Before the bell for the morning self-study session rang, Sheng Qingxi jogged into Class 6 of the second year.
Jiang Mingyuan had assigned her a seat in the third desk of the fourth row, and her deskmate was a girl with a cleanliness obsession.
Sheng Qingxi noticed this the day before. When the girl picked up a pen, she would use a tissue to wrap it first. When others spoke to her or handed her assignments, they did so with great caution, afraid of accidentally touching her.
It seemed that her condition was severe, likely explaining why she always sat alone. Sheng Qingxi tried to avoid touching her to avoid crossing any boundaries.
Chen Yi could feel that Sheng Qingxi was making a deliberate effort not to touch her chair as she entered. In fact, when Chen Yi first learned that she was going to have a new deskmate, she wasn’t happy at all.
In this class, no one was willing to sit with her, and she didn’t want to sit with anyone either.
From her and her previous deskmates’ perspectives, they were both a burden to each other. Eventually, Chen Yi and Jiang Mingyuan reached a compromise—she would have a desk to herself.
But suddenly, a new transfer student arrived, and Jiang Mingyuan had no other choice. The day before the school term started, he even called to try to convince her.
Chen Yi understood Jiang Mingyuan’s dilemma, so she silently accepted the reality that she would soon have a new deskmate. She thought she was in for another disaster, but to her surprise, this new deskmate was not what she had expected. Sheng Qingxi quickly realized her severe cleanliness obsession.
Sheng Qingxi looked at her like she was just an ordinary person, without the strange or confused looks Chen Yi had become used to, as if she were some kind of anomaly.
For now, Chen Yi didn’t feel any discomfort.
This made her breathe a sigh of relief.
Chen Yi quietly shifted her chair forward a little. Yesterday, during the lunch break, she overheard a few students talking about her new deskmate—
“I heard she transferred from No. 2 High School. A top student, never dropped from the top rank.”
“How does she compare to God Gu?”
“I’d still pick God Gu. But I’ve got to say, this girl is really pretty. No one in our school can compete with her looks.”
“Why would a top student from No. 2 transfer to No. 1?”
“Who knows? She must have her reasons.”
Thinking of this, Chen Yi couldn’t help but sneak a glance at Sheng Qingxi. She had taken out her homework from the day before and neatly placed it in the top right corner, making it easy for the group leader to collect. Her pale fingertips, against the pages of the book, looked as pristine as fine jade.
Chen Yi thought, she really is beautiful.
.
Class 1 of the second year.
Xie Zhen and He Mo huddled together, one tall and one short, secretly looking at something on a phone and whispering to each other. Suddenly, Xie Zhen saw something shocking on Weibo and let out a strange yelp before hurriedly covering his mouth.
At that moment, the classroom was filled with the sound of students reading aloud, so no one in the front noticed the commotion, but quite a few in the back glanced at Xie Zhen and He Mo.
A boy noticed their activity and, after glancing at Lin Ran, who was sitting with his arms crossed and eyes closed, scooted over to He Mo’s desk. He lowered his voice and asked, “Mo-ge, is the stuff at the school gate real? Who was it? Song Shiman? She wouldn’t have the guts, right?”
He Mo shot him a glare and didn’t explain, just waved his hand dismissively. “Focus on your morning reading. Are you really trying to dig into Brother Ran’s gossip?”
The boy awkwardly turned back around and stopped asking questions.
Afterward, He Mo, holding his phone, slouched over to sit next to Lin Ran.
Soft beams of golden light filtered through the semi-transparent curtains, falling directly on Lin Ran.
His eyes were downcast, the sunlight inching up over his sharp brow, casting a dense shadow beneath his eyelids, before greedily climbing over the high ridge of his nose.
Finally, the light stopped at his slightly pursed lips.
Ever since the beginning of his first year in high school, Lin Ran had always sat by himself. This young master had an incredibly bad temper. Even his friends had to be careful about timing their interactions with him, lest they catch him in a bad mood and things went south.
