The Rumor Gets More and More Bizarre as It Spreads

Early the next morning.

When the figures of Chen Zhi and Lin Wanwan appeared at the classroom door at the same time, the originally noisy classroom fell silent for a second.

"Ooooh~~"

The jeers were perfectly synchronized, the wave of sound almost lifting the ceiling. A few boys in the front row even excitedly slapped their desks.

Lin Wanwan had never seen such a scene before. Her face instantly turned red all the way to the base of her neck. Keeping her head down and hugging her backpack, she scurried back to her seat like a wisp of smoke and buried her head in her arms, playing dead.

Chen Zhi, however, was calm. Carrying his backpack on one shoulder, he walked straight to his seat.

"Brother Zhi! You are awesome!"

Li Zihan leaned in close to Chen Zhi with a cheeky, wicked grin. "I heard you met the parents yesterday? Or was it a summit between both sets of parents? The whole class is saying you two are dating by royal decree, and even had an engagement banquet?"

Chen Zhi's eyelid twitched. He casually stuffed his backpack into his desk. "Li Zihan, can you put something other than mush in that brain of yours? What engagement banquet? It was just the adults from both families happening to run into each other and having a casual meal."

"A casual meal?" Li Zihan clearly did not buy it. He lowered his voice and said mysteriously, "The next class over is going crazy with rumors. They say Dean Zhang played matchmaker on the spot, that you two were betrothed before birth, and you will get your marriage certificate right after college graduation. Brother Zhi, when the time comes for the wedding banquet, do not forget your bro here. I watched you guys..."

"Get lost, get lost." Chen Zhi interrupted him in annoyance, casually grabbing a Chinese textbook from the desk and smacking it on Li Zihan's head. "The rumors are getting more and more ridiculous. I am the class monitor, a Three Good Student of the new era. I am all about righteousness and integrity. Puppy love? Doesn't exist. It is impossible for me to date early in this lifetime."

Li Zihan clutched his head and chuckled, "Yes, yes, yes, you helped each other all the way to the teaching director's office. That is some intense mutual assistance."

Chen Zhi could not be bothered with this guy. He glanced at Lin Wanwan, who was playing ostrich on her desk. With her skin being this thin now, how was she going to become a superstar in the entertainment industry in the future?

...

The second day of the sports meet, halfway through the schedule.

Class 3 of the seventh grade was all about the idea that participation matters most.

People like Chen Zhi who could actually place were in the minority. Most of Class 3's other events had already been eliminated, so their current mission was just to gorge on snacks.

"Class Monitor, the broadcasting station is rushing us for submissions," Sports Committee member Zhao Gang ran over, mumbling vaguely with half a sausage dangling from his mouth. "Our class hasn't handed in any cheering scripts today. If we don't submit them soon, the broadcast will be full of other classes' voices, and Sister Qian will scold us."

Chen Zhi's head throbbed.

This was exactly why he did not want to be the class monitor; there were too many trivial, annoying matters like this.

"Alright, got it, I will handle it." Chen Zhi waved his hand to send Zhao Gang away.

He had completely forgotten about this. He hadn't even brought a pen or paper, so how the hell was he supposed to write anything?

Chen Zhi rolled his eyes, his gaze landing on the base camp of Class 2 next door.

The monitor of Class 2 was an honest kid with glasses, currently burying his head in writing.

Chen Zhi walked over with a smile, acting overly familiar as he patted the other boy's shoulder. "Brother, busy?"

The Class 2 monitor jumped in surprise and adjusted his glasses. "Chen Zhi? Do you need something?"

"Borrowing a few scripts for an emergency." Chen Zhi casually grabbed a handful from his pile of scripts. "Your class won't be able to have them all read anyway, so lend us a few."

"Hey, those are..." The Class 2 monitor just started to say something, but Chen Zhi was already swaggering back with the scripts in hand.

Returning to his seat, Chen Zhi picked up a borrowed pen, preparing to change Class 2 to Class 3.

However, when he saw the content of the scripts clearly, his pen tip paused.

"What is this stuff?"

The first sheet: The vitality of youth blooms upon you, the spirit of struggle takes root in your heart. Write brilliance with sweat, win applause with strength. Come on, you are the best.

The second sheet: Look! Those colorful flags fluttering in the wind are...

Chen Zhi frowned. Why did this writing style look so familiar?

He flipped through the remaining sheets, and the more he looked, the more off it felt. They had just copied Class 1's scripts!

"Am I not the only clever ghost around here?" Chen Zhi was speechless.

He ran over to Class 4's area to take a stroll, only to find that Class 4's monitor was also clutching identical scripts, preparing to send them to the broadcasting station.

Chen Zhi stopped the Class 4 monitor. "Buddy, where did you get these scripts?"

The Class 4 monitor said self-righteously, "Copied from Class 1."

Chen Zhi: "..."

Case closed.

So Class 2 copied Class 1, Class 4 also copied Class 1, and now he had copied Class 2.

"Alright then, at least we aren't the only ones." Chen Zhi sighed, too lazy to change anything else.

Since everyone was rotten, then let's see who can be rotten with more confidence.

He organized the stack of scripts with the corrected class names, stood up, and walked toward the broadcasting station next to the rostrum.

