He whipped his head around to see Li Zhi, back straight and cheeks puffed out, glaring at Sun Xiansheng with her big eyes.

"Buying skins? What’s wrong with playing claw machines? You deserve to be single!" Li Zhi fumed, her voice echoing through the classroom and causing everyone nearby to turn and look.

Seeing this, Shen Yuan quickly tried to placate her in a low voice, "Alright, alright, don’t be mad. Calm down. He doesn’t know any better, so don’t stoop to his level. Just get back to your test paper. C’mon, be good!"

Li Zhi shot Shen Yuan a glare, clearly not buying his attempt to soothe her, but she still reluctantly picked up her pen and went back to her test paper.

To the side, the gazes of Yang Ze, Chen Mingyu, and Sun Xiansheng all focused on Shen Yuan in that instant.

Yang Ze’s eyes went wide. Gesticulating with both hands, he stammered, "Lao... Lao Yuan, you just..."

Shen Yuan waved a hand dismissively, his gaze still fixed on Sun Xiansheng.

With a slight frown and a serious expression, he said to Sun Xiansheng, "Why don’t you just give it up?"

Hearing this, Sun Xiansheng let out a long sigh. He slowly raised his head to look at Shen Yuan, a trace of pain and helplessness in his eyes.

"I want to," Sun Xiansheng said, his voice low as if weighed down by some inner burden. "But whenever the thought of giving up crosses my mind, I just have to look at Ah Shuai..."

He paused, patting his chest lightly. "I just can’t bear it! I’m Ah Shuai’s father! I have a responsibility, a duty, to help him! As fathers, how can we just abandon our child because of a few small flaws?"

Hearing Sun Xiansheng’s speech, the corner of Shen Yuan’s mouth couldn’t help but twitch.

’What a deep bond between father and son!’

Shen Yuan knew exactly how deep Sun Xiansheng’s feelings for Ah Shuai were.

After all, in a sense, Ah Shuai was the man who made Sun Xiansheng sweat behind the scenes.

"Well, you’re in for it then. The way Ah Shuai is, it’ll probably be a long time before he sees the light."

However, just as Sun Xiansheng was about to retort, he suddenly noticed that the gazes of the three people around him had all turned in unison toward the classroom door.

At that moment, Zhou Shaojie, who had just reached the classroom door, was about to raise his hand. But before he could make a move, Yang Ze and Chen Mingyu shot forward like arrows loosed from a bow.

"Die, you old thief!!"

"Face your death, Ah Jie!!"

Seeing those two "mighty generals" pouncing on him like hungry tigers, Ah Jie screamed ’Oh crap!’ internally, and without a second thought, turned and bolted.

"I really did it! I really did my homework! The math homework was posted late! You can’t blame me for that!" Ah Jie yelled as he ran, trying to defend himself.

"Fuck! Lao Yuan’s homework was already sent out, and you’re only sending yours now?! What the hell did you even do?! What good are you?!" Yang Ze and Chen Mingyu paid no attention to Ah Jie’s explanation, relentlessly pursuing him while cursing nonstop.

Weighed down by his heavy backpack, Ah Jie didn’t get far before he was caught by Yang Ze and Chen Mingyu like a hawk snatching a chick.

Ah Jie was dragged back into the classroom by Yang Ze and Chen Mingyu like a dead dog. Seeing this, Shen Yuan also walked over without hesitation and helped them haul Ah Jie inside.

Soon, Ah Jie’s bloodcurdling scream echoed from the back of the classroom.

"AHH!!"

After the Aruba was over, Ah Jie lay draped over his desk, groaning in pain and looking utterly pathetic.

Seeing this, not only did Shen Yuan feel no sympathy, but he even taunted him, "Ah Jie, look at you. How many times have I told you? Gaming is bad for your health, gaming is bad for your health! You just don’t listen."

Ah Jie turned to look at Shen Yuan, a resentful expression on his face, and snapped, "Why the hell do you love studying so much?"

"You don’t need to ask about that," Shen Yuan said, affecting a profound air. "You wouldn’t understand the world of us 630-and-aboves."

"630 my ass! Aren’t you only at 620?!" Ah Jie shot back indignantly.

Shen Yuan’s long fingers tapped on the desk, the corners of his lips curling into a provocative smirk.

"Wanna bet?"

As Shen Yuan’s words fell, his eyes met Ah Jie’s.

The moment their gazes clashed in mid-air, it was as if sparks flew—this was a silent understanding unique to teenage boys. Eye contact meant accepting the challenge.

"Bet!"

Ah Jie shot upright, his lower back hitting the chair and causing him to curl up in pain again. Still, he craned his neck to glare at Shen Yuan and groaned, "Name the stakes!"

"A week’s worth of ice... Iced tea!"

Shen Yuan had been about to say ice cream, but then he quickly remembered that Li Zhi probably wouldn’t have a chance to eat any by then, so he changed his words at the last second.

"No deal!" Ah Jie held up a hand in refusal.

Just when Shen Yuan thought Ah Jie was backing down, Ah Jie suddenly grew serious, placing a hand over his heart as if taking an oath.

"We are currently in the midst of the campus Holy Grail War! You and I are both in the Cola Faction! We must not touch the likes of iced tea!"

As Ah Jie spoke, the evening sun from the window happened to land on his greasy forehead, lending him an air of absurd loyalty.

The corner of Shen Yuan’s mouth twitched. His brain had been so addled by Li Zhi’s sweetness lately that he’d almost forgotten about this.

Shen Yuan nodded. "Got it. Cola, then!"

"Good! No problem!" Ah Jie nodded solemnly.

Shen Yuan extended his hand to Ah Jie, who gripped it firmly. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

As time went on, more and more students filled the classroom.

However, there was still some time before the evening self-study session.