Everyone in the F Class knew that getting a good grade was the only way to get Ma Xiaoru's attention, they had even blatantly written it into their new class motto: "Fight, for Xiaoru."
It had been by then crystal clear that Principal Samantha's plan had come up all roses, and the success was further touched up by the arrival of Hu Yangxuan after he had left Yalen halfway through registration and came to Ayrlarng with a clear purpose of pursuing Ma Xiaoru.
These favorable developments had greatly boosted Samantha's confidence. Although Hu Yangxuan was not from one of the five major families, he was nonetheless from the Court of Templar. Samantha did not know much about this elusive organization, as it related to the class-S secrets of the Confederation, the Sacred Land.
Every once in a while, the court would choose a few talented children and test their abilities and aptitudes. Should they prove themselves worthy, they would be provided training on par with that in major houses.
Once they had completed their training, they would be asked to leave the court and to remain in touch with the rest of the world since a real master not only needed to be good at tactics but also needed to mingle with other human beings.
More than half of the candidates would fail the Templar's stringent tests, but those who were able to successfully finish their training were deemed exceptional by the society and were chased after by all major academies once they left the court.
Hu Yangxuan was the cream of the crop among the followers of the Templar. He had shown exceptional talents while he was only ten years old due to his natural EMF, and thanks to that, he had been taken on by the Templars, and when he graduated, Yalen and Capth almost waged war in pursuing him, but Ayrlarng had unexpectedly come out as the winner.
In addition to his extraordinary combat ability and a good looking face, he was also a prodigy in piano performance. At the piano contest held by the Confederation, he had won first place by charming the judges with his Nocturne in b-flat minor and Polka in A major.
All in all, it was not hard to see why he had become so popular, especially among the teenage girls, including Wang Tong’s excited neighbors, who adored him like an idol.
Ayrlarng had finally started to catch the attention of the other S-class academies after the arrival of Hu Yangxuan. Although the school still seemed to lack solid middle range students, Samantha had at least gained two trump cards, Ma Xiaoru and Hu Yangxuan.
Samantha knew that although the two top level students would embolden the rest of the students, there was still a long way to go for Ayrlarng to catch up with the other top notch schools, and the key to this rested on her ability to draw out other students’ potential.
As Ma Xiaoru sauntered into the classroom, the boys let out waves of howls and catcalls as they had been doing ever since Ma Xiaoru had arrived. Ma Xiaoru had already gotten used to it and sat down calmly and stoically. Many envious eyes peeked through the window at Ma Xiaoru, to them the desolate classroom seemed like a heaven. Those students who were already inside of "heaven" knew that they had to work harder in order for their heaven to last long.
Wang Tong also had been working harder, although for an entirely different reason, as he never thought of entering A class, he only wanted to pass and not to be expelled. As long as he could endure the hellish school life and finish his degree, he would then be able to become an officer and live a happy life.
Ma Xiaoru spared Wang Tong a glance and was immediately moved by his great efforts and focus on his studies. She even started to blame Samantha for being too ruthless. Then she saw those two boxes of letters.
Wang Tong had sensed Ma Xiaoru's glance, but he decided to stay pragmatic and not to meet her eyes. He promised himself to avoid any attention, stay out of trouble, especially out of trouble with her.
To Wang Tong, Ma Xiaoru was an obvious bait deployed by Samantha, Wang Tong knew that she would never take an interest in a no-account like himself. She was the heir of the FFC Corporation, the future of the Confederation, even as a student, her every move were under watch. She would likely be married to some other powerful house, in order to gain political alliances for her family, a strategy favored by many large corporations.
Wang Tong had lived in a real and harsh world ever since he was a child, he learned to be reasonable and stay cool-headed even in the matter of relationships.
“Hot stuff in the magazines would never become part of my life,” a truth he had learned from Old Fart which he had never forgotten to remind himself of.
Wang Tong had been intentionally ignoring Ma Xiaoru despite the fact that they had been sitting side by side, a fact that had never made other boys in the class green with envy since they knew Wang Tong would not stand a chance because of his poor grades.
To everyone else, Wang Tong was a hopeless classmate with nothing special, he was the only one that would be tolerated to be seen sitting right beside Ma Xiaoru as he posed no threat to anyone.
However, that had quickly changed when Hu Yangxuan had arrived, followed by the ear-piercing shrieks of girls.
“Kyaaaaa! Hu Yangxuan!”
“So handsome...”
“I love you! Kyaaaa!”
The overly excited girls made the boys jealous of their new hotshot classmate.
Hu Yangxuan’s agenda was well known among other students, which had caused a great deal of animosity even before his arrival, as there had been some students that planned to scare him away from Ayrlarng. After they had learned of Hu Yangxuan’s reputation as a fearsome fighter, the schemers had quickly dropped the direct means and turned towards more devious and costly methods, such as bribing the school officials to reject his entry, but thanks to Hu Yangxuan’s connections with the Templar and the military, all attempts had ended in vain.
When these students saw his handsome features in reality, they had lost all of their hopes of competing against him for Ma Xiaoru.
Hu Yangxuan had walked into the classroom quietly as he figured that there was no need to attract more hostility. He walked straight toward the seat next to Ma Xiaoru at the back of the classroom as many eyes burning with envious fire singed him with their hostile blaze.
Hu Yangxuan and Ma Xiaoru exchanged a smile, they had known each other before, Hu Yangxuan turned to Wang Tong and asked, "Excuse me, fellow classmate, may I ask you for a favor?"
Everyone’s eyes fell on Wang Tong as they had hoped that he would answer "no" to Hu Yangxuan with an indifferent look, and gain the upper hand in the battle for the rights to the seat beside Ma Xiaoru.
However, things didn’t go as they had anticipated, Wang Tong looked up from his pile of books and smiled at Hu Yangxuan, "Yes, of course, ah, and these two boxes of letters are for you from the girls in dormitory number 5."
Everyone cursed at Wang Tong's naive reply as he brought out the two boxes in front of Hu Yangxuan. He looked happy to be done with his duty as a mailman.
Hu Yangxuan nodded his head and said, "Much appreciated, what is your name please?"