Chapter 3 Xiuer, is that you?

Lin Yueyue?

Yu Qing stared blankly at the girl behind him, then glanced at the boy in front of him. To be honest, his mind was a complete mess, and he couldn't understand the current situation at all.

After all, how could he remember things from his student days so clearly? Ten years later, he'd be lucky to recall one or two names; he'd long forgotten the details.

He only remembered that Lin Yueyue transferred from another school in the last semester of high school and drowned in the river not long after. So his impression of Lin Yueyue was very vague. He didn't remember what she looked like, but only the beautiful and exciting feeling.

"So she's Lin Yueyue?"

Yu Qing suddenly realized that the face buried deep in his memory was gradually becoming clearer and slowly matching the person in front of him.

But when he looked at the boy, he couldn't remember his name for a long time.

Thinking of this, Yu Qing suddenly stood up and walked towards him.

In an instant, all eyes were on him.

Lu Chi also raised his head and looked at Yu Qing warily.

With his hands in his pockets, he walked up to the boy with a nonchalant and roguish air, casually raising his palm.

The boy was startled and instinctively took a few steps back: "Yu Qing, don't think I'm afraid of you. Fighting in public is bad for everyone. I advise you... to be... gentle!"

To everyone's surprise, Yu Qing raised his hand and patted his shoulder lightly twice: "What nonsense are you talking about, kid? Do you think I'm the kind of person who doesn't reason? This is a society governed by law, and I'm a civilized person."

Upon hearing this, everyone's lips twitched slightly.

A civilized person? You, Yu Qing, actually dare to call yourself a civilized person?

You should be grateful you don't bully others. Every time you cause trouble, you resolve it with your fists. And you're talking to them about a society governed by law? That's utterly ridiculous.

However, no one dared to say these things out loud, as he was the king of the class and no one wanted to offend him.

At this moment, Yu Qing stroked his chin and continued, "However, what you just said makes sense. I should turn my grief and indignation into motivation, cheer up, study hard, and strive for progress every day to welcome a brand new tomorrow."

After saying that, Yu Qing let go of the other person's hand, then gracefully returned to his seat, picked up a book, and began to read intently.

Yuan Xiu breathed a sigh of relief, but couldn't help feeling a little strange. Had Yu Qing changed his ways? He hadn't slapped her after all.

Everyone felt that Yu Qing's behavior today was a bit unusual, but none of them took his words seriously. After all, he had been rejected in public yesterday, and he was trying to save face.

Only Lin Yueyue secretly glanced at Yu Qing, then lowered her head as if nothing had happened, muttering to herself: "Childish."

The school bell rang.

The homeroom teacher, Old Xu, walked in from the door carrying a stack of test papers. He first scanned the classroom and then threw the test papers on the podium.

"I have two announcements. The first is about the results of this math exam. This exam paper is from last year's college entrance exam. I have explained some of the questions countless times, but some people still got them wrong. Of course, some students deserve praise, but a very small number of students had an extremely bad attitude and actually handed in a blank paper."

At this point, Old Xu paused, then scanned the students in the classroom before finally fixing his gaze on Yu Qing.

Yu Qing suddenly had a bad feeling.

Holy crap! Could it be me?

"Yu Qing, stand up!" Old Xu shouted angrily.

Upon hearing this, Yu Qing immediately stood up from her chair.

I thought to myself, "This is it."

Old Xu looked at Yu Qing with disappointment, hesitated several times before finally sighing in utter despair: "Fine, you should just sit down!"

Yu Qing immediately felt relieved and sat down again.

"Oh, right, there's one more thing. The quota for students from impoverished families has been released. Eligible students, please remember to submit your application materials."

Everyone turned their attention to Lu Chi.

Lu Chi remained silent, simply looking down at his book.

"Now, students whose names I call, come up and get your test papers. First place, Lin Yueyue, 149 points."

"Wow!" A cheer immediately erupted from below.

Lin Yueyue smiled shyly, then slowly stood up from her seat, her lips slightly upturned, and walked confidently toward the podium.

If an adult's excellence is measured by factors such as income, family background, and job, judging a person during their student years is much simpler; they usually look at their grades and appearance.

Clearly, Lin Yueyue possesses both qualities.

"Second place, Yuan Xiu, 145 points."

At this moment, Yuanxiu suddenly stood up.

He first straightened his school uniform, then proudly raised his head, walked to the podium, took the test paper handed to him by Old Xu, and said neither humbly nor arrogantly, "Teacher, may I say something?"

"Of course," Old Xu smiled.

Yuan Xiu turned around, staring intently at Lin Yueyue, her expression more serious than ever before: "Lin Yueyue, I know you're very strong. You always get first place in math exams, but don't forget, I'm not bad either. I will definitely beat you in the next exam and reclaim my former glory. The wind and snow have been pressing down on me for two or three years, but my back has not bent and my will has not been broken. I have lofty ambitions, waiting for the clouds to part and the wind to come!"

After Yuan Xiu finished speaking, his eyes burned with fierce fighting spirit. He returned to his seat with his head held high and chest out. As he passed by Yu Qing, he deliberately made a Nike-like smile on his lips, showing his disdain.

This can be considered revenge for almost getting beaten up earlier.

Yu Qing was immediately dumbfounded.

Xiuer, is that you?

Lin Yueyue buried her head under her desk, too embarrassed to lift it up. She really couldn't understand why all the boys in her class were so childish.

How embarrassing!

Old Xu cleared his throat awkwardly and continued reciting.

"Wang Haoran, 127 points."

"Lu Chi, 125 points."

"Yu Qing".

...

The test papers were handed out one by one.

