This humble Taoist priest wants to take the college entrance exam.

Chapter 33 Pulling the hook
The group moved slowly in the sweltering air.

When someone is there to talk to, the long wait in line doesn't seem so unbearable.

Finally, Wen Zhixia stood in front of the food serving window, just as she had hoped.

She held her meal card in her small hand, leaned slightly forward to order, her big eyes scanning the dishes in front of her without blinking, then quickly extending her slender white fingers to place her order—

"Auntie, I don't want that much rice, but I want this, and this, and this!...Okay, thank you, Auntie!"

It's clear the girl can handle spicy food; she ordered three spicy dishes: boiled sliced ​​pork, mapo tofu, and hand-shredded cabbage.

The contractor for the No. 2 canteen is a fellow villager of Lin Xiao, as are the canteen staff, sanitation workers, and security personnel. This is hardly a secret at the school. People even joked that if the school allowed dogs, Lin Xiao would probably bring all the dogs from his village to the school as school dogs.

The reason why no one had any objections was twofold: firstly, Yunqi No. 1 Middle School is a semi-private school, and the school board member is Principal Lin himself; secondly, it was because Principal Lin's fellow villagers were serious and responsible in their work, which earned Principal Lin a reputation for being "loyal and righteous".

I heard that when Lin Xiao was admitted to university, he couldn't afford the tuition, so the villagers chipped in five or ten yuan for him.

The No. 2 canteen mainly serves local dishes, and the chefs are former cooks who used to prepare large banquets in the countryside. With the school's management and subsidies, the meal fees are cheaper than many high schools.

像温知夏打的这三个菜，水煮肉片3.5元、麻辣豆腐1.5元、手撕包菜1元、米饭统一5毛，总共花费6.5元而已。

Perhaps it was the girl's sweetness and politeness that won the favor of the auntie serving the food, as all three compartments on the stainless steel plate were filled to the brim.

Wen Zhixia took out her meal card and stuck it on the card reader. Her meal card looked different from Chen Shi'an's. It was pink and had many cute little cats printed on it. Chen Shi'an later learned that the cat was called [Hello Kitty], and that it was a sticker she had put on herself.

"Then I'll go over there and get the chopsticks while I wait for you."

"it is good."

Wen Zhixia took her plate and left first, and Chen Shi'an went to the window to order his own meal.

Today he was wearing his school uniform and had a new haircut. The lady who served the vegetables yesterday didn't recognize him, but seeing that the young man was pleasing to the eye, she still gave him two extra pieces of meat, just like yesterday...

When Chen Shi'an walked out of the line with his tray, Wen Zhixia had already prepared chopsticks and spoons for two people. She was bending over and using a large spoon to scoop soup from the bucket.

"Let me do it."

"It's okay! I've packed it all up. Here, take this."

The soup was a little hot. She kept her eyes on the soup bowl and carefully placed the bowl of soup she had prepared onto Chen Shi'an's plate. Finally, she placed the other bowl onto her own plate.

"Huh? Where are my chopsticks and spoon?"

"I'm here. Come on, where would you like to sit?"

"Then let's go sit in the back!"

The two of them then walked one after the other, each carrying their tray, until they found a seat in a less crowded area at the back of the cafeteria.

"What did you order...?"

Wen Zhixia sat down opposite Chen Shi'an, and the first thing she did after putting down her plate was to curiously look at the food on his plate.

"Braised pork with potatoes, stuffed eggplant with garlic sauce, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, how about I share some with you?"

"No, no, would you like to try mine?"

"Okay."

The girl was just being polite, but she saw that this shameless Taoist priest actually reached out his spoon and took advantage of her!
Seeing her stunned expression, Chen Shi'an chuckled and said, "Hurry up and get whatever you want to eat."

Wen Zhixia finally stopped being polite and reached out her spoon to scoop up a spoonful of his scrambled eggs with tomatoes.

It's definitely more fun to eat like this. If everyone is so polite and formal, it would be so boring.

"Would you like some braised pork with potatoes?"

"No~ I want to eat less meat and lose weight."

She said those words, but Chen Shi'an clearly noticed that the dish she ate the most was the boiled pork slices she had ordered.

"Losing weight? You're not fat, why do you need to lose weight?"

"Anyway... I just want to lose weight!"

"..."

As Chen Shi'an ate, he glanced at her. With her figure, she was definitely not fat, unless she was referring to her bulging chest when she said "I just want to lose weight"...

Which quack doctor is harming this naive young girl?!
"Relax, eat up. Studying and learning takes a lot of energy, you can't go without eating enough. If you want to maintain your health and shape your body, I have a set of techniques here that are very suitable for your daily practice."

"You even know about this kind of thing!"

"Understood."

"How do I do it? How do I do it?"

Hearing Chen Shi'an say this, Wen Zhixia became interested. After all, what girl doesn't love beauty?

"Meridians are the channels through which qi and blood circulate. If the meridians are blocked, qi and blood will stagnate. So if you want to lose weight, you can't just rely on dieting. You have to get your qi and blood moving."

"We're all in class all the time, how can we find time to exercise..."

"Let me teach you a few simple exercises. Practice them every night before bed. I don't know how effective they will be, but at least they will help you sleep."

