This humble Taoist priest wants to take the college entrance exam.

Chapter 73 I thought the class monitor was angry with me.

Unlike the old neighborhood where Chen Shi'an now lives, Lin Mengqiu now lives in a high-end neighborhood.

The route is also very easy to follow. After exiting the school gate, walk straight to the left for about fifteen minutes, turn into the intersection, and walk for two or three minutes to reach your destination.

The time was about the same as when Chen Shi'an returned to his rented apartment, but they were on opposite sides of the school. It would take about half an hour to walk from the rented apartment to Lin Mengqiu's house.

As the sun set and the hustle and bustle of the school gate faded away, Chen Shi'an felt that the surroundings were much quieter, even though he was still on a busy street.

The main issue was that Lin Mengqiu didn't speak.

From the moment he caught up with her until now, the girl has remained silent, walking quietly.

However, Chen Shi'an could tell that after separating from Wen Zhixia, Lin Mengqiu's sharp and assertive aura had also subsided considerably.

Heaven knows why these two girls, who usually get along so well when they're apart, are so tense and hostile the moment they meet.

Chen Shi'an was certain it wasn't his fault, but he couldn't prevent the two girls from turning their anger on him.

The relationship between Wen Zhixia and Lin Mengqiu is subtle and complex. Calling them enemies is too much to say, but calling them friends is also too little. It is a rare kind of extremely pure competitive relationship.

Fortunately, Chen Shi'an is not the type to cause internal strife, nor is he the type to insist on introducing friends to each other and making them good friends as well. After all, friendships are built up gradually through mutual understanding and compromise. People who are compatible as friends will eventually become friends, and those who are not compatible will drift apart even if the atmosphere is maintained forcibly. The most important thing is that everyone's values ​​align.

Seeing Lin Mengqiu's tense expression, the carefree young Taoist priest asked directly:

"Squad leader, you just said you wanted to buy drinks, where are we going to buy them?"

Did I say that?

"correct."

"Aren't you coughing badly? Why are you drinking beverages?"

"Is the class monitor angry?"

"..."

Visibly, as soon as Chen Shi'an asked that question, Lin Mengqiu's tense expression began to dissipate rapidly. She quickly concealed her emotions and put on her ever-present, unfathomable, and aloof expression again.

"Ok?"

"...Why would I be angry?"

Lin Mengqiu was taken aback when she said those words.

yes……

Why was I sulking just now...?

Is this the kind of temper that makes people feel warm and aware of summer? It can't be that bad... hasn't it always been like this?
Are you angry with Chen Shi'an? Hmm... he didn't seem to have done anything wrong;
What was I angry about just now?

Lin Mengqiu became more and more confused, but she could clearly feel that sour and angry emotions just now. She couldn't even explain why, she just felt so sour and angry! She was clearly angry, but she didn't know what she was angry about or how to vent her anger!

If Chen Shi'an hadn't asked that question, Lin Mengqiu had no doubt that she would have been inexplicably angry all night.

Now that reason has regained its hold, she can't even figure out what she was just sulking about...

"I thought the class monitor was angry with me."

"...Don't be too self-righteous."

Lin Mengqiu didn't want to talk to him.

She seemed to be pondering some mathematical problem, meticulously analyzing her recent emotions...

Having competed with Wen Zhixia academically for so long, at most I was just unwilling to admit defeat or feel inferior, but nothing like what I felt just now, inexplicably feeling sour, angry, and frustrated...

The girl who had just been radiating coldness suddenly became blank and confused, unable to understand the question.

As Chen Shi'an watched her walk with her head down, her head looking like a question mark, he felt that she looked a bit like a lost little sparrow.

"Monitor."

"..."

"Did you live in that old house over there before?"

Which old house?

"...Do you own multiple properties?"

"Seven sets."

"Where I live now."

Lin Mengqiu thought for a moment and realized which apartment Chen Shi'an was referring to.

The main problem is that we have too many houses. Apart from the one where my dad and I currently live, the others are all rented out.

She rarely paid attention to these things, but she did know that her father had rented the old house to Chen Shi'an on the right side of the school.

“I’ve never lived there. My dad lived there for a few years, but he stopped living there after he got married.”

"So you've been living in your current house all along?"

"Ah."

As the two chatted casually, the residential area came into view.

This is considered an old neighborhood. If Lin Mengqiu has lived here since birth, the buildings are at least seventeen or eighteen years old.

However, since it was positioned as a high-end community from the beginning, and the property management and maintenance are quite good, the buildings do not look old from the outside. Moreover, the surrounding facilities are complete, and the landscaping of the community is also very well done.

Unlike Chen Shi'an, who looked around when he first arrived, Lin Mengqiu was already very familiar with this home where she had lived for more than ten years.

She walked straight up the steps to the entrance of the residential area.

The access control uses facial recognition. She stood in front of the facial recognition camera, and the "turnspinning once per person" opened. She went in first.

Chen Shi'an followed behind her, and as he was about to leave, the rotating turnstile clicked shut, preventing him from entering.

"what?"

Chen Shi'an took a step back and looked at the camera like Lin Mengqiu had done, but still couldn't get in.

Lin Mengqiu was amused by his naive and unsophisticated manner, but she suppressed her laughter and didn't say a word or help. Just leaving him hanging for a while made her feel inexplicably relieved!

"Strange, class monitor, how do we get in through this gate? It's different from the one in my neighborhood."

"You didn't even record your face."

"Then how?"

"..."

Lin Mengqiu didn't say anything, but pressed a certain access switch inside, and the pedestrian gate on the far left of the rotating turnstile opened.

"Go in from there."

"?"

