They don't actually think I like them, do they?

"Waaaah!!" Xu Hui pushed Lin Han away.

"Alright, alright, don't worry, there's still more than a month left. I'll tutor you. As long as you're willing to learn, I guarantee your score will go up!" Lin Han raised his index finger and said seriously.

"You have to do everything you can to save me, brother! I really don't want to learn rap!!"

"That is required."

As Lin Han was speaking, the murmurs around him caught his attention.

"Holy crap, Yuli goddess got eighth in the grade this time?"

"I remember Yuli-neechan usually hovers around 50th or 60th place, how could she have improved so much all of a sudden?!"

Lin Han walked over curiously and looked at the list again.

I was so focused on looking at my own name that I didn't notice it. Right below my name, it clearly said "Eighth place Yan Yuli, 583 points".

"The big star did quite well on the exam this time," Lin Han thought to himself.

He raised his head, and as he turned around, a head of long, black hair brushed against his face, accompanied by a fragrant scent.

A familiar, cold, mountain-like face; a familiar youthful and girlish charm...

Lin Han was still in a daze when the girl turned around and her eyes met his.

"Lin Han?" Yan Yuli's azure pupils suddenly widened, and she asked in a daze.

024. Let's have dinner together.

The weather was sunny and the sun was shining brightly, with the sounds of the school playground filling the air.

In front of the first floor of the teaching building, Lin Han and Yan Yuli stared at each other.

In fact, it's not unusual for people from the same school and the same building to run into each other by chance.

But sometimes, these things are just mysterious. For example, it's not uncommon for elementary school classmates to live in the same small, obscure city and never see each other again for decades after graduation.

Since what happened last time, Lin Han hasn't seen Yan Yuli again. The only interaction they had was when Lin Han tutored Yan Yuli on math problems on WeChat, but that only happened once.

"Hey Lin Han..." Xu Hui had just turned around to look for Lin Han when he saw Yan Yuli. He instinctively covered his mouth and then very sensibly moved away.

"Long time no see, senior!"

After an awkward three seconds, Lin Han quickly greeted them.

For a brief moment upon seeing Lin Han, Yan Yuli's face flushed, but then her expression turned serious, and she tilted her head.

"You've known about this for a long time? Is this how you've been my assistant?"

"But you didn't call me, senior."

Faced with his senior's sudden accusation, Lin Han felt ashamed.

"Does this even need to be called upon? As an assistant, shouldn't you proactively share the boss's burdens?"

"I will reflect on it, I will reflect on it deeply!" Lin Han raised his hands in surrender and said solemnly.

Seeing Yan Yuli's reproach, Lin Han not only did not feel helpless, but also felt much better.

Lin Han knew that Yan Yuli wasn't the type to deliberately make a scene. The fact that she blamed him meant that Yan Yuli's distance from him wasn't that great, and that she was at least willing to pretend to be angry to ease the awkwardness between them.

Hearing Lin Han's apology, Yan Yuli's lips curled up slightly, and she nodded.

"Alright, seeing how busy you've been lately, I'll forgive you, Lin, the academic genius~"

The emphasis on "Lin the academic genius" was deliberately placed, probably because he had seen the overwhelming publicity surrounding Lin Han at the school.

"No, no, no, I have no room for improvement anymore."

Lin Han waved his hand and changed the subject to Yan Yuli.

"Senior is truly amazing! She's already in eighth place! That's an incredible improvement!"

"It's because of the good learning methods you taught me," Yan Yuli said calmly.

The sudden, earnest praise caught Lin Han off guard.

"My study methods are only applicable to top students, so achieving this result shows that you've really been working hard lately!" Lin Han said.

Yan Yuli stood with her hands behind her back and tiptoed: "I was lucky this time. Most of the content of the humanities comprehensive exam questions was from the papers I've been working on recently. But it's not enough for me right now. For the next month or so, you need to be ready at any time. I might contact you on WeChat to discuss the questions frequently."

"Okay," Lin Han said.

Why the lessons were conducted via WeChat instead of in-person? Yan Yuli didn't say, and Lin Han didn't ask. In any case, it certainly wasn't because of the 500 yuan tuition fee.

The events of that night are still vivid in my mind.

Lin Han was very perceptive. He never thought he liked Yan Yuli, and his initial attraction to her was fleeting. At most, Lin Han considered Yan Yuli a very loyal friend, after all, this first sugar daddy had given him a lot of help back then.

Lin Han believed that Yan Yuli was thinking the same thing at this moment. In fact, he wasn't even sure if this eccentric senior considered him a friend.

"By the way, Lin Han, let's have dinner together tonight. I have something to tell you."

One second ago, Lin Han was just feeling sorry for Yan Yuli because she only asked him for advice on WeChat. The next second, Yan Yuli said the same thing.

Lin Han was stunned: "Huh?"

"Hmm?" Yan Yuli frowned slightly. Lin Han had never reacted so strongly to her orders before.

"No, it's just that I have plans to meet someone tonight," Lin Han said.

This meal, which was delayed from Wednesday to Friday, was a must-have to comfort my good brother's wounded heart.

If it were anyone else, Lin Han might have turned down the opportunity to visit Yan Yuli, but since it was Xu Hui, Lin Han couldn't.

"Who?"

“My deskmate is Xu Hui.” Lin Han said, pointing to Xu Hui not far away for Yan Yuli. “He is your fan. He has attended almost all of your meet-and-greets. In the past three years, he has often waited for you to go to and from school. You should have some impression of his face.”

Yan Yuli turned her head and glanced in the direction Lin Han pointed.

"never seen it."

Lin Han “.......”

"If it's not possible tonight, tomorrow's the weekend, and I'll be even less free." Yan Yuli thought for a moment, "Then let's go together, I don't mind."

