"Good morning, Tang Rou." Lin Feng greeted her with a smile.
This beautiful girl turned out to be his classmate, none other than the class beauty, Tang Rou. No wonder she was so stunning.
"You're out for morning reading, huh?" Lin Feng walked over to her and said.
Tang Rou was momentarily stunned. A lot of people in this class do morning reading. Perhaps he's the only one who doesn't. But instead, she said, "Yes, I like doing my morning reading by the river. How come you're here too?"
"Me? I'm exercising. I work out for an hour every day—ensures health for fifty working years and a lifetime of happiness, heh."
Tang Rou chuckled, her long hair dancing in the wind. She looked like a serene fairy. "Since starting my third year of high school, I've hardly exercised at all..."
"By the way, thank you for trying to help me out yesterday."
Lin Feng suddenly remembered that yesterday when Cao Ying called him up to the blackboard to do a translation, Tang Rou had stood up to help him out. Even though Cao Ying rejected her offer, for Tang Rou to take the initiative to help a male classmate was quite rare. Thinking back, Tang Rou's actions yesterday had surprised everyone in the class quite a bit.
"Why thank me? You've helped me before too. Besides, Teacher Cao didn't let me help you with the problem yesterday anyway," Tang Rou responded amicably with a slight smile.
Lin Feng's heart skipped a beat, and then he understood what Tang Rou meant by "You've helped me before."
Back in middle school, Lin Feng and Tang Rou were schoolmates. At that time, Lin Feng had good grades and Tang Rou was the campus beauty. In their second year of middle school, two troublemakers from their grade had somehow set their sights on Tang Rou. They intercepted her on her way home from school, insisting that Tang Rou accept Fatty's confession of love, and even tried to get handsy.
Lin Feng was nearby, heard their commotion, and came over to help. He was taller than most of his peers at the time, so he easily chased the two bullies away.
It was a clichéd story of a hero saving a damsel in distress.
But that was three or four years ago. After that, the two of them hadn't interacted at all until last year when Lin Feng transferred from the science stream to the arts stream, and they met again.
By then, Lin Feng's grades had plummeted, while Tang Rou was not only the class beauty but also the top student. With one at the bottom and the other at the top, they barely interacted.
As Lin Feng was lost in his memories, Tang Rou bent down and jumped off the stone.
CRACK!
The soil there was loose. When Tang Rou jumped down, she stumbled and was about to fall!
"Watch out!"
Lin Feng quickly came over to support her. "Are you okay?"
Tang Rou's cheeks turned crimson. She looked at Lin Feng, embarrassed, gave a shy smile, and then lowered her head. The river breeze tousled her long hair, and she ducked her head even lower.
Only then did Lin Feng realize his hand was still around Tang Rou's slender waist. He quickly let go, clearing his throat twice in embarrassment.
Tang Rou was nearly 165 centimeters tall. Standing before Lin Feng, her dark, smooth hair fluttered in the wind, making his heart skip a beat.
No wonder so many boys liked her. Perhaps Tang Rou wasn't strikingly beautiful, but the serene and graceful aura about her was enough to captivate countless men.
"The wind by the river is strong in the morning. Are you cold?"
Lin Feng broke the awkward silence. But as soon as he finished speaking, he immediately wished he could slap himself.
Asking if she was cold... if she said yes, wouldn't I have to offer her a piece of my clothing? But I'm currently wearing just a thin tank top! What could I possibly give her to wear?
"No, I'm used to it." Tang Rou finally lifted her head and flashed a charming smile. Those words let Lin Feng breathe a sigh of relief.
"By the way, did Teacher Cao give you a hard time in her office after school yesterday?" Tang Rou asked curiously. Yesterday in class, Lin Feng had made the great beauty Cao's face alternate between pale and flushed; Tang Rou didn't believe that the great beauty Cao would let Lin Feng, whom she's always considered a thorn in her side, off so easily.
"Nope. As they say, a dead pig isn't afraid of boiling water... Haha." Lin Feng chuckled, thinking of yesterday's events. The great beauty Cao had actually taken him to her apartment to treat his injuries. That memory made him feel incredibly warm.
"Did she scold you?"
"No, she just made me write a guarantee."
"Huh?"
"She made me promise to score above the class average on this month's English exam," Lin Feng said, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a chuckle. "But I wrote her a guarantee that I'll score 120 points on this month's English exam. You should have seen the look on the great beauty Cao's face then! Her pupils dilated, and her mouth formed an 'O'. Haha!"
"120 points?"
Upon hearing this, Tang Rou was stunned too. The teacher asked him to guarantee he'd score above the average, but he volunteered to score more than 120? Is something wrong with Lin Feng's brain?
If this month's English exam turned out to be difficult, even Tang Rou wasn't sure she could guarantee a score of 120.
