Shen Lianyao strode toward the podium with firm steps.
Roughly five minutes later, she returned.
She sat down calmly, but Shen An knew she was toast.
Her speech had struck right at the university students’ Achilles’ heel—the sort of remarks most likely to stir up discontent.
Wang Yuqiong had taken a softer approach, focusing on the perks classmates would enjoy if she became class president.
Shen Lianyao, by contrast, had gone straight for the jugular. Her opening line laid out the class president’s duties and hammered home the importance of rules.
That said, her speech was far more organized than Wang Yuqiong’s—logical, building point by point with meticulous care.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t a debate. A presentation so devoid of personal warmth stood little chance, even without Wang Yuqiong’s advance networking.
Shen Lianyao seemed to realize as much. Back at her seat, she kept her head down in silence, not so much as glancing at the blackboard.
Shen An watched it all unfold and found it rather entertaining.
From an outsider’s view, Wang Yuqiong and Shen Lianyao were shaping up as Class 1’s first real rival duo, crackling with chemistry.
Fans loved shipping couples from TV shows, and real life held plenty of that sentiment too—just more discreet.
Wang Yuqiong and Shen Lianyao could make for a classic “rivals-to-lovers” pair or a “fire and ice” matchup.
Of course, they had no actual beef; this was likely their first encounter.
The tension stemmed purely from their clashing personalities.
Wang Yuqiong was a social butterfly—warm, poised, assertive yet subtle, wielding softness to counter strength.
Shen Lianyao was blunt and rational, cutting straight to the chase without sugarcoating.
By role fit, Wang Yuqiong was class president material, adept at keeping everyone balanced. Shen Lianyao, meanwhile, would excel as discipline committee member—no favoritism, no backdoor deals.
The onstage elections pressed on.
But here’s what caught attention: from start to finish, only two names had been put forward for class president—Wang Yuqiong and Shen Lianyao.
That meant Wang had somehow talked everyone else out of running in record time!
Outside class president, the psychological commissioner and cultural and entertainment committee member spots drew the most candidates.
They offered prime slacking opportunities.
Discipline committee member? Dead silence—no takers yet.
Another half hour or so passed. Shen An glanced at Song Rui.
She sat there, brow furrowed, face twisted in indecision. Still on the fence.
He decided to give her a nudge. Under the desk, he quietly lifted his foot and kicked her chair.
Song Rui instinctively turned to look at Shen Lianyao. Shen Lianyao gazed back at her impassively, and Song Rui flashed an appeasing smile.
Shen An propped his chin on his hand and drawled, “Still haven’t decided?”
His words drew quiet attention from both Shen Lianyao—out of curiosity—and Wang Yuqiong, who looked puzzled.
Song Rui scratched her head. She hadn’t expected Shen An to be so bold.
Catching the sidelong glances from her dormmates, she pursed her lips and hesitated. “Um…”
“Um what? You really not going up there?”
Shen An narrowed his eyes, a touch annoyed.
Song Rui puffed out her cheeks. “I… can I even do it?”
“Well, that depends if you’ll follow my advice.”
“Then… I’ll give it a shot?”
“Song Rui, what do you mean ‘give it a shot’~?”
Wang Yuqiong’s gentle voice chimed in, her bright eyes brimming with concern.
Her other two dormmates chimed in too.
“Uh…” Song Rui mumbled, at a loss.
Shen An stepped in for her. “Here’s the deal: Song Rui wants to run for study committee member, but she’s worried she won’t get enough votes.”
“Oh? Study committee member? I think that suits you perfectly.”
Wang Yuqiong voiced her support the moment she heard it from Shen An.
As the frontrunner and dorm ringleader, her endorsement carried weight. Li Li and Zhang Tong immediately echoed agreement without hesitation.
Shen An turned to Shen Lianyao with a light smile. “What do you think?”
Shen Lianyao hadn’t expected to get pulled in. She shot Shen An a look and nodded. “I think it’s a good fit too.”
Perfect.
Shen An leaned in closer. “See? Counting me, that’s four votes already. With yours, five.”
“Our class has just fifty-eight people. The other five running for study committee are mostly banking on their dorm votes, so it’ll split their support. You might outvote them.”
“Not even worth a try?”
Song Rui was genuinely flustered now.
She hated airing her private thoughts, let alone debating them publicly.
Part of her resented Shen An for spilling it.
Yet she couldn’t deny he was genuinely trying to help.
Five votes…
“Yeah, win or lose, just go for it!”
Wang Yuqiong patted Song Rui’s shoulder encouragingly.
“Okay… fine.”
Song Rui nodded. Under the watchful eyes of Shen An and Wang Yuqiong, she had no room to back out.
She rose unsteadily and made her shaky way to the podium.
Whew.
