Chapter 39

Chen Jinglong treated a group of people to dinner and then invited everyone to play at a bar. Cheng Xiaoyu thought about having to return to school the next day to pick up her report card, so she politely declined. After all, their band was set to perform officially in the Forest of Lights the day after tomorrow, and she figured they would have to come even if they didn't want to, so Chen Jinglong didn't insist.

As they were about to disperse, Cheng Xiaoyu said, "Wang Ou, you and SUMMER are on the same route, so you should take her home!"

Wang Ou was taken aback and said, "But I take the subway, and she rides a bicycle!"

Cheng Xiaoyu was speechless and could only think to herself, "Brother can only help you so much!"

Xia Shamo quickly waved her hands and said, "No need, my house is very close from here! Besides, it's only seven o'clock, it's still early!"

Cheng Xiaoyu smiled and said, "Alright! See you at school tomorrow!"

Xia Shamo waved goodbye to Cheng Xiaoyu, said goodbye to Wang Ou, and then rode off.

Cheng Xiaoyu gave Wang Ou a nudge on the knee and said, "Are you stupid?"

Wang Ou, unusually, didn't jump up to fight with Cheng Xiaoyu. He smiled bitterly and said, "I only have a little bit of courage to secretly love her. If I take one more step, I'm afraid I'll lose even the right to secretly love her."

Cheng Xiaoyu forced a smile and put his arm around Wang Ou, saying, "What are you afraid of! Brother supports you, believe in yourself, you can do it." As he said this, he felt he was going against his own will.

Wang Ou, however, invited Cheng Xiaoyu with a carefree attitude, "Good buddy, your support is enough! Actually, the feeling of secret love is quite nice. This kind of happiness is so simple, a chance encounter, a few boring lines of dialogue. A moment of being closest, able to smell the fragrance of her hair. Actually, I should thank you, Xiaoyu. You let me get so close to her. Happiness is so easy for me every day, I don't ask for more, I'm afraid if I ask for more, I'll lose everything."

Cheng Xiaoyu sighed inwardly, thinking, "This is a life of loneliness," but he laughed and said, "Wow! I didn't expect our big strong guy to have such a literary moment! If I were a girl and heard your monologue, I might just give you a chance!"

Wang Ou pushed Cheng Xiaoyu away in disgust and said, "Xiaopang, speak the truth! If you were a girl, I'd probably even look down on you!"

Cheng Xiaoyu cursed and grabbed Wang Ou's butt, saying, "Still pretty elastic! Why don't you just make do, and we'll be together!"

Wang Ou pinched Cheng Xiaoyu's chest and said, "Your chest is bigger! You be the uke!"

"I'll tell Xia Shamo that you secretly love her tomorrow!"

"Bro, I'm wrong! I'll send you a great movie tonight! A genuine Japanese adult film."

"Damn, you have such good stuff! Why didn't you send it earlier?"

"It's just the holiday! During school, I was afraid it would affect your studies!"

"I watch movies like the news, I've already reached the level of seeing the code but not feeling it!"

"Alright, I'll send you the full-screen version with code!"

"Have the guts to add it!"

The noise gradually faded away, and the sky was filled with stars shining like diamonds in a deep blue velvet sky. The midnight wind, like a teenager's love, was invisible but could be felt in its warmth.

For most young people, first love is quietly born in secret love. It is waiting at the street corner, pretending to meet by chance; it is a casual but heavy-hearted greeting; it is the warmth of a cup of coffee passed over; it is the length of a diary recorded in the deep night, and it is the most precious tear in the eyes after the heart is broken.

Our glorious youth, to say love, is too heavy, beyond the capacity of young shoulders to bear.

To say like is too easy, a sincere heart, a devout offering, is so completely exposed to the wind and rain, to the sun.

Such feelings are like, yet infinitely close to love. They are beautiful yet infinitely close to pain.

－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－华丽的分割线－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

When Cheng Xiaoyu got home, he was afraid Xu Qinling might really be there. Fortunately, he returned late, and Xu Qinling had already gone to bed with Su Yuxi. According to Qiao Sansi, during the winter and summer holidays, Xu Qinling usually stayed at Su's house more than at her own.

Thinking about this, Cheng Xiaoyu felt a headache.

The next day, Cheng Xiaoyu got up early and went to school to pick up his report card. Just as he reached the entrance of the teaching building, he saw many people gathered around the bulletin board.

Usually, the top twenty students in each grade would be listed on the red list. Cheng Xiaoyu didn't think much of it, changed into indoor shoes, and went to the classroom. However, he didn't know that this time, in addition to the top twenty students, his Chinese and math test papers were also posted on the bulletin board. He caused a sensation once again.

When Cheng Xiaoyu entered the classroom, the originally noisy room immediately became silent. Not knowing what had happened, he sat down and asked Wang Ou, "What's going on? What happened?"

Wang Ou, surprised, said, "You didn't see the bulletin board?"

Cheng Xiaoyu, also surprised, asked, "Did my grades make it into the top twenty?"

Wang Ou cursed and said, "More than the top twenty! Your Chinese and math test papers are posted on the bulletin board!"

Cheng Xiaoyu was puzzled, "Why?"

Wang Ou sighed, "I thought you only had musical talent, but it turns out you have the potential to be a great poet."

"What's going on!" Cheng Xiaoyu guessed that the poems he wrote had caused a stir, but he didn't expect it to be so big.

