BTO CH34

Xu Sheng felt pity for his own brilliant imagination and translation skills. They hadn’t respected the god-like performance of an English prodigy at all!

Just then, a series of footsteps echoed from the stairwell, approaching from a distance.

The noise wasn’t loud. Everyone in their class was at PE, and considering the preciousness of PE class, it was highly unlikely to be someone from Class 7.

“It’s been so long since we had PE class,” at the stairwell, Hou Jun took the stairs two at a time. “I even forgot to wear my battle shoes!”

Right after Hou Jun finished speaking, he finally saw the classroom sign and pushed open the door.

Xu Sheng happened to struggle his wrist, saying: “Can you let go? You’re hurting me a bit.”

Hou Jun didn’t quite catch the first half of the sentence, but the second half was heard loud and clear.

“…You’re hurting me a bit.”

Xu Sheng’s tone was lazy, the final syllable drawn out. Coupled with being completely enveloped by Shao Zhan, looking from the classroom door inwards, one could only see the half-turned side of Xu Sheng’s face, the hem of his black shirt, and his pinned wrist.

Then Xu Sheng heard the classroom door go clatter, and looked up.

Hou Jun and Tan Kai stared in shock at a scene identical to countless novel blurbs: Everyone knows the Study God is aloof, unsociable, and never gets close to anyone. Yet one day, someone accidentally saw the Study God pin the school tyrant against the wall—

And the school tyrant even said, “You’re hurting me.” What kind of terrible line is that?

All four of them froze in unison.

Xu Sheng said in a low voice: “I told you not to get physical.”

“You call this getting physical?” Shao Zhan glanced at him and let go: “You probably haven’t seen what getting physical really looks like.”

“…”

Xu Sheng thought to himself: How much more physical do you want to get?

It took Hou Jun a long while to find his voice: “I, well, I came back to change shoes, I’ll be going now.”

“It’s been too long since PE class, studying has scrambled my brains,” Tan Kai immediately explained his own reason for coming. “I forgot I’m the Sports Representative, came back to get the attendance sheet.”

Forgetting that was pretty absurd.

Shao Zhan let go. Xu Sheng coughed, attempting to explain: “We…”

How could those two not understand? They thought to themselves: Don’t explain, we understand perfectly. Zhan-Wu-Bu-Sheng is real—we’re already tired of shouting it.

Hou Jun took the initiative to speak: “Heading down together in a bit?”

Xu Sheng realized this scene was truly impossible to explain clearly, and simply gave up.

Sixth High’s sports field was bustling with crowds. The blazing sun baked the grass and rubber track, releasing a strong scent of grass and rubber that continuously wafted upwards. On the track, several lines were formed by class. Before assembling, many people formed circles, sitting and chatting.

Some students who brought their own sports equipment were spinning basketballs on their fingertips. The teenagers were full of vitality, sweeping away the listless appearance they had in the classroom.

When Xu Sheng walked over, the students of Class 7 had also formed a circle.

“Friend,” Xu Sheng squatted down and patted one of the students on the shoulder. “Make some room.”

The student shuffled aside to make an empty spot.

Xu Sheng sat down casually, his hand resting on the rubber track, getting a hand full of dust. He turned his head to look at Shao Zhan, seeing that Shao Zhan clearly intended to walk past them: “You’re not going to sit?”

Shao Zhan rarely participated in group activities. Just as he was about to say “You guys chat,” Xu Sheng reached out directly. The teenager’s not-too-prominent knuckles curved, grabbing the hem of his school uniform jacket. His voice always carried a hint of a smile, and the corners of his mouth curved up as he said: “Sit down and chat for a bit, student Shao.”

Shao Zhan’s expression didn’t change, but the chill in his eyes unknowingly faded a bit.

The Study God’s aloofness was famous.

Aside from Hou Jun and a few others who had witnessed another side of the Study God during evening self-study and quickly developed a gaming friendship, the rest of Class 7 understood very little about Shao Zhan.

Unreachable, intimidating.

Then everyone watched as the Study God was actually pulled down to sit by the school tyrant.

Class 7 students: …!

Xu Sheng asked: “What are you guys chatting about?”

Only then did they realize that the gossip they were just discussing was only halfway through: “Ah, we were talking about the fight over PE class.”

Class 7 had two teachers who were maniacs for hijacking classes, famous in the grade for loving to steal PE class. This led to every PE class being a war without smoke, and the students all groaned in misery about it. However, after the exams, there were quite a few more PE classes than in the previous two weeks, returning to a normal class load.

The student continued sharing the gossip: “Do you guys know the story behind this class of ours? Rumor has it the PE teacher really couldn’t take it anymore. This time, several teachers argued until the end, and finally made a dedicated group chat to ask him who he was willing to give the class to. In a fit of rage, the PE teacher roared, ‘I have exams too! Is the PE teacher not human? Does PE class not deserve respect?!’ He roared those teachers into silence.”

When he got to the part about the roar, he vividly acted out the situation at the time.

Tan Kai leisurely followed up with a sentence: “And then, before class, he discovered his class representative had forgotten he was the class representative, and hadn’t even brought the attendance sheet…”

The crowd laughed so hard they swayed back and forth.

Xu Sheng also laughed. Putting aside the title of school tyrant and his various record of rule violations, the flamboyant quality about him was actually quite charming. As he had said, it wasn’t hard to understand that he had a good relationship with his classmates, including teachers, back in his freshman year.

