After finishing breakfast, Jing Li and Jing Ran returned to the teaching building together, until they reached the third floor where the Hotel Management class was located.

Suddenly, Jing Li held Jing Ran’s hand.

Jing Ran was taken aback. It was his first time a girl had held his hand. Unsure if it was because of the cold weather, her hands were very cold, and her fingers were slender and bony, which inexplicably made him feel distressed.
He held both of Jing Li’s hands with his large hands and asked, “Does this make you feel a bit warmer?”

Jing Li just wanted to hold his hand as they passed by her own classroom, letting Lin Suirong see that she was already dating Jing Ran. She didn’t expect Jing Ran to make such a gesture. Jing Li had never held a boy’s hand before and didn’t expect it to be so big and warm. She shyly nodded.

Jing Ran lifted her hand, and he also lowered his head, bringing her hand close to his mouth, exhaling warm breath, and then rubbing it a few times.

Probably due to shyness, Jing Li felt her whole body burning up. She didn’t expect the top student to be so flirtatious. She secretly raised her head to look at Jing Ran’s face. In fact, Jing Ran’s facial skin couldn’t be described as delicate, although his pores were a bit coarse, it was still better than most boys, at least he didn’t have acne. And his thin lips, slightly red and elastic…

‘Wait, why was I observing all of these details?’

Because it was almost time for class, there were many students coming and going in the corridor. Many people were shocked to see the campus belle and the top student holding hands in the corridor on the first day of the new semester, also looking at each other affectionately?

Quite an eye-catching scene!

Is the campus belle into such unique tastes?

Could it be that the top student comes from a wealthy family, so the campus belle is just going along with it?

How decadent!

“Cough cough…”

The two of them accidentally fell into a small ambiguous atmosphere but were suddenly interrupted by someone nearby.

Jing Li snapped back to reality and saw Li Ruihua holding her fist near her mouth, as if coughing.

Jing Li quickly let go of Jing Ran’s hand, and Jing Ran felt a bit disappointed, looking at the intruder with a somewhat childish and aggrieved expression.

Li Ruihua sensed the deep resentment coming from the top student and awkwardly smiled, saying goodbye, “I… I’ll go back to the classroom first.”
They had been standing in the corridor for a while now, and Jing Li bid farewell, “I’ll go back to class first, bye.”

Jing Ran nodded and responded, “Bye.”

Jing Li returned to her own seat, and Li Ruihua, who was sitting next to her, exclaimed in surprise, “Did I see it correctly? Just now, you came back holding hands with Jing Ran?”

Jing Li nodded.

“Are you dating him?”

“Yeah.”

“How did you start dating him? Did he confess to you, or did you confess to him? Oh, wait, the last time I joked with you, you got angry… Oh my, how did that nerd top student confess to you? And you actually accepted?”

Li Ruihua blabbered on and on, but Jing Li didn’t feel like responding. She was with Jing Ran because she lost a bet, and the fewer people who knew about it, the better.

After all, she didn’t know what Jing Ran would do if he found out…

The first class was Calculus, and she had messed up the exam. She didn’t know if the professor would scold her for it.

And then there was the matter of retaking the Calculus exam. In the past, she failed even when retaking exams, and now she had accumulated four math courses to retake before graduation. If she failed again this time, she would have to retake five math courses when she returned to school for her senior year internship next year.

It was quite depressing to think about…

The Calculus professor entered the classroom with a stern face. It was the first class of the semester, and the atmosphere in the class was heavy. It seemed like this semester wouldn’t be easy.

The Calculus professor started the lecture and gave the students two problems to practice during the class. He picked up the attendance sheet and said, “Jing Li, come up and solve this problem.”

Jing Li felt a sense of despair. She couldn’t even understand the problem herself, and yet she was called up to solve it. It was like being punished.

Jing Li went to the front of the class, picked up a chalk, and stood in front of the blackboard. She thought about some formulas, unsure if they were applicable here.

But then, her mind went blank.

“Step aside!” the Calculus professor spoke up and then called another student’s name, “Zhang Chu, come up and solve this problem.”

The Calculus professor has been teaching for many years, and his teaching results have been good in the past. However, ever since he took over 1X class, this student named Jing Li has consistently ranked last in Calculus every semester. Although students’ grades are not linked to performance, people care about reputation especially when they get older. In his twenty years of teaching, none of his students has ever ranked last.

This Jing Li is quite capable. She ranked last once, and ever since then, she has consistently been last, with particularly low scores. Not once has she scored above 20 points. So, calling her up to solve a problem was meant to make her feel embarrassed.

