Since Ning Xi discovered the way to trigger good luck, he reluctantly committed to maintaining his weak and fragile persona.

This thing, Alphas ah. It seemed they really wouldn’t do anything to Omegas.

And it also seemed like they truly liked those sweet and soft Omegas.

He was also a little thankful to this Ning Xi. Good thing he had this face—otherwise, if he tried acting cute, even he would feel nauseous.

This was what it meant to be a real man—one who could bend and adapt.

Looking at the beef pancake on his plate, Ning Xi affirmed to himself that pretending to be obedient was indeed a great idea. At the same time, he couldn’t help but marvel at how incredibly kind-hearted Song Yize was.

How could he be so kind ah? Was he not annoyed by him?

And then Song Yize’s next words were: “I can’t finish this.”

Ning Xi: “.”

Still, he nodded in satisfaction.

Ah, didi was so mensao and tsundere. So cute.

Ning Xi expressed his gratitude for the beef pancake, picked it up, and took a bite.

The filling was braised, and as soon as he bit into it, the juices filled his mouth. The pancake had a thin crust with a generous filling—neither too salty nor too greasy, and it even had that sweet taste that Ning Xi liked.

“Mm!” Ning Xi chewed as he looked at Song Yize, his eyes practically glowing from how good the food was. “This is so delicious ah!”

His brows and the corners of his eyes lifted in delight, and the sheer joy in his dark eyes was so genuine that it could easily infect anyone.

Song Yize watched Ning Xi’s amused expression, and without realizing it, the corners of his lips curved up ever so slightly into a barely noticeable smile.

Perhaps because his eyes were too light in color, or maybe because his face was usually expressionless, that faint smile looked awkward and strangely out of place no matter how one saw it.

Zhang Qiang’s chopsticks hovered mid-air, the xiaolongbao still uneaten.

He just stared at Song Yize, who was inexplicably smiling at Ning Xi across from him.

What was so funny about… eating a pancake?

And wait a minute—hadn’t he just told him not to give Ning Xi the xiaolongbao? So why was he now giving him a pancake?

Zhang Qiang stuffed the dumpling into his mouth in one bite, thinking to himself:

These two definitely had something going on.

Ren Siyu couldn’t be bothered to think too much about it.

Scum A.

—

Ning Xi was quite satisfied with today’s breakfast.

The porridge was really awful, but the pancake Song Yize gave him was pretty good. If he went to buy next time, he’d get that again.

The good mood in the morning set the tone for the day.

After finishing breakfast, Ning Xi returned to his classroom, only to see a large group of people crowding at the back.

“Hey, student committee, what are they doing ah?” Ning Xi sat down and patted Hu Yangcai’s shoulder.

“They’re looking at their results.” Hu Yangcai answered without even looking up.

“Results?” Ning Xi suddenly remembered that he’d spent the whole day yesterday taking exams. “That mock test ah. The results went out so fast. Hey, student committee, why aren’t you checking yours ah?”

“I, I don’t want to look. It’ll ruin my mood.” Hu Yangcai seemed extremely anxious, lowering his chin as if trying to bury his head in his book. “There’s another weekly test this afternoon. I should keep my mindset steady. If I don’t check my results, then I didn’t fail. If I don’t check my results, then I didn’t fail.”

Looked like he failed.

Ning Xi shrugged, sat down at his desk, and casually flipped open his physics textbook, glancing over a few formulas.

His textbook was practically brand new. There was no sign that it belonged to a senior preparing for the college entrance exams.

“Hey, Classmate Ning, aren’t you going to check?” Hu Yangcai, now a little calmer, turned to ask.

“Me?” Ning Xi said.

Ning Xi had never looked at his own scores.

From elementary school to high school, his grades had always remained in the top three of his year. Every time the rankings were released, there were always teachers or classmates more excited than him, rushing to report his score.

So Ning Xi didn’t have to look at his results specifically, he would always hear people discussing his marks and ranking.

He was just that confident. After all, he had never messed up an exam before.

“I’m not checking. No point,” Ning Xi said, flipping another page of his book.

But then, a faint comment drifted into his ears: “Hey, that transfer student ranked second to last in the grade ai.”

“What? I thought he was a xueba, but turns out he’s just here to drag down the average.”

Ning Xi: “…”

The second to last in the grade.

Ning Xi barely even ranked second in the grade before.

But he really didn’t care.

Because he had always felt that grades couldn’t be used to measure a person.

Leaning back in his chair, Ning Xi rocked lazily, exuding a carefree attitude that made it hard to believe he had another test coming up soon.

Hu Yangcai noticed that Ning Xi showed no intention of studying and said, “Classmate Ning, shouldn’t you read a bit? There’s another test coming up. You should review a bit when you can.”

Ning Xi appreciated Hu Yangcai’s enthusiasm for studying, but as a self-proclaimed “scum student”—one who should’ve escaped from high school life—he had no interest in studying with everyone else.

“Summer vacation is coming up soon. It’s a turning point, and we should seize every opportunity to study,” Hu Yangcai said. “Imagine how frustrating it would be if a classmate who’s been away for over twenty days comes back and surpasses you ah.”

“Hm? Summer vacation?” Ning Xi rocked his chair back, leaning in as he repeated the words.

