“Xiaoxiao, are you still angry? Chen Zimo has gone too far! He clearly promised to bring you breakfast, but he actually stood you up!”
“As a man, he’s so irresponsible, yet he still wants you to be his girlfriend. What a ridiculous dream.”
In the classroom, Gu Xiaoxiao sat at her seat with her long hair draped over her shoulders, unable to hide her pure and charming face.
Her slender neck was like white jade. One button of her shirt beneath the oversized school uniform was undone, revealing her delicate collarbone.
Just that tiny glimpse was enough to make the senior-year classroom feel a little heated.
She was the campus belle of No. 11 Middle School. Since entering the school, she had received love letters almost every day. She was the perfect goddess in the hearts of countless boys.
But today, the goddess was in a terrible mood.
Last night, her male best friend, Chen Zixuan, had asked her for help, wanting Chen Zimo’s phone number.
Why would she have the phone number of a simp?
Still, she took what her male best friend asked to heart.
So she sent Chen Zimo a message on QQ.
Unexpectedly, Chen Zimo, who usually replied within seconds, did not respond at all. She waited until she fell asleep, and there was still no reply.
Gu Xiaoxiao was furious.
And the consequences were serious.
What was even more outrageous was that Chen Zimo, who was supposed to bring her breakfast this morning, did not show up. She had not eaten anything until now.
When Gu Xiaoxiao noticed Chen Zimo enter the classroom and glance in her direction, she immediately pouted and turned her head away.
She swore she would never forgive Chen Zimo so easily.
…
At that moment, several discordant voices rang out loudly.
“Chen Zimo, what’s with that? Performance art?”
“Haha, performance art? With that shabby look of his? Is he pretending to be some Middle Eastern tycoon?”
“Chen Zimo, I heard you were caught cheating. So what, did some student’s parent beat you up?”
“Wait, he really cheated? I was wondering how he managed to get third place in the physics competition. So it was cheating!”
“As expected, a bad student stays bad. Only thinking about cheating. What a disgrace to Class Three.”
“You don’t know? Chen Zimo used to be first in the entire city. The school even waived three years of tuition to recruit him.”
“Haha, I wonder if the teacher who recruited him cried in the bathroom when they saw his current grades.”
Chen Zimo frowned.
Only the Chen family knew about the so-called “cheating.” How had it spread to his classmates in just one morning?
His gaze swept across the mocking crowd before settling on a burly flat-headed boy in the back row. His eyes narrowed slightly.
Mao Quan.
Chen Zixuan’s lackey.
He often bullied Chen Zimo at school.
Mao Quan was actually the son of a manager at Chen Group. In order to curry favor with Chen Zixuan, the young master of the Chen family, he constantly opposed Chen Zimo, looking for trouble. There were even several times when he had beaten Chen Zimo.
What was even worse was that when Chen Zimo went home and told his parents, Lin Jiangxue and Chen Tinghao, about being beaten, his biological parents did not stand up for him. Instead, they believed Chen Zixuan’s fabricated claim that he had personally witnessed Chen Zimo fighting at school.
Chen Zimo was beaten, framed, and then beaten again at home by his own parents.
Looking back, he had never once felt the warmth of blood ties from that couple.
His parents were simply beasts.
Chen Zimo’s eyes sharpened.
“In the years I wandered as a soul, I apprenticed under many masters of combat.”
“Mao Quan, you’d better not provoke me. I always repay grudges.”
He frowned.
On his first day back at school, he encountered two enemies. What rotten luck.
Chen Zimo knew exactly what kind of person Mao Quan was.
But he also knew that in the end, Mao Quan, the loyal dog of Chen Zixuan, had been sold by the very master he trusted most to northern Myanmar to have his kidney removed.
The reason that loyal dog was sold off was simply because he knew the secret of how Chen Zixuan had persecuted Chen Zimo.
Chen Zixuan was a “perfect” person. His life could not tolerate any stains.
Thinking about it, Mao Quan and he had been the same kind of pathetic simp, and both had ultimately died after having their kidneys taken.
