19/Scandal
It's an open secret that Shen Yu's family is wealthy, but simply saying "wealthy" is too broad a term.
Most people were unaware of the true situation of Shen Yu's family, because he was not a local of Suibei, and his family members had never attended the parent-teacher conferences from the first year of high school to the third year. The only person who knew the inside story, You Huai, was a master of evasion. He seemed easy to talk to, but no matter who tried to probe him indirectly, he would just brush them off with a few words.
Like a fog, curiosity that encounters him sinks to the bottom of the sea without a trace.
Some people are arrogant because they think they have an advantage, but Shen Yu is different. He is surrounded by all sorts of people. He can discuss problems with his classmates and also hang out with people from the art class.
Zhao Lili once discussed Shen Yu's popularity with Chen Mian, saying that she originally thought Shen Yu was the kind of arrogant school bully who treated his friends like dogs and relied on money to get them to do whatever they wanted, but she found out that wasn't the case.
The turning point was when it was the birthday of a boy in Chen Mian's class who often played basketball with Shen Yu and the others. Shen Yu gave him a pair of basketball shoes, and that night the boy posted on his QQ space and WeChat Moments, moved to tears.
The caption is:
—Thank you, Brother Shen. I never expected that you would take my casual remark to heart. No need to say anything more. Is it too late for me to get a sex change now?
The comment section was filled with a string of vomiting emojis.
Chen Mian saw Shen Yu's somewhat joking reply: "Good riddance."
It's like the morning.
Shen Yu had the driver park the car near the school and let Chen Mian get out first. At certain moments, Shen Yu's gentlemanly manners were always on full display.
A gentleman's outward appearance is his formal attire during the day.
The unbridled indulgence in the darkness is a madness that only Chen Mian can see.
When Lin Lin liked Shen Yu the most, she wrote Shen Yu's name all over the draft paper, then broke down her name and his name into strokes, pieced together the numbers one by one, and calculated a compatibility value. Finding it wasn't high, she changed the order and finally took it out and said to Chen Mian and Zhao Lili, "Look, Shen Yu and I are a perfect match."
The car drove away, and Chen Mian stood in front of the milk tea shop near the school. The clock had passed eight o'clock, and the minute hand pointed to six. She slung the schoolbag she was carrying over her shoulder. If she walked quickly, it would only take five minutes to get to school from here.
Parents frequently drop off their children in cars on the road, and students on bicycles also speed by. Occasionally, a few students, like Chen Mian, carry backpacks and run forward.
Chen Mian walked into the school gate almost as the bell rang.
The student on duty at the door, who was recording late arrivals, glanced at her hesitantly but ultimately didn't write anything down. His companion, watching Chen Mian's departing figure, asked, "Why didn't you write it down?"
The student on duty scratched his head. "Didn't you see the confession wall? Last night, Chen Mian and Shen Yu's names were painted up like skyscrapers."
His companion was stunned. "Huh? Chen Mian and Shen Yu?"
—What kind of combination is this?
This was the central issue discussed on the confession wall last night.
Zhao Lili, the gossip queen of Class 3, was the most active participant in the discussion thread last night. She participated in hundreds of discussions by herself. She hadn't even finished her own homework, and her dark circles looked even more frightening than Chen Mian's. As soon as she came in, she immediately stretched out her hands and grabbed Chen Mian's clothes with great resentment.
"Mian—Mian—you didn't even tell me about you and Shen Yu? Are you still friends?"
Chen Mian put down her schoolbag and was about to speak when Chen Ke on the podium called her name, saying in a rather impolite tone, "Chen Mian, you'll be penalized for being late."
Before Chen Mian could say anything, some boys below scoffed, their voices carrying a hint of jeering.
"Tsk tsk tsk—"
It was like cicadas had entered the classroom.
Zhao Lili scoffed, "I despise people like that the most. They're all about discipline. Someone they just got along with came in before them, and they didn't even say anything about deducting points. They just target people. If they're going to record it, they'll just record it, but they have to shout it out loud. Who are they warning? They have no tolerance at all."
Zhao Lili was still holding a grudge about Chen Ke being rejected by Chen Mian.
But Chen Mian knew that Chen Ke's attitude was mostly because of the Western meal that Shen Yu and the others had last night.
Zhao Lili leaned closer, eager to share the excitement of last night with Chen Mian, first asking, "Did you see the WeChat message I sent you?"
Chen Mian didn't use mobile data yesterday except to check the time. She shook her head and said apologetically, "Something came up yesterday."
"I knew you didn't. Let me tell you, it was quite a sight. Last night, someone anonymously posted on the confession wall that they saw you and Shen Yu kissing in the restroom near the teachers' office. The comments section exploded, with a bunch of people saying the poster was talking nonsense."
"..."
I expected rumors to spread. After all, Shen Yu is a central figure in discussions, always the center of attention on confession walls and gossip groups. It would be strange if no one talked about him.
"Someone actually believed it?"
Chen Mian rarely showed an expression that was almost speechless.
"It's about half and half. Girls think it's nonsense, and boys think that just kissing is too innocent and doesn't fit Shen Yu's character."
Chen Mian again: "..."
Zhao Lili raised an eyebrow, proudly holding up her book to block her view, and lowered her voice to Chen Mian to boast, "So, last night, your sister Lili had a fierce debate with everyone who said bad things about you, and she fought to the death to protect your innocence."
It feels so surreal. The only thing Chen Mian and Shen Yu ever did was Chen Yin. They would just brush past each other at school without even glancing at each other. Their biggest contact was with the basketball court.
However, compared to Qiao Zhiwan and the others, their performance was so ordinary that it was almost negligible.
