Dazzling

Every class has a few marginalized students who've been given up on, but usually, even if these students are abandoned by a few core subject teachers, there are always some morally respected and dedicated elective teachers who offer care and guidance. Rarely do you find someone like Xing Wu, who is marginalized by teachers across all subjects—even the PE teacher curses at the sight of him.

As a result, whether he does his homework or not, no one bothers to ask him about it. The only reason this test paper ended up on his desk on the first day of school was that he never took it home before the break—it had been stuffed in his drawer the entire time.

So when Qing Ye snatched it away, it made no difference to him.

As Old Zhu began explaining the second half of the test paper at the front of the classroom, Qing Ye buried her head and started working from the first question. By the time Xing Wu finished a round of his game and glanced up at her, she was still holding the same posture without any change.

Just as Old Zhu reached the final, most challenging problem, Qing Ye caught up and began tackling it herself. She had just sorted out her solution and was about to write when a sudden "BANG!" from the podium made her hand jerk, the pen nearly slipping. She looked up to see Teacher Zhu Fen, whose hair had inexplicably frizzed up again, and felt grateful that she had switched seats with Lao Yang during the break—otherwise, the shock might have given her a heart attack.

Old Zhu was now pacing furiously across the podium again: "First, I want to praise our class monitor, Fan Tong. He's the only one in the whole class who wrote a parabolic equation for the last problem—earning himself one point."

Qing Ye was still wondering who this "Rice Bucket" was when she noticed everyone turning to look at Pang Hu. Scratching his head, Pang Hu grinned foolishly and stammered, "Th-thank you, Teacher Zhu."

Instantly, Qing Ye felt dizzy. Just where had she ended up? A 200-pound guy who seemed to have an IQ hovering near zero and a severe stutter was their... class monitor???

Sitting in her seat, Qing Ye felt her entire worldview being washed over in an instant. Now she finally understood why Huang Mao had said during the barbecue that Pang Hu would "look out" for her. So this guy was actually a class cadre? Who could have guessed?

Old Zhu continued spraying spit as he ranted: "I know this problem was tough—it's a challenge question from a prestigious school's test bank. But no matter how hard it is, how could every single one of you fail to even write 'Solution:'? Were you raised on pig feed? Huh? You're harder to drag along than a tractor! At least a tractor knows to chug and puff out smoke. What about you? You can't even cough up a 'Solution,' and you still have the nerve to call yourselves high school students? I'm too ashamed to tell people I've taught you. You make me, a people's teacher, live in guilt every day. I feel like I've let down your ancestors..."

Amid Old Zhu's explosive scolding, Qing Ye simply stopped writing. Crossing her arms, she sat back in her chair, finding the whole scene increasingly amusing. She suddenly thought this math teacher was truly wasting his talent teaching mathematics—he ought to try stand-up comedy, provided he maintained a safe distance of at least five meters from the audience as a precaution against his wide-range verbal assault.

So when Old Zhu, in the middle of his tirade, suddenly caught sight of Qing Ye sitting upright in her chair with a faint smile, he halted abruptly. Although other students were laughing too, he could tell this girl's smile was different—tinged with aloofness and disdain, almost as if she were watching a comedy show. He stopped shouting and called out, "Xing Wu..."Xing Wu, who had been buried in his work, was suddenly called out and looked up in confusion, only to hear Old Zhu continue: "That female student in the front, what are you laughing at?"

The entire class swiveled their heads around in unison. Seeing that it had nothing to do with him, Xing Wu lowered his head again. Qing Ye, however, gradually reined in her smile and replied in an even tone, "Nothing, I was just listening to the teacher's instruction."

The phrase "teacher's instruction" sounded somewhat pointed to Old Zhu. Although he was indeed teaching, he had to admit his earlier remarks weren't particularly noble. Still, if he tried to pick fault with the girl, her statement seemed technically correct.

Old Zhu narrowed his eyes and asked irritably, "Where did you get that test paper in front of you?"

Without blinking, Qing Ye replied, "I borrowed it from a classmate behind me."

Instantly, all eyes widened in disbelief as they stared at the back row. Although Xing Wu never did homework, it took courage to take anything from him - which was why his test papers had remained untouched in his desk all summer.

And this transfer student, on her very first day, right after changing seats, had taken Xing Wu's test paper? Taken it? Even more bizarrely, Xing Wu hadn't made a sound? The last person who took his test paper nearly got skinned alive!

The thin, short boy sitting in front of Qing Ye, nicknamed Xiao Ling Tong who knew all the gossip inside and outside school, turned around and immediately exclaimed "Damn!" before adding, "She's almost finished writing it."

