Chapter 5: Class Meeting, Between Classes, Desk Mates

Chapter 5: Classroom Seating Divide

The moment Qi Heyin stepped into the classroom, the atmosphere momentarily froze.

The students in the room silently looked over and noticed the new student was dressed in the standard red-and-white uniform of Faro Academy. She stood upright with a serious demeanor, her slender figure tall and straight, her calves beneath the deep red skirt appearing slender and straight, and the buttons on her pristine white shirt fastened meticulously.

The new student had fair skin, like fine porcelain, and a small, delicate face with refined, beautiful features. Her golden-brown eyes stood out, and her shoulder-length black hair gave her the air of a delicate shoujo manga heroine—her presence alone set her apart from everyone else.

There was no doubt she was a stunning beauty, but what left a deeper impression than her appearance was her aura.

She seemed physically weaker than most, her frame thin, her brows and eyes pale and melancholic, lacking vitality. She also didn’t smile often, her expression cool and detached, radiating quiet aloofness.

At the old professor’s prompting, Qi Heyin slowly walked up to the podium. She could feel the weight of stares fixed on her from all directions—curious, admiring, cautious, critical... The complex emotions in those stares made her feel somewhat intrigued.

After a moment’s thought, she picked up a black marker from the podium, turned, and quickly wrote a line on the whiteboard.

Her handwriting was graceful and fluid. Once finished, she tilted her chin up slightly, meeting the varied gazes below, and said calmly, "Hello, I’m Qi Heyin."

After a brief pause, she offered a small, polite smile.

The classroom fell silent for a moment—then, suddenly, someone from the back row began clapping loudly, and soon the applause spread forward, filling the room in a wave of sound.

As the applause died down, the long-quiet classroom finally erupted into its usual noisy chatter.

The students burst into chatter, and Qi Heyin even heard cheers, whistles, and shrieks among the noise.

The old professor standing by the podium shook his head helplessly, as if accustomed to this reaction.

He gave Qi Heyin a kind look. "Find a seat and sit down."

Qi Heyin nodded and surveyed the room. She noticed that the middle-front rows had many empty seats, with only a scattered handful of students sitting there.

The students in these seats seemed different from the rest of the class. While those in the back row laughed and chatted freely, most of these students were quietly reading, only giving her a brief, curious glance before returning to their books, showing little further interest.

Preferring a quieter environment for class, Qi Heyin walked straight to the empty seats in the front and eventually took a seat in the second row at the center of the room.

The second row also held a slight boy wearing black-rimmed glasses, sprinkled with freckles, dressed in the standard Faro Academy uniform. Hearing the movement beside him, he looked up from his work, surprised.

"You’re sitting here?" Qi Heyin heard the boy ask in astonishment.

She blinked. "Is this seat taken?"

"N-no, of course not!" The boy flusteredly waved his hands, his gaze flickering to the shining gold badge on her chest. His expression turned cautious, and he stammered, "It’s just... shouldn’t you sit in the back?"

Qi Heyin frowned. "Why would I sit in the back?"

The boy fell silent, giving her a complicated look before pointing at her gold badge and then at his own bronze one. "...I’m a scholarship student. You’re not supposed to sit with us."

Seeing the clear difference between the badges, Qi Heyin finally understood.

She turned to look again and realized that the quiet students in these rows were all scholarship students. Meanwhile, the noble-born students, adorned with their glittering gold badges, sat in the back rows, the divide between them obvious.

So, on her very first day at Faro, she was witnessing the "noble students excluding scholarship students" dynamic described in the book.

...Should she commend these noble students for being weirdly thoughtful, leaving the best front-row seats near the teacher for the scholarship students?

"I don’t mind," Qi Heyin said indifferently, arranging the books on her desk. "It’s quiet here."

The guy gaped at her, dumbstruck.

Meanwhile, in the back rows, the noble students who had been secretly watching Qi Heyin shot each other looks as they saw her take a seat. A chorus of snickers broke out—some looked disappointed, others flashed disdain in their eyes, while a few excitedly raised their phones to sneak pics.

The students were whooping it up, cracking jokes and swearing, completely ignoring the elderly professor on the podium.

"Tch, a bunch of rubes, worse than the scholarship students," a drawling voice dripping with superiority floated lazily into the air.

A pink-haired boy sat alone in the very last row, chin propped lazily in his palm. His gaze lingered idly on the slender figure of the girl in the front row while he toyed with his phone.

On the screen was the official internal forum of Faroe Academy, FaroeForum, or "FF" for short.

His eyes skimmed over a particularly eye-catching post title, and Jiang Yanche narrowed his eyes, letting out a soft scoff. "Couldn’t even wait before posting her on FF. If a certain someone sees this, you’re toast."

With that, he casually forwarded the post into his main squad chat.

(10:05 AM) "Jiang Yanche: [Shared post: Total Babe Alert! The Stunning New Beauty in Mimicry Junior Year! Can anyone tell us more about this Qi Heyin?]"

(10:06 AM) "Jiang Yanche: Brother Ze, your childhood friend is kinda fire."

