In the haze of drowsiness, Pei Chen’s gaze met her smiling eyes, and for a few seconds, he felt as though he were in a dream, a fleeting moment of bewilderment passing through his eyes.
She looked different from her usual proud and carefree self.
At this moment, she was leaning on the desk, her fair and delicate face showing a touch of endearing innocence. Her voice, as gentle as a breeze, gradually swept away the surrounding heat.
He stared at her, his face momentarily revealing a dazed expression.
Seeing that he wasn’t responding, Liang Zhiyi lazily propped up her chin and, with a mischievous smile in her eyes, teased, “What, are you staring at me in a daze?”
The boy quickly averted his gaze, straightened his posture, and gradually became fully awake.
Liang Zhiyi noticed the faint dark circles under his eyes and curiously asked, “Pei Chen, did you stay up late studying last night?”
A top student will always be a top student, working so hard.
Pei Chen swallowed, remained silent, and put on his glasses, only to find that the homework he had left on the desk was gone.
Liang Zhiyi said, “I’ve already handed in your homework for you.”
When she arrived in the classroom earlier, she saw Pei Chen sleeping on the desk. It was the first time she had seen him so tired, so she didn’t disturb him. She handed in his homework and also told the teacher about the broken ceiling fan.
Pei Chen heard this and said, “Thank you.”
“You should go to bed earlier next time. Otherwise, being this tired will affect your studies.”
Pei Chen lowered his eyes, saying nothing. After a moment, he turned his head to look at Liang Zhiyi, who was lying on the desk reading a book, her eyelashes catching the sunlight, her fair skin glowing softly.
The gentle expression she had when she spoke replayed in his mind.
Pei Chen’s emotions churned within him, some inexplicable feelings were stirred up, but he quickly suppressed them.
…
After a while, just before the morning reading session began, Ji Fei’er came to find Liang Zhiyi. “Zhizhi, let’s go fill up the water bottles.”
Liang Zhiyi agreed, got up, and walked out of the classroom with her.
The two of them filled their water bottles and chatted on the way back. As they approached the classroom door, they heard a few boys inside making a commotion:
“Wow! What’s this? A pink envelope!”
“Oh my gosh! Is this a love letter?”
“Let me open it and see what’s written inside. The first line—Hello, Xian Deheng from Class 3, Grade 11, this is for the best student in Class 3!”
Inside the classroom, a few mischievous boys had found an anonymous love letter and were excitedly waving it around, urging others to read it together.
In an instant, the whole class was buzzing, the uproar sounded like thunder. Many boys were especially curious, while a few girls’ expressions changed.
A few female class monitors couldn’t stand it anymore: “You three! Stop reading that and bring the envelope over here!”
“Why are you so excited? Could it be from you? Hahaha…”
“Hurry up and read it! Let’s see which girl signed the love letter!”
They anxiously flipped to the last page, and Pei Chen, who was sitting in his seat, stood up and walked over.
But in the next moment, the love letter was suddenly snatched from the boys’ hands. They turned around to find themselves staring into Liang Zhiyi’s cold almond-shaped eyes.
“What are you looking at? What’s so interesting?”
Liang Zhiyi had witnessed the entire scene and, seeing that the girl’s name in the love letter was about to be revealed, she stepped forward.
She exuded a natural aura of authority, and the entire class fell silent instantly, everyone turning to look at her.
Liang Zhiyi glanced at the three boys and chuckled lightly, “It’s just a love letter. Why are you so excited? Does it even concern you?”
The smiles on the boys’ faces faded slightly. Liang Zhiyi scanned the classroom and spoke coldly, “What era are we living in? Haven’t you heard of gender equality? You boys can shamelessly chase after girls all day, so what’s wrong with a girl writing a love letter to a boy? Is that a crime? Does it warrant this public shaming?”
For a moment, the girls in the class, hearing her stand up for them, erupted in applause and cheers—Liang Zhiyi was so bold!
Some students nearby began to scold the three boys. One of them, feeling embarrassed, sneered at Liang Zhiyi, “Why are you so worked up? Did you write this letter?”
Liang Zhiyi turned her gaze, her eyes suddenly landing on Pei Chen, who was standing. She raised the corners of her mouth, her smile confident and bold, and said in front of the entire class, “If I liked a boy, I wouldn’t write a love letter. I’d confess directly. Is there a problem with that?”
Hearing such daring words from Liang Zhiyi, the class erupted in even louder cheers: “Liang Zhiyi is seriously awesome…”
True to her personality, she was bright, bold, and always straightforward—writing a love letter just wasn’t her style.