He Mo first cautiously observed Lin Ran’s expression before carefully calling out, “Brother Ran.”
Lin Ran lazily lifted his eyelids and glanced at He Mo, his gaze calm and expression indifferent, as if he had no idea about the commotion he had caused at the school gate.
He Mo knew the best way to communicate with Lin Ran was to be straightforward.
So, he directly handed over his phone, reminding him, “Brother Ran, someone took photos of what happened this morning and posted them on the school’s private gossip Weibo account.”
Lin Ran’s expression didn’t change in the slightest. He casually took the phone, his slender fingers tapping lightly on the screen, zooming in on the image that appeared.
Lin Ran lowered his gaze to the photo on the screen.
The resolution wasn’t great, as it seemed to have been zoomed in many times, likely taken secretly.
The uploader had deliberately censored the faces in the photo, but even with such heavy editing, any student from No. 1 High School could instantly recognize that the person in the photo was Lin Ran. After all, his motorcycle was conspicuously parked right next to him. The girl hugging him had practically buried her entire upper body into his chest, her small face completely hidden against him, making it impossible to identify her.
Lin Ran raised an eyebrow slightly and scrolled up to read the accompanying text of the Weibo post.
[Anonymous submission: Aaaahhhh our school’s bigshot was hugged by someone!]
[This morning, I was just buying a meal from the vendor at the school gate, like I always do, and leisurely walking through the gates. When I heard the sound of the bigshot’s car, I instinctively stepped aside and pretended like nothing happened, continuing my way in. But as I kept walking, something felt off. The people around me were walking faster and whispering to each other. Curiosity got the better of me, so I stopped and turned around. That one look scared the living daylights out of me! I could hardly believe my eyes and thought I must be hallucinating from lack of sleep. Now, I’m sure you’re all dying to know what I saw. I’m not sure how long this post will stay up, so check it out while you can. Here’s the picture.]
The post had only been up for a little over ten minutes, but it already had more than sixty comments.
[Shen Wangwang Should Study Hard: That censor is pretty much useless.]
[God of Exams: The meal is good, but the gossip is better.]
[Gossip Alt Account: Saved the picture.]
[Did You Make a Mistake on Your Homework Today?: If Song Shiman sees this, won’t this girl be done for?]
[Cafeteria Auntie, Did You Make Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs Today?: Haven’t any of you considered that Song Shiman might be the one in the picture?]
[A Lucky Little Carp: A classmate of Song Shiman here to let you know, she’s already fuming.]
Lin Ran didn’t bother reading further. His cold, dark eyes swept over He Mo’s anxious and uncertain face. Casually, he asked, “Which grade and class is that girl in?”
He Mo: “…”
He Mo, still holding onto his conscience, couldn’t bring himself to sell out the transfer student who had only been there for two days. He couldn’t just stand by and let her fall into Lin Ran’s grasp. Steeling himself, he said, “I don’t know, never seen her before.”
Lin Ran let out a soft laugh, the curve of his lips adding a touch of liveliness to his usually cold face. However, anyone with eyes could see that his mood had worsened. He didn’t say anything more, just stared at He Mo with a leisurely yet unsettling gaze.
He Mo swallowed nervously. “Brother Ran, I’m going back to morning study.”
Lin Ran shot He Mo a sidelong glance. In the past two years, he had never seen He Mo open a Chinese or English textbook in the morning. He didn’t ask any further questions. After all, he knew he would find out her identity sooner or later.
If she dared to hug him once, she would dare to hug him a second time.
He would be waiting.
°°°
Whenever there were only five minutes left before the end of the last class in the morning, the students became the most anxious. In almost every class across the school, students hoped that the teachers wouldn’t run overtime. Even a minute’s delay meant that by the time they reached the cafeteria, long queues would already be forming at the food counters, so long that just the sight of them would make anyone lose their appetite.
Jiang Mingyuan clearly understood his students’ thoughts well. After assigning the homework, he kindly opened the classroom door for them.