Why didn't you open it earlier! Are you settling a personal score for someone else? And you say you weren't angry just now!
Chen Shi'an then walked in through the opened gate. When he saw the switch button next to the girl, he chuckled, "So you can just open the door from the inside, huh? Hehehe..."

Ha! I'm deducting one point from your score!
Lin Mengqiu ignored him and turned to continue walking. The residential area was quite large, and the greenery, which had been there for over ten or twenty years, was now lush and verdant. When Chen Shi'an and Lin Mengqiu, who were wearing the same school uniform, walked through it, it felt like they were in a small park.

Before long, the two entered Building No. 3.

The elevator lobby was tall and spacious. Lin Mengqiu casually pressed the elevator up button and waited for one of the three elevators to come down.

Chen Shi'an had never ridden an elevator before and asked curiously, "How do you use it?"

"Press 'up' to go up, press 'down' to go down."

"Oh--"

How many floors does this building have?

"Floor 33."

"Squad leader, which floor do you live on?"

"The seventeenth floor."

"That's good, it's just the middle floor."

Soon, the elevator doors opened, and Lin Mengqiu went in first, followed closely by Chen Shi'an, along with several other residents.

Upon seeing the cluster of number buttons next to the elevator door, Chen Shi'an, even though he had never ridden in one before, guessed what they were. Just as Lin Mengqiu's hand reached into the air, he reached out and pressed the button for the seventeenth floor.

The girl quietly withdrew her hand and, like the other residents who were riding the same elevator, faced the elevator door.

Chen Shi'an stood in front of her, and all she could see was his tall and straight back.

The elevator door is closed.

In fact, the elevator was not small, but for Chen Shi'an, who was used to being in contact with nature, the air still felt a bit stuffy when seven people were squeezed into this enclosed space.

Most people feel a little uncomfortable when they are in a small space with strangers. They usually play on their phones or do something else to make it less awkward.

Even Lin Mengqiu took out her phone.

Chen Shi'an did nothing but stand there, his arms hanging down in front of him, standing as straight as a pine tree.

At most, I'll glance at the floor number displayed on the screen, or look through the gaps in the crowd at the advertisements posted in the elevator.

Lin Mengqiu was truly impressed by him.

Just how strong is his mentality? She had no doubt that if Chen Shi'an hadn't just turned around to press the floor button, he wouldn't have even turned around before entering the elevator, standing face-to-face with a stranger...

There was a ding.

We've reached the seventeenth floor.

As soon as the door opened, Chen Shi'an stepped out first and waited for Lin Mengqiu to lead the way.

"right."

Lin Mengqiu exited the elevator and turned right, with Chen Shi'an following behind.

The girl stopped in front of the gate with the number [1701].

Without taking the key out of her pocket, she simply reached out and grasped the doorknob, pressing her thumb on the sensor. With a beep, she gently pulled open the heavy door that served both security and aesthetics.

"Squad leader, you don't even need a key to open the door?"

"...Now they're all smart locks, with both facial recognition and fingerprint recognition."

"Great, it's very convenient."

Chen Shi'an stood at the door, rubbing the soles of his shoes clean on the doormat before following Lin Mengqiu into the entrance hall.

Lin Mengqiu bent down, took out a pair of slippers from the shoe cabinet, and placed them in front of him.

It looks a bit small.

She then found the largest pair of slippers.

New, unopened.

The girl used her small, fair hands to tear open the transparent packaging and took out the new shoes, placing them in front of him.

Do I need to change my shoes too?

"Whatever you want. If you feel comfortable wearing slippers, then change them. It doesn't matter if the floor gets dirty, there's a robot to clean it anyway."

"You have robots at home?"

"...just the kind of sweeping."

Seeing Lin Mengqiu sit down on the small stool to change into slippers, Chen Shi'an also bent down and put on his slippers.

Lin Mengqiu's slippers looked very soft, with a single sky-blue color. They looked like they had been worn for quite some time, as the heels of the slippers were slightly concave.

The girl took off her white shoes and pulled off her white socks. Whether it was because the sock cuffs were too tight or because her skin was too delicate, when the white socks were taken off, you could see the printed marks around her ankles caused by the elasticity of the socks.

Lin Mengqiu is not short, but her feet are particularly small. The process of taking off her socks is like peeling an eggshell. After the socks are taken off, a pair of fair and tender little feet are revealed.

It seems that the class monitor washes his feet and changes his socks very frequently. With Chen Shi'an's keen sense of smell, he didn't detect any unpleasant odors during the process of taking off his socks.

He didn't deliberately smell it; it was just normal breathing.

Lin Mengqiu, however, noticed that he had taken off his shoes and socks, glanced at him, and then secretly twitched her little nose...

Fortunately, Chen Shi'an didn't smell bad, otherwise Lin Mengqiu would definitely have deducted ten points from him, as she hates sloppy boys the most.

"Where should I put my backpack?" Chen Shi'an asked after changing his shoes.

"what ever."

Seeing that Lin Mengqiu didn't care about these details, Chen Shi'an didn't stand on ceremony with her and casually put his backpack down on top of hers.

Oh right, I almost forgot to bring something for Uncle Lin...

When visiting someone's home, it's customary to bring a small gift.

Last time, I did give Uncle Lin a can of Xueya tea, but that was then. It's never wrong to give more gifts, so this time Chen Shi'an plans to give Uncle Lin a tube of handmade incense he made himself.

Burning incense and sipping tea is an elegant pursuit, and I imagine Uncle Lin would enjoy it.

As Chen Shi'an unzipped his backpack to get something, Lin Mengqiu had already walked into the noisy kitchen in her slippers.

"dad."

"Oh, you're back? Is Shi'an here?"

"..."

Shian, Shian, you have such a big daughter in front of you, and all you care about is Shian!

Twenty points will be deducted from your score!

(End of this chapter)