Chapter 18: A Transfer Student?

County No. 1 High School.

“Look at that boy! Is he the new transfer student? So handsome!”

“Girl, we’re here for extra classes, not the regular start of school. There wouldn’t be any new transfer students at this time. He’s probably a new intern teacher at the school.”

“He’s definitely neither a transfer student nor an intern teacher. Look, that boy is talking to Wei Xun, and they seem pretty close. He must be a student here.”

“Do we even have such a handsome guy at our school? Look at his hairstyle and fashionable clothes. Which boy here could pull that off? I bet he’s from the city.”

On the third floor of the teaching building, groups of girls who just returned from break stood chatting in the corridor, pointing at Chen Fan and Wei Xun walking below.

Wei Xun noticed many girls looking in his direction.

He immediately stopped joking around and said seriously, “Fanzi, stay away from me. Haven’t you noticed the girls are watching me? Don’t ruin their chance to admire my heroic charm.”

Then Wei Xun flamboyantly flicked his hair, trying to show his most handsome side.

Chen Fan paused, glanced at the girls in the corridor on the third floor, and couldn’t help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

One of the three biggest illusions boys have: if a girl looks at me, it means she likes me.

“Keep acting cool, Dad’s leaving now, kiddo!” Chen Fan chuckled and strode towards the teaching building.

“Damn you, Chen old dog!” Wei Xun snarled but maintained his pose.

Actually, boys like him were not rare.

They would roughhouse outside school, but once inside the gates, if they noticed a girl watching, everyone instantly became serious, even keeping their teasing silent.

As for boys like Chen Fan who didn’t care about their image, they were either confident, academically excellent, uninterested in girls, or secretly dating someone and couldn’t be too flashy.

When Chen Fan and Wei Xun appeared side by side on the third floor, Wei Xun, who wanted to keep his mysterious cool, was instantly shaken by what the girls said next.

“Ah, I was too far away earlier and thought the handsome guy next to Wei Xun was a city transfer student, but it’s Chen Fan! After five days off, did he get plastic surgery or what?”

“Not at all, he was already pretty handsome before; it’s just that his new hairstyle makes him even better-looking.”

“Wei Xun, you better stay away from Chen Fan. Don’t block our view of him.”

Hearing the girls’ calls, a boomerang-like object hit Wei Xun precisely. He twitched slightly at the corner of his mouth and strode toward the classroom.

---

Chen Fan laughed as he caught up to Wei Xun, showing off beside him.

Good brothers trying to stab him in the back.

In a crowd full of unconventional hairstyles and fashion, the previous Chen Fan, though somewhat stereotypical, was still handsome upon closer look.

But today, changing his style and refusing to follow the crowd, he had become a refreshing breeze in the mainstream of nonconformity.

That’s why the girls paid extra attention to him.

Not far away, Tan Ya, who had just returned to school, resumed her usual aloof demeanor. Her cold elegance made boys only dare to admire from afar.

When the newly transformed Chen Fan appeared, her eyes lit up, almost waving to greet him.

But when she saw Chen Fan hadn’t noticed her, Tan Ya pursed her lips and muttered silently, “As a good brother in the shooting game, I was right there, and you didn’t even notice me. What a dog!”

After Chen Fan entered Senior Year Class Six,

a girl standing beside Tan Ya suddenly asked curiously, “Hey, isn’t it? Besides Chen Fan looking even more handsome today, don’t you think something’s missing?”

“You’re right. I felt something was off when I saw Chen Fan earlier.”

“Enough. Chen Fan’s already back in class. You all should worry more about your final exam scores.”

Immediately, the corridor fell silent about Chen Fan’s sudden handsomeness.

Everyone shifted their attention anxiously to their own final exam results.

Only Tan Ya, who consistently ranked at the top of the grade, showed little concern.

She quietly took out her phone and sent Chen Fan a message.

[Fanzi, why didn’t you pick Su Xue up at school today?]

Senior Year Class Five.

Group Four, last desk.

The reborn Chen Fan leaned back on his throne, filled with emotion.

Looking at the lively class, the playful classmates, the countdown to the college entrance exam on the blackboard, and the various cheat sheets and English vocabulary on the desks, he was momentarily lost in thought.

Scenes like these, in his previous life, he had only experienced in dreams, only recalled amidst drunken delirium.

Now, the youth others longed for but could never return to, Chen Fan was unexpectedly living through it once more.

“Chen old dog, what are you daydreaming about? I’m asking you, why didn’t you pick Su Xue up today?”

Wei Xun, with a mischievous grin, held his phone up to Chen Fan: “Who’s this old Tan? So concerned about you and Su Xue. I can smell jealousy through the screen. Which class is she from?”

---

“What girl? Just a good brother from another class who plays games with me.”

Chen Fan glared at the gossiping Wei Xun, took the phone, and said, “Why should I pick Su Xue up? We’re purely platonic. There’s not a shred of romantic entanglement between us. Why would I fetch her? Is she my sister or my mom?”

Wei Xun was stunned, rubbing his eyes hard and scanning Chen Fan up and down, then touching his forehead: “You’re not running a fever, right? Or possessed by a ghost? Is this really something you, Chen old dog, would say?”

“Screw you!”

Chen Fan shot him a look and said seriously, “Anyway, all those stupid things like picking Su Xue up, bringing her back to school, buying her breakfast and lunch—I’m done with that nonsense.

Now, it’s her owing me, not me owing her.”

Wei Xun could hardly believe these words from his good brother.

He clearly remembered just recently when he advised Chen Fan to stop obsessing over Su Xue, the two almost fought.

Yet now, Chen Fan’s seriousness was almost eerie.

Wei Xun pinched himself hard; the pain in his thigh told him he wasn’t dreaming.

Could Chen old dog really have changed this much in just a few days?

---

“Chen Fan!”

Suddenly, an angry shout rang out in the classroom.

The previously lively room instantly fell silent.

Everyone’s gaze shifted to the figure approaching the door.

It was Su Xue, hair disheveled, clothes untidy, her coat stained with dirt. She looked a bit disheveled—only slightly cleaner than a refugee fleeing famine.

She was a far cry from the pure school beauty she usually was.

But with Chen Fan present, no one dared to directly point or gossip openly. Everyone understood the complicated relationship between them.

As the classmates parted to make way, Su Xue looked at Chen Fan, who sat on the bench like an old lord, her face flushed with anger, chest rising and falling violently.

She stepped forward, looked down at Chen Fan, and bit her teeth to ask, “Chen Fan, why didn’t you come to pick me up today?”

Chen Fan leaned against the wall, arms crossed, looking at Su Xue.

“Su classmate, may I ask what kind of relationship we have? Why should I pick you up?”