Transmigrating into the Genius Cannon Fodder’s Aunt

Chapter 116 – The Craziness of Youth

Knowing that He Wei wouldn’t be going to Mao Huimei for the time being, Xia Mian didn’t feel rushed anymore. As for why she was with Qi Kai? She figured she’d find out in due time.

With that, she calmly stepped inside to join the party. But the moment she walked through the door and saw the room teeming with teenagers darting about, Xia Mian froze for a second in surprise. Li Lizhen came over with a glass of juice in hand and chuckled, “Well? Didn’t expect this, did you?”

Sun Yuexin also came over. “I was shocked when I came in too. This sudden release of energy is seriously something else.”

Without the constraint of school uniforms, the newly liberated students looked far more lively than usual. Obviously, they had all put effort into their appearance, looking vibrant and youthful in casual clothes. It was as if everyone’s personality had been unsealed. At first, while the homeroom teachers were still there, there was some restraint, but once the teachers left, the whole place exploded with energy.

It reminded Xia Mian of the wild scene after the college entrance exam in her previous life, with students ripping up books and yelling. After more than a decade of hard studying, all that bottled-up emotion needed a release. It wasn’t surprising that things were more chaotic than usual.

A few class reps went to get beer. “We’re all adults now, let’s drink today! Girls drink as they like, but the guys—don’t leave until you’re drunk!”

With alcohol in the mix, the atmosphere heated up even more. Someone from Class 3-1 made a confession, and under a chorus of whistles and cheers, the boy and girl ended up together, all bashful.

That really pushed the party to its peak. A full-on confession session immediately kicked off. Those with confidence confessed right there in the lively crowd and basked in the public blessings. Those less confident edged closer to their crushes, even just to exchange a few words or to subtly express their feelings.

Many people weren’t necessarily hoping for a successful result—some just wanted to give their youth a proper ending and make sure they left no regrets.

Sun Yuexin nudged Li Lizhen and teased, “Aren’t you going to confess to your idol Gu?”

Xia Mian also glanced over. During the second year, Li Lizhen and Gu Zhou had ended up in the same class, but she hadn’t heard her mention his name much since then.

Li Lizhen waved her hand with a smile. “That was ages ago. Young and foolish, young and foolish.”

“What? Just because he’s not the most handsome guy in school anymore? You’ve moved on to Old Han instead?” Zhao Cheng teased. “You can’t just fall for whoever looks good!”

Li Lizhen rolled her eyes. “What does that have to do with looks? Han Haoyan, hmph! I can’t handle him. Who wants to be torn apart by his admirers?”

She let out a long sigh. “The time I made it into the school’s top 100, I suddenly felt like liking him wasn’t worth it anymore.”

“Huh?” Sun Yuexin was confused. “Why not worth it? What’s that got to do with the exam?”

“Think about it,” Li Lizhen said. “I worked myself to the bone just to confess to him—doesn’t that feel like a bad deal?” She clenched her fist. “At the very least, I should find someone even better to make all that effort worth it!”

The group burst into laughter. Xia Mian gave her a thumbs-up. “You’re absolutely right!”

Sun Yuexin also recalled when they first met, how Xia Mian had used Li Lizhen’s crush on Gu Zhou to trick her into helping with a creative confession idea. She couldn’t help but sigh, “It’s been over two years now.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Han Haoyan walked over holding a glass of beer. “I could hear you laughing from way over there.”

As soon as he joined, several girls and boys started gathering around. The girls came for Han Haoyan, and the boys for Xia Mian—those hundreds of love letters she received weren’t for nothing.

Xia Mian looked up and met the eyes of a few boys, then smiled. “We were just talking about how we top students of Yan Affiliated should confess in a way that really makes an impression.”

Sun Yuexin and Li Lizhen, knowing Xia Mian wouldn’t accept anyone’s confession, quickly picked up the cue and steered the topic to avoid any awkward moments.

Sun Yuexin laughed. “Back then, that was our goal: study hard and make sure our confessions to the top scorer kids would be unforgettable for life.”

Romance was clearly the hottest topic for students fresh out of the college entrance exam. Everyone perked up with interest.

“What kind of confession would be that impressive?”

“Unforgettable for life?”

“Are you going to sing your confession? Or build heart-shaped candles?”

