After Differentiation, I Marked My Arch-nemesis - Chapter 45

The weekend passed quickly, and a new week began.

Monday.

The morning sun, with its unique freshness and warmth, shone down on everyone. Jiang Youli and Chen Huaian arrived at Jiangcheng No.1 High School quite early today. At least, the first class meeting hadn’t started yet. The two of them slowly rode their bicycles into the school gate.

The campus was filled with students returning to school.

The two of them rode their bicycles through the crowd and parked them in the bike shed.

Then, they walked toward the academic building together.

A gentle breeze lightly caressed Jiang Youli’s fair and smooth cheeks. As she and Chen Huaian walked along the sycamore-lined path, they got closer and closer to the academic building. They saw that the honor roll board at the bottom of the building was surrounded by people who were all looking at the midterm exam results.

The midterm exam results at Jiangcheng No.1 High School were posted on the honor roll board at the bottom of each grade’s academic building, showing the entire grade’s ranking. The students in the top 20 of the entire grade had their photos on the board, and the other students were ranked according to their scores.

By looking at the honor roll, they would know their rank and score in the entire grade.

Jiang Youli looked at the honor roll board and called out, “Huaian.”

Chen Huai’lan: “Huh?”

Jiang Youli looked at the handsome and energetic Chen Huaian, then pulled his arm and walked toward the academic building. “Let’s go look at the honor roll first.”

Chen Huaian: “???”

He followed Jiang Youli in confusion. “Look at the honor roll?”

Jiang Youli: “Mhm.”

Chen Huaian looked at Jiang Youli like she was some kind of strange monster and asked curiously, “Boss, since when did you get interested in the honor roll?”

Jiang Youli said simply, “I’m not interested.”

Chen Huaian: “Then why are we looking at the honor roll?”

He paused and continued, “You’ve never looked at the honor roll before.”

There was no need to look at it when she always got a zero.

Jiang Youli: “You’ll see when we go.”

Chen Huaian agreed to go with Jiang Youli. “Okay.”

The two of them walked to the honor roll board where the midterm exam results were posted. The board was surrounded by people, and there wasn’t even any space. Luckily, they were both tall enough to see the honor roll, otherwise they would have to squeeze inside to see it.

Jiang Youli and Chen Huaian went straight to the end of the honor roll.

They were used to being at the bottom of the grade with a score of zero.

Jiang Youli slightly raised her head and saw her name. The one math multiple-choice question she had filled in was correct. Her rank in the entire grade was second to last, with a total score of five, while Chen Huaian was last with a score of zero.

“Boss…”

Chen Huaian’s surprised voice came from beside her. “How did you get five points?”

He looked at Jiang Youli in surprise. “Didn’t we agree on the zero plan?”

Jiang Youli didn’t say anything.

She turned her head to look at the largest photo on the honor roll for the first year. Lu Yaoyi in the photo still had her usual cold and aloof expression. Even in a headshot, she looked ethereal, radiant, and charming.

This S-class Omega, Lu Yaoyi, was truly too beautiful.

She slowly looked away and at Chen Huaian. “Huaian, come with me for a second.”

She then turned and walked toward the sports field.

Chen Huaian looked at Jiang Youli’s back. “Boss, where are you going?”

Jiang Youli didn’t look back. “Just follow me.”

Hearing this, Chen Huaian, who was completely confused, followed Jiang Youli.

What was going on?

Jiang Youli led Chen Huaian away from the crowd to a sycamore tree on the sports field. She stopped and watched the students running on the field, then turned and looked at Chen Huaian’s eyes seriously. “Huaian, I’m sorry.”

Chen Huaian was slightly stunned. “Huh? Sorry?”

Jiang Youli: “Mhm, Huaian.”

She pursed her lips and lowered her voice. “I want to apologize to you.”

Chen Huaian: “???”

“W… why are you apologizing to me?” Chen Huaian was completely bewildered by Jiang Youli’s sudden apology. “Boss, what’s wrong with you? Why are you suddenly apologizing to me?”

Jiang Youli told the truth. “Because I lied to you.”

