Chapter 6

Chu Yin had a wonderful night’s sleep.
When she woke up, sunlight filled her bedroom, and she was in an excellent mood. She stretched lazily in bed.
Then she suddenly remembered something and tapped the system: "Do you handle after-sales feedback?"
Study System: "Good morning, host! What kind of after-sales service are you referring to?"
Chu Yin rubbed her hands expectantly: "About last night’s nightmare package, how did it go? Did it scare him so much he wet himself?"
Study System: "...Sorry, we’re not that kind of twisted system!"
Even though you’ve been making it more and more twisted!
Chu Yin got out of bed with a disappointed expression.
After washing up and putting on the plain, oversized school uniform of Quiwen, Chu Yin left her room.
As soon as she opened her door, she saw Chu Qiuqiu wearing a pretty little dress, affectionately linking arms with Chu Shi as they walked down the stairs: "Brother, can I ride with you to school later? I have a question I want to ask you."
Chu Shi nodded indifferently: "Sure."
The Chu parents were already seated at the dining table downstairs and praised her upon hearing this: "Qiuqiu is so diligent, it really puts our minds at ease."
Chu Qiuqiu wore a sweet, well-behaved smile and shot Chu Yin a smug glance as she descended the stairs.
Mom and Dad really did prefer the more accomplished version of herself. As for her brother, although he had embarrassed her at the celebration banquet, Chu Qiuqiu reconsidered and thought that perhaps he simply disliked her bringing so many people to find him. Otherwise, how could he possibly favor Chu Yin, whom he hadn’t seen in ten years?
Chu Yin didn’t even glance at her and walked straight to the dining table. Her brother pulled out the chair next to him and said, “Sit here.”
She nodded and took the seat beside Chu Shi.
Chu Qiuqiu secretly curled her lips in disdain. This country bumpkin sister not only had tacky taste but was also as stiff as a wooden post, she didn’t even know how to act cute or say thank you.
The Chu parents were usually very busy, so it was rare for them to have time to eat together. Seated at the head of the table, Father Chu looked at his young, beautiful, and vibrant children with satisfaction and said, “Xiao Yin has finally returned home. You are all part of the Chu family, and from now on, you must support each other and be each other’s pillars.”
Both Chu Yin and Chu Shi remained expressionless, while only Chu Qiuqiu responded sweetly, “I know, Dad! Right now, Sister’s education level is not on par with ours, so she’ll definitely struggle to keep up. But I’ll do my best to help her!”
Father and Mother Chu nodded approvingly.
Chu Yin showed no reaction. She didn’t need Chu Qiuqiu’s help, nor did she acknowledge her as a sister. However, Chu Shi, sitting beside her, frowned. He found Chu Qiuqiu’s words particularly grating.
“Why ‘definitely’?” Chu Shi spoke up. “I’ve noticed Xiao Yin often studies late into the night.”
Mother Chu looked at him in surprise. “Is Xiao Yin that diligent too?”
Father Chu also turned his attention to her.
Chu Yin calmly took a sip of milk. “It’s alright.”
She studied hard not for anyone else’s approval but entirely for herself. She had no intention of pleasing anyone.
Her brother had spoken up for her, and her parents’ expressions held some approval, which made Chu Qiuqiu feel a surge of displeasure. She deliberately smiled and said, “In that case, Sister’s previous grades must have been pretty good?”
Chu Yin could see right through her little schemes and replied casually, “Not bad.”
Chu Qiuqiu rolled her eyes inwardly, Not bad?!
She recalled the transcript she had someone find. Although it hadn’t been delivered to her yet, she had already seen a photo of it. Chu Yin’s grades were exactly as she had heard, not even ranking in her rural middle school. In math, where the full score was 150, she had only scored 69, and she called that “not bad”?! How dare she act as if she were being modest!
Ever since that public class where Chu Yin had answered the solution method, Chu Qiuqiu had realized that this country bumpkin sister was definitely scheming to surpass her academically to prove herself!
Chu Qiuqiu secretly smiled to herself. It seemed she needed to find the right moment to let everyone know her true abilities.
...
When they arrived at school, the moment Chu Yin saw Song Zhaolin, she remembered how he had fooled her, and her eyes carried a subtle hint of resentment.
Song Zhaolin completely missed her true meaning and mistakenly thought his styling today was so handsome that it had finally caught Chu Yin’s attention. Over the course of two classes, he changed his sitting posture countless times.
While working on the problems assigned by the system, Chu Yin glanced at Song Zhaolin out of the corner of her eye, puzzled.
The moment she did, he immediately struck a new pose, propping his chin with one hand, tilting his head at a 45-degree angle toward the blackboard, with a melancholic expression.
Chu Yin was certain.
Her deskmate probably had hemorrhoids. How pitiful.
