On the first day of school.

Lin Zhexia quickly finished breakfast, grabbed her unfinished milk, shouldered her bag, and rushed toward Chi Yao’s building: “Mom, Uncle Wei, I’m off to school.”

There was a bus stop a short walk from the residential area, and it took eight stops to reach No. 2 High School. Since she was going with Chi Yao, Lin He and the others weren’t worried: “Alright, go ahead. Pay attention in class.”

She had received her textbooks and new school uniform two days in advance.

No. 2’s uniform was simple in design, predominantly white with red and black color blocks at the collar and sleeves.

—This color scheme was much more mature and cooler than the pink and white uniform from her previous school.

Lin Zhexia felt more mature just wearing her new uniform.

Girls her age were exceptionally drawn to the concept of “growing up.”

When she arrived at Chi Yao’s entrance, he had just opened the building door to come out. She jumped up the steps toward him in a few bounds and said with a smile: “Look at me.”

Chi Yao closed the door behind him.

He wasn’t startled by Lin Zhexia’s sudden appearance.

The main reason he wasn’t startled was that, even when Lin Zhexia suddenly approached, due to their height difference, she didn’t reach his face, just barely reaching his chin.

The girl in front of him had tied her fine, soft hair in a simple ponytail.

Below that was a face without much edge, not yet fully developed. Lin Zhexia didn’t have a particularly striking appearance; she was the typical southern girl, fair and pure-looking, with a pointed chin and slightly aloof inner double eyelids, but when she smiled, she resembled a little fox.

“Look at what,” Chi Yao lowered his head and said, “look at a shortie?”

“…”

Lin Zhexia’s good mood for the day was shattered by the word “shortie.” She gritted her teeth and said: “Look at my new uniform. On the first day of school, I was planning to be a good student, don’t force me to get physical.”

“Then you’ll need to step back a bit,” Chi Yao dragged out his tone, “—I can’t see you like this.”

Lin Zhexia held back her anger and said, “How pitiful for you, going blind at such a young age.”

Although slightly annoyed, this was Lin Zhexia’s long-awaited opportunity to go to school with him. During middle school, though they often hung out during holidays, once school started, she had to go to the all-girls school alone. Thinking about this, her anger quickly dissipated.

In the distance.

He Yang and the others were also heading to the bus stop and waved at them from afar: “Brother Yao, Brother Xia—wait for me—”

Lin Zhexia walked over beside Chi Yao and greeted them: “Are you going to the bus stop too? Which bus are you taking?”

He Yang replied exasperatedly: “Could you two care about me a bit more? I’m going the same way as you, taking Bus No. 3.”

Chi Yao also expressed some surprise at this, specifically by deigning to raise his eyes and give He Yang a glance.

“…”

Based on years of experience together, He Yang keenly caught Chi Yao’s glance: “No way, neither of you knew that I got into the Experimental Affiliated School… next to No. 2 High School, three stops away?”

Chi Yao withdrew his gaze: “Now I know.”

He Yang: “…”

Lin Zhexia added: “Now I know too.”

“So you got into the Experimental Affiliated School,” Chi Yao dropped that sentence and then stopped talking. Lin Zhexia, considering He Yang’s feelings, patted his shoulder and said a few more words, “…Although there’s still quite a gap between it and No. 2 High School, I believe that as long as you study hard, you still have a chance to catch up with us. Keep it up, Da Zhuang.”

He Yang felt even more complicated: “Brother Xia, if you can’t say the right things, you can say less.”

He Yang didn’t feel complicated for long and continued chattering: “Speaking of which, you two are actually at the same school this time, I’m so envious.”

Lin Zhexia: “No need to envy, you can barely count as our spiritual schoolmate.”

He Yang didn’t understand her joke.

But Chi Yao laughed after hearing it.

Lin Zhexia explained: “Because you’re at… next to No. 2 High School, three stops away at the Experimental Affiliated School, you count as half a spiritual schoolmate.”

He Yang: “…Thanks.”

The group walked out of the residential gates, chatting as they used to. The blue sign with white letters reading “Nanxiang Street” had stood at the street corner unchanged for years.

But as Lin Zhexia passed the intersection this time, she couldn’t quite explain it, but felt like something had secretly changed.

Maybe it was because of the new uniform she was wearing.

Maybe it was the three words “high school student.”

Maybe it was because she was sixteen.

The feeling was like someone who had always kept their head down in life suddenly looking up.

Then, realizing that unknowingly, they had already arrived at the intersection of the next stage of life—

After getting off the bus, the school entrance was bustling with people.

Class assignment lists were posted on the bulletin board at the entrance.

Everyone gathered around the bulletin board, looking for their names.