There were a few of Xu Sheng’s former classmates on the field. The girl who had leaned on the window sill calling for him last time was also there. She was laughing and chatting with a few other girls, and at a glance, spotted someone not wearing a school uniform on the field: “Xu Sheng.”

Still laughing, Xu Sheng raised his hand and waved at Zhang Tong from a distance.

He truly belonged to the type who, even after causing trouble, could stand in front of you and crack a few jokes, making it impossible for you to be genuinely angry with him from the bottom of your heart.

And his head was full of ideas that were different from ordinary people.

After Tan Kai finished speaking, a few people shifted the topic elsewhere. Occasionally, the words “Zhan-ge” would pop up in the chat.

Hou Jun: “I know, that game updated yesterday. The new season is so fierce, almost beat me into depression. Tonight, I’m waiting for my Zhan-ge to carry me…”

Shao Zhan felt the heat from the sun baking his head.

He glanced at the patch of his clothes Xu Sheng had just grabbed. That pull seemed to possess a strange power.

These voices in his ears truly existed. The noisy, clamorous sounds crashed in recklessly. Compared to a test paper covered in red marks, terrible to look at, this scene in front of him felt like the biggest surprise.

The PE teacher finally walked out of the equipment room with a whistle. He blew the whistle and shouted: “Class 7, assemble—”

“For this PE class, we’ll test the 500-meter run first. After the test, free activity. If you want to borrow equipment, find Tan Kai and have him get it for you all at once,” after lining up, the PE teacher finished explaining the class precautions and added, “Tan Kai, if you forget your identity again next time, you should voluntarily resign, okay? I finally managed to snatch a class for you guys, and one look, the class representative is gone.”

Tan Kai said: “An accident, this was truly an accident! I definitely won’t forget who I am next time!”

The boys tested the 500-meter run first. After testing, they swarmed toward the basketball court like they were rushing to be reincarnated.

The boys of Class 7 formed two teams.

Tan Kai still had to help the girls carry the badminton rackets, and he couldn’t carry that many at all. After Xu Sheng finished his test, Tan Kai was walking over carrying a net bag of balls. A ball almost fell out of the net bag. Xu Sheng didn’t stop after crossing the finish line; he took two or three strides forward and caught the basketball that was trying to fall out.

“Thanks,” Tan Kai said. “By the way, the teacher came before I could finish earlier. Do you and Zhan-ge have time tonight?”

Catching the ball, Xu Sheng asked: “Tonight?”

Tan Kai said: “Monkey secretly brought a tablet from home this weekend. He’s planning to do something thrilling tonight, how about it, you in?”

As long as it wasn’t studying, Xu Sheng never refused activities outside of learning: “Sure, as for whether your Zhan-ge is coming, I don’t know.”

Mentioning this, Tan Kai got energized: “Do you think Zhan-ge will come? Although Zhan-ge has never tasted defeat in the exam room…”

Xu Sheng silently added in his heart: He tasted it after the monthly exam.

Tan Kai continued: “But life shouldn’t just be about studying, right?”

Xu Sheng finally understood, grasping the hints in Tan Kai’s words: “You want him to come?”

Tan Kai nodded.

Xu Sheng: “You want me to bring him?”

Tan Kai nodded again.

Xu Sheng chuckled, bouncing the ball on the ground and catching it as it popped up: “Can’t you just ask him directly? Will he definitely come if I ask him?”

That’s for sure.

What kind of relationship do you two have?

But Tan Kai didn’t say these words out loud.

Actually, Tan Kai vaguely felt something was wrong. Previously, he clearly felt Zhan-ge was more approachable, and logically, he should have no psychological burden or barrier to ask him directly. Conversely, he and the school tyrant always had a bit of distance.

But the human subconscious is a very strange thing. Now, facing Shao Zhan, he didn’t quite dare to speak, but surprisingly, he felt he could say anything to Xu Sheng.

Tan Kai scratched his head, unable to explain why this was himself.

Hou Jun and the others’ activities were scheduled after lights out. “Something thrilling.” Xu Sheng didn’t know what this “thrilling” thing actually referred to. He planned to ask Shao Zhan later when they returned to the dorm if he had time tonight.

By the end of PE class, the teachers of various subjects had finished calculating the monthly exam scores, and the test papers were distributed in batches.

Shao Zhan’s exam scores spread throughout the entire grade.

It spread like an earthquake; those who heard the news couldn’t recover for a long time.

“I looked at the ranking list, there’s news that will make anyone who hears it go crazy—the Study God ranked second to last in the entire grade this time.”

“Are you sick? Is today April Fool’s Day? I don’t believe it. Even if you told me he ranked second, I wouldn’t believe it. How could the Perennial Number Two ever outscore the Study God? This monthly exam wasn’t even that hard.”

“Yeah, even second place is impossible.”

“I’m not human if I’m lying to you. The ranking list is in the office, go see for yourself if you don’t believe it.”

As the number of people who saw the ranking list grew, the voices saying “I don’t believe it” gradually disappeared, because the Study God’s failing grades in every subject, with English scoring only in the thirties, blinded everyone’s eyes.

“He’s really second to last? Last place is the school tyrant, second to last is the Study God? I’m going crazy.”

Shao Zhan’s exam scores quickly spread to the school’s Tieba forum, and the forum went into a frenzy as well. Only in the “Zhan-Wu-Bu-Sheng Is Real” thread was there a strange peace and harmony.

Floor 1986: Did you guys catch the train of thought for solving this problem?

Floor 1987: Caught it.

Floor 1988: …Scoring second to last for love?