Chapter 11
Cheng Xuyuan wondered and asked the system, "Did these two know each other beforehand?"
The system replied, "Yes, the main character and the antagonist were classmates back in junior high, and even neighbors when they were young. Therefore, they both have a deep understanding of each other. However, they fell out over some personal issues when they graduated from junior high, and their relationship has been complicated ever since."
Gu Juncheng looked at Feng Linjie and slowly said, "He is my friend."
"Oh, I thought you had acquired another younger brother," Feng Linjie cleverly explained Cheng Xuyuan's presence as a younger brother, his merry eyes appearing innocuous beneath his round glasses.
Had Cheng Xuyuan not known that he was the antagonist, he might have been fooled.
"Is there anything you need?" Gu Juncheng looked at him coldly.
"Not at all." Feng Linjie replied with a smile, his gaze lingering on Cheng Xuyuan, "Normally, outsiders are not allowed into Nancheng No.1 High School. Since you know Gu Juncheng, I'll let it slide."
"Well, the student council sure is diligent here."
There was a hint of mockery in Gu Juncheng's tone, which Feng Linjie clearly picked up on. He gave a slight smile and replied very mildly, "You flatter me, this is just part of our duties as the student council. You did quite well in the 3000-meter run today; it's been a while since I last saw you push yourself this hard."
"Thanks," Gu Juncheng said tersely, resting his arm naturally on the Pen God's shoulder, preparing to leave with him.
As if he had something more to say to Cheng Xuyuan, Feng Linjie seemed reluctant to let them go. Observing this, Gu Juncheng subtly positioned himself between the two, casually to the Pen God, "You rode your bike today, you can head to the parking lot now." And then, he tossed him a set of keys.
Cheng Xuyuan hesitated, sensing the subtle tension between them.
Gu Juncheng nudged him, "You better go."
Having no choice, he left ahead.
Watching the young man walk away, Gu Juncheng said coldly to Feng Linjie, "Aren't you Student Feng, the head of the Disciplinary Inspection Committee known for your impartiality? Who is this gentle demeanor meant for?"
The smile in Feng Linjie's eyes had long since vanished. He replied indifferently, "I've always been a polite person."
"Really?" Gu Juncheng scoffed, "Seems like you've forgotten about the time in junior high when you stole a brother's girlfriend."
Feng Linjie's lips curled up in a slight smirk, answering with an undertone of mockery, "How long ago was that, and you still hold a grudge? I was immature back then, I apologize for it. I hope you understand that I've turned over a new leaf."
"You better have," Gu Jun retorted.
Giving him an indifferent look, Gu pivoted on his heel and walked towards the boy waiting not far away with his bicycle.
"Get on," Cheng Xuyuan gestured towards the bike seat, grinning proudly, "I’m an experienced driver."
For a moment, Gu Jun was captivated by the boy's high spirits. Under the golden sunlight, Cheng Xuyuan seemed to glow. His jet-black hair, fair skin, and lean yet muscular frame left Gu Jun's heart pounding.
Climbing onto the bike's back seat, Gu Jun took Cheng Xuyuan's backpack from him and slung it over his own shoulder. He naturally slipped his long, strong arm around Cheng Xuyuan's waist and said, "Let's go."
With that, he glanced back at Feng Linjie, who was standing in the distance.
Their eyes met.
The bicycle wobbled briefly before shooting straight towards the school gate.
Feng Linjie didn't look away until the bike had disappeared into the distance. He suddenly chuckled and muttered to himself, "I really don't like the phrase 'turning over a new leaf.'"
Cheng Xuyuan hadn't ridden a bike in quite a while, especially not with a tall protagonist on the back seat, causing him to wobble a bit every now and then.
Gu Juncheng teasingly compared him to an elderly man returning from grocery shopping.
After a little while, the bicycle finally stopped wavering.
Gu Juncheng suddenly rested his chin on Cheng Xuyuan's shoulder and sighed, "I'm so tired..."
