After breakfast, the driver took Lin Shumo and Zhong Ziang to school.
Although the nine exchange students were technically assigned to Class 3, they didn’t actually spend much time in the classroom.
At first, it was a packed schedule of tours—from campus grounds to off-site excursions, from historical and cultural sites to natural scenery. Then came a string of exchange events and hands-on experiences.
Compared to the mundane home-school-home routine of regular students, their days were way more exciting.
But Huo Fanjin didn’t seem too thrilled.
“…Why are we still touring places? How many stops have we hit already? Isn’t this getting old?”
“Sis Huo, you don’t like it here?” Fan Ye blinked.
“It’s not that I don’t like it. I just prefer sitting in a classroom with Jiang Fuyue, attending actual lessons.”
“Mmhmm!” Fan Ye nodded quickly. “Me too! I heard Sister Yue practically aces every single test, never slipping up. I really want to see how she learns.”
Huo Fanjin’s eyes lit up.
But Gao Zhaoming scratched his head and chimed in sheepishly, “I heard Sister Yue usually doesn’t even pay attention in class.”
Everyone: “…”
“Ahem…” Huang Hui coughed. “Who told you that?”
“The guy who sits in front of her.”
“…Oh.” That’s probably legit.
Fang Canyang said, “I get it, too much touring gets old. A change of pace might be nice.”
Lin Shumo: “Agreed.”
“How about we talk to the teacher leading the group? See if we can go back to school?”
“I’ll go,” Huo Fanjin volunteered. “Who else wants to head back? I’ll take a headcount.”
Everyone except Jelena nodded.
Unexpectedly, Tosaki Naohara joined them too.
Huo Fanjin raised an eyebrow. “You want to go back to class?”
She put extra emphasis on the word.
Tosaki Naohara, who understood Chinese, gave a light “Mm.”
Huo Fanjin frowned but said nothing. She found the teacher, had a discussion, and got approval for their return.
On the way back, the mood was oddly tense, probably because Tosaki Naohara was present. No one said much.
Edmond sat there, glancing from one person to the next, eyes darting like pinballs.
Their minibus arrived at the front gate of No. 1 High just in time for lunch.
Huo Fanjin messaged Jiang Fuyue, and the group arranged to meet in the cafeteria.
They were joined by Lin Qiao, Liu Bowen, and Wan Xiutong. After getting their food, they ran into Jiang Han, Ge Meng, and Liu Sisi.
“Sister Yue!”
The moment Jiang Han saw her, her pudgy face beamed until her eyes nearly disappeared into slits. “Hehe… Sister Yue, I improved again on this test…”
Of course, that wasn’t the important part. The real news was: “My dad was so happy he transferred two luxury apartments into my name. He said if I do even better next time, he’ll give me a villa. I’m trying to decide—should I go for the villa or commercial property? Sister Yue, what do you think? I’ll go with whatever you say.”
Even someone like Huo Fanjin, born into a wealthy family, was stunned by this girl casually dropping mansions like they were cabbages at the market.
What kind of crazy rich path is this?
She’s even wilder than me!
Jiang Fuyue gave brief introductions, and the group naturally sat down together.
A standard four-person table obviously wasn’t enough for so many.
Thankfully, the cafeteria had large round tables that could squeeze in over a dozen people if needed.
Everyone was here because of Jiang Fuyue. She was undoubtedly the center of gravity, the bridge that connected them all.
“Sister Yue, I improved too,” Ge Meng said shyly.
She scored better than Jiang Han and ranked even higher.
Ge Meng never thought she had it in her to really learn. She used to drift through school, completely given up. It wasn’t until she met Jiang Fuyue that everything changed. Suddenly, it was like her meridians opened up and her brain clicked.
She even started to believe she could go even further—maybe even get into a good university someday?
Her parents were overjoyed with her progress, and their family atmosphere had improved tremendously.
From the bottom of her heart, Ge Meng was grateful to Jiang Fuyue—and she also longed for more recognition from her.
Jiang Fuyue nodded and listed out her subject scores and class ranks, analyzing them one by one before concluding, “Big improvement. Keep it up.”
Ge Meng was both surprised and thrilled—she hadn’t expected Jiang Fuyue to know exactly how she did in every subject.
Jiang Han was used to it: “There’s no number Sister Yue can’t remember.”