Liang Zhiyi looked at the three boys and said word by word, “And no matter who it is, it’s not your place to make snide comments.”
The three boys, publicly confronted like this, were too embarrassed to say anything in return, their faces turning red with frustration.
At that moment, the bell for the morning reading session rang. Pei Chen spoke up, telling everyone to stop discussing the matter and to take out their Chinese textbooks. The chatter gradually died down, and the incident came to an end.
Pei Chen walked up to Liang Zhiyi and said calmly, “Tear up the love letter and throw it away.”
This was to prevent anyone else from taking it to read again. Liang Zhiyi nodded, didn’t bother looking at the signature, and tore the envelope into small pieces before throwing it into the trash bin.
The two returned to their seats. Liang Zhiyi sighed as Xuan Xia and Fan Gao, sitting in the front row, turned around to compliment her on how cool she had just been. Xuan Xia, smiling brightly, asked, “Hey, if you liked someone, would you really confess to him?”
Liang Zhiyi rested her chin on her hand, glanced at the boy sitting next to her, her eyes curving into crescents, and hinted, “Of course, I don’t like hiding my feelings.”
Pei Chen, hearing this, turned his head and met Liang Zhiyi’s direct gaze.
His eyes darkened, and he quickly looked away.
Liang Zhiyi noticed his reaction and quietly arched her eyebrows.
After the morning reading session began, the homeroom teacher came to check on everyone’s reading progress, but luckily, the love letter incident hadn’t reached his ears.
The first class in the morning was math.
The math teacher was the homeroom teacher.
After class started, Liang Zhiyi took out her notebook and began taking notes.
After a while, the homeroom teacher assigned some in-class exercises. Liang Zhiyi finished hers on a blank sheet of scrap paper, then turned to glance at Pei Chen, only to find that his notebook was almost completely blank, and he hadn’t written down any of the exercises.
She smiled and whispered, “If you don’t know how to do it, I can teach you.”
The boy turned to look at her, and after a few seconds, he realized what she meant. It seemed like she was joking, and he replied with a few words, “I’ve done it.”
“But you clearly haven’t written anything down. Where did you do it?”
“In my head.”
“…Oh.”
Of course, being a top student, he would prefer to think through problems rather than write them down.
Feeling bored, Liang Zhiyi pushed her scrap paper toward him. “Then can you check if our answers match?”
She rested her head on her arms, lying on the desk and watching him, her long eyelashes fluttering like butterfly wings, her pupils catching the sunlight.
He rarely spoke during class, but Liang Zhiyi’s gaze remained fixed on him.
After a few seconds, he lowered his head and grabbed her scrap paper.
He glanced at it for a few moments before handing it back to her. “They match.”
Liang Zhiyi grinned and continued lying there, watching him. “Master, how many points did you score on your math final last semester?”
She deliberately called him that.
The boy remained silent, ignoring her. She couldn’t help but laugh and lightly poked his arm with her pen. “Pei Chen…”
“150,” he replied calmly.
A perfect score?!
And the key point was, how could he say “150” with such ease, as if it were entirely natural?
She knew he was truly remarkable, a genius in the eyes of the teachers. When she first transferred to the school, she had boasted about surpassing him—definitely spoken too soon…
“Pei Chen, you’re incredible,” she marveled, her gaze falling on his slightly trembling long eyelashes. “Wow, Pei Chen, your eyelashes are so long!”
The hand holding his pen suddenly paused.
“……”
He hadn’t expected her to switch topics from studying to his eyelashes.
He gripped his pen more tightly, kept his eyes straight ahead, and said calmly, “Pay attention in class.”
“Oh…”
She didn’t bother him after that, turning in the opposite direction and lying down again. Her high ponytail swished, the ends lightly brushing his arm, and finally, a few strands of her hair spread across his textbook, with a few ends still resting on the pages.
A few seconds later, Pei Chen turned his head to look at her.
Liang Zhiyi had her back to him, her ponytail revealing a glimpse of her fair neck, and her white shirt clung to her back, outlining the curve of her slender waist.
He quickly looked away and noticed the strands of her hair that had fallen onto the pages of his textbook.
His gaze darkened, and his thin lips pressed together tightly. In the end, he moved his textbook to the side and forced himself to focus on the blackboard.
—
After the two morning classes ended, there was supposed to be a session for radio exercises, but it was canceled due to the heat. This gave everyone a half-hour break.
Pei Chen had just started working on his homework when a classmate came up to him. “Class monitor, the homeroom teacher asked you to go to the office.”
Pei Chen acknowledged, put down his pen, and got up to go to the office.
