Chapter 17

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

After the warning, Zhou Mei instructed both of them. “You will get hungry quickly if you use a lot of your brain. You can eat while studying. Let me know if you’re hungry. I’ll cook noodles for you.”

Wen Nian laughed secretly. Thankfully, she had gotten away with it by making an accusation. This time, her brohter definitely won’t think too much about it.

Soon, Monday arrived. After a few rounds of studying together, Wen Nian’s progress was evident, and Huang Yue could sense a real change in her. Though she wasn’t quite sure why, considering she had lost to Wen Nian previously, she didn’t feel the need to start any trouble. Besides, Wei Xiao had gone overseas and Huang Yue heard that his engagement with Wen Nian had been broken off. She felt conflicted, wondering whether to continue trying to contact Wei Xiao or find a new target.

The work at the hotel and the construction site followed a work schedule where workers work three shifts in a day. Furthermore, food was provided during working hours. Hence, Zhou Mei could only make breakfast for Wen Nian when she did not work at night. Usually, everyone would settle food on their own.

The school had a canteen and a convenience store. The canteen sold mostly buns, noodles, and so on. The number of windows at the canteen was even less than the number of students.

Wen Nian rushed to the school’s only convenience store. The drinks were all in the fridge. When Wen Nian was getting the milk, she saw the soda that Shen Jun often drank and took a bottle.

Since Shen Jun had reminded Wen Nian the last time, she had the intention to befriend him. After all, with her current academic standards, it would be troublesome to ask the teacher if there was no one she could turn to for help at any time. There were only 10 minutes between classes, and she might encounter other students with problems. Sometimes, it was not her turn yet, and the next class was about to start, so she couldn’t even go to the toilet.

Since Shen Jun had reminded Wen Nian the last time, she had the intention to befriend him. After all, with her current academic standards, it would be troublesome to ask the teacher if there was no one she could turn to for help at any time. There were only 10 minutes between classes, and she might encounter other students with problems. Sometimes, it was not her turn yet, and the next class was about to start, so she couldn’t even go to the toilet.

On the other hand, Shen Jun was different. Wen Nian had observed him closely and found that he was the only one in the class who had scored full marks in the weekly science quiz last week. It was definitely worthwhile to build a good relationship with such an all-rounded genius.

The most important thing was that Shen Jun always stayed in the classroom during lunchtime, and all that time added up was not insignificant.

Shen Jun arrived at the classroom five minutes before the morning reading as usual and looked at the soda on the table in confusion.

Wen Nian quickly explained, “Thank you for explaining the problem on Friday. When I was buying breakfast at the school’s convenience store this morning, I brought you a bottle.”

There was still no expression on Shen Jun’s face. He thanked her in a deep voice. “Thank you. We’re all classmates. You don’t have to be so polite.”

Fortunately, Shen Jun didn’t refuse, and Wen Nian heaved a sigh of relief. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been appropriate for her to insist that he take the bottle of soda..

During the morning reading class, Li Fang released the news that this year’s national high school competition would be held at the end of the year. She asked students who were interested to sign up this week.

The population in China is large, and tens of millions of people take the university entrance examination every year. However, the top famous universities in the country only recruit a few hundred thousand students in total. One can imagine the level of competitive pressure that exists. However, if one can stand out in such a national examination and be admitted in advance by those key universities, they would directly skip the college entrance examination.

Wen Nian was very self-aware about her grades and did not consider it at all. When she saw Shen Jun looking at his book without looking up, she asked curiously, “Are you participating?”

Shen Jun shook his head. “No.”

Shen Jun had already won the first prize in the national competition for Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry in his first year of high school, and as a result, a few top universities had taken the initiative to give him an offer. However, his grandfather insisted that he finish high school like an ordinary student.

Wen Nian didn’t think too much about it. She only assumed that Shen Jun lacked confidence regarding the national competition.

Wen Nian didn’t participate, but Wen Yu did. The school organized specialized training on the weekends. Wen Yu trained during the day on the weekends and could only do his part-time job at night. Once again, Wen Nian’s time to ask questions was reduced.

Wen Nian had no choice but to be thick-skinned and try to build a good relationship with Shen Jun. After spending more than a week together, she could tell that Shen Jun was cold and introverted. She didn’t want to come across as too pushy, so she tried to initiate small talk with him every day, even if it was just a simple question about what he ate.

While Wen Nian was trying his best to get close to Shen Jun, another week passed by unintentionally. However, Wen Nian especially enjoyed this kind of life now. It felt stable!

She no longer had to deal with the sleepless nights resulted from her selling herself for money and resources. She no longer had to be constantly on guard in prison and not daring to even sleep peacefully.