"Together??"

"However, we can't eat out if there are other men around."

"Where should we eat?"

Lin Han wondered, did Yan Yuli have a whitelist of potential partners? And was he on her whitelist? So, would he be punished for seeing her? But what if he was discovered seeing other men?

"Let's eat at your place," Yan Yuli said. "Send me your address later, and I'll go there myself tonight. It's settled then."

"Wait!" Lin Han quickly called out to Yan Yuli, who was about to leave.

"What's wrong? Is it inconvenient at home?"

"No." Lin Han scratched his head, smiling somewhat embarrassedly, and asked, "Was the money for groceries reimbursed?"

.......

One minute later, Lin Han received a transfer of 5,000 yuan on WeChat.

He took a deep breath and returned to Xu Hui's side.

Lin Han patted Xu Hui on the shoulder, and Xu Hui turned around and started to get excited.

"What's wrong? What did Yan Yuli say to you?"

"It's nothing, we just talked about grades—by the way, weren't I going to treat you to dinner tonight? Let's not eat out, let's eat at my place."

"Aren't you going to eat at your house instead of eating out? Are you going to have rice mixed with your mom's ashes?" Xu Hui snapped. "You promised to treat me to lobster and abalone?!"

“Yan Yuli is here too.”

"?"

Xu Hui grabbed Lin Han, his bloodshot eyes wide, his voice trembling with excitement.

"What are you doing here?"

"Let's eat together," Lin Han said. "Don't worry, I already told you my deskmate will be there too."

"She...she doesn't mind?"

"I don't mind, she said we should eat together."

“Wuhu!!!”

Upon hearing this, Xu Hui was practically ecstatic!

He jumped around, bouncing back and forth in front of the results board; you'd think he'd passed the imperial examination.

As he ran, Xu Hui seemed to have imagined something, and his face was filled with ecstatic joy.

Suddenly, Xu Hui couldn't catch his breath, his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground.

"Holy crap, Hui-ge!!!"

025. Preparations for welcoming distinguished guests

Lin Han quickly supported the unconscious Xu Hui and shook his good brother's head frantically.

Unexpectedly, Xu Hui suddenly raised his hand, trembling, and grabbed Lin Han's arm.

"I haven't even had a meal with Sister Yuli yet, I can't just die like this..." Xu Hui said through gritted teeth, then struggled to his feet.

"It's just a meal, you know!!" Seeing Xu Hui's pathetic attitude, Lin Han almost cried. He felt guilty if he didn't let Yan Yuli dance later.

"No, you don't understand what it feels like to never be looked at directly by a goddess."

A hopeful and beautiful expression slowly appeared on Xu Hui's face.

"This life is enough!"

........

There are two more classes in the afternoon, mainly focusing on judging the exam papers.

This monthly exam was the last time Lin Han took his studies seriously. After the exam on Wednesday, Lin Han completely gave up.

To be honest, Lin Han came from the world of exam-oriented education. How could someone who has been poisoned by exam-oriented education possibly like studying?

All that hard work before was simply because I wanted to get into a good university and change my fate.

Lin Han had heard some of his classmates say about him: "Wow, I really admire how enthusiastic you are about studying. I have absolutely no interest in those things!"

Whenever Lin Han heard such comments, he wanted to curse: "Bullshit! Just because I have some skills doesn't mean I like your mother!"

Learning is inherently extremely boring and tedious. People go to their math teachers after class to ask questions not because they enjoy studying math, but because they want to get high scores. Forcing yourself to find enjoyment in learning, and then using that as an excuse for your laziness by saying you're not suited for learning, attributing others' academic success to their interest in learning—this kind of behavior that undermines effort is utterly shameless.

Now that Lin Han has been admitted to university through a special program, he's stopped pretending and is just letting loose!

Lin Han's behavior was not simply about not listening to lectures and not doing homework; he had a rebellious streak.

To the surprise of the teachers, Lin Han, the former model student, suddenly became incredibly impressive.

It started with sleeping in class, then progressed to playing on his phone, and later he openly took it out and put it on his desk to play with, plugging in his headphones and immersing himself in his own personal world, occasionally even cracking sunflower seeds.

It's hard to imagine that the guy who did this was a top 100 student admitted through the guaranteed admission program!

Some teachers who had always liked Lin Han simply ignored him as long as he didn't bother the students next to them.

Some of the instructors were furious, feeling that Lin Han's behavior was a blatant slap in the face to them. However, they dared not call Lin Han out in class. Instead, they went to the academic affairs office after class, feeling wronged, and exaggeratedly described Lin Han's "various misdeeds" to the director, recounting how this wicked person disregarded the educators of the nation! They hoped that the academic affairs office would uphold justice for them no matter what!

However, the director of the academic affairs office simply shrugged, saying that their word didn't count and that they should leave the matter alone.

Does the Academic Affairs Office no longer have the final say?

The teachers' blood pressure spiked instantly, but then quickly returned to normal. The director's words were clear—Lin Han's backer was the principal!

The principal really liked Lin Han very much, especially after thinking about the tragic childhood of this good child. He was determined to make Lin Han feel love and care during the last month or so that he was at the school!

As a result, Lin Han not only received no one's attention, but on the contrary, the student council was frequently instructed by the principal to bring him fruit and food, and to inquire about his well-being. They practically treated Lin Han like a god!

The other students were so envious they cried!

What is this?! Guaranteed admission to the top 100 universities, backed by the principal, free to use my phone in class, and the school even sends me food every now and then—I'd never dare to dream of such a thing!

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he's the best high school history student!

Xu Hui often felt so jealous about this that he would even experience plasmolysis during class.

However, all afternoon today, Xu Hui kept his face in his hands, grinning foolishly every now and then, unable to hide his excitement, looking quite silly.