I'm a senior in high school, and the system says I'm going on a blind date with my childho

Chapter 260 Let’s learn
At 10:00 sharp, the school bell shattered the silence of the corridor.

Chinese teacher Zhou Ruolan walked into the classroom with a test paper in her hand.

"Long time no see. Let's begin class. Take out your winter break homework."

As soon as he finished speaking, a rustling sound of rummaging filled the classroom.

Li Zhi moved swiftly, reaching into the side of his schoolbag to pull out all the neatly folded winter vacation test papers. After finding the Chinese test paper, he stuffed the rest of the test papers back into his bag.

Shen Yuan, standing next to him, lowered his head and unzipped his backpack, awkwardly rummaging through the pile of books for test papers.

In an instant, the rustling sound of turning pages filled the air, replacing the slight noise of the break between classes, and seemingly officially ushering in the first lesson of the new semester.

Although the winter break had lasted ten days, Shen Yuan found that he didn't feel any discomfort after resuming classes.

Perhaps because of its effect on concentration, this thing is simply a powerful tool for learning.

Once you've listened attentively to the lesson for a while, whatever you're thinking about, just focus your mind on studying!
But actually, the side effects are quite significant.

For example, Shen Yuan struggles for a while every morning when he wakes up, and when Li Zhi helps him, he sometimes gets too focused.

The effect of being overly focused is that time seems to fly by.

The echo of the school bell still lingered in the corridor, and the air in the classroom seemed to freeze for a moment before being abruptly stirred by the sounds of chairs being dragged and books being closed, as if a knot that had been stuck for half a day had been untied.

He Zhiyu was the first to stand up, stretching dramatically, revealing her youthful vitality.

"Finally—it's over! I'm starving! Time to the cafeteria!"

She turned around, her eyes darting over Li Zhi and Shen Yuan, especially when Shen Yuan naturally took the meal card from Li Zhi, and the corners of his mouth curved into that familiar, slightly "smitten" smile.

Ah Jie listlessly sidled up to Yang Ze: "Come on, come on, let's eat! I feel like my brain has been completely drained by all the knowledge... I've already finished my breakfast!"

Chen Mingyu chuckled: "I didn't expect you to have this kind of quirk."

"Go to hell! Ai Muyu, get that garbage out of your head!"

Listening to the conversation between the three, Shen Yuan shook his head helplessly. He then reached out to squeeze Li Zhi's hand, but she deftly dodged him.

"Thran! I don't want you to touch me!"

Li Zhi muttered to herself, her cheeks slightly flushed, perhaps because she remembered the promise she had made earlier that made her blush and her heart race: "I'll help you one more time."

"Hey, why are you shy now?"

She quickly and efficiently organized her pens and stuffed them into her pencil case.

"Let's go, I'm hungry."

"Speak," Li Zhi said, standing up and looking at Shen Yuan.

Shen Yuan smiled and stood up: "Okay, let's go eat."

Before he finished speaking, Shen Yuan had already extended his hand in front of Li Zhi, his meaning quite clear.

Li Zhi's gaze fell on the boy's outstretched palm, and the familiar lines made her fingertips curl up almost imperceptibly.

The whistling sound of the cold wind sweeping through the corridor outside the window faded away in an instant.

The burning smile in Shen Yuan's eyes was clearly reflected in hers, like a small patch of warm light cast by the morning glow in winter.

The girl paused for less than half a second before gently placing her hand on it.

When her fingertips touched his warm skin, a sweet smile spread across Li Zhi's face.

As Shen Yuan looked at Li Zhi's smile, his fingertips unconsciously tightened slightly, firmly grasping the warmth and presence the girl offered between his fingers.

Zhuo Peipei had already packed her things, adjusted her glasses, and beckoned He Zhiyu to come along.

The young author immediately pressed close to her with great interest, whispering as they walked, "Peipei, what do you think of that scene in the next chapter of 'The Inmate's Stealing'...?"

The two quickly became immersed in the world of the sweet romance novel.

"Here's your 'Insider' story! The mock exam is almost here, and you're still thinking about writing sweet romance novels!"

Shen Yuan rolled her eyes at He Zhiyu: "You can't even beat me in the exam."

