“Holy crap, bro, are you out of your mind?”

Fang Sheng patted the four boxes of soda that the convenience store delivered and gave Jiang She a look.

“Out of my mind for what?” Jiang She lazily leaned on the table, his fingers gently tapping on the surface as he looked meaningfully at Chu Tao’s back.

“Thanks, She Ge!”

“Thanks for the soda, She Ge!”

“Hey, hey, hey, I want to switch to a cherry flavor.”

“Leave the rest for Teacher Yang, she’s always yelling around.”

Fang Sheng walked over with a bottle and, confused, asked, “Why are you buying drinks for the whole class? Did your mom send you money again?”

Jiang She glanced at him and smiled, “Is it wrong to be in a good mood?”

Chu Tao, sitting in front, paused his pen and took a deep breath.

If he had known Jiang She would act this smug, he never would have said that “yes” earlier.

Xu Yuan leaned against the desk opposite Jiang She and asked with a silly grin, “Why are you in a good mood? Is the school shutting down? Do we not have to go to school tomorrow?”

Fang Sheng’s eyes shifted, and with a knowing look, he turned to Chu Tao and said, “I guess Brother She is in love.”

Xu Yuan laughed and scolded, “Damn, that’s all you ever think about. I think you’re the one falling in love.”

Fang Sheng puffed out his chest, picked up an eraser, and threw it at Xu Yuan. “What’s wrong with being in love? How long has it been since I’ve had anyone? Just thinking about it makes me restless.”

Xu Yuan replied, “Go away, go away. Who doesn’t know that after seeing Chu Xingning, you won’t even look at anyone else?”

Fang Sheng glared at Xu Yuan. “Bullshit, I never had a thing for Chu Xingning.”

Xu Yuan shrugged. “Fine, fine, you’re saving it for She Ge, right? Not even asking the class president’s opinion.”

Fang Sheng rolled his eyes. “Of course the class president can’t agree. As for She Ge…”

Fang Sheng suddenly stopped talking. He remembered that Jiang She had once said he wouldn’t tell Xu Yuan and wanted to see how long it would take Xu Yuan to figure it out.

Chu Tao could no longer tolerate it. He slammed his pen down and turned his head, saying, “Don’t discuss my brother in front of me again. My brother is not in for a relationship.”

Jiang She also urged them, “Hurry up and leave, don’t waste the class president’s study time!”

Xu Yuan blinked and scratched his head, “That’s not—”

Fang Sheng quickly hooked his arm around Xu Yuan’s neck, forcibly dragging him backward. “Alright, alright, we won’t waste the class president’s time.”

Chu Tao shook his head helplessly, giving Jiang She a reproachful look before he turned back and continued organizing his notebook where he listed his exam’s mistake.

In truth, whether his grades improved or not had little to do with how chaotic the people around him were.

Chu Tao felt like he had hit a bottleneck. With his current study methods, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t improve.

But he had no better solution.

After the first class in the afternoon, Chu Tao’s eyes felt a bit sore. Just as he was about to massage them, Yang Liu walked into the room.

“Chu Tao, your mom is here. You should come with me.”

Chu Tao immediately felt a sense of dread. He pushed his chair back and stood up, following Yang Liu out.

Song Mian was standing at the door. She was wearing a long beige coat, a white hat, a black bag on her wrist, and holding a bag of fruit in her hand.

This bag was the most expensive one Song Mian had bought. She usually didn’t dare to use it, only taking it out on special occasions to show off.

In fact, Song Mian was quite beautiful. Even if she didn’t wear anything extravagant, a little bit of dressing up made her stand out from others her age.

However, she had aged faster than expected, likely due to the hard years she had lived through.

She was very polite to Yang Liu, her face constantly bearing a courteous smile as she walked toward the office, babbling, “Teacher Yang, I’m really sorry for the trouble.”

Chu Tao lowered his head, remaining silent as he followed behind.

Yang Liu opened the office door. “Chu Tao’s mom, you’re too polite.”

Once inside, Song Mian put the fruit down on Yang Liu’s desk.

Yang Liu, of course, tried to refuse. “No, no, I can’t take this. Please leave it for the kids.”

