Chapter 3: He and Lu Liu are just… too destined…

After Lin Zhi entered the classroom, he first walked over to Lu Liu’s seat and placed the remaining half of the tissue packet on the corner of his desk.

If he had avoided those unfortunate events, he didn’t know how “Zhi” would have appeared in his life.

In the past, when Lin Zhi imagined Lu Liu’s face as “Zhi,” he always felt a sense of guilt. Clearly, “Zhi” had been so kind to him, while Lu Liu had always been indifferent, totally different people. How could he possibly connect them in his mind?

Now that he couldn’t find “Zhi,” it was as though his past crush could frequently appear right under his nose. Lin Zhi didn’t want to have too much interaction with Lu Liu.

For now, could it be seen as “preserving his purity” for a potential future boyfriend?

Back at his own desk, Lin Zhi took out the textbook for the class according to the schedule that Chen Guyang had stuck on the upper-right corner of his desk.

“Chen Guyang, where are we with chemistry?” Lin Zhi flipped through the chemistry book, and there were few notes on the pages.

“Big bro,” Chen Guyang, half-drowsing in the hot afternoon, rested his head on one hand. “The material in the book has already been finished. Don’t you know that?”

“Ah,” Lin Zhi looked troubled. “I forgot.”

His grades were poor during high school, and though he had managed to get into a second-tier university, he chose an economics major. This meant that once he walked out of the college entrance exam, Lin Zhi hadn’t looked at any science-related material. Now, he had forgotten almost everything from subjects like physics, chemistry, and biology.

With only one year left in senior high, not only did he not know if he could raise his grades, but Lin Zhi also wasn’t sure if he could even return to the level he was at before.

He still hoped to go to B City for university.

“So, we’ll start reviewing next semester?” Lin Zhi asked again.

“Yeah,” Chemistry teacher had already entered the classroom, and Chen Guyang blinked fiercely a few times, looking a bit tense. “The first round of review.”

Lin Zhi nodded. Seeing that Chen Guyang had taken out the test papers, he also retrieved his own chemistry paper, which had many empty spaces.

Tch, it seemed that if he wanted to go to B City to find “Zhi,” he would need to work harder.

After struggling through the class, the only part of the chemistry teacher’s lecture that Lin Zhi could keep up with was when the periodic table of the first 20 elements was mentioned.

Some parts felt vaguely familiar, but it remained behind a fog, and Lin Zhi couldn’t quite reach the correct answers.

This was the last class, and Lin Zhi remembered the final knowledge point the teacher mentioned before the bell rang. After school, Lin Zhi opened the chemistry book and, guided by instinct, used the table of contents to find the chapter, starting to read every word carefully.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Chen Guyang asked, puzzled.

“You go ahead,” Lin Zhi didn’t take his eyes off the book. “I’ll eat after I finish this.”

Chen Guyang was even more confused, muttering as he walked out, “Why’s he suddenly so serious…”

In order to maximize his understanding of the material, Lin Zhi slowed down his reading speed. He read the knowledge point from the beginning to the end twice, and finally understood it.

At this point, only two or three students remained in the classroom, eating bread and instant noodles. Lin Zhi took out his meal card, planning to hurry to the cafeteria to eat and then return to continue studying, hoping to cram before the final exams.

He took the shortcut through the small garden in the middle, and just like during the break between classes, the garden was almost empty, with very few people.

But “almost” didn’t mean completely. Lin Zhi really didn’t expect it, but around an hour later, he ran into Lu Liu again in the garden, and he also saw a slender female classmate standing with him.

Lu Liu and the girl were standing casually in the middle of the open space in the garden, directly in Lin Zhi’s path.

The school wasn’t very strict about the dress code. The girl wasn’t in her school uniform after class, wearing trendy clothes, in stark contrast to Lu Liu, who was neatly dressed in his school uniform and pants.

“Last time, you said you didn’t want a relationship to affect my studies,” Lin Zhi heard the girl’s voice as she approached. “So, if I make it into the top 30 in the whole school for the final exam, will you agree to be my boyfriend?”

Lin Zhi paused in his steps. In this situation, it seemed inappropriate to keep walking, so he moved behind a sweet osmanthus tree and stood still, hoping Lu Liu would quickly accept or reject the proposal, without dragging things out and wasting his study time.

Leaning against the tree trunk, Lin Zhi hid in the shade, looking up through the gaps in the branches at the dappled sunlight, so he missed the gaze that Lu Liu directed toward him.

In another two or three months, the branches would bloom with golden yellow flowers, and the sweet fragrance would drift into their classroom… Lin Zhi thought aimlessly, until he heard Lu Liu’s voice.

“Sorry,” Lu Liu’s gaze returned to the girl’s eyes, and when refusing, he still wore a polite smile. “I like people with poor grades.”

Lin Zhi: “……”

Is that even a criteria for choosing a partner?

The girl seemed to have the same thought as Lin Zhi, pausing in surprise for a few seconds before speaking. “Then why did you say…”

“Well,” Lu Liu continued smiling, “I told you, it would affect your studies.”

The girl paused again, realizing that no matter how good or bad her grades were, Lu Liu had an excuse to reject her, and she grew angry and embarrassed. “Lu Liu, can you at least come up with a better reason for rejecting me?”

