Chapter 4

"Lin Li, go to sleep early."

It was Lin's mother knocking on the door. She usually didn't care what time Lin Li went to sleep, so it seemed that the homeroom teacher had talked to her.

Lin Li's mind was filled with thoughts of her mother wanting to buy the unfinished building, and she eventually fell asleep.

Lin's mother waited outside the door for a while, but heard no response, so she gently pushed the door open. Under the warm yellow light, Lin Li's brows were slightly furrowed.

Lin's mother walked over quietly, picked up the blanket that had fallen to the ground, and carefully covered Lin Li with it, afraid of waking him.

He smoothed Lin Li's furrowed brows with his fingers, "You're so young, I don't know what you're worrying about."

After doing all this, Lin's mother gently turned off the light before turning around and leaving the room. The "click" sound of the door closing was as soft as a sigh.

Inside the room, Lin Li turned over, completely unaware of everything.

…………

"Cheng Yu, you are in charge of checking their homework completion. If they haven't done it, take a pen, write it down, and report it to me."

The weekend is for making up for next Wednesday's class.

So the first class was Chinese. Teacher Fu arrived early and stood on the podium writing the lesson notes on the blackboard.

I was thinking about the unfinished building project all night, so naturally I didn't do a single word of my homework.

It would be a lie for Lin Li to say she wasn't nervous. She glanced at Tong Yao next to her and wondered why she hadn't arrived yet.

Cheng Yu was getting closer and closer.

He started asking the students in front of him who had finished checking their homework for their assignments.

"Xu Feng, can I borrow your homework for a moment?"

Xu Feng leisurely handed the homework to Lin Li, adding insult to injury: "It's too late for you to fix it now."

At this moment, Lin Li's brain was working at lightning speed.

When Cheng Yu came to check.

Then I saw—

Lin Li confidently opened her workbook and placed it on the table.

Cheng Yu picked up the notebook and examined it carefully.

Lin Li watched her turn the page, feeling quite at ease, thinking her clever trick was flawless.

When Cheng Yu saw Xu Feng's father's signature on the last page, Lin Li's heart sank. "Oh no, I didn't notice."

Cheng Yu's lips curled into a cold smile, a smile filled with undisguised mockery that pierced Lin Li's face like a needle.

Without saying a word, she took out a pen and a notebook from her pocket, and the pen tip scribbled across the paper, writing Lin Li's name down in large characters.

He then tossed the notebook back onto Lin Li's desk.

"Since when did Xu Weiguo become your parent?"

Before Lin Li could explain, Cheng Yu turned and went up to the podium.

"Teacher Fu! It's one thing for Lin Li not to do her homework, but she's also using someone else's homework to impersonate her!"

After Cheng Yu finished complaining, she went back to continue her inspection.

After listening, Teacher Fu paused briefly with the chalk in his hand before resuming writing.

Lin Liming is doomed.

He couldn't help but regret inwardly: "I should have just said I hadn't written it, instead of causing this mess!"

Lin Lisheng watched helplessly as Cheng Yu continued to check on the others.

However, Cheng Yu's movements were awkward when he was checking a girl.

The girl clasped her hands together and said, "Sister Cheng, please help me!"

Then Cheng Yu returned the notebook to the girl and moved on to the next person.

Lin Li watched helplessly as Cheng Yu let many people go.

She didn't remember those she was close to.

"After Teacher Fu finished checking, Lin Li was the only one who hadn't done her homework."

As he spoke, he couldn't help but give Lin Li a smug look.

Teacher Fu nodded, gesturing for Cheng Yu to return to her seat.

Then I saw Teacher Fu throw down the chalk.

"Lin Li stood up, and was still sitting steadily?"

"Not only do you not do your homework, but you also try to cheat people by using other people's homework?"

"You need to copy this joint exam paper 10 times. You can sit down and listen to the lesson only after you finish copying it."

After Teacher Fu finished scolding, Lin Li took her notebook and stood at the back.

Tang Yue's seat happened to be in the last row this time.

He even gave Lin Li a thumbs up when he saw her coming.

Seeing this, Lin Li kicked her and said, "Give me your test paper."

Tang Yue wasn't annoyed; she took out the Chinese language test paper and handed it to Lin Li.

Lin Li borrowed a few more pens and wrote with the three pens held together.

One character is equivalent to three characters.

When copying from the reading comprehension section.

Lin Li nudged Tang Yue again and said, "Do you think I'll copy the original text too?"

