Because this class was an exam session, Ye Qingchang, for once, didn’t chat endlessly with her roommates beside her, but instead tried to sneak in a little leisure while not missing any key points.
But Liu Xie and Yang Shuli, sitting next to her, had no such worries. Since Liu Xie had come early, she had already claimed seats in the back row. Now, the two of them were in the back, eating and drinking as they pleased, entirely indifferent to the world around them.
“Here she comes, here she comes, did she take attendance yet?” Zhu Niao, who’d woken up late, squeezed in through the back door of the classroom, her hair a mess and her face haggard, with Gou Yu in tow. They sat down at the seat Liu Xie had saved for them.
“She did. I just said you went to the bathroom. This teacher’s nice—she marked you present right away.” Liu Xie gave the teacher on the podium a nod of approval, then quickly lowered her head when the teacher’s gaze swept their way.
This time, there was no need for the back row to move up front, since it was an exam class and the participation points for the front two rows were snatched up by eager students.
Unfortunately, true experts disdained such participation points. They didn’t even care to attend class regularly.
True experts only needed to show their hand a little in the last month before finals to show the teacher why they got into college in the first place.
Take Zhu Niao for example—she certainly wasn’t planning to pay attention in class right now.
“What about Gou Yu?” Zhu Niao nodded at the equally drowsy Gou Yu behind her.
“Bathroom too.”
“Excellent, Private Liu Xie.” Zhu Niao reached out and patted Liu Xie on the shoulder.
Liu Xie just slumped her shoulders, shook off Zhu Niao’s hand, and took another sip from her insulated mug.
“What are you drinking?” Zhu Niao looked at the mug with a strange sense of unfamiliarity. “I remember you haven’t drunk plain water in at least two months, right? Haven’t you just been rotating through all kinds of drinks? What’s with the insulated mug this time?”
“Blame my brother. He brewed me some brown sugar water and insists I finish it. He’s even going to check when he picks me up after school.” Liu Xie looked troubled. “Feels like he’s treating me like a kid. If I secretly dump it, do you think he’ll notice?”
“The fact that you’re even thinking that proves your brother isn’t wrong to treat you like a kid,” Zhu Niao commented quite objectively.
Liu Xie couldn’t be bothered to argue. She pulled out a few pieces of donkey-hide gelatin from her pocket and distributed them among her close roommates, one for each.
“Eat them as snacks—good for your blood, whichever side you eat first.”
Gou Yu, also given a piece, looked down at the gelatin cake in her hand. “Seriously, does this stuff actually help me?”
“Uh, Little Bird said you need it.”
Gou Yu’s face darkened at once, her hand resting on Zhu Niao’s shoulder as he whistled at the classroom.
Unfortunately, Zhu Niao couldn’t actually whistle, but Gou Yu was not about to let Little Bird off the hook.
“Never thought I’d see the day when the yellow-haired one in our dorm would stoop to drinking brown sugar water,” Zhu Niao sighed, as if lamenting the unpredictability of life.
“Actually, I’ve wanted to drink brown sugar water for ages.” At this, Liu Xie rubbed her temples, seeming to recall something from the past.
“When I first got my period, during the National Day holiday, things weren’t that urgent—definitely not bad enough for me to stand on my head in the dorm. So, I ordered a big care package online, with brown sugar water, pads, all that.”
“But the delivery guy never brought it to me. He delayed and delayed, and only after I couldn’t even move on my own did he message me, saying his girlfriend was in urgent need, so he gave the package to her first. He even wanted to refund me and told me to buy another one.”
At this point, Liu Xie was furious. “Absolutely no morals at all! His girlfriend’s emergency, but wasn’t mine urgent too? Isn’t the customer supposed to be king? Or is a girlfriend more important than the king now… Little Bird, why aren’t you saying anything?”
“Uh, I just suddenly felt like listening to the lecture for a moment,” Zhu Niao looked awkwardly at Gou Yu, who was also tense, and forced out a weak smile.
“How’s the sample listening?”
“Don’t understand a word,” Zhu Niao replied honestly.
Liu Xie pinched her chin and kept recounting, “Still, I gave the delivery guy a good review and told him to just mark it as delivered.”
“Stuff didn’t come, but I’m not hurting for that bit of money. The guy really did need it urgently and was sincere about it, so I just let it go.”
After she finished, she turned and saw Zhu Niao and Gou Yu giving her a solemn salute—especially Gou Yu, whose eyes glistened with grateful tears.
“Honestly, I really feel like weird things have been happening too much around me lately. Did I time travel or something?”
Liu Xie shook her head, thought for a moment, then tossed another question at Zhu Niao: “When’s the basketball game starting? I need to tell my brother to make time.”
At that, Zhu Niao elbowed Gou Yu, as if passing on a message.
She didn’t say a word, just stared into Gou Yu’s eyes, trying to convey something silently.
Then, Gou Yu gave an OK gesture to show he got it.
He answered Liu Xie, “I’m thinking of having braised chicken rice today.”
“Honestly, you two should probably go see a doctor,” Liu Xie said.
Gou Yu pulled out his phone, opened the PE committee group chat, and carefully checked the basketball game details.
“The day after tomorrow.”
“For real?” Zhu Niao and Liu Xie spoke in unison.
“Basketball game starts the day after tomorrow,” Gou Yu confirmed confidently.
“That soon?” Zhu Niao raised her eyebrows. “I thought it’d get delayed over and over, like construction site payments.”
“The one who’s been dragging it out is me. I didn’t bring it up until it had to be handled.” Gou Yu gave a thumbs-up. “Just like how I always put off homework until the deadline.”
“Wait, aren’t you guys going to do some training?” Zhu Niao sounded worried.
“We’re not aiming to win any places, so why bother training?” Gou Yu showed off his Meituan Gold Medal Courier badge. “Better to use that time to make a few more deliveries. And what can you even train in two days?”
“Huh, you make a good point.”
Zhu Niao was convinced, and the two slapped hands with a crisp sound.
“Wait, what…” Liu Xie looked at the apparently settled Gou Yu and Zhu Niao. “Ah, forget it.”
She pulled out her phone and began texting Liu Anran, to see if he could make time the day after tomorrow.
“Hey, wait.” Suddenly, Liu Xie remembered something. “Isn’t the day after tomorrow Saturday?”
“Of course it’s a comp day off,” Zhu Niao replied flatly. “Did you really think we’d get a full seven days off for National Day?”
I’ve got a question, how far back do you have to be to eat at your leisure
In the back row you basically don’t exist to the teacher