"Jiang Chen, apologize to Teacher Zhao and come down!"
Lin Yuechan stood up from her seat, her voice soft yet firm.
The classroom fell into stunned silence.
She—Lin Yuechan—had spoken up?
Among the four famed beauties of the school, Lin Yuechan stood at the peak. Elegant, intelligent, and aloof, she rarely interacted with boys, let alone took their side. Even the school's cafeteria dog wagged its tail when she passed, as if sensing her sacred aura.
And yet, here she was, standing up for Jiang Chen of all people.
Was she not worried about the consequences?
Zhao Dongfeng was momentarily frozen, caught between anger and uncertainty. He knew Lin Yuechan's background—her father a listed company's general manager, her mother an associate chief physician. She was a top student with a shining future, favored by teachers and respected by peers. Offending her would be unwise.
If Jiang Chen bowed out now, he might escape with dignity intact.
But then Jiang Chen looked up, his gaze calm as still water.
"Lin Yuechan," he said, voice low but steady. "You don't believe in me either?"
Lin Yuechan's eyes widened slightly. "No—that's not what I meant!"
"Then sit down and be quiet," Jiang Chen said, his tone sharp as a blade.
"You—!" Lin Yuechan choked, cheeks puffing. "You're impossible!"
She sat down with a huff, cheeks tinged red. She crumpled the draft paper on her desk, lips pressed tight in frustration.
Humph. A dog biting Lu Dongbin doesn't recognize a good heart!
Let's see how you dig yourself out of this one...
Despite her irritation, her clear, water-bright eyes shimmered with worry.
Jiang Chen stood quietly, facing the blackboard, his thoughts clear.
She was still the same—prideful and stubborn, yet simple and kind-hearted.
In his past life, he had failed her. Let her bloom in her prime, only to fall with the autumn wind and return to dust.
But this life would be different.
He took a breath and turned his focus to the physics problem before him. Conservation of momentum. Einstein's photoelectric equation. Mixed collisions. Energy transformation. The question, to the average student, was monstrous—the kind that sent complaints to education boards.
But to Jiang Chen, once an Immortal Emperor who had deciphered the laws of the cosmos?
Child's play.
To defy the heavens, one must understand them. The path to cultivation required mastery over nature, numbers, stars, and fate. In his past life, Jiang Chen had studied the Heavenly Mechanisms, combining Five Elements and cosmic mathematics into divine calculations that mapped the flow of destiny.
This problem? It was as simple as counting grains of rice.
He picked up the chalk.
Each formula flowed effortlessly, his writing elegant and bold, strokes reminiscent of ancient calligraphy—dignified, powerful, like Yan Zhenqing's regular script carved into jade.
Within three minutes, the entire solution stood complete on the blackboard.
The room fell into breathless silence.
Even Gao Huan, the proud math class representative, gawked. His jaw hung open, shaped like a perfect "O." You could probably fit a whole eggplant in there.
Around the room, students stared, speechless. Those who had jeered the loudest now looked like they'd seen a ghost in daylight—faces flushed and throats dry.
Lin Yuechan's eyes widened, disbelief flickering beneath her long lashes.
She had struggled with this question. She'd barely cracked the first part after much effort and had no clue how to approach the rest.
Yet Jiang Chen had solved the whole thing like it was nothing.
Humph. So this annoying guy had been hiding his strength all along?
At the podium, Zhao Dongfeng's face turned pale. His eyes locked on the blackboard as if he were trying to will the answer away.
"No… No way…" he muttered. "You—you must've seen the answers beforehand!"
"That's right!" someone shouted. "He only got ten points last time—how else could he solve this?"
"It must be cheating!"
"Shameless! How dare he show off using answers he memorized?"
Voices rose like a tide, loud and full of indignation.
But Jiang Chen only stood there, hands in his pockets, watching them coldly.
How petty and pathetic…
Then suddenly—slam!
The classroom trembled as Lin Yuechan slapped her desk and stood up.
"Everyone shut up!"
A gasp swept through the room.
Lin Yuechan? Raising her voice?
This was the same icy fairy who barely spoke outside of class—now shouting at her classmates, all for Jiang Chen?
Her face flushed pink as she realized what she'd done, but she held her ground. "Teacher Zhao, Jiang Chen did not cheat!"
Zhao Dongfeng blinked, caught off guard. He didn't dare lose his temper at Lin Yuechan. Instead, he plastered on a smile, adopting the tone of a kind elder.
"Classmate Lin Yuechan, you are young and kind-hearted. It's understandable that you were deceived by a dishonest classmate.
But this? It's obvious to anyone with eyes. Even fools can see it."
He waved his hand dismissively. "You're a bright student. Tsinghua, Beida, even Harvard—those schools are all within reach. Don't let someone like Jiang Chen drag you down."
He didn't name Jiang Chen directly, but the pointed look said enough.
Lin Yuechan's lips pressed into a thin line.
She turned to Jiang Chen, who still stood calmly by the blackboard. Then back to Zhao Dongfeng.
"Teacher," she said, voice cool and composed, "if Jiang Chen really cheated, then the answer he wrote must match the solution key word for word."
"Why don't you check? Compare his steps to the standard answer."
Silence.
Zhao Dongfeng's expression twitched.
All eyes turned to him.
And just like that, the weight of the truth hung in the air.