After being reborn, I gained a childhood sweetheart who appeared out of nowhere.

On Monday, the playground of the No. 1 Middle School in the city was filled with students. The morning sun shone through the thin mist, bringing a slight warmth.

This is the flag-raising ceremony held at the No. 1 Middle School on Monday mornings, which takes place every Monday.

After the flag-raising ceremony, the principal gives a speech, the content of which is always the same: from the school's development vision to the all-round development of students in morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics and labor...

The students below the stage whispered among themselves, perhaps more concerned about whether the cafeteria had any new dishes for lunch than about this boring speech.

"Let's welcome Xiao Yu, the representative of the first-year high school students, to the stage to give a speech." The principal's speech had just ended when a female voice with a broadcasting tone came over the loudspeaker.

Xiao Yu walked up the steps to the podium. While everyone else was wearing school uniforms, he stood out in a sharp suit.

He first gave a slight bow to the students below the stage, and then slowly began, "Good morning, teachers and students. I am very happy to represent the first-year high school students in giving a speech under the red flag..."

Most of the boys in the audience were daydreaming; reading from a script wasn't very appealing. However, quite a few girls were watching Xiao Yu intently on stage.

Xiao Yu, as the class monitor of Class 1, is now the most famous boy in the first year of high school. He is tall, rich, and handsome, and he is also very high-profile, so it would be difficult for him not to become famous.

"Only my family has some money," Wang Xu said, his tone tinged with bitterness.

"Mm," Lin Chuan replied.

"I believe that sooner or later," Wang Xu said earnestly, "Old Lin, you will definitely be able to replace him and stand on top."

"You trust me that much?"

"Of course," Wang Xu said.

"To be honest, it's not very interesting." Lin Chuan glanced at the podium.

"Is it a question of whether it's meaningful or not?" Wang Xu said. "It's a question of getting exposure! Who cares what he says? He himself might not even care. The important thing is to be seen in front of the entire school, to feel like everyone's eyes are on him!"

Lin Chuan said "Oh," and added, "Memorizing a script is also troublesome."

"Huh?" Wang Xu was taken aback.

"Don't chat during the flag-raising ceremony." Someone spoke behind them, and the two turned around to see a girl with a ponytail standing behind them.

"Hey, Chen is here too." Wang Xu smiled awkwardly, thinking that Chen was there to reprimand them.

"What are you two talking about?" Chen Xiyu asked with a smile.

"It's so troublesome to give a speech on stage, you have to memorize your script, and it's the sunniest place there," Lin Chuan said.

"I think so too." Chen Xiyu nodded.

"Did they also ask you to go up and give a speech?" Lin Chuan asked.

How did you know?

"I saw you in the hallway. I thought you were going on stage today too."

"Oh, okay," Chen Xiyu said, "I refused."

"That really doesn't mean anything." Lin Chuan nodded in agreement.

"Yeah yeah."

Wang Xu looked at the two of them and thought to himself, "Are they really that willful? So you can refuse when the teacher asks you to give a speech on stage? Is there really such an opportunity that you would refuse?"

Xiao Yu spoke with a slightly impassioned tone on the stage, which made many girls in the audience's eyes light up, while Lin Chuan and Chen Xiyu chatted in hushed tones.

Only when the speech ended and everyone applauded did the two of them clap twice in response.

The announcement was made to dismiss the students, and the students on the playground parted to let Lin Chuan and Chen Xiyu walk together toward the classroom, followed by Wang Xu and Zhou Yun...

Before even leaving the playground, we ran into Xiao Yu; he was just too conspicuous among the group of students in school uniforms.

"Chen, classmate." Xiao Yu called out.

Lin Chuan and Chen Xiyu had no choice but to stop.

"Is something the matter?" Chen Xiyu asked.

"I heard you refused to give a speech on behalf of the freshmen?" Xiao Yu asked, because according to the arrangements, it was supposed to be the two of them on stage together today.

"Mm," Chen Xiyu replied.

"May I ask for the reason?"

"Um... I don't want to memorize a script, and it's a bit sunny on stage." Chen Xiyu didn't know if she didn't want to make up an excuse, so she just used Lin Chuan's.

Xiao Yu smiled and said, "Chen is really funny."

"I'm serious," Chen Xiyu said.

Students passing by cast glances at them, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Both Xiao Yu, dressed in a suit and tie, and Chen Xiyu, in her school uniform, were particularly eye-catching.

Some people even started whispering among themselves, since both of them were quite famous in the first year of high school, and some people could even recognize Lin Chuan as the class monitor of Class 5.

"It's nothing, I'm going back to class." Chen Xiyu gave a faint smile and then left with Lin Chuan.

