Please, I'm Trying to Study, Your Highness! - chapter 16

The damp cotton mop head dragged back and forth across the floor in an orderly fashion.

The entire classroom was empty.

Only the soft “swish” of the mop handle scraping against the ground could be heard.

I mechanically repeated the motion, but my mind was occupied with something else.

Shen Ruanruan’s abrupt and inexplicable “thank you” forced me to try searching for some useless information I’d already discarded.

Keywords: middle school, trouble, Shen Ruanruan.

The search quickly yielded results.

A memory file marked as “transaction completed” and archived in the recycle bin was successfully retrieved.

So it was that incident.

The scenes of memory played out frame by frame:

A hysterical girl tearing up sheet music, a video threat from an anonymous number, her pitiful attempt to act strong while on the verge of collapse.

Back then, my intervention wasn’t out of sympathy or compassion.

It was simply an equal exchange.

I provided an efficient solution, one that could resolve Shen Ruanruan’s crisis without damaging her self-esteem.

She accepted the solution and automatically withdrew her implicit threat: “I’ll make sure you can’t survive in Nanhua City.”

So, the word “help” had nothing to do with this matter at all.

I had long since wiped this fair transaction from my memory to save precious brain space.

But Shen Ruanruan actually remembered.

And even… showed a strange expression that looked almost like anger?

Twisting the mop, I squeezed the dirty water back into the bucket.

My inability to parse this emotional fluctuation could only be summed up in one conclusion:

Even after crossing into a novel world, the thought patterns of the rich are still a bizarre construct that a bottom-tier Goblin like me can’t comprehend.

Impossible to figure out.

Thinking about such meaningless things is just a waste of energy.

The cleaning was nearly finished.

I arranged the desks and chairs neatly, put the washed mop and bucket back in the corner, and slung my heavy backpack over my shoulder, ready to go home.

A sharp, suppressed female voice, tinged with anger, echoed faintly from the end of the hallway outside the door.

“Xia, do you have any shame left? You know he’s my boyfriend, yet you keep clinging to him!”

The voice was shrill, cracking slightly from extreme rage.

Like a sharp knife slicing through the evening’s quiet curtain.

“Li Na, you’d better watch what you say. When have I ever clung to Zhu Peng? We just happen to be in the same study group and occasionally discuss homework, that’s all.”

Another voice rang out, one I knew all too well, with its signature sweet tone, devoid of any emotional fluctuation.

As if stating a fact that had nothing to do with herself.

“It’s your boyfriend who always comes to me with questions. I can’t bring myself to turn him down every time, you know.”

Crap.

It’s Xia Shiyu, that crazy girl!

My body stiffened slightly, a sense of impending trouble creeping closer.

Outside, Li Na was clearly infuriated by Xia Shiyu’s calm and indifferent attitude.

“Discussing homework? Do you need to stand that close to discuss homework? He forgets my birthday but remembers what kind of milk tea you like?”

By the end, she was practically shouting.

“Xia Shiyu, stop pretending to be innocent. You’re just a slut who seduces men everywhere!”

“Oh dear, if your boyfriend can’t remember your birthday, that’s not my problem, is it?”

Xia Shiyu laughed lightly, unconcerned.

“Maybe… you should reflect on whether you’re attractive enough to keep him. Also, getting this worked up isn’t good for your skin, you know.”

The argument echoed down the empty hallway,

and was moving in the direction of Class Three’s classroom.

My body instantly went on high alert.

I quickly headed for the back door, planning to slip out the other way.

Obviously, I was too late.
The sounds of arguing had already reached the doorway, the girl’s scolding and the boy’s attempts at persuasion mixing together, clearly distinguishable.

“Don’t pretend to be innocent! If you hadn’t been flirting with him every day, giving him water, would he have turned out like this?!”

“I smiled at him because he helped me with classroom duty. I gave him water because he was thirsty after playing basketball. Isn’t that perfectly normal in our class?”

“Do you really have to control your own boyfriend even when he has normal interactions with other girls?” Xia Shiyu’s voice was calm and unhurried, her tone carrying a kind of patronizing patience.

The humiliation was palpable.

“You… you’re just twisting words!”

“Bang!”

The front door was slammed open from the outside with tremendous force.

The wooden door crashed against the wall with a loud noise, dust falling in a flurry.

A slender figure in blue and white stumbled in.

It was Xia Shiyu.

She lost her footing and staggered a few steps into the classroom,

but there was no panic on her face, not even the slightest hint that her signature smile had faded.

Instead, she used the momentum to brace herself precisely against a nearby desk, absorbing most of the impact.

She finally steadied herself in a lazy, alluring pose, half-leaning on the desk.

The entire process was smooth and effortless. She even had the leisure to gently tuck a few strands of hair, mussed by the collision, behind her ear with her fingers.

Elegant, truly elegant!

The other two people followed in, one after the other.

Leading the way was the girl named Li Na, her eyes bloodshot with anger, clearly furious.

Her boyfriend anxiously grabbed her arm from behind, trying in vain to stop her. “Nana, this is school.”

Li Na ignored him completely, reaching out to point at Xia Shiyu, about to say something.

The next second, her words caught in her throat and abruptly stopped.

Because in the empty classroom, there was suddenly an extra, silent spectator.

“Brother Hui…” The boy froze for a moment, blurting out the name instinctively, then an awkward expression appeared on his face.

It was Zhu Peng, my teammate from last Friday’s PE class basketball game.

The main character in this love triangle drama was actually him.

Three people, three pairs of eyes.

Almost simultaneously, they all noticed me standing at the back of the classroom, one hand still on the door, ready to slip away at any moment.

In that instant, the world seemed to hit the mute button.

Li Na, who had been furious, was thrown off by my sudden appearance.

She probably hadn’t expected that her grand “crusade” would have a live audience.

The most embarrassed of all was Zhu Peng.

His gaze darted around in panic, not daring to meet my eyes, like a mouse caught red-handed stealing rice.

To run into such a dramatic scene in front of a “heroic” teammate you just fought alongside last week-this level of shame was no less than a public execution.

Xia Shiyu’s reaction was rather unique.

In the few seconds after noticing me, her always-sweet, peach blossom eyes first flashed with surprise.

Then, a look of amused interest took over her gaze.

Her posture, leaning against the desk, became even more relaxed.

She slowly straightened her spotless school uniform, as if the earlier stumble had never happened, all elegance.

The corners of her mouth curled into a subtle, ambiguous smile.

There was a faint hint of mischief and expectation, as if she was eager to drag me into this mess as well.

Trouble had arrived.

Looking at this melodramatic scene before me, only four cold words remained in my heart:

Here comes trouble.

Seriously…

Why do you all like to argue after school?

And why does it always have to be in the classroom, a place full of memories and hormones?

Is it that the grove behind the school, the rooftop, or any cheap motel outside the campus

can’t contain your little love triangle drama?