Chapter 45 Regret

rfere in her life, he could foresee being left far behind by the time the college entrance exam rolls around."Su Can: 645," said Xiao Rihua expressionlessly as he placed Su Can's report card on the ed...Chapter 45 Regret

"See, it's true. That girl seems to be from Class Seven; I've never seen her before. Hmph." Li Lumei didn't say anything, but anyone could tell from her expression that she was slightly annoyed by the excellent girls Su Cen interacted with.

"Probably," Chen Lingshan nodded. During break time, Li Lumei often went to the convenience store as an excuse to watch Ma Xiaoshi play basketball or find opportunities to get closer to him—this was her true intention.

"I heard about it a few days ago. They say this girl is good at playing basketball and has decent grades, ranking among the top twenty in the grade, but I don't know who she is. She looks just like Tang Wu; she must also be one of those students from the former Third Middle School! These people are all collectively building up for a big explosion in high school"

Li Lumei pursed her lips and unconsciously puffed out her chest, speaking with an air of superiority unique to First Middle School. However, she soon realized it was self-deception; what did it matter which middle school someone had attended At least now they were excellent, making Li Lumei feel somewhat insecure. Combined with Shen Lu's bold declaration of love in Class 1 of Grade 10, Li Lumei couldn't help but be slightly startled.

Recently, the class has been very peaceful; no one was discussing Su Cen, who is a topic figure. Everyone was stunned by his report card performance, which may not align with their idea of being in the top ten of the entire grade. This situation is akin to Tang Wu suddenly becoming the best student in the grade: if he weren't surrounded by praise, many would observe him from afar out of respect.

The bell rang for class preparation; Ma Xiaoshi and others put away their basketballs and headed back. Li Lumei was startled and pulled Chen Lingshan to return early on the way. She closely observed Chen Lingshan, who seemed lost in thought: "Are you regretting it"

Chen Lingshan looked at Li Lumei and laughed: "What are you talking about! Instead of worrying about these things, why don't you prepare to cheer on Ma Xiaoshi for the basketball game!"

When Li Lumei mentioned Ma Xiaoshi, she sniffed in disdain. "Right now, he probably wants Ran Yu to cheer him on; what's there for me to worry about But that girl is very close with Chen Chong from Grade 11!" On the day Shen Lu declared her love, Ran Yu had negotiated with Su Cen; recalling this made Li Lumei feel sour. "Ran Yu must have dated at least seven or eight boys since junior high school. That woman has a set of tricks! If he wants to pursue her He'll get hurt sooner or later!"

Seeing Li Lumei's indignant expression, Chen Lingshan smiled slightly, effectively diverting the topic. However, her heart was still racing.

Regret...

What a joke.

...

Friday was the day that Class 1, 3, and 5 looked forward to most. In the afternoon, they had two elective classes before the last two periods were dedicated to Physical Education class. For second and third-year students, this would typically be their dismissal time. However, due to Principal Ding Juntu's personal oversight of the first-year class, there was no early dismissal even for PE class.

But for the students taking these classes, it wasn’t too bad. Sweating from physical activity in PE and then going home happily for the weekend could be considered a pleasant thing.

Recently, Su Can's practice intensity while playing ball had been quite high, leaving him sore all over. He felt exhausted during the fourth period and decided to return to the classroom to rest and pack up before leaving.

When Xu Yi Yang saw Su Can entering the classroom, he quickly stuffed everything on his desk into the drawer and then grinned foolishly at Su Can, "Oh, you're back. Didn't they ask you to play ball during the fourth period Why did you come back early" His expression was clearly nervous.

Su Can glanced at Xu Yi Yang's action of hiding something in his drawer; he was very cautious and seemed somewhat guilty.

"I'm a bit tired, so I won't go. You play soccer too, didn't you come back early as well" Without deliberately asking Xue Yiyang about it, Su Can sat down and pretended to be unaware of everything while tidying up his things. Xue Yiyang’s expression became tense.

There was a chemistry test paper that he hadn’t finished doing which had mysteriously disappeared, and the extremely unnatural expression on Xue Yiyang's face made Su Can suddenly understand something: in recent times, he and Xue Yiyang as well as Liu Rui went out to play games less often. During recesses, he also seldom spent time with Xue Yiyang. Previously, Xue Yiyang would almost force him to go out to play with him.

After the mid-term exam results were announced, similar disturbances from Xue Yiyang decreased, and lately, Su Can often felt that Xue Yiyang was secretly observing him.

Xue Yiyang once thought of himself and Su Can as kindred spirits. He ridiculed Su Can's focus on doing exercises and always believed he was better than Su Can. However, the mid-term exam results were a great shock to his self-esteem.

Thinking about how Xue Yiyang ranked 40th in their class and that there was such a significant gap between him and Su Can’s top ten ranking made it feel surreal. Thus, he started watching every move of Su Can, looking at the exercises he had done, reading his handwriting, and even attempting to solve some difficult problems himself out of dissatisfaction.

They could fight together with bricks in hand, but Xue Yiyang couldn't accept being surpassed by Su Can academically.

The long-standing pride that came from being at the top of Shishi High School made him find it hard to believe that Su Can had unknowingly walked ahead of him.

But now, Xue Yiyang felt an oppressive atmosphere. It seemed like he would suffocate in the next moment. When Su Can paused for a second while tidying up his books, this small detail made Xue Yiyang realize that Su Can might have discovered that he had taken his test paper and been doing it privately.

How could he explain away his guilty conscience and the pride and self-respect deep down in his heart, which refused to be inferior to Su Can

These things were hard to express; if they came out or got discovered, two good friends might start harboring grudges towards each other.

After Xue Yiyang felt like he was about to burst from holding in his urge, Su Cen put the books into his backpack and stood up, saying, "I'm going to help out at my family's shop today, so I won't be returning with you. See ya!"

Xue Yiyang was initially stunned but then a trace of gratitude flashed in his eyes. Su Cen didn’t say anything more and patted Xue Yiyang on the shoulder before leaving with his backpack.

The sun outside was bright, shining on him and making Su Cen feel quite good about himself. Because of what happened between them, Xue Yiyang's resentment had turned into motivation for him to strive harder, which might gradually change the direction of his life too.

When he left school, he saw his older sister Zeng Na who had been dismissed early from class. She was walking down a slope with several close female classmates. They merely nodded at each other and didn’t greet each other up close.

In fact, Su Cen felt that Zeng Na seemed to be deliberately avoiding him in school. Whenever they encountered each other on the road, it was just a nod, nothing more. Although she had changed her perception of this younger brother, she couldn't quickly overcome her indifference towards him.

"That must be one of the new freshmen in grade 10, quite handsome for a little boy... Hehe..." A very cheerful-looking girl in their small clique chuckled.

"He's been rather famous around our school recently, isn't it Su" Another female classmate boldly looked over at Su Cen.

The girls found it strange that the usually outspoken Zeng Na didn’t make any comments like "Then go ahead and enjoy some fresh grass!" Instead, she was unusually silent.

A senior boy from grade 12 approached Zeng Na, shifting everyone's attention. The male student looked up to her as he spoke to her, which made the girls around him laugh out loud. However, Zeng Na seemed awkward and hurriedly left with them through the school gate, seemingly worried that Su Cen might see this scene.ght slap that wouldn’t cause any serious injury.Therefore, regardless of who the other party might be backing, today Feng Youfu's temper flared up and he wasn't afraid.Just as he was getting ready for...