Back in the classroom, Lin Chuan went back to his seat and started eating his breakfast, since he hadn't eaten the steamed buns he bought at the school gate before the flag-raising ceremony.

At that moment, Zhou Yun called out from the podium, "Everyone, please hand in your math test papers." Her voice wasn't loud, and the classroom was a bit noisy, so it seemed that not many people heard her.

"Well, the first class is math," Zhou Yun said again, raising her voice a little.

Lin Chuan, munching on his bread, looked around before standing up, taking out his test paper, and walking to the podium to hand it to Zhou Yun. "Class representative, here's my test paper."

"Okay." Zhou Yun quickly took the test paper.

"You have to shout louder at them," Lin Chuan reminded them.

"Huh?" Zhou Yun was taken aback.

Lin Chuan stood by the podium, turned around and shouted to the classroom, "Class, it's math class for the first period. Hurry up and hand in your math tests, or the old man will lose his temper."

The noisy classroom finally quieted down a bit, and everyone hurriedly took out their test papers from their drawers.

"That's it," Lin Chuan said to her.

"Thank you, class monitor," Zhou Yun said quickly.

"It's alright." Lin Chuan walked downstairs.

After collecting most of the test papers, the math teacher went into the classroom. Once he confirmed that all the weekend homework had been collected, he began his lesson.

The math teacher was explaining boring formulas on the stage, and the students below would sometimes look up at the blackboard and sometimes look down at their textbooks. What was even more frustrating was that there were two math classes at once, and they finally made it to the end of get out of class.

Wang Xu seemed to have been drained of all his energy, collapsing onto the table. He turned to his deskmate and asked, "Going to the restroom?"

"Let's go." Lin Chuan also wanted to go out for some fresh air.

The two left the classroom together and went to the restroom. After Lin Chuan finished, he washed his hands, said "I'll wait for you outside," and left.

Wang Xu was still slowly relieving himself when he came out of the restroom. He wiped his pants with his hand and looked around for his deskmate. Soon he saw Lin Chuan standing by the railing of the connecting corridor not far away.

"Aren't you going back yet?" Wang Xu walked over and asked.

"No rush, class hasn't started yet, let's get some fresh air," Lin Chuan said.

Wang Xu said "oh" and leaned against the railing next to him. The two of them stood there, leisurely enjoying the breeze. He felt as if time had slowed down at that moment.

After a boring math class, standing by the railing, enjoying the breeze and daydreaming is a really good option.

"Lin Chuan".

Someone called out, and the voice sounded somewhat familiar. Lin Chuan turned his head and saw a girl in a school uniform with straight black hair standing behind him.

Wang Xu turned around and, upon seeing the person who had arrived, paused slightly. "Chen Xueting?"

"Is there something you need?" Lin Chuan asked.

"Can't I contact you if there's nothing wrong?" Chen Xueting asked.

"Whatever, but if you have nothing else to do, I'm going back to the classroom," Lin Chuan said calmly.

Wang Xu turned to look at his deskmate, who had just said he wanted to get some fresh air here.

However, judging from the atmosphere, he knew that now was not the time to complain, so he forcibly suppressed his urge to do so.

"Something's up," Chen Xueting said quickly.

"What is it?" Lin Chuan asked directly.

"You..." Chen Xueting bit her lip, and finally whispered, "Do you still like me?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Xu thought it sounded so ambiguous—was this the prelude to a confession? Considering that Lin Chuan had asked him for Lin Chuan's contact information earlier, it seemed like it was definitely going to happen.

He suddenly became a little excited. Could it be that he could see that kind of scene?

"I don't like it." Lin Chuan answered without hesitation. "Didn't I make it very clear last time? We have nothing to do with each other anymore."

"I know..." Chen Xueting paused for a moment, "Then can we still be friends?"

She actually hesitated for a long time before coming to him. She was initially a little angry after Lin Chuan humiliated her in the cafeteria.

But later, for some reason, I kept thinking about Lin Chuan, about his figure singing in the playground lights.

Both of their classes were on the third floor. They had seen each other several times in the school corridor. Lin Chuan stood alone by the corridor railing. The wind between the buildings blew, ruffling his hair and bringing a slight chill. The boy's profile was clearly defined.

"Friends?" Lin Chuan was also taken aback.

"Well, even if you don't like me anymore, we can still just be friends," Chen Xueting said.

"I don't date, and I don't lack friends. There's no point in you being friends with me, so you don't need to contact me anymore," Lin Chuan said.

Chen Xueting stood there, stunned.

She wasn't sure if she had fallen for Lin Chuan, but she had definitely started to care about him. But now, she suddenly felt a void in her heart, as if she had lost something important.

Lin Chuan walked straight to the classroom. As they passed each other, he seemed to hear someone say in a very low voice, "I'm sorry."

