Chapter 359 - 193: Is This the Same Thing?
The night was fading, the sky outside still a grayish-blue, when the phone on the nightstand suddenly started vibrating at 5:25 a.m.
The incessant ringing dragged Li Zhi from her sleep. She fumbled for her phone, eyes still closed, annoyed at being woken up.
The screen showed an incoming call from Shen Yuan. She frowned and hit 'accept,' her voice thick with sleep. "I'm up."
Shen Yuan's hoarse sigh came through the phone, heavy with the fatigue of a sleepless night. "Heh, I've been awake since a little after four."
"Huh?" Li Zhi was taken aback. "You woke up that early?"
"Damn it. I let them out yesterday after they got their stitches removed, right? San Geng and Naonao started going wild at 4 a.m.! They have absolutely no regard for my life."
A week had passed since San Geng and Naonao's neutering surgery. Just yesterday, on Sunday afternoon, Shen Yuan had taken the two cats to the vet with Li Zhi to get their stitches removed.
And that's when the nightmare began.
After being cooped up for a week, the two little ones immediately started tearing around the room.
Shen Yuan watched helplessly as San Geng and Naonao bounced around the room in the recovery suits he'd bought them. He sighed. "I have a feeling I'll need a long nap at lunch today."
The words had barely left his mouth when he heard Li Zhi's laughter from the other end of the line.
"Serves you right for not buying me ice cream."
Shen Yuan rolled his eyes. "You were on your period. How were you supposed to eat ice cream?"
"Hmph! The point is, you didn't let me have any!"
Shen Yuan sighed inwardly. 'Girls' moods are so unpredictable when they're on their period.'
"Alright, alright, stop grumbling." Shen Yuan's voice was a mix of coaxing and his own sleep-deprived exhaustion. "Hurry up and get ready. I'll be at your door at 5:50."
"Okay, I'll be quick."
After hanging up, Li Zhi rubbed her sleepy eyes, rolled out of bed, and shuffled into the bathroom in her slippers.
Morning light filtered through the frosted glass. She lazily turned on the faucet and began to brush her teeth and wash her face.
The cool water on her face washed away the last traces of sleepiness, waking her up considerably.
After she finished washing up and used the toilet, Li Zhi realized her period seemed to be over.
She was instantly delighted by this discovery.
"Woohoo! Ice cream!"
Shen Yuan looked at the delighted girl in front of him and shook his head with a resigned sigh. "You're really something else. You want to eat it the second it's over, don't you?"
Li Zhi lifted her chin proudly, her eyes sparkling. "Enough talk. Are you buying me ice cream or not?"
Shen Yuan shot her an exasperated look, but his tone held a hint of indulgence. "Fine!"
"Hehe."
Her eyes curved as she broke into a sweet smile.
But her smile quickly vanished. Instead, she patted Shen Yuan's shoulder in satisfaction. "Very good. You've got the right idea!"
Shen Yuan rolled his eyes at Li Zhi.
Just then, a soft DING echoed from the end of the hallway. The elevator had arrived.
Shen Yuan naturally reached out and took Li Zhi's hand, a familiar, unspoken understanding in the gesture.
"Let's go." Traces of morning exhaustion still clung to Shen Yuan's voice.
Li Zhi didn't pull away. Instead, she let him lead her, and they walked into the elevator side by side.
The metal doors slid shut, reflecting their close figures in the confined space.
The elevator descended smoothly.
The grayish-blue sky was gradually brightening.
The moment they stepped out of the apartment building, their hands parted.
This was another unspoken rule they had developed over time.
When heading to school in the morning, no holding hands inside the complex.
And not outside the complex either, of course.
They grabbed a quick breakfast. By the time Shen Yuan and Li Zhi reached their classroom, there were clearly a lot more people in Class 15 than usual.
Seeing this, Li Zhi took a deep breath and tilted her head toward Shen Yuan. "The joint exams are just a few days away. Time to get serious."
Shen Yuan nodded. "Got it."
After the seating arrangement changed last week, Shen Yuan and Li Zhi were no longer sitting together. Their desks were now on opposite sides of the aisle.
As the joint exams drew nearer, the classroom was much noisier in the mornings than usual, filled with the murmur of hushed discussions and the rustle of rapidly turning pages.
The atmosphere felt heavier than usual. Even the morning light streaming through the windows seemed to carry a sense of urgency.
After all, this was the joint exam.
A city-wide joint examination. The difficulty was bound to be higher than a normal test.
The chemistry section of the last monthly exam was a bit difficult, and Shen Yuan had barely scraped past 650. If this one was even harder, he wouldn't stand a chance.
And if the difficulty spike was in math, then Shen Yuan would be totally screwed.
He'd scored a 118 on math in the last monthly exam, but that was only because the difficulty was moderate. If the math section was as hard as last time's chemistry, then there was no doubt he would never be able to get his total score over 650.
Although he'd been thrilled to beat Li Zhi, Shen Yuan was also keenly aware that luck had played a huge part in that victory.
Shen Yuan pulled out his chair and sat down, his movements less languid than usual.
From the high stack of books on his desk, he precisely extracted the newest volume of practice exams and turned directly to the math section.
'No matter how I look at it, math is still the hardest part.'
'If the teacher writing the exam decided to get creative and ramp up the difficulty, my math score on the joint exam would absolutely bomb.'
Shen Yuan couldn't afford to gamble on the exam writer's mood, so his only option was to improve his own skills as fast as possible.
Fortunately, during this first round of review, he had been constantly working on his weak spots in math. With the help of the ability the System had rewarded him, he could consistently score at least a 115.
During last week's quiz, Old Zhou had handed out an extremely difficult math test. The rumor was that the final two free-response questions were taken from a previous year's college entrance exam.