[Time rewinds to the last month of the previous semester]

“Jing Li, will you accept me to be with you just this time?”

Since the first day of school, Lin Suirong has been infatuated with Jing Li, his classmate. Today marks his 99th failed confession in the past two years. Except for winter and summer vacations, he has confessed to Jing Li almost every week.

But every time, Jing Li coldly rejects him.

Lin Suirong is tall and handsome, considered the heartthrob of the Management Department. If he and Jing Li were together, everyone would praise them as a perfect match.

Wait a minute, well, that’s what people who don’t know the truth would say.

Lin Suirong has no “talent”.

As we all know, J University is a prestigious school in the province, ranking first in the overall rankings among provincial universities. The students who are admitted come from all over the province and are top-notch students.

But, in the 1X class of Hotel Management 2 at J University, there are two academic underachievers whose overall grades consistently rank last or second to last in the entire class —

Those two are Jing Li and Lin Suirong.

Well, these two rankings rotate between them.

Lin Suirong is a student with outstanding athletic abilities. Since the requirements for cultural courses are not high, he entered J University without any pressure.

On the other hand, Jing Li’s parents were students studying in the United States. They attended university, got married, worked, and even obtained American citizenship. Shortly after giving birth to Jing Li, their company arranged for them to manage a branch in China. As a result, Jing Li studied in China from elementary school to high school.

Although her parents were once students studying in the United States and considered intelligent, Jing Li is a true underachiever.

Because she holds a foreign nationality, she doesn’t have to take the domestic college entrance examination. Instead, she directly took the entrance examination for international students at J University, which was much easier compared to the national examination. Since she studied in China, her Chinese language skills were better than other foreign students, and she naturally scored well in the language assessment. Thus, she was admitted to J University.

The reason Jing Li doesn’t accept Lin Suirong is that his grades are really poor, and her grades are also at a similar level. She is afraid that if they are together, others will laugh at them for being foolish.

Since she was young, Jing Li has always longed to date a high-achieving student in university so that her boyfriend can help her with her homework. Due to her poor academic performance from a young age and her parents being busy without time to assist her with her assignments, it was difficult for her to attend better middle and high schools. Therefore, before attending university, she had always studied at a regular-level middle school and never encountered a true top student.

Her understanding of top students probably comes from the character Jiang Zhishu in “It Started with a Kiss”.

Tall, handsome, and excellent in academics.

J University is a prestigious institution with a long history, and it is not lacking in top students. After she arrived at J University, she realized that fairy tales are deceiving!

Top students are nothing like Jiang Zhishu!

In her year, there is a provincial college entrance examination top scorer who is in Class 1 of the neighbouring hotel management department.

When she went to see the top student of the neighbouring class with admiration, her heart was shattered. The top student turned out to be like this!

With a comical mushroom hairstyle and thick black-framed glasses that were thicker than the bottom of a wine bottle. At the beginning of the school year, the top student wore a mustard yellow T-shirt and purple basketball shorts, which was an ugly colour combination.

At that time, Jing Li thought to herself: Heaven is fair, giving you exceptional talent while lacking in appearance.

Just like Jing Li herself, she had a sweet and lovely appearance, but her brain wasn’t very sharp.

*

“I Will not!” Jing Li replied to Lin Suirong’s words.

After rejecting Lin Suirong, the bell for class rang, and everyone sat down waiting for the professor to come in and start the class. Jing Li’s roommate and good friend, Li Ruihua, didn’t quite understand Jing Li’s thoughts and said, “Why don’t you accept Lin Suirong? Actually, he’s not bad. He’s a member of the national basketball team, and his team won the championship in this year’s CBA league. Maybe he will become a famous basketball star like Yao Ming in the future.”

“I don’t know if he will become a basketball star in the future, but I’m just not interested in someone who is physically fit but simple-minded.” Jing Li casually flipped through her textbook and answered unintentionally.

Also, she is only 1.6 meters tall while Lin Suirong is 2.1 meters tall. Is it suitable for them to be together?

Even if the trend now is cute height differences, she doesn’t find this difference cute at all!

Anyway, she feels that she and Lin Suirong are not suitable for each other, both internally and externally.

Li Ruihua curiously asked, “Then what kind of boys do you like?”

“Someone with excellent academic performance…”

Li Ruihua couldn’t help but laugh and mockingly said, “So, are you going to date Jing Ran? He is the top scorer in the provincial college entrance examination for the past five years.”

Jing Li glared at Li Ruihua and displeasedly said, “Is it funny?”

Actually, you and Jing Ran are really compatible. Look, you’re silly and he’s smart. He’s ugly and you’re beautiful!

“Go to hell, I want to end our friendship!”

Suddenly, Jing Li remembered the weekend morning when she encountered a boy confessing his feelings to her while she was out for a run. After rejecting him, she turned around and ran into Jing Ran.

Jing Ran inexplicably mentioned that he scored full marks in advanced mathematics. She looked at him in confusion, and he added, “Didn’t you just say that if I become your boyfriend, I have to score full marks in calculus?”

Upon hearing this, she blushed inexplicably and didn’t know how to respond to him.

Does the phrase the “Top Student ” said imply a confession?

Since she said that the condition for being her boyfriend is scoring full marks in calculus, she couldn’t find a reason to reject the college top student. It would be too hurtful to directly say that someone is too ugly and unacceptable.

So she hurriedly ran away.

*

After school, Lin Suirong blocked Jing Li’s way.

With a height of 2 meters, he directly blocked the entire classroom doorway.

Lin Suirong has always been someone not to be messed with, and classmates hurriedly left through the back door of the classroom.

