After Transmigrating for the Third Time, the Real Young Master Decides to Slouch - Chapter 4

Jiang Zao finished his onboarding procedures the day before school started.

The person handling the paperwork looked at him with sympathetic eyes the entire time, which left Jiang Zao very confused.

In the end, Jiang Tong solved this mystery for him.

Jiang Tong was fuming. “Of course they sympathize with you, because the class you’re going to be in charge of is Grade 11 Class 19!”

“Oh?” Jiang Zao lay comfortably on the sofa. This was his single apartment. The decoration and layout were both very much to his taste, and everything inside was complete. All he had to do was move in with his bags.

Seeing his completely unconcerned appearance, Jiang Tong was both angry and anxious. In order to make him understand the seriousness of the situation, Jiang Tong raised his voice. “Grade 11 Class 19 is the class known as the ‘Good-for-Nothing Concentration Camp’! It’s full of problem students. They’re really hard to deal with!”

Jiang Zao’s fingers paused as he swiped on his phone. He lifted his head and looked at Jiang Tong. “Then didn’t I harm you by transferring you into that class?”

Jiang Tong had not expected him to say that. He froze for a moment, then hurriedly shook his head. “That’s not true. I didn’t really like my original class anyway, so it doesn’t matter if I transfer out. Being with you will also put Mom at ease. Besides, with you there, you definitely won’t let anyone bully me, right?”

The boy’s smile was brilliant, but Jiang Zao looked thoughtful. “You were bullied in your original class, weren’t you?”

Jiang Tong’s smile stiffened, and his eyes drifted away. “No.”

Jiang Zao smiled contemptuously. “Come on. I studied here too. I know better than you what kind of atmosphere this school has.”

Jiayin High School was a private school. Most of the students inside were either rich or noble, and those who were neither naturally became targets for that group of second-generation heirs to exclude and bully. Jiang Tong had gotten in through the Lin family’s connections, and Lin Tang also attended this school. Jiang Zao estimated that Lin Tang had probably had a hand in this too.

Jiang Tong stopped talking.

Jiang Zao rubbed his forehead. “I won’t tell Mom. Just study properly in your new class. No one will bully you again.”

“Mm!” Jiang Tong revealed a brilliant smile. “Brother, thank you.”

Jiang Zao gave a casual sound in response, then picked up the class roster beside him and started flipping through it.

Jiang Tong hesitated for a moment, but still opened his mouth. “Brother, actually, there was someone who treated me pretty well too.”

“Mm-hm?”

Jiang Tong smiled as he talked about it. “My deskmate took really good care of me. He’s especially good at studying, and every exam, he’s always first in the grade. He’s also really handsome. His personality is just a little cold. Everyone privately calls him the abstinent male god, hehe.”

Jiang Zao’s gaze fell on the last line of the roster. He had an impression of the name of the first-place student in the grade. When he had passed by the bulletin board while handling his onboarding, the final exam rankings had been posted there. He had casually glanced at them a few times and happened to remember the name at the top of the list.

Jiang Tong became a little sad as he spoke. “But now that I’ve transferred classes, I probably won’t be able to see him often anymore.”

“Is your deskmate called Lu She?” Jiang Zao asked.

Jiang Tong was surprised. “How did you know?”

Jiang Zao turned the roster around and pointed at the name on the last line. “If it isn’t someone with the same name, then this should be him.”

The basis for his judgment was simple. Above Lu She was Jiang Tong. Jiang Tong had been transferred in from another class, so the person after him should be the same.

Jiang Tong widened his eyes in disbelief. “How could…”

Jiang Zao smiled. “Didn’t you hate parting with him? Isn’t this even better? Later, I’ll arrange for you two to sit together so you can keep being deskmates.”

“No, no!” Jiang Tong could not accept it. “Lu She has excellent character and grades. He’s so outstanding. How can he go to that kind of class? It’ll ruin him!”

Jiang Zao did not take it seriously. “Didn’t you also end up in that class? Will it ruin you too?”

