"The class monitor is so gentle and kind!"
The boy who spoke was deliberately putting on a squeaky voice while cupping his face, "The class monitor is so responsible toward us, I'm so touched!"
"Touched my ass. The class monitor is only responsible toward An Ning. I've never seen him ask anyone else these kinds of questions."
"I don't believe it, I don't believe it. The class monitor must treat everyone equally. He wouldn't play favorites with An Ning just because she's pretty."
"Chu Hang, stop being such a weirdo. You're disgusting!"
"Class monitor, look at these nasty boys!" Chu Hang said in a coy, coquettish tone, extending his fingers in an orchid gesture and pointing wildly at the crowd.
An Ning was sitting in the third row from the back, surrounded by boys. When they heard what Jiang Chenhua had said to An Ning, they all perked up and crowded around the two of them, teasing relentlessly.
Jiang Chenhua pretended not to hear, but his ears turned red. "I'll give you my study notes for all my subjects."
"No need."
Compared to Jiang Chenhua, An Ning was the one who truly didn't feel any discomfort from being at the center of the crowd.
Amid the rising and falling jeers, An Ning thought for a moment, then said, "Please stay away from me."
She knew that the lover the original owner would eventually burn to death had been her high school classmate. She had thought she could face Jiang Chenhua calmly, but now that the real person stood before her, she couldn't control the nauseating physical reaction rising in her.
Jiang Chenhua was different from the men the original owner had been entangled with emotionally before.
The others had been after the original owner's looks, seeking only fleeting encounters. But Jiang Chenhua had been secretly in love with her all along. Even when she showed no interest in him, he persistently pursued her, making her many promises of love.
After the original owner believed in his feelings and looked forward to their future together, Jiang Chenhua secretly hid it from her and held a wedding with An Xin.
What followed was the original owner discovering the truth, being humiliated, suffering a mental breakdown, and finally choosing to set the fire.
Granted, the original owner's actions were too extreme, but in her view, among the family of four, only the twins were innocent.
The people around them couldn't quite gauge An Ning's attitude of rejection, but Jiang Chenhua stood right in front of her, facing her direct gaze, so he could clearly receive her emotions.
She wanted him to stay away from her—not because of the boys' boring teasing.
It was genuine disgust. Seeing him was like seeing something filthy.
Jiang Chenhua, who had been an exemplary student since childhood and blessed with good looks, was suffering this kind of blow for the first time.
A young man's heart shattered into pieces.
Jiang Chenhua returned to his seat in a daze, and the girls in the class were indignant on his behalf.
"She really is just a rude little delinquent. Jiang Chenhua was only looking after his classmates as the class monitor. What kind of attitude was that? Does she really flatter herself thinking Jiang Chenhua likes her?"
"Maybe Jiang Chenhua really does like her."
Some thought An Ning didn't know what was good for her, while other voices emerged to categorize Jiang Chenhua's behavior as not so honorable.
An Ning had a terrible personality and terrible grades, and she was tangled up with people from the streets, but no one could deny in good conscience that she wasn't good-looking.
The baggy blue-and-white school uniform looked completely different on An Ning than on anyone else.
Pale, cool-toned skin, a sharp chin, and those large eyes with upturned outer corners that dominated most of her facial features.
It was perfectly normal for boys to have secret crushes on her.
By the time evening self-study ended, rumors that Jiang Chenhua had a crush on An Ning and had been rejected by her had already spread to the neighboring classes.
When Shu Xiaoshan heard about it, she was furious. She thought of the criminal law An Ning had mentioned during the day—these rumor-mongers really all deserved to be arrested.
She wanted to speak up for Jiang Chenhua, but because she had just been accused of having a crush on him, she didn't dare mention him at all. The only outlet she had was slamming the door shut with force when An Ning was in the dormitory.
An Ning's bed was near the window, farthest from the door. Compared to her, the others took issue with Shu Xiaoshan first.
