15

When Lin Tiao returned to the classroom, Mr. Yu was still there. Seeing the bandage on her forehead, he was surprised, "Did Jiang Yan actually hurt you?"

The classmates, all in the know, burst into laughter at Mr. Yu's comment.

Lin Tiao stood at the door, her tone a bit helpless, "Mr. Yu, this injury wasn't caused by Jiang Yan. I accidentally fell during P.E. class; it has nothing to do with him."

Mr. Yu still looked doubtful, his eyes wrinkling with suspicion. "It really wasn't Jiang Yan? Lin Tiao, don't be afraid. The students I teach won't bow to tyranny. If it really was Jiang Yan, I wouldn't show favoritism."

At that moment, Jiang Yan returned from the restroom. Hearing Mr. Yu's comment, he stood at the door with Lin Tiao and asked puzzledly, "What did I do?"

Lin Tiao glanced at him, "Me."

"What?"

"Me." Lin Tiao inexplicably smiled, "Mr. Yu said this injury on my head was caused by you."

"…"

The two of them stood at the door chatting for a moment. Mr. Yu tapped the podium with his fingers, a smile on his face, "Do you need me to bring you two chairs so you can chat at the door?"

"…"

"Hahahahaha!"

"Mr. Yu, you're such an amazing class teacher."

The class erupted in noise. Lin Tiao, feeling shy, couldn't stand the laughter and quickly returned to her seat, with Jiang Yan following suit.

To be fair, Mr. Yu really was an exceptional class teacher, treating all students equally without favoritism.

However, his methods were unconventional and often unpredictable, but his good temper made the students of Class 18 both respectful and fond of him.

"Do you think Mr. Yu's thinking is a bit different from others?" After returning to her seat, Lin Tiao discussed Yu Bingshan with Jiang Yan. "Does he have any misunderstandings about you too?"

Jiang Yan raised his hand to rub his eyes, which were a bit red at the corners, "Why?"

"Otherwise, why would he choose you as the class monitor and Du Wenbo as the study committee member?"

Lin Tiao hadn't been deskmates with Du Wenbo for long, but in that short time, she had never seen him take his eyes off his phone.

And her current deskmate, Jiang Yan, probably spent more than 24 hours a day absorbed in TV dramas and games.

Jiang Yan leaned against the wall, propping his head up with his arm, and looked down at her, "I think Mr. Yu doesn't have any misunderstandings about me. But it seems you have a bit of a misconception about me."

"What misconception?" Lin Tiao said earnestly, "Judging by the rumor that you can single-handedly take on an entire class of boys, I think Mr. Yu's understanding of you might not be very thorough."

When Lin Tiao was in middle school, there was a notorious school bully in her class, who roamed the school with a gang, feared by all.

Naturally, his grades were at the bottom, and teachers didn't think much of them.

Although Lin Tiao didn't care much about these things, she knew that most teachers wouldn't choose someone who could single-handedly take on another class, who never paid attention in class, and was always immersed in games, as a class monitor.

Of course, there were exceptions, like if the student's family had donated a building or a sports field to the school. In such cases, even the principal would give way when encountering them.

Thinking of this, Lin Tiao seemed to have a revelation and looked at him in astonishment, "Did your dad donate a building to the school?"

Jiang Yan hadn't expected her mind to wander so wildly. Hearing what she said, he suddenly went quiet, seemingly lost in thought.

Lin Tiao was puzzled by his sudden silence.

Did she accidentally touch on a secret he didn't want anyone to know? Hurt his pride as a soon-to-be adult?

It didn't seem like it.

She recalled what she had just said: "Did your dad…? Your dad!"

Lin Tiao suddenly remembered the elite family's secrets that Xu Yichuan and the others had inadvertently revealed after that fight.

His dad hit him.

His uncle made things difficult for him.

"…"

Lin Tiao felt like she had really touched on something he didn't want to share and didn't know what to do for a moment.

