As Liang Zhiyi finished speaking, she noticed Pei Chen’s long eyelashes tremble slightly. He quickly averted his gaze from her, remaining silent.
Seeing this, a mischievous smile appeared on her face as she teased, “What’s the matter? Are you pretending you didn’t hear me?”
“…”
Pei Chen completely ignored her.
This bookworm really doesn’t understand romance, she thought.
Just then, Liang Zhiyi turned her head and saw her family’s car approaching. It stopped by the roadside, and the driver got out to open the door for her.
She looked at Pei Chen, no longer teasing him, and said with a smile, “My car is here. I’m leaving now. Bye-bye.”
Pei Chen watched her walk towards the private car. Just as she reached the car door, she turned back and caught his gaze. Then, she flashed him a bright smile.
Finally, she got into the car.
Soon, the Rolls-Royce drove away from the street.
Under the streetlight at the bus stop, accompanied by the lingering scent of flowers in the air, the girl’s words echoed in Pei Chen’s mind. His emotions stirred beneath his calm expression, and his ears reddened slightly where no one could see.
°°°
The next day was the first day after the National Day holiday. After seven days off, returning to school was a dreaded experience for most students.
However, Liang Zhiyi was an exception. After finishing breakfast, she left for school quite early.
On the way, she called Ji Fei’er and told her that she wouldn’t be meeting her at the school gate today. On the other end, Ji Fei’er teased, “What, you just made up with Pei Chen yesterday, and today you can’t wait to see him in class?”
Last night, after returning home, Liang Zhiyi had excitedly shared with her best friend everything that had happened the day before, and the gloom that had been weighing on her for the past few days instantly lifted.
Liang Zhiyi retorted, “No, it’s just that I’m on duty today, okay?”
“Oh, that’s a perfect excuse.”
“…”
Liang Zhiyi huffed a couple of times, too lazy to argue, and hung up the phone.
When she arrived at the classroom in the morning, only a few students had shown up. According to the schedule, she was on duty with Zhi Mian today.
Liang Zhiyi took a cloth to the washroom to rinse it out. When she returned, she saw Zhi Mian sitting at her desk, eating breakfast, so she walked over.
As soon as Zhi Mian saw her, she immediately offered her a piece of white chocolate cookie she had brought from home, her dimples showing as she smiled and her eyes curved. “Zhiyi, have a cookie.”
Liang Zhiyi accepted it with a smile. “Thank you, sweetheart.”
Zhi Mian was momentarily stunned, her lips curling into a gentle smile, and her face flushed.
Internally, Liang Zhiyi clicked her tongue.
Oh my, she’s just too cute.
Zhi Mian noticed that Liang Zhiyi was holding a cloth in one hand and quickly said, “I’ll finish my last bite and be right there.”
“No rush, take your time,” Liang Zhiyi replied.
She then went to wipe down the teacher’s desk and tidy up the chalk tray.
By this time, more classmates had started arriving. Chen Sihang and a few boys strolled into the classroom, looking carefree. When they saw Liang Zhiyi cleaning, one of them stopped and nudged Chen Sihang, saying, “Brother Chen, aren’t you going to offer some help?”
After finishing up with the teacher’s desk, Liang Zhiyi went over to Zhi Mian and asked, “Xiao Jiu, where’s our class’s assigned cleaning area?”
She was responsible for cleaning both the teacher’s desk and the designated cleaning area.
Zhi Mian responded that it should be the ping pong area next to the playground downstairs, and all they needed to do was sweep up the trash.
So, Liang Zhiyi grabbed a broom and dustpan from the cleaning corner and headed towards the classroom door. Just as she was about to leave, Chen Sihang stepped in front of her, blocking her way, and casually asked, “Zhiyi, are you going downstairs to clean?”
“Yes, why?” she replied.
“The area downstairs is pretty big. How about I help you out?” he offered.
Meanwhile, the other boys were peeking over, stifling their laughter, clearly enjoying the scene.
