The classroom was dead silent, everyone waiting for Failing Grade's next reaction. True to form, Failing Grade didn't disappoint. After staring blankly at Qi Weichen for a long moment, he burst into tears and ran out of the room.
It was genuine crying - Chu Qing could even see the wide streams of tears flowing down his face as he ran. She wordlessly turned her gaze away, only to unexpectedly make eye contact with Qi Weichen, who was still staring at her. Chu Qing paused for a moment, expressing her confusion through her eyes.
Qi Weichen averted his gaze and calmly turned to sit down. Chu Qing's mouth twitched slightly, feeling that without the filter of him being her boyfriend, she found him increasingly strange.
After this small incident, the class became even rowdier than before, especially in the last two rows by the wall, which could only be described as lively.
"It's the first time I've seen someone able to handle Failing Grade. Qi Weichen's got skills," Lackey said gleefully.
Chen Xiu, sitting in front of Chu Qing, immediately nodded, his voice tinged with admiration: "And he's so amazing. Judging from Failing Grade's reaction, what he said must all be true. Did he really memorize the answers?"
"No way, even if he finished the questions and memorized the answers, how could he be so lucky to have memorized exactly Failing Grade's questions? You should know that many of Failing Grade's practice books were sent by his uncle who teaches in the capital. Ordinary people can't buy them," Little Fatty joined the conversation.
Their dialogue fell into Chu Qing's ears, and she looked at Little Fatty in surprise: "How do you even know where his practice books come from?"
"He bragged about it himself, wanting to prove he's different from us mere mortals. However, apart from those who want his question bank, no one really pays attention to him," Little Fatty snorted, clearly one of those who didn't pay him any mind.
Chu Qing nodded, about to speak when she noticed the person next to her still wearing a gloomy expression, staring dejectedly at the desk, lost in thought.
Considering all the snacks he had given her, she decided to express her concern once again: "What are you thinking about?"
"Divorce," Qi Muyang said through gritted teeth.
Chu Qing's mouth twitched: "...Still hung up on that?"
Qi Muyang let out a cold laugh, his multi-colored head looking dreamy under the lights. Chu Qing silently turned her face away, feeling like her eyes would go blind if she looked for another second.
She sat leaning against the wall without much decorum. Seeing that there was still some time before class ended, she pulled out a bag of chips from under her desk. Just as she was about to open it, she caught sight of Lackey picking up his pen. Almost without thinking, her slacker's keen instinct made her drop the chips on the floor, seriously placing both arms on the desk and poking at her notebook with a pen.
Qi Muyang glanced at her sideways, seeing the clean workbook now covered in pen marks from her poking. He snorted in disdain.
Just as he finished scoffing, the homeroom teacher walked in, and the classroom instantly fell silent. She walked in, surveying the room, and finally frowned at Qi Weichen: "Come out with me for a moment."
Chu Qing sensed something, her hand that had been enthusiastically poking suddenly stopped. When she looked up towards the front, Qi Weichen had already left with the homeroom teacher. The classroom that had just quieted down became lively again, everyone discussing why the teacher had called Qi Weichen out.
Chu Qing put down her pen, her brow gradually furrowing.
"Failing Grade must have gone to complain. I knew he wouldn't let it go so easily," Lackey's tone carried a hint of excitement at the prospect of drama.
Chu Qing glanced at him and asked after a moment's thought: "What's the homeroom teacher's personality like? Will she favor Failing Grade because his grades are good?"
"That won't happen. We've had Zhao Zihan as our homeroom teacher since first year of high school. Although she also likes students with good grades, it's not as obvious as other teachers. She's quite fair in many matters," Chen Xiu in the front row explained seriously.
"What's the homeroom teacher's name?" Chu Qing's focus shamefully strayed.
Chen Xiu: "Zhao Zihan, why?"
"...It's nothing, just feels a bit odd for a middle-aged woman to be called Zihan," Chu Qing clicked her tongue.
Chen Xiu looked at her strangely: "Isn't this very common? Zihan, Zixuan, Haoran, Jiaze, many middle-aged people have these names. They're very common."
Chu Qing: "..." She had almost forgotten, it was 2042 now. Those kids who were given these Mary Sue names back then were middle-aged now.
She clicked her tongue again, and turned her head to find Qi Muyang eating chips. She paused: "Where did you get those chips from?"
"I picked them up," Qi Muyang said, his expression still unhappy, but it didn't stop him from munching away.
Chu Qing was speechless: "When did you pick them up?" Weren't those the chips she had dropped on the floor earlier?
"When you were worrying about Qi Weichen," Qi Muyang glanced at her.
Chu Qing was about to say when had she ever worried about Qi Weichen, when Little Fatty, sitting in front of Lackey, interrupted: "Boss, where did you get those chips? I want some too!"
"Ask her for some," Qi Muyang said impatiently.
Little Fatty immediately looked at Chu Qing with puppy eyes. Chu Qing generously pulled out several snacks from under her desk, gave Little Fatty a box of cookies, then shared a bag of chips with Chen Xiu. She still had a bag of pumpkin pastries in her hand. Leaning against the wall, she called out from behind Qi Muyang: "Lackey."
Lackey had been paying attention to their movements, and upon hearing such a familiar address, he instinctively looked towards Chu Qing. The next second, a bag of pumpkin pastries fell into his lap. His mouth twitched: "...Who are you calling Lackey?"