The broadcasting station was set up in a small room on the side of the rostrum. A long table was placed at the door, specifically used to receive scripts submitted by each class.

At this moment, the person sitting behind the desk responsible for reviewing and sorting the scripts was none other than the Student Union President, Xu Min.

Xu Min was wearing a neat school uniform, her ponytail tied high. She held a red pen in her hand, rapidly marking things. Seeing Chen Zhi approach, she raised an eyebrow, put down her pen, and looked at him with a half-smile.

"Oh, isn't this our school's prominent figure, Monitor Chen?" Xu Min teased. "I heard that after yesterday's battle, you directly won over the parents? Now the whole school is spreading rumors that you got engaged in Dean Zhang's office, and Dean Zhang acted as your witness."

Damn, how are the rumors getting crazier and crazier?

Xu Min pointed to a mountain-like pile of scripts nearby. "Put them there, arrange them in order. There are a lot of scripts today, the broadcasters' throats are about to start smoking."

Chen Zhi looked in the direction she was pointing.

He saw several stacks of script paper neatly arranged on the table. The top stack was from Class 4, with Class 2 and Class 1's scripts pressed underneath.

Chen Zhi casually picked up the top script from Class 1 and glanced at it.

"The vitality of youth blooms upon you, the spirit of struggle takes root in your heart."

He picked up Class 2's script underneath.

"The vitality of youth blooms upon you..."

Then he looked at Class 4's script at the very bottom.

"The vitality of youth blooms upon you..."

Good heavens, they didn't even bother changing the punctuation!

Chen Zhi's mouth twitched madly.

If they were submitted in this order, the broadcaster would have to read the exact same content three times in a row.

Chen Zhi glanced at Xu Min, who was busy with her head down, and then at the pile of scripts. A thought instantly flashed through his mind.

"Um, Senior, I am going to grab a bottle of water over there." Chen Zhi pointed to a box nearby.

"Go ahead." Xu Min didn't even look up.

Chen Zhi walked to the side of the table and, using his body as a shield, quickly manipulated the stack of scripts.

With quick eyes and fast hands, Chen Zhi completely shifted the entire order around.

He placed Class 3's scripts right on top.

Then he pressed the scripts from Class 2, Class 4, and Class 1 underneath in that order.

After finishing all this, Chen Zhi clapped his hands nonchalantly, a satisfied smile appearing on his face.

Every man for himself.

As long as our class is read out first, then we are the original authors.

As for Class 2, Class 4, and Class 1, whose submissions would be read later...

Sorry, bros. Don't call me if you need anything.

"All set?" Xu Min looked up and glanced at Chen Zhi.

"Done." Chen Zhi made an OK gesture, smiling as innocently as a lamb. "Thanks for your hard work, senior. See you later."

With that, he turned on his heel and walked away, an unsung hero fading into the background.

Shortly after he returned to the bleachers and sat down, the impassioned voice of the announcer echoed from the school's loudspeakers.

"Next, a submission from Grade 7, Class 3."

"To the athletes of Class 3, the vitality of youth blooms within you, and the spirit of hard work takes root in your hearts..."

Hearing their own class's submission, the students of Class 3 felt the wording was a bit cheesy, but they still gave it some face by clapping a few times.

Chen Zhi leaned back in his chair and took a sip of his cola, playing the part of the hidden mastermind.

Immediately after, the broadcast sounded again.

"Next, a submission from Grade 7, Class 2."

"To the athletes of Class 2, the vitality of youth blooms within you, and the spirit of hard work takes root in your hearts..."

The entire sports field fell slightly silent.

Over at Class 2's base camp, a few students who were eating snacks paused and looked at each other in dismay.

"These words... why are they exactly the same as Class 3's?"

Before anyone could react, the broadcast continued.

"Next, a submission from Grade 7, Class 4."

"To the athletes of Class 4, the vitality of youth blooms within you, and the spirit of hard work takes root in your hearts..."

Whispers began to spread across the sports field. Many people cast their gazes toward Class 4 and Class 2, their eyes carrying a hint of mockery.

Finally, the main event arrived.

"Next, a submission from Grade 7, Class 1."

"To the athletes of Class 1..."

When the announcer read "athletes" for the fourth time, the whole field completely lost it.

Roars of laughter erupted one after another.

"Holy crap, what is going on? Is the announcer a broken record?"

"I'm dying of laughter. Four classes in a row are exactly the same. Did they buy these scripts in a group deal?"

Over at Class 1's base camp, the faces of the girls responsible for writing the scripts turned green. The girl who had originally written the piece was so furious she almost snapped her pen in half.

"We clearly wrote this! They plagiarized! Why were their names read before ours?!"

However, in a world governed by first impressions, any explanation was pale and useless.

Everyone only remembered that Class 3 was the first one read out loud, and the string of classes that followed were just broken records.

Sitting in Class 3's base camp, Chen Zhi listened to the chatter of his classmates, in an excellent mood.

"Class rep, our script was pretty good. Look at all the other classes copying us," Zhao Gang leaned in and said. "Even though the words were a bit cheesy, the fact that everyone else copied us shows it's got some substance."

"Substance my ass, we copied it too."

"..."