Triple it?

The classroom was getting increasingly noisy. Xie Mingming unscrewed his insulated mug, took a small sip, and prepared to restore some discipline.

"Quiet down." A cold, rebellious voice rang out, and the classroom instantly fell silent.

Xie Mingming stood with his mouth open, staring blankly at the long-haired girl in the last row.

Shen Qing had stolen his line.

"Everyone, study your texts. You don't have much time left." Xie Mingming coughed, managed to find something to say, and then walked over to the back row. Shen Qing looked to be in good spirits, not slumped over her desk sleeping.

"Shen Qing, did you do the test papers I gave you?" Over the past twenty days, Xie Mingming had successively handed all the test papers written by the class to Shen Qing.

"No," Shen Qing replied honestly.

"..." This kid, was she being too honest for her own good!

Xie Mingming felt a lump in his chest, feeling as though he was about to depart this mortal world in the next second...

"Then there's the joint examination coming up. What are you planning to do? Are you confident you can score 200 points?"

Nie Huan glanced at Shen Qing and whispered in her ear, "This exam is quite important."

Shen Qing raised an eyebrow, looked up at Xie Mingming, and said, "Then let's triple the stakes."

Xie Mingming was taken aback. Triple the stakes? What was this, playing Landlord?

"What did you mean by tripling the stakes?" Xie Mingming suspected this was some new internet slang.

Shen Qing smiled. "Nothing."

Looking utterly bewildered, Xie Mingming shifted his gaze to Nie Huan beside her. Nie Huan gave him a faint glance, picked up her vocabulary book, and began to read.

During the evening self-study session, Shen Qing lay across her desk playing on her phone. Her WeChat was flooded with message bombs from the "Grim Reaper."

[Grim Reaper: That new style of cheongsam you designed last time—one set was bought by the Gu family, another eight sets were taken by some mysterious person, and the remaining one has been bid up to an astronomical price in Country R!]

[Grim Reaper: I swear there are no shills on my end.]

[Grim Reaper: Could these be shills you hired yourself?]

[Grim Reaper: Who in their right mind buys eight pieces at once?]

[Grim Reaper: The Huaguo Capital Fashion Show—are your pieces finished?]

[Grim Reaper: The way you leave my messages unread is the spitting image of a heartless scoundrel.]

[Grim Reaper: My little ancestor, my dear mother!]

After reading the messages, Shen Qing leisurely replied.

[Person Not Found: Wait.]

[Grim Reaper: Oh.] (Weeping bitterly)

Nie Huan leaned over and spoke quietly to Shen Qing, "Don't you need to go to the office today?"

Shen Qing turned off her phone, narrowed her eyes, and glanced at Nie Huan. "Nope. My moral character isn't that great."

Nie Huan paused for a moment. Had Shen Qing just said that Teacher Gu's moral character wasn't very good?

Well, that seemed about right too.

Shen Qing looked at Nie Huan for a couple of seconds, the corners of her lips curling upward in an uninhibited and arrogant manner. "I suppose I'll favor you tonight, then."

"Cough, cough, cough!" Chu喻 violently coughed from the front.

Nie Huan's gaze darkened slightly. She retreated to her own seat, pressed her lips together, and said nothing.

Noticing someone standing at the back door, Nie Huan looked up and saw a man in a black trench coat leaning against the doorframe, his eyes narrowed slightly as his gaze locked entirely on the person beside her.

"Teacher Gu is here." Nie Huan gently tapped Shen Qing's arm, signaling her to look toward the door.

Lazily lifting herself up from the desk, Shen Qing glanced at the doorway. Gu Ting was gazing steadily at her.

"I'm stepping out for a moment." Narrowing her eyes, Shen Qing rose from her seat and walked out through the back door.

Nie Huan watched the two of them head toward the outer corridor, then lowered her gaze to continue working on her assignments.

Chu Yu gently tapped his desk and whispered, "Sister Huan, Teacher Gu and Sister Qing..." He always felt their relationship was a bit unusual.

Nie Huan raised her head and interrupted him quite coldly, "Quiet down and do your homework."

"Oh, right." Chu Yu flashed a smile at her, fished a small bag of candies out of his drawer, and placed it on Nie Huan's desk. "Here, have these."

Nie Huan was momentarily stunned. It was the same very sour, very expensive candy that Shen Qing had bought for her earlier.

"This..." Nie Huan pushed the candy back.

Chu Yu reached out to block her hand. "Don't be polite. I'm not used to this flavor."

"Then thank you." Nie Huan accepted the candy. Chu Yu smiled at her once more, turned back around, and resumed his homework.

Shen Qing walked out into the corridor and leaned half her body against the railing.

"Want one?" Gu Ting stood opposite her, holding out his open palm to reveal a jujube-filled blessing candy.

Seeing that she didn't move, Gu Ting tore open the wrapper and brought the candy to her lips. "It would be a waste if I tore it open and didn't eat it."

Shen Qing glanced at it, then extended two fingers to take the candy.

"Why didn't you come for tutoring today?"