"Just cover for me when the time comes, that's all."

"So you're just using me as a joke topic... I get it..." Yue Feather said, his eyelids drooping.

That's what best friends are for—taking jabs at each other in crucial moments.

"Hehe, I knew you'd understand me."

"Alright, alright..." Yue Feather yawned widely. "Next is politics class. I'm gonna nap..."

Yue Feather sat in the very back row of the classroom. He'd chosen this spot on the first day because he arrived early. It was the most inconspicuous seat. Though seating changed often, moving from back to front was rare unless special. Since Yue Feather rarely drew teachers' attention, he stayed put comfortably.

His desk partner was a boy who looked like he hadn't showered in a week, even in summer—Wei Xiaoxin.

Wei Xiaoxin's hair was always messy, covered in dandruff. He had slightly buck teeth, and his teeth were yellowish. He was probably the least popular boy in class.

Still, Yue Feather got along with him. Though Wei looked unkempt, he didn't smell bad. He was a bit stingy but didn't cause trouble. They shared interests like novels and games.

Most importantly, this guy covered for Yue Feather when he read comics during class.

Wei Xiaoxin didn't have many hobbies at school. His favorite thing was counting money.

He'd dump all loose change from his wallet onto the desk. Whether dimes, singles, or five or ten-yuan bills, he treated them all the same. He counted them over and over, making thirty-something yuan feel like thirty thousand. Only he could pull that off.

"So sleepy—" Yue Feather lazily pulled his politics textbook from the drawer, placed it on the desk, and immediately slumped down to sleep.

The ceiling fan whirred above, but its cooling effect was pitifully small.

Sleeping in summer meant dealing with numb arms and unbearable heat.

Sometimes, despite exhaustion, he'd wake up sweating from the heat. His head would be drenched, and the desk wet with sweat.

The teacher's voice was the best lullaby, always letting Yue Feather sleep soundly. Especially in elective classes like politics, where the teacher just lectured without caring about students below.

The hallmark of summer was the cicadas' chirping. They were always there. Once you got used to it, it wasn't annoying—it had a unique charm.

After all, how could a summer without cicadas even be called summer?

In his dream, Yue Feather vaguely recalled his childhood. In the village, he'd run around with other kids catching cicadas. They could play all day without getting bored.

Those were truly carefree days.

"Giggle~" A slightly flirtatious laugh came from the front. Yue Feather blinked awake to see Murong Qiuyu covering her mouth with a smile. The boy standing before her looked extremely proud, as if talking to her was a great honor.

In truth, Murong Qiuyu never showed disdain, even towards Wei Xiaoxin. She smiled at every boy who approached her, always approachable.

Combined with her beauty, she became the goddess of all the boys in class.

It was a lie to say anyone didn't like the beautiful and approachable Murong Qiuyu. But Yue Feather knew his place. He'd only watch from afar, rarely approaching her.

How could a toad ever match a beautiful swan?

Speaking of which, Silver Bell was also a kind girl, but there were subtle differences between them.

Perhaps Murong Qiuyu's kindness came from good upbringing, while Silver Bell's was more straightforward and pure.

Yue Feather yawned widely and turned to his desk partner. To his surprise, Wei Xiaoxin was still counting money.

The whole class had passed, and he still hadn't finished. It was quite impressive.

"Almost lunchtime..." Yue Feather muttered to himself, pulling chopsticks from his backpack.

For students like him, whose grades were average, the highlights of school days were the long break after second period, the nap after lunch, and finally, dismissal.

Without these things to look forward to, school might feel unbearable.

So he loved timing things perfectly. The ultimate moment was when he'd shout "Class is over!" just as the bell rang.

It made him seem cool, though no one really noticed. He only got self-satisfaction.

The last morning class was math, which Yue Feather was decent at. He wasn't outstanding, but he always ranked in the top fifteen. He was severely lopsided—good at math and science, bad at Chinese and English. Especially English; he still couldn't recall if there were 26 or 24 letters in the alphabet...

