FIMA Ch3: Mockery

The test papers held up vertically by those two students as shields slipped straight down. The next moment, they shot up with a whoosh, unable to hide the daze and fright in their eyes.

Miss Zhang glanced at their English test papers that had fallen onto their desks. The more she looked, the angrier she got. She tapped her pointer repeatedly: “You actually still have the nerve to sleep? How many times have I gone over this material, and you’re still losing points? You two are really something else. Now… go stand at the back.”

“Oh.” The two immediately left their seats with bitter faces and walked toward the back of the classroom.

Seeing this, the cold sneer on Miss Zhang’s face deepened.

It was only when their backs hit the back wall that she continued: “Heh, you two are truly interesting. You just walked over there exactly like that? Not taking your test papers, not taking your pens? Are you not planning to listen to the class anymore? Did you think I told you to go stand at the back to play?”

“Haha…”

At this point, who knows which word hit the classmates’ funny bone, but they all turned their heads with giggles to watch the spectacle.

Fuck.

Only then did the two realize what was wrong. They quickly sprinted back to their seats in a flash to grab their pens and test papers, their faces burning completely red with embarrassment. All their sleepiness was gone.

However, Miss Zhang’s anger clearly didn’t end there.

She pointed at the few who had turned around and laughed the loudest: “You’re all laughing so happily. Did you get all the knowledge points I taught correctly, or did you score a 149 like Gu Siyuan?”

Uh. Everyone hurriedly covered their mouths.

Scoring a 149 was impossible; not even reincarnating would make it happen.

Although Xie Qingxiao hadn’t laughed, he secretly peeked at Gu Siyuan’s test paper next to him, feeling a bit of admiration in his heart.

He himself had actually scored 142. This wasn’t a low score, but compared to Gu Siyuan, it was still far off. Most importantly, Gu Siyuan’s performance was incredibly stable. Regardless of how difficult the paper was, he could score this high every time.

Gu Siyuan, however, seemed to have not heard this praise at all; his expression remained completely placid.

Miss Zhang looked in the direction of Shen Ting and Huang Cheng. “You two, I saw you laughing the happiest. You don’t think I didn’t notice you were secretly sleeping earlier too, right? Not sleeping during the lunch break and running out to play basketball felt pretty good, didn’t it?”

Shen Ting and Huang Cheng sighed deeply at their bad luck and quickly stood up as well.

Miss Zhang continued, “You’re already in your senior year, yet each of you still acts like an ignorant child. Especially you, Shen Ting. You obviously have a very good foundation in all subjects, but your attitude just isn’t serious. When I was grading the papers, I found you made mistakes in several places you shouldn’t have.”

Anyway, in the eyes of teachers, every class had those few students who seemed to have great brains but simply refused to apply themselves.

“You four… after class, copy every incorrect question on this test paper 20 times for me. Hand it in to Lin Ling before school ends. Lin Ling will bring them to my office. You are not allowed to leave until you submit them.” Not wanting to waste any more time reprimanding them, Miss Zhang instructed, “Lin Ling, don’t forget.”

Lin Ling was their class’s English representative. She immediately replied, “Okay.”

“Yes,” the four replied with faces full of reluctance.

Miss Zhang resumed explaining the questions, continuing to pace back and forth, left and right around the classroom.

Time slipped away amidst the constant repetition of classes starting and ending.

And right up until the end of the last period in the afternoon, neither Gu Siyuan nor Xie Qingxiao said another word to each other.

This was very normal; neither of them were very talkative people to begin with.

During the break after the third period.

Lin Ling left her seat and walked over to the four guys who had been punished in English class. She joked, “Four big bros, are you almost done copying your punishments? I really don’t want to be stuck here after the fourth period waiting to collect your homework instead of going home.”

“Oh my god, save me, there’s still the punishment! I completely forgot about it the moment English class ended. Did you write it…?”
“Of course I did, who wants to stay behind after school!”
“Bastard, you didn’t even remind me…”

A minor flurry of panic broke out in the classroom.

This was a familiar scene, playing out exactly the same way before every homework collection. Although this time there were only four participants, they still managed to put on quite a show.

“Shen Ting, you definitely haven’t started copying yet, right?” At this moment, Huang Cheng turned his head and asked with a hint of secret delight.