Chen Huaian: “You lied to me?”

“I told you we were going with the zero plan for the midterm exams last week, but I did a multiple-choice question and got five points,” Jiang Youli said. “So I lied to you.”

She looked at Chen Huaian’s eyes sincerely. “Huaian, I’m sorry.”

Chen Huaian was taken aback by Jiang Youli’s serious apology. Jiang Youli’s sincere gaze felt like it could burn him. He had never seen Jiang Youli like this before. The fact that Jiang Youli got five points didn’t matter to him at all. He didn’t care about it, and he felt that Jiang Youli didn’t need to apologize.

So he smiled and said, “I thought it was a big deal.”

“Boss, you did a multiple-choice question, so what? You got five points, so what? You don’t need to apologize to me. It makes things so awkward between us. Don’t look at me like that. I really don’t care about these things.”

Jiang Youli: “Huaian, it’s not just that.”

Chen Huaian: “Then what is it?”

Jiang Youli had already prepared to tell Chen Huaian the truth in the past few days, so she said without hesitation, “I got those five points for Lu Yaoyi.”

Chen Huaian raised his voice in surprise, “For Lu Yaoyi?”

Jiang Youli told Chen Huaian about finding Lucky and how Lu Yaoyi had adopted Lucky. However, she was too shy to mention that Lu Yaoyi had helped her calm her rut and that she had promised to help Lu Yaoyi get through her heat once.

“I said before that I would be a little nicer to her, so I didn’t want to drag her down and make her clean the classroom for a week. But I didn’t want you to know that I had changed my mind for her because I think I’ve really gone soft on her because of Lucky. I felt that it would make me lose face, so I used you and the zero plan without telling you.”

Yes, she had gone soft.

This was the first time she admitted that she had gone soft on Lu Yaoyi because of Lucky.

She had started to care about Lu Yaoyi’s feelings.

“I know you don’t care, but I still have to apologize to you.”

“Huaian, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for lying to you.”

Chen Huaian heard Jiang Youli apologize over and over again and felt an inexplicable urge to cry.

Jiang Youli was usually so wild and out of control that no one could tame her. Now, she was suddenly apologizing to him so humbly, and he felt a little heartbroken for her.

He felt a little sad.

“Boss… don’t be like this… it makes my heart ache.”

“Then why did you choose to tell me?”

Jiang Youli smiled faintly. “My dignity isn’t more important than you. You’re my most important friend. I don’t want to lie to you or keep anything from you because of this.”

Hearing this, Chen Huaian felt an inexplicable urge to cry.

He wanted to hug Jiang Youli.

But he was an Omega, and Jiang Youli was an Alpha, so it wasn’t appropriate for them to hug.

So he said, “Boss, really, don’t be like this. It makes me feel really bad. You don’t have to apologize to me. You really don’t have to.”

Jiang Youli felt much better after getting it off her chest. Otherwise, she would have always felt guilty for using Chen Huaian. “I could have told you sooner, and then you could have gotten a few more points and not been punished. If Old Tan really makes you clean the classroom for a week, you don’t have to worry about it. Just leave it to me.”

Chen Huaian quickly shook his head. “Boss, you don’t have to. I can do it myself.”

Jiang Youli: “I said I’ll do it. Just listen to me, okay?”

She could have avoided the punishment, but she used Chen Huaian because of her pride. So she had to take full responsibility for what she had done to her good friend.

Chen Huaian had no choice but to agree with Jiang Youli. “Okay, I’ll listen to you.”

Jiang Youli: “Mhm, let’s go back to the classroom. Class is about to start.”

Chen Huaian said with a grin, “Let’s go.”

When the two of them returned to Class 1 of the first year, class had just started.

Jiang Youli walked into the classroom through the back door and saw Lu Yaoyi sitting in her seat. Lu Yaoyi must have already known that she got five points. She stared at Lu Yaoyi’s profile for a few seconds, then walked over, pulled out her chair, and sat down.

She took out her books from her bag, put them on her desk, and didn’t say a word.

“Jiang Youli.”