There was a knock on the wooden door of the classroom.

Everyone’s attention in the classroom turned to the door. It was Jing Ran, the top student from Class 1 next door, with his funny-looking mushroom hairstyle and a dark blue tracksuit. He appeared in everyone’s line of sight.

Earlier in the morning, Jing Ran and Jing Li were holding hands in the hallway, and their classmates saw them. Now that the girlfriend was being punished, the boyfriend showed up, and everyone couldn’t help but tease them.

“What’s all the noise? Be quite!” The Calculus professor scolded them, then he softened his tone and asked Jing Ran, “What’s the matter?”

Jing Ran was the Calculus professor’s proud student, bringing him a lot of glory. His words unintentionally became gentle. Last semester, the school held a Calculus competition, and Jing Ran was even more impressive than the math department students, winning first place.
Jing Ran answered, “We ran out of chalk in our class. I came to borrow a couple of it.”
The Calculus professor nodded in agreement, “Hmm, go ahead.”

J University is an old university that has been around for a hundred years. The teaching building of the Management Department is a building left from the Republic of China era. Due to the layout, this teaching building does not have an office for academic affairs. Some teaching supplies are counted in advance by the class committee and collected from the academic affairs office in the newly built teaching building next door. So, sometimes during class, if the classroom lacks some teaching supplies, they borrow from the neighboring class to save time instead of going to the academic affairs office in the other teaching building.

After Jing Ran entered the classroom and got the chalk, he unintentionally made eye contact with Jing Li, who was standing at the front of the class as a punishment.

Jing Li suddenly felt her face burning, even though in her subconscious mind, Jing Ran was her fake boyfriend. But the fact that he witnessed such an embarrassing situation made her feel a little embarrassed. However, the top student left without any expression.

Oh no, does the top student think having a girlfriend like her is embarrassing?

After finishing the calculus class, the professor gave Jing Li a sheet of A4 paper filled with exercises, instructing her to submit it to the administration office of the management department before the end of the school day.

Jing Li took the test paper despairingly. It was filled with numerous numbers and letters that made her feel a headache.

Lin Suirong was sent abroad to participate in an international basketball game, which meant he wouldn’t be at school for at least a month.

In the morning, Jing Li voluntarily held hands with Jing Ran as they returned to the classroom, just to let Lin Suirong see that she fulfilled her promise and started dating Jing Ran. Unfortunately, he wasn’t there.

Jing Li was afraid that Lin Suirong would deny their relationship, claiming that he didn’t see them together, so she took the opportunity during the break time to go to Class 1 and find Jing Ran. She dragged him to an empty staircase.

Jing Ran asked, “Lili, what’s the matter?”
Jing Li hadn’t fully adapted to this nickname and hesitated for a moment. “Ran… Ran, I want to take a photo with you.”

“Why do we need to take a photo?” The top student didn’t understand. Isn’t taking photos usually done during vacations? Why take one in the staircase?

Jing Li thought for a moment and came up with a reason, although it was a bit difficult to say. She hesitated and said, “Um… the class hours are too long, and I miss you so much that I want to take a photo with you.”

After hearing the reason, Jing Ran didn’t expect Jing Li to like him so much. He nodded in agreement.

Jing Li picked up her smartphone and opened the MeowSnap app in selfie mode, leaning against Jing Ran and striking a pose. But Jing Ran was much taller than her, and if they both stood up, they wouldn’t fit in the frame at all. She said, “Could you crouch down? I can’t capture you in the photo!” Jing Ran obediently bent his knees, lowering his height to be closer to Jing Li. Her face pressed against his, and they both put on a nice smile.
“Click!” After the sound, the image was frozen in the phone. Although Jing Ran looked a bit awkward in the photo, it didn’t matter as long as it could prove to Lin Suirong.

“Send me a copy.” Jing Ran took out his phone from his pocket, trembled, and said, “By the way, I don’t have your WeChat yet.”

After exchanging WeChat IDs, Jing Li sent the photo to Jing Ran.

After class, the calculus professor was approached by a few students that asked some questions. After finished answering, as he walked out of the classroom towards the staircase, he saw his most outstanding student and the worst student standing together. Curiosity got the best of him, and he asked, “What are you two doing?”

Jing Ran, with the attitude of a good student, honestly replied, “Taking a photo with my girlfriend.” Jing Li thought, “Oh no, even the professor knows now. Can we still break up properly in the future?”