Madam, Please Behave-Chapter 309: Not That Bad

When Zhang Yunjing returned to class, she stole a glance.

Just like always, she secretly watched Liu Zhiyue from afar. Right now, he was talking to Zhou Shiyan about something, occasionally jotting things down in his notebook.

Soon, the class bell rang. As the teacher walked in, the students began preparing their books for class.

Zhang Yunjing did the same—but throughout the entire class, she kept sneaking peeks at Liu Zhiyue’s seat, zoning out frequently.

Time passed like that, until she suddenly thought of something. She flipped open her notebook where she had been recording Liu Zhiyue’s quotes—stuff she had gathered from Zhao Xuanwen over the past few days.

She looked through it carefully.

It was almost entirely compliments…

Was this guy… really that great?

That doubt surfaced in Zhang Yunjing’s heart.

To be honest, she didn’t actually hate Liu Zhiyue. It’s just that ever since the moment she first met him, she found his smug attitude incredibly annoying.

What made it worse was that her parents had promised to take her on a trip if she made it into the top ten of the whole school—a reward she had fought hard to get them to agree to.

But then Liu Zhiyue appeared, bumping her out of the top ten. And after class placement, he’d even gone to the teacher to request a seat change, like she was the one bullying him.

Still…

“Zhang Yunjing!”

The teacher at the podium suddenly called out her name, snapping her out of her daydream.

Startled, Zhang Yunjing jerked in place, then quickly shot up from her seat, scaring her deskmate as well.

The Chinese teacher held the lesson plan and hadn’t expected such a big reaction. He’d just noticed she was zoning out and called her name to bring her back to focus…

He paused, then glanced at the textbook and said,

“Come on, read this paragraph out loud.”

Still in a daze, Zhang Yunjing picked up her book. She instinctively glanced toward her deskmate to check what page they were on.

But unfortunately, her deskmate—probably still shaken from her sudden movement—had their head lowered, blocking the view of the textbook page.

Zhang Yunjing couldn’t see a thing.

“Uh…”

Trying to play it cool, she looked at her book, but inside her head was total chaos. Her eyes darted around in a panic.

And just by chance, she caught sight of Liu Zhiyue.

He leaned back in his seat and subtly used his hand to signal a number. Zhang Yunjing immediately understood what he meant.

Refocusing, she quickly flipped to the page he’d indicated. Once she found the passage, she began reading aloud from the textbook.

But she had barely gotten a few words in before the teacher interrupted her.

“I told you to read the second paragraph. Which one are you reading?”

“……”

Zhang Yunjing lowered her head in embarrassment. Even though she didn’t look around, she could feel the stares from her classmates all around her.

“Sigh… Sit down. Focus during class—don’t space out.”

The teacher didn’t press the issue. After a short pause, he went back to explaining the meaning of the passage and the mindset of the author when it was written.

Back in her seat, Zhang Yunjing’s face was slightly flushed. She turned her head just a little, looking toward Liu Zhiyue’s direction. He was looking up at the teacher on the podium.

For some reason, seeing him like that made her feel something a little different inside.

Thinking back to how he had silently gestured the page number…

This guy… maybe he’s not that bad after all.

Later, after evening self-study.

As Liu Zhiyue was packing up his books, he suddenly felt someone pat his shoulder. He looked up toward the window but saw no one there.

Confused, he opened the window to check. Before he could stick his head out, a figure suddenly jumped up, startling him.

“Wah!”

With her arms raised like she was trying to scare someone, Zhao Xuanwen pulled a mock-mean face on purpose.

Seeing Liu Zhiyue’s wide-eyed reaction, she couldn’t help but burst out laughing, clearly proud of her successful prank.

“Gotcha! I totally scared you!”

“Phew… Where’d you learn that from?”

Liu Zhiyue patted his chest and let out a breath. Then he turned back around to stuff the rest of his books into his backpack.

“You don’t usually come to evening study sessions.”

“They made it mandatory now. Our homeroom teacher said… we’re in our third year of middle school and should start feeling the pressure…”

Zhao Xuanwen clearly wasn’t thrilled about it. She leaned on the windowsill and pouted as she looked at Liu Zhiyue.

Suddenly remembering something, she asked, ƒreewebɳovel.com

“Hey, this weekend… can I come over to your place?”

Zhou Shiyan, who had just finished packing up her things, paused. Her usual blank expression faltered as she looked at Zhao Xuanwen outside the window—then turned to glance at Liu Zhiyue, as if waiting to hear his reply too.

“Why do you want to come over?”

“My mom has something going on that day… I’ll be home alone and super bored. Plus… I haven’t seen Xiazhi in forever. I bet she misses me!”

Liu Zhiyue zipped up his bag and slung it over his shoulder. Hearing that, he looked at Zhao Xuanwen outside the window and began to think.

He was just about to refuse—but Zhao Xuanwen clearly didn’t want to give him the chance. She quickly waved her hand and said in a rush,

“Great! It’s settled then, I’m off!”

Before he could say another word, Zhao Xuanwen picked up her bag and ran toward the stairwell, leaving Liu Zhiyue and Zhou Shiyan behind.

The atmosphere grew a little awkward.

Liu Zhiyue turned to Zhou Shiyan—and just happened to lock eyes with her. Neither of them said anything for a moment.

Then Zhou Shiyan broke the silence.

She looked away, and her usually unreadable face seemed to show a flicker of… displeasure?

She said softly,

“Let’s go.”

Then she turned and walked out of the classroom without waiting for Liu Zhiyue, unlike usual.

Watching this scene unfold, Liu Zhiyue stood there dazed for a second, then smiled faintly and started to follow.

But then—

“Um… wait a sec!”

Zhang Yunjing had been waiting on the side this whole time. Once Zhou Shiyan left, she called out to Liu Zhiyue just as he was about to go.

He stopped and gave her a curious glance.

“What is it?”

“During class… thanks.”

“…Mm.”

Liu Zhiyue nodded in response and didn’t stay.

As she watched his figure walk away, Zhang Yunjing just stood there quietly, not saying another word.