Chapter 24

“Today marks the opening of Yanwen Academy. Our reporter on the scene”
While Yan Xiao was dutifully pretending to be a good little student in class, the less-than-a-minute clip of her morning interview at the school gate had already exploded online.
In this hyperconnected world, even a few seconds could make someone famous. The short segment aired briefly on TV, and at first, viewers just commented on how cute the little girl was. But once a video blogger clipped and reposted it, it spread like wildfire. One repost led to another, until by noon, it had gone completely viral.
People praised her looks, her soft voice, her unflappable confidence as she fibbed about her age, too adorable for words.
Especially that dead-serious line, “I’m almost six,” sent the whole internet into collective meltdown.
“Hahaha, ‘almost six’? Sweetheart, does your mom know about this?”
“Oh, Mom knows, and she exposed her right on the spot!”
“All of you laughing up there, listen, she said almost six! Isn’t four almost six compared to three? Do the math! It’s you people who lack imagination! [dog emoji]”
And while she was melting hearts, the quiet boy who appeared beside her for just a few seconds, the one who didn’t even say a word, went viral right along with her.
“That little boy is way too cool!”
“Smart, handsome, and calm… my eyes are leaking lemon juice.”
“Is it just me, or was the girl showing off when she introduced him to the reporter? That proud little smile, I’m dead.”
“Not just you!”
“First place in Yanwen’s Gifted Class?? My God. So beauty and brains really can coexist. Meanwhile, I’m just here as an extra.”
“Extra +1.”
“Extra +2.”
“Extra + ID number.”

With both of them suddenly famous, of course their identities were soon dug up.
Yanwen was already a prestigious school, so when people found out who Yan Xiao was, it didn’t cause much of a stir, just the usual sighs about how the heavens clearly played favorites.
But Qiu Li’s background was more controversial.
Some netizens sneered that no matter how smart a bastard was, he was still a bastard, a child of a homewrecker, born with sin.
Fortunately, most people were sensible. “Adults’ mistakes shouldn’t fall on their children,” they said. “The kid’s innocent. It’s not like he got to choose who his parents were.”
The debate went back and forth for hours, but most were only there for the cute clips. Few bothered with the gossip behind them.
By noon, though, both of them were everywhere. It was impossible to go online and not see “the almost-six girl” and “the cold little genius.”
But the two stars themselves, Yan Xiao, the “I’m-almost-six” girl, and Qiu Li, the “cool little prodigy”, knew nothing about it. They were just holding hands on their way to lunch.
Yan Xiao had planned to storm the Gifted Class after school to ambush Qiu Li, but the last lesson dragged on as the teacher explained a hundred school rules. She couldn’t exactly interrupt on the first day, so she waited.
She assumed her lunchtime “point farming” was doomed, but the moment she stepped out of the classroom, there he was in the hallway.
Her face lit up, then furrowed in confusion.
Why was Qiu Li here?
Could it be he’d come to intercept her before she had the chance to go bother him, to crush her plan at the source?
She puzzled over it for a few seconds, then shrugged it off. Whether she hunted him down or he came to block her, either way, she earned points!
On the way to the cafeteria, a few upperclassmen who had snuck in their phones kept glancing at them, clearly recognizing their faces from the video.
Qiu Li ignored it all completely, like they didn’t exist.
Yan Xiao, however, wasn’t as composed. Feeling all those eyes on them, she finally turned and stared back at one girl who’d been watching her the entire walk.
The girl grinned. “Are you almost six?”
Yan Xiao: “?”
After a pause, she nodded hesitantly.
“What’s your name?” another kid asked.
Yan Xiao’s eyes narrowed a little. “I don’t know you.”
Meaning: I don’t know you, so I’m not telling you my name.
“And you?” A group of ten-year-olds jostled around them, laughing and teasing. Someone asked Qiu Li, “Hey, how old are you?”
Qiu Li didn’t even lift an eyelid.
The kids were just curious, not mean, and when neither of them talked much, they lost interest soon enough. The cafeteria only stayed open for so long, they all scattered off to eat.
