Evan Lin returned to the classroom, not giving a second thought to what had just happened.
Whether it was Ethan Yi, Trevor Liu, or Buck Niu—
to Evan, they were all just insignificant ants.
Right now, Evan only cared about three things.
First: improve his grades, mainly so his mother back in Whitewood County could be happy;
Second: raise his strength. Only power decides everything—whoever has the bigger fist gets to speak. That’s the eternal truth. But building strength isn’t something that happens overnight.
Third: make money. Only by earning could he change his mother’s life. But for Evan “Nine Mysteries” Lin, making money wasn’t exactly a challenge.
Back at his desk, Evan pulled out his textbook from the drawer. Unexpectedly, Mia Chen, who sat in the front row, suddenly walked over and stopped beside his desk.
Evan looked up at her. "What's up, class monitor? Got any instructions?"
Evan’s tone was calm, without the hint of feeling he’d shown the first time he’d invited Mia Chen to walk home together.
Even that subtle shift in his voice didn’t escape Mia Chen’s notice.
She figured it was probably what she’d said to him on the soccer field yesterday that hurt his pride.
That thought made Mia sigh softly, feeling a strange sense of disappointment.
But she quickly composed herself, looked at Evan, and said calmly, "Trevor Liu’s older brother is coming back soon. You’d better be careful these next few days."
"If you need to, just take a few days off."
"Are you worried about me?" Evan looked at Mia Chen, genuinely curious.
"I just don’t want students in my class causing trouble," Mia replied, expressionless. "After all, you were the one who hit Trevor Liu that day. Knowing his personality, he’ll never let it go."
"Alright, thanks for the heads-up." Evan nodded.
"But I don’t need it."
Trevor Liu, Tyson Liu—it’s all the same to me."
Hearing Evan’s words and seeing his indifferent attitude, Mia Chen couldn’t help saying, "You think just because you can fight a little, you’re fine? Tyson Liu is a trained athlete—he’s even represented the school at provincial competitions."
"Doesn’t matter. If he dares show up, he’ll be the one regretting it."
Evan was full of confidence. Mia still wanted to say more, but in the end she just shook her head, her eyes disappointed. "Forget it. Talking won’t help. If you love fighting so much, go ahead. But Evan, keep this up and you’ll ruin yourself."
With that, Mia didn’t give Evan another chance to speak and turned back to her seat.
"Ruin myself, huh?" Evan watched Mia’s back as she walked away and decided not to think about it anymore.
The bell rang for class.
Next up was a double period of math.
When Old Man Liu came in carrying a stack of test papers, the whole classroom erupted in groans.
"Oh come on, why do we have a test today?" one boy complained, face full of misery.
"A test in the first period? My brain’s not even awake yet," another girl grumbled.
"Quiet down, everyone. We’re doing a test in a bit," Old Man Liu said, putting the papers on the podium and glancing at the students. "You have five minutes to use the restroom. No leaving once the test starts."
"This test is a bit tough, so just do your best and show your real level."
Old Man Liu’s face was serious. After he finished speaking, students started chatting and headed off to the restroom one by one.
Five minutes later, everyone was back in their seats.
Old Man Liu began handing out the test papers.
As soon as they got their papers and glanced at the questions, the groans started up again.
"This test looks brutal."
"Man, I went through the whole thing and didn’t find a single question I know how to do!"
The students below kept exclaiming in shock.
"Quiet down. The test starts now. No more talking," Old Man Liu said, rapping the desk.
He really did have authority in Class 7.
After he spoke, the students quieted down and started working on the test.
Evan took out scratch paper and a pen, looking over the test laid out in front of him.
"The questions are really different from the practice sets we’ve done before, but it’s still just the same types overall."
"The last few chapters cover knowledge points I haven’t practiced yet, so those might be tough."
"Guess my score won’t be too high this time."
With that thought, Evan started writing.
Evan’s math grades used to be a total mess, but no matter what, this time he was definitely making progress.
Old Man Liu paced the classroom with his hands behind his back, looking like a scholar from the last century.
All around the classroom, you could see students scratching their heads, frowning, and looking miserable.
Math has always been a total monster.
Two periods flew by.
When the bell rang at the end of the second period, Old Man Liu checked the time. "Pens down. First student in each row, collect the papers."
"Ah! I’m not done yet!" one boy shouted, frantically trying to finish.
"Hey, what’d you put for question three on the multiple choice?" another boy nudged his seatmate, whispering.
Evan put down his pen and looked at his test, filled to the brim with answers. He felt a bit relieved.
"I thought I understood math after writing so many problems, but after this test, I see I still have a lot to learn."
"But it’s fine. I’ll take it slow."
Evan smiled to himself, reassuring himself.
Mia Chen was in charge of collecting the papers for Evan’s row. When she saw the relaxed smile on Evan’s face, she frowned.
"If you did badly on the test, fine. But if you did badly and can still smile about it like it's no big deal, then there's really no hope for you."
Mia Chen sighed inwardly, then quickly pushed the thought out of her mind.
"If Evan Lin won't even try and is just willing to give up on himself, what does that have to do with me?"
Mia's mind spun quickly. As she picked up Evan's test paper, she noticed it was filled out even more densely than her own.
But Mia didn't think much of it.
Writing a lot doesn't mean you did well; plenty of weak students hand in papers crammed with answers too.
But all those formulas and numbers are usually just wrong.
Old Man Liu finished collecting the tests and left the classroom with the stack in his arms.
As soon as he walked out, the whole classroom erupted.
Students leaned over to whisper and swap answers.
Those whose answers matched looked thrilled, while the ones who didn't just looked miserable.
"This is high school life, huh."
"Just one test about grades is enough to pull at their heartstrings."
Evan Lin stretched lazily and watched the whole scene.
But he had no idea that a rumor about a guy named Evan Lin giving Yolanda Fang a whole set of sexy lingerie was already spreading like wildfire around school.