The School Beauty from the Next Class Insisted I Confess - Chapter 1

“Mom, I’m going to school.” A low voice stopped abruptly with the sound of a closing door, even though no one answered her.

In early autumn, fallen leaves scattered atop everyone’s heads, and a gray gloom covered the world. Xu Qingfeng walked against the wind with her black backpack, thinking that maybe she should change her dinner tonight; jianbing guozi (a savory Chinese crepe) had become thoroughly boring after several weeks.

Weicheng No. 1 High School’s management was notoriously strict, requiring students to be in class for morning reading by 7:30 AM. Xu Qingfeng lived far away but insisted on walking, a stubborn habit whose reason was unknown to her family and friends, especially since she usually cherished her reading time.

Xu Qingfeng stopped by the alley leading to the snack street across the road from the school and silently counted how much time she had left. She was waiting for her childhood friend, Gao Zhi, who always habitually cut it close.

At 7:20 AM, a tall girl appeared at the other intersection. She wore a loose jacket, had slightly long, straight hair, and was enthusiastically holding the arm of the girl next to her. Her bright smile persisted during their conversation. In a second or two, she was swallowed by the crowd.

Xia Yiqiu, Xu Qingfeng silently chanted her name, curved her lips into a smile, and felt a sweet warmth in her heart. I’m so lucky today. She just stood there, staring blankly. To the people nearby, it just looked like she was spacing out.

Ten meters away, the girl with the high ponytail was vigorously waving her arm.

“Qingfeng, I’m here!”

But Xu Qingfeng didn’t respond after several calls, so Gao Zhi ran up to her.

“Hey, Xu Little Bookworm, what are you spacing out about again?” Gao Zhi patted her lightly. Her childhood friend had been a space case since she was little—not fighting for toys, playing alone stacking stones, and always carrying a book to school. Aside from her good looks, she was the spitting image of an old scholar. In the past year, she had become even stranger, spacing out more often.

A year ago, in the heat of summer, students of the first-year class gathered in a massive crowd a few days before military training.

“Qingfeng, why haven’t you arrived yet? I just checked; we’re in the second team for military training,” Gao Zhi excitedly said on the phone after squeezing out of the crowd.

“I’m getting a tetanus shot; I’ll be a little late.”

It turned out Xu Qingfeng had accidentally cut herself with rusty iron at home and was currently getting a tetanus shot. She was also very anxious, but she needed to stay for observation for half an hour after the shot; she couldn’t leave even if she wanted to.

An hour later, when Xu Qingfeng arrived at the classroom, everyone was already there. She saw Gao Zhi waving at her and walked over to sit down.

Soon, the military training instructor arrived and asked them to call roll and introduce themselves.

“Han Feng.”

“Here.”

“Hello everyone, I am…”

Xu Qingfeng listened to the voices in the class, quietly took out a book, and opened it to read.

A cheerful, enthusiastic voice came. Xu Qingfeng couldn’t help but look up. “Hello everyone, I’m Xia Yiqiu. Xia from summer, Yi from interesting/meaning, and Qiu from autumn.”

The girl’s eyes were like stars. The subtle breeze moved her slightly long hair, making her skin appear even fairer. The people around her were momentarily silent, and it took a few seconds for the applause to finally erupt.

She’s beautiful, like a cool breeze in summer, mesmerizing, Xu Qingfeng thought, her gaze shifting from blank to clear.

Outside the school gate.

Xu Qingfeng’s mind cleared. “Ah, nothing. Just thinking about what to eat.” She looked up, her tone cold and her face expressionless.

Gao Zhi was speechless. Here we go, that look again.

“Let’s go, let’s go get jianbing guozi.” Gao Zhi pulled her straight toward the small stall.

“Alright.” Xu Qingfeng secretly sighed with relief. Thank goodness this guy believed me. She always put on this expression; it was very useful for avoiding many conversations and troubles. In reality, no one knew how rich her inner world was.

Anything is fine to eat; I don’t stick to one idea.

Unfortunately, there were too many people queuing at the snack stall today. After switching to another one, they ran into a schoolmate who was buying several portions for his classmates. After quickly buying the crepes, the two hid them in their pockets and ate them in big bites after passing through the main gate.

“Cough, cough, cough.” Gao Zhi was choked. She looked enviously at Xu Qingfeng next to her, whose hamster-like cheeks kept chewing, looking completely at ease. She thought about how different people were.

Xu Qingfeng lowered her head uncomfortably.

Don’t look. I’m struggling too.

I really shouldn’t have eaten jianbing guozi.

Weicheng No. 1 High School had four teaching buildings connected to each other. Xu Qingfeng and Gao Zhi’s Liberal Arts ‘Zero Class’ was on the second floor of the second teaching building. This floor only housed the Grade 11 Liberal Arts and Science ‘Zero Classes,’ plus the Competition Class.

