Chapter 30

Ji Ran felt that she had never seen such a shameless person before.

After defeating her, he actually dared to ask her to consider making him her boyfriend. But the moment she remembered that she had once told Shen Zhi that she liked guys who could beat her everywhere…

Was her brain flooded when she said that?

Shen Zhi seemed unsatisfied and even reached out to lightly pinch her cheek. Ji Ran’s fair and delicate skin, even with just a gentle touch, felt exceptionally smooth.

It gave people a feeling of being unable to let go.

Ji Ran snapped back to reality, and her body instinctively moved backward. Shen Zhi’s fingers loosened as a result.

He didn’t really hurt her cheek, but she felt that this person was a bit too much.

Ji Ran pursed her lips. “Shen Zhi, you’re not allowed to randomly pinch my face in the future.”

“Alright, I got it.” Shen Zhi had a modest look, nodding gently while reaching out to touch her long hair.

Because at 4th Middle School, students were not allowed to have their hair down during class, Ji Ran tied her hair into a ponytail every day.

Ji Ran couldn’t help but say, “Hair is off-limits too.”

Shen Zhi chuckled at her, looking her up and down, and softly asked, “What are you made of?”

Ji Ran was puzzled.

“Don’t touch this, don’t touch that; are you a treasure?” Shen Zhi looked at her with lowered eyes.

Ji Ran opened her mouth, well aware that when Shen Zhi referred to her as a treasure, it wasn’t an ordinary endearing term. Yet she couldn’t help but blush slightly, knowing that this person definitely had ulterior motives.

Ji Ran didn’t want to engage with him.

So, she moved to the side, and surprisingly, Shen Zhi didn’t continue teasing her. Instead, he walked to the nearby table and casually picked up the Sudoku team’s practice book that hadn’t been taken away.

Flipping through a couple of pages, he suddenly said in a low voice, “Is the level of our school’s Sudoku team so low?”

Ji Ran was a bit curious because, to be honest, the problem she had faced with Zhou Jing was indeed a bit too simple. Therefore, she finished it in over forty seconds.

She walked over and stood beside him, glancing at it a few times.

Shen Zhi chuckled. “No wonder we can’t even get a national award. In comparison, at best, it’s a provincial award.”

Previously, when the Sudoku team won awards, the school had several times posted red congratulations in the school’s display window, making it quite grand. However, the award that the school valued so much, when it reached him, was just a mere provincial award.

Ji Ran couldn’t help but glance at him and feel that this young man had quite an arrogant tone.

But then she suddenly thought of the fact that Shen Zhi had defeated her just now. She couldn’t help but grit her teeth, so she couldn’t help but ask, “How long have you been practicing Sudoku?”

Ji Ran had been exposed to Sudoku since the age of six and had attended specialized Sudoku training classes.

Shen Zhi turned his head slightly, and a faint smile appeared in his narrow, black eyes. “Does this thing need practice?”

Ji Ran: “…”

So, she decided to shamelessly ask further, “Then, how do you usually play Sudoku?”

“Mobile games.” Shen Zhi raised his chin lightly.

Ji Ran gritted her teeth again. It seemed like she wanted to beat this guy in front of her. So, he defeated the former national champion Sudoku player who had undergone special training by just playing Sudoku on his phone every day?

Was this fair?

Seeing the mist in the girl’s eyes as she looked at him, similar to the way she looked at her math problems that day, Shen Zhi couldn’t help but shake his head gently. Despite this girl’s seemingly gentle and sweet appearance, she was quite competitive deep down.

And he couldn’t bear to see her being wronged.

Shen Zhi said softly, “I was just teasing you. I started practicing Sudoku very early.”

“How early?” Ji Ran finally breathed a sigh of relief; her heart wasn’t so suppressed anymore.

After all, the thing a genius can’t stand the most is discovering someone even more brilliant than themselves. Why was Zhou Yu infuriated by Zhuge Liang? It was because the outstanding Zhou Yu had to face the even more outstanding Zhuge Liang.

In her previous life, the biggest reason Ji Ran found Shen Zhi unpleasant was that he kept winning against her.

Seeing her digging for information, Shen Zhi couldn’t help but get closer to her and whispered, “How about you give me a kiss, and I’ll tell you.”

Ji Ran widened her eyes, not expecting him to suddenly act like this. Just as she was about to reach out to hit him, a stern voice came from the doorway, “What are you two doing?”

Turning their heads, they found a middle-aged man wearing glasses standing at the door, looking like a teacher from the school.

The glasses-wearing teacher walked in, seeing that the entire Sudoku team’s students were absent, and there were only two non-Sudoku team students in the training room.

So, he asked in an unfriendly tone, “Why are you in the Sudoku team’s training room?”

Ji Ran didn’t know how to respond. Did she have to tell the truth to this teacher? That she defeated the Sudoku team’s students, claimed victory, and drove everyone else away?

Of course, this idea was fleeting.

