Rebirth: He Decides to Lie Flat

Chapter 28: Chapter 25 Cousin Chapter 28: Chapter 25 Cousin Experimental Middle School, outside the classroom of Class Three.

“Who did you say Jiajia is with?”

Influenced by Yang Jue, Yang Yi had grown quite fond of Song Jiawen by now, not only acknowledging her as his cousin but also finding it natural to call her by her nickname.

However, Fan Jingjing standing opposite him found these two syllables grating to her ears. She frowned, but soon relaxed. Considering how the Yang Family treated this girl named Jiajia, it wasn’t strange that Yang Yi, who wasn’t particularly resolute, had become influenced as well.

But Fan Jingjing hadn’t come here to encourage Yang Yi to maintain a good opinion of his cousin.

“Jiang Yan, they were together at a cafe on Qilly Road yesterday. You know the place where I often study, other people know about it too…”

She trailed off, leaving her words hanging. It was well known among many at Experimental Middle School that Jiang Yan had pursued her before he was expelled. It wasn’t strange that he knew her usual haunts, but what was odd was him being with Song Jiawen.

Yang Yi couldn’t make sense of it either. He didn’t even know how those two had met.

“Could it be a shared table? A coincidence?”

After all, Song Jiawen was beautiful, and Jiang Yan was shameless.

Fan Jingjing, seeing him deliberately speaking up for Song Jiawen, grew colder in her gaze, “They looked very familiar with each other, and Jiang Yan even touched your cousin’s head and fed her cake. Do you think this is just sharing a table or a coincidence? By the way, do you know what review materials they were using at the cafe?”

Yang Yi had issues with Jiang Yan, having fought with him during their second year and having warned him after he’d harassed Fan Jingjing.

Needless to say, their relationship was poor.

So what would Yang Yi feel knowing that the review materials Jiang Yan used were his, and that his dear cousin had taken them from him to give to Jiang Yan?

Yang Yi wasn’t too pleased, but his displeasure wasn’t solely because Jiang Yan had used his study materials. What right did he have to be so intimate with Jiajia?

The girl had grown up in the countryside and was hardly worldly. He feared she was being deceived by Jiang Yan.

As for why Jiang Yan was still in Yunzhou rather than in the countryside, that was simple; maybe someone in his family had arranged for him to transfer to another school instead of going back to the rural areas.

Although his father had met with trouble, he still had his mother, didn’t he?

But these were not the things Yang Yi cared about. What concerned him was the relationship between Jiajia and Jiang Yan.

He hoped it was just an acquaintance and nothing like the intimate and ambiguous relationship Fan Jingjing had described.

Yang Yi left with a dark expression to return to the classroom. Fan Jingjing, thinking he was angry with Song Jiawen, was satisfied and went back to her own class.

……

The following Tuesday.

After lunch, Song Jiawen had wanted to take a nap, but Zhu Jin insisted she explain a math problem, going so far as to push Jiang Yan away, telling him to go work on a test paper at her desk.

Jiang Yan was resigned; this person was a maniac, a study maniac.

Ever since he discovered Song Jiawen’s true academic prowess yesterday, he had been coming to her for help whenever he had the time. Zhu Jin’s English and Chinese were top-notch in their grade, of course, though now there was a change at the top.

However, Zhu Jin struggled with math and physics. Of course, ‘struggled’ is relative to her performance in the other subjects; she was still way ahead of the rest of the grade.

But now, Zhu Jin was seriously dissatisfied with her performance in these two subjects. What was the point of being ahead if not by a perfect score?

Previously, whenever she encountered difficult problems in math or physics, she would turn to Zhu Zhen, but now she was disdainful of the class president. The problems he explained weren’t as easy to understand as the equations laid out by Song Jiawen.

Initially, Zhu Zhen didn’t accept this, but after Zhu Jin showed him the problem-solving steps listed by Song Jiawen, he fell silent.

Now, when Zhu Zhen came across a difficult problem, he also wanted to discuss it with Song Jiawen.

Xiao Qi watched as Jiang Yan was pushed aside and shook his head with a sigh. This guy was being edged out.

Jiang Yan actually did quite well in this test, but his English was seriously lacking, and compared with Song Jiawen, he just seemed mediocre in the end.

When Yang Yi came to find Song Jiawen, he saw a circle of people surrounding her.

Her deskmate was a girl with short hair, glasses, and a bit of an overbite.

Yang Yi had seen her before, Zhu Jin, the daughter of the deputy director of the Yunzhou Municipal Education Bureau.

It was said that her grades ranked among the top at No. 1 Middle School, being deskmates with Jiajia could certainly help her.

Of course, he couldn’t have imagined that Song Jiawen, who was poached from a rural middle school, would outperform the top students of No. 1 Middle School.

“Song Jiawen, someone is looking for you.”

Yang Yi was handsome, and the branded sportswear he wore made him stand out at the back door of the classroom, catching the attention of many.

“Who is that? He isn’t from our school, is he?”

A male student so outstanding in appearance, had he truly been from No. 1 Middle School, they would have surely known about him even if he wasn’t in the senior year.

When Song Jiawen saw that it was Yang Yi looking for her, a slight surprise crossed her face.

Yu Hang squinted as he looked at the two people talking in the corridor outside, recalling the car she was picked up in on Saturday afternoon. He thought, Song Jiawen really was a relative of the Yang Family.

“That’s from Experimental Middle School, Yang Yi.”

Yang Yi’s grades weren’t the best in Experimental Middle School, but he was within the top fifty in his grade. However, his fame wasn’t due to his grades, but because he was a member of the Yang Family.

Of course, most people only knew that Yang Yi was from the Yang Family, but not many had actually seen him. After all, they were from two different schools with limited chances to meet.

Xiao Qi felt a sense of crisis upon hearing this, “Damn, he’s from Experimental Middle School and wants to poach from our side?”

It wasn’t easy for the class to have a face that could represent them, and one that was actually capable at that, how could he let Experimental Middle School take her away?

That simply wouldn’t do, absolutely not!

“Jiang Yan, come back quickly, someone’s trying to poach from your wall.”

At first, everyone thought that Jiang Yan and Song Jiawen were boyfriend and girlfriend, but after spending some time with them, everyone realized they were just ordinary good friends.

The current remark was purely a joke.

At this time, Jiang Yan was busy writing an English composition at Zhu Jin’s desk in the front, as he struggled to improve his English, so he wanted to scrape together some points from the composition.

He was so focused that he didn’t realize Song Jiawen had been called out.

Hearing Xiao Qi’s shout, Jiang Yan turned his head to look outside. From the window in the middle of the classroom, he could only catch a glimpse of the back of Yang Yi’s head.

“Who is it?”

Jiang Yan walked back from the front row, planning to take a look in the corridor, not because of anything else, but because he was worried that Song Jiawen might be harassed, given her not-so-ordinary face.

“Yu Hang said his name is Yang Yi, from Experimental Middle School,” said Xiao Qi. “Damn, that school never has any good people.”

The two schools had a longstanding feud, with students from both sides not seeing eye to eye.

But when Jiang Yan heard this name, he stopped in his tracks, relaxed, turned around, and said to Xiao Qi while walking back, “Stop making a fuss, he’s her cousin.”

Cousin, huh…

Hearing these words, the classmates all breathed a sigh of relief. Then it was no worry.

But just then, Song Jiawen suddenly stood at the back door and called out to Jiang Yan, “Come out for a moment, there’s something I need to talk about.”