Chapter 1 — A True Academic Ace Has No Time for Love

The proud elite heiress of Beijing could simply not stomach the fact that I had snatched the top academic rank from her, so she hired a poor scholarship student named Jiang Ci to seduce and corrupt me. Every single rank I dropped in the school standings, she would reward him with one hundred thousand yuan. Unfortunately, I was already a devoted and hopelessly infatuated bootlicker to Beijing’s ultimate crown prince, Pei Shuo, and no other man could possibly exist in my eyes. Just before Jiang Ci decided to throw in the towel, he sought me out to apologize, looking so mortified he was practically on the verge of tears. I am so sorry, I truly should not have ruined your bright future purely for the sake of money. I burst into tears as well, weeping purely out of sheer exasperation. He had no earthly idea that the Pei family had hired me to tutor Pei Shuo, and for every single spot he managed to climb in the rankings, I was only paid ten thousand yuan. An entire semester had already slipped by, yet Pei Shuo remained as firmly anchored to the very bottom of the class as ever. I hadn't managed to scrape together a single copper coin from him. I immediately marched over to the Pei residence to resign from the position, and then tightly grabbed Jiang Ci by the hand. It is high time we actually start making some real money. After I publicly announced my relationship with Jiang Ci, Pei Shuo finally began to grow restless.

Inside the sprawling campus library, the school beauty Lin Zhen once again deliberately stepped out to block my path, her chin tilted up proudly to flaunt the sharp, knife-like contour of her jawline. I simply could not hold back my impatience any longer, so I stepped forward with a feigned, bashful expression. Jiang Ci, I actually have something I need to give you. Jiang Ci's eyes instantly lit up. He let out a soft cough, and before he could even utter a response, the tips of his ears turned a brilliant shade of crimson. Is it... for me? Before his sentence could even finish trailing off, he found himself staring blankly at the medicinal pain relief patch I had just thrusted into his hands. I said with absolute sincerity, I noticed your neck has been stiff for the last few days, you really ought to put a patch on it. It had been driving me crazy just looking at it day after day. Jiang Ci was left utterly speechless. Watching as I hurriedly packed up my belongings and prepared to take my leave, he scrambled after me, mustering every ounce of resolve he possessed to force out the words: Are you busy right now? I... could I perhaps treat you to some dessert? I gave a gentle shake of my head, raising the meticulously organized mathematics notebook I had just finished compiling and declaring, I need to hand this over to Pei Shuo. His academic foundation is abysmal, he desperately needs things like this. Without waiting for a reply, I spun on my heel and walked away, only to catch the faint whisper echoing from behind me: So you really care about him that much after all... I chose to silently accept the narrative without offering a single word of rebuttal. The entire student body firmly believed I was the ultimate sycophantic bootlicker of the crown prince Pei Shuo, devoting every waking moment outside of my studies to finding ways to ingratiate myself with him and working myself to the bone like a drafted beast of burden. The rumors had spread so pervasively that even Pei Shuo himself had finally bought into the illusion.

Carrying the study notes, I made my way toward him. The moment I reached the exterior of the karaoke lounge, I was greeted by the sound of his entourage openly mocking the breakfast I had painstakingly purchased for him. Fried dough sticks, salted duck eggs, and soy milk poured into a cheap plastic cup. Hahahahaha, since when did Brother Shuo start partaking in such lowly peasant food? Don't laugh so soon, rumor has it that our little impoverished academic genius has to rely entirely on charity just to attend school. She probably had to starve herself of breakfast just to afford this meal for Brother Shuo. That little wretch Shen Zhaozhao is truly hopelessly devoted to Brother Shuo. She blindly obeys his every whim, yet she insists on forcing him to study tutoring sessions every single day. Is there something fundamentally wrong with her brain? What rank did Brother Shuo place in the mid-term examinations this time around? Two thousand nine hundred and eight. Still firmly entrenched at the absolute bottom of the rankings. Truly a classic Brother Shuo move! …… Listening to the mockery spilling from inside the room, the hand I had pressed against the door slowly fell to my side. I am genuinely exhausted. I suppose I can resume my groveling tomorrow; today, I simply do not have a single shred of energy left to spare. I hadn't even eaten a proper meal myself yet. I gently rubbed my persistently growling stomach and turned away, silently retreating into the shadows. Naturally, I was completely unaware that the very moment my footsteps faded away, one of the arrogant young men snickered and reached out to grab the fried dough stick sitting upon the table. I've never actually tasted trash like this before, let me have a bite. But his hand was abruptly intercepted and batted away by another. Pei Shuo leaned back lazily against the plush leather sofa, his posture radiating a haughty, untamed arrogance. What makes you think that was purchased for the likes of you? With those words, he casually picked up the long-since chilled dough stick, and amidst the stunned, disbelieving stares of his companions, he took a robust, curious bite before carelessly tossing it back down onto the table. I always watched her polish those things off with such relish, I genuinely thought they must taste divine. Turns out they are entirely unremarkable after all.

