The next day, it was not until the warning bell for class rang that Jiang Zhi and Yan Xu finally arrived fashionably late.
During the break, Chi Wan merely stepped out to fetch some water, only to find someone sitting in her seat. Unfazed by the occupied spot, she didn't rush forward. Instead, holding her cup in one hand, she leaned against the doorway like a spectator enjoying a good show.
Sitting in the front row, Yan Xu occasionally glanced over with a sideways look, his ears perked up. Catching sight of Chi Wan at the door, he couldn't help giving her an immature glare.
Jiang Zhi leaned back lazily in his chair, seemingly turning a deaf ear to what the person beside him was saying.
"Azhi, these are pastries made by my family's housekeeper. I've tried them and they're really good. You should have a taste." Lu Yulin placed the food box before him with a radiant smile, her affectionate and infatuated eyes brimming with longing.
Seeing that he didn't even bother to look at her, Lu Yulin felt no disappointment and continued, "Azhi, I know you don't like things too sweet, so I specifically asked the auntie to put in just a tiny bit of sugar. You'll definitely like it."
A crisp, cold sneer rang out. The voice was clear and pleasant to the ear, but the words spoken showed no restraint or courtesy whatsoever. "Definitely like it? What, are you a tapeworm in my stomach?"
Lu Yulin's exquisite and charming smile stiffened, and she offered a sheepish, "I guessed."
Jiang Zhi still didn't deign to give her a fraction of his attention. "I thought Miss Lu had grown tired of being a young lady and decided to become a pest instead?"
At this, Lu Yulin's smile completely collapsed. "Jiang Zhi, I... I just had good intentions and wanted to share with you. After all, my mother and Aunt Gu are good friends, aren't they? How can you talk like that?"
The straight corners of Jiang Zhi's mouth slowly curled upward, a playboy's mocking smile plastered across his face as he retorted, "Talk like that? Did I ask Miss Lu to come over and curry favor? What, playing the pitiful card for sympathy again?"
Watching the girl's teary-eyed and pitiful expression, Jiang Zhi felt a wave of irritation wash over him. Looking past that annoying face, he caught sight of another cold and indifferent face—one that wore a clear, mocking amusement.
While Lu Yulin was still grieving over the rejection and embarrassment, the young man coldly interrupted, "Pfft, is someone else's seat that comfortable to sit in?"
"W-What?" Lu Yulin failed to react in time and froze.
A gentle female voice came from behind her, "Excuse me, classmate Lu, class is about to start."
Lu Yulin turned around and saw the very face she had heard others gossiping about and comparing herself to. The thought that this girl was sitting safely and soundly in the seat she had coveted for so long instantly churned up a wave of jealousy and hatred deep in her heart.
Chi Wan didn't miss the malice in the depths of her eyes; she only found it amusing and deeply satisfying. Tilting her head, she smiled, dimples lightly forming at the corners of her mouth, making her look even softer and prettier.
Of course, Lu Yulin was also stunned by her smile. Coming to her senses, she immediately looked toward Jiang Zhi's reaction, and sure enough, he was watching Chi Wan.
With a cold face, Lu Yulin spoke arrogantly to Chi Wan, "This seat belongs to me now. Go sit over there." She raised a hand to point at her own original seat.
Chi Wan didn't move, the smile on her face deepening. "This is my seat."
Lu Yulin laughed dismissively. "It's mine now."
Chi Wan slowly placed her water cup on the desk of a classmate sitting on the other side of the aisle, unsurprised to see the exact same amusement in her deskmate's eyes that she had felt moments before.
She asked in a serious tone, "Do you mean you won't yield, you won't get up?"
Never expecting to run into someone so unyielding, Lu Yulin froze for a second, wondering if her ears were playing tricks on her.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. Being rejected and humiliated by Jiang Zhi was one thing, but why should this unpolished country girl dare speak to her like this?
"So what if I don't?" Lu Yulin looked at her with utter contempt.
Chi Wan smiled slowly. "Pfft~ Nothing much. If you're not willing to move, then I'll... escort you back to where you belong."
