Ethan Young said as he walked to the back row, "He’s taking a shower."
Wanda: "Taking a shower at this hour?"
Ethan Young wanted to say something else, but when he reached his desk and saw two copies of "Complete High School Textbook Solutions" placed right in the center, he fell silent: ""
What the hell is this?
------------
67. Chapter Sixty-Seven
Two brand new copies of "Complete High School Textbook Solutions", with bold red letters on the cover: "Poor grades are no problem, choosing the right study guide is the key to success!"
Wanda finished copying two problems, closed his exercise book, and was still hung up on the issue of Henry Howard taking a shower: "I’ve noticed both you and Bro Henry have pretty weird shower schedules. Last time was the same. Do you guys have some kind of cleanliness obsession or something?"
After saying that, he remembered the four words Ethan Young had replied to him before: "None of your business," and shut up again.
Ethan Young stood by the desk, casually flipped through a few pages, and realized the line on the cover wasn’t just empty boasting.
This set of study guides was actually pretty well put together, the key points were explained thoroughly, and from textbook examples to after-class exercises, everything was carefully broken down. If you followed its logic, you could pretty much grasp the main points of each lesson.
"Whose is this?" Ethan Young pressed his finger on the page number, didn’t see a name, thought the books looked suspicious, and guessed maybe someone had left them by mistake. After asking, he added, "Hurry up and take them away."
Luke Carter was wiping the blackboard. Hearing this, he turned his head with the rag in hand and said, "What is it?"
Wanda was the type to poke his nose wherever something was happening. As soon as he heard, he ran over and sat in the empty seat in front of Ethan Young to watch: "Books? Ethan Bro, aren’t these yours?"
Ethan Young shot back, "Do you think these look like mine?"
Wanda: ""
Definitely not.
The two bottom-of-the-class experts in their class never did after-class homework. The pile of books on their desks looked exactly the same as when they were handed out at the start of the semester—barely touched, still like new.
Other than that, there was nothing study-related at all.
Ethan Young's desk cubby was spotless, and over at Henry Howard's, there might occasionally be a few candy wrappers that hadn’t been thrown away.
Every time the teacher explained a problem, the two of them could never find their test papers—missing one here, another there. Sometimes, if they were lucky, the ones they were missing were different, so they could just put them together and listen as one.
Every time, the teachers of each subject would be furious: "—What’s with you two? Can’t you keep track of your own test papers?"
"I was the first one here, didn’t see anyone else come into our class," Luke Carter also thought it was more likely someone had left them by mistake. "Let’s wait until everyone’s here and ask around."
But when almost everyone had arrived, Ethan Young took the two study guides up to ask, and no one claimed them.
Luke Carter watched from below and thought Ethan Young actually seemed pretty suited to being class monitor—he had a real presence. Standing on the podium, just one sweep of his eyes and the whole class immediately quieted down.
"I’ll ask one last time," Ethan Young said, "Whose are these?"
Quinn Shaw shook her head: "Don’t look at me, I don’t know, they’re not mine."
Logan Wright had already bought a set before, and his were all marked up with different colored pens. As he spoke, he even went off-topic: "This set is really good, my tutor told me to buy it before. Sincerely recommending it to everyone. Just flip through it for a minute and you’ll fall in love with 'Complete High School Textbook Solutions' just like I did."
Ethan Young: ""
Henry Howard only came into class right before the lesson started.
As soon as he got to the back door, he saw a group of people gathered in the back row, chattering about something.
"What are you guys doing?" Henry Howard curled his fingers and knocked on the door, "So lively this early in the morning."
Ethan Young was getting a headache from all the noise. Hearing this, he propped his hand on his forehead and turned to look back.
Henry Howard was wearing a thin sweater under his school jacket, his hair still damp, holding a charging cable in his hand, leaning against the door. His sleeves were rolled up twice, just enough to show half his wrist.
Their eyes met in the air for two seconds.
The moment their gazes touched, all the other sounds around them suddenly faded away.
Henry Howard thought to himself, it was just a weekend, so why did it feel like so long had passed? That feeling didn’t last long, because then he heard Ethan Young say, "No idea which idiot put two books on my desk."
