Author: Mu Su Li
Volume: 3
Age Rating: Mature
Translator: H. Qing, Suzimo， Peach
Translation Editor: Kiki, Juzi Wang
Editor: Rei

Synopsis

After spending several years in boarding schools due to his single father’s busy schedule, Sheng Wang eagerly returns home only to learn that he would have to share it with his father’s girlfriend and her son. Will he be able to adjust to a new school, new classmates, a new curriculum…
and a certain someone?

Product Info

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Book Photos

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Preview

“Have a seat,” Mr. Xu said. He pointed at the stack of newly arrived books. “These are the textbooks we will be using this semester, in theory. Feel free to take a look.”

Sheng Wang blinked. What do you mean, in theory? Though confused, he still picked up a chemistry book and flipped through a couple of pages. The contents seemed similar to what he had learned before, so it shouldn’t be too hard to keep up.

“I’ve gone through your file. You’ve transferred quite a few times?” Mr. Xu asked.

Sheng Wang looked up from the book. “Yeah, a few times.” He essentially followed whenever Sheng Mingyang moved. He had attended elementary school in Jiangsu, then transferred once each during middle school and his first year of high school respectively. This was his third time moving. Because he never stayed in one place, he never felt attached to any particular location; he never stayed long enough to form one.

“I’ve gone over your grades. You’re an excellent student who consistently ranks among the top three in your class, so you’re more than qualified for our school. The only issue might be a slight difference in the syllabus and pacing.” Mr. Xu pinched his fingers to indicate a sliver of space, then quickly reassured the boy, “But this is normal for transfer students. Don’t worry. If you put in a little effort, you’ll catch up in no time.”

Nothing ever stood in Sheng Wang’s way when it came to academics. He never faced a challenge that truly rattled him, and there was no way anything would shake him now. Still, he knew better than to act arrogant. He answered calmly, “I’m already prepared. I’ll do my best to catch up.”

Mr. Xu’s expression grew softer. “Were you following an academic track in your first year?”

“No, but we did try a rotating class system for one semester.”

“Oh. We also have a rotating system. With a little twist.”

Confused, Sheng Wang asked, “A twist? What kind?”

“Let’s take the class you are about to join as an example. Class A specializes in physics and chemistry for second-years. Students there rotate every half semester. You know how each semester has midterms and finals, right? After each major exam, the bottom three students are moved to Class B, and the top students from other classes take their spots. That’s how our system works.”

Simply put, in a regular school, students chose whether to attend or drop their courses. In this one, the school made all the decisions.

Sheng Wang was at a loss for words.

After having his fun messing with Sheng Wang, Mr. Xu decided to play nice and led him to his new class.

On their way to the Reason Hall, they passed through a hallway full of flowers. When they walked by the Wall of Achievements in the next hall over, Sheng Wang couldn’t help stealing a few extra glances. The rows of stiff, expressionless “ID photos” looked more like a wall of mugshots. What incredible taste, he mused.

Catching his gaze, Mr. Xu paused by the wall, stood up straight, and proudly beamed. “There aren’t a lot of competitions for first-years, but our school still performed quite well. Most of the students on this wall will be your classmates. You should start getting to know them.”

Sheng Wang was terrible with faces and had no interest in his classmates. Even so, one person still managed to stand out. For one, his face popped up so frequently that it practically turned the wall into a matching game. More importantly, his name was Jiang—Jiang Tian.

Sheng Wang figured that if he were an emperor, he’d definitely be a tyrant who handed out punishments by association. Petty? Sure. But he didn’t care. Lately, he held no goodwill left for anyone with the last name Jiang.

As usual, Mr. Xu was enjoying his thousandth viewing of the wall, but he suddenly pulled a long face. He leaned in closer to one of Jiang Tian’s photos, rubbed it aggressively, and yelled, “Who doodled hearts on the photos?! What happened to discipline?!”

Sheng Wang chimed in, adding oil to the fire. “And it wasn’t just one person.”

Honestly, the students weren’t entirely at fault for doodling hearts around the photo. While the school photographer clearly lacked skill, the guy in the photo still retained a certain air. He had an aura that could, as Mr. Xu had put it earlier, “make girls swoon.”

To Sheng Wang, though, guys with brooding vibes always believed they were superior to the rest of humanity. He prayed that he could stay far, far away from this guy before he lost it and actually threw a punch one day.

However, less than five minutes later, fate—in the form of Mr. Xu—sat him down right beside Mr. Cool Guy. The reason? Because catching up would be hard, and the best solution was, apparently, to assign him the ideal desk partner to help out.