The moment the bell rang, the classroom erupted with the sounds of hurried packing.
Sheng Qingxi put down her pen, closed her notebook, and slowly picked up her meal card to head out. She wasn’t a picky eater before, but after becoming a police officer, she lost her appetite for meat. It wasn’t due to any psychological trauma, just a habit she developed.
In the two months since her rebirth, Sheng Lan seemed to have noticed her change in eating habits and had been trying to correct them. Sheng Qingxi didn’t mind, but when it came time to eat, she instinctively avoided ordering any meat dishes.
Several meters away, Gu Mingji noticed her carrying a tray with dishes that had not a trace of meat in them. Silently, he added two meat dishes to his own tray.
At that moment, most of the cafeteria tables were already filled with people. Sheng Qingxi found a quiet corner where no one had chosen to sit, placed her tray down, and picked up her chopsticks to begin eating. Before she could swallow her first bite, another tray appeared on the table.
Someone sat down across from her.
Gu Mingji noticed that Sheng Qingxi didn’t react at all, not even glancing up to look at him. For a moment, he felt awkward—had she forgotten him?
He had no choice but to call out to her, “Xiao Xi.”
Back in the Shengkai Orphanage, everyone had called her Xiao Xi or Little Sister Xiao Xi, and Gu Mingji had gotten used to calling her that. Naturally, the childhood nickname slipped out.
Sheng Qingxi slowly swallowed her food and looked up at the person across from her.
The Gu Mingji before her looked unfamiliar. Ever since he had been adopted, she hadn’t seen him again. It was only yesterday, when she saw him in class, that she realized they were classmates in this life.
Those memories felt too distant to her now.
Sheng Qingxi could no longer call him “Brother Mingji” like she did when they were children, so she addressed him the same way her classmates did: “Class President.”
Gu Mingji was taken aback and instinctively asked, “You don’t remember me?”
Sheng Qingxi shook her head and softly replied, “I remember.”
Gu Mingji let out a sigh of relief, gripping his chopsticks tighter, and asked, “Have you been at Shengkai all this time? What about Xiaohu and the others? How’s Mama Sheng?”
Since being adopted by the Gu family, he had never returned to Shengkai Orphanage.
It seemed to be an unspoken rule among the children who were adopted.
Sheng Qingxi poked at her rice, answering slowly, “Yeah, I’ve been at Shengkai. Xiaohu and the others were adopted a year or two after you left. They’re no longer in Chucheng. Mama Sheng is doing well.”
Gu Mingji understood and didn’t ask further. He smiled at her and said, “Xiao Xi, if you ever need anything, just ask me. If you run into trouble, let me know. I’ll take care of you.”
Just like when they were kids.
When He Mo and Xie Zhen entered the cafeteria, they were startled. Even though Gu Mingji and Sheng Qingxi were sitting in an obscure corner, they spotted them immediately.
In the midst of the bustling crowd, Sheng Qingxi stood out too much.
No matter where she went, she was always the center of attention.
Lin Ran hadn’t come to the cafeteria with them—he had gone to the middle school section to find Lin Yanyan.
Xie Zhen didn’t think too much of it and dragged He Mo to the queue at the food counter.
Meanwhile, He Mo kept glancing in their direction, muttering to himself, “Does the fairy know our top student? Why is the top student grinning like a flower?”
Xie Zhen patted He Mo on the shoulder, “Let’s eat first. I’ll ask the people from Class 1 this afternoon.”
Not far away.
Gu Mingji glanced at the meat in his bowl, then subtly looked at the vegetables on Sheng Qingxi’s plate. For a moment, he didn’t know how to start the conversation. He wasn’t clueless; he could easily sense Sheng Qingxi’s cold attitude.
He sighed inwardly, ‘Take it slow.’
Meanwhile, a rumor was spreading like wildfire at No. 1 High School.
The school’s bigshot, Lin Ran, had been harassed at the school gate this morning.