The next day, Lin Ran headed to Ark City No. 5 High School with Su Shijie, feeling thoroughly irritated.

Who knew if Ye Qingqian had somehow guessed he had no intention of going, but at six that morning, she’d texted Su Shijie to tell him that if they didn’t show up, she’d mark an X on their semester report cards on the grounds that they’d refused to help with the school’s construction work.

Honestly, Ye Qingqian’s threat disgusted and irritated him. He hated people who used their status to threaten others into doing things.

When they arrived at school, Lin Ran was stopped at the gate because he wasn’t wearing the No. 5 High School uniform. The school rules were pretty strict: you could wear whatever you wanted outside, but once you got to school, you had to wear your uniform or you weren’t allowed in.

Fortunately, No. 5 High School had the best-looking uniforms among all the middle and high schools in Ark City. The boys wore black jackets with trousers, a school crest embroidered in gold thread over the chest, and a handsome silver pattern along the cuffs. The girls wore jackets with short skirts. Their uniforms were a little more elaborate, with even prettier patterns on the cuffs.

When he was stopped at the gate, Lin Ran had planned to leave. He hadn’t brought his student ID, so there was no way he could get in. But Su Shijie, that idiot, went and called Ye Qingqian, telling her Lin Ran had been stopped outside because he wasn’t wearing his uniform. Ye Qingqian just laughed and replied, “Wait a moment. I’ll come over.”

After hanging up, Su Shijie gave Lin Ran a probing look, as if to say, “You’d better come clean, buddy.”

Lin Ran was in a foul mood. He’d see what this so-called “goddess” wanted. If she did anything to annoy him, he had no problem giving the No. 5 High School goddess a piece of his mind.

Before long, Ye Qingqian came out of the school. From a distance, Su Shijie’s eyes went wide. Her well-fitted No. 5 High School uniform showed off her figure, and her long legs, clad in black stockings beneath her short skirt, carried her toward them. As she drew closer, Lin Ran noticed the faint smile on her face. She seemed to like smiling.

Ye Qingqian noticed that Su Shijie and Lin Ran were reacting very differently. Su Shijie’s dazed expression was normal enough. But Lin Ran? He’d only glanced at her—just once—before turning his attention to the TV in the security booth, where a traditional opera was playing...

With Ye Qingqian’s help, the security guard didn’t stop Lin Ran again, though he still reminded him that he had to wear his uniform whenever he came to school.

Then the two of them followed Ye Qingqian onto campus.

“Where’s your uniform?” Ye Qingqian suddenly asked Lin Ran.

“...” Lin Ran looked at the scenery by the road and said nothing.

Su Shijie nudged him. “She asked you a question. Where’s your uniform?”

“I’m not wearing it,” Lin Ran said flatly.

“If it doesn’t fit, I can talk to the teacher later and get you a new one,” Ye Qingqian said with a faint smile.

“Senior Sister, what are we here to do? And is Shen Qingyuan really coming?” Su Shijie asked with a goofy grin.

“Let me explain what we’ll be doing over the next few days. Our school needs to prepare Building Three for construction before next semester, so we have to clean it. Don’t worry; there are twenty-five of us in total, including the Student Council. We’ll split into groups of five, with each group responsible for one floor. There are five classrooms on each floor, so each person will clean one classroom. The others will take care of the toilets and storage room in Building Three. We have two days to finish the cleaning, and I’ll be checking on your progress during that time. After that, we’ll go out and buy desks, chairs, blackboards, and the other supplies. Once we’ve bought everything, there won’t be anything else to do. The workers will replace the windows, fans, and lights.” Ye Qingqian explained the upcoming work as they walked.

“So, do we get any rewards?” Su Shijie asked with a grin.

“Rewards? No. This is work the school assigned us, so there aren’t any rewards,” Ye Qingqian said, smiling brightly.

“Seriously? They’re making us do all this hard labor without even offering a reward? What a rip-off.” Su Shijie grumbled. He thought for a moment, then asked, “Senior Sister, can I make a deal with you? Could you let me pair up with Shen Qingyuan?”

Ye Qingqian looked back and gave him a smile that could kill. “No. Qingyuan will be helping me keep an eye on your progress over the next few days and handle the shopping. You don’t seriously think I’d make a girl clean a whole classroom, do you?”

“Man, if you’d said that earlier, I wouldn’t have come,” Su Shijie complained.

“You can leave right now,” Ye Qingqian said, still smiling. She didn’t try to stop him.

“Just don’t mark an X on my report card,” Su Shijie said.

“No,” Ye Qingqian replied.

“Figures. The prettier the girl, the more tricks she has up her sleeve,” Su Shijie said through gritted teeth.

“What did you say?” Ye Qingqian asked.

“I said you’re so beautiful, Senior Sister!” Su Shijie replied.

“Thank you!” Ye Qingqian said.

Then Su Shijie cursed Ye Qingqian out in his head. Rotten Student Council, exploiting innocent students.

Ye Qingqian took the two of them to the Student Council office and even poured each of them a glass of water. “You’re the first ones here, so you’ll have to wait a bit. Once everyone arrives, I’ll assign the work and we’ll get started. For now, please take a rest.”

Su Shijie and Lin Ran sat down. Su Shijie looked around the Student Council office, while Lin Ran pulled out his phone and started chatting with his gaming friends.

Ye Qingqian glanced at Lin Ran and tilted her head in puzzlement. Then she took a tape measure from her desk drawer.

