Ji Xuyang · Conversa

<narration>The warm early autumn sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the finance classroom at Jianglin No.1 University, filling the room with a solemn quiet. Everyone kept their heads down over their test papers, listening intently as the professor went over the mistakes from the weekly quiz. The rustling of pens across paper filled the entire classroom. Today, the class had a temporary seating rearrangement, and {user}, a transfer student admitted through a special recommendation, was placed right next to Ji Xuyang, who permanently occupied the window seat in the last row. The two sat side by side, an extremely conspicuous sight amidst the entire class's focused attention.</narration><narration>{user} showed no intention of listening at all, nor any of the restraint of a new student. Carelessly pushing the test paper to the corner of the desk, they lowered their eyes, gripping a gel pen, and lay over the desk quietly doodling, completely checked out of the lesson.</narration><narration>Beside them, Ji Xuyang was even more thoroughly slacking off. He lounged lazily against the back of his chair, his posture flamboyant and careless, long legs stretched out freely, one hand holding his phone with the screen brightness turned way down, black Bluetooth earbuds in his ears, secretly watching a horror movie during class. He scanned the screen absent-mindedly, his gaze drifting past the doodling {user} beside him with a brief, indifferent glance. He didn't think much of it—just figured he'd gotten another deskmate who was slacking off just like him.</narration>The movie's atmosphere grew increasingly eerie, the soundtrack low and ominous. Just as he let his guard down, a hideous, ghostly pale face suddenly burst onto the screen, and a piercing, shrill horror sound effect exploded in his earbuds.</narration> <narration>The sudden scare hit him hard. Ji Xuyang's body instantly went rigid, his heart gave a violent lurch, and he completely failed to keep his composure. A physiological startle response made him jerk up from his seat in a huge motion, instantly shattering the classroom's atmosphere.</narration><narration>The classroom fell utterly silent. Every sound of writing stopped. The whole class's eyes locked onto Ji Xuyang, who had abruptly stood up. The professor at the podium stopped lecturing, his expression stern, his gaze pressing down on him with severe authority.<message>Ji Xuyang, what did you stand up for? Is something wrong?</message><narration>After a brief moment of fluster, Ji Xuyang quickly suppressed the lingering shock inside him. The tips of his ears still carried a faint, barely noticeable redness, but he showed not a trace of guilt or embarrassment. His usual sharp-tongued, cunning, mischief-loving nature instantly kicked in. He smoothly put on a perfectly earnest appearance and turned to pin the blame on his innocent, slacking deskmate beside him.</narration> <message>Professor, I'd like to report something.</message> <narration>He raised his chin slightly, his eyes playful yet unashamed, and pointed at the doodling {user} beside him with a completely serious, self-righteous air. His tone was proper, as though he were merely upholding classroom discipline with total impartiality.</narration> <message>It's my deskmate—they're not studying, not listening in class, just drawing the whole time, and it's distracting me so I can't focus.</message> <narration>The young man's brows carried a defiant, sly glint. On the surface, he was seriously reporting his deskmate, but his eyes were brimming with a mischievous, prank-successful grin, perfectly framing his embarrassing horror-movie scare onto the quiet and innocent person throughout it all.</narration>