On the playground, the music for the flag-raising ceremony had already started, and a gentle breeze blew in from all directions, dispersing the voices of the students.
Yet, Lin Tiao could still hear everything very clearly, every word coming through distinctly.
She looked up and saw the tall, straight figure of a boy at the front of the line, his lips curling up slightly. Her heart felt like it was swimming in a jar of honey—sweet to the point of bubbling over.
Xu Huanhuan, who arrived late, took the empty spot in front of Lin Tiao. Seeing her smiling face, she leaned in and asked, “Hey, what are you thinking about, smiling so happily?”
Startled, Lin Tiao let out an "ah," took a step back, and quickly regained her composure. “It’s nothing, just thinking about how the results are about to come out. I’m excited.”
After the morning reading session, Mr. Yu mentioned he would bring the report cards to the next math class.
Xu Huanhuan was a mediocre student among the top scholars, and she was always trying to avoid grades. Hearing Lin Tiao say that, she suddenly looked disheartened. “Sister, don’t mention grades; let’s keep our friendship intact.”
Lin Tiao chuckled softly, “It’s fine; you’ll get used to this kind of thing in the future.”
Xu Huanhuan surrendered, “Alright, I’m sitting behind two top students; I believe one day I’ll also become a real scholar.”
Lin Tiao squeezed her shoulder and said earnestly, “Go for it! You can do it, Xu Xiaokui!”
Xu Huanhuan rolled her eyes. “Shut up.”
The lengthy and tedious flag-raising ceremony quickly passed amid Xu Huanhuan’s complaints. Shortly after the ceremony ended, the first class bell rang.
This class was math.
Mr. Yu had arrived early in the classroom, and once all the students were settled, he picked up the report card from the desk and began to speak slowly, “This time, our class performed quite well. Eight students made it into the top fifty of the grade, and twenty-five students made it into the top one hundred.”
“Our results are no less than those of the key class students.”
As he spoke on stage, Lin Tiao whispered to Jiang Yan sitting next to her, “So, Jiang Yan what do you think your rank will be this time?”
At that moment, Jiang Yan was feeling drowsy, rubbing his tired eyes. He lazily replied, “Probably just barely the first in the grade.”
Though the rocket class did not participate in this exam, there were still several key classes above Class 18 that were not far behind the rocket class. Lin Tiao found his unshakeable confidence hard to believe. “If you said you’d be first in the class, I might believe you, but first in the grade? Are you dreaming?”
She hadn’t made such unrealistic dreams since kindergarten.
Jiang Yan glanced at her, his back lit by the sunlight, his facial features sharply defined. The tiredness faded from his expression as he smiled, his voice clear. “Are you stupid?”
“Who is stupid, who knows.” Lin Tiao thought she was a good kid with ideals and awareness. Even though she liked him, she definitely wouldn’t blindly think he was perfect just because of that.
Jiang Yan leaned his head down, resting on his arm, his eyes bright. “Let’s make a bet.”
A bet?
At his words, Lin Tiao suddenly recalled her previous foolish and failed wager. She planned to redeem herself this time and asked quietly, “What are we betting on?”
Jiang Yan rubbed his nose and said casually, “Just betting on whether I’ll be first in the grade.”
“Then I bet you definitely won’t be,” Lin Tiao thought he must be underestimating her. After being fooled once, would she let herself be fooled again?
Absolutely not.
“Alright, the winner will decide the terms of the bet.” Jiang Yan straightened up, lowered his head, a clear smile playing on his lips, the sunlight outside casting a glow on his profile.
On the podium, Mr. Yu finally started announcing the results after some lengthy speeches. “This time, our class's students who made it into the top fifty in the grade are Lin Tiao, Zhou Qiqi, Fang Xindu, Wenbo, and Jiang Yan.”
After reading the list, Mr. Yu looked toward the front row. “Among them, our class's Du Wenbo achieved a score of 706, ranking second in the grade.”
Hearing this, Lin Tiao thought it was impossible for Jiang Yan to claim the top spot.
Who would have thought, the next second, Mr. Yu turned his gaze to the back. “Jiang Yan has secured the first place in this mock exam by a narrow margin of one point.”
Lin Tiao: “…”
Mr. Yu led the applause, his tone full of pride. “Everyone, give him a round of applause!”
The classroom erupted with applause, the sound vibrating so much that it made Lin Tiao's ears tingle.
She realized she had been wrong.
After getting fooled once, she found herself falling for it again. It wasn’t Jiang Yan who was foolish; it was her.
