As expected, Ethan Brooks, though reluctant, still picked up the spoon, held his breath, and slowly drank the soup one spoonful at a time.

Midway through, the class monitor Andrew Scott came over with something to say, but after a cool glance from Ethan Grant, he sealed his lips and stood by waiting until the young master finished the soup before speaking: “Old Grant and Old Cooper want you two to go to the grade director’s office right now. You must be there within three minutes, or the punishment will be doubled.”

“…” Ethan Brooks looked up at him. “How long have you been standing here?”

“Seven or eight minutes.”

Ethan Brooks laughed. “Are you targeting me or something?”

Andrew Scott protested, “No, Mr. Ethan, it’s not my fault, you were drinking soup, weren’t you?”

As he spoke, his eyes kept darting toward Ethan Grant, frantically hinting at who the real culprit was.

Ethan Grant, calmly working on a physics problem, said, “We’re already late, so eat the fruit too.”

“Okay.”

Ethan Brooks slowly opened the lid of the fruit box again.

Andrew Scott: …

He felt that as class monitor, he was being a bit too lenient and lacked authority.

He cleared his throat: “Mr. Ethan, you two shouldn’t be like this. Old Grant and Old Cooper are really angry. The office is packed with people, and the atmosphere is as solemn as a funeral home. Don’t make things worse…”

“These cherries taste pretty good today, want one?”

“Sure, thanks Mr. Ethan, can I have a few more?”

-

When Ethan Brooks and Ethan Grant arrived at the grade office, the discipline director John Cooper and the grade director Peter Grant were both passionately lecturing a dozen tall Alphas.

Their expressions were so pained it was as if someone had stolen their precious cabbages at home.

When they saw Ethan Brooks and Ethan Grant, it was as if even the cabbage leaves were gone.

Old Grant was fine, as usual, calm and zen.

But John Cooper was not. He had already entered male menopause early, and now he was entrusted with the heavy responsibility of leading the senior year.

Since the semester hadn’t officially started, the principal’s office was empty, and he was the only one holding down the fort. If anything happened, he’d be fully responsible.

He was still hoping to get promoted to vice principal after this graduating class.

He ran a hand through his not-so-thick hair and pointed at the two of them: “I told you to come in three minutes! How long has it been?!”

Ethan Brooks checked his watch. “About fifteen minutes.”

“…Is that what I was asking?! Ethan Brooks, don’t think that just because you have good grades you can do whatever you want! You’re in your senior year! If you get a disciplinary record, all those college recommendations and guaranteed admissions will be gone! Gone! Do you understand?!”

“Oh.”

“Oh what?! Don’t you realize how serious this is? Do you still want to go to Beicheng University or Huaqing University?!”

“It’s not that, Director. Even without a recommendation, I can still get into Qingbei, so it’s really not that serious. Please calm down.”

He sounded obedient, but somehow it was infuriating.

Comrade Cooper was so angry he could barely breathe, about to pass out, so Old Grant quickly stepped in to smooth things over.

“Aiya, actually, there’s not much to it. Edward Parker already admitted it was their side who started it. But since one of you hit someone and the other deliberately released a high concentration of pheromones in public, both are against school rules, so you still have to be punished. Don’t take it personally.”

Ethan Brooks nodded. “Mm, it’s fine, I’m pretty magnanimous.”

Ethan Grant agreed, “I’m fine too.”

“……”

The other suspects present felt these two had zero political awareness.

But with their family backgrounds and grades, they had nothing to fear. It was normal for the teachers to be biased.

However, Old Grant was full of righteous energy: “After discussing with Director Cooper, we’ve decided to treat everyone involved in today’s fight equally! All will receive a warning!”

Everyone’s hearts sank halfway.

If the warning couldn’t be quickly revoked, their independent admissions and plans to study abroad would be ruined.

“But…” Old Grant drew out the word, “since you came forward to admit your mistakes and your attitude is decent, and considering you’re in your senior year, for the sake of your futures, the school has decided to give you another chance.”

Their half-frozen hearts warmed up again.

“For the Five-School Joint Exam, if you rank in the top 100 overall, the punishment will be reduced to a public criticism. If you don’t make the top 100… you’re on your own.”

The eight students from the international class were crushed.

This time, the international class had to take the joint exam too. With five schools combined, there were three to four thousand students. For them to make the top 100 was as good as impossible.

Old Grant, afraid Edward Parker and the others would protest, even put on an especially fierce expression: “Finally! Ethan Brooks, Ethan Grant, as students in my class, I must be even stricter with you! For them, top 100 is enough, but you two must make the top five!”

“Mm.”

Another light, airy response.

But at least Ethan Brooks answered. Ethan Grant just stood there the whole time, so dignified and composed that anyone who didn’t know better would think he was the discipline director.