At night, Qingran received a reply from Xie Ying'an on WeChat, an OK hand gesture indicating that he had seen the pictures of the notes.
Qingran thought for a bit and sent back a cute nodding bear emoji.
Xie Ying'an responded almost immediately.
X: Haven't slept yet?
Qingran checked the time, 22:32, and replied: Preparing to sleep.
X: Go to bed early, good night.
Qingran didn't reply anymore and put down her phone to sleep.
Meanwhile, the class group chat exploded.
Ruan Ruan, who hadn't felt like studying at all today, saw the message in the group first and jumped up from the bed to find Qingran.
Her face was full of excitement: "Ranran, did you see what the class leader just posted in the group?"
Since Qingran wasn't comfortable sleeping with others, she let Ruan Ruan take the bed and slept on the tatami mat by the window herself.
"What did he post?" Qingran subconsciously reached for her phone.
"Next next weekend, Old Wu is organizing the annual spring outing."
Spring outing...
A pang hit Qingran's heart; a jumble of memories flooded in, causing a moment of intense pain in her head. It felt like she almost grasped something.
After the sudden pain subsided, and when Qingran tried to recall it, she couldn't remember anything.
But one thing was clear. Wen Shiyi's appearance had triggered the plot of this book.
And her character, labeled as the male lead's childhood friend and the third female lead, was supposed to start turning bad after this spring outing.
So what exactly happened during this outing?
After her excitement, Ruan Ruan leaned against the window praying for Ji Yanchen to do well on tomorrow's test, then quickly fell asleep on the bed.
Near eleven o'clock, a few night owls in the class group chat were still making splashes. This group chat was created by the students, and the class teacher Old Wu wasn't in it.
Having suffered from insomnia half the night before, Qingran found herself unable to sleep again tonight.
She had an easy life for seventeen years, but since learning she had transmigrated into a book, the coming days were doomed to be turbulent.
—
The next day, the school was abuzz with talk about the school forum and the spring outing.
Song Shize was indeed being arrogant, but the person who dared to post photos online was undoubtedly even more so.
Moreover, the one who posted didn't do so anonymously, they just didn't use a name; only a gray silhouette as an avatar was present.
Strangely, Song Shize didn't pursue who it was, seeming as if he already knew.
The last two periods in the morning were for the physics exam, during the break between the first and second periods, almost all students were seen flipping through physics books.
When the physics exam papers were handed out, Qingran breathed a sigh of relief—the test wasn't too difficult, with many questions from the first half of the senior two year.
The physics teacher walked back and forth between the aisles; the desks remained close together and students weren't rearranged—relying entirely on personal integrity to prevent cheating.
The classroom was filled only with the rustling sound of writing.
Xie Ying'an finished the test much faster than Qingran, who still had two major questions left undone.
After finishing, Xie Ying'an didn't rush to hand in his paper, leisurely checking his answers—he seemed to find no errors and glanced towards Qingran before leaving his seat to submit his test and then left the classroom.
Just as Xie Ying'an had left not long ago, suddenly a female voice resounded in the classroom—
"Teacher, I saw the new student cheating," said Huang Qianyu, standing up with her hand raised. Her desk was in the same row as Wen Shiyi, with just an aisle between them.
The classroom burst into uproar.
Wen Shiyi froze for a moment before realizing Huang Qianyu meant him, and quickly stood up to deny it: "Teacher, I—I didn't cheat."
The teacher quickly walked to the aisle between them, a middle-aged woman in her forties with black-framed glasses. Typically, she spoke little, and she carried an air of authority.
She first looked at Wen Shiyi's desk drawer, there was no physics textbook inside. Then she sternly looked at Huang Qianyu: "How did you see this student cheating?"
Huang Qianyu slightly lifted her chin, righteously saying: "Teacher, the answers might have been written on the new student's palm or inside her sleeve, I just saw her constantly looking at her palm."
The physics teacher handled it by the book: "New student, please open your palms to prove your innocence."
Wen Shiyi was so upset that her face turned red, she rolled up her school uniform sleeves and opened both palms upwards, there was nothing there.
