The Treatment of Good Students

Chen Zhi's mouth twitched slightly.

This girl really had incredible luck, flipping right to such a long one.

"What's wrong? Can't recite it?"

Seeing him stay silent, Lin Wanwan thought she had exposed his lie, and a hint of smugness appeared on her face. "I knew you were ly..."

"The Han emperor prized beauty and longed for a nation-toppling face, but after many years of ruling the world, he still could not find one."

A clear voice suddenly rang out, interrupting her tirade.

Chen Zhi leaned back in his chair, not even looking at the book. With his eyes half-closed, his pace was steady and fluent.

"The Yang family had a daughter who had just come of age, raised deep in her boudoir where no one knew her."

"Her natural beauty was hard to hide, and one day she was chosen to be at the monarch's side."

...

The surrounding sounds of reading aloud were still noisy, but Lin Wanwan felt as if those voices had faded away.

She stared blankly at Chen Zhi in front of her.

The morning light poured through the window and bathed him, giving him a faint golden halo.

As he recited, he didn't bob his head around like the other students, nor did he stumble over his words.

Those obscure and difficult sentences flowed from his mouth as naturally as eating and drinking.

"...In heaven, we vow to be birds flying wing to wing; on earth, we vow to be trees with branches intertwined."

"The boundless sky and endless earth will one day pass away, but this endless sorrow will never cease."

The final line fell.

Chen Zhi opened his eyes and calmly looked at Lin Wanwan, who was now completely petrified.

"Do you still want to test me?"

Lin Wanwan shook her head.

Although she didn't quite understand the meaning, she was following along with the words in the book.

Not a single word was wrong.

Even the pronunciation of those few rare characters was perfectly standard.

This was absolutely not something that could be memorized through last-minute cramming.

He knew it by heart.

So... Zhizhi was telling the truth.

He really had put in unimaginable effort behind the scenes.

An immense sense of guilt instantly overwhelmed Lin Wanwan.

She remembered her own wicked behavior just now, her misunderstanding of him, and how she had even wanted to go complain to Auntie Zhang.

Zhizhi was already working so hard to maintain his genius persona, and during the day he still had to be pinched and doubted by her.

Lin Wanwan, you are truly awful!

Her eyes instantly turned red.

Large teardrops welled up in her eyes, looking like they were about to fall.

"I... I'm sorry."

Lin Wanwan sniffled, her voice thick with tears. "I didn't know... I really didn't know you were working so hard."

Chen Zhi felt secretly thrilled, but on the surface, he maintained the calm and detached demeanor of a master.

He reached out and, like a kindly old father, patted Lin Wanwan's head.

"Those who do not know are innocent."

"As long as you don't pinch me at the drop of a hat anymore, and don't go tattling, I will forgive you."

Lin Wanwan nodded vigorously, like a pestle pounding garlic.

"I won't tattle anymore, I'll never tattle again."

She took out a carton of milk from the side pocket of her backpack. It was the breakfast milk Lin Jing had prepared for her, which she usually couldn't bear to drink herself.

"Here, drink this."

Lin Wanwan poked the straw into the milk and offered it to Chen Zhi's lips with both hands, looking eager to please. "It's good for your brain."

Chen Zhi didn't stand on ceremony. He lowered his head, bit the straw, and took a big gulp.

It was deliciously sweet.

Just then, the front door of the classroom was pushed open.

A middle-aged man wearing thick black-rimmed glasses and a Mao suit walked in.

The homeroom teacher, Wang Jianguo.

He was also Lin Shuxian's high school classmate.

The reading voices in the classroom instantly dropped by half.

Holding a pointer, Wang Jianguo swept his piercing gaze around the classroom, finally fixing on the corner of the back row.

There, Chen Zhi was sucking on the milk, looking perfectly content.

Next to him, Lin Wanwan was looking at him with tearful eyes, like a wronged little wife.

Wang Jianguo frowned.

This kid, bullying a female classmate on the very first day of school?

Lin Shuxian had specifically asked him to take good care of these two children.

"Chen Zhi!"

Wang Jianguo shouted loudly.

Chen Zhi almost spat out a mouthful of milk and hastily stood up.

"Here!"

The gazes of the entire class instantly focused on them.

Sitting in the front row, Li Zihan the little chubby boy who had followed Chen Zhi around since they were toddlers was currently looking back at his Boss with a sympathetic expression.

It's over, the Boss is going to get scolded.

Wang Jianguo stepped down from the podium with his hands behind his back and walked step by step toward Chen Zhi.

The intense pressure made the surrounding air feel as if it had frozen.

