Yun Mi was stunned and looked at Chen Yiyang hesitantly.
Time seemed to stop for a moment.
Du Yun was also stunned. "Chen Yiyang, are you talking back to the teacher for her too?"
The boy's eyebrows were pressed low, his voice not loud, but carrying a threatening suggestion: "Teacher Du, the principal will be checking on the break soon. Don't you need to go? If you keep scolding here, you might not make it in time."
Shanfu had a thirty-minute long break, and teachers also needed to supervise. Rumor had it that this might be linked to salary performance.
Du Yun gave three cold laughs, told Chen Yiyang to "supervise Yun Mi until she gets all the problems right," and swept out.
The large math office was left with only the two students.
Yun Mi was correcting her mistakes nearby. She was a bit surprised that Chen Yiyang had helped her.
But these problems... she really didn't know how to solve them. Du Yun had just yelled at her like she wanted to skin her alive.
She was already late and had missed a class. She needed to finish quickly.
The girl kept her eyes down, looking obedient. When she encountered a problem she didn't understand, she timidly lifted her eyes, spoke sweetly, and slid the paper over. "Brother, this one."
Chen Yiyang hadn't expected Yun Mi to latch onto him and claim him as her brother, but it was the truth, so it wasn't wrong. He asked, "What?"
"I don't know how to solve this problem."
Chen Yiyang kept his hands in his pockets. With the teacher gone, he also cooled down. He was tall—Yun Mi at 1.68 meters only reached his jaw—standing next to him made her nervous.
The boy's thin eyelids drooped, his tone tinged with playfulness. "I still don't know, where did you get a brother from?"
"..."
Yun Mi looked at him and muttered quietly, "Didn't you just admit it?"
Chen Yiyang's tone turned colder. "Who told you to tell others you're my sister?"
Yun Mi bit her lip, staring straight at him. "Then who told you not to take me to the classroom?"
Chen Yiyang frowned slightly.
The girl in front of him hadn't received her school uniform yet. Over her shirt and pleated skirt, she loosely wore a warm yellow knitted cardigan.
She had obviously left in a hurry, her half-tied bun loose and messy.
Chen Yiyang didn't speak. Yun Mi felt a pang in her heart from his gaze, and said sternly, "Aunt Wen asked you to take me, didn't she? Why did you leave without waiting for me? I ended up late and got scolded by the teacher. You're really not a good person!"
Remembering the morning's events, Chen Yiyang raised an eyebrow. After a moment, as if he understood, he laughed carelessly, his tone softening. "Are you a quail? Du Yun yelled at you earlier and you didn't yell back. How come you've got a mouth all of a sudden with me?"
Yun Mi was taken aback.
Chen Yiyang reached out, took her paper, quickly corrected the mistakes, then handed it back. "Don't tell anyone at school you know me."
...
"Did you offend Chen Yiyang?"
When the break ended, Ding Yuan saw Yun Mi and Chen Yiyang come back one after the other, showing a surprised expression. She had wanted to tell Yun Mi earlier to "stay away from Chen Yiyang." Seeing Yun Mi's confused look, Ding Yuan furrowed her brow.
Ding Yuan had long disliked Chen Yiyang. She couldn't help saying, "Stay away from him. I heard Chen Yiyang dumped the grade's goddess, Xu Zhiyu... the top student from the next class. She's cried several times because of him."
Students were gradually returning to the classroom, talking in small groups.
Ding Yuan pointed. "That's Xu Zhiyu."
Yun Mi shifted her gaze slightly and saw a tall girl with long black hair among the crowd. Her expression changed slightly.
—This was the girl who had pointed her in the right direction that morning when she couldn't find her classroom.
She spoke simply and crisply, with a cold aura. She seemed strong-willed.
How had she not noticed this morning? She looked like she had been crying—her eyes were swollen and red-rimmed.
Xu Zhiyu seemed to spot her in the crowd and gave her a slight nod.
Yun Mi unconsciously blushed.
She thought: No wonder Chen Yiyang got called a "jerk"!
If it was true, Chen Yiyang was way too much.
Aunt Wen was such a good person, but her son turned out to be not so good.
Yun Mi felt Chen Yiyang was utterly rotten.
Suddenly, the window beside her was tapped. Yun Mi looked up and saw Xie Yue's grinning face.
"Hey, we meet again!"
Xie Yue had wanted to greet Yun Mi for a while. He finally caught her. The gossip from last night was too juicy. Xie Yue tried to get closer. "You're Yun Mi, right? I'm Xie Yue. We met yesterday."
Yun Mi ignored him, found her seat, and sat down.
Xie Yue was anxious. "How could you forget me so quickly?"
Yun Mi was still a bit unhappy from Du Yun's scolding, and said flatly, "I know you. Class is about to start. Go back to your seat."
Xie Yue asked, "You're so cold. Aren't you living with Chen Yiyang?"
Hearing Chen Yiyang's name, Yun Mi felt even worse. "Oh."