Pei Chen heard her words, and his gaze briefly flashed with a complex emotion. He quickly withdrew his hand and sat up straight.
Liang Zhiyi noticed him lowering his head to flip through a book, his jaw tensed as if he had no intention of engaging with her. She couldn’t help but laugh—
Why does this person have such a big reaction to just a bit of teasing?
Seeing that Pei Chen was focused on reading, she decided not to disturb him any further and took out her earphones to listen to music.
Up ahead, Sang Xunling observed the interaction between Liang Zhiyi and Pei Chen in silence. Her friend, Tong Sisi, also glanced over and frowned:
“Why did that new transfer student Liang Zhiyi specifically choose to sit next to Pei Chen? There are so many empty seats on the bus, it’s ridiculous.”
Tong Sisi suddenly guessed something: “Lingling, do you think Liang Zhiyi might be interested in Pei Chen, considering how close they’re getting?”
Sang Xunling tightened her grip on her backpack.
“But the class monitor is such a cold person, he definitely won’t pay her any attention,” Tong Sisi added.
Sang Xunling knew this well.
So, even if Liang Zhiyi took the initiative to sit beside Pei Chen, she could already guess how aloof his response would be.
She smiled faintly: “Don’t jump to conclusions; it has nothing to do with us.”
…
After a while, the bus started up and headed back to No. 1 High School.
It was the middle of the day, and many students were napping, making the bus very quiet.
Liang Zhiyi closed her eyes and listened to music, gradually feeling drowsy.
Pei Chen was looking down at a vocabulary book when he suddenly felt his arm being gently brushed, a soft and ticklish sensation.
He turned his head and saw Liang Zhiyi leaning back in her seat, fast asleep.
Under the sunlight, her skin glowed with a pearlescent sheen, appearing particularly fair and translucent. Her eyelashes were long and dense, like two small brushes, and her features exuded the clear innocence of youth.
Her head tilted in his direction, almost resting on his shoulder, and the ends of her hair occasionally and unintentionally brushed against his arm.
Accompanied by the sweet scent of a young girl, the tingling itchiness spread continuously.
He quickly moved his hand away.
But in the next moment, Liang Zhiyi shifted slightly, frowned, and murmured with her eyes closed, “Pei Chen, could you please close the curtain? It’s so bright…”
Her voice was very soft, yet Pei Chen heard it clearly.
It sounded as if she was being coquettish.
This inexplicable thought suddenly popped into his mind.
Pei Chen quickly averted his gaze, his Adam’s apple rolling as he heard her softly murmur again, “Pei Chen…”
A few seconds later, he raised his hand and pulled the curtain shut.
He lowered his head, forcing himself to push away the distracting thoughts. His dark eyes fell back on the book, and he tried to focus on memorizing vocabulary.
—
Returning to school, the military training session finally came to an end.
After a weekend of rest, the students faced their first official day of classes.
On Monday morning, Liang Zhiyi and Ji Fei’er met up at the school gate as per their usual routine.
After a while, the two of them arrived at Class Nine. Liang Zhiyi walked over to the fourth row and saw that Pei Chen was already there, reading a book. The sunlight streamed through the windows, falling on his crisp white shirt, highlighting his clean and serene aura.
She walked over and sat down. Xuan Xia, who was eating breakfast, turned his head and saw her, “Morning! You’re here!”
Fan Gao also turned around to greet her.
Liang Zhiyi smiled at them, greeted them back, and then set down her backpack. She then glanced at the boy beside her, “Morning.”
Pei Chen looked up and met her gaze, her eyes filled with a bright smile, reflecting only his face.
He responded with a low “morning” and continued reading his book.
Xuan Xia took a bite of his shaomai and, chewing, casually asked, “Zhiyi, where do you live? Is it far from school?”
Liang Zhiyi gave her address, and Xuan Xia, knowing it was a wealthy residential area, exclaimed, “Wow, your family must be really rich!”
Fan Gao was surprised, “Zhiyi, how did you get to school this morning? Even if you take the bus from there, it would take 40 to 50 minutes, right?”
“I’m not sure; the family driver brought me.”
Xuan Xia jokingly scolded Fan Gao, “Are you dumb? Someone living there doesn’t need to take the bus!”
“Sorry, my bad, hahaha…”
The three of them chatted for a while. At seven o’clock, as morning reading began, some students in the class were still whispering to each other until someone suddenly shouted, “The abbot is here!”
