Sheng Xia walked through the long corridor to Class 6 at the westernmost end of the third-year classrooms. Every classroom she passed was full of students, gathered in groups of three or five, fooling around and chatting, the entire floor bubbling with noise.

The first day back was always the most lively, even at key high schools.

Class 6 was notably quieter, as Wang Wei stood at the podium with his arms crossed, a notebook tucked under his armpit, wearing a sour expression as he counted heads with jerking movements of his chin, while everyone below sat in apprehension.

He immediately noticed Sheng Xia hesitating in the corridor outside.

He nodded and walked out, while the students in the classroom craned their necks to look outside.

“Hello, Teacher,” Sheng Xia greeted first.

“Ah, Student Sheng Xia has arrived,” Wang Wei’s expression changed to a smile as he pointed to the seats at the back, saying, “Your seat is arranged at the last desk of the third group. Don’t worry, we rotate every Monday, moving in a stepped pattern toward the right corner. Next week you’ll be at the first desk.”

Although she didn’t quite understand exactly how the rotation worked, Sheng Xia had good eyesight and was tall enough, so she wasn’t concerned about seating and simply nodded.

Just as Wang Wei was about to lead her to the podium for introductions, she softly called out: “Teacher Wang, may I go directly to my seat?”

Wang Wei knew the young girl was shy and didn’t insist, “Go ahead, I’ll speak to your classmates.”

Sheng Xia entered the classroom through the back door from the corridor and sat in her assigned seat.

Apart from the single row of seats along the wall, her position was closest to the door, meaning she didn’t need to walk through the aisle in front of her classmates – exactly what Sheng Xia preferred.

Even so, she still couldn’t avoid receiving the ceremonial stares from the entire class.

Wang Wei returned to the podium and tapped the desk, “We have a new classmate this semester, named Sheng Xia. Everyone help Sheng Xia integrate into our Class 6, and learn from each other through interaction.”

“Yes, Teacher!” Among the scattered whispers came one loud female voice.

It was Sheng Xia’s deskmate, a slightly dark-skinned girl with a sweet smile. At that moment, she was showing her white teeth with shallow dimples at the corners of her mouth, beaming at Sheng Xia.

Wang Wei responded: “Very good, Xin Xiaohe, take good care of your deskmate.”

Xin Xiaohe was using her chair as a rocking chair, front legs off the ground, balancing on the back legs. She raised her hand high, stretching out completely, “No problem!”

As she spoke, the chair wobbled, and Sheng Xia quickly reached out to steady it.

Seeing this, Wang Wei scolded: “Xin Xiaohe! Sit properly, don’t fall and end up lying around for ten days or half a month – are you still taking the college entrance exam or not?”

“Yes, sir.” Xin Xiaohe obediently settled back, still grinning.

Wang Wei assigned several boys to fetch new books, and as soon as they weren’t far from the classroom, the noise level rose again.

Everyone was observing the new student, intentionally or not, but no one came up to chat.

“It’s Sheng Xia, right? Welcome! You’re with me now, I’m Xin Xiaohe,” Xin Xiaohe introduced herself.

“Thank you,” Sheng Xia asked, “Which ‘he’ character is it?”

Hearing her soft voice, Xin Xiaohe’s tone involuntarily lowered as well, “The ‘he’ from ‘grain seedling,’ duck.”

Sheng Xia: “That’s special.”

“How is it special, duck?”

Sheng Xia thought briefly, then said: “Grain seedlings in the morning light, full of hope.”

Xin Xiaohe laughed, finding the new classmate’s serious manner somewhat amusing, “Not the ‘xiao’ from the morning, it’s the ‘xiao’ with the bamboo radical on top.”

“That’s even more special, bamboo growing alongside grain seedlings,” Sheng Xia said, “Very resilient.”

Xin Xiaohe couldn’t hold back anymore, instantly dropping the uncertain soft tone and laughing out loud: “Hahahahaha, if my mom knew that the two characters she randomly picked from the dictionary could be interpreted so culturally, she’d laugh herself unconscious.”

As she spoke, she gave Sheng Xia’s shoulder a heavy pat.

Sheng Xia winced in pain, unsure if her words had been excessive, and smiled somewhat forcedly.

The boy in front, hearing the girls’ meaningless conversation, turned around just in time to see this scene and looked at Xin Xiaohe with disgust, “Xin Xiaohe, don’t bully the new student!”

“What nonsense are you spouting, Yang Linyu! We’re having a spiritual connection, what would you know? Stay out of beautiful women’s business!” Xin Xiaohe completely shed her earlier gentle and soft demeanor, firing off like a firecracker.

The boy raised his hands in surrender, showing an expression of fear and unwillingness to engage, but muttered before turning back: “Since when are you a beautiful woman…”

The next second, Xin Xiaohe’s notebook landed on the back of his head.

With a “pak” sound, accompanied by the boy’s painful “ugh,” Sheng Xia’s heart pounded.

Her deskmate seemed… a bit volatile.

After the first period of evening study, while various subject books were being distributed, the seats in front of and to the right of Sheng Xia remained empty, though she was sure they belonged to someone because books for these positions had been piled up into small mountains during distribution.

Her right side was that single row of seats along the wall, separated by an aisle.

While the empty desk in front had a deskmate to help organize it, the desk on the right was piled precariously high with no one attending to it.

Sheng Xia leaned over and reached out to straighten the pile, but the book covers were too slippery – they had maintained a delicate balance until touched, then came crashing down with a clatter.

This commotion didn’t draw much attention in the noisy classroom, but Sheng Xia panicked as if she’d done something wrong. She hurriedly gathered them up, and fearing they might fall again, stacked them neatly according to size and thickness.

