Chapter 15

 Standing in the hallway as punishment, the two students—one a top student and school heartthrob, the other a mute school beauty—became a spectacle for everyone passing by.

Shen Langli ordered them to stay there even during lunchtime.

As students came and went, Bai Xunyin kept her head down, feeling more embarrassed than hungry, wishing she could disappear.

Yu Luoyin, however, wasn't fazed by the attention, leaning casually against the wall with his usual nonchalant demeanor.

"Yu, you've really done it this time," Zhou Xinsui stood in front of him, adjusting his glasses mockingly. "First time getting punished to stand during lunch?"

Yu Luoyin chuckled softly. "Get lost."

"We're going to the cafeteria," Zhou Xinsui said seriously. "I can bring some pig slop back for you guys."

"Yinyin, what do you want to eat?" Amo also asked Bai Xunyin, anxiously checking her watch. "I'll come back early and bring you something."

Bai Xunyin frowned and typed a question: [Why are you in such a hurry?]

"How can I not be? I want to eat with Sheng Wen!" Amo's big eyes sparkled with excitement. "I'm off to chase him now. Text me what you want."

With that, she hurried off, her slender figure moving briskly.

...

Bai Xunyin sighed in exasperation.

Seventeen-year-old girls in their final year of high school, were they all this "passionate"?

First it was Sheng Churan, and now it was Ning Shumo.

All driven by the word "love," throwing caution to the wind.

Bai Xunyin knew that Amo liked Sheng Wen, another boy from their class who was also a good student.

But unlike the privileged Yu Luoyin and Zhou Xinsui, Sheng Wen came from a poor family and was a silent, stubborn person. Yet Amo liked him precisely for these reasons.

She had once told Bai Xunyin that it was "love at first sight."

Even though Sheng Wen often treated her coldly, she still enjoyed it.

"Your friend likes Sheng Wen, right?" It wasn't until the lunchtime rush was over that Yu Luoyin finally spoke to her, his voice cool and indifferent in the quiet hallway, hinting at something. "Sheng Wen's pretty lucky to have someone chasing after him."

Unlike him, who couldn't even get a glance from the one he was pursuing.

After a moment of silence, Bai Xunyin unexpectedly typed back—

[You have Sheng Churan.]

Yu Luoyin was taken aback for a moment, then couldn't help but laugh.

He looked at the girl beside him, who was a head shorter and had her face tensed up, feeling genuinely happy.

"Bai Xunyin." With no teacher around, Yu Luoyin stopped standing properly. He stepped in front of her, looking down at her soft bangs, his voice unexpectedly gentle. "Are you jealous?"

It was the same question as in the cinema, but this time, their feelings were different.

School was a place of "taboos," where fighting, smoking, and early relationships were like hidden pests that couldn't be exposed to the school's sanctity.

But Yu Luoyin dared to do anything, even though everyone saw him as a "good student."

He didn't care about the school rules. If he felt like it, he would stand in the hallway with Bai Xunyin, standing close and hinting at romance.

Affected by Yu Luoyin, people around him unconsciously became bolder.

Bai Xunyin took a deep breath and sent Yu Luoyin a WeChat message—

[Only a fool would be jealous of you.]

Yu Luoyin read the message and, after a moment, smiled without saying anything more.

The last time he asked this question, Bai Xunyin had run away as if he were a plague.

This time...

At noon, Bai Xunyin ate the packed lunch Amo brought back for her: fish-flavored shredded pork with rice. It had neither fish nor shredded pork.

Bai Xunyin didn't mind, mechanically chewing as her thoughts flashed back to Yu Luoyin's earlier approach.

She realized she might be getting numb to it—she didn't find his proximity as repulsive anymore.

Bai Xunyin knew this was a bad sign, but a young girl's heart is never something easily controlled.

"Yinyin." Amo's mood was low for some reason, lying on Bai Xunyin's desk with her eyes downcast, mumbling, "I just saw Sheng Wen eating with another girl in the cafeteria."

"It's so frustrating. I want to ask him about it, but what right do I have?"

"Why is Sheng Wen so annoying?"

