Xie Lan remained confused until he returned to his seat and got the Science Comprehensive test paper.

Did “upright school atmosphere” still mean what he thought it meant?

Also, exactly how many cameras has Dou Sheng broken?

The classroom was quiet, with only the scratching sound of pens on paper. Last night, Xie Lan had only crammed Chinese terms for Math and Physics; Chemistry was basically a lost cause.

He saw a plain test paper filled with—Hydrogen Helium Lithium Beryllium Boron Carbon Nitrogen Oxygen Fluorine Neon Sodium Magnesium Aluminum Silicon Phosphorus Sulfur Chlorine Argon Potassium Calcium.

In Xie Lan’s eyes: $#&@?

He flipped to the last page with a swish, laughing out of anger.

“Oh my,” Che Ziming muttered in front. “The new guy is driven crazy by the exam.”

Xie Lan decided to just pick out the Physics questions to do first.

After finishing the multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blanks, he couldn’t help but think: it’s been almost an hour, and Dou Sheng hasn’t come back yet.

He wasn’t beaten to death, right?

Just as he thought this, there was a sound at the front door of the classroom. Someone slipped in from outside and returned to his seat under the angry glare of the invigilator.

Xie Lan glanced at him intentionally or unintentionally from the corner of his eye.

No obvious injuries on his face, but his hair was a bit messier than in the morning.

He was rushing through the answer sheet, not even using scratch paper. The tip of his pen followed his gaze, tapping twice before ticking an option directly, quickly moving to the next one, as if he didn’t have much time left.

One minute before papers were collected, Hu Xiujie appeared at the door.

Standing behind her were three guys—Long Hair and Buzz Cut with bruised faces, and a ruddy-faced “Country bumpkin.” There was a hint of shyness on “Country bumpkin’s” honest face.

The moment the bell rang, Hu Xiujie said coldly, “Dou Sheng, come out!”

“Coming.”

Dou Sheng quickly scribbled the last few strokes on the paper, stood up, slapped the paper into Herring’s hand at the front desk, and walked out quickly through the front door.

“Fuck,” Che Ziming stared wide-eyed. “So much for not striking first actively!”

Yu Fei sighed. “Crazy enough. Dai You, go take a look?”

Dai You spun his coffee bottle and frowned. “No homework assigned, no papers returned, can’t find an excuse to go to the office.”

The three of them suddenly looked at Xie Lan simultaneously.

Xie Lan: “Hmm?”

Dai You smiled innocently, exactly like his good brother Dou Sheng.

“Student Xie Lan hasn’t picked up his textbooks yet, right? Tested all day and haven’t had a long talk with Hu Xiujie yet, right?”

Che Ziming slapped the table and stood up. “Knew you were going to the office, I’ll lead the way!”

Xie Lan: “I didn’t…”

Dai You interrupted him: “As the study commissary, I also have an obligation to accompany you.”

Yu Fei’s face fell: “Then how about… I go eat?”

“Keep dreaming!”

“…”

Actually, Xie Lan had been to the office in the morning. It was bustling with people then, but miraculously, half the corridor was empty now.

The door wasn’t closed. Dou Sheng was standing by the window sill. His white shirt was untucked around his hips, making his waist look thin from the side, but his figure was still tall and upright.

He had one hand in his trouser pocket, looking out the window with a cold expression.

Long Hair and Buzz Cut were pouring out their grievances to Hu Xiujie with added embellishments, conveniently absolving themselves. But Hu Xiujie’s sharp gaze remained on Dou Sheng’s face. When they finished, she asked coldly, “I want to hear from you. Did you hit them?”

Dou Sheng withdrew his gaze from the window and nodded. “I hit them.”

Exuding a silent arrogance and refusal to bow his head.

Hu Xiujie asked, “Why?”

Dou Sheng smiled, turned his head to glance at the two, “They hurt my eyes.”

The two looked ugly on the spot. Hu Xiujie, unaware of the truth, looked even uglier. She slapped the table and shouted, “Speak human language to me! Put away that lawless attitude; I’ve spoiled you too much! Playing with phones and cameras at school is one thing, but now you dare to skip a major exam like the placement test? You dare to take my Science Comprehensive lightly! And going out to fight? Class 4 can’t contain you anymore, can it? If you want to change classes, just say so!”

Her scolding voice was loud as a bell, like pouring words into people’s ears by the ton with a funnel. Even Xie Lan managed to hear every word clearly.

