Chapter 1: First Day

In City A, early morning arrived with a heavy, hazy mist.

Moist clouds clung stubbornly to the grayish sky, draining away any hint of vitality. Stuffy and humid—these were the defining words for this city.

Grace woke up very early. In the pitch-black room, she lay on her side, staring lazily at the half-drawn curtains a short distance away, and let out a quiet yawn.

In the silent space, the faint sound of footsteps outside the bedroom was easily audible.

She thought with absolute certainty: *That must be my older sister getting up.*

She always woke up earlier than anyone else.

Grace’s dark eyes remained fixed on the curtains, as if something fascinating were hidden right there.

The footsteps by the doorway went downstairs, and the ambient noise from the lower floor gradually grew clearer.

The voices of her mother and sister talking.

The sharp *ding* of the microwave.

Even the sound of her father flipping through the financial newspaper drifted into her ears.

Because someone in the house played the piano, the soundproofing of the bedrooms was quite good, making these noises muffled and distant.

Yet somehow, perhaps because it was a daily routine, her ears caught every single detail naturally.

The slightly unclipped curtains stirred with a faint breeze.

*She must have forgotten to close the window tightly again, just like Mom warned,* Grace thought.

Grace’s dark eyes finally regained focus. She blinked, sat up straight, pulled back the blanket, and got out of bed.

Wearing an oversized nightgown, she rubbed her hair with one hand while sleepily shuffling toward the window. Beneath her delicate, petite collarbones, a pink Hello Kitty print grinned brightly, waving at the world.

Her pale, slender hand gathered the curtains in one swift pull.

The sudden rush of daylight forced her eyes shut, and her eyebrows knitted together in discomfort. She splayed her palm out, rubbing her eyes repeatedly to block the glare.

A gloomy, humid, hazy sky.

The corners of Grace’s lips curved upward. This was her favorite kind of weather.

The footsteps outside grew closer, stopping right outside her door before pausing for a moment, followed by a gentle knock.

*Tap, tap.*

"Grace, time to get up."

When the person outside received no immediate response, they reached out, preparing to open the door.

"Mom, I'm up. I'll come out as soon as I change my clothes," a soft, gentle voice drifted through the door.

Hearing her voice, Linda stopped her hand from turning the doorknob. Frowning slightly, she said, "Today is the first day of school, don't sleep in. Your sister has been up for ages."

With that, she stood outside waiting for a few seconds. Absolute silence reigned inside, save for the faint rustle of clothing being put on.

"Hurry up, everyone's waiting for you to eat breakfast," Linda added with a frown.

"Got it."

Satisfied with the reply, Linda finally turned away.

Inside the room, the girl paused for a moment before casually continuing to put on her school uniform.

Ten minutes later, having finished washing up, Grace slipped her backpack over her shoulders and headed downstairs.

In the dining room:

David was eating breakfast while flipping through the financial newspaper beside his plate.

Now past forty, he wore a tailored suit, looking scholarly, refined, and well-maintained through regular exercise, making his true age difficult to guess.

Linda was busy instructing her older daughter, Chloe, who was eating nearby. Chloe playfully shook her arm with a bright, mischievous smile.

Grace walked softly down the stairs.

Hearing the movement, David looked up from his newspaper. "Grace is here! Come have your breakfast, Dad will drive you girls to school in a bit."

Grace acknowledged him softly, pulled out a chair, and greeted her mother and sister.

"Dad, isn't the company busy today?"

She picked up a small sandwich, peeled back the bread, and spread a layer of peanut butter.

Across the table, Linda was reminding Chloe of school precautions while simultaneously pushing a glass of milk toward Grace, gesturing for her to drink.

"It's busy, but no matter how busy I am, I have to drive you girls," David adjusted his glasses. "Today is the first day of your second year in high school, of course I have to send you."

Grace smiled, lowering her head to eat her sandwich obediently.

David ran a moderately sized company and was usually too busy to even eat breakfast properly, let alone drive his daughters to school.

True to form, their education was always the top priority in the household.

Opposite her, Linda finished talking with Chloe and turned her attention to Grace. Reaching out, she brushed away Grace's bangs. "Your hair is almost covering your eyes. Go get it trimmed after school today."

Grace took a sip of milk and nodded.

"You've got everything packed, right? Don't be so clumsy and forget things. Honestly, child, you just don't have your sister's attention to detail."

"I packed everything last night," Grace replied softly.

Seeing that all necessary reminders had been given, Linda nodded in satisfaction.

Standing aside to watch her two children eat, she felt a profound sense of fulfillment.