Mr. Xu glanced at the two boys and gave a satisfied nod. He placed a hand on Sheng Wang’s shoulder and gave it a few pats. “Across the entire grade, there’s no deskmate better than Jiang Tian.”

The entire class turned to look at Sheng Wang.

Bathing under their suffocating stares, Sheng Wang snuck a weary glance at Mr. Xu. Then why don’t you sit with him?

“Mr. Xu, someone’s looking for you.” A girl called out to Mr. Xu and gestured at the window.

Mr. Xu finally let go of Sheng Wang’s shoulder and nodded at the person waiting outside. “The meeting, right? I’m coming.” He pointed to the earbuds still dangling from Sheng Wang’s ears and suggested, “It’s your first day, so I’ll make an exception. But starting tomorrow, no phones, no earbuds, no PSPs in the classroom. If I catch you—Hey—”

Before anyone could react, he reached straight into the desk drawer of the boy in front of Sheng Wang.

“Shit!” The boy shot up, yanking his backpack shut.

“You think that’s gonna help? This is the second time, Gao Tianyang.” Mr. Xu raised the confiscated phone high, shaking it for emphasis. He turned to Sheng Wang. “See this? This is what not to do.”

He gave the class a sweeping glance. “Now, where’s the discipline representative?”

A girl in the first row raised her hand. “Here.”

“Using a phone, minus three merit points. Swearing, minus one.”

“Got it.”

Mr. Xu walked away, pleased with his latest trophy.

Witnessing the bust-up left Sheng Wang a little dazed. By the time he snapped out of it, he found himself meeting Gao Tianyang’s resentful gaze. A few seconds later, Sheng Wang caught on. He quietly removed his earbuds and stuffed them into his backpack along with his phone. Better not rub salt into someone else’s wounds now.

Gao Tianyang kept staring at him.

Sheng Wang racked his brains for something to say, then offered sincerely, “Stay strong.”

“Fuck,” Gao Tianyang groaned. He dragged a hand down his face, torn between laughter and defeat.“It’s fine. It wasn’t my first time. Anyway, they check for phones super often. Everyone here has been caught at some point.”

“Oh.” Sheng Wang wondered aloud, “Then why were you staring at me?”

Gao Tianyang shrugged. “Oh, nothing. Just curious.”

Sheng Wang raised a brow.

“We were talking about you before you came in. I even looked up your old school. What was on your mind when you decided to transfer to Jiangsu in your second-year? Are you giving up on life?”

Sheng Wang let out a dry chuckle. “Go ask my dad.”

Gao Tianyang rubbed his buzzcut. He looked forward to gossiping some more, but the school bell cut him off.

Any students slouching or chatting straightened up. Those who had spent their breaks napping blinked the sleep out of their eyes. Everyone stretched their arms and necks before pulling out stacks of test papers from their desks.

As they all settled back into their seats, a sudden realization struck Sheng Wang—he was the only one with a deskmate among the sea of single desks. And his so-called deskmate? Sleeping like the dead.

Silently swearing, Sheng Wang pulled out his new textbooks and found himself awkwardly gripping his backpack. He couldn’t decide whether to put it down or keep holding it. Flustered, he did the only thing he could think of—glare at Jiang Tian.

Mr. Cool Guy must have spent his entire night doing something shady. He hadn’t even flinched when the bell rang. His arm, slumped over the desk, covered half his face, leaving only the sharp line of his jaw visible from the gap. His white T-shirt framed his hunched shoulders and back, rising and falling lightly with each breath.

Sheng Wang wondered if his deskmate was planning to sleep until school ended, but Gao Tianyang suddenly turned around. He reached out and nudged Jiang Tian, whispering, “Hey, wake up, Tian-ge. It’s self-study.” He pointed at Jiang Tian and explained to Sheng Wang, “He told me to wake him up when class starts so he wouldn’t oversleep.”

Sheng Wang raised an eyebrow in surprise. He had assumed his deskmate was trying to show off an impressive talent, like sleeping his way to straight A’s.

It took two tries before Jiang Tian finally responded with a grunt. He ruffled the short dark hair at the back of his neck, cracked a knuckle, then slowly sat up and rubbed his face. Waking up was clearly a struggle for him.

“Damn, what did you do last night?” Gao Tianyang couldn’t help asking.

“Nothing important.” Jiang Tian wasn’t in the mood for small talk. The only thing on his face besides exhaustion was annoyance. He reached into his desk, grabbed a bottle of water, and let the condensation wet his fingers as he twisted the cap open. After a sip, he caught sight of Sheng Wang out of the corner of his eye. He frowned. Maybe it was the ice-cold water that made his voice just as frosty. “Who are you? Why are you sitting there?”

