I See The Galaxy Chapter 1

Rays of light shone through the dark curtains, bringing with them the faint sense of afternoon.

An alarm sounded, shaking the wooden tabletop with the phone’s vibrations. The light sleeper still lying in bed reached over and fumbled with the controls until the sound receded.

The room was silent.

After awakening from a short lunchtime nap, Yu Xing stared at the beige ceiling, eyes half-open and half-closed.

She got up after a minute, mind completely at ease. She picked up a half-full glass of cold water and drank it to soothe her throat; with the onset of autumn, the air had been very dry as of late.

Grabbing her glasses, Yu Xing entered the bathroom and washed her face, and after she dried off, she started to prepare for the day ahead.

She lowered her bangs until they covered the entirety of her forehead like thick curtains; she put on thick glasses that obscured her eyes and rested heavily on her nose as if a mountain; she smoothed out her hair until it hung limply on both sides of her face…

Even if one-third of her face was left exposed, the old thick-framed glasses still managed to completely steal the show, drawing away all attention and becoming her most defining feature.

Yu Xing stared into the mirror.

How ugly.

She raised her hand and roughly slapped herself several times on both cheeks to rouse her spirits.

With a straight face, Yu Xing adjusted her expression into a serious and dull sort of look then exited the bathroom, satisfied with herself. She made her bed, wore her jacket, and fetched her notebook, all in one fell swoop.

When she opened the door to her room, she saw another door on the opposite side of the hall.

There were two bedrooms in the small suite, each one having a bathroom. There was a small sofa and a coffee table in the common area, but no kitchen– due to the safety risks, meals were handled by the school cafeteria.

If you looked at other schools in Sijiu City, few of them had this sort of configuration.

Yu Xing walked out of the dorm. As the door closed behind her, she stood still and let out a deep breath.

She had been there for a little less than two months, and yet she was still not used to it.

How else can one explain that this was a place filled to the brim with money?

The air in Lintian Private Highschool was certainly like no other.
 

—

Classes started at 2:15; Yu Xing walked from the girls’ dormitory to the sophomore building, and her fellow schoolmates in Class 3 slowly filled the room.

It was normal for them to not arrive yet, those rich kids had a lot of things to ‘work on’ every day, and studying was one of the many things that they were uninterested in.

Just like in their student housing– regardless of which dorm it was, about half of the rooms were vacant most of the time. For example, Yu Xing’s own two-room dorm only had her as its occupant. The rest of her schoolmates only occasionally lived on campus, and from time to time returned late or did not return at all.

After preparing her things for her afternoon class, Yu Xing got out a pen and a duty file notebook. As time passed, people entered the room one by one waiting for class to start, while she got ready to leave the room.

A leg came from behind and kicked the foot of her desk.

“Hey–”

Yu Xing turned her head to look. Without making a single sound, her jaw clenched and her mouth pursed.

"Hurry and finish this before the teacher comes." Withdrawing her leg, Qiu Huini threw the exercise book on her desk, leaned back in her chair, turned her head back and asked, "Yuan Qing, are you gonna get it done too?"

“Just wait, I’ll look for it.”

Qiu Huini gave a lazy hum, then saw Yu Xing looking in their direction. She wrinkled her eyebrows and glared back. "What’re you looking at, nerd?

“Found it.” The same exercise book was passed to Qiu Huini. “Here.”

Qiu Huini took it and threw it at Yu Xing. “Well? Hurry up.”

Her index finger moved to push up her glasses, but Yu Xing said nothing, only taking out a sheet of paper from her desk. The front and back were completely covered with words, densely packed and crowded together. She slipped the paper into Qiu Huini’s workbook and pushed both of the workbooks back onto Qiu Huini’s desk.

"The homework for the last class is written there, copy it yourself,” she said softly, not seeming to be offended or have the slightest change in mood, and then got up. "I have to go, I’m on duty again today."

Qiu Huini curled her lip, rolling her eyes. "It's a lot to ask me to manually copy your homework."

The friend sitting behind her sighed. “Just make her copy it for you next time, what’s the point in getting mad at such a wimp?”

Yu Xing, who was called both a coward and a nerd directly behind her back, ignored them and lowered her head as she exited the classroom, looking honest and unbothered.
 

—

Leaving the sophomore building behind and leaving those people even farther behind, Yu Xing checked her phone as she walked through a corridor covered with autumn greenery.

In her unread messages, there was a message from her aunt checking in on her. 【How was your lunch? Did you get along well with your classmates?】

Behind the dark-framed glasses, her eyes softened for a moment.

