Chapter 153 — School Life

Fortunately or unfortunately, the dinner had to be postponed because his father suddenly had an impromptu meeting with some business partners abroad, while his sister could not squeeze out time from the movie she was currently filming.

Gao Tinghua smiled sarcastically when he read his father's message. Impromptu meeting indeed! He was most likely frolicking with his latest harem addition at the moment.

He messaged his sister to take care of herself and make sure not to catch a cold during filming.

Looking at her cute reply filled with emojis, he smiled genuinely. This sister was the only normal person in the Gao family, and he wanted to protect her for as long as possible.

Despite being in the entertainment industry, she was still innocent and bubbly, mainly because she was under the Gaoyi entertainment label and he made sure special attention was paid to her. Her manager was the best, and she had the first pick of the best resources, which was why she had already risen to B-list within one year.

He was brought out of his reverie by the beeping of his phone. On reading the message, he was ready to smash the phone, but held back at the last minute and decided to practice breathing exercises instead.

He inhaled and exhaled quite a few times before he felt calmness return to him. He could handle this. It was just a meeting between families, no big deal. It was a bit annoying that his mother kept harping on it, but he could endure that.

On reading the second message however, he felt self control could go stuff itself somewhere as he violently sent the phone flying through the air to the door.

The battered phone left a dent in the heavy ebony door as Gao Tinghua let swear words fly.

He felt so irritated. This Han family! They had just gotten an inch and they already wanted a mile. He and Han Jingse weren't married yet, but her mother was asking for his help to suppress a b*stard cousin.

He felt very infuriated. It seemed work could not be done today. He needed a vacation to clear his head.

"Cancel all my meetings and clear my schedule for today and tomorrow." Of course, this was directed to Tong Zhian, the poor boy.

"Yes sir." He said with tears in his heart. Judging from the sheer amount of calls he would have to make, he was going to work overtime today.

*****

Life at Anping First Middle School was tiring, but very engaging. It goes without saying that Han Yichen took to the new routine like fish to water, while Li Yuchen.....well, he was fighting bravely.

By the end of their first full day in class, Han Yichen had been chosen as class monitor and course representative for two subjects already.

The class monitor was chosen by the homeroom teacher, but the course representatives were chosen by popular vote. The teacher could only change the student chosen if he failed to do his duties well after a probation period of two weeks.

Han Yichen won the popular vote by a landslide, simply because there were more girls than boys in the elite class and somehow, he seemed to inspire confidence, or maybe infatuation.

Li Yuchen had also made it clear that he was not interested in such things, so even when he got some votes, he declined politely, stating that he wasn't a diligent student. That statement earned him glares from two annoyed teachers.

After the lunch break, the boys returned to find their desks overflowing with letters, candies and snacks. Han Yichen expressionlessly moved everything to Li Yuchen's desk before sitting down.

Li Yuchen: "..."

"Hey, I don't want them either."

When he heard a few disappointed sighs and saw a girl run outside in tears from the corner of his eyes, he tried to frame his words carefully, "I mean, lunch was very fulfilling, and I don't really like sweets. There's no need."

Han Yichen said, "Push it to the next desk then." before he continued reading his book.

One girl boldly went to speak to Li Yuchen. "Since you don't like sweets, can I ask what you like instead?"

Li Yuchen didn't recognize her, but he still felt he needed to let her down nicely, so he showed off his white teeth as he turned on his cuteness meter, "What I would like, classmate, is for you to be healthy and for all of us to get along harmoniously."

The girl just stared at him, stunned. After a beat, she reacted with, "Oh my gosh, you're so cute!" before running out, leaving Li Yuchen to wonder what just happened.

Before he could speak, a mocking voice sounded, "Someone is acting all pretentious and feeling like a movie star just because of a few candies!"

Without missing a beat, Li Yuchen replied, "At least I got some candies, unlike someone else who even birds refused to go near his desk!"

Jiu Renxin felt stifled due to anger. "As if that's something to be proud of." He started out angry at the stuck up boy, but this friend slash roommate of his was even more annoying!

"Of course it is! And considering the fact that you're so fixated on the issue of candies, didn't you eat lunch? Or are you just jealous?" Li Yuchen taunted him.

Han Yichen chose that time to speak, "You can just give him everything. We need to help the less privileged, don't be stingy."

Jiu Renxin almost spat out blood. One person's mouth was as infuriating as the other!

Tian Jue burst into laughter, not minding the glare Jiu Renxin sent his way. These two were just too funny. He then tried to mediate "Why can't we all try to be friends? Shou, what do you think?"

Liu Shou was noncommittal, while Li Yuchen looked at him as if he was retarded, "Do you seriously think that's possible? With this type of friend, am I not just asking for a beating?"

Tian Jue wasn't offended. "Just think about it. Someone once said that the best way to destroy your enemy is to make him your friend."

Li Yuchen widened his eyes to the max. He first turned to Han Yichen, giving him a look. Han Yichen nodded before adding, "F.F. Bruce."

Tian Jue and Liu Shou looked at him and nodded in admiration. They didn't think he would know the author of the quote. Jiu Renxin just let out a "hmph".

Once he confirmed that there was actually a saying like that, Li Yuchen turned back to Tian Jue, "You must be joking. I can consider destroying him, but I'll find another way, thank you."

"You little—" Jiu Renxin started to say, but shut up when he saw Li Yuchen's eyes narrow dangerously. It transformed his cute face into something scarier.

In the intervening silence, Tian Jue rubbed his nose at Li Yuchen's rebuff and turned to Han Yichen. "What do you say?"

"I'd prefer we remain enemies, it's fine." was Han Yichen's reply. He didn't even look up from his book this time.

Tian Jue: "..."

The conversation came to an abrupt end because their literature teacher chose that particular moment to come in.

Teacher Dan was the kind to test students at the beginning of the session, just to know the kind of students he would be working with.

So when he began by distributing test papers, the whole class was caught off guard. Then everyone groaned in sorrow.

Li Yuchen in particular felt like the world was crashing down. An impromptu exam on the first official day of class? and in literature of all subjects? He just wanted to sit and cry.

But Teacher Dan added, "Although the results will not count towards your final grade, it will be a part of my assessment, which will determine if you would remain in the elite class or move to another class."

This made him sit up a bit. Han Yichen would definitely remain in this class, so he had to do his best and make sure to maintain his seat. He closed his eyes, trying to gather every drop of literature knowledge he possessed.

Jiu Renxin, who was watching him for some reason, saw his depressed look and laughed, "I just knew you were all talk. Ha! Beauty without brains."

Li Yuchen rolled his eyes and immediately regained his fighting spirit, "At least I have beauty. Looking at you, the beauty part doesn't need to be discussed. And judging from earlier, the "brains" part is just your fantasy."

Jiu Renxin choked before resolutely turning his head away. Forget it, he would not lower himself to that guy's level.

Still he made a note to tell his parents to buy him some more vitamins from the capital. He couldn't lose to this boy in terms of beauty or brains!

For the next hour, only the sounds of pens rustling against paper and the occasional scraping sound as chairs dragged against the floor could be heard. Everyone gave full attention to the paper in front of them.