As Zhou Fu took half a step forward, Lu Guixin was instantly wrapped in his overwhelmingly aggressive aura due to his tall height. He stared down at her and said slowly and lightly, “Tell me the truth. Why didn’t you come back to school last night? Did those four assholes come back to harass you right after I left?”

“What? Did you just call those people… assholes?” The corners of Lu Guixin’s eyes twitched as she wondered if she had heard correctly. Having only shown her true self to Gu Si and the others, she felt a little uncomfortable cursing in front of someone else for the first time.

“What else?” Zhou Fu curled his lips into a sneer. “You must be tired of living to get involved with those people.”

Lu Guixin was at a loss for words. Putting aside the issue of whether what he said is right or not, my uncles and brothers will surely beat the hell out of him if they hear this.

Thinking that her silence was a sign of affirmation, Zhou Fu pursed his lips and clenched his jaw. His face appeared dark and increasingly hostile under the dim lights. “I should’ve taken you right to the school gate and watched you enter the school before I left.”

Lu Guixin raised her head slightly and looked at his frowning face. Two seconds later, she hesitantly asked, “Are you worried about me, Senior?”

“Your point of focus is rather novel.”

“You’re worried because you saw me walking into the school from outside just now and thought that I didn’t come back last night because of those people?”

Zhou Fu ignored her nonsense, but his attention was on the word ‘thought.’ He narrowed his eyes skeptically. “You really returned to school last night?”

“Yeah.” Lu Guixin nodded, her eyes forming crescent smiles that softened her look. “I got up early and left the school.”

Zhou Fu carefully scanned her from head to toe. Her uniform was neat and tidy, and nothing about her appeared unusual other than her slightly bloodshot eyes, which might’ve been because she hadn’t slept well.

His gaze dropped to the bag of food in her hand. The bag had the logo of a franchise store at the food street that was quite a distance away from the school. He looked at her as if she was out of her mind. “Why would you go so far away to buy breakfast instead of spending the time sleeping?”

Lu Guixin ignored that irksome expression of his and maintained that sweet smile on her face. “It’s easier for girls to woo guys. Although you treat me really coldly, I plan to woo you. That was why I went to buy breakfast for you. The eatery sells decent food.”

She then stretched out her beautiful and fair hand to let him select one of the breakfast options she had. “Do you like coffee or soy milk?”

Zhou Fu, however, turned around to leave since he had already confirmed with her that nothing had happened to her the night before.

“Senior.” Lu Guixin hastily tugged onto his sleeve and looked at him with wet, aggrieved eyes. “What am I supposed to do with the extra food then? I bought two sets. Do I have to throw it away? That’s such a waste.”

Zhou Fu glanced at her and looked straight ahead for three seconds before finally letting out an imperceptible sigh and raising his hand. “Cof—Soy milk.”

“So do you want coffee or soy milk?”

“Soy milk,” answered Zhou Fu curtly.

Lu Guixin thus passed the soy milk and wrap set to him.

He was about to leave after taking the food, but he suddenly stopped and said, “If your results are bad, you should stay awake in class and pay attention to the lessons.”

A hint of amusement appeared in Lu Guixin’s eyes as she stared at his cold side profile. “So you like coffee? Did you choose the soy milk instead because you’re worried that I might fall asleep during lessons?”

Zhou Fu shot her a withering look. “Stop being so annoying, Lu Guixin.”

“But you were the one who stopped me to ask a bunch of questions.” Lu Guixin’s pitch rose toward the end. She then suddenly leaned in closer to him and said gently while staring closely at him, “You’re so concerned about me, Senior. Just admit that you’re fond of me.”

“Is it wrong for me to show concern about my one million yuan?” Zhou Fu calmly asked while pushing her head away by placing a finger on her forehead. “My debtor.”

As Lu Guixin watched him walk toward the academic building, her lips slowly curled up. He’s quite stubborn, huh?

