The Hidden Curriculum

During the wait for class, Huang Xiu observed her three competitors.

The overachiever who arrived even earlier than her.

She considered this a chance to size up the competition.

Although the final exam for this course wouldn’t count toward her academic credit, the practical credit it offered was substantial—a full fifty points.

That was worth five soldier-level Dragon Calamities!

When there were no cute Dragon Calamities to fish for, every single credit was precious to Huang Xiu.

But as she watched, she sensed something off.

First, the boy. He kept his head down and stayed silent, the picture of a social outcast.

Yet every movement he made carried an indescribable grace.

That kind of grace wasn’t something you could cultivate without years of upbringing.

Huang Xiu concluded at a glance that his family background was extraordinary—either a rich second generation or a special second generation.

But for some reason, that grace felt disjointed to her, as if it didn’t truly belong to him.

Then there were the two girls—both youthful, beautiful, and radiant.

The one who shared Huang Xiu’s identity wore the same short-sleeved shorts uniform.

But she had a white bucket hat with a cat pattern on her head.

The other wore a plaid skirt uniform, her long hair flowing.

Huang Xiu was certain she had never seen them before.

Yet their actions, mannerisms, and expressions felt oddly familiar.

Feeling a bit shy under Huang Xiu’s not-so-subtle gaze, the plaid-skirt girl turned away and took a sip of bottled water.

As she lifted her arm, something faintly blue flickered on her inner bicep.

“What was that?”

In that fleeting glimpse, Huang Xiu couldn’t make it out clearly, but she didn’t think it was a pendant.

“It’s almost class time, and there are only three people. Isn’t anyone else in a hurry?”

Even if this was an elective course that didn’t count toward academic credits,

the fifty points available for excellence alone should have warranted more attention, right?

Huang Xiu waited for other students to enter the meeting room.

But strangely, even after the bell rang, no one else came in.

“Could it be that this class is just the four of us?!”

At that thought, Huang Xiu’s gaze toward the other three in the room changed.

These three had stood out from the crowd, and they would surely become fierce competitors for her scholarship.

*Click!*

The meeting room door opened, and a beautiful female teacher in jeans and a crop top walked in.

She closed the door behind her, locking it with a click.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” the teacher said with a gentle smile.

Then she quickly walked past the four to sit at the short end of the rectangular table, waving her hand.

“Come a little closer, everyone. With just four people in this class, if we sit too far apart, it’ll feel really empty.”

The four exchanged glances, then split into pairs and sat on either side of her. The plaid-skirt girl ended up next to Huang Xiu.

“I apologize for taking up your Wednesday evening rest time, but the school considered your special circumstances and deemed this elective course absolutely necessary, so it couldn’t be avoided,” the teacher explained with a smile.

“Special circumstances? Isn’t this an intensive course?” Huang Xiu felt a bad premonition.

She turned to look at her three classmates.

The boy and the bucket-hat girl seemed to have anticipated the course; neither looked surprised.

Only the plaid-skirt girl showed a flicker of confusion and panic.

Clearly, she was as clueless as Huang Xiu.

At that moment, Huang Xiu wanted to elbow the girl next to her and ask a question,

but with them sitting so close, any whisper would be overheard.

“Let me introduce myself. My name is Nanmen Xiu. I’m a psychology teacher, and I’ll be leading this psychological counseling session.”

Huang Xiu: “???” A psychology teacher? What’s that all about?!

She couldn’t help but ask, “Isn’t this an intensive course? And I don’t think I need any extra psychology classes.”

She was a perfectly normal college student. Even if judged online, she’d only be labeled as ‘innocent and foolish.’ What psychological counseling could she possibly need?

The plaid-skirt girl nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

“Of course, this isn’t an intensive course,” Nanmen Xiu said with a helpless expression.

“The classes you take during the day are already enough to digest. Why would we arrange something like this for you?”

“Also,” she looked at Huang Xiu, squinting with a smile as if soothing a startled cat, her voice soft.

“Student Huang Xiu, don’t rush. Whether you need psychological counseling is an assessment made by the school. You can listen first.”

Nanmen Xiu blinked. “And this class is worth fifty credits! Just listening will earn you those fifty credits. Isn’t that a good deal?”

In the end, tempted by the fifty credits, Huang Xiu—who could be coaxed but not forced—was reluctantly calmed down.

She would see what this psychological class was all about.

“All of you who were chosen share a common problem that the school wants to help you overcome,” Nanmen Xiu began.

Her lips parted.

