[They were good brothers, but unexpectedly fell in love with the same woman. His happiness was granted by him, his guilt forgiven by him.]
[Yet he was so mad as to completely trample on brotherly affection! What kind of out-of-control choice will a man struggling with desire and morality make? A campus romance drama about a male lead saving happiness and love - "The Temptation of Saint Slee Noble Academy"]
The system dramatically read out this background introduction in Song Yi's brain, while Song Yi's expression became increasingly frozen. She realized that this embarrassingly cringeworthy content was actually her bedtime reading from last night.
If it were a crime for a 20-year-old to enjoy reading Mary Sue novels, the law would punish her, rather than having her wake up to find herself transported into the novel as the female protagonist with the same name.
The novel is set in a noble high school called Saint Slee Noble Academy. The original protagonist was one of the few top students at the school who, due to needing to cover her father's medical expenses, was "recruited" from her original public high school to Saint Slee in her senior year with a hefty scholarship. She was a typical Cinderella-style female lead.
Unlike female protagonists like Sancai or Chu Yuxun, the original protagonist was beautiful in appearance and gentle in personality, silently enduring even when bullied.
The male lead of this book is named Shen Yujing, with a hot temper and impulsive personality that doesn't consider consequences - a true unruly troublemaker.
On the first day of school, when the evil female rival was bullying the original protagonist in the cafeteria, he inexplicably stopped her. From then on, he fell in love at first sight with the fragile and beautiful original protagonist, embarking on a frenzy of bullying pursuit.
Bullying pursuit, as the name suggests, means outwardly bullying but actually pursuing, similar to how elementary school boys always pull the pigtails of girls they like.
Shen Yujing loved it most when the original protagonist cried pitifully in his arms, making him want to give her the whole world, and in this process he uncontrollably fell deeply in love with her.
Although this character setup now seems truly sick, in old-school Mary Sue novels this was the classic demon prince - the standard configuration for male leads, and still considered reasonable.
The second male lead, Jiang Yiheng, has a cold exterior but is only gentle towards the female lead. He is always by the female protagonist's side, guarding and accompanying her in the name of friendship, never crossing boundaries. Such a lofty person becomes extremely humble in love, causing countless readers to exclaim how heartbreaking it is.
As for the third male lead Hang Feng, who is also the villain of this book, his true identity is the illegitimate son of a mysterious family. He has despised his own tainted blood since childhood and extremely hates this world.
Everyone fears and avoids him, and even those who approach him have ulterior motives.
Until the appearance of the original protagonist, who was like a ray of light in his life, warming and illuminating him, thus becoming his redemption.
This novel tells the story of how these three "outstanding" boys compete almost madly to win the female protagonist's love, fighting each other in a life-and-death struggle. In the end, during the summer vacation of their senior year, they finally wake up at the cost of the female protagonist's death.
Song Yi: "???"
That's just fucking ridiculous.
Yes, you heard that right. They all have bright futures, while the only unfortunate one who died in the entire book is the female lead.
And the system's explanation is even more baffling -
Because the female lead is everyone's pure and unobtainable love, and such love is flawless. But in this world, only the dead can truly be perfect.
Song Yi ignored the system and looked out the bus window. The green trees and blue sky presented a vibrant scene, and the students around her wearing No. 7 High School uniforms were all symbols of the vitality of life.
She then looked down at her own chest, where the golden badge of Saint Slee was almost dazzling. It should have been the best years of her life, yet the original protagonist hastily ended her life because of these absurd settings.
For Song Yi, her parents in the real world had died in a fire when she was very young, and she had no other attachments, so after calming down, she accepted all of this.
The system quickly issued tasks:
1. Stay alive.
2. Get into Imperial Capital University and have a wonderful life.
In the original plot, the most direct cause of the female lead's death was that all three male leads fell in love with her simultaneously.
Because the three of them fought over the original protagonist out of jealousy, along with the envy of other girls, it caused the original protagonist to suffer many injuries she shouldn't have had to bear.
Being loved by the male leads = female protagonist = death.
Staying away from male leads = background character = living.
Plan successful.
The current timeline is just at the beginning of the story, also the first week of the senior year.
In this school, classes are determined by monthly exam results. Only the top 30 students in each monthly exam can enter Class A, which is the true elite class.
The results of this year's opening simulation exam should be out now. All five transfer students entered Class A, and among them, the most eye-catching was the original protagonist. Not only did she enter Class A, but she even directly took away the school genius Jiang Yiheng's first place in the grade.