"You've created history at Fudan High School. Despite losing a few points at the beginning of the Chinese test, the teacher still gave you a perfect score. For your math test, despite getting many multiple-choice questions right, the math teacher still gave you a zero! Now, no one in the school doesn't know about you! You've really dazzled everyone's 24K nitric acid copper hardened krypton gold anti-riot dog eyes." Wang Ou said with admiration.

Cheng Xiaoyu had greatly underestimated the chain reaction caused by a few poems. He hadn't carefully considered that the poems he wrote were treasures of an era, especially "Dreaming of Horses," which had touched the hearts of many literary youth. At this moment, Cheng Xiaoyu felt a bit regretful, thinking that such a great poem was only written for a final exam. If it were the college entrance exam, it would have caused a national sensation. But thinking about it, how could things be so coincidental? Would the college entrance exam definitely be about dreams? He then said to Wang Ou, "I thought it was something else! Anyway, the score doesn't matter to me!"

Wang Ou said with regret, "What a pity, what a pity! If you had Li Liwei's image, how many female students would throw themselves at you! Even if you looked like me, you'd still get a lot of love letters!"

Cheng Xiaoyu glanced at Wang Ou and said, "Like you? Do you know! Ugliness is for life. Being fat is just temporary!" The classmates around them laughed uncontrollably.

Huang Lijuan, who sat in front of Cheng Xiaoyu with her braids, covered her mouth and laughed, turning to Cheng Xiaoyu and saying, "Cheng Xiaoyu, you're really talented. I need to get to know you again!" This was the first time Huang Lijuan, who usually only interacted with Cheng Xiaoyu when passing him test papers, spoke to him.

Wang Ou, not embarrassed, said, "This is called having a strong personality, called manliness, you don't understand anything."

Cheng Xiaoyu ignored Wang Ou and said to Huang Lijuan, "Ha, I just like to write for my own entertainment. I didn't expect the teacher to appreciate it. I'm a bit surprised too." Cheng Xiaoyu was very skilled at polite conversation, but being showy wasn't his style; being low-key and playing the tiger was his preference.

Huang Lijuan, though an ordinary-looking girl, had a special bookish charm, especially fond of gentle Song Dynasty poetry, a delicate and refined girl like Lin Daiyu. She took out a delicate notebook from her drawer, opened a blank page, and handed it to Cheng Xiaoyu, saying, "Your handwriting is also very beautiful, and your poetry is lovely. Could you write 'At This Most Beautiful Moment' for me? It's my favorite. In the future, when you become a great poet, I can keep it as a souvenir."

Cheng Xiaoyu couldn't refuse such a request, took out a fountain pen, and used He Lan's cursive script to write the title "A Flowering Tree." The beautiful cursive script flowed gracefully on the notebook, the sound of the pen like a crystal silkworm gently devouring the pages. When Cheng Xiaoyu finished, Huang Lijuan placed a golden ginkgo leaf in the middle and said, "It's as beautiful as a painting!"

Then, several more notebooks were passed around, and everyone clamored, "I want that poem, I like that poem!"

Xia Shamo glanced at the flustered Cheng Xiaoyu and secretly smiled, thinking about the already prepared sheet music and lyrics, and silently felt that she had been foresighted.

When Wang Wei came to the class to distribute the student handbooks, the noisy Class 3 (2) finally quieted down. He announced the top ten students in the class and the top twenty in the grade. Wang Wei pushed his glasses and slowly said, "We also need to specially commend Cheng Xiaoyu. He made significant progress in the final exam, even though he got a zero in math!" The classroom erupted in laughter, but it was not mocking, but rather a friendly chuckle.

Cheng Xiaoyu also smiled. Wang Wei continued, "Cheng Xiaoyu needs to work hard on his math. Maybe he can also make it into the top ten in the class." This statement caused another stir in the class!

After distributing the student handbooks, Cheng Xiaoyu saw his grades: Chinese 150, History 119, Geography 127, Math 0, Politics and Economics 90, English 50, Physical Education 19, ranking 33rd in the class.

Chen Haoran, as expected, was the top student in both the class and the grade. Xia Shamo was the 9th in the class but didn't make the top twenty in the grade. Wang Ou, however, had a bitter expression, originally thinking he would do better than Cheng Xiaoyu, but this time he was at the bottom of the class. Fortunately, as an athlete, his academic performance wasn't as important, and in a class of top students, he had done his best. In other schools, his grades would be in the middle, not at the bottom.

After distributing the student handbooks, Wang Wei announced some winter vacation precautions, hoping everyone wouldn't slack off in their studies. After wishing everyone a happy New Year, the class erupted in applause, and the winter vacation officially began.

As Cheng Xiaoyu was still packing up his things, the class was in an uproar again. Unfamiliar classmates at the door were pointing at Cheng Xiaoyu and talking to students from the neighboring class. Cheng Xiaoyu was flustered, thinking that a few poems shouldn't have turned him into an idol, causing so many people to gather around. He hadn't even caused such a stir when his article was published!

Wang Ou quickly went over to find out if there was anything else. A moment later, he turned back and said to Cheng Xiaoyu, "Brother, you're in big trouble!"

Cheng Xiaoyu, looking at Wang Ou's serious face, rolled his eyes and said, "What could happen?"

"The poems you wrote for Ji Yunyun, Ji Yunyun also posted on the bulletin board!" Wang Ou said with a sly smile, "Impressive! I didn't expect you to quietly win over the class beauty! This confession is as good as Chen Jiajun's! Brother!"

Cheng Xiaoyu was at a loss, thinking that Ji Yunyun hadn't contacted him for so long, and now this was a flashy R skill plus a critical hit.

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