Common sense told her that provoking a teacher wasn’t a particularly wise thing to do.

So, Ji Ran lowered her eyes slightly and suppressed her voice, saying, “Teacher, I’m very curious about and fond of Sudoku. I heard that our school’s Sudoku team is very strong, so I wanted to come in and take a look.”

The glasses-wearing teacher glanced at the Sudoku materials in Shen Zhi’s hands. Moreover, he saw the two standing close at the door earlier, not engaging in any improper behavior but reading the same book.

This teacher Xu, one of the leading teachers on the Sudoku team.

Originally, he was supposed to be on duty today, but something came up, so he let the students train on their own. Unexpectedly, when he returned, these kids were all gone, and there were two students he had never seen before standing here.

Teacher Xu didn’t expect that in this school there would be students so full of love and passion for Sudoku. He felt deeply gratified.

“Student, do you really like Sudoku?” Teacher Xu smiled and looked at Ji Ran.

Ji Ran had an appearance with an extremely deceptive innocence. The little girl had a small face, about the size of a palm, with a pair of dark cat-like eyes. They were a bit round, but the corners of her eyes curled upwards, and her curled, long eyelashes fluttered like they were going to fan away people’s hearts when she spoke.

At this moment, she blinked her eyes lightly and said in a sweet voice, “Teacher, I really like Sudoku. I’ve always thought that persisting in Sudoku is a very noble thing. Besides, my wish has always been to join the Sudoku team.”

Little trickster.

Shen Zhi, standing beside her, listened to her earnest words and silently sneered in his heart.

However, Teacher Xu didn’t doubt her words at all. He nodded and said with a smile, “Having this passion is excellent. Although ordinary students may not come into contact with Sudoku, understanding and learning Sudoku can be helpful for your understanding of numbers and mathematics. You know, among our Sudoku team members, none of them have poor math scores.”

Indeed, those who can persist in Sudoku training are extremely sensitive to numbers.

This Teacher Xu seemed to genuinely love Sudoku, and he even kept talking to Ji Ran and Shen Zhi for a long time. It wasn’t until the bell for evening self-study rang that he let them leave.

However, Teacher Xu completely forgot to ask why these two students, a boy and a girl, were left alone here.

If it were another teacher, they would have long suspected the issue of early romance. Ji Ran originally thought that she could get through this situation with her superb acting skills.

Until the evening of the next day, when she was attending evening self-study in the classroom, a crisp knocking sound suddenly came from the window. When she looked up, she saw the class teacher Qiao and the teacher Xu, who was in charge of the Sudoku team yesterday, standing outside the window.

At that moment, Ji Ran’s first reaction was, “This is bad.”

Shen Zhi, on the other hand, looked indifferent and whispered, “The class teacher is calling you.”

When Ji Ran stood up, Shen Zhi couldn’t help but stand up as well.

She immediately whispered, “What are you doing?”

“If you’re so afraid, I naturally have to accompany you.” Shen Zhi said it in a low voice.

Ji Ran replied, “If you go, won’t it just make it more obvious that there’s something between us? Let everyone think we have a relationship.”

Shen Zhi chuckled. “What are you thinking?”

Ji Ran was stunned. Could it be that this teacher wasn’t here to report the incident of her being alone with Shen Zhi in the Sudoku training room yesterday?

This was highly suspicious of early romance.

In her previous life, when she was in high school, the school was quite strict. Not to mention being alone in the same classroom, even if students talked a bit too much during breaks and were seen by a teacher, they would be taken for a talk.

When they reached the corridor,Teacher Qiao smiled and said, “Shen Zhi, Teacher Xu is here to find Ji Ran, so you go back to evening self-study first.”

“Teacher, is it because of Ji Ran’s involvement with the Sudoku team?” The young man had a tall figure; even standing in front of two adult male teachers, he was still half a head taller, and he had an inexplicable sense of oppression.

Teacher Xu surprisingly nodded in response to his question, “Yes, yes, it’s about the Sudoku team.”

So,Teacher Qiao and Teacher Xu led Shen Zhi and Ji Ran aside, standing at the staircase, to avoid making the students in the classroom uneasy during evening self-study. They kept looking out the window.

Shen Zhi casually said, “This matter was provoked by the Sudoku team first. Ji Ran was just forced to do it. Besides, in the end, I drove everyone away.”

“Right, Ji Ran.” Shen Zhi glanced at her.

Ji Ran knew he was trying to protect her and take all the blame. But she didn’t want Shen Zhi to do that, so she bit her lip and shook her head.

She directly said, “Teacher, this matter is entirely my doing. The request was also made by me. I know I was wrong.”

Her attitude toward admitting mistakes was direct and straightforward.

“Teacher understands that young people are rebellious and unwilling to admit defeat, but what you did yesterday was a bit too much.” Teacher Xu nodded, looking at her obedient appearance, and asked, “Do you now know where you went wrong?”

