Chapter 2

Gu Chuqi hadn't yet recovered from the shock, her eyes still fixed on Mo Xun. Everyone else had already turned their attention away from the school big shot. Who would dare stare at him for too long? Perhaps sensing her gaze, Mo Xun slowly lifted his eyelids. When he saw that it was her, some of the exhaustion from staying up all night seemed to fade. Remembering how she had fled the alley in embarrassment yesterday evening, the corners of his lips lifted slightly. Guo Yichen, who was sitting beside him, incredulously poked his deskmate, Xu Hao, and whispered, “Damn, am I seeing things? Xun-ge actually smiled at the new girl!” Before Xu Hao could answer, Guo Yichen turned around and asked Mo Xun, “Xun-ge, why are you so late today?” Mo Xun glanced at him from the corner of his eye without saying a word, looking at him as if he were an idiot. Xu Hao looked at Mo Xun. “Xun, I heard that the yellow-haired guy from No. 3 Middle School was planning to ambush you last week?” Mo Xun replied, “Yeah.” “You okay?” Xu Hao pointed at the injury on Mo Xun’s face. “I’m fine.” After saying that, Mo Xun simply lay down on his desk and went to sleep. Guo Yichen, who had still wanted to ask more questions, immediately shut his mouth. After all, Mo Xun hated being disturbed when he was sleeping. The last time he was asleep, a boy in the class had accidentally bumped into his desk and woken him up. Mo Xun had stared at the boy with an irritated look in his eyes, scaring him into repeatedly apologizing before running away. After all, the school big shot's reputation preceded him. In his panic, the boy had even tripped and fallen while running away. Xu Feiran had long since grown accustomed to situations like this. After all, the school's largest shareholder, Mo Zhenting, was Mo Xun's father. And Mo Xun was also the biggest contributor to raising the class's average score. As long as nothing crossed a fundamental line, she could simply turn a blind eye. Xu Feiran turned to Gu Chuqi. “For now, you’ll sit in the second-to-last row of Group One. You’ll share a desk with Chu Wanning. After the midterm exams in half a month, we’ll rearrange the seats according to everyone’s rankings.” As she watched Gu Chuqi walk toward her new seat, Xu Feiran noticed that she was still wearing her own clothes. She added, “After classes this morning, have the class monitor take the new student to Zhicheng Building to get her school uniform and textbooks.” The class monitor, Song Shuhang, nodded in agreement. Under the watchful eyes of her new classmates, Gu Chuqi made her way through the gaps between the groups of desks and stopped in the aisle near the back rows of Group One. Her deskmate, the Chu Wanning whom the teacher had mentioned, smiled and stood up, allowing Gu Chuqi to take the window seat on the inside. At the same time, Gu Chuqi noticed that the boy she had encountered fighting yesterday evening was currently lying on his desk asleep. _Even the homeroom teacher lets him sleep like this. He really is quite the character._ Her deskmate lowered her voice and introduced herself. “My name is Chu Wanning. You can call me Wanwan or Ningning.” Gu Chuqi nodded to show that she understood, then introduced herself by name once again. Soon, Miss Li, the English teacher, entered the classroom with her textbook. Chu Wanning lowered her voice and said to Gu Chuqi, “Chuqi, you don't have a textbook yet. You can look at mine for now.” Gu Chuqi gratefully replied, “Okay, thank you.” Miss Li began enthusiastically lecturing at the front of the classroom. “Now, let’s have one student come up and read this passage aloud. Then, translate it for us.” The classroom instantly fell silent. Quite a few students even lowered their heads, avoiding the teacher's sweeping gaze, afraid that she might call on them. Miss Li scanned the classroom. When her eyes landed on the only person lying face-down by the door, she frowned. Miss Li called out to him several times, but he remained sprawled across his desk without moving. The English teacher was starting to lose her temper. She hated students who refused to pay attention in class, so she told the student sitting in front of him to wake him up. The student she called on was Gu Chuqi. She paused for a moment before slowly turning around and reaching out toward the sleeping Mo Xun. The students around them collectively sucked in a breath. Even Guo Yichen, Xu Hao, and Zhou Xinxin, who usually hung out with Mo Xun, wished they could hide as far away as possible. They were afraid that waking the big shot would set him off and that they would end up caught in the crossfire. Several quiet voices muttered, “Holy crap...” Gu Chuqi, however, clearly didn't notice the expressions on her classmates' faces. She simply pushed Mo Xun's arm. She pushed him three times before Mo Xun finally moved. His nap in the classroom had been interrupted, putting him in a foul mood. Suppressing his irritation, he slowly lifted his head. Although the hostility in his eyes disappeared when he realized it was her, his cold gaze still startled Gu Chuqi. Mo Xun looked at her, silently asking, _What is it?