Yanwen’s cafeteria was huge, with several levels, each serving different cuisines. Since it was their first day, neither of them knew what was good, so they just picked a random counter on the first floor and grabbed trays.
Compared to kindergarten, the portions here were massive. Qiu Li carried two trays; Yan Xiao trailed behind with only her chopsticks and spoon.
They had just sat down when she noticed people staring again.
She couldn’t figure it out. Why do they keep looking at us?
Qiu Li stayed silent, his face calm. Knowing how much he disliked attention, Yan Xiao assumed the staring was making him uncomfortable.
She glanced around, then nudged his shoe under the table. “Why are they staring at us?”
Qiu Li finally looked up.
His brows furrowed, sharp and tense.
Yan Xiao watched him quietly. Such a temper, even at his age?
He didn’t know why either. He was sensitive to gazes, could always tell when they were kind or malicious. These were harmless enough, just odd.
“I don’t know,” he said after thinking for a bit. “Maybe they’re bored.”
Yan Xiao stared at him for a second, then suddenly laughed.
Seeing her laugh, Qiu Li smiled too. “Do you like the food?”
“It’s okay,” she said, used to his two-faced gentleness. “These green beans are bad.”
“Mm.” He glanced at them. “Then don’t eat them anymore.”
He stood up, walked away, and came back with a bowl of steamed egg custard.
“Skip the beans,” he said, placing it in front of her. “Eat this.”
Yanwen’s cafeteria was famous, even the side dishes were gourmet. The shrimp egg custard looked soft and silky, and Yan Xiao dug in happily.
While they were enjoying their meal, over at the middle school cafeteria, Qiu Zhan was so furious he nearly flipped a table.
Seeing the news that morning had already put him in a foul mood. But now that that brat had gone viral, with strangers online pitying him as some “innocent child”?
Innocent?
What part of him was innocent?!
His mother ruined his family, took a pile of money, and ran abroad to enjoy herself, and now the son of a homewrecker was some kind of victim? The sins of the mother pass to the son, why should he get sympathy?!
And as if that weren’t enough, the brat kept stealing everything that belonged to him, even his little brother’s closest friend!
If they weren’t in different school divisions right now, he’d have marched straight over there and wiped that smug face off the earth!
But of course, Qiu Li and Yan Xiao were blissfully unaware of his rage. After lunch, he took her to the campus shop to buy yogurt before walking her back to her classroom.
Yan Xiao followed behind, sipping her yogurt and studying him carefully.
When he finally left, she tossed the empty cup into the trash and bolted straight toward the Gifted Class building.
If they said she couldn’t wander around there, then she’d do exactly that!
Meanwhile, Qiu Li returned to his classroom, ready to study the new textbooks and compare the curriculum to his own self-study progress. He’d barely opened a page when,
“Qiu Li!”
Even though every kid in the Gifted Class had a sky-high IQ, they were still just children, curious, playful, and easily distracted. All morning, everyone had been dying to talk to the mysterious “first place,” but he’d kept quiet and aloof, impossible to approach.
So when someone suddenly shouted his name, every head turned toward the door.
There stood a tiny girl in a school uniform, clearly much younger than the rest, waving brightly from the doorway.
One mischievous boy grinned and whispered, “Hey, Number One, is that your little sister?”
Qiu Li shot him a look. “No.”
Aside from introducing himself that morning, this was the first time anyone had heard him speak.
The boy chuckled. “Well, she’s a student here too, right? What class? She’s so little, and cute!”
Qiu Li ignored him, walked to the door, and asked, “Why did you come here? Is something wrong?”
He thought maybe she wasn’t used to elementary school yet.
Yan Xiao shook her head. “Nope. My class is boring, so I came to find you.”
You hate playing, so it’s perfect.
“Here,” she said, pulling out a piece of candy and holding it out to him. “Another one for you!”
Qiu Li smiled and accepted the candy. “Class hasn’t started yet. Why don’t you sit in my seat for a while?”
That chatty boy from before exclaimed dramatically, “Whoa! Number One can smile! I thought all he knew how to do was study!”
[Ding, 224 points.]
