The homeroom teacher stood at the podium and looked around, only to find that Lu Qi and his deskmate, Ye Muqing, were absent from the back row. He cleared his throat and, after signaling for everyone to quiet down, said, "Students, our class has another new transfer student. Let's give him a round of applause."
The moment Lu Yao stood on the podium, before he had even said a word, his icy, aloof aura had already taken everyone's breath away.
Homeroom teacher: "Lu Yao, give the class a brief introduction."
Lu Yao's expression was calm and indifferent. He swept his gaze over the curious students below, then parted his thin lips and introduced himself in a low voice. "Lu Yao, seventeen years old, from Mountain City No. 1 High School."
"Cool. This transfer student has quite the vibe."
"Mountain City No. 1 High School? What kind of trash school is that? Why haven't I even heard of it?"
"Hahaha, has anyone even heard of Mountain City, that tiny backwater city?"
"He transferred from some poor middle-of-nowhere place, so is the transfer student an illegitimate child?"
After hearing his deskmate mistake Lu Yao for an illegitimate child, Li Guigu glanced at Chu Jiaojiao, who sat in front of him.
Chu Jiaojiao had always treated him kindly solely because he was related to Lu Qi. Thinking of how easily Lu Yao had drawn everyone's attention during the National Day holiday, Li Guigu chimed in with disgust, "Yeah, so annoying. Wasn't one illegitimate daughter enough? Now there's another illegitimate son transferring in."
Naturally, Chu Jiaojiao, seated in the front row, heard Li Guigu's words clearly. She looked up at Lu Yao on the podium. The thought that he, like that bitch Xia Yue, was the child of a mistress made her instinctively despise him.
Xia Yue and Chu Jiaojiao were half-sisters with the same father. Recently, Chu Jiaojiao's mother had been threatening divorce because of Xia Yue, the illegitimate daughter.
Before Xia Yue appeared, Chu Jiaojiao had always believed her father and mother were deeply in love. Then, some time ago, her father suddenly brought Xia Yue home and said he wanted this illegitimate daughter to acknowledge her ancestors and return to the family. He had even transferred Xia Yue from her former public school to Huiying High School and placed her in Chu Jiaojiao's class, claiming that he hoped Chu Jiaojiao would look after her younger sister.
It made Chu Jiaojiao sick to her stomach.
Ever since Xia Yue transferred to Huiying High School, Chu Jiaojiao had openly clashed with her. Their bad relationship was already common knowledge throughout the school. Though Xia Yue was rather ostracized among the girls, her delicate looks and coquettish personality had won her the adoration of many boys.
Homeroom teacher: "Students, is there anything you're curious to ask Lu Yao about?"
Chu Jiaojiao casually raised her hand. Resting her chin on one hand, she spoke with an arrogant, disdainful gaze. "Transfer student, where exactly is Mountain City? Nobody seems to have heard much about it. Why don't you introduce it to everyone?"
Lu Yao recognized at once that the girl asking the question was Chu Jiaojiao, the cannon-fodder older sister of the Mary Sue protagonist Xia Yue. In the original novel, this cannon-fodder supporting character had tried every possible way to target Xia Yue, only to end up hurting herself every time. Compared with Lu Yao's own fate, hers had not turned out much better.
Hearing Chu Jiaojiao subtly mock Lu Yao as a country bumpkin, the students eagerly waited for the drama.
Was the transfer student going to tear into Chu Jiaojiao on his first day? This was going to be entertaining!
Although Xia Yue knew Lu Yao's true identity, she worried that if his identity were exposed, she would not be able to win his affection quickly. Thus, she was more than happy to watch Chu Jiaojiao target him. Appearing at the right moment would make her conquest twice as effective with half the effort.
She had done the same in her previous life. In the unfamiliar environment of Huiying High School, she had been the first person to extend a hand to Lu Yao. That was precisely why she had been able to leave an indelible mark on his heart so quickly. The more that stupid woman Chu Jiaojiao targeted Lu Yao, the easier it would be for Xia Yue to win him over and steal his fortune.
Lu Yao had no intention of responding to Chu Jiaojiao's provocation.
