Chapter 13: Which One Are You Talking About?

Sister Hua even specially called him into the office for a talk, asking if he hadn’t performed well due to not acclimatizing to the new environment.

Later, when holding up his report card and chatting in class, faced with the puzzled looks of his classmates, the boy straightforwardly told everyone, “Don’t be surprised, I couldn’t keep up back in Shandong either!”

So, all things considered, talent scouting is also a matter of luck—what you dig up isn’t always treasure; sometimes it’s just a pit.

Xu Yannuo felt that Chen Ciyi was exactly that pit—and a deeply hidden one at that.

What kind of serious academic genius would wander around in remote alleys late at night instead of studying at home, and even visit shady internet cafes? And before going to the internet cafe that day, who knows where else he might have been loitering!

Xu Yannuo had been staring at Chen Ciyi’s profile, lost in thought, when Chen Ciyi’s hushed voice reached his ears in the quiet, “Enjoying the view?”

Xu Yannuo snapped back to attention as the teacher had already begun lecturing at the podium.

Is he good-looking?

To be honest, he really is good-looking. The increasing number of girls crowding outside their classroom during breaks is proof enough—he truly is handsome.

Back in their original class, with those few unremarkable guys, even if girls passed by, they would look straight ahead, treating the boys in that class like air.

But Xu Yannuo didn’t want to say it. She averted her gaze and flipped her physics textbook to the page the teacher was discussing. After a while, Chen Chiyi must have finished the new set of math problems he was working on, because he propped his chin on his hand and turned to look at her.

At the front of the classroom, the physics teacher’s monotonous lecture drifted in waves. Beside her, Chen Ciyi kept staring at her face. Xu Yannuo really wanted to focus on the lesson, but being watched so intently made her extremely uncomfortable—it was truly hard to concentrate.

So, what exactly does he want? Is he waiting for her to answer?

Xu Yannuo replied indifferently, “Not good-looking.” Alright, that’s said. Can you stop staring at me now?

But Chen Chiyi acted as if he hadn’t heard, still maintaining his previous posture and staring at her. Just as Xu Yannuo was wondering if he had fallen asleep and she had mistaken him for looking at her, she was about to turn her head to confirm when Chen Chiyi’s voice drifted over again, “Then what kind counts as good-looking?”

Xu Yannuo froze for a moment. She glanced at Chen Chiyi’s face and said, “I like looking at ugly ones.”

The awkward silence was successfully achieved. Xu Yannuo didn’t know what expression Chen Ciyi was wearing now—she didn’t look and had no intention to look. From the corner of her eye, she only saw Chen Ciyi glance at her a few more times before lying down to sleep.

If he wasn’t doing test papers for other subjects, he was sleeping—what a true academic overachiever.

The class bell rang, its chime relatively gentle, accompanied by music. However, this break included morning exercises, so the classroom instantly descended into chaos. Many students stood up abruptly, their chairs slamming into the desks behind them, creating a series of intermittent “thuds” drowned out by the noisy chatter. The quicker ones had already reached the classroom door and opened the back exit, instantly flooding the room with the clamor from the entire hallway.

Chen Chuyi groggily opened his eyes and took a moment to collect himself. Xu Yannuo’s seat was already empty, and most of the classmates had crowded around the back door, now nearly all gone. As Chen Chuyi hesitated between leaving or staying in the classroom, he noticed two students on duty already at the front, wiping the blackboard. The two girls kept poking and pushing each other while whispering something, occasionally glancing back at him.

Chen Ci frowned slightly but still decided to go out for a stroll, joining the back of the line to do some simple exercises.

After leaving the main building, Chen Ciyi walked straight to the far edge of the playground, where his class was lined up at the very back. He stood there bored, casting a cold glance at the swarming crowd on the field.

Everyone seemed so lively—boys and girls running around, chasing and playing.

Then, among the crowd at the front of the class, he spotted Xu Yannuo. Unlike the others, she wasn’t running around. Instead, she stood quietly, chatting with the two girls she always hung out with at the front. Every now and then, she’d laugh—she looked so well-behaved!

Chen Ciyi scoffed. What a fake!

The campus broadcast music changed, followed by the sound of the PE teacher organizing the teams through the microphone. Each class quickly returned to their designated positions to form lines.

Once the formation was set, the broadcast exercise music began to play.

Chen Ciyi stood in the back row, half-heartedly following along with the movements.

In the class next to Xu Yannuo, a few girls seized the moment when the homeroom teacher walked past to whisper among themselves, “Which one are you talking about?”

“The one in the last row of Class 8, the boy standing at the very end.”

After that, Xu Yannuo noticed several girls from neighboring Class 7 curiously glancing toward the last row of Class 8. And it wasn’t just Class 7—looking across the rows, many girls from different classes were turning their heads to stare at the very end of Class 8.

Xu Yannuo also turned to look, and with just one glance, she spotted Chen Ciyi at the very end, lazily going through the exercise routine.

Under the sunlight, his movements weren’t precise—lazy, even a bit out of sync—but undeniably captivating. A single glance would make you instinctively want to look away from the dazzling sight, only to immediately crave another look, unable to tear your eyes away from that kind of mesmerizing beauty.

Xu Yannuo withdrew his gaze, feeling that it was unnecessary to look back and see who they were staring at—they were all girls, so it was obvious who they were looking at.

After the third class, Chen Ciyi went to the restroom and then headed to the campus convenience store near the cafeteria to buy some water. Although the cafeteria was a bit farther away, the small shop behind the main building didn’t have the Starbucks bottled coffee he wanted to drink.

After buying the coffee, as he was walking past rows of small trees and about to head toward the main building, a boy called out to him, “Hey, new guy!”

Chen Ciyi didn’t immediately realize he was being called, continuing to twist the bottle cap as he walked back. The boy behind him raised his voice another decibel, his tone growing more irritated, “Hey, I’m talking to you! Are you deaf, or did studying turn your brain to mush?”

Chen Ciyi glanced around—he was the only one on this path. So, was it him they were calling? Was this how people addressed each other in their village?

Chen Ciyi turned his head and saw two boys standing among rows of small trees, cigarettes dangling from their mouths, looking at him with expressions that screamed, “I own you.”

One of the boys looked familiar—he often hung out with Li Wei.

Ha! No wonder he’s acting like an idiot too.

Chen Ci gave up on the bottle cap in his hand and stood there, glaring coldly at the boy.

The boy, seeing Chen Ciyi hadn’t come over, was a bit displeased. “Come on over already, what are you standing there for?”

Seeing him avoid the main point, Chen Ci turned and walked away. People who flaunt and bark for no reason—just deal with them yourself. It’s really pointless. They start cowering after a couple of hits, and then you have to report some trivial matter to the student affairs office. What a hassle!

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