When he arrived at the homeroom teacher’s desk, he asked, “Teacher, you needed to see me?”
The teacher stood up, hastily grabbing a notebook and pen. “Yes, I have to attend a meeting. I need you to go to the front desk and count two sets of National Day response slips. After that, distribute them to your classmates.”
“Okay.”
As the teachers in the office gradually left, Pei Chen walked over and began counting the slips on his own.
A moment later, Sang Xunling walked in, carrying a stack of English practice books.
The girl paused when she saw him, then walked to the desk next to his and set down her materials.
Seeing that Pei Chen didn’t spare her a glance, she hesitated for a moment before speaking casually, “Pei Chen, what are you doing?”
Pei Chen didn’t look at her. “Counting the response slips.”
Sang Xunling walked over and smiled lightly. “Do you need any help?”
“No.”
Sang Xunling lowered her eyes, then, as if remembering something, she spoke with a hint of sadness, “Pei Chen, there’s something that’s been on my mind for a few days, and I’ve been feeling really guilty.”
Pei Chen finished counting one set and looked up at her. “What is it?”
Sang Xunling’s expression showed a trace of sadness. “Last Friday afternoon in the equipment room, when Sisi and the others misunderstood Liang Zhiyi about the post.”
She lowered her head and said softly, “Pei Chen, they saw that many people were comparing me with Liang Zhiyi and attacking me, so they got upset and said some harsh things. But I didn’t think that way…”
Pei Chen listened, his expression unchanged, and continued counting the slips. He replied coldly, “This has nothing to do with me. There’s no need to tell me.”
Sang Xunling froze for a moment, her face stiffening slightly.
She hadn’t expected him to have no reaction at all.
Forcing a bitter smile, she continued, “No, I just mentioned it casually. But I really do feel bad for Liang Zhiyi. She was wrongfully accused because of me. She probably dislikes me now and might even resent me behind my back…”
“Don’t worry, I’m not blaming you behind your back.”
Suddenly, a voice came from behind.
Sang Xunling turned around in shock and saw Liang Zhiyi standing in the office, holding a workbook. She was leaning against the nearby desk, looking at Sang Xunling with a smile.
Liang Zhiyi had been doing her homework in the classroom when she realized she had forgotten to turn in her Chinese workbook, so she hurried over to submit it.
Sang Xunling froze in embarrassment, not expecting the person involved to hear her. After a few seconds, she forced a couple of awkward laughs. “Thank you, Zhiyi. I’m glad you’re not upset…”
Liang Zhiyi smiled but said nothing.
After finishing her sentence, Sang Xunling couldn’t find a reason to stay any longer, so she left.
The office was now empty, with all the other teachers having gone to a meeting, leaving only Pei Chen and Liang Zhiyi.
Pei Chen, tall and lean, stood by the window. The sunlight streamed in, casting a golden glow on his white shirt. His straight nose was highlighted by the glasses perched on it, and the tear mole beneath his eye was distinct.
How could someone look so captivating…
Liang Zhiyi licked her lips, turned in her assignment, and then walked over to him with great interest. She rested her arm on the partition of the desk and propped her chin on her hand, watching him silently as he carefully counted the response slips.
After two seconds, Pei Chen’s slender fingers paused slightly, and he turned to meet her bright, clear eyes.
“What’s up?”
“Was Sang Xunling just talking to you about me?”
Before Pei Chen could respond, Liang Zhiyi puffed out her cheeks, raising her eyebrows slightly as she grumbled, “Don’t try to fool me. I heard my name just now.”
Pei Chen was silent for a moment, his gaze falling on her fluttering eyelashes, and he responded in a calm tone, “She just mentioned what happened last Friday in the equipment room.”
She pouted. “Did you hear the whole conversation between me and them that day?”
He neither confirmed nor denied it. “Why?”
“You have to believe me—I really didn’t post anything on the forum. I’m not that bored,” she sighed softly. “I’m so unlucky. How did I end up getting cursed at as soon as I transferred to a new school?”
Pei Chen looked down at her as she pouted, and for once, he spoke gently. “If you didn’t do it, then there’s no need to pay attention to it.”
Liang Zhiyi’s mood lifted instantly, and she leaned closer to him, her voice cheerful:
“Although I’m not interested in the title of ‘School Beauty’—”
Pei Chen’s gaze dropped to her, only to see a mischievous smile curve at the corners of her lips as she leaned in closer, her playful voice whispering near his ear:
“I’m quite interested in the ‘School Heartthrob,’ though.”
What a line!! Lol love it 😀