Chapter 34

Chapter 34

In the not-so-long period that followed, the seemingly monotonous life at No. 1 High School continued day after day, yet countless new things happened every day.

For example, who got caught dating and had their parents called in.

Who stayed out all night and was dragged to the corridor by Director Lai early in the morning, shivering from the cold.

Chen Mo's life didn't change much, but there were some differences.

Those differences were subtle and self-perceived. He could clearly sense the subtle changes in how others perceived him. If his previous life in high school was divided into two parts, the first half was filled with the brutality and ferocity of fists, while the latter part, after being recognized by the Yang family, was suffocating and dull.

Chen Mo never felt the need to explain his lifestyle or worldview to anyone.

Not then, and not now.

But because of a short documentary, he was passively known, analyzed, teased, and envied.

Even though he had never experienced it before, Chen Mo was no longer the person who couldn't adapt to the stark class differences and completely different teaching environments. He could handle every situation well and digest any gaze or evaluation directed at him, accepting both the good and the bad without hesitation.

"Here’s your milk tea."

A cup of pearl milk tea with distinct pearls at the bottom was placed on Chen Mo's desk.

Chen Mo raised an eyebrow and picked it up.

The warm temperature helped ease the stiffness in his frozen hands. Looking at Sun Xiaoya, he said, "So generous?"

"I bought one for everyone," Sun Xiaoya pointed to the milk teas on each desk in the classroom and turned to Chen Mo, saying, "But yours is the only hot one among the boys. You have a bad stomach, right? Just warm your hands with it; don’t drink it."

Chen Mo leaned back in his chair like the others and smiled, "Thanks, Sister Ya."

"Don't smile at me like that," Sun Xiaoya immediately stopped her, rolling her eyes and saying, "Although I was charmed by you at my cousin’s engagement party, the fact that you scored just one point lower than me this time still irritates me."

Qi Lin and his group came in after playing basketball.

The atmosphere was lively.

And they happened to hear this.

"Come on, Sister Ya," Qi Lin fearlessly put his arm around Sun Xiaoya’s neck and said, "Old Xi wasn't here, and with perennial second-place Xue Ping gone, you finally got the chance to be number one. Be grateful, okay? If our Brother Mo had gotten one more question right, you wouldn’t even have this luck."

He took a punch in the stomach from Sun Xiaoya.

The girl glared angrily, "Go to hell."

Chen Mo chuckled beside them.

"You help me and then laugh!" Qi Lin sat down in Xi Siyan’s seat, holding his stomach and turning his head, "But I’m curious, how did you do it?"

Chen Mo pressed the warm milk tea against his face and asked casually, "Do what?"

"Second place," Qi Lin grabbed the test paper from his desk, looking at the scores that were even more exaggerated than the last, "Did you cheat? Old Xi has a method for tutoring, but he hasn’t been around this month. Not only did you not fall back, you actually climbed forward!"

Lao Gou’s tone was full of disbelief.

Especially when he saw Chen Mo’s math score, which used to be his weak point, suddenly hit 150 after getting a new teacher. Otherwise, Fu Ling wouldn’t keep suggesting he try the math competition.

Qi Lin pointed at the math test and asked, "Is this something a normal person can do?"

"I never said I was normal," Chen Mo said seriously, "You can think of me as a ghost. I studied finance in my past life, and advanced mathematics was my forte. Do you think I can’t handle high school math?"

"Dang." Qi Lin rubbed his arm, "Your jokes are always so lame."

Chen Mo handed him the milk tea, "Here, it’s yours. Drink it."

"Thanks." Qi Lin took it, inserted a straw, and after taking a sip, complained, "Why does Sun Xiaoya always buy this stuff? It’s too sweet and tastes awful."

Speaking of which, he suddenly remembered something and asked mysteriously, "Brother Mo, tell me, what do girls usually like?"

"You’re asking me?"

Chen Mo was taken aback.

Then he quickly recalled Qi Lin’s online flirtation and asked, "Did you get together?"

"Shh." Qi Lin grinned mischievously and sweetly, "It’s a secret; no one in the class knows yet." Then he looked a bit conflicted and troubled, "But my girlfriend... she’s different from other girls."

"How so?" Chen Mo asked.

Qi Lin scratched the back of his head, looking troubled, "She doesn’t seem to like flowers or cosmetics. Oh, and this milk tea. Usually, girls like these things, but whenever I talk to her about them, she doesn’t seem interested. I don’t know what to say anymore."

