Chapter 346: New Headphones, Old Stories

"At nine o'clock sharp, check-in closes. After I finish speaking, you take a few boys to the warehouse to pick up the textbooks for this semester."

Kong Jun gave Li Luo a few instructions, then let him return to his seat.

As Li Luo turned and stepped down from the podium, he glanced around, located Yan Zhusheng and Ying Chanxi's positions, and then found his own seat.

At the same time, he also took a quick look at the other classmates' seats, forming a rough mental map.

According to Kong Jun's style, he wouldn't rearrange seats on a large scale.

Usually, after students chose their own seats on the first day of school, they'd just keep them for a few days of normal classes.

Then Kong Jun would make minor adjustments based on his own judgment and private requests from students.

Thinking this, Li Luo had already walked toward Yan Zhusheng's direction.

As he passed down the aisle, Liu Shaowen enthusiastically waved at him.

Li Luo nodded back, exchanged a few brief pleasantries, then sat down at his seat.

He turned to look at Yan Zhusheng beside him, then at Ying Chanxi in front of him; remembering how Yan Zhusheng had taken his backpack earlier, he suddenly realized something and couldn't help smiling and shaking his head.

He reached forward and poked Ying Chanxi's back; when she turned around, Li Luo smiled: "Nothing."

"If it's nothing, why did you poke me?"

"I just suddenly felt like poking you."

"You're weird…" Ying Chanxi muttered under her breath, then turned back without further reply.

After a while, Ying Chanxi felt her braid being tugged, twisted and played with by his fingers.

But she remained silent, accepting it, even leaning back against her chair as if resting, making it easier for Li Luo to play with her hair.

Li Luo wasn't actually that childish—back in elementary school, when Ying Chanxi sat in front of him, he'd always done this.

In many boys' youth, there's always that one girl in front who lets you fiddle with her hair.

Sometimes she'd turn around angrily and hit you; sometimes she'd stay silent and let you play freely; sometimes, she'd even create opportunities for you to touch her hair.

These awkward memories had long grown hazy.

But right now, such memories seemed to flow back from the sea of memory, leaving Li Luo deeply moved.

Thinking this, Li Luo had already braided Ying Chanxi's hair into a plait, then smiled and asked Yan Zhusheng and Qiao Xinyan: "How's my craftsmanship?"

Qiao Xinyan had never seen Ying Chanxi with a plait before; she looked quite cute, so Qiao Xinyan covered her mouth and giggled, nodding in praise: "Very nice."

Ying Chanxi quickly touched her braid, realized Li Luo had given it a new style, blushed slightly, and muttered: "You're so boring."

But inside, she felt sweetly pleased, suddenly thinking sitting in front of Li Luo wasn't so bad after all.

As Li Luo played with Ying Chanxi's braid, Zhao Rongjun entered the classroom to check in; after glancing around the front, he chose an empty seat near Li Luo's side, right in front of Liu Shaowen.

When Xu Yinghuan arrived, paid her fees, and saw that Li Luo and the other three were already sitting together, she sat down beside Zhao Rongjun without hesitation.

To be fair, Zhao Rongjun had been worried—what if he got a new, unfamiliar girl as a seatmate this semester? He'd be terrified.

But if it was Xu Yinghuan, someone he already knew well, it would be much better.

Still, Zhao Rongjun actually preferred sitting next to Qiao Xinyan; to him, she was clearly more considerate.

But Xu Yinghuan wasn't bad either—she was just too rowdy, and Zhao Rongjun still found it hard to adjust to.

When it reached half past eight, Luo Jiajia walked into the classroom, completed check-in, saw Zhao Rongjun, and instinctively headed toward him.

But halfway there, she noticed someone was already sitting beside Zhao Rongjun, so she looked around again and sat in front of Qiao Xinyan, directly across the aisle from Zhao Rongjun.

"Looks like we're in the same class," Luo Jiajia smiled across at Zhao Rongjun. "Pretty lucky."

"Ah… yeah… right." Zhao Rongjun nodded, answering softly.

Behind them, Qiao Xinyan glanced at Luo Jiajia, then at Zhao Rongjun; across the aisle, Xu Yinghuan whispered: "Are you guys from Class Three?"

