Lunch break time passed in a flash.

Afternoon classes began at two-thirty, with three periods. Evening self-study wasn’t mandatory for day students. Xu You packed her books into her backpack, changed into a short-sleeved shirt, put on her school uniform jacket, and headed to the classroom.

September weather—once past noon, it became exceptionally muggy. By the time she walked all the way to the classroom, sweat had formed on her forehead.

It was already two-fifteen, yet there were only a sparse two or three people in the classroom.

Xu You sat in her seat, glanced around, took out her book, and shook her head.

If she hadn’t known that her class had just finished PE this morning, she would almost suspect that everyone had run off to gather at the sports field for first period.

She quietly worked on math problems for a while. People gradually trickled into the classroom. Xu You held a pen in her hand, head down flipping through her book, when a cup of crushed ice was suddenly placed on her desk.

She looked up to see Fu Xueli carrying a Hello Kitty purse, smiling as she said: “Little friend, bought this for you.”

“Ah?” Xu You hurriedly stood up to let Fu Xueli in, stammering: “This… I…”

“What’s with all the ‘you’ and ‘I’.”

Fu Xueli shook her head and raised her eyebrows, “If you don’t drink it, I’ll throw it away.”

After a few seconds, Xu You lowered her head and said very softly: “Thank you.”

She thought about it and felt that the new classmates in this class didn’t seem as terrible as the outside rumors suggested.

At least her deskmate, Fu Xueli, was truly an enthusiastic and beautiful girl.

Xu You bit the straw and secretly glanced twice at the person sitting beside her playing on their phone.

She accidentally sucked in a large mouthful—the crushed ice was too cold, making her shiver.

Unable to hold back a cough, but afraid of disturbing other students in the classroom, she could only cover her mouth.

Xu You rarely drank this kind of thing. At home she only drank the cooled boiled water and mung bean soup her grandmother made. Those strange drinks and cold beverages—she never touched them.

Seeing her like this, Fu Xueli burst out laughing and suddenly asked: “Hey… little friend, do you have a boyfriend?”

“Ah?” Xu You was stunned, then shook her head, “No.”

“You’re so cute, and no one’s pursuing you?”

Xu You felt embarrassed: “I’m not cute. You’re the first person to compliment me as cute.”

“Really?” Fu Xueli laughed again, “That shows I have good taste.”

The two of them nestled in their seats like this, chatting back and forth.

Actually, Xu You wasn’t an introverted girl in the traditional sense—she was just a bit slow to warm up. Once familiar, she felt she actually had a lot to say.

Gradually, the class filled up and became somewhat noisy. The teacher walked up to the podium carrying lecture notes.

Xu You quickly finished what was left in the cup, tidied up her desk surface, and took out her Chinese textbook.

“Hey, why are there two empty seats at the back of group four? Who sits there?” The Chinese teacher pointed over and asked the class president.

“Xie Ci and Song Yifan.”

The class president stood up and answered in an indifferent tone, clearly having dealt with this question many times.

The Chinese teacher rolled her eyes and didn’t continue asking.

These two—at best they’d step into the classroom right on time, at worst they’d be late.

Teachers of various subjects found it annoying but had no real solution.

She took a sip of water, picked up chalk, and wrote “Jing Ke Assassinates the King of Qin” on the blackboard.

Halfway through writing, the back door of the classroom was slammed open with a bang.

The entire class’s eyes looked over, and the Chinese teacher’s hand paused as she turned around.

Xie Ci and Song Yifan, as if nothing had happened, faced the entire class’s gaze and swaggered in one after the other.

The Chinese teacher seemed to hold back for a moment, didn’t lose her temper, and turned back to finish writing on the blackboard.

Xu You listened nervously to the commotion behind her.

—Clang, thud.

The two masters pulled out their chairs, making quite a racket, and finally sat down.

“What were you guys doing? Did you resolve Fu Yishun’s matter?”

Fu Xueli leaned her back against Xie Ci’s desk, lowering her voice and turning to look at them.