Shen An let out a breath and flopped onto his desk.
Mission accomplished—he’d seen it through.
Moments later, Chen Nannan approached again.
Shen An figured she was there for him, but no—her target was Shen Lianyao.
She sidled up behind Shen Lianyao, leaning in to whisper.
Shen An strained to eavesdrop, but as he scooted closer, Chen Nannan’s little hand planted on his face, blocking him.
Once their hushed talk ended, Shen Lianyao stood once more and headed to the podium.
Curious, Shen An asked, “What’d you say to her?”
Chen Nannan shook her head with a sly, adorable grin. “Can’t tell.”
Shen An soon found out anyway.
This time, Shen Lianyao was running for discipline committee member!
Such mid-game switches were fair game.
No rules limited candidates to one position; it was free-for-all.
Theoretically, you could run for every role.
In practice, no one had the gall.
Ultimately, classmates’ votes decided the winners.
Which raised a wrinkle: what if someone ran for all and racked up top votes across the board? They’d sweep everything.
“Now you know, huh? Nosy parker.”
Chen Nannan had circled behind Shen An and poked him.
“Suits her pretty well,” Shen An murmured, leaning back.
“Yeah, Lianyao’s no class president material, but discipline committee? Spot on.”
“With her around, your class’s study vibe will be top-notch first semester.”
Chen Nannan spoke from her assistant senior sister perspective.
Shen An arched a brow. “But it’ll stir up a ton of trouble for her.”
Discipline committee was a thankless job.
Sure, it packed serious authority—sometimes outranking class president.
But the pressure was relentless.
They handled attendance: tardies, early leaves, skips, excuses—all in their wheelhouse.
And in college, those were the big no-nos.
Smart folks knew this, which explained the empty slot.
With Shen Lianyao’s no-nonsense style, backdoor pleas would fall on deaf ears.
Miss class? Your name went down.
That kind of scrutiny would paint a target on her back, risking isolation from classmates.
Chen Nannan rolled her eyes. “Worried about your own skip days getting busted?”
Shen An blinked. “No way—wait, hold on.”
He squinted. “Senior Sister, did you egg her on on purpose? To keep tabs on me?”
A flicker of panic crossed Chen Nannan’s eyes. She shook her head vigorously. “You’re overthinking. This is for your class’s benefit. What does it have to do with you?”
“Tsk, sole candidate? Classic safe play—last-ditch effort.”
Shen An teased.
Chen Nannan fixed him with a deadpan stare.
“Ahem, I mean, it really suits her. Sharp eye, Senior Sister.” Shen An backpedaled, trying to smooth it over.
“Later, you come up and help me tally votes!”
She jabbed him hard and stalked off.
Soon, no more candidates stepped up.
Chen Nannan asked repeatedly—no takers.
Everyone interested had already signed up under their chosen roles.
Time for voting.
Each student held a blank slip of paper and had to write in their picks for every position’s candidates.
Once done, Chen Nannan shot Shen An a meaningful look.
With a sigh, he stood and began collecting them, one by one.
Wang Yuqiong joined him, working left and right to gather the slips and pile them on the podium.
Then Shen An would call out the votes while Wang Yuqiong tallied.
One by one, names emerged from Shen An’s mouth, and Wang Yuqiong picked up a piece of chalk. She drew tally marks next to each corresponding name, mostly forming neat stacks.
Before long, every slip of paper had been read aloud.
In the class president election, Wang Yuqiong claimed fifty-six votes, while Shen Lianyao managed only two!
Wang Yuqiong triumphed over Shen Lianyao with an overwhelming majority.
Gazing at the results, Shen An muttered to himself that she had come perilously close to a unanimous victory.
The outcome proved to have surprising dramatic flair, igniting a flurry of whispers among the classmates in the audience below.
Of Shen Lianyao’s two votes, one was undoubtedly her own. But who had cast that other lone vote for her?
Thank goodness it was an anonymous ballot. If it had been a named vote, the fallout would have been explosive.
Wang Yuqiong didn’t seem fazed by the results at all. Yet Shen An detected a faint undercurrent of resentment lurking in her smiling gaze.
Good grief.
He hastily averted his eyes—only to lock onto Chen Nannan’s stare.
This one hid a dagger behind her smile.
Outrageous.
Shen An ducked his head and pressed on with the other announcements.
For study committee member, Song Rui squeaked out a narrow victory with seventeen votes to sixteen. Poor Yang Bin had been backstabbed and offered up as a sacrifice by Shen An just like that.
For discipline committee member, Shen Lianyao swept the position unanimously with fifty-eight votes, unchallenged by any opponents.
Shen An couldn’t care less about the rest of the results.
With Chen Nannan’s closing announcement, the first class meeting drew to a smooth conclusion.