Seeing their reactions, Liang Zhiyi immediately understood what was going on. Just as she was about to respond, she caught a glimpse of Pei Chen entering the classroom.
Dressed in his school uniform, Pei Chen exuded a cool, indifferent aura. As he walked in, his gaze met hers.
Without paying any attention to Chen Sihang standing in front of her, Liang Zhiyi smiled warmly at Pei Chen.
Pei Chen briefly glanced at the two of them standing together before quickly averting his gaze and walking further into the classroom.
Liang Zhiyi looked back up at Chen Sihang and politely declined, “No need, this is my responsibility. I can handle it myself.”
Chen Sihang’s expression stiffened, and he reluctantly returned to his seat. Liang Zhiyi then walked over to Pei Chen and smiled, “Pei Chen, you’re here.”
He nodded in response. Liang Zhiyi placed some assignments on his desk and said, “If the group leader comes by to collect the homework later, could you help hand mine in?”
“Okay,” he replied.
After a few seconds, he turned to her, noticing she hadn’t left yet, and asked, “Aren’t you going to do the cleaning?”
Liang Zhiyi couldn’t help but steal another glance at him before saying leisurely, “I’m going now.”
With that, she turned and walked out of the classroom.
Pei Chen slowly withdrew his gaze.
Meanwhile, as Liang Zhiyi walked downstairs, she thought back to her earlier conversation with Chen Sihang in the classroom.
She knew Chen Sihang had feelings for her, but she had grown accustomed to ignoring the affections of boys over the years. Countless boys had liked her since she was young, and none of them had ever sparked her interest or demanded any of her attention.
Of course, Pei Chen was an exception.
He was too special—besides being outstanding, he was mysterious, making her want to delve into his inner world and uncover his true emotions. She wanted to know if his heart was really as cold as people said, as unfeeling as a stone.
How intriguing…
Humming a tune, Liang Zhiyi made her way downstairs to the outdoor ping-pong area.
Once there, she slowly began sweeping up the litter scattered on the ground.
After a while, the bell for morning reading rang, and two girls wearing student council badges approached the area, notebooks in hand. They were surveying the surroundings and jotting down notes.
The two girls walked to a section near the ping-pong area, adjacent to the playground.
Under the shade of the trees, one of the girls, named Wang Xue, noticed the litter left on the ground and frowned. “Who’s responsible for this area?” she asked.
“This area is Class 9’s responsibility,” her companion replied.
“And the ping-pong area next to it is theirs as well.”
Wang Xue’s gaze shifted, and she noticed the girl sweeping in the ping-pong area. Squinting her eyes, she recognized her immediately.
Isn’t that the new transfer student, Liang Zhiyi, who gave the speech under the national flag a few weeks ago?
Wang Xue had been in the same class as Chen Sihang during her first year of high school. She liked him and had bravely pursued him, but not only did Chen Sihang reject her in front of everyone, he also privately remarked that she was ugly and not good enough for him.
She despised him, yet she couldn’t help but still harbor feelings for him.
Recently, she had heard that this proud boy, Chen Sihang, had been chasing after the new transfer student in their class, Liang Zhiyi. His friends all praised Liang Zhiyi’s beauty, and when Wang Xue saw her photos on the forum, she realized just how big the gap was between them, filling her with envy and resentment.
Now, as Wang Xue looked at Liang Zhiyi, she was reminded of Chen Sihang’s humiliation. Jealousy and anger flared within her.
Today, she was determined to get even.
Wang Xue signaled to the girl beside her before striding over to Liang Zhiyi and calling out, “Hey, are you from Class 9?”
Liang Zhiyi had just finished sweeping the last area. Hearing the voice, she looked up and nodded in response.
The girl’s eyes roved over Liang Zhiyi’s face, and her tone was unfriendly as she said, “I’m the head of the Student Council Inspection Department, here for a hygiene spot check.”