The forum was buzzing with discussion about this matter.
[Holy crap! Everyone go look at the monthly exam rankings! I suspect I've gone blind. Jiang Yiheng actually came in second this time?!]
1L: This feels like a dream. It's been two years, and this is the first time the top spot has changed hands, right? Looks like things are about to change at our Saint Slee! (dog head emoji)
2L: The first place is called Song Yi, who is that? I've never heard of her. There are many unfamiliar names ranking high in Class A's list this time. What's going on?
3L: You guys just don't understand. It's already senior year, of course the school will spend money to poach some top students from other schools for the sake of college admission rates. It's a routine operation.
4L: But to be fair, this Song Yi really has some skills. Can someone dig up some info on her? What's her background?
...
At this moment, Song Yi, the center of the forum's topic, couldn't even enter Saint Slee's school gates.
A male student wearing a red armband stopped her and righteously asked, "Which class are you from? Not wearing a name tag deducts three points from your comprehensive quality score."
The comprehensive quality score is directly linked to various school scholarships and is a grade that top students pay close attention to.
The name tag shows the student's name, class, and student number. Because many students feel this exposes their privacy, they refuse to wear it. This can be said to be a school rule that has been tacitly abandoned.
This student on duty saw that Song Yi wasn't wearing any name tag apparel and knew she must be a top student, so he deliberately made things difficult for her.
Should I just beat him up? Teach him not to look down on people.
Song Yi was thinking this and preparing to teach this person a lesson when he suddenly changed his expression like a face-changing performance, enthusiastically calling out to someone behind Song Yi, "Good morning, Department Head."
Song Yi turned around and saw a handsome young man standing not far away. His golden-rimmed glasses hid the emotions in his eyes but added to his cold and noble aura. His extremely thin lips were slightly pursed, giving an impression of undisguised indifference and aloofness.
The male student wearing the red armband ran up to the young man as if he had found his backbone, pointing at Song Yi and complaining.
Soon, that cold young man walked towards her and asked, "Name."
Two against one, probably can't win.
A brave man doesn't suffer immediate losses, so Song Yi answered without hesitation, "Sancai, my name is Dong Sancai."
Male student: "???"
The young man expressionlessly flipped open the record book in front of him and said coldly, "Not cooperating with the record, deduct five points."
"No, no, no!" Song Yi naturally knew this name wouldn't fool anyone, so she had to smile and say, "Just kidding, you guys really have no sense of humor. My name is a bit difficult to write, I'll do it myself."
The young man raised his eyes and looked at Song Yi for a few seconds. Without suspecting anything, he handed her the record book and pen.
Song Yi took them, placed the book on the table, and bent over to carefully write three large characters -
Chu, Yu, Xun.
*
Senior Year Class A.
Each desk had a different number carved in the upper left corner, representing the ranking of every person sitting in this classroom.
It was already late, and most of the students had arrived. Basically everyone seated was an old member of Class A, so when they saw unfamiliar faces, they knew they were this year's transferred top students. Some even started betting on their rankings.
Five new outstanding transfer students had joined the class, with four of them ranking in the top ten of their grade. Only one fell short, placing 27th and barely making it into Class A.
When Song Yi walked in, she naturally attracted countless gazes.
A chestnut-haired boy sitting in the corner of the fourth row whistled at Song Yi, then joked to the classmate in front of him, "She's pretty! I bet she's the one who ranked 27th. Did the school waste our money on a flower vase?"
Laughter erupted around them, with others chiming in agreement. No one seemed to find his behavior problematic.
Amidst these less-than-kind stares, Song Yi walked up to the boy's desk and looked down at the number on it—
26.
A ranking that could be considered barely scraping by, though in Class A it was still the bottom of the top.
Seeing Song Yi approach, the boy assumed he had guessed her ranking correctly. He stood up and extended his hand to her with a disingenuous smile, "Welcome, new deskmate. I'm Quan Le."
The name instantly reminded Song Yi of his identity—one of the male protagonist Shen Yujing's questionable friends, another spoiled rich kid. The only thing that made him slightly better than Shen Yujing was that his grades were decent enough to barely keep him in Class A.
Song Yi didn't shake his hand. Instead, she responded to his earlier comment, "I thought you'd be more impressive, but you're only ranked 26th after all."
