Why did you make me reincarnate?

The next morning, Xu Chaoyang woke up around 7 a.m.

Guessing that Shen Ju was probably still asleep, he set off alone to Yulan. As soon as the car turned onto the road leading to the school, Xu Chaoyang noticed something was wrong.

The school gate was packed with people today. Several school buses from nearby junior high schools came, and there were even staff members from several local media outlets carrying cameras and microphones.

The scale of the operation was much larger than he had imagined.

As I walked into the familiar campus, a rather formal stage had been set up on the playground, with the words "Yulan High School Class of 02 Outstanding Students Commendation Ceremony" printed on the backdrop, and red banners hanging on both sides of the stage.

Several rows of office chairs were set up below the stage, and most of them were already full.

Xu Chaoyang found Chen Guoli in the crowd. He was standing on the side of the stage, talking to several middle-aged men in white shirts, looking much more serious than usual.

Chen Guoli turned around and saw him, his expression relaxing a bit. "You're here? You're third to go on stage in a bit, go backstage and get ready first."

"Principal Chen, didn't you say you were just going to hold a simple event? This is such a grand affair!"

Chen Guoli said with a smile, "Originally, we planned to keep it simple, but this year's Yulan graduating class has achieved the best results since the school was founded, so we'll take this opportunity to make it more formal and treat it as the school anniversary celebration."

"I reported it to the Education Bureau, and they took it very seriously. They said it would set an example for all the middle schools in the city, so they notified the nearby junior high schools in advance to organize their students to visit."

Seeing Old Chen's smug look, Xu Chaoyang tacitly agreed to give a speech in public and walked backstage.

He didn't prepare any speech, thinking he would just say a few words casually, as he also liked to freestyle during company meetings in his previous life.

It was still early, so Xu Chaoyang strolled around the campus and noticed a group of elementary school students gathered in front of the bulletin board next to the teaching building. They were probably there on a tour, and they were all pointing and gesturing at the photos on the bulletin board.

Xu Chaoyang went over and saw that the bulletin board displayed photos and biographies of this year's outstanding graduates in orchid cultivation.

He appeared at the end of the first row, wearing a school uniform with a serious expression, a standard ID photo, with the inspirational poem "Set sail straight to the vast ocean" written below.

Actually, Xu Chaoyang originally wanted to write "GG Space for Rent", but Lao Chen rejected it directly.

"This guy is so handsome."

A little girl pointed at his photo, her voice clear and bright.

A little boy next to him disagreed, saying that photos can be edited, and maybe the person in real life is ugly.

Xu Chaoyang stood behind them and couldn't help but laugh.

The girl glanced back at him, then tugged at her friend's sleeve, "Look, he looks like that person in the photo..."

Several little heads turned around at once, and when they saw Xu Chaoyang, they immediately erupted in excitement.

"That's him! It's him!"

Wow, he's even more handsome than in the photos!

These pure and sincere words made Xu Chaoyang overjoyed.

He crouched down to be at eye level with the children and asked, "Which school are you from?"

"We're from Experimental Middle School; we'll be in seventh grade next semester!"

"Brother Chaoyang, you must be really good at studying, right? That the school could showcase that?"

A barrage of questions came at Xu Chaoyang, who answered them all without complaint, and the elementary school students' eyes lit up.

Just then, someone pointed to another photo on the bulletin board and asked, "Brother, do you know this sister?"

Xu Chaoyang followed his finger and looked over. It was a photo of Jiang Banxia. It was well taken, and she looked like she was smiling sweetly.

Before he could answer, a gentle voice suddenly came from beside him.

"Yes, we know each other. We're good friends."

Everyone turned around curiously and found that Jiang Banxia had somehow appeared on their right, smiling at the group of elementary school students.

"Wow, so you two are really close."

The children's eyes lit up even more, and they were probably imagining something.

Xu Chaoyang sighed. Nowadays, kids are starting to be influenced by soap operas, and they don't know what they're thinking all day.

He stood up to leave, but Jiang Banxia followed him and walked naturally beside him.

"Actually, I didn't want to come. I don't really like these kinds of occasions."

Xu Chaoyang didn't respond, so she continued, "Principal Chen called my house yesterday, and I was originally planning to refuse. But when I heard you were here, I came over."

Xu Chaoyang listened to the implication in her words and gave a faint "oh" without stopping his footing.

Jiang Banxia bit her lip, a hint of resentment flashing in her eyes, but she quickly regained her smile and followed his steps.

The two walked side by side on campus, from the teaching building to the playground, with Jiang Banxia maintaining a distance that was neither too close nor too far.

The primary and secondary school students nearby began to whisper among themselves.

"They're both so good-looking, are they a couple?"

"Look how close they are, it must be!"

These words reached Jiang Banxia's ears, and she slightly curled the corners of her mouth. As she passed through the crowd, she took a half step closer to Xu Chaoyang.

Xu Chaoyang understood why Lao Chen had called Jiang Banxia over; she was indeed a good fit, beautiful and with an outstanding temperament, presentable in any situation.

But he remembered Jiang Banxia's college entrance examination score; it seemed she hadn't even made it into the top 30 in her grade.

Old Chen, you've forgotten your original aspirations.

Xu Chaoyang quickened his pace, trying to shake off the person beside him.

But Jiang Banxia seemed to stick to him, following him at a leisurely pace, always with a polite smile on her face. Xu Chaoyang couldn't say anything to her in this situation.

Fortunately, Chen Guoli came out of the administration building at that moment and happened to see the two of them, so he waved.

"You've come at the right time. Get ready quickly, the speeches will begin in twenty minutes."

He glanced at his watch. "Xu Chaoyang, you go first, second in line. Don't cause any trouble."

Xu Chaoyang nodded and walked towards the sunshade backstage. There was a boy sitting on a folding chair, holding a stack of manuscript paper in his hand and his lips moving slightly, as if he was reciting from memory.

He remembered this person; his name seemed to be Huang Zihan, Yu Lan's star in science, who had always held the top spot in the science class.

Huang Zihan wore a brand new white shirt today, with the collar buttoned all the way up, almost choking her neck. She also had hair gel in her hair, making her look very proper.

Xu Chaoyang walked over and greeted him politely: "Hello, brother. You're the first to give a speech, right? You're the top scorer in Yulan's college entrance examination this year."

Huang Zihan looked up, saw Xu Chaoyang, and quickly raised her eyes, but didn't even say a word in response.

Was this guy rolling his eyes at me?

Xu Chaoyang was a little confused. He didn't have much interaction with Huang Zihan, so why should he have a problem with him?

Huang Zihan thought that as the top student in Yulan this year, he should be the most watched person today, but when he looked out from backstage, he found that everyone was talking about Xu Chaoyang.

"That boy's name is Xu Chaoyang? I heard he scored 660 points. That's a sure thing for him to get into Zhejiang University, right?"

"Not only are his grades good, but he's also so handsome and sunny. His future achievements are limitless."

As Huang Zihan listened to these words, he clenched the manuscript paper in his hand. He was the one standing in the spotlight today, but everyone was paying attention to Xu Chaoyang, and even Principal Chen thought he was more promising.

He pushed up his glasses, his gaze piercing through the gaps in the sunshade to the other side of the stage, where Jiang Banxia was standing, smiling and talking to the person next to her.

Huang Zihan's gaze lingered on her for a few seconds before he looked away, secretly vowing to perform well today.