Asking Chen Mo about this topic was really asking the wrong person.

Not only was his sexual orientation well-known, but even in his previous life, despite interacting with many women, he still found it hard to understand what they wanted.

Chen Mo could only suggest, "Ask Brother Yan?"

"He won’t bother with me," Qi Lin slumped on the table, "Their training camp exams just ended, and the preliminaries are coming up. He hasn’t replied to my messages recently; he must be busy."

"Busy... huh?"

Chen Mo reached into his desk and pulled out his phone, which he hadn’t turned in.

Looking at the chat history, the latest message was from last night.

The reason was simple.

It was this month’s monthly exam, and Chen Mo occasionally encountered difficult problems while reviewing.

Sent it to him without thinking.

The reply came quickly, a photo of the solution scribbled on paper.

Scrolling up, there were chat records from the past week.

Often, Chen Mo would ask questions, and the other side would answer.

After solving the problem, Chen Mo would politely ask a few follow-up questions: "Busy lately? How's the competition? Haven't gone to bed yet?"

The replies were brief: "Not busy, manageable, yes."

Very short.

But always replied.

Chen Mo guessed that he must indeed be very busy, often ending the conversation quickly. Now wasn't a good time to discourage Qi Lin; it was likely that Xi Siyan found his daily chatter annoying, hence not replying.

He could only offer some advice: "How about meeting in person? It's hard to gauge someone's interests over the internet. Besides, you're still in high school; don't get too invested. If it doesn't work out after meeting, it's better to end it early."

"Don't jinx me," Qi Lin replied with a grim face, swearing, "It will definitely work out. My girlfriend isn't unreliable. She even said we shouldn't meet for now and specifically told me to focus on my studies."

Chen Mo felt something was off.

He remembered Qi Lin mentioning that his girlfriend was also local, though he wasn't sure if she had already graduated from high school.

Seeing Qi Lin's infatuated expression, Chen Mo didn't say anything more.

In the past month, besides Chen Mo's impressive academic performance,

another person had also become famous at No. 1 High School.

Yang Shule.

Compared to Chen Mo, who was discovered from obscurity, Yang Shule had been featured in multiple interviews and photoshoots within a month.

Official platforms portrayed him positively.

Headlines read, "One of the Top Ten Hot Figures in High School: A Closer Look at the Future Pianist's Genius Life" and "City's Future Star: Listen to His Study Methods."

A seventeen-year-old young man.

Impressive family background, outstanding grades and looks, exceptional piano talent.

Overnight, Yang Shule's name stirred a wave of enthusiasm among those following high school students. Everything about him seemed perfect and dazzling.

Every time he appeared at school, he was surrounded by admirers once again.

And the Yang family cooperated seamlessly in this packaging.

After all, his positive image benefited the group, and there was no trace of any information about Yang Shule's background online, as if the "switched at birth" incident had vanished.

Until New Year's Day of that year.

Sui City experienced several cold drizzles, finally culminating in a layer of snow-like sleet on the afternoon of the holiday.

People rushed around outside the school gates, heading home or waiting for someone.

Before five-thirty, the sky darkened as if night had fallen, and even taxis had their headlights on.

"Brother Mo, aren't you leaving?" A classmate bumped into him at the gate.

Chen Mo, hands in his pockets, casually replied, "Go ahead, I'll leave in a bit."

"What are you doing?"

Chen Mo smiled, "The school bully is lying in wait. Want to join?"

"No, no, call me if you can't handle it."

The acquaintance mercilessly got into a car and left, knowing Chen Mo was joking.

He had said he disliked getting into fights, and most people at school believed him, given that the school bully hadn't fought anyone in ages due to exams.

Once the acquaintance left, Chen Mo adjusted the strap of his shoulder bag and headed down the adjacent street.

This used to be a food street.

Due to the weather, there were no stalls now, and only two shops remained open, their owners dozing lazily, almost leaning onto the fire stoves.

Chen Mo walked to the dead-end of the street, checked the time, and leaned against the wall to wait.

Within ten minutes, voices turned audible around the corner.

"Where's the money?"

"I don't have it."

"You don't have it?!"

A loud slap followed, then a curse through gritted teeth: "You little bastard, are you going to lie along with the Yang family? Didn't you come to me yourself? You said you'd give me money regularly if I didn't cause trouble at the Yangs'!"

