Shen Yixiao was in no mood to joke around at all.
Right now, he was screaming inside: Guys, who gets this? My desk mate in high school is actually my dad!
Can someone tell me, is there anything more tragic than this in the whole world?
Shen Qiushan could probably guess exactly what his son was feeling at that moment. If he put himself in his son's shoes, imagining having his own old man as his desk mate back in high school, he'd be just as desperate!
Still, from a dad's perspective—
Having his kid right under his nose felt pretty reassuring!
With a bunch of young eyes staring at him, Shen Qiushan slowly walked to the last row and sat right down next to his own son.
Standing on the podium, Chen Xiangyu took a look at the father-and-son duo sitting in a row. The power of genetics had never been more obvious than right now.
The two of them were practically copy-pasted; just looking at Shen Qiushan now, you'd know what Shen Yixiao was going to look like in twenty years.
Math teacher Sun Xing's eyes had also been trailing Shen Qiushan the whole time—he was naturally very curious about this mature "transfer student."
Because, well, he'd never experienced anything like this in his whole teaching career.
Sun Xing was 36 this year, and this new student was actually two years older than him!
He was still wondering how he should address Shen Qiushan in the future. Should he call him Brother Shen?
Hmm, maybe calling him "Old Shen" like Teacher Chen does would be better.
Sun Xing was thinking it over, and right then he caught sight of Shen Qiushan and Shen Yixiao sitting together.
The math teacher's eyes behind his glasses suddenly widened by two sizes, and he instantly understood!
Father and son, huh!
No doubt about it, this mature student was here specially for his own kid.
Sun Xing was well aware of how Shen Yixiao normally performed in school, and it was obvious that Shen Qiushan, as the dad, had made up his mind to use the "transfer student" excuse to keep a close eye on his son's studies.
Sigh, the heart of a parent really is pitiful!
There aren't many parents in the world who would go this far for their kids!
For a moment, Sun Xing even felt a bit sorry for Shen Qiushan, this old father.
At this age, making a decision like this must be an enormous burden!
How does the family see it?
What do friends and relatives think?
What about teachers and students at school?
Just the pressure from outside is already enough to keep you up at night.
Sun Xing was a dad himself, and he was pretty sure he could never do something like this.
No doubt about it, this is one great father!
Thinking about all that, Sun Xing felt even more respect for Shen Qiushan.
"Alright, let's keep working through the test paper. Look at question eight."
After collecting himself, Sun Xing picked up the paper again.
Last row.
Shen Qiushan turned his head to glance at his son. At this point, the kid was holding his chin with one hand, looking totally done with life, and there was no sign of the math test paper on his desk.
"Where's your test paper?"
"Get it out!"
Shen Qiushan quietly scolded him.
"Oh..."
Shen Yixiao quickly grabbed his math paper out of his desk and pretended to read it.
Shen Qiushan just sighed quietly; it was obvious his son probably couldn't follow a word of what Sun Xing was saying.
Not that he was surprised—Shen Yixiao's math grades had always been tragic.
Looks like he'll have to find a chance to chat with this math teacher...
Shen Qiushan mulled it over silently.
And right then, a system notification suddenly sounded in his head.
Ding!
Listening to a junior teacher's class!
Scholar Index +5!
Uh...
Shen Qiushan blinked, instinctively looked up at Sun Xing at the podium, who was engrossed in explaining the paper.
Junior teacher?
So the system ranks all the teachers!
Listening to a junior teacher's class adds 5 Scholar Value per minute. That's 1 more than two hours of self-study!
Nice!
Seems like there are lots of undiscovered system features!
Shen Qiushan was secretly pleased, and started listening seriously to Sun Xing's explanations. Even though he could barely understand any of it at his current level, it would at least leave some impression in his mind, and might come in handy later when he reviewed.
By the time Shen Qiushan got to class, math had already been going for half the period, and introducing him as the transfer student had wasted several minutes more. So after about twenty minutes, the math lesson was already over.
Shen Qiushan had racked up 100 points of Scholar Index!
"Dad, I'm going to take a leak!"
Just as Shen Qiushan was about to talk to his son, Shen Yixiao shoved his chair back and darted out through the back door.
Seeing this, Wang Yunpeng—who'd been watching the whole time—immediately followed, and even called a greeting to Shen Qiushan on his way out: "Uncle Shen, I'm going to pee too!"
Before Shen Qiushan could say anything, the two of them had vanished down the hall.
Out in the corridor—
Once Wang Yunpeng caught up to the "pee escapist" Shen Yixiao, he burst out laughing: "Brother Xiao, how does it feel sharing a desk with your dad?"
"Screw you!"
Shen Yixiao shot his gloating best friend a death glare, then strode off in the direction of Class 3, Grade 12.
"Hey, Brother Xiao, aren't you going to the bathroom? Wrong way..."
Wang Yunpeng shouted as he ran after him.
But Shen Yixiao didn't even look back; he quickly reached the door of Class 3, Grade 12.
"Luo Yao, your boyfriend's looking for you!"
The boy in the first row saw Shen Yixiao and grinned, twisting his head to call into the classroom.
Everybody already knew about Shen Yixiao and Luo Yao's relationship—it had been made an "example" of, and the whole year group had heard about it. So that boy saw Shen Yixiao coming and assumed he was looking for Luo Yao.
"Pang Xiaolong, shut up already!"
Luo Yao, sitting in the third row, shot Pang Xiaolong a glare, then stood up, smiling bright as sunshine.
Being made a public example had actually triggered their rebellious streaks, making them feel like comrades-in-arms, like partners in crime—which only brought them closer together.
So when Luo Yao saw Shen Yixiao running over to find her after class, her heart felt sugary sweet.
But right now, Shen Yixiao was actually bracing himself on the doorframe with one hand, and pointing into the classroom at Shen Yanran in the fourth row: "Sis, sis..."
"Something huge just happened!!"
He'd run so fast that he was practically wheezing as he shouted.
At this moment, Shen Yanran was holding a little mirror in one hand and a wooden comb in the other, fixing her bangs. When she saw Shen Yixiao at her classroom door, she forced herself to put down the mirror and comb, walked over while complaining: "Shen Yixiao, the break's only ten minutes, what are you yelling about?"
"Baby, what's going on?"
"Just take your time..."
Luo Yao, his girlfriend, was way gentler—she'd already walked to the door and asked softly.
"Let's talk over there!"
Shen Yixiao pointed to a quiet corner at the end of the hallway.
"What's up, all mysterious?"
Dragged out of class, Shen Yanran pouted in complaint. Honestly, most of the time at school, she didn't even want to acknowledge Shen Yixiao was her brother.
He was always so chaotic and reckless!
"Sis... I want to drop out!"
At the end of the hallway, having caught his breath, Shen Yixiao said with a miserable face.
But Shen Yanran reacted totally calmly; she just rolled her eyes: "Then just drop out!"
Compared to Shen Yanran's zen, Luo Yao was way more panicked: "Huh?"
"Drop out?"
"Baby, what happened to you??"
Shen Yixiao looked at his chill sister, then at his worried girlfriend, and wailed: "Our dad's come to school!"