Chapter 25

Afternoon dismissal arrived, and everyone in the classroom went out to grab lunch.

Ye Chunxi looked at the problem set, her expression cracking slightly.

During class, having nothing better to do, she had thought of flipping through it to try a few problems, only to find that she knew how to solve every single one of them.

She had gone through several sets in a row, and upon checking the answer key, she discovered they were all correct.

Ye Chunxi was left speechless.

Did this mean she had already completed the high school curriculum long ago?

A sudden urge to drop out of school arose.

A notification chime rang out. Ye Chunxi tilted her head to glance at WeChat; it was a message from Housekeeper Kong.

[Miss Ye, are the school meals to your liking?]

Ye Chunxi checked the time and realized it was already nearly ten minutes past dismissal.

If she went to the cafeteria now, there wouldn't even be a place in line.

Casually closing the completed problem set, Ye Chunxi picked up her phone and typed: [I'm not planning to eat at the cafeteria.]

The other person replied quickly: [Shall I send someone to pick you up to eat at home? Or have it delivered to you?]

It was obvious that Housekeeper Kong was treating her like a child.

[No need, there's a snack street near the school.]

While the food at Deer Garden was indeed delicious, making the round trip took far too much time.

[Miss Ye, outside food is unhealthy.]

Housekeeper Kong tried earnestly to persuade her, but Ye Chunxi remained unimpressed: [It's delicious.]

Housekeeper Kong: "..."

She was somewhat picky with her food, yet the things she picked were always the unhealthiest ones.

Since she was far away, Housekeeper Kong couldn't control her and could only yield.

Ye Chunxi put away her phone and walked toward the school gate.

Because she had come out late, there were fewer people around.

There were many small stalls around Hengde, and about a block away was the snack street, where most students chose to go for meals.

...

At the entrance of the snack street, a group of people was walking out.

They were young, dressed in outfits more eccentric than the last, and a few even had dyed hair, looking very much like local delinquents.

The girl in the center had straight black hair reaching her waist, with two strands dyed pink.

She wore a black and pink motorcycle jacket, her slender waist occasionally catching the eye.

Standing at one meter seventy, she radiated a powerful aura, causing nearby passersby to instinctively keep their distance.

A lackey beside her tugged at the girl's sleeve, "Sister Qiang, look at that girl over there. She is seriously gorgeous."

Gu Qiang followed the direction of his hand.

The girl was wearing a Hengde school uniform jacket, holding a skewer of candied hawthorns, eating as she walked forward.

Sunlight fluttered down, landing on her porcelain-like skin, wrapping around her in a faint fluorescent glow and coating her in a shimmering halo.

Effortlessly beautiful.

Gu Qiang's expression flickered, and she turned her head sideways. "Since when did our school have someone like that?"

The targeted lackey shook his head. "With a pretty girl like that, there's no way I wouldn't know. She must have transferred in."

Another lackey chimed in repeatedly, "I heard a new transfer student joined the Elite Class today. That's probably the pretty girl right there."

"The Elite Class actually has a transfer student? That's really rare."

The other lackey also found it strange.

Competition in the Elite Class was fierce, and the people inside were all arrogant and looked down on poor students like them.

Watching Ye Chunxi enter a restaurant, Gu Qiang shifted her steps and followed.

Before the lackeys could react, they hurriedly chased after her, asking, "Sister Qiang, where are you going?"

Gu Qiang: "To eat."

The lackies were dumbfounded.

Hadn't Sister Qiang just finished eating?

Only after entering the restaurant did they realize Sister Qiang hadn't come to eat at all; she was clearly captivated by the transfer student's beauty.

Ye Chunxi finished ordering and found a seat to sit down.

Gu Qiang kicked the lackey closest to her. "What are you standing around for? Go order!"

"Huh?"

They had already eaten.

Yet Gu Qiang had already sat down at the table next to Ye Chunxi and completely ignored him.

With no other choice, the lackey bit the bullet and ordered a single-serving meal.

Ye Chunxi lowered her head slightly, her slender, fair fingers tapping lightly on the phone screen.

They were impeccably clean, radiating a faint glow with a delicate flush at the fingertips.

Bluetooth earphones hung in her ears, isolating her from the outside world.

Her temperament was as cold as snow on a mountain peak, yet she possessed a face with the hypnotic, alluring power of an exquisite rose.

At this striking contrast, Gu Qiang fell for it at a single glance.

She turned her head to look at the lackey who had mentioned the transfer student earlier.

"Do you know her name?"

The lackey, who had also been dazed by the sight, snapped back to reality, stammering for a moment before replying, "Seems her surname is Ye, and her given name is something like Xi?"

Gu Qiang's expression changed instantly. "Such a pretty girl, and you can't even remember her name?"

The lackey lowered his head, his eyes unable to stop glancing toward Ye Chunxi.

Infuriated, Gu Qiang kicked him again. "Go and ask!"

Upon second thought, she stopped the eager lackey.

"Forget it, what if you scare the little sister? I'll go."

The lackey glanced at her pink eyeliner and the heart painted on her cheekbone: "..."

Sister Qiang, it seems like you look much more like the bad guy here—I didn't even dye my hair!

Gu Qiang generously sat down opposite Ye Chunxi, her pretty eyes staring straight at her.

"Little sister, are you a student at Hengde? What's your name?"

Ye Chunxi lifted her gaze.

She removed her earphones, completely unfazed by the other's intense gaze.

Two seconds later, she offered a compliment: "I like your eyeliner."

That kind of makeup was hard to pull off; mishandled, it easily ended up looking like a tacky subculture style.

Yet the person before her was different, adding a layer of otherworldly enchantment to her cool, edgy vibe, striking straight at the heart with its allure.

Praised by a pretty girl, Gu Qiang blossomed with joy and contentedly touched the corner of her eye, "I think so too."

The lackey watching from the side: "???"

Sister Qiang, how did you get wrapped around her finger just like that?!

Having lost her wits from Ye Chunxi's praise and about to drown in her own vanity, Gu Qiang suddenly remembered the purpose of her visit.

"Not only is little sister pretty, but your mouth is also quite sweet."

Ye Chunxi smiled and answered her previous question: "My name is Ye Chunxi. I just transferred to Hengde today."

Gu Qiang confirmed her identity. "The transfer student in the Elite Class?"

Ye Chunxi nodded.

The people in the Elite Class were prideful of their talent, and Gu Qiang had no good impression of them.

Yet toward Ye Chunxi right before her, she simply couldn't muster any dislike.

After all, who wouldn't like beautiful things?

The waiter delivered the food, steam rising from the rice noodles, making her lovely deer-like eyes moist and deeply touching as they caught the vapor.

Ye Chunxi took a sip of the soup, raised her gaze inadvertently, and found that Gu Qiang was still looking at her.

Even upon being caught, she remained just as she was, without the slightest concealment.

It was easy to tell she was a girl of genuine character.

She also looked quite young, still at the age of being in school.

Tilting her head, she noticed that two of the lackys in the group wore school badges on their chests.

Ye Chunxi looked at her: "You're a student at Hengde too."

It was a statement of certainty.

Gu Qiang nodded, generously introducing herself: "I'm Gu Qiang, from Class Seventeen."

Ye Chunxi had just arrived and wasn't clear about Hengde's class divisions.

However, judging by Gu Qiang's attire, she was either in a specialized arts class or a class for delinquent students.

She felt indifferent to this, only thinking that the girl before her was easy to get along with.

Ye Chunxi's gaze landed on her motorcycle jacket, and she spoke thoughtfully, "You know how to ride a motorcycle?"

Gu Qiang could tell that Ye Chunxi was interested in motorcycles.