"Actually, I think writing it on the desk still isn't very safe. How about we ask them? The two of them have more experience."

"Their skills must be out of this world."

""

Under the eager gazes of Wanda and Luke Carter, Henry Howard gave the standard answer: "Why make it so complicated? Just open the book and copy directly."

Ethan Young: ""

Wanda was stunned for a moment, then realized: "No copying is better than copying."

Luke Carter: "Awesome, awesome."

But as it turned out, Henry Howard wasn't as impressive as they imagined.

Even with the book open, he couldn't find where the words were.

"Where is it?" Henry Howard flipped back and forth, "Why are they sometimes reading in English and sometimes in Chinese? Are these the words from this unit?"

Ethan Young had always thought that his act as a bad student over the years was already top-notch, but now he realized he was still far from it. Real bad students were even dumber than he imagined.

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21. Chapter Twenty-One

"Those who failed the dictation, find time to come to the office yourselves."

The English teacher had just finished class next door in Class 2, and brought the corrected dictation papers for Class 3 to hand out after class. She stood at the door and finished her instructions, then added, "Henry Howard, you really are something. Your dictation is just like doing exercises—if you can't write it, you just skip to the next one, and in the end you hand in a blank sheet?"

Ethan Young couldn't help it and lowered his head, letting out a laugh.

Henry Howard casually put his arm on his deskmate's shoulder, leaned in and said, "Heartless, I asked you to let me take a peek just now and you wouldn't."

Ethan Young shot back, "Why make it so complicated? Just open the book and copy directly."

Henry Howard was left speechless.

During that dictation, Ethan Young hesitated for a while, feeling he really couldn't bring himself to go that far, so he honestly copied the words, even making sure to keep his accuracy at 60.

Henry Howard flipped through the book for a while, caught a glimpse of Ethan Young out of the corner of his eye, and started eyeing his deskmate: "You actually managed to write half of it?"

Ethan Young expressionless: "Is that so surprising?"

The English teacher continued, "The rest, Quinn Shaw, hand them out. Check where you made mistakes. Tonight's homework is a unit test paper, do it seriously. Next week is the monthly exam, don't embarrass our class with a low score."

Henry Howard didn't really listen to what the teacher said. He only heard Ethan Young suddenly say, "Look to your right."

"Look at what?" Henry Howard turned his head in confusion, "There's nothing—"

Halfway through his sentence, he stopped abruptly.

It was Wanda and Luke Carter.

The two of them were staring at them with an extremely complicated look in their eyes.

Henry Howard could almost read an 800-word essay on their faces, and it was the kind that scrolled automatically: I thought you were the king of cheating, but you secretly handed in a blank paper.

Their gaze was so intense, it was as if they wanted to burn a hole through him.

""

Henry Howard calmly looked away, pretending he hadn't seen anything, and turned to ask Ethan Young, "What are we eating tonight?"

In the evening, they could take advantage of the open school gate to sneak out for a meal.

Although boarders weren't allowed to leave the school at will, there were so many people at dismissal that even a mad dog couldn't keep track.

The cafeteria food was mediocre, the cooking skills weren't much better, and it was normal for the cook to accidentally put in too much salt. The soup was bland to the extreme, and in a big pot of pork rib soup there were only a few pieces of winter melon.

Henry Howard added, "I had Sean Parker save us a spot at Honor Roll in advance. Want to go together after class?"

"Honor Roll?" Ethan Young asked.

Henry Howard took it as agreement, lowered his head and replied to Sean Parker: Save one more seat, my deskmate is coming too.

Ethan Young didn't even have time to refuse.

He was a picky eater, but rarely went out to eat.

Within five hundred meters of No. 2 High School, there were more than a dozen small restaurants, with fierce competition and lots of effort to attract customers. But they didn't do discounts, no buy-one-get-one, and no second cup half price. Starting from Honor Roll restaurant, the whole street's food industry started a name-changing craze.

Zhuangyuan Lou, Peking University Dumplings, Tsinghua Bun Shop—even the roadside barbecue cart that could be chased away by city management at any time was called 985 Barbecue.

Looking out from the school gate, it was quite a sight.

