It was senior year; no one could slack off anymore. Even if you were a total slacker, the atmosphere of everyone else working hard forced you to roll over and pretend you belonged.

So most classmates were dozing off, yet their reading voices still echoed loudly. How much they actually remembered was pure luck.

In the corner of the last row,

Qin Yi and Lin Jin stared at each other wide-eyed for a moment.

Luckily, during morning self-study, everyone was half-asleep. Just staying awake to glance at textbooks was an achievement. No one had spare attention for Lin Jin’s seat.

Lin Jin sat in the very last row by the window. His grades weren’t outstanding, but not failing either—he could’ve aimed for the middle rows with effort. Yet he loved this spot: lonely, free, and spacious. Perfect for watching the whole class.

Qin Yi quickly stuffed Lin Jin’s T-shirt and shorts into his pocket, grabbed the little tabby kitten, and bolted.

Outside the classroom, in the corridor, Xie Puyuan—the homeroom teacher of the neighboring class and physics teacher—was smoking to perk himself up.

The school demanded teachers share students’ brutal schedule, suffering together. But Xie Puyuan, a young graduate from a top normal university, thought unconventionally. He even allowed sleeping during morning self-study, earning frequent scoldings from grade leader Xu Lehua—nicknamed "Baldy Xu" for his bald head near forty. Baldy Xu ran things ruthlessly, with stellar results that won him school leaders’ trust.

Sadly, Xie Puyuan wasn’t Lin Jin’s homeroom teacher—just his physics teacher. That role belonged to Liang Zengguang, "Old Man Liang." The old man got along fine with the class, having nurtured them since freshman year. But he played it safe, avoiding Baldy Xu’s wrath, so he never permitted sleeping in morning self-study.

Back to the point.

Xie Puyuan, puffing on his cigarette, felt baffled. He wondered if exhaustion was making him hallucinate.

Just now, Qin Yi—the star student of Class 331, one of the grade’s top two—had dashed past with a little tabby kitten in his arms, heading straight for the restroom.

In Xie’s dazed blink, the boy-and-cat duo rounded the corridor corner and vanished.

Xie stubbed out his cigarette, rubbed his eyes, and decided his vision wasn’t failing him.

He wondered if Teacher Liang knew about this. Pushing open the teachers’ office door, Xie stepped inside.