9
“You don’t look like you’ve slept well, Classmate Wu. Have you been studying too late every day? It’s probably my fault for giving you too many tasks. Should I reduce them a bit?”
Si Xiuyuan’s beautiful eyes were filled with concern for her.
This period was a math self-study session, and Qin Rou had them working in their study groups.
Wu Jiao: “No, no, it’s not your fault, class monitor. I’m just a slow learner. I slept really well last night.”
The truth was, last night Wu Zihui had suddenly craved caramel baked cookies, so she had spent some time making them.
“That’s good.”
Si Xiuyuan visibly relaxed.
“You’ve made a lot of progress, Classmate Wu. Keep it up, and I’m sure you’ll do well on this month’s exam. Class is almost over. Let’s finish this problem and call it a day.”
The study materials were placed in the middle of the desk. The two of them looked at the same problem together, their arms close to each other, though neither noticed.
Si Xiuyuan explained patiently. Wu Jiao listened intently, nodding from time to time to show she was following along.
Suddenly, Wu Jiao shifted, accidentally brushing against Si Xiuyuan’s arm.
The school had already uniformly switched to the spring uniforms.
Neither of them was wearing a jacket. Si Xiuyuan’s arm felt a sudden warmth.
Si Xiuyuan was also nearsighted. Though his prescription wasn’t strong, he always wore his glasses when studying.
Behind the lenses, his eyelashes fluttered slightly.
He was very unaccustomed to any kind of physical contact.
He didn’t mean to focus on it, but the girl’s soft, warm skin had indeed left an undeniable presence on his arm.
It was just a moment, yet he could still feel it.
Was it his imagination?
Si Xiuyuan’s attention drifted, but Wu Jiao hadn’t even realized what she had just done.
Her mind was completely on the problem.
She quickly drew a few auxiliary lines on the paper and said enthusiastically, “I think there’s another way to solve this problem. Class monitor, look—am I doing this right?”
She had touched him, yet she acted as if nothing had happened.
In that instant of contact, Si Xiuyuan’s heart felt like it had been scratched by a cat.
He hadn’t yet figured out the meaning of that emotion before it quickly passed.
Right now, in Wu Jiao’s eyes, Si Xiuyuan was nothing more than a study tool.
She needed to make the most of him, every second counting.
But the study tool had actually spaced out.
That was unusual.
“Class monitor?”
Wu Jiao called out to him cautiously.
“Sorry, what did you just say?”
…
Now it was Wu Jiao’s turn to explain, and Si Xiuyuan’s turn to listen.
Si Xiuyuan listened very attentively, as if he hadn’t been the one who had just drifted off.
Even the class bell didn’t interrupt them.
They took a little time to finish the problem.
Si Xiuyuan smiled warmly, looking genuinely pleased.
“Classmate Wu, you’ve really made great progress. Your method for this problem is more efficient.”
Wu Jiao felt a little shy from the praise.
“It’s because you’re such a good teacher, class monitor! Oh, by the way, class monitor—”
She wanted to thank him and give him the little cookies she had made yesterday, to boost her likability with him.
The window behind her was tapped, interrupting their conversation.
Wu Jiao turned around.
—It was Pei Jiamu again, with that punchable grin.
Wu Jiao calmly looked away.
Like a parent watching a child fall down.
If she looked one second longer, she was afraid he would do something else headache-inducing.
Wu Jiao: [Can’t see, can’t see, can’t see. Don’t want to talk to the childish idiot.]
Pei Jiamu let out a soft snort.
He didn’t want to talk to a dog either!
Whoever spoke to her first would be the dog!
Pei Jiamu pried the window open with one hand, flashed a bright smile, and sweetly called inside:
“Brother Xiuyuan, I came to find you.”
Si Xiuyuan had already noticed Pei Jiamu’s unusual behavior lately.
He knew Pei Jiamu—he was playful by nature, looked like a slacker, but didn’t have a malicious bone in his body.
On the contrary, he was very kind, and his heart was as delicate as a girl’s.
When they watched movies together in private, he would even secretly wipe away tears.
Pei Jiamu had loved clinging to Si Xiuyuan since they were kids, but he hated playing with other boys.
He said other boys were always dirty and smelly, and they said nasty things. He preferred playing with girls.
Si Xiuyuan guessed this was a lingering effect from the Pei family raising Pei Jiamu as a girl when he was little.
Pei Jiamu was clean, cared about his appearance, and was popular with girls. As a result, a lot of people said he played around and must have studied the “Art of Captivating Women.”
He didn’t care when people said that about him, but if he heard even a single negative word about a girl, he would immediately track the person down and teach them a lesson.
But the fact that he and Wu Jiao didn’t get along was nothing new.
They argued every time they met, as if they were fated to clash.
Wu Jiao wasn’t the only one who disliked him.
The boys at No. 1 High liked Si Xiuyuan as much as they disliked Pei Jiamu.
But the more they hated him, the more popular he became among the girls.
And so, at that moment, an extremely lively scene unfolded in the hallway outside Classroom 7.
Two tall boys stood by the railing, chatting and laughing. Everyone who passed by—boys and girls alike—focused their attention on them without exception.
The more perceptive students had already cleared out some space for them to talk, moving aside on their own.
The two of them were separated from the crowd by an invisible line.
Students from the several classes on the fourth floor crowded the hallways, craning their necks to look this way.
Even the hallways of the building across the way were packed with students, their faces full of excitement as they stared at where the two boys stood.
Of course, among these people, there were also some who looked disdainful.
One guy muttered, “What’s so great about looking at them?”
