Chapter 10

After May Day, the scent of summer flowers could already be smelled in the air.

During physics class, Qin Xiaoxiao was once again singled out for praise by the homeroom teacher, Guo Hairuo.

She basked in the attention of a large group of classmates.

Actually, Qin Xiaoxiao’s grades could only be considered above average, but her significant progress over the past two months, coupled with her striking looks, made her a hot topic.

In the evening, the school held a lecture that the entire grade had to attend. After the lecture, Yang Min happily told her deskmate, “Xiao ah, just now there were several groups of students from other classes behind you looking at you and talking about you!”

“Oh,” she replied.

Yang Min pouted, “So calm? At least give some reaction!”

Qin Xiaoxiao rested her elbow on an open test paper, tore open a Crispy Shark snack, and, while munching on it, tilted her head to look at her. “Reaction.”

For some reason, her deskmate found her unexpectedly adorable, making it impossible for Yang Min to even pretend to be angry. “Xiao ah, no wonder they all say you’re the best-looking in the second year.”

“Really?” she asked.

“Of course! Some people even say you’re the school beauty of Second High School!”

School beauty… Qin Xiaoxiao never quite understood how titles like “school beauty” or “school heartthrob” came about. Everyone’s sense of aesthetics couldn’t possibly be identical. A might think someone is very good-looking, but B might just find them average.

In her previous life, when Qin Xiaoxiao was in high school, her classmates had said that a certain girl was the “universally acknowledged” school beauty. She had found it strange at the time—”universally acknowledged”? Was it officially certified or decided by a vote of the entire student body? She had no idea, nor did she even know that girl.

So, Qin Xiaoxiao didn’t take it seriously and even found it a little amusing.

Staying so calm after being called the “school beauty”? Yang Min didn’t let any of her deskmate’s expressions slip by. Wasn’t she someone who cared a lot about her appearance? Didn’t she like being praised?

Don’t ask how Yang Min knew this. While others might not notice, Yang Min had been sitting next to Qin Xiaoxiao for more than a semester. From the frequent small actions like secretly checking herself in a pocket mirror, fixing her hair, or reapplying lip balm, how could the sharp-eyed Yang Min not know her deskmate loved looking good?

Qin Xiaoxiao finished her Crispy Shark snack and went to the trash bin at the back of the classroom to throw it away. The evening self-study bell rang.

As she returned to her seat, the room suddenly plunged into darkness.

“Ah!” “Oh my God!” Screams erupted from every classroom in the entire building, blending into a chaotic uproar.

The power had gone out.

The surroundings were filled with noise, and it was clear from the chatter that the classmates were somewhat excited by this unexpected event.

Standing near the trash bin, Qin Xiaoxiao only felt annoyed.

“Xiao ah!” Yang Min’s voice called out amidst the clamor.

“Xiao ah! Where are you? Why aren’t you coming back?” Yang Min sounded like a worried mother hen fussing over her chick.

“I’m here.”

Qin Xiaoxiao did want to go back, but she couldn’t see a thing. Perhaps it was because her original owner was a picky eater and had mild night blindness. In an environment like this, others might adapt after a while and be able to make out faint outlines of objects, but for Qin Xiaoxiao, it was truly pitch black—she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face.

“Xiao ah, you’re at the back? I’m scared of the dark!” Yang Min shouted. “Hurry back and keep me company! Ugh, Dong Yunfang, Dong Yunfang, I’m coming to find you!”

Qin Xiaoxiao: “…”

“Does anyone have a flashlight?” “Who has candles?” “Did anyone bring a phone?” The classmates chattered noisily.

In moments like this, the benefits of having a phone were clear. However, Second High School strictly prohibited phones, and the teachers enforced the rule harshly. In their class, only two or three students dared to bring one.

Someone’s electronic device cast a beam of light that swept across the area for a few seconds—not too briefly. Qin Xiaoxiao caught a glimpse of the “terrain” ahead and quickly made a mental calculation: walk forward five steps, turn left for two steps, then turn right and walk straight for about seven or eight steps to get back to her seat.