The school was very large, and the main gate was a certain distance from the teaching buildings. After the two reached downstairs, they threw their trash into the bin next to the ‘Top 100 Ranking’ board and saw the homeroom teacher, Liu Li, emerging from the first-floor office.

“Whoa, run! Old Man Liu is coming.”

Gao Zhi grabbed Xu Qingfeng, and the two secretly ran up to the classroom using the other staircase.

Today was English morning reading. Han Feng, their front desk and English class representative, had just walked onto the podium to lead the reading.

“Seriously ridiculous, Gao Zhi. How did you manage to be late with the study-ace today?” The boy said with a teasing expression.

Xu Qingfeng just glanced at Han Feng indifferently. Don’t even mention it.

Xu Qingfeng and Gao Zhi sat in the middle of the third row. This excellent spot was thanks to the policy of choosing seats based on grades. Xu Qingfeng secured it first with the advantage of being the Liberal Arts Grade 1 overall top scorer, and she managed to save a spot for her childhood friend, too.

“Stop talking, Old Man Liu is right behind you.”

Gao Zhi quickly sat down and took out her book, catching her breath.

Looking beside her, Xu Qingfeng was already sitting upright and reading, completely calm.

After they sat down, Liu Li stepped into the classroom. He saw Han Feng leading the reading at the front. The class, which had been slightly noisy, instantly fell silent, and then a neat sound of recitation followed.

“Qingfeng, that was close,” Gao Zhi whispered, propping up her book slightly. “Good thing today isn’t Chinese class morning reading, or you, the Chinese class representative, wouldn’t have made it to the stage.”

Xu Qingfeng nodded in agreement, glanced at Liu Li, and signaled Gao Zhi with her eyes to be quiet. Gao Zhi looked helplessly at her cold face and reluctantly followed the rest of the class in reading.

After morning reading, it was time to submit homework.

Xu Qingfeng walked to the podium and said in her emotionless voice, “Pass the papers from the back to the front.”

A male student’s wail came from the back row.

“Study-ace, give me one more minute.”

He had forgotten about two papers last night and had fallen asleep, spending the entire morning reading time catching up.

“Alright, hurry up.”

Xu Qingfeng wasn’t very surprised, as Gao Zhi often did this kind of thing. For this childhood friend who liked to play games, being in the Zero Class was thanks to her smart brain.

“Didn’t expect it, did you? I finished.” Gao Zhi said with a smug look, handing her paper to Han Feng.

Xu Qingfeng stood there, pinching her chin between two fingers, thinking. Indeed, Gao Zhi told me she was going to study hard a week ago in a very mysterious way. Has this person lost her mind? This is not normal.

This delay wasted five minutes, and it was only with Xu Qingfeng’s cold demeanor that she managed to take the boy’s paper away.

Xu Qingfeng quickly collected the Chinese papers and prepared to take them downstairs. Passing by the neighboring Science Class, she thought, Should be okay if I secretly take one more look, right?

She walked straight, but her peripheral vision was fixed on a certain person in the second row. Xia Yiqiu was also getting up with a stack of papers, about to walk out.

Oh no, can’t run into her.

Xu Qingfeng withdrew her glance and quickly walked down the stairs.

She didn’t notice that Xia Yiqiu was staring thoughtfully at her retreating back.

After Xu Qingfeng dropped off the papers, she quickly returned via a different staircase. Her papers were stacked neatly, and as she turned to leave, a corner of a different-colored piece of paper showed from within the stack.

It was a casual note she had written in her spare time after finishing her homework last night, which had somehow gotten stuck between two papers. Even she hadn’t noticed it.

Upon entering the teachers’ office, Xu Qingfeng saw the desk of her Chinese teacher, Lu Feng. The teacher hadn’t arrived yet, so she wouldn’t have to waste time greeting him.

That’s great.

She left immediately after dropping off the test papers.

And so, Xia Yiqiu saw Xu Qingfeng’s back once again.

Why has this person been so strange lately?

Xia Yiqiu hadn’t noticed the paper corner when she arrived, but suddenly a gust of wind blew in, mixing up the papers from the two classes.

A bit unlucky, Xia Yiqiu pursed her lips.

No choice.

Xia Yiqiu bent down to pick up the papers. While organizing them, she saw the note that read:

“The purple magnolias by the back door are gone. I wonder if it is still late spring. The lights outside the pond window are all blurry reflections. Finding the leaf brings a whole tree’s scattered shadow. Tonight, my wish for you deepens even more.”

Xia Yiqiu carefully tried to understand the meaning, then smiled radiantly.

Who wrote this? This love note is quite well-written. Looks like someone in the Liberal Arts class next door has a talented person with a secret crush, just don’t know who wrote it to whom.

A flash of the quiet, book-loving class representative next door crossed her mind, but the thought was dismissed the next second.

The bookworm Xu? No way.