(10:07 AM) "Jiang Yanche: Hook a brother up? ^＿^"

A moment later:

(10:08 AM) "Shang Wenze: ??"

Two minutes later, when Jiang Yanche revisited the post, he found it had indeed been deleted—along with the original poster’s account, nuked into oblivion.

"Tsk tsk, Brother Ze and his mod powers," Jiang Yanche muttered, curling his lip. Just as he was about to set his phone aside, Shang Wenze suddenly sent him a private message.

(10:12 AM) "Shang Wenze: Xiao Che, stay away from her."

Six succinct words.

Jiang Yanche’s gaze sharpened slightly as he stared at the message for a long moment.

"Real controlling," he murmured under his breath.

The unyielding tone instantly ignited the rebellious streak in Jiang Yanche’s nature. After a brief pause, a shit-eating grin spread across his face, as if here for the drama.

Pushing back the stray strands of pink hair from his forehead, his baby blues lit up with amusement. Without hesitation, he created a new group chat.

Group Name: Bros 2.0 (No Brother Ze Edition)

(10:13 AM) "Jiang Yanche: I’m going to shoot my shot with the girl next door ^＿^"

Jiang Yanche declared dramatically in the group.

Crickets for ten minutes before Ji Ningye finally hit the chat.

(10:23 AM) "Ji Ningye: ?? What’s this group?"

(10:24 AM) "Ji Ningye: This your doing? Why kick Shang Wenze out?"

(10:25 AM) "Ji Ningye: ...You met her?"

Jiang Yanche licked his lips and replied slowly:

"Jiang Yanche: Yeah, she’s in the same major as me."

"Jiang Yanche: The girl from back home is really pretty, with big, bright eyes—like my sister’s diamond-studded Barbie doll."

"Ji Ningye: ......"

"Ji Ningye: Boring."

"Ji Ningye: Street racing. See you at school."

Ji Ningye stopped replying, and the others in the group also ignored him for the time being. Jiang Yanche idly turned off the screen. Propping his chin in his hand, he quietly watched the figure in the second row, waiting with growing interest.

"Young Master Jiang, do you know the new beauty in our class?"

From the front row, a stocky guy dressed head-to-toe in designer labels turned around and winked at him. This was Jiang Yanche’s notorious sidekick and right-hand man in class.

"Not yet," Jiang Yanche added lazily. "But soon."

The stocky guy let out a sly "Ohh" and grinned. "I knew you had your eye on her. Why else would you lead the applause earlier?"

"Didn’t expect you to be into this type, though." He clicked his tongue and raised a thumb teasingly. "Young Master Jiang has great taste!"

Then, the stocky guy shook his head. "Too bad the knockout's got no tact—daring to sit with a special admit right in front of you... Young Master Jiang, want me to take some guys and show her who’s boss? If she’s here, she should learn the rules of our class."

"Chen Shuo." Jiang Yanche shot him a glance. "You’re pushing it."

Chen Shuo: "?"

Jiang Yanche: "Pass."

After a pause, he added, "Tell the others in class to behave too. No sneaky pics."

"Huh?" Chen Shuo’s stocky face froze for a second. "Oh... got it."

He turned back around, baffled.

Homeroom passed quickly.

The professor, serving as the class advisor, briefly outlined the semester’s curriculum, activities, and exam schedule before dismissing the class.

After class, in the same room, the first core class of the semester for Mimicry would begin in ten minutes.

Once the break started, the classroom burst into chaos. Students from the back rows got up to fool around, their laughter and roughhousing filling the air.

Many were still thinking about the knockout looks they’d seen earlier, their hearts pounding with curiosity as their eyes lingered in Qi Heyin’s direction.

In the second-to-last row on the left, a group of boys and girls were egging each other on. One boy, blushing, was about to make a move when he heard the sound of chairs scraping behind him.

He froze, turning his head blankly.

Then he saw the lone pink-haired guy sitting at the very center of the back row, rising unhurriedly.

The tall figure strode past them, cutting through half the room, heading straight for the person on everyone’s mind.

Qi Heyin was discussing study questions with the special admit beside her. More accurately, she was doing all the explaining.

The boy seemed surprised by her professionalism, his narrow eyes gleaming as he stared at the notes on the scratch paper.

Both of them were deeply engrossed for a moment until a tall shadow cast a shadow over them.

"What are you talking about? Can I join in?"

A clear, youthful voice rang out, its cheerful tone like a bright winter sun or crisp summer ice.

Qi Heyin, however, noticed that the moment this voice appeared, the boy beside her froze, his hunched shoulders trembling slightly.

"Y-young Master Jiang!" The boy looked up, his voice quivering as he addressed the newcomer.

Jiang Yanche gave a faint smile, and with just a glance, the boy understood. He hastily gathered his belongings from the desk and scurried meekly to the back row.

The second-row seat was suddenly left empty.

Qi Heyin, still seated in her spot, looked up in confusion and saw a handsome boy with pink hair slinging a single-strap bag over his shoulder. He confidently took the place of her former desk mate and settled into the seat beside her.

"Hey there."

He curved his eyes into a smile and gave her a playful wave.