But Chen Zimo would not sympathize with him.
In this life, he would only cherish himself.
Ignoring the ridicule, Chen Zimo found his seat from memory and sat down.
His classmates looked at him with expressions of “cowardly,” “useless,” “timid,” and “afraid of trouble.”
Everyone in Class Three knew that Mao Quan bullied Chen Zimo every day. Even the homeroom teacher could do nothing.
Chen Zimo was too soft.
His deskmate, Zhang Bin, an outgoing and slightly chubby boy, nudged him.
“Chen Zimo, you didn’t really cheat, did you? Your grades aren’t great, but we’ve been deskmates for three years. I don’t think you’re that kind of person.”
“But your head… pfft! Can you tell me who you copied? An Egyptian pharaoh? Or are you really copying an Arab prince?”
Chen Zimo felt warmth in his heart and rolled his eyes at him.
“Class is about to start. How many points did you get on yesterday’s test?”
At the mention of the test, Zhang Bin immediately deflated.
Zhang Bin’s family ran a wholesale business. They had some money. Although it was insignificant compared to Chen Group, Zhang Bin had never looked down on Chen Zimo.
He was also one of the few who had ever helped him.
Chen Zimo only felt gratitude toward him.
“When that incident happens to the Zhang family, I’ll help him. It’ll be repaying a favor.”
In his previous life, because of certain circumstances, Zhang Bin’s father had been sentenced. Zhang Bin, who had once been a spoiled rich kid, gave up that lifestyle, studied the law tirelessly with lawyers, investigated the case, and eventually cleared his father’s name.
Although his father was released over a year later, the Zhang family had already gone bankrupt.
Chen Zimo would not let Zhang Bin, who had once helped him, suffer the same fate.
He organized his textbooks, grateful that as a senior student, most of his books were already at school.
Last night, when he cut ties with the Chen family and left the villa decisively, he had not taken even a single hair with him.
Of course, he did not want anything from the Chen family. It would disgust him.
Ring, ring, ring.
The class bell rang.
The homeroom teacher walked in with a long face, holding a stack of test papers, and slammed them onto the podium.
Bang!
“Chen Zimo, stand up!”
At that moment, even Chen Zimo’s calm and steady heart jumped. He stood up instantly.
As if fearing teachers was some switch embedded deep in his bones.
“Chen Zimo, at a time like this, you’re still thinking about dating?”
“Do you think that just because you won a prize in the physics competition and got bonus points for Qingbei University, you can do whatever you want?”
“You still have the mood to write love letters? Come on, read it aloud so everyone can admire your writing.”
The wrinkles on Teacher Cui’s face resembled the rolling hills of southwestern Sichuan, showing deep disappointment.
With the precision of thirty years of experience, he tossed the love letter straight onto Chen Zimo’s face.
“Hahaha…”
The entire class erupted in laughter, like thunder.
All eyes turned to Chen Zimo. Some students even pulled out pen and paper, ready to learn. After all, Chen Zimo had always been good at writing and even ran a ghostwriting business for love letters at 50 yuan per letter.
At that moment, Chen Zimo lowered his head, wishing the ground would swallow him whole.
“How could I forget about this!”
In his previous life, at this time, he had still been in the hospital.
He remembered that after effortlessly controlling his scores in yesterday’s exam, he had been bored and written a love letter to Gu Xiaoxiao.
He had not expected her to hand it directly to the teacher.
“The Chen Zimo of my previous life was truly an idiot!”
Raging inwardly, he opened the letter and began to read.
“Xiaoxiao, as beautiful as a blooming flower, I have already secured a special admission quota to Qingbei University. But I don’t want to go, because Qingbei does not have you. You are the Qingbei in my heart. I only want to apply to the same university as you, to study with you day and night, to watch the sunrise and sunset together, to count the stars together, and to write our beautiful future together…”
“Enough!”
“Hahaha…”
Laughter burst out across the classroom, adding a bit of humor to the otherwise lifeless senior year.