What Do You Do When You're Caught Sneaking Looks at Your Desk Mate Napping? Waiting Online, Urgent

Hearing her mother ask that, Jiang Yubai's mouth twitched.

He gave an awkward laugh, trying to brush it off. "What are you talking about, Mom? I was just standing up for what was right. It's not like I got into a fight for anyone."

His tone was relaxed, but Qin Huiyi didn't believe him in the slightest. Her voice turned serious.

"Were you hurt?"

"How could I be hurt?" Jiang Yubai hurriedly explained. "I just flipped a desk in a moment of anger. At most, it was an escalated argument. There wasn't even any shoving."

Only then did Qin Huiyi's voice ease slightly.

"Standing up for what was right... That classmate you stood up for was a girl, wasn't she?"

Jiang Yubai paused before reluctantly admitting it.

"...Yes."

"Your homeroom teacher said she's also your desk mate?"

"She is my desk mate," Jiang Yubai tried to steer the conversation back on track.

"But that's not the point—someone was saying nasty things behind her back. Anyone would get angry if they heard that. It has nothing to do with whether she's a boy or a girl."

Qin Huiyi gave an "oh" before casually changing the subject. "By the way... Have you rented a place yet?"

Seeing that his mother was no longer pressing the matter, Jiang Yubai quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, I picked an older residential complex. The transportation is convenient, and it's close to school. More importantly, there's a whole food street downstairs. I'm moving in this weekend."

He glanced at Zhang Shufang waiting beside him and lowered his voice.

"Mom, I'll tell you more when I get home. My homeroom teacher is still waiting right next to me."

Yet Qin Huiyi was in no hurry at all and continued asking, "That residential complex you picked... Is it called Splendid New Village?"

Jiang Yubai's body stiffened slightly as he gave an awkward laugh.

"Y-Yeah... It's one of our properties, too. I don't even have to pay rent. See how good I am to you?"

Qin Huiyi remained unmoved by his joking.

"Let me think... You mentioned before that there was a tenant who'd delayed paying rent... Didn't she also live in Splendid New Village?"

Jiang Yubai: "..."

All of a sudden, he didn't dare answer.

"And, son," Qin Huiyi's leisurely voice drifted over, "it can't possibly be such a coincidence that the tenant who delayed her rent is exactly the female desk mate you were 'standing up for,' can it?"

Holy crap, Mom's a detective.

Jiang Yubai froze for a moment, then suddenly raised his voice and shouted theatrically.

"Hello? Hello?"

As he spoke, he moved the phone farther away.

"Hello? Hello—Mom? The signal suddenly got really bad over here. I can't hear you clearly! I'm hanging up first!"

With that, he decisively hit the end-call button and finally let out a long breath.

Turning around, he handed the phone back to Zhang Shufang and lied with a perfectly serious expression.

"Ms. Zhang, my mom said I shouldn't be so impulsive in the future. She also said she'd give me a lecture when I got home."

Zhang Shufang took the phone without saying much, merely giving him a few simple instructions.

"Your mother is right. If something like this happens again, tell a teacher directly. Don't handle it privately."

"Got it, got it."

Jiang Yubai paused, then cautiously asked, "By the way, Ms. Zhang, what about Dong Chengze...?"

At the mention of that, Zhang Shufang pinched the bridge of her nose with a headache.

"At noon, an inspection group from the Education Bureau happened to be visiting downstairs. I was accompanying them."

"Huh?"

Jiang Yubai blanked for a moment. "So those leaders... heard everything?"

"What else?" Zhang Shufang glanced at him. "Dong Chengze was caught as an example of bad school conduct, so the school will definitely deal with him severely. If you had actually hit someone, you'd at least have gotten a disciplinary warning."

Jiang Yubai immediately understood. "Thank you, Ms. Zhang."

So that was it...

No wonder his homeroom teacher had rushed into the classroom in such a panic not long after he flipped the desk—those officials had been listening downstairs.

For a "school conduct incident" that had happened right in front of the leaders, the final punishment definitely wouldn't be light.

If his homeroom teacher hadn't put in a good word for him, he probably would've ended up with some disciplinary action himself.

As for Dong Chengze... he wished him all the best.

"This wasn't entirely your fault, either. You were just too impulsive in how you handled it." Zhang Shufang waved a hand. "Go back and take your lunch break. If anyone asks, say you don't know anything."

"Sure thing~"

By the time Jiang Yubai returned to the classroom, the lunch break was nearly over.

The classroom was quiet. Most of the students were making the most of the rare break to nap for a while, while a small number still had their heads down, diligently working through practice problems.

Naturally, Jiang Yubai had no interest in becoming a study maniac. Every noon, without fail, he slept for half an hour.

But after today's whole mess, there was definitely no time left to catch up on sleep.

Looking at the clock on the classroom wall, he rested his cheek on one hand in boredom, his gaze unconsciously drifting toward his desk mate beside him.

Lin Tingwan was quietly napping with her head on the desk. Half of her delicate, fair profile faced him, her eyelashes fluttering gently with each even breath. Her soft hair lay scattered over the crook of her arm, glimmering with specks of light under the afternoon sun.

For some reason, something in Jiang Yubai's heart seemed to stir slightly.

Light and soft, like a feather brushing past.

But when he tried to grasp that strange feeling, it vanished without a trace.

Jiang Yubai shook his head and continued admiring his desk mate's exquisite profile.

But as he watched, his mother's teasing, amused voice inexplicably echoed in his ears, every word crystal clear.

Honestly, he firmly believed that all of this was merely a coincidence.

In fact, it really was a coincidence.

He had been willing to let the sisters delay their rent because they were classmates, and his family wasn't short on that little bit of money.

He had chosen to live in Splendid New Village purely because Lin Jianxia's cooking was just too good—he really couldn't help it.

As for what happened today, that was even simpler—anyone would be unable to tolerate being slandered like that. Lin Tingwan had merely happened to be the one being talked about. If it had been any other desk mate, he would've stepped up all the same.

It was just that, for various reasons, those three things had happened to overlap and happened to involve the same... two people.

Wasn't that perfectly normal?

Of course, Jiang Yubai admitted that in other people's eyes, this whole pile of coincidences would absolutely invite speculation.

But it didn't matter. As long as he knew the truth, that was enough.

Between himself and these twin sisters, theirs was a perfectly innocent relationship between landlord and tenant, employer and cook, master and maid.

Come to think of it, didn't that last one sound a little off...?

Just as Jiang Yubai sat there propping up his head and letting his thoughts wander, Lin Tingwan's eyelashes trembled lightly, and she slowly opened her eyes.

Her eyes were still slightly hazy from waking up, but her gaze happened to meet Jiang Yubai's.

She froze for a moment, then blinked. The sleepiness in her eyes gradually faded.

Meanwhile, Jiang Yubai remained frozen with his head propped in his hand, completely dumbfounded.

Holy crap, hadn't the end-of-break bell rung yet? Why did you wake up so early?

How was he supposed to explain this?

So now the question was—

What should you do when you were caught sneaking looks at your pretty desk mate during lunch break because she woke up early?

Waiting online, urgent.