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

Liu Bo instantly broke into a grin, probably because it was the first time Catherine had been so friendly to him; he wore a look of honor.

"Class Monitor, how come you're sitting in the last row?" Liu Bo continued to ask.

In his memory, she had always sat around the third or fourth row in the middle of the classroom, which was basically the "golden seat" of a class.

"Because I want to sit here."

Catherine gave Shen Mochen a slight smile, her tone so matter-of-fact:

Shen Mochen kept his head down, thinking, can't you just speak without always looking at me?

The seating was quickly adjusted, and Catherine's new spot became a topic of discussion in the class. People came up to her, concerned, to ask why, and all the answers they got were sincere nonsense like, "Because I want to."

It had always been cold and quiet around Shen Mochen, but now, thanks to Catherine, there were suddenly many more people around him. He thought to himself, true to form for Catherine, even shrinking into a corner like him, she was still the center of attention in the crowd.

Of course, Shen Mochen had had his days in the limelight too, and he felt no envy in his heart; he preferred the quietness he had now.

What was somewhat unexpected was that, although the whole class had spread the news about Shen Mochen and Gu Yange, and the classmates seemed to care, very few actually came to ask him about what had happened. At most, they would ask a question or two and leave when they didn't get an answer.

The atmosphere was strange. Although he had been ignored before, today, it felt like there was a deliberate exclusion at play.

He had experienced a similar situation of being outcast as a bystander. Back then, at Fengye Middle School, Yin Huailian had just passed away. Coincidentally, there was a girl in his class who bore a slight resemblance to Yin Huailian, and unconsciously Shen Mochen had felt close to her. As a result, that girl was quickly ostracized by her classmates.

As far as Shen Mochen knew, there was no premeditation or organization behind it back then; it was just that a few influential girls in the class bad-mouthed her a little, and everyone formed an ostracizing atmosphere as if by agreement. Once this mainstream atmosphere took hold, it was like a thousand-pound weight, pressing everyone to subconsciously abide by the unspoken rule.

So he distanced himself from that girl, then deliberately grew closer to the three who had initiated her ostracism. Sometimes he'd dine and chat with A, at times explain problems to B, sometimes walk home with C, eventually causing the three to become jealous of each other. This led not only to a falling out but escalated to gang fights, resulting in all of them being placed on school probation.

Thus, Shen Mochen was well acquainted with this subtle atmosphere of ostracism. Could it be Gao Le's doing again? Shen Mochen looked toward Gao Le in the distance, who was staring back at him provocatively, his gaze carrying a threat.

It was possible... Though Gao Le was fairly popular in the class, he may not have had such influence. But even if it wasn't him, the reason for his ostracism was probably still because of Gu Yange.

Soon the class bell rang, and everyone returned to their seats. The first period was math class with their homeroom teacher, Ms. Xun, who walked into the classroom in her figure-hugging pencil skirt, exuding grace and femininity.

"Eh... the seating was changed ahead of time, huh?"

Ms. Xun entered the classroom, took a look at the unfamiliar setup, and after a two-second pause realized she hadn't walked into the wrong class. However, she didn't dwell on the premature seat changing issue, not until her eyes searched around and spotted Catherine in the corner did she show surprise.

She immediately turned on her computer, curiously looking at the original document: "Kaja, why are you sitting in the back? I remember you don't sit here, right..."

Catherine stood up, and even facing the homeroom teacher, she smiled and gave her usual response: "Because I like this spot."

Now it was Ms. Xun's turn to be confused. She paused, but seeing Catherine's confident expression, she coughed and said, "Well, if you like it, then feel free to sit there."

"Thank you, Ms. Xun." Catherine sat down.

Talk about audacious, just casually changing the seating chart, just like that jerk Su Mo… Shen Mochen thought to himself, actually curious about the motive behind Catherine's move next to him. He faintly felt that Catherine had moved for his sake, yet also thought such a notion was perhaps too egotistical.

Teacher Xun tapped on the desk, "Let's begin our class now, please take out last week's mock exam papers…"

Shen Mochen, upon hearing this, reluctantly pulled out the water-soaked test paper from inside his desk. Looking at the blurred ink on the paper, Shen Mochen subconsciously glanced at Gao Le, who also turned his head, his face full of smug satisfaction and vengeance.

Just then, with a "bang," Catherine's desk was pushed up next to Shen Mochen's. In Gao Le's astonished gaze, Catherine slid her own test paper into the space between them.

"Move your paper away, don't let mine get wet as well," Catherine whispered next to Shen Mochen.

This unexpected situation left Shen Mochen extremely surprised, but under the pressure of Catherine's presence, he had no choice but to put his own paper aside and look at hers together.

"When I arrived in class, your paper was already like this," Catherine said.

Shen Mochen blinked, somewhat disbelieving, "You, you changed seats for me?"

"You could say that," Catherine gave him a fleeting glance, "If I hadn't come, you would probably have been left looking only at your soaked book and paper."@@novelbin@@

"So you becoming my deskmate is also…"

"There is that reason, but I am indeed interested in the seat next to you as well."

Now, with their desks pushed together and chairs close by, the sophisticated scent of mint from Catherine wafted into Shen Mochen's lungs, a refreshing change from Yin Caiyu's intoxicating rose and red wine fragrance.

Shen Mochen looked out the window and felt unexpectedly moved.

"Catherine, you…"

"It's Kajienka."

"Didn't we agree not to let others know?"

"There's no one listening now."

From a distance, Gao Le watched the two whispering together and couldn't help but burn with rage.

He didn't know the nature of Shen Mochen and Catherine's relationship, but seeing his most hated enemy getting so close with the most noble and beautiful goddess of the entire school, jealousy, annoyance, and anger… instantly swelled in his brain!

And the reason Shen Mochen could be so close to Catherine was precisely because of Gao Le himself!

"Does it feel very satisfying?" Catherine's lips curved into a seductive arc.

"What?"

Catherine's eyes curved with a sly fox-like mischievousness, "Gao Le's expression, it's like being hoist with his own petard, he must be feeling terrible inside."

"It's not bad," Shen Mochen smiled soundlessly, feeling quite content seeing Gao Le look as if his world had ended, although he was indifferent.

Catherine's lips moved closer to Shen Mochen's ear, her hair lightly brushing his neck as she breathed out like a cloud: "Then, would it be even better if we leaned closer like this now?"