Transmigrated as the School Hunk's Arch-Nemesis [Book Transmigration] - Chapter 16

“Liar.”

“The monthly exam is tomorrow, you guys at the bottom of the mock test rankings better get it together and double up on your studying today, I’m calling parents if anyone gets two Fs!”

Before evening study hall, Wang Fusheng gave the students a heartfelt reminder before grabbing his bag and heading home.

Tang Yuan and Zhao Ci had lost ten rounds in a row playing games, and after deleting them in a fit of rage, they decided to buckle down for the monthly exam. But that ambition faded the moment they opened their workbooks.

“Damn it, what kind of devil-level questions are these?!”

Zhao Ci was the first to turn around with his workbook. He glanced at Shen Yixing, only to find that the thick stack of exercises in Yixing’s hands was already more than half finished.

“Xing, do you know how to do all of these? Do you find them hard?”

Shen Yixing originally wanted to say that these problems weren’t difficult at all, but considering Zhao Ci’s fragile heart, he just said, “They’re okay.”

A workbook was placed in front of him. Zhao Ci blinked, looking at Shen Yixing, and asked, “How do you do this one?”

Tang Yuan turned around as well, somewhat skeptical that Shen Yixing would actually teach them, “Do you know how?”

“You can do it like this…”

“What are you three huddled together chatting about?”

Tang Yuan was the first to look up when he heard Jiang Baiyi’s voice, his voice shrill and loud, “The class monitor, Shen Yixing is teaching Zhao Ci how to do math problems!”

The person next to him sat down. Shen Yixing’s hand, which was working on the draft paper, paused for a moment. He acted as if he hadn’t seen Jiang Baiyi return and continued to teach Zhao Ci.

Tang Yuan spoke across Shen Yixing, a hint of complaint in his voice, “Brother Yi, where did you go after school this afternoon? What kind of business was so mysterious that you didn’t even bring me along?”

Jiang Baiyi was stunned. He had feigned mystery earlier just to go borrow that “Great Compendium of Medieval Music Scores” on the sly, but since he hadn’t managed to borrow the book, he felt a bit embarrassed to say where he had been.

Shen Yixing finished explaining the problem and stopped talking, and the four of them suddenly fell into an awkward silence.

“I…” Jiang Baiyi cast a guilty glance at Shen Yixing, then turned to Tang Yuan with a cold face, “Do I need to report to you every time I go out?”

Tang Yuan quickly shook his head, “No, no need.”

Jiang Baiyi issued an ultimatum, “Did I let you two whisper during study hall? Turn back around.”

Zhao Ci hadn’t even grasped the “Alpha” or “Beta” parts yet when he was glared at by Jiang Baiyi and straightened his back to turn around.

Listening to Jiang Baiyi’s voice, Shen Yixing unconsciously rolled the corner of his page.

The words Jiang Baiyi said to Ruan Ming in the library, “I have already taught Sha Xiaohou a lesson for you,” kept echoing in Shen Yixing’s ears, and he couldn’t forget them no matter how hard he tried.

“This afternoon…” Shen Yixing hesitated for a long time before speaking, “Did you go to the library?”

Jiang Baiyi’s heart skipped a beat. He thought to himself that Shen Yixing’s guess was spot on.

“Why would I go there?” He was afraid of being seen through regarding his purpose for going to the library, so he didn’t have the nerve to admit it.

Seeing Jiang Baiyi’s indifferent expression, if Shen Yixing hadn’t heard Jiang Baiyi’s voice with his own ears that afternoon, he would have started to doubt if he had recognized the wrong person.

“Oh.” Shen Yixing lowered his eyes, gripping his pen even tighter.

There was no teacher on duty for evening study hall today. In Class 1, some were reading novels, others were chatting, and there was absolutely no tense atmosphere of review before an exam.

After asking Jiang Baiyi that question, Shen Yixing continued with his problems and didn’t look directly at Jiang Baiyi for the next hour or so.

Shen Yixing’s sudden distance made Jiang Baiyi feel a bit uncomfortable. He watched Shen Yixing writing intently, so he randomly pulled a workbook out of his drawer, skimmed the questions blindly, and finally pointed to a problem with the most text, “How do you do this one?”

Shen Yixing didn’t even look at the question, “I don’t know.”

Jiang Baiyi glanced at him and switched to a problem with less text, “Then this one?”

Shen Yixing said again, “I can’t do it.”

“Shen Yixing!”

Jiang Baiyi was so angered by Shen Yixing’s moodiness that he wanted to gnash his teeth and curse, but the moment he saw those amber eyes beneath Shen Yixing’s long lashes, his temper vanished instantly.

“Something up?” Shen Yixing looked at Jiang Baiyi, his tone returning to the cold indifference of when they first met.

Jiang Baiyi rested his chin on his hand, looking Shen Yixing up and down, and said with an earnest attitude, “We’re all friends, can’t you teach me a few problems before the exam?”

A hint of mockery appeared in Shen Yixing’s eyes, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly, and his tone grew even colder, “Since when were we friends?”

Jiang Baiyi was choked by Shen Yixing’s words and couldn’t respond. They had practically lived and died together in the bathroom, and that didn’t count as friends?

He gripped the corner of Shen Yixing’s desk and asked, “We aren’t friends?!”

Shen Yixing articulated each word clearly, “We are not.”

“You…” Jiang Baiyi suddenly felt a bit dizzy, not knowing where he had provoked this ancestor.

“Fine, if you say we aren’t, then we aren’t. If I speak to you again, I’ll write my name backward.”

“Suit yourself.”

On the surface, Shen Yixing and Jiang Baiyi spent the night in a cold war for no reason. In the dorm that night, it was as if an invisible boundary line had been drawn. The two occupied their own territories within that line, never touching the other’s domain, nor saying a single word to each other.