Ji Ran nodded earnestly. “I shouldn’t have said things like asking that classmate to kneel down and apologize to me.”

Teacher Xu: “…”

Teacher Qiao stood on the side, unable to help but lower his head, but his shoulders trembled with suppressed laughter.

This classmate Ji Ran in his class was quite amusing.

Shen Zhi originally intended to protect her and take all the blame himself, but seeing that she showed no gratitude, he was feeling a bit sulky.

He couldn’t help but mutter a curse in his heart, damn it.

But in the end, a faint smile curled up at the corner of his mouth, revealing a playful expression. Damn, she’s just too cute.

Finally, Teacher Xu continued with resignation, “Ji Ran, I didn’t come today to make you admit your mistake for this matter.”

Ji Ran was puzzled. Then why did he come?

Unable to resist, she stole a glance at Shen Zhi. The thought that Teacher Xu might have reported to the class teacher about her and Shen Zhi having early romance tendencies made her ears turn slightly red.

If Teacher Xu really said that, she would… she would never admit it.

However, Teacher Xu directly said, “Of course, we also heard about the competition between you two yesterday. Ji Ran, you solving that problem in one minute and thirty-seven seconds is really impressive.”

When Teacher Xu learned about this today, he had the entire Sudoku team redo the puzzle. The fastest student took exactly three minutes, which was twice as slow as Ji Ran.

Such a gap was extremely rare even in official competitions. Teacher Xu knew that his students were okay with winning provincial awards, but aiming for a national gold award was still not enough. There was also the higher-level World Sudoku Championship.

Teacher Xu sincerely said, “Ji Ran, I am here today to officially invite you to join our Sudoku team. The Sudoku team needs students like you who love and are passionate about Sudoku.”

Ji Ran opened her mouth, about to say, Wait a minute, it’s not like that.

But Teacher Xu raised his voice: “Didn’t you tell me that day that you really loved Sudoku?”

Ji Ran: “…”

It was her.

“And didn’t you say you feel it’s a great thing to persist in Sudoku?”

Yes, she said that.

Until Teacher Xu concluded with satisfaction, “You also said that joining the Sudoku team has been your long-cherished wish. Now you have the opportunity right in front of you. Shouldn’t you cherish it?”

Looking at Teacher Xu, Ji Ran suddenly felt that being too good at acting wasn’t a good thing. Wasn’t she throwing stones at her own feet?

So, in the end, she struggled desperately: “Teacher Xu, you said the students in the Sudoku team have good math scores. My math score is only 22.”

Yes, she only scored 22 in math.

But Teacher Xu waved his hand, smiling comfortingly, “Don’t worry, Ji Ran. Math and Sudoku are related but not necessary. If you are worried about your math score, the teacher can help you with extra lessons.”

At this point, Teacher Qiao timely said, “Ji Ran, this teacher Xu is a senior math teacher in the entire province.”

Ji Ran finally understood what it meant to create one’s own misfortune.

Until Teacher Qiao and Teacher Xu left the staircase, Ji Ran still stood at the corner without moving.

Shen Zhi took a step forward, approached her, and his dark eyes looked down at her. “What’s wrong? Don’t like it?”

“You’re good at Sudoku too. Why don’t you go talk to Teacher Xu and join the Sudoku team?” Ji Ran’s eyelashes trembled lightly, her voice soft, trying to soften Shen Zhi’s heart.

“No.” Shen Zhi refused her without thinking.

Since there was no room for negotiation, Ji Ran decided to return to the classroom. Just as she turned around to go back to the classroom, suddenly Shen Zhi grabbed her hand, and then the whole person was pressed against the wall at the corner.

At this moment, the entire corridor was quiet.

Because it was during the evening self-study, not even the sound of talking could be heard. The atmosphere was so quiet that when Ji Ran was pressed against the wall, the sound of her heartbeat suddenly intensified several times.

Shen Zhi’s cheek approached her ear until his lips were almost touching the base of her ear before he said, “Don’t you want to ask me why?”

“You let me go.” Ji Ran felt her legs go weak. If someone from their class or another class came out of the classroom, they would definitely be seen.

Ji Ran tried to kick him with her foot, but the sharp-minded young man dodged, and he warned in a low voice, “If you do this again, it will really attract people.”

Ji Ran didn’t expect him to be so annoying, and she was both angry and annoyed.

But in the end, she asked with a pout, “Why?”

Her tone was stiff—a completely forced appearance.

Shen Zhi didn’t mind, chuckled softly, lowered his voice, and said, “Because I have more important things to do.”

His warm breath gently blew on her ear as he spoke each word, and slowly, that snowy white skin began to blush a beautiful crimson.

Shen Zhi knew that what he was doing was a bit rogue.

But she was the first person he liked—the girl he had liked all along. He just wanted to tease her, kiss her, and see her shy expression because of him.

Finally, he spoke again: “I have to review well and score over 700 points soon.”

“So that you can become mine sooner.”