Xu Ming finally decided to stop and rest, the experience points in the physics section of his panel had grown to 37, and as he stretched, he saw that the seat beside him was still empty, making him doubt whether his deskmate would arrive on time.
"Qian Hong, that guy, couldn't still be online, could he? He's not afraid of Li Wenhui writing him down in his little book and giving it to the homeroom teacher."
He muttered to himself, then turned his head and saw it was almost six o'clock, so he decided to fill his stomach first.
"Let's go eat first."
As soon as he finished speaking, he picked up his lunchbox and left.
Perhaps it was an unfortunate coincidence, but when Xu Ming arrived at the cafeteria, he had just gotten his food and hadn't found a place to sit when two familiar figures suddenly appeared before him.
It was Zhang Yingxin and her deskmate, Zhao Xin.
He looked up calmly and said, "Excuse me, please."
He didn't try to avoid them.
Zhao Xin clearly sought him out, her face full of anger, looking every bit like she was going to get justice for her friend.
She suddenly took a step forward, blocking his path, full of aggression.
"I really didn't expect you to be this kind of person. You couldn't wait for three more months and had to force Xinxin to confirm your relationship."
"And now you're deliberately avoiding her."
"Do you know that Xinxin said her grades have dropped significantly since she started interacting with you?"
After hearing these words, Xu Ming's brows furrowed even more. He wondered what Zhang Yingxin had said to make Zhao Xin also think he was playing hard to get, like he was chewing gum that couldn't be shaken off.
He had seen Zhao Xin a few times before when he helped Zhang Yingxin get food; she was the type with a righteous personality.
His impression of her was quite good.
In his previous life, after Zhang Yingxin's military training, when she quickly dropped out of school to get married, Zhao Xin even stood up for him.
However, at the moment, he had no interest in being lectured.
"When criticizing others, I suggest you first clarify the facts. Zhang Yingxin and I have no relationship, and we won't in the future. Also, her grades have always been very stable," Xu Ming responded coldly and decisively.
He was not wrong at all; Zhang Yingxin had paid to get into Dongping No. 1 High School through the entrance exam.
Before the division into arts and science classes, she was already at the bottom.
He really didn't know where she got the nerve to blame him for her problems; on the contrary, he was the one whose grades had genuinely slipped.
Zhang Yingxin remained silent, but from her evasive eyes, it was clear she felt a little guilty.
And though Zhao Xin's aggressive demeanor had significantly decreased, she still didn't back down verbally.
"Xinxin, let's go. He's not worth your time." Saying this, she pulled Zhang Yingxin and stepped towards the cafeteria exit.
Xu Ming suddenly called out to them, "Wait a moment."
"What, do you want to regret it now?" Zhao Xin turned her head and asked.
Ignoring her, Xu Ming focused his gaze on Zhang Yingxin, decisively initiating 'debt collection' mode.
"Can I have my twenty yuan back?"
Before Zhang Yingxin could respond, Zhao Xin couldn't hold back and pulled two ten-yuan notes from her pocket.
"Isn't it just twenty yuan? I'll pay you for Xinxin. Don't ever come to our class to bother her again."
"Rest assured," Xu Ming generously accepted the money.
Completely cutting ties with Zhang Yingxin and getting his money back was simply a double blessing.
It just so happened to cover the cost of the textbooks he bought that afternoon.
With this matter concluded, Xu Ming naturally didn't say another word.
He immediately turned in a different direction.
Zhang Yingxin watched Xu Ming leave, still maintaining a wronged expression, not thinking she had done anything wrong.
"I really don't know what I did wrong to make Xu Ming treat me like this."
"It's not so bad this way. For the time being, just focus all your energy on reviewing," Zhao Xin sighed upon hearing this, then offered a few sincere words of comfort, looking a little tired.
...
After dinner, Xu Ming returned to the classroom and continued to look through "Five Years of College Entrance Exams, Three Years of Simulation physics" for a while. Then he personally witnessed Qian Hong's last-minute entry into the class.
He sat on his stool, breathing heavily.
"Did he not even eat?"
"No time. I'll figure something out during evening self-study later," Qian Hong said, spreading his hands helplessly.
On Sunday evening self-study, most of the time, no teachers came.
Xu Ming thought he could peacefully review physics, but when the class bell rang, he saw the homeroom teacher, Wang Qingtao, walk into the classroom, holding a stack of graded test papers.
"Let's use these few periods to go over the practice paper from the day before yesterday."
He stood on the podium, his gaze like a torch sweeping across the students, making the classroom instantly fall silent.
Just from the atmosphere, one could guess that the results of this math practice had not satisfied the homeroom teacher.
"Before handing out the papers, allow me to ramble a bit."
"Some very simple questions, some people still get wrong every time they are explained. This makes me, your teacher, doubt my own methods."
"I hope that after today's explanation, everyone can learn from it, otherwise, I'll have to pull out that phrase: 'You are the worst class I've ever taught.'"
Wang Qingtao's words made the atmosphere cheerful again. Then, amidst everyone's laughter, he handed out the papers, but he called out names and scores for people to collect them.
"Sun Jie, 96 points."
"Yang Huijuan, 101 points."
...
"Li Wenhui, 120 points."
"Chen Lu, 134 points."
"Qian Hong, 83 points."
As each name was called out by Wang Qingtao, everyone walked to the podium in turn to collect their practice papers.
However, when Xu Ming's name was called, Wang Qingtao paused for two seconds and did not announce a score.
"Xu Ming."
Qian Hong, who was happily looking at his own paper, saw that Xu Ming didn't react and quickly bumped him with his arm.
"The homeroom teacher is calling you."
After Xu Ming came to his senses and stood up, the expression on Qian Hong's face, to an outsider, might have looked like he was seeing him off.
"Brother, have a good journey."
He knew best that his good friend had handed in a blank paper, so a scolding was definitely unavoidable.
Wang Qingtao was very angry at this moment.
That day, he saw Xu Ming flipping through his textbook during the exam and thought he had forgotten a formula. Although his grades had dropped, it was still within an acceptable range, and he planned to find time to have a good talk with him.
However, when grading the papers, he discovered that Xu Ming had only written the multiple-choice questions.
It could be said that it was almost equivalent to handing in a blank paper.
Without exaggeration, in all the time he had taught this class, it was like a maiden's first time encountering such a situation.
However, after Xu Ming came to the podium, Wang Qingtao ultimately suppressed his temper and only asked in a calm tone.
"Why didn't you write the later questions?"
Xu Ming: "..."
Taking the paper, Xu Ming truly didn't know how to explain at first, so he helplessly resorted to the 'Great Silence Technique.'
"Go back for now. Come to my office tomorrow," Wang Qingtao sighed and waved his hand, telling Xu Ming to return to his seat.
Li Wenhui, sitting in the front row, felt a current rush straight to his head when he saw Xu Ming's discomfort. The whole feeling was just two words: "Comfortable."
The anger he felt from being rebuffed by Xu Ming yesterday seemed to have vanished.
All he could think about was, after class, he would, as class monitor, urge Xu Ming to study diligently.
And to ask him for help with problems often.
Xu Ming returned to his seat with the paper, lowered his eyes, and looked carefully. He found that the homeroom teacher had only graded the multiple-choice questions and had not written down the score obtained, which immediately made a thought pop into his mind.
"I should just redo this paper."
