A beauty, breakfast, and a gentle good morning.

No matter how you looked at it, this was the starter pack of a life winner. A morning that was hard to refuse.

Too bad, Lu Chengzhou still left.

As a man, could he really face a scene like that and not waver even a little?

Of course not.

But attraction is instinct. Restraint is a choice.

Lu Chengzhou would never fall into the tender trap of some white lotus heroine.

The bedroom door slammed shut with a bang.

Inside the room, only Su Qiaoman was left.

The smile on her face dropped at once.

Still, she only gave a cold snort. She didn't do anything extreme.

Lu Chengzhou's rejection had stirred up her desire to conquer him, little by little.

Right now, she even felt strangely excited.

If Su Qiaoman had anything, it was persistence and methods.

She didn't believe Lu Chengzhou could reject her forever.

Sooner or later, he'd kneel at her feet again. Hmph.

...

Downstairs.

Lu Chengzhou had already met up with Meng Wanyu.

He still had to borrow a shared bike, so Meng Wanyu walked beside him, pushing her own bike along.

After the two of them had gone far enough, Su Qiaoman came out of the Lu residence with her backpack on.

She didn't see Meng Wanyu.

If she had, she'd definitely be stewing in resentment again.

She walked slowly down the road, planning out her next moves.

Step one, move into the Lu house. She had already succeeded.

Step two was to create more chances to be alone with A'Zhou, then catch him in a vulnerable moment when his guard was down.

They had grown up together, so she knew Lu Chengzhou's preferences very well.

"Looks like if you want to win a man, you still have to start with his stomach."

As she passed the wet market, Su Qiaoman looked over a few more times.

She remembered that Lu Chengzhou liked steamed perch, and also laver egg drop soup.

Tonight, she'd make those for him.

...

The warning bell rang.

The classroom gradually filled up.

Lu Chengzhou rested his chin on one hand, stared at the blackboard, and yawned.

In the end, he still hadn't slept well last night.

He was listless all over today.

And right at that moment, Xu Qian, the second-year discipline committee head, came over again with people to inspect uniforms and appearance.

Almost everywhere she went, someone got points deducted.

But when she passed Lu Chengzhou, she acted like she didn't see him and went right by.

Then she stopped beside Lin Chen.

She gave him a cool glance.

"No badge. Minus one point."

Lin Chen: "..."

He stared at Xu Qian in disbelief.

Xu Qian said, "Hair too long. Minus one point."

Lin Chen slapped the desk and shot to his feet. "Xu Qian, are you done yet?"

Xu Qian pushed up her glasses. "Stop yelling at me, or you'll lose more points."

Lin Chen was burning with anger. "You're targeting me?"

As he spoke, he turned around and looked at Lu Chengzhou, who was still absentmindedly propping up his chin.

He pointed at him at once.

"Look at him. He's not even wearing the school uniform. Why aren't you deducting his points?"

That one sentence woke Lu Chengzhou right out of his drowsiness.

He lifted his head and looked at Xu Qian.

Xu Qian froze for a moment.

She suddenly remembered that she still hadn't returned his clothes to him.

Under Lu Chengzhou's meaningful gaze, her face flushed bright red.

"Um, his uniform... it's with me. So if anyone should lose points over this, it should be me..."

As she said that, she seemed to find some courage. She turned around decisively and had someone record Lu Chengzhou's deduction under her own name.

That move left Lin Chen completely dumbfounded.

You had to know, Xu Qian had never gone easy on boys. She had never openly protected any guy like this before.

And besides, how was Lu Chengzhou's uniform with her?

Could it be the two of them...

At that thought, the way Lin Chen looked at Lu Chengzhou got even stranger.

Damn.

This guy really knew how to attract trouble with women.

Was one Miss Meng not enough for him to mess with? Now even the discipline committee head had been charmed by him?

Lu Chengzhou gave a light cough and said, "I really didn't wear the uniform. Just deduct my points."

Xu Qian looked at him awkwardly.

His usual conduct score had already been docked almost to the bottom. It couldn't take any more.

By comparison, she still had plenty of points left. Even if she lost three, it wouldn't matter much.

But with Lin Chen and the others standing right there, she couldn't exactly say that out loud to Lu Chengzhou.

So she could only secretly switch pencils and deduct his points.

Only then did Lin Chen let it go.

Still, the moment Xu Qian and the others left, he started mocking him.

"Lu Chengzhou, don't say I didn't warn you. That's my mentor's daughter."

"Mm, I know."

"My mentor is the PE teacher. Before he became a teacher, he trained in boxing."

"Mm, I know that too."

Seeing how calm he looked, Lin Chen gritted his teeth again in irritation. "Do you even know what I'm implying?"

Wasn't he being obvious enough already?

Why was Lu Chengzhou still so calm?

Lu Chengzhou smiled. "I know. You're showing off your mentor. Understandable."

Lin Chen: "..."

Lu Chengzhou added, "I'm pretty jealous."

Lin Chen: "..."

Lu Chengzhou said sincerely, "Really. I want a powerful mentor like that too."

Lin Chen turned back around.

He felt talking to Lu Chengzhou was exhausting.

Still, he thought he had done his duty and given the warning.

If Lu Chengzhou had a death wish and kept provoking Xu Qian, then getting beaten up would be his own fault.

Deep down, he actually seemed kind of eager to see Lu Chengzhou get beaten up.

Meng Wanyu studied Lu Chengzhou, then turned to look out at the hallway beyond the classroom.

In her beautiful eyes was a trace of consideration.

Xu Qian always looked so serious and proper, but why was there suddenly a whiff of romantic rival coming off her?

...

Outside the classroom door.

Xu Qian quietly moved to the back of the line and used an eraser to rub out Lu Chengzhou's deducted points.

Thinking of Lin Chen's reaction just now, she kept a straight face and gave a huff.

What a busybody.

So what if she showed Lu Chengzhou a little favoritism?

After all, he had lent her his clothes.

Besides, deducting whose points was still deducting points, wasn't it?

It wasn't like she was abusing her authority and skipping the deduction entirely.

Of course, Xu Qian couldn't say that logic out loud.

Forget the other discipline committee members. Even the teachers wouldn't accept it.

After turning in the report sheet, she went back to the second-year classroom.

She had already washed Lu Chengzhou's uniform, folded it neatly, and put it in her desk.

After class, she could return it to him.

Whenever she saw that uniform, she thought of their chance encounter.

The way Lu Chengzhou had handed the uniform to her was still vivid in her mind.

"I wonder if that jerk saw anything..."

When Xu Qian thought of how disheveled she had looked, her face reddened again.

"Forget it. As long as he doesn't tell anyone, it shouldn't be too big a problem."