“Alright,” Lu Liu nodded, casually glancing over at the small part of Lin Zhi’s head that was exposed behind the tree. “Actually, I like guys.”

Lin Zhi: “!!!”

Is that for real? In his past life, he had a secret crush on Lu Liu for so long and never realized that Lu Liu was the same as him.

“I knew you would say that,” the girl was even angrier now. “That excuse is so overused.”

So that’s the reason—straight guys often use this excuse to reject girls they don’t like. Lin Zhi thought, while the one who genuinely liked guys, like him, didn’t even dare to express his true feelings.

Things were better in university, where the environment was more accepting of diverse sexual orientations.

Back in high school in his past life, Lin Zhi had always been careful to keep his feelings for Lu Liu a secret, never telling anyone. It wasn’t until he met “Zhi” that his long, unspoken crush finally came to an end without a proper start or finish.

“I’m serious,” Lu Liu shrugged. “If you don’t believe me, I can’t help it.”

Not only did the girl not believe him, but neither did Lin Zhi—didn’t he understand Lu Liu by now?

Lu Liu made his position clear, and the girl eventually gave up, leaving the small garden first.

Once Lin Zhi heard the footsteps fade away, he stepped out from behind the sweet osmanthus tree and turned around, only to meet Lu Liu’s gaze directly.

It wasn’t like he was eavesdropping on purpose, Lin Zhi didn’t feel guilty at all. He even smiled and nodded, as if to greet him.

“I think she’s pretty, and sounds like she has good grades,” Lin Zhi asked while walking. “Why didn’t you agree?”

“I already said, I like people with bad grades.” Lu Liu said expressionlessly, then walked past Lin Zhi and headed toward the classroom.

Lin Zhi tilted his head, pursing his lips at Lu Liu’s back. If you really liked someone with poor grades, then why do you never smile when talking to me, a study slacker?

After being delayed for more than ten minutes, most of the better dishes in the cafeteria were already gone. Lin Zhi ordered a plate of fried noodle with sauce, finished it quickly, wiped his mouth, and returned to the classroom. Seizing the momentum, he started going through the chemistry textbook from the first chapter.

Chen Guyang arrived at his seat fifteen minutes before the evening self-study session began.

Lin Zhi only looked up from his book when he sensed someone sitting next to him. He quickly pulled over his notebook and slightly turned his body to face Chen Guyang.

“Chen Guyang,” Lin Zhi pointed at the knowledge points he had just written down in his notebook, “Can you explain these few points to me?”

Chen Guyang turned his eyes in disbelief, staring at Lin Zhi for several moments.

“Hm?” Lin Zhi looked at Chen Guyang, who wasn’t looking at the questions but was instead staring at him, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Chen Guyang slowly shook his head, “Let me take a look.”

Chen Guyang’s grades were better than Lin Zhi’s in his past life, and the questions Lin Zhi asked were taken directly from the book, so Chen Guyang was generally able to help Lin Zhi understand. There was just one question that even he was somewhat unsure about.

“Wait a minute, I’ll go ask Brother Liu.” Chen Guyang picked up Lin Zhi’s notebook and was about to head to Lu Liu’s seat, but just as he stood up, the class bell rang.

“Class is starting. I’ll ask him after class,” Chen Guyang sat back down. “I’ll let you know the conclusion once I get the answer.”

Lin Zhi smiled and nodded. “Alright, thanks.”

However, after class, Chen Guyang didn’t get the chance to ask Lu Liu.

That Friday night, their class had English evening study. As soon as the English teacher entered, she handed out a mock exam paper for the final, instructing the class to complete it independently within 120 minutes, the same as the official exam.

At first, Lin Zhi was a bit worried that he’d forgotten high school content, but as he worked through the questions, he realized he was becoming more and more comfortable with them.

This was thanks to “Zhi.” After finding out that Lin Zhi hadn’t passed the CET-4 exam, “Zhi” had signed up for the CET-6 exam and encouraged Lin Zhi to sign up for CET-4. Every time “Zhi” studied, he reminded Lin Zhi to review vocabulary and practice questions together, even if they were studying remotely.

Of course, Lin Zhi had slacked off, but the time he spent being lazy was still less than the time “Zhi” had spent urging him on. He had managed to memorize quite a few words and completed several full practice sets.

When Lin Zhi took the CET-4 exam, he passed on the first try, though his score was much lower than “Zhi’s” CET-6 score. Still, compared to his roommate, who had failed the exam three times, Lin Zhi felt proud.

Now, using “Zhi’s” methods on the high school exam papers, Lin Zhi found that they worked just as well.

The evening self-study ended at 10 PM. In the final half hour, the English teacher wrote the answers on the blackboard and instructed them to swap their exam papers for peer grading.

The exchange was random, and when Lin Zhi saw the bold, strong handwriting of “Lu Liu” on the paper, he fell into a few seconds of contemplation.

He didn’t remember whether he had gotten Lu Liu’s exam paper in his past life, but he thought that, from the moment he was reborn until now, just an afternoon and half an evening had passed, and the two of them seemed to have “too destined” between them.