A day later, their homeroom teacher and the dean of students supervised as Shu Ning and Yin Mingzheng took a separate exam in one of the conference rooms.

It was a comprehensive exam containing all subjects. The teachers started grading their exams as soon as they finished. qadgko

After grading the papers, the teachers were shocked. For the objective questions, Yin Mingzheng got full marks while Shu Ning lost two points. For the more subjective questions, both of them answered ninety percent of them correctly.

The facts proved that the two of them got their grades by virtue of their own abilities. The rumors about cheating naturally disappeared on their own.

Please support our translators at chrysanthemumgarden (dot) com

The homeroom teacher quickly caught Yin Mingzheng and asked over and over again, “Mingzheng, how did your grades improve so quickly?”

Yin Mingzheng raised an eyebrow. “Self-study.” xoPLmD

The teachers were choked by his reply.

Shu Ning rushed to smooth things out. “Of course it’s because the teachers taught us well! Mingzheng used to have good grades before. However, he started doing poorly on his exams because he didn’t want to do his homework.”

Several pairs of eyes turned towards Shu Ning.

As the villain’s spokesperson, Shu Ning puffed up his chest. “Actually, Yin Mingzheng is really gifted. The current teaching style doesn’t really suit him. I think he doesn’t really need to attend class or do the homework.”

1bdX6A

As soon as he spoke these words, the teachers’ faces instantly soured.

Wasn’t this basically a slap to the face? He was basically saying that their teaching was getting in the way of the genius’ education.

Yin Mingzheng stared at Shu Ning’s face. The corners of his lips curved into a smile. He said to the teachers, “I would like to go to class. I just don’t want to do the homework.”

He wanted to attend class with Shu Ning. vYdC1h

The teacher with the worst temper was the English teacher. Abbess Miejue tried to hold herself back. “Yin Mingzheng, are you sure you don’t want to do your homework?”

Yin Mingzheng nodded.

The English teacher took a deep breath. She was about to get angry again. However, she remembered what had happened to Yin Mingzheng, so she swallowed her anger down.

“Fine. That’s your choice. I’ll agree to your request.” sz9hdN

Then, she angrily left the conference room.

The teacher with the best temper was the math teacher. He said to Yin Mingzheng in a gentle voice, “Mingzheng, a single good grade on an exam can’t prove anything.”

“Then have him take the exam a few more times to prove it,” Shu Ning interjected.

Their homeroom teacher glared at him. She signaled at him to stop messing around. FzqElB

Shu Ning insisted, “Mingzheng is really amazing. You guys should trust him.”

The homeroom teacher said, “It’s best for you two to talk to your parents about this. We’ll discuss this face-to-face at the next parent-teacher meeting.”

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Shu Ning said, “Okay.”

He planned on going home and working on Cai Cai. oq7nF4

Then, he grabbed onto Yin Mingzheng and dashed out of the conference room.

Yin Mingzheng’s face was cold. He was already unhappy about having to retake the exam. The teachers’ reactions made him even more upset.

Shu Ning noticed that he was upset. He waited until they had walked a little bit further away and asked, “Mingzheng, have you gotten taller?”

Yin Mingzheng immediately turned his head. “Really?” WOHpDt

Shu Ning walked up to him and raised his hand up to his height. “I think we were about the same height before?”

The little villain raised his eyebrows. “Last time, I was three centimeters taller than you. Now…”

He moved his hand from the top of Shu Ning’s head up to the top of his own head. “Tsk, tsk, it’s probably ten centimeters now.”

Shu Ning had wanted to divert his attention to cheer him up. Now, the villain was happy, but he wasn’t happy anymore. ZEfQlj

“There’s no way it’s ten centimeters!” He frowned, immensely displeased.

They were together everyday, so they never noticed. However, the difference between their heights was getting bigger and bigger.

“Let’s go measure ourselves after school,” Shu Ning said.

The little villain shrugged. His lips were curved into a smug smile. “Sure. Doesn’t matter to me.” CA4gwO

Teenagers tended to enter a growing period in middle school and high school. A lot of people grew taller during this time. They were practically a different height everyday.

Some shorties shot up in height and ended up becoming super tall.

Some grew really slowly and didn’t get taller at all.

After school, the two of them went to the same pharmacy they went to last time. They stood right in front of the scale. PhTFw8

“You first.” Yin Mingzheng gestured forward like a gentleman.

