So curious about my grades?

Teacher Cheng's words sent a thousand ripples through Class One, setting the whole room abuzz.

Everyone was somewhat wary of Wang Ci. After all, Jing City only had a handful of top-tier families. Their own parents merely had a little money; they were nowhere near the Wang family's level. Besides, as students, most of them weren't so driven by self-interest that they would rush to curry favor.

Wang Ci had barely shown up during the first week of school, but the overbearing arrogance and openly vicious streak he had displayed made them uncomfortable.

His transferring classes outright was actually a good thing.

Everyone secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Song Yu gave a faint twitch of his lips and said nothing. Good riddance to Wang Ci. Better yet, he had better not let Song Yu see him in Jing City for the next three years.

Teacher Cheng said no more about Wang Ci, merely directing two tall, sturdy students to move a few desks out of the first row.

He glanced at the class's seating arrangements and sighed. "After the monthly exam, we'll rearrange your seats. Sitting like this, you never have to worry about finding someone to talk to during class."

The whole class burst out laughing.

Teacher Cheng glared at them. "I've only just transferred to Jingcheng No. 1 High School, and yours is the first class I've taken over. My reputation rides on this first monthly exam. Don't embarrass me-if you bomb it, you'll be in for it."

After one lesson, everyone really liked their new homeroom teacher.

The atmosphere in class relaxed, and they grew more casual with him.

A boy raised his hand, grinning brightly. "Then, sir, do we get a reward if we do well?"

Teacher Cheng straightened his lesson plans, adjusted his glasses, and said slowly, "If our class average makes the top three in the year, we'll have a class outing."

"Ohhh, yes!"

Everyone began howling and raising a ruckus.

"Sir, I want hot pot!"

"Sir, I suggest a picnic."

Someone scoffed. "What are you, an elementary school kid? A picnic? Sir, let's go sing karaoke."

They hadn't even taken the exam yet, and everyone was already excitedly making suggestions.

Teacher Cheng slapped his lesson plans against the lectern and snapped, "Quiet! How are you going to compete with the other classes, carrying on like this? If our average comes in last, every one of you will run three laps around the track."

Three laps around the track.

Quite a few people immediately groaned.

Just before the new homeroom teacher left, he suddenly glanced at the roster again and said, "Song Yu, come to my office."

Song Yu, who was studying the learning plan Xie Sui had made for him: "???"

Why was he getting called out again?

He found out when he reached the office.

His new homeroom teacher pointed pleasantly at the seat beside him. "Don't be nervous. Sit down. I just wanted to ask whether you've run into any trouble during these first few days of school."

Song Yu sat down, a little confused. Run into trouble? Much as he hated to admit it, over all these days, he seemed to have been the trouble other people ran into.

Teacher Cheng even softened his voice. "The principal told me about your health, too. If you ever feel unwell or have any difficulties, you can come find me in the office. I'll call your phone so you can save my number. Your deskmate is Xie Sui, right? He's a good, diligent, hardworking boy. Just follow his example and focus on your studies. If anyone bullies you, tell me."

Song Yu: "..."

Song Yu said, "Okay. Thank you, sir."

While Song Yu was in the office, Class One erupted.

A crowd gazed fervently toward Xie Sui, calling him "God Xie" over and over and wailing pitifully, saying things like, "Our class average is counting on you to carry me," and, "The whole class's hopes rest on you."

Xie Sui hadn't said anything yet.

Ma Xiaoding was already protesting indignantly. "What's this? You're not taking our Brother Yu seriously?"

For once, Xi Bowen was on the same page as him. He looked rather smug, as though he possessed a secret no one else knew. "Ha, how shallow. You've all been fooled by Brother Yu's school bully status. He's actually a top student, too. He came to Jingcheng No. 1 High School and challenged God Xie for first place right off the bat. Scared yet?"

The whole class: "???"

The whole class: "Whoa!!"

Remembering how diligently Song Yu studied in class, they found it more plausible the more they thought about it.

The whole class's eyes lit up. "God Xie, God Xie, is that true?"

Xie Sui: "..."

He felt these two were setting Song Yu up.

To keep the kid from embarrassing himself too badly when the time came.

Xie Sui tapped the desk, thought for a moment, and smiled meaningfully. "Song Yu is very smart, but there are still some differences between the textbooks in City A and Jing City."

Unaware that he had been crowned a "top student," Song Yu returned to the classroom.

He felt everyone was looking at him strangely, their gazes full of shock and surprise.

Ma Xiaoding asked him, "Brother Yu, what did the new homeroom teacher want?"

Song Yu thought for a moment and said, "Nothing much. Just everyday stuff."

"Oh, oh." Ma Xiaoding eagerly sought credit. "Brother Yu, you have to get good grades on this monthly exam and bring glory to our Class One. I just told everyone about your secret top-student identity."