"Oh yeah! You said yesterday that I had a sore throat, and that I haven't been sleeping well lately either. What should I do?"

Then Chen Shi'an demonstrated and taught her a few simple health-preserving exercises, such as combing her hair, massaging her abdomen, and massaging her spleen and stomach meridians.

Although the girl doesn't have the magical power and true energy to make the effect perfect like him, as long as she can persist, it will always be good for her body.

"Does it really work...?"

"If your cultivation level were as high as mine, the effect would be very obvious. Unfortunately, you don't have the cultivation level, so the effect is better than nothing. But little by little, as long as you persist, it will definitely have an effect."

Seeing his serious expression, the girl was amused: "I don't believe you. Are you just a con artist?"

"How is my blood and qi?" "Hmm..."

Wen Zhixia stared at him as she ate. She didn't know how to read 'qi and blood', but Chen Shi'an was indeed very handsome, and his condition was completely different from others; he seemed very energetic.

While watching, I accidentally shifted my gaze and got so focused on his facial features...

The girl snapped out of her daze, her pretty face slightly flushed, and said evasively, "It's alright!"

"That means it's effective, I've been practicing these since I was a child."

"..."

Wen Zhixia blinked, looking skeptical of Chen Shi'an's words. However, the movements he taught her weren't too difficult. She would try practicing them another day!

After skipping that topic, Wen Zhixia started talking to him about her class today.

"Hey! Teacher Ye gave you a reading pen?"

"Hmm. Teacher Ye teaches your class too?"

"Yes, Teacher Ye teaches our class and your class."

"So that's it."

How is the reading pen?

"It feels good. I can now know how to pronounce those words and what they mean."

"Then read me a sentence?"

"How do you greet people?"

When Chen Shi'an uttered that English sentence, he was stunned. It was so stiff and non-standard.

Even though his memory is far superior to that of ordinary people, and he can clearly remember the meaning, spelling and pronunciation of each word, when he speaks it out, he still feels like his tongue is tied in knots, and it is extremely awkward.

Before Wen Zhixia could even comment, Chen Shi'an shook his head and said, "No, you should practice your pronunciation more."

"That's pretty good!"

Wen Zhixia encouraged him, saying, "You've never studied English before, so being able to speak it fluently is already quite impressive! You can't improve your speaking and listening skills just by reading books; you need to practice a lot. If you want to practice English, I can teach you. We're study partners, after all. Although my grades are just average... I should still be able to teach you without any problem."

Seeing the hint of pride hidden in her eyes, Chen Shi'an laughed and said, "You got the highest score in humanities and the highest score in the whole grade with 146 in English, and you call that just average?"

"how do you know!"

"I saw the honor roll. Your name is first in the liberal arts category, it's hard not to notice it."

"~~~"

The girl blushed and couldn't help but giggle.

Wen Zhixia had never thought much of the honor roll until Chen Shi'an mentioned it like this, and then she truly felt honored.

"So, do you still want to be my study buddy?"

"Hey, didn't we already make a promise? When are we going to study together?"

Wen Zhixia pondered for a moment and said, "How about we practice our spoken English and listening skills together on the way to and from school every day? I can also teach you while we eat. We're both lunch buddies and commuter buddies!"

"Okay," Chen Shi'an nodded in agreement.

"What's your WeChat ID? Let's add each other on WeChat."

Wen Zhixia glanced around furtively, took her phone out of her pocket, and added Chen Shi'an on WeChat.

Chen Shi'an accepted her friend request, and a user with a cute cartoon cat profile picture and the nickname [Zhizhi] was added to his contact list, becoming his second friend on WeChat.

“It’s not convenient to send messages during class, so how about we make a simple appointment?” Wen Zhixia said.

"What?"

"Hmm, I'm on the fourth floor, and you're on the second floor... How about this, if you want to wait for me to eat and go home together, you can wait for me in the hallway on the first floor; if you have something else to do, you can go first, and I'll know when I see you're not there; or if you wait for me for ten minutes and I still haven't come down, maybe I have something to do too, and you can go first; then when it's time to go to school, I'll wait for you at the intersection!"

"it is good."

Chen Shi'an nodded; such an agreement had a nostalgic feel to it.

When he looked again, he saw the girl extend her right hand towards him. Her other four fingers were slightly curled, with only her delicate little finger raised, giving her a soft and charming look.

"what happened?"

"Let's pinky swear."

Chen Shi'an blinked.

He solemnly put down his chopsticks, then extended his little finger and hooked it with hers.

"Okay, pull the hook."

His voice had the clear, bright quality unique to young people, like a pebble soaking in a stream.

Even though she was the one who suggested making a pinky promise first, when their fingers were actually hooked together, Wen Zhixia inexplicably felt her heart skip a beat.

The moment their little fingers hooked together, she felt a slight tingling sensation creep up her knuckles. His fingertips, warmer than hers, felt like they had been warmed by the sun, and brushed against her delicate skin like a feather gently brushing against her heart.

The force wasn't too strong; it was just enough to feel the shape of each other's finger bones.

The girl's heart raced, and her cheeks flushed slightly.

After their little fingers separated, she quickly pulled them back and picked up the chopsticks from the plate...

"Eat, eat!"

(End of this chapter)