If I were to pinpoint the happiest moments during the three years of high school, PE class would undoubtedly be one of the brightest highlights.
Freed from the pressure of the physical exam scores that once weighed heavily during the entrance exams, high school PE classes were among the few times students could truly relax—especially since the PE teacher often took sick leave due to frail health, making PE classes increasingly rare and thus an irreplaceable “white moonlight” in the hearts of many students.
After completing the warm-up jog around the track, the remaining forty minutes plus the ten-minute break became free time for the students.
Without teacher supervision, students could choose to play ball, return to the classroom, or head to the convenience store for a snack.
For some reason, today more students than usual were choosing the convenience store.
—Looks like the cafeteria food must be particularly awful today!
Ms. Zhao, the store manager who had been at the Second High School Convenience Store since the school’s opening and was among the top five longest-serving managers, had always looked down on the cafeteria’s practice of skimping on portions.
From the moment she took over, she held a beautiful vision: to heal every heartbroken Second High School student wounded by the cafeteria.
Poor kids.
She let out a soft sigh and quickly brought out a variety of snacks she had prepared earlier, her eyes filled with tender affection as if watching over piglets, warmly telling every youthful face not to hesitate— take whatever they wanted— before naming prices that were at least half higher than those outside, leveraging her monopoly pricing without any hesitation.
But at this moment, no student cared about a few extra yuan.
About a dozen students sat in small groups around a corner table, each holding a bowl of instant noodles.
The steam clouded their longing eyes as they inhaled the rich, technologically enhanced aroma, all involuntarily swallowing the saliva that had long flooded their mouths.
“…How long has it been soaking?”
The most punctual math class representative, Rui Hang, glanced at his watch and said in a calm voice brimming with anticipation, “Three…”
“Three minutes already?”
“Two, one—”
Eighteen synchronized flips of noodle lids unveiled the grand afternoon tea salon.
The long-awaited flavor hit their tongues, and some of the more emotionally expressive ones immediately reddened their eyes.
They were used to feasting on delicacies, so why could just a simple bowl of instant noodles move them so deeply and make them so happy?
There was even a sausage and a braised egg…
The eighteen students were so engrossed they couldn’t even lift their heads; some were tearful, nearly sobbing, leaving other students coming and going and even Ms. Zhao utterly shocked.
This was outrageous! Just how bad was the cafeteria food today that a bowl of instant noodles could make the kids cry?
Ms. Zhao, proud to be the sharpest businesswoman in City Y, felt an unusual pang of conscience and hesitated before taking down several near-expiry cartons of AD Calcium Milk from the shelf and handing one bottle to each student.
“Auntie’s treating you— no charge.”
“Thank you, Auntie Zhao!” The arts committee member, Lin Yuan, who had been crying the hardest, hastily wiped away her tears, stuck in a straw, and eagerly took a sip.
The familiar sweet and sour taste flooded her mouth, nearly causing her tears to fall again.
Alongside the awakening of her taste buds came seventeen years’ worth of memories as a human.
Like a gentle stream, they flowed through her scarred heart, healing those buried but never fully resolved pains in the passage of time.
Though the road to this point had been a long detour, thankfully—
—they had finally come home.
……
“Did I hear you all ate instant noodles together at the convenience store today and even cried?”
During evening self-study, Rui Hang looked up from a thick stack of books and suddenly asked.
Class 9, Grade 11 students: “……”
Heads lowered sheepishly, their proud expressions replaced by unbearable shame.
This was a matter of emotion. When feelings run high, whether it’s exaggerated eating or tears, it’s all a natural performance.
Everyone was soaked in the joy of returning home and naturally saw nothing wrong.
But once the emotional high passed and they reflected on their overall behavior— especially after being specifically called out by their homeroom teacher— the nostalgia and sentimentality vanished, leaving only pure embarrassment and awkwardness.
Seeing their regretful faces, Rui Hang sneered inwardly, finally feeling a bit relieved.
He couldn’t fathom how his peaceful afternoon in the office, organizing teaching files, suddenly took a wild turn when the Dean of Students summoned him to the Principal’s Office.
He had mentally prepared for the usual student romance scandal and the need to cover for them, but the principal’s subtle inquiry about whether the students had complaints regarding the cafeteria left him both perplexed and bewildered.
Never mind whether it was his concern; the students themselves seemed happy eating, and he hadn’t even had a bite!
Compared to those eighteen food enthusiasts rushing to the convenience store, the other six students who chose to stay on the track showed no sense of collective honor, their faces beaming with the joy of spectators enjoying a juicy rumor.
“Teacher Rui,” Lin Yuan raised her hand, unashamedly teasing, “Where did you hear about this?”
Rui Hang picked up his water cup, blew off the goji berries at the rim, sipped slowly, and calmly replied, “Who told me isn’t important. The point is—”
His eyes swept with a teasing glint across the shy faces: “Apparently, Auntie Zhao at the convenience store filed a formal complaint about your tearful noodle feast and used it as a typical case to protest the principal’s proposal banning students from eating lunch or dinner at the convenience store.”
At this, Rui Hang paused, his lips curling into a smile without joy. His eyes, however, remained devoid of humor.
“Congratulations. You’ve made a name for yourselves school-wide. By the way, I’ve become famous alongside you. Haha.”
