In the list of candidates, Sheng Xia spotted a familiar name: Lu Youze.
The name wasn't common enough for duplicates, and she was almost certain it was her junior high classmate.
But when Lu Youze took the stage to speak, she barely recognized him. In her memory, Lu Youze had been slightly chubby and not particularly tall. Now he seemed to have stretched like a willow branch, standing a full head taller than Fu Jie beside him, appearing tall and slender.
Lu Youze had a scholarly appearance, yet his self-recommendation speech was delivered with remarkable confidence. His impromptu quotes from poetry perfectly matched the theme without seeming forced or pretentious.
Having been vice-chairman of the student council in junior high and hosting weekly flag-raising ceremonies, such a small speaking engagement was naturally effortless for him.
Sheng Xia couldn't help but feel envious of people like him and found herself staring a bit too long, counting on the crowd to hide her direct gaze. Unexpectedly, after his closing line "I hope you'll vote for me," Lu Youze smiled toward the back rows.
To others, it might have seemed like a friendly concluding smile, but Sheng Xia met his eyes and knew it was a polite acknowledgment of her attention—a greeting that seemed to say, "Hey, old classmate."
Realizing her rudeness, Sheng Xia quickly lowered her head.
Back in junior high, she and Lu Youze hadn't been close. She was quiet and rarely participated in group activities, while Lu Youze was the teacher's right-hand man, the epitome of all-round excellence in academics, morality, sports, and arts. Their only connection had been their essays displayed side by side on the bulletin board after each exam—classmates who had barely exchanged more than a few words.
In the end, Sheng Xia voted for Lu Youze, not just because he was the only one she knew, but because his speech was genuinely impressive.
Xin Xiaohe glanced at her ballot slip. "I voted for Lu Youze too. His essays are amazing."
"He was my junior high classmate," Sheng Xia offered freely. "He was already great at Chinese back then."
Xiao He looked surprised. "You went to No. 8 Middle School?"
"Yeah."
Xiao He: "Me too! How come I never saw you there? Which class were you in?"
Sheng Xia: "Class 20."
"Oh, that explains it. You were on the sixth floor—I was in Class 3 on the first floor," Xiao He clicked her tongue. "We probably never even crossed paths, or how could I have forgotten meeting such a beauty?"
Her tone was teasing, like a playboy flirting with a proper girl. Flustered by the compliment, Sheng Xia smiled slightly but didn't respond.
Xiao He continued, "There are lots of No. 8 Middle School alumni here. Just in our class alone, there are several."
Sheng Xia nodded in acknowledgment.
No. 8 Middle School was one of Nanli's key junior high schools, sending at least two to three hundred students to Nanli University Affiliated High School every year.
Moreover, No. 8 wasn't just a top school—its location in Nanli's most expensive district had made it practically synonymous with elite education. Its students carried an air of superiority wherever they went. After graduation, they quickly bonded in new schools, forming close ties even if they'd never met before, with just a simple "I'm from No. 8" breaking the ice.
Xiao He seemed to warm up even more, leaning across the desk to whisper to Sheng Xia, "Then you must remember those top-ranking legends from No. 8? They're all in the Affiliated High now, in the advanced classes, but they're completely overshadowed by that guy from Zhenzhong in our class..."
As she spoke, Xiao He raised her eyebrows meaningfully toward the right.
Sheng Xia knew she was talking about Zhang Shu.No. 35 High School was located in the suburbs. Before Nanli expanded, that area had been rural—calling it a town school wouldn't be wrong either.
Sheng Xia's desk wobbled again. She was already used to it—it was Hou Junqi turning around. But he wasn't looking for her. Instead, he grinned at Zhang Shu, who was sitting diagonally behind him, and asked, "A-Shu, who'd you pick?"
Zhang Shu waved the slip of paper in his hand, his expression one of complete detachment. "What difference does it make? It's not like we're electing a president."
Hou Junqi leaned forward and snatched the slip from Zhang Shu's hand, reading aloud, "Lu Youze? You picked him? How selfless of you!"
Zhang Shu yanked the paper back and shot Hou Junqi a glare.
Hou Junqi clicked his tongue twice before turning back around.
Xin Xiaohe leaned over again to whisper in Sheng Xia's ear, "Zhang Shu and Lu Youze are love rivals."
