Ever since Tuesday’s classes started, Ji Shu had been bringing a transparent umbrella to school every day.
As soon as class began, Wang Jing started handing back yesterday’s exam papers, reading aloud the names of the top fifteen students in the class.
When only two papers were left in his hand, he cleared his throat and spoke.
“Ji Shu, second place, 117 points.”
The exam was out of 120 points, so she had lost three points. Ji Shu slowly rose from her seat to retrieve her paper. Around her, murmurs of surprise and admiration spread, mixed with skeptical glances from all directions.
“Ji Shu has improved greatly, advancing twenty-one places since the last test… truly commendable,” Wang Jing coughed lightly, seemingly recalling how she used to play with her phone freely in his class, and tried to temper his tone. “However, don’t grow arrogant or complacent.”
Ji Shu didn’t listen to him. She looked at her paper and realized she had made a careless mistake on a multiple-choice question she hadn’t even paid much attention to. The problem wasn’t difficult, and when she recalculated it on scratch paper, she saw she had used the wrong formula because her mind had wandered during the test.
“….” She closed her pen cap with a hint of frustration.
Even though she was making an effort to fight it, she still found it difficult to overcome her mental struggles on her own without external help.
She began planning a weekend trip to the psychiatric hospital to register and get her medication.
By the time she looked up, Wang Jing had already finished reading Xie Zhoulin’s perfect score ranking. He didn’t return the paper but instead held it up and began explaining the answers.
The bell for the end of class rang soon after.
Unlike before, this time many students gathered around Ji Shu.
Probably because Lu Mingxi hadn’t openly targeted her recently, combined with the authority she had shown during PE class, they had gradually shifted their attitude toward her. After all, bullying her would gain them no favor with the young duke and could even backfire, causing harm to themselves, so there was no point in doing so.
Xie Zhoulin was always busy and occasionally absent after class, so these students came to Ji Shu with their questions.
Most of them had never directly targeted her before and approached with a mixture of guilt and timidity, cautiously testing the waters.
Ji Shu glanced at the girls and then picked up her pen, lowering her head to explain. Her explanations were clear and structured, she didn’t skip steps, marking every basic formula. The girls around her expressed their gratitude repeatedly.
She heard some snide comments: “Showing off… do we even know if she actually took the test?”
Someone nearby laughed and retorted, “Who would she copy from? The ones at the very bottom, or the young duke who slept through the test and handed in a blank paper?”
The first person immediately fell silent.
Soon the bell rang, and the students crowding around her desk reluctantly dispersed.
Through the thinning gaps in the crowd, Ji Shu looked up and seemed to catch Lu Mingxi glancing at her from the side. He looked at her steadily for a moment, then quickly turned his face away, as if their eye contact had been entirely unintentional.
Ji Shu twisted open her water cup and took a sip, soothing her slightly hoarse throat.
Before class began, she checked her phone.
There were no messages in the pinned section.
The morning classes ended quickly.
After packing her things, Ji Shu grabbed the umbrella she had borrowed yesterday and walked toward Xie Zhoulin’s desk.
“Thank you for the umbrella,” she said.
Xie Zhoulin paused for a moment before reaching out to take the handle. He looked at her and said, “No problem. The weather’s been unpredictable lately, make sure you stay warm.”
Ji Shu responded with a quiet, “Mm,” and was about to leave when Xie Zhoulin called after her: “Ji Shu, your test paper… where did you lose points?”
Ji Shu was slightly surprised that he had even noticed her score. She answered truthfully. Xie Zhoulin lowered his head for a moment in silence, his eyebrows twitching subtly, and then asked, “Do you have attention issues?”
Ji Shu admitted it bashfully.
Although her difficulties went far beyond this, she felt no need to elaborate. Perhaps he was just asking on a whim.
As expected, Xie Zhoulin said nothing further and let her go.
As Ji Shu turned, she saw Lu Mingxi leaning back in his chair, watching her and Xie Zhoulin from a distance. When their eyes met, he erased the dark seriousness from his gaze, replaced it with a teasing, careless smile, even raising an eyebrow at her: “Ji Shu, what, returning his umbrella, but not mine?”
Ji Shu’s expression shifted slightly.
Lu Mingxi seemed to make a deliberate effort to remind her, in case she had forgotten: “The one from Saturday, the black umbrella I lent you when I took you home.”
