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

Upon seeing the message, Shen Ci was not annoyed at all; instead, she replied with great excitement, asking, "Can I change the person? Please provide the specific procedure!"

The result was a cold message from the teacher in charge: "No replacements allowed. Everyone welcomes Shen Ci back to the team."

The group chat was silent; no one came out to welcome her.

Shen Ci wasn't angry, just a little frustrated, because it seemed like they really couldn't replace her.

After a while, a student in the group asked, "Teacher Zhuang, let's find some time today to test the individual skill levels of the team members. Some of the students seem to have no experience with this kind of competition, so they need to get used to the question types in advance."

"agree."

"I don't have class today, so any time is fine with me, teacher."

I don't have classes this afternoon.

"..."

The group chat suddenly became lively. Shen Ci looked at the screen full of messages and was momentarily dazed. She had thought that everyone was naturally aloof and didn't like to talk.

It wasn't until her teacher personally tagged her and asked about her schedule that Shen Ci finally replied, "Anytime."

Finally, the teachers agreed to set the time at 4 p.m. in the lecture hall of the North Experimental Building.

Shen Ci spent the morning feeling nauseous. At noon, he ordered a large portion of braised pork at the cafeteria.

"what……"

Gu Lianxing looked at the glistening, oily braised pork in front of her with a disgusted expression: "What are you doing? Didn't you say you wanted to control your weight?"

Shen Ci took a bite of food in response to Gu Lianxing's words: "I think I will have a poor appetite for a while, so I'll eat more oily food today."

"What's wrong?" Gu Lianxing asked worriedly, "Your period is irregular too, it's come early?"

Shen Ci shook his head and told Lian Xing about his participation in the "Physics and Mathematics Olympiad" on behalf of the school. Lian Xing disliked competitions the most, and her face scrunched up like a little bun halfway through the conversation.

"That's terrible, you should eat more." He said, taking two pieces of beef from his bowl and putting them over there.

Upon hearing this, Pili said, "I think it's a good thing. It's very beneficial to achieve good results in this kind of Olympiad."

"I really don't need it at all. If it weren't mandatory, I would never go." Shen Ci ate with increasing relish. Sure enough, rich and oily food is delicious. Dieting should be listed as one of the top ten tortures of our time.

After eating a few pieces of braised pork, my mood improved considerably.

She even suspected that her sudden bad mood was because she hadn't been eating enough oily food lately, and that it actually had nothing to do with the math competition.

Just as she was enjoying her meal, her phone rang at the most inopportune moment. Shen Ci picked it up and saw that Shi Ye, who hadn't contacted her all morning, had sent her a message.

She thought that Shino would give up and disappear on his own, but he didn't.

"Shen Ci, I'm at the gate of your school. I'd like to talk to you in person."

Shen Ci looked at the message and thought, "Why don't we chat in bed?" But she quickly became serious, hesitated for a moment, and said, "There's a Starbucks across the street. Go wait for me there."

Regardless, the two had been in a flirtatious relationship for two months. Although they were just one step away from being together, it was undeniable that Shi Ye was a good guy.

It was indeed too hasty to just inform him with cold, impersonal text on WeChat.

They should have said a proper goodbye.

In Starbucks, Shino sat in a seat near the back, his posture upright, but his head slightly lowered.

The coffee in front of him remained untouched, reflecting his blank and lost gaze, making him appear even more dejected.

When Shen Ci saw him from afar, she sensed that this usually sunny and cheerful young man seemed to have lost his vitality, and was shrouded in a dark cloud.

With a silent sigh, Shen Ci deliberately put on a smile and walked over, then naturally sat down opposite Shi Ye: "Hello."

Her relaxed and carefree demeanor slightly stunned Shi Ye, who was momentarily at a loss for how to respond.

Shen Ci simply smiled at him, and after a while, Shi Ye nervously and slowly spoke: "A-Ci, last night I..."

“I know.” Seeing that he was about to launch into another long explanation, Shen Ci immediately interrupted him. Since the outcome was already decided, there was no point in saying anything more, so she decisively said, “But the objective fact is that your mother does not agree to you being with me, and you are indeed preparing for the postgraduate entrance examination.”

"It's okay, I can handle it."

“That’s not the problem.” Shen Ci gently shook her head. “To be precise, it’s not your problem, it’s mine. I don’t want to take that next step.”

Shi Ye was slightly taken aback: "I... I thought you liked me."

“I like you,” Shen Ci immediately admitted, but then added, “But my liking has its limits. I can only like you, and I can’t do more for you, such as dealing with your mother’s strong interference, or even having to take the blame for your failure to get into graduate school in the future. That’s too heavy, and that’s not what I want.”

Shi Ye was speechless. Shen Ci's words were very realistic, but she expressed them so bluntly without any euphemism.

"Don't be upset. Your mother's approach may have been a bit forceful and extreme, but she's right about one thing: people need to make the right decisions at every stage of life. We are not each other's decision, so there's no need to be so reluctant to part."

After saying this, Shen Ci slowly stood up, smiled slightly at Shi Ye, and said, "Goodbye, Shi Ye."

As Shi Ye watched Shen Ci's departing figure, a sudden emptiness filled his heart, followed by a choking emotion that made it hard for him to breathe.

Yet she remained so carefree.

In the afternoon, before 4 p.m., members of the other school teams arrived one after another in Lecture Hall No. 3 of the Experimental Building.

Among the three men and one woman, there was clearly a key figure: Wang Yikun, the vice president of the USTC Student Union and a top student in the mathematics department, who had achieved excellent results in various domestic and international math competitions since high school.

He was admitted to the University of Science and Technology of China through a special admission program before the college entrance examination, and he was a prominent figure on campus.

Therefore, the others took the initiative to gather around and learn from him. After all, Wang Yikun had rich experience in competitions and the advantage of being the vice president of the student council. The others would subconsciously attach themselves to the strong.

Wang Yikun was not modest at all. Having grown up surrounded by various awards and praises since childhood, he naturally had a strong sense of pride.

He spoke eloquently and candidly in response to the questions and doubts of the crowd.

From the scale, type, scoring differences, and competition mode of the competition to the breakdown of question types, the lecture took on all the teacher's work.

The others listened very attentively, nodding and showing an expression of having learned something.

But halfway through his speech, Wang Yikun realized something was wrong. He glanced at the number of people in front of him and asked, "Isn't one person missing?"