Yi Tianyu’s basketball had been confiscated by his father, and with September first marking the official start of classes, early morning self-study began at seven o’clock. Even though his family had moved to the school neighborhood, he still had to get up at six-thirty.

His eyes were bloodshot with dark circles underneath.

After playing video games until dawn and barely getting any sleep before waking up, he only managed to step into the classroom right as the bell rang for class.

“Damn, how long has this Buddhist nun been standing here?” He looked up at Yin Fang standing at the door blocking people while displaying an exasperated expression.

The boy sitting in front turned around and said, “She’s been standing there waiting since six-fifty!”

Yi Tianyu’s mouth slightly opened as he muttered, “What kind of psycho is this?”

His gaze shifted to the girl beside him. Her face was full of fighting spirit, her back perfectly straight, eyes fixed intently on the English textbook on her desk. The vocabulary page was densely filled with notes. Looking closer, they were all related phrases.

His eyes followed up from the English book to the upper right corner where a class schedule was posted.

Yi Tianyu, with a wooden expression, nudged her arm. Xue Jiao frowned and shifted her gaze toward him.

“Hey, bookworm, you remind me of a song.”

“?”

“The sun is shining bright, flowers smile at me, little birds say early-early-early, why are you carrying your little schoolbag…”

“?”

Yi Tianyu pointed at the class schedule, “You’re just like an elementary school student…”

“…”

——

This time without the pressure of making a living, Xue Jiao strictly implemented her three-step method of preview, study, and review. Since she had already loaded this knowledge into her brain beforehand, learning wasn’t difficult for her, so she spent more time in depth.

Seventh Middle School’s reputation was well-deserved, and the teaching quality truly lived up to its name. Take Yin Fang for example—everyone in class called her Buddhist nun, but her accent was very standard, and her teaching was interesting, so even learning again, Xue Jiao was just as attentive as the first time.

Even having gone through this once before, Xue Jiao still felt she was doing terribly.

This gave Xue Jiao a sense of urgency. Fortunately, it was only sophomore year, so she could still work hard.

“Cousin!” Cheng Mingjiao walked over with a smile and sat down in front of Xue Jiao.

Xue Jiao closed her eyes slightly, frowning with annoyance.

The girl in front of her smiled like a blooming flower. Her hair was braided beautifully, and looking closely, she wore a bit of lip gloss and had neatly shaped eyebrows.

She looked cute, a pretty girl, but the ill intentions in her eyes gave Xue Jiao not the slightest bit of fondness for her.

“Cousin, if there’s anything you don’t understand, just ask me. Uncle told me to take good care of you!” There she went again, saying this for the umpteenth time.

“Not necessary.”

“Cousin, are you still angry?” Cheng Mingjiao immediately put on a pitiful face, looking at her with puppy eyes.

Xue Jiao wasn’t moved, but someone else was.

“Mingjiao, she’s your cousin?”

“Yes, cousin’s mother married my uncle a few years ago. Cousin is now part of our Cheng family! None of you are allowed to bully my cousin. Bullying her is the same as bullying me!” Cheng Mingjiao explained, then covered her mouth as if she’d said something wrong, looking at her with an apologetic expression.

Xue Jiao took a deep breath.

“Ah, that’s not…” someone started to say something but stopped halfway.

“Are you finished?” Xue Jiao’s face turned cold.

“Why are you being so harsh? Mingjiao is speaking nicely to you, yet you have this attitude!”

“Yeah, just because you’re good-looking, what are you being so high and mighty about?” Cheng Mingjiao’s friends quickly jumped in to speak up for her.

Cheng Mingjiao’s smile froze, but she quickly put on a hesitant expression again, “Cousin, my father told us to get along well when he left today. You don’t need to be angry with me for so long over small matters. Look, didn’t Grandfather get you into the experimental class too!”

Her words seemed fine individually, but together they implied that Xue Jiao was angry about getting into the experimental class.

“Jeez, even if she got in, won’t she just be kicked out after one semester? What’s the point?” An onlooker rolled their eyes.

The elite class had its pride, always feeling that students with poor grades in the experimental class were seriously dragging everyone down. From teachers to students, nobody liked those who dragged the class down.

So hearing this, some people became angry.