Xia Yiqiu put the paper in her pocket, thinking as she walked back to her classroom.

Xu Qingfeng returned to her classroom and saw a group of people gathered at the podium.

“Qingfeng, the school is going to start a Psychology Club. It sounds quite interesting.” Gao Zhi emerged from the crowd with two application forms.

“A Psychology Club?”

Xu Qingfeng wasn’t interested in this; it sounded like trouble.

“Yeah, I heard many people are signing up. The class next door is even more excited than ours.”

Gao Zhi took out a pen and filled out the form. “Qingfeng, are you going? The deadline is this afternoon.”

“I’ll think about it.” So, will Xia Yiqiu sign up in the class next door?

The first period was Liu Li’s class. Looking at the restless students, Liu Li said seriously.

“Next year is Grade 12. I hope you all know what the priority is. Don’t let your minds wander.”

“However, the school attaches great importance to this club development. Those struggling with studies should be more self-aware.”

“Class representative, tally the students who sign up and hand it over to my desk this afternoon.”

“Yes, Teacher,” Xu Qingfeng replied.

Liu Li looked at Xu Qingfeng’s serious expression, feeling very satisfied. His class representative was excellent in character and academics, diligent and eager to learn, consistently holding the top score in Liberal Arts for the grade, and was miles ahead in Chinese, the subject he taught. She was the student he was most reassured by.

After class.

“Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, why is the homeroom teacher like this?” Gao Zhi’s wail came.

Gao Zhi’s grades were good within the grade, but she consistently ranked near the bottom of the class, mainly because she was a ‘good enough’ person, adhering to the principle of just not being kicked out of the class. Finishing homework was enough, and getting enough sleep was most important, especially since her family was genuinely wealthy.

“It’s over. The homeroom teacher definitely won’t agree to me going.” Gao Zhi continued to complain.

“Just be quiet. Little Zhao from the Science Class next door told me their homeroom teacher is even harsher, limiting sign-ups to no more than three people. Just to make a statement.”

Han Feng, the front desk, said helplessly, then turned to write his English paper.

“Qingfeng, looks like we’re not meant to be with it,” Gao Zhi said with a bitter face.

“Most likely.”

It’s probably just you who’s not meant to be, Xu Qingfeng thought.

The morning ended, and Xu Qingfeng received two application forms. She was speechless. One was Han Feng’s, and the other was Gao Zhi’s. Gao Zhi still submitted the form, saying it was a long shot, hoping the homeroom teacher would agree.

Gao Zhi went home for lunch, as her house was nearby. Xu Qingfeng usually ate at school. Her parents were both at work, and the house was empty at noon. This way, she didn’t have to waste time traveling back and forth, and she could go to the library to read.

During lunch, Xu Qingfeng ate alone at a table.

On the other side of the cafeteria.

“Yiqiu, are you going to sign up?” Her deskmate, Liang Hao, asked her.

Xia Yiqiu looked at the person in the corner. “Yes,” she was very interested in it.

She was interested in everything interesting.

During the noon break, Xu Qingfeng sat in the reading room, opening a copy of One Hundred Years of Solitude, sighing that she, too, felt quite lonely, secretly crushing on that bright sun.

Xia Yiqiu was by the window outside the reading room, looking at Xu Qingfeng reading intently. She didn’t know the richness of this person’s inner thoughts, only that she was vaguely reminded of how she was when she was little. Little space case.

Twelve years ago.

Five-year-old Xu Qingfeng and Gao Zhi were playing downstairs at their apartment building. Gao Zhi showed off her new toy to Xu Qingfeng. Xu Qingfeng kept her eyes straight ahead, building her stone castle. Gao Zhi chirped away, and Xu Qingfeng maintained a golden silence.

This situation was broken one afternoon when the newly moved-in Xia Yiqiu and her little friend Li Tian joined the play area.

That day, the weather was nice. Xia Yiqiu, wearing a princess dress, made a sweet entrance. Looking at the dumbfounded Xu Qingfeng, she said, “Are you building a castle?”

Xu Qingfeng looked up, staring blankly at the beautiful little girl in front of her, and said uncertainly,

“Fairy?”

Xia Yiqiu nodded in satisfaction. “That’s right, I’m a fairy.”

“Little fairy, do you like castles?” Xu Qingfeng wanted to give her the stone castle she had spent a long time building. She liked it a lot.

Gao Zhi was stunned.

“Qingfeng, you can talk!”

Fortunately, Li Tian was also a chatterbox. Li Tian dragged Gao Zhi away to play with toys. The four got along unusually well, but the good times didn’t last long. Due to her parents’ job transfer, Xia Yiqiu and Li Tian moved away again within a few weeks.

Gao Zhi looked at Xu Qingfeng, who was even quieter than before, and decided not to show off her toys for the time being.

Support The School Beauty from the Next Class Insisted I Confess