_ Gu Chuqi stared at him with her round eyes and spoke softly. “The teacher wants you to get up and read the passage.” Noticing the change in her expression because of the harsh attitude he hadn't managed to conceal in time, Mo Xun sighed helplessly inwardly. He withdrew his gaze from her, kicked his chair back, stood up, and said simply, “I can't.” Then he sat back down without another word. Miss Li was so infuriated that she was momentarily speechless. She glared at him several times as though she wanted to bore holes through him with her eyes. Then she spoke sarcastically. “Some students think that just because they come from wealthy families, they don't need to study. But what will they be when they enter society? Useless. Good for nothing.” She paused before continuing. “Look at the students in my liberal arts class. Every single one of them is an excellent student. I hardly ever have to worry about them.” The implication was obvious: students like Mo Xun were nothing more than troublemakers. In fact, all the teachers in Class One had tacitly agreed not to interfere with Mo Xun's behavior during class. However, their usual English teacher had gone home on maternity leave, and Miss Li, who had taken over, was actually the homeroom teacher of Liberal Arts Class Two. To some extent, she was biased against the students in the science classes. The classroom fell completely silent. Not a single student dared to make a sound. The last teacher who had openly criticized the school bully in class had ended up so furious that she was hospitalized afterward. Apparently, Miss Li had never heard about what happened. Everyone else waited for the big shot to lose his temper. Only Gu Chuqi, sitting in front of him, frowned. She suddenly stood up and said, “Teacher, what we learn in school can't determine a person's entire future. Everyone sitting here comes from a fairly well-off family, and I imagine many of them will take over their family's businesses someday, handling millions of yuan at a time.” She looked directly at Miss Li. “And yet you're standing here saying all these things while earning only a few thousand yuan a month. Do you really think that's appropriate?” Miss Li was rendered speechless. Her face flushed red, then turned pale with anger. After taking several deep breaths, she finally said, “Since you think you're so capable, then you come up and read the passage.” She stared at Gu Chuqi with an expression that clearly said she was waiting for her to embarrass herself. Gu Chuqi wasn't intimidated in the slightest. She picked up Chu Wanning's English textbook and began reading from the very first line, one word at a time. Her pronunciation was impeccable. After reading several sentences in English, she translated them into Chinese. > “They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.” ... Her soft, soothing voice drifted into Mo Xun's ears. Her speech was slow and gentle, carrying the delicate softness characteristic of the Jiangnan region. It sounded exceptionally pleasant. Especially the final sentence: > “I apply to get into your life.” Those words struck Mo Xun directly in the heart, leaving an impression he would never forget. It was the first time someone had repeatedly stepped in front of him and stood up for him. Even many years later, whenever he remembered this scene, his heart would still race with excitement. After class, Chu Wanning pulled Gu Chuqi aside and quietly gave her a brief rundown of the class. Class One had many different cliques and was sharply divided into two groups: the wealthy students and the academically gifted students. The two sides looked down on each other. Mo Xun, however, was an exception. Not only was his family wealthy, but he was also an excellent student. Ever since the second year had been divided into science and liberal arts, he had consistently ranked first among all the science students. And on top of that, he was incredibly handsome. Whether they were senior girls from the first year or junior girls from the year below, girls throughout the school couldn't help secretly falling for him. His only flaw was— His temper was terrible.