for the exam.
The atmosphere at this moment is comparable to that of the college entrance examination.
Xiang Yu didn't think much of it, and every night after finishing his studies, he continued knitting his trapezoidal scarf.
It seems that it is no longer trapezoidal, but has become an unidentified object that is wide in the middle and narrow on both sides.
Well, that's fine then.
Xiang Yu's patience had run out. After successfully finishing up, he held the nearly two-meter-long scarf and wrapped it around his neck several times. The scarf was very soft and covered with fine cashmere.
"Great," Xiang Yu said contentedly, putting the scarf into the gift box that came with the yarn purchase.
The midterm exams at No. 1 High School arrived as scheduled, following the usual exam arrangements, only this time they seemed to be more rigorous.
Xiang Yu sat in the first seat of the first examination room for liberal arts students, staring at the table and mentally going over the ancient poems and prose again and again.
"Classmate," Gu Chen called softly from behind.
Gu Chen ranked third in the grade in the monthly exam, and was seated one seat behind him.
Seeing Xiang Yu turn around, Gu Chen gave him a bright smile: "Good luck on your exam!"
Xiang Yu said, "You are too."
The second-place student in the grade, caught in the middle: "......"
When the exam bell rang, I started writing furiously. Last time, I took the exam in the last exam room. I have to say that there is a big difference between the first and last exam rooms. After two days and six exams, the only sounds in the exam room were the sound of pens falling like silkworms eating leaves, and the footsteps of the invigilators.
The last exam was geography. After the exam, I had to go back to the classroom and rearrange the seats that had been messed up.
As the class monitor, Gu Chen quickly arranged most of the papers and then went to the office to find the dean. The students of Class 2 of the Arts Department sat quietly in the classroom. The multiple-choice questions in the Arts Department accounted for nearly half of the score, and many students couldn't wait for the answers and started comparing their test papers with each other.
"Holy crap, I can't take it anymore." The sounds of the girls at Zhang's desk checking their answers kept drilling into Zhang Boyuan's ears.
The options that he should have forgotten suddenly became clear in his mind, and then he realized that he seemed to have made five consecutive wrong choices in history.
Oh shit.
"That area is no place for humans, I'm coming over." Zhang Boyuan slipped over to Wang Zehao's side, plopped down on Wang Zehao's desk, and saw Wang Zehao scrolling through his phone. He sighed, "Rat, you're so comfortable here, no need to check the answers."
"Heh." Wang Zehao grinned and scoffed at him, then pointed to the side and asked, "Do you know what this is?"
"Huh?" Zhang Boyuan shook his head and peeked at the test paper on Yang Shuhuan's desk, seeing the name of the class's top student written at the beginning.
Wang Zehao said, "This is my dad's standard answer."
After saying that, he pointed to himself and asked, "Do you know what this is?"
Zhang Boyuan shook his head again.
Wang Zehao said, "This is my father's last disciple."
Zhang Boyuan: "......" We agreed to be academic underachievers together, but you secretly hooked up with the academic superstar.
Goodbye!
"Oh no, I'm done for." Yang Shuhuan handed the test paper back to Xiang Yu with a look of utter despair after checking the geography answers. "I'm never checking answers with you big shots again. Where did you find these midterm questions? They're insane."
"Right?" Wang Zehao chuckled leisurely, holding his phone. "See, I'm keeping quiet because I don't want to see it."
Yang Shuhuan glanced at him and mercilessly exposed him: "Is that what you call a pure heart? Your heart is completely filled with hot pot, karaoke, and barbecue, and there's no room for exam papers at all. Don't believe me? Wait until Brother Chen's birthday party tonight and then you'll see."
"Damn it, you're annoying!" Wang Zehao seemed to have already anticipated what would happen tomorrow. His face fell, and he punched him.
The classroom was noisy with students discussing answers, but as soon as the dean entered, they all fell silent instantly.
The dean smiled and looked at the now-well-behaved students below, asking, "How did you feel about the exam?"
