Rebirth: Slice-of-life Cultivation-Chapter 322 - 253 Joining the Buzz_2

"Um, I’m asking now," said Geng Lu as she nodded.

Jiang Ning quickly replied, "The place with the smoke."

Receiving the message, Geng Lu glanced over the small plain and soon spotted the smoke.

"It’s them," He Qingtang had already noticed because they were a little too far to see the people clearly.

"How unique."

"We came for a picnic, while they’re cooking in the wild," said He Qingtang sentimentally.

"What’s cooking in the wild?" asked a somewhat handsome boy in designer clothes.

Geng Lu looked up to see it was Ye Mengchen, her junior high classmate with quite good grades, now attending Yu Zhou No. 1 Middle School.

Yu Zhou First Middle School was slightly behind Second Middle School but not by much.

Compared to Fourth Middle School, First Middle School was in much better shape.

Today’s picnic had been organized by Ye Mengchen and a few others.

In junior high, Geng Lu’s homeroom teacher was fresh out of college, loved organizing class students into study groups to help each other.

Whenever there was a school assembly, they were always particularly united and placed great emphasis on class honor, having won the blackboard newspaper award and the hygiene duty award countless times.

The class atmosphere was quite good, and the junior high school class chat group was still very active to this day.

Truly an extraordinary class.

Of course, Geng Lu’s current Class 8 was equally extraordinary.

Despite having to pay their own way, many students were willing to participate in this Qingming Festival picnic.

In total, fifteen people came.

For many students, it was the first time they had seen each other since the middle school entrance exams.

So the conversation was quite harmonious, reminiscing about the days of junior high and discussing the changes after entering high school.

Still, perhaps because they had started high school, many students had changed, especially those from Second Middle and First Middle School, who spoke with a hint of condescension.

Geng Lu could not help feeling a bit wistful.

He Qingtang looked at Ye Mengchen; she remembered him. Back in their second year of junior high, she had a favorable impression of him until he started dating in the third year and his grades plummeted, after which she lost her good opinion.

"I’m talking about our classmates," Geng Lu replied succinctly.

"Your junior high classmates?"

"No, my current high school classmates."

Ye Mengchen drew out his words, "Ah, your classmates from Fourth Middle School."

Geng Lu always felt that he looked down on Fourth Middle School, so she responded indifferently,

"Right, they came for a picnic."

Ye Mengchen said, "Not bad, this weather is perfect for picnics; you know how to enjoy life."

He took an extra glance at Geng Lu and He Qingtang.

There were great disparities among middle school students, some were devoted solely to their studies, sealing away their hearts, with only the goal of university entrance in mind, hoping to get into a good college.

Some students were addicted to gaming, to them, what were girls? Were they as fun as games?

Yet other high school students were more astute, setting their sights on girls, able to have several relationships during their high school years, some even getting lucky early on.

High school girls were simple; they didn’t require spending too much money, didn’t need a lot of gifts on holidays, just being nice to them was enough.

Ye Mengchen belonged to the latter category. Now, as he sized up He Qingtang and Geng Lu, he felt a sense of astonishment.

He Qingtang was slightly taller and quite pretty, while Geng Lu was not as tall but also attractive, especially with a great figure.

Ye Mengchen wondered how he hadn’t noticed these two girls in junior high before.

But now it wasn’t too late, and as a student of First Middle School, he felt psychologically superior.

A man could be unattractive, could be poor, but he must have confidence.

And Ye Mengchen had a touch of handsomeness, a decent family background, and plenty of confidence.

What was this called? This was called the finishing move!

Ye Mengchen sat down in front of the tent, looking at Geng Lu as he first sighed,

"Such great weather today, not too hot nor too cold, perfect for basking in the sun."

He Qingtang agreed, "It sure is."

Ye Mengchen struck up a conversation,

"How’s the study atmosphere in your class, is it as good as our middle school days?"

After hearing the question, Geng Lu thought carefully. How was the study environment in Class 8?

One phrase seemed quite apt to describe it: "half is ocean water, the other half lava."

"So-so," Geng Lu responded truthfully.

Upon hearing this, Ye Mengchen found it within his expectations and showed a confident smile,

"Compared to your class, our class environment must be much better."

"I’ve noticed that after entering high school, things are different from junior high. Those who used to mess around have also started to work hard."

Geng Lu really wanted to deny his words, but she felt that Class 8 should be an exception.

"High school knowledge is much harder than junior high, I always have to ask others questions to keep up with the pace," Geng Lu said. Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but glance in the direction where Jiang Ning was.

She wanted to leave these classmates behind and go over to see him.