I had just strolled over to the fried noodle stall stationed right outside the school gates when, much to my astonishment, I ran squarely into Jiang Ci. The two of us stood frozen in place, staring dumbly at one another. The young man who had just moments ago offered to treat me to expensive pastries was currently in the midst of purchasing the absolute cheapest five-thousand-yuan box of fried noodles available, completely devoid of any egg topping. Jiang Ci hurriedly averted his gaze, his face flushing a deep, mortified shade of red. He suddenly blurted out an apology: I am so sorry. He confessed that his recent habit of constantly hovering around me and deliberately seeking out ways to capture my attention had all been orchestrated entirely for the sake of Lin Zhen. Lin Zhen was a prominent and fiercely competitive heiress within the school walls, hailing from an affluent family boasting a vast conglomerate of corporate enterprises. She was blessed with striking beauty, immense generational wealth, and exceptionally stellar academic prowess, consistently securing the second-rank spot across the entire grade year. And yet, by some cruel twist of fate, the undisputed holder of the top spot happened to be none other than myself. Lin Zhen had grown up thoroughly accustomed to monopolizing the pinnacle of every achievement, and she had harbored a bitter resentment toward me for the longest time. Consequently, she had recruited Jiang Ci—a destitute scholarship student much like myself—to seduce me, hoping to plunge me prematurely into a romantic entanglement and utterly derail my academic trajectory. She explicitly promised that for every single rank I plummeted, she would disburse one hundred thousand yuan directly into Jiang Ci's pockets. However, what Jiang Ci had never anticipated was that my heart was utterly and exclusively occupied by Pei Shuo. No matter how hard he tried to woo me, it was entirely equivalent to casting amorous winks at a blind man—it yielded zero results whatsoever. In the end, he had no choice but to admit defeat and resolve to call it quits. By the time he reached this point in his confession, Jiang Ci's expression was thoroughly steeped in overwhelming shame, his ocular rims turning distinctly pink. I am truly sorry, I should never have compromised your bright future simply for the sake of a payout. You have every right to look down on me with absolute contempt.