Seeing that everyone was bullying her, Shu Xiaoshan curled up in bed and cried for most of the night. When she woke up the next morning, Shi Jiayan still had the illusion of flies buzzing in her ears.
"I really don't know what she's crying about. She slept in your bed, secretly wore your clothes, and you only made her pay two yuan for the zipper."
Some people said An Ning was aggressive, but Shi Jiayan thought An Ning couldn't be more peaceful.
They spoke with such righteous indignation, but only because it hadn't happened to them. If it had happened to them, they wouldn't be nearly as forgiving as they claimed.
Walking out of the dormitory, Shi Jiayan immediately looked at the corridor where the apology letter had been posted. Now that spot was completely empty. "I knew they'd secretly tear it down."
Shi Jiayan puffed out her cheeks, looking displeased.
It wasn't An Ning who was bullying others—it was clearly them bullying An Ning.
An Ning's fingers itched, and she pinched Shi Jiayan's puffy cheeks. "I'm not a tyrant. If those papers stayed posted in the dormitory building for long, the school would come looking for me."
In school, good students and bad students were held to two different standards.
The apology letter had been up for half a day, and the school hadn't come to her to understand the situation or stand up for her. That meant the school wanted students to resolve their own problems.
She had already skipped classes for a month; she didn't want to blow things up and make the school think she was troublesome.
So this matter could only be dropped.
But after this incident, if anyone heard rumors about her in the future, they'd think twice before believing them.
Her efforts weren't entirely in vain.
Shi Jiayan thought about it and agreed. The apology letter had been up for a day—everyone who needed to know already knew. It didn't matter that it had been torn down.
"Ningning, what are we having for breakfast today?"
At the thought of breakfast, Shi Jiayan cheered up again.
"Baozi."
An Ning noticed that Shi Jiayan would puff out her cheeks when she was unhappy, and her face would swell when she was happy too. She found it adorable and decided that today she would definitely eat several big baozi, put on some weight, and quickly escape her current figure that was so slender the wind could blow her over.
After finishing the baozi, there was still time, so the two went for a walk around the track. By the time they reached the classroom, the timing was just right.
The monthly exam results were out, and the teachers spent the whole day going over the test papers.
An Ning asked Teacher Zhao for a blank test paper, intending to try writing it herself, but she wasn't sure if Teacher Zhao had said something to the other subject teachers.
She was being watched closely by the teachers and couldn't find any time to use class hours to work on the paper, so she simply raised her head and listened attentively.
After a full day, she felt it was a bit troublesome.
She had originally planned to use class time for self-study. If she needed to create the impression for each subject teacher that she was listening attentively, most of her time would be squeezed away.
So the next day, An Ning no longer woke up at the same time as Shi Jiayan. Instead, she got up two hours earlier, washed up, then went to the track to run and memorize vocabulary. When the classroom's power was switched on, she'd eat breakfast while reviewing the knowledge points she had forgotten.
Returning to her former study state, An Ning felt no discomfort.
It just put pressure on everyone else.
When a student who had never applied themselves to their studies suddenly started studying earnestly, with an attitude even more serious than their own, one or two days they could brush it off. But when An Ning kept it up day after day, the first to get nervous were An Ning's dormmates.
After a week, everyone was getting up half an hour earlier on average than before.
Shi Jiayan looked at the study notes An Ning had organized, and her first thought was that the cheap scratch paper didn't do justice to An Ning's handwriting.
Then she saw the clear, well-structured summaries on top, and Shi Jiayan hugged An Ning, squealing, "Ningning, lend it to me, lend it to me! Later at the corner store, I'll treat you to snacks—pick whatever you want."
"Then I won't be polite about it."
An Ning rubbed her neck. At this age, sitting for too long was fine on her lower back, but her neck was starting to feel it.
Seeing this, Shi Jiayan eagerly started massaging An Ning's shoulders.
"Look at her acting all obsequious. Copying An Ning's notes—she's not afraid her grades will get worse, not better."
"By the way, has anyone here actually seen An Ning's notes? She writes in them every day—what exactly is she writing?"