Huang Qianyu nonchalantly 'oh'ed, "Sorry, teacher, I might have seen it wrong just now."
The physics teacher sternly said: "You owe an apology to this new student."
"Oh," Huang Qianyu half-heartedly apologized to Wen Shiyi: "Sorry, new student."
Wen Shiyi, feeling humiliated, lowered her sleeves without responding.
Anyone accused of cheating would feel upset.
The physics teacher tried to smooth things over: "Alright, the new student did not cheat, it was Huang who saw it wrong. Let's not blame the new student, everyone sit down and continue with the test."
This seemed like a farce, but Qingran saw clearly, just as the physics teacher turned to Wen Shiyi, Huang Qianyu and her deskmate quickly exchanged their test papers.
Qingran knew Huang Qianyu's deskmate, a girl from a poor mountain village with glasses thicker than the bottom of a beer bottle, who had decent grades in math, physics, and chemistry, but lagged severely in other subjects.
Huang Qianyu played the thief shouting to catch the thief quite well.
If it weren't for being threatened with a bullying incident a few days ago, with Qingran's personality, she might have pretended not to see it, but they had bullied her right up to her doorstep...
After Qingran finished checking the last question, she raised her hand in her seat: "Teacher."
In the eyes of the physics teacher, Qingran was undoubtedly a good student—obedient, well-behaved, and excellent in academics, liked by several teachers.
The physics teacher walked over, "Li Qingran, what's the issue?"
Qingran stood up, "Teacher, I just saw Huang Qianyu and her deskmate exchanging their test papers."
Before the physics teacher could react, Huang Qianyu visibly panicked, "Li Qingran, what nonsense are you spouting?"
In Huang Qianyu's view, Qingran was a timid girl who never picked fights or caused trouble; it was unknown what got into her today.
Facing Huang Qianyu's almost breaking scream, Qingran didn't even frown, she explained clearly: "You said Wen Shiyi cheated, based on what your eyes saw; I said you and your deskmate exchanged papers, also based on what my eyes saw, but maybe my eyesight is a bit better than yours."
Huang Qianyu clenched her fists, taking several deep breaths.
The physics teacher walked to Huang Qianyu's desk and stretched out her hand, "Give me both of your test papers."
Huang Qianyu's deskmate, timid, handed her test paper to the physics teacher with trembling hands and tearing eyes, while Huang Qianyu hesitated; the physics teacher snatched her test papers to examine.
The already grim face of the physics teacher turned uglier as she noticed the similar handwriting on the papers.
"Both of you, come out with me."
As Huang Qianyu left the classroom, she gave Qingran a venomous look, officially making them enemies.
Huang Qianyu came from a wealthy family and was the cherished late-life daughter of her father, a nearly forty-year-old chairman of the Huang Group; naturally, they would give her the stars if she asked for them and the moon if she desired it.
This upbringing led to Huang Qianyu's spoiled nature, never considering anyone else significant.
After Huang Qianyu and her deskmate followed the physics teacher out, the classroom's students gradually handed in their test papers.
The students who submitted their papers could go to the playground for free time. Ruan Ruan caught up with Qingran from behind, gasping while patting her chest, "Ranran, you walked too fast."
Qingran stopped and waited for her to catch her breath. Together, they strolled slowly outside the running track.
Ruan Ruan knew Qingran was in a bad mood.
Qingran was typically very easy-going, never causing trouble without reason and avoiding conflicts when possible, as long as no one greatly offended her; she truly was a person who hated hassles.
Yet, it was this hassle-averse individual who actively reported Huang Qianyu's cheating to the teacher in class, clearly showing Huang Qianyu must have provoked her and infuriated her.
Ruan Ruan was somewhat worried and asked cautiously, "Ranran, are you alright?"
"Sigh~" Qingran breathed out a sigh of relief and shook her head: "I'm fine."
Block the attacking soldiers, cover the incoming waters; sometimes avoiding trouble doesn't prevent it from happening.
Huang Qianyu, after all, was just a secondary character in this book, at most a tertiary character; even if they clashed, it was not yet certain who would win.