Liang Zhiyi looked at Wang Xue’s fierce expression and couldn’t help but feel exasperated. It’s just a hygiene inspection—did she really need to act so high and mighty?
Despite her thoughts, Liang Zhiyi’s face remained expressionless as she leaned against the ping-pong table, letting Wang Xue conduct her inspection.
Wang Xue began scrutinizing the ping-pong area meticulously, almost as if she had transformed into Sherlock Holmes, determined not to miss a single detail.
However… the more Wang Xue inspected, the more tightly her brows furrowed.
How could she have cleaned this so thoroughly?
After a while, Wang Xue finally spotted a small piece of white paper on the ground. Her eyes lit up as if she had discovered a treasure. She pointed at the ground and looked at Liang Zhiyi, her tone icy. “Look, there’s still some trash here.”
Liang Zhiyi glanced at it and calmly explained, “That can’t be swept away.”
“Are you sure?” Wang Xue retorted.
She grabbed a broom nearby and tried sweeping it herself, but the debris didn’t budge.
She swept back and forth several times, but nothing moved.
Liang Zhiyi smiled faintly. “I think you can see for yourself now.”
Wang Xue’s expression stiffened as she looked up at Liang Zhiyi, her tone harsh. “Do you think just because it can’t be swept away, that’s the end of it? If something is stuck to the ground, you need to scrape it off with a tool. Do I really have to teach you that?”
Wang Xue turned to her assistant. “Deduct 2 points from Class 9.”
Liang Zhiyi’s smile gradually faded from her face.
“And,” Wang Xue continued, pointing to a different area, “did you sweep that section? Why is there so much trash?”
Liang Zhiyi frowned slightly. “That area isn’t our class’s responsibility.”
“Who says it isn’t?” Wang Xue shot back. “That section was just reassigned to Class 9’s cleaning area right before the National Day holiday.” Seeing the doubt on Liang Zhiyi’s face, Wang Xue sneered and slapped a notification sheet onto the ping-pong table.
“If you don’t believe me, read the notice yourself. Were you planning to just coast by if I hadn’t come to inspect today?”
Liang Zhiyi picked up the notice and saw that it indeed matched what Wang Xue had said.
“The notice just came out before the holiday; I wasn’t aware of it,” Liang Zhiyi admitted.
Wang Xue looked at her sharply, enunciating each word. “Well, now you know. Go clean it up.”
Meanwhile, back in Class 9, the morning reading session had begun.
Pei Chen sat at his desk, reading, but after five minutes, the seat beside him remained empty.
Xuan Xia, sitting in the front row, turned around and asked Pei Chen curiously, “Hey, where’s Liang Zhiyi? The group leader is asking for her English homework.”
Pei Chen looked up and noticed that the class labor commissioner’s seat was also empty—the commissioner had taken the day off.
A moment later, Pei Chen stood up and walked to the front row.
He approached Zhi Mian’s desk and asked in a calm voice, “Did you see Liang Zhiyi come back upstairs after finishing the cleaning?”
Zhi Mian looked puzzled. “She told me she was going downstairs, but I haven’t seen her since. I waited, but when she didn’t come back, I took the trash down myself.”
Ji Fei’er, who was sitting nearby, turned to look at Liang Zhiyi’s empty seat, surprised. “Zhiyi hasn’t come back yet? How could she take this long just to clean that small area?”
Someone in the front row turned around and asked, “Didn’t our class just get assigned another section?”
“Huh?”
“Yeah, the announcement was made before the class last week. Didn’t you guys hear it?”
As they discussed, Zhi Mian looked up at Pei Chen and suggested, “Could it be that Zhiyi is unsure about the cleaning because it’s her first time? Maybe I should go down and check on her.”
Pei Chen’s eyes darkened slightly before he replied in an even tone, “No need. I’ll go take a look.”
In the designated cleaning area.