Shen Ting rolled his eyes at him and sneered, “Looks like you’ve finished yours.”

Huang Cheng puffed out his chest, saying with extreme pride, “Of course. Just now when the chemistry teacher was reviewing the papers, I secretly finished copying them under my desk. Good students are exactly like me, understand?”

Hearing him say this, both Shen Ting and Lu Jiayang couldn’t help but laugh mockingly: “A good student, truly a good student!”

The chemistry teacher was a rather old man, a senior teacher who taught very well. But perhaps because of his age, he didn’t have the mind or energy to battle wits with young kids all day long. Therefore, he always demanded that students be self-disciplined, and basically didn’t stare them down during class. Anyway, you paid to go to school; if you didn’t listen, it was your own loss.

Lin Ling, who was going around urging people to submit their homework, looked rather gloomily at the happily laughing Shen Ting: “Big bro, you’re still laughing? Are you planning to not hand in the punishment?”

Shen Ting flipped through his English test paper and found that he really had quite a lot of mistakes. Twenty times each—just thinking about it gave him a headache.

He waved his hand, giving up on himself: “I can’t finish it.”

Lin Ling was rendered speechless. After a moment’s pause, she said quietly, “Alright then. Since that’s the case, tomorrow I’ll just tell Miss Zhang directly that Shen Ting said he won’t copy it and won’t hand it in.”

These words were so blunt; Lin Ling was clearly quite displeased. This was also a trigger point for all class representatives.

Xie Qingxiao’s seat was in the fourth row, separated from Shen Ting’s seat only by Huang Cheng’s row, so he naturally heard their conversation loud and clear.

Seeing this situation, he quickly looked toward Shen Ting and said in a coaxing, comforting tone, “Shen Ting, give me your English test paper. I’ll finish copying it for you.”

As soon as his words fell, Huang Cheng’s desk-mate, Chen Jun, immediately started teasing with a grin, “People with partners sure are lucky, especially having a top student as a partner. You even get someone to do your homework for you.”

He didn’t deliberately lower his voice, so the people in the adjacent seats all heard him clearly and started laughing lightly as well.

High school life was mostly very dull. A little thing like this was enough to generate some amusement for everyone, without carrying any malice.

A few hints of cherry-pink crept up behind Xie Qingxiao’s ears, but his beautiful eyes misted with traces of a smile; he was obviously very willing.

“No need.” Right at this moment, an extremely indifferent male voice rang out.

Shen Ting leaned lazily against the back of his chair and shook his head at Xie Qingxiao.

Then, he lifted an arm and draped it over his desk-mate Lu Jiayang’s shoulders. Smiling at him with the look of two close bros, he said, “Even if I need someone to write it, I’ll have this guy write it for me.”

“Someone offers to help you and you’re not happy with it, insisting on pestering me.” Lu Jiayang glared at him with dissatisfaction.

“What’s wrong with going to you?” Shen Ting wrapped his arms around him, pretending to be fierce.

“Haha, alright, alright, I’ll write it for you…” Although Lu Jiayang complained verbally, his eyes were full of a helpless, fond smile. He naturally complied, turning around and grabbing his backpack to earnestly dig out the test paper and workbook.

Shen Ting was a person with a very strong sense of territory. Even his parents, or Huang Cheng, who was practically inseparable from him on a daily basis, couldn’t casually rummage through his things or touch his bag.

Of course, Xie Qingxiao, his nominal boyfriend, couldn’t either.

Except for Lu Jiayang.

Chen Jun found the scene before him a bit baffling and instinctively tried to smooth things over: “Yeah, we should all learn from Brother Ting, cherishing his own Omega…”

As he spoke, he still felt something wasn’t quite right, so he simply shut his mouth.

Lin Ling equally didn’t understand these people who were dating. However, as long as Shen Ting could hand in his homework, it was fine by her. She turned around and returned to her seat.

The starlight-like smile in Xie Qingxiao’s eyes was completely extinguished, as if blown out by a howling cold wind.

He gripped the edge of his seat tightly, his back as stiff and straight as a zombie, and slowly turned around.

“Ha… heh…”

Suddenly, an extremely faint yet exceptionally clear chuckle reached his ears.

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