3

In the afternoon, the final exam was on general studies. The last exam room was still being overseen by the black proctor, and apart from the sound of the air conditioner, the only noise in the room was the proctor's footsteps as he walked back and forth.

Most of the students in the entire grade were quite intimidated by the black proctor. They dared not move or copy from others, fidgeting with their pens and barely managing to write five words.

Lin Tiao propped her head up with one hand, while the other hand marked her answer sheet. Having finished the multiple-choice questions, her eyelids started to droop. She adjusted her head, intending to take a short nap in this discreet position.

However, she barely managed to sleep for a few minutes before she felt a poke in her back—neither too hard nor too soft, right on her spine.

Being poked in the spine was serious business, so she thought there might be a problem.

Lin Tiao moved her stiff neck and saw that the proctor was outside the classroom talking to another teacher. She quickly glanced back and saw a very unfamiliar face.

Raising her eyebrows, she pulled her answer sheet, which only had the multiple-choice questions filled in, slightly to the side.

The implication was clear.

"You're looking to copy? I haven't written anything."

After making these small moves, the proctor returned to the classroom. Lin Tiao, having been poked by the girl behind her, was now fully awake. She rubbed her face and continued writing her exam paper.

"The reasons for the Qing Dynasty reforms are... This represents the socialist ideology with Chinese characteristics... The cold current of the Thousand Islands..."

She scribbled down a lot of words.

About an hour later, Lin Tiao put down her pen, leaned back, and relaxed. A few seconds later, she moved her jaw and, noticing the proctor wasn't paying attention, quickly popped a candy into her mouth.

With half an hour remaining before the exam ended, Lin Tiao looked at her exam paper, with the candy on her tongue, and suddenly remembered something. Her arm slowly drooped.

The surroundings of the exam room were also getting a bit lively, with some daring students starting to engage in covert activities to ensure they had a good summer vacation.

Xu Yichuan, sitting in the back row, whispered to Jiang Yan next to him, "Bro, could you write a bit larger next time? I can't even see what you wrote."

Jiang Yan tugged the exam paper a bit to the side. "You're still making a fuss even when you're copying from me."

Xu Yichuan chuckled and playfully complained, "Ah, Brother Yan, you're the best. Love you~"

"..." Jiang Yan didn't respond. Leaning against the wall, his gaze was fixed on Lin Tiao, who was sitting diagonally in front of him.

From his perspective, Jiang Yan could only see Lin Tiao's half-profile, which was quite refined. Her skin was fairer than most girls', and her shoulder-length hair was casually tied back with a black hair tie. She wasn't wearing a jacket, just a short-sleeved school uniform with blue trim, revealing a slender, pale arm.

At this moment, her hand hung down, her slender fingers tapping rhythmically on the leg of her desk.

Jiang Yan kept his gaze fixed on her fingers, watching as she slowly moved her arm behind her and then tapped on the desk of the girl sitting behind her.

"?"

Jiang Yan seemed to have noticed something amusing. Leaning against the wall with one hand propped up under his chin, he observed Lin Tiao as she pulled her hand back and shifted her entire body to the right.

"Still a cool girl who likes to help others," Jiang Yan murmured.

Xu Yichuan, busy copying answers, didn't immediately catch on and thought Jiang Yan was talking about the exam. He called out loudly, "Bro, what did you say? Speak up, I can't hear you!"

Jiang Yan: "..."

Why did he even become friends with such an idiot?

-

After the general studies exam ended, the girl sitting behind Lin Tiao grabbed her arm. "Thanks for helping me just now. I thought I was going to fail this exam, but thankfully, there's such a kind girl like you. I really appreciate it! Which class are you in? After the exams are over, I'll treat you to a meal."

Lin Tiao forced a smile. "Class Six."

That won't be true soon, she added silently in her mind.

"Great, it's settled then. I'll come find you in your class after tomorrow's English exam," the girl said quickly, leaving Lin Tiao no chance to respond.

By the time Lin Tiao tried to refuse the dinner invitation, the girl had already taken out her phone. "Do you have any contact information? I'm afraid I might not find you after the exam."

Better not to find me at all.

Lin Tiao feigned regret as she patted her pockets. "Sorry, I didn't bring my phone. I can't remember my QQ number; it's too long to memorize, and I don't have any other contact methods."

Girl: "..."

Just then, Jiang Yan, who had been walking up from behind, remarked, "It's quite rare to meet someone who can talk nonsense better than me. I clearly saw her put her phone in her pocket just now."

With a helpful mindset, Jiang Yan said, "Classmate, your phone is in your uniform pocket. Did you forget?"

