In the end, Ah Ze traded three drinks to escape being drowned.

Of course, even if he wasn’t drowned, Ah Ze couldn’t escape a round of Aruba.

He was made to face the classroom door and repent!

After the second period in the afternoon, the first and second-years were dismissed for the holiday.

The joyous commotion made the third-years’ faces twist with jealousy.

"Settle down, settle down. Weren’t you all the same way before?"

Old Zhou said as he handed out math tests, "Don’t worry, your time will come soon enough."

"Old Zhou, my grandpa carved that same line on his ashtray sixty years ago."

Old Zhou glanced at Ah Jie. "Don’t worry, it’s for real this time. The school is planning to give you an extra half-day off."

"The hell?"

"Half a day? Are you trying to get rid of a beggar? If the branch campus next door saw this, they’d think we couldn’t afford a real break!"

"But we really can’t afford it."

"Don’t say it, don’t say it! I’m transferring to the branch campus!"

Old Zhou looked at the chaotic scene and gestured for them to quiet down. "Alright, let’s take the test first."

"What are these moronic questions? I could do them with my eyes closed! The hell I’m gonna do this!"

The words were barely out of Ah Jie’s mouth when he heard Old Zhou call his name.

"Alright, Zhou Shaojie. Come up to the podium and do it."

Most people would have backed down if the homeroom teacher called them out like that.

But Ah Jie wasn’t most people, and he was great at math.

SWISH!

Zhou Shaojie grabbed his test and a piece of scratch paper and strode toward the podium.

"Old Zhou, make some room."

Old Zhou chuckled and stood up. "Go on, you can proctor today."

"OK. I guarantee everyone gets a perfect score."

The class erupted in laughter.

SMACK!

Old Zhou slapped Zhou Shaojie on the shoulder.

"Just do your test. The sooner you finish, the sooner class is over."

"You got it!"

Ah Jie waved his hand dramatically. "Papers in! Class dismissed!"

SMACK!

Ah Jie began to proctor the exam in earnest.

Halfway through the exam, Shen Yuan suddenly noticed that his task timer was ticking up!

’What the hell?’

’Does this count, too?’

’Of course. Things like civil service exam prep classes must also count as in-class problem-solving sessions.’

’Sweet. Two free hours just like that.’

’Nice.’

At that thought, Shen Yuan tackled the math problems with renewed vigor.

It was just...

But for all his renewed vigor, the problems he couldn’t solve were still unsolvable.

The problems all looked similar, even the solid geometry diagrams were nearly identical.

But he just couldn’t figure out where to draw the auxiliary lines.

It was excruciating.

As soon as the bell rang for the end of fourth period, Zhou Shaojie’s resonant voice rang out from the podium.

"Pens down! I’m collecting the tests!"

Seeing some people were still writing, Zhou Shaojie immediately lectured, "You can get away with writing now, but can you do that during the college entrance exams? With that kind of time, you’d be better off doing a couple more practice tests after class."

"Damn, does he really think he’s Old Zhou now?"

"Secret love child! The case is solved! Ah Jie is Old Zhou’s secret love child!"

"Love child my ass! I’m your father!"

After a "friendly" exchange, Class 15 was finally dismissed.

The rain, which had been falling for two straight days, had finally stopped.

Although the rain had stopped, the sun hadn’t come out yet, and the sky remained overcast.

Shen Yuan looked at the sky, worried it might rain again, so he decided not to leave campus.

’The cafeteria it is. Their rice bowls are pretty good.’

’After eating, I can go to the campus store and buy a bottle of iced... oh, wait, no. Assam.’

It was currently the Holy Grail War, and as a member of the Assam Faction, Shen Yuan couldn’t touch any drink other than Assam.

’And what about milk tea, you ask?’

’Isn’t Assam a milk tea?’

’So there.’

...

After dinner, Shen Yuan returned to the classroom to continue working on the math test.

Even though he had just been tortured by the math test that afternoon, Shen Yuan’s math skills were, as ever, unchanged.

The problems he couldn’t solve remained unsolvable.

He still had no confidence in his ability to solve them.

When Li Zhi returned, she saw Shen Yuan studying.

The beautiful girl raised an eyebrow, her eyes twinkling with amusement.

"Not bad, quite focused. Is there anything you’re stuck on?"

Shen Yuan looked up at Li Zhi and slid the test paper over. "This problem."

Li Zhi’s brow furrowed as she looked at the problem, her good mood instantly vanishing. "Didn’t I already go over this with you?"

Shen Yuan blinked rapidly, a knot of nervousness tightening in his chest.

The beautiful girl took a deep breath. "Forget it."

As the two of them were going over the problem, someone suddenly shouted, "Whoa! Look how beautiful!"

Hearing this, Shen Yuan and Li Zhi both looked up toward the window.

The overcast clouds had vanished, and a golden light suffused the entire sky.

It was a breathtaking sight.

The childhood friends gazed at the horizon together, momentarily forgetting about the math problem before them.

In an instant, a crowd had formed by the window, everyone chattering and sighing in admiration.

"Hey, don’t push! You’re gonna kill someone!" Ah Jie’s shout was jarring amidst the crowd, but it was quickly swallowed by the surrounding noise.

"Get out of the way, don’t block my shot!" Zhuo Peipei’s voice rang out as she held her phone high, trying to capture the beautiful moment.

Across campus, the third-year students all stopped writing and looked up at the sky, which the setting sun had painted gold.

In that moment, the sunset seemed to melt away the shackles of their studies, granting everyone a brief moment of freedom.

"Come on, we can’t see anything with everyone blocking the view. I know a place." Shen Yuan suddenly stood up, took Li Zhi by the hand, and led her out of the classroom.

Li Zhi didn’t resist at all, letting Shen Yuan lead her away.

Back in the classroom, He Zhiyu could only stare as Shen Yuan and Li Zhi left hand in hand. Her eyes were wide as saucers, her face a mask of disbelief.

’Wait, are they moving that fast?’

A second later, He Zhiyu snapped back to her senses. She shot up from her seat and bolted for the classroom door like an arrow loosed from a bow.

In the hallway of the academic building, the boy and girl walked hand in hand, bathed in the sunset’s afterglow. Their shadows stretched long behind them, as if time itself had frozen in that moment.

He Zhiyu stood at the classroom door, watching their two figures grow smaller in the distance. She felt as if something had just delivered a heavy blow to her heart.

In that instant, she felt the very air around her had turned sweet, as if the sugar levels were off the charts.

Shen Yuan led Li Zhi to the rooftop.

The wide-open rooftop was the perfect place to watch the sunset.

"This is amazing."

Shen Yuan gazed at the sunset, a brilliant smile on his face.

Li Zhi responded softly, "How long are you planning on holding my hand?"

Only then did Shen Yuan realize he was still holding Li Zhi’s hand.

He gave her soft, warm hand a gentle squeeze before reluctantly letting go.

"Sorry, I got carried away."

"Hmph! I think you did it on purpose!"

Shen Yuan scratched his head.

’On purpose? He honestly hadn’t even thought about it.’

"But, thank you anyway."

Li Zhi took a couple of steps toward the edge of the roof. "Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to see a view like this."

The young woman turned around, her figure bathed in the light of the setting sun. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

For a moment, Shen Yuan was completely captivated.

’He felt like Li Zhi was trying to bait him. The move seemed too deliberate. Knowing her, it wasn’t something she would normally do.’

’But it seemed he was hooked anyway.’