"Zhao Yi, where are you going?"

"Don’t leave!"

"Wait for me, let’s go together!"

Sun Liang stalked Zhao Yi all day, not even leaving him alone during breaks.

At noon and in the afternoon, Sun Liang was ’monitoring’ Zhao Yi while they were earning ’Sports Coins’ on the sports field, seemingly afraid that Zhao Yi would sneak off to find Gao Yuan in Class Six.

"I was just joking!"

Zhao Yi felt he had lost. His patience was worn down from explaining, all of which had led to no avail.

It wasn’t until night self-study did he feel some relief.

"Is this guy still into Gao Yuan?" Zhao Yi griped to Lin Xiaoqing, "He shadowed me the whole day, even following me to the bathroom. If he were a beautiful woman, it’d be a joy."

"Perhaps you’d prefer if it were Linlin?" Lin Xiaoqing winked, pointing to the side, her teasing accompanied by a playful grin.

From morning, she had been teasing Zhao Yi about Zhao Linlin.

Zhao Yi scowled, "I’d prefer if it were you."

"Hmph!"

Looking disdainful, Lin Xiaoqing rolled her eyes at Zhao Yi, "You even go to the bathroom, gross!"

"You sure do zero in on the keyword."

Zhao Yi rolled his eyes, then bowed his head in return to his Chemistry textbook.

In the back row.

Sun Liang saw Zhao Yi and Lin Xiaoqing whispering, his mind started wandering. Sun Liang was truly scared of Zhao Yi

He liked Gao Yuan.

Gao Yuan of Class Six was not tall, and slightly chubby, but her face was always brimming with sunshine.

He just loved those kinds of girls.

In Year One, he had wished to be placed in the same Arts or Science class. Unfortunately, considering students’ adaptability, students studying the same subjects would usually still be placed in similar classes.

He was still in Class Three.

Gao Yuan was still in Class Six. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

As time passed, he gradually let go of this, but he didn’t get the same feeling for other girls, nor had he the courage to profess his affection.

However...

He truly liked her!

If Zhao Yi let such vulgar words out, Gao Yuan’s impression of him would certainly be greatly affected.

This cannot happen!

Regardless of whether they could be together in the future, he had to leave the best impression of himself in her heart.

Zhao Yi noticed Sun Liang giving him odd looks, his persistent scrutiny made Zhao Yi feel strange. Having lost his patience, he stood up and walked over to stare at Sun Liang, "Monkey, if you keep doing this, tomorrow morning, I will be at the door of Class Six!"

"No, I won’t...haha..." Sun Liang sheepishly grinned.

"That was the last time!"

Having said this, Zhao Yi returned to his seat, closed his eyes, and opened the system.

He received a prompt—

[Academic Reputation Increased!]

[Research Coin +6.]

"That’s it?"

Zhao Yi checked several times, finding no other prompts, he started thinking deeply.

Could it be related to the broadcast of the program?

This time, the increase in academic reputation was surely related to the competition championship, but there was no explicit system notification, not even after winning the competition.

"Perhaps winning doesn’t qualify as a research achievement, but it has increased my fame? Academic reputation should be related to fame."

"Only a few people watched the live broadcast on the education channel, the basic cable channel should broadcast the trimmed version today..."

"More viewers equal increased academic reputation?"

Zhao Yi pondered.

The increase in Research Coins this time was quite substantial - six compared to the previous increase.

He currently didn’t need the Research Coins. Accumulating more could never hurt.

Zhao Yi couldn’t figure it out, so he simply lowered his head and continued reading.

Chemistry!

Biology!

Before the weekend’s Monthly Test, he needed to thoroughly revise chemistry and biology twice.

He also needed to go through all of the experiments twice.

This was the goal.

In the following days, besides reading, Zhao Yi was still reading, working hard to prepare for the upcoming Monthly Test.

This was the atmosphere of the third grade.

The previous elite-class split was very sudden, and everyone was unprepared and had to take the test directly.

This time it was different.

Students who hadn’t made the cut for the elite class were all eager to do so.

Students in Class B also hoped to be admitted to Class A.

Those ranked last in Class A also felt tremendous pressure. The feeling was quite different between being dropped into Class B and striving to get into it.

During the Tuesday session, the school presented several students who participated in the competition with certificates and awards, demonstrating to all teachers and students their emphasis on the competition. The real prizes had already been given to the students in person beforehand.

The other winners received a thousand yuan prize money and a desktop computer each.

The prize money was provided by the school.

The computer was taken from the computer lab. It wasn’t a used machine, but it had been used for over half a year.

