Chapter 58 Part 2

“Dragon” in the local dialect meant “awesome/badass.” It was both a meme and genuine praise for Shen Yuze’s prowess.

Unfortunately, the praised guy looked visibly upset. Expressionless, he carried his bag to the back row. Lu Ping, loving the chaos, joined in the whooping and clapping.

Shen Yuze slammed his bag down and asked coldly, “You too? Joining their nonsense?”

“How’s it nonsense? Everyone’s happy for you.” Lu Ping held back a laugh. “Did you see the electronic screen outside the Teaching Building?”

“…I saw it.” Shen Yuze was introverted and hated this kind of fame. When he saw his photo magnified dozens of times, his back broke out in chills; he wanted to drop out on the spot.

Lu Ping teased on purpose. “Are you happy?”

Shen Yuze sighed helplessly. “If it were you, would you be?”

“I would! Too bad I don’t have that luck.” Lu Ping shrugged. “The principal’s stingy; he wouldn’t turn on the big screen normally. Unless I become top scorer and get into Qingbei, then maybe he’d put my name up there.”

“…” Shen Yuze fell silent.

Fine, “becoming provincial top scorer” was way too far for Lu Ping. With his grades, keeping momentum meant a solid 211; 985 would be pure luck.

Lu Ping glanced at the wall clock and asked curiously, “By the way, it’s only 7:30. Why’d you come to school so early today?”

No. 1 High School’s morning self-study started at 7, but Shen Yuze had privileges, never attending. He always arrived at 7:55 on the dot for first period. His tardiness benefited Lu Ping, who happily occupied both desks during self-study.

At Lu Ping’s question, Shen Yuze’s face darkened further. “The principal told me to come early. Said he had something to discuss.”

“What?” Lu Ping was all gossip. “You brought glory to the school, so there should be a bonus! Is he giving you money? How much? At least a thousand?”

This little money-grubber, fixated on the cash.

Shen Yuze nodded. “Yeah, there’s a bonus—1,500. But I didn’t take it.”

“Why?” Lu Ping was anxious. “Even if you don’t care about that little money, it’s yours by right. Why refuse?”

“Because the principal wants to hold an award ceremony for me after flag-raising today. He even prepared a two-meter-wide plastic banner in advance.”

Lu Ping: “…Pfft!”

The flag-raising ceremony required the attendance of the entire school. Lu Ping imagined the scene: in front of all 1,700 teachers and students, Shen Yuze would receive a massive bonus check from the principal, shake hands, pose for photos, and smile… Lu Ping felt like he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from bursting out laughing on the spot.

He gloated, “From the looks of it, the principal really knows how to make a ceremony out of things.”

Shen Yuze shot him a sideways glance. “—He wants me to recite my speech in front of everyone before accepting the award.”

Lu Ping: “…”

He felt exhausted; he couldn’t laugh anymore.

Although Shen Yuze’s second speech had genuinely moved Lu Ping, he didn’t have the thick skin to calmly sit through it again in front of the entire school!

He would be so embarrassed he’d want to leave the planet!!

Lu Ping quickly asked, “You refused, right?”

“Of course.” Shen Yuze nodded. He kept the second half of his thought to himself: It wasn’t time to come out publicly yet.

Lu Ping finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Early self-study was supposed to be quiet, but the classmates were chatting animatedly. Their whispers didn’t draw any attention. Everyone was chattering away, and no one noticed the pair of hawk-like eyes that had appeared outside the glass window at the back door of the classroom.

The “hawk” was none other than their homeroom teacher, Wu Yingxia.

She stood at the small glass window at the back door with her hands behind her back, quietly observing the class—who was talking to whom, who was copying homework, who was dozing off, who was listening to music… everything was in plain view.

As she watched, she jotted down the names of the troublemakers in the class.

Chen Miaomiao was fussing with her few strands of hair again. She had gotten up late that morning and hadn’t had time to wash her bangs. Her hair was fine and soft, and now her bangs were plastered to her forehead. She kept feeling like everyone around her was staring. So, she quietly pulled a small mirror from her bag, along with a palm-sized wooden comb, and meticulously worked on her hair.

