"Was it Gao Yuanyuan?" Zhou Li put down her pen and smiled calmly. "That child has always been a good student, quite gifted."
"Nope," Old Lu shook his head firmly, a mysterious glint in his eyes. "You'd never guess who it is."
"With how you're putting it, I really can't." Zhou Li gently shook her head. She was quite familiar with the state of her class—there were no so-called prodigies to speak of.
"It was Shu Ran," Gu Yichen said softly, the corners of his lips curving ever so slightly.
His words weren't a question, but a certainty.
"Huh?" Old Lu blinked, then broke into a wide grin. "Didn't expect Teacher Gu to already understand the students so well after just two days."
"Just a rough idea." Gu Yichen shifted his gaze out the window toward Shu Ran. For some reason, he sensed a deep, worn wisdom in the girl's eyes, a quiet resilience born from hardship. There was something about her that made people want to get closer.
The sunlight bathed him in a soft glow. His long lashes trembled slightly as he took a slow sip of coffee. The movement of his Adam's apple was subtle, yet mesmerizing. The scene was like something out of a painting.
Several of the female teachers in the office found themselves stealing glances at him, cheeks faintly flushed.
"Shu Ran?" Zhou Li frowned. "She's never passed a single test. How could she possibly score full marks?"
"I didn't believe it either," Old Lu admitted, pointing toward the paper in the director's hands, his tone slightly stern. "But facts are facts. Are you saying you don't trust your own student? That you think she cheated?"
"Lu laoshi, that's not what I mean," Zhou Li said quickly. "If a student's improving, I'm glad to see it. But she scored in the thirties just last week—how could she suddenly get a perfect score on a paper designed for the Experimental Middle School?"
The director handed the test paper back to Old Lu, then looked squarely at Zhou Li. "You have three days to get to the bottom of this."
When the bell rang, Shu Ran was promptly called to stay behind by the homeroom teacher. Gao Yuanyuan shot her a look of scorn on the way out. Shu Ran frowned slightly. She could already guess how this so-called stepsister would spin things at home to make their stepfather hate them even more. These little tricks—she knew them all too well.
Zhou Li looked at the quiet girl standing before her. There was no panic on her face—just a strange calmness that sent a chill down Zhou Li's spine. She couldn't help but sigh.
"Do you know how many points you got on today's math test?"
"One hundred," Shu Ran replied, lifting her head to meet the teacher's gaze. Her beautiful eyes were clear and steady.
Zhou Li momentarily lost her composure. Behind those eyes, she could sense a cold detachment, even a trace of mockery. She frowned.
"You're quite confident."
"There are only two reasons a student gets called to stay behind after a test—either you scored zero, or you got full marks. Given my usual performance, even a zero wouldn't raise any eyebrows. Only a perfect score would cause concern—because you suspect I cheated."
Shu Ran's reasoning left Zhou Li speechless. A mere elementary schooler had delivered such a sharp analysis. Had she truly underestimated this girl all along?
"Did you cheat?"
"If I said no, would you believe me?"
Zhou Li had no answer. Even the worst troublemakers usually acted timidly when facing a teacher. But this girl—this calm, unnerving composure—was something else entirely.
"If you won't believe me, then what's the point in asking?"
The tone was light, like a breeze, but Zhou Li still felt a chill creep over her.
Shu Ran turned to look out the window. The clouds were tinged with vivid hues by the setting sun, and the light slowly gave way to darkness. The world outside grew quiet and still, returning to silence.
"I believe you," Zhou Li finally said.
Shu Ran turned back slowly, studying the woman in front of her. In her previous life, she had lived under the weight of inferiority, cut off from the kindness of others. This teacher had never really acknowledged her before—and now she was saying she believed her?
A faint smile tugged at Shu Ran's lips, tinged with irony. But when she met Zhou Li's gaze, the mocking smile faded.
This woman meant it. She really believed her.
"Even though I believe you," Zhou Li continued gently, "based on your past behavior, I still want to ask—have you been hiding your true ability all along? Was it because of Gao Yuanyuan?"
Shu Ran didn't answer. She didn't know how to explain what had happened to her—betrayed by her stepsister and fiancé, killed, then reborn into elementary school. That kind of story would sound far-fetched even a decade from now, let alone today.
Zhou Li sighed inwardly. For a child, living through a remarriage—especially to someone as wealthy as Gao Jianjun—was already a burden. It wasn't hard to imagine the pressure and isolation she might feel at home. But if she had always hidden her real academic ability, why reveal it now?
"Ms. Zhou." A male teacher entered the room. Shu Ran glanced at him, then looked away out the window again. He was the homeroom teacher of the neighboring class—Mr. Yu, full name Yu Yi.
Yu Yi shot Shu Ran a glance, his expression darkening.
"What's the matter, Mr. Yu?" Zhou Li asked gently, noticing his displeasure.
"It's about the cheating incident," Yu Yi said coldly. "Your student Shu Ran got our student Liu Hong to sneak into the office last night and steal the test paper. No wonder she scored full marks."
"What?!" Zhou Li jumped to her feet. Stealing at such a young age? That was serious. She looked quickly at the girl before her, but Shu Ran showed no sign of fear or anxiety—only a calm indifference, as if the accusation had nothing to do with her.
"Mr. Yu, that's a serious accusation. Do you have any proof?"
"Proof?" Yu Yi handed her a test paper. "See for yourself. This is Liu Hong's test. That kid only ever fights and causes trouble—and somehow he scored a perfect hundred? On an Experimental Middle School exam?"
Zhou Li frowned as she examined the paper. If Shu Ran had been hiding her abilities for personal reasons, it still made some sense. But Liu Hong? A notoriously disruptive student, failing from first to sixth grade? There was no way he had honestly scored a hundred.