The reading voices in the class suddenly became loud and orderly.
A few seconds later, the homeroom teacher quietly walked in through the back door.
Liang Zhiyi, curious, took the opportunity to quietly ask the two people in front of her, “Why do you call the homeroom teacher ‘Abbot’?”
Xuan Xia explained that the homeroom teacher’s full name was Fang He’an. Although he was only in his early thirties, he was as nagging as an old lady, and his speech was like chanting, which made everyone’s scalp tingle. So, someone jokingly nicknamed him “Abbot,” and over time, everyone started calling him that behind his back.
After hearing the explanation, Liang Zhiyi turned to Pei Chen with a bright smile, “If the homeroom teacher is the abbot, then as the class monitor, you must be the senior disciple.”
Xuan Xia and Fan Gao burst into laughter at her words, “Yeah, Pei Chen, you’re the senior disciple, hahaha…”
“……”
The “Senior Disciple” who was reading his Chinese textbook looked up at them with a face full of exasperation.
Liang Zhiyi couldn’t stop laughing.
The “Abbot” scanned the rows of students in the class and finally walked over to Liang Zhiyi’s desk. He bent down and asked, “Zhiyi, next Monday during the flag-raising ceremony, can you represent Class Nine and give a speech under the national flag?”
Liang Zhiyi was stunned, “Me, giving a speech?”
“Yes, although you’re new to the main campus, that’s not a problem.” In reality, he had first asked a few of the top students in the class, but they all shyly declined. However, this task needed to be done by someone, so he thought of Liang Zhiyi.
Under the Abbot’s persuasion, Liang Zhiyi agreed.
She had participated in many speeches before, so this wasn’t too difficult for her.
“Then take this week to prepare your speech. The topic is about a ‘civilized campus’…”
After finishing his instructions, he left the classroom.
Liang Zhiyi, who had been enjoying teasing Pei Chen just moments ago, found herself facing “retribution” the next moment…
She leaned on her desk and looked at the boy beside her, a bit troubled, “Pei Chen, have you ever given a speech under the national flag before?”
She lightly poked his arm.
His reading paused for a moment, “Yes.”
Her eyes lit up, “Then can you share some tips with me? How did you do it back then?”
He responded flatly, “I held the script and spoke.”
“……”
What’s with this guy!
She was so annoyed that she stopped talking to him.
—
After Monday, Liang Zhiyi went back and prepared a speech on the topic of a civilized campus, and practiced it until she was familiar with it.
On the following Monday, during the break for morning exercises, everyone gathered on the field. After the flag was raised, the teacher announced that it was time for the speech under the national flag and invited the student speaker to the stage.
The next moment, everyone saw a girl walking up to the podium, her steps light and steady, exuding an air of experience.
The girl was slender and tall, dressed in a white shirt and a school-style skirt, with skin as fair as snow, full of energy and radiance.
The students, who had been standing sluggishly under the sun with their heads down, immediately perked up when Liang Zhiyi stepped onto the stage. She quickly drew the attention of many, with whispers of “She’s so pretty” echoing through the crowd.
Especially the boys who hadn’t seen Liang Zhiyi before—they were all staring in amazement.
On the podium, Liang Zhiyi walked up to the microphone and introduced herself.
Her voice was clear and bright, with a sweet tone, and for a moment, murmurs of admiration spread through the crowd of students. Those who knew her started explaining to others, and soon phrases like “rich heiress” and “campus beauty” began circulating among the whispering groups.
In the ranks of Class Nine, Xuan Xia turned to Pei Chen and remarked, “Liang Zhiyi is really beautiful, and I didn’t expect her speech to be so impressive. She’s amazing.”
Pei Chen looked up at the dazzling girl on stage, his thin lips pressed together, but he didn’t say a word.
After this simple speech, Liang Zhiyi hadn’t expected to attract so much attention. Many people knew about her now.
As the week went on, wherever she walked on campus, she drew the attention of others. It even seemed that someone in her class had shared her WeChat ID, as she received many friend requests.
During breaks, students from other classes would come to Class Nine just to catch a glimpse of her. In addition, there were also girls from the first year coming to see the school heartthrob, Pei Chen.
On Friday morning, after returning to the classroom from the restroom, Liang Zhiyi found a pink envelope and a small gift box placed conspicuously in the middle of her desk. The envelope was addressed to: Pei Chen.
Someone had sent Pei Chen another love letter!
How many has this been this semester already!