"This morning Teacher Qian said An Ning's English homework was well done. Who knows how she wrote it?"
The few who were speaking exchanged glances. Verbally, they thought An Ning was putting on a show, that she was just pretending to study. But at the same time, they were itching with curiosity, wanting to know what she was actually producing sitting at her desk every day.
An Ning used to be a troublemaker. Because she didn't fit in with the ordinary students, she drew a lot of attention in class. Now that she was studying like a normal student, the eyes on her hadn't decreased—they'd only multiplied.
"Xinxin, do you think your sister actually understands what she's studying? Didn't she get into First High by cheating?"
It wasn't just students from Class Nine paying attention to An Ning. People from other classes had also noticed the change in her.
An Xin had been discussing the movie she wanted to see this week with her friends when she heard someone bring up An Ning. The smile on her face instantly faded.
She had thought An Ning would die out there somewhere. Who knew that after disappearing for a month, she'd actually come back to school?
And then there were those ridiculous rumors about the Class Nine class monitor having a crush on her and getting rejected.
Who knows if she spread those rumors herself.
"I don't know. When Dad asked her if she cheated, she cried so hard, and then she ran away from home."
A look of shame surfaced on An Xin's face, along with a hint of relief. "It's really great that she could come back to school. She didn't come home for a whole month—Mom and Dad were so worried about her."
"Alright, why are you asking Xinxin about An Ning's business? You know they don't get along. An Ning is jealous of Xinxin and bullies her all the time. How would Xinxin know anything about An Ning?"
"Xinxin is so pitiful, having a sister like that."
When they first entered school, An Xin and An Ning were the same age, and some people thought they were fraternal twins.
Later, An Xin explained that the two of them were stepsisters from a blended family, and she would occasionally reveal the bruise-like marks on her arms. That was when everyone learned that An Xin was the bullied Cinderella.
They couldn't help but feel indignant on her behalf, privately discussing how vicious An Ning was.
"Anyway, I don't believe she can actually learn anything. The people in her dorm are just timid—she scared them with a few words and got them to write those apology letters. She didn't come home for a month—who knows what she was doing out there."
"No matter how she pretends now, she'll show her true colors at the next monthly exam."
"That's not necessarily true. Don't forget how she got into First High in the first place."
Hearing the people around her criticizing An Ning one after another, An Xin felt pleased. She thought it was good that An Ning had returned to school—without An Ning there as a contrast, how could her own excellence be highlighted?
As for An Ning's sudden burst of motivation to study every day, she'd been at the bottom of the rankings for nearly two years now—there was no way she could just start studying and actually improve.
Besides, with that stupid, brainless temper of hers, even if her grades did improve, a few provoking words would be enough to make her give up entirely. She posed no threat whatsoever.
An Xin's good mood came to an end on Friday afternoon after school let out.
The An family home was close to No. 1 Middle School, so An Xin had always been a day student. After An Ning switched to boarding, there was no place for her to sleep at home, and she rarely came back on weekends.
When An Xin noticed An Ning walking into the family's residential complex after school, she held back her irritation all the way to the building entrance. Seeing no one around, she reached out with disgust to grab the schoolbag off An Ning's shoulder: "What are you doing here?! Didn't you say you'd never come back to this house again? Can you have some shame? You said you wouldn't go to school, then you went. You said you wouldn't come home, and now you're back."
An Ning kept walking while keeping an eye on An Xin trailing behind her.
When An Xin reached out, An Ning dodged to the other side, causing An Xin to lurch forward—she only caught herself on the handrail to keep from falling.
Glancing at An Xin's furious expression, An Ning had no desire to explain: "None of your damn business."
Having nearly fallen, and right in front of An Ning no less, An Xin's face flushed red with anger.
"Don't you dare step into my house."
An Xin remembered that An Ning didn't have a key to the house, and smugly crossed her arms. No matter how much An Ning begged her later, she wouldn't open the door for her.