The next morning, Su Junxin opened the door to the basement, but she quickly retracted the foot she had just stepped out with.
She cast her gaze to the ground.
On the floor by the door lay a folder. When she opened it, inside was a red property deed and a check.
First, she took out the check. The number on it instantly brightened her eyes.
This was the inheritance left for her. To her surprise, it amounted to a handsome sum of 2.9 million, even without the change!
She hadn't expected that her cheap dad would be richer than she had predicted. If she added the amount on this check and the value of this villa, she already had sufficient initial funding for her plan!
With that, a relieved smile formed on Su Junxin's face. Ignoring the mother and daughter hiding upstairs and spying on her, she shouldered her school bag and walked out of the house.
She attended Experimental High School No. 1, the best high school in South City, which was just three kilometers away from her current home. When she arrived by jogging, it was a little past six in the morning, and there were only students gathering around the breakfast stall at the school gate.
Following the route in her memory, she entered campus and quickly found a large notice board with a class distribution chart for the high school seniors.
After finding her class, Second Year Class 12, Su Junxin sat down in a corner on the right side of the classroom, took out a drawing pad and pencil, and soon immersed herself in her own world.
Gradually, students began to filter in. The classroom started quiet, but it quickly became noisy. Some students, already familiar with others, formed small groups early on. Everyone had smiles on their faces as they talked and laughed about something.
In this lively picture, Su Junxin seemed out of place.
Since she took her seat, she had hardly changed her stance. Focused on the white paper in front of her, her right hand held a mechanical pencil, drawing rapid lines without pause. Occasionally when tired, she would switch to her other hand, but her pace didn't slow down at all.
This naturally attracted curious glances, and some couldn't help but whisper amongst themselves.
"Hey, who is that? Does anyone know her?"
"I don't recognize her, probably a transfer student."
"She seems quite cold. No one has approached her yet."
"Who knows whether she's truly aloof or just pretending."
"She's been drawing all this time; could she be an art student?"
"Isn't our class an elite one? Can art students join us?"
"Pfft, she has probably paid a lot of money to be here..."
*
At exactly eight in the morning, the bell for class rang.
Su Junxin set her pencil down and looked up at the young woman who had just walked into the classroom.
Unexpectedly, the new class teacher was a beautiful lady, which made every boy in the room excited. The bolder ones even started to cheer, quickly turning the quiet classroom into a noisy one again.
The woman blushed a little at their uproarious welcome. She walked to the podium and raised her hand, indicating for them to stop. When everyone fell silent, she began in a gentle voice.
"Nice to meet all of you. My surname is Jiang, first name Rushi. My name comes from a line of poetry everyone may be familiar with: 'I see the green hills are lovely, I expect the green hills see me as so.' Now, it's my great honor to be your homeroom and English teacher for our senior year. It's also my first time being a class teacher. I hope to have an enriching and beautiful year with you all..."
Jiang Rushi's eyes slowly scanned everyone in the room, and when they landed on Su Junxin seated in the far-right corner, she smiled slightly.
Su Junxin halted mid-spin of her pencil, and a fragmented, film-like scene flashed in her mind. But it was fuzzy and she couldn't see it clearly. She had an unconscious feeling of familiarity with the teacher's gaze.
Had she known her before?
Afterward, she scrutinized Jiang Rushi for quite some time but couldn't remember where she had seen this face before. Assuming it might be the original owner's memory mixing with her own, she didn't dwell on it.
*
In the morning, she met the teachers of the other two main courses. The last period was cleaning time for the entire school. Su Junxin was arranged by the newly appointed labor leader to dust the railings in the public area. However, by the time she went to the sanitation corner after packing up, all the rags were taken by others.
Suddenly, a soft female voice sounded from beside her.
"Student, have you run out of cleaning supplies?"
Su Junxin turned her head and saw Jiang Rushi. She politely greeted her before nodding.
Jiang Rushi gave a knowing smile, took out a brand new blue rag from the plastic bag in her hand, and handed it to her. "I happened to prepare some extras. You can use this."
Su Junxin was startled for a moment, accepted the rag with a word of thanks, and only looked away when she saw Jiang Rushi turn to inquire about another student.
Then, there was a loud shock, followed by the sound of breaking glass.
She instinctively turned back.
A metal window frame lay on the ground, its glass shattered all around. Glass shards were scattered everywhere.
The male student squatting on the windowsill held a rag in his left hand and his right hand was in the motion of reaching for the window, hurriedly explaining to everyone.
"I, I didn't mean it, I don't know how it fell!"
Jiang Rushi reacted and quickly asked everyone to disperse. She summoned the labor leader to fetch a broom, while she personally squatted on the ground to pick up larger pieces of glass.
Despite her care, a sharp shard managed to cut her fingertip.
The moment fresh blood seeped out, several gasps echoed.
"The teacher is injured!"
"Ms. Jiang, are you okay?"
"I have Band-Aids! I'll go fetch them!"
"There's so much blood, Ms. Jiang, you should go to the infirmary."
Jiang Rushi took the offered tissue to wipe her hand, hurriedly calming the students down, "I'm fine, everyone stop panicking. You see, I've stopped bleeding."
Su Junxin also looked over.
Indeed, her wound, although it looked alarmingly deep, had stopped bleeding.
"I'll head to the infirmary to get my wound treated. The janitor will be here to clean up later, please, don't touch these shards."
As she was spirited away to the school infirmary, surrounded by a group of students, Su Junxin dropped her gaze thoughtfully.
She absently moved her fingers, a hint of puzzlement flashing in her eyes.
Would a normal person's wound... heal so quickly?