Xu You didn’t understand his suggestive words. She scrambled up in a fluster. When she swung her leg down, it was deliberately tripped again by his bent knee, and she nearly toppled over.

She barely managed to brace her hands on the ground, steadying herself, her palms sticky with some sweat.

Xu You was so angry her cheeks flushed red, her cheekbones burning hot, half-kneeling on the cement ground glaring at him.

The person lying on the ground was in no hurry to get up either, slowly propping up half his body, face to face with her.

Brushed by the evening breeze, his mood suddenly became exceptionally good.

“What, you seem very dissatisfied with your lifesaver?” He lifted his eyelids, the corner of his mouth carrying a smile.

Xu You was still angry, instinctively kicking at him with her foot. “What kind of lifesaver are you?”

This kick landed directly on the big boss. After she realized what she’d done…

Both were briefly silent.

Seeing that he kept not speaking, she felt a bit guilty and couldn’t help but ask quietly: “Does it… hurt a lot?”

Xie Ci couldn’t hold it in, a smile hanging at his lips as he replied softly: “It hurts.”

“Really?”

“Really.” Xie Ci said improperly, lazily: “Didn’t expect you quite like using campus violence on your classmates.”

“You deserved it.”

Xu You’s big bright eyes looked at him. In her heart she felt she’d finally vented, and said in a self-destructive manner: “It’s all because you keep bullying me.”

She was too innocent, not knowing how ambiguous the word “bullying” could be.

The distant horizon was dyed into a warm dim yellow, the air carrying a bit of summer flower fragrance.

Xie Ci’s Adam’s apple moved slightly up and down, a feeling of itchiness in his heart. He said lowly, vaguely: “You haven’t seen what real ‘bullying’ is, have you.”

After saying this, he made a sound of acknowledgment, slightly lifting his chin, looking at Xu You with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile: “With that appearance of yours, are you trying to seduce me?”

Xu You was stunned at first, then belatedly, following his gaze, suddenly looked down.

Her short-sleeved shirt’s collar was already somewhat loose to begin with, and during the tussling and pulling with him just now, it had slipped down a bit more.

On her round, fair shoulder was a thin blue bra strap.

“You, you pervert!” Xu You’s mind went blank.

Both ashamed and angry, she reached out and pinched him, then quickly scrambled up to cover her clothes properly and backed away several steps.

Xie Ci watched her fleeing back, pulled up the corner of his lips, and hissed.

Heart-piercingly sweet.

—

The next day was Thursday. After the third class in the morning, the atmosphere in the classroom was unusually oppressive.

Because the fourth class was math class, which was also the homeroom teacher’s class.

Besides announcing grades, they would also change seats.

During the break, quite a few students, unable to contain their anxiety, had already run to the office to secretly check their grades.

Zheng Xiaolin, who sat in front of Xu You, was one of them.

The seat in front was empty. The people around were all lying on their desks sleeping.

Only Xu You, organizing her notes while nibbling on a small apple.

The ten-minute break flew by in a flash. Before the class bell rang, students who had checked their grades came running back one after another.

They were like triumphant heroes—as soon as they reached the classroom, a circle of people surrounded them asking questions.

“Did you see my grade?”

“What rank did you get?”

“Did you see? Did you see?”

“How was it? Did you check for me? What’s my score?!”

…..

Zheng Xiaolin came back to her seat out of breath. From the looks of it, she did well, in a very good mood.

With a face full of joy, she was just about to turn her head to say something when the homeroom teacher pushed open the door and entered.

Xu You looked up and put away the half-eaten apple.

She made a small gesture, pushing the person beside her, saying quietly: “Stop sleeping, the teacher’s here.”

Xu Huiru walked toward the podium, her gaze sweeping around the classroom, a grade sheet in her hand.

She cleared her throat, then spoke: “Everyone quiet down. Today I have something to tell you.”

Below was complete silence.

You could hear a pin drop.