His confident attitude made Shu Ning burn with rage. He stepped onto the scale.

Chrysanthemum Garden.

“Your weight is 66 kg and your height is 170 cm.”

The little villain said in surprise, “66 kilos, 132 pounds.” I9jKJg

He raised a hand up to Shu Ning’s height again. “You haven’t grown much taller, but you sure have gained a lot of weight…”

Shu Ning glared at him and gave him a kick. “Get on there!”

As he said this, Shu Ning jumped off the scale.

Damn it, he only weighed 120 pounds last time. He gained a whole ten pounds over the new year! aJGWiQ

Shu Ning pinched at his belly fat.

Pc atf qjra ofk wbcatr, tf tjv yffc rlaalcu vbkc j iba, jcv tf vlvc’a gfjiis wbnf jgbecv wemt. Lf kbeiv cffv ab fzfgmlrf wbgf.

Ktf ilaaif nliijlc rwlifv jcv tjcvfv tlr rmtbbi yju ab Vte Rlcu. Ktfc, tf rabbv bc atf rmjif.

“Tbeg kfluta lr 66 xu jcv sbeg tfluta lr 176 mw.” 8aoPcq

He stepped off the scale and pretended to be surprised. “What a coincidence. We weigh the exact same.”

Then, he patted Shu Ning’s head. “But I’m six centimeters taller than you.”

Shu Ning slapped his hands aside and said through gritted teeth, “Don’t be so full of yourself! Have you seen my dad? He’s 185 centimeters! I’m definitely going to be 185 centimeters too!”

The little villain nodded. “Mn, you’ll be 185 centimeters in the future.” 7K2zre

After a pause, he said sadly, “By the time that happens, I’ll probably be over 190 centimeters. I won’t end up being too tall, will I?”

Shu Ning turned around and left.

The little villain walked behind him. “Are you angry?”

Shu Ning walked faster. OgCQX2

Yin Mingzheng chased after him with a smile. After watching him for a while, he said, “I know what the difference between us is.”

Shu Ning turned his head in confusion. “What?”

Please visit chrysanthemumgarden (dot) com

Yin Mingzheng said, “You’re walking super fast, but I’m able to catch up with you in just a few steps. This means the difference between us is in our legs. The food you eat goes to your belly. The food I eat goes to my legs…”

Shu Ning started beating him with his school bag. SQy49Y

Yin Mingzheng smiled and started running. His legs were really long, and he also ran really fast. Shu Ning couldn’t catch up to him.

When the two of them returned home, Cai Qin noticed that Shu Ning was sullen but Yin Mingzheng was all smiles. It was very strange.

“What’s the matter?” Cai Qin asked her baby.

Most of the time, Shu Ning was full of smiles, pleased as punch. Meanwhile, Yin Mingzheng was the one who was cold and unapproachable. However, today, it was the other way around. suXQPa

Shu Ning didn’t answer.

After dinner, the two of them went back to their room.

Yin Mingzheng rubbed his chin and looked at Shu Ning. Shu Ning bent down to pull a box out from under the bed. When Shu Ning noticed his gaze, he raised an eyebrow. “What are you looking at?”

Yin Mingzheng dropped his hand from his chin. “I was thinking. You look really thin, so how come you’re so heavy?” iHdlkq

Shu Ning got angry and straightened up. “Are you done?”

This stupid villain was so annoying!

Yin Mingzheng suddenly walked over and pinched his waist.

Shu Ning was startled. “What is it?” JaOQex

“You’re pretty thin here.” Yin Mingzheng then touched Shu Ning’s abdomen. “There’s nothing here either.”

Shu Ning yelled, “What are you doing!?”

Yin Mingzheng pinched his thigh. “Your legs don’t have much meat on them either.”

“You bastard!” Shu Ning exploded with anger, but Yin Mingzheng was able to easily pin him onto the bed. P3UDWs

Yin Mingzheng let go of him and took a step back. He rubbed his chin and looked at Shu Ning. After a while, he spoke as if he had come to some big conclusion. “Oh, I got it. All the meat on your bones went straight to your butt. It does look really perky. You were right when you said it was big.”

Shu Ning was about to lose his mind. He grabbed a pillow off the bed and started beating Yin Mingzheng into the ground.