Song Mian pressed Yang Liu’s hand down. “Teacher Yang, I didn’t know what you like, so I just bought some fruit. Don’t refuse it. You’re working so hard with these kids.”

Chu Tao glanced at the fruit. There were cherries, mangosteen, and rambutan—relatively expensive fruits. It was clear that Song Mian was giving a gift to Yang Liu.

Although he understood this was just how the adult world worked, Chu Tao still felt uncomfortable.

He lowered his gaze to the floor, trying to avoid looking at the scene.

Yang Liu paused for a moment, then smiled. “Chu Tao’s mom, I understand your concerns, but I think you might be overthinking it. You’re too anxious.”

Song Mian sighed. “It’s not that I’m anxious. I’m just worried about him being in this class. His grades aren’t great, and at home, he’s always opposing me. He wasn’t like this before.”

Yang Liu thought to herself, ‘You don’t even know the more outrageous things he’s done.’

But Yang Liu explained on Chu Tao’s behalf, “He’s been doing well. All the teachers like him. You don’t need to worry so much. Chu Tao is a very self-disciplined student.”

Song Mian took a deep breath, paused, and then looked up. “Teacher Yang, let me speak plainly and not beat around the bush. There are some students in your class with a really bad reputation. Like that boy named Jiang She—he’s known to everyone, even I know about him. And Chu Tao…”

Chu Tao spoke calmly, “Mom, Jiang She is my friend. Please don’t speak like that about him.”

Song Mian froze, turning around, staring at Chu Tao in disbelief. “What did you say?”

Chu Tao felt a weight on his chest that made it hard to breathe.

“Jiang She is my friend. He’s not a bad person.”

Song Mian pointed at Chu Tao, but looked at Yang Liu. “Teacher, look at this. Now that he’s in this class, he’s making friends with kids like that. How can we, as parents, not worry?”

Chu Tao furrowed his brows, clenching his fist tightly, his nails digging into his palm, sending a painful, numb sensation through his hand.

This was the first time he felt that Song Mian’s stubbornness had reached an unreasonable point.

She hadn’t heard all the things about Jiang She, perhaps only picking up on rumors from some other parent.

But now, she was eager to attribute the decline in his grades to this class, using Jiang She as a scapegoat.

Chu Tao didn’t realize yet that he was already starting to defend Jiang She and couldn’t tolerate anyone speaking badly of him.

Yang Liu’s smile faded a little as she said seriously, “Chu Tao’s mom, you may have misunderstood. Jiang She does have some faults and isn’t too fond of studying, but he’s a good, upright kid. There are things I haven’t shared with you, as I didn’t want to upset the parents. When Chu Tao first joined this class, he had trouble fitting in. Some kids who didn’t know any better had conflicts with him, ans one of the other kids’ moms is our school’s grade director, and as you know, Chu Tao could have ended up at a disadvantage in that situation.”

“But it was Jiang She who helped Chu Tao resolve the issue. The other parents didn’t dare say anything after that. Now, Chu Tao is getting along well with everyone, thanks to Jiang She. So, saying that he’s one of those kinds of kids—don’t you think that’s a bit one-sided?”

Song Mian was momentarily stunned.

She had just used Jiang She as an example because he was the only person she knew.

But she never expected that this person had actually helped Chu Tao.

This made Song Mian feel embarrassed. “I didn’t know that. Chu Tao never told me when he came home.”

However, there was no denying that Yang Liu’s words had made Song Mian reconsider her impression of Jiang She.

Thinking about how Chu Tao had been reprimanded when he first came to this class, and she hadn’t known anything about it, Song Mian felt a pang of sympathy. Her tone toward Chu Tao softened as well.

“You should’ve told me about something like this,” she said, her voice gentler now.

Chu Tao gave a wry smile.

That night, Song Mian had scolded him because of Chu Xingning’s fever.

Yang Liu saw the opening and continued, “Chu Tao’s mom, you have to trust us teachers. We care a lot about Chu Tao. His grades haven’t dropped, but to really break through, extra tutoring is definitely needed.”

Song Mian quickly nodded. “Yes, I enrolled him in a tutoring class, but after more than a month, there was no improvement, and this time he only scored 70. The teacher there is a famous national instructor, with great reviews online.”

