Chapter 29: Chapter 29: Looks Like He’s Really Angry?

He had considered the worst possible outcome. When the file was placed in front of him, Zhou Mochen found he was even afraid to open it.

What kind of person was Zhou Mochen? A favored son of heaven with an unyielding will. He hadn’t had the chance to feel an emotion like fear since he was old enough to remember.

But his various actions after meeting Xu Su surprised even himself. It was only then that he finally understood what was happening to him.

“I don’t like you,” Xu Su said bluntly, afraid her rejection wasn’t firm enough. “I’m genuinely afraid of men. All I want to do right now is study hard. Even if I like someone in the future, it won’t be a boy.”

Zhou Mochen’s expression darkened. “You don’t like boys?”

His gaze grew inscrutable as he thought of Huang Chao’s younger sister, who was quite close to her.

Xu Su had seen him lose his temper plenty of times, so this slight change in expression didn’t scare her at all. She even nodded affirmatively and said, “That’s right. For now, I just want to focus on my studies. In any case, I’m not considering getting a boyfriend.”

Xu Su was inwardly pleased with her quick thinking. ’I don’t even like boys, so what can you do now?’

Indeed, Zhou Mochen had no intention of doing anything right now. He fell silent for a few seconds, then asked, “What will it take for you to get in the car? It’s pouring. Do you really want to get sick?”

Catching a ride would certainly be more comfortable than transferring buses in a downpour, but… this was Zhou Mochen’s car.

“I’ll get in the car, but you have to promise me one thing.”

Zhou Mochen glanced at her. “Name it.”

“From now on, don’t appear before me. Even if we run into each other by chance like today, don’t stop to say hello. Just pretend you didn’t see me.”

“No.” Zhou Mochen’s refusal was decisive.

Rejected, Xu Su didn’t get angry. She reached out to take her vegetables back, but Zhou Mochen moved them away.

“Is Young Master Zhou really going to snatch vegetables that a poor student like me brought back from the countryside?”

“I can promise not to disturb your studies before the college entrance exams,” Zhou Mochen said, his face grim as he held onto his patience. “As for everything else… you’re still young. You’ll change your mind when you’re older.”

It was the same old story. Xu Su had seen every expression this man could make. If this were the Zhou Mochen from a dozen years in the future losing his temper, she might have been a little scared, but now…

“I’ll sit in the back. You sit up front.” Tossing out the sentence, Xu Su opened the rear door with her umbrella still up and got in the car.

’Getting him to promise not to bother me before the exams is good enough. When the time comes, I’ll apply to universities far, far away from Beijing. I refuse to believe I can’t get away from him in this lifetime!’

Xu Su abruptly got into the car with her umbrella, leaving Zhou Mochen standing alone in front of the Southern Goods Store, holding a large bag of vegetables.

From the driver’s seat, Huang Chao shot Xu Su a disapproving glance over his shoulder. He said nothing, simply opening an umbrella and getting out of the car to escort his boss.

That look left Xu Su speechless. ’The Southern Goods Store is right behind him, is he afraid they won’t have an umbrella? It’s as if I’m the one bullying Zhou Mochen.’

Escorted into the passenger seat by his loyal subordinate holding an umbrella over him, Zhou Mochen produced a clean towel from somewhere and handed it over. “Here, dry yourself off. You got caught in the rain.”

He was also using a towel to dry his own hair.

Xu Su didn’t refuse. After all, she really didn’t want to catch a cold.

Getting sick not only cost money but also wasted time. She had worked so hard to catch up with her grades and couldn’t afford to fall behind again.

Huang Chao placed the bag of vegetables in the trunk before getting back into the car. Half of his body was soaked from holding the umbrella for Zhou Mochen.

The car started up and soon entered the highway. Zhou Mochen reminded him to drive slowly in the rain, then said no more.

The highway drive from Kang County to Chang City took less than three hours. Xu Su kept her eyes on the rainy scenery outside the window and eventually drifted off to sleep. By the time she woke up, they were already off the highway, and a light jacket was draped over her.

Zhou Mochen’s.

’He put his jacket on me while I was asleep.’

As soon as she reached this conclusion, Xu Su quickly tossed the jacket to the other end of the seat. ’No wonder a familiar scent haunted my dreams.’

Her unhesitating movement, full of disdain, made Huang Chao click his tongue inaudibly. He snuck a glance at the jacket’s owner out of the corner of his eye.

Zhou Mochen acted as if he hadn’t seen a thing, his expression unreadable. He looked out the window at the subsiding rain. “Take her home first.”

The rainy sky was gloomy. Xu Su asked the front, “What time is it?”

Zhou Mochen lifted his left wrist and glanced at his watch. “Five-forty. We’ll have you home before six.”

’That cold attitude… looks like he’s actually angry?’

’That couldn’t be better.’

By the time the car stopped, the downpour that had lasted for hours finally ceased.

This time, Zhou Mochen didn’t get out. Huang Chao took the bag of vegetables from the trunk, handed it to Xu Su, and said, “Take care.”

Xu Su gave a polite nod and replied with a heartfelt, “Thank you.”

~~~~~~~~

After the rain during the National Day holiday, the weather in Chang City officially turned cool.

The school soon distributed the autumn uniforms, and the first grade-wide monthly exam after the start of the school year arrived as scheduled.

Everyone in the class had prepared thoroughly for this exam.

Xu Su, Huang Feng, and a few others even made a special effort to identify key topics. They were all top students who had passed through fierce competition to get in, and each had their own strengths when it came to exams. Although their study methods differed, they could get a general grasp of the likely test points.

They all had a basic sense of which question types were guaranteed to appear on the paper and which ones were the easiest to mess up on.

The group shared the key points they’d each identified, making sure to mark everything the teacher had emphasized in class.

Xu Su even tried to recall the exam papers from her past life. Unfortunately, it had been too long ago. She could only vaguely remember the major questions on her college entrance exam, let alone a mere first-year high school monthly test. She had no impression of it at all.

As it turned out, their preparations were useful. Xu Su’s results on the monthly exam were decent.

She got perfect scores in both Physics and English. For Math, Politics, and Chemistry, she ranked fourth in her class. She didn’t do well in Chinese this time, losing a lot of points on the essay, which dragged down her total score. But luckily, she had improved in her other subjects.

Her total score placed her twelfth in the entire grade and ninth in the Rocket Class. Compared to her eleventh-place finish on the last placement test, she had moved up two spots, barely managing to keep her position in the class’s top ten.

Meanwhile, dark horses emerged from other classes in the first year, challenging the dominance of the Rocket Class. Many students who hadn’t exerted themselves in middle school suddenly had a breakthrough in high school.

The grade’s top ten, which had been completely dominated by the Rocket Class at the start of the year, now saw three of its members pushed out by students from other classes. Xu Su was one of them.

For example, the student who ranked third in the grade was surprisingly not from the Rocket Class, but a girl from Class 16. Additionally, a student from Class 22 and another from Class 3 ranked sixth and seventh in the grade, respectively.

Aside from Xi Zirong, who held firmly to her throne as first in the grade, the vice class president, Fu Zichen, improved from her fourth-place rank at the start of the year to second place in the grade.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep