William Carter: "Didn't I buy you a new one?"

"That new one looks so weird, and I can't use it anyway..."

Sensing that she was about to start nagging endlessly, William Carter quickly ran upstairs.

Grandma Carter turned angrily to Brian Cooper: "Look at how impatient he is."

Brian Cooper didn't know how to respond, so he nodded stiffly. After a while, he thought maybe he should smile, but since the moment had passed, there was no point in making up for it now. He could only focus on what he was doing, carefully refurbishing the old, broken radio. After replacing the batteries, he pushed the radio back to Grandma Carter: "It's done."

Elderly people are always sentimental about old things, and Grandma Carter was overjoyed, pulling Brian Cooper aside to ask him all sorts of questions.

William Carter had been worried that this ungrateful jerk Brian Cooper would say something rude in front of her grandma. Taking the chance to grab a drink from the fridge, she listened in the whole way, only to find that Brian Cooper was actually behaving himself, answering every question properly, with no sign of biting back.

"One thing subdues another." William Carter was relieved, feeling that grandma was truly grandma—sweeping across the world, pacifying the four seas, invincible.

Brian Cooper was very quiet at the Xu house, never leaving his room unless called.

Every morning, when William Carter just got up, Brian Cooper had already left for school. In class, the two ignored each other, and after school, William Carter had lots of activities, while Brian Cooper would pack up and go home right away, close the door, and not come out again.

Neither of them paid any attention to the other, barely maintaining a strange kind of peace.

Three days later, the first monthly exam was over.

No matter if it was a big or small test, the self-study class on the afternoon after the exam was always the loosest in discipline. Half the class was comparing answers, the other half was chatting away.

In the middle of the chaos, Heather suddenly burst in, for who knows what menopausal reason, and started scolding: "Look at the state of all of you! Of the homework I handed out yesterday, only thirty-six were turned in today. Three people still haven't handed it in. Who told you that just because it's the monthly exam, you don't have to do your homework? If you dare to slack off in my class, what about the other subjects? What are you all thinking?"

Heather took a deep breath and slammed the desk: "Anyone who didn't hand in their homework today, stand up!"

After a moment of silence, a few people slowly stood up.

Heather questioned each one furiously: "What's your excuse?"

The first person said, "Teacher, I did it, but I was in a rush this morning and forgot to bring it."

Heather: "If you can forget your homework, what can you remember? Go home and get it!"

The second one was sneakier. While Heather was scolding the first, he quietly pulled out his half-finished physics worksheet, didn't even look at the questions, and scribbled random answers just to make sure there was something written under every question, pretending he had finished but just forgot to hand it in.

When Heather came over, he handed it in first: "Sorry, teacher, I forgot to turn it in this morning."

Heather snatched it, glanced at the messy, unreadable handwriting, and immediately knew what was up. She roared, "Who are you trying to fool! Go stand at the back!"

At this moment, Henry Clark gently poked William Carter under the desk and pointed to the back.

William Carter looked back and couldn't help but laugh. In the isolated corner of the classroom, Brian Cooper was standing straight as a rod, looking completely unconcerned.

Heather walked over in her eight-centimeter heels: "And what's your excuse?"

Brian Cooper disdained making up lame excuses and calmly looked back at her: "I didn't do it."

Heather hadn't expected anyone to talk back to her like that and gasped: "You... what did you say?"

"I didn't do it." Brian Cooper repeated, word by word.

Heather asked in disbelief, "Why didn't you do it?"

Brian Cooper: "Because most of the questions I've already seen in other workbooks."

In high school science, "drilling through a sea of problems" is unavoidable. You see the same question more than once—some people still can't do it even after seeing it every day. Heather had never heard anyone use such a rebellious reason to refuse homework, and was so angry she almost stuttered: "Repetition is... repetition is a learning method! It's for you to consolidate, to help you find and fix your mistakes..."

Brian Cooper interrupted her with an even more rebellious remark, speaking slowly and deliberately.

"Teacher," he said, "repetition isn't a learning method, it's a dog-training method."

All thirty-something "big wolves" in the class fell silent for a moment, then they heard the "zookeeper" explode like thunder: "Call your parents here, right now! If your dad can't come, get your mom!"

Brian Cooper replied lightly, "My mom became a nun in America."

Heather: "Go stand outside!"

Brian Cooper glanced at Heather, packed up his things, picked up his backpack, and walked straight out the back door. As he left, he even politely closed the classroom door behind him.

Heather was so angry she trembled in place for a full minute, then stormed out after him.

Old Miller turned to William Carter and said, "What a man!"

William Carter ignored him, crouched under the desk, and called James Carter.

James Carter: "If you keep messing around with your phone during class, you'll have to use an IC card to get into school from now on."