Behind her, Xie Zhoulin’s fingers paused slightly as he packed his bag.
A few lingering students in the classroom were also quietly observing with curious eyes. Ji Shu had no time to dwell on the double meaning in his words. She briskly walked over to his desk and lowered her voice: “…I forgot, sorry. I’ll bring it tomorrow.”
Lu Mingxi leaned lazily in his seat, not looking at her, eyelids half-closed, fingers swiping across his phone screen. “What to do… I don’t feel like needing it anymore. You could just throw it away.”
Ji Shu didn’t dare throw it away. Afraid he might change his mind at the last minute, she simply said, “I’ll bring it tomorrow. If you don’t need it, you can throw it away yourself then.”
Lu Mingxi’s expression seemed to darken in an instant, it was unclear which words had displeased him this time.
He lifted his eyelids and glanced at Ji Shu. His gaze was cold, unlike the teasing, disguised curiosity he used to show when hunting at ease. Now it was sharp and snake-like, chilling.
Ji Shu felt a bit uncomfortable and took a small step back. She pressed her lips together, about to say something, when a voice came from outside the door:
“Young Duke, someone’s here to see you!”
Lu Mingxi’s attention shifted, and Ji Shu let out a quiet breath.
She also turned to look at the doorway.
A girl was standing there, slightly to the side, waiting by the door. Her hair was tied in a high ponytail, and she had a delicate, refined appearance.
People walking in the hallway noticed her coming for Lu Mingxi and started whispering and teasing.
“Looks like the Young Duke’s persistence has finally moved his girlfriend.”
“If I remember correctly, this is the first time our special admission student has come to the classroom door to see the Young Duke, isn’t it?”
“Over time, even a heart of stone can soften, especially when it’s someone of the Young Duke’s status.”
Some voices muttered with envy and teeth-gritting:
“What a schemer, who knows what tricks she used, dangling the Young Duke for half a year.”
“Everyone knows his exes used to change every three months. After that wine incident, so many girls staring at his side ended up disappointed…”
It dawned on Ji Shu.
—This was the special-admission female lead from the novel: Ruan Si’an.
She stood at the door, a little nervous, waiting for someone. Lu Mingxi paused in his seat for a moment, as if thinking, before lazily getting up. He walked past Ji Shu and stopped at the doorway, a playful smile on his face. “What’s up?”
Everyone nearby couldn’t help but listen in.
Ruan Si’an’s hands hung nervously at her sides, clutching her clothing. “…I came to ask you for a favor.”
Lu Mingxi seemed distracted.
Leaning against the doorframe with his hands in his pockets and eyes downcast, he didn’t answer immediately. He simply hummed, “Go on.”
Ruan Si’an lowered her head, her face flushing. “It’s my friend. Her friend has committed a serious offense and is facing expulsion… she wanted me to come and ask you.”
Lu Mingxi seemed to smile slightly. “Your friend’s friend? What did she do?”
“She… was smoking on campus.”
“Hm. Anything else?”
“…” Ruan Si’an seemed reluctant to speak. She took a few deep breaths, then summoned her courage and looked up. “Last week, under my friend’s instructions, she bullied some classmates at school. I know it was wrong, but my friend wanted to stand up for me. She acted impulsively and did something bad. Now the person has come to me… I can’t just sit by and do nothing.”
Lu Mingxi gradually suppressed his smile.
“Last week? Where?” he asked. “What’s your friend’s name?”
“On the sixth floor, the girls’ restroom. She locked someone in a stall. Her name is Qin Jia.”
Lu Mingxi seemed to recall something.
He turned his head and looked at Ji Shu with an unreadable expression. Ruan Si’an noticed his movement and tried to follow his gaze, but Lu Mingxi angled his body to block her view.
“I can’t handle this.” She heard his voice from above. The Young Duke, usually soft and playful, now sounded unusually cold.
Ruan Si’an looked up in disbelief.
Lu Mingxi lifted his chin and turned his face indifferently toward another figure approaching from the hallway, raising an eyebrow. “You need to talk to the Student Council President about this. I don’t have enough authority, I won’t interfere.”
Xie Zhoulin walked over, his expression cold.
Ruan Si’an’s face suddenly darkened. She turned to look at Xie Zhoulin. He stopped in front of Lu Mingxi and stared straight at him. “Let’s go.”