Lin Chuan simply hummed in response, but walked away without lingering.

Wang Xu glanced at Lin Chuan, then at Chen Xueting, unsure of what to say, and could only follow Lin Chuan ahead.

"Old Lin, there's no need to be so heartless, is there? Wasn't she someone you liked...?" Wang Xu asked cautiously.

Because Lin Chuan liked Chen Xueting, he and Chen Xueting had quite a bit of contact. They weren't exactly good friends, but they were quite familiar with each other.

"Didn't you see? She looked like she was about to cry," Wang Xu said.

They had been classmates for over two years, and this was the first time Wang Xu had ever seen Chen Xueting look like this, so dejected, like a puppy abandoned in the rain.

"There was never any possibility to begin with. Why give her hope when there's no point in being ruthless?" Lin Chuan said. "Wouldn't that be even worse?"

Wang Xu was slightly taken aback, scratched his head, and seemed to understand but not quite, finally only managing a soft "oh".

During the break between the third and fourth periods, Mr. Xue, who didn't have any classes, also appeared in the classroom. As soon as he entered, the classroom quieted down. The homeroom teacher's authority was indeed very real.

"Teacher Xue, is the class changed today?" a student sitting in the front row asked.

"No, I just finished teaching other classes and stopped by to talk to you guys about something," Xue Ren said. "Regarding the school magazine, the class monitor should have already told you the requirements, right?"

"I said so."

"Okay, I'm here today to tell you that the deadline for submitting articles is the end of this week," Xue Ren said. "So if you have any ideas, hurry up and submit them to the class monitor. That's all I wanted to say."

After saying that, Xue Ren turned and left the classroom, but Lin Chuan chased after him.

"Teacher Xue!" Lin Chuan called out.

"What's wrong?" Xue Ren stopped in the corridor and asked.

"I have a question for you," Lin Chuan said.

"What is it?"

"Does our school magazine pay for submissions?"

"Yes, didn't it say so in the call for submissions? Although it's not much, if it's well-written, you should still be able to earn a few hundred yuan," Xue Ren said.

Lin Chuan continued, "If I can write an article that gets accepted for the school magazine, when is the earliest I can expect to receive payment?"

"In that case, it will be at least next week or later. We will collect all the submissions this week, and then I and several teachers will review them together. Only after they are approved can we apply for payment," Xue Ren said.

Is it possible to receive the payment for the article within this week?

"This week?"

"Um."

"Although I believe in your abilities, you also know that the school's procedures for this kind of essay contest are already set. Even though I'm in charge of this year's school magazine, I can't change anything," Xue Ren said.

"Understood," Lin Chuan paused for a moment, "Teacher Xue, but I really do need some money. Could you do me a favor? Look at all this running around, even looking for someone who can draw illustrations..."

"Why are you in such a hurry for money?" Xue Ren asked.

"There are some urgent matters that I can't discuss," Lin Chuan said with a smile.

Xue Ren was silent for a while, but finally agreed, "Alright, you've been running around a lot lately, so I'll make an exception for you. Give me the manuscript in the next couple of days, and I'll take a quick look with a few reviewers. If there are no problems, I'll pay you the manuscript fee."

He knew there wouldn't be time to apply for royalties, so he planned to pay for it himself first. He didn't really mind the few hundred yuan.

"By the way, according to the family situation survey, is your family situation rather average?" Xue Ren asked.

"Yes," Lin Chuan said. He wasn't lying, though he didn't know why Lao Xue was suddenly asking this.

Xue Ren nodded. "Our school will soon be starting the student grant application process. Students can get around a thousand yuan a year if they apply. If you think your situation is suitable, then apply. There are no quota restrictions; you can apply as long as you meet the requirements."

"Okay, I understand," Lin Chuan said. "Thank you, Teacher Xue."

"It's nothing," Xue Ren waved his hand, as he still had his second-year high school classes to attend.

"Wait a minute..." Lin Chuan took out his notebook. "Teacher Xue, I've actually finished writing my essay. I can take it back and have it reviewed by the other teachers."

"You wrote that fast?"

Lin Chuan smiled and said, "I happened to have some time over the weekend, so I wrote it."

"Okay." Xue Ren nodded and took the notebook.

When the school bell rang, a young female teacher in a business suit walked into the classroom. "Class, today's music class will be held in the music room. Please get ready."

"Yay!" The classroom erupted in cheers.

Although there may not be much difference between music class in the classroom and music room, as both involve singing along with the teacher, being able to leave the classroom is always something to be happy about.

"Everyone, come with me." The music teacher walked out of the classroom, and a group of people followed.

Lin Chuan and Wang Xu followed the crowd, walked through the corridor, and headed towards the science and technology building across the street...