In the first-floor office, Chen Lan was getting lectured.
Unlike her usual unshakable, couldn’t-care-less attitude, this time Chen Lan seemed oddly distracted.
She hadn’t even been in the room for ten minutes, yet she had already glanced toward the door no fewer than five times.
She had never been good at hiding her feelings—everything was always written on her face.
The homeroom teacher, who had been busy delivering the verbal reprimand, noticed something was off. He paused, took a sip of water from his cup to moisten his throat, and then asked:
“You’ve been nodding along like you’re listening carefully. So why don’t you summarize what I just said?”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re right, Mr. Li. I’ll definitely change, I promise I’ll change.”
Sure enough, Chen Lan hadn’t been paying attention at all. The moment she heard a question, she started nodding hurriedly.
“Right, right, right… Right your head!”
The homeroom teacher was so angry he nearly threw the cup in his hand at her.
“Chen Lan, I’ve noticed you’ve been getting more and more out of control lately. Before, when you made a mistake, at least you’d listen patiently and catch the gist. Now, even when I’m right in front of you, you dare to brush me off so casually? Huh?”
“Take a look at how many demerits you’ve accumulated over this period. If it’s not fighting, it’s skipping class or dodging morning exercises. More than half of our class’s conduct points have been deducted because of you!”
As he spoke, he pulled a notebook from the drawer and tossed it to Chen Lan. She caught it, flipped it open, and saw page after page densely filled with her name.
From the beginning of the month to the end, there were hardly any days without a record.
“That’s not entirely my fault. You don’t know how those Alphas are—nice to your face, dirty behind your back. Take that bastard Li Xia from Class 4 next door, for example—she’s said all kinds of filthy stuff about our English teacher. I couldn’t stand it, so I stepped in…”
As for exactly what those comments were, Chen Lan didn’t go into detail. Mainly because when certain Alphas started making crude jokes, they had no boundaries. Any decent-looking Omega would get remarks about wanting to mark them or telling them to come to school drenched in their pheromones.
Of course, not every Alpha she fought was because of crude comments. Some were simply because Chen Lan disliked them on sight.
Alphas were, after all, the most impulsive and hot-tempered. A clash of pheromones, or an unpleasant stare on the street, could be enough to spark a brawl.
But Chen Lan wasn’t stupid—she definitely wasn’t going to admit that part in front of the homeroom teacher.
The teacher was taken aback for a moment. If Chen Lan had named anyone else, he might have thought she was making excuses. But if it was Li Xia, he had no choice but to believe her.
That kid came from a well-off family, and with her relatively high rank, she was arrogant and looked down on those weaker than her while also disdaining reserved Omegas.
For her to say something like that was completely in character.
“…But you still can’t just hit people. If something happens, you should report it to me. I teach their class too—if something’s wrong, I should be the one to handle it. What are you, a student, doing jumping in like that?”
Seeing she had swayed him a little, Chen Lan seized the opening and cautiously suggested:
“Okay, Mr. Li, I’ll be more careful next time—I’ll try not to resort to my fists.”
“So… can I go now?”
“…Alright. Both sides are at fault here. I’ll talk to Li Xia later. You go back and write a 3,000-word self-critique and bring it to me. I’ll let it slide this time, but if there’s a next time, I’m calling your parents.”
After finishing, the homeroom teacher felt something was off. It took him a moment to realize what it was:
The fighting might be settled, but the issues of skipping class and dodging exercises still hadn’t been addressed.
“Hey, wait!”
At that thought, the teacher immediately stood up, trying to call back Chen Lan, who was already at the door. Instead of stopping, she sped up upon hearing him.
But in her hurry, she wasn’t watching where she was going, and as soon as she reached the doorway, she crashed right into someone coming in.
And the impact was pretty solid.
Chen Lan stumbled back a step, caught completely off guard.
“Shit, which bastard can’t watch where they’re going? If you don’t need your eyes, why not donate them to someone who— Lao Bai?”
Bai Long hadn’t been hit too hard, but it still took her a moment to regain her balance.
Seeing Chen Lan was fine, she lowered her head to straighten the wrinkles on her clothes.
“Why are you still so reckless? Lucky it was me—what if you’d run into someone else?”
Unlike before, when a single volleyball hit had knocked her out and kept her in the hospital for three days, now, after such a heavy collision, she was standing there completely unscathed.
Chen Lan was stunned for a moment. She opened her mouth, about to say something, when she caught sight of the homeroom teacher heading their way out of the corner of her eye.
It was too late to dodge now. Fearing an instant dose of “righteous discipline,” she quickly ducked behind Bai Long.
Bai Long had excellent grades. Usually, if she stepped in to say a few words on Chen Lan’s behalf, even if it couldn’t lighten the punishment, it could at least buy some time.
After being friends for so long, they have a certain unspoken understanding.
She subtly stepped forward, shielding Chen Lan, then gave the homeroom teacher a slight nod.
“Mr. Liu.”
Seeing it was Bai Long, the teacher’s expression softened somewhat.
“Oh, Bai Long. Class is about to start—did you need something? Did you forget some materials from before?”
“No, I have everything.”
As she spoke, Bai Long glanced around the office. It was the long break, and since there were no classes, most of the teachers were in.
“Mr. Liu, it’s like this—the homeroom teacher for Class 4 is in a meeting on the third floor. If you’re free now, you might want to head to the infirmary to check on Li Xia. She slipped on the stairs earlier.”
“I was on my way back to the classroom when I heard a noise. I saw her and helped her to the infirmary.”
“She fell? Is it serious? Did she hurt any bones?”
Bai Long didn’t answer immediately. She frowned slightly, recalling the scene, then spoke carefully.
“It seems pretty serious. Not only did she hurt her leg, but she also landed face-first. There’s a lot of bruising on her face too.”
“What?! That serious!”
“Then I’ll go check on her. You two hurry back to the classroom—class is about to start.”
The homeroom teacher couldn’t worry about Chen Lan anymore at this point. He hurried off in the direction of the infirmary at a brisk pace.
Chen Lan watched the man’s figure gradually disappear from sight, still feeling a bit dazed.
She blinked and raised a hand to rub the back of her neck.
“That’s so weird. Did my mouth somehow become prophetic? I just mentioned Li Xia to the teacher, and now she ends up falling right after.”
In high spirits, she grinned at Bai Long and gave her shoulder a friendly slap.
“But thanks, Lao Bai. You showed up just in time—otherwise, I’d have been in real trouble today.”
“You’re welcome.”
Bai Long smiled sweetly, her eyes curving into crescents. She looked even happier than Chen Lan, who had just narrowly escaped disaster.
“Oh, and one correction: Li Xia didn’t accidentally slip and fall.”
“I beat her up.”