Chapter 84: Chapter 84: Rewarding Myself Before the First Round of Review

"Tsk tsk tsk tsk..."

Li Zhi laughed, her gaze teasing as she looked at Shen Yuan.

"How nice. You’ve even got people giving you study materials now."

Hearing this, Shen Yuan immediately shot upright in his seat.

"No, listen to me, it’s not like that."

Li Zhi held up a hand. "Say no more. I get it. Killing two birds with one stone. You bet on the same monthly exam with two different people. A win-win."

"No, she’s the one who wanted to bet on our scores! I didn’t even state any terms. She offered it up herself!"

Shen Yuan explained frantically.

Li Zhi nodded, a pleasant smile on her face. "Mm-hm, go on. I’m listening."

’Young Master Li isn’t going to believe me,’ Shen Yuan thought.

"Ah Xi, I really didn’t ask for it! Someone just shoved it at me."

As he spoke, Shen Yuan stuffed the physics notes into his desk.

Watching his movement, Li Zhi couldn’t help but laugh. "Heh, and you said you didn’t want it!"

"This is knowledge. I can’t just throw knowledge in the trash, can I?" Shen Yuan put the notes away and clapped his hands together.

"Besides, I taught her my secret English technique, okay!"

Li Zhi really started cracking up now. "If you can fucking call copying vocabulary a ’secret English technique,’ then these physics notes might as well be the *Nine Yin Scripture*!"

"It’s called the Wild Ball Fist! It’s unbeatable once mastered. What the hell do you know!"

"Alright, alright, I don’t know anything! You go ahead and study on your own, then."

Li Zhi decided to simply ignore Shen Yuan.

Shen Yuan called out to her a couple of times, only to see Li Zhi raise a book to block the side of her face, creating a physical barrier.

Seeing this, Shen Yuan shrugged.

’Fine, ignore me all you want. Just you wait until we get home! I’ll get you then!’

Once the scores were out, Shen Yuan’s anxiety completely vanished.

Plus, he had now officially achieved human status!

So, it was time to be happy, plain and simple.

In contrast, Zhou Shaojie really couldn’t bring himself to be happy.

Shen Yuan’s score had actually surpassed his!

What an awful feeling!

The saying "one thrives in adversity and perishes in comfort" had truly come to life in him.

Spurred by this emotion, Zhou Shaojie resolved to buckle down and study hard!

’So what if my English is bad? I’ll just copy my way to success!’

It had to be said, when Zhou Shaojie actually put his mind to studying, he was quite diligent.

At the very least, before the evening self-study session ended, Shen Yuan saw him copy a good number of vocabulary words.

During the last period of evening self-study, Old Zhou came into the classroom.

"Everyone, put your pens down for a moment. I have something to tell you."

As Old Zhou finished speaking, all eyes focused on him.

"I should have told you all this earlier, but starting tomorrow, we will officially begin the first-round review. According to the schedule from previous years, if we make good progress, we should finish by January of next year."

"The pace will be fast. It will be hard, and it will be tiring. I’d like to let you take it easy, but I can’t! That would be irresponsible of me."

"You all got into Jiyang Middle School. I’m sure your goal isn’t just to scrape by and meet the first-tier cutoff score, is it?"

As Old Zhou spoke, his gaze fell on Zhou Shaojie. "After the first monthly exam, I think you should all know where your weaknesses lie. Buckle down and spend more time on them."

"This battle of your senior year... if you fight it beautifully, it’s a rebirth. If you don’t, it’s just performance art."

"Finally, you must believe that you can do this well. You need the courage to burn your boats, to not be timid or hesitant. Believe that you can win this stage of the war!"

"Alright, that’s all I have to say."

As his voice faded, the final bell rang.

Old Zhou walked out of the silent classroom.

Suddenly, a voice piped up in the classroom.

"295 days until the college entrance exam."

Hearing this, almost everyone looked up at the exam countdown display.

...

Shen Yuan and Li Zhi walked home together, just like any other day.

Li Zhi was the first to break the silence. "Hey, you actually did pretty well today."

"Huh?" Shen Yuan was completely confused.

"I’m talking about the method you told Tong Churou for studying English. That kind of thing actually scores you points."

"Why?" Shen Yuan didn’t understand.

Li Zhi stopped and tilted her head at Shen Yuan. "I don’t know. I just felt like you looked pretty cool when you said it."

Hearing Li Zhi’s words, the corners of Shen Yuan’s mouth curved into a wide, smug grin.

"How cool?"

"Now you’re just being creepy."

Shen Yuan immediately wiped the expression off his face.

"But you helped her. Did you ever think about the possibility that she might surpass you?" Li Zhi asked.

Shen Yuan shook his head. "To be honest, that thought didn’t even cross my mind. But now that you mention it, I don’t think it’s a problem at all."

"My math is going to improve massively during the first-round review. She won’t be able to keep up with me."

Li Zhi raised an eyebrow. "That confident?"

"Of course. If I don’t even have this much confidence, how am I supposed to catch up to you?"

"There’s a 60-point gap. Even if you got a perfect score in math, you still wouldn’t catch up."

Shen Yuan was still brimming with confidence.

"Then just you wait and see! When I surpass you, I want to see you cry!"

"Then I’ll just tell your mom that you made me cry."

"Your mo—"

Shen Yuan’s expression fell, but he quickly perked up again.

"Right, since I won, when are you going to, hmm?"

Now it was Li Zhi’s turn to feel uncomfortable.

The beautiful girl frowned, her eyes filled with conflict. "I mean, are you... are you in that much of a hurry?"

Shen Yuan nodded. "I think I need to reward myself before the first-round review begins. That way, I’ll have the motivation to keep studying!"

Looking at Shen Yuan’s determined gaze, Li Zhi struggled with herself for a moment before giving up the fight.

"Fine, fine! Then... then let’s just go straight to my place later."

Shen Yuan’s eyes lit up at her words.

’This Monday is turning out to be awesome.’

Not only did he get a satisfying score, but he also got to see the beautiful girl’s dress-up show.

"By the way, I won twice."

"I know, I know! I’ll wear stockings for you, happy now!?"

After Li Zhi said this, Shen Yuan immediately reached out and covered her mouth.

"You damn idiot, why are you shouting so loud in the middle of the street? Don’t expose my identity as a cross-dressing master!"

Li Zhi: ?

The next second, Li Zhi shoved Shen Yuan away, then quickly lowered her head and started walking fast.

Clearly, the beautiful girl had also realized her behavior just now had been a bit inappropriate.

Shouting about "wearing stockings" on the street was a bit too mortifying.

’But thank god that idiot Shen Yuan shouted even louder than I did.’

"Hey, aren’t we getting a late-night snack?"

"Not eating. I’m in a hurry to change for you."

The next second, Li Zhi saw a figure dash past her.

"Why are you walking so slow? Didn’t you eat?"

...

SLAM!

Shen Yuan stood with his backpack on, outside the beautiful girl’s bedroom.

Staring at the door that had been slammed shut, Shen Yuan suddenly realized he’d overlooked something.

’Dammit, my second request wasn’t for stockings!’

’Can I change it now?’

Shen Yuan glanced over at Li Zhi’s parents chatting in the living room and quickly abandoned the thought.

’Forget it. I’ll bring it up next time. It’s not like I’m only going to win once.’

Now, it was time to fantasize.

A few minutes later, Shen Yuan’s imagination had run its course, and he was getting impatient.

Just as he was about to knock and hurry Li Zhi along, the door to the beautiful girl’s bedroom opened.