Wow. The nerve. Sheng Wang quietly clicked his tongue. Jiang Tian was already in his bad books because of his last name. After dealing with that attitude, Sheng Wang’s impression only got worse. Never the type to put up with crap, he jerked his chin toward the new textbooks on the desk. “I’m new. I’m sitting here. You got a problem?”

Nobody wanted to miss out on a showdown between two hot guys. Students at the front of the class all turned around.

Sensing the tension between the two boys, Gao Tianyang immediately jumped in. “Wait, hold up. Tian-ge, you were asleep earlier, so you missed it. The teacher assigned him to that seat.”

“Which teacher?” Jiang Tian asked.

“Who else but Jaws?” Gao Tianyang said, “You know how he loves assigning seats on a whim. Last time, he randomly stuck me next to the podium. The next day, he completely forgot. He even asked me why I wasn’t sitting with my ‘kind classmates.’ Like, bro, was that my choice?!”

Sheng Wang whipped around and stared at Gao Tianyang, sharp eyes full of disbelief. Why didn’t you say that when Jaws himself was around?!

A loud scraping cut through the air. Sheng Wang turned instinctively, only to see Jiang Tian stand up, chair in hand, and drag his desk back a few steps.

“What are you doing?” Gao Tianyang asked, confused.

“Changing seats.” Jiang Tian didn’t bother to look up. He simply tilted his head at Sheng Wang and said, “He’s shorter. I’ll sit in the back.”

Sheng Wang frowned. “Excuse me. Who are you calling short?”

Already settled in his new spot, Jiang Tian pulled a thick stack of test papers from his drawer, tossed them onto the desk, and leaned back in his chair. Only then did he glance up at Sheng Wang. “Well? Are you taller than me?”

Sheng Wang gritted his teeth. At this point, any chance of him warming up to this guy had completely gone out the window. Stewing in silence, he shifted his desk a little left to align with the row and stuffed his backpack inside the drawer.

Gao Tianyang tapped his desk with a pen and leaned in. “Hey, bro.”

“Hm?” Sheng Wang looked up. He was irritated, but he wasn’t unreasonable; his anger was only reserved for those who deserved it.

Gao Tianyang covered his mouth with one hand and whispered, “Don’t take it personally. Tian-ge isn’t usually like this. He’s going through some stuff, so he’s been in a bad mood.”

Sheng Wang offered a polite “Oh,” but the only thing going through his head was: None of my business. Compared to the human iceberg behind him, he was more interested in the rest of the class. He glanced around the room, then noticed his desk was the only one with textbooks; everyone else had towers of test papers instead. What’s more, it had been a while since the school bell rang, yet not a single teacher had shown up.

What kind of school was this? Before he had a chance to ask, Gao Tianyang, the ever-helpful friend, spoke up, “It’s Saturday, and since we’re in the make-up period, the whole day is self-study… Wait, don’t tell me you didn’t bring any test papers?

Sheng Wang shot him a glare. “It’s my first day.”

“Oh. Then how are you gonna review?” Gao Tianyang poked at the brand new textbooks. “With these?”

“Review?” Sheng Wang echoed, “You said review?”

“Yeah.”

A sudden sense of dread crept over Sheng Wang. He asked dryly, “Why do we need to review?”

“Because we have exams tomorrow?”

Sheng Wang blinked.

“We… what tomorrow?”

“Have exams.”

Sheng Wang stared at Gao Tianyang as if the latter was talking nonsense. “Exams on what? First-year stuff?”

“That was for last semester’s finals. We’re way past first-year content now.” Gao Tianyang tapped on the stack of brand-new textbooks, his voice laced with sympathy. “They’re testing us on these.”

Sheng Wang’s eyes widened. Excuse me, say what?

The way he froze solid was so hilarious that Gao Tianyang immediately cracked up. He laughed so hard he nearly fell over.

Sheng Wang pointed at the textbooks and said in a flat, emotionless voice, “Mr. Xu told me these are for this semester.”

“In theory, yeah.” Gao Tianyang wiped tears from the corners of his eyes, still laughing. “But we’re already done. Today is August 8th, right? We went on summer break on July 10th for ten days, then came straight back to school. We finished about two days ago.”

“Which subjects?”

“Math, physics, and chemistry are done. Chinese is a little behind, and we don’t use the textbook for English anyway.”

Sheng Wang nearly lost it. “So, I am taking five exams tomorrow on content I haven’t even learned yet?”

“Yes.”

“Can I take a leave of absence?”

“Probably not.” Gao Tianyang sighed, attempting to sound aged and wise. “My friend, life is hard. Just do your best. Revenge on Jaws is a dish best served after graduation.”

…

_{Proofreader: Annie}

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