Lin Tiao: "..."

Honestly, if she hadn't just heard that Jiang Yan had challenged a whole class of boys, she would have already smacked him. But now, she neither wanted to nor dared to.

Lin Tiao stayed silent for a few seconds, gritted her teeth, and said, "T-thank you."

Jiang Yan seemed pleased. "Not at all. It was just a small effort."

Lin Tiao: "..."

Ugh!

Caught lying in public, but Lin Tiao's mental resilience was strong. She continued to blabber, "The phone is too small. I couldn't feel it in my pocket. You wanted my contact info, right? So, add me on QQ."

Although her tone sounded unchanged, Jiang Yan could tell the difference. Her speech was noticeably faster than usual, a detail Jiang Yan picked up on.

Jiang Yan chewed on his cheek and smiled, his frustration over a recent five-thousand-word essay from Xu Yichuan dissipating a lot.

The girl added Lin Tiao and then left after taking a phone call.

As the classroom cleared out, Lin Tiao grabbed her pencil case and walked past Jiang Yan without a glance.

"Wait, classmate." Xu Yichuan and his friends had been called to the office, so Jiang Yan, feeling bored, followed.

Lin Tiao ignored him, her strides growing wider, almost splitting her legs apart. Jiang Yan stifled a laugh and stepped in front of her, quickly checking her eyes.

There was no redness or tears, and her gaze remained hostile.

The alert was off.

They stood there in the hallway. With few students around and the time in the classroom delayed, the floor was mostly empty. Occasionally, some students cleaning up passed by and couldn't help but glance at Jiang Yan and the girl opposite him.

Rumor had it that a big shot who was supposedly gay was with a girl!

Big news!

Two girls going downstairs with trash looked back at Jiang Yan's iconic face and quickly disappeared with their trash cans.

Jiang Yan watched their retreating figures with some confusion. Was he really that scary?

But he didn't have time to ponder this, as when he turned to speak, he found that the person who had just been standing in front of him was now nowhere to be seen.

Jiang Yan looked at the empty hallway and suddenly burst into laughter.

Not far behind him, Xu Yichuan, Hu Hanghang, and Song Yuan stood, watching Jiang Yan laugh at the air, feeling their scalps tingle.

Xu Yichuan rubbed his arm. "Did you guys… see anything?"

Hu Hanghang swallowed hard and clung to Song Yuan's arm. "I heard that someone might have been killed in this building before, and it might have been right where Jiang Yan is standing."

As he spoke, Jiang Yan noticed them, walked over, and seriously introduced his "new friend" to them, "Let me introduce you to my new friend, Wan Nidu."

The three stared at the empty space beside Jiang Yan, confirming it was just air, and ran downstairs, screaming like pigs, "There's a ghost!!!!"

Jiang Yan followed leisurely, in high spirits.

---

Perhaps influenced by Jiang Yan, Lin Tiao had a dream that night where she was a righteous heroine fighting evil.

The consequence of her midlife crisis dream was that she woke up with a bruise on her hand from bumping it somewhere while sleeping.

In the morning, Meng Xin noticed the bruise and asked, "What happened to your hand?"

"No idea." Lin Tiao said, biting into her yogurt while rummaging in her bag. "I probably bumped it while sleeping."

"You're really something." Meng Xin took out a black pen from her pencil case and placed it on Lin Tiao's desk. "Here, I'll give you a new one."

Lin Tiao always lost things during exams, from textbooks to pen tips. She seemed to never return without losing something.

"I found it," Lin Tiao said, holding up a pen without a cap, which had long run out of ink.

"..." Meng Xin pulled out her bag. "I should head to the exam room now."

They had three exams today: math in the morning, and physics and English in the afternoon. To stagger the schedule, the school had moved the exam times up by half an hour.

By the time Lin Tiao arrived at the exam room, most students were already there, and the proctor had arrived, chatting with other teachers in the hallway while holding a tea cup.

When the preparatory bell rang, Jiang Yan and his team hurried into the classroom, looking sleepy and disheveled, as if they had just crawled out of bed.

The four walked either in a line or side by side, with Jiang Yan at the end. As he entered, Lin Tiao happened to look up.

He was neatly dressed in his uniform, with his jacket in hand, and his previously meticulously styled hair now falling messily over his forehead.

He looked entirely non-threatening.

Noticing someone was looking at him, Jiang Yan followed the gaze and, in front of the whole exam room, gave Lin Tiao a bright smile, showing eight teeth. "Good morning student Lin ."

"..."