After replying to the teacher, Lin Ran noticed that Li Sisi had suddenly added him as a friend. He didn’t accept the request and pretended he hadn’t seen it.

He took a look through the group chat. Good grief—the group files were packed with study materials of every kind. There was no exaggeration in saying they’d piled up like a mountain. Every file had been downloaded at least sixty times, which meant that, on average, each person had downloaded it twice. Class S really lived up to its name. Class B’s group files had plenty of study materials too, but they’d be lucky if each file averaged one download per person.

Lin Ran also noticed that quite a few of the study materials were past exam papers. Some were even collections of past college entrance exam questions.

Teacher Cui: @Lin Ran @Li Sisi, download the study materials in the group files according to what you need. But I hope you’ll download everything, since the teachers have put these materials together little by little to help you. Some were prepared by the teachers at our school, and some by me personally. Download whatever you need, but don’t share them outside the group.

Lin Ran: Got it!

Li Sisi: Got it!

Teacher Cui: Also, this group is for study-related discussions only. If you have a question you can’t solve, message me or a classmate privately, or ask the whole group directly.

After giving them those instructions, Teacher Cui went quiet. Lin Ran also took the initiative to add him as a friend, just in case.

The surprises Class S had in store for Lin Ran weren’t over yet.

At midnight on Sunday, when everyone should’ve been asleep, the Class S group chat suddenly came alive. The top students in the class rushed to post question after question, and the whole class pitched in with answers. They kept @-ing Shen Qingyuan, urging the class’s top student to show up, but Shen Qingyuan only answered one or two questions now and then.

After watching for a while, Lin Ran noticed a pattern. For instance, when the class monitor posted a question, the group would go quiet for a moment. Then everyone would share their own approach and solution. They didn’t just argue over one or two proposed methods; each person worked through the problem themselves. Only afterward would they debate whose solution was the fastest and most effective.

Teacher Cui also sent Lin Ran a private message, saying that whether he joined the discussions in the group was entirely up to him. He wasn’t required to take part. If he needed to rest, he could simply mute the notifications—but he had to turn them back on when he woke up, since Teacher Cui would occasionally post announcements. Of course, the top students’ discussions mostly happened at night or during holidays. They didn’t go on during regular school hours.

Lin Ran could feel the immense pressure. In Class S, even if you didn’t want to move forward, everyone else would push you along. There was only progress—no standing still, let alone falling behind. No wonder so many people said that if you could stay in Class S until graduation, you were practically guaranteed admission to at least a decent university. In an environment like this, it was hard not to get good grades!

The next day, Lin Ran went to school with his things and headed straight to Class S to report in. When he reached the classroom, he wondered if he’d read the time wrong. He’d arrived early, and students in the other classes were still trickling in, but Class S was already full. Some students were reading, others working through practice problems. When they saw Lin Ran, they only glanced at him before going back to their books. One girl in Class S did stand up, though, carrying herself with an air of literary refinement.

“Hi, you’re Lin Ran, right? I’m our class monitor, Xu Yan. Welcome to Class S. We’re classmates from today on. Your seat is over there.” Xu Yan smiled and pointed to one of the two empty seats by the window.

Lin Ran nodded and headed straight for his seat. Xu Yan followed him over.

“I need to go over a few things with you, so bear with me for a moment. First, about the cleaning groups: you and Li Sisi will take the places of Li Fei and Qin Zheng. Qin Zheng was originally paired with Shen Qingyuan, but I’m sure you know she hardly ever comes to school. So when it’s your turn, you might have to do a bit more work. Of course, if you’re not okay with that, I can switch your group.” Xu Yan explained.

“That’s fine. I don’t mind.” Lin Ran nodded. Cleaning by himself wasn’t a big deal, and it wasn’t difficult. It actually suited him just fine.

“Then I’ll leave it to you. Also, we have morning reading every day. Everyone takes turns standing at the front and leading the class, so you’ll need to prepare when your turn comes. And tomorrow’s your turn,” Xu Yan continued.

“Got it.” Lin Ran nodded.

Xu Yan then told Lin Ran a few more of Class S’s “little rules.” Studying in Class S was completely different from studying in the other classes, and Lin Ran made sure to remember every one of those “little rules.”

Morning reading ended. Breakfast. Then, after breakfast, back to class to get ready for the day’s lessons.

By the end of the morning, Lin Ran had realized he loved the atmosphere in Class S. The pressure during lessons was pretty intense, but he genuinely liked the environment. For one thing, nobody ran around causing a racket during breaks. Most people were studying, reading, or taking a short rest. Even when someone did talk, they kept their voice low so they wouldn’t disturb anyone else.

Of course, a few classmates came over to greet Lin Ran during breaks. He smiled and greeted them back—but when it came to the girls, he just couldn’t bring himself to smile. He only gave them a stiff-faced reply.

The same went for class. When a teacher wrote a problem on the board, they wouldn’t call on anyone or ask someone to come up and solve it. After writing it out, the teacher gave the whole class five minutes to work on it before calling on someone to explain their approach.

Since Lin Ran and Li Sisi were new, the teachers gave them one day to adjust to the learning environment in Class S. But that was it. Starting the next day, they wouldn’t get any more special treatment.

After school at noon, Lin Ran went to find Lin Ruixue—and, while he was at it, see the bigmouth who’d been gossiping behind people’s backs.

Even though Lin Ruixue was on her period, the teacher hadn’t approved her leave. But after she spoke to the instructor, they made allowances for her. Lin Ran waited for her at the cafeteria entrance.

Lin Ruixue didn’t show up. Instead, Su Shijie did, though...

“Did you get beaten up?” Lin Ran asked, holding back a laugh as he looked at Su Shijie’s face, mottled with purple and blue bruises. The guy looked utterly furious.

“Don’t even ask. I ran into Baozi last night, and I couldn’t get away in time, so she beat the crap out of me. I fucking told her not to hit me in the face, but she kept aiming for it. Damn it, if I didn’t know she was a woman, I’d get someone to beat her up!” Su Shijie said, covering his face.

“Hahahaha! If you mess with her, getting beaten up is only a matter of time. Just don’t bother her again.” Lin Ran laughed. As far as he could remember, nobody who’d crossed Bao Xinrou had ever gotten away unscathed.

“You’re waiting for Xiaoxue, right? I don’t think you need to wait here. Head straight to the sports field. I just saw her and Si Qing having some kind of clash with a girl. They almost came to blows. I was going to go over, but I figured you might be waiting for her, so I came to check.” Su Shijie said, still covering his face.

Lin Ran frowned and strode toward the sports field.