With global currency devaluation, I'll wear these back and take my whole family flying!

She looked up in surprise, and when she saw the person in front of her, she couldn't help but take a step back instinctively.

It was the boy who gave her black goji berries and hot milk tea.

He was still wearing those stained khaki shorts, but he had changed his top to a black T-shirt, with white flakes all over his shoulders.

The other person had a smile on their face, but for some reason, that smile only made Shen Ci feel a chill down her spine.

Before Shen Ci could speak, a bouquet of flowers appeared in front of her.

It is a vibrant red rose.

Shen Ci shook her head with a slightly surprised expression and quickly refused, "I'm sorry, classmate, this is not appropriate."

Hao Penghui seemed surprised that Shen Ci would reject him. His smile froze, and he blinked, asking, "You...you don't like roses, do you?"

"It's not about the flowers. I can't accept your things without a reason. I'll let go of the black goji berries and milk tea from before, but please don't do this again in the future."

Shen Ci tried to communicate with the other person in a tactful tone because she felt that the person in front of her had a strange sense of madness, and was therefore not very safe.

But Hao Penghui looked incredulous after hearing Shen Ci's words: "What do you mean 'for no reason'? Don't you like me? You were the one who hinted at it first!"

"what?"

Shen Ci was completely dumbfounded, and said with a puzzled look, "Classmate, are you misunderstanding something? I don't know you at all, I've never even seen you before, when did I give you any hints?"

Upon hearing this, Hao Penghui replied with an air of self-righteousness, "It's that scholarship. The teacher said you gave it to me voluntarily. If you don't like me, why did you give up the scholarship to me?"

Shen Ci: ...

So you got such good grades because you used all your brainpower on studying, right?

She never expected that the culprit behind this farcical incident would be the very scholarship she had voluntarily given up.

“You’ve really misunderstood, classmate. I gave up the scholarship voluntarily for personal reasons, and it has nothing to do with you. As for the extra spot that the teacher gave to you after I gave it up, that was not something I manipulated.”

"Is it possible that the teacher gave you this spot simply because you have good grades and happen to meet the requirements?"

"Impossible!" Hao Penghui shook his head firmly. "I applied for a year last year but didn't get a scholarship. I only got this spot because you gave it to me!"

"This spot became available because I voluntarily gave it up. It's not because I wanted to give it to you. It's none of my business who the teacher gives it to!"

"But if you hadn't given up your spot, there wouldn't have been one, and I wouldn't have gotten it!"

Shen Ci: ...

Okay, math majors have such unique thought processes, their logical thinking is so "unreasonable", right?

Shen Ci decided to give up arguing with him about the cause and effect, and mustered up her courage to be more direct: "In short, I don't know you, and the school decides who gets the scholarship. I have no right to interfere, so there is no question of implying that I like you."

"Your recent behavior has been causing me great distress, so I implore you to stop, okay?"

This statement was already quite straightforward, and Shen Ci believed that anyone who could understand human speech would understand what she meant.

As a result, Hao Penghui glared at him and asked, "Then why don't you like me?"

Shen Ci almost laughed out of anger. Looking at the person in front of her, she really wanted to blurt out, "Do I need a reason to dislike you? Because you don't wash your hair? Because you don't change your pants? Because you smell damp and rotten?"

Her patience ran out, and she instantly lost the desire to communicate with the other person. She sighed helplessly, "I've made myself perfectly clear. If you still don't understand, then there's nothing I can do."

After saying that, she turned to leave, but the other party blocked her way relentlessly.

Shen Ci had no choice but to take a step back and keep his distance from the other party, but at that moment a basketball flew from the side and hit Hao Penghui on the head with a "bang".

Hao Penghui stumbled and nearly fell.

Shen Ci turned around in surprise and saw Qu Yang running up to her, glaring at Hao Penghui and saying, "What are you doing?"

Faced with the sudden appearance of Qu Yang, Hao Penghui visibly felt fear. He looked around furtively but dared not answer Qu Yang's question.

Seeing his cowardly appearance, Qu Yang was too lazy to waste words with him and turned to Shen Ci to ask, "Are you alright?"

Shen Ci shook her head gratefully. If Qu Yang hadn't suddenly appeared, she would have used her phone to ask Director Li for help.

"Get out of here right now, and stay away from her from now on!" Qu Yang scolded Hao Penghui.

Hao Penghui lowered his head and didn't dare to utter a sound. Upon hearing this, he turned and ran away. Shen Ci breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this.

She was terrified that the other person might get excited and force themselves to have physical contact with her; just thinking about it made her scalp tingle and feel nauseous.

"Thanks, I still have to go to the principal's office. I'll thank you properly later." Shen Ci's expression returned to normal, and she waved to Qu Yang before leaving.

"I'll take you there," Qu Yang said, mustering his courage. When he saw Shen Ci looking at him, he said in a panic, "I don't know if that person has gone far."

"They're still waiting for you to play."

Shen Ci looked at the dozen or so boys gathered on the basketball court not far away, who were obviously waiting for Qu Yang.

When they saw Shen Ci looking over, the boys excitedly started cheering and whistling, clearly teasing Shen Ci and Qu Yang.

"It's okay, I'll come back after I drop you off."

Without waiting for Shen Ci to object, he picked up the basketball that had rolled on the ground and threw it onto the basketball court, walking forward ahead of Shen Ci.

Seeing this, Shen Ci had no choice but to follow.

The boys' laughter came again from behind.

Qu Yang remained silent the entire way, as if his acupoints had been struck to silence him. Although he had long legs and big strides, he deliberately slowed down and walked only a little ahead of Shen Ci.

Shen Ci watched his back, where fine glints of water were faintly visible on the short stubble at the back of his head. He stopped and turned around after walking for about ten minutes.

"We've arrived. You can go up now."

"Thank you for your trouble," Shen Ci said.

Qu Yang didn't say anything more, but just followed Shen Ci with his eyes until she entered the administration building.

Upon reaching the top floor, Shen Ci faintly heard a frantic, shrill voice before even reaching the principal's office. Director Li had already secretly sent her a message with the details, so she knocked directly on the principal's office door after arriving outside.

The sounds inside stopped abruptly, and then the door opened, revealing Li Jianguo.

Seeing that it was Shen Ci, Li Jianguo gave her a "very troublesome" look, and whispered to her as she entered, "Don't talk too much, don't worry, the teacher is here."

Shen Ci gave her a thank-you smile, then walked into the principal's office with neither arrogance nor servility. Ignoring Li's mother, who was furious and seemed to want to crush her to ashes with her gaze, she greeted the principal and the director of the teaching affairs office: "Principal, Director Sun, I'm here!"