It's just that the male and female leads are too good-looking, and the idol drama atmosphere is too strong, which gives people the illusion that they are a good match. But when handsome men and beautiful women stand together, even Chen Yin and You Huai seem to be radiating pink bubbles.
Zhao Lili couldn't imagine what it would be like for Chen Mian and Shen Yu to kiss.
One is too cold, the other too arrogant; they're a pair that will remain deadlocked until dawn over who gets closer first.
But the confessions on the confession wall last night sounded quite plausible and didn't seem like they were made up, so she became curious, "Did you really kiss Shen Yu in front of the restroom yesterday?"
Chen Mian couldn't help but laugh, "Who would kiss in front of a teacher's office?"
"That's not quite right! Are you implying that you were really with Shen Yu at the restroom entrance?!"
Chen Mian considered her answer carefully before giving a curt reply: "We just wash our hands at the sink."
As they were talking, Lin Lin, who had been sitting upright in the front row reading a book, chuckled and said as if to herself, "If it's intentional, then it's intentional. Why pretend to be innocent?"
Chen Mian ignored her.
Zhao Lili retorted indignantly, "What are you saying?! Lin Lin, are you sick in the head?"
The conflict was about to erupt. Liu Junjie, who had been slumped over the table, threw down his book and looked at Lin Lin, saying, "If you're not going to read, don't bother others, okay?"
People in the classroom would occasionally glance over.
Chen Ke slammed his hand on the table, frowned, and said to Chen Mian, "If you guys don't want to study in the morning, then go out. You may not be taking the college entrance exam, but others are."
His words were meaningful, and his gaze was fixed straight on Chen Mian.
The backstabbing and infighting at school will seem trivial in the future, but in the closed environment, it can be a major factor affecting mood. Zhao Lili and Lin Lin immediately teared up.
Chen Mian lowered her eyes, took out a book, and began to recite ancient poems silently, as if she were not the one speaking.
-
Compared to the intense atmosphere in the liberal arts class early in the morning.
The science class was quite harmonious. The male-to-female ratio in Suizhong was already unbalanced. Before the division into arts and sciences, the male-to-female ratio was 3:2. After the division, the male-to-female ratio in the science class dropped to 4:1.
The homeroom teacher of the science experimental class is quite young, and his teaching style is different from that of other classes. His way of getting along with the students makes the overall atmosphere of the science experimental class more relaxed and lively. The noisiest class on the floor during breaks is their science experimental class.
The guys who went to the Western restaurant with Shen Yu and You Huai last night came this morning and started talking non-stop about what happened last night. They described the grand occasion to the others who didn't go, and their tone was very exaggerated. They could have started a stand-up comedy show if they had a microphone.
"It's unbelievable. I always thought Chen Ke was a good person. There were quite a few of us yesterday, and I was afraid people would say we were bullying students. I kept smiling all night, even more gently than when I talk to my mom. I was just about to tell him to eat well, drink well, and have fun. But the first thing he said was that we were bullying people."
One girl chimed in, "That's true to some extent. The school rules say no cell phones are allowed, so how can Chen Mian be in the right to use her phone at school?"
The boy glanced at her. "If you put it that way, the whole art class is doomed. That's not how it works. If we're really talking about rules, everyone should be treated equally. If she were the only one in the whole school who was brazenly doing this, who would say a word against Chen Ke if we reported her to the teachers? But that's not how it works, my friend. In our class alone, at least ten people have cell phones. Those people in the art class are even watching videos on their phones in the hallways. Who cares? If Chen Ke were to report a whole bunch of people, I'd think he'd be a real man. But targeting Chen Mian alone, isn't that a bit petty?"
The girl fell silent.
The boy continued indignantly, "The key point is that everyone knew before that the class monitor of Class 3 liked Chen Mian from his own class. This whole thing makes it seem like we boys are so narrow-minded, that if we can't have her, we should ruin her. He's ruined our reputation. Who wouldn't feel disgusted after seeing this?"
Someone chimed in, "It's still Brother Chen who stands up for justice."
"Draw your sword to help!"
"Helping others brings joy!"
"Generous and charitable!"
"Shu Renbu De!"
"Highly respected and virtuous!"
"Get lost. Your description is no better than just moving Brother Chen to Leshan to be a giant Buddha statue."
Shen Yu stepped into the classroom in this atmosphere, and as soon as he entered, everyone's eyes turned to him.
Someone slipped up and blurted out, "Oh, the Buddha!"
Shen Yu put down his backpack and knew without even thinking what these people had been talking about. As he sat down, he tossed his backpack into the drawer and tapped his fingers on the table.
His posture was so languid that he didn't seem to be there for class, but rather like a lord, as he said to the person, "Hmm, come kneel down."
I'm not angry.
Someone, drawn by the gossip, slipped over and asked him about the confession wall post from the night before, "Just kidding, did you really kiss someone in the teacher's office bathroom yesterday, Brother Shen?"
Like Chen Mian, Shen Yu didn't check his phone at all yesterday and therefore didn't know about the confession wall.
But from what he was saying, he knew something had happened. He glanced at the man, casually flipped to a page of his math book, and twirled his pen in his hand.
His tone was unusually arrogant, "You might as well just say I brought someone to kiss in the teacher's office."
A bunch of straight men immediately came online.
"Awesome—"
"As expected of my brother Chen!"
"Absolutely amazing!"
This made Shen Yu laugh in anger. It was rare for him to serve these people. He slammed his hand on the table.
"Can you roll?"
The group immediately returned to their positions.
Until the bell rang for the first class.
Only then did someone realize what was happening.
Shen Yu didn't say anything at all.
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