In her youth, she had been a great beauty with countless suitors trailing behind her. Eventually, she married David, leading a very happy life and giving birth to a pair of twins who inherited all her elegance and beauty.

All her friends envied her lovely pair of daughters. Because of this, she poured her heart and soul into managing every aspect of their daily lives and studies.

Mingde No. 1 High School was the city's finest key high school, boasting a 95% college admission rate, elite faculty, and correspondingly high tuition fees.

In short, students whose entrance scores fell short couldn't get in, and those without financial means couldn't either.

During the first year of high school, classes were assigned randomly for observation, while in the second year, students were divided into classes based on their academic performance.

Both Grace and Chloe had been placed into Class 1.

This had made Linda immensely proud and happy, well worth the relentless supervision she kept over both girls' studies.

"It might rain today, did you girls bring umbrellas?" Linda frowned, looking out the window and complaining, "On such a rare day as the first day of school, this gloomy weather is such a mood killer."

Since David usually came home later than the girls after work, he couldn't pick them up either.

Therefore, they always took the public bus home.

Chloe picked up a folding umbrella from her backpack, her face beaming with bright sunshine. "I brought mine! I checked the weather forecast yesterday because I was worried it would rain today."

Linda nodded and shifted her gaze to the other daughter.

Grace paused, swallowing her mouthful of milk. "I forgot."

Linda frowned. Why was this child never worry-free?

She turned to head upstairs to grab an umbrella.

"Mom, don't bother," Chloe caught her wrist. "Grace and I can share mine."

"That works too." Linda nodded, warning Grace, "Be more careful in the future, stop being so scatterbrained."

Grace nodded.

Linda sighed. Having a pair of twin daughters was wonderful, but one of them was always a source of worry.

The older sister, Chloe, had been trouble-free since childhood—cheerful, outgoing, and ranking third in the entire grade for their sophomore placement exams.

As for the younger sister, her personality was somewhat hesitant and introverted—who knew who she took after? While her academic grades were quite good, she wasn't top-tier like her sister, nor was she talkative or sweet-tongued.

Sigh. She really had plenty to worry about.

"Hurry up and finish eating, let's go. We might hit traffic today." Linda gently prodded David's back.

–

In the car:

The two sisters sat in the back seat, both wearing earphones.

Except one was listening to music, while the other was listening to an English audiobook.

Grace gazed idly out the window, her fingers twirling the headphone cord back and forth.

Outside, pedestrians hurried past, and car horns began to blare.

After watching for a while, she lost interest and turned her head away.

On the other side, Chloe had her eyes closed, her lips moving silently as she rehearsed vocabulary words to the audio in her ears.

Chloe was exceptionally pretty—the bright, radiant kind of beauty, with a touch of bold spirit inherited from her father around her brows and eyes. Moreover, she was fully developed, and her school uniform could barely hide her graceful curves.

Her hair was very long, reaching her waist.

It was clear she took meticulous care of it; it looked soft, smooth, and silky.

Grace’s own hair only reached her shoulders because she couldn't stand spending half an hour drying her hair after washing it—she and Linda had even argued over that back then.

Before long, they arrived at the school.

The school entrance was lined with a stream of luxury cars.

Grace slung her backpack over her shoulders and dutifully bid farewell to David alongside Chloe.

"Go straight home after school, and be careful on the road," David said, glancing down at his watch inside the car. "Off you go, it's getting late."

Mingde No. 1 High School.

Famous in City A for its college admission rates and elite teaching staff.

During the freshman opening ceremony, the veteran principal had repeatedly recited the famous names of the school’s distinguished alumni. Some were now CEOs of listed corporations, others high-ranking government officials.

Quite intimidating.

Each grade occupied its own dedicated building.

And correspondingly, each grade had its own administrative faculty office.

Ascending to the second floor, they arrived outside the sophomore Class 1 doorway. Inside, the classroom was dead silent, with only the occasional murmurs of soft conversation.

*Are students in Class 1 really this disciplined?*

Without overthinking it, Grace followed her sister into the classroom.

It was packed tight, completely filled except for three or four empty seats.

"Almost late," Chloe muttered under her breath.

Probably due to the first day of school traffic, the roads had been hopelessly jammed.

Inside the classroom, seeing new students walk in, the murmurs gradually faded away. After a brief hush, several male students let out catcalls and playful whoops.

A middle-aged female teacher standing near the podium let out a stern "shh," then turned her gaze toward them.

A pair of radar-like eyes scanned the two of them thoroughly from head to toe.

"Hello, teacher, I am Chloe."

