I've booked a table at Longjiang Braised Pork Knuckle Restaurant for tonight.

Cheng Jun felt his very soul shatter.

"Fuck."

A thousand words eventually condensed into a single one.

Cheng Jun turned his head, staring at Chen Zhi with a contorted face, and gritted his teeth, "Chen Zhi, you really deserve to die."

"Hahaha!" Cheng Jun suddenly threw his head back and laughed, the sound mournful. "Where's the class psychology representative? I'm not feeling right!"

A few boys in the back row joined in with ghostly wails and wolf howls.

"Stop your fucking howling."

Someone from the front row turned around and slammed a book on Cheng Jun's desk. "The psychology representative isn't feeling right either."

Amidst this cacophony of wailing.

In the seat directly in front of Chen Zhi, a slender figure suddenly shifted.

Li Zhiyi slowly turned her head, her clear eyes staring straight at Chen Zhi.

She didn't say a word, just stared quietly.

Her gaze inexplicably gave Chen Zhi the creeps.

"What?" Chen Zhi leaned back a little. "Blinded by my handsomeness?"

Li Zhiyi pursed her lips, still not speaking, and silently turned her head back around, leaving Chen Zhi with a stubborn view of the back of her head.

"Hey, you..."

Before Chen Zhi could finish, he saw Tian Qi, who was sitting next to Li Zhiyi, make a move.

Like a bandit, Tian Qi reached her hand straight into Li Zhiyi's desk cubby.

"N-no..."

Li Zhiyi jumped in fright, desperately guarding the opening of the cubby with both hands. Her voice was soft and sweet, yet laced with anxiety. "Tian Qi, don't take that."

"What are you afraid of! You already made it, so why be afraid of people seeing it?"

How could a fragile little white rabbit like Li Zhiyi be any match for her?

In just a few moves, a thick notebook was snatched into Tian Qi's hands.

"Here!"

Tian Qi turned around and slapped the notebook heavily onto Chen Zhi's desk.

Chen Zhi looked down.

It was a brand-new hardcover notebook, its edges plastered with colorful sticky notes.

He opened the first page.

Chen Zhi froze.

The dense handwriting was elegant and neat. Every formula and every theorem had been carefully copied down.

Key points were circled in red pen, difficult concepts marked in blue, and common pitfalls were highlighted with a striking yellow marker.

Even next to some complex physics models, there were thoughtful little illustrations drawn to aid understanding.

"Zhiyi saw you playing games every day and never paying attention in class, so she thought your grades would definitely drop this exam."

Tian Qi crossed her arms, her tone carrying a resentful frustration at his failure to live up to expectations. "She spent over a week, sacrificing her own evening study sessions every day, to reorganize all the key points for math, physics, and chemistry this semester."

Tian Qi grew angrier as she spoke, poking the notebook with her finger. "To make sure a guy like you could understand it, she even used different colored highlighters to mark the important parts for you."

The air suddenly fell quiet for a few seconds.

Cheng Jun stopped howling, and the boys in the back row stopped their jeering.

Everyone looked at the thick notebook, then at Li Zhiyi, who was huddled in the front like a frightened quail.

"Who would've thought..."

Tian Qi rolled her eyes, her tone sour. "A certain someone either sleeps or plays ranked matches every day in class, yet still manages to score a perfect 150. This silly girl Zhiyi was too embarrassed to give it to you, but I couldn't stand it. I had to let you know."

Underneath the desk.

A small, fair hand quietly reached over and gently tugged at the corner of Tian Qi's clothes.

Li Zhiyi buried her head low, the tips of her ears so red they looked like they were bleeding, as if begging her best friend to stop talking.

Tian Qi glared at her, then turned to glance at Pei Ningxue, the cool and elegant girl sitting next to Chen Zhi, and let out a cold snort. "Some people just don't realize how lucky they are."

Chen Zhi gently rubbed the pages of the notebook with his fingers.

He could imagine that on those nights when he was leading Cheng Jun on a killing spree in the Rift, the silly girl in front of him was writing stroke by stroke, organizing all these knowledge points for him.

Chen Zhi felt a complex mix of emotions welling up inside.

"Oh my."

A soft chuckle came from beside him.

Pei Ningxue rested her chin on one hand, looking at Chen Zhi with a half-smile. "Student Chen Zhi, you certainly owe quite a few romantic debts."