Upon hearing Shen Yuan's words, He Zhiyu gave him a heavy snort.

"Mind your own business! Even if I can't beat you, I still get 660 points! Humph! Besides, you have Zhizhi to cuddle with, so why can't I relieve stress with sweet stories?"

The young author visibly became arrogant.

Shen Yuan raised an eyebrow, lowered his voice, and slowly drawled out, "Tsk, quite arrogant... If you keep being so domineering—"

He paused deliberately for a second, a mischievous smile playing on his lips: "Believe it or not, I won't give you a single 'candy' for the next ten days?"

Before he could finish speaking, He Zhiyu, who had been holding his head high and acting arrogantly, suddenly slammed on the brakes!
"No!!!" The girl's eyes widened, her voice rising several decibels in her urgent panic.

"I was wrong! I was wrong, okay?! I... I won't say anything more!"

She clasped her hands together in front of her chest, her voice so earnest it was almost as if she were swearing to the heavens: "Please, please don't run out of food!"

Seeing her best friend's transformation from arrogant to pitiful in an instant, Li Zhi rolled her eyes helplessly.

She lightly kicked the side of Shen Yuan's shoe, raised her chin slightly, and said reproachfully, "You just know how to tease her."

Li Zhi glanced at He Zhiyu, who was on the verge of tears, and said in a comforting tone, "It's okay, Zhiyu, don't listen to this idiot's nonsense."

Upon hearing Li Zhi's words, He Zhiyu felt as if he had received a get-out-of-jail-free card, and immediately straightened his back a bit.

Her previously furrowed brow instantly relaxed, her big eyes regained their light, and she couldn't suppress her smugness any longer, raising her chin in Shen Yuan's direction.

"That's right, that's right!" He Zhiyu's voice was filled with the smugness of surviving a disaster, and it was even half a tone higher than before.

"Since Zhizhi has spoken, I'm not afraid of you, Shen Yuan! Hmph! You want to cut off my food supply? No way! Our Zhizhi is the best!"

As she spoke, she tightened her grip on Li Zhi's arm with a hint of smugness, as if Li Zhi's statement had given her immense confidence.

The young author's eyes sparkled, and his "I have a powerful backer, who am I afraid of?" expression was vividly portrayed.

However, before she could finish her boastful declaration with the final "good," Shen Yuan's gaze had already locked onto her precisely.

Shen Yuan didn't say anything, and his expression didn't even change much.

There was neither the mischievousness he displayed when he threatened her, nor the resentment he felt after being kicked by Li Zhi.

He simply tilted his head slightly, his eyes fixed on He Zhiyu.

Time seemed to freeze for half a second.

The smile that had just appeared on He Zhiyu's face vanished in an instant.

She recoiled as if burned, her neck shrinking back, her little head instinctively hiding behind Li Zhi.

The hand that had been holding Li Zhi's arm tightened unconsciously, as if trying to draw some strength from Li Zhi to shield and protect her completely.

Li Zhi felt the sudden tightening force on his arm, and seeing He Zhiyu's sudden change in demeanor from "cowardly as a quail," a helpless yet amused expression appeared on his lips.

The cold air outside the teaching building was invigorating.

The road to the school was bustling with people. Students walked briskly alone or in twos and threes, most of them with a relaxed look after class and a longing for food on their faces.

But the pace was hurried, after all, the rhythm of senior year of high school could not be delayed.

Shen Yuan naturally stood to Li Zhi's side, using his body to shield her from the cold wind, his arm subtly protecting her outside.

Li Zhi lowered her eyelashes slightly, not resisting this thoughtfulness.

“Young Master Li, Yuan’er,” A-Jie’s voice was a little confused, “What do you think we should do about the mock exam that Old Zhou mentioned, which is still 117 days away…”

Yang Ze scoffed from the side, "What's the panic? Panicking about your stagnant English? Or is it..."

He deliberately dragged out his tone, his gaze fixed on Zhuo Peipei in front of him.

"Get lost!" Ah Jie immediately glanced nervously at Zhuo Peipei's back, who was having a heated discussion in front of him, and lowered his voice as if he had been stepped on.

"If you bring this up again, I'll get angry! Okay, let's get serious!"

