At noon, Chu Tao went to find Chu Xingning for lunch, but Chu Xingning said he wasn’t feeling well and wanted to go back to the dorm to lie down.

The infirmary was closed at the moment, so Chu Tao had no choice but to take Chu Xingning back to the dorm and then head back to the cafeteria, where he packed a bowl of eight-treasure porridge for him.

He even thoughtfully added some rock candy to the porridge.

Both Chu Tao and Chu Xingning loved sweet things, probably because their mother, Song Mian, craved sweets when she was pregnant. She would eat a can of canned peaches every day, and the pheromone they gave off had a sweet scent as well.

He and his brother had carried on this habit.

Chu Xingning was curled up in bed, his eyes closed, with hair falling over his forehead and his lips a little pale.

The eight-treasure porridge had a purplish color, with soft red beans and lotus seeds, topped with a layer of shiny rice paste.

Transparent silver ear fungus hung on the spoon, shaking slightly, while the sweetness of the rock candy wafted up with the steam, making it tempting.

Chu Tao gently blew on the porridge and held the spoon near Chu Xingning’s ear. He softly said, “Brother, do you want to have a bite?”

Chu Xingning wrinkled his nose, sniffed, and shook his head lightly, his voice a bit hoarse. “I’m not hungry, just leave it for now.”

Chu Tao reached out and touched his forehead.

It wasn’t hot, so it didn’t seem like he had a fever.

Chu Xingning wearily opened his eyes, leaving three or four deep lines on his eyelids.

He murmured, “I’m fine, I’ll just sleep for a bit.”

Chu Tao placed the porridge on his desk, then went to the water room to get hot water, and asked the dorm manager for some medicine for stomachaches, placing it on Chu Xingning’s desk.

After finishing all his tasks, he returned to the cafeteria, but most of the meat dishes were already gone.

The cafeteria opened at 11:30 a.m. and closed at 1:00 p.m. The most plentiful lunch boxes would be taken within the first half hour. If you didn’t get them, you’d have to settle for things like meat sandwiches or pancakes.

There used to be a second cafeteria with more variety, but it was under renovation during the winter break and hadn’t finished yet.

Chu Tao wasn’t picky about food.

He took two liang of rice and picked two vegetable dishes, eating them quickly.

He didn’t really taste much, but at least it filled his stomach.

After eating, he didn’t return to the dorm to sleep. Instead, he went directly to the classroom.

He wanted to catch up on the math lesson he missed during the lunch break.

As soon as he entered the classroom, a faint sour smell greeted him.

He hadn’t noticed it during class, but with over forty people crowded together breathing, the air became quite murky.

Chu Tao tightened his school uniform and opened the window to let in some fresh air.

The sunlight fell on his hand, bringing some warmth.

The edges of a brown flowerpot were covered in a golden light.

It had warmed up a little at noon, but it was still a bit chilly if you stayed in one spot too long.

With the class empty, the Carbondioxide level was low, and the only heat came from his own body.

Chu Tao sniffed, rubbed his cold fingers, and drew a line under a point in his reference book.

When Yang Liu walked in with the exam papers, Chu Tao had just finished the practice exercises from his guidebook.

Yang Liu glanced at him and said meaningfully, “Pang Cai has been picked up by his parents.”

Chu Tao looked up, a little stunned, then suddenly asked, “Did I cause trouble?”

Yang Liu hesitated for a moment and said, “I’ve already explained the situation to his parents. It wasn’t entirely your fault.”

Chu Tao fluttered his eyelashes, opened his lips slightly, and replied in a calm but polite tone, “Thank you.”

Yang Liu sighed, “Chu Tao, since you don’t plan on changing classes, why don’t you take the position of class monitor?”

Class Three hadn’t elected a formal class leader(class representative/class president) yet, only a temporary class representative who helped the teacher collect homework.

Yang Liu felt that no one was trustworthy, so she didn’t delegate any authority.

The reason she was willing to let Chu Tao be the class monitor was that she believed he was a good student. She also realized he was quite capable and could handle conflicts well, which was essential for this class.

Other classes wouldn’t consider this as a requirement for a class monitor, but it was very necessary for Class Three.

Chu Tao felt a little embarrassed.

He didn’t think of himself as particularly responsible, and he doubted the rebellious kids would listen to him.

Yang Liu continued, “It will also help the teachers get to know you better. You know, teachers have to handle two or three classes, and they can’t give equal attention to every student.”

Naturally, the students who left an impression on the teachers would receive more attention.

