There was another person who didn't quite understand what was going on - Song Ying, who had just transferred to the school. She was utterly shocked by the studying atmosphere in Class 1. Everyone was studying diligently, and their attitude towards learning was particularly intense.

Compared to her previous class, this one was on a whole different level.

Of course, the two weren't really comparable.

Song Ying's grades were good; she had ranked first in the county in her high school entrance exams.

She could have gone to the best high school in the county, but a private high school with not-so-great student resources offered to waive all her fees and give her an annual scholarship of 100,000 yuan if she chose to study there.

In a small county town, 100,000 yuan was no small sum.

For the money, Song Ying went to that mediocre private high school.

Even though she had always resented her mother for it, knowing she could have gone to the best high school in the county but had to settle for an ordinary one for the money, this time she fully supported Hong Yan's choice for the same reason.

Her family desperately needed that money, and Song Ying believed that studying was a personal matter, unrelated to one's environment.

It wasn't until she came to the new school and new class that she realized how wrong she had been.

As a child, she had learned the story of Mencius' mother moving house three times to find a good environment for her son's education. Only now did she truly understand the wisdom of the philosopher's mother.

Song Ying had always been a person who took life and studies seriously. Influenced by the studious atmosphere of Class 1, she became even more motivated.

In such an environment, even the usually laid-back Shi Li was forced to buckle down. She was a bit worried about losing her first-place position.

More than once during the evening self-study sessions, Shi Li found herself becoming increasingly frustrated as she worked. She couldn't help but curse the instigator in her mind.

[We're only in our first year of high school, does our homeroom teacher have to be so extreme, treating us like we're in our final year?]

[Did he break up with his girlfriend or something? Is he channeling his grief into motivation and getting pleasure from torturing us students?]

[Please, God, help him find a girlfriend soon, so he'll stop staying back after school and watching over our evening study sessions every day.]

[He's almost thirty and still doesn't have a girlfriend. Isn't our homeroom teacher worried about himself?]

Everyone else: Ouch, that hit close to home.

Homeroom teacher: ???

The homeroom teacher sat at his desk, feeling as if several sharp swords were stabbing directly into his heart.

He had never imagined that the first push for him to get married wouldn't come from his parents or family, but from his own students urging him to find a girlfriend.

The other students in the class had long since grown weary of the intense studying schedule and had been silently cursing the homeroom teacher for the past couple of days.

Upon hearing Shi Li's thoughts, they suddenly felt a lot better.

There was no helping it; cursing the homeroom teacher in one's mind was one thing, but Shi Li's complaints hit differently.

As for what made it different, it was probably that Shi Li's words were more caustic.

Of course, more importantly, the homeroom teacher could hear Shi Li's complaints.

It was as if someone had cursed out the homeroom teacher right to his face.

You can imagine how satisfying that felt for the other students.

This was Song Ying's first time witnessing such a scene. She knew that the homeroom teacher could hear Shi Li's thoughts and worried that he might hold a grudge against Shi Li.

She was sitting right in front of the teacher's desk and could see the homeroom teacher's face in high definition with just a glance up.

Song Ying carefully observed the expressions on the homeroom teacher's face, but when she couldn't detect any signs of displeasure, she still couldn't relax.

Throughout the entire evening, Song Ying couldn't concentrate on her studies. She couldn't help but wonder: Surely a grown man like the homeroom teacher wouldn't be as petty as her older cousin sister, right? Shi Li is a girl and his student; he should be more magnanimous, shouldn't he?

Then Song Ying thought, when men decide to be petty, they can be even worse than women. She had seen plenty of men with hearts smaller than the eye of a needle.

The homeroom teacher might look dignified, but who knows, he might be incredibly petty behind closed doors.

Song Ying's train of thought had already progressed to the point where she imagined herself apologizing to the homeroom teacher on Shi Li's behalf after school, to prevent him from holding a grudge.

She thought to herself, having your inner thoughts heard by others is never a good thing. Talking about others in your mind isn't a big deal; who hasn't cursed someone in their thoughts before?

But when those thoughts are heard, especially when they're negative thoughts about someone, it's even worse if the subject of those thoughts hears them.

So, after school, Song Ying used the excuse of wanting to ask the homeroom teacher about a math problem. She waited until all her classmates had left before hesitantly apologizing to the teacher.

"Teacher, Shi Li didn't mean those things she thought. Please don't hold it against her."

The homeroom teacher had noticed Song Ying watching him all evening but couldn't figure out why.

Now he finally understood it was about this.

He chuckled and said, "Don't worry, I'm used to it. I won't hold it against her." After all, thanks to Shi Li, he had managed to keep his job.

Song Ying thought: Used to it? You city folk sure know how to play.

The homeroom teacher thought to himself, Shi Li was his savior who had rescued him from starvation. How could he dare to hold a grudge against her?

Moreover, Shi Li was his precious top student. As long as she didn't literally defecate on his head, cursing him a bit in her mind was nothing he would dare to be upset about.

As the homeroom teacher's precious top student, Shi Li was amazed that he hadn't taken over their PE classes for extra study sessions.

No matter which school you go to, PE is always the students' favorite class.

In the second semester of their first year, the PE curriculum focused on tennis.

The first principal of Qianpu School had excellent foresight and had acquired several dozen hectares of land when it was still cheap.

While the teaching and administrative buildings of Qianpu Middle School occupied more space than those of ordinary middle schools, they actually didn't take up much of the school's total area.

This was because the Qianpu Middle School gymnasium was connected to the mountain behind it, and behind the mountain was a large undeveloped green space.

Shi Li had heard from her family that the school board had discussed the use of this green space behind the mountain. Some suggested building a golf course to enrich students' extracurricular activities.

Others proposed constructing two more experimental buildings to focus on developing students' hands-on experimental skills. This would help them participate in international and domestic innovation competitions, potentially earning spots for direct admission to top universities, which would benefit the school's recruitment efforts.

There were all sorts of ideas, but no one could convince the others. Every time the school board discussed how to arrange this green space, arguments would break out, and the plans for the area were indefinitely postponed.

The reason Shi Li was thinking about the green space behind the mountain at this moment was because she saw Song Ying clumsily playing tennis not far away.

Come to think of it, this had something to do with Song Ying's biological parents.

This happened after Shi Li graduated from middle school.

[Xitai Investment bought all the undeveloped land behind the mountain from the school at a high price]

Hearing Shi Li's thoughts, everyone stopped what they were doing, pretending to be tired and needing to wipe off sweat or drink water, as they moved closer to Shi Li.

As long as Shi Li wasn't thinking about her beloved Brother Yunhe, everyone was willing to listen to whatever was on her mind.

Shi Li had just mentioned Xitai Investment. There might be a business opportunity in this, so they had to listen.

[Because the school board could never decide what to do with this land, and because Xitai Investment offered so much money, the school sold this large piece of land]

[This decision went against the wishes of the school's founders. Qianpu's decades of legacy were almost destroyed because of this decision]

Song Ying was having her technique corrected by the PE teacher when she vaguely heard Shi Li's thoughts. Seeing her classmates' actions, she could guess why they were gathering around.

After much hesitation, Song Ying asked the PE teacher for permission to get a drink of water. Once she got the teacher's approval, she hurriedly ran towards Shi Li's location.

[Xu General buried Song Ying's ashes on the mountain behind Qianpu]

Song Ying, who had just rushed over: !?

Other classmates: !? Oh my God, oh my Lord, your grave is in our school...