I, too, was on the verge of bursting into tears. Purely out of unadulterated fury, that is. Who could have possibly foreseen that right from the very moment I clinched the top academic ranking, the Pei family would proactively track me down, earnestly entreating me to utilize my status as the top scholar to rescue their wayward, learning-averse young master Pei Shuo? They had even sworn an oath that for every single rank Pei Shuo managed to ascend, I would be handsomely rewarded with a crisp ten thousand yuan. Back then, I had been brimming with unbridled ambition and youthful naive optimism, naively reasoning that since he was already firmly rooted at the absolute bottom of the barrel, the vast expanse of upward mobility stretching out before him meant I was practically guaranteed to rake in a small fortune. And so, I had shamelessly clung to his side like a relentless shadow, parking myself directly beside him to drone on through ancient classical literature and meticulously break down complex mathematical equations, secretly praying that perhaps some stray nugget of knowledge might accidentally seep into his impermeable skull. Whenever he made a request, I executed it. Whenever he had a demand, I fulfilled it. When he routinely played truant and skipped classes, I actively devised elaborate schemes to cover for him. I had even braved blistering thirty-eight-degree weather to personally deliver hot meals straight to the dimly lit recesses of underground bars for him. I endured it all simply on the off chance that he might finally accept my compilation of study notes, holding out a fragile hope that perhaps one fateful, leisurely day, he might actually bother to crack them open and read a single page. But my wildest expectations had drastically underestimated reality. A full year had transpired, yet he stubbornly clung to his sacred throne at the very bottom of the grade. You could successfully train a herd of swine to pass an exam with better odds than that. What made it doubly infuriating was the glaring disparity in financial backing: the Pei family's wealth eclipsed even that of the Lin household, yet while Lin Zhen readily shelled out a hundred thousand per drop, Pei Shuo's father was apparently stingy enough to offer a mere paltry ten thousand. To this very day, I hadn't managed to earn enough to buy a single stray hair. I was so profoundly enraged I felt ready to weep. Jiang Ci was utterly stunned by my violent emotional reaction, and he hastily fumbled to comfort me: Please don't cry, I swear I will march straight over tomorrow and flatly reject Lin Zhen's ridiculous proposition! You wouldn't dare! I shot him a withering glare that instantly caused Jiang Ci to jump in sheer fright. In this lifetime, the absolute last thing I will ever tolerate is someone voluntarily severing ties with cold, hard cash!

In truth, Lin Zhen needn't have bothered exerting all that convoluted effort. If she had simply approached me directly with a cash offer, I wouldn't have even bothered haggling; I would have graciously handed over the number one spot to her on a silver platter without a second thought. Alas, a proud high-society heiress like her naturally possessed too much haughty pride to ever stoop to buying what was rightfully mine. But since I had already resolved to consciously spiral downward into a life of romantic distraction, the calculus was entirely different. I firmly seized Jiang Ci by the sleeve, my eyes practically glittering with avaricious desire: Starting tomorrow, you will diligently resume your seduction campaign against me, and I will cooperate with you every step of the way. But we are splitting all the proceeds right down the middle—fifty-fifty. Jiang Ci blinked in utter bewilderment: ...It's a deal. With this lucrative new business venture officially secured, I no longer felt the slightest obligation to humor the Pei household. That very evening, I marched directly up to the sprawling gates of the Pei family's luxury estate, tracking down the elder Mr. Pei to personally return the initial twenty-thousand-yuan retainer fee he had fronted me. The venerable CEO Pei looked visibly startled by my abrupt appearance: You are giving up the tutoring arrangement? I gave a solemn nod in confirmation: Mr. Pei, I must kindly request that you find someone else entirely for the job. CEO Pei let out a heavy, world-weary sigh: My dear child Shen, be completely honest with me—is A Shuo's academic salvation truly entirely beyond hope? I mirrored his heavy sigh, slowly raising a finger to tap against my own temple: To be completely frank with you, sir, it appears that this particular region of his cognitive anatomy never quite finished developing properly. CEO Pei was rendered entirely speechless. Truly, humanity has never been terribly fond of confronting harsh, unvarnished truths. Observing the distinctly darkened complexion settling across the older man's features, I decided it would be wise not to linger any longer in the tense atmosphere. However, before I could turn away, CEO Pei sharply commanded me to halt in my tracks. He stepped briskly aside to quickly dispatch a private phone call, and within mere seconds, a soothing notification chimed across my mobile banking application—a hefty direct deposit of fifty thousand yuan had successfully landed in my account. A Shuo has noticeably curtailed his wild nocturnal escapades lately, which leads me to believe you are rapidly approaching a breakthrough. My dear Shen, why don't you give it one final, earnest college try? Please, keep these funds as a token of faith, and help guide him through this upcoming final examination period. Should he manage to climb even a single solitary rank, I will personally tack on an additional twenty thousand for your trouble. Even if he ultimately fails to show any discernible progress whatsoever, consider the money yours to keep; you have already poured an immense amount of tireless effort into this endeavor.

