The weekend flew by especially fast, and Liu Sizhen hadn’t even recovered before it was time to go back to school. On Monday morning, he felt particularly out of it during the early study session, but it was normal to still be in weekend mode after two days of fun.

The teacher on the platform just casually reminded them to focus…

When Lu Xu came over to find him, he was surprised to see Liu Sizhen actually reading an English book. “What’s going on, Liu? Are you planning to be a good student now?”

“…” Liu Sizhen rolled his eyes at him without saying a word.

As Lu Xu kept talking, he noticed the person sitting next to Liu Sizhen, who was holding a small notebook, seemingly marking something.

“Wait… When did you guys…”

Just two days ago, when he’d been here, Lin Bosheng was still sitting at the desk in front of Liu. And now… he was sitting right next to him? Wasn’t Liu always saying he didn’t like having someone next to him?

What exactly happened over the weekend? Or, to be precise, ever since that incident in the boys’ restroom, something had seemed to accelerate between them. Lu Xu had sensed something was off back then, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. It was just… odd.

Seeing Lu Xu’s gossipy expression, Liu Sizhen let out a cold snort.

“Try saying one more word!”

Yes, Liu Sizhen now indeed had a seatmate.

And that seatmate was Lin Bosheng.

For some reason, after being called to the teacher’s office last time, the male lead had come back, quietly moved his desk, and settled himself next to Liu Sizhen.

So just like that, they’d gone from being seated front-to-back to side-by-side.

Lu Xu didn’t dare say anything more: “Fine, fine, I won’t say anything! I’ll keep quiet, alright?”

Before actually spending time with Liu Sizhen, Lu Xu had heard plenty about him from others—most of it wasn’t very positive. But after getting to know him, Lu Xu found that Liu Sizhen was… actually alright.

He wasn’t nearly as hot-headed or difficult as people made him out to be. In fact, compared to most of the people Lu Xu knew, Liu was pretty easygoing and very generous. Whenever they went out to eat, Liu Sizhen was always the one treating.

As for his temper? As long as you didn’t rub him the wrong way, he was easy to get along with.

“Hey, Liu, that thing I borrowed from your place last time—I’ll bring it back next time, okay? My little cousin took it and hasn’t returned it yet.”

“Oh, got it…”

Liu Sizhen thought about it and vaguely remembered the situation. He was about to say something when Lin Bosheng, who was correcting something beside him, cut in with a cold, unfriendly tone directed at Lu Xu.

“Is there anything else?”

What do you mean “anything else”? It was as if he was saying Lu Xu was interrupting them. And wait a minute… why was Lin Bosheng the one asking that?

Lu Xu immediately shot back.

“What’s it got to do with you?”

“Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing?” Liu Sizhen raised his voice a bit, worried they’d start arguing and also that Lu Xu might pick on the male lead. “If you have something to say, just say it—don’t beat around the bush.”

At that time, the mid-term exams had just passed, and the class teacher was very unhappy with the previous results. With the monthly exam approaching again, the teacher said that those who didn’t meet the standard in the upcoming exam would have to do double the homework.

As a result, more and more students stayed in the classroom during their free time to review, and a tense atmosphere filled the air.

The front row was almost full, with everyone deeply focused on their books, while the back row was still mostly empty. This was normal though—just because people are in the same classroom doesn’t mean they’re in the same world.

Everyone’s progress was different. Some people’s high school years were busy and filled with intense studying, while for others, their high school years were more relaxed.

“Hey, do you still remember those guys we ran into last time?”

As his thoughts wandered, Lu Xu glanced at Lin Boshen, who was sitting next to Liu Sizhen. Lin Boshen casually looked back at him. His expression and gaze were completely different from what they had been a second ago in front of Liu Sizhen, and Liu Sizhen, from his angle, couldn’t see this.

—Shut up.

For the two seconds they stared at each other, Lin Boshen silently warned Lu Xu with a lip movement, his gaze dark and unsettling—far too mature for someone his age.

At first, Lu Xu didn’t remember anything about Lin Boshen, but after this “warning,” he recalled that he didn’t really pay attention to Lin Boshen’s matters—he had only heard about him in passing.

However, since Changning City wasn’t that big, Lu Xu knew a little bit about him. He’d heard that Lin Boshen recently got into some trouble and had started working as a part-time debt collector.

This type of job involved intimidating and threatening people who had borrowed money, sometimes just scaring them, but sometimes getting violent. Lu Xu didn’t know much, but he had heard of cases where people had their fingers cut off…

Lu Xu knew Lin Boshen needed money, but there had at least been some boundaries before. Now, it seemed like he was willing to risk everything for money. After all, such things were not something students like them should be involved in. Back in the early 2000s, the law and order were much worse, and it could have been considered a violent illegal organization.

Meanwhile, Liu Sizhen didn’t notice the exchange between Lu Xu and Lin Boshen. He was still thinking about what Lu Xu had said earlier. Fortunately, it wasn’t long ago, and with just a little reminder, Liu Sizhen recalled what had happened the weekend before.

He didn’t want to think about it because he felt it was embarrassing for a group of high school students to get into a quarrel with some middle school kids. So, he hadn’t actually argued with those kids.

But two or three of those kids couldn’t accept it and decided to call people to settle the score. That led to the incident last Saturday at the arcade when they were harassed by some street punks.

At the time, they hadn’t expected the others to be prepared.

