Chapter 373 - 197: Killing Dogs in Broad Daylight
Chapter 373: Chapter 197: Killing Dogs in Broad Daylight
"They’re torturing us single people! Right here in broad daylight! This is unbearable! Shen Yuan, you beast!"
He clutched his chest dramatically, his expression contorted as if he’d taken a critical hit to his very soul. The anguish of being single reached its absolute peak.
Ah Jie, who was reveling in his own cheers, suddenly staggered, nearly knocked out of his self-congratulatory high by the piercing cry.
Seeing Yang Ze’s state, an impulse struck Ah Jie.
"Ze!!"
Ah Jie unhesitatingly joined the wailing chorus. "What’s wrong, Ze! You can’t die right before vacation starts! You have to hang in there!!"
"If you’re going to die, at least do it when we don’t have a break!"
Chen Mingyu, who had just been stroking his chin and watching the show, instantly lost it when he heard that line.
’What a great idea, dying when we don’t have a break.’
’My bro’s life in exchange for my vacation, is that it?’
Yang Ze leaped up and shooed Ah Jie away with a look of utter disgust.
"Get lost, get lost, get lost, you son of a bitch."
With that, Yang Ze leaned into Ah Jie’s ear and whispered conspiratorially, "Lao Yuan asked Li Zhi to hang out. And you? What damn progress have you made with Zhuo Peipei? You can’t even figure out how to write a Sugar Text, what damn right do you have to take a vacation?!"
That was enough to completely break Ah Jie’s composure.
Seeing Ah Jie’s devastated expression, Shen Yuan just shook his head with a smile, his gaze naturally falling on the girl who was already sitting at her desk off to the side.
Before Shen Yuan could say anything, he saw the physics class representative walk into the classroom with a stack of test papers.
"You’ve got to be kidding me—" someone in the corner let out a long, drawn-out groan.
But before the sound even faded, the English class representative arrived, also holding a stack of test papers.
"Oh, come on..."
The math and biology class representatives squeezed up to the teacher’s desk at almost the same time, test papers still in hand.
"AWOOOO—!"
"Have mercy on us poor kids! We finally get a break!"
"Teacher, do you guys have some kind of misunderstanding about the word ’vacation’?!"
It was as if several "homework stones" had been tossed into the once-bright and cheerful classroom, sending up splashes of tragic, overlapping wails.
The wailing spread quickly. It mingled strangely with the cheers of "Vacation’s here!" that had yet to fade. Together, they created a cacophony throughout the entire laboratory building—a din of ecstatic freedom clashing with the heavy blow of reality.
Just as everyone was wailing in despair, Old Zhou walked into the classroom.
"Alright, alright, quiet down. Listen to what I have to say, and then you’re on break."
The moment Old Zhou finished speaking, the classroom immediately fell silent, leaving only the sound of rustling test papers.
Old Zhou cleared his throat. His eyes swept across the faces, all lively and excited by the approaching holiday, and a rare, gentle smile touched the corners of his mouth.
"Okay, the joint exam is over."
He paused, his tone softening with a clear attempt to be reassuring:
"I know the past two days haven’t been easy for any of you. The pressure was immense. Now that the exam is done, just let it go. There’s no use dwelling on it now; we’ll deal with the results when they come out. When it’s time to relax, you need to properly relax."
Then, Old Zhou’s tone shifted to one of admonition, his gaze growing serious. "You have a two-day break. This chance to catch your breath was hard-won. Rest well, and be safe! And don’t forget to take all your homework with you."
With that said, Old Zhou raised an eyebrow.
"That’s all I needed to say. Be back at school early on Sunday; all this stuff needs to be moved back before the evening self-study session. Alright, grab your homework. Dismissed!"
For half a second after Old Zhou’s voice faded, the classroom was silent.
"WOOHOO!!"
"Old Zhou, I love you!!"
"VACATION!"
It was as if someone had hit a restart button, and cheers even more fervent than before erupted in the classroom.
For a moment, everyone in the classroom seemed to forget the sorrow they’d felt just moments before when the homework was handed out.
...
Shen Yuan, carrying two backpacks, walked alongside Li Zhi across the campus on the early autumn evening.
The noise of the school faded into the distance. The setting sun filtered through the gaps in the leaves, casting a warm, soft golden halo around their side-by-side figures.
Not long after they left the academic building, Shen Yuan was pondering whether to head home or find something to eat out. Just as he was about to ask Li Zhi, the beautiful girl spoke first.
"How do you feel now that the exam’s over?"
Shen Yuan froze for a second, the words catching in his throat.
He turned his head to meet Li Zhi’s questioning gaze. The last rays of the setting sun danced in her clear eyes.
The tension that had just left him seemed to gently tighten again.
He was silent for a few seconds. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he said, half-jokingly, "Can’t I just relax for a moment?"
"The results will most likely be out on Monday. Just giving you a heads-up so you can mentally prepare."
Li Zhi looked at Shen Yuan and saw right through him. "You’ve already estimated your score, haven’t you? What’s the rough total?"
Shen Yuan blinked, then said with some hesitation, "I might have... done worse. You know, the math section was a bit hard this time."
But after saying that, Shen Yuan quickly added, "My Chinese and English scores should be the same, and the science composite was okay this time."
The boy’s tone held a hint of resignation, as if he were trying to salvage something.
The wind rustled through the leaves, and a brief silence flowed between them.
Li Zhi looked at Shen Yuan’s slightly tense profile, her voice softer than usual. "It’s normal for your score to drop. The math was hard this time, so the grades for the whole year will be lower."
Her gaze swept over the plane tree leaves, reddened by the sunset, and she added, "Stop overthinking it."