Summer Green Apples

After Mushroom Head left, Ji Xiwen stood there for a few seconds before walking over to the girl who had just been bullied.

Zhang Qingyan sat on the ground in a disheveled state, her curly hair a mess, her school uniform pants covered in footprints from being kicked. She was wearing her school uniform jacket open, with a white T-shirt underneath.

The T-shirt was maliciously covered in lipstick marks.

A pair of clean canvas shoes came into view.

Zhang Qingyan paused, then looked up. "Is something wrong?"

Ji Xiwen lowered her eyes, took out a stack of folded toilet paper from her pocket, and handed it over.

Zhang Qingyan stared at the paper in her hand for a few seconds before taking it.

Seeing that she had taken the paper, Ji Xiwen picked up her things and left.

Seeing that she had walked away without looking back, Zhang Qingyan called out to her again, "Wait a minute."

Ji Xiwen turned her head in confusion: "What's wrong?"

"I'm exhausted, help me up," Zhang Qingyan said awkwardly.

Ji Xiwen hesitated for a moment, then reached out her hand.

Zhang Qingyan took her hand and helped her up.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

She only offered help because she recognized the person as someone from her class.

More importantly, Ji Xiwen hates school bullying the most.

"I..." Zhang Qingyan paused for a moment, then said in a low voice, "I didn't steal her sister's boyfriend. It was that idiot who confessed to me, and I rejected him."

"If you want to find fault, you can always find a pretext." Ji Xiwen understood this better than anyone else.

She transferred from No. 2 Middle School to Pingzhong Middle School because she couldn't stand her previous school anymore.

This place is far from her hometown, so far that no one would know about her past.

Zhang Qingyan stopped herself from speaking, stared at Ji Xiwen for a moment, and said very seriously, "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Ji Xiwen spoke again.

-

Most of the people had arrived in the classroom, and the chatter was noisy and chaotic, like a vegetable market.

Chi Sui had already arrived. There was a strawberry milkshake on the table, and a Bluetooth earphone case was lying next to it.

He was looking down at an extracurricular book.

Ji Xiwen paused in her steps.

Zhang Qingyan, who was behind her, limped back to her seat, just across the aisle from her.

Ji Xiwen pulled out a chair, keeping in mind Young Master Chi's "three rules," and didn't say a word. She lowered her eyes and was very careful, afraid of bumping into the young master.

Chi Sui paused for a moment as he turned the page.

He didn't say anything.

Out of the corner of her eye, Ji Xiwen unscrewed the bottle of mineral water, tilted her head back, and took small sips.

Sui Yu turned her head and asked, "Brother Sui, what's the answer to your last math problem?"

One-half.

Chi Sui didn't even look up, and turned another page of his book.

"Your answer is different from Li Junyu's?" Sui Yu was stunned.

"Mmm," Chi Sui responded softly.

Xu Jiyang, always eager for a good show, said, "Only Chi Sui and Li Junyu from our class solved the last problem, and their answers were even different. This is going to be interesting."

Sui Yu gave him a disdainful look. "It has nothing to do with you."

"Why are you saying such harsh things?"

Xu Jiyang patted his chest. "These two are my good brothers, how can they have nothing to do with me?"

Sui Yu curled her lip, "She really knows how to flatter herself."

Chi Sui raised his head expressionlessly. "Could you two turn around before you talk?"

After morning self-study, the first class is math.

The math teacher, with a bald head and noticeable dark circles under his eyes, stood on the podium holding a stack of test papers. "Alright, the first period will be about this week's weekend homework, and the second period will be the test. Now, exchange papers with your deskmate, or if you don't have a deskmate, exchange with the person in front of, behind, or to your left or right."

Ji Xiwen clutched the test paper, looking hesitantly at Chi Sui.

Because Chi Sui had previously said that no one was allowed to greet him at school.

Chi Sui: "..."

He silently pushed his own exam paper onto Ji Xiwen's desk and then took Ji Xiwen's exam paper away.

While they were exchanging test papers, Xu Jiyang turned around and said something gossipy, "Looks like Baldy's wife hasn't forgiven him yet; he looks pale."

Upon hearing this, Ji Xi couldn't help but look up at the bald man.

The bald man, holding an oversized glass filled with goji berries, casually asked, "Was this week's homework difficult?"

"Disaster!"

"Extremely difficult!"

"It's incredibly difficult."

The classroom instantly became lively.

The bald man chuckled and said, "That's right, it should be difficult. Your math scores from the last weekly test were terrible. Some of you even got below 140. I won't name names here to save you face..."

"When I saw those results, my heart sank. The math teacher from the other class even came to ask me about them. I was too embarrassed to say anything; I felt ashamed. It's obvious you guys have been having a great time lately. If you get these results in next week's monthly exam, you'll be laughed at to death..."

Ji Xi was stunned when she heard this, and couldn't help but quietly ask, "Is the monthly exam next week?"

"Um."

Chi Sui twirled his pen absentmindedly, glancing down at Ji Xiwen's test paper and taking a few more glances.

A very pleasing exam paper.

And the answers were mostly correct.

"When...do you start school?"

"August 20th."

Ji Xiwen: "..."

No wonder there are monthly exams.

She planned to ask someone about the exam scope after class, and then focus on reviewing it this week.

After all, No. 2 Middle School was originally scheduled to start school on September 1st, so the two schools have different schedules.

Chi then turned to the last question.

Skipping over a series of steps, Ji Xiwen's final answer was one-half.

He couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

While he was looking at Ji Xiwen's exam paper, Ji Xiwen was also looking at his exam paper.

This young master has the same habit when doing math problems as he does English problems: his papers are clean and neat, with only the answers and even the steps are relatively short.

And their answers were exactly the same.

The bald man lectured very quickly. He would only give the answer to simple questions and only point out the thought process for more complicated questions. It wasn't until the last few challenging questions that he picked up the chalk and started writing on the blackboard.

"This is the last big question... I heard none of you could solve it?"

Xu Jiyang couldn't help but ask directly, "Teacher, are you hiding your identity in our class group chat? You even know that."

"Do I even need to hide it? That's a really harsh thing to say."

The bald man broke off a piece of chalk and threw it towards Xu Jiyang.

Xu Jiyang wasn't stupid either; he quickly lowered his head and threw the chalk at Chi Sui.

He was writing an English essay with his head down when he slightly tilted his head, and a piece of chalk flew past his cheek.

Ji Xiwen was stunned.

For a moment, I felt like I was watching a circus.

Ji Xi heard Sui Yu, the math class representative sitting in front of her, sigh, "We're both trying to avoid chalk, but there really is a difference between handsome guys and ordinary people."

She wholeheartedly agreed with this statement.

Xu Jiyang suddenly sat up straight. "What do you mean?"

Sui Yu: "It doesn't mean anything, don't overthink it."