...

Bai Xunyin found it strange. After some thought, she stopped eating, threw the food in the trash, and wrote on a piece of paper to communicate with Amo—

[Amo, do you really like Sheng Wen? You've only known him for less than half a month.]

"Who cares about time when it comes to liking someone?" Amo raised her eyes, seeing Bai Xunyin's worried face, and couldn't help but smile, a rare blush appearing on her usually bold face. "Some people, you just know you like them the first time you see them."

Bai Xunyin's heart skipped a beat.

Just like the first time she saw Yu Luoyin in the hallway after school, with his slightly long black hair blown messily by the wind, a cigarette between his thin lips, her heart had jumped the same way.

Recently, Yu Luoyin seemed to be smoking less, but Bai Xunyin knew he was a bad boy.

Yet sometimes, girls just can't resist bad boys.

"Yinyin, sometimes people need to be brave. We only have eight months left." Amo clenched her fists and said firmly, "I want to be with Sheng Wen, to go to the same school. I'm afraid I'll regret it if I miss out."

Amo's words resonated deeply with Bai Xunyin, like needles piercing her thoughts.

Being together, going to the same school...

It all sounded good, but "youth" is always the most fickle thing.

Everything and everyone around can influence, making a girl's seemingly stagnant heart start to stir.

"Yu Luoyin, what's been going on with you lately?"

After school, Yu Luoyin was called to the office by the current head teacher of Class One, Yu Shen.

Yu Shen was known as a strict and stern teacher, famous for his "impartial and unyielding" attitude.

He was a man in his forties, dedicated to his work, without the stereotypical "happy fat" or beer belly, instead remaining lean and upright.

The teacher, who had educated countless students, had an imposing presence when he frowned at Yu Luoyin.

"Yu Luoyin, I'm asking you... what's going on with you and Bai Xunyin in your class? Rumors have reached my ears!"

He had called Yu Luoyin over when the office was empty, speaking in a low voice—teachers always felt dealing with suspected "early relationships" needed to be discreet.

"Teacher, is this why you called me here?" Yu Luoyin wasn't afraid of the stern teacher, leaning against the wall and joking. "I thought it was something serious. Don't worry."

His casual attitude left Yu Shen, who had prepared a long speech, momentarily speechless, words stuck in his throat—

"You... you mean you have no intention of an early relationship?"

"Early relationship? With who? Bai Xunyin?" Yu Luoyin scoffed. "Teacher, you're overthinking it."

He spoke so plainly, it seemed like he didn't like the girl at all.

Yu Shen scrutinized him and then relaxed, smiling slightly. "I'm relieved then. No early relationships."

"Teacher, who's spreading rumors? I'm just teasing a classmate."

"Watch your language!" Yu Shen was displeased by this flippant remark, turning to glare at Yu Luoyin. "You're in your final year. No time for games. Yu Luoyin, you're a top student. I won't allow you to be distracted by anything else, understand?"

Yu Luoyin lazily acknowledged with a sound.

"Not just you, Bai Xunyin is also a top student I'm focusing on." The teacher, who always favored good students, couldn't help but continue, "She's consistently excellent. If she keeps this up, she'll get into prestigious universities like Beijing University or Linlan University. Don't distract her!"

Beijing University, Linlan University, both within reach?

Well, that's good, Yu Luoyin thought, lost in his own thoughts.

"What are you thinking?" Yu Shen knocked on the table, bringing Yu Luoyin back to attention, and continued, "By the way, for the senior students' swearing-in ceremony before National Day, can your mother come to give a speech?"

"This... I don't know. Teacher, you know my mom just joined the Academy of Sciences. She's busy all the time." Yu Luoyin shrugged, casually saying, "You might as well contact her yourself."

He and his mom might not even see each other for ten days or half a month.

Some people in this world are busier than the president, feeling the Earth can't turn without them—his mom, Gu Yuan, was one of those people.

Yu Shen looked at him, thinking every family has its own troubles.

"Alright, I'll contact your mother about this." He rubbed his face and added, "But you must speak as a student representative. Go back and prepare your speech!"

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