Tang Yue thought for a moment: "I don't think so?"

Lin Li wasn't sure either, so she decided not to copy it yet.

When Lin Li finished copying it three times (actually once), get out of class ended.

He returned to his seat and slumped down.

Looking at her red and sore fingers, Lin Li felt like crying.

You have to copy it seven more times!

"It's all Cheng Yu's fault!!!"

Lin Li slammed her fist on the table in anger. If she was just writing down a name, I would have finished copying it long ago. But she had to go and say something.

Fortunately, he can sit and listen to all subjects except Chinese class, where he has to stand at the back.

The third period ended.

Everyone gradually stood up and started to walk out.

Lin Li was unaware that she was currently catching up on sleep while lying on the table, her arms covering most of her face, with only a patch of her fluffy hair showing.

The footsteps in the corridor gradually faded away, and the whistle for assembly came from the direction of the playground.

Immediately afterwards, the school's old sound system began playing exercise music. The melody of "Athletes' March," accompanied by static, drifted intermittently into the classroom.

This time, Lin Li was finally woken up. He groggily raised his head, rubbed his eyes, and looked around. The classroom was empty, with hardly a soul in sight.

"Where is everyone?" Lin Li muttered to himself, bewildered, his mind still not fully awake from his sleep. He scratched his head, about to get up and go to the corridor to check, when he caught a glimpse of the seat on his right.

Tong Yao returned at some point.

She was still wearing that red and white school uniform, her low ponytail still neatly tied, and she was sitting in her seat with her head down, doing practice problems.

Sunlight fell on her profile, making her eyelashes stand out clearly. Occasionally, a few stray strands of hair would slip down her cheek, and she would subconsciously raise her hand and gently tuck them behind her ear with her fingertips, a movement as light as a feather brushing against her skin.

Lin Li froze instantly. Her mind went blank, and she couldn't think of anything. She simply placed her hands together on the table, rested her head on her arm, and stared intently at the girl next to her.

Tong Yao's expression was very serious, her brows were slightly furrowed, and her eyes were fixed on the exercise book in her hands. Her pen tip was rapidly calculating on the draft paper. Occasionally, she would pause, bite the pen and ponder, and the corners of her mouth would unconsciously purse into a shallow arc.

The classroom was quiet, save for the lingering music for morning exercises and the soft scratching of Tong Yao's handwriting. Lin Li watched, even holding her breath.

In truth, ever since his rebirth, he had always felt uneasy. But now, the confusion and panic in his heart had been quietly soothed by this sudden quiet and seriousness.

It's so good to be reborn!

Lin Li's gaze was still fixed on Tong Yao's hair-tucking motion when she suddenly met Tong Yao's turned gaze. Instantly, it was as if a pause button had been pressed, and her cheeks flushed.

He sat up abruptly, frantically grabbing the textbook from the table to shield his face, leaving only his eyes showing. He stammered, trying to get the words out: "Th-that running music is really noisy. Were you disturbed while doing your homework?"

Tong Yao's gaze lingered on his reddened ear tips for half a second before returning to her workbook: "Are you alright? Are you awake?"

"Mmm, mmm, I'm awake!"

Lin Li, as if grasping at a straw, nodded hurriedly and moved the textbook aside a little.

"You don't know, I was punished to copy texts as soon as I arrived today. It's all Cheng Yu's fault. If it weren't for her, why would I be like this..." As he spoke, he angrily slammed his hand on the table, forgetting that there was a pen on the table. With a "thud," the pen rolled to Tong Yao's feet.

Just as Lin Li was about to bend down to pick it up, Tong Yao reached out first, pinched the pen between her fingertips, and handed it back. Her fingers were long and slender, white, and her nails were neatly trimmed. As she handed the pen, her fingertips lightly touched Lin Li's hand, and then she quickly withdrew them.

"Thank you!" Lin Li took the pen, her heart skipping a beat.

Just as I was wondering what to say, Tong Yao took out a stack of test papers from her schoolbag and gently placed them on the table between us. They were past exam papers from various subjects, the pages were clean, with only a few questions marked with easy mistakes in red pen, and the handwriting was neat and legible.

"If you take the tasks assigned by the teacher seriously, she won't be able to find fault with you."

Tong Yao patted the set of test papers as she spoke, indicating that they were for Lin Li.

"She's clearly targeting me. We both didn't do our homework, but she only remembered the ones she was close to, not the others..."