…

After the slight delay, Lu Guixin quickly headed to her classroom and arrived just two minutes before the bell for the morning reading session rang.

The sky was still dark outside, while the classroom was brightly lit.

Tian Lu, who was already seated in the classroom, instantly lit up when she saw Lu Guixin walk in. She swallowed her saliva as she glanced at Lu Guixin’s hands. “Sis, I’m starving. Pass me my soy milk and spam wrap. Let me polish them up before the class starts…”

However, as soon as she said that, she noticed that Lu Guixin was only carrying one set of breakfast, and she could smell a mellow and bitter scent of coffee coming out from it. She peered at the latter’s other hand, which turned out to be empty. She looked at Lu Guixin in disbelief. “You… only bought one set of breakfast?”

As Lu Guixin placed the food on the table, she gently said, “I bought two, but I gave one set away to a stray dog on the way back because it was very fierce, and it refused to let me leave.”

“Huh? A fierce dog?” Tian Lu’s mouth widened in shock as she asked worriedly, “You didn’t get bitten, did you?”

Lu Guixin’s eyes twinkled with amusement as Zhou Fu’s unapproachable face came to her mind. She placed her backpack under the table and sat down while shaking her head. “No.”

“That’s good.” Tian Lu heaved a sigh of relief, although her expression became sad the next moment when she recalled that her breakfast was fed to the dog. As she stared sadly at Lu Guixin’s croissant, she suddenly remembered that she had bread and a bottle of milk under her table. She thus took them out. “I guess I’ll have to make do with these.”

Lu Guixin opened the seal of the coffee and then leaned closer to Tian Lu. “Let’s go eat seafood hotpot for lunch. My treat.”

Tian Lu’s disappointed face instantly brightened up, and she nodded eagerly. “Okay.”

Just then, the student sitting behind them poked Lu Guixin on her back. When they saw her turn around, they leaned across the table and whispered, “Lu Guixin, what’s going on with you and Zhou Fu?”

Lu Guixin raised her eyebrows. The news sure travels fast.

“What do you mean by that?” Tian Lu, whose mouth was stuffed with bread, said unintelligibly, “Didn’t Zhou Fu clarify the matter on the school forum? They have nothing to do with each other.”

The other student seated behind them clicked their tongue while quickly copying another student’s homework. “To think that you’re Lu Guixin’s desk-mate. Go catch up on the latest news.”

“What latest news?” Tian Lu asked in confusion.

The guy vividly narrated the incident that had happened at the school gate earlier to Tian Lu. “The blood pressure of the twelfth grade’s level head nearly shot up. As punishment, he wanted Zhou Fu to stand under the flag pole and reflect on himself later! Imagine that! It would be a first, and it’s all because of our campus belle!”

Tian Lu was confused. I’m almost always together with Lu Guixin in school. Zhou Fu and Guixin hardly ever see each other, and they’re not close. He didn’t even spare her a glance when he came to supervise the exam yesterday. Don’t tell me that I missed something? But how can that be? Zhou Fu doesn’t seem like he’d like anyone.

The students behind them wanted to ask Lu Guixin more questions, but their form teacher suddenly appeared at the doorway of the classroom just then and swept an expressionless look at them. The students immediately straightened up, lowered their heads, and loudly recited an ancient poem.

Immediately after, the entire classroom was filled with the sound of recitations.

…

The Year Three cohort.

With a hand in his pocket and a set of breakfast in his other hand, Zhou Fu slowly made his way to his classroom.

Standing in the corridor in front of a railing was a girl whose hair was up in a bun. As soon as she saw him, she walked up to him. “Zhou Fu.”

Zhou Fu stopped and looked at her. “Is anything the matter?”

“Not about me.” Xia Cheng lowered her voice. “The class is talking about how you got into a fight in front of the school gate just now. Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Zhou Fu coldly answered before moving to enter the classroom.

“Zhou Fu,” Xia Cheng called his name once more. “Are you in a bad mood?”

