09:03
Xuhui District’s No. 45 Middle School, Grade 2 Class 3
The typhoon was drawing ever closer, and the sky hung as dark and brooding as midnight, the relentless rain blurring the windows until they hazily reflected the few hanging lamps inside the classroom.
This was the math exam—a subject of utmost importance to every student taking it. The air was so still that even the sound of breathing was clearly audible, as if the entire building had hushed itself. Harsh white light bathed the test papers, while the faint scratch of pens on paper whispered in everyone’s ears.
The proctor patrolled the corridor. He moved with deliberate care, his polished black leather shoes making almost no sound against the tiled floor, for fear of disturbing the students’ concentration.
After all, this final exam carried real weight, and these soon-to-be seniors undoubtedly understood just how much—
Er… wait. One of them probably didn’t.
The sudden patter of hurried footsteps shattered the corridor’s serene quiet. Beneath the proctor’s stern glare, a girl burst into view, her school uniform soaked more than halfway through, one hand clutching her backpack as she rushed forward.
Tiny splashes erupted with every step, evidence that the downpour had drenched her thoroughly.
Grade 2 Class 3’s homeroom teacher, Xu Qinghe, stood watch at the classroom door. Her expression was thunderous as she fixed a cold, piercing stare on the guilt-ridden girl drawing near.
Teacher Xu’s heart ached with frustration. Ye Jingqiu, Ye Jingqiu—always Ye Jingqiu!
This girl had never once settled down properly! Tardiness and skipping out early were everyday occurrences, sleeping through class her signature routine. Her grades scraped by in English and Chinese, but the rest languished at the bottom of the pile. She was practically the uncrowned king of No. 45 Middle School.
Senior year loomed on the horizon, with her classmates charging ahead on the path to self-improvement. Yet Ye Jingqiu had graduated from “some students” to “even worse”!
That said, “even worse” seemed to grasp the magnitude of her blunder. She now stood before Teacher Xu, head bowed in readiness to atone.
Ye Jingqiu had just rocketed thirty kilometers from Pier 6 in Pudong New Area to Kangping Road in Xuhui District. She’d flown the whole way, the howling gale battering her head with force rivaling that Afanc tail swipe.
Her Word Manifestation ability hadn’t faded so quickly. At the pier, she’d used it to jam every surveillance device. But after finishing off the variant, she hadn’t bothered restoring the mangled pier entrance the Afanc had wrecked.
Whoever was shadowing her in the shadows would handle the cleanup, no doubt.
She hadn’t meant to stir up trouble—time was short, the mission pressing. Math started at nine sharp, so she’d slapped a flight buff on herself in a frantic bid to arrive right on the dot!
And still, she’d blown it.
Ye Jingqiu knew there was no escaping this. Showing up late to finals without prior leave was a sin on par with defying the heavens. Her self-criticism might clock in at four thousand words—and that was before factoring in her status as a serial borderline offender.
Better to face the storm head-on.
Half an hour earlier, the daring girl who’d soloed a variant at the port now huddled meek as a quail, damp hair plastered to her face, voice soft and compliant: “Good morning, Teacher Xu.”
“Good morning?” Xu Qinghe, propped against the wall, let out a frigid snort—like Mount Fuji on the verge of eruption. She tamped down her fury and called out the full name with grave formality. “Ye Jingqiu!”
“How many times did I drill it into you last night? Math starts at nine on the dot. You have to be here before nine.” Teacher Xu folded her arms and nodded toward the electronic clock flashing 09:05 nearby, her aura pressing down like a weight. “So tell me—what time is it now?”
“Even worse” mumbled acquiescently, stealing a furtive glance at her homeroom teacher but too cowed to reply.
Xu Qinghe snorted again, recognizing the signs of guilt.
From the corner of her eye, she noted Ye Jingqiu’s clothes, sodden from the rain. The soft-hearted teacher’s resolve softened with a sigh; better get her to the office for a change of clothes first.
The girl was always chasing the chill—letting a cold derail her studies would be the real loss.
