“It’s nothing,” the person hesitated, lowering their voice, “That household has a father and son, and neither of them are any good! The man’s wife ran away, all he does is drink and gamble, only comes home every three or five days, and the kid is a troublemaker, a good-for-nothing delinquent! A few years back, those two were fighting at home every day—the noise was so bad I didn’t dare leave my house all day…”

“Mom!” A childish voice called out from the old, rusty iron gate of the neighborhood.

A little girl bundled up like a ball skipped over with a newly bought lollipop in hand. Maybe her outfit was too bulky, because her skipping soon turned into an awkward shuffle. After just a few steps, she tripped over her own feet and tumbled straight toward the ground—

Grace Bennett reacted quickly, bending down and hooking a finger through the little hood on the back of her coat.

The little girl was caught securely, her body hanging in midair, still clutching her candy tightly, her expression dazed and adorable.

The woman’s heart nearly leapt out of her chest. She hurried over to check on her daughter, squatted down and pulled her into her arms. After making sure she was okay, she looked up gratefully and said, “Thank you…”

The other person had already turned and gone upstairs; all she saw was a tall, thin figure from behind.

The so-called delinquent went home, tossed the bread he’d picked up on the way aside, and headed into the bathroom for a shower.

When he came out, his phone on the table was buzzing nonstop. No one else was home, so Grace Bennett walked over, picked up the phone, and started drying his hair while checking the messages.

[Anna Walker: Are you copying the winter break homework or not? Want me to send you a copy?]

[Anna Walker: Maybe you should at least write a few words to get by, otherwise you’ll have to stand at the blackboard all day again tomorrow—why bother?]

[Anna Walker: Where are you?]

[Anna Walker: Damn, I just saw a message in the school group chat. The education bureau is cracking down, our school’s honors class isn’t allowed anymore, it’s being disbanded, and those top students are going to be scattered into our regular classes.]

[Anna Walker: Wonder if we’ll get any new classmates in our class.]

[Anna Walker: By the way, the opening ceremony is at 8 a.m. tomorrow, we have to gather in the classroom at 7:40, don’t be late.]

[Anna Walker: ???]

Grace Bennett took a bite of bread and slowly typed a reply.

[-: Send it to me.]

[Anna Walker: What?]

[Anna Walker: You finally replied, I thought you got cornered by someone again.]

[-: Homework.]

The other side quickly sent over more than a dozen documents.

[-: This many?]

[Anna Walker: Just copy the homework for Fang Qin’s class, the other teachers don’t care about you anyway.]

[Anna Walker: Wait, did you see what I said earlier? We’re getting new classmates!]

Grace Bennett rummaged through his drawers for a long time before finally finding a working pen.

[-: Saw it, not interested.]

-

At eight o’clock the next morning, Grace Bennett stood in front of the tightly closed school gate, listening to the athletes’ march playing inside.

He took out his phone for a look.

[Anna Walker: Bro, the whole school is on the field, the principal’s already there, where are you?]

[-: Overslept.]

[Anna Walker: So what now? The school gate’s closed. It’s not a good idea to climb the wall during the flag-raising, right?]

At this point, going in was no different from skipping the flag-raising altogether.

Grace Bennett didn’t even think about it and replied, “Let me know when the flag-raising is over.”

He stuffed his phone into his pocket, planning to find somewhere to kill time and go in after everyone had dispersed. When he looked up, he locked eyes with someone on the other side of the school’s iron gate.

David Howard had his hands behind his back and asked with concern, “Where are you going?”

What kind of unlucky day was this?

Grace Bennett was silent for two seconds. “Flag-raising.”

David Howard nodded and opened the small door on the right side of the gate. “Come in.”

“……”

David Howard, as if afraid he’d run off, followed him all the way from the back of the crowd to the lineup for the second-year students.

All the teachers and students were already lined up on the field. As he passed by, the students in the back rows couldn’t help but glance at him.

Grace Bennett ignored all the stares, swaggering ahead of David Howard.

“Why the long face so early in the morning,” David Howard said, “What, did I interrupt your plan to skip school?”

“No,” Grace Bennett was so tired he had no expression, “I’ll be sure to smile more during the flag-raising.”

“……”

David Howard couldn’t be bothered to say more. He pointed at a spot a few steps away and said, “Your class is here, go stand in line! I’ll report your tardiness to your homeroom teacher later.”

“Remember to line up by height, find your spot. The school photography club will be taking pictures soon!”

After saying his piece, David Howard walked off. Grace Bennett went to the end of the line where he’d pointed and stood, yawning as he looked down.

The family that had just moved in upstairs had been dragging furniture around until three in the morning.

He hadn’t slept well in that apartment, waking up at every little noise, forced to pull an all-nighter along with them.

He was just about to try sleeping while standing when a harsh “clang” blared from the speakers on the podium—it was the sound of a microphone hitting the floor.

The noise made Grace Bennett’s ears ache. Annoyed, he looked up, wanting to see which school leader couldn’t even hold a microphone properly—

He found himself staring at the back of someone’s head.

At that moment, Grace Bennett was a little stunned.