Xu Zihang patted Zhang Chao on the shoulder. “Come on, man. Even if she paid her way into First High School, there’s no way she’d get into the experimental class with grades that bad.”
Zhang Chao knitted his brows, looking at Shen Yue with puzzlement.
Xu Zihang had mainly come to see Shen Yue, and didn’t have time to clear up Zhang Chao’s confusion.
He stopped paying attention to Zhang Chao, took out his phone, and zoomed in on Shen Yue through the camera.
Inside the classroom, Shen Yue sat quietly at her desk in a white T-shirt, propping her chin on one hand as she read. Earbuds in, she looked languid.
Her hair was tied back, revealing her delicate profile in full. A ray of sunlight fell across the bridge of her high nose.
It made his heart skip a beat.
Just as he tapped the shutter, the girl suddenly turned her head and lifted her eyes, glancing over as if at random. Her eyes seemed to draw anyone who looked into them right in.
The image froze at that instant. Xu Zihang jumped, nearly dropping his phone.
A moment later, he saw Shen Yue leave her seat and come out to stand in front of him.
Caught taking a photo without permission, Xu Zihang felt guilty and awkward.
“Um, sorry. I—I just… the scene was so beautiful, I couldn’t help myself.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, the area around them fell silent. Xu Zihang wanted to bite his own tongue off.
What kind of thing was that to say?
Zhang Chao stepped forward beside him to explain. “I’m sorry, Student Shen. My friend didn’t mean to offend you.”
Shen Yue said nothing. She held out her slender hand to Xu Zihang and spoke calmly. “Give me your phone.”
Xu Zihang tightened his grip on it, remembering how brazen this new classmate seemed.
Was she going to smash his phone?
He hesitated, just about to hand it over, when a cold voice cut in.
“It’s just one photo. You’re making a big deal out of that?”
Chen Xinyi stood beside them with her arms folded and joined in. “He only took one picture of you. You’re seriously going to make an issue of it? Who do you think you are?
“Xu Zihang is our school’s photography genius. Do you know how many people want him to take their picture?”
The students in the experimental class clearly agreed with Shen Jiao and Chen Xinyi. They looked at Shen Yue with hostility and scorn, as if she had done something to wrong them.
The sudden appearance of the two girls left Xu Zihang feeling overwhelmed. He wasn’t stupid.
He was the one who had taken a picture of Shen Yue without her permission in the first place. Besides, the new classmate hadn’t even said anything. The two of them had arrived and, in her name, already passed judgment on him.
He was just about to speak when Shen Yue gave a scornful laugh. Her gaze swept over Shen Jiao, Chen Xinyi, and the students in the experimental class; her tone was no longer casual.
“Tell me, is there something wrong with you people?”
Ignoring their changing expressions, she raised a hand and pointed at Xu Zihang.
“I’ve been standing here for less than a minute, and I’ve said exactly four words to him.”
She made no attempt to defend herself, simply stating the facts calmly.
The whole situation turned around in an instant.
“Exactly. I was wondering what was going on. The new classmate hasn’t even done anything.”
More and more students from other classes joined in.
“Isn’t she in your experimental class? Is this how you treat your own classmates?”
The students in the experimental class looked embarrassed to be called out for bullying someone right outside their own classroom, but they had no grounds to argue back.
All they could do was blame Shen Yue for everything. With dark faces, they went back inside.
“Who’d want to be classmates with someone whose grades are that bad?”
Someone muttered under their breath. The students outside were immediately speechless. What did the new classmate’s grades have to do with any of this?
You may not want her as a classmate, but we do! Who wouldn’t want a pretty girl in their class?
A student who couldn’t stand it any longer immediately stepped forward and invited Shen Yue to join their class.
Song Qingyuan, who rarely spoke, promptly said, “No way. They’re them, but I really want to sit with her.”
Those who had just looked down on the idea of other people inviting Shen Yue suddenly darkened their expressions. Song Qingyuan’s words had effectively slapped them in the face.