"Yeah," Zhao Rongjun whispered back. "My former desk partner."

"Huh?" Xu Yinghuan blinked, asking, "Should I switch seats with her? You two were desk partners for a whole year."

"N-no, that's not necessary!" Zhao Rongjun waved his hands quickly. "You're fine as my seatmate, Huanhuan."

"Hehe." Xu Yinghuan grinned happily. "Then I won't be polite—I've got a top student beside me, so take good care of me!"

"Uh-huh… yeah…"

…

At exactly nine a. m., the enrollment deadline for Fuyi High School ended; all students of Gao Er Eight had arrived in the classroom.

Kong Jun looked around at the dozen familiar faces and several unfamiliar ones, took a quiet breath, then clapped to gather everyone's attention.

"This new semester, we've completed class assignments," Kong Jun said. "No matter which class you were in during Gao Yi, from today on, you're all classmates in Gao Er Eight."

"My style is to cut the fluff—I won't waste time with empty talk. Let's get straight to the point."

"Today, the first day of school, we'll mainly distribute textbooks."

"Afterwards, Li Luo will lead, along with Zhu Yufei and a few others, to the warehouse to collect the textbooks and bring them back to distribute."

"Students who've grown taller and need new uniforms, come to Hua Xiuxiu to register."

Saying this, Kong Jun walked over to Hua Xiuxiu and tapped her desk.

Hua Xiuxiu immediately stood up and nodded to the class.

"After we finish these two tasks this morning, we'll have self-study until noon."

"You can whisper quietly—today's your first day; some of you know each other, but many don't. Chatting is fine, but don't be too loud."

"After lunch, come back for a nap. In the afternoon, the school will conduct physical exams; Zhu Yufei will collect the exam forms and hand them all to me."

"The rest of the time is self-study—review on your own. The entrance exam is the day after tomorrow, so prepare accordingly."

"Tonight, we'll do a simple self-introduction and class officer elections. Everyone should prepare ahead."

Hearing "class officer elections," Li Luo's eyebrows lifted slightly; he quietly poked Ying Chanxi again.

Ying Chanxi clearly understood his meaning; she turned her head and gave a soft huff, signaling she hadn't forgotten.

The two had made a bet earlier—whoever got elected class president would win.

Tonight, it seems we'll finally know the outcome.

Qiao Xinyan heard Ying Chanxi hum softly, found it odd, and turned to glance at her.

At that moment, after finishing his speech, Kong Jun instructed Li Luo that he could begin.

Li Luo called up Zhu Yufei and Zhang Guohuang, pulled in Liu Shaowen and Xie Shuchen who had volunteered, and also summoned Lin Yuan and Fang Chen, then left the classroom heading for the storage room.

After watching Li Luo leave, Ying Chanxi patted Qiao Xinyan on the shoulder and signaled her to move aside.

She then stood up, walked all the way to the podium, whispered something to Kong Jun, and smoothly obtained a form.

When Qiao Xinyan saw her return, she curiously glanced at what was in her hand and, upon realizing it was their Class Eight roster, asked in confusion: "Chanxi, what do you need this for?"

"Do you remember how Li Luo became class monitor in first year?" Ying Chanxi whispered. "He has an incredible memory—he remembers everything everyone says. On the first day of school, he matched every name with every face."

"If he pulls the same trick tonight, I might really lose to him."

"So to be safe, I need to prepare too."

Qiao Xinyan stared blankly: "... It's just a class monitor position. Do you two really have to go this far?"

"You don't understand," Ying Chanxi hummed twice.

It was their little secret—the kind even Yan Zhusheng didn't know.

Thinking this, Ying Chanxi immediately felt energized and began carefully recording everyone's names.

Since Kong Jun had noted down students' seating positions while taking attendance, Ying Chanxi could note a name and then glance at the corresponding seat to see what the person looked like.

Through this effort, Ying Chanxi drastically narrowed Li Luo's advantage in his memory palace.

But Li Luo remained completely unaware.

After moving the textbooks back to the classroom and piling them all on the podium, Li Luo prepared to distribute them.