The depth of this topic... Xin Xiaohe must have already classified her as part of the gossip alliance.
"A tangled love triangle! The female lead is the school belle—total drama!"
Xin Xiaohe's voice was so soft that Sheng Xia was certain only the two of them could hear it.
But out of the corner of her eye, she distinctly saw Zhang Shu glance over at them.
"Glance" was her guess—from her angle, she couldn't see his expression, but he had definitely looked their way.
Sheng Xia felt the awkwardness of being caught gossiping, the side of her face closest to him growing warm.
Lu Youze was elected by an overwhelming majority and quickly took up his role, leading the reading session.
The chorus of voices instantly snuffed out the flickering flames of gossip.
Morning reading was followed by two consecutive Chinese classes. Chinese was Sheng Xia's strong suit, so she handled it with relative ease. But the next two periods—physics—were a bit of a struggle. She understood the lectures, but she worked through the example problems slowly, barely keeping up with the pace.
The teacher usually started explaining once most students had stopped writing, but Sheng Xia was always just finishing up at that point.
She discreetly observed Xin Xiaohe.
Though she usually seemed a bit scatterbrained, Xin Xiaohe was surprisingly focused in class, not even noticing Sheng Xia's gaze.
And then there was Zhang Shu.
He liked spinning his pen—it twirled effortlessly between his fingers, left to right. When his thumb pressed down to stop the spinning, it meant he was about to start writing. And he wrote fast, the scratching of his pen stopping after just a few strokes before he tossed it onto the desk—done.
That pen must be some kind of magic wand, spinning out solutions as it twirled.
Beneath his textbook, he had a workbook spread out. While the teacher was explaining the examples, he was already working on the corresponding exercises.
Every now and then, he'd glance up to listen for a moment.
He wore glasses when paying attention in class. So he was nearsighted—probably not severely.
His demeanor was as laid-back as ever, his long legs seemingly unable to stay put under the desk. Instead, they were either casually propped on the chair's crossbar or sprawled out into the aisle.
And so his canvas shoes swayed right by Sheng Xia's desk leg.
When the lunch bell rang, students poured out of the classroom like dumplings in boiling water.
"Slacking on meals is slacking on life—let's move!" Xin Xiaohe grabbed her bag and bolted.
Yang Linyu followed suit but couldn't resist a jab. "You call that enthusiasm? Maybe ease up on the eating?"
Xin Xiaohe delivered another knuckle rap to Yang Linyu's head. "What, am I eating your family's rice?"
Their bickering faded as they disappeared down the hall.
Boarders usually ate in the cafeteria—if you went late, the good stuff would be gone. Only the day students weren't in a hurry.
Sheng Xia was in the habit of tidying her desk, putting all her books back in place before leaving.
Surprisingly, Hou Junqi and Zhang Shu remained unmoved, showing no signs of leaving either.Zhang Shu was still working on his exercise book. Out of the corner of her eye, Sheng Xia noticed him flip a page—he was almost done with today's assigned work.
He moved at a steady pace, neither struggling with the homework like it was some great ordeal nor looking particularly accomplished as if immersed in the ocean of knowledge. His demeanor was more like someone performing an assembly line task—skilled, effortless, and utterly devoid of emotion.
Meanwhile, Hou Junqi had taken the seat in front of Zhang Shu, leaning against the wall with his legs propped up on his own chair, playing a game on his phone held horizontally.
From the looks of it, he was waiting for Zhang Shu.
As expected, top students put in the effort when no one's watching, Sheng Xia thought. But why not come an hour earlier in the morning instead of cutting into meal time?
Not being enthusiastic about meals is a sign of problematic thinking.
Sheng Xia felt she was becoming increasingly nonsensical, worrying about other people's trivial matters. She patted her head and started packing her bag to leave.
"Sheng Xia."
Suddenly hearing her name, she looked up.
It was Lu Youze.
Lu Youze walked toward her with his backpack on, but Hou Junqi's outstretched legs blocked his path. Hou Junqi acted as if he didn't see him, remaining motionless and even crossing his legs, swaying leisurely.
Even Sheng Xia could tell this was deliberate provocation.
Lu Youze didn't make an issue of it either, silently detouring around another aisle to reach Sheng Xia as if he couldn't be bothered to argue.
"I wasn't sure it was you yesterday," Lu Youze said. "Your hair has grown longer."
