Who Told You To Fool My First Love? - Chapter 2

Before Qiao Muyu could snap out of his daze, the form had already been casually handed off by Lu Zhen to his deskmate. Then, Lu Zhen picked up his water bottle and stood up to leave.

Qiao Muyu hurriedly called out to him: “Student Lu Zhen, where are you going?”

Lu Zhen: “The water room.”

Without a second thought, Qiao Muyu stood up to follow: “You probably don’t know where it is yet, I’ll take you!”

Lu Zhen raised an eyebrow at him: “Monitor, I’m a high school student, not a kindergartner.”

Qiao Muyu choked for a moment, then turned back to grab his own water bottle, flashing a harmless smile: “What I meant was, I happened to need to get water too. Go together?”

Lu Zhen didn’t refuse again and left the classroom with him.

At this hour, there was quite a line in the water room, and several acquaintances were gathered together chatting warmly.

Qiao Muyu silently picked at the cartoon sticker on his water bottle while contemplating how to tactfully remind this new classmate—whose head had seemingly been kicked by a donkey—that he couldn’t just fill in target grades blindly.

700 points. Even thinking with your toes, it wasn’t scientific!

It’s not like asking you how many grains of rice you plan to eat tomorrow.

While deep in thought, his shoulder was suddenly patted: “Hey! Qiao Number One, what are you spacing out for?”

Qiao Muyu looked back. The newcomer was Fang Yao from the elite Class 2 next door.

Qiao Muyu’s relationship with Fang Yao wasn’t exactly close, but they certainly weren’t strangers, because behind every student ranked first in the grade, there was an unfortunate student who ranked second.

And Fang Yao was that chosen unlucky soul. The words “Perpetual Runner-up” were practically a lingering curse over his two years of high school.

Fortunately, Fang Yao had a cheerful personality and was good at self-deprecation. He had always competed friendly with Qiao Muyu, at most giving him the cynical nickname “Qiao Number One.”

Qiao Muyu didn’t like this nickname because it didn’t fit his low-key, humble persona, so for the countless-th time, he corrected Fang Yao: “Fang Number Two, I’ve told you not to call me that. It sounds terrible.”

“Tch, is the nickname you gave me any better? I reasonably suspect you’re being suggestive!”

After Fang Yao finished his disdain, his gaze shifted and landed on Lu Zhen, who was standing next to Qiao Muyu.

Confirming he hadn’t seen this handsome guy before, Fang Yao nudged Qiao Muyu with his elbow, curious: “Old Qiao, who’s this?”

Qiao Muyu then introduced him: “This is Lu Zhen, he’s a new student who just transferred to our class.”

“Just transferred?” Fang Yao looked at Lu Zhen in surprise, “Man, our elite classes’ first round of review started long ago. You’re just transferring now? Can you keep up with the pace? Class 1 is covered in ‘Involution Kings’ everywhere!”

Lu Zhen glanced at him expressionlessly, didn’t reply, and left on his own holding his freshly filled water bottle.

Fang Yao watched his retreating back: “Is this guy shy?”

Qiao Muyu was merciless: “It has nothing to do with being shy. He just couldn’t be bothered to talk to you.”

Fang Yao: “……”

Qiao Muyu also quickly filled his water and left, catching up to Lu Zhen’s pace: “Student Lu, Fang Yao is just a blunt person. He didn’t mean anything by those words just now. He just wanted to remind you that in our class, the academic pressure might be quite large.”

Lu Zhen tilted his head slightly to take a sip of water and said: “Yeah, I know.”

Seeing that he truly didn’t seem to care, Qiao Muyu felt relieved enough to continue with his carefully considered words: “I don’t know if Old Wan told you, but our class and Class 2 are the two elite classes. The review pace and rhythm are faster than other classes—even other schools. If you just arrived, you might be a bit maladjusted, so…”

Qiao Muyu paused, trying to speak as tactfully as possible: “About that target grade just now, do you need to fill out a new copy? I can let you be the last one to fill it in to give you more time to think clearly.”

Lu Zhen turned his head to look at him, seemingly not quite understanding his intention: “Why?”