Seeing Chu Jiaojiao target the new student, the homeroom teacher hurriedly tried to smooth things over. Just then, an unexpected voice suddenly rang out in the classroom.
"130° to 131°10′ east longitude, 52° to 52°38′ north latitude."
Hearing Jiang Bai suddenly speak up, the other students looked at him in surprise.
Chu Jiaojiao: "What?"
Chu Jiaojiao was utterly confused. What was Jiang Bai talking about all of a sudden?
"Mountain City's coordinates."
Jiang Bai leaned lightly against his chair, wearing his usual gentle smile. Yet upon closer inspection, not a trace of that smile reached his eyes.
He spoke slowly. "Wasn't everyone curious about what kind of place Mountain City is? I know you're all science students, but I didn't expect your geography knowledge to have become this weak only shortly after choosing your academic tracks. Still, as the former geography class representative, I'm more than willing to share some basic geographical knowledge with everyone."
Basic geographical knowledge? The coordinates of such a remote little place counted as basic geographical knowledge?
The students exchanged looks. What the hell? Did the transfer student know Jiang Bai? Why was Jiang Bai acting so strangely today? Wasn't he usually the type to keep out of anything that did not concern him? Why was he suddenly being so kind and standing up for the transfer student?
Chu Jiaojiao also looked displeased at Jiang Bai, who had suddenly spoken up. What was Jiang Bai doing? What did the matter between her and the transfer student have to do with him? Why was he meddling for no reason?!
Lu Yao looked down at the boy below. When he saw his face, a hint of surprise appeared in his deep eyes. It's him?
Their unexpected eye contact made Jiang Bai freeze for a moment. Once he recovered, though, the corners of his lips could not help curving into a smile. The coldness in his eyes vanished, replaced by the joy of reunion.
Lu Yao gave a cool nod in response, then naturally looked away.
Seeing Lu Yao's indifferent reaction, Jiang Bai felt a faint ache in his heart. A trace of dimness and loneliness flashed through his eyes, and the smile on his lips gradually faded.
We're still strangers.
He pressed his lips tightly together and lowered his eyes to hide his disappointment.
Seeing that Chu Jiaojiao was about to speak again, the homeroom teacher feared the situation would worsen and hurriedly broke the stalemate. Pointing to an empty seat by the window, he said, "Lu Yao, you can sit over there."
The moment Lu Yao sat down, the boy beside him leaned over curiously. "Bro, do you know Jiang Bai?"
Lu Yao: "No."
"If you don't know him, why did he speak up for you?"
Lu Yao: "I don't know."
"Man, has anyone ever told you that you're kind of cool like this?"
Lu Yao: "..."
Seeing Lu Yao's speechless expression, the boy beside him burst out laughing. "My name is You Yu. My friends like calling me Squid. Please take care of me from now on."
Lu Yao realized that his deskmate was a complete chatterbox. Once he got going, he simply would not stop talking.
You Yu: "Let me tell you, there are two people in our class you absolutely cannot provoke. One is Lu Qi. He hasn't come back to class yet, but I'll secretly point him out to you when he does. He's the school bully, but as long as you don't provoke him, there shouldn't be much of a problem."
You Yu paused before continuing, "The other is Jiang Bai from earlier. He's the dream guy of all the girls at our school. Maybe because his family comes from a scholarly background, his grandfather is the famous traditional Chinese painter Jiang Sheng. So Jiang Bai himself isn't scary, and he has a pretty mild temper. But what's really scary is his fan club! Quite a few girls in the school are members, so if you offend him, it means offending most of the girls. Trust me, a good man doesn't fight with women. There's no good ending if you offend that bunch."
Lu Yao: "..."
Meanwhile, Jiang Bai, whom Lu Yao had said he did not know, was recalling the scene of their first meeting. His eyelashes trembled slightly, and beneath his light-colored eyes lay a tender, lingering warmth.
If one asked the girls at school why they liked Jiang Bai, aside from mentioning his genius-level grades and handsome face, most would also say it was because of his gentle personality and the soft smile that always seemed to be on his face. Yet few people noticed that this gentleness had always carried a sense of distance and coldness.
