"Maybe they're just playing."

"No way!"

The two were in a tug-of-war, and Chen Yunyun returned. Hearing the two speaking, she also agreed to have hotpot.

Two against one, Jiang Nian could only agree.

The three crossed the North District, left the school through the North Gate, and sat down at a small hotpot restaurant on Metallurgical Avenue.

Jiang Nian glanced at Chen Yunyun, who also looked up at him. Their eyes met briefly, then slowly moved away.

A bit awkward, but it was no big deal.

"Are the beef balls ready?"

"Not yet."

Chen Yunyun poked them with the communal chopsticks, speaking calmly, "Let's wait a little longer, about a few minutes."

Her mind wasn't quite settled either; last time she had been a bit impulsive. In the heat of the moment, she said things she shouldn't have.

Fortunately, the outcome was good.

"Oh, okay then." Jiang Nian withdrew his gaze, recalling the incident last time, thinking that Chen Yunyun was also quite outrageous.

Worried about not being pretty enough.

Wang Yuhe is so confident, what's she anxious about? Besides, this sort of thing can't really be articulated clearly.

Each has their own strengths.

And really, if you want to say something, there are a thousand beauties in a thousand people's eyes, and aesthetic standards vary.

For example, there's a girl in their class who's quite pretty, but Jiang Nian doesn't have much impression because her chest is flat.

In his eyes, she's just an ordinary female classmate.

Certainly, when he brought up this example, unsurprisingly Chen Yunyun covered her chest and leaned back.

How can this be called perverted?

Clearly, it's coming from the heart.

.....

At night, it was still raining lightly outside.

The brightly lit classroom was matching answers, the sound of drizzling rain drowned by the noise.

Jiang Nian had just returned, and as soon as he sat down, he was nudged.

"What's up?"

"A hotpot smell." Zhang Ningzhi sniffed, like catching a naughty cat, "You went to eat hotpot this afternoon?"

"Yeah, had it with Chen Yunyun and the others." Jiang Nian didn't bother to hide it, since it wasn't anything significant.

Predictably, Zhang Ningzhi didn't have much of a reaction either.

"So envious, but hotpot can easily cause heatiness. Beibei and I had wontons this afternoon, even added seaweed flakes."

Jiang Nian feigned surprise, "Why didn't you invite me?"

"Hmph!"

Zhang Ningzhi was instantly puffed up, although she didn't care, she couldn't stand his knowingly asking annoying questions.

"You wouldn't go even if invited! And yet you ask!"

She nudged Jiang Nian twice, still unsatisfied. Seeing Jiang Nian unperturbed, she almost wanted to hit him a few more times.

"Has the anger passed?" Jiang Nian asked with a smile.

Zhang Ningzhi nodded, whispering, "I'm not angry, just helping you with a back massage."

"Alright, I'll help you next time too." He whispered, "But I'm nearsighted, can't tell front from back."

Zhang Ningzhi blushed instantly, pinching him.

"You dare!"

In the front row, Zeng You stuffed the test paper into the drawer, focused intently on playing his phone, hearing the noise from the back row.

"Geez!"

He muttered a couple of times, then thought of Li Hua. He instantly felt better, comfortably continued playing his phone.

This week there were exams for two days, two days reviewing test papers.

For Zeng You, this equaled having half a week's holiday. Friday and Saturday probably also had activities.

Round it up, equivalent to no school.

Suddenly, he remembered something. Turning to look around, he then asked Li Hua in the back row.

"Hasn't Luo Yong been here these two days?"

"Yeah, he's on leave." Li Hua scratched his face, "I heard he's sick, taking leave for a week."

"What kind of sickness." Zeng You envied, "That guy rented a place, surely he's playing phone in the rented house."

Li Hua whirred and his gyro fell on the desk.

"You could take leave too."

"True, thanks for the reminder." Zeng You was a bit tempted, already thinking about what to play this week.

Suddenly, Old Liu entered the classroom.

Zeng You quickly hid his phone, and after Old Liu left, he took it out again, suddenly having an epiphany.

