Chapter 60: Chapter 60: Casting Them as the Main Couple of ’Defend and Steal

"Young Master Li, I’m reporting a crime!"

The moment Zhou Shaojie got to the classroom, he rushed over to Li Zhi and announced, "Shen Yuan was harassing me last night! I have reason to suspect he’s a Nantong!"

Li Zhi immediately shot Shen Yuan a surprised look.

To defend his honor, Shen Yuan slammed his desk and shot to his feet. "I was just asking about a math problem!"

"Does asking about a math problem require you to spam me with messages? Don’t I need time to solve it? I’m asking you, do I need time to solve the problem, huh?"

"How was I supposed to know it would take someone who gets full marks in math so long to solve a problem?"

"It was only three minutes!"

Ah Jie whipped out his phone to show Li Zhi what happened last night.

"Young Master Li, look, just look! In just three minutes, he bombarded me! Even Berlin didn’t take this much shelling back in the day!"

Li Zhi looked at the sticker memes Shen Yuan had sent Zhou Shaojie, momentarily unsure what kind of expression to make herself.

Sensing Li Zhi’s gaze, Shen Yuan’s eyes darted away guiltily.

"Little San Geng stepped on it. You know, he’s been learning Chinese recently."

Li Zhi let out a dry laugh. "It’s fine, no need to explain. If you’re a Nantong, you’re a Nantong. It’s nothing to be ashamed of."

Hearing this, He Zhiyu, who was sitting in front of them, whipped around. "No! Absolutely not!"

At her words, everyone in the two rows, front and back, focused their attention on He Zhiyu.

"Why not?" Ah Jie asked, confused.

He Zhiyu opened her mouth and stammered, "Uh, because... because..."

While He Zhiyu was struggling to come up with a reason, Shen Yuan and Li Zhi glanced at each other, seemingly guessing what the other was thinking.

Just then, Ah Jie said, "Don’t tell me you’re projecting the main characters from *Defend and Steal* onto these two?"

The moment Ah Jie’s words fell, everyone’s eyes snapped to him in unison.

To be honest, pretty much everyone present was friends with the school’s "Confession Wall" account on QQ.

And most of them had, at some point, clicked on and read the Sugar Text, *Defend and Steal*.

They more or less knew it was about a pair of childhood sweethearts.

And right here in Class 15, there just so happened to be such a pair of childhood sweethearts who were also deskmates.

In fact, it wasn’t as if members of the Kissing Association and the Early Love Prohibition Association in Class 15 hadn’t speculated that the male and female leads of *Defend and Steal* were based on Shen Yuan and Li Zhi.

But come on.

Did the intensity of their bickering have anything in common with cloyingly sweet, artificial fluff?

Not at all!

Once they started sparring, every sentence seemed designed to kill, their aggression turned up to the max.

So, even though the two of them were very similar to the setup in *Defend and Steal*, very few people actually believed the main characters were modeled after them.

When Ah Jie said that, He Zhiyu instantly snapped out of it.

"So what if I am!"

Having said it, He Zhiyu felt a sense of relief.

After all, this way, she could cover up her earlier strange behavior.

He Zhiyu still wanted to hide the fact that she was the author of *Defend and Steal*.

After all, she had used her best friend as source material.

He Zhiyu was afraid that if Li Zhi found out she was the author, Li Zhi would turn *her* into source material.

As for what kind of source material? Material for her arguments with Shen Yuan, of course.

"Believe it or not, I’ll have Zhiyu write you as a Nantong tomorrow."

Something like that.

Ah Jie looked at the beet-red He Zhiyu and snickered. "I can’t believe that you, He Zhiyu, with your innocent face, are also a..."

"Snow Leopard, shut up!" He Zhiyu snapped.

Ah Jie clapped a hand over his mouth, a panicked look on his face. "MPH! MMMM! MMMM!"