Yu Xing typed a reply word by word. 【I was completely stuffed! I really enjoyed the restaurant's food today, I ate two whole bowls!】

As for the latter question…

【I got along well with everyone, and just now another student lent me an exercise book! I was very grateful, I thanked her in my heart!】

Her aunt was probably waiting in front of the phone, as a reply came only seconds after. 【That’s good, take care of yourself.】

Her next message did not forget to scold her. 【Next time, say thank you to people in person.】

Well…

Yu Xing’s expression remained unchanged as she replied:【Okay.】

She glanced up and saw that she was already at the end of the corridor, so their short conversation would have to come to an end.

【Class is starting soon. I’ll talk to you later, Auntie.】

【I’ll miss you! =￣ω￣=】

She put away her phone and sped up, walking through a large sports field. The ‘long and arduous journey’ was difficult to complete, and it took a while for her to reach the school gates.

The duty room and the security room were on the left and right, guarding both sides of the gate, one to ensure safety and the other to ensure discipline.

As soon as Yu Xing entered, Fan Xiangxiang looked up at the table. The corners of her lips were turned downwards, Yu Xing didn’t know if it was because she had pursed her lips too hard or if it was due to some other reason.

Yu Xing nodded at her. “Sorry for being late.”

Technically, she was three minutes early, but seeing as her partner on duty had also come early, a polite word was not too much to ask.

Fan Xiangxiang apparently did not want to be polite, as she withdrew her gaze without acknowledging her, instead looking down and rummaging through the duty file notebook in front of her.

For a month or so, they have worked together while on duty.

Fan Xiangxiang usually didn’t come so early; today was a special case.

In fact, it was only nominally a duty– most of the time, their ‘duty’ was just to go through the motions. In other schools, you could maybe catch a few late arrivals and departures, but who could you catch in Lintian?

Or rather, who would you dare to arrest?

This one's father donated a library, that one's mother donated an art building, this one's grandfather was happy, so the track on the sports field was renovated countless times, after he was unsatisfied with the renovations, he simply donated a school gymnasium.

In this place full of rich kids, normal rules did not apply.

Even the teachers were not keen to be on duty, instead picking two random students to deal with it. There was no dereliction of duty that was more obvious than this.

Fortunately, duty only took up the first ten minutes of the first period, so she could go back to her classroom once she was dismissed.

Yu Xing sat down on the bench. The two people in the room occupied one side each.

What should she have for dinner?

Her mind began to drift towards several unrelated topics.

Looking at the afternoon schedule, she could finish today's homework in about two periods of evening study, what should she do with the rest of the day? Reading, maybe?

Oh, I hope the restaurant’s chef can cook dishes that aren’t too delicate tonight, those meals aren’t that filling.

It seems like there’s an on-campus cinema in the school? I'll go see it sometime.

“How are you doing in your classes?” Fan Xiangxiang suddenly spoke, voice cold.

"Huh?" Yu Xing froze for a moment, pushing up her glasses and looking up, "Me?"

Fan Xiangxiang was clearly unhappy. "Who else is here but you?"

“Ah… Things are going pretty well… My class…”

"Last time I passed by your class, I saw you letting your classmates copy your homework." Fan Xiangxiang interrupted.

Yu Xing paused, then shook her head. “No, I write down my answers on a separate paper then let them copy it themselves.”

“What’s the difference?”

"If you answer the questions and transcribe them onto paper, you only have to write it twice." Yu Xing made a gesture of two."If you help them copy, that’s at least five times." She emphasized with a straight face. "Five times."

Fan Xiangxiang was enraged upon hearing this. "What? I've never seen a coward like you! They’re rich, so what? Do they have to bully special admission students like you!?"

“Well… I think it’s alright to be a little more accepting…”

"Accepting? If you’re a wimp, you’re a wimp, what are you talking so much about," Fan Xiangxiang mocked. "It’s because you’re like this that special admissions will be looked down upon, can’t you be a little tougher? I was recruited on my own merit, are they better or worse than me? I should look down on these uneducated idiots! And you? Following along like an obedient dog– even if you don't want to live well yourself, can you not hold me back!?”

Yu Xing let out a quiet noise. “Dog is a little too much…”

Fan Xiangxiang stared at her for a long time, then probably decided that she was a hopeless case, as she fiercely turned his head and no longer minded her.

Yu Xing looked at Fan Xiangxiang, thought about it, and did not speak again.

Time passed quietly in the duty room. It was almost time for them to leave when a car horn sounded outside the gate.

A blue tawdry limousine drove up to the entrance. Someone from the security room came out to have a look and then opened the gate for them to enter.

It was probably just a student arriving to class late.

She was about to withdraw her gaze, but then she turned her head and saw Fan Xiangxiang staring straight at the car. Suddenly, she grabbed her pen and duty file notebook and rushed out towards the gate.