"You, of course... pfft," Little Fatty couldn't help but laugh, ignoring Lackey's dark face as he grinned at Chu Qing, "You're really good at giving nicknames. Isn't he just like a lackey? Always coaxing our emperor to do bad things, a master at sowing discord."
Emperor Qi Muyang glanced at him sideways without saying a word.
"Little Fatty gets me," Chu Qing raised her drink bottle in acknowledgment.
Little Fatty froze: "Little Fatty? Who? Me?"
"Who else?" Lackey, who had been frowning earlier, now laughed. Chen Xiu also couldn't help but chuckle.
The corner of Qi Muyang's lips curled up slightly, his mood seemingly improved a bit. Little Fatty looked from one to another, and asked Chu Qing in embarrassed anger: "You only gave nicknames to us two? No one else has one?!"
Chu Qing silently looked at Qi Muyang.
Qi Muyang paused: "I have one too?"
Chu Qing blinked at him innocently.
"...Damn, what nickname did you give me?" Qi Muyang asked displeasedly.
Chu Qing raised her eyebrows: "You're already getting angry before I even say it. How can I dare to tell you now?"
Qi Muyang frowned, but ultimately curiosity won over his temper: "I won't get angry, just say it."
"You said it yourself, okay? Turkey chick," Chu Qing said, scooting towards the corner of the wall.
Qi Muyang was stunned for a moment: "What?"
"Tur-key-chick," Chu Qing repeated seriously.
Qi Muyang was more confused than angry for the moment: "Why turkey chick?"
Chu Qing silently looked at his hair. Qi Muyang's expression became strange: "...Damn."
The others couldn't help but laugh too. Chen Xiu held back his laughter and said: "Boss dyed his hair secretly while his parents were on a business trip. I thought it looked quite good before, but now that you mention it, I can't unsee it."
Qi Muyang had a belly full of fire, but because of his earlier promise, he couldn't explode. Only by dragging others down with him could he quell his anger. He glared at Chen Xiu and asked Chu Qing: "What about him? What's his nickname?"
"Ah, I don't even know your name yet," Chu Qing smiled gently at Chen Xiu.
She was pretty, and when she smiled, her features looked pure and adorable, making people temporarily forget her earlier display of punching the bad monkey. Chen Xiu blushed slightly and introduced himself: "My name is Chen Xiu, the 'Xiu' for elegant."
"Nice to meet you," Chu Qing nodded at him.
Qi Muyang waited for a long time, but there was no follow-up. He immediately said dissatisfied: "What about his nickname?"
"He's perfectly normal, why should he have a nickname?" Chu Qing didn't understand.
Qi Muyang exploded: "Are you saying I'm not normal?"
Chu Qing once again looked at his head. Qi Muyang angrily declared: "I'll dye my hair back tomorrow!"
To avoid the turkey chick from exploding, she stopped teasing him and instead chatted idly with the only normal one, Chen Xiu. She noticed he was sitting alone in front of her, with an empty seat beside him, and couldn't help but ask curiously: "Doesn't anyone sit with you?"
"They all think I only know how to study and don't want to sit with me. Other people in the class don't really want to sit in our little group either, so the seat next to me is usually empty," Chen Xiu said slowly.
Chu Qing glanced at his fair face. Although he had delicate features, the black-framed glasses he wore gave him a bookworm-like air. She sighed sympathetically and turned her gaze towards the classroom door.
It had been quite a while now; why hadn't Qi Weichen returned yet?
In the office, the failing student finished sobbing out the whole story. Zhao Zihan frowned at Qi Weichen, "His intention to maintain discipline was good, but if his words were inappropriate, you could have pointed that out. You shouldn't have criticized him excessively."
Qi Weichen calmly replied, "His answer was wrong."
"Let's set aside the debate about pointing out the wrong answer for now. How could you personally attack him in front of the whole class?" Zhao Zihan didn't quite agree with his approach.
Qi Weichen paused for a moment. Using his absolute height advantage, he looked down at the top of the failing student's head, then gazed coolly at Zhao Zihan, stating a fact: "He does need to wash his hair."
Zhao Zihan: "..."
The failing student whimpered, about to cry again. Zhao Zihan gave him an exasperated glare, and he immediately held it back.
Truthfully, one couldn't say Qi Weichen was entirely wrong. Zhao Zihan decided to downplay the incident, gave both of them a brief talking-to, and sent them back. Qi Weichen turned to leave immediately, but the failing student lingered reluctantly: "Teacher, I don't want to be his deskmate anymore. I want to sit alone."
Qi Weichen stopped in his tracks.
Zhao Zihan refused, displeased: "If Qi Weichen had truly made a mistake, your request would be understandable. But this was clearly just a misunderstanding, I can't..."
"I was wrong," Qi Weichen's cool, emotionless voice interrupted.
Both Zhao Zihan and the failing student looked at him, puzzled.
"I accept the seat change," Qi Weichen said, expressionless, not looking at all like someone admitting to a mistake.
Perhaps due to his strong presence, Zhao Zihan was stunned for a while and forgot to ask why he suddenly admitted fault. She just asked vaguely, "Where do you want to move?"
Qi Weichen paused for a moment: "The second to last row of the column by the wall, the seat in front of Qi Muyang, which is still empty."