At this point, Ying Chanxi, having already memorized all the names, stood up voluntarily, walked to the podium, helped Li Luo hand out the books, and stood atop the podium to review her recent progress.

The two worked in tandem: Ying Chanxi counted out dozens of books and handed them to Li Luo, who then passed them to the first two students in each group.

When distributing to the third group, Li Luo said to Hua Xiuxiu in the front row: "The one in the 1.8-meter uniform, please help me log this."

Hearing this, Ying Chanxi, who was handing out books, let out a soft "Huh?" and asked curiously: "Did you grow this much all at once in first year?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just a little surprised," Ying Chanxi said. As Li Luo returned to the podium, she stepped close to him, cheeks slightly flushed, and raised her hand to gesture between her own head and his.

At only 1.6 meters tall, Ying Chanxi's head barely reached Li Luo's chin.

She strained on tiptoe—just barely managing to reach his nose.

But...

Ying Chanxi stole a glance at Li Luo's lips and thought: to reach them, she'd probably have to wrap her arms around his neck and stretch her toes to their absolute limit.

Still, Ying Chanxi only thought it—after gesturing, she immediately turned back to hand out books.

But to the students below, that single moment already felt vaguely intimate.

Class Eight students naturally smirked quietly; having read *I Am Really Not a Star*, their class bible, they were already immune to the dynamics between Li Luo, Ying Chanxi, and Yan Zhusheng.

Seeing this scene on the podium, they all wore expressions of amused spectators, thoroughly entertained.

Especially Zhu Yufei and Zhang Guohuang, sitting in the back row, winking and nudging each other.

But for the new students who had just joined Class Eight, this scene was shocking.

That was Ying Chanxi!

Their grade-topper, the white moonlight in countless eyes.

Yet she had just voluntarily compared height with a boy, standing so close.

Some who didn't know Ying Chanxi's social circle well but regularly watched her weekly speeches at the flag-raising platform were naturally stunned.

After all, while students from other classes had long heard her name, to imagine they truly knew her school friendships was pure fantasy.

As for the original Class One students...

When Liu Shaowen saw the intimate scene on the podium, he felt a pang of envy and quietly told his desk-mate Liao Hailin: "Do you think, if I were Ying Chanxi's relative, it'd be better?"

"Then you couldn't date her," Liao Hailin whispered back.

"Better than not even getting a single word from her?" Liu Shaowen retorted. "Honestly, after a year, I feel Ying Chanxi has zero interest in dating—I haven't made any progress, and neither has Xie Shuchen."

"Then how else could she be number one?" Liao Hailin said dryly. "I think it's pointless to fixate on one person. Ying Chanxi isn't someone an ordinary person can win over."

"Didn't a girl confess to you during our basketball tournament earlier this year?"

"She's really cute too. Why not give it a try?"

Hearing this, Liu Shaowen shook his head: "I'm not like Xie Shuchen—he dated plenty of girls in middle school. I'm a proper, pure-hearted guy!"

"Once you've fixed your heart on someone, how can you give up before all hope is truly gone?"

"Look now—if I'd accepted that girl's confession last semester, even if I ended up in the same class as Ying Chanxi this year, what good would it do?"

"Persistence is victory. Don't you get it? She even thanked me today."

"Huh?" Liao Hailin asked curiously. "What did you do? She thanked you?"

"She wanted the window seat. I had it, she asked to switch, so I gave it to her."

"Damn!" Liao Hailin stared, stunned. "I told you last night to get here early and grab a window seat—you said you didn't get one! So you were just showing off?!"

"Ahem..." Liu Shaowen, caught in his own scheme, felt embarrassed and patted Liao Hailin's shoulder to apologize. "Lunch on me. Calm down."

"Second floor of the cafeteria."

"Of course!"

After all textbooks were distributed, Li Luo and Ying Chanxi returned to their seats.

At this point, Yan Zhusheng had already neatly organized all of Li Luo's new textbooks and placed them in a tidy pile on his desk corner.

"Alright, everyone, self-study," Kong Jun sat back at the podium and smiled at the class. "You can chat, but keep it quiet. Lunch is at 11:30."