He turned his head, changing his mind.

"I'm not taking leave."

"Why?" Li Hua pulled out the gyro again, shouted Gale Sky Wing once, "Weren't you envious of Luo Yong?"

"Not really, just thought it through." Zeng You said, "Playing in the dorm is too boring, better to play during class."

Li Hua: "??? "

Night study session break.

Dong Que took out a physics study guide, glanced at a few pages, felt dizzy, and gave up.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang from the back row.

"What happened?"

"Nothing, I just laid down for a while." Zhou Yuting was somewhat embarrassed, "Dreamt of an empty space underfoot."

"Okay."

The two chatted for a while, then Dong Que left. Only Zhou Yuting remained at her seat, staring blankly at the test paper.

Over the past few days, her scores have improved significantly.

But... still not enough.

After a while, Dong Que returned. She sat beside Zhou Yuting, tugged her, and whispered.

"Hey, I heard some other classes are making commemorative albums."

"What?" Zhou Yuting was so focused on grades, she responded a beat late, "Oh, classmate records?"

She had written one in middle school, even spent over a hundred yuan to buy three books, but later couldn't remember where she threw them.

In high school, it seemed nobody made these things.

"Is anyone handing out such stuff?" She asked suspiciously, "It's such an old trend, is it still in?"

"No." Dong Que waved her hands, "It's not records, it's photos... never mind, just thinking about it is awkward."

Zhou Yuting: "???"

She watched Dong Que leave, lost in thought. Awkward for all the photos or just for a particular person?

....

After the night study session.

Jiang Nian went home, freshened up, and then went next door. After asking about grades, he looked at the pair.

Under the light, each had their own qualities.

"What are you looking at?"

"Nothing, just thinking about exams." Jiang Nian said, "Speaking of which, have you guys considered college majors?"

Hearing this, the two girls looked at each other.

"No."

"It's too early to decide now." Song Xiyun said, "Different majors have different score requirements."

"If you can't meet the scores, you might end up being reassigned..."

What she said made sense, all three of them had scores above 600. Good results could reach 700, it's hard to estimate.

Moreover, with these scores, options are limited.

As for which scores to choose, they all agreed not to separate, either going to the same school or nearby.

"Let's choose after final scores." Xu Qianqian made the final decision, her scores didn't matter much.

Choosing then changing was all the same, mainly didn't want to pressure Xiao Song.

"Right." Song Xiyun nodded, she knew among the three, only she didn't have 700.

Jiang Nian shifted his gaze, a sense of anxiety grew. If after the summer of the college entrance exam, he's still alive.

Guessing he'd have to go to college in a big city.

Huge pressure.

A new place, unlike a small town. On one hand with money, on the other with concerns over the unknown.

So troubling.

Next day.

Wednesday was still reviewing papers, each subject discussed from morning till night. This went on for two straight days, until Thursday.

Thursday morning during the big break, the graduation photos were handed out.

Large envelopes filled with stacks of graduation photos. Tao Ran organized the people to distribute, from front to back.

The sixth group was naturally the last one.

Li Hua couldn't wait any longer, already went to the podium to have a look. After a while, he swaggered back.

"Geez, they made me look so ugly in the photos."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Ningzhi became very nervous. Hopefully, she wasn't made ugly too, and it couldn't be taken again.

Besides, it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

"Group leader, what about me?"

"Li Hua's just showing off, ignore him." Jiang Nian said, "He's intentionally saying he looks ugly to hide his lack of good looks."

"Chi Shi!!"

Zeng You chuckled, turned his head and said.

"Group leader, if you squeeze that zit above your neck, it won't look ugly anymore, how about it?"

Li Hua couldn't hold it, "Chi Shi Chi Shi! That's a head!!"

Loud bickering.

In the front row, Li Qingrong was the first to receive the graduation photos. Her gaze lowered slightly, the first to fall on a certain person.

She looked at it twice, then put the photo away.

On another side, Jiang Nian got his photo too. He scanned rows and columns, paused several times, then stowed it in his drawer.