“Lin Suirong, what do you want to do now?” Jing Li, originally angry, had her temper worn down by Lin Suirong and asked him helplessly.

Because Lin Suirong is a national basketball player and also a member of a club, he usually has to go for training and only comes back to school for classes about once a week. Every time he returns to the classroom, the first thing he does is confess to Jing Li. The classmates in the class have seen it many times and they all think that Lin Suirong is definitely a sentimental man, but unfortunately, the goddess is not interested in him.

“Jing Li, I’ve thought about it. Let’s make a bet! In this final exam, if… if I score higher than you, you have to date me; if I score lower than you, I won’t bother you anymore.”

Jing Li thought this idea was not bad, but there was a certain risk involved. That is the grades. She and Lin Suirong have similar levels, either Jing Li is second to last or Lin Suirong is second to last every time. So, the result of this bet is very uncertain.

“Why should I date you? I would rather date Jing Ran than date you!” Jing Li didn’t know why she said such words.

Lin Suirong was stunned for a moment. This… this is completely different from the direction given by his roommate! He thought Jing Li would agree to this bet, but instead she said she would rather be with Jing Ran than be with him! Lin Suirong glanced at his roommates in the corner of the classroom. They waved at him with unclear intentions. Were they asking him to continue the topic or to leave?

They… probably want me to continue the topic.

“Alright, if you lose, then you have to date Jing Ran!” Lin Suirong said.

“Huh?” Jing Li looked at Lin Suirong in surprise.

Is this guy out of his mind? What does their bet have to do with Jing Ran?

Lin Suirong’s roommates couldn’t stand it anymore. They clearly told him to leave, but he came up with such a foolish bet. Now, no matter who wins or loses, Jing Li will not date him.

Lin Suirong’s roommates walked up to the two of them and explained for Lin Suirong: “What Suirong means is, if you lose, you have to date Jing Ran for three months. If you break up within three months, then you have to date Lin Suirong!”

Lin Suirong’s roommates continued to coax Jing Li: “Actually, this bet is not bad. If you win, Suirong will give up on you. If you lose, it’s okay too, as long as you date Jing Ran for a full three months, Suirong will also give up on you. So, no matter if you win or lose, Suirong will give up on you.”

Anyway, Jing Li’s mind wasn’t working well, and after being persuaded by Lin Suirong’s roommates, she felt that it made sense and nodded in agreement, then left the classroom.

Lin Suirong blamed his roommates: “Why did you say that? What do you mean by giving up on her regardless of whether she wins or loses?”

His roommates explained: “Didn’t you hear? If she loses, she has to date Jing Ran for three months. If it’s less than three months, then she has to date you.”

“But she just said she would rather date Jing Ran than date me!”

“That’s just a woman’s angry words. Do you believe that? Between a handsome guy and an ugly one, who do you think she will date?”

Lin Suirong thought it made sense and agreed: “You’re right, so what should I do next?”

“Study hard, improve your grades, and score higher than Jing Li.”

“It’s too difficult!”

His roommate shrugged helplessly, walked out of the classroom, and headed to the cafeteria for a meal.

*

After the final exams, they returned to school after winter break. Jing Li logged into the campus website using her computer in the dormitory to check her grades. As expected, she failed the calculus course again. Her overall grade ranked 400^th among the students in the same year in the management department.

She was now the last one, and she lost the bet.

Jing Li had to choose between Jing Ran and Lin Suirong for a relationship…

Why was she so unlucky!

Lin Suirong had feelings for her, but if she chose to be with him, she would be stuck with him in the future.

Then, it would be… Jing Ran

Since she failed calculus, the top student in the university could tutor her…

Actually, three months would pass quickly.

With this in mind, she didn’t even have time to put on her coat before rushing out of the dormitory.

During dinner time, Jing Ran should be coming out of the library and heading to the cafeteria. Maybe she would run into him on the way.

Jing Li ran into Jing Ran on the school road. Honestly, Jing Ran was really easy to recognize. He had a height of 1.85 meters, a mushroom-like hairstyle, black-framed glasses, and was wearing a dark blue tracksuit. This kind of attire was completely out of sync with the 21^st century, and sometimes Jing Li wondered if he had time-travelled from the 1980s. Otherwise, why would his style be so outdated?

Jing Li quickened her pace and approached the top student: “Jing Ran, can you be in a relationship with me?”

Jing Ran looked at Jing Li, somewhat taciturn.

Seeing Jing Ran’s lack of response, Jing Li thought he was going to reject her, fearing that she would end up dating Lin Suirong if she was rejected. She anxiously asked again, “I mean, can we be together?”

Jing Ran nodded, “Sure!”

Jing Li had never had a boyfriend before and didn’t know what to do next. She asked, “What are you going to do now?”

“Go eat,” he replied.

“Oh…”

The two fell into silence.

Jing Ran asked, “Have you eaten?”

Jing Li shook her head.

Jing Ran inquired, “Shall we go eat together?”

Jing Li hesitated for a moment and nodded.

Jing Ran walked towards the direction of the cafeteria, with Jing Li following behind.

When they hurried out earlier, Jing Li didn’t have time to put on her coat and only wore a thin knitted sweater. As the cold wind blew, she couldn’t help but shiver and said, “It’s so cold.”

Jing Ran zipped up his sports jacket around his neck and said calmly, “Luckily, I wore an extra layer before leaving.”

Jing Li: “…”

Excuse me?

Shouldn’t the next scene be the boyfriend taking off his coat and giving it to his girlfriend to wear?