Ningjiang Middle School.
With curious eyes, Xia Keneng walked through the school gates, following the crowd of other students toward the freshman teaching building. The backs of the blue-and-white Ningjiang Middle School uniform jackets were printed with red numbers indicating each student’s enrollment year. Song Yunshen’s freshman class had enrolled in 2024, so Xia Keneng only needed to follow the uniforms bearing the number "2024" to accurately locate the freshman classrooms.
She had to admit, walking onto a high school campus in Song Yunshen’s body was an incredibly bizarre experience. Xia Keneng could clearly feel the absence of the usual heavy weight on her chest, making her feel much lighter overall. The only issue was the line of sight. She was usually less than 1.6 meters tall, whereas Song Yunshen’s height... had to be at least 1.8 meters, right? Looking at the girls around her, they all seemed so short. "Is this how tall people feel when they look at short people?" she wondered.
Carrying this novel experience, Xia Keneng entered the freshman teaching building and smoothly found Class Five by checking the signs above the classroom doors. Only then did she finally start to feel nervous. After all, she wasn’t the real Song Yunshen. It would be entirely too awkward if someone noticed something off. Standing at the door, she carefully recalled Song Yunshen’s prior instructions, took a deep breath, mustered her courage, and stepped inside.
With over twenty minutes left until morning study began, the classroom wasn’t full yet. CHATTER filled the room as the students gossiped away. Few paid any attention to Xia Keneng walking in, but she effortlessly spotted the figure sitting in the middle of the third row.
"My second sister is actually here," Xia Keneng thought. She kept her eyes glued to Xia Yunuo, intensely curious about how her own sister acted at school.
Just then, Xia Yunuo glanced in her direction. Upon making eye contact, Xia Yunuo immediately lowered her head and looked away.
"Did Second Sister just look at me?" Xia Keneng blinked, feeling inexplicably guilty. But she quickly remembered that she was currently Song Yunshen. They were just classmates, so what was there to be afraid of? Thus, as she made her way to Song Yunshen’s seat, she continued to observe her sister.
"Does she not talk to her desk mate?" Xia Keneng noticed that even when Xia Yunuo’s desk mate turned around to chat with the student behind them, they never spoke a word to Xia Yunuo. Her sister just kept her head down, reading a book by herself, showing absolutely no intention of socializing.
By this time, Xia Keneng had reached Xu Zhuoyue’s desk. Just as she was wondering how to squeeze past him, Xu Zhuoyue had already stood up to make way.
"Stop staring, your eyeballs are about to fall out," Xu Zhuoyue teased. "Do you not get enough of looking at her every day?"
Xia Keneng blinked. "What’s wrong with looking at my own sister?" she thought. Then it hit her—she was Song Yunshen right now. Had her constant staring just caused a massive misunderstanding with Xu Zhuoyue?
"I wasn’t staring... uh... I just glanced a little..." she explained instinctively.
"Alright, alright," Xu Zhuoyue chuckled. "Who in the class doesn’t know you’re chasing after Xia Yunuo? Just look if you want to look."
"Huh?" Hearing this, Xia Keneng froze completely. She pointed a finger at herself. "Me? Chasing her?"
"What else?" Xu Zhuoyue rolled his eyes in exasperation. "You fucking ditched me a couple of days ago to take Xia Yunuo out to dinner. The whole class knows about it now, okay?"
Hearing this, Xia Keneng’s eyes widened drastically, as if she had just heard something unimaginable. "He... I... I took her to dinner?"
"Are you losing your mind?" Xu Zhuoyue shot him a weird look. "I saw you two eating together with my own eyes, alright? Don’t play dumb with me."
At his words, Xia Keneng snapped to attention. Alarm bells blared in her head as guilt washed over her.
"Holy crap! How did I blow my cover so fast? What do I do, what do I do?! What am I supposed to do right now?!"
She frantically sifted through her memories of Song Yunshen’s warnings, but ultimately, only one single phrase came to mind. Walking straight to her seat, she tried her hardest to remain calm and spat out a single word at Xu Zhuoyue: "Dumbass."
"Son of a bitch, you’re getting arrogant just because you bought Xia Yunuo a meal, huh," Xu Zhuoyue cursed back, sliding into his own seat. Fortunately, he didn’t voice any further suspicions.
Seeing Xu Zhuoyue’s unbothered, accustomed reaction, Xia Keneng’s tightly clenched hands gradually relaxed. "That trick actually worked?" she wondered. "Is this just how guys interact? You can call the other person a dumbass and it’s perfectly fine..."
With a strange look in her eyes, Xia Keneng hurriedly fished out Song Yunshen’s math homework, planning to study his handwriting before the exam started.
Once the morning study bell rang, the math instructor, Teacher Song, walked into the classroom. Because they had a math exam that morning, the morning study session was unprecedentedly hijacked for math. However, Xu Zhuoyue clearly had no intention of reviewing. A few minutes later, he stealthily slid over a piece of scratch paper. On it was a hand-drawn grid with an ’X’ already marked in the center.
Xia Keneng blinked, having no idea what it meant.
Seeing her space out, Xu Zhuoyue immediately whispered a reminder. "Make your move. You’re not actually going to study, are you? Stop putting on an act. Does your math even need reviewing?"
Only then did Xia Keneng realize that Xu Zhuoyue was inviting her to play Gomoku. There were boys in her class who liked to secretly play it during lessons too, but right now, she was in a rush to learn Song Yunshen’s handwriting. She had no choice but to politely decline. "Teacher Song is right there. I’m not playing."
"What are you pretending for?" Xu Zhuoyue rolled his eyes. "Your math grades are so good, Teacher Song dotes on you more than anyone. Hurry up. Don’t tell me you’re afraid to lose?"
Seeing him push the issue, Xia Keneng felt rather helpless. Left with no other options, she simply replied, "Dumbass."
With that, she buried her head again to continue studying Song Yunshen’s handwriting. Beside her, Xu Zhuoyue couldn’t help but click his tongue. "Are you buckling down to study hard so you can be worthy of Xia Yunuo?"
"Dumbass."
"Speaking of which, how far have things progressed between you and Xia Yunuo? Spill the details."
"Dumbass."
"Don’t be so stingy. I still haven’t settled the score with you for ditching our dinner plans."
"Dumbass."
"Hey, now you’re going overboard. You haven’t come to play basketball all week, and I didn’t even say anything, alright?"
"Dumbass."
"Fuck, are you ever gonna stop? Dumbass!"
"Dumbass."
"You’re the dumbass!"
"Dumbass."
"Dumbass!"
...
At 9:30 AM, Shulan Middle School.
Having already finished his math exam paper, Song Yunshen sat bored in his seat in the examination hall, spinning his pen. His mind lingered on Xia Keneng, who was currently controlling his body.
"That bastard Xu Zhuoyue talks way too much," he thought. "I don’t know if Xia Keneng can handle him. Let’s just hope she doesn’t blow her cover."