By the time Song Enya had completed all the procedures and returned to the teaching building, an hour had already passed.
She walked along the empty corridor on the sixth floor, where the porcelain-white floor made her shoes look dusty.
So Song Enya headed to the restroom first.
She dampened a tissue with water and carefully wiped the dull edges of her shoes.
Suddenly, she heard faint noises coming from inside. Song Enya immediately turned her head and stared intently in that direction.
A short-haired girl soon emerged, sniffling.
The tear stains on her face were still wet, and her uniform was splattered with large patches of red paint, looking particularly jarring.
The girl seemed not to have expected anyone to be there at this time. Seeing Song Enya, she froze briefly, then walked silently to the sink, using her hands to wet and wipe her uniform.
The two stood in silence on opposite sides.
“Do you need a tissue?”
Song Enya hesitated but still asked.
She hadn’t wanted to meddle, especially since it was best not to befriend such students when she was new here—it was easy to get dragged into trouble.
But she thought it wouldn’t hurt to earn a favor.
As long as no outsiders saw it.
Seeing the tissue offered to her, Ren Haitang reached out and took it.
“If it’s really unbearable, you should transfer schools,” Song Enya said, once again clearly seeing her disheveled state through the mirror.
“No need, it hasn’t reached the point where I have to transfer.”
Ren Haitang picked out a clean corner from the tissue stained with red paint to wipe her tears, then quickly dabbed at her uniform, soaking it almost entirely.
The dark-colored uniform concealed much of the red paint, making it look less unsightly.
“Are you that optimistic?” Song Enya glanced at her inexplicably.
“No, but with the class monitor around, they don’t dare go too far,” Ren Haitang said, sniffling.
Song Enya didn’t say anything more and calmly turned to leave alone.
She had never been one to waste words trying to persuade stubborn people.
Placing hope in others was the most foolish thing to do. If that class monitor really intended to help her, she wouldn’t have gone through all this.
Unfortunately, Ren Haitang didn’t understand.
When she reached the classroom door, Song Enya spotted Han Shixu sitting near the front almost immediately.
She was about to smile when she saw him indifferently avert his gaze.
Song Enya had no choice but to suppress her expression and walk to the podium alone.
Jing Yuanxi leaned against the back desk with her arms crossed, taking in the interaction between the two.
The classroom was filled with noisy chatter, as if no one had noticed the newcomer.
“Hello everyone, my name is Song Enya.”
The sudden sound of a female voice interrupted the commotion.
Everyone turned their heads and stared at her in silence.
The atmosphere was too eerie and awkward, and for a moment, Song Enya forgot what to say next.
Just as she was about to quietly step down, Li Chengshuo suddenly tapped his desk. “Aren’t you going to introduce anything else besides your name?”
Song Enya looked confused. “What?”
“Shouldn’t you tell us that your mother is a maid?” Jin Mingzhu sneered loudly. “Since you’ve joined Class One, you shouldn’t hide something like this.”
As soon as these words were spoken, the entire classroom erupted.
“What’s going on? How can a maid’s daughter get into our school? Doesn’t she know what kind of place this is?”
“Di’an International has really been going downhill these past few years, accepting anyone. Look at her clothes—they look so cheap. Does that outfit even cost a hundred yuan?”
“How much does a nanny usually earn? It must take several years of work just to buy a school uniform, right?”
“Why are you asking me? No one in my family works as a nanny. Go ask her—she’d definitely know.”
“Since there’s a little nanny in our class, can we leave all the cleaning to her from now on?”
“Ren Haitang and the others must be thrilled about this. After all, even within the D-Sequence, there’s a ranking order.”
Mocking laughter filled the classroom, and Song Enya could only catch fragments of the harsh words.
The scene unfolding before her was something she had never imagined, leaving her momentarily stunned.
This school wasn’t quite what she had expected…
Ren Haitang hurried in through the door, head lowered, and returned to her seat.
Jing Yuanxi watched as the person at the podium walked down dejectedly and took a seat in the empty spot at the back.
The jeering around her continued unabated, with Jin Mingzhu and Li Chengshuo’s voices particularly loud.
Yet, since no one had named names and the taunts were only thinly veiled, Song Enya couldn’t directly confront them. She had no choice but to swallow her anger and endure it.
At the front, Han Shixu was slumped over his desk, seemingly asleep.
But through the gaps, Jing Yuanxi could see his tightly clenched hands.
Even now, he still hadn’t considered being honest with her.
Did he feel no guilt toward her?
Jing Yuanxi believed she had always treated this arranged marriage with sincerity, at the very least ensuring outsiders had no grounds for gossip.
So why should her efforts be so carelessly disregarded?
If he had agreed to the marriage in the first place, he should have simply handed over the Han family’s affairs peacefully.
Why did he have to disrupt this tranquility on his own?
“How did she end up at our school? Did the principal lose his mind, or did someone help her…”
At this point, Bai Huina suddenly fell silent, cautiously glancing at Jing Yuanxi’s expression before deciding not to continue.
The only person this nanny and her daughter knew was Han Shixu, wasn’t it?
Could it be that Han Shixu had helped them?
Once Bai Huina pieced this together in her mind, she was instantly shocked and turned her gaze toward the sleeping boy.
Han Shixu…
Just then, Pei Jize swaggered in from outside, a banner draped over his shoulder. “I told you I’d get it done, and I did.”
He walked to the center of the room, but when he looked up and saw the girl’s sour expression, he was startled and quickly slipped over to Bai Huina’s side, whispering, “What’s wrong with her?”
Bai Huina gave an awkward smile. “I don’t know.”
Left with no other option, Pei Jize wandered over to Jing Yuanxi again, looking puzzled, and asked directly, “What’s the matter?”
“I was just a little slow—surely that’s not worth giving me such a look, is it?” he asked uncertainly.
“Ah… I get it. Is your fiancé acting all high and mighty again?”
Jing Yuanxi lifted her eyelids to glance at him, and Pei Jize immediately understood. Filled with a sense of righteousness, he flashed over to Han Shixu’s seat.
“Hey, stop pretending to sleep. You’ve been sleeping all day—shouldn’t you at least fulfill your duties as a fiancé?”
When there was no response, Pei Jize tapped on the desk. “Wow, you’re really committed to the act. Not moving at all? How can you sleep with all this noise…”
Before he could finish, Han Shixu abruptly raised his head and stood up, his voice cold. “Don’t you think you’re annoying?”
The desk shook violently from his sudden movement, and the hushed whispers around them gradually faded away.
Jin Mingzhu, Li Chengshuo, and the others stopped their jeering and turned to look at the boy by the window.
Huh, was he annoying?
Pei Jize wore a look of genuine confusion, as though he had no self-awareness of the fact. Unflinching, he met the other’s gaze head-on.
The classroom had been so noisy earlier that he hadn’t been able to hear what they were saying clearly, nor had he noticed the extra person in the room.
But when the noise suddenly died down just now, he vaguely caught some key words.
Pei Jize instantly ignored Han Shixu standing before him and instead turned to look at the others. “What were you all saying about a nanny? Is our school hiring a nanny?”
Han Shixu’s expression grew even darker.
Yet Pei Jize continued, “It’s about time! Mopping floors and cleaning windows are such a pain. Let’s hire a couple more while we’re at it—they can take care of the hallways too!”