At first, they were worried that Quinn Shaw might feel upset, but throughout the whole class, Quinn Shaw didn’t do anything out of the ordinary and kept listening as usual. After glancing over a few times, Luke Carter relaxed after class, patted Wanda on the shoulder and said, “See, that’s our Qing-ge for you, a real man—”

Luke Carter hadn’t even finished his sentence when Quinn Shaw, who had been sitting up straight, suddenly slumped over, burying her whole face in her arms.

“Crying? She’s crying?”

As soon as Quinn Shaw started crying, everyone around was at a loss.

Emily Shaw gently patted her back, repeating several times, “It’s okay, it’s just one exam.”

Ethan Young was dragged by Henry Howard to Class 8 to draw cards, and when they came back, this was the scene they saw: Quinn Shaw with red eyes, and Luke Carter and the others lined up in front of her, taking turns: “Let me tell a joke, so there was this little penguin…”

The pressure of senior year made it hard for many people to accept things right away.

The cruel competition, the uncertainty about the future, and the expectations from family—

It was obvious what was going on.

Henry Howard, separated by the window, joined the crowd and called out, “Qing-ge! Let me show you a magic trick.”

He didn’t know where he’d learned this clumsy magic trick, and it even needed a partner, so Ethan Young was temporarily assigned the role of magician’s assistant.

But Henry Howard messed up his very first line, pointing at the assistant and saying, “Let me introduce, this is my shill.”

Ethan Young: “Do you even know what you’re doing?”

Quinn Shaw: “”

Quinn Shaw, speechless, felt her eyes sting again. She blinked inconspicuously and said, “You guys are nuts, go on, get lost, go chill somewhere else.”

These guys were unbelievably clumsy, totally clueless about comforting people, and their methods were weirder than the last.

But somehow, her mood really did get better.

------------

109. Chapter 109

“Qing-ge, give me another chance?”

Quinn Shaw pretended to be angry, slammed the pen she’d been gripping onto the desk with a ‘bang’, but couldn’t help laughing halfway through her words: “Give you and your shill another chance?”

Luke Carter laughed so hard he squatted down and pounded the floor.

Henry Howard: “”

Ethan Young felt embarrassed and yanked Henry Howard by the collar, dragging him back to the last row.

Even though it was a mess, Quinn Shaw really did seem to be in a much better mood. When Emily Shaw handed over some snacks, she even ate a few bites. For a moment, Ethan Young even thought: maybe it really was magic.

This person.

Always able to liven up the atmosphere so easily, noisy and bustling, so many voices. Sometimes it was so annoying you wanted to kick him, but you still couldn’t help wanting to get closer.

Ethan Young thought of this and glanced sideways at him.

After returning to his seat, Henry Howard was much quieter, unwrapped a piece of candy and tossed it into his mouth. When he wasn’t talking, he unintentionally showed a kind of composure beyond his years. Even though the way he held the candy looked a bit cocky, there was a hint of swagger.

“What are you looking at?”

Henry Howard saw that Quinn Shaw had perked up and was getting up to beat up Luke Carter, so he looked away, only to notice the kid next to him had been staring for a while.

He picked up the plastic stick and said, “Want one? Call me ‘ge’ and I’ll give you one.”

Ethan Young didn’t want the candy at all, but for a moment, as if under a spell, he obediently called out, “Ge.”

Luke Carter wanted to fire up all of Quinn Shaw’s energy at once, but his reverse psychology was a bit too much and he almost got himself in trouble. He ended up being chased out of the classroom by Quinn Shaw, and the two of them faced off in the hallway.

Quinn Shaw rolled up her sleeves: “Haozi, get over here.”

Luke Carter said, “I’m not going,” and ran toward the back door, glancing at the last row and finally stopping at the candy in his Yu-ge’s mouth.

He was so busy dodging that it took him a while to realize—

That candy had just been in Bro Henry’s mouth, hadn’t it?

They called it extra classes, but it was basically the same as the start of the semester.

The new senior year textbooks hadn’t started yet, so they were reviewing old material while starting new lessons, and the schedule was packed. It wasn’t until the last class was almost over that they could finally relax a bit.

