You are all bad women! Don't come over!

Since Catherine was playing the lead role, a crowd had gathered at the door of the rehearsal room. Shen Mochen squeezed through; Catherine inside was performing a role similar to a fairy tale princess from a Roman story.

The costume props should have already been brought over, but they weren't wearing them, although Shen Mochen thought that even without the costume props, Catherine's every move exuded the essence of a true princess.

"The princess is so pretty, why would she have a boyfriend!"@@novelbin@@

"You should think of it this way, at least the guy is from Yupi, which shows the princess likes our type."

"It's not me though, that just makes me angrier!"

"Yeah, what do you mean 'your type'? Her boyfriend is so handsome he's even a threat to me. Can you compare to him?"

"Do they... hold hands when they're together?"

"Definitely doing all that special stuff."

"Damn it, I was being so delicate, why do you have to be so blunt!"

"Stop, please stop talking, I'm getting visuals here!"

"You can't be too sure about these things. Don't all Roman people follow the Tianzheng Church, and aren't they supposed to be virgins before marriage?"

"Get real, I've heard that nowadays, few young Roman people follow that rule. After the fact, they just confess to the priest and that's that!"

"Holy shit, can't they respect God a little? What a scam!"

"The princess probably isn't like that, she always wears a cross around her neck, she must be devout!"

"That might be the case... But if you were her boyfriend, could you restrain yourself? Just looking at his photo, that guy looks like the type to cheat many times, definitely doing everything he can, sweet-talking and getting handsy!"

"Enough, enough, the imagery is too much!"

"To be honest, there's no need to worry. The guy looks so frail, he must suffer from kidney deficiency!"

"I think so too. Look at that pretty boy, he's probably short in more ways than one!"

"Probably can't even get it up!"

Shen Mochen silently listened to the group's discussion as their initial jealousy gradually turned into defamation... or perhaps curses.

"This classmate, you think the same, right?" Suddenly, all eyes were intently on Shen Mochen, who had been silent at the side.

"Ah..." Shen Mochen froze, his mouth twitching as he nodded and mumbled, "Uh... probably."

Everyone nodded in agreement, while Shen Mochen inwardly rolled his eyes, just about to leave when suddenly someone recognized him: "Hey, aren't you Teacher Cai's neighbor?"

"The one who always rides Teacher Cai's electric scooter?"

"So it's you, kid!"

The group clung to Shen Mochen with jealous expressions.

So I'm that famous? Shen Mochen felt helpless; although he knew Cai Yuncui was also quite popular, they were too fickle!

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Keep cursing Catherine's boyfriend, why are you looking at me, now jealous of me too?

"What are you guys doing?"

The door to the activity room suddenly opened, and Catherine walked out.

"Prin-, Princess... did we disturb you?"

The others immediately let go of Shen Mochen, awkwardly, not knowing why she had come.

"If you want to watch, just come in." Catherine said.

"Is that okay?" Everyone was thrilled.

"You want to see, just come in and watch, no need to stand outside." Catherine pulled Shen Mochen's hand and walked into the activity room, then closed the door.

The others stared at each other with wide eyes, exchanging glances—this wasn't what they had been told!

Watching Catherine bring Shen Mochen in, the others rehearsing the play didn't say anything. After all, he was a classmate, and his presence there was no big deal. Of course, the most important thing was the Princess's clout.

After pulling Shen Mochen in, Catherine ignored him and went on with her own rehearsal of the stage drama. Shen Mochen, feeling out of place, just found a spot where he wouldn't be in the way and crouched down to watch.

In truth, the stage drama itself was quite boring, being an age-old fairy tale. But Shen Mochen didn't feel it appropriate to just take off immediately, thinking he would squat for a bit before leaving.

The play wasn't long, and counting the silent extras, there were only about a dozen people involved.

The story outline was this: Once upon a time, there was a stepmother Queen who, after the old King's death, imprisoned the only Princess to secure her own power. The poor Princess was trapped in the castle, looking out day after day, longing to leave her confines.

One day, a Prince from a foreign land spotted the Princess from outside the castle; they fell in love at first sight. So the Prince helped her escape, and together they exposed the Queen's conspiracy, achieving a perfect ending.

Honestly, it was an incredibly clichéd story that even elementary students of today would scorn as childish. The only vaguely interesting aspect of the play was that the Prince was played by a female because, although many boys had signed up, none of them had stayed with the role until the end.

It wasn't that they lost interest over time; rather, all the boys in the class wanted to play the Prince, knowing that whoever got the part would become the enemy of the entire class, if not the whole school, so they all gave up.

Because of the dullness of the plot, Shen Mochen spent the whole time looking at Catherine's face, which was at least more appealing than the play itself.

"How about we rehearse in costume this afternoon?" someone suggested.

No one objected, and most were eager to try.

"Boys, go next door to change!" You Feicheng, who played the Prince, shooed them away.

The boys then took their costumes to the next-door activity room, and Shen Mochen seized the opportunity to leave as well.

"Kaja, why did you bring Shen Mochen in..." After everyone left, You Feicheng nudged Catherine secretively.

"Is there a problem?" Catherine glanced at her indifferently.

You Feicheng gossiped, "Didn't you know? I heard that Shen Mochen was expelled before... apparently for stealing from someone!"

Another girl chimed in, "I also heard that he embezzled class funds!"

Yet another girl said, "I think I overheard a discussion this morning about the class funds not adding up—couldn't be him, could it..."

You Feicheng was ever more interested and keen on discussing, "Hey, did you guys know? I also heard that Shen Mochen had been indecent with girls before, got beaten up for it, and that's why he's growing his hair long enough to cover his face!"

"That's so disgusting, who let him into First Middle School? He's nothing compared to the class leader's boyfriend!"

You Feicheng looked at Catherine with anticipation, "Right, Kaja, where did your boyfriend find you, he's so good-looking, can you introduce us next time?"

"Yes, yes, he isn't from our school, right? Could you introduce us... Oh, if he's handsome, he must have a lot of handsome friends too!" The other girls joined in the clamor.

"Maybe some other time," Catherine said with a smile, shrugging.

"Yay!" Everyone cheered.

After leaving the rehearsal room, Shen Mochen had no intention of returning. Instead, he wandered around the school, thinking he would soon leave and might as well see every place he hadn't before.

"Shen Mochen!"

Suddenly, a familiar, soft exclamation came from behind him.

Shen Mochen turned around, only to see a long-haired girl looking at him with tearful, affectionate eyes.

"Gu Yange..." Shen Mochen stopped in his tracks.

"Congratulations, you got your wish," Gu Yange said, biting her lip.