The mixed-race boy was wearing a simple windbreaker, with a black pullover underneath, loose sporty casual pants, and a pair of panda-colored sneakers on his feet. It was actually a very youthful, male-high-schooler kind of outfit, but because of this face and these body proportions, he looked exactly like a rip-out-of-a-manga kind of man.

The degree to which Xiang Di was stunned by him was no less than when she had seen Bai Jiangxin at the opening ceremony back in their first year of high school.

The mixed-race boy walked into the office. Chen Jinghua asked him, “Where’s your mom?”

The boy answered, “She just left.”

“Then why didn’t you leave together with your mom?” Chen Jinghua said. “You didn’t even bring a backpack today. You don’t have any books—how are you going to attend class?”

The boy smiled slightly and said, “Didn’t I want to get to know my classmates first, teacher, so I didn’t leave together with my mom.”

Xiang Di was pulled back to reality by his Mandarin with a slight erhua accent. So this really wasn’t a manga world, but reality.

After withdrawing her gaze, she noticed that at some point, quite a few people had crowded at the office doorway to watch the excitement. Liang Qianqian was among them—probably all here for this mixed-race boy.

Xiang Di sized the mixed-race boy up again. His profile was truly outstanding—curled eyelashes, a defined jawline, especially his nose: delicate and three-dimensional. Whether a person’s profile is good-looking basically depends on how their nose is shaped.

As a famous connoisseur of reproductive organs, Xiang Di looked at the boy with approval and appreciation. Mm, a very high nose—one could infer that down there should be quite large as well.

And he was really tall. Xiang Di had to lift her head to see his chin. He was so tall that she couldn’t see the top of his head. When he stood together with Bai Jiangxin, for a moment it was even hard to tell who was taller.

When it came to comparing height, only then did her gaze land on Bai Jiangxin.

Couldn’t tell anyway—both of them were more than a head taller than her.

Although a height difference was very cute, being shorter than others still made one feel somewhat frustrated. How was it that they could grow so tall, while she hadn’t grown an inch since the third year of middle school?

“Perfect, then you can get to know these two classmates first,” Chen Jinghua introduced them one by one. “This is Bai Jiangxin, this is Xiang Di. You’re in the same class as them.”

The mixed-race boy had actually noticed the two people standing in front of Chen Jinghua a long time ago. It was his first time seeing the girl, but he had seen the boy before—when he had just arrived at school, he had already seen him on the honors board.

When Chen Jinghua said they were classmates, the boy immediately greeted them enthusiastically.

“Hello, my name is Zhou Linxiao. From now on we’re classmates, please take care of me.”

The boy first extended his hand toward Bai Jiangxin. Bai Jiangxin couldn’t very well refuse and reached out to shake it.

In just those few seconds of contact, Bai Jiangxin heard him say a sentence in his heart.

【He’s handsome, but not as handsome as me.】

You could hear a hint of arrogance in the tone. Although he hadn’t understood the meaning, Bai Jiangxin instinctively felt that this mixed-race boy wasn’t as sunny and easy to get along with as he appeared on the surface.

Xiang Di was still thinking about which Chinese characters corresponded to this boy’s name when the boy had already extended his hand toward her.

To accommodate her height, the boy bent down gallantly and tilted his head to look at her. “Hello?”

Xiang Di hurriedly reached out her hand. “Hello, hello.”

From the handshake alone, the boy could feel that she was clearly more enthusiastic than Bai Jiangxin. Unlike Bai Jiangxin—rather than calling it a handshake, it was more like a light touch before he quickly let go.

At his fingertips, he felt the temperature of her soft palm. A girl’s frame was very small. Even when she curled her fingers, she couldn’t even wrap around his mere four fingers, let alone his palm, which was several times larger than hers.

Zhou Linxiao smiled. His tone was gentle, and he gave a very sincere evaluation of her. “Your hand is so small.”

Xiang Di let out an “ah.” He had already straightened up and asked Chen Jinghua curiously, “Teacher Chen, are they dating, so you caught them and brought them to the office to talk? I heard my mom say that dating isn’t allowed at our school. Is that true or false?”

Chen Jinghua’s eyes widened. He was still organizing how to say this, yet this kid had already asked it straight out!

No wonder matters between men and women—no matter the era or the age group—were always the gossip everyone was most interested in. Several teachers in the office instantly looked over, and some of the students watching the excitement at the office doorway immediately pricked up their ears as well.

At the door, Ye Minjia patted Liang Qianqian, his tone smug. “I told you there was something going on between those two. Even a foreigner can tell at a glance.”

Chen Jinghua was worrying about how to respond when Xiang Di loudly blurted out first, “No, no, we’re not!”

As if afraid of being misunderstood, even her hands moved along with her words as she clarified, “We just came to see the teacher to ask for help changing seats.”

Xiang Di was panicking to death. Heaven knew it had taken her so much effort just to add Bai Jiangxin on WeChat, and everything had only just started to get better. If, at this moment, people misunderstood and thought she and Bai Jiangxin were dating, she figured he would turn around and put her on the blacklist. From then on she’d be banished to the cold palace, never to come out for the rest of her life.

To make her words more credible, Xiang Di lifted her head and anxiously sought confirmation from Bai Jiangxin. “Right?”

Dear Mother God, please—her husband absolutely must not take his anger out on her just because of a new classmate’s loose mouth, ahhh!