Xie Ci was too lazy to talk. He casually pulled a book from his drawer and slapped it on the desk.

Song Yifan bounced his leg and said indifferently: “Fu Yishun is nothing. Ah Ci and I got people to rough him up, then went to the internet cafe to play games.”

“Wait, Ah Ci, are you really official with Qiu Qingqing?” Fu Xueli looked at him, “That girl has such a fake air about her. I don’t like her.”

“You’re just jealous she’s prettier than you.” Song Yifan said dismissively from the side.

“No, Song Yifan, don’t you think so?” Fu Xueli looked serious, “Ah Ci has taken her out to hang out a few times, and I feel like she really looks down on us poor students.”

Song Yifan didn’t care and responded with an “oh,” saying: “Well, she emerges from the mud unstained.”

Xie Ci didn’t say a word from beginning to end. Getting somewhat impatient, he lay down on his desk preparing to sleep.

“Alright, today we’re learning a new lesson.”

The Chinese teacher stood on the podium and cleared her throat, “Everyone quiet down. I’m going to find someone to read the text.”

Hmm…

The class instantly fell silent.

Damn.

Such a long classical Chinese text, and she insists on having someone read it—what’s wrong with her?

Most people in the class quickly lowered their heads, avoiding her surveying gaze.

The Chinese teacher scanned around, her eyes lighting up as she pointed at Xu You sitting upright: “That girl in the back, are you the transfer student who came this morning?”

Xu You froze for a moment. When she realized the teacher was asking her, with eyes from all directions watching, she couldn’t help blushing, silently stood up, and nodded.

“What’s your name?”

“Xu You.”

“Where are you from?”

“Xizhou.”

“Oh my, that place.” The Chinese teacher thought for a moment and nodded thoughtfully, “A southerner—no wonder you’re so fair.”

As soon as the words fell, the entire class burst into laughter.

Xu You stood there awkwardly, head slightly lowered.

Although she had excelled academically since childhood and was a teacher’s pet, for some reason she was afraid of being called on to answer questions. Every time she stood up, her ears would turn bright red.

This kind of well-behaved, quiet female student was well-liked by Chinese teachers. She nodded and said: “Then you read this text for us.”

Summer sunlight passed through the glass, with fine particles floating in lines of light columns in the air.

Xu You’s uniform sleeves were rolled up to her elbows, exposing a thin, pale arm. She picked up her Chinese book and began reading from the first line.

Word by word.

Her voice carried the soft, waxy quality unique to Jiangnan, with a slow cadence that was especially soothing and gentle.

“General Qin Wang Jian defeated Zhao, captured the King of Zhao, completely occupied its territory, advanced troops northward to seize land, reaching the southern border of Yan…”

The Chinese teacher nodded as she listened, her face wrinkled with smiles, visibly very satisfied.

Xu You not only read smoothly but also pronounced many difficult characters accurately.

It was the result of previewing in advance.

When she read “the wind howls and the Yi River runs cold,” she was interrupted by the teacher.

“Stop.” The Chinese teacher made a gesture and said gently, “Read that sentence again.”

Xu You hesitated: “…the wind howls…”

“It’s feng, with a back nasal sound.” The Chinese teacher interrupted her kindly: “Not fen. You read it as fen howls.”

“Feng, feng…”

Xu You reacted after a moment, lacking confidence.

Southerners indeed often couldn’t distinguish between back nasal and front nasal sounds, and didn’t speak Mandarin as well as northerners.

Song Yifan was right behind Xu You and heard everything clearly. He finally couldn’t help laughing, his body shaking.

Xie Ci beside him supported his head with one hand, eyes lowered looking at that line in the book “the wind howls and the Yi River runs cold,” grinning as he also laughed.

When these two brothers laughed, others also burst out laughing.

Classroom discipline was instantly disrupted.

The Chinese teacher was in the middle of speaking when she discovered the commotion in the back. Unable to hold back, she knocked on the blackboard forcefully. Seeing those boys with their delinquent appearance made her angry: “Song Yifan!! What are you laughing at? You read it!”