The full name of No. 2 was “Cheng’an No. 2 High School,” located in the center of Cheng’an District in Lianyun City.

Which was where Lin Zhexia currently lived.

No. 2 had a decent reputation and wasn’t managed as strictly, not forcing students to live on campus. In contrast, Lianyun No. 1 High School, which she had “narrowly missed,” was managed very strictly with military-style discipline, not even allowing students to bring phones.

As Lin Zhexia pulled Chi Yao into the crowd, she suddenly had a random thought: Maybe Chi Yao didn’t go to No. 1 not just because it was closer to home, but more because he had a free spirit.

Lin Zhexia eagerly said, “Let’s see which class we’re in.”

The person she was pulling didn’t share her enthusiasm.

Chi Yao was a bit impatient: “Aren’t you bothered by the crowd?”

Lin Zhexia: “Then you can go outside, I’ll look by myself.”

What she didn’t notice was that despite his words, he still followed behind her, allowing her to pull him along, with one hand hovering protectively around her arm to prevent her from being pushed away by the crowd.

Lin Zhexia immediately found Chi Yao’s name in Class 1.

She excitedly tugged at the corner of his clothes and told him: “Chi Yao, Chi Yao, you’re in Class One.”

At the same time.

Almost simultaneously.

Chi Yao also said a sentence: “Class Seven.”

Lin Zhexia didn’t understand immediately: “What Class Seven?”

Chi Yao: “You.”

Sometimes they would be very in sync doing this kind of thing.

Like now, as if searching for faults, they immediately looked for each other’s names first.

Lin Zhexia looked further down and indeed saw her name in the last row: “…Class Seven, that’s so far.”

Afraid her words might be misunderstood as reluctance to part, she explained: “I mean, being so far from you, I’m relieved.”

The response she received was a very light sneer.

As Chi Yao had guessed, No. 2 indeed assigned classes based on grades.

Because of their entrance scores, not only were they not in the same class, but they were placed at opposite ends, the furthest distance apart.

According to No. 2’s teaching method, Class (1) should be a small class, while the others were regular classes.

Lin Zhexia couldn’t quite tell if she hoped to be in the same class as him or not.

Her relationship with Chi Yao.

Was the type where they couldn’t stand each other when together.

But when truly separated, it also felt a bit strange.

After entering the school, there were several statues of famous figures arranged in the small square. Passing through this square and up the steps led to the teaching building.

Since she and Chi Yao were in different classes, their paths diverged after entering the freshman teaching building.

At the stairway, Lin Zhexia had already run up halfway before suddenly turning back with thumping steps. She called out to Chi Yao and said with a serious face: “I have something to tell you.”

Chi Yao instinctively felt it wouldn’t be anything good.

Sure enough, Lin Zhexia said with a serious face: “School just started, and you’re unfamiliar with everything. If you have any issues, come find your big brother in Class Seven. Your big brother will look out for you.”

“…”

“Finished?” After a moment, Chi Yao asked.

Lin Zhexia thought for a moment: “That’s all your big brother has to say for now.”

Chi Yao leaned against the wall at the stairway corner, slightly lifting his chin, and suddenly said: “Actually, I have quite a few enemies at school.”

“?”

“Not that many, about a dozen or so.”

Chi Yao considered: “If you’re willing, I can create a group chat later and have them wait for you in the small forest after school. We can fight today, so you can protect me.”

Saying this, his tone slightly paused, and he drawled out the question: “How does that sound—big brother?”

“…”

Lin Zhexia didn’t say another word and immediately fled—

Although Lin Zhexia dared to make bold statements to someone who looked much more like a “big brother” than she did, she wasn’t actually a very outgoing person.

After entering Class (7), she quietly sat down at the seat with her name on it, briefly greeted her new seatmate named Chen Lin, then took out a book from her bag and spread it on the desk to alleviate the awkwardness of unfamiliarity.

Her new seatmate, however, became familiar with her in less than three minutes, sharing insider information: “I heard we’re not having regular classes today. Instead, we’re having a baseline assessment right at the start of school, and it won’t just cover what we’ve studied before—there will be some first-year high school content we haven’t learned yet.”

Lin Zhexia was surprised by her intelligence-gathering abilities: “How do you know that?”

Chen Lin had some light freckles on her face and seemed very cheerful and enthusiastic.

She waved the phone, hidden under her textbook.

“School forum,” Chen Lin explained, “There are posts from second and third-year seniors on it. You can find all kinds of information there.”

Unlike Chen Lin, Lin Zhexia wasn’t as interested in internet surfing. She hadn’t even really followed celebrities. At most, she used her phone to search for things, watch videos, and chat with Chi Yao.