"What will you do if you don't score 120 points?" Tang Rou asked worriedly.
"Clean the classroom for a month."
Seeing Lin Feng's relaxed demeanor, Tang Rou couldn't help but worry for him. "The monthly exam is in a week! How on earth are you going to score 120 points? Even with a cheat sheet, you couldn't guarantee that!"
"Lin Feng... Are... are you confident?" Tang Rou asked cautiously.
Lin Feng let out a chuckle. "I gave my word, so all I can do is try my best. Fortunately, my recent English studies have been going well, so I'm not feeling too much pressure." He came up with a random excuse.
If he were to be honest about his English proficiency, he could at least teach English at a university. High school English truly didn't pose much of a challenge for Lin Feng. However, others didn't think so, because Lin Feng's past English exam scores had never been anything to write home about.
Tang Rou looked at Lin Feng's relaxed expression. Things are down to the wire! He isn't even a bit nervous, isn't studying, and is even out for a run. How can he possibly fulfill his promise…?
"Lin Feng, since you're confident about scoring 120 points, shall we… make a bet?" Tang Rou suddenly looked up at Lin Feng, pursed her lips, and said with a serious expression.
"A bet?"
Lin Feng was taken aback. First Cao Ying wanted to bet with him, and now Tang Rou too. Do all girls these days like to make bets?
"Bet what?"
"Let's bet on our English scores. We'll see who scores higher on this monthly exam."
Tang Rou bit her lower lip and gave Lin Feng a sweet smile, revealing two adorable dimples. She looked utterly charming.
If he were to bet with Tang Rou on English scores, Lin Feng felt a bit of pressure, but he was still quite confident he'd win. However, he couldn't let it show; that would give him away.
"You want to compete with me? Your grades are so good, how could I beat you?" Lin Feng feigned modesty.
"If you manage to score 120 points, you stand a good chance against me. Last time, I only scored 127 points in English," Tang Rou said with a radiant smile.
He'd never expected Tang Rou to actually make a bet with him. As far as he could recall, Tang Rou rarely initiated conversations with boys.
Lin Feng thought for a moment, then agreed, "Alright. So what's the wager?"
"If you win, what would you want me to do for you?" Tang Rou countered slyly.
Lin Feng chuckled and said, "If I win, then… heh heh, you'll do all my English homework for the next month."
"How can you do that! That's not a real wager; you're just trying to slack off," Tang Rou protested, her cheeks puffed out in displeasure.
She'd never imagined Lin Feng would ask her to do his homework; this was practically asking her to aid his laziness! If the great beauty Cao found out, she'd definitely punish her too… The top student in the class being punished for helping a boy with his homework—how humiliating would that be if word got out! Just thinking about it made Tang Rou blush.
"A bet is a bet. If you don't want to do my homework, then just beat me. So, what do you want me to do if you win?"
"Hmm..." Tang Rou tilted her head, thinking for a good while. Suddenly, she smiled and said, "If I win, you have to accompany me to evening self-study for a month."
"What?" This time it was Lin Feng's turn to be surprised.
In their third year of high school, they also had evening classes, which usually ended after nine o'clock. After that, the school had an optional hour of self-study, primarily for boarding students, though day students could also attend.
Third-year students had a heavy academic load. Conscientious students like Tang Rou, who enjoyed studying, would always stay for that extra hour of self-study before heading home.
Students like Lin Feng, on the other hand, had never attended that evening self-study session.
"Me, accompany you to evening self-study? What good would that do you? I'd definitely just disrupt your focus..." Lin Feng started to have second thoughts.
His main priority now was physical training, so attending an extra evening self-study session wasn't exactly ideal for his schedule, even though accompanying Tang Rou to study was a dream task for countless boys.
"Never you mind about that." Tang Rou wrinkled her delicate nose and gave Lin Feng a smug smile. "So, it's a deal then? You can't go back on your word."
Seeing how delighted Tang Rou looked, Lin Feng gave her a playful eye-roll and retorted with a grin, "Go back on my word? Do we need to make a pinky swear?"
"Alright," Tang Rou agreed with a smile.
Seeing Lin Feng look stunned, she quickly covered her mouth and chuckled, "Just kidding! My family's waiting for me for breakfast. I have to go now."
Tang Rou picked up her English book and slowly walked out from among the trees. Lin Feng watched her retreating figure, completely bewildered.
The class beauty is actually making a bet with me? Could it be—she likes me? Impossible. They say girls with good grades like guys with good grades. My grades are good, alright—good and rotten!
Of course, Lin Feng was confident that in next week's monthly exam, he would not only win the bet but also completely shed his "good-for-nothing slacker" image and once again become the King of Soldiers who had once driven the world wild!