That unchanging smile on his lips was Jiang Bai's mask for concealing his lack of emotion from the outside world.
Ever since he was young, Jiang Bai had been the genius child everyone else's parents talked about. Anything he wanted to learn came easily to him. His parents were both highly career-driven workaholics. When they discovered that Jiang Bai was sensible from a young age and not clingy, they became even more comfortable leaving him in the care of nannies and private tutors while focusing on their careers. It was not until Jiang Bai spent the summer with his grandfather at the age of eight that his grandfather noticed something was wrong and learned that the child suffered from emotional deficiency disorder. Though Jiang Bai's parents had regretted it deeply over the years, there had been nothing they could do.
Because the doctor advised Jiang Bai to spend more time in nature and seek healing from it, his grandfather liked taking Jiang Bai along whenever he went out to paint landscapes and gather inspiration.
More than two months ago, Grandpa Jiang took Jiang Bai to Mountain City.
At the time, Jiang Bai saw his grandfather painting by the river and decided to wander around nearby. Unexpectedly, Mountain City's alleyways twisted and turned so much that he got lost, and his phone had run out of battery as well.
In the dim alley, Jiang Bai frowned as he looked at the several ill-intentioned street punks blocking his path. He began regretting never having learned any self-defense skills before.
"Hand over your phone!"
Jiang Bai pressed his lips together and took his phone from his pocket. The blond-haired man at the front snatched it away.
"Heh, nice. The latest Apple model. Looks like we caught ourselves a nice fat sheep today."
The blond-haired man looked Jiang Bai up and down, then immediately noticed the watch on his wrist.
"Take off the watch too."
The watch had been a fifteenth birthday gift from Jiang Bai's grandfather. If it were lost, the old man would surely be saddened.
Jiang Bai looked at the blond-haired man coldly. "You can have the phone, but not this watch."
The blond-haired man exchanged looks with the punks behind him, then laughed wildly. "Pretty boy, do you think I'm negotiating with you? Hand over the watch already, or when we start beating you up, my fists won't be joking around."
Jiang Bai said nothing. He secretly surveyed his surroundings and found that every exit was guarded by the blond-haired man and his followers.
Seeing Jiang Bai refuse to take off his watch, the blond-haired man clicked his tongue impatiently. "You guys, go beat this brat up. Once he learns his lesson, bring me the watch."
As several street punks closed in on him, Jiang Bai clenched his fists. Just as he was preparing to fight them head-on, even if it meant both sides suffered, a voice suddenly sounded from deep within the alley.
"I was wondering which crow was making such an awful racket. So it was you lot."
Seeing the teenager walk out from the depths of the alley, the blond-haired man threatened, "Lu Yao, this has nothing to do with you. You'd better stay out of it."
Lu Yao was famous around here for being able to fight. The blond-haired man did not want him ruining his plans.
Lu Yao sneered. "You're blocking my way."
Mountain City's alleys ran in every direction, and there were so many paths he could have taken. Yet Lu Yao had insisted on coming this way. It was obvious he was deliberately looking for trouble.
The blond-haired man signaled to his lackeys behind him, and several of them instantly rushed forward together.
A bolt of pale lightning suddenly split the sky, illuminating the dark alley for an instant. Watching Lu Yao's dazzling, unrestrained movements as he fought, Jiang Bai's eyes shone brightly. At that moment, Lu Yao seemed to be the only light in Jiang Bai's world.
The punks were beaten to the ground, groaning in pain.
Lu Yao bent down and retrieved the phone they had stolen from the blond-haired man's pocket.
When he turned around, he saw Jiang Bai still standing there in a daze. He casually tossed the phone into his arms. "Let's go. Are you staying here because you want to get lost again?"
When Lu Yao had passed through the alley earlier, he had seen Jiang Bai wandering around in circles. When he came back, Jiang Bai was still wandering around inside.
Jiang Bai froze for a moment. Once he came back to himself, he smiled and hurriedly jogged after Lu Yao.
After leading Jiang Bai out of the alley, Lu Yao went home on his own.
It was not until Lu Yao's back disappeared from view that Jiang Bai reluctantly withdrew his gaze.