Chloe gave a polite bow, speaking openly and gracefully.

Soft whispers rippled among the students, especially the boys, who would have broken out into cheers if the teacher hadn't been present.

The female teacher glanced down at the attendance roster beside her, nodded, and checked off a name.

"Mmm."

Her gaze scanned to the name right below Chloe's, and she looked back up at the other girl. "Are you the younger sister, Grace?"

Grace nodded and replied softly, "Yes."

The female teacher smiled, her expression softening as she handed them the seating chart.

She had heard a little about this pair of twins. Back in the office, their previous head teacher had sung their praises endlessly.

Saying the older sister excelled academically, possessed numerous artistic talents, had a cheerful personality, and was extremely self-disciplined.

And the younger sister was gentle and sensible, with grades well in the upper tier, requiring no supervision.

Now seeing the girls in person, both young ladies were pretty without any tacky, unseemly styling, which instantly gained them a lot of favorable first impressions.

Seated in the middle of the back row, Mason nudged Liam, who was busy playing a mobile game next to him, and chuckled with a roguish grin. "Look at that, that's the campus belle from Class 7 last year. She might look a bit aloof, but her figure is killer and her face is gorgeous."

"Oh ho, let me see." Liam was tall and broad-shouldered; the moment he lifted his head, he took everything in clearly. "Holy crap, why are there so many beauties in Class 1 this semester? If classes had been split up this early, I would've actually had motivation."

"Motivation my ass. If Ethan hadn't forced you to study at the end of last semester, would you have even scored high enough to get into Class 1 to see beauties?"

In the next row across the aisle, Noah ruffled Liam's messy hair through the gap, squinting toward the girl standing behind the campus belle to ask who she was.

Mason leaned down with a sneaky laugh. "No idea, but she's pretty too."

He and Liam exchanged knowing glances toward the two empty seats in the front row.

Mason was already mentally drafting his lines.

What should his opening sentence be so he wouldn't sound like a total creep?

Noah bounced his leg and teased, "Don't be such a bad friend, save one for Ethan."

Liam went back to his game, mumbling hazily, "Save what? Beauties?"

Noah laughed in exasperation.

Grace glanced briefly at the seating chart, noting that she and Chloe were not deskmates.

This was normal; they hadn't been deskmates in their freshman year either.

Her seat was in the fourth row, while Chloe's was in the fifth. Since both sisters were over 1.65 meters tall and had great eyesight, neither of them had ever had experience sitting in the front rows.

She handed the seating chart back to the teacher and prepared to walk to her seat.

"Ms. Lee, good morning."

Chapter 2: The New Deskmate

"Ms. Lee, good morning."

An unconcerned voice rang out right behind Grace. It was a pleasant, magnetic, slightly deep voice—not particularly respectful, carrying a rather nonchalant attitude.

Before Grace could reach her seat, she instinctively glanced back.

He was wearing black earphones, a backpack slung casually across one shoulder, and a neat school uniform, though the collar was unbuttoned, exposing a patch of fair skin.

Beneath a black baseball cap, a dense fringe of dark hair was partially hidden. His eyes and brows were pitch black, his nose straight, and a subtle, teasing smile hovered at the corners of his thin lips.

Tall and lean, he stood in the doorway with one hand casually shoved into his pocket while greeting the teacher with the other.

Grace turned back around and continued walking toward her seat.

The classroom was bustling with forty or fifty seated students, and the gaps between desks were narrow. Grace walked carefully, trying her best not to bump into anyone else's table.

Her eyes looked down at the floor, but her mind was elsewhere.

Oh.

This guy was pretty famous back in their freshman year.

She figured almost everyone knew who he was.

Sure enough, as soon as he walked in, the girls in the classroom began whispering among themselves, their eyes filled with barely contained excitement.

"Ethan, what time do you call this? 'Good morning'?"

Ms. Lee glanced down at her watch, putting on a stern, feigned look of severity. "And another thing, hats are not allowed inside the classroom. How many times do I have to say it?"

Ethan cast an indifferent glance at the slender figure standing before him, then faced Ms. Lee, lifting his hand with an innocent shrug as he offered a cheeky explanation: "I was just worried it might rain."

After taking off his hat, he ruffled his neat, short hair.

"If you're worried about rain, bring an umbrella. Get here earlier next time—don't you worry about being late when you slide in right on the bell every single day?" Ms. Lee waved her hand, gesturing vaguely toward the back row. "Go on, go on, hurry up and sit down."

The famous Ethan had spent his freshman year in sophomore Class 1 as well—which happened to be the class Ms. Lee used to homeroom.