While they were discussing grades, Liu Sisi wanted nothing more than to curl herself into a ball and quietly roll away.
Why? Because once dubbed one of the “bottom three” in their year, Jiang Han and Ge Meng had both “seen the light” and changed their fate. Only she was still stuck in the gutter, unable to bloom into anything but a turd.
It was rough.
Luckily, Jiang Fuyue didn’t ask her about her grades. Liu Sisi exhaled in relief, barely escaping disaster.
Out of the corner of her eye, Jiang Fuyue caught her relieved expression and gave a faint smile, which disappeared in a flash.
This table was full of lively chatter.
Meanwhile, at another table not far away, Edmond and Tosaki Naohara were a whole different vibe—silent and cold.
Though they sat together, neither had spoken a word. They weren’t close to begin with.
Edmond looked down at his tray of plain white rice and suddenly thought of yesterday’s fried rice eaten squatting outside that shop…
What was it called again?
Ah, yes—egg fried rice!
He’d never had such delicious Chinese food. Who knew eggs could do more than pair with toast? Beaten eggs wrapped around rice grains—genius!
Every grain was coated with eggy aroma, not fishy at all. The color was golden like seeds of sunlight—so pretty!
And it wasn’t just yellow. There were also tiny green circles on top—not those white-ish strands in chicken wraps, but real chopped scallions!
The server called them “scallion-ers!”
You had to pronounce the “-er” by curling your tongue.
After repeating it dozens of times, Edmond finally nailed it.
He tried to pay, but the cashier said it was already covered—Jiang Fuyue had paid for him.
He thought to himself, Chinese people really do like treating others.
He’d never experienced it before. It used to feel awkward, even wrong—why should someone else pay for his food?
What’s wrong with going Dutch?
But in that moment, he found it… not bad at all. It felt like—Jiang Fuyue was his friend!
Because in Chinese culture, only friends treat friends.
He was quietly pleased with himself.
He’d wanted to thank her today, but got dragged off to more tours. Now that he was back, the other Chinese exchange students seemed to exclude him again.
Worse, they’d lumped him and Tosaki Naohara together. Rude!
Edmond was fuming on the inside, but kept a calm face and refused to admit it.
Hmph! If they didn’t want him around, he didn’t want to join them either!
Who cares?!
Just then—
“Don’t you feel humiliated?” Tosaki Naohara suddenly spoke. Not only was his Chinese fluent, his English accent was crisp and refined.
Edmond blinked. “What?”
“Being discriminated against—don’t you feel humiliated?” Tosaki repeated slowly.
Edmond laughed, his blue eyes meeting Tosaki’s dark, brooding gaze. “Discriminated? Where did that come from?”
“Coldness, exclusion, isolation—isn’t that what this is?”
Edmond answered seriously, “I don’t think so. Not talking doesn’t mean being cold. Not sharing a table doesn’t equal exclusion or isolation. It’s just personal choice. Between strangers, isn’t this normal? Since when is that discrimination? Or something to feel ashamed about?”
Tosaki stared him down.
Edmond lost interest. He shrugged. “I’m full. Enjoy your meal.”
With that, he stood up and left.
All he could think was: That fried rice was really good…
He overheard other customers say that fried rice was the most basic item on the menu—there were even more delicious dishes, but you had to wait in line to get them.
Edmond made up his mind. He was gonna queue up later! He had to get some!
He wanted to eat so much more good food!
“Eh? That little curly-haired blue-eyed guy eats fast—he’s done already?” Huo Fanjin caught sight of him leaving and commented.
“Whatever!”
“Why do I feel like Tosaki Naohara keeps glancing over at us?”
“To be exact, not us, but Sister Yue.”
“Psh… What’s he up to now?”
“Lurking around like that… no good intentions, I tell you!”
Jiang Fuyue heard their chatter but didn’t turn around, as if the one spying wasn’t even worth her attention.
Huo Fanjin: “I’ve got a gut feeling—this Tosaki’s holding back something nasty!”
She warned Jiang Fuyue to be careful.
Jiang Fuyue gave a slight smile and said just four words: “If he dares to.”
Huo Fanjin smacked her lips. “You’re savage.”
She thought whatever Tosaki was brewing would take a while longer to show up.
But to everyone’s surprise, it came much sooner than expected…
