Chapter 44: Li Luo Is the Cousin

"Xixi, you don't know," Jin Yuting couldn't help saying. "Li Luo is incredibly skilled—he memorized everyone's names and hobbies just from their self-introductions."

Undeniably, Jin Yuting's attitude toward Li Luo had undergone a full 360-degree reversal before and after the high school entrance exam.

Especially today, watching him handle himself effortlessly on stage and casually win the position of class monitor, Jin Yuting felt a profound shock.

So now, her words of praise came straight from her heart.

But this surprised Ying Chanxi.

After all, she knew well that Jin Yuting had never liked Li Luo before, and she never expected his perception of him to change so drastically.

And.

"You memorized everyone's names in the class?" Ying Chanxi asked in astonishment.

As class monitor, Ying Chanxi had already memorized all her classmates' names early on.

But even that took her nearly a week to match each name with the right face.

And yet Li Luo remembered them all just from the self-introductions?

"Cough… it's just about okay." Li Luo reached over from Ying Chanxi's plate, grabbed a piece of braised pork, and shoved it into his mouth. "That's what a class monitor should do."

"So you really remembered them all?" Xu Yinghuan asked, eyes wide with curiosity. "What's the name of the guy sitting behind me?"

"Wei Chun."

"So impressive!"

"Uh… it's not about being impressive—Wei Chun is my cousin."

"What about the girl beside the aisle on my left?"

"Chen Zhongqi. She plays piano and studied dance. She seems quite shy."

"See!" Xu Yinghuan slapped the table and turned to Ying Chanxi. "That's exactly what happened—Li Luo just rattled off a whole list of names in the classroom and left everyone stunned."

Seeing this, Ying Chanxi turned to look at Li Luo. "Why didn't I ever know you were this good? Such a sharp memory?"

"Before the exam, you tutored me and opened my Ren and Du meridians," Li Luo began making things up. "Now I remember everything faster."

"Pfft." Ying Chanxi rolled her eyes at him.

The four of them ate and chatted at a window-side table.

On the other side, Liu Shaowen and his desk partner Liao Hailin went up to the second floor for lunch.

With them were Zhu Yufei and Zhang Guohuang, who were middle school classmates of Liao Hailin. They happened to meet and joined them at the same table.

"You guys don't know," Zhu Yufei said in an exaggerated tone. "Just now, outside the classroom corridor, I saw the most stunning girl. Holy shit, she's way prettier than Shen Shuhua."

Liao Hailin from Class One glanced at him, then chuckled. "You mean Ying Chanxi? She's our class monitor. Doesn't she come from the same middle school as Liu Shaowen?"

"Mm." Liu Shaowen nodded calmly, eating as he spoke. "We both came from Yucai. She was always number one in grade; I was second."

When Liu Shaowen said this, for some reason, it carried a faint air of showing off.

As if he were close to Ying Chanxi.

"But that's not the key point," Zhu Yufei sighed. "The key is, our class monitor came over to our class to find a boy—she actively invited him to lunch."

"Huh?" Liao Hailin froze. "Seriously? Holy shit, does Ying Chanxi have a crush on someone?"

Since the advanced class started, barely a few days had passed, and every boy in the four classes already knew: Class One had a class monitor so beautiful she sparkled.

But Ying Chanxi always focused on studying and only spoke briefly with boys when class matters required it.

Polite, gentle in speech, yet distant—that was Ying Chanxi's initial impression on everyone.

After the recent comprehensive test for the advanced class, Ying Chanxi easily took first place in every subject, pulling more than ten points ahead of second place.

After that, no one dared approach her anymore.

And now you tell me Ying Chanxi went out of her way to invite a boy to lunch?

At this moment, Liu Shaowen paused his eating but remained calm and rational. "Maybe she's an old classmate."

"She doesn't look like just an old classmate," Zhu Yufei muttered, still remembering the interaction between Ying Chanxi and Li Luo.

But then, Zhang Guohuang, who was focused on eating, suddenly spotted a familiar figure and tapped Zhu Yufei on the shoulder. "Look over there—is that the class monitor? The one beside her—isn't that Ying Chanxi?"

As soon as he spoke, the other three at the table turned their heads and saw Li Luo and Ying Chanxi from afar.

"They're picking food from each other's plates!" Liao Hailin exclaimed in shock, feeling like his heart was breaking.

Who the hell is that?

Right after school starts, he's stealing our class monitor?

But then Liu Shaowen, seeing Li Luo's face clearly, suddenly relaxed and gave a light, carefree smile. "You're imagining things."

"Why?"

"That guy is Ying Chanxi's cousin," Liu Shaowen said, turning back to his meal. "I've met him before. It's perfectly normal for a sister to invite her brother to lunch right after school starts."

"Oh, so that's it," Liao Hailin said, his burning jealousy instantly soothed. "I thought they were picking food from each other's plates—turns out they're siblings."

"Is that so?" Zhu Yufei blinked. "But you said Ying Chanxi's surname is Ying, and the guy beside her is our class monitor—Li Luo."

"Cousin," Liu Shaowen replied. "Different surnames are normal. Ying Chanxi's personality—she's all about studying. She wouldn't be dating in high school."

"True," Liao Hailin nodded in agreement. "You guys don't know—when Ying Chanxi took the test, she got first place in every subject. Do you have any idea how insane that level is?"

"She was already first in the independent admission exam before," Liu Shaowen said coolly, as if boasting about himself. "So getting first again this time isn't that surprising."

"She was first in the independent admission exam too?" Zhu Yufei was stunned. "That's seriously impressive."

Zhu Yufei and Zhang Guohuang, who had taken the independent admission exam, knew how hard it was.

Both had failed. The fact that Ying Chanxi had ranked first meant her ability was on a completely different level from theirs.

"Why think so much?" Zhang Guohuang shoveled food into his mouth, then poked Zhu Yufei's arm. "Don't we have Yan Zhusheng in our class? I think she's prettier than Ying Chanxi."

"Impossible!" Liao Hailin blurted out. "Can there be a girl prettier than Ying Chanxi in our school?"

"Hmm…" Zhu Yufei fell into thought. "Now that you mention it, I can't really compare them."