Hu Yangcai’s words had reminded him.

They still had summer vacation.

“When does summer vacation start? How long is it? Has the school announced it?” Ning Xi asked.

“It was announced. If I remember correctly, we’re off from July 29th and return on August 20th. That’s quite a lot of days.”

Twenty whole days.

Ning Xi sucked in a breath of cold air.

Not seeing Song Yize for twenty days was enough for him to reincarnate 800 times.

But what to do ah? There would be no excuse to cling to Song Yize during the break ah. What if he had extra classes or study plans?

He couldn’t possibly interfere with his studies.

Ning Xi was in deep thought.

At this time, the bell rang, the students heard the bell and reluctantly shuffled back to their seats.

Guo Zhen strode into the classroom just as the bell finished ringing, slamming a thick stack of answer sheets onto the desk. He then braced both hands on the table and gave the class a stern look.

“You’ve all seen your scores, right?” Guo Zhen scanned the room, clicking his tongue. “Do you realize how all of you did in your mock tests?”

The classroom was dead silent, the atmosphere incredibly heavy. A few students had their heads facing the podium, their breathing tense.

“I can tell none of you took this exam seriously!” Guo Zhen slammed the desk. “You all scribbled nonsense for the chemical equations—I’m expecting you guys to go for a high score!”

Hu Yangcai shuddered at the words. Whether out of guilt or something else, he nervously flipped through his notebook, as if trying to hide something.

“This afternoon, you’ve got the weekly test, and after that, the second mock exam. The school is giving you so many chances to practice, yet you don’t appreciate them at all.”

Guo Zhen’s tone was filled with earnest frustration, and Ning Xi found himself nodding repeatedly as he listened.

After all, he had already been through senior year before. He understood the purpose behind each test the school arranged and knew the teachers only wanted the best for the students.

“One more reminder. Everyone must take the second mock exam seriously.” Guo Zhen calmed down, adjusting his glasses. “ We’ll be forming study groups based on the results. These groups will organize independent study sessions during the summer to help everyone improve together. To be fair, the groups will be formed according to the grade rankings from the second mock exam, with six people in each. You might end up in a group with high scorers from other classes—so make sure to learn from the best.”

Ning Xi raised an eyebrow when he heard this.

Study group, this seemed fine ah.

If he and Song Yize ended up in the same study group, wouldn’t that give him a perfect excuse to stay close to him?

The electric fan in the classroom creaked as it pushed the hot air around, and outside, the sky seemed to grow even brighter.

As Guo Zhen diligently resumed explaining the exam paper, Ning Xi opened his notebook and started jotting down calculations.

The school has a total of 755 students in 17 classes, With six people per group, that meant 125 groups—with five students left over.

With five extra students, they’d likely be assigned randomly, so for now, that wasn’t a concern.

If he wanted to be in the same group as Song Yize, his ranking needed to be a multiple of 125 relative to him.

Student performance in exams was highly unpredictable.

Assuming the probability of “ranking fluctuation” occurring was 65%, and considering that stability increased toward the lower ranks, the data for those at the bottom of the ranking was easier to predict compared to the complexity of mid-tier fluctuations. This meant his chances of success were relatively high.

So, as long as he ranked fifth from the bottom in the second mock exam, he would have a chance to be in the same group as Song Yize.

Now, he needed to check his previous ranking and gather usable data.

The class bell rang. As soon as Guo Zhen finished his lecture and left, Ning Xi immediately stood up and ran to the back of the room to check the rankings.

He went straight to the last place—and, sure enough, there he was, sitting comfortably at rank 754.

He quickly jotted down his subject scores, memorized them, and dashed out without looking back.

Hu Yangcai had been about to offer Ning Xi some small cookies, but when he turned around and found the seat empty, all he could do was mutter, “Where’d he go…”

Ning Xi sprinted up to the third floor, heading straight for the experimental class.

As he ran, he mentally calculated his chances.

To make this work, he needed to maximize all possibilities.

Unfortunately, in the last mock test, he had barely filled out his answer sheet—his math paper had only a few formulas before he handed it in, wasting a valuable chance to collect data.

He still had one more opportunity to simulate and analyze the rankings.

Ning Xi swept past the crowds streaming down the corridor and ran towards the experimental class as fast as he could.

After class, many students headed to the restroom, walking in small groups. From a distance, Ning Xi spotted Song Yize’s back as he stepped out of the classroom.

The boy had broad shoulders and long legs, his sharp, clean-cut back lines making the school uniform look exceptionally good on him.

Everyone was obviously wearing the same ordinary uniform, yet Ning Xi recognized him in an instant.

Ning Xi shouted through the crowd, “Song Yize!”

Song Yize heard someone shout his name and subconsciously turned back to look.

The next thing he saw was a beautiful person sprinting toward him, grabbing onto his arm, and practically falling into his arms.

A wave of mint and white tea pheromones swept over him—soft, cool, with a hint of sweetness that felt refreshing even in the scorching summer heat.

He froze, completely caught off guard, forced into close proximity with Ning Xi.

He only heard Ning Xi panting heavily, his short hair was damp with a thin layer of sweat, sticking slightly to his forehead. He clutched Song Yize’s forearm and said with utmost seriousness:

“You must rank first in the second mock exam. Got it!”