Fang Lei glanced at the blackboard and suddenly spoke up: "Teacher Zhu, this problem is so difficult. Why not let the transfer student from Beijing give it a try? If even students from good schools can't solve it, aren't you just making things hard for us?"

At this, the whole class erupted in commotion. When asked to answer questions they all played dead, but they never missed an opportunity to watch drama unfold, secretly hoping Qing Ye couldn't solve it either, so Old Zhu would realize how perverse his questions were.

Annoyed by the noise, Xing Wu frowned, exited his game, and looked up at the people in front.

Old Zhu slapped the lectern and shouted, "Quiet! Quiet! What will people outside think? That female student, come up front."

Qing Ye slowly turned her head, her gaze calm as she stared at Fang Lei. Fang Lei looked back and gave her a malicious smile. Qing Ye expressionlessly withdrew her gaze, stood up, and walked toward the lectern in her lambskin flats, her long, straight legs drawing attention. As she passed the boys' desks, many craned their necks to watch her skirt sway.

Qing Ye stepped onto the platform. Old Zhu handed her a piece of chalk and pointed at the blackboard: "Write as much as you can. If you can't do the second problem, try finding the equations of these three curves first."

Qing Ye took the chalk and started writing from the far left of the blackboard. The breeze from the overhead fan gently stirred her white skirt. Her raised arms were slender and graceful, the fabric pulling taut to outline her waist in a beautiful curve. The chalk in her hand seemed enchanted, flowing without the slightest pause.

Old Zhu opened his tea cup, blew on the floating tea leaves, and took a sip. When he looked back, Qing Ye had already covered half the blackboard, startling him so much he quickly put down his cup, grabbed his glasses, and fixed them on his nose to intently study the equations she was writing.

The students below went from initial smirks to frozen smiles, and finally to stunned gaping at the scene unfolding before them.Qing Ye calmly wrote across the entire blackboard, solving the first problem with almost no effort. She then slid the board aside and began working on the second question, her confident posture leaving everyone in awe.

Gradually, the classroom fell silent. Everyone, like Old Zhu, stared intently at her nimble wrist movements.

After just one class, Qing Ye had already grasped Old Zhu’s usual problem-solving approach. To minimize his long-winded explanations, she quickly wrote an alternative method he might mention on the third blackboard.

After filling the entire board with densely packed writing, Qing Ye turned around, tossed the chalk into the chalk box, and simply walked away—turning and exiting the classroom just like that.

The entire class was dumbfounded, including Old Zhu, whose head mechanically swiveled to follow Qing Ye’s figure out the door. No one could understand why this girl had suddenly decided to leave.

Then, everyone watched as Qing Ye walked straight to the row of drinking water faucets outside the classroom, turned on the tap they usually drank from, and began… washing her hands. Washing her hands?

While everyone was bewildered, Xing Wu subtly curled the corner of his mouth and glanced at the time.

Since elementary school, Qing Ye had grown accustomed to classrooms equipped with whiteboards. As she advanced, teachers increasingly prioritized digital presentations, and even when blackboards were used, dustless chalk was the norm. Staring at her hands, which looked as if they had been rolled in flour, she couldn’t fathom how the students here endured the snow-like chalk dust floating everywhere.

Spotting the row of faucets outside the classroom, she thought it was a considerate setup—allowing one to wash their hands immediately after using chalk. Without a second thought, she discarded the chalk and went out to wash up. The rust-stained faucets gave no indication they were meant for drinking water.

So, all the students watched as this transfer student used their drinking water faucet to wash her hands for a full five minutes—so long that the class bell rang. By the time Qing Ye turned around, the classroom was already in chaos.

Someone shouted loudly, "Brother Wu, do you know that transfer student? Why did you give her your test paper?"

Just then, Qing Ye shook the water off her hands and walked back into the classroom. Hearing this, she slowly turned her gaze toward Xing Wu, who met her eyes indifferently and said flatly, "Not familiar."

Not familiar? Fine. Very well.

Qing Ye’s expression remained unreadable as she withdrew her gaze, walked to her seat, and packed her belongings into her bag. Pang Hu squeezed over, leaning against Xing Wu’s desk, and grinned foolishly at Qing Ye. "How can you say you’re not familiar? Didn’t—"

Qing Ye slung her backpack over her shoulder, cutting Pang Hu off with a cold tone. "We’re not that familiar. We don’t even have each other’s WeChat—how close could we be?"

With that, she pushed her chair under the desk and walked out through the back door.