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Yin Mingzheng burst into peals of laughter.

Shu Ning was stunned by his clear and bright laughter. AK3xY5

Yin Mingzheng saw him freeze and asked, “What is it?”

Shu Ning stared at him. “You laughed.”

Yin Mingzheng suddenly realized it as well. He stopped laughing and blinked.

The two of them stared at each other. Kga0Fm

Shu Ning: This is the first time I’ve seen the little villain laugh so loudly.

Yin Mingzheng: It turns out I can still laugh?

The big box under Shu Ning’s bed was full of basketballs, dumbbells, jump ropes, badminton rackets and ping pong paddles. Shu Ning realized that he was gaining weight but he wasn’t getting taller. So, he dragged the little villain along to exercise some more.

As for their nutrition, a carton of milk per day was a must. They would take a calcium tablet every night. All of the food they ate needed to be as nutritious as possible. 620Xk9

Shu Ning brought the basketball with him to school. After school let out, he dragged Wang Shenshen, Long Qiao, and Yin Mingzheng to the school basketball court to play.

Long Qiao and Wang Shenshen wanted to go to an Internet café to play Battle Elites. After Shu Ning ridiculed them for their “horizontal growth”, they also decided to play basketball with Shu Ning. However, since they needed five people to play, they dragged Long Qiao’s friend, Song Nian, into the mix.

The five teenagers first watched a video to figure out the rules. Under Shu Ning’s instruction, they assigned themselves positions as forwards, rear guards, or the center.

Shu Ning soon came to find out that the little villain didn’t like sports. Whenever he found the chance, he would secretly start slacking off. He would lazily sit around with a basketball in his arms. uKd s4

Whenever this happened, Shu Ning would definitely go up to him, grab him by the collar, and drag him back to the court.

Yin Mingzheng was helpless against him. There was nothing he could do but go along with the rest of the boys.

Friendships between boys were all created like this. After practicing with each other for a bit, the relationship between the five of them became a lot stronger. The villain wasn’t maintaining a frosty scowl anymore either. Slowly, he started integrating into the group.

After a few days, Wang Shenshen and Long Qiao were itching to compete with other teams. Their suggestion was strongly supported by Shu Ning and Song Nian. After the initial novelty wore off, they all felt that it wasn’t very interesting to play with just the five of them. They needed to find another team to test their skills. fTYsdp

The only one who didn’t care was the little villain. He was still just as lazy as ever. He acted as if basketball was just a task to complete. He was just here to accompany Shu Ning. Although he looked the laziest, his skills were actually the best out of all of them. He was particularly good at making shots. Plus, he was the tallest out of all of them. The task of scoring points pretty much fell to him.

Shu Ning and the others wanted to find someone to test their skills. There was a group of second years who’d been finding them unpleasant for a while. They wanted to challenge Shu Ning’s team.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Before Shu Ning and the others started playing basketball, the second year students had been the ones using the basketball courts. The rules of the basketball courts were first come first serve. The third year students were all preparing for entrance exams. They didn’t have the time to play basketball, so the two basketball courts on campus were usually used by second year students.

Second year students were located on the floor above first year students. Whenever the bell rang after class, the first year students were always able to get to the courts faster than the second year students. Once Shu Ning and his friends started playing basketball, the second year students were only left with one other basketball court. It was always a race to see which group could grab it first. ge6LV5

There was one team that hadn’t been able to get the basketball court for several days now. They found Shu Ning and his friends super unpleasant.

Shu Ning and the others were still discussing how to find another team when a basketball suddenly flew towards Shu Ning’s direction.

Yin Mingzheng, who was standing next to Shu Ning, reacted instantly. He reached out and caught the basketball, staring coldly at the second years approaching them.

The second year students were a whole year older than the first year students. Boys that play basketball tended to grow very tall. The second year team’s average height was probably at least 172 centimeters. XC1F0

“Yo, first years.” One of the boys walked over and started provoking them. “Let’s have a match. Winning team gets to keep the basketball court.”

Shu Ning was very envious when he saw how tall they all were. He excitedly said, “We can all play together! It doesn’t matter who wins or loses!”

The kid in the lead said disdainfully, “We don’t play with children. If you’re afraid of losing, go ahead and get lost!”

