Soon, Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan arrived at the principal's office.
As soon as they went in, they saw that the room was packed with teachers. There weren't enough seats, and half of them were standing.
"Come, Zichen, let me introduce everyone."
"This is your homeroom teacher, Mr. Guan Feng."
"This is your math teacher, Mr. Bai Yuanhe."
"This is your physics teacher..."
The moment Lin Zichen came in, Principal Chen stood up and hurried over, enthusiastically introducing him to the teachers for each subject.
His class was the Elite Class. Starting in seventh grade, they would study physics and chemistry, and even have extra competition classes. The workload was intense.
"Zichen, the school has high hopes for you. We hope you'll bring the school countless honors over the next three years."
After introducing the teachers, Principal Chen patted Lin Zichen on the shoulder, placing great hopes in him.
Then he told Lin Zichen to talk with the subject teachers, while he turned back to continue speaking with Lin Zichen's parents.
Meanwhile, Shen Qinghan's family sat in a corner of the office, ignored by everyone and utterly unnoticed. They seemed completely out of place.
Shen Jianye and Xu Meng were worried about it.
Their daughter was smart and pretty, but compared with Lin Zichen, who was being treated like the center of attention, she seemed far too ordinary—so much so that she barely stood out at all.
With such a huge gap between them, the two children would sooner or later drift apart, until they became people from entirely different worlds.
What were they supposed to do?
Unlike her parents, Shen Qinghan had never thought about any of that. She just thought Lin Zichen was amazing, and felt incredibly proud to be his closest childhood friend.
Look, this boy isn't just handsome—he's brilliant in both brains and brawn, and exceptionally talented.
You might not believe it, but he's my childhood friend! We grew up together, and we're super, super close.
Aren't you jealous?
Lin Zichen didn't have much to discuss with the teachers.
By now, he had already taught himself all the subjects taught in middle and high school. He had even finished advanced mathematics.
With the help of the [Heavenly Human Wisdom Root], he had mastered all of it to an extremely high level.
Take math, for example. He could easily get a perfect score on every test.
So Lin Zichen simply exchanged a few polite words with each subject teacher, just enough to become familiar with them. Then he made up an excuse and left with Shen Qinghan.
After the two children left,
Lin Yansheng noticed how awkward Shen Jianye and Xu Meng looked sitting in the corner, and realized he'd neglected them.
He'd been so engrossed in talking with the principal that he'd forgotten his two friends.
Once he realized, he immediately brought the conversation around to his friends and said to the teachers, "Everyone, our Xiao Chen and their Hanhan are best friends. They've been promising since they were little that they'd attend the same high school and the same university. I hope you'll look after them both."
When Zhang Wanxin heard this, she added, "Xiao Chen has always been stubborn. Once he decides to do something, he follows through. He and Hanhan agreed to go to the same high school and university. Even if Hanhan has a bad day and doesn't do well on her exams, and can only get into an ordinary school, that boy will definitely go with her. I'm counting on you, teachers."
Principal Chen was a shrewd man and understood what they meant. He smiled at the teachers and said, "As their teachers, you must keep an eye on both children and make sure they don't fall behind in their studies."
Then he stepped forward and struck up a friendly conversation with Shen Jianye and his wife, asking about Shen Qinghan.
Seeing this, the teachers around them also began chatting with Shen Jianye and Xu Meng.
Shen Jianye and Xu Meng were flattered. They glanced toward Lin Yansheng and Zhang Wanxin, silently remembering their friends' kindness.
The school playground.
Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan sat on the grass.
They watched the students coming and going, savoring the peaceful moment.
Soon, they would be students at this school too, spending three years of middle school here.
"Xiao Chen, look over there! There's a badminton court. My dad has a pair of rackets in the car. Want to go play?"
"Sure."
They agreed at once and hurried back to the principal's office to get the car keys from Shen Jianye. Then they fetched the badminton rackets from the car.
After that, they headed to the badminton courts.
"Xiao Chen, we're so lucky! There's only one court left, and we got it!" Shen Qinghan said excitedly.
Seeing how delighted she was, Lin Zichen couldn't help feeling a little envious.
This girl was so easily pleased. The tiniest bit of good luck was enough to send her soaring.
"Xiao Chen, watch my Fairy's Curving Shot!"
"Xiao Chen, I've got another move—Magical Girl's Deception Shot!"
"Xiao Chen, don't get too cocky! You'll never return my Heavenly Maiden Scatters Flowers Shot!"
On the court, Shen Qinghan was like a child who'd never grown up. She kept calling out all sorts of silly moves, her delicate little face beaming with joy.
Seeing Shen Qinghan acting so childish made Lin Zichen laugh too. He found her inexplicably adorable.
Just as the two of them were having fun, two older boys who hadn't found an open court walked straight onto theirs without a word.
Neither of them said anything. They simply walked in and started playing with their own shuttlecock, treating Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan like they weren't even there.
"What are you doing? We're already playing here!"
Shen Qinghan looked at them unhappily and spoke up.
But the two boys didn't take her seriously at all.
The crew-cut boy who was on the same side of the court as her was especially brazen. He shot back:
"Whatever. Play if you want. If you don't, go cool off somewhere else."
This was a blatant case of stealing someone else's court, something especially common in elementary and middle schools.
Older students often took advantage of their age and size. When they wanted to play basketball, badminton, or ping-pong but couldn't find an open court, they'd simply force younger students off theirs.
Back when Lin Zichen was a student, he'd seen plenty of this kind of bad behavior.
He'd never had the power to stop it. Whenever he saw it, he could only mind his own business—or swallow his anger when it happened to him.
But things were different now.
It was time to make up for one of the regrets of his youth.
With that thought, Lin Zichen waited for his chance. When the crew-cut boy on the other side hit the shuttlecock toward him, he darted forward and sent it flying out of the court with a single strike!
He'd held back, using less than a tenth of his strength.
And yet the shuttlecock shot dozens of meters away, taking who knew how long to drift lightly back down to the ground.
The two boys who'd come to steal the court were stunned by the ridiculous sight.
Pointing his racket at them, Lin Zichen asked expressionlessly, "Still want to play?"
The two boys flinched at his voice. They stared at Lin Zichen as if he were a monster, then slunk away without another word.
Lin Zichen picked up his shuttlecock and smiled warmly at Shen Qinghan on the other side of the court.
"Hanhan, let's keep playing."
"Oh—oh, right. Let's keep going."
Shen Qinghan came back to herself and replied, picking up her racket to resume playing badminton with Lin Zichen.
She'd been startled by what she'd just seen too.
But when she remembered that Lin Zichen had already been able to seriously injure two adults in an alley when he was only a second-grade elementary school student, it soon seemed perfectly natural.
Before you continue