The supermarket was about to close, and many of the day’s perishables were on the discount shelves. Shan Shan selected three or four buns, planning to eat one soon and save the rest for breakfast the next day. She also grabbed two bottles of yogurt from the refrigerator. At checkout, the owner rounded down the price for her.
With a plastic bag of goods on her lap, Shan Shan steadily exited the supermarket. When she returned to the classroom, there were still five minutes before the evening study hall bell. The class was in chaos, a noisy mess.
Shao Xing was playfully hitting Chen Jingsong’s head with Shan Shan’s pencil case. Hearing the soft “thump” of the wheelchair crossing the classroom threshold, she turned to see Shan Shan entering.
Tossing the pencil case into Chen Jingsong’s arms, Shao Xing stood up and walked over to help Shan Shan. However, a boy sitting near the door had already moved to assist.
Even from a distance, Shao Xing saw the girl in the wheelchair turn her head and flash a smile at the class’s biology representative, thanking him. The boy’s face turned as red as a monkey’s bottom in response.
Shao Xing took over pushing the wheelchair, guiding Shan Shan back to her seat while saying, “I heard Chen Jingsong say they’ve been privately ranking the class beauties. Guess what?”
Shan Shan took out a yogurt, inserted a straw with a “pop,” and took a couple of sips before asking, “What? Am I on the list?”
Shao Xing was momentarily stunned by her friend’s matter-of-fact confidence.
“My brother has been the campus heartthrob from elementary through university,” Shan Shan said. “We have the same parents. If I can’t even make it as a class beauty in high school, wouldn’t that be a bit disappointing?”
“…Impressive. You’re ranked second, just behind Tang Yisheng from the next class. On a 100-point scale, you’re about five points behind her.”
“That much!” Shan Shan exclaimed.
“…Friend, you’re missing two legs compared to her,” Shao Xing pointed out.
“Half a leg,” Shan Shan corrected. “Is that worth deducting five whole points? These boys are so strict!”
She spoke at a moderate volume, just loud enough for nearby Chen Jingsong to overhear. Both he and Shao Xing rolled their eyes before helping Shan Shan back into her seat.
They didn’t pursue the topic further, understanding that while Shan Shan outwardly joked about her legs, she never mentioned it to strangers or less familiar classmates. It wasn’t that she didn’t care; rather, she didn’t want those close to her to appear overly concerned, so she pretended it wasn’t a big deal.
As Shan Shan lowered her head to drink her yogurt and unwrap a bun, the evening study hall bell rang.
Just as Shan Shan had predicted, Teacher Yu, known as the “devil teacher,” entered the classroom right as the bell finished ringing. The math class representative sprang up as if his chair was electrified, turning to face the class and shouting, “Get out yesterday’s math test papers! Group leaders, check them!”
Teacher Yu required that all questions on the test papers had to be answered. If students couldn’t solve a problem, they were to write out their thought processes and calculations. No blank spaces were allowed; everything had to be filled in.
No one dared to speak as they hurriedly pulled out their papers.
Amidst the chaos, Shan Shan quickly gulped down a bun in a few bites.
As she was struggling to swallow, someone pushed her shoulder. Shao Xing’s calm voice sounded beside her, “Get your test paper out. How long are you going to hide it, you miser?”
Hastily crumpling the bun wrapper and stuffing it back into her desk, Shan Shan mumbled “I know” through a mouthful of food as she reached for her pocket—
She paused mid-chew.
She tried the other pocket.
After another attempt, she swallowed the last bite of food and looked up with a bewildered expression.
“What’s wrong?” Shao Xing asked, having watched this entire performance. “Don’t tell me you lost your test paper?”
Shan Shan silently pulled out the linings of both her jacket pockets, demonstrating their emptiness. She then turned to Shao Xing, her clear black and white eyes shining with a mix of panic and confusion.
To be honest, though it might be unkind to say, even Shao Xing, as a girl herself, thought Shan Shan looked incredibly cute at that moment.
Even though she was about to get scolded.
“Looking at me won’t help,” Shao Xing said. “It’s not like I can tear my paper in half and give it to you.”
It was windy and dark outside. If Shan Shan had dropped her paper on the way, it could have blown anywhere by now.
“Did you write your class and name on it?” Shao Xing asked. “Maybe someone will bring it back if they find it.”
Shan Shan, still wearing that confused expression, shook her head—
It wasn’t an official exam or homework to be turned in, so who would bother filling in their class and name on a practice test?
“Then you’re out of luck,” Shao Xing said sympathetically. “Prepare to be torn apart by Teacher Yu.”
…
“Shan Shan, do you think you did so well on the last test that you can now afford to be arrogant? Do you think you don’t need to do these practice papers and can just tell the teacher you lost it when it’s time to check? You think because I usually praise you for being obedient, I’ll believe whatever you say—”
Teacher Yu’s voice rang in her ears like an inescapable spell.
Shan Shan lowered her head, too ashamed to meet the teacher’s eyes, rendered speechless—
She rarely made such basic mistakes.
To think that her one mistake would land her in the hands of the “devil.”
“I want to believe you, but shouldn’t you at least come up with a more plausible excuse? Hmm? Why would you carry a completed test paper in your pocket for a stroll? Wouldn’t it be better to leave it safely in your math textbook? Come on, tell me, why did you put the test paper in your pocket?”
Of course, Shan Shan couldn’t say that she had put the paper in her pocket to prevent her deskmate from copying her work.