Henry Howard: ""
"Bro Henry, do you know what’s up with these books?" Wanda looked up and asked.
Henry Howard: "Huh?"
Wanda continued, "No one could’ve come to the classroom over the weekend, and the doors and windows were all locked, so how did two books suddenly appear?"
Even though the classroom doors and windows were locked, Class 3 had a window that was easy to loosen even when locked—you could just push it up and pry it open by hand.
Henry Howard, who had climbed in through the window over the weekend to deliver the books, coughed and didn’t know what to say: "Ah."
Wanda and the others kept guessing the same way: "It’s either Old Tang or someone who has a crush on Ethan Bro, struggling to figure out what gift to give. Chocolates and stuff aren’t novel enough, so after thinking it over, only a copy of 'Complete High School Textbook Solutions' would do."
Henry Howard: ""
As Wanda kept talking, he felt like this routine seemed familiar, slapped his forehead: "Isn’t this just like that email Bro Henry got? Maybe it’s a pair of sisters."
Ethan Young’s temple twitched.
Wanda didn’t get a chance to analyze the email and the study guides together, because just then the bell rang and everyone had to go back to their seats. As soon as the bell stopped, Old Tang came in with a book and a stack of reading exercises.
Henry Howard let out a sigh of relief.
Ethan Young casually set the two study guides aside.
"Based on your midterm results, I noticed you all lost a lot of points on the reading questions. So today we’ll do a few reading exercises in class—finish them and we’ll go over them right away," Old Tang handed out the test papers and added, "Read the questions carefully, and if you run into problems, think about why."
Ethan Young took the test papers passed from the row in front, handed one to Henry Howard, then stuffed his own under his arm, ready to lie down and nap.
Henry Howard nudged him: "Old Young."
Ethan Young: "What?"
Henry Howard didn’t know how to say it, fiddling with his pen: "About those books."
Ethan Young thought Henry Howard was jealous—this guy could get jealous over the tiniest thing, even reminded him not to play truth or dare when gaming.
Ethan Young thought for a moment, feeling he understood what Henry Howard meant: "I won’t keep them."
Henry Howard: "So what are you going to do with the books?"
Ethan Young decided to give his boyfriend plenty of reassurance. Since the books were useless to him anyway, he’d just pay the money back when the time came: "Just throw them out."
""
The Chinese class covered three modern reading passages. Henry Howard was Old Tang’s main target, getting called on every so often to answer questions.
Ethan Young slept through half the class, and when he opened his eyes, he happened to hear Old Tang say, "Henry Howard, stand up and answer this one—why did the author cry? How did you answer that?"
Henry Howard stood up, and before he could say anything, Wanda and the others were already laughing.
Old Tang: "What are you all laughing at?"
Luke Carter bravely replied, "We’re just laughing in advance."
Henry Howard did not disappoint Luke Carter and the others—he analyzed the author’s tears from every angle: maybe the author was too emotionally fragile, real men don’t cry easily, he even considered the possibility of an eye disease.
""
When Henry Howard finished, the class was silent for a few minutes, then suddenly burst into thunderous laughter: "Bro Henry, you really never let us down."
Henry Howard: "You flatter me."
Ethan Young pressed his temples, feeling a bit hopeless.
"Come to my office when you have time," Old Tang was even more hopeless than Ethan Young, nearly out of breath. He took a couple sips of goji berry tea, caught his breath, and continued, "Bring your test paper with you when you come."
Whenever Old Tang said "come by when you have time," they’d always use "can’t find the time" as an excuse.
Who would want to go to the teacher’s office for no reason? They’d drag it out as long as possible, hoping Old Tang would get busy and forget.
During the break, Henry Howard was at the next group fighting with a few boys over Logan Wright's crispy noodles. Logan Wright almost jumped up to hit someone: "That’s enough! If you take any more, there’ll be none left."
Henry Howard broke off a piece and reached for more.
Logan Wright: "Are you a bandit or something!"
Henry Howard kept breaking pieces off as he said, "My deskmate wants some too."
Ethan Young finished a game, happened to hear this, put his phone in his pocket, and got up to walk over.