Shu Ning was taken aback. Lm7nOV

Yin Mingzheng was the only one of them who could compete with the second years in terms of height. He stepped forward and said, “The basketball court doesn’t belong to you, so why should we get lost? The one who needs to get lost is you!”

This was the villain’s style of doing things—he liked to face things head on.

The boy raised an eyebrow. “Who are you?”

“I know him. He’s Yin Mingzheng. He’s that first year delinquent who’s always getting into fights.” One of the other boys recognized Yin Mingzheng and told him. zjQ8p6

Delinquent?

Shu Ning laughed. Ever since Yin Mingzheng took first in the grade, the teachers all treated him like some sort of treasure. No one thought of him as a delinquent anymore, okay?

The boy raised his chin. “Come on. Let’s have a match.”

Yin Mingzheng tilted his head. “One-on-one?” M6xNIw

His disdainful attitude made the boy in the lead very annoyed. “One-on-one it is! If you lose, you have to give up the basketball court.”

Yin Mingzheng said, “Sure. If you lose, you have to play with us for as long as we like.”

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Shu Ning was a little worried. He wanted to say something, but Yin Mingzheng gave him a reassuring look.

“No problem!” the second year boy jeered. cDAfTz

Everyone stepped outside the white lines, leaving Yin Mingzheng and the second year boy on the basketball court.

Song Nian asked worriedly, “Is he going to lose?”

Wang Shenshen patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. Mingzheng gege definitely won’t lose.”

Song Nian said, “The other guy’s the captain of the basketball team.” f2m9F0

Long Qiao replied, “No worries!”

Shu Ning was surprised by their confidence. “How come you’re so sure?”

“Mingzheng gege will definitely be fine!” the two of them said.

Shu Ning: “…” bQ8x M

Every time he heard them say Mingzheng gege, he felt like throwing up.

He was rather puzzled. Just when did Yin Mingzheng get these two under his control?

“Block him! Block him!” Wang Shenshen and Long Qiao excitedly waved their fists.

Shu Ning turned to watch. He saw Yin Mingzheng jump up and dunk the basketball into the basket. 4vjl1q

“Ohhh!” Wang Shenshen and Long Qiao cheered.

The second year students yelled, “Captain! Come on!”

The two boys bolted across the court. It was like a game of cat and mouse, you chase me, I chase you.

It was one slam dunk after another after another… MjX7hY

Everyone stared, dumbfounded, as Yin Mingzheng made basket after basket after basket.

Everyone’s jaw dropped. No one could say a word.

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Shu Ning didn’t know when it happened exactly, but, slowly, more and more people started to crowd around the court.

There were both boys and girls. The boys were here to watch basketball, and the girls were here to watch the boys. uqOrLf

“Oh my god! They’re all going in!”

“He’s really good at basketball!”

“So handsome!”

“He’s amazing!” pTt7HL

When he heard their sighs of admiration, Shu Ning couldn’t help but feel proud. Hehe, that’s my baby!

Yin Mingzheng neatly made another basket. Once he landed, he gave the other boy a cool look and asked, “You wanna keep going?”

The second year boy was sweating all over and panting like a cow. He put his hands on his knees. After a while, he said, “You’re really good. Are you interested in joining our basketball team?”

“Not interested.” Yin Mingzheng spun the basketball on his finger. He walked over to Shu Ning and threw the basketball towards him. LBtpC3

Shu Ning reached out to catch it. Then, he walked to the center of the court and grinned at the second year boys. “Since you guys lost, you’ll have to play with us.”

The group of second year boys gave each other a look. Then, they huddled up to discuss with each other.

While the others weren’t paying attention, Shu Ning quietly asked Yin Mingzheng, “How did you do it? How come all your shots went in?”

Yin Mingzheng pointed at his head. “I used this.” Zxpecj

Shu Ning blinked.

Yin Mingzheng explained, “I calculated the amount of force I needed to use, the distance from the basket, the trajectory of the ball, and then bam. It went in.”

Shu Ning: “…”

Shu Ning fell into deep thought. pE1WL8

Yin Mingzheng ruffled his hair. “Forget about it. You won’t be able to do it.”

Shu Ning gave him a kick.

Chrysanthemum Garden.

The second year boys finally came to a conclusion. They walked over to them and said, “Alright, let’s do it.”

