"Here!"
In a corner of the classroom, a girl sprang to her feet.
Quiet gasps rose around her.
Zhang Zhaomu couldn't help looking her over, either. During his cursory scan earlier, he had already noticed this girl named Xiang Qing, not for any other reason, but mainly because she was one of only two people in the entire classroom wearing a school uniform.
But she had been sitting then, and he could only see the back of her head, so Zhang Zhaomu hadn't paid much attention. Now that she stood up, her tall figure had nowhere to hide.
Even if this girl isn't 180 centimeters tall, she has to be at least 178.
In this small southern county town, most boys never reached that height, let alone girls. And because of their proportions, girls tended to look a little taller than boys anyway, so it was no wonder the other students gasped.
"Sit down."
Chen Yongchao nodded and continued calling the roll. "Xue Jingshu."
"Here!"
"Peng Rui."
"Here!"
"Duan Chan'er."
"Here!"
Duan Chan'er stood up, and another wave of murmuring spread around her.
The artsy girl's reputation at school was a little too big. If Class Nine hadn't been so dominated by yin over yang that the boys' presence was suppressed, Zhang Zhaomu felt certain some bored boys would have started hooting and making strange noises right then-
Normally, he would have been one of them. Or rather, even now, deep down he wanted to exchange winks and meaningful looks with the sports students sitting near the back door, then join them in some unspoken, mutually understood heckling.
Unfortunately, his [Refined] persona kept him firmly in check.
The roll call was more than halfway through before Zhang Zhaomu's name came up. He stood and saw all his classmates turn to look at him, their expressions varied.
Zhang Zhaomu saw a trace of surprise flash through Duan Chan'er's eyes. She gave him a slight nod in greeting.
Then she turned back around.
Zhang Zhaomu sat down and heard the girls two rows ahead huddle together and whisper:
"So his name's Zhang Zhaomu. That's a pretty nice name."
"How come we've never seen him at school before? With our sharp intelligence-gathering skills, there's no way such an eye-catching fish could have slipped through the net, right?"
"Maybe he's a transfer student? Why else would he be wearing his uniform?"
"True. But did you notice how good that uniform looks on him? His posture is amazing, like those celebrities who've specifically trained for it!"
"Exactly, exactly!"
Just then, another timid voice joined in. "Um... Zhang Zhaomu isn't a transfer student. We were in the same class in our first year."
"Really? Then you must know him pretty well? Come on, tell us what he's like! Does he have a girlfriend?"
"Uh... we're actually not that close. Besides, in our first year, he was really aver... no, really low-key. Not quite like he is now."
"How low-key?"
"Well-"
A light cough from Chen Yongchao at the front interrupted their whispers. He put down the class register and said, "Everyone's here, so let's sort out the seating first."
"Tsk." Zhang Zhaomu was a little dissatisfied. He had been having such a good time eavesdropping.
And they had clearly been just about to reach the crucial part. He could already picture their shocked expressions when they heard the contrast between his old self and his current self. Wasn't that precisely the kind of satisfaction reserved for protagonists?
"I'm a fairly impartial person, so we'll start by seating you according to height. If you have any particular eyesight issues, report them to me separately, and I'll make adjustments afterward."
Chen Yongchao called everyone to their feet and had them form two lines in the corridor, from tallest to shortest.
The seats were assigned quickly. Although Chen Yongchao's principle was to have everyone fill the classroom seat by seat according to height, starting from the first row, classmates who knew each other always wanted to cluster together. Before long, they were choosing their own seats. Chen Yongchao really was easygoing about it, turning a blind eye as long as the very short students didn't crowd into the back and the very tall ones didn't crowd into the front.
Zhang Zhaomu didn't have much choice. Although he wasn't the tallest in the class, only two sports students stood behind him. By the time he entered the classroom, unsurprisingly, only three empty seats remained in the back row.
The two seats by the back door were an instant pass. Being able to shoot out first when class ended was tempting, but they were dangerous, too. Even if Chen Yongchao didn't look like the type to sneak up outside the window and deliver a death stare, other school administrators were bound to pass by.
Besides, judging by the cluster of sports students nearby, those two seats had probably already been reserved for the two bros behind him. Sitting there would mean forcibly breaking them up, a blow to his karmic virtue.
That left only one choice.
The back-row window seat... or rather, the seat beside it.
The king's homeland was occupied. The girl sitting there wore a blue-green and white school uniform.
Xiang Qing.
Zhang Zhaomu walked over and greeted her politely. "Hi, can I sit here?"
Xiang Qing didn't turn her head, merely giving a slight nod.
Zhang Zhaomu could only see her profile. Her skin was very pale, her high nose had a slightly endearing curve, and her eyelashes were exceptionally long. Her eyes were lowered a little, lending her features a classical air that seemed to diffuse like an ink-wash painting.
A beauty.
The word rose unbidden in Zhang Zhaomu's mind.
Then he was privately a little surprised at why that particular word had occurred to him. Normally, when he saw a good-looking girl, like Duan Chan'er, all that came to mind were things like super pretty, very artsy, or elegant.
"A beauty" sounded a little sleazy. It involuntarily made Zhang Zhaomu picture himself as one of those lechers in historical dramas, rubbing his hands and chuckling as he said things like, "My beauty, you can scream your throat raw and it won't do you any good."
But it really was Zhang Zhaomu's first impression of her.
He had never heard the name Xiang Qing before. Logically, a girl who looked like this should have been subjected to the whole school's curiosity since their first year, just like Duan Chan'er, becoming a rare specimen everyone occasionally visited her classroom windows to admire.
Zhang Zhaomu's instinct was actually to keep staring at her. Unfortunately, his [Refined] persona wouldn't allow him to behave so presumptuously, and he withdrew his gaze after only a moment.
"Then that's settled for the seating."
Chen Yongchao's tone remained languid. "Of course, this is only temporary. We'll make minor adjustments based on everyone's circumstances later. For example, if someone can't see clearly, we can move them forward a little, or if people sitting near each other have a falling-out, we can adjust things as appropriate."
"And of course, there are those who sit together and spend all day dating. You all know our school strictly prohibits early romance. If I catch you, don't blame me for taking a stick to the mandarin ducks and moving you apart."
Perhaps because Chen Yongchao's manner was simply too relaxed, a bold girl called out teasingly, "Mr. Chen, do you mean it's fine as long as you don't catch us?"
Chen Yongchao merely glanced at the girl, pretended he hadn't heard, and changed the subject:
"All right, next we need to collect the textbooks, but before that, we need to choose our class officers. Any volunteers?"