As she hesitated, wondering whether to try to comfort him indirectly, Jiang Yan suddenly spoke again, "Have you heard of the Wulin Cup?"

The Wulin Cup is a national physics competition held every April at Lake City University. It lasts for three months and includes preliminary rounds, finals, and a final team competition. It ranks just below the National High School Physics Competition.

Lin Tiao didn't expect him to change the subject so quickly and was stunned for a few seconds before nodding, "Yeah, why?"

A few years ago, Lin Tiao had even watched the live broadcast of the competition. But later, after suffering from physics, she stopped paying attention to it.

"Check the official website. You should still be able to find the results from a couple of years ago."

Lin Tiao raised an eyebrow, took out her phone, and searched for the Wulin Cup official website on Baidu. She found the past competition results.

The internet speed was slow, and it took more than ten seconds to load.

Lin Tiao scrolled back two years and paused when she saw the results, looking up at Jiang Yan in surprise, "This second-place winner, Du Wenbo, wouldn't happen to be the one from our class, would he?"

"What do you think?" Jiang Yan lowered his arm and looked at his phone.

Lin Tiao took a few minutes to digest this information, then suddenly reacted, "Wait a minute, how do you know about Du Wenbo's award?"

"You can scroll back another year."

"You're not going to tell me you were the second-place winner that year, are you?"

Jiang Yan came out of his thoughts and lowered his head with a laugh, "No."

"I thought so."

Then he spoke again, "I was the first-place winner."

"?"

Lin Tiao was speechless and quickly scrolled back another year. When she saw the results on the webpage, she wanted to blind herself.

What is this?

First place, Xi City Middle School, Class 2, Jiang Yan.

She suddenly felt a bit dry-mouthed and swallowed, "I feel like the possibility of you having the same name as him seems higher than you being this first-place winner."

Jiang Yan was stunned for a second, suddenly wanting to laugh, and then he really did, his tone rising, "Are you stupid?"

His voice was deliberately lowered, with a bit of a gravelly texture, sizzling in Lin Tiao's ears like electricity, making her feel tingly.

Lin Tiao's heart skipped a beat, and she couldn't help rubbing her ears, "Even a top student shouldn't insult people. If we're talking about top students, I'm one too."

Jiang Yan obviously didn't believe her, responding perfunctorily, "Mm, top student."

"…"

The three periods of evening self-study ended quickly with Lin Tiao murmuring in utter shock. The classroom emptied quickly, and soon there were only a few students left.

Lin Tiao slowly packed her things and stood up with her bag. At the same time, Jiang Yan pulled his backpack out from under the desk and walked out.

As he passed by her, he suddenly stopped.

Lin Tiao looked up, and her breath caught.

The boy's skin was very fair, and his features were exceptionally refined, as if meticulously crafted. Under the bright fluorescent light, he stood there, illuminated.

Suddenly, he raised his hand and ruffled her hair, saying in a low voice, "See you on Monday, little genius."

Lin Tiao's breath completely faltered, and no one knew how fast her heart was racing at that moment.

He's really good-looking, she thought.

The next day was the weekend. Early in the morning, Lin Tiao was woken up by her mother, who took her to the hospital for a check-up.

Last night, when Lin Tiao came home from school, her mother was frightened upon seeing the bandage on her forehead and immediately wanted to take her to the hospital. If it weren't for Lin Tiao repeatedly assuring her that she was fine, she might have spent the night in the hospital.

The hospital was crowded even on the weekend, but fortunately, her mother knew someone there, so they didn't have to wait in line for the check-up, and the results came out quickly. Everything was normal, no major issues.

Her mother read the results several times before finally relaxing, "Luckily, your head is fine, and your arm isn't affected."

Lin Tiao, who had gotten up early, yawned a few times, "Mom, I told you it's nothing. It's just a small scratch, didn't even need stitches."

