A mind to harm is sometimes needed, and a mind to guard is always necessary.

Some people in this world are bad enough to shine a flashlight into Captain Jack’s eyes as kids, donate indigestion tablets to poor mountain areas as adults, equip nursing home walking sticks with caster wheels when they’re old, and swallow a bunch of popcorn kernels just before dying as a trick for their cremation to pop.

Living in such a society, caution and prudence are crucial.

Especially since this matter concerns Xue Jian’s own interests, he must be on his guard.

Maybe the hallway surveillance camera caught it, but during the process of Lin Li following Guo Zhun to escort the exam answer sheets, Xue Jian didn’t make a move; he just watched Lin Li with an extremely complex expression.

It was a complexity beyond human description. They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, but Xue Jian seemed to have crashed, probably needing a reboot with a Mac.

On his way downstairs, getting ready to head to the cafeteria for a meal, Lin Li passed by the bulletin board.

The "Come Look→" and "←Take this as a Warning, Fellow Students" he had posted beside the discipline report had been torn down. Who did this? Truly infuriating.

——Some people are born rotten, doing things that harm others without benefiting themselves.

While silently cursing the deteriorating societal morals, Lin Li approached, using the cuff of his uniform to carefully wipe the glass on the discipline report, ensuring that any pilgrim coming would see it more clearly.

After lunch at the cafeteria, he returned to Class Four’s classroom.

Mathematics is a subject where typically only students with very good or very bad grades hand in their papers early, so when Lin Li returned to the classroom, there was no one there.

Those who would come to the classroom during noon were all in the cafeteria now.

"Nobody to say~ Nobody to tell~ It’s hard to bear~ Behind glory lies a streak of loneliness~"

Humming "In the Name of the Father," Lin Li thought Huawei should have a pretty high-quality control; otherwise, why would loneliness be engraved on the back of a phone he just bought?

For Lin Li, there was no need for so-called revision, so he seized the moment to lean against the corridor railing and gaze into the distance—towards the opposite senior Year Two teaching building.

Gazing, waiting.

Until the sound of gentle footsteps approached from afar, finally stopping beside him, accompanied by a familiar, slightly sweet and warm fragrance.

Lin Li turned his head to meet Chen Yu Ying’s naturally smiling eyes.

She was quietly looking at him, the afternoon light softly reflecting on her face, making her smile appear especially warm and soft.

"Class President, do you know what the antonym of loneliness is?"

Lin Li, deep and melancholic, with eyes filled with ciliary body, cornea, lens, vitreous body, pupil, iris, retina.

Faced with Lin Li’s abrupt and bizarre question, Chen Yu Ying blinked.

Although knowing that her human thought-derived answer was probably wrong, to allow Lin Li to happily reveal the content he had prepared, she still followed his lead and softly replied:

"Lively?"

"Wrong," Lin Li chuckled softly and shook his head, gazing at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle: "The answer is me."

"Why?" Chen Yu Ying tilted her head, curiosity welling in her eyes.

"Because—" Lin Li chuckled with a hint of pride, his lips curving into a Nike swoosh, turning to look back at Chen Yu Ying, gently cupping her soft cheeks in his hands:

"Loneliness is the norm, and I am the perversion."

Chen Yu Ying: "[・ヘ・?]"

"Class President, can I suck on your fingers?"

Seeing that Chen Yu Ying was silent, Lin Li worried she didn’t believe what he said, so he gracefully lifted Chen Yu Ying’s right hand to his lips like offering a hand-kiss and politely inquired.

Perversion and gentlemanliness are not inherently conflicting things.

"Certainly not—"

Regaining her senses, the confusion was instantly dispelled, and a smile blossomed on the girl’s radiant face.

Especially facing Lin Li’s self-satisfied expression, Chen Yu Ying found it hard to hold back.

Retracting her hand, Chen Yu Ying tapped Lin Li’s shoulder gently, smiling and shaking her head: "What exactly are you proud of!"

Lin Li: "Lin Xiaoli, are you very proud?"

"Hmm?" Faced with Lin Li’s sudden and inexplicable remark, Chen Yu Ying looked adorably bewildered.

Still too innocent for her own good.

This is what happens from not properly watching Liu Bei as a child; take warning, everyone.

"How did you do in the morning’s exam?" Lin Li naturally wouldn’t explain this to Chen Yu Ying, hence he shifted the topic to inquire.

"Just normal, didn’t find it particularly easy, nor excessively hard. After finishing and checking, there are six points I’m unsure I could get, but it shouldn’t be an issue."

After Chen Yu Ying answered lightly, she looked at Lin Li and asked in return: "What about you?"

"Me? I got one block wrong."

"Which... a block of questions?" Hearing the measure word wasn’t "question," Chen Yu Ying paused.

"Math has three blocks, right? Multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, and long answer—I got one block of them wrong." Lin Li earnestly gestured to the air.

Seeing Chen Yu Ying seeming not to understand Chinese anymore, Lin Li then laughed and explained how he approached the math multiple-choice questions that morning.

"Why did you do that?" After listening to Lin Li’s description, Chen Yu Ying nodded, then confusion crossed her face.

"To help you solve the biggest rival for returning to being the top of the class and winning the top of the grade."

Lin Li looked deeply at Chen Yu Ying:

"This way, as long as you perform normally, your scores compared to the previous time will improve, especially from class second back to class first. When Auntie hears of it, she won’t feel that love has affected your grades, and she’ll be more reassured about me."