“The monthly exam results are out.” As she spoke, she looked at the sheet again. “I know some of you don’t care about grades. This time I’ll especially commend—we have seven students from our class who made it into the top 100 of the grade.”

At these words, there was an uproar below.

The grade had nearly 30 classes, several honor classes, not including the Sunshine Class and Rocket Class.

For regular classes, if two or three students made it into the top hundred, the teacher’s face would already shine with glory.

No one expected that this time, Class 9—the most unruly of the regular classes—would get such a good start on their first monthly exam.

The students in class listened casually, the group in the back even more bored.

Song Yifan boredly twirled his pen, chatting with Xie Ci: “A’Ci, should we skip PE class this afternoon?”

“To do what?”

“Go play pool. Haven’t played in a long time.”

“Not going.” A very flat voice.

Song Yifan put his arm around Xie Ci’s shoulder, leaning close to say: “Brother Ci, how come you’re starting to become so ascetic? Come on.”

“Get lost.”

Song Yifan, getting nowhere, turned toward Xu Xiaocheng across the aisle: “Brother Cheng, coming out to play this afternoon?”

Xu Xiaocheng was playing on his phone, no time to deal with him, answering offhandedly: “Played too much with my girlfriend last night, no energy.”

“Hey, you.” Song Yifan pursed his lips, just about to insult him a couple times.

Xu Huiru’s gaze looked over, loudly scolding: “Song Yifan, you’re still talking! Look at what you scored on the exam!”

Song Yifan, being called out, shrank his shoulders and made a pitiful face: “Teacher, you can’t stop me from talking just because I did badly on the exam.”

Some people in class were amused into laughter.

Xu Huiru glared. “You scored at the bottom of the grade and you’re still grinning at me.”

Song Yifan touched his nose.

The voice from the podium continued.

“Can’t you learn more from the student sitting in front of you? Studying in the same place, you get last place while others get first in the grade!”

Xu You, who’d been called out, paused the hand that was writing.

A collective gasp of breath-sucking sounds throughout the class.

Many people turned their heads in disbelief, looking toward the new student sitting in the back row.

Their gazes all became different.

Good heavens, this transfer student is really something—coming in and immediately surpassing Xu Xingchun, the perennial first place holder.

Those with the surname Xu—do they all naturally have the genius halo…

You have to know, the reason Class 9 had prestige—besides having many rich second-generation kids—there was another reason: the grade’s first place was in this class.

Xu Xingchun’s position on the rankings was basically unshakable. From middle school through high school, he’d always held first place.

Quite a few people had wondered why he didn’t go to the Rocket Class but insisted on staying in Class 9.

No one expected that this time, quietly and without fanfare, he’d been overtaken by a girl.

“I’m going to read out these seven people’s names now. For everyone else’s rankings, I’ll have the class monitor post them in the back later for you to check yourselves.”

The discussion in class grew louder. Xu Huiru signaled for them to be quiet. She paused, then continued:

“Xu You, first in class, first in grade, total score 678.”

“Xu Xingchun, second in class, second in grade, total score 677.”

“Chen Chunlin, third in class, 32nd in grade, total score 645.”

“Xiang Fei, fourth in class, 67th in grade, total score 633.”

“………..”

The air conditioning in the classroom operated, blowing out wisps of cold air.

Xu You had a bit of a cold. She coughed lowly a few times, continuing to grip her pen and continue doing homework.

She showed no expression, as if the person who got first place wasn’t herself, or as if she was already used to it.

After calculating the last problem in the exercise book, Xu You stopped writing.

She sniffled, lowering her head to look for tissue in the drawer.

The ballpoint pen was jostled twice and rolled from the desk to the floor.

Xu You turned and bent down to pick up the pen.

The moment she looked up, she met Xie Ci’s eyes.

He was chewing gum in his mouth.

Both were momentarily stunned.

On the podium, Xu Huiru said:

“Everyone pack up your things. After PE class this afternoon, come back and change seats.”