Yang Liu sighed. “A lot of those online reviews are fake, or the teacher might have asked students for positive reviews, and they usually don’t refuse. But the actual teaching level may not be as good as the reviews suggest. I recommend you find an offline class for your child, preferably with one of our school’s teachers who are familiar with him.”

Song Mian’s expression froze for a moment, awkwardly saying, “An offline class…?”

Yang Liu eagerly continued, “Our school’s chemistry department head, Teacher Nian, is exceptionally skilled. Every year, she guides a student to win the national first prize in the chemistry competition. Many students want to take lessons from her. I can help introduce you. Since Chu Tao is one of the top students in his grade, Teacher Nian should be willing.”

Song Mian’s mouth twitched, unsure of what to say.

Such a famous teacher, known throughout the school, with so many years of guiding award-winning students, would surely cost over a thousand yuan per lesson, almost as much as enrolling for a whole term online.

A few lessons would cost thousands, more than her monthly salary.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t afford it, but what if it didn’t work?

Chu Tao didn’t want to make things difficult for Song Mian. “We don’t need tutoring for now. I’ll just ask the chemistry teacher for help with the questions.”

Yang Liu gave him a deep look and then shifted the topic. “That’s fine too, after all, the teacher who knows you best is the one who teaches you. Besides, there’s also the senior year review, so you’ll gradually improve.”

Song Mian rubbed her fingers together nervously. “What about the class transfer?”

Yang Liu immediately cut her off. “I’ll talk to the chemistry teacher about giving Chu Tao more guidance. Since he’s in our class, there’s no competition for teaching resources, so the chemistry teacher can dedicate all her time to him.”

Song Mian hesitated, “Ah…”

Yang Liu stood up and took the fruit. “Here, Chu Tao’s mom, you take the fruit. I have a grade meeting coming up, so I won’t walk you out.”

At this point, Song Mian felt it would be inappropriate to insist on the class transfer.

She could tell Yang Liu didn’t want Chu Tao to switch classes, and she understood that—who wouldn’t want to have more good students in their class?

Feeling somewhat frustrated but with no other options, Song Mian hesitated for a moment before pushing the fruit back toward Yang Liu. “Well, I’ll leave now, you keep the fruit. It’s a bit heavy for me to carry.”

After saying this, Song Mian put away her smile, grabbed her bag, and walked out of the office in her high heels.

Chu Tao naturally followed her.

As they exited the office, Song Mian stood in the hallway, staring at the banner hanging in the center of the building, and said in a low voice, “Chu Tao, you’ve canceled the online lessons, right?”

Chu Tao remained silent.

Song Mian lowered her voice and scolded, “Look at what the teacher said about you! You really went ahead and did this without even consulting me!”

She threw her phone at him, and Chu Tao picked it up.

It was a post from Teacher Kang of the training institution, where she had shared a screenshot of his course cancellation request, sarcastically commenting:

“Some students are really something else. They don’t put in the effort but blame me for not teaching. I work hard to make the class lively and keep you engaged, but somehow that becomes my fault! If you want to drop out, go ahead. I can’t teach ungrateful students like this!”

It seemed that Teacher Kang hadn’t removed Song Mian from her friend list, as she didn’t know who the other parents were who added her.

Below the post were several parents’ flattering comments.

“Teacher Kang’s teaching skills are well-known, you’re the best teacher who always thinks about the students.”

“Such students are really disappointing! I wonder what kind of family education led to this!”

“Thank you, Teacher Kang. If it weren’t for you, my child still wouldn’t be improving!”

Song Mian took several deep breaths, and when the training institution called to inform her about Chu Tao’s course cancellation, she felt a wave of dizziness.

“Look at you!” she scolded.

Chu Tao glanced coldly at her and quickly moved his fingers, deleting Teacher Kang from Song Mian’s WeChat.

He was so fast that Song Mian didn’t even have time to react.

After deleting her, Chu Tao handed the phone back to Song Mian. “I was telling the truth. Since she insulted me…”

Song Mian was stunned. “What are you going to do?”

Chu Tao scoffed, hands in his pockets, his expression growing colder.

He realized that his stance resembled Jiang She’s in some ways.