The old Gu Xuejiao might have exploded, then run out in anger, vowing never to return to the experimental class.

This was probably what Cheng Mingjiao was counting on, thinking she still had her old temper.

But Xue Jiao wouldn’t.

Her ability allowed her to sit there without the slightest insecurity.

“Are you done? If you’re finished, please leave. I need to study,” Xue Jiao looked at Cheng Mingjiao.

The other girl was stunned for a moment, a flash of embarrassed anger in her eyes, “Cousin! Let me tutor you, otherwise at the end of this semester, if you get kicked out…”

“If anyone gets kicked out, it won’t be me.” She looked straight into Cheng Mingjiao’s eyes.

“Hey, Gu Xuejiao, what are you pretending for? Others might not know, but I do. With your math score of nine points, do you still think you can stay in the experimental class?”

This was Yu Fangfang, who had been in the same class as Xue Jiao in freshman year and had become friends with Cheng Mingjiao at the beginning of the school year. Xue Jiao didn’t know what Gu Xuejiao had done to offend her.

“Nine points? Even random guessing would score higher, hahaha!” Someone laughed.

Xue Jiao remained very calm, “Just because I did poorly before doesn’t mean I’ll always do poorly. On the contrary, I believe that as long as I work hard, I’ll at least do better than people who have nothing better to do than spread gossip.”

“Who are you saying is spreading gossip?!” Cheng Mingjiao couldn’t keep up her act anymore.

“Whoever the shoe fits.”

“Gu Xuejiao, you think you can compete with Mingjiao?! Are you joking?!” Yu Fangfang sneered.

“Wait and see.” Xue Jiao looked up slightly.

Her face was beautiful. Today she simply wore her hair in a ponytail and dressed in her school uniform. Even with this simple appearance, she could attract almost everyone’s attention.

Cheng Mingjiao looked at her face, jealous to the point of madness, yet desperately suppressing it, “Then work hard, cousin. I’m waiting for you to surpass me! If cousin can’t surpass me, I’ll have to punish you…”

She said it with a smile, making it seem like a joke, but her eyes were darting around, full of calculation.

“Sure, if I surpass you, cousin, will you also accept punishment?”

“Of course!” Cheng Mingjiao didn’t believe for a second that she would lose.

“Alright, let’s compare our final exam results.”

Cheng Mingjiao stood up, her eyes bright, “The loser has to grant one request from the winner!”

Xue Jiao also stood up and calmly replied, “Deal.”

Within a day, not just Class 1, but even Class 2 knew that Gu Xuejiao, who held the record for scoring just 9 points in math, had boldly challenged Cheng Mingjiao, who ranked in the top twenty of their grade, and they had made a bet.

Class 2.

“Shiyun, isn’t it funny? Gu Xuejiao dares to challenge Cheng Mingjiao?” Gu Shiyun was slowly eating her meal while absentmindedly listening to the person speaking across from her.

“That’s right, Cheng Mingjiao might not be as good as Shiyun, but she at least got into the experimental class on her merit. With Gu Xuejiao’s grades… tsk tsk.”

“I don’t like Cheng Mingjiao. She’s not as good as our Shiyun in any way, yet she always tries to compare herself with Shiyun. Shiyun is in the top three of our grade, while she’s barely in the top twenty!”

“I don’t like her either, but I dislike Gu Xuejiao even more. She doesn’t look like someone who studies hard. Do you remember what she was like before? My goodness, she looked like a ghost!”

“Hahaha—”

Gu Shiyun put down her chopsticks and said softly, “Let’s not gossip about others. How they are has nothing to do with us. Let’s go back to the classroom early to do our homework.”

Her voice was gentle, and she was very pretty, with a natural halo about her.

Sure enough, as soon as she finished speaking, several boys sitting nearby liked her even more, and even the girls she was friendly with said, “Shiyun, you’re just too kind. Fine, we won’t talk about it anymore as you say. Let’s go!”

Gu Shiyun smiled, very gently, as if she hadn’t heard anything at lunch.

Once she entered the bathroom and closed the door, her face completely sank.

Was Cheng Mingjiao an idiot?

If she didn’t like Gu Xuejiao, couldn’t she use a more clever strategy?!

