Monday morning. Another week of school was starting.

With five more days to grind through, the students all looked drained.

And with yesterday being Sunday, quite a few had stayed up late playing around. Dragged out of bed this early, they kept yawning, looking completely not in school mode.

Wang Hui was still driving. But at Leaf Grace's request, they'd switched to a more comfortable SUV.

Leaf Grace sat in the back. She could've even lain down without a problem.

Water Poem came with her too. She was the only little maid who went to school with Leaf Grace.

Of course, at school, she wouldn't call her Young Miss anymore.

That would be way too flashy.

So usually, she called her Wenwen.

And in private, most of the time, she used "Wenwen" too.

"Huh? There are a lot of new matching ads along the road." Leaf Grace sounded puzzled. While waiting at the red light, she took a few extra looks. "Looks like they're promoting some new computer hardware?"

"Cross-era computer hardware. Enjoy the ultimate smooth experience. Designed specifically for gaming..." Water Poem read it out for her.

Leaf Grace's eyes suddenly widened.

Wait. Could this be that so-called "early" arrival?

The car stopped at the school gate. In this era, when games were treated like some kind of scourge, someone was actually handing out game-related flyers outside a school.

Leaf Grace casually took one. It was packed with dizzying amounts of promotional text.

First came the computer hardware. It was a computer developed specifically for a certain game. The price was low. In this era, one unit only cost around a thousand.

For ordinary people in 2004, that was about a month's salary. Compared to prices at the time, it really wasn't that expensive.

Of course, the one-thousand-plus version was only the basic model. There were also higher-end ones. Some cost over ten thousand, and some even neared a hundred thousand. Those were enough to make people back off at a glance.

But the biggest thing this ad was pushing wasn't a certain computer brand.

It was a certain game.

Almost overnight, ads for this kind of game had spread everywhere. They were absolutely overwhelming. And in half a month, a non-wipe server test would begin...

That made Leaf Grace wonder if someone had transmigrated here, bringing future computer hardware and future games into this world.

"Young Miss, Little Poem, we're at school," Wang Hui said after pulling the car forward and stopping.

Wenlan Academy was, after all, a school in a small city with a touch of aristocratic air. There were more cars dropping kids off at the gate than anywhere else, but even then, there were only three to five.

And those were all driven by the parents themselves. Someone like Leaf Grace, with a full-time driver just for school drop-off, was probably the only one.

Leaf Grace had looked it up online before. Only then did she realize just how huge the Ye family's business empire was. It was the kind that ranked on a national level.

Forget a small city. Even in a major city, it would still count as a giant.

Of course, most students didn't know any of that. At most, they just thought the car looked expensive.

Water Poem got out first, then helped Leaf Grace from outside. "Wenwen, be careful. It rained this morning, so the ground's a little slippery."

"Mm." Leaf Grace brushed aside the bangs on her forehead and stepped onto the ground at the school gate.

Temperament was the kind of thing you just couldn't hide.

Even wearing the same uniform as everyone else, Leaf Grace still looked strikingly different.

She had the noble air of a young lady, but also a faint sharpness left behind by countless battles.

That feeling was especially obvious the first time you saw her.

A lot of Wenlan Academy's middle school students had moved up into high school. But many had still been filtered out, so there were plenty who didn't know Leaf Grace.

The moment they saw her, they were stunned.

And Water Poem beside her wasn't much inferior either. Even if she was the green leaf, she'd still draw far more attention than yellow-brown soil ever could.

As Leaf Grace thought about the ad she'd seen earlier, she also looked forward to officially meeting Autumn Ease.

She hadn't told Water Poem about it. She wanted her to be surprised too.

When Leaf Grace and Water Poem walked into the classroom, the noisy room fell silent in an instant.

Wenlan Academy was a good school. And at the high school stage, the ones who studied seriously were often mostly girls. On top of that, Wenlan Academy itself was a girls' school at heart, with more leniency and favoritism toward girls. So in most classes, girls made up over half, and the rest were boys.

But Class 3 of First Year High School, the class Leaf Grace entered, was unusually balanced. Counting Leaf Grace and Water Poem, the number of boys and girls was exactly the same: twenty-one each.

At that moment, both the girls and the boys stared straight at them.

The boys especially had their eyes fixed directly on Leaf Grace's face.

Her lovely features, her slender figure, even that full head of well-kept black hair.

Every part of her was flawless.

Wenlan Academy had two styles of girls' uniforms. One was the same as ordinary schools: a loose school jacket and loose long pants. The other was a pretty stand-collar top with a black-and-white plaid skirt, usually worn in summer.

But in truth, girls always wanted to show off their figures. So as long as they had confidence in their looks, they wore skirts all year round. Only in the coldest weather would they switch to long pants.