Fan Xiangxiang stood in front of the car and extended an arm, blocking its path.

Yu Xing was shocked.

In the past, the security guards and teachers had never stopped anyone from entering, just letting it be. The electric gate only stopped people who weren’t part of the school.

Not only that, but the people who could usually drive their own cars are seniors over 18 years old. Of all the year levels in their schools, seniors were the ones who no one could afford to mess with. Not just for ordinary people like them, but for other Lintian students as well.

There were many notable surnames in Sijiu City, and some of them happened to belong to those in the senior division.

Fan Xiangxiang was not unaware of this fact.

This was completely inexplicable. Yu Xing, fearing something bad would happen, got up and quickly walked to the door of the duty room, but did not take another step forward.

The gate opened, and the car was swiftly stopped by Fan Xiangxiang.

A security guard informed her from within the security room, "It’s a school car, everyone inside is a senior student."

His words were signaling her to let go of the matter, but Fan Xiangxiang didn’t seem to hear. She walked to the driver's side and raised her hand to knock on the car window.

The window opened by a third, and inside was the handsome face of a boy. He frowned as he asked, "Something wrong?"

Fan Xiangxiang sternly said, "Classmate, you are late, and according to the school rules, points will be deducted from your class. What is your name? I'll register it in the logbook."

Her expression was one of superiority, sacred and inviolable.

The boy in the driver's seat was silent for two seconds then turned his head to the person in the passenger seat, laughing out loud. "Did you hear that, she said she was going to deduct my points?"

Yu Xing could no longer stand it, quickly rushing to Fan Xiangxiang’s side.

“You…”

Before Fan Xiangxiang could finish her sentence, Yu Xing covered her mouth. "Sorry senior, she's new here!"

A new character had emerged. Shen Shiyu put his hands on the steering wheel and looked at her. Her voice was nice... but she was too earthy, dressed like a nerd, looked completely lifeless, had bangs as thick as iron, and her face couldn’t be seen clearly.

What a great day. All the people on duty were complete weirdos.

Before he could speak, another slightly impatient voice spoke from the back seat of the car.

“...Are we going or not?”

Shen Shiyu turned his head at the sound.

Clothes were draped over his body, the man sleeping with his face half-covered didn't open his eyes, his brows slightly furrowed. As he spoke, the fabric slid down his neck, revealing his face.

His eyebrows were fine and handsome, his nose was high and straight, and his mouth was curved into a displeased arc.

The man was not asleep, but his posture was lazy and he leaned against the back of the chair tiredly as if nothing had anything to do with him. He seemed too lazy to look around the interior of the car and too bored to think about anything outside the car.

Every stitch of the jacket he was wearing was hand embroidered, embellishing the edges of the garment. The understated gilt thread added color without being overly heavy, retaining the overall sense of lightness very well with an extravagant and streamlined blend, resulting in a different kind of casual and elegant style.

Just like his character.

Shen Shiyu knew he was upset at the wake-up call and answered, “Right away.”

The car windows were tinted and the driver's seat window was only lowered by half. When Yu Xing rushed over, she couldn't even look at the windshield. Forget the back seat, she couldn't even see what the person sitting in the passenger’s side looked like.

But upon hearing that voice, she somehow felt like she couldn’t let it go.

Yu Xing covered Fan Xiangxiang's mouth even tighter, and hurriedly said, "Senior, you guys go in! She's new here and doesn't understand, I'll explain to her later!"

Trying to force a dumb, honest and pleading smile, Yu Xing tightly covered Fan Xiangxiang's mouth, ignoring her struggling, and used all her strength to hug her waist and drag her back.

Shen Shiyu did not dwell on it and raised the car window.

Jiang Zhiyan, who was in the passenger seat, turned around and saw that the person in the back had opened his eyes.

Seeing him looking out the window, Jiang Zhiyan casually asked, "What are you looking at?"

Sheng Yi's peach blossom-like eyes and thin lips normally complemented each other, especially when smiling, but at the moment the slight tiredness mixed with irritation from not getting enough sleep made his face look sickly.

"Nothing," he said.

The girl with the glasses covered the mouth of another girl and dragged her straight backwards. The one that was being dragged had a shoe scraping against the ground that was about to fall off.

Looking away from the girl’s badge, the words "Yu Xing" faintly flashed through his mind.

Sheng Yi looked at Shen Shiyu. “Let's go.”

Translator's Note:

hi! i'm meowchat, your resident translator for ISTG (yes, i did choose the acronym myself), and i'll be updating every week at sunday 12 pm GMT+8, maybe twice a week at random if i'm feeling like it :>

i hope you all enjoy this novel as much as i did!