Chapter 27

A sudden rain shower had washed the sky clear and pristine.

Drops of water still clung to the tips of the white orchid tree leaves by the roadside. The hibiscus and night-blooming jasmine in the neighborhood were in full bloom, vibrant and lively.

Qin Xiaoxiao followed behind her father and mother, admiring the lush greenery around them.

At the beginning of July, Qin Xiaoxiao’s father received a small promotion. Taking advantage of their daughter’s two-week holiday at home, Qin Xiaoxiao’s parents decided to dine out as a family of three. It was also to celebrate their daughter’s excellent performance in the final exams, where she ranked among the top five in her class.

“Xiaoxiao,” Feng Xiuling noticed her daughter lagging behind and turned back with a smile, calling out to her, “Hurry up!”

Qin Feng also stopped with a smile, waiting for his daughter.

“Alright.” Qin Xiaoxiao quickened her steps to catch up.

The family of three walked forward, chatting and laughing along the way.

Life was steadily and quietly getting better like this—pretty nice, Qin Xiaoxiao thought to herself.

…

The end of the final exams didn’t mean the start of the holiday.

For the soon-to-be final year students at Second High School, supplementary classes would continue until early August.

Without air conditioning, the classroom remained hot most of the time, with the fans whirring from morning till night.

Another Chinese class was underway, and the teacher stood sideways at the blackboard writing notes.

“Oh my, Mr. Wu’s back is completely soaked,” Yang Min whispered in amazement. “It must be so hot, yet he’s still teaching so diligently!”

Qin Xiaoxiao was taking notes and replied, “Then why aren’t you paying attention in class?”

“I just can’t,” Yang Min said, grabbing her fan and shaking it. “Summer isn’t meant for studying; I just can’t calm my mind.”

“Yang Min!” The Chinese teacher turned around with a stern expression.

“What are your thoughts? Muttering back there—why don’t you stand up and share them with the class?”

Yang Min: “…” So unlucky, caught by Mr. Wu again.

Putting on an earnest expression, she rattled off a string of hastily made-up thoughts about the text. However, she still failed to earn Mr. Wu’s forgiveness and was “invited” to stand for the rest of the class.

Qin Xiaoxiao cast her a sympathetic glance before refocusing on the lesson.

Not long after the bell rang, someone called out, “Qin Xiaoxiao, someone’s here to see you,” from near the back door.

It was Feng Maoxing again.

Several of the soon-to-be second-year classes had also moved into this teaching building, including Feng Maoxing’s class. As a result, he frequently came upstairs to look for his cousin, whether he had a reason or not. Before long, the entire floor knew about it—Qin Xiaoxiao had a younger cousin in the grade below named Feng Maoxing.

Qin Xiaoxiao got up and went out.

Yang Min propped her face in her hands, gazing outside, relieved that she had sat down as soon as the bell rang, sparing herself the embarrassment of being seen standing in punishment by the junior student.

Ah, the junior student was as sunny and adorable as ever today.

The sunny and adorable Feng Maoxing asked his cousin, “What do you want to eat tonight?”

“You’re already thinking about dinner when we haven’t even had lunch?”

“No, my mom said she’s bringing food over tonight and asked what we’d like to eat.”

“Oh.” Qin Xiaoxiao casually mentioned a simple dish.

“That’s it?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright then. I’ll text my mom later.”

Feng Maoxing scratched the back of his head and hesitated before saying, “Xiaoxiao, can you promise me something?”

The age gap between them was small, so unless they were in front of their elders, he never addressed Qin Xiaoxiao as “Cousin.” Before, he used her full name, “Qin Xiaoxiao,” but recently, after hearing Yang Min call her “Xiaoxiao,” he had unconsciously started calling her that as well, finding it surprisingly natural.

“You tell me what it is first.”

“Uh… if my mom asks you whether I’m still on the basketball team or playing basketball, just say no.”