“Yay!” Long Qiao rushed in with a shout. xFQf1a

The ten of them started playing on the basketball court.

It was only when Shu Ning actually played against another team did he realize how exhausting basketball was. However, he was also very excited. He was able to let loose all the energy in his body, sweat dripping down his back. It was exhilarating.

Once Shu Ning grabbed hold of the ball, he subconsciously started thinking about what Yin Mingzheng told him. The distance, force, height… fuck! How the hell was anyone supposed to calculate all of that!?

At a time like this, the only thing you can rely on is your intuition! UneIOd

The blond boy leapt into the sky like a fish. He leaned back in mid-air, lifted the basketball up with both hands, and threw.

Thunk.

A three-pointer.

Shu Ning’s feet hit the ground, his knees bending slightly from the impact. n4ZkV7

“Ahhh! So handsome!”

“Shu Ning, I love you!”

“I love you, Little Sun!”

The girls’ screams made Shu Ning turn his head. He waved at the girls and smiled. KWm9pT

The girls screamed even louder, satisfying Shu Ning’s vanity.

Not too far away, Yin Mingzheng frowned when he heard the screams.

The two teams played for about an hour. After exerting everything they had, they all decided to wrap things up.

They played with the second year team a couple more times after that. The more they played, the more into it they became. Wang Shenshen and Long Qiao slowly stopped playing Battle Elites. They no longer whined about wanting to go to the Internet café. hzLZdl

There were also two more exams during this time. The villain naturally ended up getting full marks. After the second exam, it was time for a parent-teacher meeting.

On the day before the parent-teacher meeting, Shu Ning talked to Cai Qin about the little villain’s learning situation. He handed the exam papers that he had prepared to Cai Qin. He even brought Papa Shu to come help them.

Read more BL at chrysanthemumgarden (dot) com

Papa Shu had long since been brought down by the little villain. Now, he was more than happy to support anything the villain wanted to do. If it wasn’t for the fact that Papa Shu was older and Yin Mingzheng was just a middle school student, Shu Ning would suspect that his father was actually Yin Mingzheng’s underling.

Faced with this attack from all sides, Cai Qin could only relent. She agreed to bring up the issue of homework during the parent-teacher meeting tomorrow. B2KMsn

However, they ran into a problem during the parent-teacher meeting. Yin Mingzheng’s parent was Zhou Juan, not Cai Qin. Therefore, Cai Qin’s request to the homeroom teacher didn’t count.

The four of them had all been living together for a while. They had all gotten used to it, so they forgot to take this detail into consideration. They all assumed that Cai Qin would hold the parent-teacher meeting for Yin Mingzheng. As a result, this happened.

After hearing about this, Yin Mingzheng went straight to the office and said to the homeroom teacher, “Zhou Juan already cut ties with me. She hadn’t been caring for me anymore.”

“My actual guardians are Cai Qin and Shu Jun, Shu Ning’s parents.” s9QcAh

The homeroom teacher’s sympathy was stirred up again. Her attitude softened. “Sigh. If you don’t want to do the homework, then don’t. Remember to take good care of yourself and find some time to relax. You’re still young. There’s nothing you can’t overcome.”

The homeroom teacher was overwhelmed with maternal love. She decided that, no matter what obstacles there were, she was going to fulfill Yin Mingzheng’s request.

Yin Mingzheng lost his parents and experienced so much hardship. Although he looked calm and collected, he must be very fragile inside. She shouldn’t upset him any more. Either way, so long as his grades were fine, homework didn’t really matter. It would be really bad if she forced him too hard and he tried to kill himself or something.

“?” Yin Mingzheng looked at the homeroom teacher’s face. Her expression was suddenly full of pity, which he found rather inexplicable. However, he got what he wanted, so it didn’t really matter what she was thinking. He nodded and left the office. Vx2EcJ

After he left, the homeroom teacher quickly reported everything to the principal…

Very soon later, the entire middle school knew that Yin Mingzheng became the first student who was officially allowed to not do homework.

All the students were shocked.

This kind of treatment made Wang Shenshen, Long Qiao and all the other bad students super jealous. Ritx9l

However, Yin Mingzheng, who got the exact same news, wasn’t just unhappy. He was despondent.

Shu Ning received a love letter, and he even decided to meet the girl.

Yin Mingzheng felt absolutely betrayed.

5OinIo