Upon hearing Teacher Kong's words, the classroom fell silent.

The students of Class New Eight had never seen a homeroom teacher like Kong Junxiang; though he said they could talk, most still stayed silent and quietly reviewed their lessons.

Only after Xu Yinghuan began chatting with Zhao Rongjun and casually asked a few questions, and Kong Junxiang on the podium showed no reaction, did everyone start speaking freely.

Li Luo had nothing to say—he had already learned most of what he needed to, and with the Memory Palace at his disposal, the idea of regressing didn't exist for him.

After assigning Yan Zhusheng some study tasks, he lazily propped his chin on his hand and played anime inside the Memory Palace to pass the time.

At noon, the dismissal bell rang.

Except for Xu Youyu, who was far away in the Gao San teaching building, the remaining six members of the seven-person study group naturally gathered together and headed toward the cafeteria as a group.

The four girls in front walked side by side: Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng in the middle, with Qiao Xinyan and Xu Yinghuan on either side.

Li Luo walked behind, side by side with his good friend Zhao Rongjun, patted his shoulder, and asked with a smile, "How's it feeling on the first day of school?"

"What's there to feel…?"

"New classroom, new classmates, new desk partner—you must have some different thoughts, right?" Li Luo said. "I saw Luo Jiajia in our class too—why aren't you still sitting with her?"

"Xu Yinghuan sat next to me first," Zhao Rongjun said. "If I switched again, wouldn't that be impolite?"

"Huh?" Xu Yinghuan, walking ahead, overheard the two boys' conversation and turned around, feigning disappointment. "I thought you'd be happy to sit with me—turns out you're just being polite?"

"Ah… this… no… I…." Zhao Rongjun, caught off guard by Xu Yinghuan, nervously waved his hands. "That's not what I meant… I meant… that… it's just…"

"She's just teasing you," Qiao Xinyan covered her mouth and laughed. "She's not that easily annoyed."

"I'm not angry," Xu Yinghuan chuckled. "Just a little disappointed. Junge, you're just too polite—you always give people a sense of distance. We're all classmates; why be so formal?"

"Alright, alright, don't pick on Junge," Li Luo draped an arm over Zhao Rongjun's shoulder and patted him. "Being his desk partner is your luck—don't tease him all the time. He's a top student; make good use of him and aim for a better score in this semester's elective exams."

"Got it~" Xu Yinghuan groaned at the mention of exams. "Li Luo, you're so annoying—you're even worse than my dad."

"Then your dad should thank me," Li Luo smirked. "Among all of us, your admission to Qianjiang University is the least secure—you've got to push harder."

"If I don't get into Qianjiang, will you guys stop being my friends?"

"It's not about whether we want to," Li Luo chuckled. "It's about time and space making it impossible for us to remain friends."

They couldn't yet feel the weight of those words—they just laughed it off. Xu Yinghuan didn't take it seriously, convinced that friendship could overcome any barrier of time and space.

Li Luo said no more, slowly followed them to the cafeteria for lunch, then returned to the classroom to prepare for his nap.

At that moment, Yan Zhusheng pulled two pillows from her desk drawer, handed Li Luo the blue one, and secretly placed a single earbud in his palm.

The pillow he now held was a prize Yan Zhusheng won during last year's New Year's Eve lottery.

As for the earbuds—naturally, they were a gift from Ying Chanxi; after Yan Zhusheng's birthday, the old pair had been retired, and Ying Chanxi had given her a new set—the latest Bluetooth model, with even better performance than the previous one.

But Ying Chanxi, sitting directly in front of Li Luo, didn't notice that one of the earbuds she had given Yan Zhusheng now rested in Li Luo's hand.

She only saw Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng, each with a cute pillow—one light blue, one pink—looking perfectly matched.

This stirred a faint unease in her heart, but she couldn't say anything, so she simply sulked, buried her face in her arms, and fell asleep, choosing ignorance to avoid discomfort.

After she fell asleep, each of Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng's ears received one earbud, and gentle music began to play softly.

Leaning back against the comfortable pillows, Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng slowly drifted into sleep.