Shen Yue paid no further attention to Xu Zihang, who looked contrite, or to Shen Jiao and Chen Xinyi. After exchanging a few polite words with the students from the other classes, she turned and went back into the classroom.
The crowd gradually dispersed. Only then did Chen Xinyi speak again.
“Shen Yue really knows how to stir up trouble. Now she’s managed to offend almost everyone in the experimental class.”
Shen Jiao frowned and waved her off impatiently. “Don’t get involved in her business again.”
……
When Shen Yue returned at noon, she brought two books from Huayuan Residence.
She spent all her afternoon classes reading her own books. Song Qingyuan kept sneaking glances at them, and the more he read, the harder it was to resist.
But with the teacher teaching, he didn’t dare look openly.
After the first two classes, Song Qingyuan noticed that the teacher had clearly seen Shen Yue reading another book, yet hadn’t stopped her.
By the third class, he had grown bolder too. He shifted his chair closer and leaned toward Shen Yue.
And so he started reading along with her in class.
Shen Yue read faster than he did. When she finished a section and was about to turn the page, Song Qingyuan hurriedly reached over to hold it down.
“Wait, I haven’t finished. Can you even remember it if you read that fast?”
He seemed to have forgotten they were in class. He hadn’t lowered his voice, and all the students turned to look.
Only then did Song Qingyuan realize what he’d done. He felt strangely guilty.
Suddenly, there was a sharp crack. The chalk the teacher was writing with had broken, and the lecture came to an abrupt stop.
Song Qingyuan’s heart lurched. Holding his breath, he instinctively looked up at the blackboard, not daring to move.
The teacher at the front seemed to take a deep breath, then turned around, picked up a fresh piece of chalk, and resumed the lesson.
The teacher didn’t look their way once.
Song Qingyuan let out a breath and, reassured, lowered his head to continue reading. He even beckoned Shen Yue to join him.
Shen Yue glanced at him without a word, then took another book from her bag.
She gestured for Song Qingyuan to take it and read it himself.
His eyes lit up behind his glasses, and he was overjoyed. The moment he moved the book onto his own desk—
A piece of chalk hit him squarely on the head.
The teacher’s angry voice followed.
“Song Qingyuan, don’t think getting the highest score means you can stop paying attention in class. You’re not like her!”
Song Qingyuan: …? Why was he the only one getting scolded?
He shot a resentful look at Shen Yue, who was perfectly calm, then silently put the book away.
He even suspected Shen Yue had done it on purpose.
Once the teacher saw Song Qingyuan put the book away, she finally felt she’d gotten her point across. Her voice grew louder as she resumed teaching.
She couldn’t do anything to Shen Yue, but she could still do something about Song Qingyuan, couldn’t she?
The students in the class, however, clearly misunderstood what the teacher meant.
They thought the teacher couldn’t even be bothered to reprimand Shen Yue anymore.
For some reason, Zhang Chao remembered what Xu Zihang had said.
At last, when school let out, Zhang Chao stopped Shen Yue.
Thinking he might have misunderstood her, Zhang Chao felt a little awkward facing Shen Yue—especially since she was such a beautiful girl.
“Um, ahem, Classmate Shen Yue, Xu Zihang asked me to apologize to you. And…
“He said he wants to post the photo he secretly took of you at noon in the school’s poll for the school beauty.”
Shen Yue was briefly taken aback. She had no idea there was a school beauty poll.
She glanced at the phone Song Qingyuan held out to her and gave a sudden, understanding “Oh.”
“So she’s your school beauty? She’s nothing special.”
Shen Yue had seen too many beautiful women. Shen Jiao didn’t rank highly in her eyes.
Zhang Chao and Song Qingyuan: Classmate, have you no manners?
They looked at Shen Yue’s exquisite features. Well, when she put it that way, she wasn’t wrong.
Shen Yue didn’t care who the school beauty was. She glanced at the photo Xu Zihang had sent to Zhang Chao’s phone. It really was quite beautiful, so she let him do as he pleased.