Xiang Di’s anxious appearance as she hurried to clarify in front of the new classmate, as if afraid the new classmate would misunderstand her innocence, made Bai Jiangxin lower his eyes and glance at her. Then he withdrew his gaze expressionlessly, letting out a short, restrained “Mm” through his nose.

After getting Bai Jiangxin’s response, Xiang Di deliberately raised her voice and declared it clearly to everyone.

“There is absolutely nothing between Bai Jiangxin and me. If we were dating, I wouldn’t get into college.”

Xiang Di thought to herself that this should be enough. Bai Jiangxin should be able to receive her pure sincerity now.

As soon as these words came out, Liang Qianqian at the door turned and patted Ye Minjia again, asking in a low voice, “She’s already sworn such a vicious oath—what do you say now?”

Ye Minjia spread his hands. “They really aren’t dating right now. They already broke up.”

Liang Qianqian: “……”

This person always had ten thousand reasons to patch up his own reasoning—simply Mori Kogorō reincarnated.

This kind of curse was simply too vicious for a third-year high school student who had studied bitterly for over ten years. Xiang Di dared to swear it; even the teachers didn’t dare to listen.

Chen Jinghua said, “Alright, alright, it’s not that serious. The college entrance exam is coming up soon, don’t say such inauspicious things.”

With a new classmate present, it wasn’t convenient for Chen Jinghua to ask more at the moment. He could only quickly arrange the matter of the two of them changing seats.

“So have you two discussed it already? You’re sure you want to change seats, right?”

Xiang Di nodded vigorously. “Mm, mm, it’s decided.”

Chen Jinghua looked at Bai Jiangxin again, his tone carrying both probing and reminder. “You’ve thought it through? I’m changing seats just for the two of you this time. From now on, settle down and study properly. Before the next mock exam, there won’t be any more seat changes.”

Bai Jiangxin frowned, not understanding why the homeroom teacher was telling him this.

Xiang Di also found it baffling. Shouldn’t this kind of advice be directed at her? Saying it to Bai Jiangxin, the top student of the grade, felt completely unnecessary.

She treated it as Teacher Chen’s presbyopia failing to see people clearly—this must surely be meant for her. Xiang Di took over the conversation, her tone obedient and sincere. “Teacher, don’t worry. I’ll definitely study hard.”

Looking at the girl’s bright and resolute eyes, Chen Jinghua was momentarily speechless.

“…Alright then. I’ll change your seats. Where do you want to move to?”

“Teacher, just switch me with the class monitor,” Xiang Di had already thought it through for him. “That way I’ll sit with Liang Qianqian, and Bai Jiangxin will sit with the class monitor.”

Chen Jinghua let out an “oh,” about to say something, but was interrupted again.

“That won’t do, teacher.”

Chen Jinghua clicked his tongue. Why were these students, one after another today, all so eager to express themselves, not letting him finish speaking at all?

Ye Minjia, who had been watching the excitement at the office doorway the whole time, darted inside. Chen Jinghua looked at him unhappily. “And why is it not okay with you now?”

“I’ve only just gotten used to my new deskmate. If we change seats again, it’ll really affect my studying.”

Affecting studying wasn’t just the teachers’ and parents’ all-purpose excuse—it was also the students’ own all-purpose excuse. Once they didn’t want to be arranged to do something, as long as they said it would affect their studying, teachers and parents wouldn’t dare move them anymore.

Ye Minjia didn’t want to get involved in the messy business between Bai Jiangxin and Xiang Di. If Bai Jiangxin really didn’t do well on the exam later, he wasn’t going to take the blame for that.

He hurriedly grabbed Liang Qianqian, who was about to run, and pulled her to his side, his tone solemn. “Teacher, you can’t forcibly split the two of us up just for the sake of the two of them.”

Chen Jinghua: “……”

What kind of scene were they performing now?

Liang Qianqian beside him instantly widened her eyes. What nonsense was this idiot class monitor talking about?

Ye Minjia was still holding onto her school uniform at this moment. She wanted to struggle free, but was glared at, warned not to move.

Under the oppressive authority of the class monitor, Liang Qianqian didn’t dare move, and could only stand there glaring angrily, her face flushed red with anger.

Xiang Di looked completely confused, unable to figure out the situation at hand. She really hadn’t expected Ye Minjia to refuse to change seats.

She looked at Bai Jiangxin, wanting to ask him what to do now. Bai Jiangxin frowned, not knowing what sudden illness Ye Minjia was having this time. He hadn’t even complained about him being noisy, yet Ye Minjia was the one unwilling to be deskmates with him again.

Since that was the case, he couldn’t be bothered to look for Ye Minjia anymore. Bai Jiangxin directly told Chen Jinghua that he could sit alone.

As for Xiang Di, she could sit with whoever she wanted. As for Ye Minjia, he couldn’t be bothered to care at all—do whatever he liked. He would, by his own strength alone, isolate the entire class.

Chen Jinghua had the exact same reaction as Xiang Di. How could they let Bai Jiangxin sit in the VIP seat next to the podium?

But their class had an odd number of students. With their seating arrangement of two students per desk in each group, someone would always end up alone. Chen Jinghua fell into hesitation for a moment.

Being a homeroom teacher these days wasn’t easy—especially a high school homeroom teacher. The students all had far too many ideas of their own.