Chapter One: Another Day of World Peace
“Another day of world peace.”
He Tianran sat in the middle of the front row, watching the teacher furiously scribbling on the blackboard, his mind wandering elsewhere.
“I should be sitting in the very back row, or at least by the window, just like the male protagonists in anime, resting their chin on their hand, pondering life.”
The pen in his hand spun around his fingertip once before dropping to the floor. His deskmate, a girl, shot him a disdainful glance. Though the gesture was subtle, his sensitive nature caught it immediately.
“I can’t even spin a pen properly. What a failure. Better not disturb others.”
A wave of embarrassment rushed over He Tianran. He quickly picked up the pen and buried his head in his textbook, focusing intently.
“I wish I could just die. If only the reincarnation trope from novels happened to me, would I have a different life?”
His thoughts drifted wildly, but he soon dismissed the idea.
“What good would reincarnation do? Maybe I’d have been more popular in elementary school? Back then, good grades still caught attention. But in middle and high school, there are so many weirdos. My little experience wouldn’t be enough…”
“And why does anyone think that reincarnation and the wisdom of two lifetimes guarantee success? For someone like me, it’d be the same either way! Successful people always have their strong suits—character, knowledge, looks. None of that’s me. I’m only good at playing games.”
“Wait, maybe people like me are actually the majority. After all, not everyone has a perfect life. Thinking this way, I’m not that bad.”
He glanced at a seat by the window to his left. There, a beautiful girl sat, bathed in the warm glow of the setting sun streaming through the window. She rested her delicate chin on her hands, her head tilted slightly as she gazed outside, perhaps lost in thought.
Perhaps sensing his gaze, the girl turned her head, but the look quickly vanished.
“Oh no, making eye contact would be awful. I don’t want anyone teasing me for having a crush on her. If I get exposed, I’d die for sure!”
“Tap~”
A finger lightly tapped the desk. He Tianran looked over and saw his deskmate, Ye Jiaqi, grinning mischievously. In a barely audible whisper meant only for him, she said,
“I know you like Cao Aiqing.”
“Ei…”
His mouth opened slightly in surprise. Hastily, he grabbed his pen and wrote in the margin of his textbook:
“Don’t talk nonsense. It’s inappropriate!!”
Ye Jiaqi glanced at his note and wrote back in her own book:
“It only affects you badly, right? But what do you have that it could affect?”
Seeing those slightly twisted words felt like two big hands were repeatedly rubbing his cheeks, making them flush with heat.
“Number 17, who’s number 17?”
At that moment, the teacher’s roll call saved He Tianran. But no one stood up immediately.
“Number 17, if you don’t get up to answer, don’t blame me for checking the class roster.”
The middle-aged teacher glanced over the class. Finally, a boy from the back row spoke up.
“Teacher, number 17 is Wen Liang. She’s an art student. She took leave last Tuesday to attend a performance training class.”
“Oh, Old Xue, you’re well-informed. Keeping track, huh?”
“Shut up, damn you!”
“Report, teacher! Xue Yong just cursed!”
Laughter erupted in the classroom. The boy named Xue Yong was unfazed, shaking his head indifferently.
Among the boys in Senior Three, Class Two at Gangcheng High School, the mention of two girls’ names always sparked teasing: Cao Aiqing and Wen Liang.
No wonder—two school beauties in the same class. The restless hormones and youthful naïveté made it difficult for these kids not to think about romance. Besides that, their minds had little else to focus on.
If you insisted it was friendship, well, maybe. But to these inexperienced boys, friendship with these two beauties was just a fantasy.
How the girls felt was unknown, but in He Tianran’s circle, it was certainly seen as a joke.
“All right, enough. Quiet down. Number 27.”
The teacher smiled, not angry, and casually called on the next student.
After the earlier scene, He Tianran relaxed momentarily but then tensed up again upon hearing his own number. He stood nervously.
“Come on, Tianran. Solve this problem and explain your thought process to everyone.”
On the blackboard was a math problem:
“In a rectangular coordinate system, given a moving point P whose distances to fixed points M(8, 0) and N(2, 0) are in the ratio 2:1, find the trajectory equation C of point P. If the line…”
This problem was not difficult for He Tianran. In fact, math was his strong suit. Yet the thought of his classmates’ gazes made him uncomfortable.
“Is Cao Aiqing watching me?”
Just imagining his goddess possibly paying attention, his hands trembled as he took the chalk. This shy gesture sparked a wave of suppressed laughter.
“Our Tianran really is ‘natural’.”
“Natural what? Naturally cute?”
“No, naturally dumb! Hahaha…”
No matter how much they tried to stifle their whispers, He Tianran heard every harsh word. The teacher shot a glance downward, and the classroom instantly quieted.
Taking a deep breath, the boy quickly solved the problem and then lowered his head, walking back to his seat.
“Huh? Tianran, why are you leaving? You got it right. Explain your process.”
He said nothing. A boy from the back row jeered,
“Teacher Zhao, our Tianran usually won’t bother explaining to us.”
“Hey, Li Bin, that’s not fair. Tianran’s just shy, not like us with our bold, carefree faces.”
Teacher Zhao grew angry, flicked a chalk mark across the air, and hit the heckling boy squarely on the forehead.
“Xue Yong, Li Bin, both of you, get out.”
“Got it!”
The two boys left their seats, hands in pockets, and strode out the back door without looking back.
Order was restored. The teacher seemed to be on He Tianran’s side, but only he knew this was the last thing he wanted.
“Great, now Xue Yong and Li Bin will definitely hold a grudge against me. I’m not afraid of fights—it’s just getting hit—but what really bothers me is having to endure their teasing in the future.”
The boy, who suspected he had mild social anxiety, already anticipated what lay ahead. A wave of helplessness overwhelmed him, and he lowered his head further.
Until the final bell, he spent the day in nervous anticipation.
Today, once again, was a day of world peace.