Sun Yuexin scoffed, “Who says it has to be like that? That stuff’s all over TV dramas. There’s nothing new about it!”

“We’re talking about top students here, alright?” Sun Yuexin gave a light cough and lifted her chin slightly. “So obviously, we confess with knowledge—confess through different school subjects!”

“Confess through different subjects?” The others clearly hadn’t heard of that before and instantly got intrigued. “Like how?”

“Let’s start with the easiest one,” Sun Yuexin said. “A confession using classical poems.”

Han Haoyan jumped in, “There are trees on the mountain, and branches on the trees. My heart loves you, but you don’t know.”

As he said it, he glanced at Xia Mian from time to time.

Xia Mian took a sip of beer and smiled. “That one’s too common. Come up with something fresh.”

“Right, there are tons of love poems,” Sun Yuexin laughed. “Let me give you two examples: ‘I have no colorful wings like a phoenix; but I’ll love you for ten thousand years without ever getting tired.ʼ”

“‘Lucky our hearts beat as one; handsome guy, come look at mine!ʼ”

The group burst into laughter and applause.

“Haha, that’s hilarious.”

“We’re definitely remembering those!”

Someone asked, “Besides Chinese, what else is there?”

Li Lizhen said, “How about geography?”

“I’m the blue planet, you’re the obliquity of the ecliptic. Spring, summer, autumn, and winter; all my warmth and cold are because of you.”

“Wow!” a girl clapped and praised, “That’s so romantic!”

“What about English? How do you confess in English?” someone asked.”

Sun Yuexin and Li Lizhen looked at Xia Mian. Xia Mian thought for a moment and said, “ABCDEFG.”

Seeing their eager, curious expressions, Xia Mian smiled and explained, “A boy can do everything for girl.”

“This one’s only for boys, though.”

The boys were already cheering with excitement. “Nice, nice, I like this one too!”

“Haha, this one’s the easiest to remember.”

“What about math?” someone asked. “These are all liberal arts confessions—are there any science ones?”

“Of course!” Sun Yuexin instantly got excited. “Science confessions are super cool!”

In a time before the internet was widespread, this kind of information was not easy to get. The others, already amazed by liberal arts-style confessions, got even more hyped when they heard science ones were even cooler.

“How cool are we talking?”

“Yeah, how do you confess with science?”

“…”

“You need formulas for this one.” Sun Yuexin looked around, but no one had brought paper or pens to the party.

Li Lizhen simply grabbed a piece of chalk from the restaurant—the kind used for writing menus—and headed to the entrance.

The crowd surged after her, not just students from Class 3-1, but also many from3-1 and 3-6 came out to follow the fun.

In front of the restaurant was a smooth concrete area. Under the eaves, a 100-watt bulb lit up the entrance brightly. Li Lizhen crouched down and started writing formulas on the cement, using it like a blackboard.

Sure enough, once the square root confession formula was written out, it instantly stunned the crowd of teenagers. Seeing “I love you” emerge from the math, their exclamations rose in waves.

“That’s amazing!”

“Wow, seriously cool!”

Many girls clapped and stomped their feet in excitement.

After Li Lizhen also explained the physics-based confession formulas, Xia Mian, finding their reactions adorable, laughed and said, “Let me show you something more advanced.”

She took the chalk from Li Lizhen and wrote a chemistry equation: Mg + ZnSO2 = Zn + MgSO2

“Your magnesium stole my heart.”

Then she wrote two math functions: r = a(1 − sinθ), x² + (y + 3√x²)² = 1

Han Haoyan immediately crouched down to solve one, and another boy squatted next to him to solve the other.

The two, being excellent students, quickly solved the formula. Within moments, two heart shapes appeared on the ground.

“Awesome!”

“Whoa!”

“Haha, that’s amazing!”

Seeing their excitement, Xia Mian couldn’t help but smile, eyes narrowing with joy. “Work hard, guys! Confessions like this—that’s the kind of flair our Yan Affiliated should have!”

“Yes!”

“From now on, confessions need to have flair, got it?”

“Yes!”

The shared excitement brought everyone closer together. The energy grew even wilder, and suddenly, a girl said, “Wow, look across the street! That guy’s really handsome—should we try out our flair on him?”

What started as a joke immediately stirred up a commotion among the boys.

“Yeah, yeah! Go together! We’ll see how effective it is!”

