Zhou Baowei left his seat, probably going to the bathroom to shed some little pearls.
Bai Bufan watched Zhou Baowei's dejected back, pursing his lips with hesitation and unease in his eyes. Would what he was about to do be inappropriate?
So he turned to Lin Li, took a deep breath and asked:
"Lin Li, if I secretly eat a piece of Baowei's egg pancake now, do you think I'll get caught?"
"Probably not, but could you finish what's in your bowl before coveting what's in the pot?" Lin Li gave a prudent analysis. "Also, be careful - Baowei might be fishing for evidence. He could be hiding by the door in the shadows, wiggling his butt and spying on us."
"True, forget it. I'll let him off today." Bai Bufan nodded, quickly finished his steamed bun in a few bites, bit the straw of his soy milk, and asked with great interest: "Lin Li, what about last night?"
"I'll buy you the little pudding at lunch."
"Who asked about little pud-- you're really buying it? Thanks bro! Ahem, but let's talk about lunch stuff at lunch." Bai Bufan smiled ingratiatingly, then eagerly returned to the topic: "Don't keep me in suspense. You know what I want to ask. Tell me, what's the situation with having a target for the weekend?"
"Last night I met this guy..."
Lin Li gave Bai Bufan a relatively detailed account of last night's experience.
"So if that guy really sends me the Xiling chicken farm map, we'll have more options and can pick more carefully. If he doesn't send it, no problem - tonight I'll go scout the Tianhong chicken farm he told me about last night."
"Going tonight? I have a premonition I'll get sick tonight - the kind the infirmary can't cure. Wait for my sick leave note!" Bai Bufan jumped up suddenly.
It's decided - toothache it is.
"Look, getting worked up again. Tonight's scouting is just checking the situation from outside. Actually going in to consume will definitely wait until the weekend. Why rush?" Lin Li explained.
"Oh, oh." Only then did Bai Bufan sit down with some relief, then had time to sigh: "Truly, every trade produces its masters. I never would have imagined there could be a divine person like Song Luping in this world, and you actually have such fate with him. He's right, Lin Li. You might truly be the protagonist destined by heaven, destined to become king. The only problem is you won't become the Prostitution King he expects, but will become the Anti-Prostitution King on the completely opposite path. Damn, a demonic path giant raising a righteous path saint, a Navy Admiral's grandson wanting to become the Pirate King! I'm so looking forward to the day he learns your true identity. Lin Li, write it as a novel - I'll definitely subscribe and praise you as the author!"
"Exactly, this is my destiny." This was exactly himself - Lin Li had already taken on the identity of the righteous path saint.
"Xiling's sky will change because of you. I see the future, see a bright and clear world, but is this fortune or disaster--" Bai Bufan deeply raised his head to look at the sky outside the window, then broke character in one second: "Hey, Lin Li look, Lao Da worked so hard today, planting so much cotton!"
His and Bai Bufan's thought processes were indeed the same. Lin Li felt comforted by this.
No longer role-playing, Bai Bufan said to Lin Li with some interest: "I really want to meet this Song Luping too. This dickhead brother must be a top talent - talking with him would definitely be interesting."
Lin Li blinked. He suddenly remembered he'd forgotten to explain something to Bai Bufan.
"Oh right, Bufan, forgot to mention - you actually know Song Luping." So he spoke gently.
"Huh? I've met him? Let me think... no, I don't remember having any relatives named Song," Bai Bufan frowned slightly, searching his memory before shaking his head.
The adults he knew could be counted on one hand - none met the requirements.
So he changed his question: "Lin Li, or did you already introduce me to him?"
"Neither. I just used your name when talking to him."
"Oh, I see." Bai Bufan nodded. "So you used my-- ?"
"?"
""
"My name?!" He whipped his head around, staring intensely at Lin Li.
Lin Li nodded and responded: "Hello, yes. So strictly speaking, he doesn't know me - only you. Bufan, he's your buddy, not close with me."
