Yi Tianyu?
Xue Jiao froze for a few seconds. She had just encountered this guy and his father at the bookstore yesterday, where they'd both bought stacks of books—though hers had ultimately been burned to ashes in that fire.
Yi Tianyu looked equally stunned. After a long pause, he finally said, "What kind of coincidence is this? You're in the honors class too?"
Xue Jiao nodded and walked past him into the classroom.
Yi Tianyu blinked, then curled his lip. This girl really was aloof, no wonder she'd been buying all those books at the store yesterday—she must be a top student.
He absentmindedly patted the basketball in his hands, suddenly finding it dull. The blazing sun outside only added to his inexplicable irritation.
After dribbling the ball twice, he turned and walked back into the classroom.
With the recent arts-science division, the honors class was composed of elite students from various classes—essentially a brand new group where few knew each other.
So when Xue Jiao entered, though many secretly glanced at the beautiful girl, no one connected her with Gu Xue Jiao.
"Gu Xue Jiao!" Cheng Mingjiao called out loudly. At the sound of that name, several students looked over in shock.
These were former classmates who remembered Xue Jiao's frequent truancy and absences. While other classes might not know her, she'd been quite "famous" in her original class.
This refined young lady was that former delinquent?! They were stunned.
Xue Jiao paid no mind, simply nodding before taking a random seat.
Her silence discouraged others from approaching, leaving only hushed whispers in her wake.
Having revealed her identity, Cheng Mingjiao ignored her too, chatting instead with her new friends about Gu Xue Jiao.
Earphones in place, Xue Jiao sat quietly at her desk, intently focused on the listening exercises playing through them.
After some time, a female teacher in high heels entered.
"Quiet!"
Teacher Yin Fang had always taught honors classes. A staunch believer in "meritocracy," her years at this nationally renowned school had made her accustomed to students who bought their way into the honors program. Her approach remained consistent: cold indifference until the semester's end, when she could expel them.
Standing at the podium, she swept a frosty gaze across the students.
"I'm Yin Fang, your homeroom and English teacher." Her sharp eyes scanned each face. "You're all elites of this grade. You know how the honors program works—slack off, and you're out next semester."
The threat visibly unsettled the class, a reaction that clearly pleased her. After writing her name on the blackboard, she clapped her hands.
"Now, seating arrangements."
Producing a list, she announced, "This is your ranking. Seats will be assigned accordingly."
"First place: Shang Zhiyuan."
Given his height, Yin Fang allowed him to choose any center seat in rows four or five. Understanding his stature, Shang Zhiyuan selected the middle seat in the fifth row.
"Second place: Liu Jiaxue."
As Liu Jiaxue was of average height among girls, Yin Fang let her pick from the first four rows.
...
When Cheng Mingjiao's turn came at tenth place, she shot a triumphant look at Xue Jiao, who still stood at the back.
Yi Tianyu sidled over and suddenly bumped into her.
The unexpected jolt nearly sent Xue Jiao tumbling into the person beside her before she barely regained her balance."Sorry!" Xue Jiao first apologized to the side, then glared at Yi Tianyu with a dark expression. "What are you doing?!"
Yi Tianyu rubbed his nose. "I didn’t even use much force..."
Xue Jiao ignored him.
Yi Tianyu continued, "Hey, what rank did you get?"
Still, Xue Jiao didn’t respond.
Yi Tianyu rolled his eyes and muttered, "What’s with the attitude?"
The seating arrangement continued in full swing until only four students remained unseated—clearly, those who had gotten in through connections.
Seventh High didn’t have many students admitted this way because of the rule that expelled underperformers after a semester. Most who weren’t academically strong avoided this route. But there were always parents who dreamed of their children soaring to greatness...
Now, only two seats near the trash can and two near the door were left. This time, Yin Fang didn’t let them choose.
"Alright, Gu Xue Jiao and Yi Tianyu, sit over there. Qi Lei and Xi Junyang, go to the other side." At least considering Xue Jiao was a girl, she wasn’t placed next to the trash can.
Xue Jiao’s face paled slightly. She wasn’t tall, and the taller students in front of her in the last row would block her view almost entirely.
In her past life, she had always been the teacher’s favorite. Now, she was someone the teacher would rather not see...
Because of this, her mood soured. She lowered her head slightly, not noticing the constant shoulder-shaking of her deskmate beside her.
"Alright, seating is temporarily arranged, though it may change later. Now, let’s elect class monitors..."
The monitor selection had nothing to do with Xue Jiao. She kept her head down, feeling miserable.
Yin Fang was highly efficient—not only had she arranged seats quickly, but she also finalized the monitor roles in no time.
