Chapter 6

The stepmother and the homeroom teacher exchanged glances.

The homeroom teacher angrily called out to the physics teacher next door, “Xiufen! I know your class’s Ye Muwan is a good student, but that doesn’t mean you can wrongly accuse our class monitor and Jiang Zhiyu! Even if her academics are a bit lacking, her mother is still here—how could you say something like that?”

The physics teacher taught Jiang Zhiyu’s class and also served as the homeroom teacher for Class 6 of Senior Grade 3. In the usual teacher chatter in the office, Ye Muwan was often the one most praised.

Normally, the physics teacher would defend her students passionately and argue with their homeroom teacher, insisting her students couldn’t be wrong. But Jiang Zhiyu’s mother was present.

Moreover, all the teachers in the office had heard Ye Muwan’s accusations, so there was no way to defend her student, even if she wanted to.

Reluctantly, she muttered, “Scored barely over 20 in physics. If only she put that sharp tongue to use in studying.”

“Thank you for the physics teacher’s guidance. In the future, I’ll strive to study hard like Class 6’s monitor and improve myself,” Jiang Zhiyu said with a faint smile on her lips.

The homeroom teacher smiled as well, secretly sighing to herself. She had truly misjudged this child. She used to think Jiang Zhiyu was lifeless and dull, but even when being criticized by another teacher today, she remained calm and composed.

“Mrs. Jiang, I’m sorry for troubling you today. I really don’t think Zhiyu would be involved in early romance. Sorry to have worried you,” the homeroom teacher said with a cheerful smile as she saw the stepmother out of the office. She then turned to Jiang Zhiyu and said, “Hurry back to class.”

Jiang Zhiyu hummed a little tune as she returned to her classroom.

She arrived just as the fourth period was starting. The Chinese teacher was handing out the graded monthly exam papers.

While the teacher was writing on the board, Jiang Zhiyu quickly slipped into her seat and sat properly.

“For question six, The Epang Palace Rhapsody! Didn’t I already tell you this would be on the test? Why did so many of you still get it wrong? Don’t tell me you can’t even recite it?” The Chinese teacher was fuming, filled with rage. “You are the worst batch of students I’ve ever taught!”

The classroom was dead silent. The Chinese teacher swept her gaze over the students and continued, “Starting now, we’ll do random recitations—starting from the first student in the first row. Anyone who can’t do it will have to copy it 50 times!”

One by one, the students stood up and recited. Most managed to do it, only a few failed. The Chinese teacher harshly scolded those who couldn’t.

When it was He Shiduo’s turn, he smoothly recited the basic passage. But what he was really looking forward to was seeing Jiang Zhiyu get punished. This was a basic passage after all—someone like her, an academic disaster, surely wouldn’t know it.

But The Epang Palace Rhapsody was ingrained deep in Jiang Zhiyu’s memory. Even after so many years, she could never forget it—in fact, the memory only became stronger.

She stood up. The whole class seemed ready to enjoy the show. Based on past experiences, if she failed to recite, she’d usually end up crying with tears and snot bubbling out of her nose, which everyone found both pitiful and funny.

“Six kings have perished, and the world is united under one; the Shu Mountains collapsed, and the Epang Palace rose. It stretched over three hundred li, blocking out the sky and sun. It was built north of Mount Li and bent westward, directly reaching Xianyang…”

Word for word, Jiang Zhiyu slowly recited the classical Chinese text, even pausing at the right places. Her mastery suggested not only memorization but full understanding.

Although it was just a basic text, every student and teacher in the room was dumbfounded.

What’s going on?

Did the class slacker suddenly have a breakthrough?

The student who used to struggle to even utter a full sentence could now fluently recite an entire passage?

The Chinese teacher adjusted her black-framed glasses and said, “Jiang Zhiyu, come up to the front and recite it on the platform.”

The students all got the hint. The teacher probably suspected that she had read it off something hidden.

So Jiang Zhiyu went up and confidently recited The Epang Palace Rhapsody once more.

Seeing the teacher’s jaw practically hit the floor, Jiang Zhiyu added, “Teacher, feel free to test me further.”

“Make her translate the whole passage!” a surprised male student shouted from below.

The teacher nodded and gestured for her to do so.

“I won’t. You only said we had to recite it to avoid punishment. Now you’re adding a translation?” Jiang Zhiyu said.

In truth, she could translate it, but as someone with the reputation of a failing student, just reciting the whole passage was already shocking enough. If she suddenly did the translation too, it would only raise more suspicion.

“Mhm, Jiang Zhiyu has already done well enough. Let her pass,” the teacher growled as she glared at a few students who usually did a bit better than Jiang Zhiyu but couldn’t recite it properly. She was furious.

“Thank you, teacher! I’ll work on memorizing the translation too!” Jiang Zhiyu quickly added, seizing the opportunity to make a good impression.

Even though Jiang Zhiyu used to do terribly in school, her performance today slightly improved her image in the teacher’s mind.

Just slightly though. After all, her previous grades were still there for all to see—who knew if today’s act wasn’t just her pretending to change after getting her parent called in?

As she walked back to her seat, Lin Yeci, who usually kept to himself, subtly gave her a thumbs up.

Jiang Zhiyu noticed but quickly looked away, pretending not to see, and returned to her seat.

The next few days went by peacefully. Maybe she had gotten used to the isolation, but it didn’t feel so bad—after all, she still had one good friend: Zhang Qiangyi.

Tomorrow was the weekend, and Zhang Qiangyi invited her to try an escape room. She agreed without hesitation. In her past life, going out for fun wasn’t even an option—going out itself was a luxury.

She put on a face mask and changed into a dress her stepmother had bought her a long time ago but had never worn.

Looking in the mirror, her acne had finally calmed down after days of skincare. There were still marks, but it was starting to look like healthy skin again.

Since she was going out, she applied some BB cream to hide her blemishes, tied her hair up in a bun, and looked quite fresh and pretty.

As soon as she met Zhang Qiangyi, she was showered with compliments. When they arrived at the escape room, Jiang Zhiyu realized it was a horror-themed one.

They shared a session with three boys. One was super skinny, one super chubby—like two extremes—and the third, Jiang Zhiyu mentally dubbed him “little big brother,” since he was pretty handsome.

But not in the same way as Lin Yeci. Lin Yeci was refined and elegant, while this boy had a roguish charm and sunny vibe.

He walked up and playfully patted Jiang Zhiyu on the shoulder. “Hey pretty girl, with arms and legs that small, can you handle such a scary escape room?”

Jiang Zhiyu took a step back, clearly startled by his boldness. Seriously? Scary? She had seen real ghosts when she died—how could she be scared of something made up?