“If it works, we’re trying it too!”

“Go, go!”

“Long live Yan Affiliated girls!”

“Use that corny poem!”

The girls were riled up by the boys’ jeering and started to feel tempted. Sun Yuexin lifted her chin and said, “Fine, bring it on! Who’s afraid of whom?”

She linked arms with Li Lizhen and Xia Mian and said to the girls around her, “Let’s all shout together.”

The girls thought it sounded fun too and quickly decided on which couplet to yell.

But when it came time to actually do it, they all got a little shy.

“Quick, quick, he’s about to leave!”

Seeing them hesitating, the boys took the lead and shouted toward the other side of the street, “Thousands of rivers and mountains may part us—”

The girls clenched their teeth, closed their eyes, and shouted in unison, “—but handsome guy, won’t you love me?”

Everyone burst into laughter the moment the line was out. Suddenly, life felt so fun, as if there really was nothing to be afraid of. What’s youth without a little craziness?

Youth must always leave some madness to make life worthwhile!

Infected by the moment, Xia Mian closed her eyes and continued, “If our hearts beat as one—”

This time, the girls didn’t hold back at all, following smoothly with, “—handsome guy, look at mine!”

Xia Mian cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, “Handsome guy, look over here!”

Everyone joined in, giggling and laughing, “Look over here!”

The boys went wild with wolf-whistles and hooting, and the girls were laughing so hard they were holding their stomachs and bending over. No one cared anymore if the guy across the street was actually handsome—they just felt completely free and joyful.

Meanwhile, Ning Shaobai, who had been saying goodbye to his professor and some colleagues: “…”

With such a ruckus, they all heard it. The group turned their heads to look at the crowd of students partying under the restaurant lights.

They all smiled knowingly.

“Youth.”

“Haha, so full of energy.”

“Eighteen… what a great age.”

High school was one of the toughest times in a person’s youth, yet also the period most people missed the most.

Ning Shaobai looked at the one in the middle, the loudest, the most cheerful one—his eyes narrowing with a smile.

“Professor, I’ll be heading off now. Goodbye.”

Gao Qiongying had planned to walk with him to the car and ask for a ride. But then she saw Ning Shaobai lift his legs and walk across the street instead.

As she watched him head straight in Xia Mian’s direction, her brows gradually furrowed…

…

A boy suddenly shouted, “Hey! The handsome guy actually looked over!”

“Whoa, he’s even walking this way!”

The girls, who had been so bold while shouting, suddenly got shy now that their “target” was actually approaching. Some even squealed and slipped back into the restaurant.

Xia Mian laughed, “Look at you all, scared like—”

She looked up and locked eyes with the guy now approaching.

Xia Mian: “…”

She immediately turned around. “Sorry guys, I’m not full yet…”

But just as she stepped over the threshold, someone grabbed the collar of her shirt from behind.

Sun Yuexin and Li Lizhen instinctively covered their faces. How embarrassing! This felt like going wild in public, only to be caught by a relative!

Luckily, Ning Shaobai was thoughtful enough not to say anything. He just smiled and said, “Class reunion?”

Both girls quickly nodded.

Xia Mian turned around with a sheepish smile. “Dr. Ning, I thought you were on a business trip. You’re back already? Why didn’t you let us know ahead of time?”

Ning Shaobai gently brushed her hair. “I wanted to surprise you. Didn’t expect you’d surprise me first.”

Confessing to strangers in the middle of the street? He’d never been on the receiving end of something like that before.

His eyes swept over the two heart shapes drawn on the ground. “Nice creativity,” he praised, instantly recognizing Xia Mian’s handwriting.

Xia Mian couldn’t help but cover her face. The craziness of youth really does come with a price!

Just the social death was bad enough. But no—she had to run into her soon-to-be boyfriend during it!

Was there a worse situation? Just imagine what it would feel like if she saw Dr. Ning standing on the street, confessing to random passersby!

Um… Dr. Ning would never do something like that…

Yeah, such a scenario was impossible. The fact was clear: she had done wrong, and Dr. Ning was very good at holding grudges!

Xia Mian instinctively started counting how many times she’d pissed him off so far.

Despair overwhelmed her.

I’m doomed. No way I’d survive tonight!

Translator’s Note:

Extra chapter on Sunday~

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