"Drinking milk during morning reading, and making your desk mate cry?"

Wang Jianguo kept a straight face, his tone stern. "It seems you think the material in the textbook is too easy and you don't need to study it, right?"

Hearing that the teacher had misunderstood, Lin Wanwan panicked and was about to stand up to explain.

"Teacher, no..."

Chen Zhi gently kicked her under the desk, signaling her to shut up.

At times like this, explaining just looks like making excuses.

If he wanted to sleep openly in class in the future, he had to let Lao Wang know that teaching him was purely a waste of time.

"Reporting to the teacher."

Chen Zhi straightened his back, neither haughty nor humble. "The pinyin in the textbook is indeed too simple. I think it's a waste of my life."

The whole class was in an uproar.

Too arrogant!

Li Zihan's mouth fell open, his face full of adoration.

The Boss is the Boss, he even dares to talk back to the teacher!

Wang Jianguo laughed out of anger.

Having worked in education for twenty years, he had never seen such an arrogant first-grade freshman.

"Good, good, good."

Wang Jianguo said good three times in a row, casually picking up the Chinese textbook from Lin Wanwan's desk and flipping to the back pages.

"Since you think it's easy, read this passage."

It was the last text in the book, The Little Bear Lives in a Cave. For children who had just started school and were still learning their vowels, this article full of Chinese characters was no different from a heavenly script.

Wang Jianguo's original intention was to crush the kid's spirit and teach him his place.

Chen Zhi didn't even look at the textbook.

He had read this text countless times in his previous life when tutoring a relative's child. He could recite it backwards.

"The little bear family who wanted to live in a cave, lived in a cave..."

Fluent, standard, and perfectly cadenced.

Even the pauses for punctuation were exactly right.

The sneer on Wang Jianguo's face gradually froze, replaced by astonishment.

He looked at the book, then at Chen Zhi.

This child... really knows how to read?

Not only read, but this level of reading comprehension was something even a third-grade student might not achieve.

Chen Zhi finished reciting the last paragraph, stopped, and quietly looked at Wang Jianguo.

"Teacher, may I sit down now?"

The classroom was dead silent.

Everyone stared at Chen Zhi with their mouths wide open, as if looking at an alien.

Wang Jianguo took a deep breath and pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose, hiding the shock in his heart.

That old rascal Lin Shuxian only said his daughter was smart, he never mentioned his godson was an absolute monster!

"Ahem."

Wang Jianguo cleared his throat and tossed the book back onto the desk.

"You read it decently, but don't get arrogant."

"Sit down."

Chen Zhi plopped back into his chair, casually picked up the unfinished carton of milk, and continued sipping.

This time, Wang Jianguo pretended not to see it, turning around with his hands behind his back and walking back to the podium.

Good students, after all, always get a few privileges.

As long as he wasn't tearing the roof down, what was wrong with drinking a little milk?

Lin Wanwan looked at Chen Zhi beside her, the admiration in her eyes practically overflowing.

Even the fierce Teacher Wang had been won over by Zhizhi!

Zhizhi was definitely so amazing during the day because he studied so hard at night!

"Zhizhi."

Lin Wanwan leaned over and carefully straightened his crooked red scarf, her tone so tender it practically dripped with sweetness.

Do you still want some water? I have warm water in my cup.

No need.

Chen Zhi waved his hand, yawned, and lay back down on the desk.

Don't disturb me, I'm going to continue... meditating.

Remember to wake me up when the teacher comes.

Mhm!

Lin Wanwan nodded emphatically, then sat up straight, keeping a vigilant eye on their surroundings like a dutiful bodyguard.

Anyone who dared to make a sound and disturb Zhizhi's meditation at this moment would be her, Lin Wanwan's, enemy!

Chen Zhi buried his face in the crook of his arm, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.

Elementary school life didn't seem as unbearable as he had imagined.

As long as Lin Wanwan firmly believed he was a hidden genius, he could walk sideways through the school like a crab, and this little girl would still trail behind him just to carry his slippers.

Chen Zhi closed his eyes with complete peace of mind and went back to catching up on his sleep.

However.

Five minutes later.

Something was suddenly brushing back and forth over his head.

Although Lin Wanwan didn't dare to speak, her hands were certainly not idle.

At this very moment, she was holding a small comb, taking advantage of Chen Zhi's nap to secretly comb down the stubborn cowlick sticking up on the back of his head.

As she combed, she muttered softly to herself:

A genius can't have messy hair either, you have to maintain an image...

The veins on Chen Zhi's forehead throbbed.