"What can we do?" Shen Yuan walked beside Li Zhi.

The sense of unease about the future that the system had suddenly evoked earlier seemed to have been largely dispelled by the cold winter wind and the clamor of his companions, replaced by a firm determination to strive for the present.

He raised his chin, his voice sharp, a response to A-Jie, but more like a reaffirmation of himself.

“Study hard! Take the exam! As Li Bao asked, I’m currently maintaining a score of 665 and not dropping below that! A-Jie, you should set a goal for yourself too, like passing English or something.”

He subconsciously turned his head and looked intently at the girl beside him.

Li Zhi also slightly raised his eyes and met his gaze.

The girl's fair fingertips suddenly pinched his forearm hard. The force was not strong, but it carried an undeniable presence, as if she wanted to extinguish the overly flamboyant flame in his eyes.

"Don't be so smug!" Li Zhi glared at him in a low voice, her earlobes turning a faint red in the cold wind.

"Stop thinking about just getting a 665. Can't you get a higher score?"

Shen Yuan smiled slightly, leaned close to Li Zhi's ear, and his warm breath brushed against her earlobe: "So... will there be a reward if I do well on the test?"

He lowered his voice to a whisper, with a hint of seductive enticement: "For example... 675? Is there a better reward?"

Li Zhi blushed slightly at his sudden closeness and pushed away his head, which was getting closer and closer.

"Idiot! You wish!"

She turned her face away and quickened her pace, but a muffled hum came from under her scarf: "You'll talk about it after you pass the exam!"

The biting wind swept through the girl's hair, but it couldn't dispel the crimson stain on her neck.

He Zhiyu and Zhuo Peipei watched this scene, hugged each other's arms, and felt a surge of excitement in their hearts.

But Ah Jie's is purely acidic.

Yang Ze glanced at A-Jie beside him, reached out and hooked his arm around his shoulder, and lowered his voice: "What's with the sour talk? You'd be better off writing a couple more pages in 'Silent Reading'."

He winked mischievously: "If you write the confession chapter sooner, you won't have to just watch. At least what's on paper can come true, right, Brother Jie?"

Ah Jie blushed, stung by the sharp retort, and shoved him hard with his elbow: "Get lost! Who, who needs you to teach them!"

He glanced quickly at Fang Zhuopei's back, his fingers tightened in his pocket, and only a muffled murmur escaped into the howling wind.

"Fine, I'll write it... Besides, what's the big deal about confessing your feelings on paper!"

The group followed the flow of people into the cafeteria, and the aroma of food mixed with the noise instantly enveloped them.

He thought he could escape the sea of ​​textbooks for a while, but the scene before him made Ah Jie stop in his tracks and gasp.

"Holy crap?!"

Inside the large cafeteria, many people were eating their meals while looking at their exam papers.

The air was filled not only with the smell of food, but also with a silent smell of gunpowder.

On the first day of school, many students' brains were still firmly glued to the "117-day sprint" chariot, and they wanted to squeeze every last drop out of their lunch break. Looking at this bustling "learning feast," A-Jie's lips twitched, and his voice trembled with disbelief.

"Wow... this is the first day of school?! It's just a meal, guys! Do we have to work this hard?! Is the cafeteria turning into a study room?"

He rubbed his temples, feeling his head throb even more: "Isn't this supposed to make it impossible for a person to eat properly and replenish their energy? It's making me lose my appetite!"

Yang Ze glanced at a classmate next to him who was frantically stuffing rice into his mouth while reciting a history book, and clicked his tongue.

"They call it making the most of every second, you know? If you had that kind of spirit, your English would definitely be passing!"

Shen Yuan and Li Zhi lined up. Upon hearing Yang Ze's words, Shen Yuan nodded to A Jie.

"Did you hear that? This is reality. 117 days, the countdown is ticking, Brother Jie. If you could concentrate on your English vocabulary like they do when they eat, you would have taken off long ago."

"Stop talking! Stop talking!"

Ah Jie feels like he can no longer eat properly.

Soon, the group brought their lunch and sat down at an empty table.

The first and second year high school students are still on vacation, so there are only the third year students in the cafeteria, so there is no need to worry about not having enough seats.