There hadn’t been any score notifications at lunch, so hearing that sweet sound again made Yan Xiao’s heart soar. Perfectly satisfied, she waved her little paw. “No thanks, I’m going back now. Bye!”
With that, she spun around and ran off.
Honestly, the prodigies in the Gifted Class were terrifying, barely in first grade and already studying like miniature adults. Staying any longer to distract them would’ve made her feel bad.
Once she disappeared down the hall, Qiu Li finally let his smile fade and turned back to his seat.
“What’s that? Let me see, whoa, cotton candy! Number One, you like cotton candy? I like fried chicken! There’s this amazing fried chicken shop in West Alley. Let’s go after school! I get thirty yuan of pocket money every day, so-”
Qiu Li looked up, face expressionless. “You’re too noisy.”
Zhou Hang, deflating mid-sentence: “…”
He didn’t give up, though. After a short pause, he tried again in a whisper. “So you don’t like fried chicken? That’s fine! They’ve got ice cream too, oh, not that either?”
“Then let me see what brand your cotton candy is. I know a shop that-”
He reached out toward the candy on Qiu Li’s desk, but before his fingers even touched it, Qiu Li had already snatched it away with lightning speed.
Zhou Hang: “…”
He was about to complain that Qiu Li was too stingy when he looked up, straight into those cold, piercing eyes.
Zhou Hang froze. “I, I’m gonna go to the bathroom!”
He dashed out of the classroom, and the farther he got, the faster he ran, as if slowing down for even a second would get him frozen solid by Qiu Li’s icy glare.

That afternoon, after school, Yan Xiao finally found out that their morning interview had gone viral.
She watched a few clips casually. Most of the comments were harmless, so she lost interest quickly. But her aunt, Chen Zilu, actually stopped by after work just to tease her.
“Almost six, huh? Why didn’t you just say you’re almost eighteen, only fourteen more years till you’re an adult?”
Yan Xiao was happily eating the dessert her aunt brought her. After thinking for a moment, she said seriously, “That’d be too obvious. No one would believe it.”
“And you were so proud, bragging to the reporter about how Qiu Li got first place! Anyone who didn’t know better would’ve thought you were the one who did!”
Yan Xiao looked up, puzzled. Wasn’t her aunt supposed to be a top student from a prestigious university? How could she not tell the difference between “pride” and “showing off”?
But her aunt’s words jogged something in her memory. She quickly gobbled up the last bites of dessert and turned to run off.
“Where are you going?” Chen Zilu protested, catching her mid-escape and pulling her back into her arms. “Eat and run, huh? How heartless can you be to your poor aunt?”
Yan Xiao struggled twice, couldn’t break free, and finally surrendered, pressing a kiss to her aunt’s cheek. “I’m calling Qiu Li! He probably doesn’t know yet!”
“Fine, fine,” Chen Zilu laughed, carrying her upstairs. “Auntie will take you.”
Yan Xiao dug her smartwatch out of her backpack and dialed his number.
He answered almost instantly, his voice bright with excitement. “Yan Xiao? What’s up?”
“Our interview from this morning went viral! Have you seen it?”
Qiu Li hadn’t been online all day, he’d eaten dinner and gone straight to studying, so her words left him momentarily blank. “Viral? What went viral?”
As she expected! No wonder the score hadn’t budged.
So she launched into the whole story, like spilling beans from a jar, describing every detail, especially the way people online were fawning over him. She even quoted a few of the more dramatic comments for him.
When he finally understood, he was quiet for a few seconds. Then, softly, he laughed. “Ah. That’s nice.”
Yan Xiao: “?”
She waited a little longer, expecting a notification. None came.
A bit deflated, she chatted a bit more before hanging up.
On the other end, after they hung up, Qiu Li opened his laptop and searched for the video she’d mentioned.
He watched for a while. Then his lips curved, and his eyes softened into crescents as he smiled.
[Ding, 230 points.]
Over on her sofa, Yan Xiao, who’d been sulking, shot upright.
Knew it! There’s no way those points weren’t moving!
After a long moment, she clenched her tiny fist, face glowing with determination. What a productive first day of school! At this rate, I’ll hit full score in no time!