This unexpected power outage had no telling how long it would last, and Qin Xiaoxiao wasn’t planning to wait idly by the trash bin.

She raised her hand like a blind person, fumbling in the dark, and carefully took her first steps.

She successfully walked the five steps forward. Then, turning left and walking two steps, she turned right, but her foot suddenly hit something. Qin Xiaoxiao let out a small gasp.

It didn’t feel like the hard edge of a desk leg—it had some give, like someone’s foot or lower leg. Qin Xiaoxiao didn’t have time to think too much and quickly apologized, “Sorry.”

There was no response.

Only the sound of what seemed like a chair scraping against the floor.

Qin Xiaoxiao prepared to continue feeling her way forward.

Suddenly, her raised wrist was grasped. She instinctively tried to pull back, but the warm hand holding her wrist tightened slightly.

“Who is it?” Qin Xiaoxiao frowned. “Let go.” Why was someone grabbing her wrist?

“You can’t see?”

The clear, magnetic voice sounded as if it were right next to her ear, making Qin Xiaoxiao feel a little uncomfortable. It was obvious that the person holding her wrist was Ji Wenchen.

When she had passed by earlier to throw away the trash, it seemed like he had been lying on the desk, asleep. So… was he woken up by her kick and now planning to teach her a lesson?

The heavy darkness amplified the fear of the unknown.

Never before had Qin Xiaoxiao so vividly recalled the male lead’s ruthlessness described in the original novel. For the first time, she genuinely felt afraid of this boy beside her.

Did the original novel ever mention whether the male lead refrained from hitting girls…?

The slender, smooth wrist in his palm seemed to tremble slightly. Ji Wenchen lowered his gaze to look at her. Was she really this afraid of the dark?

His night vision was quite good. With the faint moonlight filtering in through the window, he could clearly make out her silhouette.

She looked like a timid, frightened little lamb.

Ji Wenchen tugged Qin Xiaoxiao’s hand lower, picked up the phone lying face down on the desk, turned on the flashlight function, and shoved it into her hand. “Hold it.”

Then he let go of her wrist.

Huh?

Qin Xiaoxiao looked at the lit phone in her hand. So… he wasn’t planning to teach her a lesson but was actually helping her?

The light streaming through her fingers seemed to carry a calming power, helping Qin Xiaoxiao regain her composure. At the same time, she noticed that the refreshing yet oppressive presence had moved away, as Ji Wenchen had likely already returned to his seat.

“Thank you,” Qin Xiaoxiao said softly before using the phone’s flashlight to guide her way back to her seat.

Just as she was about to reach her desk, she guiltily turned off the phone’s flashlight, as if sneaking around.

Yang Min wasn’t at her seat.

The phone in Qin Xiaoxiao’s hand, which belonged to Ji Wenchen, suddenly felt unbearably hot to the touch.

Why did she bring it back? Couldn’t she have just used it to see the path and then walked back in the dark?

Now she had a new problem, that was finding the right time to return the phone to him.

Qin Xiaoxiao placed the phone in her desk cubby but, after some thought, took it out again.

She was worried that the arrogant school bully’s phone might be set to ring. She needed to switch it to silent mode—she didn’t want any trouble that might get her caught by the teacher.

She lit up the screen. The lock screen background was completely black, and the preview interface showed several text messages and notifications from QQ. Qin Xiaoxiao deliberately avoided reading his messages and quickly tapped the floating ball. As expected, it was set to ring mode.

Not long after she finished, the power came back on, and the classroom lights flickered on one by one.

It was as if these high school students were experiencing such an event for the first time—screaming when the power went out and screaming again when it came back on.

Among the screamers was Yang Min, who bid farewell to her friends and returned to her seat.

“This power outage nearly scared me to death.”

“Really?” Qin Xiaoxiao smiled. “Why do I feel like your expression says ‘regret’ now that the power’s back?”

“Ah, well, those aren’t contradictory—” Yang Min immediately fell silent when she caught sight of the homeroom teacher at the front door.

Qin Xiaoxiao didn’t even need to look up to know what was happening. She grabbed her pen and started working on problems.