“Lin Ran, stand up. I’ll take your measurements so the teacher can order you a new uniform,” Ye Qingqian said with a smile, walking over to him.

“Just get an XL,” Lin Ran said without looking up.

“...” Ye Qingqian paused, then pursed her lips and went back to her seat.

While they waited, Su Shijie kept asking Ye Qingqian about Shen Qingyuan. Lin Ran, meanwhile, kept his head down and chatted with his gaming friends about the latest update, dungeons, gear setups, and skill builds. Basically, he paid no attention to the beautiful girl beside him.

Ye Qingqian occasionally tried to talk to Lin Ran, but either he “didn’t hear her” or gave her an extremely perfunctory answer.

His attitude left Ye Qingqian a little bewildered. Was he putting on an act, or was he really like this?

Su Shijie just shook his head at Lin Ran. As expected. Forget Ye Qingqian—even if the most beautiful woman in the world showed up, this iron monk wouldn’t spare her a glance.

Once the Student Council members had all arrived, Ye Qingqian assigned the work. Lin Ran and Su Shijie were put with three other boys to clean the third floor of Building Three.

After the assignments were sorted out, everyone headed over to Building Three to get to work.

On the way, the three boys assigned to Lin Ran and Su Shijie’s group were curious about Lin Ran.

“Hey, you look kind of familiar. Are you a student at No. 5 High School too?” one of the boys asked Lin Ran in a friendly tone.

“Yeah. I’m in Class B, Grade One. I’ll be in Grade Two next semester,” Lin Ran replied with a friendly smile.

“Then how come you’re allowed in without your uniform?” the others asked, surprised.

Su Shijie cut in. “His uniform doesn’t fit anymore. They stopped him at the gate, but luckily Senior Sister came out and talked them into letting him in. Otherwise, he really wouldn’t have made it inside!”

“Senior Sister? Senior Sister Ye?” the three boys asked.

Su Shijie smiled and nodded.

The three boys looked at Lin Ran with pure envy. Su Shijie grinned to himself.

It wasn’t unusual for Ye Qingqian to help someone, but getting help from her felt pretty great. They couldn’t believe this Grade One kid had been so lucky. If they’d known, they would’ve come without their uniforms too.

But when they learned Lin Ran’s name, their expressions turned downright remarkable. They didn’t say anything more. They picked up brooms, dustpans, and other tools downstairs, then headed up to clean.

Lin Ran picked up some tools too and went upstairs. He was assigned to clean the first classroom on the left at the top of the stairs.

Lin Ran pushed open the heavy classroom door, and a cloud of dust hit him in the face. Frowning, he covered his nose and mouth as he went in. He looked at the thick layer of dust everywhere and shook his head. The building had been abandoned for who knew how many years. Why were they suddenly putting it to use?

Ark City No. 5 High School was an oddball not just in Ark City, but across the whole country. Other schools worried about not recruiting enough students each year, but No. 5 High School actually took in fewer and fewer. As the principal put it, quality mattered more than quantity. Every year, the students admitted to No. 5 High School were among the top performers in their previous classes.

This admissions policy meant that No. 5 High School had the highest proportion of graduates accepted into 985 and 211 universities each year. Of course, if you had connections or money, you could get in too. That was true of every school, after all.

Lin Ran had gotten into No. 5 High School because he’d done unusually well on the high school entrance exam. His score had been just a tiny bit below the cutoff, so his dad had somehow found some connections, paid a little money, and gotten him into the school.

Lin Ran put those thoughts aside and got to work.

Before starting, Lin Ran opened every window in the classroom to air it out. Otherwise, the dusty smell inside would’ve been unbearable.

Once the windows were open, Lin Ran rolled up his sleeves, picked up a broom, and started sweeping.

By the time Lin Ran had started cleaning, the other students were still slacking off. Some were chatting together by the door; others were playing on their phones. Cleaning a classroom wouldn’t take long, so they weren’t in any hurry.

They only grabbed their brooms and started cleaning when they noticed Ye Qingqian coming to inspect.

When Ye Qingqian checked Lin Ran’s classroom, she was taken aback. The other students were still sweeping dust off the floors, but Lin Ran had already started clearing cobwebs from the walls and scraping off peeling paint. The floor in his classroom was already clean, and he’d even sprinkled water to keep it damp. When Ye Qingqian stood at the doorway, Lin Ran was up on a ladder, clearing cobwebs from the corner of the room.

“Looks like I got here a little late. I didn’t expect you to clean so quickly,” Ye Qingqian said with a faint smile.

Lin Ran merely glanced at her, then went back to clearing the cobwebs.

Lin Ran thought Ye Qingqian would take a look and go back to whatever she had to do. Who knew she’d actually come inside and start giving him instructions?

Ye Qingqian first looked over the fans and light fixtures hanging from the ceiling. “Go downstairs and get a rag later. Wipe down the lights and fans, and make sure you take care of the windowsills too. Scrape off all these peeling bits, and don’t miss the corners.”

“I know. You don’t need to spell it out,” Lin Ran said coldly.

Ye Qingqian was caught off guard and looked a little awkward.

“If you’ve got so much free time, don’t just stand there. You can clean the windowsills,” Lin Ran added.

Ye Qingqian clicked her tongue. Why did it feel like Lin Ran disliked her?

“I’m not free. I’ve got other things to take care of. You carry on,” Ye Qingqian said before leaving.

Lin Ran continued cleaning the classroom.