Xi Junyang volunteered as class president, Liu Jiaxue (second in rank) became the academic monitor, Cheng Mingjiao was nominated as the arts monitor, and Yi Tianyu—her deskmate—was recommended as the PE monitor.
Almost as soon as Yin Fang finished organizing everything, it was time for lunch.
"Alright, rest well at noon. At 2 p.m., the class president and PE monitor should gather some boys to collect and distribute our textbooks!"
"Got it!" Unlike Xue Jiao’s gloom, Yi Tianyu, who had been in high spirits since the seating arrangement, responded loudly.
The moment Yin Fang left, the classroom erupted in chatter.
"HAHAHAHA—" Almost immediately, Yi Tianyu collapsed onto the desk laughing, pointing at Xue Jiao in amusement.
Xue Jiao frowned.
"HAHAHA! So you’re a slacker too, huh? I thought you were some top student who self-studied the sophomore curriculum? HAHAHA!! Are you kidding me?" Boys at this age were bold, confident, and lacked restraint.
Xue Jiao shot him a glare and stood up.
"Hey? You mad?"
"No!" She quickened her pace.
With his long legs, Yi Tianyu easily caught up, leaning down to look at her. "If you’re not mad, why are you running?"
Xue Jiao paused, steadied herself, and took a deep breath. "Yi Tianyu, because... I’m going to eat!"
With that, she hurried toward the cafeteria.
Yi Tianyu stopped, scoffing. From the distant basketball court, a few tall boys called out—
"Yu! Wanna play?"
"Coming!"
——
Others might not recognize the now clean-faced Gu Xue Jiao, but her "sister," Gu Shiyun, spotted her instantly.
As Xue Jiao sat down at a table with her meal, Gu Shiyun’s eyes locked onto her.She didn't like the way Xue Jiao looked with her face washed clean. That delicate face always reminded her of childhood, of her mother only daring to secretly watch that happy family of three while holding her hand.
Her father would hold that little princess, laughing joyfully, while she could only watch from behind, peeking in secret.
Fortunately, everything belonged to her now.
Her father was hers. The title of Miss Gu was hers.
"Shiyun, what are you looking at?" Two girls beside her asked.
Gu Shiyun smiled gently and shook her head. "Nothing."
She put down her chopsticks, took out her phone, and sent a message.
Her gaze towards Gu Xue Jiao was icy cold, her lips curling slightly.
She didn't want to see Xue Jiao. How wonderful it had been in the first year of high school when the girl wore heavy makeup and rarely came to school.
The food in No. 7 High School's cafeteria was far better than what Xue Jiao had experienced in her previous life's high school. The Cheng family wasn't short on money—that morning, Cheng Shuo had deposited ten thousand yuan into her meal card, calling it her living expenses for the semester.
No matter how much she ate, she wouldn't run out. How wonderful it was not to have to worry about living expenses.
Xue Jiao's lips curved upward in satisfaction as she picked up her chopsticks.
——
After lunch, almost everyone returned to the classroom.
Yi Tianyu and a few other boys made several trips to carry the textbooks into the classroom while Yin Fang stood at the podium, directing everyone to distribute them.
Xue Jiao's eyes sparkled as she stared intently at the books.
The second year of high school was the most intense period for absorbing knowledge in the sciences—six subjects, each with a textbook paired with two supplementary workbooks. Other classes only had one supplementary book, but the experimental class was special with two.
All these books and notebooks piled up, covering the desks.
Xue Jiao neatly stacked the books on her desk, in no hurry to put them in the drawer.
Beside her, Yi Tianyu unceremoniously dumped all his books into his drawer, producing a loud "thud."
Once he finished, he noticed his deskmate sitting upright, her back perfectly straight.
He watched as she meticulously arranged each book on the desk, then pulled out a stack of uniformly colored checkered book covers from her drawer. Under his dumbfounded gaze, she began carefully and methodically wrapping each book.
"Pfft—" Yi Tianyu nearly choked, then burst into laughter. "Hahaha! Gu Xue Jiao, are you still in elementary school? Who wraps books these days? Hahaha, you're gonna kill me!"
What interrupted Yi Tianyu's laughter wasn't Xue Jiao—it was Yin Fang.
"Quiet!"
Her sharp gaze swept over them as she raised her voice. "Yi Tianyu! Gu Xue Jiao! Stand up!"
Xue Jiao froze for a moment before standing up in confusion, still holding a book.
"What were you talking about that was so amusing? Share it with the class!"
Xue Jiao was completely stunned. She knew she had been caught in the crossfire—because of her poor grades, the teacher naturally saw her as a troublemaker, immediately assuming they had been chatting and that Yi Tianyu had laughed because of her.