“The matter isn’t resolved yet,” Lu Mingxi gestured subtly toward Ruan Si’an, smirking faintly at Xie Zhoulin.
“The smoking issue on campus was supposed to be handled by you. Now the person has come to me. Aren’t you going to take responsibility?”
“This is your problem that came knocking. And only now you remember to come to me? What were you doing before?”
Lu Mingxi could only sigh in resignation. “Fine, I was wrong. Could you, Student Council President, deign to handle this for our special-admission student?”
“…”
Xie Zhoulin cast a sideways glance at Ruan Si’an, who still hadn’t recovered, and sighed. “You’d better not get involved anymore.”
Ruan Si’an wanted to say something more, but Xie Zhoulin interrupted her.
“This isn’t as simple as you think. The punishment comes from the school, the Academic Affairs Office has already processed the expulsion. It will be announced to the entire school at tomorrow’s assembly.”
Ruan Si’an only registered it after a moment.
“It’s fine, I understand. Thank you…”
Her eyes were red, and she forced a small smile. “This was her fault from the start. There’s no point in complaining about the outcome. If you do something like this, you have to be prepared to face the consequences. I’ll tell her exactly as it happened.”
She said this without looking up at Lu Mingxi, wiped her eyes with her sleeve, and ran off.
Those nearby let out a sigh, expecting Lu Mingxi to chase after her, but he remained where he was.
He glanced sideways at Xie Zhoulin and asked curiously, “I thought you had already handled this. How come she still came to me? Since when did you start being so careless?”
Xie Zhoulin didn’t answer.
Lu Mingxi smirked skeptically. “I even thought you sent her to me to test me. On one hand, I didn’t want to get involved. On the other, it’s not good if this escalates.” Especially for Ji Shu.
Before he finished, Ji Shu’s low, muffled voice sounded behind him: “Excuse me.”
Lu Mingxi instinctively stepped aside.
He saw Ji Shu, backpack on, walk past him without looking back, running in the direction Ruan Si’an had gone, following her cries. Her figure quickly disappeared around the corner of the stairs.
Lu Mingxi’s words caught in his throat. He stared incredulously at the direction she had gone, and after a long moment, he coldly muttered:
“…Ungrateful little wretch.”
Xie Zhoulin said nothing and stepped forward to leave.
Lu Mingxi called after him: “Xie Zhoulin.”
The other didn’t pause.
Lu Mingxi raised an eyebrow and spoke louder: “You’re not going to interfere in Ji Shu’s matters, are you? You never have before, and I hope that doesn’t change this time.”
The young man in front of him finally stopped when he heard his name. He lowered his head, a noble, deliberate gesture, removed his glasses, tucked them into the pocket of his uniform at his chest, and took a few steps closer, looking at Lu Mingxi coldly and evenly.
“Lu Mingxi, I don’t have time for your hunting games. I only want to give you a piece of advice. If it’s just play, and you don’t want to deal with the aftermath, don’t stir things up. Once it reaches a point of no return, it’ll be too late to regret it.”
Lu Mingxi’s brow darkened. “You—”
“This isn’t something the Duke asked me to say. It’s just my own words,” Xie Zhoulin said, then turned away coldly without waiting for him. “Think carefully for yourself.”
The Young Duke remained standing there for a moment.
He took the backpack Jiang Zhaoming handed him with a cold expression and walked forward. Silent the whole way, he suddenly stopped at the stairwell.
“Jiang Zhaoming.” He spoke abruptly.
Jiang Zhaoming nearly bumped into him, startled, and took a few steps back. “…Young Duke?”
Lu Mingxi pressed a hand against the wooden stair railing. His mind flashed back to Ji Shu’s expression when she left, strained, pale, tense, and anxious.
She had been uncomfortable, and for some reason, he felt less pleased himself, instead, a quiet, indescribable agitation spread through him.
Don’t wait until it’s too late to regret it.
He asked, “Are you still sending flowers?”
Jiang Zhaoming froze for a moment, then realized: “Yes. Last semester, you told me to send Miss Ruan a bouquet of freshly cut flowers by air every month…”
Lu Mingxi cut him off. “Stop sending them.”
Jiang Zhaoming blinked in surprise. “Huh?”
“I said, don’t send them anymore.” Lu Mingxi continued down the stairs, his voice dark. “I forgot about this. I should have stopped you long ago.”
“…Let’s just leave it at that,” he said softly.