The Marriage Trap

The girl said this as she looked towards Shang Jianghan with her watery big eyes.

Among the people present, he was the teacher, so naturally, he couldn't just ignore a student fainting, right?

For some reason, this scene made Shen Chaoxi want to laugh.

Fang Yuan tugged at Shen Chaoxi's clothes and gave her a look that said, "Watch the drama unfold."

Whether Shang Jianghan, this flower growing on the edge of an iceberg, could be plucked, was to be seen this time.

Shen Chaoxi raised her hand to wipe the sweat from her philtrum, hiding the corners of her mouth that kept twitching up.

"Cough, cough!"

At that moment, the sound of Shang Jianghan's light cough reached her ears, and Shen Chaoxi shuddered, feeling her hairs stand on end.

Without her knowing when, this Mr. Shang, the teacher in question, had already stood by her right side and unwittingly nudged her waist with his elbow.

Shen Chaoxi subconsciously glanced sideways and what caught her eye was the white earbud that someone was fiddling with between his slender, well-defined fingers.

This was the earbud that had just been confiscated from Shen Chaoxi.

Shang Jianghan's action was obviously coercive.

Shen Chaoxi had wanted to act indifferent, but remembering that the earbud was a gift from Yao Dima, who had spent ten days' worth of his salary on it,

thinking about the twenty-year-old who braved wind and rain every day, riding his electric scooter or driving his drafty van making deliveries, who couldn't bear to buy a T-shirt he liked but saved money to buy her earbuds, Shen Chaoxi couldn't bring herself to be indifferent.

Her back was gently touched again.

Accepting her fate, Shen Chaoxi exhaled a heavy breath and clenched her white teeth.

"Fang Yuan, Xiaoyu, let's lend a hand and take Yu Nan to the infirmary. It's so hot today that staying here could lead to heatstroke!"

With Shen Chaoxi's words, several people clumsily went to help Yu Nan.

"Get lost! Who asked you to be a busybody!"

As the group entered the infirmary's door and while no one was paying attention, Yu Nan shook off Shen Chaoxi's hand and glared at her fiercely.

"A dog catching mice!"

**

On Monday, after attending the flag-raising ceremony, Shen Chaoxi was escorted back to the classroom by Fang Yuan and Xiao Xiaoyu, one on each side.

Class 9's classroom was on the third floor, turn left after the stairs, the last one at the end.

Passing by other classrooms, there were always unusual glances cast their way, and occasionally they would even hear a deliberately suppressed catcall or two.

Fang Yuan and Xiao Xiaoyu seemed to have grown accustomed to this proud feeling of being enveloped in the spotlight.

They were covered in glory!

The trio quickly entered through the back door of Class 9.

"Eh? Chaoxi, you've got a new deskmate!" Xiao Xiaoyu was the first to notice something was off.

A new desk had been placed next to the window, and Shen Chaoxi had been moved to the outer side.

On the new desk, there was a pale blue backpack adorned with pink sparkles.

"Wow! A summer limited edition backpack from the Xiang Family! Only twelve in the world! Wow, it's so beautiful; even more beautiful than the one in the magazine! If I had such a backpack, I would worship it, light incense for it every day! Who is this person, to use such a treasure so casually!"

Fang Yuan circled the backpack, eyes shining.

Girls naturally had no immunity to luxury goods.

Shen Chaoxi hadn't paid attention to these fashionable items in a long time.

Back at the Shen Family, Shen Yueyue would cajole Shen Daguang every month into buying her bags or clothes from the Xiang Family, and after making a purchase, she would deliberately flaunt them in front of her with a demeanour like she had never seen the world, truly annoying.

Soon, the bell for class rang, and the first lesson was English.

Bai Jinyuan entered in her unchanged black suit, wearing three-centimeter heels, with her hair meticulously pinned back and half of her face obscured by black-framed glasses.

However, today the serious expression on her face had relaxed somewhat.

Afterwards, a tall figure entered from behind her.

This person, upon appearing, stood there, enough to draw the eyes of everyone present.

Anyone who followed entertainment news would recognize this person.

A child star by origin, last New Year's they had won the Best Actress award at the Star Shadow Awards, the youngest to ever do so.

This person was eighteen years old, named Zhong Li.

Those who mingled in the Shangjing Circle all knew that in the Central District of this capital, there were four prestigious surname families at the pinnacle of power and wealth, untouchable and infinitely aspired to.

The Shang Family, the Song Family, the Zhong Family, the Bai Family.

Recently, Shen Chaoxi had not stopped having these pieces of gossip poured into her ears by Fang Yuan.

Bai Jinyuan gave a brief introduction of Zhong Li, then directed her to her seat.

Zhong Li's seat was naturally the new desk that had taken Shen Chaoxi's place.

During the class, Bai Jinyuan lectured until she was dry and hoarse, while the students in the class each harbored their own thoughts.

"The monthly exam is next week; everyone should buckle down and review during this time. In senior year, grades speak for themselves, don't let me down!"

After finishing her admonition, Bai Jinyuan left the classroom.

Once she was gone, a crowd had gathered around Zhong Li's desk.

"Wow! Finally meeting a living celebrity! Hi Zhong Li, I'm Kang Jian, your number one fanatical fan!"

"Get lost, get lost, get lost! At Zhou Dazhou's concert on Sunday, you said the same thing! Zhong Li, I'm Fu Haitao, the class president of Class Nine, just give me a shout if you need anything, I'll be there!"

Zhong Li politely greeted everyone.

"Sorry, please don't be so enthusiastic. From today onwards, I'm not any kind of celebrity, just an ordinary senior student. We're classmates from now on, please take care of me!"

"Sure thing, sure thing!"

Seeing a crowd swarming over, Shen Chaoxi actively gave up her place and went to get some hot water with her cup.

She had just started her period yesterday, and there was a faint stabbing pain in her lower abdomen.

By the time she returned with the hot water, she saw that both the entrance and windows of the classroom were crowded with students from other classes.

Class President Fu Haitao came out and bellowed loudly.

"Hey! What's there to see? Doesn't your class pride itself on prioritizing studying? Move it, move it! Don't dirty yourselves with us, the laggards!"

The other classes privately called the students of Class Nine "laggards."

With that shout from Fu Haitao, the entrance of Class Nine finally cleared out.

When Shen Chaoxi got back to her seat, Fang Yuan, the chatterbox, had already introduced himself and Shen Chaoxi to Zhong Li.

"Hey, Zhong Li, your deskmate is also a great beauty. I think you two both have your special charms, neither inferior to the other!"

Being compared favorably with herself, who was crowned with the title of "once in a millennium beauty," Zhong Li looked at Shen Chaoxi with curiosity.

Zhong Li knew she took the pure and gentle approach in her image; she was cute and sweet looking with starry almond eyes, an oval face, and a tall and shapely figure, enhanced by years of body training to have an exceptional bearing.

But when she saw Shen Chaoxi, she was thoroughly amazed.

Shen Chaoxi, in stark contrast to her own demure image, had picturesque brows and eyes, with the corners tilted upward, carrying a natural charm, and a hint of a graceful and forthright temperament.

In Zhong Li's years of acting experience, if there were a movie with two female leads before her now, she would play the demure matriarch while Shen Chaoxi would undoubtedly be the female general commanding armies!

Zhong Li extended her well-maintained, scallion-like hand towards Shen Chaoxi.

"Zhong Li, I'll be your deskmate from now on. Please take care of me!"

"Shen Chaoxi!"

When their hands clasped together, Zhong Li unexpectedly discovered her skin tone was a shade darker than Shen Chaoxi's.