All around were the rustling sounds of turning pages and soft recitations; this invisible sense of urgency, like a silent command, weighed heavily on everyone's movements.

Ah Jie was still complaining that "I can't even eat in peace," but his eyes involuntarily drifted to the boy next to him who was frowning at his physics test paper, and then to the girl diagonally opposite him who was silently reciting vocabulary words from her plate.

The words of complaint that were meant to be uttered stuck in my throat, leaving only a slightly irritated chewing motion.

Yang Ze ate his rice much faster, quickly finishing the rice on his plate, taking a big gulp of soup, and then wiping his mouth.

Shen Yuan's gaze swept over Li Zhi.

The girl also quickened the pace of putting food into her mouth, her movements not rough, but carrying an unusual sense of urgency.

Shen Yuan couldn't help but speed up his chewing as he watched.

Li Zhi ate a few mouthfuls of rice, glanced at Shen Yuan who was showing off his food next to him,
His movements were as if he hadn't eaten for two days.

"Idiot! Eat slowly, don't rush."

After hearing what she said, Shen Yuan slowed down a bit, but he was still moving very fast.

He Zhiyu and Zhuo Peipei's discussion about sweet romance novels subsided, and the young author noticeably increased his eating speed.

Within ten minutes, the table, which had been piled with plates, was quickly cleared away.

The group rejoined the flow of people leaving the cafeteria, carrying the efficiency forced upon them by this lunch and an increasingly urgent feeling, as they returned to the battlefield of the new semester, compressed by the 117-day countdown.

Before Shen Yuan and the others could even enter the classroom, they saw a familiar figure grieving alone in the corridor.

Before Yang Ze could ask anything, a figure rushed up behind Sun Xiansheng.

"Eat my Dragon Ram!"

Ah Jie rammed directly into Sun Xiansheng.

No boy could resist the male classmate by the railing.

Amidst Sun Xiansheng's cheerful voice, Yang Ze's curious voice rang out.

"Teacher Monkey, what's wrong?"

Upon hearing his nickname, Sun Xiansheng turned to look at Shen Yuan and his group.

He stared blankly at the group, then said, "Ah Shuai is in love..."

"What the hell?!"

Ah Jie was shocked: "No, what's going on?!"

Not only A-Jie, but Shen Yuan and Yang Ze were also extremely shocked, and even Li Zhi found it unbelievable.

Sun Xiansheng looked at A-Jie: "During the Spring Festival, he played games with the girl next door too late, and she spent the night in his room."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone present was stunned.

The next second—

"Holy crap—?!!"

"You beast!!!"

Ah Jie was the first to let out a deafening wail, clutching his head and arching his back dramatically.

The boy's eyes were filled with a complex storm of shock, envy, jealousy, and disbelief. He looked as if he had been struck hard by an invisible hammer, and his voice was distorted.

"Spending the night?! In the room?! Ah Shuai, you fucking... are you even human?!"

Ah Jie cried out in anguish, as if Ah Shuai were right in front of him, making a heart-wrenching accusation.

"The girl next door! Playing video games! Playing all night?! Ah Shuai!!! You beast—!!!"

Yang Ze almost dropped the drink he had just bought. He opened his mouth and kept muttering to himself.

"Holy crap? Holy crap?! They really stayed overnight? This..."

He seemed to finally understand the immense shock of the information about "spending the night at a girl's house during the Chinese New Year," and suddenly slapped his thigh.

"Ah Shuai! You beast!"

Chen Mingyu, who had been maintaining his usual lazy expression, couldn't hold back any longer. He covered his face with one hand and pointed at Sun Xiansheng with a trembling hand.

"Teacher Monkey... this news is too... too explosive! No, Ah Shuai really left someone in the room overnight? He... he... he... a beast!"

In the absence of words, the word "beast" seems particularly powerful and resounding.

"Playing games too late?"

Zhuo Peipei repeated the sentence, her glasses reflecting a gossipy light. She pushed up her glasses and gave a sharp, scrutinizing sound.

"Tsk tsk tsk... Just playing games? Teacher Monkey, are you sure Yang Shuai only meant 'overnight'? Hmm?"

The probing tone in Zhuo Peipei's voice was self-evident.

