After lunch, Lin Ran had just reached the school building when he ran into Ye Qingqian again. She walked up to him and held out her hand.

“Welcome to the Student Council, Lin Ran!” Ye Qingqian beamed.

Lin Ran frowned and didn’t take her hand. “I never agreed to this.”

“That’s all right. I’ve already filled out your application and stamped it. Starting today, you’re a member of the No. 5 High School Student Council.” Ye Qingqian casually lowered her hand with a smile.

Lin Ran took a deep breath. Why was this woman so annoying?

“Also, to keep you from having trouble getting along with the other members, I’ve assigned you straight to the executive committee. From now on, you’ll need to report to the office every day during lunch break. There won’t be much for you to do most of the time, but we do have a meeting on Fridays, so I hope you’ll be on time!” Ye Qingqian said with a beaming smile. She’d already taken care of everything.

Displeasure rose across Lin Ran’s face. “I need my lunch break.”

“You can take a lunch break in the office too,” Ye Qingqian said.

“Are you crazy?” Lin Ran asked.

“Insulting the president earns you one strike. Three strikes and there’ll be a punishment,” Ye Qingqian said.

Lin Ran wanted to hit someone!

“If you want to hit me, you’d better be ready to face the entire Student Council,” Ye Qingqian said, still smiling sweetly.

Lin Ran gave a dry laugh. “You’re not that popular. Plenty of people on the Student Council resent you behind your back.”

“I know. So what?” Ye Qingqian said.

Lin Ran stopped talking, turned around, and headed back to class. Behind him, Ye Qingqian waved. “I’ll come get you from your classroom later!”

Lin Ran returned to class, but before his seat had even warmed up, Ye Qingqian showed up. He planned to ignore her, but Teacher Cui eventually told him to go, so he reluctantly left the classroom and followed Ye Qingqian to the Student Council office, a look of deep reluctance on his face.

“All right, now that everyone’s here, let me introduce myself to our new members. I’m the president of the Student Council, Ye Qingqian. Beside me is the vice president, Lin Yang...”

“Now, could our new members introduce themselves too?”

“I’m Yang Yang. I hope you seniors will look after me. I’ll do my best to handle my duties!”

“I’m Han Fei...”

......

When it was Lin Ran’s turn, he gave his name with obvious irritation—and said nothing else.

“Welcome to the Student Council, everyone. You’re joining the executive committee. Next, I’ll explain the work we usually do!”

......

After the work had been explained, they assigned everyone’s duties. Cao Yang would assist Song Jiang, Han Fei would assist Feng Xiaomeng, and Lin Ran would work directly with Ye Qingqian.

“President, I have an objection. Lin Ran’s a new member. Is it really appropriate to have him assist you right away? Your work is usually pretty important. What if he makes a mistake?” The vice president raised a hand in protest.

“There’s no need to worry about that. Lin Ran helped compile this year’s new-student information, and you all saw the quality and efficiency of his work. I’m confident he won’t make a mistake,” Ye Qingqian said with a smile.

“Also, many Student Council members are seniors in their final year, so I expect all of you new members to actively help them with their work and get up to speed as quickly as possible. We have a meeting every Friday at lunchtime. Everyone must be in the auditorium by 1:20. Bring paper and a pen. The Student Council recognizes outstanding members every month, and the rewards are quite generous, so I hope you’ll all put in the effort and take your work seriously.”

“Another thing: as Student Council members, you absolutely must not break school rules. Our own rules are strict too. If you’re late three times in one semester, or skip class even once, you’ll be dismissed from the Student Council. And don’t get into conflicts with other students.”

“Joining the Student Council may make your high school life busier, but trust me, it’ll also help you grow and improve as a person. That’s all I have to say!”

“Clap, clap, clap!” When Ye Qingqian finished speaking, everyone applauded. The new members were all incredibly excited—everyone except Lin Ran.

“Now, new members, follow your seniors and get familiar with the work,” Ye Qingqian said with a smile.

Everyone quickly formed groups, while Lin Ran sat at his desk, staring into space.

“Lin Ran, you have work to do too.” Ye Qingqian beckoned him over.

Lin Ran walked over, looking annoyed.

Ye Qingqian didn’t seem bothered by his irritation. She moved aside to make room for him. “On the desk are the cleaning schedules for every class from first to third year. Enter all of them into our spreadsheet, then go to the Academic Affairs Office and print two copies. Can you do that?”

Lin Ran silently nodded, sat down, and got to work. Damn it, data entry again. Fine!

Ye Qingqian didn’t leave. She dragged over a chair and sat beside Lin Ran, watching him work.

“Can you leave?” Lin Ran asked.

“No. I need to supervise your work. Don’t worry—I won’t say a word unless you make a mistake,” Ye Qingqian said.

“......” Lin Ran was speechless.

The task was pretty simple. All he had to do was transfer the information the teachers had sent into the Student Council’s own spreadsheet. Copy and paste, and that was it.

It took about twenty minutes. It really was simple. Once he’d finished entering everything, he copied it onto a USB drive and took it to the Academic Affairs Office to print.

He printed two copies. One stayed in the Student Council office, and the other went to the Student Life Department. By the time he was done, it was almost time to go, so that was it for lunch. Everyone headed back to class to get ready for their lessons.

After the new members and some of the older ones had left, the vice president went to find Ye Qingqian.

“President, do you really think it’s appropriate to give a new member work like this?” the vice president asked.

Ye Qingqian smiled and handed over the spreadsheet Lin Ran had printed. “Take a look at this. He did it. Then pull out the ones you made in previous years and compare them. I assigned Lin Ran to work with me because he takes his work more seriously than you do. I’ve told you countless times how to handle these information sheets: pay attention to the layout, the overall structure, the font size, and keeping all the text centered. Look at the layouts you turned in. This isn’t work you’re doing for me—it’s for the school and the teachers. You’re on the Student Council, and you can’t even take your work seriously. What do you have to say for yourselves?”

Even while scolding them, Ye Qingqian kept smiling.

After getting an earful, the vice president lowered their head and fell silent.

“You don’t need to worry about anything else. Just take care of the work you’ve been assigned first,” Ye Qingqian said.

“Yes, President,” the vice president replied, then turned and left the office.

Ye Qingqian tidied up her things, then left the office and went back to class.

The main reason Lin Ran worked so carefully was that he was a little obsessive about things. At lunch that day, he’d had no intention of putting much effort into compiling the cleaning schedules. But after he’d made a mess of it, he couldn’t stand looking at it himself—even before Ye Qingqian said a word. In the end, he did it properly.