Echoes layered in the corridor. Students passing in the distance turned around and left one after another. No wonder there was no one around.

The atmosphere solidified a bit. Xie Lan looked at Dou Sheng, who was frowning in silence, and suddenly felt a bit nervous.

He had experienced how crazy this bro was; arguing with the grade director wasn’t impossible.

Unexpectedly, Dou Sheng relaxed his brow after a moment of silence, lowered his eyes, and said softly, “I still finished the Science Comprehensive, teacher. I even used scratch paper for Physics.”

Xie Lan: “?”

Hu Xiujie looked numb. “So I have to thank you?”

Dou Sheng pursed his lips and whispered after a while, “No need. Physics is my favorite subject. No matter how outrageous things get, I won’t delay a Physics exam. I have to do right by my teachers and parents, and even more so by my own ideals. Please rest assured.”

Long Hair and Buzz Cut’s faces cracked from this drama.

Hu Xiujie sneered. “Your ideal has become my Physics again? Didn’t you tell Teacher Ma last week it was Math?”

As she spoke, she pulled Dou Sheng two steps inside and pushed shut the window crack that was letting in cold wind.

Che Ziming huddled behind Xie Lan, shaking. “I’m gonna laugh until I yue.”

Xie Lan subconsciously asked, “What does yue mean?”

“It means vomiting. It’s an onomatopoeia. Don’t people go yue— at the start when vomiting?” Che Ziming said earnestly. “Returnee, you still have a lot to learn.”

He just said it casually, but Xie Lan nodded seriously.

Although this onomatopoeia was a bit disgusting, he had to admit it was concise and vivid.

Chinese is truly beautiful.

“Teacher, that’s not it,” Wang Gou (“Country bumpkin”) suddenly spoke up, trying hard to speak Mandarin with his broken, hoarse voice. “That phrase ‘hurt my eyes’ was student Dou Sheng’s satire. Originally, those two said it to me.”

Hu Xiujie raised an eyebrow. “Said what to you?”

Wang Gou was calm before, but facing the teacher now, he was a bit nervous, his voice trembling.

“They think our accent hurts ears (is unpleasant), forbidding us from speaking. It started since the make-up classes last week, couldn’t shake them off. Today in the latrine, I accidentally broke the rule by speaking. They wanted to fix me, and this Class 4 big shot bumped into it.”

Hearing this, Dou Sheng turned his head to stare blankly out the window again.

“At first, we advised the big shot not to delay the exam, and he listened. But alas, these two didn’t listen! They started fighting with cracks and crunches. Are we telling lies? We dare not. They even sneak-attacked him from behind. If not for the big shot being light as a swallow in the clouds with heroic spirit soaring to the sky, forget about taking the Science Comprehensive today; he’d be going to the hospital horizontally right now. Tell me, can you blame him for fighting back? No way!”

The more nervous he got, the more chatty he became, asking and answering himself, performing a solo crosstalk.

Xie Lan didn’t know enough about traditional culture, but he quite liked crosstalk. The cadence and sarcasm, even if he couldn’t keep up, was entertaining to listen to.

Wang Gou stopped and explained tremblingly, “Sorry, teacher, I love playing the supporting role to myself when I’m nervous.”

Hu Xiujie frowned into a knot. “What kind of habit is that? Change it!”

“Yes, teacher.”

Long Hair cried out in panic, “It was wrong for us to scold him, but we didn’t hit anyone! The two of them ganging up makes sense no matter what they say. So us getting injured means we are more in the wrong?”

Hearing this, Dou Sheng turned around. Lifting his eyes, he happened to meet Xie Lan’s gaze outside the door. The trace of impatience in his eyes paused for a moment, as if he didn’t expect Xie Lan to come over.

But he quickly withdrew his gaze, walked up to Long Hair, reached out, and grabbed his collar.

Hu Xiujie immediately shouted, “Dou Sheng, let go! Lawless!”

Xie Lan stared at that hand. Slender and fair, every knuckle bursting with power when clenched tight.

Really good-looking. He couldn’t help but sigh in his heart.

Playing the violin for so many years, he always subconsciously observed hands first when looking at someone. Dou Sheng’s hands were the best-looking he had ever seen.

Dou Sheng scoffed, “You have logic? You bullied the person, you asked for the fight. Same Chinese language with a bit of accent and you insult it. I thought you were so arrogant, but you get a little hurt and bring it up? Did I mention my heavy injury?”

