After morning self-study, Mao Silu and a few others finished breakfast and returned to the classroom. From a distance, they could see Lin Shiyu, clad in a pink hoodie with two round teddy bear ears drooping from the top of the hood, slumped over his desk, fast asleep.

As Gao Jie walked past Lin Shiyu, he couldn’t resist the urge to reach out and pinch one of his teddy bear ears. He was then promptly pushed away by Mao Silu from behind, who had a look that said, ‘Don’t disturb someone’s sleep.’

“Did Shiyu skip breakfast?” Mao Silu asked.

Zhong Qi, sitting nearby, replied, “He’s been sleeping through the whole morning self-study.”

Mao Silu placed a chocolate milkshake he had bought for himself during breaktime on Lin Shiyu’s desk.

After a while, Shen Ziyi and Tao Chen entered the classroom hand in hand. Shen Ziyi glanced at Lin Shiyu and said, “He’s still asleep. He probably didn’t have breakfast.”

Tao Chen added, “You bought some candy; you can give it to him.”

Shen Ziyi took out a lollipop from her pocket, and Tao Chen also brought out a few gummy candies, placing them on Lin Shiyu’s desk.

Zhong Qi glanced at his watch, realizing there were still ten minutes until the bell rang. He bumped his knee against the desk leg, causing Lin Shiyu’s desk to shake.

Lin Shiyu lifted his head groggily, wiped his mouth, and saw a mess of snacks on his desk. He looked puzzled.

A piece of bread was tossed over, landing on Lin Shiyu’s desk.

Lin Shiyu looked at Zhong Qi. Zhong Qi simply said, “The milk is from Mao Silu, and the candy and gummies are from Shen Ziyi and Tao Chen.”

Lin Shiyu was slow to react, but eventually said, “Oh,” and started to unpack the bread. His movements were very unnatural, as if he had something to say but decided against it. He just ate the bread in silence. After finishing the bread, he opened the chocolate milk and put the candy and gummies in his drawer.

It wasn’t until he finished a carton of milk that Lin Shiyu suddenly woke up as if he’d been startled, grabbed a stack of papers from his backpack, and rushed out of the classroom.

“Did you finish them all?” Li Zhong flipped through the papers and was quite surprised. “I haven’t taught the content of the last few pages yet, did you do those too?”

Lin Shiyu, sporting dark circles under his eyes, stared at him and said through gritted teeth, “You told me to finish them all.”

“Oh, you’re quite diligent,” Li Zhong teased with a smile. “These past few days must have been tough on you.”

More than just tough. The first two sheets were manageable, but the further he went, the harder the questions became. Some of them Lin Shiyu couldn’t even understand, so he had to spend the night searching through books and references. He had struggled to complete the last paper the previous night, and this morning his brain was completely fried.

“It’s fine. I managed the earlier ones, but there are more mistakes in the later ones.” 

Li Zhong roughly flipped through the pages, then set down the papers and took out a box of small cakes from his desk. He handed it to Lin Shiyu, saying, “My wife gave this to me this morning as a treat. Consider it a reward for your hard work.”

Lin Shiyu hesitated for a moment and said, “No need.”

Li Zhong pushed the box into Lin Shiyu’s hands and said, “Stop being so hesitant. Just take it and go.”

Lin Shiyu held the box and left the office. He opened it and counted; there were exactly four individually wrapped small cakes.

As he entered the classroom, passing by Mao Silu’s desk, Lin Shiyu tossed one of the small cakes near Mao Silu’s hand. Mao Silu exclaimed, “Hey!” and picked up the cake.

He then took out two more and placed them on Shen Ziyi and Tao Chen’s desks. When Shen Ziyi saw the cake, she immediately grabbed it and said, “My favorite brand of cake!”

Finally, he threw the remaining one onto Zhong Qi’s desk.

Zhong Qi casually picked up the cake and remarked, “Four cakes in exchange for a set of papers?”

Lin Shiyu muttered, “He scammed me; the later questions were beyond my knowledge.”

Zhong Qi didn’t say anything and started eating the cake after unwrapping it.

“When are you going for the photoshoot?” Zhong Qi asked.

It took Lin Shiyu a moment to realize that Zhong Qi was referring to the photography session at the studio. “This Saturday.”

“Alone?”

“Yeah.”

“Be careful. A group of people might be waiting behind the door with sacks to abduct you.”

Lin Shiyu turned to look at Zhong Qi. His expression was neutral, his gaze fixed ahead. Lin Shiyu wasn’t sure if he was joking or saying that seriously, but after some consideration, he figured it was a joke.

The last class on Wednesday afternoon was a class meeting, and Zhong Qi wasn’t at his seat. Lin Shiyu looked around, noticing that he had been bringing a school guitar with him recently, but it wasn’t there either. Tao Chen was also absent from her seat.

They were probably rehearsing somewhere.

During the class meeting, they were discussing the election of class representatives, and Lin Shiyu had no interest. He borrowed a book from Gao Jie instead. There were various random books in Gao Jie’s drawer, ranging from supernatural novels to car magazines, so Lin Shiyu randomly picked a collection of short stories to read.

After some time, a voice suddenly spoke up. “No one wants to be the biology class representative? Then let’s have Lin Shiyu do it.”

Lin Shiyu heard his name being mentioned in conjunction with something completely unrelated to him. He snapped out of his daze, lifted his head, and realized that everyone around him was looking at him sympathetically. Sitting at the teacher’s desk, legs crossed with a fox-like smile, was Li Zhong.

Lin Shiyu entered alert mode, saying, “I won’t do it.”

Li Zhong reasoned persuasively, “Didn’t you show great enthusiasm for studying biology not too long ago? I think you’d be suitable for the role of my class representative.”

Wasn’t I punished for that?

Li Zhong waved his hand, “I recommend Lin Shiyu. Anyone else? If not, let’s start the vote. A simple majority will make it official.”

Lin Shiyu was shocked by his unexpected manipulation. Just as he was about to say something, a sea of hands went up in the class. Over half of them, visibly.

Gao Jie raised his plump hand high and turned to Lin Shiyu with a serious expression. “Go for it, Shiyu, we’re counting on you for biology in Class 7!”

 

 

Edited by: Jaisland

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