“That’s different!” Jiang Tong scratched his head hard, then took out his phone. “No, I have to ask him what’s going on!”

Watching him open his chat app and begin editing a message, Jiang Zao asked, “Wouldn’t calling be faster?”

Jiang Tong’s movements paused. His expression became conflicted and embarrassed, and his voice shrank. “If I call… once I hear his voice, there are a lot of things I won’t be able to say…”

Jiang Zao raised a brow but said nothing. He put down the roster and got up. “You keep struggling with it. I’m going out. Remember to lock the door when you leave.”

The message had just been sent and had not yet received a reply. Jiang Tong was no longer as agitated as before. Hearing that Jiang Zao was going out, he said, “Are you going out with that senior who introduced you to this job again?”

“Mm.” Jiang Zao was pouring a glass of water and drinking it. He answered casually.

Jiang Tong could not understand. “Your relationship is way too good, isn’t it? Didn’t you say you hadn’t seen each other in nine years? I don’t see any unfamiliarity between you at all.”

Jiang Zao gave a soft snort. “He’s always been like that. He can hook his arm around someone’s shoulders even if they just met. Nine years without seeing each other is nothing.”

“You know him really well,” Jiang Tong said emotionally.

“I don’t.” Jiang Zao put down the glass and walked to the door to change his shoes. “There’s no need to know him well either. As long as you know he’s a very troublesome person, that’s enough—I’m leaving. Be good.”

“Okay, bye-bye.”

As soon as Jiang Zao got out of the car, a message from that very troublesome person arrived. Even without looking, he knew it was definitely a tearful accusation that he was late.

Putting away his phone, Jiang Zao walked into the art museum in front of him, located in the city center of Jing City, where every inch of land was worth gold.

Because of its owner’s willfulness, the art museum was closed to the public today. Jiang Zao walked through the empty corridor, following the elegant sound of a piano until he reached the concert hall.

On the stage, Rong Jingcheng sat before the piano, playing a piece. Gone was his usual casualness. At this moment, his expression carried a rare focus and seriousness.

Jiang Zao did not disturb him. He found a seat and sat down.

The piece soon reached its end. Rong Jingcheng rose to thank the audience, and Jiang Zao raised his hands to applaud.

In the vast concert hall, there was only this lone and isolated applause. It sounded pitifully weak. Rong Jingcheng bowed elegantly and calmly toward the audience seats, still as grand as if there were thousands upon thousands of spectators before him.

Rong Jingcheng walked down from the stage and came in front of Jiang Zao. Smiling, he asked, “My new composition. Does it sound good?”

“Not bad,” Jiang Zao evaluated. “Will you perform it at your next concert?”

“No.” Rong Jingcheng sat beside him. “This is a piece offered only to you.”

“Looks like I’m very honored.” Jiang Zao’s tone held no other emotion whatsoever.

Rong Jingcheng did not mind. He asked, “Will you come to tomorrow night’s concert? I saved the frontmost seat for you.”

Jiang Zao declined. “Listening in private is enough. I don’t want to become an object of observation.”

Rong Jingcheng laughed twice, sounding very pleased. He said, “As long as you don’t want it, no one would dare observe you.”

With such an understated sentence, Jiang Zao could not be bothered to think about how that would be achieved. Without hesitation, he said, “I don’t want it.”

“All right.” Rong Jingcheng did not dwell on it, letting the topic pass with ease.

He brought up another topic. “Are you satisfied with the apartment? I decorated it according to your preferences.”

“It’s pretty good.”

Rong Jingcheng looked at his face, which held very little smile. “But you don’t look very happy.”

Jiang Zao tugged the corner of his mouth and revealed a fake smile. “Originally, you said I was only going to be a Chinese teacher. In the end, I also have to serve as the homeroom teacher. My workload suddenly increased. How am I supposed to be happy?”

Rong Jingcheng tilted his head. “Eh, did I forget to tell you? Aiya, sorry, sorry. I forgot for a moment. Forgive me.”