Song Yifan stopped laughing in one second and said miserably: “I’m not the only one laughing. My deskmate is also laughing.”

“Then you both read together!”

The Chinese teacher caught her breath and said: “Xu You, sit down first. Those certain people in the back—if you don’t want to listen to class, just sleep, but don’t disrupt classroom discipline!”

Although Xu You felt somewhat embarrassed being laughed at, she still breathed a sigh of relief inwardly and sat down quietly.

Fu Xueli leaned over to comfort her, “It’s okay, little friend. Song Yifan and the others are just habitually cheap like that. Don’t take it to heart.”

Xu You nodded, not angry, and said softly: “I don’t mind.”

Actually, it wasn’t a big deal anyway. She had a good temper.

After waiting a while, the two people behind slowly and reluctantly stood up.

“Teacher, Xie Ci and I are illiterate. Can you let us off?”

Song Yifan said carelessly, continuing to mouth off.

The Chinese teacher’s eyes widened: “If I tell you to read, then read. Where does all this nonsense come from! Xie Ci, you start first.”

Xie Ci leaned his shoulder against the wall sideways, brought the book to his eyes, glanced at it, and lazily continued reading: “Fen howls and the Yi River runs cold.”

As soon as this sentence came out, the entire class burst into laughter.

The Chinese teacher’s eyes bulged with anger: “Are you done or not? Read it properly!”

Xu You lowered her head, looking at her Chinese textbook, and didn’t laugh. Being deliberately mocked like this by that person behind her made her feel even more embarrassed.

Sigh.

She felt a bit exhausted.

After spacing out for a while, Song Yifan’s sarcastic tone made Xu You perk up a bit, so she continued gripping her pen and listening attentively.

Finally enduring two Chinese class periods, the last period was self-study.

During the ten-minute break, all sorts of demons and monsters were causing trouble, with desks and stools being moved around noisily by a group of rowdy boys.

Xu You opened an extracurricular resource book with classical Chinese annotations, preparing to copy down explanations of some key sentences from the new lesson.

After writing for a while with rustling sounds, the class bell rang. Everyone returned to their original seats, and those who had gone to the bathroom also came running back from the hallway.

Fu Xueli had been sleeping since the end of the second period.

Xu You took the book Fu Xueli had left on the desk and also copied a set of notes for her.

Self-study class was generally quiet, with only occasional sounds.

“Hey, switch positions.” Xie Ci suddenly spoke.

Song Yifan was baffled, “What for?”

Xie Ci kicked him: “Hurry up, so much nonsense.”

Then the two made a rustling commotion.

Xu You’s pen tip paused for a while. After confirming nothing had happened, she felt relieved and continued doing homework.

Quietly, more than ten minutes passed.

Her stool was suddenly kicked by someone, accompanied by a voice: “Hey, my physics homework…”

Xu You’s heart clenched.

Not knowing how to respond, since she hadn’t written it herself.

Not wanting to disturb others by explaining to him, she could only pretend not to hear and continue copying notes.

After a while.

Her stool was kicked twice more.

Xu You’s spine stiffened. After he finished kicking, she continued doing homework.

Song Yifan kept casting meaningful glances her way.

Xu You’s expression was stiff, never responding.

Until.

The stool she was sitting on was hooked by someone’s foot and suddenly dragged backward.

A harsh screeching sound startled her, and she hurriedly grabbed the desk edge.

People around cast surprised looks, and Fu Xueli was also woken up.

Xu You finally couldn’t hold back anymore.

She turned around, not daring to look at him, could only lower her eyebrows submissively and murmur softly: “Classmate, your physics homework, I…”

“What about you?”

“I don’t know which problems to do.”

“Bring the book over.”

Xie Ci looked down at her from above.

“What?” Xu You was stunned.

“Physics book.”

“Ah…?”

Xie Ci leaned back against the chair back, slightly raised his chin, and raised his eyebrows: “I’ll mark out the problems for you.”