Class 9, Grade 11 students: “……”
Rui Hang only wanted his students to experience a fraction of how his afternoon felt.
He could understand their homesickness and uncontrollable emotions, and he didn’t intend to make a big deal out of it.
After the sarcastic remark, he swiftly changed the subject: “There’s one more thing to notify. Regarding the Mid-Autumn Festival party performance, the play’s script revision, role selection, and rehearsals must be completed in the next couple of days.”
“…We really have to perform a play?” Zhou Xun blinked, surprised.
He thought the play was just an excuse to stall the principal since no program had been finalized before the Mid-Autumn Festival performance review.
Every year, the class prepared several acts, then submitted one or two for review; last-minute changes were common.
But a play?
That wasn’t something you could easily throw together like a makeshift troupe.
Now that they hadn’t fully adapted to Earth yet, and with study demands, juggling the Mid-Autumn Festival’s preparations seemed quite overwhelming.
Rui Hang, as homeroom teacher, had noticed Zhou Xun’s worries.
“I hadn’t planned to really have you perform a play,” he said. “I thought I’d find an excuse to brush it off later. But this afternoon, the Dean of Students told me he’s really looking forward to our class’s play.”
Both the principal and the dean outranked him, so before the students fully adjusted to modern society, he didn’t want to clash with the leaders and lose his rightful role as guardian of the students.
Since he had to play the good teacher in their eyes, he couldn’t keep stalling.
“By the way, I didn’t expect the principal to be so talkative. In just one class period, he’d already told the Dean of Students,” Rui Hang murmured, rubbing his chin and muttering a complaint.
Rui Hang’s excellent hearing made Yu Zhi and Lin Yuan too afraid to speak.
Realizing the play was set in stone, the students stopped fussing and started discussing the content.
“Teacher Rui, we’re not really performing Thunderstorm, are we?” Class Monitor Su Mingya raised her hand, curious. “Why must it be the Thunderstorm script?”
Even if it was an excuse for the principal, shouldn’t a Western fantasy-themed play like Hamlet or A Midsummer Night’s Dream be more fitting?
Could it be just because Thunderstorm was this semester’s study material?
“We’re not glory professional players.” Bai Luo, the psychological committee member, laid his head on the desk, grinning as he joined the banter.
“Saintess, you clearly don’t understand the dynamics among classmates,” Lin Yuan gleefully teased, winking at the back row. “Don’t you know someone in our class was born to fit Thunderstorm perfectly?”
Su Mingya looked a little bewildered, following Lin Yuan’s direction, then suddenly exclaimed, “Ohhh—”
It had been so long she almost forgot about this complex relationship in class!
“Let me preface this,” the math class representative Rui Hang adjusted his glasses. “Lin Yuan isn’t really my stepmom. She only assumed that identity to infiltrate the palace, so her relationship with my father the king isn’t legal. And in the end, she’s the one who killed him. I think her personality and style are quite different from Fan Yi.”
“Really? I think Fan Yi’s daring and passionate nature suits me just fine,” Lin Yuan didn’t mind being teased as the “stepmom,” rather she enjoyed it. “Besides, it’s just acting. What roles haven’t I played in Parnaki? Why am I so restrained back on Earth?”
Rui Hang: “……”
“Weren’t you secretly in love with Lin Yuan before?” Ouwena, the biology class rep and last member of the Thunderstorm Trio, propped her chin and teased Rui Hang. “Now Zhou Ping and his stepmom have a thing going on. Looks like your wish came true.”
“Oh, that’s a new twist!” Lin Yuan exclaimed with mock surprise, then flirted at Rui Hang with a playful wink. “Too bad, my love is unrequited. I usually don’t pursue religious folks. Since you’re the Pope, guess you’re destined to stay faithful and alone for life.”
Rui Hang: “……”
He grit his teeth. “If you hadn’t cast Charm Spell on my father when I happened to be nearby, how else would I have gotten tricked and embarrassed? Also, let me emphasize again, devoting body and soul to my lord is a noble pursuit and lifelong goal for every believer. Please don’t desecrate Faith by calling it loneliness.”
“By noble, do you mean switching from the Life Temple to the Destruction Temple and becoming Pope?” Lin Yuan tapped a triangle over her chest. “Goddess of Beauty, please forgive this shameless heretic’s nonsense.”
Rui Hang: “……”
He had no immediate retort.
Since they were all half-hearted believers, no one took offense at this teasing.
Rui Hang decided not to argue further with Lin Yuan and turned to Ouwena, wearing a look of frustration. “Don’t forget, Lin Yuan is also our father’s killer!”
“We three did it together; why dig up old grievances now?” Ouwena rolled her eyes. “If you don’t want to perform, just say so. Why make excuses?”
“I don’t want to perform.”
Rui Hang said flatly, “Denied.”
Rui Hang was determined to find an ally in Ouwena. “Don’t forget, the Four Phoenix and Zhou Ping are involved too, Your Majesty!”
“I don’t care.” Ouwena shrugged, then suddenly raised her hand. “Teacher Rui, I request to change Four Phoenix’s status from sister to elder sister.”
She added, “Although I’m younger than Rui Hang on Earth, I was his elder sister for almost five hundred years in Parnaki. I simply can’t call him ‘younger brother’ to his face.”
“Granted.” Rui Hang agreed immediately.
Rui Hang: “……”
Is that the real point here?