Ye Mengchen sensed an opportunity and said,

Problems? I’m good at that. I often help classmates in my class. Feel free to ask me any questions you have."

Geng Lu replied, "No need, I can just ask my classmates in class."

Upon hearing this, Ye Mengchen said with a hint of pride,

"I remember you’re in a regular class, right? Not to brag, but Yu Zhou No.1 Middle School’s overall performance is a big jump ahead of Fourth Middle School."

He was in a regular class at Yu Zhou No.1 Middle School and now ranked within the top ten in his class.

Geng Lu, not too keen on arguing about schools, agreed,

Yu Zhou No.1 Middle School is, indeed, better than Fourth Middle School."

Ye Mengchen, having gained recognition, thought that Geng Lu was sincerely complimenting him and became even more confident.

"Let’s compare." He thought of the final exams from last semester, which were citywide unified exams several months ago; it was still okay to bring up for a comparison.

"At the end of last semester’s citywide exams, what was the highest rank in your class and in the entire city?"

Ye Mengchen planned to wait for Geng Lu to reveal her class’s highest rank and then would casually disclose his own, expecting a high likelihood that his rank was still above that of the first place in her class.

Geng Lu didn’t think too much of it. High school girls were more mature than boys, but still couldn’t completely see through the other’s intentions. After a moment of thought, Geng Lu said,

"First in the city."

"What?" Ye Mengchen didn’t catch on for a moment. freewebnoveℓ.com

"Geng Lu’s class’s first place, first in the city," He Qingtang repeated, thinking he hadn’t heard clearly.

Ye Mengchen simply couldn’t believe it. Was this a joke? A regular class at Fourth Middle School scoring first in the city? Was he dreaming?

"Fake, right?" he denied.

He Qingtang said, "Drunk talk, are you that out of the loop? Think carefully, does the name Xue Yuantong sound familiar? She’s from our Fourth Middle School, in the same class as Geng Lu."

After saying this, He Qingtang felt a sense of relief in her heart.

They were the so-called ’middle school entrance exam failures.’ When encountering students from other elite high schools, mentioning Xue Yuantong at least allowed them to hold their heads high, dissipating the sense of inferiority.

"Xue Yuantong... sounds kind of familiar," Ye Mengchen began to remember carefully, it indeed seemed like there was such news, and Geng Lu had no reason to lie to him.

Ye Mengchen felt as if he had been hit by a club, and his arrogance dropped a few notches. He then said,

"The person tutoring you in schoolwork, is she the one who ranked first in the city?"

Ye Mengchen thought it impossible; the first in the city would surely be focused on studying and have no time for tutoring others. From this perspective, he still believed he had an advantage over the other students in Geng Lu’s class.

"Not Xue Yuantong, someone else. He’s ranked fifteenth in the city," Geng Lu stated truthfully.

Ye Mengchen: ’Boring, truly boring.’

He stopped discussing achievements and changed the subject:

"I have a relative from the grassland who sent some beef over; I’ll bring some for you to try later."

Geng Lu politely refused, "No need; we brought our own food. You can share it with the other classmates."

"No problem, I brought plenty." Ye Mengchen was one of the picnic organizers, naturally fully prepared.

He found topics to chat about for a while, and the conversation went relatively smoothly.

"Do you use WeChat?" Ye Mengchen asked, seizing the opportunity to reveal his intention.

He Qingtang said, "Yes."

"Let me add you then. I barely use QQ these days," Ye Mengchen said. His girlfriend’s posts were on his QQ, and it wasn’t good to add girls there.

He Qingtang inquired, "Did you and your girlfriend break up?"

Ye Mengchen replied, "What does adding friends have to do with having a girlfriend?"

He Qingtang sullenly said, "It’s related. The last time I added a guy, he deleted all his female contacts after getting a girlfriend."

Ye Mengchen: "I broke up a while ago. I don’t plan on dating during my high school years."

"Fine," said He Qingtang, not refusing.

"We’ll play Truth or Dare later. With this weather, eating some beef, drinking some wine, awesome," Ye Mengchen said at ease. "We’ve also prepared sandwiches over there, help yourselves if you fancy them."

Geng Lu mentioned, "I plan to go see my classmates."

Ye Mengchen: "High school classmates?"

"Yes, they’re also here, right over there." Mentioning Jiang Ning, Geng Lu’s expression instantly changed, from the previous indifference to radiant.

Ye Mengchen noticed Geng Lu’s shift, deducing that this classmate was important. He felt a sinking feeling and said,

"Heh, I was just thinking of having a walk around,"

He Qingtang didn’t understand, thinking to herself,

’Why are you adding yourself into the mix when she wants to hang out with her high school classmates?’