I fell into a contemplative silence. Tycoon or not, when placed in direct comparison with Lin Zhen's extravagant financial backing, Pei Shuo's father was undeniably a rather tightfisted employer. Still, only a fool turns down free capital. I gracefully relented and accepted the deposit on the spot. I would happily pocket this fifty thousand yuan without a backward glance. As for whether that hopeless blockhead would ever miraculously manage to claw his way up a single rank and trigger the secondary bonus, I had long since ceased to harbor any lingering delusions. Pei Shuo could do whatever he pleased from here on out; I was officially striking my name off his personal payroll. I hoisted my heavy canvas backpack over my shoulders and prepared to make a swift exit. To my utter dismay, I happened to collide head-on with Pei Shuo and his boisterous pack of affluent troublemakers just as they were returning from an outing. The instant his gaze locked onto my figure, Pei Shuo's brow furrowed in immediate annoyance: What on earth are you doing here, aren't you out of business hours? What could possibly possess you to come slinking all the way to my personal doorstep? My sincere apologies, I was just in the midst of vacating the premises. I attempted to step briskly past him, completely forgetting to zip up the primary compartment of my schoolbag. With a soft rustle, the thick, hand-bound notebook containing the fundamental tenth-grade mathematics curriculum I had meticulously compiled specifically for him slipped free and plummeted onto the paved stone floor. Pei Shuo reflexively bent down to scoop it up, a sardonic, mocking smirk playing at the corners of his lips: Well, well, look at what our esteemed academic superstar has clumsily dropped. The foundational concepts contained within those pages had long since been deeply etched into my DNA through endless repetition; hauling them around any longer was merely dead weight dragging down my posture. I don't need it anymore, feel free to toss it into the nearest rubbish bin for me. Without waiting for a response, I strode resolutely into the night. Standing in my wake, Pei Shuo lazily flipped open the cover of the booklet, his brows knitting together in utter confusion as his eyes scanned the neatly written equations and detailed theorems that made zero sense to his untrained mind. One of his companions, whose academic standing hovered somewhere in the mediocre middle, leaned over his shoulder to catch a glimpse, letting out a sudden exclamation of realization: Why, this is nothing more than basic tenth-grade math review material! Does the top-ranking student in the entire school really need to rely on remedial stuff like this? The group of young men exchanged knowing glances, a silent, amused consensus passing effortlessly among them: It is glaringly obvious she specially authored this piece of garbage just for Brother Shuo. Do these stereotypical bookworms genuinely believe that compiling study notes is the absolute pinnacle of romantic devotion? Truly hardcore dedication, I must admit. You have to hand it to her—Shen Zhaozhao's unwavering devotion to Brother Shuo is practically flawless. The girl is blessed with striking looks and top-tier grades. Brother Shuo, are you truly never going to seriously consider making her yours? Don't even bother dreaming about it. Brother Shuo and the Lin family heiress are childhood sweethearts; everyone implicitly understands they are destined for an arranged engagement down the line. What exactly is Shen Zhaozhao in the grand scheme of things? A desperate third wheel attempting to muscle her way in? Besides, you never crack a book anyway, Brother Shuo. Since you clearly have no use for this stack of paper, why don't you hand it over and let me borrow it? Pei Shuo casually rolled the notebook into a loose cylinder, casting a sidelong, icy glare at his loquacious friend: When it comes to who I choose to associate with, since when did it become your place to stick your nose into my affairs? His sharp gaze instinctively tracked the retreating figure of the young woman as she vanished further and further into the gathering twilight, the corners of his lips involuntarily curving upward in an unbidden smile. She had undoubtedly radiated an unusually gloomy, disgruntled aura throughout the day, and her conversational barbs had carried a distinctly prickly edge. Yet, for reasons entirely beyond his comprehension, he found the entire spectacle... rather endearing. Against his better judgment, he actually found himself harboring a faint, uncharacteristic glimmer of anticipation for the arrival of tomorrow morning, solely for the chance to cross paths with her once again.