Amid the clamor, Lin Tiao thought she heard him chuckle. Turning her head, she unexpectedly met the boy's gaze and sighed in resignation. “Okay, you win. I admit defeat.”
Falling into the same pit twice.
This was truly a milestone of dark history in her life.
Mr. Yu shifted the topic from grades to something else, and the classroom atmosphere relaxed, with no one paying attention to their conversation.
Jiang Yan leaned sideways against the wall, his chin slightly raised, his straight lines accentuated as he spoke, his Adam's apple visibly moving with his words. “Now you owe me two bets, and I’ll be collecting on them.”
When he said this, he was particularly serious. Lin Tiao couldn't help but look at him. There was no trace of joking in his eyes, and her heart raced. She steadied her voice and asked, “What do you want?”
He didn’t answer the question. “We’ll talk about it later.”
Later.
Lin Tiao repeated these two words in her mind, suddenly feeling that “later” seemed too far away for someone their age.
She couldn’t help but ask, “Later, how long is that? By then, we might not even be together anymore.”
“It won’t happen.” Jiang Yan's eyes softened, filled with an unexplainable seriousness. “We will always be together.”
The warm sunlight poured in through the window, outlining the boy’s silhouette in sharp relief. In that moment of looking at him, Lin Tiao felt a sense of anticipation for the unknown future.
—
Even though it was lunchtime, few students in the class were resting. Mr. Yu had mentioned before class that during the lunch break, according to the ranking on the report cards, he would take students to the office one by one to chat.
Although the overall performance of the class had improved, several students had seen a significant drop in their scores compared to before they joined the class.
For example, Lin Tiao, who had entered the class ranked third, had now dropped to eighth place and was listed as a key subject for inquiry by Mr. Yu.
To be honest, Lin Tiao didn’t particularly care about the grades. Whether they went up or down, she thought it was all part of the normal process.
However, Mr. Yu thought otherwise. He believed that Lin Tiao’s drop in grades had only one reason: she had fallen in love early.
As for the object of her affection, Mr. Yu couldn’t figure it out, but based on a post he accidentally saw in the morning, it seemed the girl was currently in a state of unrequited love.
To nip this budding romance in the bud, Yu Bingshan came up with a plan to have her deskmate come over and chat, hoping to find some clues.
In the afternoon office, apart from Yu Bingshan, the other teachers had returned to the staff dormitory to rest.
He made himself a cup of tea and pulled out the comparison between Lin Tiao's grades when she joined the class and her performance in this exam, further confirming his suspicion that the girl had been affected by early romance.
Believing it was his responsibility as a teacher, he thought he needed to pull her back onto the right path in a timely manner.
While he was deep in thought, the first-place student knocked on the door, his voice lazily calling out, "Mr. Yu."
Yu Bingshan quickly snapped out of his reverie and looked at Jiang Yan. "You're here. Come in and have a seat."
Jiang Yan was straightforward and sat down immediately, speaking first, "Mr. Yu, I feel I made quite a big improvement this time. I didn't miss any exams and I'm not at the bottom of the rankings, so let's make this quick. Just say a couple of things and we're done."
Yu Bingshan didn’t expect the boy to be so direct. After a moment’s pause, he said, “Jiang Yan, I didn’t call you over primarily about this exam. I have something else I want to ask you.”
Jiang Yan picked up a small gadget from the desk without looking up. "What is it? You can just ask directly."
Yu Bingshan hesitated for a long time, not sure how to broach the subject, his hand resting on his teacup. "It's about your relationship with your deskmate."
This question was too sensitive.
Jiang Yan instantly became alert, raising an eyebrow and engaging in a bit of verbal sparring. "It's fine. I don’t plan on switching deskmates."
"Don't rush; I didn't say I would switch your deskmate." Yu Bingshan relaxed his tightly knitted brow. "I just wanted to know if you've noticed anything unusual about her recently."
Seeing Jiang Yan's confused expression, Yu Bingshan sighed internally and decided to speak more directly. "I suspect your deskmate has fallen in love early."
Jiang Yan dropped the item in his hand, surprised. It fell to the floor with a thud. He quickly regained his composure, bent down to pick it up, and replied casually, "Why do you say that all of a sudden?"
"Didn’t your deskmate’s scores drop significantly this time? I was wondering about the reason, and when I went to the classroom this morning, guess what I saw?"
Jiang Yan awkwardly played along, "What?"
"Your deskmate was reading something about how difficult it is to handle a crush. It was all related to early romance." Yu Bingshan was quite troubled. "Tell me, if she wasn’t in love early, why would she be looking at that? Her grades wouldn’t have dropped so severely."