Qin Xiaoxiao gave her younger cousin a sidelong glance. Not long ago, he had been boasting about how, after Jiang Zhousi graduated, he was exceptionally promoted to vice-captain.

“And also,” Feng Maoxing said awkwardly, “I lied about my final exam results and told her I ranked in the top 40 of the class… You, uh, you can’t let it slip. If my mom asks, help me cover it up a bit.”

Qin Xiaoxiao slowly shook her head.

“Xiaoxiao,” Feng Maoxing grabbed his cousin’s shoulders, his face full of grievance as he pleaded, “Xiaoxiao, please promise me…”

“What if Uncle and Aunt call the teacher to ask? Won’t it all be exposed?”

“They won’t. They’re not the type to like dealing with teachers. Besides, our homeroom teacher changed their number last month, and I didn’t tell them.”

Qin Xiaoxiao: “…”

Feng Maoxing flashed his little tiger-like teeth in a grin. “If you’re not saying anything, I’ll take that as your silent agreement.”

Eventually, Feng Maoxing’s parents still found out the truth. The reason was simple—Qin Xiaoxiao wasn’t good at lying. Even when trying to cooperate with someone else’s lie, her unnatural demeanor would always give her away.

Feng Zhenting took matters into his own hands and gave his disobedient, lying son a good beating, ordering him to spend more time learning from his cousin.

Thus, during Qin Xiaoxiao’s one-month holiday after her supplementary classes ended, apart from reading at home and occasionally helping Feng Xiuling with chores, she spent most of her time studying with her cousin Feng Maoxing, helping him catch up on lessons—while also reinforcing her own knowledge from her first year.

The sweltering August quickly passed.

In September, Qin Xiaoxiao officially became a final year student.

There was no warm-up. On the very first day of school, during the first class, the math teacher handed out test papers for Class 8 to complete on the spot.

Despite the wailing and complaining from the newly minted final-year students, the math teacher smiled cheerfully, calling it, “Testing how much knowledge you retained after a month of vacation.”

“Nothing’s left, it’s all evaporated…” Yang Min muttered, propping her chin on her hand.

After rurning her head, Yang Min saw that her deskmate was already nearly done with the multiple-choice questions. Reluctantly, she lowered her head and started writing.

As she wrote, her mind drifted away from the numbers and formulas. Upon hearing some commotion, she looked up and saw the homeroom teacher speaking softly with the math teacher at the podium. Then, the homeroom teacher nodded slightly toward the door.

A thin boy wearing glasses walked in through the front door of the classroom.

Yang Min’s eyes widened. He looked so familiar!

This… this seemed to be the handsome guy who had struck up a conversation with Xiaoxiao at the bookstore during the May Day holiday!

“Xiao ah, look at the podium,” Yang Min called to her deskmate.

Guo Hairuo cleared her throat. “Class, put down your pens for a moment.”

“This is our new classmate. Starting today, he’ll be a part of Class 8. Now,” she looked at the new student, “introduce yourself.”

“Hello, everyone. My name is Yan Yangcan, the ‘Yangcan’ from ‘sunny and brilliant.’ I’m very happy,” Yan Yangcan’s gaze swept across the classroom as he flashed a smile as warm as spring sunshine, “very happy to join this class.”

Qin Xiaoxiao froze when her gaze met Yan Yangcan’s. In the original storyline, it was the female lead Bi Chun who transferred to Second High School first, followed by the second male lead.

Now that the second male lead had transferred in so soon, the timeline seemed completely off.

The arrival of such a handsome guy in the class made the majority of the girls in Class 8 quite excited. Although the school bully who transferred last semester was incredibly good-looking, rumors about his bad temper and fierce fights kept them from daring to even look at him too much. This new transfer student named “Yan Yangcan,” however, was entirely different—his appearance screamed refined and good-natured.

Yan Yangcan stood at the front of the classroom, waiting for the homeroom teacher to assign him a seat, while a large number of girls below the podium gazed at him.

