LVLYA

Chapter 2: A New Turning Point

"Maybe... he picked it up."

"Picked it up?"

He picked up something so small?

"As if I'd believe that!" Frowning, Jiang Yufan followed behind Yue Zhishi as they climbed to the second floor of the junior high school department's classroom building. He continued to ask, his footsteps stomping up the stairs, "Even if he did pick it up, how would he know you're Yue Zhishi?"

Yue Zhishi countered, "Aren't I recognizable?"

"That's true..." There had been an extremely high amount of discussion around Yue Zhishi when he'd first entered the school just based on his mixed-race face, but Jiang Yufan still found it peculiar. "That really almost scared me to death. I almost thought you were done for as soon as I saw Song Yu with that armband."

Yue Zhishi panted, holding onto the railing. "Seriously?"

"What do you mean? Breaking the rules on the first day of school and even bumping into the coldly aloof Song Yu as the student on duty — I even thought he was going to execute you on the spot when he pulled at you."

They were almost at their classroom. Yue Zhishi turned around and shushed him, rapidly entering the room.

Very coincidentally, the class monitor was taking attendance. Yue Zhishi did his best to hold back his heavy pants for air, and he stood at the door, his hair curling upwards from the rush up. "Teacher..."

Class adviser Wang Qian was a young male teacher, and he taught Chinese. He was able to interact well with students, but he was still able to be ruthlessly strict. Luckily, Yue Zhishi had always embodied what an obedient student was: he was never late, never skipped classes and never caused issues. And since he also had good grades and was easy to like, Teacher Wang didn't make things difficult for him. "Come in."

But Jiang Yufan wasn't so lucky.

There was a playful smile on Wang Qian's face. "Isn't this a permanent guest of our class's team of late students?"

"Teacher Wang," Jiang Yufan ruffled his crew cut, "wasn't I behind Yue Zhishi by just two steps."

"True. I think that's a pretty good standard, actually." Wang Qian crossed his arms. "From today on, you can only be later than your desk-mate by two steps, or else you'll be punished by standing for the entire morning self-study session."

"Ah?" Jiang Yufan's face crumpled miserably. The rest of the students in their class 8, watching the fun, all burst into laughter.

"What 'ah'? Come in." Wang Qian then started to nag at the other students. "We won't talk about your usual small fusses and fights, but you better be a bit more serious during the opening ceremony. I won't save you guys if you're caught by the school guidance director even if you're publicly executed. I suppose if you become famous throughout the entire school before entering high school, then it means you didn't take junior high for nothing."

Everyone was trying to hide their laughter. Yue Zhishi was still trying to recover his breath, numbly trying to stuff his schoolbag into his desk only for it to not go in no matter how he tried. He only then realized there was something in his drawer; he reached in and pulled out an exquisite royal blue gift box.

Strange. He carefully looked over it.

"Who gave you something again? How nice, getting a present on the first day of school." Jiang Yufan curved over his desk and quietly teased, "Must be nice being good-looking."

"Not really." Lifting his head, Yue Zhishi stole a look at Wang Qian before opening the gift box. There was a delicate white fountain pen inside, as well as a bottle of ink; a card rested on top. He didn't touch the fountain pen, only flipping open the card to read the words on it before placing it back. He returned the box into his drawer.