Chapter 25: Did You Transfer from No. 2 High School?

Then he looked at Xu Yannuo, and neither of them spoke again.

Perhaps it was an unspoken reconciliation. After that, the class bell rang, the teacher entered the classroom, and the sound of students flipping through their books filled the room in unison.

Maybe it was because Xu Yannuo’s demeanor earlier had been so terrifying—her reaction had been so abnormal and strange—but Chen Chenyi, who was usually so nosy, didn’t ask any further questions for the rest of the class.

When the teacher finished the lecture and began the in-class exercises from the textbook, Xu Yannuo glanced at Chen Chenyi after finishing her problems. He was lost in thought, his mind clearly elsewhere, and his worksheet remained completely blank—he hadn’t written a single word.

Xu Yannuo frowned slightly—was this person really the top student from No. 2 High School?

At this thought, Xu Yannuo suddenly remembered the legendary school bully from No. 2 High School that had been the talk of her school. She smiled, pulled out a completed practice test, flipped it to the back, jotted down a few words, and then slid it over to Chen Ciyi’s side.

Two seconds later, Chen Cihui snapped back to reality. He glanced at the test paper that had suddenly appeared before him, then raised an eyebrow at Xu Yannuo. Xu Yannuo also gave the paper a quick look and motioned for him to check it out.

Chen Ci lowered his head and saw a line of delicate handwriting on the messy back of the test paper, where the thin paper had allowed the print to show through.

“Did you transfer from No. 2?”

Chen Ci turned his head to look at Xu Yannuo and nodded at her. Xu Yannuo took back the test paper, wrote a few more words, and pushed it over again.

Chen Ci looked at the words: [“Have you ever met the school bully from No. 2 High? He’s quite legendary around here!”]

After reading it, Chen Ci froze for a moment. Was this… asking about him?

He lifted the test paper, flipped through it, glanced at the desk, picked up the only ballpoint pen on it, and quickly wrote six words: [“Who’s that? Never met him!”]

Xu Yannuo smiled, then lowered her head to write a few more words, laughing as she wrote, as if she couldn’t stop smiling. But clearly, was it mockery? Or what? Anyway, it wasn’t a good kind of laugh.

She had just finished writing, and before she could push it back, Chen Ciyi curiously picked it up to take a look.

[“That must be it, otherwise with how annoying you are, how come he hasn’t beaten you to death yet! Hahahaha…”]

Fuck!

Chen Wuyi was speechless—how could he possibly kill himself? He glanced at Xu Yannuo, stared for a moment, then picked up his pen and scribbled a few more words, determined to play the coward to the very end.

[“Probably doesn’t know me, after all, I’m so weak. How could he possibly know me? Even if he did, he probably wouldn’t fight—no challenge!”] [Note: The translation maintains the informal, self-deprecating tone of the original Chinese text while ensuring natural English flow. The brackets are preserved as they appear to be part of the narrative structure.]

After reading it, Xu Yannuo couldn’t help but lower his head and laugh, his shoulders trembling with amusement. He didn’t write anything else until the teacher tapped the blackboard and said, “Alright, everyone should have finished the problems by now. For the first question, who would like to share their answer?”

As the voice faded, hands began to rise in the classroom. Xu Yannuo reluctantly suppressed his smile and joined the ranks of those listening attentively—though whether it was genuine focus or mere pretense remained unclear.

On Saturday morning, before the alarm could ring, Chen Ciyi had already opened his eyes. This was his natural biological clock at work—even though his daytime routine had been completely disrupted lately, he would still wake up at the same time every morning.

He got up and opened the curtains. Sunlight instantly poured in, making him squint as he turned to take a shower in the bathroom. After freshening up, he changed into a clean white T-shirt and casual pants, slung his guitar over his shoulder, and headed out. First, he grabbed breakfast downstairs, then took a taxi straight to the music studio.

He and Wang Sinan rented a piano room in an apartment office building near the school. This building was particularly unusual—while other similar apartment-style buildings in the area were simply furnished and rented out to various studios, such as photography, beauty and nail salons, skincare, embroidery, real estate agencies, or small companies.

However, the first five floors of this apartment-style office building were renovated by the landlord, who merged them into various layouts and styles to rent out for piano lessons, erhu lessons, vocal training, dance classes, art classes, and even after-school tutoring programs for elementary students. Despite the lack of soundproofing, every unit was leased out—not a single “For Rent” sign remained downstairs.

It seems that children’s money is indeed easier to earn, but it might also simply be due to the low rent.

Chen Ci entered the piano room and placed the guitar on the floor beside him. The sunlight was strong, making the room a bit stuffy, but it was clean—no tiny floating dust particles were visible in the light. He guessed Wang Sinan and the others had been there after school yesterday and had given the place a quick tidy-up before leaving.

Chen Ci walked to the window, opened it to let in some fresh air, then went to the corner where several crates of mineral water were stacked. He pulled out a bottle from the topmost opened crate, unscrewed the cap, and took a few gulps. After the stifling heat in the room dissipated, he turned on the air conditioner, walked to the door, closed it, and even locked it directly.

At this time, many classrooms were in session. The teachers were either young or college students, so they were very lively. During breaks, they enjoyed visiting different classes, and if their breaks coincided, they would gather to snack on fruits, share treats, and gossip a little.

But Chen Ciyi didn’t like listening to their conversations, nor did he enjoy talking with them. It wasn’t that he found them annoying—he simply wanted peace and quiet. It was as if he existed outside this world, where other people and matters held no connection to him. He had no desire to participate, no concern, and not the slightest interest.

But today, he suddenly thought of Xu Yannuo. When her soft, rabbit-like face involuntarily flashed through his mind, Chen Ciyi couldn’t help but laugh—at himself.

What on earth has gotten into him lately, or which screw has come loose in his head? He’s always been a rather indifferent person, even cold at times—cold toward the world. So why the sudden curiosity about Xu Yannuo’s affairs? And why all those childish actions so out of character for him..

Chen Ciyi let out a scoff, shook his head, then sat down at the piano. He lifted the lid and casually played a tune to limber up his fingers, simultaneously clearing Xu Yannuo from his mind. After that, he began playing in earnest, occasionally jotting notes and markings on the sheet music as he played.

He didn’t know how long he had been playing, but when he snapped back to reality, he realized his shoulders had stiffened painfully. He glanced at his phone—it was almost 1 PM. Rubbing his shoulders, he stood up to stretch, then stepped out to use the restroom and took a short walk downstairs. He grabbed a quick lunch at the newly opened fast-food joint before returning. After locking the door and settling back at the piano, the sound of an erhu being played drifted over from the classroom across the way.

It wasn’t the first time he had heard the piano music from that house, but he had never seen the person inside.

The people in that room didn’t know when they arrived, but the person in the classroom shared the same habit—one of only two in the entire floor’s dozen classrooms who locked the door and avoided outside contact.