She sat down with a huff, shoving the envelope and the gift harshly toward him. She glared at the boy, who was intently working on his assignments, and said, “Pei Chen, can you keep your admirers in check?”
Pei Chen glanced at her, then picked up several large gift boxes and bags from the floor and placed them in front of her, coldly saying, “Right back at you.”
Liang Zhiyi was stunned.
What on earth was going on?
Xuan Xia, sitting in the front row, turned around, clicking her tongue in amazement. “The two most popular people in the school are both in our Class Nine, and they’re even desk mates.”
Seeing that she had received more gifts than he had, Liang Zhiyi awkwardly scratched her head, “Sorry, I guess I’m just too charming.”
Pei Chen: “……”
Liang Zhiyi had no idea why so many boys were sending her gifts. Usually, if someone gave her something directly, she would politely refuse. But for those that she found left on her desk, she felt it would be a bit disrespectful to just throw them away, so she just put them aside and didn’t use them.
She turned and saw Pei Chen casually putting the love letter into his drawer. Curious, she leaned over and asked, “Pei Chen, do you ever read the love letters people send you?”
He didn’t look up, “No.”
“Don’t you want to know who likes you?”
“No.”
“What if one of them is someone you have a good impression of?” she probed, “Or is it that you don’t have anyone you like at all?”
“Is there a problem?” he responded calmly, turning to look at her. “What exactly are you trying to say?”
Liang Zhiyi smiled with satisfaction, “Nothing, I was just asking.”
If he didn’t like anyone, she could continue flirting with him without worry.
…
The morning passed, and by the afternoon, the last period was P.E. class. After the second period, everyone headed downstairs to the sports field.
Liang Zhiyi and Ji Fei’er walked downstairs, and the latter laughed, “Zhizhi, I just heard something interesting.”
“Hmm?”
“Because of you, the school forum has been buzzing these past few days.”
It turned out that after she gave her speech under the flag, the forum reignited discussions about her. Someone had somehow found and posted photos of her participating in various activities during her first year at the branch campus, leading to a huge thread.
In the thread, many people were saying that Liang Zhiyi’s looks far surpassed those of Sang Xunling, suggesting that the title of “school beauty” should change hands. However, some fans of Sang Xunling were unhappy with this and started arguing in the thread, causing a big commotion.
When Liang Zhiyi heard about it, she felt quite helpless.
Is everyone so bored? It’s like they’re treating this like some fan war.
Ji Fei’er remembered something, “And isn’t Pei Chen the school heartthrob? Last year during the New Year’s performance, Sang Xunling and he performed a recitation together, and there were rumors about them. At that time, people on the school forum even said they were the best-looking couple in No. 1 High, and that they looked perfect together.”
Liang Zhiyi curled her lips.
Ha, what nonsense.
After going downstairs, everyone lined up.
During class, they started with a slow jog to warm up. After finishing their run and stretches, they were free to do as they pleased.
Liang Zhiyi and Ji Fei’er planned to play badminton, so Ji Fei’er went ahead to secure a court, while Liang Zhiyi headed to the equipment room to get the rackets.
Humming a tune, she approached the equipment room door and was just about to enter when she overheard a low female voice from inside:
“Isn’t that Liang Zhiyi just disgusting?”
The person in question: ?
Inside, Tong Sisi’s mocking voice continued, “She just transferred here and made sure everyone knew about it. Does she really think she’s some big celebrity just because she’s been on camera?”
Another female voice chimed in, “Yeah, she’s so plain-looking, just happens to have some money. I heard during military training she bought drinks for a few girls in our class every day, trying to win them over. Such a scheming b*tch.”
Tong Sisi added, “Xunling, that forum post was probably made by Liang Zhiyi herself, saying how she’s prettier than you and wants to replace you as the school beauty. It was probably all her doing. If someone investigates, I’m sure they’ll find that she…”
Before the girl could finish speaking, a female voice rang out from the doorway:
“What do you need to investigate?”
Inside, Tong Sisi, Sang Xunling, and the other girl turned around and saw Liang Zhiyi standing there. They froze in shock.
Liang Zhiyi casually picked up a basketball from the floor near the door and tossed it in their direction.
The ball hit the ground with a loud “thud” near Tong Sisi’s feet, causing her to shriek and cover her head in fear.
Liang Zhiyi folded her arms and leaned leisurely against the doorframe, a smirk playing on her red lips:
“With guts that small, you still dare to talk behind people’s backs?”