Chapter 314: Chapter 314

When Shen You’an walked into the school gates early the next morning, everyone was holding their phones, walking while staring down at their screens.

"Careful." Shen You’an reached out and grabbed a boy’s collar, pulling him back a step.

The boy stumbled, and when he looked up, a tree stump as thick as a bowl was right in front of him. Were it not for Shen You’an’s intervention, he would’ve crashed headfirst into it.

He couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat.

The boy’s expression shifted from anger to terror. When he turned his head, he suddenly felt dazzled.

"Shen... Shen You’an?"

Without pausing, the girl left a faint remark, "Watch where you’re walking," before heading off.

The boy stared blankly at her retreating figure as she walked away, muttering to himself, "The... the school beauty actually talked to me..."

Until recently, everyone’s impression of Shen You’an was that she was an untouchable academic genius, with grades that towered like mountains.

But when she was crowned as the school beauty, she suddenly became strikingly radiant, exuding an aura that felt both awe-inspiring and unattainable.

This is what psychology refers to as the "halo effect."

The halo effect stems from cognitive biases, where a person’s specific strength becomes the centerpiece of perception, subsequently influencing other evaluations of that individual.

Now that Shen You’an is the school beauty, the key criteria for judging a beauty—appearance, figure, and demeanor—are amplified tenfold in her case.

No matter how unnoticed or plain she used to be in the past,

the day she became the school beauty, everything reset; it was as though she started all over again.

In Class A, Hao Yun deliberately raised his voice, "Next week, Xiangge is competing in a piano competition, everyone cheer for her!"

A female student praised enviously, "Xiangge plays piano so well, she’s bound to win first place."

"Of course, unlike a certain school beauty, who probably hasn’t even touched a piano in her life."

"What kind of school beauty is that anyway? Just rigged votes to climb up there..."

Qin Xiangge offered a gentle smile, but a flash of cold humor flickered across her eyes.

To her, such piano competitions were little more than résumé padding and posed no challenge whatsoever. For more chapters visit novel★fire.net

So what if she wasn’t the school beauty? With New Year’s Eve approaching, she would show the entire school what it meant to lack the virtue to match the title.

Just then, Shen You’an walked into the room, and the gossiping girls immediately lowered their heads in guilt.

Qin Xiangge glanced briefly at Shen You’an before lowering her gaze.

Hao Yun sneakily held his phone out and asked, "Xiangge, who are you voting for as school heartthrob?"

In the preliminary round, everyone had four votes and could cast them for four different people.

Qin Xiangge shook her head, "I haven’t decided yet."

"What’s there to think about? The four most iconic figures in freshman year—we’ve got three of them in our class. Better keep that within the team. Liu Runxi, Leng Yunyang, Gu Bichen, and Mr. Jiang—it’s perfect. The hard part is choosing just one for the final round; that’ll hurt no matter who we pick."

Thinking about how the chosen school heartthrob would need to take promotional photos with Shen You’an, Qin Xiangge felt an unpleasant mix of irritation welling up inside her.

"With New Year’s approaching, as the arts affairs officer of the student council, I have to organize and coordinate programs for the New Year’s Eve event. I’ll be incredibly busy for the next month."

Qin Xiangge’s tone carried a hint of impatience.

Her meaning was clear: don’t bother me with trivial matters.

Hao Yun’s eyes lit up, "Xiangge, can I sign up for a performance?"

Qin Xiangge thought for a moment and replied, "After my meeting at noon, I’ll come back and inform everyone."

The three grade-level teaching buildings at Lanya High School were located in three separate directions, quite far apart from one another. Each building was surrounded by two dining halls, which meant there was rarely any interaction between students of different grades.

The student council office was situated on the first floor of the sophomore year teaching building, inside an octagonal room on the east side.

Currently, the backbone of the student council primarily consisted of sophomore students. Before they transitioned to their senior year, they would select successors from the freshman members so that the newcomers could take over while they themselves focused entirely on preparing for the college entrance exams.

When freshmen moved up to sophomore year, new recruits from the incoming freshmen would be chosen for training, and the cycle of power would repeat again.

Due to the complexity of student council matters and frequent meetings, many top students were unwilling to spend their time on such activities. As a result, only Qin Xiangge and Wang Chiru from Class A of the freshman year had joined the student council. Wang Chiru had entered the secretariat; his steady and reliable nature earned him the secretary-general’s trust.

Qin Xiangge, on the other hand, leveraged her diverse talents to secure a spot in the cultural arts department. The current arts department head was Ling Yue from Class L of the sophomore year. She was also the vice president of the student council and a prominent figure in the sophomore cohort.

The agenda for this meeting revolved around the New Year’s Eve arts gala happening in one month.

After doing a headcount, Ling Yue noticed someone was missing. Her sharp eyes swept through the room, "Where’s Xiao Ling?"

Qin Xiangge twirled her pen, her head lowered, a faint smile lingering at the corner of her mouth.