Gu Qingying placed the textbook on the lectern and swept her gaze across the classroom. Her eyes lingered on Yang Haoran for a few seconds.
“Class, let’s begin!”
“Hello, Teacher!”
With the usual greeting, Yang Haoran stood up along with everyone else.
“Sit down.” Gu Qingying nodded, then announced, “Before we start the lesson proper, Yang Haoran, Wei Ming, and Li Peng—please submit your written apologies.”
“Written apologies?” Yang Haoran froze at his desk below the podium. Damn it, he’d forgotten to write his.
He’d spent last night flirting and bantering with Shen Devil until the wee hours. How could he remember something like a written apology?
Wei Ming and Li Peng obediently handed theirs over to the lectern. Yang Haoran, meanwhile, stayed glued to his seat, drawing every eye.
Once Wei Ming and Li Peng had returned to their seats, all the students’ gazes inevitably shifted to Yang Haoran.
He kept a calm face under the scrutiny of his classmates, but inside, he was screaming that he was doomed.
When Gu Qingying’s eyes finally turned to him as well, his body stiffened. With no other choice, he steeled himself and stood, ready to confess. “Teacher, I…”
“Teacher, Yang Haoran already turned in his written apology to me this morning.” Before he could get the words out, Yang Mengyao stood up, her innocent face tinged with nervousness.
She pulled the so-called apology from her desk drawer and handed it over to the lectern.
Gu Qingying picked up the paper and glanced at it. The handwriting was similar to Yang Haoran’s, but she could tell it was an imitation.
“Sit down. Class is starting.” Gu Qingying gave Yang Haoran a meaningful look. Since his sister Yang Mengyao had written it for him as cover, she saw no need to make things hard on the kid.
She knew Yang Mengyao and Yang Haoran were siblings, being their teacher and all.
Her standing policy with connected kids like him was to turn a blind eye—as long as they didn’t go too far, she’d have their backs.
Of course, there was that one other thing about him that gave her endless headaches, but it was too sensitive for her to do much about.
Yang Haoran, who had braced himself for a public scolding from Gu Qingying, let out a quiet sigh of relief. He sat back down with an air of perfect innocence, as if he’d truly handed the apology to the class monitor, Yang Mengyao, first thing that morning.
As for how Yang Mengyao had learned about the apologies in the first place: after the trio had been called to the office the day before, she’d worried about her brother and used her position as class monitor to beat around the bush with Wei Ming until he spilled the details.
And knowing her brother as she did, a written apology? What was that?
If he’d written one, she wouldn’t need to use hers. If not, it would come in handy.
Everything had gone exactly as she’d expected.
The lesson proceeded as normal.
Time slipped by unnoticed until the lunch bell rang.
Yang Haoran, Zhou Shiwen, and Wei Ming formed their usual trio and headed to the school cafeteria.
They followed the somewhat crowded flow of students down the stairs.
The three chatted idly about campus gossip and cute girls as they went. Along the way, Wei Ming casually asked Zhou Shiwen why he’d missed school the day before. Zhou Shiwen brushed it off with a vague excuse. Fortunately, he’d given their homeroom teacher, Gu Qingying, a heads-up that morning. Before long, Wei Ming deliberately steered the conversation toward Xiao Shaowan.
“Remember those rumors about Xiao Shaowan being someone’s sugar baby?”
“Yesterday, it sounds like someone confirmed it.”
Wei Ming glanced slyly at Yang Haoran to gauge his reaction. He knew Yang Haoran had a crush on Xiao Shaowan.
Yang Haoran’s face darkened instantly at the words. “Little Ming, tell me everything.”
Just as expected. As his bro, Wei Ming had already dug up the details yesterday.
“Yesterday after school, someone spotted a guy walking and laughing with Xiao Shaowan on the sports field. A bunch of people saw them.”
“I got the scoop—that guy’s Han Hongfei from Class 3 on the second floor. Total rich kid; his family’s in the clothing business, from what I hear.”
“You guys probably know him. The one who gets dropped off in sports cars every day. Super flashy.”
That rang a bell for Yang Haoran. He remembered the guy: a chubby everyman type, nothing special to look at, but loaded. He cycled through girlfriends like outfits and always had a driver pulling up in a sports car for school drop-off and pickup.
If it was him, outsiders would figure his family had more than enough cash to keep Xiao Shaowan as a sugar baby.
Seeing Yang Haoran’s grim silence, Wei Ming clapped him on the shoulder. “Rat, don’t take it too hard. Plenty of other fish in the sea—why pine for just one flower?”
“Besides, a girl who can be bought off like that isn’t worth your time anyway.” Wei Ming kept patting his shoulder, understanding the sting all too well. The girl you like, kept by some other guy? A tragedy worthy of a Greek play.
At least the girl he liked was Han Lili. Wei Ming counted his blessings inwardly.
Zhou Shiwen, feeling a pang of guilt over forcing Yang Haoran to agree to his terms that morning, chimed in to comfort him. “Haoran, Xiao Shaowan’s just got the looks and the figure going for her. Otherwise…”
He meant to list off her flaws to soften the blow, but he trailed off, drawing a blank.
Try as he might, he couldn’t think of any. She was beautiful, had a killer body, and her grades were top-notch. Everyone in Class 5 was an academic star except Yang Haoran—and even he wasn’t the absolute bottom.
Zhou Shiwen glanced at Wei Ming. There was one other: Wei Ming was in Class 5 on a sports scholarship. He was the sports committee member, and his grades were average at best—dead last in the class, barely ahead of Yang Haoran.
As for personality, Xiao Shaowan had no real flaws there either. Sure, she could come off as aloof and proud, but plenty saw that as goddess material.
The two guys clearly weren’t great at this comforting thing. Yang Haoran’s expression stayed sour, lost in his thoughts.
While they racked their brains for better words of wisdom, they arrived at the school cafeteria.
“Rat, Shiwen—you two grab a seat. I’ll get the food.” Seeing he couldn’t cheer his friend up, Wei Ming threw in the towel. The least he could do was fetch lunch for his bro and ease the ache a little.
The cafeteria hummed with students lined up in orderly queues amid the bustle. Yang Haoran and Zhou Shiwen claimed an empty table. Soon, Wei Ming returned alone, balancing three trays precariously with his fingers interlocked—a tricky feat.
He was already regretting it. Should’ve just gotten Rat’s food. Shiwen had two good hands and wasn’t even upset. Good thing his wrists were strong.
He set the trays down in front of them and was about to sit when his peripheral vision caught a boy and a girl seated in the distance.
“Rat, check it out—isn’t that Xiao Shaowan with Han Hongfei?”
Once he got a good look, Wei Ming couldn’t stay seated. He urgently gestured for Yang Haoran to stand and see for himself.
Yang Haoran rose and peered in the direction Wei Ming pointed. About twenty meters away, Xiao Shaowan sat across from an average-looking guy around five-foot-six, a bit stocky. They were chatting and laughing.
