The homeroom teacher’s class arrived quickly. Wearing her hair in a ponytail and sporting light makeup, the teacher entered the classroom with her usual brisk, resolute air and began lecturing on yesterday’s test papers. Because she taught mathematics, the atmosphere of this class could be described as extremely, if not overwhelmingly, quiet. It wasn’t until the end of the lesson drew near that the students gradually began to stir with a sense of restlessness.
Sitting in the very last row, it was somewhat difficult for Ye Xingmian to see the blackboard. Since she wasn’t tall enough, she often had to stretch her head past the boundaries of her desk to peer around the heads of the students in front of her. Fortunately, her eyesight was quite good; otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to see a thing.
It wasn’t that she had actively chosen to sit in this spot. The homeroom teacher of Class 14 implemented a system where seats were chosen based on grades; after every exam, the students with the best scores were given priority to pick their seats. Ye Xingmian’s grades were poor, her social standing wasn’t much better, and coupled with her slight social anxiety, over time, this lonely little corner near the trash can without a desk mate had become her exclusive seat.
She didn’t really have any complaints about this. After all, sitting in the front row wouldn’t mean much to her—what she couldn’t understand, she still wouldn’t understand… Even in the back row, when she worked hard to crane her neck and see the blackboard, the content on it had already turned into a mess of unintelligible chicken scratch that she couldn’t comprehend at all.
In the end, she could only grit her teeth and try to figure out the materials on the test paper by herself.
Furthermore, ever since she was a child, she had always been quite afraid of teachers… Sitting here gave her a greater sense of security.
The situation during this class was similar to before. The young girl waited in a daze until the end of the period, having basically given up on listening to the teacher’s explanations and instead burying her head in thought while staring at the answer key.
Right at that moment, the lecture finally finished. While the homeroom teacher sat in her chair to rest, a girl’s voice suddenly rang out from the front row.
“Teacher! I want to change seats!”
The teacher looked up with a frown, but after seeing that the person raising her hand was Liu Yinuo, her knitted brows relaxed. After all, she was the top student in the class; wanting to change seats was something she could do with just a word, and the other students wouldn’t be in a position to say much.
With a smile, she said, “Alright, which seat do you want to move to?”
After saying this, she straightened her expression and scanned the other students who were watching the scene.
“All of you, focus on your own problems. You’re never serious for a whole day, always looking for a spectacle the moment something happens. If you could get the same grades as the Class Monitor, you could change seats whenever you wanted too.”
Sure enough, as soon as she said this, most of the students wilted. She turned her gaze back to Liu Yinuo.
Liu Yinuo stood up, turned around, and pointed. What she was pointing at was exactly the empty seat next to Ye Xingmian.
“That one.”
“Huh? Are you sure? It might be hard to see the blackboard from over there.” The homeroom teacher frowned. Seeing the position Liu Yinuo pointed to, the other students also became a bit agitated, whispering among themselves. The teacher could only pretend not to notice for the time being.
“Yes, I’m sure.” She nodded.
Anyone could see that Liu Yinuo’s proactive move to change seats was for Ye Xingmian’s sake. As the person involved, the young girl was instantly stunned when she looked up and saw the Class Monitor pointing toward her, and her heart immediately began to panic.
This is bad, how am I supposed to hide now… I’m doomed…
She thought to herself, yet she didn’t dare to look up. She knew that many people must be staring at her right now, so she could only keep her head down and pretend to look at the problems, though her heart rate had long since become erratic.
Her mood was complicated—it felt like anticipation, yet also like fear. She was somewhat afraid to face her, especially since that incident had happened this morning. She didn’t blame the Class Monitor for losing control of her emotions; she firmly believed it was caused by her own constant avoidance of the Monitor. This didn’t make her feel afraid, it only made her blame herself more, making her even more hesitant to get close to Liu Yinuo.
“Alright, then. Go ahead and move there. Remember to help him more with his studies.” The homeroom teacher quickly agreed to Liu Yinuo’s request. She felt very reassured by this responsible Class Monitor.
And so, Liu Yinuo began to pack her things, preparing to move everything over after class was dismissed. However, at that very moment, an unexpected change occurred.
“Hmm? Lin Ziyan? Is there something you want to say?”
Hearing this, Liu Yinuo immediately stopped her organizing and looked toward Lin Ziyan next to her with a look of surprise.
What was going on? What was she trying to interfere with now?
She frowned deeply.
“Teacher, I want to change seats too.” Even though she had no expression and didn’t even look at her, Liu Yinuo seemed to perceive a hint of contempt coming from her.
“Eh? You want to move too? Fine, where do you want to go?”
Lin Ziyan’s grades were also quite good, ranking third in the class, so the homeroom teacher agreed after thinking about it. However, the seat Lin Ziyan pointed to next caused her to frown involuntarily.
“There.” She was pointing to the exact same seat Liu Yinuo had pointed to—the spot next to Ye Xingmian.
“Hmm? Can you pick another one? The Class Monitor has already claimed that spot.”
“No.”
This immediately made the atmosphere in the class lively. After all, two top students—and both beautiful girls at that—were actually fighting over being the desk mate of a total nobody. This was truly a dramatic spectacle.
“Can you tell me the reason?”
“My brother’s grades have always been poor. I want to go and tutor my brother in his studies.” She brought up her relationship with Ye Xingmian as her reasoning.
“If you really wanted to tutor him, you would have gone long ago. Why wait until now?” Liu Yinuo saw that Lin Ziyan was looking for trouble and gave a cold laugh as she began to confront her.
“That’s because I didn’t find the right opportunity before.”
“And now is the opportunity? Just because I’m moving next to him? What kind of mentality is that? I have reason to suspect your motives, Student Lin.”
“You! Anyway, I don’t feel comfortable leaving him to you. No matter what, he is my brother; my relationship with him is much closer than yours. Teacher, please let me go.”
Seeing that the two of them were about to start a full-blown argument, the homeroom teacher felt a headache coming on. She propped up her forehead, sensing that the relationship between these three was perhaps a bit complicated, but she also found it bothersome and didn’t want to get involved.
“Alright, alright, stop arguing you two. It’s just one seat, there’s no need for this.”
Frowning as she thought for a brief moment, she quickly came up with a countermeasure.
“Both of you want to be his desk mate, right? Then let him choose for himself. Whoever he wants to go there, can go.”
“Fine.” Liu Yinuo was the first to agree. She still had some confidence in herself. Although she had lost control of her emotions this morning, she was confident that if Ye Xingmian had to choose between herself and that person Lin Ziyan, the poor thing would choose her.
In contrast, Lin Ziyan was a bit hesitant. One had to know that in her view, Ye Xingmian had just stayed at Liu Yinuo’s place for a night—who knew what had happened between them? Therefore, despite having threatened Ye Xingmian to listen to her before, she was currently feeling unsure.
Regardless, the solution given by the homeroom teacher was very fair. In front of the entire class, she really couldn’t refuse.
Gritting her teeth, she simply agreed as well.
“Fine.”
The homeroom teacher nodded. Now, the attention of almost the entire class was focused on the young girl in the corner.
“Then, Ye Xingmian, you choose. Who is going to be your desk mate?”
Ah?
Just as she looked up, the young girl was completely dazed. What had just happened? How did the pressure shift over to her?