Song Zhaolin had no idea he’d been diagnosed with a hidden ailment in Chu Yin’s mind. After being secretly watched by her with that hesitant, unspoken gaze for two whole classes, he was practically floating on cloud nine.
After class, Song Zhaolin swaggered with an overconfident gait and drifted over to the International Class.
He made his way to the back row with practiced ease, where Lu Zhen and Tan Ke were sitting. Standing there, Song Zhaolin declared with full confidence, “Tell me, am I not ridiculously handsome today?”
Lu Zhen, lying face down on the desk, ignored him.
Tan Ke, however, chuckled. “Did you take the wrong medicine or something?”
Song Zhaolin tossed his hair. “The beauty next to me has been staring at me for two whole classes. I think I must be explosively handsome today!”
Lu Zhen slowly sat up, revealing a handsome but exhausted face from the crook of his arm. There were faint dark circles under his eyes, and even the reddish-brown tear mole seemed listless.
Song Zhaolin blinked.
Lu Zhen’s thin lips uttered a single word: “Scram.”
Song Zhaolin immediately obeyed.
As he retreated, he wondered in confusion, why did Brother Zhen look so tired today? Did he not sleep well?
With peace and quiet finally restored, Lu Zhen lay back down on the desk.
Last night, he had been tormented by a series of nightmares, leaving him utterly exhausted.
By the time Song Zhaolin returned, Chu Yin was still struggling with that difficult problem.
"Host, you seem to be struggling a bit! Can you complete the task this time?"
Chu Yin chewed on the tip of her pen, her mind racing.
She had a vague sense that with each completed learning task, the difficulty of subsequent tasks under the same reward conditions seemed to be gradually increasing. For instance, she had managed to solve the final problem last time relatively smoothly, but this math problem was clearly much harder.
After thinking it over, Chu Yin couldn’t come up with a solution and wasn’t allowed to check the answer. Since it was a long break, she decided to go ask the math teacher for help.
Just then, Song Zhaolin returned to his seat, looking like he’d just been up to no good. Chu Yin thought for a moment and asked him, “Where did you go?”
Song Zhaolin’s heart leaped with excitement, his deskmate was starting to care about what he was doing!
After all, in the past, her eyes were only ever on her studies!
By any measure, they were practically together already!!
Song Zhaolin chattered on, telling her, “I went to the International Class, but I didn’t stay long because Brother Zhen was too tired and wanted to sleep, so he told me to scram back…”
Having gotten the answer she wanted, Chu Yin picked up her test paper and stood up.
Lu Zhen was in the classroom, safe.
After Chu Yin left, a few people in Class 5 watched her go and burst into laughter.
“Am I seeing things? Did our class ‘super scholar’ just go to ask the teacher a question?” said a girl named Xing Lan.
Fu Mingxuan and she were both top students in Class 5, and they looked down on Chu Yin's behavior with disdain.
"Lanlan, as the academic monitor, why don't you go take a look? I'm afraid the 'top student' might ask such a simple question that it'll upset our Ms. Wang," Fu Mingxuan said mockingly.
"Alright, I'll go check it out."
...
Chu Yin entered the math office, found the math teacher who taught Class 5, and politely greeted her.
Although she didn't answer questions in class, she still paid attention during math lessons. This teacher, surnamed Wang, taught quite well.
"What is it?"
Ms. Wang was the typical kind of female teacher, she favored good students and had a rather indifferent attitude toward underachievers or those she didn't remember. This transfer student clearly fell into the latter category. She kept her head down all day and wore a mask, so Ms. Wang still had no idea what she looked like.
Chu Yin took out her test paper and said, "I have a question I'd like to ask you."
Seeing that she at least showed some initiative, Ms. Wang patiently looked over. "Which one?"
Chu Yin pointed to the last major problem on the paper. "This one."
Ms. Wang glanced at it, it was the most difficult problem on the entire test, the kind that even the top students in the grade would struggle with, let alone this transfer student.
Then she noticed that the rest of the paper was blank; this student had only attempted this one problem. Instantly, her anger flared, she couldn't stand students who aimed too high without the skills to back it up!
Ms. Wang slapped the paper. "You haven't done any of the previous questions, and you're asking about the last one? Can you guarantee you'd get all the earlier ones right?"
For Chu Yin, aside from the last two multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions and the final parts of the major problems, the other questions were indeed a bit too simple for her. It wasn't that she wasn't going to do them; she just had a task to complete and prioritized this problem first.
Just as Chu Yin was about to speak, a voice came from behind her. "Teacher, has Chu Yin already reached this level? I don't even have an idea for the second part of this problem."
Ms. Wang saw it was Xing Lan, one of the class's top students, and her expression softened noticeably. "Don't learn from her!"
