After the class bell rang, a female teacher with red-rimmed glasses appeared at the doorway.
She held the lecture notes with her right hand and a bright yellow triangular board with worn edges in her left.
She should be the head math teacher of Special Class.
According to the information gathered from her classmates' discussion, the teacher's name was Zhao Minghua.
The students called her Sister Hua and she was known to be notoriously strict.
Zhao Minghua walked to the podium and looked around, "Your seats have changed."
She put the triangular board on the podium and announced, "Class is starting."
——"Reporting."
Lu Qingyan turned her head.
A slender boy was standing next to the back door, dressed neatly in his school uniform.
The fine black hair on his forehead was softened in the morning sun and his eyebrows were beautiful, but there was a conspicuous bandage on his left cheek.
After a whole night of trying to come to terms with her transmigration into the world of the novel, seeing this antagonist in the flesh was like being smacked by reality all over again.
He looked nothing like the future villain who'd drag everyone down with him—but the bandage hinted that trouble always followed him like a loyal puppy.
Zhao Minghua frowned. "What happened to your face?"
He didn't flinch. "I fell down the stairs."
The class fell into a heavy silence that screamed "Lies." No one believed that for a second.
A bruise on the cheek from falling down stairs? That's not how gravity works.
She looked at the cold and aloof youth who stood by the door. He emitted a very reserved and quiet feeling, completely different from the person who will become an antagonist in the future.
Zhao Minghua frowned slightly as she stared at Wang Jingyuan. She glanced down at her watch, "A minute late."
Zhao Minghua looked like she wanted to question it further, but in the end, she simply sighed. "Wang Jingyuan, come to my office after class for the assignment and turn it in at the end of the school day."
Just then, from the front row, a round-faced boy couldn't hold it in.
Xiaopang, who sat in the front, blurted out to his tablemate, "Brother Jing is not late, didn't he arrive right when the bell rang?"
Zhao Minghua narrowed her eyes. "Peng Jianda, do you want a copy too?"
Xiaopang immediately switched gears like his life depended on it. "Teacher's punishment is absolutely correct. Long live Sister Hua!"
Zhao Minghua's lips curled faintly. "Wang Jingyuan, if you don't have any objections, take your seat."
Wang Jingyuan was silent as he stood at the back door, his expression difficult to distinguish.
Just when Lu Qingyan thought he was going to raise his eyebrows in the next moment and question, "Why? I don't want to write an assignment," he unexpectedly —— very cooperatively nodded his head.
Lu Qingyan: ! !
Wang Jingyuan glanced around the classroom, probably already aware that the seats were changed.
Finally, his gaze fell on Lu Qingyan, who was seated in the last row with an empty seat next to her.
Their eyes met.
Wang Jingyuan looked away as if he saw nothing.
He continued to stand at the door and glanced around the classroom once again.
The classroom was packed.
Zhao Minghua noticed that he was still at the door. She raised her eyebrows, "What's the matter? You're already late and still want to take your time?"
Zhao Minghua, who stood on the podium, knocked on the blackboard, "Take out the math assignments you did yesterday."
"Shwah, shwah ——" The sound of pulling out paper filled the classroom.
Lu Qingya took out her assignment before her line of sight fell on Wang Jingyuan, who was seated next to her.
His handwriting was slender and beautiful, refreshing, and pleasing to the eye. The paper was full of answers, without a single question left unanswered.
If she remembered correctly, this deskmate of hers seemed to rank first every year.
Zhao Minghua discussed the multiple-choice questions as she walked up and down the aisles of the classroom.
Zhao Minghua resumed her lecture, walking up and down the aisles with a triangular ruler in hand like a general inspecting troops.
Lu Qingyan felt that when the teacher passed by her desk, she paused for a significantly longer amount of time. It almost seemed like she was trying to determine if Lu Qingyan finished her homework.
Determined to avoid suspicion, Lu Qingyan flipped over her assignment sheet with performative flair, revealing a thoroughly completed back page.
She even looked up and met Zhao Minghua's gaze like: See? I'm a good girl.
Zhao Minghua moved on—straight to the boy to her left: Xiaohei.
After a glance, Zhao Minghua finally walked past her and arrived at Xiaohei's right side.
Xiaohei was suddenly a little nervous and immediately sat upright.
As if inspired by Lu Qingyan, Zhao Minghua said to Xiaohei, "Turn over the paper, let's see the other side."
Xiaohei turned ghost-white.
Xiaohei hadn't thought that Sister Hua would make such a move and his dark complexion suddenly became extremely pale.
He turned his head and looked at Zhao Minghua with a guilty expression. When he turned his head again, he saw Lu Qingyan to his left.
During the moment when he turned his head, Lu Qingyan suddenly remembered that this boy had covered his paper during the morning reading and had looked at her wearily as if she was a thief.
So, she also very vigilantly covered the answers on her paper. This time, she was the widow protecting her chastity.
In addition, Lu blinked at Xiaohei and childishly whispered, "I won't show you."
It was delivered with all the gravitas of a widow guarding her chastity.
Xiaohei: "..."
He resignedly turned over the paper.
As expected, half of this side was not finished.
Xiaohei never imagined that Lu Qingyan, who arrived after him, could actually finish the assignment before him.
Based on her speed, she must've been randomly scribbling!
Xiaohei was still complaining in his heart when Zhao Minghua coldly said, "Tang Jie, you and Wang Jingyua can both come to my office after class to pick up assignments."
Xiaohei—Tang Jie—looked absolutely devastated. Meanwhile, Lu Qingyan fought a smirk.
After all, she had finished her homework and maintained her academic integrity. In her first full day in this world, that was basically a moral victory.
Wang Jingyuan, on the other hand, didn't react at all. He kept writing with a mild expression, as if extra homework was just part of breathing.
Zhao Minghua resumed the lesson, but Lu Qingyan couldn't resist a final sideways glance at the bandaged boy beside her.
He looked so composed. So unlike the antagonist she knew would one day burn everything down. She wondered for a moment:
Was this calm before the storm… or was the storm never supposed to happen?
Either way, she'd have a front-row seat.
And she wasn't sure if she was terrified or intrigued.