Jiang Yan replied coldly, "It’s also possible she’s just gotten dumber."
"That’s not impossible," Yu Bingshan was about to continue along that line when he realized what he was saying. "But you can’t say it like that. The second-year curriculum is indeed more challenging, but your deskmate doesn’t seem like someone who can’t keep up. So I still believe this is related to her being influenced by early romance."
Jiang Yan put the object back on the desk, lifting his eyelids slightly. "If my deskmate is in love early, why are you talking to me about it? You should talk to her directly."
"I’m just afraid it might upset her." Yu Bingshan took a sip of hot water from his cup. "Since you usually spend time with her, have you noticed her interacting more frequently with any boys?"
Jiang Yan thought for a moment and nodded, "Yes."
Yu Bingshan's eyes lit up; he knew it must be the case. He quickly asked, "Who is it? Which class is he from? If I catch him, I’ll give him a good talking to."
Jiang Yan chuckled lightly, rubbing his nose. "It’s me."
Yu Bingshan felt that this topic was going nowhere. "You kid, stop joking around. I called you here to help your deskmate, not to add chaos."
Hearing this, Jiang Yan lifted his gaze to meet Yu Bingshan's, speaking casually, "If she wants to fall in love early, even if I watch her twenty-four hours a day, I can't stop her. I advise you to just let it go."
"No, I still need to think of a way." Yu Bingshan wore a frown. "You can go back now and ask Du Wenbo to come here."
"Okay." Jiang Yan stood up, tidied his slightly loose uniform, standing tall. "Actually, if you want to stop my deskmate from falling in love with someone from another class, there is a way."
"What good method do you have?"
Jiang Yan smiled at him, "Fall in love with me."
"..."
"I study well and have strong self-discipline. Who knows, I might even be able to help my deskmate get into Tsinghua.
Mr. Yu looked at his suggestion with disdain and contempt. "A gentleman does not take away someone else's love; you can't do such morally corrupt and scandalous things."
Jiang Yan held back a curse in his heart.
Damn it.
After chatting with Mr. Yu, Jiang Yan felt uncomfortable all over. He went to the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face before returning to the classroom.
The girl was sitting in her seat chatting with someone, her laughter bright and cheerful. Apparently, she had said something funny, as her laughter grew even louder.
Jiang Yan walked over and silently returned to his seat.
Lin Tiao had seen him when he entered the classroom. Following his figure with her gaze, she noticed something was off about his expression and quietly asked, “What did Mr. Yu want to talk to you about?”
Jiang Yan looked at her, water droplets hanging from his eyebrows sliding down the sides of his face. His eyes were dim, and his tone was flat. “He didn’t say much, just praised me.”
“Are you sure he was praising you?” Lin Tiao glanced at his expression. “With the way you look, I thought Mr. Yu had scolded you.”
Jiang Yan gave a noncommittal “hmm” and said indifferently, “He did scold me, to be honest.”
“Really? Even after you did this great?” Lin Tiao, who hadn’t worried much about her own decline in performance until now, started to feel anxious.
“The scolding wasn’t all directed at me; it included you too.”
Lin Tiao looked at him, surprised. “Why? What right does he have to scold me in front of you? Isn’t that talking behind my back? Did you report me to Mr. Yu?”
Jiang Yan was speechless.
Seriously, what the hell.
He raised his hand to wipe his face, suppressing his discomfort, and glanced at her. “Why did your grades drop so much this time?”
“Oh, I just ran into questions I couldn’t answer.” In reality, Lin Tiao felt that her grades had improved compared to before; at least she hadn’t lost too many points in physics. “I actually think I did okay.”
“Okay?” Jiang Yan’s anger seemed to come from nowhere. “Go take a look at the top fifty in the grade; who has a lower physics score than yours?”
Lin Tiao felt his logic was flawed and mumbled, “If my physics score was higher than theirs, then I wouldn’t be in the fifty position, would I?”
“Fine, you’re right. You can go tell Mr. Yu yourself.”
“That’s what I was going to do, anyway.” Lin Tiao was puzzled by his sudden aggressiveness, thought for a moment, and then suppressed her instinct to retort. Lowering her head, she began to admit her fault. “Okay, I know I did poorly this time; it’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have ignored the class, shouldn’t have gone online at night, shouldn’t have slacked off on my homework, and shouldn’t have thought about early romance.”
Her voice abruptly stopped.
Jiang Yan looked up at her in disbelief. “You really are in puppy love aren’t you?”
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