Pang Hu stared blankly at Qing Ye’s retreating figure, looking utterly confused. Xing Wu ran a hand over his short buzz cut and lazily stretched.

Pang Hu asked, bewildered, "What’s wrong with her?"

A faint smile tugged at Xing Wu’s lips. "Someone lit a fire under that paper tiger."

"???"

Qing Ye had left, unaware that the moment she stepped off campus, the entire senior year at Anzhong High had erupted into an uproar.While Qing Ye was washing his hands, Old Zhu had Xiao Ling Tong, who sat in front of Qing Ye, bring the test paper from her desk. He then pulled out a pen from somewhere and began grading it. When he reached the back of the paper, Old Zhu suddenly became as energetic as if he had been injected with adrenaline. He threw down the pen, rushed into the neighboring Class One next door, and called everyone over to crowd around and admire the neat, clear answers Qing Ye had written on the blackboard.

Old Zhu taught math for both Class One and Class Two. In his many years of teaching at Anzhong, he had mentored numerous high-achieving students, but none had ever demonstrated such meticulous logical thinking—presenting all possible solutions to the problem flawlessly in one go.

Xing Wu had been about to slip away, but suddenly found himself surrounded by students from Class One. Trapped, he had no choice but to sit back in his chair and wait for Old Zhu to finish explaining the problem on the blackboard. Meanwhile, students from other classes had already been dismissed. As they passed by Class Two, curious about the commotion, they all stopped by the windows, crowding around so tightly that it was impossible to move. Some even climbed onto their classmates’ shoulders to get a better look.

Facing the entire grade, Old Zhu picked up the test paper Qing Ye had just written, raised it high with one hand, and declared in a booming voice, "A student who just transferred here today, casually wrote this test paper and scored 149 points."

With a loud slap, Old Zhu smacked the paper onto the lectern. Everyone, including the onlookers outside the windows, was stunned.

Old Zhu then pointed at a burn mark on one of the fill-in-the-blank questions. "Qing Ye borrowed this test paper from a classmate. The only point deducted was because this question had a hole burned through it."

Instantly, the entire class turned to stare at Xing Wu. Even the students from Class One and the spectators outside the windows followed their gaze, though they had no idea what was going on. Old Zhu’s eyes blazed with fury, as if to say that if it weren’t for Xing Wu’s cigarette butt burning a hole in the paper, the transfer student would likely have scored a perfect mark.

Under the weight of so many stares, Xing Wu curled his lip and shrugged, acting as though it had nothing to do with him.

Old Zhu mustered all his strength and roared at the students from every class in the grade, "Starting today, every single one of you needs to go back and reflect! Hundreds of you couldn’t solve this problem as well as one transfer student. I’m ashamed of you! You’re all a bunch of useless trash!"

As always, Old Zhu ended his hands-on educational lecture with his favorite catchphrase. But this time, it ignited collective resentment, making the entire grade remember this transfer student named Qing Ye. Although most of them had no idea what Qing Ye even looked like, every student gritted their teeth in frustration as they headed downstairs.

And so, Qing Ye found himself becoming public enemy number one in no time—a classic case of "trouble falling from the sky" while he was just minding his own business.

Pang Hu, hearing the curses from students in other classes, nervously sidled up to Xing Wu. "Wu, Wu-ge, Qing Ye… seems to be in trouble."

Xing Wu, standing on his Ninebot with his hands in his sweatpants pockets, replied in a lazy tone, "Oh, really? Tell Huang Mao not to get involved. She wants to act like my older sister, right? Let’s see if she’s got what it takes."Recommended read from a friend: "The Villain's White Moonlight Isn't Easy to Play [Quick Transmigration]" by Bai Qie Rou

Synopsis: The world is on the brink of collapse, doomsday is counting down. The Central Nation selects several girls with koi fish fortunes to travel through worldlines, altering causality to save the world.

Yet, one by one, the others fail, leaving only Dongfang Tong. She thought she was destined to save the world, but never expected the villains to be tragically beautiful and powerful—and their attitude toward her to be a bit off.

The blackened, obsessive Crown Prince of the Sea Kingdom curls his lips in a seemingly gentle smile, trapping her in a corner: "If you smile at my brother like that again, I'll plunge him into eternal darkness, never to see the light again."

The fallen immortal who succumbed to darkness locks her in the Soul-Locking Hall, whispering daily: "If Tong'er leaves me, I'll make the entire world bury with you."

The top dark sorcerer fixes his burning, deep black eyes on her hospital bed: "If you die, I'll reduce the world to ashes and perish with you."

Dongfang Tong: ???

Wait, am I really here to save the world?