Her feelings toward him were a complex mix of affection and exasperation.

She loved him because he constantly monopolized the top three spots in the grade. He was a thoroughbred top student with no weak subjects, winning plenty of bragging rights for her among the grade-level teachers. In this sophomore placement exam, he ranked second in the grade.

She hated him for the exact same reason: his attitude toward studying.

Ethan was the type of academic genius who found everything effortless, yet he never looked like he took studying seriously. In class, he didn't pay much attention—sleeping when he wanted to sleep, playing on his phone when he wanted to play.

Yet what could she do? The guy still aced his exams regardless.

"Ms. Lee, where am I sitting?"

Ethan took off his earphones and looked around blankly for a moment.

"Next to Chloe," Ms. Lee blurted out after scanning the seating chart.

Ethan didn't move an inch.

Realizing he didn't know who Chloe was, Ms. Lee pointed a finger into empty space and clarified, "In front of Liam, right there at that empty seat."

"Hey, bro, over here!" In the back row, Liam raised his hand and waved a few times to signal his location.

Ethan spotted him instantly, the corners of his lips curling up as he strode over. Standing tall gave him a bird's-eye view; right in front of his path walked the slender, petite girl from earlier, whose sparse bangs partially obscured her eyes.

Ethan watched for a moment, looked away indifferently, and walked forward.

Textbooks had already been distributed inside the desks, stacked as thick and heavy as bricks. Grace was organizing her supplies for the first class, making sure to write her name on every single book.

The moment she picked up her pen, her peripheral vision caught a flash of Ethan's branded sneakers passing by.

The hem of his school uniform lingered briefly against Grace's desk, fluttering lightly like a gossamer veil before disappearing without a trace.

A breeze swept past.

The person behind her sat down.

Grace continued writing her name book by book, her black gel pen flowing across the pristine white paper to leave behind her neat, elegant handwriting.

As soon as Ethan settled into his seat, Liam eagerly patted his shoulder, giving him a thumbs-up. "Ethan, you're a legend. You actually dared to almost be late on the very first day of school."

Before Ethan could reply, Noah chimed in from across the aisle, "Tsk tsk, Ethan clearly stayed up late last night. Tell us, did you spend the whole night on the phone with our old campus belle?"

Hearing this, Mason exchanged a knowing look with his buddy, his face plastered with a lewd grin.

Three pairs of eyes stared fixedly at Ethan.

Ethan put down his backpack, casually untangling his headphone cord while leaning sideways with a frown. "What kind of nonsense are you babbling?"

His fingers were long and slender, nimble joints wrapping around the cord before he finally stuffed the whole messy bundle back into his bag.

His neither-confirming-nor-denying attitude only fueled the other three guys' enthusiasm.

Mason straightened up, leaning over Ethan's shoulder. "Seriously? Is something actually going on?"

Noah was also aware of the situation, his eyes twinkling with playful mischief. "Poor Hazel. She chased him for an entire semester without landing him—don't tell me she pulled some secret winning move over summer break?"

Mason, Liam, and Ethan had all been in Class 1 last year, while Noah had been in Class 6.

Noah had gotten to know them through playing basketball, and as luck would have it, they clicked and became great buddies. Since Noah's grades were also quite good, they all ended up in the same class this semester, leaving everyone thrilled.

The campus belle Mason mentioned was Hazel from Class 1, the arts committee member who was exceptionally talented at dancing. She was tall with slender limbs, especially her legs, which were long and straight.

It seemed she had bombed her exams this time and been demoted to Class 2.

Mason had fancied her before, but she had openly and secretly shown interest only in Ethan, prompting Mason to set his sights elsewhere.

Hearing them drift further and further off into fantasy, Ethan rubbed his brow in annoyance and explained, "Talk about talking nonsense. I was just watching a basketball game last night and couldn't get up this morning."

He irritably dragged a hand through his hair. Not getting enough sleep put him in a foul mood, casting a faint aura of hostility between his brows.

Mason snorted. "Talk about a total letdown. I thought there was a real romance brewing."

Liam went back to playing his mobile game, pouting. "Ethan, you're wasting all the prime girls in Mingde."

At their age, who wasn't dating someone? Back in freshman year, who didn't have one or two girls by their side just to look good when walking around?

Girls were soft, gentle, like sweet confidantes—how wonderful is that?

Yet Ethan didn't want any of it, refusing to spare a single glance for those throwing themselves at him.

