Chapter 11

The commotion in the classroom drew over the dean of discipline, who was patrolling the floors. Middle-aged and completely bald, Director Liao stood at the classroom door and knocked. The students gathered around Lu Chi's desk scattered like startled birds and beasts, returning to their seats in trembling fear. Pan Tianbo also sneakily tucked the little paper figure Lu Chi had cut for him into his English textbook.

Director Liao snorted twice, then walked straight to Pan Tianbo's desk. He rapped his fingers against it and said heavily, "Take it out."

Pan Tianbo hung his head and reluctantly handed over the little paper figure.

Director Liao, who had always been fascinated by folk arts and crafts, had not expected the source of the disturbance during evening self-study to be such a round, plump, adorably naive, lifelike little paper figure. Unable to resist, he fiddled with it for a while before clearing his throat and putting on a stern expression. "Instead of studying properly during evening self-study, you're actually fooling around. Looks like you all did pretty well on the weekly exam, huh?"

"I'm confiscating this. Come to my office to get it after lunch break tomorrow!" With that, the dean of discipline clasped his hands behind his back and paced around the classroom a few times before finally leaving at an unhurried pace.

Pan Tianbo slumped dejectedly over his desk and looked at Lu Chi with a pitiful expression, his eyes full of despair. "See? This world is way too unfriendly to fat people!"

Lu Chi: "..."

The gift he had just received had been snatched away, and he was even going to be called into the dean's office for a scolding. Little fatty Pan Tianbo felt terribly wronged. Even after evening self-study ended and they returned to the dorm, he was still grumbling about it. With no other choice, Lu Chi agreed to cut him another paper figure. Since he now had a proper tool—a pair of scissors—the one Lu Chi cut this time was actually more exquisite than the one from evening self-study. Still, Pan Tianbo could not let go of his first little paper figure.

Their roommates, Yue Bin and Zhang Yang, stared enviously at the little paper figure Pan Tianbo kept showing off in his hand, their burning gazes fixed on Lu Chi's face. "Where are ours?!"

"I was just about to cut them!" Lu Chi said with a smile, shaking the scissors in his hand. After pondering for a moment, he took out a sheet of white paper.

There was no need to sketch a design or take measurements. With only a pair of scissors, he moved back and forth over the folded paper. Fine scraps drifted down like snowflakes. When it was over, Lu Chi set down the scissors and unfolded the white paper. A chibi paper figure holding a basketball appeared before their eyes.

Yue Bin looked at the chibi paper figure in Lu Chi's hand and pointed at himself in delighted surprise. "Is that me?"

Lu Chi smiled and nodded, handing the little paper figure to Yue Bin. Then he glanced at Zhang Yang and lowered his head to continue cutting.

Having received his own, Zhang Yang fondled the little paper figure with great affection and sincerely praised, "Lu Chi, you're incredible. With a skill like this, if you used it to pick up girls, what girl could you not win over?"

"Can you teach me?"

Lu Chi: "..."

Yue Bin smacked Zhang Yang on the back of the head. "Teach you what? You want to use it to pick up girls? Don't lead our little Lu Chi astray."

"Since when did he become yours?" Zhang Yang rubbed the back of his head and said indignantly, "You're way too domineering!"

Yue Bin snorted as well. "Anyway, Lu Chi won't teach you how to pick up girls."

As he spoke, Yue Bin moved over a chair and sat in front of Lu Chi. He tried hard to widen his eyes, asking innocently, "Lu Chi, if I wanted to learn this from you, could you teach me?"

"Oh, come on! Yue Bin, do you have no shame?" Before Yue Bin could finish, Zhang Yang rolled his eyes dramatically.

Yue Bin rolled his eyes right back, then continued speaking to Lu Chi. "I want to cut a family portrait of me with my dad and mom. If I give you a photo, can you teach me?"

Recently, Yue Bin, whose interests were exceptionally broad, had become obsessed with DSLR cameras. This hobby had caused his allowance to plummet at a rapid rate. Facing a financial crisis, Yue Bin had no choice but to find ways to cut expenses and increase income—namely, sucking up to his parents to get them to raise his allowance.

He had been worrying over where to start when a classmate like Lu Chi, who knew paper-cutting, dropped right in front of him with a smack. This was practically an opportunity sent by heaven!

So Yue Bin made a snap decision and immediately hugged Lu Chi. "You have to teach me! When the time comes, your brother will treat you to the good stuff. I'll cover your meals for the rest of this semester!"

Chapter 11

The teachers at Yanda Affiliated High School graded papers exceptionally quickly. So quickly that by the morning of the third day after the exams ended, every student's scores had come out. The teachers simply entered the scores into the computer, totaled them up, and clicked sort. The grade rankings and class rankings were immediately released as well.

On the grade rankings, a name unfamiliar to most teachers and students suddenly emerged, directly surpassing Zhuo Yue, who had held first place in the grade ever since enrollment, and becoming the new top student in the grade.

The moment the school released the grade and class rankings, the name Lu Chi spread through Yanda Affiliated High School like wind through wild grass.

"Seriously? He actually scored seven points higher than Zhuo Yue? His total score is over seven hundred!"

"Who exactly is this Lu Chi? Why have I never heard of him before?"

"I think he's a transfer student. The one who got robbed by that motorcycle gang?"

"I remember now. He's the transfer student that School Belle Qiao was chasing, right? I think he's pretty close with Yue Bin and his crowd."

"No way, right? I remember when he first came to our school, he failed every subject. Then he took more than half a month off because he was hospitalized. He came back just in time for the weekly exam... When did he have time to study?"

"Could he have cheated?"

For a time, rumors that Lu Chi had cheated on the exam grew increasingly rampant, spreading through the entire second-year grade at top speed—

So when Lu Chi stepped into the classroom early that morning, he was met with the unusually strange scrutiny of the entire class.

Lu Chi: "???"

Pan Tianbo, who had arrived before him, furtively waved him over and whispered, "Something huge happened. Everyone says you got your scores by cheating!"

Lu Chi: "...Huh?"