Seeing her lack of reaction, Chen Lin added: “You’re so calm.”

Lin Zhexia responded with an “Mm”: “I’m the type of person who remains quite unfazed no matter what happens.”

Chen Lin had thought Lin Zhexia was especially quiet, but hearing this somewhat unconventional response caught her by surprise.

A moment later.

The teacher entered the classroom. Sure enough, after a brief self-introduction, this curly-haired, bespectacled homeroom teacher surnamed Xu began distributing test papers: “One for each person. Fill in your seat number as your student ID. The exam lasts 120 minutes. Hand them in when you’re done, and I’ll grade them on the spot.”

As soon as she finished speaking, someone in the classroom couldn’t help but groan.

Teacher Xu warned: “No talking during the exam. I understand your eagerness to meet new classmates, and I’ll specifically arrange a class meeting period this afternoon for self-introductions.”

The test papers were passed from the first row to the back.

Lin Zhexia held her black pen and, upon receiving the paper, first scanned through all the questions from beginning to end.

This habit was identical to Chi Yao’s.

It was developed under Chi Yao’s influence since childhood. Although her grades weren’t as outstanding as his, her test-taking habits were very similar.

After scanning the questions, she discovered that many problems on the test… she had done during the vacation.

There was even that question Chi Yao was “too lazy to solve,” almost unchanged except for a few numerical values.

“Well then,” Lin Zhexia muttered as she wrote her name in the upper left corner, “I guess I’ll reluctantly forgive you for calling me a shortie this morning.”

After the test, the papers were handed in for immediate grading.

Most people barely reached the passing line, with dismal scores.

Out of a total of 120 points, Chen Lin scored 81 and was a bit distressed after receiving her paper: “We don’t need to take this home for parents to see, right?”

Just as she finished speaking, Teacher Xu called Lin Zhexia’s name.

“Lin Zhexia,” Teacher Xu pushed up her glasses and looked a few more times at the student who stood up when her name was called, “110, the only three-digit score in our class. Very good, keep it up.”

After hearing a series of two-digit scores, the classmates couldn’t help but erupt when they heard “110”: “Whoa, 110.”

“On this devil of a test, someone scored three digits.”

“I thought that 99 earlier would be the class’s top score.”

“…”

Lin Zhexia hadn’t expected to draw attention in class on the first day of school because of her baseline test score.

But being the center of attention wasn’t the most awkward part.

What was most awkward was that Teacher Xu was quite satisfied with her score and asked her to share some thoughts.

Teacher Xu: “Is there anything you’d like to say to your new classmates?”

Lin Zhexia stood beside the podium holding her test paper, her mind momentarily blank, completely at a loss for words.

Under everyone’s gaze, she didn’t know what to think, and finally came up with: “I don’t have much to say. If I must say something, I can only say that you all can learn from me.”

The class fell silent for a moment.

Then someone started applauding: “Awesome!”

When she returned to her seat, Chen Lin couldn’t help but say: “You’re so impressive.”

Lin Zhexia already wanted to travel back in time to strangle her past self from a few minutes ago: “My brain might have been caught in something just now.”

Chen Lin: “Not at all, you looked cool when you were speaking. You truly are unfazed.”

“…” Lin Zhexia couldn’t recall, “Just pretend you never saw that.”

Right now.

She wanted to.

Open her chat with Chi Yao.

And type a string of “Ahhh” into the chat box.

But she couldn’t—no phones during class.

Unexpectedly, she and Chen Lin became more familiar because of this embarrassing incident.

After class, Chen Lin hadn’t fully understood the wrong questions discussed in class.

Lin Zhexia explained them to her once.

Chen Lin took back her test paper and said, “Thank you. Did you have tutoring during the break? Like hiring a private tutor?”

Lin Zhexia thought of Chi Yao’s face, which looked completely unhireable: “Sort of…”

Chen Lin: “Your tutor must have taught quite thoroughly if they covered all these questions.”

“He’s not that good,” since Chi Yao wasn’t around, Lin Zhexia spoke freely, “he’s ugly and has a bad temper.”

Chen Lin: “Huh?”

“And he loves to show off.”

Lin Zhexia finally said: “…Anyway, he’s not that great. It’s mainly because I’m naturally gifted.”

What no one knew was that during the break, she quietly took out her phone.

She opened her chat with a certain person.

And carefully sent a kneeling emoji along with a few lines of text—

[Kneeling]—

Super Invincible Handsome Chi Yao—

You’re awesome—

So glad to have you—

You. Are. My. Dad!!!

And that super invincible handsome person coldly replied with four words—

Keep acting crazy, I’ll block you.