There were two vacant seats in the classroom: one in the middle row, left empty when a girl transferred out recently, and the other at Ji Wenchen’s desk, which had been unoccupied for a while.

Guo Hairuo planned to have Yan Yangcan sit in the middle row, but the chair there had been moved elsewhere for use. She instructed a boy from the first group to fetch a chair.

Guo Hairuo’s implicit message was for the boy to simply grab the chair from Ji Wenchen’s desk. However, after glancing in that direction, the boy hesitated, shrank his neck, and chose to take the longer route downstairs to the storage room to fetch one instead.

Yan Yangcan stood there with a scholarly smile, as graceful as a bamboo stalk.

“Why do you think he transferred to Second High? And to our class, no less—what a coincidence…” Yang Min muttered, then turned to her deskmate, only to find her staring absentmindedly at the newly transferred handsome guy.

This was truly a rare sight!

In the back-right corner of the classroom, Ji Wenchen, who had been woken up by the commotion, opened his sleepy phoenix eyes.

Out of habit, his gaze immediately sought out Qin Xiaoxiao.

He saw her slightly tilting her face up, staring at the new guy on the podium.

Without even blinking.

Ji Wenchen’s phoenix eyes slowly narrowed, his lips pressing into a thin line.

…

The excitement among the girls in Class 8 over having “a new handsome guy in the class” hadn’t yet worn off when, two days later, another transfer student arrived.

This time, it was a petite girl with short hair and a round face—Bi Chun.

“She actually transferred to our Second High School. I wonder if she managed to deliver that gift to the school bully.”

“I heard the girls in dorm 207 aren’t too welcoming to her,” Yang Min casually gossiped before the evening self-study session, not in the mood to study.

Qin Xiaoxiao’s hand paused mid-calculation.

Dorm 207 was where the girl who had been caught stealing numerous electronic devices used to stay. After she transferred out, a bed in the dorm became vacant.

“Why?” Qin Xiaoxiao wondered. In the original story, the female lead seemed to have good rapport with both the girls and boys after transferring in…

“Well, someone did something disgusting and immediately transferred to another school,” Yang Min said matter-of-factly. “So, naturally, everyone—especially the girls in dorm 207—thinks this Bi Chun probably transferred because she did something bad at her old school.”

Qin Xiaoxiao frowned in disapproval. “Couldn’t it be because of family reasons?” In the original story, it was mentioned that Bi Chun’s parents got busier with work this year, so they sent her to Second High School, which was close to her aunt’s house.

“My dear,” Yang Min scoffed, “after something like that happened in the dorm, it’s normal for them to have concerns and reservations. You can’t expect them to be like you—seeing everyone as a good classmate.”

Qin Xiaoxiao didn’t recall the novel mentioning any incident of phones being stolen at Second High. She had thought it was a trivial matter. However, now Bi Chun hadn’t moved into the mixed dormitory with students from Class 8 and other classes as in the original text, but instead into dorm 207…

Could it be that this small change had triggered subsequent deviations in the storyline?

Yang Min was still muttering, “I kind of agree… If someone hadn’t done something that made it impossible to stay, who would just up and switch schools for no reason?”

Qin Xiaoxiao paused for a moment. “Then what about Yan Yangcan?” She hadn’t been paying special attention, but it was obvious that many girls in the class were quite friendly toward him.

“How is that the same? Yan Yangcan is so handsome,” Yang Min exclaimed, wide-eyed. “And I asked around—turns out he was already quite well-known at First High. Good grades, great personality, and a solid family background. He must’ve transferred here to focus on studying better!”

“…Really?” For better studying, he transferred to a regular class?

“Of course!”

Qin Xiaoxiao chuckled softly and lowered her eyes, continuing with her calculations.

No matter what, the female lead had transferred in and become desk mates with the male lead, so the storyline was still roughly following the main plotline for now.