Chapter 12

The boy’s voice was low and husky, and neither the other students nor Old Teacher Lin heard it clearly.

But just from Shang Yan’s posture, it didn’t seem like he said anything nice.

Old Teacher Lin’s eyebrows twitched:

“Shang Yan, don’t bully even a little girl.”

Upon hearing this, Shang Yan straightened up, smiling lazily, “Why would I, Teacher?”

The boys at the back of the classroom burst into laughter—

“That’s right, Brother Yan is always so tender and protective!”

“He’s not the type to bully girls, is he?”

“New student, don’t be scared.”

…

Amidst the teasing voices and escalating dynamics, Shang Yan turned back, his gaze sweeping over the classroom behind him.

Everyone instantly fell silent.

Old Teacher Lin’s expression turned sour as he frowned.

“Shang Yan, you sit in the back—”

“Teacher.”

Shang Yan stepped away from the desk, picked up a new chair from the front, and single-handedly placed it next to the empty seat beside the girl.

He lightly licked his upper palate, smiling ambiguously.

His eyes were pitch black.

“I’ll just sit here.”

…

Old Teacher Lin gave him a surprised look.Aside from Li Zhe and a few others, the uninformed students in the class were also stunned.

After a few seconds, Old Teacher Lin came to his senses.

“Alright, everyone quiet down and focus on the lesson.”

…

With five minutes left before class ended, Old Teacher Lin finished the lesson early.

He turned his head to look at the clock at the front of the classroom, then turned back with a somewhat meaningful expression.

“There’s still a bit of time left, I’ll collect the ‘homework’.”

This comment made the students look up in confusion, as all the homework was usually collected in the morning by different subjects, with none left for the teacher to collect just before class ended.

However, when they saw Old Teacher Lin’s gaze fall on the first row, the students suddenly realized what was happening.

They immediately lowered their heads reluctantly.

Sure enough, the next second they heard Old Teacher Lin speak.

“Shang Yan, for your tardiness and absenteeism last week, I penalized you by having you recite the full text of ‘The Song of Everlasting Sorrow’ from the elective textbook. Have you memorized it?”

The students in the class choked.

‘The Song of Everlasting Sorrow’ is a full 840 characters and 120 lines, quite a lengthy essay.

None of them would bother memorizing that for fun, let alone Shang Yan.

Everyone in the grade knew that Shang Yan excelled in all subjects, especially in physics and chemistry, where he always scored full marks, no matter how difficult the tests.

He ranked near the top in other subjects as well.

The only exception was Chinese…

His grades in Chinese were, to put it bluntly, disastrous.

As expected, Shang Yan stood up, his voice carrying a hint of sleepiness and laziness.

His voice was somewhat hoarse as he spoke:

“I didn’t memorize it.”

Old Teacher Lin’s eyebrows shot up, “Why didn’t you memorize it?”

Shang Yan, somewhat impatiently, replied, “I couldn’t memorize it.”

Old Teacher Lin suddenly laughed in disbelief—

“Couldn’t memorize it? That can’t be right. Just last Monday, in front of the whole school, you recited the entire periodic table of chemical elements from start to finish! How could ‘The Song of Everlasting Sorrow’ be harder to memorize than that!?”

The classroom fell utterly silent.

Near Shang Yan’s hanging hand, the hood he had been quietly nesting under for the entire class suddenly twitched.

From the sleeve, pale fingertips, slightly tense, clutched the pen….like a small creature cautiously sticking its nose out of its burrow to sniff around.

Shang Yan caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye and his thin lips curled slightly.

This visibly infuriated Old Teacher Lin, who had been staring at him—

“You’re laughing?! …With grades that good in all subjects, only Chinese seems like you’re sleepwalking through it—I’m telling you, if your Chinese grades go up, you could be the top science student; if not, it’s no good!”

Old Teacher Lin erupted, his face turning red, frightening the whole class into silence.Shang Yan, the focus of this tirade, appeared much calmer, merely frowning slightly as he stood there.

The midday sunlight streaming through the window cast a faint outline on his pale and deep features.

Old Teacher Lin took a long breath and let it out, finally managing to suppress his anger.

He glared at Shang Yan coldly, sweeping his gaze over Li Zhe and the others in the back row.

“Either you recite it yourself, or have those guys you always hang out with recite it for you—if you don’t memorize this piece today, you’ll stand at the back during my Chinese classes from now on!”

…

The classroom fell deathly silent for a few seconds.

The boys around Li Zhe in the back row couldn’t contain their anger, and someone started muttering curses under their breath.

Just as the situation was about to escalate, Shang Yan, standing at the front, suppressed the cold darkness in his eyes.

He scoffed.

Without a word, Shang Yan turned to walk to the back of the classroom.

Just then, Su Miao Miao, who had been nervously uncertain for several seconds, finally made up her mind and reached out to grab the corner of Shang Yan’s shirt.

…

Shang Yan stopped in his tracks as he was pulled back.

He turned around to look.

The girl, who had not spoken a word since entering the classroom, stood up hesitantly and uneasily.

She released her grip on the corner of Shang Yan’s shirt, her voice very low and soft.

“Teacher, may I recite it for him?”

Teacher Lin was taken aback and frowned reflexively.

“You want to recite ‘The Song of Everlasting Sorrow’ for him? The whole poem?”

“…Yes.”

So, for the next three minutes of class, plus an extra two minutes after the bell, the entire class, stunned into numbness by the end, listened to the girl in the front corner of the classroom recite ‘The Song of Everlasting Sorrow’ without missing a single word.

When the final line “This sorrow is endless, without a final term” was recited, the classroom was utterly silent.

Even Teacher Lin was dazed for a few seconds before he came to his senses, looking at the girl with great admiration.

“Not a single pronunciation error, incredible.”

If it’s possible that other students reviewed the material after hearing Old Teacher Lin’s demands of Shang Yan last week, then this new girl who just transferred to the class clearly did it out of personal accumulation.

Being able to recite “The Song of Everlasting Sorrow” fluently and effortlessly, Old Teacher Lin felt as though he was looking at his future star pupil at that moment.

With that, the frustration of his previous plans vanished, and Teacher Lin turned to the standing boy.

“Shang Yan, with such an excellent new desk mate, you should learn more from her from now on, understand?”

…

Casting his gaze downward to envelop the petite figure of the girl, after a moment, Shang Yan’s dark eyes flickered slightly as he lowered his head and let out a quiet laugh.

“Definitely.”

…

Su Miao Miao felt a flutter in her heart from his tone and anxiously retreated to her seat.

Teacher Lin called out “Class dismissed,” and noises began to rise in the classroom.

Amid this mild hubbub, Su Miao Miao heard the boy next to her laugh as he leaned in slightly.”Never thought about it before, but when you recite poetry softly, your voice is really nice to listen to.”Su Miao Miao: “…”Shang Yan laughed again.”Kid, recite it one more time, just for your master to hear.”