Chapter 404: Looks Can Be Deceiving

Song Lujing shook his head watching from the side, muttering softly: "My sister's older brother and cousin are treated differently."

Before Mu Youyu could reply, Mu Xi cut in: "First put your score sheet up, then we'll talk about others."

He recently discovered something fun: as long as he retorts…

As expected, Song Lujing immediately shot back: "You got zero on the finals!"

Mu Xi: "I'm taller than you."

Mu Youyu felt this scene was a bit familiar.

Song Lujing: "I don't care; I at least got a recommendation."

Mu Xi: "There's a difference between recommendations, and I'm still taller than you."

!

Song Lujing wisely shut his mouth, what does that have to do with height? When did Mu Xi start studying with Mu Yichen and them!!

Yu Ci wore a gloating expression, "Song Lujing, you've got your day too."

Song Lujing glared at him angrily and retorted: "Shut up, what did you score on yesterday's math test?"

"121." Yu Ci wore a calm expression, thinking this score was respectable and had passed the excellence line.

Song Lujing snorted lightly, his tone casual yet cutting: "Oh, I usually score full marks on math."

Yu Ci's smile froze, and he silently shrank his head back.

Gu Xingnan resignedly said: "Let's go."

Han Mo had seen enough of the commotion, clapped his hands, and said: "Alright, alright, hurry to the auditorium."

The group left the classroom one after another, heading toward the auditorium.

The overall area of Nan Feng's auditorium shows no obvious difference compared to Lan Lin's, with huge banners of the school motto hanging on both sides of the stage.

By the time Mu Youyu and company arrived, the hall was already half full.

The seats for Class 1 of the senior year were in the first to fourth rows on the right; as soon as they sat down, they saw Lan Lin's students entering from the opposite entrance.

Mo Song led the way, spotted her at once, and waved excitedly; Mu Youyu also smiled and waved back.

Leng Yueyou followed behind Mo Song, mouthing "see you later" to her.

Bai Yun walked in the middle of the crowd, giving her a distant "yeah" gesture, but since the two schools weren't together, she didn't come over.

Mu Youyu scanned the Lan Lin lineup, then turned to Jiang Liangjin and asked, "Jiang Ji isn't here?"

"He's here." Jiang Liangjin jerked his chin toward the back of the Lan Lin line and added, "Over there."

Following his gaze, Mu Youyu saw a boy in the Lan Lin student union uniform lowering his head to look at his phone; someone beside him was speaking to him, he lifted his head, smiled, said something, then lowered his head again.

"He doesn't look like the type who'd proactively come find you for a seat."

"Don't judge by appearances." Jiang Liangjin said casually.

"All right, he's dressed fairly formally."

?

Jiang Liangjin said disdainfully: "Still wearing a suit, just putting on airs."

Mu Youyu was amused by his remark: "We weren't wearing suits ourselves earlier, were we?"

"Ours looked genuinely good; his is just pure pretense."

Song Lujing laughed so hard his shoulders shook; after Mu Xi glanced at him, he barely managed to sit up straight.

The lights on stage came up, the host walked up, and announced the opening ceremony had officially begun.

The procedure was much like Lan Lin's—principal's address, leaders' speeches, student representative's remarks—taking nearly an hour in total.

After sitting for about an hour, the auditorium was inexplicably quiet, with only the leaders' cue voices audible.

Mu Youyu grew drowsy, her head slowly drooping, when Jiang Liangjin gently lifted it with his hand and asked, "Sleepy?"

"A little," she mumbled, then leaned against his shoulder.

Jiang Liangjin didn't move, letting her lean on him while his gaze stayed on the stage, merely adjusting his shoulder to a more comfortable angle.

Mu Xi sat on her other side, glanced sideways, said nothing, just pulled a mint from his pocket, unwrapped it, and held it to her lips.

Mu Youyu opened her mouth to take it; the cool mint flavor spread across her tongue, dispelling much of her drowsiness.

"Thanks, second older brother," she said vaguely.

Mu Xi lowered his hand and replied with an acknowledgment.

Finally, it was the student representative's turn to speak on stage.

Nan Feng students Mu Xi and Song Lujing hadn't taken the final exams last semester; this time the speaker was Ye Zeli.

After he stepped down, a familiar face appeared.

From Lan Lin it was Jiang Ji, wearing the school uniform, his face clean and glasses‑free, looking rather proper.

Mu Youyu instinctively moved closer to Jiang Liangjin, "Wow, how did he get so smart all of a sudden?"

Jiang Liangjin: "Maybe he grew a brain overnight."

On stage, Jiang Ji held his script, spoke at a moderate pace, and stepped down after about two minutes.

As his voice faded, people gradually began to murmur.

"Holy shit, him? The student rep? Am I mistaken?"

"He's from the Jiang family—normal, his dad apparently holds some shares in the branch."

"I recall his dad suddenly went abroad, didn't he?"

"Whatever, I just noticed his voice is actually quite pleasant."

"Don't you know why he came up? He seems to have taken Young Master Jiang's place! Looks like he's transferring to Class A."

"How could that be? Isn't he chasing after someone?"

"……"

When Jiang Ji walked down from the stage, his steps were neither fast nor slow, as if he couldn't muster any interest in everything around him.

As he passed Lan Lin's seat, someone called him softly, but he didn't even give them a glance.

Mu Youyu currently had nothing to do, so she handed over the game she had been playing halfway on her phone to Jiang Liangjin.

Lan Lin and Nan Feng's seats were separated by an aisle; Jiang Ji walked to the end of the aisle, hesitated a moment, then stepped across.

The people on Nan Feng's side saw him and were startled for a moment, but not by much.

Jiang Ji stood still in front of Jiang Liangjin.

Jiang Liangjin didn't lift his head, still bent down helping Mu Youyu play a little game on her phone, completely ignoring the person beside him.

Jiang Ji wasn't annoyed either; he just stood at the side waiting.

Yu Ci nudged the meditating Gu Xingnan beside him, "Yo, little green tea has arrived."

Gu Xingnan opened his eyes, instinctively looked ahead, and locked eyes with Jiang Ji; he then withdrew his gaze, "Don't mind him."

The game character collapsed, the round ended, and only then did Jiang Liangjin finally look up, "Anything?"

"Thanks." Jiang Ji said politely.

"If it's nothing..." Jiang Liangjin was about to say "get lost" but turned it into, "Please move out of the way."

Jiang Ji stood where he was, his face showing little change, only the corner of his mouth twitching slightly, "Alright, then I'm leaving."

He turned and walked back two steps, then stopped again, as if remembering something, pulled a USB drive from his pocket, placed it on Jiang Liangjin's desk, "This is for you."

Jiang Liangjin glanced at it, didn't reach out, "What is this."

"The thing you asked me to look into earlier." Jiang Ji paused, "I found it."

As soon as he said that, the people around who had been pricking up their ears for gossip instantly averted their gaze, pretending they hadn't heard anything.

Only then did Jiang Liangjin put down his phone, pick up the USB drive and spin it between his fingers, "Fine."

Mu Xi withdrew her gaze, her expression unchanged.

【Added a character design illustration for Youbao's banquet~ (Can be viewed in Tomato Free Novels)】

The outfit is the design from the chapter where Youbao is crowned princess! This image is for display only, for the little treasures to enjoy~