The homeroom teacher walked past Qin Xiaoxiao once during the patrol.

Within five minutes, the teacher approached again and stopped by Qin Xiaoxiao’s desk.

Already fearful of the homeroom teacher, Qin Xiaoxiao felt a wave of unease. Could the teacher have discovered the phone in her desk cubby…?

“Step outside for a moment,” the teacher said, lightly tapping the edge of Qin Xiaoxiao’s desk.

No way… Qin Xiaoxiao braced herself and followed the teacher outside. Before turning, she couldn’t help but glance in Ji Wenchen’s direction.

That guy was lying on his desk.

If his phone ended up being confiscated because of her… Qin Xiaoxiao stood in front of the homeroom teacher, her eyes fixed on the ground.

“Do you know why I called you out?”

Qin Xiaoxiao, like most students who thought they’d done something wrong, hesitated, unsure whether to answer “yes” or “no.”

“The speech at next Monday’s flag-raising ceremony—I want you to deliver it.”

A speech? Qin Xiaoxiao looked up in astonishment.

“Don’t want to do it?” Guo Hairuo said gently. “It’s a good opportunity to practice. Why not give it a try?”

Qin Xiaoxiao secretly let out a sigh of relief. “Alright, thank you, teacher.”

“No need to thank me.” Guo Hairuo smiled kindly.

In the morning, when the grade director reminded her that it was Class 8’s turn to have a student representative give a speech next week, the first name that popped into her mind was “Qin Xiaoxiao.” Qin Xiaoxiao had a good image and a pleasant voice, and coupled with her significant academic progress over the past two months, she seemed like a suitable choice for the speech.

“Teacher, what’s the theme?”

Guo Hairuo explained the theme and gave her a few key points to focus on.

At the end, the conversation shifted to Qin Xiaoxiao’s grades. Guo Hairuo encouraged her, “You still need to work harder on biology and Chinese to make up for these weak areas.”

Biology and Chinese… Even in this different world, they were still the subjects dragging her down.

Qin Xiaoxiao wrote these two subjects in red pen on the front page of her daily planner, determined to conquer these two pesky little demons.

Seeing this, Yang Min followed suit, mimicking Qin Xiaoxiao’s method. Except for Chinese, all five of her other subjects made it onto her “red list.”

“What are you doing?” asked Tao Lei, who couldn’t help but turn around frequently.

“Setting goals, of course. This is the ladder to success.”

Tao Lei read aloud the notes on Yang Min’s notebook: “Next monthly exam, must improve math, English… Wow, this is ambitious. You’re planning to increase each subject by over 20 points in just one month?”

Yang Min: “Yep.”

Tao Lei: “Could you maybe set a slightly more realistic goal?”

“Don’t even think about holding me back from improving,” Yang Min pouted. “I’m telling you, it won’t work! You negative influence!”

Tao Lei’s mouth twitched. “Fine, I’m a negative influence. Let’s see how many days you can stick to this ‘progress.’“

“Why do you care? With the influence of my self-disciplined deskmate, I’m bound to keep improving.”

Tao Lei couldn’t help but glance at Qin Xiaoxiao.

She was completely unfazed by their conversation, focused on solving her problems. Her profile was so beautiful it looked like a painting.

Yang Min noticed Tao Lei’s gaze seemingly glued to her deskmate’s face, and she felt a surge of irritation—similar to the feeling of a pig eyeing the cabbage in her own yard. “What are you staring at? Jealous that I have such a great deskmate?”

Tao Lei, feeling a bit awkward, stammered, “I…”

“Turn back, turn back! Focus on your own studies,” Yang Min ordered.

“You’re always turning around to talk to me. Anyone who didn’t know better would think you had a crush on me.”

“In your dreams!” Tao Lei retorted with a look of disdain and promptly turned back around.

Noticing that there were only a couple of minutes left in the self-study period, Yang Min leaned closer to her deskmate. “Xiao ah, want to grab a late-night snack later?”

“I’m not going,” Qin Xiaoxiao softly declined. She was still thinking about how to discreetly return the phone to Ji Wenchen as soon as possible.