As soon as Lin Li's fingertips touched the stack of papers, the scene from back then suddenly surged into her mind.

That afternoon, during a math quiz, she took a nap at her desk. When she woke up, the classroom was quiet, and everyone was engrossed in their work. Rubbing her eyes, she was still a bit confused when she noticed a complex geometric diagram on her deskmate's test paper. Curious, she took a second look.

But it was this one glance that was caught red-handed by Cheng Yu, who was proctoring the exam on the podium.

Cheng Yu slammed down her pen, strode over, and stared down at her: "Lin Li, you're peeking at other people's papers! You're cheating!"

Her voice was loud, and everyone in the classroom looked up at her. Lin Li's face instantly turned bright red.

"I didn't! I just woke up and was just looking at what they were writing," Lin Li hurriedly explained, reaching out to flip through her own test paper. It was spotless, without even a name written on it, let alone any answers.

Cheng Yu didn't even look at it. She picked up her pen and wrote her name in the proctor's book, a mocking smile playing on her lips: "Didn't cheat? Then why are you looking at other people's papers? Stop making excuses, I'm reporting this to the teacher right now!"

After school that day, Lin Li angrily complained to Tong Yao, her eyes red with tears: "Cheng Yu is deliberately targeting me! There wasn't a single word on my test paper, but she insisted that I cheated and even threatened to tell the teacher!"

She thought Tong Yao would be on her side, but Tong Yao was silent for a few seconds before saying, "If you hadn't cheated, she wouldn't have misunderstood."

These words were like a thorn in Lin Li's heart. She felt that Tong Yao didn't believe her at all and was still making excuses for Cheng Yu.

A surge of resentment and anger welled up inside her: "You just don't believe me! You're in cahoots with Cheng Yu!"

After shouting those words, she turned and ran, not seeing Tong Yao reach out to grab her hand, nor hearing Tong Yao whisper, "I didn't."

Later, she overheard Cheng Yu and Tong Yao talking in the corridor. She heard Cheng Yu say, "Lin Li cheated. I saw it clearly. She clearly did it but said she didn't. It's disgusting. It makes me feel like I've wronged her."

She didn't listen to Tong Yao's reply afterward. She only remembered that Tong Yao and Cheng Yu were talking badly about her, and then she completely believed that Tong Yao had betrayed her. The cold war began from then on.

But now that I've calmed down and thought about it, when Cheng Yu was speaking ill of her, Tong Yao didn't seem to respond at all? She's never been one to argue, and in situations like this, she'd most likely just listen quietly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. Why did I get so fixated on that and not even give her a chance to explain?

Lin Li became increasingly frustrated, her fingers unconsciously picking at the corners of her textbook, oblivious to Tong Yao calling her twice from across the room.

Tong Yao watched as Lin Li spaced out halfway through his sentence, her brows furrowing slightly, a hint of helplessness flashing in her eyes. Of course, she knew what Lin Li was thinking; the root of their recent cold war lay with Cheng Yu.

She was caught in the middle, torn between two options. When she advised Cheng Yu not to target Lin Li, Cheng Yu would pout and say, "If she doesn't make a mistake, no one can do anything to her."

When she tried to persuade Lin Li, Lin Li gave her an expression that said, "You're not helping me, and you're even bullying me."

"What are you thinking about?" Tong Yao's voice rang out softly, interrupting Lin Li's thoughts. "Do you want the test paper? If not, I'll put it away."

Lin Li snapped back to reality, met Tong Yao's amber eyes, and felt a surge of guilt: "Yes, of course I want it!"

She wanted to say that she had been overthinking and misunderstanding things before...

But the words just wouldn't come out.

Seeing her hesitant expression, Tong Yao's eyes flashed with a fleeting smile, almost like an illusion. She didn't press further, but simply lowered her head again, her pen landing on the workbook, her voice softer than before: "If you don't understand something, you can ask me."

Looking at the past years' joint entrance exam papers, Lin Li, who wasn't exactly a good student in junior high, was somewhat surprised: "Why are you giving me this?"

Tong Yao didn't look at her, but just kept her head down and did her homework. After two seconds, she said, "Since you've started learning high school physics, the future top student should start working hard now and try to surpass me."

Lin Li stared blankly at the smile on Tong Yao's face. Had they made up?

No, in my memory, Tong Yao seemed to have coaxed him like this many times, but each time he ignored her or even avoided her.

Lin Li suddenly felt that she had lived her past life as a dog.