The crowd below chorused, "It's too difficult—"
"The exam questions were taken from a mock exam paper from a provincial key school, and they were indeed a bit beyond the syllabus for you." The dean comforted them, "This time, the marking team has decided to relax the marking requirements and try to get better results for you."
"Could you grade two more multiple-choice questions for me?" Zhang Boyuan shouted from below, causing the whole class to burst into laughter.
The dean chuckled a few times, "That probably won't work; we need to be realistic." He continued, "The grade-level department has already sent out the notices for this parent-teacher meeting. I won't say the specific time, but the class monitors are currently in the office editing text messages to send to your parents one by one."
"Ah—" Another groan of pain erupted from below, and complaints filled the air.
"That's too fast! The exams just finished and they're already sending out parent-teacher conference notices!"
"I looked at my math test paper and ran away from home overnight."
"Shut up on the math test! This time the questions were so difficult. I got stuck on the first big question and only got half of it done."
"Why are you still talking about the problem when I told you to shut up!"
"Ahem." All the complaints vanished with the dean's cough. The dean cleared his throat and said, "Don't be upset, everyone. I have something good to tell you. Director Tang didn't want to announce this in advance, but I'm giving you a heads-up."
The dean said, "You all know about the special cultural festival next month, right?"
"I know!" Tang Yue, the class's arts and culture representative, was familiar with the cultural festival and spoke up first. "But every time they say they're afraid of delaying the teaching schedule and forcibly cancel it, don't they?"
“Hey, you can’t say that. It’s not every time.” The dean defended the school, saying, “Only your first year of high school was canceled for some reason. In fact, the previous years have all done a good job. This time, the school plans to make the cultural festival a big success.”
The moment the phrase "doing a great job" was uttered, Class 2 of Literature was abuzz with excitement.
They were talking about singing here, dancing there, and Zhang's deskmate, not forgetting his old profession, shouted out for a play at the top of his lungs.
This was just a brief interlude. The dean hadn't finished speaking, so he clapped his hands and waited for the room to quiet down before saying, "Let's talk about the parent-teacher conference again. Last semester, the grade level held a regular meeting about it. I want to emphasize this again: if parents can come, we shouldn't hire someone to come. It's unnecessary. Wouldn't it be better to spend that money on a KFC meal?"
"Ha ha ha ha!"
There were still some students in the class who were in the same class as Wang Zehao and his classmates before the class division. Now that they knew the details of what happened, they laughed loudly.
Upon hearing this, Yang Shuhuan couldn't help but laugh out loud again, while Xiang Yu pursed his lips and couldn't help but smile as well.
Wang Zehao, the person involved, felt very sad, because these people's happiness was built on his suffering.
"And then there's the class I teach." The dean glanced leisurely at the seats below. "I understand that parents are too busy to come, and it's also fine if their older siblings can come to help. But in principle, we don't allow twins to attend parent-teacher meetings for each other. I won't name names here."
"Hahahaha!" The whole class burst into laughter. There was only one pair of twins in the class, and everyone knew who they were talking about.
Hearing the laughter, Xu Youluo chuckled to herself and exclaimed, "Dean, why don't you just read out my ID number!"
After giving his instructions, the dean returned to his office. No sooner had the dean left than school was dismissed, leaving only a few boys in the classroom waiting for Gu Chen, who had not yet returned from his office.
These are all people celebrating Gu Chen's birthday tonight.
Everyone's backpacks were stuffed with gifts to varying degrees, and Wang Zehao looked left and right and found that Zhang Zitong's bag was the most bulging.
"Boss Tong, what did you stuff in here?" Wang Zehao touched the bulging outline of the backpack and exclaimed, "Holy crap! A shoebox? You didn't bring your treasured sneakers from home as a gift, did you?"
Zhang Zitong is a typical sports enthusiast, with a huge collection of balls, jerseys, and sneakers. Hearing Wang Zehao say this, he simply opened his bag to show them.
"Here, the latest running shoes, the color scheme just happens to be Chen-ge's favorite blue." Taking the size 43 shoebox out was easy, but putting it back in was difficult. Zhang Zitong gave up after trying for a while, holding the shoebox and looking at the others, asking, "What did you guys give me?"