Xiao Yan: “……”
“I……” Fan Yue opened his mouth several times, but couldn’t bring himself to say anything.
In the office of the Student Affairs Department, Director Xu was grading the papers from his own class when someone knocked twice on the office door from outside. Two Student Union members who had been on duty that evening walked in.
“Good evening, Director Xu.”
Fan Yue found the Student Union duty document box beside the bookshelf, took out today’s duty record, and placed it on top.
“We’ve finished our duty for tonight.”
“Thank you for your hard work. Just put the form back where it was.” Director Xu looked up and routinely asked, “Did you catch any students violating school rules today?”
“Yes.” The student from Class Seven nodded.
“Tell me about it.”
Fan Yue picked up the conversation. “There were a few first-year students who skipped evening self-study without asking for leave. There was also an AO couple dating. The vice principal caught them. They’ve already been reprimanded and had points deducted.”
“That’s all?”
As Director Xu spoke, he graded another paper.
“That’s pretty good. It should be because the school year has just started and everyone is still on their best behavior. So far, you haven’t caught anyone coming out during evening self-study to eat takeout. Good work.”
“……It was nothing.”
The two Student Union members answered somewhat guiltily, looking a little dazed. They didn’t dare meet Director Xu’s eyes and turned around to leave.
“You’ve just moved up to your second year. Is the academic pressure getting to you?” Director Xu asked, watching their unsteady footsteps.
“It’s fine, it’s fine.”
The two hurriedly shut the office door and let out a long sigh of relief.
“That honey trap……”
The Beta boy from Class Seven asked.
“We didn’t set any honey trap. We don’t do that kind of thing.”
Fan Yue quickly gestured for him to keep his voice down and pulled him away from Director Xu’s office.
“Just pretend we didn’t see anything. Otherwise, it’ll really turn into a honey trap.”
Inside the classroom of Class 3 of the first year, Luo Zhiye, now full and satisfied, had stacked his textbooks into two piles on his desk and was lying across the desk listening to the teacher go over the test.
What had just happened kept replaying in his mind like a short video.
On the rooftop, Xiao Yan had stared at him blankly for a long moment. Then the corner of his lips had curled into an inscrutable smile.
Using the bamboo skewer in his hand, he speared the last takoyaki in the box, tossed the empty container into the nearby trash can, and walked away without looking back.
The efficiency of studying during evening self-study was low.
Luo Zhiye hated inefficient studying. When he noticed that he was getting distracted and the chalk writing on the blackboard had begun to double in his vision, he simply lowered his head and used his books as cover while checking the messages he had left unanswered.
Outstanding Second-Year Student Representative: Smile.jpg, Luo Zhile, student.
[Not a Cicada]: Get my name right first.
Outstanding Second-Year Student Representative: [Baidu Encyclopedia link: Honey Trap].
Outstanding Second-Year Student Representative: Fairy Frowning.jpg
Outstanding Second-Year Student Representative: Do I look like the kind of person who would set a honey trap?
For some reason, the scene of Xiao Yan sitting in front of their military-training formation eating melon seeds suddenly appeared in Luo Zhiye’s mind.
Thinking about it, he didn’t even notice the faint curve that appeared at the corners of his lips.
“Did drinking air fill you up, or are you just too excited listening to the lesson?” Jing Ximing quietly reminded him. “We’re in class. What are you smiling about?”
Luo Zhiye raised his head from behind the pile of books.
“This class is really interesting.”
Jing Ximing: “……”
[Not a Cicada]: Yes. Exactly like that.
Outstanding Second-Year Student Representative: Let’s fight.
[Not a Cicada]: You want to fight an Omega? Have you no shame?
Outstanding Second-Year Student Representative: During the entire school year last year, I only had a few points deducted for being late and skipping class. Count for yourself. Since you came to No. 1 High School, how many times have I been made to take the blame?
[Not a Cicada]: Blame me? Don’t tell me this is… a scam to make me take responsibility?
[Not a Cicada]: You have problems of your own, you know? If you weren’t less outstanding than me, I wouldn’t have been—
“Student in the middle of the back row. Yes, you. The one who’s been looking down instead of at the blackboard.”
The math teacher at the podium hadn’t learned everyone’s names yet and didn’t have the class roster with her. She pointed toward Luo Zhiye.
“You. Tell me, how should this problem be solved?”
Luo Zhiye: “?”
What was she asking? What problem were they on?
He stood up and only then realized that several students had already been standing for some time.
Apparently, none of them had been able to answer.
The short student in the front row gave him a pleading look.
The math teacher also seemed convinced that he would be able to answer. She stared at him without moving, her eyes filled with encouragement and expectation.