Pei Jiamu put on a cutesy voice. “Brother Xiuyuan, why haven’t you been paying attention to me these days? I have something I want to tell you.”
Pei Jiamu had been calling him that since childhood, following Yan Yixin’s lead, and it had become a habit.
Si Xiuyuan’s eyes darkened slightly. Though his expression remained gentle, his tone turned cold.
“I told you not to call me that at school. Just say what you need to say.”
Pei Jiamu wasn’t just bothering Wu Jiao—he had also been bombarding Si Xiuyuan with messages every day.
“Bro, you there?” “Bro, what are you doing?” “Bro, please reply to me.” He would send dozens of messages like that, but when it came to the important thing, he just wouldn’t say it.
Si Xiuyuan had straight-up blocked him.
Hearing Si Xiuyuan’s tone, Pei Jiamu immediately got serious.
He was more obedient in front of Si Xiuyuan than he was in front his own older brother. They weren’t biological brothers, but they were closer than that.
“Bro, no joke. I’ve run into something weird lately. Don’t not believe me, and don’t laugh at me.”
“Go ahead.”
Seeing his attitude, Si Xiuyuan knew that whatever he was about to say was probably the thing he had been trying to tell him all this time by asking if he was around.
At that moment, the hallway was already crowded with people—you had to turn sideways just to walk through. But of course, someone had to come bouncing a ball through.
The guy was decent-looking and relatively tall, but his eyes had an unfriendly glint. He was chewing gum, and his two hands were bouncing two basketballs, one high and one low.
He was the one who had just muttered disdainfully.
He was using the hallway as a basketball court without a care in the world.
“Move it, move it. Don’t blame me if you get hit.”
He dribbled the balls between his legs back and forth, occasionally spinning around and catching the balls, acting like he thought he looked cool.
Students hurried out of his way, terrified of getting hit by a ball.
At that moment, a small, frail figure was carrying a stack of homework notebooks nearly half her height. The pile blocked her view, and she didn’t notice the boy dribbling in her direction—
A voice shouted, “Watch out!”
The boy put too much force into it, and both balls flew out of his control, heading straight for the figure.
Crash—
One ball slammed into the stack of notebooks.
Notebooks went flying everywhere, while the other basketball flew straight toward the girl’s stunned face.
Thud—
A crisp, loud sound.
But a hand moved faster than the ball, catching it effortlessly.
Almost simultaneously, another hand shot out, and a tall figure stepped in front of the girl.
“Oh my god, that was so cool!”
“Pei Jiamu, you’re so hot! I’m yours!”
“Whoa, both of them reacted so fast!”
“Just looking at Si Xiuyuan’s back, I’m already swooning!”
The two had acted with lightning speed, preventing what could have been an injury.
Pei Jiamu held the ball, his expression unfriendly, while Si Xiuyuan crouched down to pick up the notebooks.
“…Thank you, thank you!”
Mo Li snapped out of it and quickly thanked them, crouching down to pick up the notebooks as well. “I’ve got it. Thank you so, so much.”
“It’s nothing. Are you hurt?”
“Uh-huh, yes! Thanks to the class monitor and… and this classmate. I’m fine!”
“Good. Be more careful from now on.”
“I will!”
“These are a bit heavy. Let me.”
Si Xiuyuan picked up the stack of notebooks.
“…Thank you, class monitor.”
In that brief moment, Mo Li nervously looked up at Pei Jiamu’s back. She didn’t even know his name yet.
But he… had just been so cool.
Pei Jiamu, for once, stood ramrod straight, his face cold enough to scare anyone.
The boy who had caused the accident picked up his basketball as if nothing had happened, walked up to Pei Jiamu without a word, and snatched the ball from him.
“Thanks.”
He tossed the words out lightly and started to leave.
Pei Jiamu extended his arm and blocked him.
“You think you can leave without apologizing?”
The boy dug in his heels. “Apologize for what? I said ‘watch out’—don’t blame me if you get hit. She’s the one who didn’t hear me and wasn’t watching where she was going.”
How outrageous!
Wu Jiao had just gone to get some water and happened to walk back in time to witness the scene.
She had been secretly shipping the couple from within the crowd.
And she was totally into it.
[There it is, there it is! Pei Jiamu’s first moment of heart-fluttering! Mo Li almost got hurt but still chose to forgive. Pei Jiamu is moved by her kindness, deeply feels that Mo Li is the best girl in the world, and will then pursue her passionately.]
[But with both male leads coming to the rescue like that, who does Mo Li like more?]
[Even though Duan Jiamu is a bit… you know, I gotta say, he’s pretty cool in a pinch. I bet Mo Li likes the sense of security he gives her.]
[But I didn’t expect the class monitor to react so fast too. He’s reliably awesome as always. You can already see hints of the wife-protecting maniac he’ll become.]
Just as Wu Jiao was thinking this, Pei Jiamu and Si Xiuyuan both looked over at her at the same time—
The hallway was packed with people, yet they locked eyes with her precisely through the crowd.
Especially Pei Jiamu—why was he looking at her so strangely?
Wu Jiao choked on her water.
Feeling like she had been caught doing something wrong, Wu Jiao inexplicably felt a twinge of guilt.
Could they hear her thoughts?
That couldn’t be, right?
If they could hear her, she would have been exposed long ago. Si Xiuyuan aside, even Pei Jiamu would have come to confront her.
Little E suddenly interjected: “Don’t worry, they can’t! Little E only gave you, the host, the ability to read thoughts. They can’t hear you. Host, host, stop shipping and get to work!”
[Triggered transformation mission—Don’t let good deeds go unrewarded. Stand up for Pei Jiamu and make the boy realize he’s wrong!]
**