Qin Jiao watched Sun Guotao, waiting to see how he would arrange the class seating.

Sun Guotao, however, spoke in a calm, unhurried tone. "Alright, I’ll sort out the seating chart later. By the way, how were your previous class officers selected?"

The class president, still young, was a bit nervous. He answered obediently, "I’m not sure. Teacher Li was the one who assigned them."

Sun Guotao nodded. Without another word, he picked up his textbook, dismissed the class, and headed back to his office.

The next period was Chinese. Qin Jiao had just taken out her book when a round-faced girl with a bob cut leaned in close and whispered, "Qin Jiao, how do you think Old Sun will arrange the seating this time?"

The girl’s name was Jiang Xiaoyue. In her past life, she and Qin Jiao had been on good terms. But she came from a single-parent family and didn’t like to study. After Qin Jiao dropped out, Jiang Xiaoyue failed her college entrance exams and went to the South to find work with everyone else.

A lot of people had disapproved of the way Li Mei used to run things, but there was nothing they could do about it.

And now that Li Mei had been fired, every student was paying close attention to how the new homeroom teacher would arrange the seating.

Jiang Xiaoyue gestured toward the front of the room. "See?" she whispered. "The class president looks pretty nervous."

The class president’s name was Li Dong. He was an average student with no particular talents, but he did have a powerful aunt.

Li Mei wasn’t his biological aunt, but they were still very close—Li Mei’s father was the younger brother of Li Dong’s paternal grandfather. It was thanks to Li Mei that Li Dong had become class president.

Now that Li Mei was out of the picture, Li Dong was naturally on edge.

Qin Jiao lowered her gaze. "In any case, as long as it isn’t any worse than when Li Mei was here, it’ll be fine."

In senior year, they had already finished most of the curriculum. What came next required personal review and immense mental fortitude.

Qin Jiao knew she was clever and did well in subjects like math, but her fundamentals weren’t very solid. This senior year was the perfect chance to reinforce them.

She had missed the college entrance exams in her past life. This time, she absolutely could not afford to miss them.

Qin Jiao thought for a moment before saying to Jiang Xiaoyue, "Xiao Yue, I remember you know how to design your own clothes."

In her past life, Jiang Xiaoyue had gone to the South to work in a garment factory.

Jiang Xiaoyue was taken aback, surprised by the sudden change in topic. She gave an embarrassed smile. "You can’t call that designing. It’s just patching things up and making my own clothes to wear."

Qin Jiao said earnestly, "Xiao Yue, you should study hard and get into a university’s design program. You’ll become an amazing fashion designer one day!"

For kids from the countryside like them, back in this era, the concept of "talent" was completely foreign.

There were no specialty classes to attend like there would be in the future.

But in reality, while not numerous, some children were naturally gifted. Some could sing, some could play soccer—even the kids who were always hanging out in internet cafes playing games actually possessed their own kind of talent.

And Jiang Xiaoyue’s talent was for fashion design.

She was completely stunned. The Qin Jiao before her felt both familiar and strange. Just then, the bell rang for class, and she returned to her seat in a daze.

Qin Jiao didn’t know how much of what she said Jiang Xiaoyue had truly heard, but she figured helping a little was better than not helping at all.

Qin Jiao was readjusting to high school life as quickly as she could, unaware that a pair of eyes in the classroom was fixed on her.

Shen Yi was slouched at his desk, propping his head up with one hand while twirling a pen with the other.

As the pen spun, Qin Jiao’s figure flickered in and out of view between its rotations.

He let out a soft sigh.

’Why do I remember her not studying this hard in our past life?’