This was truly a situation where she couldn’t explain herself.
She remained silent for a while, unable to utter a word, lowering her head to fiddle with the zipper on her lap—
Her fingers pinched the cold metal zipper, then released it, her mind blank.
Her small face wasn’t flushed with the shame of being caught in a lie, but pale, completely drained of color… She silently raised her head, quickly glancing at the math teacher standing before her, whose face was full of severity and disappointment—
Usually, the teacher liked Shan Shan very much.
In class, when others couldn’t answer questions, she would call on Shan Shan to save the day. She would occasionally praise Shan Shan’s alternative problem-solving methods on math assignments… and frequently called on her during open classes.
Shan Shan raised her hand to rub her eyes, her throat constricting, feeling as if something was stuck in it.
Even her breath felt hot in her nostrils.
She could feel many gazes focused on the top of her head—
Some sympathetic, others gloating.
Shan Shan wasn’t surprised at all.
She knew that while many people appeared harmonious on the surface, they didn’t like her that much. They probably just thought that because of her physical condition, teachers always gave her special treatment and were kind to her…
Teenagers in their early teens.
Few of them seriously considered that perhaps the teachers’ fondness for her might be related to her constant hard work, staying up until the early hours of the morning to complete assignments, and turning in satisfactory answer sheets.
Compared to other students, her efforts were easily overshadowed by the “sympathy” halo.
Those gazes stung her cheeks.
But she had no way to defend herself.
It was as if she had suddenly become the center of the universe—
And the center of the universe was on the verge of collapse.
Her fingers twisted and curled, the tips turning white from gripping the metal zipper so tightly. All the surrounding sounds disappeared, and tears welled up in her eyes, threatening to fall at any moment.
She didn’t even dare to cry.
If someone mockingly asked, “You still have the nerve to cry?” she wouldn’t know how to respond.
After a brief silence, it was Shao Xing who couldn’t hold back anymore. She stared at her friend’s fluffy hair top, which was almost buried in her chest, for a while. Shifting uncomfortably in her seat, she had just said “Teacher” when suddenly, there was a knock at the classroom’s front door.
Two sharp “knocks.”
The previously quiet classroom seemed to pause for a moment.
Including the math teacher who had been glaring at Shan Shan, everyone in the class reflexively turned their heads, prompted by an “Oh” from a girl sitting near the door. They all saw the person standing in the doorway—
The newcomer had already taken off his down jacket and was wearing the school uniform. The high school sophomore’s uniform jacket was dark blue, and his tall, straight figure made even the ordinary uniform look quite handsome…
If there were a catalog of China’s ugly high school uniforms, he should be the one-in-a-million model chosen for the cover to mislead the masses.
The young man standing at the door had a cold expression.
Although he was the same age as everyone in the classroom, for some reason, his all-dark school uniform gave him an air of superiority.
Seeing that his single knock had attracted the attention of the entire class, including the teacher, Dai Duo raised an eyebrow.
He heard the whispers from the front rows: “Dai Duo,” “It’s him,” “Why is he here,” “Oh my, it’s that Dai Duo from the sophomore class.”
His gaze swept calmly over the front rows, then landed emotionlessly on the back—
Behind the middle-aged female teacher with a serious expression, a small girl was leaning sideways against her desk, tilting her head to look at him.
Her nose and eye sockets were red, reminding Dai Duo of the time when bored after training, he went off-piste skiing and dug up a rabbit’s nest…
The little rabbit just pulled out of the snow, looked just like this.
However, this association lasted only a second, and his face showed no emotional fluctuation.
He pulled out a piece of paper folded into a rectangle from his school uniform pocket with two fingers. Then, to everyone’s shock, he stepped forward and walked straight towards the person sitting stunned at her desk—
Then, as her eyes slowly widened, he placed the folded math test paper, which had neither class nor name written on it, on her desk.
“You dropped this earlier,” he said calmly, tapping Shan Shan’s desk with his knuckles.
Then, as Shan Shan stared in shocked silence, he turned his head and glanced at the teacher, who also seemed unsure of what was happening, as if some rhythm had been interrupted—
He didn’t even apologize.
Maintaining his strange logic and politeness from who-knows-where, he nodded to the teacher with equal hauteur, then turned and left the classroom.
The classroom was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
The math teacher personally checked Shan Shan’s test paper, confirming that she had indeed completed it. Able to let the matter go, she apologized to Shan Shan graciously and advised her not to carry test papers in her pockets in the future.
“Also, from now on, you should all follow Shan Shan’s example. Even for assignments that aren’t to be turned in, remember to write your class and name next time, so it’s easier for others to return if they find it—”
Her voice cut off abruptly.
Because she suddenly noticed that the class and name fields on the test paper in her hand were blank.
She looked down at Shan Shan curiously and asked, “Do you know that student from earlier?”
Shan Shan shook her head.
The math teacher didn’t ask anything further. She put down the test paper, patted the desk, and returned to the podium.
The tense atmosphere in the classroom immediately relaxed. Before Shan Shan could say anything, the test paper on her desk was suddenly snatched away from the front— the annoying Chen Jingsong, in a voice loud enough for the whole class to hear, said: “Wow! You didn’t even write your class and name? Isn’t that guy from the sophomore year? How did he manage to bring the paper to our class just by looking at you once?!”
The class erupted in commotion.
For a second, Shan Shan felt as if she had suddenly maxed out the “campus novel female protagonist” halo…
She never imagined she’d experience such treatment in this lifetime.