Chapter 59: 120 Points

After getting their food, the group chose to eat inside the artificial rockery.

This was their second stronghold outside the cafeteria, a place they frequented.

In no time at all, Maisui, Chen Lijun, and Sun Maning also arrived, bringing good news with them.

Upon seeing Li Heng, Sun Maning circled around him twice, clicking her tongue in praise:

"Tsk tsk... Not bad at all, classmate Li Heng. Your geography score is actually a 94, higher than the four top scholars."

Li Heng asked, "Did you go to the teaching affairs office to check the papers?"

Sun Maning replied, "I didn't, but Lijun did. Right now, only the geography scores are out."

Li Heng glanced at Song Yu and Maisui: "What did they get?"

Sun Maning blurted out everything: "Song Yu got 92, and Maisui got 91.

Xiao Feng in the next class got 94, same as you, and Luo Zhijie got 91."

Hearing this, Li Heng nodded and began eating his meal.

After waiting for a long time without hearing him speak again, Sun Maning immediately grew displeased: "Hey, Li Heng, aren't you being a bit too biased? You asked about Song Yu and Maisui, why didn't you ask about me? Do you think I'm not as pretty as them?"

Without raising his head, Li Heng answered, "It has nothing to do with looks. This time, I am aiming for the grand prize scholarship."

Upon hearing the words "grand prize scholarship," the table fell into an instant silence.

The group looked at each other, and finally Zhang Zhiyong, who had no exam stress, hooked his arm around Li Heng's neck and asked:

"Big Brother Li! Grandmaster Heng! Are you sure you aren't drunk?"

Li Heng asked, "What? You don't believe your brother?"

Zhang Zhiyong looked him up and down, twisted his mouth, and said: "I believe! Do I dare not believe? If I didn't, you'd beat me to death. But there are only three spots. Who are you planning to pull down from that horse?"

Li Heng stated bluntly, "As long as it's not Song Yu, anyone else can be cut down."

"Oh!"

"Pfft...!"

"Song Yu, look at this, just look at this..."

The circle of people immediately launched into a round of collective teasing.

Chen Lijun even bantered, "Li Heng, you are being way too flagrant. If the head teacher finds out you like Song Yu this much, you're going to be in big trouble."

Hearing this, everyone curiously looked at Song Yu. With Li Heng being so uninhibited, they were eager to know what she was thinking.

Unfortunately, Song Yu quietly ate her food, maintaining a serene and breezy expression that left them utterly disappointed.

Coming back to her senses, Sun Maning tugged at Maisui's sleeve: "Tell me, Li Heng, do you have any conscience left? Maisui is so pretty, how could your ruthless hands bear to destroy this flower?"

Li Heng raised his head for a glance and smiled at Maisui, saying, "If I pull you down from the ranking, don't hold a grudge. I'll treat you to a soda later."

Then he made a key addition: "In a glass bottle!"

Maisui chuckled along, gripping her chopsticks as she delicately said, "Plus a packet of sour powder."

Li Heng readily agreed, "Deal, piece of cake."

Because Li Heng had exposed his ambitious wolfish ambitions, this meal became exceptionally lively.

Everyone eagerly helped him analyze the risk coefficients of his competitors, and the atmosphere was truly explosive!

In the middle of it all, Li Heng learned that Liu Li had scored 89 in geography, and Chen Lijun 86.

Liu Li didn't forget the petty Liu Yejiang: "How much did Liu Yejiang get?"

Chen Lijun said, "90 points."

Zhang Zhiyong immediately cursed, "Damn! That idiot scored that high? I'm so pissed!"

Sun Maning disliked his swearing and directly retorted, "Being pissed or not is useless; his comprehensive arts scores have always been very strong, only his math is a bit lacking."

After dinner, Liu Li, Zhang Zhiyong, and Zou Aiming trailing closely behind them, went straight to the grading room to stake out the scores for each subject.

Sun Maning asked Li Heng, "Why aren't you going?"

Li Heng handed his washed lunchbox to her, "Could you please take this back to the classroom for me? I have some things to do."

Sun Maning joked, "What could possibly be more important than accompanying our Song Yu?"

Hearing this, Li Heng, who hadn't even taken two steps, decisively stopped in his tracks: "Look at what you're saying. Of course accompanying Song Yu is the most important thing."

