Chapter 37: 36: Truly a Pair of Pitiable People with Shared Misfortune
Eight in the morning.
When Qiao Ze entered the classroom with the three from his dormitory, a clear voice rang out, "Qiao Ze, over here."
It was Su Mucheng, standing poised at the back of the classroom, casually greeting Qiao Ze.
This call drew the gaze of nearly everyone in the class to Qiao Ze, who had been following behind Zhang Zhou.
What a scene, with the class president leading the way, the group secretary by his side, and the class committee member beckoning…
This newcomer treatment was indeed unparalleled.
Fortunately for Qiao Ze, he was already used to the feeling of countless eyes focused on him.
He had transferred schools three times during high school, and each time he appeared as the new guy in class, the attention he received was similar.
Some were even more excessive.
Being stared at with invasive, offensive glances was also common.
So, the curious stares in the classroom were nothing to Qiao Ze.
He simply thought of the arrangement made last night and naturally made his way to the back row of the classroom.
Chen Yiwen paused for a moment, then proceeded as usual towards the front row of the classroom.
Zhang Zhou and Gu Zhengliang exchanged glances and quietly followed behind Chen Yiwen.
Hey... It's not that I don't want to cling to the powerful, it's just that I really don't want to be abused like a dog again…
And it's even more pitiful than being a bootlicking dog—a stupid dog.
…
The 301 classroom in the science building can seat 132 people, with a total of twelve rows. Su Mucheng's seat was in the third row from the back.
It was already quite far back, and at this time, she was the only one sitting there.
The School of Mathematics has two classes for the major in Basic Mathematics, with a total of 83 students. So, there is an unwritten rule in large classrooms during major classes: the last three rows should not be occupied, or they would definitely attract special attention from the professors teaching the course.
Especially at the School of Mathematics, regular grades are quite important if you don't want to fail at the end of the semester.
Leaving a bad impression on the professor can mean that even a small issue on an exam might result in a nauseating score like 58 or 59.
Resitting the course costs money, not to mention wastes time.
After all, when true intellectuals set out to denigrate someone, they can always find a creative way to do it.
But obviously, for Su Mucheng, the top student of the grade, and the transfer student Qiao Ze, this wasn't really an issue.
…
Countless eyes followed Qiao Ze until he sat down next to Su Mucheng. The classroom then became noisy, with whispering voices occasionally rising.
As usual, Qiao Ze would not mind these things.
Clearly, Su Mucheng didn't care much about those unusual stares either. When Qiao Ze sat down, she began a friendly conversation, "Eh? You didn't bring your book!"
"Yeah, the counselor didn't take me to get it yesterday."
"That's alright, we can just share mine." Saying this, Su Mucheng flipped the book to the section covered in the previous class and placed it squarely between them.
Qiao Ze glanced at the delicate handwriting on the book. He originally wanted to say that he had self-studied this course already and didn't need the book.
But remembering the words about showing off from the two in his dormitory, he held back.
After all, Qiao Ze didn't really want to deliberately show off.
Even so, many gazes were still revolving around him, like the three girls sitting together in the row in front of him, wearing enigmatic smiles on their faces.
Luckily, Qiao Ze was accustomed to it.
"Right, Qiao Ze, I forgot to ask you, did that professor reply to your email yesterday?"
In fact, Su Mucheng had already learned the details of the professor's reply from Zhang Zhou via WeChat that morning, but there were still ten minutes before class started and she needed a topic of conversation.
"Mm-hmm." Qiao Ze nodded, without elaborating on his thoughts. He didn't want to show off anyway.
"Wow, you are really impressive!" Su Mucheng raised her hand to cover her mouth, her sparkling eyes staring at Qiao Ze unabashedly, making no effort to hide the blatant admiration in her gaze.
"Er... it's okay, I guess?"
Qiao Ze, accustomed to being observed with all sorts of peculiar glances, found himself slightly uncomfortable under such blatantly admiring eyes for the first time.
At the same time, a few girls in the front row were chatting even more cheerfully.
"Our Chengzi is serious this time!"
"So many guys chased Chengzi before, and many handsome ones didn't even get a glance from her. I thought she was late to mature, but who could have imagined she'd be so bold once she took the initiative. I'm too embarrassed to even look."
"Right, but Chengzi's taste is so unique, isn't it?"
"What do you know? This must be the legendary 'Nerd Attraction Theorem,' isn't it?"
"Hey, Lu Dandan, what are you all chatting about? And what's the deal with our class representative today?"
"Heh... back off; it's none of your business!"
...
Okay, the young girls were unaware that Qiao Ze's hearing was that good.
Although he couldn't hear every word of their whispered conversations clearly, by piecing together the context, he could usually get the gist of it.
This left Qiao Ze somewhat puzzled.
So, he directly asked, "Are you serious about wanting to chase me?"
"Er..." Su Mucheng, probably not expecting Qiao Ze to be so direct, blushed a deeper red with a hint of shyness on her lightly made-up face. After a habitual wrinkle of her nose, she stubbornly replied, "Yes, serious. Why?"
Qiao Ze stated confidently, "But I am sick. All my high school classmates know."
"Ah?" Su Mucheng was taken aback and then furrowed her brows, asking, "You're sick?"
Qiao Ze nodded and pointed to his head, saying seriously, "I'm really sick, up here."
"What exactly is wrong? Any symptoms? Does it hurt?" Su Mucheng asked with concern.
Qiao Ze shook his head and said, "It doesn't hurt, as for symptoms..."
After thinking for a moment, Qiao Ze decided to be honest, "Basically, if I talk too much with foolish people, I feel like my IQ is being contaminated. And if forced to do simple problems, I can't concentrate at all..."
Upon hearing this, Su Mucheng's eyes lit up again, and she spoke with equal sincerity, "Wow, you have that too? Seriously, I also don't like talking with really dumb people—it feels like being slowly murdered! We're so pitiful! Hey, does this count as commiserating with each other's miseries?"
Qiao Ze was surprised and asked, "Really?"
Su Mucheng nodded vigorously, and animatedly replied, "Really! Once, I watched a variety show with my mom, and the celebrity guest couldn't even solve a simple quadratic equation. I was literally crying at their stupidity at that moment! I haven't dared to watch any domestic variety shows since, just in case I catch their stupidity!"
Qiao Ze was stunned and said skeptically, "That can't be right? How can there be celebrities in the world who can't solve a quadratic equation? Shouldn't that be something you naturally learn with age? Child stars?"
Su Mucheng quickly said, "There really are! And not child stars, wait a second..."
Having said that, she brazenly took out her phone and began to search...
Fortunately, the class bell rang just in time, along with Professor Ma, who came in with his bag, interrupting the mutual sympathies of the two.
After the class music stopped, Professor Ma, responsible for teaching Ordinary Differential Equations, looked around the classroom and then asked, "We have a new student Qiao Ze in class, right? Is Qiao Ze here? Stand up and let me see you."
With one sentence from Professor Ma, all the students in the classroom turned to look towards the back row.
Qiao Ze stood up silently as well.
"So you're Qiao Ze. Why aren't you sitting in the front? Ah, never mind. I look forward to your final grade. Alright, sit down. Let's start the class now..."