Hu Xiujie was stunned and looked him up and down subconsciously. “You’re injured too?”

“Injured.” Dou Sheng let go, thought for a moment, and held his lower back. “Tailbone hurts.”

Che Ziming muttered behind Xie Lan, “That’s called coccyx.”

Hu Xiujie was obviously nervous. “Bone hurts?”

Long Hair cursed, “Are you fucking human? I didn’t hit your lower back!”

“Why didn’t you?” Dou Sheng raised his hand lazily and pointed out the door. “He saw it all. Even helped me check the injury back in class.”

A room full of people turned to stare.

Xie Lan froze.

Hu Xiujie frowned. “During the exam? What were you two doing in the back row?”

Dou Sheng said lazily, “Nothing much. Just pulled open the waistband to let him take a look. One second thing.”

Xie Lan: “??”

“Right?” Dou Sheng turned back calmly to look at him.

Che Ziming poked Xie Lan from behind. “Heavens, you even looked inside his waistband?”

Xie Lan was numb.

After a long time, he gave an expressionless “Mmh.”

Damn slut.

He greeted him with beautiful Chinese words in his heart.

---

There was an English exam during evening self-study. Hu Xiujie didn’t detain them for too long, just said this wasn’t over.

When Xie Lan and the others returned, papers were already being handed out. Dou Sheng was a few minutes later than them. He returned to his seat under the gaze of a group of owls, looked down at the paper, ignoring Xie Lan’s “kind” look.

Hu Xiujie appeared at the front door right after, looking like she had swallowed a handful of razor blades. “You guys just float, just act up. All day today I’ve only heard teachers of various subjects complain about how poorly you tested. Wait for me to talk to you one by one!”

The class was silent.

After a while, Hu Xiujie left, and everyone sighed in relief to prepare for the listening section.

The English exam was a bit idiotic.

Setting aside whether it was simple or not, the key was that some questions baffled Xie Lan, a half-Brit.

The extremely boring test paper triggered the jet lag suppressed all day. Xie Lan finished the paper at lightning speed, slumped on the table, and fell asleep in seconds.

This sleep was deep, until the piercing bell rang and the group leader came to pull away the test paper pressed under his arm.

It took Xie Lan a while to struggle out of the semi-nightmare state. lifting his head in confusion, eyes not yet adapted to the light, he saw a male teacher striding onto the podium.

Over forty years old, with gentle eyes and glowing spirits. He greeted the English teacher, patted the podium, and said, “Hey hey, don’t leave school yet. Let me ask first, where is the new student Xie Lan?”

Xie Lan raised his hand, half-asleep and half-awake.

The male teacher fondled the thermos cup in his hand with a beaming face. “Only graded part of the papers, couldn’t help but come to identify the person first. Amazing. This paper can give me a full score! Famous in the Math group. You’ve made a name for yourself right upon arrival.”

Such a long string of words.

While Xie Lan was still digesting it groggily with eyes half-closed, the room full of owls exploded with a whoosh.

Che Ziming’s eyes widened into circles. “Full, full… full score??!”

Herring couldn’t help turning back either, muttering a “Damn” with a complicated expression.

“This paper is out of 150??”
“Fuck me, didn’t they say foreigners are bad at math?”
“What the hell!”
“Here to crash the party, right!”
“My mentality collapsed.”

In the pot of boiling chaos, only Xie Lan’s left side was quiet.

—A certain Dou, who had also fallen asleep on the desk during the exam at some point.

A few seconds later, that certain person woke up on his own, slowly sat straight, and rubbed his red forehead.

Some sobriety barely gathered in his black eyes. First, he glanced at Xie Lan, then looked above the podium desk.

Dou Sheng’s sleepy voice was lower than usual, carrying a bit of softness.

“What do you mean by a full score appeared?”

The stress was on “a.”

Old Ma raised his eyebrows like a gloating Long-eared Owl. “Don’t think about it. I picked your paper out to grade first. Last question, square root of 243 wasn’t simplified. Deduct two points.”

Dou Sheng: “…Oh.”

A low-spirited “Oh” was like a cooling talisman slapped on Xie Lan’s forehead, more refreshing than chewing a handful of mints.

Xie Lan glanced to his left and said coolly, “Next time you can copy common square roots onto the composition paper.”

Dou Sheng: “Hmm?”

He stared at him blankly for two seconds, then lowered his eyes and laughed, whispering, “Quite vengeful, aren’t you.”