But before she could phrase a gentle out for them both, the chronic bottom-of-the-class student hesitated, then ventured a timid last-ditch gambit:
Ye Jingqiu: “Eight sixty-five?”
Xu Qinghe: “?”
The voices from outside soon trailed off—Old Xu must have dragged Ye Jingqiu back to the office for the full dressing-down. Still, that little hiccup had rippled through more than a few hearts.
Even Xu Xianyue, the Sophomore Department’s poster child for perfection and the undisputed top of the grade rankings, cast a worried glance toward the door.
For all her dismal grades at No. 45 Middle School, Ye Jingqiu had a winning personality to go with her eye-catching looks, earning her plenty of friends.
The transfer student had arrived midway through freshman year, instantly pegged by the top performers across classes as a fierce contender for second place. No. 45 was a top-tier school with sky-high advancement rates and ironclad rules—transfers were only greenlit for academic stars.
Her Class Three classmates figured the same. Ye Jingqiu was a nonstop motormouth, and her modest attire screamed modest means. The moneyed backdoor? Not an option.
So everyone chalked up her “tardies” and “classroom naps” to eccentric genius traits.
Then came the first monthly exam results. The spotlighted Ye Jingqiu claimed dead last overall, bellowing her truth to the world:
Surprise! You got it wrong—I’m a total slacker!
Xu Qinghe, who’d harbored such high hopes, paled in shock and promptly paired her with Xu Xianyue at the same desk. Anything to keep Class Three’s reputation intact.
The monthly exam furor died down, but a full year on, plenty of classmates still puzzled over one thing:
If her grades weren’t stellar, how exactly had Ye Jingqiu transferred in?
“Who knows how she pulled that off?” In a break between exams, Lin Yujing leaned against the wall and snorted at her friend. Her eyes flicked over Ye Jingqiu, who was conked out with her head on the desk, before she sneered, “Bet the principal was off his rocker back then, letting in a specialist at tanking our averages. She’s a total embarrassment to Class Three.”
“Always yapping nonsense—like claiming she gets by eating soft rice.”
“Soft rice” was the whopper Ye Jingqiu had dropped a month back. Caught late again and handed a punishment, she’d just grinned ear to ear.
When a classmate pressed her on early dating, she’d launched into a rambling yarn: Yeah, she was seeing someone. Found her sugar mama at the beach a few days ago—loaded. From here on out, soft rice for life.
She ended up caught red-handed by the grade director and hauled off to the office for a scolding that lasted the entire afternoon.
Ye Jingqiu wasn’t exactly rolling in universal appeal like cold hard cash—some people liked her, and naturally, others couldn’t stand her. Take Lin Yujing, for instance: a girl from a well-off family and a fierce contender for second place in the grade department.
Class Three boasted the highest average scores in the entire Sophomore Department. But ever since Ye Jingqiu transferred in, her dismal grades had become a stumbling block on their path to glory, causing them to lose first place in several subjects more than once.
Logically speaking, this had nothing to do with the students themselves. But for whatever reason, Lin Yujing had decided to pick a fight with Ye Jingqiu over it.
Ye Jingqiu, however, had never been one to stir up trouble. Even now, with Lin Yujing practically shouting in her ear, she simply lay sprawled over her desk, utterly motionless.
She was sleeping soundly.
Lin Yujing tilted her head and hurled a few more loud barbs her way. After a long wait, Miss Lin finally saw Ye Jingqiu deign to extend her left hand.
Her eyes lit up as she braced for battle.
But Ye Jingqiu merely stuffed her uniform jacket over her ear, switched to the other arm as a pillow, and drifted back into peaceful slumber.
Lin Yujing: ……
Miss Lin’s face turned ashen. Sensing the odd glances from their classmates, she gritted her teeth, steeled her resolve, and stepped forward, ready to yank Ye Jingqiu’s uniform away—
“She’s sleeping.”
Xu Xianyue set her notebook down on the desk with one hand and blocked Lin Yujing with the other. Her tone was even and unruffled, as if she were calmly explaining a math problem to a classmate.