"You never give us a moment's peace." Although her mother said this, her eyes were filled with affection for her daughter. "It's good that you're okay. Let's go home. I asked your dad to get some ginseng; I'll make some tonic soup for you to help you recover."

Lin Tiao pretended to be surprised and hugged Fang Yisong, acting spoiled, "My mom is the best."

"You." Her mother poked her forehead, smiling, but there was a hint of guilt in her heart.

She and her husband, Lin Yongcheng, had built their business from scratch. They were usually very busy with work and often traveled for business, rarely home for ten days or half a month at a time.

As a result, they couldn't take care of Lin Tiao much, but fortunately, she was obedient and sensible, never causing them much trouble in her life or studies.

Only in recent years, as the company's operations gradually stabilized, did her mother have some free time to stay home and spend time with Lin Tiao.

Although she and her husband deeply regretted missing out on her childhood, they were grateful for the opportunity to make up for it now.

...

On the way back from the hospital, Lin Tiao was chatting with Meng Xin on QQ.

Meng Xin still remembered Jiang Yan's promise of revenge for her yesterday, "Did Jiang Yan tell you how he plans to get revenge for you?"

"Not really. I think he's just trying to scare Tang Yushi," Lin Tiao replied.

Lin Tiao didn't take it seriously; after all, Jiang Yan was a boy, and he wouldn't actually hit a girl.

"That makes sense." Meng Xin quickly followed up with several messages, "But scaring Tang Yushi is still good. She didn't even show up for self-study last night."

"I had the disciplinary committee mark her as absent."

"Her friends weren't there either, so I marked them too. Hahahaha."

Lin Tiao: "Abusing your authority, huh?"

"I'm just getting even. Who told her to deliberately throw the ball at you?"

During gym class yesterday, Lin Tiao had been standing by the volleyball court watching Meng Xin play. Out of nowhere, a basketball came flying from the nearby court and hit Lin Tiao, causing her to fall and bump her head on the edge of a nearby bench.

If it had been someone else, Meng Xin might have believed it was an accident. But with Tang Yushi, even if she said she was sorry, Meng Xin wouldn't believe it.

Who doesn't know Tang Yushi is excellent at basketball?

An accident? Slip of the hand?

Pff!

"Don't worry, if Jiang Yan doesn't get revenge for you, I will," Meng Xin sent a voice message, "I'm very good at dealing with girls."

Lin Tiao accidentally turned on the speaker, and the car was soon filled with Meng Xin's fierce voice.

"..."

Lin Tiao's mother glanced at her, "Sounds like Meng Xin?"

"No, no, you must have heard wrong." Lin Tiao quickly denied, "It's just a classmate from my current class, chatting in the group chat during the break."

"Really? But why does it sound like someone's about to fight?"

Lin Tiao played dumb, "I don't know. I'll ask what's going on later."

"Don't go getting involved," her mother said as she closed the car window. "That's how school violence starts."

"..."

Lin Tiao helplessly reassured her mother that she wouldn't be getting involved.

After dinner, the small group chat for Class 28 of the second year became quite lively. By the time Lin Tiao saw the messages, there were already over 99+ unread.

She opened it to find a message from a boy named Wu Wang, "Damn, did Jiang Yan really hit Tang Yushi?"

?

Lin Tiao was startled and didn't immediately understand. Several more messages quickly appeared.

"Seems like he slapped her?"

"I heard he kicked her."

"No, no! I heard from a classmate in the liberal arts class that he threw a ball at her."

"No, no, no! He punched her!"

Lin Tiao: "..."

Can't they just agree on one version?

But she wasn't in the mood for jokes at the moment. She exited the chat and sent Jiang Yan a message, "Did you hit Tang Yushi?"

Probably because Jiang Yan was also in the group chat, he replied within seconds.

"I didn't hit her."

Lin Tiao hadn't even finished exhaling when she saw another message from him.

"She came at me first. I just pushed her in self-defense."

"..."

Jiang Yan: "I really didn't hit her."