Liang Zhiyi was sweeping the ground while Wang Xue leaned arrogantly against the ping-pong table, pointing out areas with a condescending tone, “There, and over there… make sure it’s all spotless.”
Wang Xue nitpicked at everything, her tone particularly haughty.
Liang Zhiyi wasn’t sweeping out of fear of Wang Xue—if it weren’t for the fact that this affected her class, she would have thrown the broom in Wang Xue’s face by now.
As Wang Xue continued to criticize, she turned to the assistant beside her and said, “Mark it down, deduct five points from Class 9, and cancel their nomination for the Civilized Class award this week.”
Liang Zhiyi’s expression froze. “You’re deducting points?”
“Of course,” Wang Xue responded sharply. “Do you think just because you’ve finished sweeping, points won’t be deducted? We’re imposing strict measures to teach you a lesson so that you won’t make the same mistakes next time.”
Liang Zhiyi took a deep breath. “Are you done? Can I leave now?”
Wang Xue sneered, “What kind of attitude is that?”
Liang Zhiyi picked up the broom and dustpan, glanced at her, and then suddenly smiled sweetly, “What attitude? The attitude that says I can’t be bothered to deal with you—can’t you tell?”
Wang Xue: ???!!
Did she really just say that?!
Just as Liang Zhiyi was about to leave, she suddenly heard a low, cold male voice from ahead: “Liang Zhiyi.”
Hearing the voice, Liang Zhiyi looked up and saw Pei Chen standing not far away. His deep brown eyes were slightly misty, with a calm and distant expression.
He walked up to her, and as soon as she saw him, Liang Zhiyi called out to him with a hint of grievance, “Pei Chen, someone is deliberately picking on our class.”
Wang Xue’s eyes widened in shock. “You—what are you saying? Who’s picking on you? What do you mean?”
Pei Chen stepped partially in front of Liang Zhiyi, shielding her slightly, and calmly addressed Wang Xue, “Hello, I’m the class monitor of Class 9. If there’s an issue, you can discuss it with me.”
Wang Xue, who had definitely heard of Pei Chen’s reputation, softened her tone upon seeing him. “Your class didn’t clean one of the assigned areas today. According to the rules, I had to supervise her finishing the task and deduct points. Is there a problem with that?”
Liang Zhiyi, feeling guilty, explained to Pei Chen, “I didn’t know that area was ours…”
After listening to her explanation, Pei Chen turned to Wang Xue and asked, “Weren’t you supposed to inspect the area with a teacher?”
“The teacher was unavailable today, so I was fully in charge,” Wang Xue responded.
“May I see the deduction sheet?” Pei Chen requested.
Wang Xue hesitated for a moment before handing over the sheet. Pei Chen glanced through it, handed it back to her, and calmly said, “This issue is my responsibility. I failed to inform the students in advance about the new area. We will address it within our class.”
He paused for a moment, then added slowly, “As for your diligent and responsible attitude in handling this, I will be sure to report it accurately to the teacher.”
Wang Xue’s face tightened. “What do you mean by that?”
Pei Chen looked at her with cold, emotionless eyes and said, “Take your time figuring it out.”
Wang Xue’s expression froze. Then, Pei Chen turned to Liang Zhiyi and asked, “Have you finished cleaning?”
She nodded, still a bit stunned. “Yes…”
“Let’s go.”
Just as they were about to leave, Wang Xue, furious, shouted, “Did I give you permission? Considering how this student just treated me, she must apologize!”
Wang Xue reached out to grab Liang Zhiyi’s hand, but Pei Chen quickly stepped in between them.
She hesitated, and then heard Pei Chen’s cold, firm voice, “The cleaning in our assigned area is complete, and the points you deemed necessary to deduct have been deducted. If the teacher agrees with you that our classmate’s attitude was inappropriate, we will apologize to you. Beyond that, nothing else concerns you.”
Pei Chen looked up at her, his gaze as cold as ice.
“So now, may I take my person and leave?”