Back in freshman year, love letters piled up in his desk drawer like bricks. If someone was bold enough to confess in person, Ethan would put on his model-student act and say, "Classmate, I only want to focus on my studies right now, I haven't considered anything else."

At the time, Noah had teased him, saying if he was really a model student, why was he watching basketball games, playing mobile games, and smoking?

The guys privately joked that Ethan was a cultured scoundrel, armed with a textbook excuse for every girl he rejected.

Yet calling Ethan a model student wasn't wrong either—he had ranked first in the entire grade more times than anyone could count.

Back then, Mason had even asked him a profoundly idiotic question:

"What kind of girls do you actually like, anyway?"

Annoyed by his pestering, Ethan gave a lazy, unthinking reply: "Good figure, pretty face."

"What the hell, isn't Hazel pretty enough with a good enough figure?"

Ethan had paused to think back for a second before replying indifferently, "She's okay, I guess."

Mason had nearly coughed up blood on the spot. Fine! The guy had sky-high standards; apparently, he was looking for an actual fairy.

So yes, Ethan was wasting the female population of Mingde.

Ethan leaned lazily back in his chair, casually picking up a textbook from his desk, flipping through a few pages, and asking, "What's the first period today?"

Liam: "No idea."

Noah: "No idea."

Mason shook his head. "Don't look at me, I have no clue."

Ethan frowned. "Tsk, what use are you guys?"

"Hey, I might not know, but I can ask." Mason rolled his eyes, leaned forward, and tapped the back of the person sitting in front of him. "Beauty, beauty."

Hearing the commotion, Chloe turned her head, raised an eyebrow, and brushed away a stray lock of hair falling beside her ear.

She had been copying down the schedule, and since the boys behind her hadn't been speaking quietly, she had heard every word.

Seeing her turn around, Mason softened his voice even further, putting on the most serious expression of his life. "Classmate, could you tell me what the first class is?"

Chloe clutched her schedule and replied, "Chinese."

"Ah, got it." Seeing the beauty reply to him, Mason grew even bolder, trying to strike up a conversation. "What's your name, classmate? I'm Mason, nice to meet you."

Chloe smiled openly. "My name is Chloe." With that, her gaze shifted to the person beside Mason.

Seeing the pretty girl's bright eyes fixed on him, Liam got so nervous he flubbed his own name: "Xu—Xu-Jiaye."

Beside them, Noah threw a friendly arm around Liam's neck and chimed in with a roguish grin, "I'm Noah, nice to meet you, classmate."

"Nice to meet you." Chloe's gaze shifted to the quiet boy sitting beside her.

Her deskmate.

An awkward silence stretched for a moment.

Quiet enough to hear the scratching sound of pens moving across paper.

Ethan shifted slightly before finally lifting his gaze to look at his deskmate—dark, slightly upturned eyes, a straight bridge of a nose, and beautifully sculpted lips.

His expression was completely blank as his thin lips parted slightly: "Ethan."

Chloe nodded and smiled.

Mason was dazzled by the beautiful classmate's smile and quickly joked, "We're all classmates from now on, please guide and advise us!"

Noah grinned impudently. "Chloe, I heard you're ranked third in the grade—impressive! You'll have to save me when homework time comes."

Chloe raised an eyebrow and glanced at Ethan. "The second-ranked student in the grade is right here, why aren't you copying from him?"

"Tsk, his chicken-scratch handwriting is worse than mine."

Chloe covered her mouth and giggled. "Really?"

Mason nodded solemnly. "100% true."

Ethan had been playing on his phone and ignoring them, but seeing Mason run his mouth more and more, he warned impatiently, "Got a death wish?"

Mason instantly mimicked zipping his lips shut.

Which caused Chloe to laugh with unrestrained delight.

Outside the window, a light drizzle had begun to fall at some point, washing away a bit of the oppressive September heat.

Normally, Mondays featured an opening assembly complete with a lengthy speech painstakingly prepared by the veteran principal, but it had been entirely washed out by the rain. Therefore, students were currently huddled indoors listening to the broadcast.

This left everyone rather excited—no standing like statues being punished out on the scorching playground.

At the moment, the principal was delivering an impassioned opening speech over the school PA system, though barely anyone in the classroom was paying attention.

Grace's deskmate was a girl with blunt bangs, a round face, a slightly plump build, and a rather shy, timid demeanor.

After Grace finished neatly writing her name in all her books, she noticed her deskmate casting hesitant glances at her. Since she wasn't someone who liked initiating conversations, she just gave the girl a friendly smile and went back to what she was doing.

Sensing this, the deskmate mustered her courage and whispered a self-introduction: "Hi, my name is Yang Qi."