He Zhiyu's eyes shone brightly as she excitedly grabbed Zhuo Peipei's arm and shook it.

"Ahhh! Pepe! New material! A new piece of material has been created!! A lone man and woman, playing games late at night, spending the night in a room... This plot point is too intense!"

After the initial excitement subsided, He Zhiyu added, "But I still have to say, Yang Shuai is a real beast!"

As she spoke, He Zhiyu glanced at Shen Yuan and Li Zhi.

Amidst the rising and falling waves of condemnation from the public, a mix of various emotions.

"Beast!"

"Ah Shuai, you beast!"

"Waaaaah, you beast!"

Shen Yuan turned his head almost unconsciously, his gaze instinctively falling on Li Zhi beside him.

Li Zhiye was looking at him.

Their gazes suddenly met in mid-air.

Almost the instant their eyes met, Li Zhi's fair and delicate face flushed red, as if splashed with thick rouge, from her ears all the way down to her slender neck, even her small earlobes turning almost transparent!

Her mind went blank for a moment. Sun Xiansheng's words, "spend the night in the room," were like a key that instantly opened Pandora's box.

All those chaotic yet intense fragments of memories from the winter break came rushing back at once!
The struggle of being held captive in Shen Yuan's arms, the chaotic contact in bed, the wiping with a towel in the bathroom, Shen Yuan's laughter, and even that heart-pounding scene of changing clothes in the early morning...

Even... even what happened yesterday...

so similar!
However... unlike Ah Shuai, she and Shen Yuan didn't have that so-called lame excuse of "playing games too late" at all!

Shen Yuan didn't make any excuses; he simply said he would stay!
And without any hesitation, I agreed!

This thought struck her like a small hammer, hitting precisely the nerve she was most ashamed to talk about.

Guilt, embarrassment, panic at having one's secret exposed...

All her emotions exploded in her chest in an instant, turning into a stunning blush on her cheeks.

"Woo!"

Li Zhi let out a soft cry, like a kitten whose tail had been burned by the burning embarrassment, and suddenly lowered her head, wanting only to hide herself.

Before lowering her head, her large, misty eyes, filled with shame and anger, still glared fiercely at Shen Yuan.

It's all that idiot's fault!
Blame him!

As if to conceal the enormous turmoil in her heart and shake off those inappropriate images in her mind, Li Zhi used almost all her strength to dig her slender fingers hard into Shen Yuan's arm that was close to hers!
"--hiss!!!"

Caught off guard, Shen Yuan gasped in pain, wincing in agony.

The sharp pain in his arm instantly pulled him back to reality from the same shock he felt as A-Jie: "Holy crap, A-Shuai is so brave?"

He looked down at Li Zhi's face, which was so red it was almost bleeding, felt the sharp pain in his arm, and then looked at his companions who were still immersed in the fervor of denouncing "beast Ah Shuai." He immediately understood the source of Li Zhi's huge reaction.

Shen Yuan couldn't help but secretly curl a smile, a smile tinged with helplessness, yet also with a secret sweetness that only the two of them could understand.

He immediately put on a pained and aggrieved expression, leaning closer to Li Zhi: "Ouch—it hurts so much, Li Bao..."

His voice was extremely low, with a hint of pleading.

Li Zhi lowered his head even further, leaving only a small swirl of hair on Shen Yuan's head, and the fingers that were gripping his arm loosened their pressure a little.

The girl's voice came out muffledly, with a thick nasal tone and an unyielding sense of shame and anger.

"...Shut up!... Thran...Great Thran! You beast!"

That last whisper—it's unclear whether it was cursing Ah Shuai or also including Shen Yuan in the insult.

In the noisy corridor, the two were silently immersed in a storm of embarrassment unique to them.

A biting draft swept through the room, carrying the chill of late winter.

"Shoot him!"

"Let's go! Let's take down Ah Shuai!"

"Smoothed it out!"

The students' clamor still echoed in the empty school building, adding a touch of absurd youthful energy to this busy and stressful first day of school.

The lingering pain on Shen Yuan's arm and the fading rouge on Li Zhi's cheek became the most vivid and lively footnotes to this uproar.

(End of this chapter)