Orange Storm chapter 42

The Traveling Fang Xing

The school arranged a business car, a ten-seater, quite spacious. When Fang Xing boarded, there were already three or four people inside. Jiang Xinxin and another girl were sitting together, chatting. Tan Zhuo sat alone on another row and, upon seeing Fang Xing, quickly averted his gaze with a frown.

“Morning,” Jiang Xinxin greeted Fang Xing with a smile.

“Morning,” Fang Xing nodded in response and chose a seat in the back row.

“The competition hasn’t started yet, but I already feel nervous,” Jiang Xinxin smiled and turned to chat with Fang Xing. “I feel like I was just lucky to be selected.”

Indeed, Jiang Xinxin unexpectedly performed well in the test this time, ranking third among the seven people. It was a significant improvement compared to her physics score in the previous monthly exam, even making her doubt the results several times. On the other hand, Tan Zhuo’s grades dropped to fourth place. Although he was still on the list, considering his personality, he probably felt as bad as if he had swallowed a fly.

“Physics isn’t my strong suit. It’s a provincial competition, and I feel like I’m going to be cannon fodder.”

“Not necessarily. Your physics foundation is quite solid,” Fang Xing smiled and quickly recalled the physics questions Jiang Xinxin usually asked him. “It’s just that you might find some of the innovative questions a bit challenging.”

Jiang Xinxin nodded quickly. “Exactly, sometimes I get lost when encountering complex ones.”

“The approach is the same. Practice a few more, and you’ll be fine,” Fang Xing advised.

The discussion was about to end with these few sentences. Fang Xing had already taken out his earphones, and Jiang Xinxin returned to her seat, starting to browse Taobao with the girl sitting next to her. Abruptly, a voice interrupted.

“Whether you practice or not doesn’t make much difference. Girls aren’t good in the field of science.”

It was Tan Zhuo.

…This guy always had the ability to make people want to slap him, Fang Xing couldn’t help but admire. Indeed, even Jiang Xinxin, who usually had a good temper, seemed a bit angry and couldn’t help but retort, “Oh, but this time, I scored three points higher than you on the test.”

After saying that, she immediately turned her head to chat with the girl next to her, ignoring Tan Zhuo as if she didn’t want to deal with him anymore.

Tan Zhuo’s face instantly became like a color palette, alternating between blue and white. He didn’t say a word for a long time. Fang Xing, not giving him face, chuckled, feeling Tan Zhuo’s piercing gaze, cold and full of hatred. It seemed like he wished to poke a few holes in him.

Fang Xing decisively turned his head to meet Tan Zhuo’s gaze, thinking that if the guy said anything stupid again, he would just punch him right there. No one, not even the teachers could stop him.

But when he looked over, Tan Zhuo immediately turned his head, avoiding eye contact.

What’s wrong with this guy?

After about ten more minutes of waiting, the remaining people also arrived. The head teacher rechecked the attendance, made some instructions, mostly about following the rules and regulations of the competition, ensuring safety, reporting any issues, applying for outings, etc. When he finished speaking, he turned to the driver and said, “Let’s go, driver.”

From Shaojiang to the provincial capital, it would take almost three hours on the highway. At the beginning of the journey, everyone was quite excited. However, when they left the urban area and got on the highway, a few had already closed their eyes, preparing to sleep.

Fang Xing put on his earphones, took out his phone, opened the music app, hesitated for a moment, then opened WeChat.

At the top of the WeChat chat list was Jiang Zhijin. Fang Xing remembered that when he first added him, the original profile picture was the Cloud Seven logo. Later, after adopting Tang Yuan, Jiang Zhijin changed it to a picture of the cat sleeping on the balcony.

A small white cat sleeping in the sun, tiny and warm. Fang Xing looked at it for a while, and suddenly, his mood, which had been influenced by the idiot before, suddenly improved.

He picked up his phone, took a picture of the scenery flying by outside the car window, sent it to Jiang Zhijin, and added a sentence, “We’ve reached.”

Jiang Zhijin replied, “Okay.”

After finishing the registration, the teacher with them held the room cards and asked everyone to go upstairs together.

“Our rooms are all on the sixth floor, double rooms, two people per room. We have four males and three females, so one girl will have a separate room, and the others will share. Is that okay?”

Everyone nodded.

“The girl decides who will stay in a single room. The rest of you will share in pairs,” the head teacher said, turning to the four male students. “You guys will pair up and share a room.”

He casually pointed to Tan Zhuo and Fang Xing, “You two are in the same class, right? Then you can share a room.”

Before Fang Xing could speak, Tan Zhuo immediately objected.

“No way!”

All eyes in the elevator turned to him. His face looked extremely unpleasant, and his chest heaved violently, as if smoke was about to rise from the top of his head.

“I won’t share a room with him.”

The leading teacher frowned, “Why?”

Tan Zhuo snorted but remained silent for a long time. Fang Xing cursed him in his heart and turned to the teacher.

“I’m afraid I’ll affect Tan Zhuo’s studying.”

“You two are in different grades, how can you affect each other’s studies?”

“The competition for the top spot in each grade is fierce,” Fang Xing smiled. “Haven’t there been a lot of such news recently?”

Tan Zhuo glanced angrily and fearfully at Fang Xing. The leading teacher was choked by Fang Xing’s words and pointed again.

“Then you two will share a room.”

This time, Fang Xing’s roommate was a slightly chubby boy wearing glasses who seemed quite shy. He didn’t say much during the journey, and when they entered the room, he put down his luggage and went to the balcony to make a call. Fang Xing overheard a few sentences; it seemed like he was reporting his safety to his parents.

The room was a typical hotel standard room, not large, but quite clean. Two small succulents, palm-sized, were placed on the bedside table—delicate but not thriving.

Fang Xing looked at them for a while, took a picture, and sent it to Jiang Zhijin.

“The succulents in the room are not as well-grown as Cloud Seven’s.”

This time, Jiang Zhijin did not reply.

After waiting for a while without a response, Fang Xing hesitated and swiped the chat box, suspecting that he had sent too many messages.

Jiang Zhijin usually only sent a message when he had something to say, and Fang Xing had sent two in a row. Maybe he found it annoying—

Before he could finish his thoughts, his phone jumped to the calling interface, with Jiang Zhijin’s name shining brightly on the screen.

He called.

Fang Xing’s hands moved faster than his brain; he answered the call and put it to his ear. On the other end, Jiang Zhijin called out, “Fang Xing,” with a clear hint of laughter in his tone.

“Mmmh,” Fang Xing responded.

Jiang Zhijin’s second sentence was, “Have you ever played a game before?”

…The topic changed too quickly, Fang Xing thought. This guy must be bored. He asked, “What game?”

“It’s the one where you raise a frog. You prepare food for it, and it goes out for a stroll every day. It also sends you a couple of pictures when it’s free—The game seems to be called ‘Traveling Frog,’ and Gu Xun likes it a lot.”

Fang Xing understood halfway through, and when he finished speaking, he immediately said, “Who are you calling a frog?”

Is this the reaction speed of a top student? Jiang Zhijin laughed for a while before saying, “No, I just thought your behavior is similar to that of the frog.”

“You are the traveling Fang Xing.” Jiang Zhijin said with a smile.