Unable to help himself, Cheng Xuyuan burst into laughter, almost losing his grip on the handlebars. "Don't blow into my ears like that; it’s ticklish!" he hurriedly told Gu Juncheng.
Gu Juncheng's lips curled into a grin as he gazed at the pale, slightly pink earlobes of the younger boy, his mouth suddenly feeling dry. He let go of his embrace around Cheng Xuyuan and took a few sips from a water bottle, but his throat still felt parched.
In no time, he had emptied the entire bottle.
Cheng Xuyuan suddenly asked, "Why didn't you drink the mineral water Tang Xiaorong offered you earlier?"
A hint of surprise flickered in Gu Juncheng's eyes, then he smirked, "I didn't want to upset a certain deity."
"What do I have to be upset about?" Cheng Xuyuan rolled his eyes at Gu Juncheng's self-indulgence.
"Is that so?" Gu Juncheng leaned into his ear, "If I had drunk a mortal's water, refusing a deity's, wouldn't that dishonor the deity?"
"Heh." Cheng Xuyuan decided to ignore him, thinking to himself that the romantic storyline between the male and female leads seemed ready to stall for a while.
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After the sports event came the National Day holiday period. However, being seniors in high school meant five days of extra classes during the holiday and only two days to rest, filled with homework assignments.
In those two days, Cheng Xuyuan especially focused on enhancing Gu Juncheng's problem-solving techniques. As such, Gu Jun spent most of his time deeply immersed in solving a realm of problems.
"A lot of people indeed disregard the strategy of relentlessly solving problems," Cheng Xuyuan said, looking at Gu Juncheng who had finally finished his set of problems, "But for science students, the significance of working through many problems lies in maintaining keenness and touch."
It was probably the holiday when Gu Juncheng solved the most problems, and of course, the results were pretty remarkable.
Once the National Day holiday was over, the weather turned chilly. The short-sleeved shirts and shorts worn by Cheng Xuyuan changed into long sleeves and three-quarter pants to adapt to the season.
Mid-term exams were approaching at the end of October, and after that would come the once-per-semester parent-teacher conference. Hence, mid-term results were of utmost importance.
One day during dinner, Gu Minghao suddenly asked, "Will Dad attend our class's parent-teacher conference this year?" He then looked at Gu Shuo with a sweet expression.
Gu Shuo nodded without hesitation.
Zhang Yu was immediately displeased and yelled, "No way, I don't want to go to Gu Juncheng's parent-teacher conference. Who knows how embarrassing it will be?"
"Mom, don't talk about my brother like that," Gu Minghao said while looking at Gu Juncheng. "During his first monthly exam, he ranked within the top 100."
Gu Shuo was surprised and looked at Gu Juncheng.
Zhang Yu scoffed, "Who knows if he cheated or not."
"Mom, I'm sure my brother has turned over a new leaf," Gu Minghao glanced at Gu Juncheng.
Gu Juncheng continued eating, and then, suddenly raising his gaze to Gu Shuo, he said indifferently, "You can come or not. You can pretend that I'm not your son if you want."
"How dare you speak like that?!" Gu Shuo strictly criticized him, and then turned his head to Gu Minghao, saying, "Let your mom go to your class. I want to see whether this kid has made any progress in his class or not."
Gu Minghao successfully embarrassed his older brother and nodded while pretending to be serious, unable to hide the smile in his eyes.
________________________
Before the mid-term exams began, Chen Tianqi and others came to Gu Juncheng for notes and praised him from head to toe.
"I bet you'll definitely be in the top five in class for this mid-term exam," Chen Tianqi confidently said to Gu Jun. "You'll probably score first in math again..."
Gu Juncheng couldn't stand the chatterbox and handed out a few more sheets of paper to get rid of him. Although these notes were organized and didn't reveal core content, they could definitely help the average student improve their scores.
After looking at the notes, Chen Tianqi made a gesture of worshiping Gu Juncheng: "Please, take good care of that talented individual."
After seeing the contents of the notes, Tang Xiaorong's deskmate, Zhang Xiaopang, said in astonishment, "Make more offerings, show them love and support..."