Jiang Zao rolled his eyes at him. “You’re already this grown, yet you’re still acting cute. It’s disgusting.”

“Xiao Zao’s words are really unpleasant to hear.” Though he said this, Rong Jingcheng did not look unhappy at all.

Jiang Zao looked thoughtful. “I heard that class has a nickname: ‘Good-for-Nothing Concentration Camp.’”

“Yes. Xiao Zao is very well-informed.” Rong Jingcheng smiled as he explained, “The people in that class are all hopeless good-for-nothings. No one has any expectations of them. So, no one will expect you to save them either.”

Jiang Zao lowered his eyes. The coldness and indifference reflected in Rong Jingcheng’s words did not match his gentle tone at all.

“Concentration camp…” Jiang Zao slowly repeated the phrase and smiled. “Do you need me to judge them?”

Rong Jingcheng smiled. “Xiao Zao only needs to do what he wants to do. If you really hate it, you can still refuse to be the homeroom teacher now.”

Jiang Zao, however, did not care. “There’s an additional bonus for being homeroom teacher. There’s no need to go against money.”

Rong Jingcheng pretended to be heartbroken. “That really hurts me. I thought Xiao Zao agreed because of my face. I didn’t expect it to be for money.”

“If you insist on saying it was because of you, that’s not wrong either,” Jiang Zao said. “After all, you’re the one paying the salary.”

Rong Jingcheng caught his hand and played with it. “Would Xiao Zao be willing to do anything for money?”

“It depends on the situation,” Jiang Zao said.

“Then how about dating me for money?” Rong Jingcheng proposed with great interest.

Jiang Zao rejected him without even thinking. “No.”

“I’m really hurt now.” As Rong Jingcheng spoke, he lowered his brows and eyes. That dazzlingly beautiful face actually took on a rather pitiful quality.

Jiang Zao hissed. They had not seen each other for so many years, and this person’s acting skills had become even more exquisite. His grasp of people’s hearts had also improved. Jiang Zao really did fall for this sort of thing.

With his free hand, Jiang Zao flicked his bangs down, covering his eyes. Out of sight, out of mind.

The next second, his bangs were lifted aside. His vision cleared, and Jiang Zao was forced to meet those deep eyes that were so close at hand.

When Rong Jingcheng looked at him, there was always a smile in his eyes. Now was no exception. He pinched Jiang Zao’s bangs with his fingertips and said, “You’ll be standing at the podium tomorrow. As a teacher, is it really appropriate to keep covering your eyes?”

Rong Jingcheng’s body temperature leaned low. In this kind of summer weather, it was just the right temperature. Jiang Zao stared at the long, slender fingers holding his bangs and said, “It is time to cut them.”

“I’ll cut them for you,” Rong Jingcheng volunteered.

Jiang Zao neither agreed nor refused. His gaze fell on Rong Jingcheng’s waist-length hair. “How long has it been since you cut your hair?”

“Nine years.”

Jiang Zao raised a brow. “Why didn’t you cut it?”

Rong Jingcheng stroked his own long hair, and a few traces of melancholy entered his smile. “You were the one who said you wanted to see me with long hair.”

“There was such a thing?” Jiang Zao could not remember.

Rong Jingcheng only looked at him and did not speak.

Jiang Zao admitted frankly, “I don’t remember.”

Rong Jingcheng smiled. “Then if you don’t remember, you don’t remember. Now you’ve seen it. Do you want me to cut it?”

Jiang Zao reached out and grabbed his hair. The strands were cool and silky, feeling very good in his hand. Jiang Zao’s dormant memories seemed to be awakened just a little—there did seem to have been a certain afternoon when the sunlight had been very good. Rong Jingcheng had been resting his head on Jiang Zao’s lap, and Jiang Zao had been unable to stop playing with the other man’s hair as he said he wanted to see what Senior would look like with long hair.

Jiang Zao shook his head. “No need. It’s good as it is now.”