The students in the classroom who had been secretly watching the show looked on in shock or utter terror as their class's newly transferred student effortlessly hoisted the school belle up with one hand, carried her directly away from the seat, and kicked her right back beside her own desk with her calf.
Yan Xu stood there with his jaw hanging open, unable to shut his mouth.
Chi Wan thought nothing of it. Before returning to the Song family, farm work was what she did most. Whether it was physical strength or raw muscle power, she was far beyond what these pampered young masters and wealthy young misses could compare to, and her height of one meter sixty-three was quite prominent among southern girls.
Stumbling a few steps from the lingering shock, Lu Yulin managed to steady herself by grabbing her desk, and just as Chi Wan had said, she was back in the spot she belonged.
"Chi Wan, you're asking for death..." Looking at the girl already seated at her desk, Lu Yulin's eyes truly turned red, on the verge of shedding tears from sheer anger.
"I'm not looking for death, but I advise you not to think about coming to me for trouble. Otherwise... you know it, I'm very strong." Chi Wan curled her hand into a fist and raised it, her eyes full of bravado.
Thinking of the sudden weightlessness and terror when she was hoisted up earlier, Lu Yulin felt it was absurd, yet undeniably tinged with a shred of fear. But having been pampered since childhood and surrounded by adoration, when had Lu Yulin ever suffered such a grievance?
Gnashingly glaring at Chi Wan, she grew so angry that her voice turned shrill as she roared, "You just wait!"
Li Chunhua, who had just stepped into the classroom, was so startled by the shout that his body instinctively recoiled a step back. Patting his chest, he said in bitter distress, "What are these ancestors up to again?"
After a moment, he walked back into the classroom, cleared his throat with a couple of coughs, and said gently, "Class."
The teacher lectured with great zest up on the podium, while the students listening below... numbered precisely zero.
Even Chi Wan didn't lift her head once, nor did she listen to a single word of the lecture.
Jiang Zhi looked at the lowered head beside him—small and neat, her hair tied up at the back with a few short strands that wouldn't reach the tie neatly tucked behind her ear.
The pen in her hand moved smoothly like flowing water; he didn't even see her pause to think.
Jiang Zhi let out a soft scoff. On that scratch pad were strings of mathematical formulas, and her textbook was a math workbook. He glanced up at the podium to see Li Chunhua enthusiastically lecturing on some literary allusion in classical Chinese.
"Do the top students of Class 1 not listen to the teacher either?"
A pleasant, lazy voice drifted across his eardrum. The pen in Chi Wan's hand stopped. She turned her head to see the young man's deep, bottomless black eyes—profound and dangerous.
With a calm expression, Chi Wan slowly straightened her body, cast her gaze toward the podium, and replied in a low, unhurried voice, "Top students of Class 1 don't need to listen to lectures."
Jiang Zhi raised an eyebrow, finding it quite interesting. "Why were you there that day?"
It was a very abrupt question, but Chi Wan intuitively understood what he was asking.
"Coincidence."
"Coincidence?" Jiang Zhi countered.
Chi Wan didn't care about his skepticism. "Believe it or not."
Jiang Zhi asked another question that had been piquing his curiosity. "Then why help me? Don't girls usually run as far away as possible when they encounter something like that?"
Chi Wan made a lifting gesture and said indifferently, "Well, do I look like the usual girl to you?"
Watching her gesture, Jiang Zhi recalled the ease with which she had hoisted Lu Yulin up before class, and a flash of a smile crossed his eyes, too fast for anyone to catch.
"Not quite usual, no."
"Believe it or not, my sense of justice is pretty decent." Chi Wan pulled her gaze away from the blankly staring blackboard, turned her head, and looked intently into the young man's eyes. "Besides, you're not bad-looking, so I was willing to lend a helping hand."
Jiang Zhi felt a slight discomfort under her appraising gaze, but kept his expression calm and unreadable.
With a playboy's smile, he replied, "Then I'll tentatively believe your explanation. Pleased to meet you, junior sister."
Chi Wan: "...... Pleased to meet you."