Face to face, Song Yu quietly looked at him for a few solid seconds, reached out a slender, jade-like finger to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, and walked past him toward the classroom without a word.

Maisui covered her mouth with a smile, her eyes full of charming allure. "Whenever you saw her before, you were always so proper, not even knowing where to put your hands. How did you get so bold now?"

Li Heng looked up at the sky and said with utmost sincerity, "We're about to graduate."

Maisui looked up at the sky too, "You could test into the same university as her."

Li Heng possessed self-awareness, "Difficult! Unless the math on the college entrance exam is as hard as this one!"
Maisui thought it made sense and felt a tinge of regret for him: "Actually, I think if you persistently pursue her, there might be hope."

Li Heng didn't reply.

Because self-deception was useless. Given Song Yu's personality, coupled with the fact that Chen Zijin was in the middle, there wasn't much hope in the short term.

Seeing him fall silent, Maisui said, "She is someone who appears smooth on the outside but is firm on the inside, and she warms up rather slowly. If you genuinely like her, perseverance is the most effective strategy."

Li Heng nodded in acknowledgment, "Thank you!"

Hearing the word "thanks," Maisui knew it was time for her to leave. Without lingering further, she entered the stairwell.

Watching Maisui ascend to the third-floor classroom, Li Heng stood in place in deep thought for a moment. Instead of heading straight up, he turned and headed outside the school.

Passing through the duty room, Li Heng looked around the school gates. Guided by Xiao Han's fondness for "Tri-Mix Soup," he walked straight toward Old Liu's Restaurant, located diagonally across the street.

He intended to try his luck.

"Hello, table for how many?"

"No need to bother, I'm looking for a friend."

After brushing off the proprietress, Li Heng scanned the main hall, saw no one, and checked the private rooms in the back, but still found no trace of her.

Could she have already finished and left?

Or perhaps she never came to this restaurant?

Filled with doubt, Li Heng inquired with the proprietress, only to find out that she had indeed finished eating, left, and returned to the school.

The proprietress said, "That girl wore a cyan and blue plaid jacket and was exceptionally pretty. She left a deep impression on me, so I can't be mistaken."

"Alright, thank you, boss."

Coming away empty-handed, Li Heng wasn't discouraged. He ran all the way to Class 206 in the neighboring teaching building.

Ah, his luck was good this time!

Xiao Han was indeed there, chatting with Yang Yingwen and two other girls.

Yang Yingwen, sitting facing the classroom door, spotted him first and asked in surprise, "Oh! Did the sun rise from the west today? Why are you here, Li Heng?"

A person's reputation precedes them. Hearing that it was the math genius Li Heng, the other two girls voluntarily stopped chatting with Xiao Han and simultaneously turned their heads to look.

Secretly cursing her two friends for prioritizing romance over friendship, Xiao Han put on a normal reaction. First, she looked up at him with a sidelong glance, then feigned unfamiliarity, picked up her pen, and began working on a physics problem.

The pretentious, black-bellied girl maintained her usual aloof, poised, and coldly composed image in public.

Li Heng flashed a clean, neat row of white teeth and smiled, "What? Am I not allowed to come and see you guys?"

Yang Yingwen didn't buy it at all, "Come on, who are you trying to fool? High school is almost over, and I've never seen you come around many times before."

With Chen Zijin around in the past, how could he possibly come? If she found out he was seeing Xiao Han in private, wouldn't all hell break loose?

Li Heng said, "The past is the past, now is now. I've already come to visit you, so stop dwelling on the past, alright?"

"Fine, let's say your reasoning holds."

As soon as he sat down, Yang Yingwen asked, "You got 120 on this math test, a full score. How did you pull that off?"

Li Heng asked, "I got a full score?"

Yang Yingwen said, "Such huge joyous news and you, the person involved, don't know? Your head teacher was just bragging about you to our head teacher."

Li Heng glanced at someone who was perking up her ears to eavesdrop, and shook his head, "I went to Old Liu's Restaurant just now and haven't returned to my classroom yet."

"What did you go to Old Liu's Restaurant for?"

"Let's put that aside for a moment. Tell me how our head teacher was bragging, though? I love listening to that."

Hearing these words, Xiao Han covertly glanced at him twice, the corners of her mouth secretly curving into an arc.