A bet? Wasn’t this just encouraging Gu Xuejiao to study hard?!

Even though Gu Shiyun didn’t believe that Gu Xuejiao could learn anything well, she didn’t want her to improve at all.

Gu Xuejiao should just get worse and worse, without a single redeeming quality, making everyone ashamed to even mention her!

She exhaled and took out her backup phone to make a call.

“Hello, Dad, I miss you. Tomorrow is Friday, can you come pick me up…”

——

“Hey, are you stupid?” Yi Tianyu bumped into the girl studying seriously beside him.

“What?” Xue Jiao frowned, looking confused.

“The bet! Why are you getting involved in such a childish thing? Do you know what people are saying about you?”

“I know, don’t worry about it.” Xue Jiao turned back to continue studying.

Yi Tianyu stared wide-eyed and bumped her again, “No, really, can you beat Cheng Mingjiao? And do you not care what others are saying? They’re saying some nasty things!”

Xue Jiao closed her eyes, exhaled, turned around, and glared at him, “If a dog bites you, do you bite back?”

“What?” Yi Tianyu froze, staring at her stupidly.

Xue Jiao smiled, “Just like how you keep bumping into me, have you ever seen me bump you back?”

There was a moment of silence, followed by an angry outburst—

“Gu Xuejiao! You just called me a dog!”

“Those were your own words.”

“…”

——

Sophomore year wasn’t the most terrifying period, so although studies at Seventh Middle School were intense, they strictly followed national standards for holidays.

Every Friday after the three-afternoon classes ended, day students could return home with a backpack full of homework enough to fill the entire weekend.

Xue Jiao was packing her things slowly. Usually on Fridays she packed quickly, but today she was unusually slow.

Because of Gu Jingxu’s call last night, the driver wouldn’t be picking her up today but would come in the evening to pick up Cheng Mingze for his tutoring session.

Yes, last night Gu Jingxu had called Li Sitong, saying he would pick her up for dinner today.

Li Sitong thought she still yearned for Gu Jingxu’s fatherly love like before, so she reluctantly agreed.

“Hey, bookworm, lend me your homework to copy this weekend,” Yi Tianyu blinked his eyes.

Xue Jiao put on her backpack, turned her head, and also blinked her eyes—

“In your dreams!”

She left after saying this. Yi Tianyu stood dumbfounded, touching his chest.

“If you won’t lend it, just say so… why blink your eyes, making my heart beat so fast!”

——

Xue Jiao had her earphones in, walking very slowly toward the school gate. Except for the seniors who were still in class, the freshmen and sophomores had run out of school, and those staying at school had returned to their dormitories.

When she reached the school gate, she saw that familiar Audi A8L.

“Jiaojiao!” A sophisticated woman in the middle waved at her, smiling happily.

Xue Jiao just couldn’t understand why Gu Xuejiao would feel motherly love from this woman. Just because she wasn’t strict and was permissive?

But her permissiveness was based on the fact that you weren’t her daughter. Her permissiveness was harmful. Otherwise, why would she be so strict with her biological daughter?

Even without knowing what would happen in the future, Xue Jiao couldn’t bring herself to like these two people.

One was a man who cheated while his wife was pregnant, and divorced her when her father died, leaving her without support.

The other was a woman who had been a mistress for ten years and then harmed the original wife’s daughter through excessive indulgence.

Her face revealed nothing as she slowly approached the two, then noticed Gu Shiyun sitting in the car, smiling gracefully—the female protagonist of this book.

Gu Shiyun indeed had the qualities of a female lead.

“Why didn’t you call out to us? Aunt Wanjun even brought you a gift!” Gu Jingxu smiled, reaching out to touch her hair, but Xue Jiao dodged, and his smile immediately stiffened.

“Oh? What gift?” Xue Jiao raised an eyebrow with a half-smile.

Wu Wanjun hurriedly took out two boxes from her bag. Xue Jiao opened the first one—it was a gaudy, blingy necklace. If she wore it out, tsk-tsk.

She closed the box and opened the second one.

When she saw what was inside, Xue Jiao couldn’t help but laugh from anger.

Author’s note: Yi Tianyu: My desk mate is a bookworm O_O

Xue Jiao: My desk mate… might be an idiot O_O.