Ethan Young was working on some new question types assigned by Old Wu, but halfway through he realized his approach was off and was about to cross it out when the guy in front reached back and quietly tossed a stack of notes onto his desk.

Ethan Young raised an eyebrow and opened the notes. The first line, in bold, read: Let’s discuss what to have for dinner, vote, whichever gets the most votes is what we eat.

Below was a list of restaurant names, including Beida Jinbang Zhuangyuan Lou.

Someone, feeling inspired, even added a campaign speech. A loyal Zhuangyuan Lou fan wrote a whole paragraph: Their food is really delicious. Whenever I lose my way, when my soul is lost, the food at Zhuangyuan Lou always brings me back to life.

Ethan Young: “Are you nuts?”

“They’re even campaigning?” Henry Howard was amazed. “That’s some real passion, this friend has moved me.”

Henry Howard finished marking his choice, crumpled up the note, and tossed it to the next group.

Wu had just finished explaining the problem and was about to assign evening homework when he looked up and saw them passing notes under the desk: “What are you passing? Hand it over.”

Even though the student in the next group tried to hide it, Wu still came down from the podium and had a three-minute tug-of-war with him. When he finally got the note and saw what was on it, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “I say, why aren’t any of you paying attention in class, messing around—Is Zhuangyuan Lou really that good?”

In the end, they really did go to Zhuangyuan Lou for a meal, splitting into two tables and ordering a few dishes.

This place had all kinds of discounts, nothing was too strange. When it was time to pay, the boss lady gave them a “holiday extra class 20% off special.”

The sky gradually darkened.

The temperature dropped sharply, not as stuffy as during the day. Henry Howard was at the back of the group, and when he reached out to touch the kid’s hand, he even felt that his fingertips were a little cold.

Ethan Young was a bit stunned, the noise in his ears never stopping, Logan Wright and the others were still talking about the food at Zhuangyuan Lou. The warmth in his palm came from his boyfriend.

Henry Howard made a “shh” gesture at him and said, “Just hold hands for a bit.”

Ethan Young didn’t say anything, curled his fingers, and held back.

The street was long. Luke Carter and the others walked ahead, Wanda jumped up to grab leaves as he walked, and suddenly said, “I want to go to Fudan!”

Someone teased him: “How can you get drunk just from eating rice?”

Jokes aside, these guys, full from dinner and with nothing better to do, hooked arms with Wanda and said, “I suggest you turn left, see that shop? There’s no Fudan, but you can get a Fudan milk tea.”

Henry Howard squeezed his hand tighter: “Have you decided which school you want to apply to?”

Which school to apply to.

Everyone was asking this question. Old Tang had pulled him aside in the morning to hear his thoughts, since with his and Henry Howard’s grades, they could get into any school they wanted.

“I’m not worried about anything else, but when it comes to your future studies, you should have your own opinion,” Old Tang had said, then asked, “Do you have a major you’re particularly interested in?”

During exam prep, everyone studied the same things, but college was different, with all kinds of majors. Thomas Thompson hoped they could break out of the box and really think about it.

Interested in.

Ethan Young thought for a long time, and the image that popped into his head was actually Ms. Miller fainting. That day, he’d been out of it from start to finish, flustered, his heart skipping several beats.

Ethan Young snapped back to reality and said uncertainly, “Ah, I’m still thinking about it. What about you?”

The whole campus was empty, the leaves rustling.

“Just want to be closer to you.”

Henry Howard repeated, “As long as I’m closer to you, that’s enough.”

The evening self-study they’d planned didn’t happen in the end. Somehow, Old Tang had heard that Quinn Shaw cried during break and wanted to give them some guidance, so their emotions wouldn’t be too tense.

In the end, he just secretly gave them the night off.

Ethan Young had just grabbed a change of clothes and was about to take a shower. As soon as he took off his shirt, someone knocked twice on the bathroom door: “Old Tang sent a few messages in the class group, told us to go to the track.”

Ethan Young still had his hand on his waist, his pants halfway down: “Go to the track?”

“I don’t get the mind of a middle-aged man.”

It wasn’t just Henry Howard who didn’t get it, the whole class was confused.

[Luke Carter]: The track?

[Wanda]: Are we supposed to run laps or something?

[Logan Wright]: Ah! The track! Running!