"I—" Before Grace could reply, someone tapped her on the shoulder.

Grace turned around.

The first thing that came into view was Ethan sitting behind her, though he was turned sideways chatting with his friends and wasn't looking at her.

Realizing it was Chloe who had tapped her, Grace looked at her sister.

Chloe pointed at Grace and introduced her to Mason: "This is my younger sister. We're fraternal twins."

Mason's eyes lit up as he nodded along. "Oh, hey younger sister! Nice to meet you, please take care of me."

Ethan was in the middle of talking to his buddies about last night's basketball game.

Hearing voices, he glanced at Grace as an afterthought. At that moment, only one thought crossed his mind: These twins really are completely different.

Beneath Grace's excessively long bangs was a palm-sized face, and her pair of dark, lovely eyes looked at people with obvious detachment.

Her pale skin contrasted sharply against her delicate, pinkish lips, giving her whole face an innocent yet pitiful look, while her utter lack of expression made her feel both delicate and aloof.

"Grace."

Grace's lips parted and closed, her pearly white teeth slipping past as her soft, gentle voice flowed out, sounding tender and sweet.

Mason froze, not understanding what she meant.

An Jing? What does she mean? Was he being too loud and disturbing her?

Ethan, who had been chatting with Liam and Noah, paused when he heard her voice and stopped talking. He turned his body around, raising an eyebrow, his dark eyes gazing straight at her.

"My name is Grace."

Realizing there had been a misunderstanding, she added helplessly with a soft smile.

Chloe burst into laughter. Her younger sister's name was always causing this kind of confusion.

"Oh! So that's what it meant."

Mason slapped his forehead in realization and joked, "Your name is a lot like Ethan's—both easy to mix up."

Hearing this, Ethan tilted his head slightly but remained silent.

Chapter 3: Self-Introductions

The school-wide broadcast finally came to an end.

It was as if the students in the classroom had just finished a long meeting; some stretched their arms, while others let out a long, relaxed breath.

Grace casually chatted with her deskmate, Yang Qi.

"So you and your sister are fraternal twins," Yang Qi said, curiosity gleaming in her eyes. "You really can't tell at all."

Grace gave a superficial nod, holding back the subtle annoyance in her heart. She had answered this exact same question countless times while growing up:

*Are you two really twins?*

*How come you two look nothing alike?*

*Oh, fraternal twins.*

*Your older sister is so pretty.*

*The younger sister is so delicate and well-behaved too.*

Grace had lost count of how many times she had answered variations of these statements.

Beside her, Yang Qi pressed on with her inquiry: "Is your mom really pretty?"

Grace paused to recall. "Yeah."

Lu Meihua was indeed beautiful. Even now that she was getting older, she maintained herself exceptionally well—after all, those expensive beauty salon visits weren't for nothing. On top of that, she had raised both sisters to take meticulous care of their skin from a young age.

Yang Qi held her pen against her chest, squinting dreamily. "I'm so jealous."

*Jealous of what?*

*Jealous of having a pretty mom, or jealous of having a pretty sister?*

Grace turned her head to glance at Yang Qi.

On her slightly chubby cheeks, adolescent acne was clearly visible.

Grace smiled faintly, choosing to say nothing.

"I used to be in Class 3 last year," the shy Yang Qi said, attempting to get closer to her quiet new deskmate by rambling on. "I remember you and your sister were in Class 7, right? Your sister used to be pretty famous across the grade."

Holding a pencil, Grace idly flipped open a textbook, located an illustration of an ancient scholar, and shaded the white space black.

Yang Qi stole a cautious glance behind them and lowered her voice: "The guy sitting behind you is really famous too. Did you know he's great at basketball, gets amazing grades, and rumor has it his family is pretty well-off?"

Seeing that Grace didn't respond, Yang Qi assumed she didn't know and leaned in closer. "Plus, he's super handsome."

Grace pressed her lips together and replied knowingly, "That last sentence was the main point, wasn't it?"

Having her little secret exposed, Yang Qi flushed with embarrassment. For a girl her age who read too many romance novels, her mind was always filled with romantic fantasies.

Honestly, she had been overjoyed when her exceptionally good exam performance allowed her to get into Class 1. Being in the same class as a few of the school's most famous figures was genuinely thrilling—it almost felt as if she had stepped into their circle.

A girl sitting in front of Yang Qi overheard their conversation, quietly turning around to chime in: "But he has a pretty bad temper."

Yang Qi asked, "How do you know?"

"I was in the same class as them last year, of course I know! Once, when he was sleeping, his deskmate accidentally woke him up, and he lost his temper right on the spot."