Quan Le clearly understood Song Yi was mocking him. His smile instantly stiffened, and he snapped, "Hey, do you understand the situation here? I'm a proper student who paid tuition, while you're a scholarship student who can only survive in our school by the skin of your teeth based on your grades. If this is the best you can do, I suggest you leave on your own before you get kicked out!"
Song Yi nodded thoughtfully, unfazed. She asked instead, "So what rank do you think I need to stay here?"
Quan Le was taken aback, not expecting this response from Song Yi.
Perhaps it was because her face was so pure and innocent-looking, or maybe her eyes were too clear and deceptive, but for a moment Quan Le forgot that she had just insulted him. He answered, "At least in the top ten of our grade, I suppose."
"Oh." Song Yi nodded, then turned and walked away.
"Hey! What's with that attitude? Where are you going—"
Quan Le's shouts died down as he watched Song Yi put her bag down at the desk marked with the number "1".
He swallowed hard, realizing an absurd answer but unwilling to believe it.
Someone else spoke up for him, saying, "New student, you might not know this on your first day, but our classroom seats are arranged by rank. You can't just sit anywhere."
"I know," Song Yi replied as she set down her bag. She turned back to Quan Le with a smile, extending her hand from afar. "Hello, I'm Song Yi. Unfortunately, I'm not your deskmate."
A collective gasp arose from the surrounding students as they realized Song Yi was the legendary first-place student. The eyes that had been filled with disdain now turned to shock.
"Holy crap! She's that Song Yi? First in the grade!"
"Beautiful and smart—she'd be perfect if she wasn't a scholarship student."
"Quan Le must be so embarrassed. He had no idea she was first in the grade."
"Shh, stop talking. Quan Le's face has turned black!"
The discussions only subsided when the bell rang for class to start.
Students gradually arrived, leaving only the seat next to Song Yi empty. It belonged to the second male lead, Jiang Yiheng.
Song Yi didn't pay much attention to it. In the original plot, a genius student like Jiang Yiheng often participated in various competitions both in and out of school, so it wasn't unusual for him to miss classes.
Meanwhile, at the back of the classroom:
Quan Le rested his chin on his hand, staring at Song Yi's back for a full ten minutes before turning to look at the boy sitting next to him.
The bespectacled boy with thick lenses felt uneasy under Quan Le's gaze. As a scholarship student, he didn't dare to defy rich kids like Quan Le, so he could only lower his head even more.
Quan Le spoke up, displeased, "Hey, you're both scholarship students. Why can Song Yi rank first while you're only 27th?"
The boy replied softly, "Song Yi has always been the top student in our grade. This is her normal level. I... My mother was in a car accident recently, so my grades have slipped lately."
Quan Le beckoned the boy closer, "Listen up. For the sake of your mother's future recovery and treatment, you must study hard. That's the only way the school will continue to pay for her medical expenses."
The boy didn't understand Quan Le's intentions, but he knew what he said was true. He could only nod meekly, "I understand."
"Good." Quan Le turned his gaze back to Song Yi's silhouette and began to announce his battle plan. "Look at Song Yi. She's your goal from now on. Whatever Song Yi does, you do double. If she studies for eight hours, you study for sixteen! If she does ten sets of practice papers, you do twenty! Got it?"
At that moment, the "study role model" Song Yi couldn't suppress a yawn.
Seeing that it was self-study time on the schedule, Song Yi took out a book and placed it on her desk. In one smooth, practiced motion, she—
Laid her head down to sleep.
System: [... As expected of you]
Quan Le frowned and looked at the boy next to him. He reached out and pushed the boy's head down, "What are you looking at? Go to sleep too! You need to rest well to focus better in class! Hurry up and sleep!"
The boy: "..."
*
The school's online forum was flooded with new posts.
[I saw that first-place student Song Yi! She's quite pretty, but I don't think she'll last long at our school]
1L: Can the person above explain clearly? What happened?
2L: She publicly embarrassed the young master of the Quan family. With Quan Le's vindictive personality, he's the second person you least want to offend in our school, right after Shen Yujing.
3L: Looks like our top student is in for a rough time. Wonder how long she'll keep that position. We're in for some good drama.
...
Meanwhile, Song Yi had already fallen into a deep sleep.
As expected of a noble academy, the desk and chair were perfectly sized and comfortable. Song Yi felt she could sleep like this all day.
She didn't know how much time had passed when a cold male voice sounded above her—
"Hey, Chu Yuxun, wake up."