Think about it - Song Luping knew Bai Bufan, right? Conversely, if you asked him who Lin Li was, how could he answer?
Bai Bufan's gaze gradually darkened.
Lin Li remained composed, even reminding him: "If you really want to meet Song Luping and even become friends, I can introduce you. As long as you show the image of an excellent leech, he'll immediately treat you as a kindred spirit. But Bufan, you must remember - when you meet, don't say you're Bai Bufan, because Bai Bufan is already me."
"Heh heh, Lin Li, you're inhuman." Bai Bufan gritted his teeth, smiling without warmth.
"We who walk the jianghu never use our real identities when out and about." Lin Li looked completely unconcerned, waving his hand dismissively, even a bit proud.
"This is your fucking reason for using my identity?! I walk the jianghu too - what identity do I use?"
"Baowei's."
"Oh, that works too."
"No wonder when I discovered you didn't use your name for that naked chat last night, I actually sensed a hint of guilt from you. Turns out it was really about this." Bai Bufan's eyes were resentful, but soon his expression relaxed considerably. "Fine, at least now I can hold my head up in front of the class monitor again. I really thought you were spreading rumors to the class monitor that I have hemorrhoids."
Actually, in comparison, he at least didn't know Song Luping - using his name was whatever. Chen Yuying thinking he had hemorrhoids was more socially deadly to Bai Bufan. Thinking about it this way, he'd still come out ahead.
When Lin Li understood Bai Bufan's thinking, he really felt a bit embarrassed. He patted Bai Bufan's shoulder and scratched his head:
"Bufan, you misunderstood."
"Huh?"
"Whether spreading rumors to the class monitor or knowing Song Luping, the protagonist in both stories is Bai Bufan, and both are true. I just worried that telling you both things last night would keep you awake. I didn't want to see you with dark circles - it would break my heart."
Lin Li showed a simple smile, clean and pure, reminiscent of Rick's fifth generation, making one's lungs itch.
"?"
Bai Bufan looked at this considerate smile and indeed felt his lungs itch with anger.
"A young man's blush beats all sweet words - truly no deception."
Lin Li looked at the blushing youth, deeply feeling the charm of this saying.
The blushing youth became even redder after hearing this: "Sweet words? My face is covered in profanity! Lin Li! You poet of ten thousand springs!"
"Bufan, don't rush. There's still good news. Yesterday when I spread rumors to the class monitor, she didn't react much - maybe she didn't remember at all. How about I help you test whether she actually cares about this?" Lin Li also felt he'd gone too far, so he considerately comforted and made amends.
Bai Bufan remembered Lin Li's scene of "helping" Zhou Baowei confirm information - was that testing intelligence? That was clearly helping the class monitor consolidate her memory!
Especially now with Lin Li's eerily smiling face.
Bai Bufan was even more certain of the result if he agreed. His head immediately shook like a rattle drum: "Bro, no need. This is fine. At worst, from now on I'll clench my butt and do Kegel exercises while being human in front of the class monitor."
Looking at the sensible child, Lin Li was very pleased: "Bufan, whoever's fortunate enough to be your father will be truly blessed."
Bai Bufan: "..."
"Wait, why are you standing up?" Seeing Lin Li suddenly stand, Bai Bufan asked.
"You mentioned Kegel exercises, and I haven't done them today. Perfect timing for a set - can't actually get hemorrhoids." Lin Li answered.
Kegel exercises could be done sitting, lying down, or standing, but sitting in the classroom wasn't as good as just standing.
Made sense.
So Bai Bufan also stood up.
When Zhou Baowei returned and asked what they were doing, he didn't sit down either.
So if any front-row students looked back now, they'd see this group at the back all standing at their seats with tense expressions and exerted bodies.
This was the charm of the words "Kegel exercises."
Anyone who could hear these words and not do a set would truly be superhuman.
...
