Although it was only the first year of high school, this school already enforced evening self-study sessions that lasted late into the night. It's no wonder it produced so many provincial college entrance exam top scorers; the institution was strict in every aspect, from curriculum to conduct.
Parents felt reassured sending their children to such a reputable high school. Zhao Youyue's father, Zhao Jiayi, for example, didn't buy into the idea of elite private schools. The atmosphere there was often lacking in substance. Schools like this provincial key high school, which emphasized a deep academic culture and enforced rigid discipline, were much better for a child's development.
Normally, homework was collected during the last ten minutes of the final evening self-study session. The next morning, during the morning reading period, the subject representatives would hand it in to the respective teachers' offices.
Zhao Youyue, however, didn't attend the evening sessions. This was one of the few privileges granted to day students. After three full study blocks, it's already close to ten at night. Walking home would be unsafe for day students, so the school left it up to them whether they attended or not. Of course, most of them were "voluntary" in name only, pressured by peers and parents to stay.
In reality, she had no safety concerns at all. She didn't have bodyguards trailing her, but she did have a dedicated car and a driver waiting at the gates. How could there be any danger?
Still, she chose to skip the evening sessions. She felt that doing homework at home was exactly the same. Fine, to be honest, she just wanted to slack off. At home, she would work through her assignments while playing on her phone. If she heard her mother's footsteps in the hallway, she would immediately hide the device under a textbook and pretend to be buried in her work. When she ran into questions she couldn't solve, she was too lazy to struggle through the logic and would instead instinctively look up the answers online.
This was the real Zhao Youyue. When it came to her studies, she clearly had a go-with-the-flow attitude. There were several other day students in her class, but she was the only one who used "safety concerns" as an excuse to skip the evening. This actually gave her a bit more presence in the eyes of her classmates. Everyone added one word to their impression of her: muddling.
As a result, the subject representatives could only collect her homework during the morning reading period, since she wasn't around during the evening rush.
The one collecting her homework now was the math representative, Chen Haoran. Apparently, he had scored full marks in math on the high school entrance exam, and he had also managed a perfect score on the recent placement test. He had even won first prize in a regional math competition back in middle school.
That was why the math teacher, Gu Yaoyan, had personally appointed him. He was Gu Yaoyan's favorite student. During class, if others couldn't answer a difficult problem, Gu Yaoyan would let Chen Haoran step in as the finisher, because he never disappointed.
Zhao Youyue handed her math workbook to Chen Haoran. He glanced at the pages and saw that the handwriting was neat and elegant, the ink lines clean and orderly. It's the kind of work that made it easy to form a good impression. He couldn't help saying, "You are pretty impressive. The last problem here stumped the class for a long time last night. We only solved it after discussing it together. I didn't expect you to figure it out on your own."
His voice was a bit loud in the morning air, and the surrounding students all heard it. Someone nearby immediately muttered, "What is so impressive about that. If I had a phone and could check the internet, I could do it easily too."
In reality, almost everyone had a phone these days, but they only dared to keep them hidden in their dorms. They were afraid a device might ring during a lecture. Even vibration mode carried the risk of being discovered by a sharp-eared teacher. If a teacher confiscated it, the consequences would be disastrous; they would probably have to call in their parents.
What was especially brutal about this school was that the power outlets in the dorms were disconnected. They were just for show. As a result, many boarding students could only charge their phones once a week or ask day students to take them home to charge.
Hearing that pointed comment, Chen Haoran suddenly realized the implication. He scratched the back of his head and said awkwardly, "Sorry."
It hadn't occurred to him that someone might use a phone to find answers. He had a phone too, but his parents didn't allow him to bring it to school, fearing it would lead to early romance and affect his grades. If he needed to contact home, he had to use a public payphone in the canteen.
Chen Haoran had actually been trying to curry favor with Zhao Youyue. Believe it or not, he thought she was the prettiest girl in the class. Her skin was just too good—fair, smooth, and without a single pimple. Her voice was gentle and pleasant, and her ear-length short hair looked very cute to him. He just didn't know why she was always overlooked by everyone else.
Chen Haoran was a boarding student. His home was in a rural area under a county-level city. He had studied hard since childhood, though his liberal arts were weaker than his science marks. Still, getting into this school had been manageable for him. Unlike Zhao Youyue, who had had to pay the school tens of thousands in construction fees just to muddle her way in.
After lights out in the boys' dorms, there's always a period of endless idle chatter. Since school had just started, the homeroom teacher rarely did surprise inspections, so everyone chatted happily in the dark. As a result, morning reading the next day often turned into catch-up sleep time for the exhausted boys.
When boys chatted, the topic inevitably turned to the girls in their class. Novels often talked about things like class beauties and school belles. In real life, those terms were rarely used because they felt cringeworthy. But if a girl's name was frequently mentioned in these late-night discussions, it's safe to assume she's the class beauty.
Zhao Youyue was obviously not mentioned. In Chen Haoran's dorm, the one brought up most often was Jiang Qing, the arts committee member. She had an outgoing personality and was always smiling. During military training, she had even sung a solo of a popular song, leaving a deep impression. Of course, the most crucial point for the boys might have been that her chest was indeed large. Still, Chen Haoran felt that Jiang Qing wasn't nearly as pretty as Zhao Youyue.
Military training had taken place one week before school started. Zhao Youyue had been traveling abroad at the time and didn't participate. Even if she hadn't gone traveling, she wouldn't have joined anyway. Training under the blazing heat was something she couldn't endure.
"It's fine," Zhao Youyue said with a smile, looking completely unconcerned by the whisperers.
Chen Haoran returned to his seat with her paper, thinking that she looked very nice when she smiled just now.
After handing in her homework, Zhao Youyue felt a bit bored. Most of the students around her had already started their morning reading. Her deskmate, Zhou Fang, was reading very seriously, even though the homeroom teacher and language teacher, Qiu Yingchun, hadn't arrived yet.
Since the teacher wasn't here, why bother with morning reading? Wasn't that a loss?
Zhao Youyue was exactly the kind of student who only put on a hardworking act in front of authority figures. This's very down-to-earth; back in her student days, there were probably quite a few people with this style.
She sneakily took her phone out from under her desk, planning to browse Qidian Manga and enjoy the latest updates of the web comic Pure Love. She was even thinking about tipping another League Leader to build a relationship with the creator. After all, she had the money to spare.
However, she hadn't been watching for long when the homeroom teacher, Qiu Yingchun, quietly entered the classroom through the back door. The sound of dozens of voices reading aloud masked his footsteps perfectly. He caught Zhao Youyue red-handed while she was using her phone to read comics, and the device was confiscated on the spot.
Zhao Youyue instantly got the full class attention she so desperately wanted. Her presence skyrocketed as her classmates turned their heads to watch. But she truly felt humiliated, her face heating up. At the same time, she thought that the eighth generation of Fruit phones seemed to be out already. It's the perfect timing to switch to a new one anyway. Yes, this's the classic rich, fair, and beautiful style.