After the sisters finished their homework, they washed up and went to sleep. The bed in the attic creaked. Downstairs, their parents had just finished preparing what they needed for tomorrow. In fact, they had to get up at three in the morning.

Selling breakfast was grueling work, but neither Qin Zhonghui nor Su Yun ever complained. On the contrary, because the family was finally together again, they both wore contented smiles every day.

Qin Jiao turned off the light. Xiao Shi snuggled up against her, and she closed her eyes.

’Life will only get better from now on!’

**

However, when Qin Jiao arrived at school the next day and saw Shen Yi sitting beside her, the vibrant energy she felt instantly deflated.

Fortunately, he was just as quiet as he had been in her past life, and he didn’t seem to harbor the same intense hostility toward her as before. The morning passed, and it wasn’t too unbearable.

But Qin Jiao was still on edge.

During her lunch break, she knocked on the door of her homeroom teacher, Sun Guotao’s, office.

Sun Guotao was a vice principal, so he shared an office with the school’s other vice principal. When Qin Jiao arrived, the other vice principal wasn’t in, leaving Sun Guotao by himself.

Sun Guotao’s eyes crinkled in a smile as he looked at her. "Classmate Qin, was there something you needed to see me about?"

"Teacher, there are a couple of students in our class who are dating. Rumor is they’ve even gone to a video parlor together. I’m here to report it."

Qin Jiao had made up the part about the video parlor.

’If Lin Nian could make things up, why couldn’t she?’

She had promised herself that in this lifetime, she would never let Lin Nian take anything from her again. If Lin Nian dared to pull any stunts, Qin Jiao would make sure she didn’t get away with it.

As for the inevitable confrontation, Qin Jiao wasn’t afraid of that in the slightest.

And she suspected that Lin Nian and Chen Feng had probably already slept together. Unlike her and Shen Yi, who had just innocently talked under the covers, something had definitely happened between that pair.

’So when the teacher questions them, the two of them will definitely panic.’

Sun Guotao was taken aback; he hadn’t expected this. He frowned in thought for a moment before saying, "I see. I’ll look into it. However, this is their private business and nothing is confirmed, so don’t mention it to anyone else."

"Understood!" Qin Jiao hesitated for a moment, but couldn’t resist asking, "Sir, there’s one more thing. Why did you make Shen Yi and me deskmates?"

Sun Guotao picked up his large tea mug again, took a sip, and asked with a knowing smile, "What’s the matter? You don’t want to be his deskmate?"

Qin Jiao nearly nodded on the spot.

But before she did, she wanted to understand why Sun Guotao had paired them up.

’And... if there was any chance he might move her.’

’Ever since she’d been reborn, everything had gone smoothly. The only exception was her attempt to stay away from Shen Yi. That had been one failure after another.’

Sun Guotao didn’t press her for an answer. Instead, he took another sip of his tea and said slowly, "I know what happened at the end of last semester, when Li Mei took you to that competition. Qin Jiao, I believe that you and Shen Yi are both good students. Your relationship is a purely platonic one between classmates."

Qin Jiao’s mouth opened, but no words came out.

’It was true. Sun Guotao was doing this for their own good. Even though the incident had eventually been dropped and Li Mei had been fired, walls have ears.’

’There was no telling what other rumors might spread in the future.’

’Sun Guotao was fighting fire with fire. By making them deskmates, people would just assume they were close friends, not a couple. Eventually, that would shut the gossipers up.’

’So, being deskmates with Shen Yi was actually the best solution right now.’

’At least, for this semester.’