For example, the class monitor would be remembered by all the teachers.

This was a bit tempting for Chu Tao.

The environment was already bad, and if he wanted to stay untainted, he needed a few showers of good fortune to cleanse him from time to time.

“Okay, but I’ve never done it before. I’m afraid I won’t do well.”

He had always been in the same class as Chu Xingning, and the teachers mostly favored the good-looking, good-performing Chu Xingning. He had always been the class monitor.

Yang Liu smiled, “You won’t be worse than anyone else.”

At 2:00 p.m., the formal lessons began. Once everyone had arrived, Yang Liu handed out the Chinese exam papers to Chu Tao.

“Class monitor, please distribute them.”

The noisy class instantly quieted down at Yang Liu’s words.

When Chu Tao took the papers, he exchanged a glance with Yang Liu.

Yang Liu’s announcement was so natural, without even giving the class a chance to object. She directly gave Chu Tao the title of class monitor.

The class finally reacted and began whispering.

“Class monitor? What did I just hear? Our class actually has a class monitor now?”

“Teacher Yang is so smooth, so did she specially bring Chu Tao from the normal class?”

“He just had just fought erlier and suddenly he became class monitor. It really fits our class’s values. I support this.”

“He’s the class monitor now, doesn’t that put him over Shen Ge? Who’s going to listen to whom from now on?”

“Idiot, the class monitor listens to the head teacher, not Shen Ge.”

“Sounds good, one takes care of the inside, the other takes care of the outside, AA pair, no one’s overworked.”

Fang Sheng winked at Jiang She: “A She, Teacher Yang’s move was pretty sly, huh? He deliberately let you two handle your conflict yesterday and saw you tolerated him pretty well. Today, he immediately made him the class monitor. Can you stand it?”

Jiang She casually twirled a pen between his fingers and replied indifferently,” I won’t offend others unless they offend me.”

Fang Sheng pressed on: “What if Chu Tao provokes you?”

Jiang She paused for a moment, his hand stopping mid-motion.

He imagined the possibility Fang Sheng was talking about, and found that his heart tingled a little.

A cold voice came from behind: “I’m not interested, I don’t have the mood.”

Chu Tao folded Fang Sheng’s exam paper and threw it to him before turning to pass out the next one.

Fang Sheng only scored a miserable 38 points.

Scoring 38 points in the Chinese exam was quite an accomplishment, actually.

The white paper was filled with glaring red marks, but when Chu Tao graded the papers, he wrote down the correct answer, so every paper had his elegant and neat handwriting.

Fang Sheng flipped through the paper again: “Damn, this is too honest. You wrote more than I did answering the questions, and it actually looks nice.”

Jiang She turned his head slightly and glanced at Fang Sheng’s paper.

Next to Fang Sheng’s messy handwriting, Chu Tao had neatly written a few lines of small text, the style just like his own—slim but full of character, calm yet powerful.

Jiang She had seen plenty of handwriting, including the calligraphy of his father, which was praised by many.

He thought the 31,000-yuan calligraphy by Jiang Qifeng wasn’t even as beautiful as half of what Chu Tao wrote.

Jiang She’s paper had been soaked in cola, so it wasn’t in this batch of papers for grading.

Although he was given a new paper afterward, he had stuffed it in his desk and had no intention of writing on it.

Fang Sheng carefully folded his paper and playfully said: “The new class monitor is giving everyone a big gift—his handwritten work.”

After Chu Tao finished handing out the papers and returned to his seat, he vaguely heard Fang Sheng’s words.

But he pretended not to hear, taking out his pen and spreading out his own paper, which was filled to the brim, waiting for Yang Liu to start the lesson.

Someone knocked on his shoulder with their knuckles.

Chu Tao raised his eyelids and glanced back.

Jiang She was lazily leaning on the desk, his chin resting on his arm, so close to him.

Chu Tao could almost feel his breath lightly brushing his neck, carrying a faint mint scent.

Chu Tao tensed his neck, his Adam’s apple lightly shifting.

He felt a slight tingling where his Omega gland should be at the back of his neck, that sensation seemingly traveling along his nerves to his limbs.

He forced himself to stay calm: “Is there something wrong?”

A brand-new exam paper was thrown onto his desk, trembling as it unfurled. The only words on the paper were ‘Jiang She’ written elegantly in the name section.

Jiang She smiled lazily, his voice deep: “Class monitor, can you grade my paper too?”

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Author’s note: Jiang She: Damn, I’m the only one without my wife who wrote in my paper.