The people Zhang Zhaomu found most annoying were those who ran to the teacher to tattle at the slightest excuse.
It was an underachiever's instinct.
After all, ever since he was little, he had always been the one getting tattled on. In his eyes, discipline monitors and class presidents were all class enemies, stumbling blocks on his path toward freedom and happiness.
Although the situation had now changed, and he had somehow become one of those stumbling blocks himself, instincts didn't change.
How about going to the restroom to have a chat with those sports students?
Zhang Zhaomu mulled it over on his own. Let them know I'm just a salted fish. There really isn't any point in targeting me.
Deep down, he wasn't too happy about it either, feeling that this approach smacked a little of backing down, but he couldn't think of a better solution.
At heart, he was only a seventeen-year-old boy who had never dealt with anything like this before. The [Refined] persona had changed his behavioral patterns, but it couldn't conjure life experience out of thin air.
Just then, a clear voice suddenly rang out in the classroom:
"Class president, can I come with you to collect the textbooks?"
Zhang Zhaomu looked over and met a delicate, lovely face.
Duan Chan'er had stood up at some point. "We don't have anything else to do next anyway. Collecting textbooks is class business. I'd feel bad just watching the boys do all the work."
As soon as she finished, other girls chimed in.
"Class president, count me in!"
"I'll go too. Since it's class business, we really shouldn't leave it all to the boys. How many boys do we even have in our class?"
"Exactly. What century is this? It's just carrying books. It's not like us girls don't have any strength."
Zhang Zhaomu was a little taken aback by this turn of events, but he quickly caught on and spoke:
"That works too."
"This is our class's first task together. We really shouldn't divide it up by gender. In that case, anyone who'd like to help collect the textbooks, come with me to the multipurpose building now."
Quite a few girls immediately stood up and joined the group, which streamed out of the classroom in force.
Zhang Zhaomu slowed his steps, moved closer to Duan Chan'er as she walked alongside him, and said quietly, "Thanks for getting me out of that."
Naturally, he could tell that Duan Chan'er's words and actions just now had been intended, in part, to encourage the other girls to help.
"No need to thank me." Duan Chan'er smiled. "Those boys went too far. They clearly wanted to see you make a fool of yourself. We're neighbors, after all. How could I just stand by and do nothing?"
"Besides, I barely did anything."
Zhang Zhaomu was a little surprised. From the beginning of the class meeting to the end, Duan Chan'er had seemed somewhat distant. She had neither run for a class position nor chatted with anyone else. He had assumed she had been immersed in her own world the whole time, paying no attention at all to what was happening in class.
He hadn't expected her to be so perceptive, seeing through Kang Hao and the others' intentions at a glance.
"No, you were a huge help." Zhang Zhaomu shook his head. "If it hadn't been for you, I really would've had a hard time handling that."
As a girl, Duan Chan'er could naturally say that girls could help too, but if Zhang Zhaomu had been the first to suggest it, the meaning would have changed-
He had only just become class president, and he was already ordering girls around to do manual labor!
"How about I treat you to lunch as thanks?" Zhang Zhaomu thought for a moment, then said, "The cafeteria food isn't good. Let's go to a restaurant outside."
As he said this, he felt a pang at the expense. One restaurant meal for two, and a week's worth of internet money would be gone.
"No, thanks." Duan Chan'er waved a hand. "I rarely eat out. I cook for myself."
Although her tone remained as polite as ever, Zhang Zhaomu could hear that her refusal was quite firm.
A moment's thought made him understand. Inviting her to a meal-although he only wanted to express his gratitude, and was even agonizing over the cost-wouldn't it seem to her like he was seizing a chance to get close to her?
He instinctively wanted to explain, but when he spoke, he naturally steered the conversation past it instead. "Oh? You cook for yourself every day? Lunch break is only eighty minutes. Isn't it a bit of a rush to cook everything then?"
"No." Duan Chan'er explained, "I prep any ingredients that take more work beforehand and keep them in the fridge. Once I get back, stir-frying them is pretty quick."
"You sound very experienced," Zhang Zhaomu complimented her. "You must be a great cook?"
"I like cooking."
On this subject, even the ends of Duan Chan'er's sentences rose a little. "Different ingredients, different ways of cooking-you can put them together to make so many different dishes. What I look forward to most every day is making all sorts of delicious food for myself!"
"No wonder I kept smelling food around mealtimes before." Zhang Zhaomu smiled. "I was wondering whose place it was coming from. Every day, I kept thinking how nice it would be to go mooch a meal."
The corners of Duan Chan'er's eyes curved slightly, and she clearly enjoyed the praise. But rather than follow up on the subject, not even with a polite "Maybe next time," she pointed ahead and changed the topic:
"Class president, we're at the multipurpose building."
"Hao, how much longer are we staying in the restroom?"
Inside the boys' restroom, several sports students stood idly in front of the washbasins.
"A little longer." Kang Hao chuckled. "That guy must be panicking by now. We've got to wait until he can't take it anymore and comes looking for us."
"But this restroom really reeks!" One of the sports students covered his nose. "Several of the toilets haven't even been flushed!"
"You'll get used to it if you keep smelling it." Kang Hao patted his shoulder. "Xu Xiujie, a lack of patience in small matters ruins grand plans. Aren't you looking forward to the look on his face when he comes begging us to carry the books?"
"I am a little." Xu Xiujie nodded. "That guy's such a poser. It's just being class president, but he had to go on about 'serving temporarily' and 'please don't hesitate to offer guidance.' Tch, what a sanctimonious act."
"The thing is, the girls in our class actually eat it up." Another sports student sounded sour. "I heard several girls secretly talking about him. Tch, he's not even that good-looking, and he even put on a school uniform to keep up the act."
"Exactly." Kang Hao curled his lip. "We've got to show him which joker outranks the other, or he'll be climbing onto our heads to take a shit."
"Ugh." Xu Xiujie looked nauseated. "Hao, can we not talk about shit in the restroom?"
"Isn't the restroom the best place to talk about shit?" someone beside him chimed in with a blank look.
"Shit isn't the point!" Kang Hao looked exasperated at their failure to measure up. "Our future happiness is!"
"You don't want to see the girl you like spending all day revolving around that pretty boy, do you?"
Everyone shook their heads.
Xu Xiujie, however, hesitated before saying quietly, "Duan Chan'er definitely isn't the kind of person who'd revolve around someone else."
"Huh?" The others all turned to look at him. "You like Duan Chan'er?"
"What's wrong with that?" Xu Xiujie was quite open about it. "I fell in love with her at first sight when I first saw her in our first year."
"What a coincidence."
They exchanged glances. "Same here."