Xing Lan covered her mouth and giggled. "Teacher, I thought Chu Yin was really good at studying."
Chu Yin collected her test paper. It seemed she wouldn't get any help from this teacher.
Her gaze swept around the office, only one other teacher was present. After a moment's thought, she walked over with her paper.
"Teacher, sorry to bother you, but could I ask you about a problem?"
That teacher was older. He didn't recognize Chu Yin and had no idea of her ability. He took the paper and first examined her solution steps.
At first glance, he was quite surprised.
The girl’s handwriting was neat, her steps were clear, and it was evident she had a solid foundation and strong thinking skills. The difficulty of this problem was far beyond the scope of a second-year high school student, and her solution clearly exceeded the knowledge level of that grade.
The old teacher followed Chu Yin’s problem-solving approach and continued explaining further. Unfortunately, halfway through, the class bell rang.
Though disappointed, Chu Yin didn’t want to delay the teacher’s class. However, the teacher, impressed by her quick thinking and well-behaved demeanor, smiled and said, “Come with me to my class. I’ll hand out the pre-class quiz, and then we can finish the explanation.”
Chu Yin’s eyes lit up. “Thank you!”
Meanwhile, back in the classroom, Xing Lan returned and laughed exaggeratedly. “You won’t believe it, the so-called top student took the final problem to ask Teacher Wang and almost made her furious!”
Fu Mingxuan, examining her manicure, sneered, “That’s just how academically weak people are, they don’t know their place.”
“The funniest part is, after Teacher Wang scolded her away, she turned around and went to the teacher diagonally across and even followed them.”
Just as Fu Mingxuan was about to mock her, she suddenly realized something. “The teacher diagonally across? That’s the math teacher for the International Class!”
“Huh?”
“What’s that country bumpkin up to? Could she be deliberately trying to get into the International Class?”
Everyone knew who was in the International Class.
Fu Mingxuan immediately felt irritated. She had always harbored an inexplicable hostility toward this country bumpkin, and now it intensified.
Xing Lan quickly comforted her, “Mingxuan, think about it, even if she crawled right in front of Brother Zhen, he wouldn’t even glance at her!”
“Exactly! How could Lu Zhen possibly be interested in her?”
…
Chu Yin stared at the class sign by the back door of the International Class, feeling a pang of frustration.
So exhausting, but she had to keep smiling… though she couldn’t even manage that anymore.
The old teacher turned back and greeted her warmly. “Don’t worry, don’t be afraid. Come on in!”
Chu Yin pressed her lips together and followed the teacher through the back door.
As she passed by, she stirred a faint breeze.
A moment later, the boy who had been sleeping with his head down sat up straight.
Lu Zhen took a deep breath, he caught that faint, familiar scent again.
Chu Yin stood with the teacher at the podium, forcing herself to focus on the problem, only by finishing the question could she unlock permissions, and only with permissions could she change her fate.
“Qiuqiu, isn’t that your sister?!”
“What’s she doing here? Did she come all the way to our class to ask a question?”
Chu Qiuqiu looked at Chu Yin on the podium and smiled.
There were far too many girls with such intentions. The students in the International Class saw girls finding all sorts of excuses to catch a glimpse of Lu Zhen every day, it was an unspoken understanding.
No one noticed that in the corner of the classroom, Lu Zhen had straightened up. His black hair was slightly disheveled, his pale face half-shadowed as his dark eyes narrowed, fixed on the figure at the podium.
Chu Yin felt as if needles were pricking her back. Finally, the old teacher explained the last step. Chu Yin thanked him sincerely, then turned and left without delay.
As she walked, she asked Study System, “Can I unlock the script now?”
Study System replied, “The host must complete the problem by hand to finish the task!”
Chu Yin pressed her lips together. Fine, as long as she could leave quickly…
She quickened her pace and walked out of the International Class.
The students in the International Class exchanged knowing smiles. Most of the girls silently agreed, this girl had clearly come to see Lu Zhen. Otherwise, who would go to another class’s teacher to ask a question?
Unfortunately, Lu Zhen couldn't possibly have any interest in her.
But just then, a scraping sound of a chair moving came from the back of the classroom.
Someone opened the classroom door and walked out.
Before Chu Yin could fully relax, she heard a cold voice from behind: "Wait a moment."
Chu Yin: "..."
That bastard is here to ruin my life again...!
She wanted to leave, but the young man caught up to her in just a few steps.
Chu Yin had no choice but to turn around. Though her expression remained calm, she had already mentally listed eighty different ways for him to die in tonight's script.
May I ask if you have something important?
The 17-year-old Lu Zhen stood before her, lowered his gaze, and asked, "What perfume are you wearing?"
Chu Yin: "…"
The words "How vulgar!" nearly slipped out.