Honor Roll restaurant was at the end of the street, the farthest from the school, just around the corner was another street, and it was the quietest.

Sean Parker picked a four-person table, sat down, looked at the menu, and waited.

The menu was mostly home-style dishes. Sean Parker ticked off a few regulars, then pulled out his phone to ask Henry Howard: I'm ordering, what does your guy Yu like to eat? Any dietary restrictions?

Henry Howard remembered the last time with sweet soy milk and sugar-free soy milk, and thought that if Ethan Young started talking about his restrictions, he could probably go on for three days and nights.

No cilantro, no green onions, no garlic, nothing greasy, nothing too sweet, preferably no chili.

Sean Parker looked at the message from Henry Howard and fell into deep thought. He carefully went through the menu, and for the first time felt the weight of his responsibility: "Boss, can you make the spicy chicken without chili? Less oil too, and no green onions."

After saying that, he felt that if this went on, the spicy chicken would lose its dignity.

"Wait, let me look a bit more."

Sean Parker got a headache from looking at the menu, and messaged Henry Howard: Is it really this complicated? You guys are making things hard for me.

Henry Howard: You should be glad, this is just the part I can remember.

Honor Roll restaurant had been open for many years, and the decor looked a bit old. A creaky ceiling fan hung above.

Ethan Young saw a small banner hanging on the door as soon as he arrived, with four gold-edged characters: 金榜题名.

There were already some people eating inside, and they didn't look like they were from No. 2 High. With that head of yellow hair, if they were at No. 2 High, Manager Jensen would have plucked them bald with his bare hands.

"Over here." Sean Parker stood up and waved.

Henry Howard pushed open the door, and a string of bells on the door jingled with the movement.

A few yellow-haired guys at the next table were drinking. When they saw someone come in, they raised their glasses to their mouths, glanced over sideways, then slowly tilted their heads back to drink.

The most eye-catching one had a snake tattoo curling around his neck, disappearing into his collar.

"Sit," Sean Parker greeted, "Want to order some beer?"

The famous bosses from both the east and west buildings sitting together—of course they had to have a drink. Sean Parker could already picture it: eating, drinking, reminiscing about their days as big shots.

Then he heard Ethan Young say three words: "Bottled water."

Henry Howard closed the menu and also said three words: "Watermelon juice."

Sean Parker: ""

Sean Parker was usually full of nonsense, but next to him Henry Howard actually seemed a bit aloof. Ethan Young thought he and Ray Jones should get together and do a comedy duo.

"Our class teacher, you know, runs that tutoring class on the side. Don't know who reported it, but it got sent to the education bureau—"

Sean Parker was in the middle of his story when someone walked by, probably a bit drunk, unsteady as he got up, and bumped into their table, right into Sean Parker: "Sorry, sorry, I'm a bit dizzy."

The man apologized, then staggered off toward the restroom in the back right.

Henry Howard suddenly put down his chopsticks: "Wait a second."

The man paused.

Henry Howard stood up and walked over slowly, his expression turning cold: "What's going on with you?"

"Bro Henry, it's fine, just a bump," Sean Parker tried to calm him, "How can you get so worked up drinking watermelon juice?"

Ethan Young looked up and saw the guy with the snake tattoo put down his glass and signal to the others.

Henry Howard said, "Idiot, you're the one making me mad. Check your pocket, see if you're missing anything."

Sean Parker froze, took a few seconds to react, then belatedly patted his pocket: "Where's my wallet—"

Ethan Young finished the last bite of rice in his bowl and picked up another chopstick of greens.

"Pretty slick, huh? You're quite the pro at this."

As Henry Howard spoke, he rolled up his sleeve, revealing his wrist.

Then he moved closer to the man and reached into his pocket, sure enough feeling something soft and leathery. The man instinctively tried to stop him from pulling it out, but Henry Howard said, "I'm only going to say this once—let go."

"Bro, it's a misunderstanding." The yellow-haired guy with the snake tattoo spoke with a hint of threat, meaning: I'm giving you a way out, just let it go and pretend nothing happened.

Henry Howard laughed, taunting, "Then maybe you misunderstood the meaning of 'misunderstanding'."