Logically, science-minded people should be rational and dislike novels. But Yue Feather was emotional and loved reading them...

End-of-term math classes were either tests or reviews for finals. Honestly, they were often boring. Most students in the back rows had already slumped down to sleep.

Wei Xiaoxin finally finished counting his money and slumped down to sleep.

"This is an Olympiad math problem. It's not on the final exam, but it might appear in the college entrance exam. So we'll cover it two years early. Before I explain, let's have a student try it. Hmm? You, the math class rep."

"Huh?"

"Hurry up. Daydreaming in math class? You're not a very good rep."

"Oh, oh..." The math rep walked up hesitantly. He stared at the problem for a while before starting. He wrote long formulas, did complex calculations, filling half the blackboard densely. Finally, he finished.

"The process is mostly fine, but a key step is wrong." The math teacher shook his head, patted the rep's shoulder to let him down. "Come on, Wei Xiaoxin, you're up."

"Hey, the teacher's calling you..." Yue Feather quickly nudged Wei Xiaoxin's shoulder, waking him up.

"Huh...?"

"Stop sleeping, Wei Xiaoxin. Come up and solve the problem."

"Oh..." Wei Xiaoxin rubbed his eyes sleepily and stumbled toward the podium. As he passed other students, most girls dramatically leaned away, as if his stench had spread.

In reality, Yue Feather knew he didn't smell. Even if he did, you'd have to be very close to catch a whiff of sweat.

Wei Xiaoxin was bad at math, but he had an insane ability: he could solve any problem involving money. Whether math, physics, chemistry, Chinese, politics—even English problems.

His sensitivity to money was godlike.

And this Olympiad problem was about money.

As Wei passed Zhan Qi's desk, she deliberately placed her draft paper at the top-left corner, with the solution written large.

But Wei didn't even glance at it; he walked straight up.

Earlier, the math rep had thought for a long time. Wei just read the problem once and solved it quickly. His process was simple—almost skipped most steps. Only three lines to the final answer.

It contrasted sharply with the math rep's complex calculations beside it.

"The answer is correct, but you skipped too much. You only gave the start and end, nothing in between. You used only one formula. How did you get the answer?"

"Intuition." Wei Xiaoxin replied seriously.

The class burst into laughter. The math teacher chuckled helplessly. "You kid, pay attention in class. If you study hard, you can learn anything. Don't just focus on money-related stuff. Alright, go back to your seat!"

As he walked down, boys winked at Wei Xiaoxin and gave thumbs-up. This insane skill was like perfectly avoiding all correct answers in English multiple-choice questions—something everyone loved to talk about.

Some even suspected Wei Xiaoxin knew everything but only solved money problems on purpose—like pretending to be a pig to eat the tiger...

Of course, no one knew the truth.

Wei Xiaoxin himself acted like it was nothing. He returned to his seat and slumped down to sleep again.

"Yue Feather, you're laughing so happily. Come on, you too—solve one on the board."

"Huh? I wasn't laughing..." Yue Feather defended guiltily. But he reluctantly went up. Of course, he couldn't solve another Olympiad problem.

After being scolded by the math teacher, he slunk back to his seat.

After this commotion, math class was almost over. Yue Feather timed it, waiting for the exact second the bell would ring.

Unfortunately, though the bell rang, the teacher dragged on. By the time class officially ended, Yue Feather had no energy left to run to the cafeteria.

This was probably the principle of "first time strong, second time weak, third time exhausted."

Just as he slowly stood up, girls' giggles sounded in his ears. Then he saw a girl push Murong Qiuyu hard, sending her straight into Yue Feather's arms.

"Whoa—!" They both fell to the ground. Murong Qiuyu landed on top of Yue Feather. His hands instinctively blocked in front—but landed right on her chest...

In an instant, his little matchstick below turned into a hard iron rod. Both their faces flushed crimson in that moment.