The next day, during the monthly exam, Jiang Baiyi, who had been holding onto his nameless anger all night, had a suffocatingly low presence, terrifying Tang Yuan enough that he didn’t dare say a word of nonsense while walking beside him.

Shen Yixing was different from Jiang Baiyi. He ate when it was time to eat, drank when it was time to drink, laughed when he should, and chatted when he should, not affected by the cold war in the slightest.

Because of this, Jiang Baiyi was even angrier.

The exam seating for the Tongnan National Music monthly exam was arranged by mixing the student IDs of the entire grade. As luck would have it, Jiang Baiyi and Shen Yixing were assigned to the same exam room, and quite coincidentally, they ended up sitting one in front of the other.

When passing out exam papers, there was inevitably a few seconds of contact between the people in front and back. When it came time for Jiang Baiyi to pass the paper backward, he deliberately waited for a moment before passing it, aiming to get Shen Yixing’s attention so the other would speak to him first.

However, his petty plan failed, and absolutely nothing happened.

“The exam has started. Everyone, check to see if you have anything on your person or in your drawers that shouldn’t be there. If you do, hand it to the podium. If I catch you later, I’ll count it as a zero directly!”

The proctor, Liu Jing, paced back and forth on the podium. Her sharp gaze scanned below through her thick glasses, and she immediately locked onto the two well-known troublemakers in the school.

“You two in the back of Class 1, you are not allowed to talk during the exam!”

The loud female voice reached Shen Yixing’s ears. He finished writing his name and looked up, only to find Liu Jing staring at him with wide, angry eyes.

Jiang Baiyi, who was in front, finished writing his name and leaned back in his chair, spinning his pen a few times before it returned to his palm. He lifted his eyelids to look at the podium, his low voice sounding throughout the classroom, “Teacher, is your hearing bad? Are you having hallucinations? Who was talking?”

Everyone had been busy passing out papers and writing their names, so there really hadn’t been any talking.

The students in the exam room saw the proctor getting shut down and covered their mouths to stifle their laughter.

Liu Jing had originally wanted to catch these two out, but she hadn’t expected to lift a rock only to drop it on her own feet.

“If you aren’t talking, then hurry up and write your test. Instead of talking back, you’d be better off answering a few more questions.”

Seeing Jiang Baiyi shrug his shoulders indifferently, Shen Yixing lowered his head and focused on his own test.

During the two days of the monthly exam, besides the fingertip contact while passing papers, Shen Yixing and Jiang Baiyi acted like strangers. They didn’t speak while sitting at the same table in the classroom, and they didn’t chat while being roommates in the dorm.

In the private summary of Tang Yuan and Zhao Ci, it was like a young couple in a cold war.

On the day the monthly exams ended, the school played a movie for everyone during evening study hall to pass the time. After sunset, the lights in the classroom were turned off, and the curtains were drawn, leaving only the ghostly light emitted by the projector on the screen.

The movie playing was a good one, but Shen Yixing couldn’t get into it. It was a juvenile cartoon, and after watching it for a while, he just wanted to sleep.

Just as he suppressed a yawn, a piece of paper was suddenly shifted to his side.

Reflected in the dim light of the movie, the characters “Yi Bai Jiang” were vaguely visible on it.

Read backward, it was Jiang Baiyi’s name.

Shen Yixing frowned. He didn’t pick up the piece of paper and instead raised his head to shift his gaze toward the juvenile cartoon.

The owner of the note was angry. He bumped his elbow against Shen Yixing’s arm and said, “Hey, there’s no need to be that dismissive, is there? Don’t you think the two of us are acting like elementary schoolers fighting right now?”

Shen Yixing pulled his arm back a bit, glared coldly at Jiang Baiyi, and returned the paper.

“Even a death sentence requires a reason. Why don’t you explain it, what did I do to you?”

Jiang Baiyi sounded righteous. Shen Yixing was silent for a moment, then turned his face to look at him, “Liar.”

“Me… What did I lie to you about?!” Jiang Baiyi grabbed Shen Yixing’s shoulder, and in the dark environment, leaned slowly toward Shen Yixing, “Look at me and tell me seriously, surely it isn’t because I deceived your feelings, right?”

The warm breath washed over him. Shen Yixing narrowed his eyes slightly. The face in front of him was extremely close; if he leaned forward just a little, he would be able to touch Jiang Baiyi’s nose.

The movie reached its climax. The students in the class were enjoying it thoroughly, and the dramatic ones were even screaming.

Shen Yixing adjusted his breathing, recalling in his mind things he could convict Jiang Baiyi for.

Criticizing Jiang Baiyi for not beating up Sha Xiaohou for his sake? That was way too moronic.

Asking Jiang Baiyi why he beat up Sha Xiaohou for Ruan Ming’s sake? There was no need for that. They were the main characters of this world, and he didn’t have the qualifications to ask.

Or perhaps exposing the fact that Jiang Baiyi hid that he had been to the library? If people on a date wanted to talk about it or not, what business was that of his?

Combining all of the above, Shen Yixing looked away, not knowing what to say. Anyway, the two of them weren’t friends. It was Jiang Baiyi’s freedom to do what he wanted and say what he wanted. It seemed like Shen Yixing had been making a mountain out of a molehill this time.

Jiang Baiyi saw Shen Yixing’s movements in his eyes. In the darkness, he suddenly associated it with something. He let go of Shen Yixing as if he were holding a piece of hot coal, and complex emotions welled up in him.

“You… you, I… I am a straight man, completely straight, don’t, don’t get the wrong idea and mistake your feelings.”

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