"What? Nothing to say?" Yin Fang sneered. "Everyone else is quiet, yet you two are laughing in the back. If you don’t want to study, at least don’t disturb others!"
"I don’t care how privileged your families are or how you got into this class. Once you're here, you follow the rules. I won’t interfere if you don’t study, but if you laugh and disrupt class, I’ll have to ask you to leave! This is your first warning, and I hope it’s your last. The same goes for everyone else—understood?!""Heard!" came the simultaneous response from over fifty students.
Only then did Yin Fang say, "Alright, you may sit down now."
Xue Jiao lowered her head and sat down gloomily.
She could still feel the mocking gazes of others lingering on her—an experience she'd never had before, yet utterly humiliating.
Head still bowed, Xue Jiao stiffly wrapped her textbooks in protective covers. Yi Tianyu glanced at her several times until Yin Fang stepped out to take a phone call. Seizing the opportunity, he turned and asked, "Hey? What's wrong?"
No response. The girl beside him continued covering her books as if she hadn't heard him.
"Hey!"
Yi Tianyu leaned closer and suddenly froze, asking dumbly, "Are you... crying?"
Xue Jiao still didn't look up. Only a single transparent teardrop fell with a soft "plop" onto the desk.
Yi Tianyu shrank back like a quail, not daring to make another sound.
—
By the time she finished covering all her books, Xue Jiao had calmed down. She wasn't a fragile person—these tears weren't just from humiliation after being scolded by the teacher.
More than anything, it was the disorientation of facing an entirely new world. No matter how composed she appeared, she had still become someone else overnight.
This new identity came with complicated family relationships and a mountain of messy problems left behind...
These two teardrops were more like a pressure valve releasing built-up tension.
Yin Fang reentered the classroom and announced sternly, "School notice: This afternoon and evening, boarding students will clean and organize their dorm rooms. Day students may go home."
She paused before continuing, "Classes officially begin tomorrow morning. Everyone needs to focus immediately—you'll be seniors next year. Don't think the college entrance exam is far away! If you want good results, the hard work starts today! One last thing—especially for day students—pay attention to safety. Understood?"
"Understood!"
With that, Yin Fang left in her high heels. Xue Jiao looked at the black-and-white checkered textbook covers in her desk—identical to those from her previous life—neatly arranged in the drawer.
She didn't even need to check the names on the spines to know which book was which.
So what if she'd changed bodies?
She was still herself—both Xue Jiao and Gu Xue Jiao now.
She could sit in a high school classroom again, work hard once more, and achieve even better results than before.
Gu Xue Jiao's eyes gradually brightened. She took out a math and a physics textbook to put in her bag, then left the classroom with her backpack.
Yi Tianyu, who hadn't dared speak again, watched her retreating figure in confusion, scratching his head before glancing at her desk—
"Pretty neat, actually."
—
Just outside the school gates.
"Gu Xue Jiao!" A voice both familiar and strange.
Xue Jiao took a deep breath, knowing another mess left by the original Gu Xue Jiao had arrived.
Even expecting it, she still froze when she looked up.
Four girls stood before her, each resembling the reflection Xue Jiao had seen when she first arrived—thick makeup, micro shorts, and cropped tops revealing midriffs.
Her mouth twitched as she stared blankly at these near-identical faces.
"Gu Xue Jiao! Why haven't you come to find us? Weren't we supposed to hang out before school started?" The leader, Li Wan, had sharper eyes that bored into Xue Jiao, her voice icy.
"Busy," Xue Jiao replied, adjusting her backpack strap.
Having "read" this story, Xue Jiao knew clearly—these were Gu Xue Jiao's "best" friends, several vocational high school girls from another street. The same ones who would later lure her to a remote area, where she'd be assaulted and blackmailed with video evidence."Hey! Gu Xue Jiao! Are you betraying us?" a girl shouted loudly, drawing the attention of everyone at the school gate.
Li Wan stepped forward. "Gu Xue Jiao, we're best friends. Even if you don't want to talk to us anymore, you owe us an explanation! Is this how ungrateful you are?"
She moved closer to Xue Jiao, staring at her face with undisguised jealousy in her eyes.
Xue Jiao was slightly shorter than Li Wan, but when she raised her head, her presence was no less imposing.
"No, this isn't betrayal. It's turning from darkness to light."
Li Wan froze for a moment before angrily retorting, "Gu Xue Jiao?! Are you opposing us now?"
Xue Jiao didn't respond, walking past them instead.
"You—" Li Wan reached out, trying to grab her hair, but her hand was intercepted mid-air.
Li Wan turned around and stammered, "Cheng Mingze—"
Author's note: Lin Zhihua (with a 40-meter-long blade): Come on, tell me seriously, what's wrong with being impotent?!
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