Zhou Fu lost his patience right there and then, his irritation showing in his eyes. “Have you got nothing better to do?”

Even though Xia Cheng’s eyelashes trembled in slight trepidation, she mustered her courage and said, “Su Zeyue’s been crying since she entered the classroom, and everyone’s comforting her. She’s saying that she wants to transfer to another school. Can you go dissuade her?”

“Do I have nothing better to do?” Zhou Fu retorted.

Xia Cheng squeezed her fingers as she continued, “If she really decides to transfer to another school, her parents will surely find out about this. The Su family is an influential family in Ming City. If they pursue responsibility with Lu Guixin, this matter will get blown up. Only you can dissuade her now.”

At the mention of Lu Guixin, Zhou Fu glanced to the side and looked at Xia Cheng. “What does it have to do with Lu Guixin?”

“It was because of Lu Guixin that you scolded Su Zeyue.”

Zhou Fu frowned. “And who is this Su Zeyue person?”

Xia Cheng was shocked to hear that Zhou Fu didn’t know his own classmate despite being in the same class for three whole years. She dumbly answered, “That girl who you said has no right to criticize Lu Guixin at the school gate earlier.”

Zhou Fu, who seemed to have a vague impression of who the girl was, cocked his eyebrow.

“Girls tend to get embarrassed easily. She must be finding herself in an awkward situation now after hearing you scold her in public,” explained Xia Cheng. “Can you go talk to her, please?”

Zhou Fu ignored her and went straight into the classroom.

Su Zeyue, whose eyes were all red, put her head on the table and cried even harder when she saw Zhou Fu enter the classroom.

In a few long strides, Zhou Fu arrived at his seat. He tossed his black backpack on the table and placed the food next to it. He then looked down and pulled the chair out with his foot before sitting down on it with his legs wide open. He was all calm and relaxed, and it didn’t seem like he had any intention of apologizing to the girl.

The entire classroom was filled with Su Zeyue’s crying.

The pony-tailed girl, who was comforting Su Zeyue, couldn’t stand it anymore. She stood up angrily and shouted at Zhou Fu, “Zhou Fu, how could you do that to us when we were just speaking up for you?! How could you scold Zeyue in front of so many people? Do you really think that you’re all high and mighty just because everyone sees you as their idol? Bullying a girl doesn’t make you a man! Zeyue is saying that she wants to transfer to another school, and it’s all because of you. Shouldn’t you do something about this?”

Tian Rong glanced at Zhou Fu before saying to the girls, “That’s enough. Su Zeyue started it first by picking on Lu Guixin and saying nasty things about her. Besides, the level head wants Zhou Fu to reflect himself under the flagpole later.”

“Exactly,” another guy who was on good terms with Zhou Fu spoke up. “That’s as good as apologizing to Su Zeyue.”

It was only after hearing that the girls were appeased.

As the mood in the classroom became better, everyone started joking with one another. “I’ve only seen Zhou Fu making speeches under the flagpole. I haven’t seen him reflecting on himself under the flagpole.”

“When has Zhou Fu ever reflected on himself before? Su Zeyue is the first person to make him do that.”

When Su Zeyue heard that, she lifted her head off the table and glanced at Zhou Fu, who was sitting in the back row with red eyes. It seemed that she was starting to calm down. If Zhou Fu apologizes to me in front of the entire school, I’ll let him and Lu Guixin off.

…

At 7.30 am, the melody before the flag-raising ceremony rang out from the sound system and echoed throughout the school. All the students came out of the school building and lined up at the parade square.

By now, the news that Zhou Fu was going to reflect on himself under the flagpole later had already spread throughout the entire school. Everyone was talking about this matter as they made their way out to the parade square. “I never thought that this day would come.”

“Femme fatale, indeed. Just because he spoke up for Lu Guixin, he’s going to face his first—and probably only—reflection in his life.”

“I heard that the female student broke down in tears on the spot when Zhou Fu scolded her, but then again, he’s going to apologize to her later. If I were her, I’d be willing to get scolded by him too. Haha.”

