Getting to the Bottom of Her Secret

After a moment of surprise, the girl on the steps came down two steps and asked:

"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

Anna asked with concern, "Another headache? Do you want to go home?"

Li Mo rubbed his temples. "I'm fine. I've just been staying up a little late working on problems these past couple of nights..."

Wayne said, "Damn, I thought you were imitating Matthew."

Li Mo quickly snapped at him, "Shut up!"

Seeing that Anna was looking after Li Mo, the girl came no closer. She said solemnly, "You're Li Mo, aren't you? I heard about your accomplishments as soon as I arrived in Mondel Town. Everyone says a true genius has appeared in Mondel Town. Still, you should take care of your health. If you feel unwell, you should see a doctor as soon as possible and take more time off to rest."

Li Mo thought, Why does this girl talk like an official? She's got the makings of a leader at such a young age!

But he kept the pained look on his face and said, "Thanks for the reminder. I'll be fine after resting in the classroom for a while."

The girl nodded slightly. "In that case, I won't keep you from resting."

With that, she left.

Li Mo took the opportunity to look at the symbol on her back again.

It was a triangle with an inverted triangle nested inside it.

He couldn't have remembered it wrong. He had drawn the design before, and the drawing was still in his pocket.

A surge of curiosity rose in Li Mo.

What exactly did this symbol mean?

Why had the design high up on the surface of the Red Moon appeared on the back of a Puxiu Academy girl's clothes?

I have to get to the bottom of this right away!

Once the girl had disappeared from sight, Li Mo turned his head as though by accident and asked Wayne beside him, "Wayne, did you get a good look at that girl's jacket just now?"

Wayne looked puzzled. "Yeah. Why?"

"Was there a design on it?"

"Uh... no. Wasn't it a solid color?"

Li Mo pondered for a moment, then turned to Anna. "Anna, what about you?"

Anna replied seriously, "I saw the same thing as Wayne. It was just a uniform jacket, with no design on it at all."

Good thing I didn't mention the symbol to that girl just now!

But the question was...

Why could he see a symbol that neither Anna nor Wayne could see?

He clearly hadn't been in the Focus state just now.

It was very strange.

In any case, for his own safety, he couldn't alert her.

If he wanted to get to the bottom of her secret, he could only probe indirectly.

It was best to start by becoming friends.

Having made up his mind, Li Mo decided to return to the classroom first.

In the classroom.

As soon as he entered, many people came over to talk to him.

They were classmates who had spent day after day together. They still had some connection and weren't complete strangers.

"Morning, Li Mo! At the morning assembly in the auditorium, Colin said you have exemption privileges and don't have to go anymore. That's so great!"

"Yeah, Li Mo, you must have a lot to prepare for the second lawn salon this afternoon. I just bought this bottle of ink in town. Take it and use it."

"And me, Li Mo. I still couldn't make sense of what you explained yesterday afternoon after I got home. During the break, could you take a look for me? Sorry for the trouble..."

Even the girls who rarely spoke to boys came over one after another, giving Li Mo friendly smiles.

Li Mo's former deskmate.

The freckled girl who had pretended to be sick because she didn't want to sit next to him.

Now she handed over a small packet of butter cookies, looking a little embarrassed, and said:

"Anna, I baked these this morning. You and Li Mo can have them during the break to tide you over."

Anna thanked her politely. "Thank you, Lily."

Li Mo responded to everyone's warm greetings.

He had barely sat down when Matthew came hurrying in.

Matthew seemed normal today, but in fact he had run out of options and could only pretend to be calm.

When class monitor Colin saw him, he said, "Matthew, you missed the morning assembly in the auditorium. I've already marked you down for an unexcused absence."

Matthew said carelessly, "Go ahead. Something urgent at the cotton mill held me up at home this morning. I'll have our butler bring an excuse note to the academic affairs office after school."

He was still showing off at a time like this!

A boy behind Matthew couldn't stand it anymore and said, "Matthew, I really thought you wouldn't be able to make it today. Last night everyone was saying your stomach hurt all night after you got back from the lawn salon. Are you all better now?"

Matthew said, "Thanks for your concern. I'm much better now~"

The boy pressed him. "So, are you planning to go onstage and show us what you can do at the second salon at four this afternoon?"

Matthew said, "?"

He cursed inwardly, Why is there another trap after the first one?

The students around them lowered their heads, struggling not to laugh.

Seeing everyone treat him as a source of amusement left Matthew feeling miserable.

He tried hard to swallow his sorrow, telling himself this was a price he had to pay to grow up.

Then he replied calmly, "As for the salon this afternoon, my father is meeting an important merchant from out of town to discuss business today. He wants me home early after school to keep them company, so I won't be joining the fun."

"Oh, that's a shame."

Having said that, the boy left Matthew alone in the classroom, all shaken up.

From the moment he stepped into the academy today, he had felt that people were gossiping about him behind his back.

Just walking past the teaching building, he could hear junior students in the first and second years imitating the line he had used while pretending to have a stomachache on the salon stage yesterday-

"Damn it... why did it have to happen now..."

Matthew felt terrible.

At the end of the day, he wasn't really that bad by nature.

He just cared about saving face and liked to show off a little.

He liked to show off in front of his classmates and the girls.

He had gone onstage on the lawn yesterday simply because he wanted to show Helen and the whole school what he could do and bask in their admiring gazes.

Who could have known that damned Charles would run off at the last minute, leaving him unable to show off and instead putting him on the spot in front of all the teachers and students, making him a laughingstock for feigning illness and running away?

How was he going to get through the next month?

While he was feeling miserable, two boys sitting in the front row started chatting.

"Hey, did you hear? The academic affairs office just finished the paperwork. We're getting a transfer student in Class One today."

"Really? It's already the middle of September. Who would transfer in at a time like this?"

"It's absolutely true. I saw it myself when I went to hand in my excuse note just now. I heard she just moved to Mondel Town from out of town. An elder in her family went straight to the academy's board, and Mr. Harrison went to the academic affairs office to pick her up himself. She's a girl. Some people say she's a noble young lady from out of town."

Matthew pricked up his ears.

A transfer student who had just moved here from out of town? A girl?

That meant she hadn't been to the lawn salon that afternoon and knew nothing about how he had embarrassed himself yesterday...

Matthew's nearly dead heart sprang back to life.

Could I make a comeback with this girl?

As the saying went: once bitten, once bitten, once bitten, and you'd had your fill.

He needed a strategy to make his comeback.

Math was absolutely off-limits, and mysticism was out of the question too.

After ruling those two things out, Matthew thought for a moment and came up with an idea.

Let's talk politics!

His father Oliver always talked about affairs of state at home.

Having been exposed to it, Matthew knew a little about the war in the northern territories, the maritime blockade, material quota controls, and so on.

He could certainly talk at length about politics and current affairs!

The more Matthew thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

Even if ten thousand people at Puxiu Academy looked down on him, as long as this new transfer student admired him, that would be enough!

The admiration and adoration of that one person would be enough to see him through the month before the entrance exams with his dignity intact.