"Please rest assured, Principal, I will handle it."
Sun Qing led Li Zhiyuan out, feeling quite pressured, not daring to stay any longer.
A fierce argunt erupted from the small eting room as soon as they left.
Tan Yunlong also rushed out and said, "Xiao Yuan, your uncle will pick you up after school to have dinner at our house."
"No need, Uncle, I’ll go ho to eat."
"Alright then." Tan Yunlong patted the boy’s shoulder and walked towards the school entrance.
They entered the teaching building and ascended the staircase.
Li Zhiyuan noticed that Sun Qing’s palm was very hot and still sweating.
Actually, up to now, Sun Qing’s mind was still in a whirl; this high school was large, with over a dozen classes in each grade.
The previous few nights, as she went to bed with her husband, she had whimsically imagined how nice it would be if the child could be in her class, but she truly did not expect that the longevity peach would actually be placed before her.
Because of her unsettled mind, she missed a step while ascending the stairs, but fortunately, she promptly braced herself with her hands to stabilize, otherwise, the genius that the principal had just entrusted to her care would have tumbled down the stairs with her.
Sun Qing was imdiately tearful with fright.
"Teacher Sun, I’d like to be desk mates with Brother Binbin... with student Tan Wenbin."
"Eh, okay."
After agreeing, Sun Qing frowned, feeling like sothing was off, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it at the mont.
It wasn’t until they reached the doorstep of Class 13, senior year three, that Sun Qing and Li Zhiyuan both realized what was wrong.
It was because they saw Tan Wenbin’s seat, isolated from the rest of the class, right next to the teacher’s desk.
Back turned to the classroom door, Tan Wenbin was initially unaware of Li Zhiyuan’s arrival as he was focused on solving problems.
Most of the teachers had gone to see the commotion, leaving nearly the entire senior grade to self-study for this period.
After sensing the unusual atmosphere in the class, Tan Wenbin finally turned his head, first seeing the horoom teacher, then spotting Li Zhiyuan, and imdiately, with a delighted smile, he waved his hand and called out, without caring whether it was age-appropriate or embarrassing:
"Brother Xiao Yuan!"
Sun Qing habitually glared at Tan Wenbin; this student wasn’t bad by nature, but he tended to cause trouble and was too extroverted.
However, after a mont of glaring, her gaze softened, after all, she had benefited from him today.
"Classmates, let introduce our new classmate."
Li Zhiyuan stepped onto the platform and revealed a standard shy smile:
"Hello, everyone, my na is Li Zhiyuan. I hope to receive your support in the future."
Sun Qing pointed to the first row near the door: "Tan Wenbin, move your desk here. You’ll be desk mates with Xiao Yuan."
"Okay, Teacher."
Tan Wenbin moved his desk into place. Being tall, he sat inside against the wall, with Li Zhiyuan on the outside.
Actually, Li Zhiyuan’s original intention was to sit at the last row in the corner, where Feng Shui was better.
But he knew this wasn’t possible.
"Tan Wenbin, co out and help Xiao Yuan get his books."
"Sure thing, Teacher!"
What followed was plain and unadorned class ti.
The teacher taught at the front, Li Zhiyuan looked through books below; he needed to review the high school curriculum again.
During class, other teachers would pretend to pass by, glancing at him.
During break, classmates from other classes who heard the news would also crowd around.
However, Li Zhiyuan just silently flipped through his books, not appearing extroverted, and with Tan Wenbin there, no one could bother him.
At lunchti, Tan Wenbin said the school canteen was too unpalatable and took him to an outside snack bar, bringing along one more person, Zheng Haiyang, who had been bullied last ti.
Both of his parents were sailors, often away from ho, so he seed very introverted.
While eating, Tan Wenbin said that both the horoom teacher and the principal had talked to him, asking him to take good care of Xiao Yuan.
After lunch, they returned to the classroom. It was nominally self-study ti, but actually, the Chinese class was arranged, followed by twenty-five minutes of nap ti, then the continuation of classes.
The teachers gave Li Zhiyuan a lot of freedom. For example, during English class, Li Zhiyuan flipped through physics textbooks under the teacher’s watchful eyes, who pretended not to see.
After the second lesson in the afternoon, Li Zhiyuan had finished flipping through all the textbooks.
He decided to start bringing Wei Zhengdao’s books into the classroom to read the next day.
The third and the fourth periods were math classes, where Li Zhiyuan laid his head down and began to sleep.
It wasn’t that he disrespected the teacher, but he knew that if he went on actively participating, he would get tired; it was better to form an understanding from the start so everyone could take it easy.
