“Young Master Chu, you know Su Mo, right? She’s the genius who ranks first in the whole school. She’s beautiful, too. I saw her when I was hanging around outside her classroom. Unlike Yang Yun, who has this refined, intellectual air, Su Mo’s a total ice queen. I just met her eyes once and nearly froze to death.”

“But in my experience, women like Su Mo may seem cold and haughty, as lofty as goddesses. Once someone pins them down and has their way with them, though, they turn from wildcats into house cats in no time.”

Cheng Xu, the sharp-eyed student, rolled his eyes and chimed in admiringly.

“Exactly! If you’re talking about women who are better than Yang Yun in every way, Su Mo’s the only one in the whole school who can really outshine her. And the best part is, Su Mo’s barely had any friends since the start of the school year—and she doesn’t have a single male friend. If our Young Master Chu wins her over, he won’t just get a girlfriend. He’ll have conquered an ice mountain no one’s ever climbed before! Then what’ll Yang Yun matter? When she sees Young Master Chu with Su Mo, she’ll have no choice but to step aside.”

Wang Tao, the strong student, and Cheng Xu, the sharp-eyed one, exchanged a glance and spoke in unison to their young master.

“Young Master, go after Su Mo. We’ll help you, for sure.”

Su Mo?

A flood of memories about that name surfaced in Chu Ji’s mind.

The teachers’ lavish praise.

The reverence his classmates showed her, as if she were a god.

The heroine of one campus legend after another.

At first, Chu Ji had dismissed those unbelievable stories as the talk of country bumpkins who’d never seen the world—people who assumed that if they couldn’t do something, then nobody else could.

As a top student himself, Chu Ji had tremendous confidence in his academic abilities. For a long time, he’d never thought he was any worse than Su Mo.

That changed after the most recent diagnostic exam. While going over the test, the teacher in Chu Ji’s class decided that simply explaining the answers wasn’t enough, so they brought out a test Su Mo had taken a few years earlier and used it as an example.

To Chu Ji’s surprise, the academic goddess Su Mo hadn’t answered in the rigid, textbook-perfect way he’d imagined—not in a way that was flawless but utterly by the book. Her solutions were full of ingenuity. They broke away from the standard textbook methods, yet still reached the right answer with perfect precision.

It was a crushing discovery. Just going over one test left Chu Ji feeling deeply defeated. Then different teachers used more of Su Mo’s tests as examples, and that feeling grew exponentially. By the end of the day, Chu Ji had developed a deep-seated fear of the academic goddess he’d never even met.

He couldn’t understand it. They’d both come through the same nine years of compulsory education, so how was it that while Chu Ji was still searching for answers in his textbooks and relying on rigidly memorized concepts to get good grades, Su Mo could put her own ideas down on the exam paper however she pleased? Her solutions made sense to him, but they were things he’d never have thought of himself.

Worse still, judging by Su Mo’s exam papers from different school years, she rarely repeated a solution she’d used before. Her papers were full of inspired, unconventional approaches. According to her teachers, Su Mo was showing off her skills.

Chu Ji didn’t agree. He simply thought Su Mo came up with a different solution each time because she wrote down whatever happened to occur to her.

Like an iceberg hidden beneath a vast stretch of water, the edges visible above the surface couldn’t represent all of Su Mo. The biggest, most terrifying parts were always hidden from sight.

All the major exams, minor exams, monthly tests, diagnostic tests, midterms, and finals Su Mo had taken since enrolling at the school had revealed only the tip of her talent. She’d never fully shown what she was truly capable of.

“Maybe Su Mo and I just aren’t very compatible.”

Chu Ji sighed, looking a little dejected. If there was anyone at this school who made him feel inferior, Su Mo was definitely one of them.

He felt a powerful sense of distance just thinking about the name Su Mo.

They weren’t on the same level. Going after Su Mo would be like some total loser trying to win over a goddess.

“What the hell does compatibility have to do with it?”

Wang Tao, the strong student, slung an arm around Chu Ji’s small frame and snapped.

“Quit making excuses, Young Master. Just give us a straight answer: are you going after her or not? If you are, I’ll start gathering intel on Su Mo today. I’ll make sure you know exactly what you’re dealing with.”

Cheng Xu chimed in, backing him up.

“Don’t overthink it, Young Master. None of us three has met that girl Su Mo. Who knows what she’s really like? Maybe she isn’t as weird as the rumors say.”

Chu Ji furrowed his brow, deep in thought.

Just then, his phone suddenly rang. The call was from an unfamiliar number.

Chu Ji instinctively tapped the answer button.

An elegant, icy female voice came through the speaker.

“Is this Chu Ji? This is Su Mo.”

The three boys’ eyes flew wide. Not one of them said a word.