And… outnumbered.

In the chaos, someone pulled out a knife, and the store immediately called the police. Some of the participants were adults, but most of them were minors. The minors were all taken home and scolded by their families.

Only Liu Sizhen was taken home by his family’s butler.

In the end, Liu Sizhen never expected this incident to involve him, and when the situation suddenly turned chaotic, he even asked the system.

[System, I don’t remember this part in the book.]

The system replied after a brief pause.

[Indeed, it wasn’t in the book. It was a sudden incident. Handle it yourself.]

“Talking about this makes me mad. I don’t get it. What does it have to do with me?”

It was clear that the original quarrel was with others, but based on the situation that day, the freshman from two grades below Liu Sizhen seemed to have the most animosity towards… Liu Sizhen.

“Liu, you really don’t know? Didn’t I tell you?”

“Hah! It’s Peng Chen, you know? The new guy who was reprimanded by the whole school last year for arranging a fight with students from another school… Oh, that’s right, you weren’t here yet, so you wouldn’t know…”

Lü Xu saw that Liu Sizhen was still confused and casually dropped a bombshell. “Well, I’ll just say it. His girlfriend wants to break up with him and said she likes you.”

“??????”

“Who’s his girlfriend? Who’s Peng Chen?”

Liu Sizhen’s confusion was genuine, as he usually only paid attention to people and things that interested him and didn’t waste time on anything else.

Even when he found out, he only realized with a start, “Oh, that’s why one of those guys hated me so much… so that’s the reason.”

Lu Xu: “Haven’t you met them before?”

Liu Sizhen: “Have I?”

After Lu Xu’s detailed explanation, Liu Sizhen vaguely remembered that maybe he had seen them a few times, but he hadn’t really paid attention…

To be fair, Liu Sizhen really liked to pay attention to himself. He had a bit of style, wasn’t bad-looking, and even if someone had a strong bias against him, they wouldn’t say anything as harsh as “He’s ugly.”

“So, what about her? That girl’s pretty good-looking. Don’t you have any feelings for her?” Lu Xu said with a knowing smile.

“Go to hell!” Liu Sizhen pushed Lu Xu away.

They chatted for a while more, and before the bell for the next class rang, Lu Xu left the classroom. Before leaving, he still couldn’t resist asking Liu Sizhen about his injury.

“Liu, is your injury okay?”

Liu Sizhen didn’t really react.

However, the person who had been quietly listening to their conversation had a bigger reaction.

“You were hurt? Where?”

The male protagonist anxiously reached for his shirt…

Just as Lu Xu left, the teacher came in.

Regarding the male protagonist’s seat change to sit next to him, it wasn’t just Lu Xu, an outsider, who was surprised; even the other students from Class 11, including Liu Sizhen himself, were all confused.

After all, he had just been resting his head on his desk for a short nap, and when he opened his eyes, he found someone suddenly sitting next to him in the empty space. And that person looked very familiar.

At that moment, Lin Boshen was quietly flipping through his book. After sensing Liu Sizhen’s gaze, he looked up and kept his eyes on his face.

“What are you looking at?”

Lin Boshen was looking at the red mark on Liu Sizhen’s cheek, left by the book pressing on it while he was sleeping. Liu Sizhen hadn’t even noticed it. The mark softened the usually dominant expression he put on, making him appear unexpectedly cute.

It wasn’t anything special, but for some reason, Lin Boshen felt a strange urge to touch it. He thought about their relationship for a moment and managed to stop himself—it was obviously crossing a line.

“Nothing.”

“You’re obviously smiling!”

With the teasing, Liu Sizhen forgot how Lin Boshen ended up sitting next to him.

A few days ago, their homeroom teacher, Mr. Feng, had said that he moved Liu Sizhen’s seat to the back row because he feared that Liu Sizhen might distract other students.

In fact, the real intention behind the arrangement was to keep Liu Sizhen away from Lin Boshen and the others. Liu Sizhen didn’t complain about this plan. During the break, he moved his desk to the back on his own.

There was a trash can in the corner of the back row, and since it had been emptied the day before, it didn’t smell too bad. Liu Sizhen just lay down and took a short nap.

During the break, he watched the male protagonist silently walk to the back row. Without even a hint of hesitation, Lin Boshen calmly told the teacher that he would help Liu Sizhen with his homework.

So, the two of them, who had once been seated in front and back rows, were now desk partners.

Liu Sizhen couldn’t quite understand what Lin Boshen was thinking.

What’s more, Lin Boshen wasn’t just saying it—he actually started helping Liu Sizhen review.

To understand how much Liu Sizhen had grasped, he made up some practice questions for him and even gave him dictation for vocabulary. Even though these were words Liu Sizhen had already learned and could write perfectly, he still picked and chose what to do…

What Lin Boshen didn’t know was that Liu Sizhen felt a little guilty. Before, he had known that pretending to be good at something was difficult, but he hadn’t expected pretending to not know something would be just as hard.

Lin Boshen… noticed.

If Liu Sizhen could handle the advanced vocabulary, then there was no reason for him to be making mistakes with the most basic words. There were some errors where only the last one or two letters were wrong, even though everything before them was correct…

Putting it all together with what he had seen earlier…

Liu Sizhen had no idea that Lin Boshen was staring at his dictation paper. At that moment, he was just wondering why he was taking so long to look at such a small mistake.