At first, the classmates thought they would witness an interesting scene, as their math teacher Mr. Yan was notoriously short-tempered.
Yet as he continued to teach, upon realizing the sleeping student in the first row, he considerately covered him with his coat.
At the sa ti, he showed a tender and loving smile.
Halfway through the fourth period, Mr. Yan wrote three problems on the blackboard for the students to solve, then ca down and gently woke up Li Zhiyuan.
Li Zhiyuan sat up, looked at the problem on the blackboard, picked up his pen, and quickly wrote down the answer.
Mr. Yan saw this and swallowed a gulp of saliva, then rubbed his hands and asked softly, "Xiao Yuan, are you interested in participating in the Math Olympiad?"
"Sure, teacher, I’ll participate."
Upon hearing this, Mr. Yan got excited and kept saying "thank you, thank you" to the students several tis.
After the fourth class was over, it was ti for dinner, which would be followed by evening self-study.
Li Zhiyuan turned to Tan Wenbin: "Brother Binbin, I’m going ho."
Tan Wenbin paused for a mont and asked, "What, you’re not attending evening self-study on your first day?"
"Yeah."
"Uh, what I an is, don’t you want to fully experience a day of life as a senior third year?"
"Not really interested, I’ve asked Brother Runsheng to pick up around this ti."
Books and stationery could be left on the desk, Li Zhiyuan walked out of the classroom empty-handed.
On the road, many students were looking at him, giving a feeling as if a primary school student had slipped into the high school crowd.
Li Zhiyuan felt similarly.
It was only when he stepped out of the teaching building that Li Zhiyuan rembered he had forgotten to greet Panzi, Yingzi, Leizi, and the others in their classroom.
Forget it, I’ll go tomorrow.
"Brother Xiao Yuan, wait for !"
Li Zhiyuan stopped and turned around, seeing Tan Wenbin running towards him with a backpack on.
"Brother Binbin, I’m going ho."
"I’m going ho, too."
"I’m heading to Grand Master’s House."
"I’m off to Zhuangzhuang’s ho."
"Aren’t you afraid Uncle Tan will beat you for skipping class?"
Li Zhiyuan checked the titable, which showed morning and evening self-study periods, actually regular classes led by teachers.
"No problem, my dad would be glad for to stick with you."
"Did you check in with Uncle Tan?"
"I’ll call him from Aunt Zhang’s convenience store when I get back."
"Oh."
Li Zhiyuan responded and kept walking toward the school gate.
Tan Wenbin followed behind, his face brimming with a smile, especially when he saw the students who had finished eating but had to go back to class, his grin beca freer and more joyful.
Exiting the school gate, Li Zhiyuan began looking for the location of Run Sheng’s tricycle but couldn’t find it.
"Hey, did Run Sheng forget to pick you up?" Tan Wenbin also craned his neck, looking around.
"Brother Runsheng probably parked a bit further away; let’s cross the road first."
"He’s crazy, not picking you up at the school gate?"
"The school gate is too crowded."
"Crowded, how is that an excuse?"
After crossing the road and avoiding the student and vendor crowds of the mont, Li Zhiyuan saw Run Sheng jumping and waving at the northwest corner alley entrance.
As they walked over, Tan Wenbin couldn’t help but complain, "Why didn’t you just stop by Mr. Li’s courtyard entrance to pick us up?"
Then Tan Wenbin fell silent.
Because in the alley, behind the tricycle, sat a girl in a red dress.
Although this place was remote, it was only relative to the school gate, and people still passed by now and then.
The girl sat on the bench of the tricycle, like an easily startled little deer, showing her bravery yet reluctance.
Li Zhiyuan got on the tricycle, the girl imdiately reached out and firmly grabbed the boy’s hand, settling down completely.
Tan Wenbin stood beside the tricycle, unsure whether to get on or not.
Run Sheng rembered the previous mocking and gave him a sidelong glance, saying, "You’re superfluous."
"I’ll have my dad bring my bike to tomorrow."
"Brother Binbin, get on," Li Zhiyuan had already noticed, Alii was less resistant to people she was familiar with at ho.
"Okay, Brother Xiao Yuan." Tan Wenbin got on and sat at the very edge.
"Let’s head ho!"
Run Sheng pedaled the tricycle, steering out of the alley, heading west, in the direction of ho.
On the tricycle, the brimming youthfulness of the boys and girls made the evening sky blush with envy and show off under the setting sun.
(End of this volu)
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