Of course, some insisted on wearing skirts even in the coldest weather.

The reason most schools didn't make dedicated girls' uniforms was actually to protect most girls.

Skirts showed off a person's strengths and flaws better than anything else.

And at this moment, Leaf Grace was as perfect as a jade piece carved by heaven itself.

Among the boys, though, one guy wasn't standing there dumbstruck.

He wore a teasing grin instead.

It was Autumn Ease.

Only he had seen enough of her to be completely used to it. He didn't even think of Leaf Grace as that kind of breathtaking beauty anymore.

Leaf Grace spotted him in one glance too. He looked ordinary, yet completely different from the other boys. She couldn't help glaring at him.

The boys all followed her gaze in unison and looked toward Autumn Ease.

Their faces were full of disbelief.

After all, ordinary Autumn Ease and perfect Leaf Grace didn't look like two people who should have any connection at all.

At the back of the classroom were two empty desks and chairs. They were exactly the seats for Leaf Grace and Water Poem.

And those seats were on the side facing the sports field. You could say they were absolutely protagonist seats.

As for Autumn Ease, he sat in the last row of the group on the right.

There was only an aisle between his seat and those of Leaf Grace and Water Poem.

These seats had been reserved beforehand, so Leaf Grace and Water Poem naturally put down their bags and sat.

Water Poem had gone to school with Leaf Grace for many years already, so the two of them had a natural understanding.

Leaf Grace liked the window seat, and Water Poem naturally sat on the aisle side.

That just happened to separate Autumn Ease and Leaf Grace.

"Those two girls are insanely pretty!"

"Both top-tier..."

"I like the one by the window. She looks pure and elegant, but somehow... like she has killing intent."

"Have you read too many wuxia novels? Killing intent?" The boy beside him laughed in disbelief.

"Man, what do you know?"

"I like the one next to her instead. She looks gentle and virtuous, dignified and considerate. That type, heh heh heh..."

"Get those filthy thoughts back under control."

"You dare say you've never thought about it?"

"Heh heh..."

The boys all exchanged knowing dirty grins.

After two weeks together, most of the boys had already gotten familiar with each other. And with today's shared topic, the bond between them tightened even more.

Leaf Grace blinked at Autumn Ease, and that instantly stirred up another wave of discussion among the boys.

"Was she looking at me?"

"Keep dreaming."

"Then who was she looking at?"

"The one in front of you. That guy named Autumn Ease."

"Damn it, why him? I don't accept this."

"Maybe they were just ordinary classmates who knew each other before. Don't be sad. We've still got a chance."

"Who said we've got a chance together? If you've got a chance, then I don't. No way, we're rivals now."

Conversations like that all reached Leaf Grace's ears, making a few traces of a smile rise on her little face.

Compared to being a teacher, being a student really was more fun.

Not long after, the classroom full of chatter suddenly quieted down again.

The homeroom teacher had come in.

She was a thin, tiny woman. Or rather, she looked more like a girl.

Leaf Grace had a very deep impression of this legally adult loli homeroom teacher.

Everyone affectionately called her A-Dan. She taught Chinese. During class, she always drifted off into gossip, but somehow that actually improved the quality of her teaching.

It made everyone more willing to listen.

In private, she was easygoing too. Almost no one had ever seen her get angry.

Seeing her again now, Leaf Grace felt like this reunion had come after a whole lifetime.

A thick wave of nostalgia surged up in her heart.

High school really was great.

The deepest impression Leaf Grace had was still from high school.

Before middle school, she had been too young, and adulthood had felt too far away, so those memories weren't deep.

By college, everyone was already too mature. People usually didn't form especially deep bonds.

And once you stepped into society, true close friends became even rarer.

Besides, only in high school was everyone in that in-between stage, changing from green to mature. Life at that time was the most brilliant too.

"Alright, everyone was definitely talking about our two new classmates just now, right? Actually, they're not new classmates. They were just delayed by two weeks because of some things. Come on." A-Dan smiled and beckoned to Leaf Grace and Water Poem. "You two, please come up and introduce yourselves, okay? Mm... you're both flawless beautiful girls."

"No, no, A-Dan is a beautiful girl too!" one bold student teased.

A-Dan didn't get angry. She only giggled. "I'm practically an old auntie already. Beautiful girl?"

"No way, no way. A-Dan looks younger than the girls in our class!"

"Exactly!"

"Alright, let the two classmates introduce themselves." As A-Dan spoke, she stepped aside and gave up the podium.

Leaf Grace was the first to stand at the podium.

She looked at the classmates below...

They were all familiar, yet unfamiliar faces.

What a nostalgic feeling.

Was this the second time, or the third?