Song Yu: "??"

He spun around, eyes wide, disbelief written all over his face. "What did you say?"

Unaware that his doom was approaching, Ma Xiaoding said smugly, "Your identity as a top student back in City A. Just shy of eight hundred. It was time to tell them and dazzle them blind-ow! Brother Yu, why'd you hit me?"

Rubbing his aching hand, Song Yu ignored Ma Xiaoding's aggrieved gaze and turned back, maintaining his composure as he asked Xie Sui, "Is there any way to raise my score by four hundred points in two weeks?"

Xie Sui chuckled. "Yes. Dream."

Song Yu: "...Fuck."

Keep selling a persona that hard, and one day your cover was bound to be blown.

The last period was PE, and it was free activity time again.

Song Yu sat under a tree memorizing vocabulary, his diligence moving all of Class One. Handsome, good at fighting, and fond of studying! How could someone so outstanding exist?

Xie Sui had originally been keeping him company, but the homeroom teacher later called him to the office.

Inside the office.

Teacher Cheng asked hesitantly, "How do you feel about sitting with Song Yu?"

Xie Sui smiled. "It's great. He's very cute."

Teacher Cheng breathed a sigh of relief, holding his pen. "Then I'll have you sit together after the next monthly exam, too. Song Yu isn't in good health and needs a quiet environment. Sitting beside you is good for him."

Xie Sui couldn't have asked for more. He nodded. "Thank you, sir."

As he left and headed downstairs, someone called his name.

"Xie Sui." The voice was gentle as water, with a hint of a smile.

Xie Sui paused and turned his head, seeing a girl he didn't recognize in the corridor.

She wore little white shoes, a pale blue blouse, and a white gauze skirt that revealed fair, slender calves, with a belt around her waist. Her makeup was light, her lipstick orange, and her long black hair hung down her back. She gave off an altogether fresh, gentle air.

Xie Sui stared at her, his eyes pure black. His gaze always held a trace of coolness, and when he wasn't smiling, his cold aloofness was especially pronounced, keeping people a thousand miles away.

Bai Xuexin froze. This was the first time she had felt such pressure from someone her own age, but didn't that only make it more of a challenge? He hadn't returned to City A yet; this was her best opportunity. Confident in her looks, she stepped forward, her expression surprised and smiling, with a trace of shyness. "You're Xie Sui, right? I... my deskmate has told me about you."

Xie looked at her, but his gaze remained cold.

Bai Xuexin's lashes fluttered like little fans as she said softly, "God Xie, actually, I owe you an apology. Chen Zhijie from our class-I don't know whether he's come looking for trouble with you, but this started because of me. I'm sorry for causing you trouble."

She held out a pen. "C-could I have your contact information? Just write it on the back of my hand." She smiled bashfully.

Apologizing for her own suitor.

Her words were innocent and guileless.

Yet they could easily stir a man's vanity: the goddess someone he disliked couldn't win was showing him favor.

Perhaps because of Song Yu's influence, much of his icy severity had faded lately. Even faced with such a clumsy advance, he still said politely, "Thank you. There's no need to apologize, or to stay in contact."

With that, he turned to leave.

Rejected for the first time, Bai Xuexin's eyes widened, her innocent facade nearly cracking. Still, she bit her lip, stepped forward, and grabbed Xie Sui's arm, drawing out her words in a coquettish tone. "Isn't it a little cruel to reject a girl like that, God Xie?"

"From what I've seen, Song Yu is the only person you're close to at No. 1 High School. Is it because he's good to you? I can be very good to you, too. Even better than him."

She playfully stuck out her tongue, offering the pen in her right hand and exposing the back of her left. Blinking, she smiled. "Leave me your number? I'll give you a surprise."

Xie Sui pulled free, the smile at his lips icy.

He had rejected countless women in his previous life: socialites, celebrities, innocent ones, seductive ones, all taking their methods of seduction to the extreme.

In his eyes, Bai Xuexin's performance didn't even qualify.

He took the pen from her hand.

Under Bai Xuexin's slightly smug gaze.

Xie Sui lowered his eyes and smiled carelessly. "Don't mention Song Yu. You're not worthy."

Thud.

The pen was tossed into the stairwell and rolled down.

Bai Xuexin stood rooted to the spot, her expression stiff.

Xie Sui had already left.

Only Bai Xuexin remained, her eyes furious, her fingers slowly clenching.

In the days that followed, Song Yu pestered Xie Sui countless times a day.

And the question of whether he was a real or fake top student finally made it onto the forum.

[Guess Brother Yu's monthly exam scores]

Original post: As the poster boy for bloodshed on this forum, naturally everything about him deserves its own thread [manual doge]. A friend in Class One told me Brother Yu is actually a top student. Do you believe it? Personally, I'm half-convinced, and I'm already looking forward to his monthly exam results.