The girl in front stole a quick, gossipy peek toward the back row.

"Really? No way," Yang Qi gasped, her eyes widening.

"Really! His deskmate was a girl named Yu Li, and she was practically brought to tears," the girl added with a sense of justice, afraid they wouldn't believe her.

*A little exaggeration wouldn't hurt, right?* she thought to herself.

In reality, Ethan wasn't entirely to blame—he was actually the innocent party. Whenever he didn't get enough sleep, he tended to be short-tempered; everyone around him knew it, and no one dared to cross him when he was cranky.

What actually happened was that Yu Li had been messing around with a classmate. The classmate noticed Ethan sleeping behind her with his cap pulled over his face and decided to play a prank, repeatedly pushing Yu Li back toward Ethan.

During adolescence, physical contact between boys and girls easily sparked playful teasing. Yu Li resisted slightly, though it was mostly out of embarrassment.

Unexpectedly, the final push actually sent Yu Li stumbling directly into Ethan, bumping into his back.

Knocked sideways, Ethan woke up instantly. Irritated, he raised his head, his dark, impatient eyes sweeping over the two messing around beside him with a heavy frown.

Both Yu Li and her classmate were caught entirely off guard.

Just as an explosion seemed imminent, Ethan ultimately said nothing. He muttered a low curse under his breath and kicked the corner of the desk hard. Pulling his cap back onto his head, he stood up sharply and walked straight out of the classroom.

A few girls in the class watched the scene unfold in secret.

Hurt pride and teenage sensitivity proved too much for Yu Li, leaving her teary-eyed.

Yang Qi clicked her tongue, remaining silent for a moment before remarking, "That's kind of cool, though."

The girl in front, Guo Jiao, nodded in full agreement.

The corner of Grace's mouth twitched slightly. *Is that supposed to be cool?* Still, she was relieved that someone else was finally keeping Yang Qi company in her gossip.

In the back row, Mason clutched Chloe's class schedule, looking utterly disinterested. "Chinese class... so Ms. Lee's up first."

"Man, don't tell me we have to do self-introductions all over again," Liam complained, tapping his phone buttons furiously as he reached the final level of his game.

Chloe turned her head. "Why do you call her 'Ms. Twist'?"

"Heh, you'll find out later," Noah chimed in. "Because out of 365 days a year, Ms. Lee wears her hair in a French twist for 360 of them."

Noah threw an arm around Ethan's shoulder, grinning impishly. "Ethan, are you going to reuse your self-introduction from last year?"

"You blew Ms. Lee's top off on the very first day of school last year. Do it again this year!" Mason's eyes sparkled with eager anticipation.

Ethan let out a low, mocking laugh, ignoring him.

*Ring, ring, ring.*

The first bell rang out.

Not quite getting the joke, Chloe raised an eyebrow, snatched her schedule back from Mason, and turned around to sit properly.

Seeing that the scholar in her textbook was now completely shaded in black, Grace closed her book and tucked her pencil into her pencil case.

Ms. Lee walked briskly into the classroom, carrying a heavy stack of lesson plans.

The noisy chatter in the room gradually faded until complete silence fell.

Ms. Lee picked up the seating chart first, leaning against the podium as she announced, "First of all, these seats are set. There won't be any seating changes this semester."

Before she could finish, a collective sigh of disappointment echoed from the students below.

Ms. Lee cleared her throat, turned around, and wrote her name on the blackboard with chalk.

"My name is Ms. Lee, and I will be your homeroom teacher as well as your Chinese teacher from now on."

"All fifty students sitting here are the absolute elite of this grade. It wasn't easy for any of you to earn a place in this class."

Ms. Lee's strict gaze swept over every student in the room. "During such a high-pressure year as sophomore year, I hope you will hold yourselves to high standards. Don't slack off just because you got into Class 1—you need to realize that exams will be coming thick and fast from here on, and the workload is intense."

"Especially a certain few students—don't neglect your studies just because you get good grades. Doing so might not hurt you personally, but it will ruin the study atmosphere for the rest of the class." Ms. Lee emphasized this point while staring fixedly at a specific individual.

Liam and Noah kept their heads down to stifle their laughter, while Mason, completely fearless, even poked the person sitting in front of him with his finger.

Ethan looked up and met Ms. Lee's gaze with provocative indifference for a few seconds before curling his lips into a careless smile.

Ms. Lee sighed internally, clapping her hands together. "Today is the first day of school, and there are some students I don't know yet. Let me have everyone do a brief self-introduction so we can get to know each other."