Lu Yaoyi’s gentle and pleasant voice came.

Jiang Youli’s heart trembled.

Lu Yaoyi: “Why didn’t you get a zero on the midterm exams?”

Jiang Youli: “…”

She knew Lu Yaoyi would ask her. Thankfully, she had already thought of a way to deal with Lu Yaoyi. She answered without panicking, “How was I supposed to know I’d get five points? I just guessed on a multiple-choice question, and I didn’t expect to get it right.”

Lu Yaoyi’s voice was gentle. “Teacher Tan said that as long as you improve, even by one point or one rank, it counts as completing the task. Are you sure you didn’t intentionally fill in the multiple-choice question to get five points so I wouldn’t have to clean the classroom?”

There was another half of the sentence that she didn’t say.

If Jiang Youli genuinely wanted her to clean the classroom for a week, there was no need to guess on a multiple-choice question. She could have just turned in a blank paper. The act of guessing on a question made her more certain that Jiang Youli didn’t want her to clean the classroom.

She knew Jiang Youli was a childish tsundere.

So she didn’t expose her.

It was enough for her to know.

Jiang Youli: “…”

Wow, was Lu Yaoyi a worm in her stomach?

How did she guess so accurately?

But she would never admit it and give that narcissistic freak Lu Yaoyi the satisfaction.

So she purposely put on a cold, mean face and said, “Lu Yaoyi, your narcissism really hasn’t changed at all. If I had known that I would get that multiple-choice question right, I would never have guessed. Can you please stop being so narcissistic?”

Lu Yaoyi lightly curled her lips and said in a gentle tone, as if she were coaxing Jiang Youli.

“Okay, I won’t be narcissistic anymore.”

Jiang Youli: “…”

If she was going to stop being narcissistic, then fine.

Why was she smiling at her? She wasn’t going to be fooled by Lu Yaoyi’s smiling eyes!

Just then, Tan Yushan’s voice came from the front of the classroom.

The two of them stopped talking.

Tan Yushan talked about the results of the midterm exams. The overall scores of Class 1 of the first year had improved a lot compared to the last monthly exam. However, there were still a few students whose scores had dropped. He called out the names of those students in front of the whole class.

And Chen Huaian, who got a zero and was last in the grade.

However, he didn’t criticize them; instead, he encouraged them to study hard.

Just as the students who were called out thought that Tan Yushan would make them clean the classroom for a week, Tan Yushan said, “I know you’re all worried that I’ll make you clean the classroom for a week. Don’t worry, I’m not that overbearing or unreasonable.”

“Last time, I only said that to motivate you to study hard. I hope you’ll continue to work hard and strive to be number one in the entire grade next time.”

“Teacher Tan,” a student asked, “how will the seating be arranged this time?”

Tan Yushan looked around the class and said, “This time, you can choose your own desk-mate. The students with higher rankings will get to choose their seats first.”

He paused and continued, “I’m not letting you choose your own desk-mate so you can have fun together. You better be a little more aware. If your scores are not good on the next monthly exam, I’ll have to invite your parents to my office for tea.”

The whole class was secretly happy. It was so much more comfortable to be able to choose their own desk-mate.

Jiang Youli secretly glanced at Lu Yaoyi.

Then she looked away and didn’t say anything.

Lu Yaoyi turned her head to look at Jiang Youli’s beautiful profile. Jiang Youli was secretly playing on her phone under the desk. She called out softly, “Jiang Youli.”

Jiang Youli was slightly stunned.

She looked up to meet Lu Yaoyi’s gaze. “What’s wrong?”

Lu Yaoyi: “Do you still want to be my desk-mate?”

Jiang Youli: “…”

Of course, she wasn’t going to abandon Chen Huaian and be Lu Yaoyi’s desk-mate again.

So she said without hesitation, “Of course not.”

Lu Yaoyi raised an eyebrow. “Then move.”

Jiang Youli: “Why?”

A cunning smile flashed in Lu Yaoyi’s eyes. She then looked straight into Jiang Youli’s eyes and said calmly, “Because I’m number one, and I’m going to sit here.”