Xin Xiaohe, who had earlier been explaining some things about the affiliated school to Sheng Xia until she became parched and dozed off, was awakened by the sound of falling books. Opening her eyes, she saw the girl meticulously arranging the books one by one, obsessively aligning even the corners perfectly. The light illuminated her fair cheeks, making the fine hair dance in the light, dense yet soft.

“What kind of good girl is this?” Xin Xiaohe muttered to herself.

Zhang Shu and Hou Junqi strode into the classroom through the back door, only to see a familiar yet strange girl standing by their seats. Both paused in their steps.

Hou Junqi even backed out into the corridor to double-check the classroom sign: “Year 3 Class 6, it’s correct… What the hell?”

These frequent encounters made Sheng Xia want to say “What the hell” too.

This time she didn’t need to guess – these two empty seats belonged to the two “strangers” she was meeting for the third time in a week.

She had just learned from Xin Xiaohe that South University Affiliated Middle School had quite a system for seating arrangements.

First, the top eight students in the class were placed in that separate single row;

Then, following the “mutual aid principle,” the remaining students were paired so that better performers sat with poorer performers – meaning ninth place sat with last place, tenth with second-to-last, and so on;

Next, they tried to keep girls with girls and boys with boys as deskmates, making simple adjustments to the previous arrangement;

Finally, they rotated seats every Monday, with everyone moving one column right and one row back.

This not only ensured fairness in seating and reduced parental intervention but also guaranteed that everyone had both top students and struggling students around them, facilitating mutual improvement.

As for why there was that separate row.

Xin Xiaohe said: “It’s to let you become independent and clear-headed after spending some time with a deskmate.”

Why did that sound like living together?

After hearing these complex rules, Sheng Xia’s first reaction was that key schools indeed had unique management methods.

Her second thought naturally went to her grades. Xin Xiaohe was eleventh in the class, which meant she was among the lowest…

Xin Xiaohe consoled her, saying that the lowest-ranking students were all boys, which was why they had switched with her.

This didn’t comfort Sheng Xia – however, you looked at it, she was still among the lowest-ranking girls…

Also, next week when they changed seats, moving right would put her in that single row, and the week after that, she’d move to the first group on the north side.

Her deskmate would become the person currently on her right—

That person was now pulling out his chair, tossing his backpack on the backrest, and looking at her standing there, raising an eyebrow, “Why are you standing?”

No form of address, neither warm nor cold – unremarkable between acquaintances.

Between strangers, such an abrupt comment seemed unfriendly.

Plus, he was half a head taller than her, looking down with a somewhat intimidating presence.

Sheng Xia’s hand, still holding the corner of a book, stiffened, and she quietly retreated to her seat.

“Zhang Shu, were you born in the year of the dog, barking everywhere?” Xin Xiaohe stood up angrily, hands on her hips.

The young man looked up, somewhat puzzled, giving Xin Xiaohe a look that said: Do you have a problem?

Xin Xiaohe said: “She was kindly helping you organize your books, otherwise they’d be trampled by now. You’re so ungrateful.”

She then smacked the head of the boy in front of her again, “Yang Linyu, get up and see what counts as bullying a new student.”

Yang Linyu rubbed the back of his head, “You’re always getting physical when talking, be careful or no one will marry you!”

“None of your business!”

The two started arguing endlessly.

Zhang… Shu. Sheng Xia rolled the name around in her mind.

He was the one who had greatly angered Wang Wei, who threatened to report the school for supplementary classes, who was “out of control.”

According to the seating, he was also the first-place student who had crushed all the top students from No. 2 High School in the exams.

All these labels on one person – it was a hell of a thing.

Zhang Shu glanced at the neatly arranged books on the desk, and raised an eyebrow, “Thanks.”

Before Sheng Xia could respond, she felt a massive presence crash into the desk in front of her.

Hou Junqi planted himself in the seat in front of Sheng Xia and turned around excitedly, “New classmate? What a coincidence!”

His turn and thrust made her desk vibrate slightly.

He was… imposing.

“Mm, hello…” Sheng Xia responded politely, her voice sounding like a little rabbit’s compared to Hou Junqi’s.

Hou Junqi said: “Which school did you transfer from?”

Sheng Xia said: “No. 2 High.”

Hou Junqi asked: “Which middle school before that?”

Sheng Xia said: “No. 8 Middle School.”

Hou Junqi: “I went to No. 15.”

Sheng Xia: “Oh, oh” – also a key middle school.

Hou Junqi asked: “What’s your name?”

“Sheng Xia.”

“I’m Hou Junqi – ‘Hou’ from nobility, ‘Jun’ from fine horse, ‘Qi’ from traditional medicine.”

Sheng Xia said: “Hou, Jun, Qi, hello.”

Hou Junqi jerked his chin toward the back: “He’s Zhang Shu.”

“Oh, oh.”

“From No. 35 Middle School.”

“I see.” She had no impression of this school; it was remote, not in the city center.

From the corner of her eye, Sheng Xia noticed the forcibly introduced person turn to look at them.

Hou Junqi suddenly leaned in closer, lowering his voice and wearing a mysterious expression as he said to Sheng Xia: “Now that we know each other so well, we’re friends, right?”

Sheng Xia:?

“Mm.”

Hou Junqi: “Then as a friend, you’ll keep tonight’s matter secret, right?”

Secret? Sheng Xia didn’t react immediately, “What matter?”

However, her delayed response appeared to Hou Junqi as a tacit “I’ve forgotten about it.”

He slapped his thigh and jumped up suddenly, looking at Sheng Xia with an approving “I’m keeping you as a friend” gaze, “The new classmate gets it!”

Sheng Xia: …?

A short laugh came from the right.

Zhang Shu commented: “Fucking idiot.”

Unclear who he was referring to.