She is the Side Character! — Watch Her Change her fate!

On the contrary, An preferred to be closer to him.

Although it had something to do with his shamelessness, if she disliked him, she wouldn’t bother with him at all.

Jian Mo (Leng): Piaopiao, what about you?

Piaopiao: Sure, I’m an orphan, I can go anywhere, nobody cares. If it weren’t for meeting Brother Leng before, I might have ended up in a factory screwing bolts.

Huanhuan: Let me tell you, recently the boss is either in the classroom or the cafeteria, and often with that girl named An Chen. Last time I went to find the boss, I didn’t expect him to be in the classroom asking her about questions. I’ve figured it out, so recently I haven’t been playing the third wheel, but every time I hide among the crowd, quietly watching… I just quietly watch.

Jian Mo (Leng): Ma Xuan! You dog, don’t think I didn’t see you.

Ma Xuan (Huanhuan): Hehe, boss, wasn’t I just being considerate? If I really went over to play with you, you wouldn’t be happy. Just thinking that everyone will have to spend time together soon makes me excited, thrilled, rubbing my hands!

…

“An, could we discuss this problem together?” After class, Pei Chen, who was usually silent, took the initiative to chat with Ah Chen.

Originally a bit sleepy after training until midnight last night, Jian Mo suddenly became alert, sitting right behind Ah Chen, staring closely at Pei Chen’s every move, finding him more and more unpleasant.

Isn’t this guy the cold and sharp-tongued male god praised by the girls at school?

Indeed, because of Pei Chen’s previous behavior, many girls disliked him.

But he looked good, and there were still many who liked him just for his face.

Pei Chen noticed Jian Mo’s unkind gaze. Although he was sideways, he looked up and his eyes were clearly calm, yet Jian Mo saw provocation in them.

Ha! What’s this?

Is he trying to provoke me?

He’s not some idiot, it’s just a discussion between classmates. To target Pei Chen for this would be strange. Though he indeed didn’t really want to give Pei Chen face, he had to consider An as well.

“Does An know this problem?” Not directly targeting Pei Chen didn’t mean he had no other way, Jian Mo sneered internally.

Ah Chen glanced at the test paper Pei Chen handed over; it was the new one handed out today, considered quite difficult for grade one. However, this level of difficulty shouldn’t trouble Pei Chen.

It seemed that even if she wasn’t like the Commissioner, affected by family upheavals, Pei Chen was still attracted.

She didn’t think it was love; perhaps it was because as his deskmate, her indifferent attitude towards him piqued his interest.

In fact, for the Commissioner, he probably didn’t have much affection either; it was more because she was different from other female classmates and was his deskmate.

Wei Lilan is a single mother, very strict with Pei Chen.

Generally, single mothers are more anxious about their children compared to normal families, but most are not overly extreme; they are normal people. Wei Lilan was of the more extreme kind, wanting to control everything about Pei Chen.

Rather than saying Pei Chen’s early romantic endeavors would affect his grades, it was more that she feared her son—whom she depended on—would actually fall for a girl, as if the most important thing to her was being taken away.

Pei Chen, living in that atmosphere long-term, surely felt suffocated at times.

Wei Lilan is his mother; he has to relent. Everything he has comes from her, making him naturally a notch lower. Yet the repressed heart will explode one day. Once the time is right, who knows where it will burst out?

Evidently, the Commissioner should be that breaking point. Her difference, her need for him, let him experience another identity, and that faint thrill was novel to Pei Chen, making him begin to long for freedom, to break away from the control and manipulation of his mother, urgently wanting to be a free person.

However, when everything was exposed, accustomed to his mother’s oppression—or perhaps having analyzed it internally—rebelling against his mother during such a time was not advisable, which might worsen his situation, leading to irreversible consequences. So, when Wei Lilan confronted them and threw harsh words at the Commissioner, he tacitly agreed, not standing up to protect her, becoming in Wei Lilan’s words, the innocent, solely study-focused person, with everything blamed on the Commissioner’s shameless seduction, unrelated to him.

Because Pei Chen was afraid of Wei Lilan finding out, the relationship was kept secret, and given their young age, “dating” meant mostly expressing feelings and spending more time together. Classmates only thought they were deskmates and really didn’t notice anything else.

“I do,” said Ah Chen.

She also noticed that look Pei Chen gave Jian Mo earlier; if Jian Mo was impulsive, he might have already troubled Pei Chen. But he really wasn’t, this guy had some schemes and wouldn’t let others lead him by the nose.

However, this Pei Chen, although young, had deep thoughts, scheming classmates subtly, even with some tea-like tendencies.

[Both are schemers, Host, why do you treat them differently? Double standards dog.] 997 couldn’t help but complain.

Ah Chen: [How can friends be the same as outsiders? Isn’t double standards normal?]

[Okay, fine, I’m out. I should leave quickly before I get stuffed with dog food.] 997 made its presence known and swiftly left, or risk being overwhelmed with dog food.

“An, you’re amazing, just as expected!” Jian Mo gave Ah Chen a thumbs up, then turned his gaze to Pei Chen, “I heard that Mr. Pei and An had the same scores in their high school entrance exam, so your scores should be roughly similar, right? How come An knows this problem and you don’t? Is the pressure of high school too much? Or are you not used to the teaching yet, falling behind momentarily?”

That’s right, he was concerned about a fellow classmate’s situation, who could say he was wrong?

This little one dared to provoke me.

Pei Chen’s face darkened, his hand on the desk instinctively clenched. He didn’t expect Jian Mo to react this way. Instead of jumping and troubling him, Jian Mo’s words seemed like concern, but actually emphasized one point: his grades were inferior to An’s.

Throughout childhood, he was always the top of the class.

He didn’t expect, at the high school entrance exam, he’d tie for first place with someone else. On the first day of class, he noticed An, which is why he chose to sit next to her.

Being tied for first wasn’t something he really cared about. He was confident in his own grades; there were three more years of high school ahead—not all scores would be the same.

But now that Jian Mo brought it up, it sparked some competitiveness in him.

Of course, he knew this problem; he merely picked a relatively difficult one for high school first-year to talk to An, not expecting Jian Mo to seize this point.

Pei Chen felt a bit annoyed, knowing he should have chosen one from the extracurricular problems.

An’s grades were good, but he didn’t believe he was inferior, even thought he could do better than An, having always been confident in this area.

Ah Chen reached out to take the test paper and said, “This problem is…”

But Pei Chen had already moved the paper away: “I suddenly got an idea, no need to trouble An, I’ll try first.”