Yang Ze said seriously, "I heard Ah Jie say he’s treating us to Americanos this afternoon."

"I heard it too!" Chen Mingyu nodded quickly.

"I heard it too!" He Zhiyu quickly jumped in.

Shen Yuan and Li Zhi exchanged a look and nodded in unison.

Ah Jie grew frantic. "Hey, when did I ever say that!"

Everyone said in unison, "We all heard you."

"Treat my ass! Move, let me get to my seat." Ah Jie shuffled into his seat, then pointed a finger to the sky.

"Ring the bell!"

The instant Ah Jie’s butt touched the chair, the school bell for the start of class rang.

Shen Yuan was floored.

’Seriously, bro?’

’It’s one thing for you to always show up at the last second, but how did you still manage it today after chatting for a bit?’

Shen Yuan was instantly captivated.

"HOLY SHIT! Bro! Teach me!"

Ah Jie chuckled. "This is a secret technique, not to be passed on to anyone but my descendants."

Shen Yuan sighed dramatically. "Fine."

"Hey, giving up already? Just call me ’Dad’ and the matter’s settled."

"Snow Leopard, shut up."

Ah Jie rolled his eyes and started to take out his books to study seriously.

The monthly exam was approaching. This was the first monthly exam of their senior year, and when faced with the comprehensive science paper, everyone wanted to test their mettle.

As for why Shen Yuan had spammed Ah Jie with messages late at night, the reason was actually very simple.

Shen Yuan wanted to see if online communication could also advance his task timer.

It turned out that it could.

Shen Yuan harassed Ah Jie for an hour, and the task timer advanced by one hour.

’I can grind for 16 hours a day. Sweet.’

...

"Cool-down exercises!"

"One, two, three, four... Two, two, three, four..."

As the music gradually stopped, the classes on the sports field gathered together and soon began walking toward the academic building in an orderly fashion.

Shen Yuan had wanted to hang out with Ah Jie a little longer.

’Since I’m already considered a Nantong, my reputation doesn’t matter anyway.’

But Li Zhi grabbed him.

"What’s up, sis?" Shen Yuan asked, looking at Li Zhi.

"We’re going to the supermarket."

Looking at her determined expression, Shen Yuan smiled. "Let’s go. I was thinking of going anyway."

Ah Jie and the others watched Shen Yuan leave, all of them letting out a cold snort.

As for what Ah Jie and the group said, Shen Yuan was too far away to hear.

Li Zhi had only grabbed him for a moment; she let go as soon as he agreed.

Once they were away from the crowd, Shen Yuan was the first to speak. "You wanted to say that something’s off about He Zhiyu, didn’t you?"

Li Zhi nodded. "She was acting strange during morning self-study. She shouldn’t care about your business."

"Is it so strange for a classmate to show some concern, worrying that I might be led astray?"

Li Zhi gave a dry laugh. "Are you trying to say Zhiyu has a crush on you?"

"Hey! I never said that." Shen Yuan shot back with a theatrically scandalized look.

"Be serious."

"Fine, I actually agree." Shen Yuan looked ahead. "Someone who wasn’t familiar with how we interact probably wouldn’t have come up with the concept of ’the main characters sparring’."

"And then there’s the matter of the cat fur."

Shen Yuan continued, "He Zhiyu is definitely a major suspect, but it’s hard to find any proof."

"Forget it. It’s just a thought. If she wants to write it, just let her."

Hearing this, Shen Yuan looked at Li Zhi in surprise. "Then why did you drag me out here?"

"To buy me ice cream."

Seeing her completely matter-of-fact expression, Shen Yuan rolled his eyes. "Aren’t you afraid of getting a stomachache?"

"It’s still early, still early."

"But it’s getting close. You should eat less of it," Shen Yuan said with a frown.

"Are you buying it or not?"

"Fine, fine, I’ll buy it."

In the end, Shen Yuan bought Li Zhi an ice cream, and got one for himself as well.