In fact, over this period, their four-person study group improved rapidly, and they were often praised by their teachers in class. As a result, many people were curious about their preparations for the mid-term exam.
However, all four of them kept quiet and did not leak any notes to others.
On this particular day during the physical education class, Zhang Xiaopang went to the convenience store for some snacks and returned to his classroom. He unexpectedly realized that someone had tampered with his drawer. The stack of notes he had transcribed appeared to have been rifled through.
Shaken, Zhang Xiaopang quickly hid his notes. Being naturally timid, he did not dare to make a fuss about what just happened. He fooled himself into thinking that his notes were probably merely glanced at, and nothing serious would come of it...
He was unaware that these notes were snapped with a mobile phone and sold to the top students in class at high prices.
The midterm exams came as scheduled. This time, Gu Juncheng seemed much more composed than before.
Before the exam, Cheng Xuyuan specifically asked him, "What goal have you set for yourself this time?"
After considering for a moment, Gu Juncheng replied, "Top five in the class."
The midterm exams did not generate the same stress as the first monthly exam. Gu Juncheng answered the questions smoothly, even managing to solve some types of problems he usually struggled with.
Among all subjects, he fared best in mathematics, followed by English.
Gu Juncheng’s daily vocabulary learning time has reduced from one hour each in the morning and at night to merely 20 minutes. This cannot be called a small progress. Originally, he jokingly set the goal of "memorizing 4000 words in 10 days," but now he can easily achieve it.
On top of that, Cheng Xuyuan also added a few more phrases and some vocabulary beyond the syllabus for Gu Juncheng.
As a result, as long as he dedicated more effort to grammar, the English exams would pose no difficulty for Gu Juncheng.
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After all four exams were over, Gu Juncheng felt great. When passing a dessert shop, he bought a few cream puffs, patted his backpack, and said, "Wait, I'll share these with you when we get home."
Cheng Xuyuan was touched by the protagonist's concern for him. However, he didn't anticipate that Gu Juncheng had forgotten to zip up his backpack.
Upon arriving home and parking his bicycle in the yard, Gu Juncheng didn't notice his fountain pen slipping out of the bag and falling to the ground as he entered the house.
Cheng Xuyuan asked the system, "What should I do? This fool left me behind."
System: "Wait for him to come look for you."
Cheng Xuyuan: "But I want to eat the cream puffs now."
System: "... One day, you might die from overeating."
As Gu Juncheng walked in through the front door, he met his brother Gu Minghao at the entrance.
Gu Minghao was holding a printed manuscript in his hand. Seeing Gu Juncheng coming back, he immediately beamed and said, "Oh, you're home early today, brother. Mom and dad haven't even finished work yet."
Gu Juncheng barely spared them a glance.
Nevertheless, Gu Minghao relentlessly asked: "How did you do in your mid-terms this time, brother? I'm sure dad will receive plenty of 'praise' from your teachers for how well he's raised you during the parent-teacher meeting, right? Remember last year..."
"Mind your own business," Gu Juncheng responded coldly.
In a display of exasperation, Gu Minghao deliberately fanned himself with the draft in his hand, lamenting, "Sigh, the gap between people is already large, and now the top students in our class have gotten such good tutoring materials..."
Gu Juncheng suddenly stopped in his tracks. He turned around, furrowed his brows at Gu Minghao, and asked coldly, "What tutoring materials?"
"Oh, aren't they the ones sold by the top students in your general classes?" Gu Minghao feigned surprise. "How come you didn't get one? I guess students like you wouldn't understand even if you got them..."
Gu Juncheng strode forward and directly snatched the draft from his hand. After scanning it for a moment, his expression slightly changed.
Thinking that Gu Juncheng was upset about not receiving the draft paper, Gu Minghao was secretly pleased and murmured, "Don't bother, brother. Spend more time building a solid foundation before looking at these things." He then reached out to take back the draft.
Just as Gu Juncheng was about to say something, a pleasant voice drifted in from the doorway.
