Chapter 78: How to Break the Ice

  Xia Xi saw the situation and knew that explaining further would only make things worse, so she simply said "I'm full" and walked out of the cafeteria without looking back.

  She stormed all the way to the classroom, occasionally turning her head back to look around, seeing that Chen Yan had not followed, her face was full of frustration, kicking at the stones on the road, and getting more and more annoyed in her heart.

  Who does he think he is? What makes him control his own emotions? The unspoken taste, stuck in his throat, made Xia Xi gasp for air, but had nowhere to vent, just like locking himself in a secret room, little by little, sucking out the oxygen inside, the annoyed mood couldn't find an outlet.

  She was unwilling to admit that she had lost her temper, and she didn't want to apologize to Chen Yan. However, her heart became anxious and restless as the standoff between them continued.

  What's wrong?

  Arrived at the classroom, it was still early. The large classroom was empty, with only one person sitting in the middle of the first row, loudly reading to himself.

  Tall and upright, with a resounding and determined voice, Lin Xiaojuan didn't even bat an eyelid when Xia Xixi walked in, still focused on her own affairs.

  As for Lin Xiaojuan, Xia Xixi wasn't very familiar with him to begin with. Even when they were face-to-face, they couldn't say more than a few words to each other. She wasn't the type of person who could easily get along with others at any time. In this situation, she was even less inclined to strike up a conversation. She found a seat in the middle and listlessly leaned on the desk, waiting for class to start.

  Lin Xiaojuan's reading voice was not loud, but enough for XiXi to hear clearly. She was reading an English short essay. She perked up her ears and listened carefully, but there were too many unfamiliar words and the other person spoke too quickly, so she couldn't understand what the text meant at all.

  Xia Xi couldn't help but sigh in her heart, although they were both among the top ten in their grade, the gap between her and Lin Xiaojuan was not just a little bit. Today's slight lag would accumulate day by day, from quantitative change to qualitative change, resulting in a huge difference.

  The scariest thing is that people who are more talented than you work even harder than you do.

  She sighed, Lin Xiao-Jun's excellent grades weren't achieved overnight. With such diligence and hard work, it was no wonder that even Lu Dong-Qi, the smartest person she had ever met, couldn't shake his position as the top student in their grade.

  Between Lin Xiao Jun and Lu Dong Qi, who is more formidable after all? Xia Xi Xi has always thought that Lin Xiao Jun was a notch better. His scores were almost perfect every time, leaving no room for criticism. This young man had an unbridled ambition, treating exams as battles to be fought with his life on the line, triumphing over his opponents in every arena.

  Lu Dongqi has always been calm and composed, never flustered or busy. He has an innate sense of superiority, and excels in both his studies and class work.

  These two people, one diligent and the other calm, seemed to have Lin Xiaojun's first place title overwhelm Lu Dongqi. However, in Xia Xixi's fluent but slightly accented English reading voice, and comparing it to the authentic British accent of Lu Dongqi that he remembered, for the first time, he realized that his advantage wasn't as obvious, and Lu Dongqi was too strong an opponent for him.

  People kept walking into the classroom, and Zhang Ye, the head teacher of Class 2, found a seat in the last row. The training organized by the school had two team leaders, one was Zhang Ye, and the other was Xu Mufeng. Zhang Ye watched them study every day, never leaving their side for a moment, while Xu Mufeng always seemed to appear and disappear suddenly, except for occasionally running into him in the cafeteria in the morning, Xi Xi hadn't seen his shadow again.

  Later, they heard from Zhang Ye that they only knew that Xu Mufeng had originally left No. 1 Middle School and this time he was traveling with them because the project he was about to receive had cooperation with J University's Medical Department.

  The one who gave them the lecture was a senior professor at J University. Although the old man was a physics researcher, he had a strong literary flavor and his lectures were thorough and humorous, often making everyone laugh out loud.

  Xia Xi was delighted to learn, but the content of the Olympiad was not suitable for everyone. Although she listened attentively in class, when it came time to do exercises, she became confused. Taking advantage of the professor's permission to work on exercises, she began to sneak a peek around the classroom at the diverse crowd.

  Lin Xiaojuan still kept her back straight while doing the exercises, and from behind, only her broad back could be seen, with no way to peek at her current movements.

  Xixi turned to look at Xianmiao beside her, who had already come up with an idea and was writing furiously on paper. Looking at this, Xixi felt both anxious and admiring, and a sense of regret arose in his heart - he really wasn't cut out for participating in the Olympiad.

  Her gaze passed over Xian Mo, and she looked at Lu Dong Qi sitting by the window. He held a pen in his hand, but his eyes were gazing out of the window, unfocused. From Xia Xi's position, only his clean and elegant profile could be seen, still with the warm contours she was familiar with, yet it seemed to have an aura around it, no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't see his expression clearly.

  She didn't always seem to understand him, did she? Although he thought so in his heart, Xia Xixi still sensitively detected the abnormality of Lu Dongqi. On the surface, he seemed not very concerned about his grades and had been ranked second in the grade for many years with a calm demeanor, neither competing nor rushing, but Xixi knew that in his heart, he must want to surpass Lin Xiaojuan, otherwise, he wouldn't have been so close to him in every exam.

  It's really unlike Lu Dongqi to be so distracted in class.

  Xi Xi's doubts grew thicker, she took advantage of the interval between classes to sneak to Lu Dongqi's seat, and snatched his notebook that was flat on the desk.

  Lu Dongqi reacted and reached out to grab it, but the book was already in Xia Xixi's hands. "Not a single word is written down, what did you do during class?" She flipped through a few pages, looking at him with confusion.

  "These things, written in notes, may not necessarily be remembered in the mind." Dong Qi smiled and took the notes from her hand, flipping through them casually. He carefully concealed his nervousness while hoping that she would notice something, this contradiction reflected on his face, showing a calm and composed demeanor.

  Xi Xi let out an "oh" and pouted, "Looks like you've got the first prize in the bag." The joking words, spoken in this situation, carried a few more points of sarcasm.

  Lu Dongqi smiled and shook his head, not arguing with her.

  Xi Xi turned back to her seat, she had always known that she wasn't smart enough, the tricky questions that Lu Dong Qi could solve with just one glance would often take her half a day of thinking, and during class, her neatly written notes looked pale and powerless in front of Lu Dong Qi's blank notebook.

  You're clearly not talented, so why aren't you working hard? Xia Xi, what do you want to achieve?

  Only self-pitying Xia Xixi, had no idea that if she got Lu Dongqi's notes and flipped them over from the back, she would discover that the snow-white paper was filled with a person's name - Xia Xixi.

  In the second class, Lu Dongqi was still distracted. He wasn't absorbing and understanding what the professor was saying, not needing to take notes, but rather he simply wasn't listening at all.

  He turned his head to look at Xixi, who was intently listening to the lecture, and a bitter smile spread across his face. He didn't actually need to come on this training trip, as participating in the physics competition wasn't part of his plans anyway. It was just that he couldn't bear to give up this rare opportunity to spend time with her.

  Such opportunities are becoming scarce.

  Looking at Xi Xi, Lu Dong Qi's heart suddenly became less determined. Xi Xi, how should I start talking to you about leaving? You can search for "The Difficult-to-Resolve Grudge of the School Grass" on Baidu to find the latest updates of this book!