Time had reached evening, near the end of evening study hall, when Xue Jian walked into the classroom.
The originally somewhat restless voices immediately quieted down.
Lin Li, who had already cleaned his desk spotlessly, silently picked up his textbook again under Xue Jian's gaze.
Everyone was ready to start running.
"Evening study hall is about to end. I have something to tell everyone." Xue Jian sat on the podium desk and spoke, making everyone focus on him.
"The school has discussed the first monthly exam of this semester. It's been postponed from the originally scheduled Friday and Saturday to the week before National Day - time TBD. Then we'll have autumn break on the original class days Friday and Saturday."
The classroom, quiet for less than half a minute, immediately became noisy again.
Autumn break was originally a holiday from decades ago for students to go home and harvest wheat. But as time passed, this holiday disappeared in most parts of the country, except for the province where Xiling was located, which preserved this fine tradition.
Pretty great.
Especially after discovering other provinces didn't have it - even better.
In elementary and middle school, it was a fixed three days, though usually schools would use this holiday for autumn outings or sports meets.
In high school, this holiday became more flexible - different regions in the province varied.
The district where Nansang Middle School was located required no classes for two days, so freshmen got two days off; sophomores got one day off with students voluntarily staying for one day of study; seniors voluntarily stayed for two days of study.
You could see that as grade levels increased, people would actively become more studious.
This was because Nansang was a public school - some private schools famous for college admissions simply had no such holiday.
As for why the monthly exam was set for next Saturday, it wasn't because monthly exams deliberately occupied weekends, but because the Tuesday after next was Mid-Autumn Festival, so Saturday was originally supposed to have Monday's classes anyway - using it for exams was normal.
So the autumn break that used to connect with National Day now connected with Mid-Autumn Festival instead.
"Don't get excited yet. During autumn break, the school plans to organize an autumn outing. So I'm telling everyone tonight so you can have time to discuss where you want to go. Any ideas and opinions can be told to the class monitor, who will then tell me. The longest would be departing Thursday evening and returning Saturday evening, shortest would be all day Friday. But I should mention beforehand - for management and safety considerations, the prerequisite for going somewhere is that more than one class chooses to go there. So even if our class reaches a result everyone accepts, if no other classes want to go together, it can't happen. So the process is: by this Friday after school, everyone discuss where our class wants to go, then I'll report it. Over the weekend, the school will discuss and have you vote on results, then all classes will choose from the highest-voted options..."
Since they'd had similar experiences in elementary and middle school, no one complained about the autumn outing occupying autumn break.
Much better than using regular weekends for outings.
If it were a sports meet, not only would autumn break be used up, Sunday would probably need half a day for opening and closing ceremonies. But with the current hot weather, wanting it to cool down before National Day was impossible.
Everyone began discussing now.
Lin Li didn't care much where the autumn outing went - his mind was still on what he needed to do later.
"Lin Li." The pondering Bai Bufan suddenly called Lin Li's name.
"Speak." Lin Li looked at Bai Bufan.
As the saying goes, when Bufan thinks, God laughs.
Lin Li was certain he wouldn't hear anything normal from Bai Bufan's dog mouth next.
"Spring outings are elegantly called 'stepping on green,' so aren't autumn outings elegantly called 'sweeping yellow'? Then your last week, this week, and next week - don't they all count as autumn outings?"
"Damn, you're the Autumn Outing King!"
"Now that you mention it... I really am." The logic was crude but sound - Lin Li nodded.
"Excellent."
"Everyone! Lin Li just said he's the Autumn Outing King with very rich autumn outing experience. I suggest everyone listen to his opinions!" Bai Bufan stood up and shouted loudly.
Lin Li: "?"
This voice dominated all others - everyone instinctively looked at Lin Li, including Xue Jian.
After the shock, Lin Li smiled.
Damn you.
Bai Bufan.
You little bastard's revenge is just like mine, three days is too late.
(End of Chapter)