Zhao Yi’s prize was different from the others.

He received a brand-new Netbook, with a market price of 6,300 yuan.

After a lot of thought, Principal Wang Chengmin decided to treat Zhao Yi differently because he alone had made it to the preliminaries and won the championship. After hearing from Teacher Wang Ping, who had led the team, that Zhao Yi wanted a Netbook, the principal decided to splurge and picked one out for him personally.

Zhao Yi was not entirely satisfied.

It wasn’t the school’s attitude he was unsatisfied with, but the quality of the Netbook.

Now, the Netbook wasn’t like the future’s PAD, but more of a downsized computer. It was really inconvenient to use, with its limited hard drive storage, memory capacity and outdated CPUs. Zhao Yi didn’t need its portability, as he couldn’t bring the computer to school anyway.

So, it was of no use at all.

Of course.

His discontent wouldn’t change the prize he got.

Zhao Yi still focused on his studies, hoping to do well in the upcoming monthly test. He particularly put an emphasis on studying chemistry and biology.

These two subjects had the most room for improvement.

It was Saturday morning.

And the day of the exam.

The students arrived at school early, and so did the teachers. Xue Pinggui was in charge of keeping an eye on Class Three’s self-study session. All the students were revising English, the subject of the impending exam, except for Zhao Yi, who was engrossed in a chemistry book.

"What are you reading?"

Zhao Yi looked up to find Xue Pinggui, holding the chemistry book and asking, "It’s this experiment..."

Xue Pinggui patiently explained until the lecture was over.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the class.

Just as Xue Pinggui was about to leave, he suddenly stopped, pulled Zhao Yi aside to the doorway of the classroom, and asked softly, "You mentioned last time at the park that I was going to meet my future spouse soon?"

"Ah, you remembered!"

Zhao Yi had almost forgotten about that incident.

Xue Pinggui nodded vigorously, "Zhao Yi, can you calculate more exactly for me who this spouse might be? Is it..."

"What?"

"Is it... don’t tell anyone else after I’ve told you!"

"Don’t worry, Teacher Xue!" Said Zhao Yi, looking utterly sincere.

Xue Pinggui looked at Zhao Yi closely for a while, hesitated for a long time before he said, "our...English teacher...Shen...ahem..."

Zhao Yi immediately shook his head.

"No?" Xue Pinggui was disappointed.

Zhao Yi hurriedly explained, "Teacher Xue, I actually can’t read fortunes! I just didn’t want you to get conned by those soothsayers..."

"Just tell me if it’s her!" Xue Pinggui didn’t buy it at all.

Zhao Yi shook his head, "I really can’t tell. But Teacher Xue, if you want to find out, just go ask her directly. It’s important for a man to be unafraid of failure."

"Besides, failure is totally fine. Look at Teacher Niu, she ended up divorced after years of marriage. So there’s nothing wrong with being single, it’s quite in trend now. Don’t constantly dwell on this..."

Zhao Yi went on comforting Xue Pinggui, babbling continuously.

Xue Pinggui just kept nodding.

Noticing that the time was almost up, Xue Pinggui hurriedly went to pick up the test papers from the office. When the comment ’teacher Niu is divorced’ hit him again, he stopped dead in his tracks and shivered.

"Could it be possible that Zhao Yi saw my interest in Niu Lianhua?"

"Your spouse is just by your side..."

"Niu Lianhua is divorced now, and so I’m single too. We’re practically the same age. So..."

Cold sweat poured down Xue Pinggui’s body.

Just then, Niu Lianhua came by, slapped Xue Pinggui on the shoulder, and yelled, "Teacher Xue, why are you standing there all dazed? Hurry and get the papers, it’s time for the exam!"

"Oh, oh!"

Startled, Xue Pinggui lurched forward, briskly entered and took the papers from the table. He then exited like someone avoiding the plague.

Behind him.

Niu Lianhua straightened her hair, took off her glasses to wipe them, then looked up at Shen Yan and joked, "Teacher Xue still hasn’t given up on you. Just because I’m single, he even avoids me, afraid you’d misunderstand."

Shen Yan was used to being teased by the other teachers.

She just chuckled, "Teacher Niu, maybe you got it wrong. What if he doesn’t have feelings for me, but for you?"

"For me, what?"

Shen Yan just smiled without answering, picked up the papers, and left the room.

Teacher Niu took a deep breath and pondered, "For me? What about me? I’m a divorced woman..."

When she suddenly remembered what had been said at the fortune-telling session, her eyes widened in shock, "Could it really be true?"