After finally finishing, she held the mirror farther away to admire herself, but through its reflection, she unexpectedly spotted the homeroom teacher standing at the back door of the classroom!

And they made eye contact!

Hiss—this was straight out of a campus horror movie!

Chen Miaomiao: “!!!”

She snapped the mirror shut, shoved it and the comb into her bag, and sat up straight, folding her arms neatly on the desk like an obedient child.

High school students had a peculiar kind of group intuition—as soon as one person suddenly went quiet, the silence spread through the classroom in an instant! Without a word, their sixth sense screamed: Alert, alert, enemy at the back door!

Unfortunately, they only quieted down when it was too late.

In the dead silence, Teacher Wu pushed open the back door and walked into the classroom with a grim expression.

No one dared to breathe. Even the usually independent Shen Yuze stayed silent in this atmosphere.

“You all are really something. Go out and see if any other class’s early self-study is as chaotic as ours?” Teacher Wu wove between the desks, pointing out names every few rows. “Class Monitor, you’re the class monitor—how can you let the classroom get this messy without organizing discipline? Zhou Yue, how’s that homework copying going? What were you doing over the weekend instead of writing it? Chen Miaomiao, starting tomorrow, you’re bringing hair clips to class and pinning up all those bangs of yours!”

Everyone she named hung their heads, quiet as quails. Chen Miaomiao felt indignant and wronged as she tugged at her bangs. Her hairline was high, so she paid extra attention to them. If she pinned them all up… wouldn’t that expose her forehead that looked just like her older brother’s?

Teacher Wu made her way step by step to the podium, her tone ominous. “And to a certain male student—I won’t name him here. The moment I arrived today, I saw his photo on the school’s big screen. The teachers are truly proud of him from the bottom of our hearts. Bringing honor to the school is great, but can’t you bring some honor to the class too?”

Lu Ping: “…”

Shen Yuze: “…”

Why did this “male student” sound so familiar?

She might as well have just announced Shen Yuze’s student number.

Teacher Wu continued, “I’ve already heard from more than one subject teacher complaining that this male student and his deskmate are always chatting and passing notes during class. Do you two have that much to say? Are you some once-a-year Cowherd and Weaver Girl who won’t get another chance if you don’t spill it all now?”

The teacher’s metaphor was too hilarious. A low chuckle escaped from somewhere in the class, but it quickly stopped. The implication was too obvious, and some classmates couldn’t help turning around to glance at Lu Ping and Shen Yuze in the back row.

Shen Yuze remained calm in the face of it all, pretending not to hear as if it didn’t concern him. Lu Ping, with his thin skin, kept his head down, refusing to look up—but his flushed ear tips betrayed him; he was surely curling his toes in embarrassment.

With neither of the two responding, Teacher Wu had nowhere to vent her frustration.

She pulled a folded A4 paper from her pocket, slowly unfolded it, placed it on the desk, and smoothed out the corners with her palm. “Alright then, it’s been a while since we changed seats. Here’s the new seating chart. You have ten minutes to switch—don’t disrupt the first period.”

With that, she gave the Class Monitor a look, signaling him to organize everyone. Her first period was with the next class over, so she needed to hurry back to the office for her lesson plan. She didn’t have time to supervise.

Once Teacher Wu left, the class erupted in a buzz.

They had already switched seats once before and thought the current arrangement would last until finals. Now they had to change again! Many were reluctant to part with their current deskmates, but Teacher Wu’s word was law—they had to obey.

Suddenly, half the class crowded the podium, craning their necks to see the seating chart in the Class Monitor’s hands. Their class had fifty students total: eight per row for six columns, with two “leftovers.” Before, Shen Yuze and Lu Ping had been those “leftovers.”

Lu Ping had a very bad premonition. He squeezed into the crowd and carefully scanned the rows of names for himself and Shen Yuze.

He was all too familiar with their names and spotted them almost immediately—on the new chart, Shen Yuze was by the window in the second-to-last row.

Lu Ping himself had been tossed to the fourth row, third column.

They had indeed been separated.