Everyone froze, dumbstruck, their jaws practically hitting the floor.
"Holy shit? Am I seeing things? What's that look on Chen Qianqian's face? Resentment? She actually didn't curse him out?"
"The point is Zhang Ruoxi! Zhang Ruoxi's blushing! I chased her for a whole damn year, and she never even gave me a proper look! Who's that guy?"
"Could he be a relative of theirs? Yes! He has to be! There's no other explanation!"
The whispers around them were hushed, yet seethed with a storm of shock.
Chen Lin smiled and nodded at the two girls, then pulled two strawberry lollipops from his pocket like a magician and handed them one each.
Chen Qianqian curled her lip in disdain. "Childish."
But her actions betrayed her as she took it, tore off the wrapper, and popped it into her mouth.
Zhang Ruoxi blushed even harder and whispered a "Thank you" in a voice barely louder than a breath.
She accepted it carefully and cradled it in her palm, too reluctant to eat it.
That scene completely shattered the fantasies of every guy in the classroom.
Especially one sitting in the back row: Zhao Kai, the student council vice president, who had always considered himself Zhang Ruoxi's number-one suitor.
As he watched the shy, bashful expression Zhang Ruoxi showed Chen Lin, his handsome face instantly darkened, jealousy blazing in his eyes.
Chen Lin naturally noticed that hostile gaze, but paid it no mind. He simply chatted quietly with Chen Qianqian and Zhang Ruoxi, asking about their studies and lives lately.
The bell rang like a gospel of salvation, hauling a classroom full of drowsy souls out of the sea of suffering that was macroeconomics.
The elderly professor, bald on top with a ring of hair around the sides, tucked his lesson notes under