"Fight! Fight!"

Cheng Jun's heart wasn't broken anymore. His face was flushed with excitement, his voice eager for chaos. "We want to see a bloodbath! We want to see a love triangle showdown!!"

"Yeah! Brother Zhi, if you're a man, don't back down!"

"Place your bets, place your bets! Are we team Childhood Friend or team Sudden Arrival?"

The surrounding boys were all pumped up like they'd been injected with adrenaline, wishing they could pull up a stool and eat sunflower seeds while watching the show.

Chen Zhi shot an annoyed glare at this bunch of jerks.

The class bell rang right at that moment.

The physics teacher walked into the classroom with his lesson plans tucked under his arm, and the previously restless back row instantly quieted down.

Chen Zhi carefully tucked the notebook into the innermost layer of his backpack.

For this entire class, in an unprecedented move, he didn't take out his phone.

Looking at the slender back in front of him, Chen Zhi sighed.

Damn it.

Now I feel too guilty to even play games.

...

The forty-five-minute physics class was a bit of a torment for Chen Zhi.

He finally endured until the dismissal bell rang.

The moment the teacher stepped out, Li Zhiyi was pulled by Tian Qi, rushing out of the classroom as if fleeing, clearly heading to the restroom to avoid the spotlight.

"Wait a minute."

Chen Zhi stretched out his long leg, blocking the middle of the aisle directly.

Li Zhiyi stopped in her tracks, looking down at her toes, her hands wringing together.

Tian Qi, on the other hand, was tough, puffing out her chest. "What? A good dog doesn't block the way."

Chen Zhi ignored Tian Qi's provocation, his gaze falling on Li Zhiyi.

He cleared his throat, suppressing the emotion and guilt from earlier, and put on an expression that was three parts aloof, three parts mocking, and four parts casual.

"Li Zhiyi."

Chen Zhi picked up the water cup on his desk and shook it. "You've made me so touched, which puts me in a difficult position. Tell me, how should I repay you? Hmm?"

The final syllable was drawn upward, sounding incredibly greasy and nauseating.

Li Zhiyi waved her small hands in a panic, her voice as soft as a mosquito. "N-no need."

"How can there be no need?"

Chen Zhi frowned and suddenly lowered his voice, mimicking the deep, raspy, greasy tone of a domineering CEO from short videos. "Woman, you have successfully caught my attention."

Li Zhiyi: "???"

Tian Qi: "???"

Next to them, Pei Ningxue burst into a "pfft" of laughter.

Chen Zhi ignored the weird looks from around him and continued speaking with deep affection. "Since you put in so much effort, I have to show my appreciation. How about I treat you to the cafeteria tonight? Hmm? Speak."

Li Zhiyi was dumbfounded.

Tian Qi was also dumbfounded.

What kind of weirdo was this?

Seeing no reaction from the two, Chen Zhi frowned again, switching back to the dissatisfaction of a domineering CEO.

"What? Not satisfied?"

He waved his large hand expansively. "Then I'll treat you to Shaxian Snacks at the school gate?"

Li Zhiyi's mouth hung slightly open, completely unable to keep up with Chen Zhi's train of thought.

"Still don't like it?"

Chen Zhi switched to a doting expression again. "Then Longjiang Pig Trotter Rice should do, right? I'll book a table tonight and treat you to a large portion."

Some classmates around them were already starting to hold back their laughter.

Seeing that she still wasn't speaking, Chen Zhi sighed deeply and shook his head.

"Still don't like it? Then how about Braised Chicken and Rice? Hmm?"

At this point, Chen Zhi's expression suddenly turned deadpan. He wagged a single finger in front of Li Zhiyi and said in a dead-serious tone,

"Woman, don't be too greedy."

"Pfft—"

Cheng Jun immediately spat out the water he had just sipped.

Tian Qi's mouth twitched wildly.

Where did this try-hard domineering loser come from?

Someone please come take him away, this is just too embarrassing!

Li Zhiyi's face was so red it looked like it was going to explode.

But just when everyone thought Li Zhiyi would run away in fright,

she suddenly raised her head, darted a quick glance at Chen Zhi, and whispered in a voice so soft that only the two of them could hear,

"Then... then I want pork trotter rice."

With that, she grabbed a completely bewildered Tian Qi and bolted out of the classroom.