As soon as the words left her mouth, a wave of groans swept across the room.

Mason raised his hand, speaking in a sarcastic tone: "Teacher, I think we're all pretty familiar with each other already, there's really no need for introductions."

Liam chimed in from the side, "Yeah, teacher, we're all super familiar. As for the girls we don't know yet, we can just get to know them after class!"

The entire class burst into laughter.

A classmate teased, "Liam, how exactly do you plan on getting to know them?"

Leaning lazily against his chair, Ethan smirked at the remark, turned around, and swiped at the two guys behind him through the air.

"Mason, Liam, shut your mouths and sit up straight! Look at yourselves!" Ms. Lee raised her voice and barked. She then picked up the grade ranking list, scanned the names, and read briskly, "We'll start with the top scorer, Shen Shu-jun."

Afraid the atmosphere would derail again, Ms. Lee sped up the process.

Grace watched as a boy sitting two rows away stood up. He was of average height, wore thick glasses, and had a buzzcut—looking every bit the quintessential star student.

Grace thought to herself, *So this is the number one student in the grade.*

"Hello, classmates. My name is Shen Shu-jun. Moving forward, let's work hard together to get into good universities. I really love studying, so if you ever have any academic questions, feel free to ask me."

Mason remarked in a loose, casual tone, "Classmate Shen, what if we don't have academic questions—can we still hang out with you?"

Shen Shu-jun adjusted his glasses, answering in all seriousness, "Hang out and do what?"

Another wave of laughter rippled through the classroom.

A few boys teased playfully, "Whatever you want to do!"

Shen Shu-jun lowered his head and sat down in embarrassment.

Ms. Lee glared sternly at Mason before frowning and reading the next name.

None of these troublemakers gave her a moment's peace. It would have been fine if they were in another class, but every single one of them had somehow managed to squeeze into Class 1.

"Ethan."

No one stood up. Feeling a surge of irritation, Ms. Lee stared at Ethan and repeated his name.

The entire class turned around, looking on with curiosity.

Grace turned back as well.

Only then did Ethan stand up at his own pace under everyone's gaze, keeping his hands shoved in his pockets.

Grace noticed that he was nearly two heads taller than Shen Shu-jun had been. Standing tall with an upright posture, he was handsome and refined, with sharp dark brows that exuded a trace of wild, unchecked confidence. The Mingde school uniform fitted him impeccably.

Ethan parted his thin lips, delivering his words with an arrogant flair.

"My name is Ethan. If there's anything you don't understand in the future, definitely don't ask me—I won't know either."

Silence hung in the air for a second.

*Pfft.*

Mason couldn't hold it in and almost spat out his water.

A chorus of playful jeers broke out among the boys in class.

*Who's going to believe you don't know?*

*Did you rank second in the grade by accident?*

Ms. Lee's mouth twitched as she quickly intervened, "Alright, alright, take a seat. Next, Chloe."

Ethan shrugged nonchalantly and sat down.

When he turned back, his buddies were all giving him a thumbs-up.

"Hello, everyone! My name is Chloe. I'm good at playing the piano, and I was the class president of Class 7 last year. I'm really happy to join Class 1."

Chloe smiled with bright confidence. "I also have a younger sister. We're twins, and she's in this class too. I hope we can encourage each other and make progress together in the coming year."

When her sister was mentioned, several classmates looked toward Grace with curiosity.

Grace lowered her eyelashes.

Ms. Lee nodded repeatedly, clearly pleased with Chloe's poise and confidence—a world apart from Ethan's performance moments ago.

"Next."

By the time it was Grace's turn, more than half the class had already finished.

She stood up.

"My name is Grace. I like drawing, and I can take charge of designing the blackboard bulletin for our class."

Her voice was delicate and soft—neither quiet nor loud, yet grounded and gentle, sweeping across the room like a light breeze.

Ethan didn't pay much attention to what she said.

His focus was entirely fixed on her back.

Her slightly oversized uniform made her look even more delicate and petite, her shoulder blades subtly outlining the fabric. She wasn't particularly short either; Ethan estimated she reached just above his shoulders.

The moment she finished speaking, Ethan lowered his head in disinterest, running a hand through his hair as he prepared to catch up on some sleep. He still hadn't fully recovered from staying up late watching that intense basketball game last night.

By the time the last person finished, half an hour had passed.

"Now that everyone has introduced themselves, I hope you all get along well in the new semester."

Ms. Lee nodded, glancing at her watch. "Alright, open your Chinese textbooks to the first lesson. Let's begin."