Old Xu would read out the score after each name he called out, but Yu Qing was the only one whose name he only read out without the score.

It wasn't that he forgot to read the score; he simply didn't have a score.

After the last exam paper was handed out, Old Xu picked up his textbook and began the lesson.

Immediately, the crisp sound of chalk hitting the blackboard filled the classroom.

Yu Qing sat there blankly, staring at the big "0" marked in red on the test paper, his feelings a mix of emotions.

Then he looked at the questions on the test paper.

My feelings are even more complicated now.

I don't understand it at all!

Ten minutes into class, Old Xu was tapping the blackboard repeatedly while the students below were diligently taking notes.

The classroom was filled with a lively learning atmosphere, except for Yu Qing, who sat in her seat looking bewildered.

He vowed that he wanted to take notes and study diligently.

But he found that he couldn't understand it at all; those symbols and formulas were like gibberish to him.

"Looks like being reborn doesn't make you smarter after all!"

Yu Qing pouted in frustration.

He was in a state of utter frustration, full of enthusiasm but at a loss for how to proceed. He slumped onto the table, feeling utterly defeated.

I finally took the initiative to learn something new.

You made me lose so completely.

Bored, he turned his head to look at the corner to his right.

Lu Chi was sitting properly at the table, head down, diligently taking notes on the test paper.

Only then did he truly notice the boy.

There are over fifty students in the class. Almost all of them have their own circles, and they go to the toilet in pairs after class. But even with so many people, there are bound to be one or two loners.

That's right, Lu Chi is this outlier.

He didn't like talking to people, wasn't handsome, and his grades were neither good nor bad. Everything about him was ordinary, and he basically had no presence. It's hard to imagine that ten years later, he would be responsible for more than a dozen murders.

For a moment, Yu Qing was lost in thought.

Seeing that Yu Qing was distracted, Lin Yueyue, who was sitting in the back, kicked Yu Qing in the butt.

"Pay close attention to the lesson."

Yu Qing was jolted awake by a kick.

First, she looked up at Old Man Xu on the podium and saw him writing on the blackboard. Then she turned around and glared fiercely at Lin Yueyue behind her.

Lin Yueyue raised her chin triumphantly, showing no fear whatsoever.

Yu Qing gritted his teeth in anger.

Forget it, I won't stoop to a woman's level.

Studying is the priority.

After taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down, Yu Qing began to listen attentively to the lecture again.

The class lasted for about forty minutes until the bell rang, at which point Old Xu put down the chalk and said, "Alright, that's all for today's class. I hope you all will review it after class. Yu Qing, come to my office for a moment."

"oh!"

Yu Qing agreed, tidied up the table, stood up, and followed Teacher Wang to his office, leaving the others looking at each other in bewilderment.

...

In the office.

Yu Qing stood properly in the aisle of the desk, quietly sizing up the fierce-looking man in front of him. He had a square face, and at fifty years old, his hair was almost completely bald. The few strands of hair he had left were still styled in a handsome side part, which, although not completely off-center, was still quite parted.

He had a deep impression of this homeroom teacher because in his previous life, he was often caught by Old Xu going online after school, and then severely criticized and educated, and his parents were even called in.

For this matter, he even called on some thugs to force Old Xu's son to go to an internet cafe, forcibly making him addicted to the internet and ruining everything for him.

Looking back now, I realize I was a really bad student.

No, they're beasts.

Under Yu Qing's apologetic gaze, Old Xu picked up the thermos on the table and took a sip of tea.

Do you know why I asked you to come here today?

"Know."

Yu Qing nodded honestly. In fact, he vaguely guessed that Old Man Xu had called him to the office because of the matter of submitting a blank paper for the exam.

"It's good that you know. I've been through this before, and it's very common. I won't say anything more; you just need to know what I mean."

Someone who's been there? Is it common?

Yu Qing was slightly taken aback.

He asked in confusion, "Teacher, did you often get zero on tests before?"

Old Xu immediately scolded, his beard bristling and eyes wide, "I was talking about Lin Yueyue, where did you get this idea?"

"oh."

Yu Qing pursed her lips and obediently shut up.

Old Xu took a deep breath and said slowly, "It's normal to like someone at your age. You need to know that you are in your senior year of high school, which is the most important time of your life. If you can't concentrate on your studies, your future may be ruined. So I hope you can control your thoughts and actions."

"Of course, I'm saying this largely from Lin Yueyue's perspective. You don't have to study, and I don't have to care about you, but you absolutely cannot disturb other people's studies and ruin their academic careers. Can you do that?"

"I'm sorry, teacher, I was wrong."

"You dare to talk back? I'm not saying this to criticize you, but you are... uh, what did you just say?" Old Xu seriously doubted whether he had misheard, looking at him with an incredulous expression.

Yu Qing immediately straightened her attitude, lowered her head and obediently admitted her mistake: "Teacher, I'm sorry. I will definitely study hard in the future, try my best to get into university, and never cause you any more trouble."

Old Xu stared at him for a few seconds, his expression turning strange.

What's this kid up to today?

This was the first time in the past two years that he had heard the kid admit his mistake.

Did the sun rise in the west today?

Old Xu's expression softened slightly, and he waved his hand, saying, "Alright, alright, go back and write a 500-word self-criticism and hand it in to me tomorrow. Oh, and dye your hair back to normal tomorrow too, it's just outrageous."

"Don't worry, teacher, I will definitely get it done."

Yu Qing looked up and smiled, a clean and bright smile.

Then he left the office.

After Yu Qing left, Old Man Xu couldn't help but wonder, "Strange, why does this kid seem like a completely different person today?"