The Year Three seniors were already standing properly in line.

Xia Cheng looked at Su Zeyue, whose eyes were all red and swollen, and whispered comfortingly to her, “Don’t think about transferring to another school again after Zhou Fu apologizes to you. We still have to take our graduation photos together.”

The pony-tailed girl said to Su Zeyue, “Even if you can can leave us, we can’t bear to see you leave.”

Su Zeyue nodded. “I’m not leaving anymore.”

The flag-raising ceremony proceeded as usual. Once the national flag was raised and the principal gave his speech, a summary of each year was given, and the most outstanding class of the past week was selected.

It didn’t take long before the morning ceremony was coming to its end, and Zhou Fu was already standing at the side waiting.

Over at the freshmen side.

Tian Lu had heard all about the news. During the morning reading session, she secretly texted her brother to ask him about the incident. As she looked towards the podium, she said in indignation, “If Zhou Fu has to reflect on himself just because he scolded Su Zeyue, then can we find out who scolded you on the school forum and make them apologize to you?”

“Forget it. We might not have enough time to eat our seafood hotpot if they have to apologize to me one by one,” replied Lu Guixin in a soft, joking tone while looking at Zhou Fu.

Tian Lu didn’t find the joke funny, though, for it proved that there were many malicious comments about Lu Guixin. The latter was called desperate, delusional, overconfident, stupid, and unworthy, and there were many other disparaging remarks about her. Guixin suffered from online hatred for nearly two weeks, but how come Su Zeyue can’t be scolded when it comes to her? This is a double standard.

Once the last school leader finished giving his speech, Mr. Dong handed the reflection speech he had prepared in advance to Zhou Fu. “I don’t expect you to really learn from your mistakes. Read the words off this paper and memorize them.”

Zhou Fu took the paper and headed straight for the microphone in the middle without even taking a look at the contents of the paper. The black microphone stand was much shorter than him, but he didn’t bother adjusting its height and simply took the microphone off.

Su Zeyue’s eyes were fixed on Zhou Fu. At the thought that the school genius-cum-campus beau was about to apologize to her in front of everyone, she felt immensely proud and satisfied, which was evident by the slight lifting of her chin.

With a hand in his school trousers, Zhou Fu walked forward to the center of the podium and said into the microphone, “Hello, teachers and fellow students. I’m Zhou Fu, and I’ll keep this short.”

When Mr. Dong, who was standing below, heard this, a sense of foreboding hit him. The next second, his face darkened when he saw Zhou Fu crumpling the piece of paper in his hand.

Zhou Fu tilted his head slightly and smirked. “During the past two weeks, there were nearly 3,000 malicious comments about Lu Guixin on the school forum. If I remember correctly, the school has over six thousand students, and that’s almost equivalent to half of the student population picking on Lu Guixin. However, she didn’t cry or said anything about wanting to transfer to another school. The person picking on her, however, couldn’t stand it just because she got scolded once and tearfully said that she wanted to transfer to another school. So only she can pick on people, but other people cannot pick on her? Quite delicate, huh?”

After saying that, a mocking laugh rang out from the microphone and echoed across the parade square.

The color drained from Su Zeyue’s face, and she felt like she was falling from grace. Getting stared at by the entire student population was even more embarrassing than when she got scolded by Zhou Fu at the school gate earlier.

“What the f*ck is Zhou Fu doing?” Tian Rong’s eyes widened in shock. How is that a reflection? Hell, that’s more like a public execution! That’s too cruel and arrogant of him!

Upon realizing that things were going in a different direction, Mr. Dong immediately rushed up to the podium and sternly barked at Zhou Fu while pointing a finger at him, “Get off this instant, Zhou Fu!”

Zhou Fu, however, continued speaking in a low and bland voice. “Don’t idolize me. You’re not worthy.”

Silence instantly descended over the crowd before it erupted into complete chaos.