“Taking care of a new classmate.” The reason was lame, but it worked.

“Unnecessary,” Lu Zhen said instead.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Qiao Muyu was speechless for a moment.

I’m giving you a way out and you won’t take it? Do I have to grab you by the ears and tell you that it’s impossible for you to get 700 points?

Do you think you’re Einstein? You really don’t know the heights of the heavens and the depths of the earth…

If it weren’t for Old Wan asking him to look after this newcomer, he really wouldn’t bother.

Qiao Muyu sighed softly and could only speak plainly: “But Student Lu, that 700 you filled in is indeed quite hard to achieve. Of course, it’s a good thing that you have ambition and like a challenge; our Class 1 welcomes motivated students like you. Do you need me to lend you my notes? If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can always ask me. If I know how, I’ll definitely teach you!”

Lu Zhen understood. His slender knuckles brushed over the glass bottle body stained with a drop of water. After contemplating for a few seconds with downcast eyes, he asked back with a calm face: “Monitor, what was your score on the last final exam?”

Qiao Muyu had been waiting for this question. He straightened his back, cleared his throat, and answered with feigned modesty: “686, first in the grade.”

Usually, after hearing this score, people would be amazed and praise him a bit. But Lu Zhen only raised an eyebrow, gave a faint “Oh,” and said: “Thanks for the concern. But my grades are decent, I don’t need a tutor.”

Qiao Muyu: “……”

He. Was. Actually. Politely. Refused!

What does he mean! Does he look down on my 686? Damn it, what is he acting so smug for!

Qiao Muyu had never suffered such a rebuff. His heart was spitting blood internally, and he quickly took a sip of water to calm himself down.

He stopped making a fool of himself and didn’t say another word as he walked beside Lu Zhen. While maintaining a gentle smile on his face, he internally curled his lip: “Tch, this new classmate isn’t easy to get along with.”

“Grades are decent? Don’t need a tutor?” Du Jingfei repeated the words in surprise, “He really said that?”

Qiao Muyu nodded while wiping the dining table in front of him with a tissue.

Taking advantage of the dinner break during the evening self-study session, Qiao Muyu couldn’t resist venting to his friend Du Jingfei about Lu Zhen.

“Oho, this guy is quite arrogant!” Du Jingfei swallowed the food in his mouth, “It’s my first time seeing someone refuse a top student’s kindness—especially from a gentle and proactive top-of-the-grade student like you.”

Qiao Muyu bit into a grain of rice, also quite bewildered: “Maybe he has his own ideas?”

He didn’t understand it, but he respected it.

“Then just stop worrying about him and let him fend for himself.” Du Jingfei said dismissively. “The exam scores will teach a guy who doesn’t know his place a lesson!”

Qiao Muyu nodded slightly in agreement. Anyway, he didn’t want to keep pressing his “warm face against a cold butt” anymore.

Just then, Xu Rongcan pushed through the crowded cafeteria, bringing a freshly filled meal tray: “What are you two chatting about?”

Du Jingfei: “What else can two miserable high school seniors talk about? Exams and scores.”

“Speaking of exams, how are you guys preparing for the back-to-school exam tomorrow?” Xu Rongcan asked.

Du Jingfei immediately slapped his thigh: “I don’t care about anything else, but this time I definitely want to be first in the class in math!”

Xu Rongcan: “Are you not even taking the rest of our class seriously?”

Du Jingfei looked at Qiao Muyu, hesitated for a second, and changed his tune: “Then, at the very least, I have to be in the top three! You guys don’t know, I didn’t get a 135 in math last semester, and Sister Ma nearly poked a hole through my spine. She called me to her office again this afternoon for a lecture, saying I’m part of the most embarrassing year of math representatives she’s ever had!”

“You deserve it.” After Xu Rongcan gloated, he looked at Qiao Muyu, “What about you, Xiao Yu?”

Qiao Muyu lightly wiped the corner of his mouth with a tissue and answered with a straight face: “If you hadn’t mentioned it, I’d have forgotten there was a back-to-school exam tomorrow. I didn’t prepare; I can only use the upcoming evening self-study to review a bit.”