1F: Heeheehee, of course my husband excels in both humanities and sciences.

2F: Believe it, believe it. Have you forgotten how Brother Yu forced the entire forum to uninstall it so he could study?

3F: I believe it. SuiYu is real. God Xie's grades are so badass; how could his boyfriend's be bad?

4F: I don't find it that believable... no hype, no hate, but Brother Yu feels more like a bad student.

Song Yu had been absorbed in studying for days and had barely appeared on the forum. Once classes started, forum traffic picked up, too, and the haters who had disappeared for a while resurfaced.

34F: Believe my ass. Just hype up his fighting skills. Don't insult the term "top student." He's destined to haul bricks on a construction site. Don't drag hardworking students into this.

35F: I'm gone a few days, and that troll surnamed Song's reputation is already whitewashed? Swearing and fighting, a delinquent like that, tsk, tsk, tsk. Nobody beats the girls at our school for being blind.

36F: Waiting for the results to slap that Song guy in the face. Hilarious. Keep hyping him up.

56F: You were too chicken to say a word a while ago, and now you're crawling out again. Puke.

57F: ...Much as I want to clap back at the trolls, I don't think we should take this too far. I keep feeling Brother Yu isn't a top student. It'll be so embarrassing then.

The trolls grew even more energized.

84F: I bet his total won't even pass five hundred. Calling it now: bottom of the year. He's obviously a thug, okay?

85F: Exactly, exactly. Song Yu being a top student is the funniest joke I've heard all year.

86F: Hahahahahahaha.

88F Your husband Brother Yu: Is it that funny?

89F Your husband Brother Yu: So curious about my monthly exam grades?

90F Your husband Brother Yu: If I don't make the top hundred in the year, this whole thread is finished. Not one of you is getting away. Can't be the school bully for nothing [smile].

Leaning against his bed, Song Yu read expressionlessly and finished replying just as expressionlessly. He took a sip of juice and rolled his eyes.

The only person he feared over the monthly exam was his dad, okay? As if he'd let them laugh at him.

The No. 1 High School forum.

Deathly silence.

The trolls: "..."

A long time passed.

The thread went mad with posts, everyone wanting to tear the trolls apart with their bare hands.

[What the fuck are you laughing at aaaaaaaa]

[Is it that funny??? Is it??]

[I'm fucking tearing the trolls apart tonight!!!!!]

The trolls wilted.

Fuck, wasn't Song Yu focused on studying?

If he was focused on studying, why was he on the forum?

Someone tremulously offered a suggestion.

151F: Anyone forming a team to assassinate the top hundred in the first year? Count me in. I don't want to die. I'm getting Brother Yu into the top ten TUT.

Author's note: Song Yu: I'm not the one scared of the monthly exam. They are.

Thank you to the little angels who cast Overlord votes or watered me with nutrient solution~

Thank you to the little angel who threw [grenades]: Stars, 1;

Thank you to the little angels who threw [land mines]: l Qin q Cuan Nine, 2; 34261581, blink, Shu Li Pu Kou, Is the Scum Gong Dead Today, Young Master Tang, Bewildered G Protein, Unlucky Shi/Sou-chan, ihg, Xuan, Who Says Sowthistle Is Bitter, A Million Miles Away, Youyou, Little Sapling?, Maomao Your Mom Must Die Tonight, xiaobei, Xiao Jinglian, Pigeon Bear, fairy, 1 each;

Thank you to the little angels who watered me with [nutrient solution]:

Little Monster, 50 bottles; Qu Chen, 45 bottles; Shuang Ziyin, 24 bottles; An Wan at Midnight, 21 bottles; A Glimpse of Splendor, Three-Day Crane, y, 20 bottles each; Wang Zhuzhu qaq, 11 bottles; Sugar Cat, Cute Yu, Nine Times Nine Is Eighty-One, 37668345, Moonlit Rain Filling the Valley, Young Master Tang, Sui,, Leaves Leaves Ah, Ning Liang, Yan Shi, Little Steelyard, 10 bottles each; Song Zhaoxing., Whale Turned into a Lonely Island, 7 bottles each; Jiuxi Wine.., 6 bottles; Ran, Neither Time nor You Can Be Kept, Wuyu., Something to Say, 34261581, My Heart Delights in Chang Geng, 5 bottles each; Do You Not See, A Dear Friend's Feelings Shine Bright, Tu Du., Deep Flowers, 3 bottles each; Liangsheng Ruoshan, Hehe, Mu, A Fish Who Loves Reading, 2 bottles each; Did You Raise a Cat Today, Jumping Back and Forth, Little You, a-yz-cj-187, Reindeer Deer, crab, You Huo's Earring, eren27, Scorching Summer Is Also Cold (=^▽^=), Aston Fa, Starting Today, 1 bottle each;

Thank you all so much for your support. I'll keep working hard!