“Teacher,” Luo Zhiye said politely. “I’m sorry, but which problem are we on?”
During the second half of Monday’s evening self-study, a line of students was standing outside the door of Class 3.
There were nine of them in total.
They stood along the hallway, basking in the moonlight while copying out their punishment assignments.
“Teacher Zhang was newly transferred here. She’s famously strict,” Lin Ziyi said admiringly. “You actually dared not listen to her class.”
The students with good grades and the students with bad grades had all been kicked out together. Everyone was treated equally, which they thought was quite fair.
In the process, they immediately formed a deep friendship.
“I wasn’t deliberately not listening.” Luo Zhiye leaned against the railing and looked down at the floor below. “I just think having classes during evening self-study is really inefficient. We might as well get some proper rest.”
The group of students carefully considered the enlightenment behind this big shot’s philosophy.
Then they compared it with their own grades.
They wanted to agree.
But they didn’t dare.
When the bell rang, the classes that had borrowed the evening self-study period for lessons continued dragging out their classes, while the classes having normal self-study gradually finished.
Xiao Yan carried his schoolbag and held a workbook in one hand as he walked downstairs with Fan Yue and Tang Yuan.
When they passed the staircase, he spotted the line of students being punished outside Class 3.
“What are you looking at?” Tang Yuan asked. “Aren’t you coming?”
“This is a rare sight. I’m going to watch the fun.”
Xiao Yan changed direction from his original route downstairs and waved at his roommates.
“You guys go back first.”
“Hey—”
Fan Yue couldn’t stop his roommate amid the crowd. All he could do was watch Xiao Yan walk against the flow of students toward Class 3 of the first year.
Another person joined the line of students being punished outside Class 3.
“Hi~”
Xiao Yan walked over and greeted them amiably.
“Move away.”
Luo Zhiye noticed the school uniform beside him.
“Your uniform is a different color from ours.”
“You were so outstanding that you got punished to stand here and copy lines?”
Xiao Yan leaned over to look at Luo Zhiye’s notebook, blatantly standing outside Class 3 to watch the spectacle.
Xiao Yan: “Mm. Your handwriting really reflects your personality.”
Both were equally messy.
Luo Zhiye: “……”
Fucking hell.
He thought a box of takoyaki could buy him off?
Dream on.
It was quite cold on early-autumn nights. Luo Zhiye had only draped a school uniform jacket over himself. After standing in the cold wind in the hallway for so long, even his fingers had become somewhat stiff.
When he saw Xiao Yan, he suddenly felt like warming up.
“Does it bother you if you don’t get beaten up at least once a day?”
Luo Zhiye rubbed his aching wrist from all the punishment writing and shifted half a step toward the classroom’s back door.
“Hm?”
Xiao Yan took a step back.
“I didn’t do anything. I just happened to pass by and wanted to see you.”
“If you hadn’t tried to make me take the blame, would I be standing here now?”
Luo Zhiye grabbed the broom beside the classroom’s back door.
“Who told you to message me during class? Perfect timing. Since you’re here, don’t leave.”
“What? You want to drag me into it too?”
This time Xiao Yan wasn’t nervous at all. He didn’t even bother dodging the broom.
“Then hand over the chat history too. We’ll count the honey-trap incident together. I don’t want the credit points anymore. If I can drag you down with me, I won’t be losing out.”
“You don’t want them anymore?”
Luo Zhiye asked.
“That’s good. I admire you.”
The students in the back row: “????”
Teacher Zhang had just finished class. Hearing the commotion, she rushed out.
“What are you two doing?”
She turned toward the student from her own class.
“What is wrong with you? You didn’t listen during class, and you’re not even taking your punishment copying seriously. Do you want me to call your parents?”
Then she turned toward the second-year student.
“And what’s your problem? Class is over. Why aren’t you going back to your dorm? What are you doing outside our Class 3?”
Teacher Zhang tried to look at the names on their school uniform name tags, intending to write down their names and hand them over to their respective homeroom teachers.
But then she saw two identical names on the two students’ uniforms.
0301? Xiao Yan.
Teacher Zhang: “?”
She devoted herself to teaching and didn’t pay much attention to the school’s news. She only came to school when she had evening classes and had no idea what had happened during the morning assembly.
She had never encountered a situation like this before and was completely at a loss.
“Which one of you is Xiao Yan?” Teacher Zhang asked sternly.
“Teacher Zhang.”
Luo Zhiye raised his hand.
“I am.”
“I was distracted during class, got into a fight at school, and the circumstances are extremely serious. I have fully realized my mistake. Please deduct more of my credit points!”