This, of course, couldn’t be the truth.

Qiao Muyu never slacked on any grade-wide unified exam. Even if the back-to-school exam was just an unimportant opening test, he had still stayed home for a week doing practice problems and preparing well.

“Humph, stop it. Do I not know you?”

As a classmate and best friend of many years, Du Jingfei saw through his nature at a glance and exposed him on the spot.

“You, Qiao Muyu, could score well even with your eyes closed. From the start of tenth grade until now, when has the number one spot not been yours?”

“Right? Last time I heard a few teachers in the office joking that the first place for every exam is rock-solid; there’s no surprise at all.” Xu Rongcan expressed a bit of regret, “It would be fun if some dark horse suddenly came out of nowhere!”

Du Jingfei put down his chopsticks and struck a pose with his fist against his forehead: “Do you think I have the look of a legendary dark horse?”

“Pfft—I think you look like a donkey!”

“Xu Rongcan!”

“Haha!”

Qiao Muyu smiled while watching the two of them mess around, but what he was thinking was:

A dark horse?

Forget it. I’m not looking forward to meeting one at all.

As the target grade form circulated, the story of the earth-shattering 700 points Lu Zhen filled in quickly spread throughout Class 1.

Everyone took a ‘watching the fun’ attitude and gave the new student the nickname “700 Brother.”

Of course, there were also kind-hearted students like Qiao Muyu who advised him to honestly set his flag anew before being called to Old Wan’s office for tea, but the person involved ignored them all.

However, everyone was busy with the back-to-school exams these two days, so other matters were temporarily set aside.

Qiao Muyu estimated that once the exams were over, Wan Qianghai would probably seek out Lu Zhen for a deep conversation, or Lu Zhen would wake up and face reality himself.

The two days of exams flashed by. On Friday, it was the turn of Qiao Muyu’s group to do cleaning duty.

He arrived at school very early and cleaned the classroom inside and out. After wiping the windowsills, he went to the water room to wash his rag.

As soon as he entered, he saw Du Jingfei and Xu Rongcan leaning against the windowsill eating breakfast while whispering mysteriously.

Qiao Muyu floated up behind them silently and suddenly spoke: “What kind of scandalous topic are you two hiding here to talk about?”

“Whoa, Monitor, you gave me a heart attack!” Xu Rongcan patted his chest with lingering fear.

Du Jingfei was so startled he choked on his bun and coughed violently. He quickly took a sip of water to smooth his breath before saying: “We were talking about 700 Brother.”

Qiao Muyu was stunned for half a second. After realizing that strange nickname referred to Lu Zhen, he followed up: “What happened to him?”

Xu Rongcan couldn’t wait to take over the conversation: “I saw Lu Zhen when I was buying breakfast at the school gate just now. He got out of a luxury car! There was even a dedicated driver opening the door for him! The way he acted, so respectful—he almost rolled out a red carpet for him right there!”

“……” Qiao Muyu was slightly repulsed by this exaggerated description.

Du Jingfei subconsciously exclaimed: “Holy crap, this guy really is a second-generation rich kid!”

“Exactly. I also heard he supposedly transferred because of family reasons.” Xu Rongcan continued to gossip.

Qiao Muyu couldn’t help but make a connection: “Is it possible his parents are divorced?”

“I don’t know the specifics.” Xu Rongcan shrugged with a look of someone who wasn’t surprised. “Anyway, usually these kinds of wealthy families have some family disputes. It’s just a divorce, it’s not unusual.”

Qiao Muyu couldn’t help but laugh: “What kind of prejudice do you have against rich people?”

Xu Rongcan chuckled: “Don’t all web novels write it like that? ‘Real and Fake Young Masters,’ ‘Wealthy Family Alliances,’ ‘Step-mom Literature,’ and all that.”

Du Jingfei: “Tsk tsk. I told you, read fewer of those braindead web novels. It ruins your worldview.”

Xu Rongcan: “I insist on reading them, I like it!”

Qiao Muyu turned on the faucet to scrub his rag and didn’t participate in the conversation further.

A second-generation rich kid. No wonder he treats everyone with disdain.

People have the capital to offend others.