She wore a faded set of school uniform pants and jacket, her long hair tied back simply with a plain hair tie. A few loose strands framed her clear, refined features.
But at that moment, her brows were slightly furrowed, and her deep brown eyes held an unusual calm as they fixed on Lin Yujing.
Lin Yujing instinctively took a step back, her gaze flicking away. For some reason, she felt a twinge of fear.
By the time she regained her composure and realized she’d been cowed by a mere look, she snapped, “Xu Xianyue, got nothing better to do?”
Before Ye Jingqiu arrived, this somewhat aloof top student in the grade had never gotten involved in this sort of thing.
“It’s not exam time yet. No need to wake her,” Xu Xianyue replied.
Lin Yujing let out a long, mocking “Ooooh.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm. “Right, of course our grade-topping first place has to protect the boss. Otherwise, where would the money come from? Think good students like you can make ends meet washing dishes on weekends?”
Xu Xianyue might as well have been hearing about some stranger’s life. She ignored the jab entirely, her expression unchanged, and turned to tuck Ye Jingqiu’s uniform jacket back over her properly.
Then she picked up her notebook and began silently memorizing right there beside Ye Jingqiu, with no intention of returning to her own seat.
Frustrated and humiliated, Lin Yujing stormed forward again. “Xu Xianyue, are you ignoring me? Have you no manners?”
“Miss Lin—”
The familiar voice rose, deliberately drawn out.
Ye Jingqiu tugged her uniform down with one hand and lifted her head, revealing a face still fuzzy from sleep.
Xu Xianyue frowned and glanced back, her voice low with concern. “Did we wake you?”
The freshly awakened girl shook her head.
Ye Jingqiu really was striking. The teachers had even rearranged her seat next to Xu Xianyue’s in the middle row, ensuring that visiting teachers from other schools could get a clear view of Class Three’s two “star attractions.”
So when she spoke now, still lazily draped over her desk, even Lin Yujing froze for a second.
She turned her gaze to Lin Yujing. Her voice was hoarse from sleep, but her expression was utterly serious. “Did you bring a duck to school or something? That quacking’s getting a bit loud.”
“The key is, it doesn’t have any inflection. Just the same note over and over.”
The classmate in front of her leaned back, playing along. “What note?”
Ye Jingqiu pinched her throat to mimic a high-pitched eunuch: “Have you no manners? Have you no manners? Have you no manners?”
Xu Xianyue couldn’t hold back her laugh.
Lin Yujing: “?”
Lin Yujing: “Ye Jingqiu, who are you calling a duck?”
“Ding ding ding—”
The warning bell cut everything short. With the final exam about to start, the classroom fell instantly silent. No one dared make another peep.
Lin Yujing shot a venomous glare at the grinning Ye Jingqiu, then slunk off sulkily with her little entourage to prepare for the test.
Xu Xianyue had no interest in gloating. She simply closed her thick stack of notes and quietly prepared to leave.
But out of nowhere, someone grabbed her. A bar of chocolate was shoved into her hand.
She didn’t need to guess who it was from.
She turned to refuse, but Ye Jingqiu blinked at her with wide, innocent eyes. “Consider it protection money for Teacher Xiao Xu.”
After all, Xu Xianyue didn’t have many particular likes or dislikes—except for her unusual fondness for chocolate, born from a past ordeal.
Xu Xianyue sighed helplessly. “Qiuqiu, I’m not hungry…”
But before she could finish, Ye Jingqiu shooed her away with a beaming smile.
The proctor had already entered. There was no time. Xu Xianyue could only pocket the chocolate and hurry back to her seat.
The exam resumed, the room peaceful.
It was the last subject, and everyone sat obediently in place. The roaming invigilator peeked in, nodded in satisfaction, and strode away from Class Three’s door in his leather shoes.
What he didn’t know was that the very instant the door clicked shut, Class Three’s most disciplined top student quietly snuck a piece of chocolate.