Sheng Xia gave a light laugh: "You've changed quite a bit too."
Lu Youze also smiled: "Not the little white chubby kid anymore, right?"
He had fair skin, and some classmates used to call him that in middle school.
"You're still pretty fair," Sheng Xia replied offhandedly, uncomfortable with using nicknames and unsure how to continue the conversation.
"Could anyone be fairer than you?" Lu Youze retorted with a familiar teasing tone, steering the awkward exchange back on track. "Are you going home for lunch?"
Sheng Xia said, "I've signed up for the lunch program, at the north gate."
The lunch program had been arranged by Wang Lianhua.
Wang Lianhua's workplace wasn't close to home, and her midday break was only an hour and a half—too short to return and cook. When Sheng Xia had been boarding at school, it hadn't been an issue, so Wang Lianhua had signed her two younger sisters up for a lunch program near their school that covered both meals and naps.
This time, she'd arranged one for Sheng Xia even before school started. Called a lunch program, it actually provided both lunch and dinner because the attached high school only gave a ninety-minute break between afternoon classes and evening self-study, making going home too much hassle.
Wang Lianhua said the woman running the program was a parent of a student at the attached high school whose child also ate there, so the ingredients were absolutely trustworthy.
Somehow, the moment Sheng Xia said this, the atmosphere around them shifted slightly.
Hou Junqi's gaze flickered from his fast-paced combat game screen toward her, his lips curled in an ambiguous, spectator's smile. He glanced briefly at her, then at Zhang Shu.
Lu Youze's smile also seemed slightly strained.
Sheng Xia politely returned the question: "What about you?"
Lu Youze said, "I'm going home for lunch. I'll head out first then."
Sheng Xia: "Okay."
The row of storefronts near the north gate's Wenbo Yuan formed a small commercial area, with bookstores, stationery shops, restaurants, supermarkets, fruit vendors, and milk tea shops—everything one could need. The second floors were mostly cram schools and tutoring centers, along with one lunch program facility.
The lunch program prepared meals based on advance reservations, so arrival time didn't matter. When Sheng Xia arrived, most people had already left. It was her first time there, and the owner was waiting to register her and issue a meal card.The first time Sheng Xia saw the proprietress, she couldn't take her eyes off her.
The proprietress appeared to be around thirty years old, with an oval face, thick, long eyebrows, and strikingly beautiful phoenix eyes beneath them. Her nose and lips were all perfectly shaped. She was the only woman Sheng Xia had ever seen in real life who could truly be described as "gorgeous."
Even though she dressed simply, her long hair merely tied loosely at the back of her head, and her face free of makeup.
Wang Lianhua had mentioned that the meals at this after-school care center were all prepared by the proprietress herself.
Sheng Xia wasn’t usually a very curious person, but she couldn’t help but marvel: How could such a beautiful woman become a cook?
And she didn’t look old enough to have a child already in high school.
"Here, just swipe your card every time you come from now on. The card also has our number—if there’s anything special you’d like to eat, you can call ahead, but no guarantees we’ll make it, okay?"
Sheng Xia had been staring, entranced, and only snapped back to reality at the sound of her voice. She took the meal card and nodded. "Mm, okay."
"Your mom said you won’t be napping here, right?"
Sheng Xia replied, "Mm."
"This card is for meals and also works as an access card. There are beds upstairs—even if you don’t stay, we’ll keep one reserved for you. If you’re ever in a rush, you can sleep here."
Sheng Xia: "Mm, thank you."
"Such a sweet-looking girl. Go ahead and eat now."
The meal consisted of two meat dishes, two vegetable dishes, and a soup: braised pork ribs, stewed pig trotters, dry-fried green beans, baby cauliflower, and a bowl of shrimp tail and mushroom soup.
It was truly lavish.
Since it was Sheng Xia’s first day, the auntie serving the food wasn’t sure of her appetite and had piled her plate high. She was full before finishing half but couldn’t bear to waste it, so she kept eating slowly.
By the end, she was the only one left in the dining hall. The two aunties had already started wiping tables and cleaning up.
One of them, while collecting dishes, asked the proprietress, "Xiao Jin, didn’t A-Shu come to eat today?"
Without looking up from her notebook, the proprietress replied indifferently, "He’s not coming. Said he wants to be self-reliant and live on husks and wild herbs."
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