The boy's voice was filled with resentment, even shrill: "Do you really think the Yang family cares about me! If it weren't for my current status, your well-raised son would have climbed over me long ago!"

"It's your own fault you're useless."

Chen Jianli grabbed the hair of the person in front of him.

This son was unlike Chen Mo's kid, who was wiry and not built for fighting.

He had foolishly believed that kid Chen Mo and went to the Yang family to cause trouble. As a result, the Yang family promised him two million but reneged on their word. That night, he finally managed to track down Chen Mo's whereabouts, only to have bad luck and encounter a car accident halfway.

There was nothing he could do but continue harassing the Yang family.

Yang Shule was seething with anger.

Recently, Chen Jianli had been pestering the Yang family to return his son. His father's business had made no progress, and his mother was always suspicious, thinking her husband was having an affair. The atmosphere at home was already terrible, especially after he couldn't help but confront his elder brother, Yang Zhi, about it. He felt that his brother's attitude towards him was becoming increasingly distant.

He couldn't let Chen Jianli continue this way.

Who knew if one day the Yang family might actually send him back to that poor village.

He used to never worry about it, but lately, he was feeling increasingly uncertain.

Fortunately, the school event came at just the right time.

His father's attitude softened considerably, and his mother began to speak to him in her usual gentle manner. As for his elder brother, Yang Zhi, he would need more time.

Everything seemed to be improving.

But this Chen Jianli was really hard to shake off.

Chen Jianli released his grip, patted his face, and said, "I'll give you two more days. If you don't bring the money, don't blame me for being ruthless."

"I didn't even know you before!" Yang Shule gritted his teeth. "Chen Mo is your son!"

Chen Jianli laughed darkly. "Then you should blame your birth mother for secretly swapping you and not hiding it well enough. Or maybe you should blame the parents who raised you for over a decade. Why did they bother looking for a son when they had you?"

The man hummed a tune, jingling the few coins he had taken from Yang Shule's pocket, and sauntered away.

Chen Mo finally got up.

Step by step, he approached.

Yang Shule, with a split lip and a swollen forehead, crouched in the corner, staring at the suddenly appearing Chen Mo as if he had seen a ghost.

Chen Mo stopped in front of him.

"How did you get here?!" Yang Shule's eyes were filled with shock.

Chen Mo stood tall, looking down at him coolly. "I just wanted to see what it feels like to be up high."

Yang Shule clearly didn't understand why Chen Mo was there at that moment.

Chen Mo didn't need him to understand.

That person, full of disdain, saying, "Chen Mo, I won't compete with you; my pride doesn't allow it," had become a dog desperately trying to please the Yang family for their benefits. In public, he seemed successful, but behind closed doors, driven by desire and fear, he had sought out Chen Jianli, a troublesome figure.

Even if Yang Shule didn't understand what Chen Mo was saying, he could sense something was wrong from Chen Mo's expression.

He was enraged. "Was it you? Did you arrange all of this?"

"I don't have that kind of power." Snowflakes continued to fall, landing on Chen Mo's shoulders and then slipping off, with only a few melting.

He didn't mind telling Yang Shule what he had done.

All he did was make Chen Jianli approach the Yang family.

He gathered some evidence suggesting Yang Qi'an might be cheating and sent it to Zhou Yaoqing.

Chen Mo said, "Don't you understand? It was the Yang family who made you recognize Chen Jianli as your father. And now Chen Jianli is bothering you because you can no longer trust the Yang family as your support. I did nothing but enjoy watching the ugliness revealed when masks are torn off. Indeed, it lived up to expectations."

Now the situation had reversed.

Watching this unfold from the outside, he felt it was exactly as expected.

And seeing someone else fall into a similar trap without realizing it, he realized that only by stepping back could one truly see things clearly.

Besides, it was too cold.

No matter how interesting the drama, he didn't want to watch anymore.

Chen Mo started to walk away, and Yang Shule shouted from behind, "Stop!"

"Anything else?" Chen Mo turned around.

Yang Shule: "I won't lose, Chen Mo."

"Good luck, then."

Chen Mo walked out of the alley and onto the main road.

At that moment, his phone rang.

"Hello," Chen Mo answered.

On the other end: "Where are you?"

Chen Mo, as if sensing something, looked around and finally fixed his gaze on the other side of the road.

The person wearing the down jacket he had bought, holding a black umbrella, leaned against a car amidst the heavy traffic, looked up, and said, "I've already seen you."