“The top subjects at No.3 and No.9 High are different. Which do you use more often, Newton’s Second Law or the Squeeze Theorem?”

“……” Laura Bennett felt his head start to swell. “I used to study in the UK, at Winchester.”

“Wow!”

The owls started flapping around.

“British accent!”

“Is it hard to apply to British high schools?”

“You went abroad in high school? Your IELTS must be at least 7.5, right?”

Samuel Grant banged on his desk, “Did you go to middle school in the UK too? What about elementary school? Why did you come back? Are you taking the college entrance exam here next year?”

A gentle-looking boy with silver-rimmed glasses spun his coffee bottle and asked, “Do they have separate science subjects in the UK too? What’s the full score?”

“Boring.” Finn curled his lip and glanced back at Laura Bennett, “Did you think the last question was hard?”

Laura Bennett: “……”

“Are you guys done yet? My head’s spinning.” Brian Clark scoffed lightly, put down his phone, “Going to the cafeteria?”

Laura Bennett had to choose between one Brian Clark and over forty owls. He pretended to hesitate for five seconds, then decisively stood up.

Samuel Grant turned his attention to Brian Clark, “What’s your relationship?”

Brian Clark thought for a moment, “Let’s say—I’m his temporary guardian at school.”

Laura Bennett: “?”

The owls: “What?”

Samuel Grant pondered, “Who’s guarding whom?”

Brian Clark smiled, “Instead of digging into people’s backgrounds, why not recall how many people stayed in Math and Science A?”

“……”

Samuel Grant’s voice started to tremble: “Thir…thirty!”

Like wind sweeping a battlefield, silence fell everywhere.

Brian Clark—Laura Bennett would call him the owl hunter.

As he was leaving the classroom, Brian Clark couldn’t resist one last jab: “If the little white rabbits from Class 4 go out, won’t they get eaten alive? Last night I dreamed I bombed the test and got transferred out. When I woke up, my pillowcase was soaked with tears.”

The owls: “……”

*

Between the cafeteria and the main building was a small playground. The tree-lined path ran along one side, and in early March, the trees hadn’t budded yet, their bare branches twisting like claws.

The exam had delayed lunch by half an hour, so there were only a few people in line at the window. While waiting, Laura Bennett opened Messenger.

He scrolled down the screen. James Bennett had bombarded him with over seventy messages since last night, the latest just a few minutes ago, asking what he wanted for lunch.

In most ways, James Bennett could be considered a competent father. Growing up, Laura Bennett only had two complaints about him. One, he was obsessed with role-playing as a Brit. Two, just two years after that person left, he already had a close relationship with another woman.

Staring at the screen full of letters, Laura Bennett replied with a neat Chinese character.

“嗯”

A few seconds later, a new message popped up: “My last message was a question.”

Laura Bennett replied: “So you still know how to speak Chinese.”

The chat fell silent. He gave James Bennett a minute to reply, but when nothing came, he closed Messenger.

He still hadn’t gotten his student card, so he only had the temporary meal card Jack Harris gave him, its stark whiteness a bit glaring.

Two meat dishes, one vegetable, rice as the staple, and two egg tarts as standard. Swiping the card cost 9.4 yuan—so cheap it was touching.

He’d just sat down when Samuel Grant and Finn came over.

Before sitting, Finn greeted Laura Bennett: “Hello, I’m Faye Young.”

“The ‘扉’ from ‘pain that pierces the heart’.” Samuel Grant chimed in. “Don’t be fooled by his gloomy face all day—he’s actually a rich kid, his dad spoiled him silly with money.”

“Shut up.”

Faye Young was pretty good-looking, just always wore a sullen expression, his air of decadence oddly familiar.

It took Laura Bennett a while to realize—he looked like the French bulldog his London neighbor owned.

Samuel Grant was still going on about the exam.

“God, this is the first time math has stumped me. I’ve never scored below 135 before, but this time I’ll be lucky to break 100.”

“Really.” Brian Clark glanced up. “I just heard Old Martin telling a teacher from another class on the way here, he didn’t expect even Class 4 to find it so hard. He’s really hurt.”

Samuel Grant almost spat out his food, “What the hell, why do I feel this weird sense of guilt?”

They were chatting in low voices, speaking fast, and Laura Bennett strained his ears to practice listening.

“How did Douzi do on the test?”

Brian Clark said, “So-so, not sure if I got full marks.”

“…Damn.”

Samuel Grant looked like he’d seen a ghost. “I shouldn’t have asked. I’m always giving this genius more chances to show off.”

Laura Bennett had never heard the term “genius” used like that, but guessed it wasn’t a compliment.

He didn’t want to seem ignorant, so he just tried to figure it out from context.

“Hey, hey.” Samuel Grant nudged him. “What about you?”

Laura Bennett hesitated for a moment. “I’m not good at Chinese… What’s the usual score in your class?”

Brian Clark, who’d been eating with his head down, suddenly smirked, twisted open his water bottle, took a sip, and went back to eating as if nothing happened.

Samuel Grant thought for a bit. “Chinese scores aren’t very stable. The questions were hard this time, so the average will probably drop a lot.”

Laura Bennett was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when he heard him continue, “Probably around 115?”

“……”

Laura Bennett figured he’d be lucky to get 15.

He ate his two egg tarts in silence. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a tall, thin figure walking over—the guy with silver-rimmed glasses. On the way here, Brian Clark had said his name was David Reed.