"Gu Juncheng, where's my cream puff?"
Both brothers looked in surprise towards the door, finding a tall, dark-haired young man standing there with a radiant smile.
Gu Minghao instantly realized it was Gu Juncheng's friend and replied in an unfriendly tone, "Don't you know to knock before entering someone's house? No manners. Birds of a feather flock together indeed."
Gu Juncheng's face instantly turned icy, his eyes filled with an ominous glint.
Before he could say anything, the handsome and mild-mannered youth at the door spoke.
"I'm sorry to have disturbed you," the youth apologized to Gu Minghao. "I accidentally left my cream puff in Gu Juncheng's bag when I returned the notes I borrowed from him. I came to get it back."
The 'Note God' ignored the protagonist's glare, walked right in, and fetched a bag of cream puffs from his bag. As he turned to leave, he glanced at Gu Minghao and exclaimed in surprise, "Oh my, how come you also have these notes?"
Before Gu Minghao could react, he saw the young man grumble at Gu Juncheng, "Didn't you say these notes were written only for me? Why did he get them too?!"
Gu Juncheng instantly understood the act that was playing out, so he held back a smile and played along, "I did write them just for you, but someone must've stealthily photographed them. They likely printed and sold them for money."
"Oh my god, Gu Minghao, how much did you pay for this?" Cheng Xuyuan dramatically hollered.
Gu Minghao was terribly shaken. He feverishly flipped through the notes while continuously murmuring, "Impossible, this can't be..."
The Pen God slowly approached Gu Minghao, watched his flustered state, and calmly said, "But, on second thought, for someone who always ranks around 30th in your year, do you really need these notes?"
Academic achievement has always been a source of pride for Gu Minghao, and he wouldn't allow anyone to undermine that.
So, he lifted his head and resentfully said, "You two are conspiring to trick me, aren't you?! That Gu Juncheng kid, he could write these notes? Stepping on dog shit and getting into the top 100, what right do you have to laugh at me..."
"By treating his notes like treasure, you'll always be one step behind him, understand?"
"Fart!" Gu Minghao sneered and scolded in a trembling voice, "He is a guy with no mother, how could I be inferior to him?! And you, you are not a good thing at first glance..."
"Slap!"
A loud slap fell on Gu Minghao's left cheek, hitting him so hard that his head turned violently to the side.
Gu Juncheng watched Cheng Xuyuan in surprise.
"Your mother, whether alive or dead, it makes no difference," said Cheng Xuyuan coldly. "This slap is for Gu Shuo. The day Gu Juncheng got hit, you were probably chuckling to yourself."
"How dare you hit me?" Gu Minghao was shaking in anger, "Once mom and dad get back, I'll tell on you. Gu Juncheng, you wait for your punishment!"
Suddenly, Gu Minghao felt a strong oppressive force.
The young man before him looked at him with cold eyes, full of disdain and derision. Gu Minghao's legs wouldn't stop shaking under the mere presence of the boy, and he felt all his strength leaving him.
After a tense three-second stare-down, Gu Minghao fell to his knees, trembling in disbelief and fear.
Cheng Xuyuan averted his gaze, picked up a cream puff from his hand, and walked over to Gu Juncheng. He whispered, "Meet me in the yard momentarily."
Without a backward glance, he walked out the door.
Regaining his senses, Gu Minghao clumsily rose from the ground, intending to chase after him, when his father actually returned.
"Dad! You're finally back!" Gu Minghao burst into tears, his demeanor entirely different from the sharp-tongued child just moments ago, "Gu Juncheng had someone slap me!"
"What?!"
Gu Shuo first glanced at Gu Juncheng in surprise, then looked at Gu Minghao with a frown, and said coldly, "You don't have any marks on your face, what are you talking about?"
Gu Minghao touched his face without any trace of redness and swelling, and was dumbfounded.
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Author's note:
Hello everyone, I represent Gu Juncheng who bought cream puff. He asked me to let you know, anyone who saves and treasures these can receive their favorite treats from their loved ones. Love to all of you!
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