“Some of you may already know—it’s the issue of psychological gender and physical gender mismatch.”

Even though she had vaguely guessed it, hearing the answer confirmed still hit her hard.

Huang Xiu felt her hidden secret exposed before strangers, and a wave of intense shame and inexplicable inferiority surged within her.

She almost instinctively wanted to get up and flee the classroom.

But as she was about to rise, her gaze swept over the other three in the room.

Another thought suddenly surfaced: Were they her kind?

How had they faced it?

What was their mindset now?

These questions clawed at her heart like a cat’s paws, suppressing her urge to run.

Huang Xiu’s face turned cold, expressing her displeasure.

This time, as her gaze passed over the other three classmates, everything that had felt off suddenly made sense.

The elegant aura of the delicate boy was disjointed because his movements were more like a young lady’s than a gentleman’s.

The actions and expressions of the two girls?

Wasn’t it the same for her after her transformation?—they still carried a strong masculine style.

That’s why they felt so familiar!

Huang Xiu wasn’t seeing two girls; she was seeing two more men trapped in women’s bodies!

“Damn!” Huang Xiu muttered under her breath.

Her gaze toward the three softened, no longer competitive but empathetic.

“Do you want to make our bodies and minds the same gender?” she asked Nanmen Xiu.

“That’s our goal,” Nanmen Xiu nodded generously. “But don’t worry, we won’t force you to change. You are whoever you think you are.”

She looked at the other three with sincere eyes.

“We’re just providing a platform for you to communicate and find your own reasons to unify your body and mind.”

“But I think this is just a waste of time,” Huang Xiu said coldly.

“Communication—bare your soul to others? No way!”

Even though her reaction might seem intense, she had already decided to abandon the fifty credits and skip the next class.

Fifty credits? If there was a trigger, she could earn them anytime.

“Communication?”

The bucket-hat girl pressed the brim of her hat down, looking puzzled.

Clearly, although she knew the purpose of the class, she didn’t know the specific teaching method.

“Yes, you can share whatever you want in this meeting room. You are kindred spirits and friends,” Nanmen Xiu said, pressing her hands down.

“Don’t worry—nothing said here will leave this room.”

“We often say that sharing happiness doubles it, and sharing sorrow halves it. If you have doubts, you can start by sharing happy things.”

Seeing no one wanted to be the first to speak, Nanmen Xiu tilted her head and smiled. “How about I start sharing?”

The group remained noncommittal, just silent.

Even the most naive person, after experiencing something as major as a transformation, would become guarded and withdrawn.

“I recently got pregnant,” Nanmen Xiu said, touching her belly with a face full of happiness.

“Congratulations,” Huang Xiu said softly.

“When I was in my first year of high school, I was still a boy!” Nanmen Xiu dropped a bombshell.

Even the boy who had been keeping his head down looked up in surprise.

Huang Xiu swallowed hard, her voice strained.

“You mean… you transformed, found a husband, and now you’re having a child…”

“Otherwise, why do you think I’m teaching this class? Because I’m one of you!” Nanmen Xiu laughed.

Accepting the reality of transformation, finding a husband, having a child.

Huang Xiu felt that even if she had ten years, she couldn’t do all that.

What incredible mental fortitude!

After a long pause, she finally said, “Teacher… you have such a good mindset.”

“Eh, not really,” Nanmen Xiu shook her head.

“I remember back then I was even more resistant than you. I even tried to find a girlfriend, but it didn’t work out.”

“But that’s all in the past.”

She spoke about her past without any restraint, more like a senior chatting with juniors than a teacher.

Nanmen Xiu grinned mischievously. “By the way, does anyone want to see a photo of me when I was a boy and a photo of my current husband?”

Hearing this, the four of them perked up, their eyes instantly filled with gossipy curiosity.

“I want to see,” Huang Xiu nodded seriously.

“Me too!” The plaid-skirt girl raised her hand, and the other two nodded as well.

“Then introduce yourselves first,” Nanmen Xiu said, pulling out her phone and flipping through it before placing it screen-down on the table.

“Introductions are fine, right? After you finish, I’ll show you.”

Who would go first? The four exchanged glances, and eventually, the somewhat effeminate boy stood up.

“I’ll go first. My name is Li Yurou… from Class Eight.”

Even though only the name was given, everyone could infer something from it.

*Probably a girl who turned into a boy,* Huang Xiu guessed.

Clockwise, next was the bucket-hat girl.

She pressed her hat down and stood up. “My name is Jiang Qing. I’m from Class Four.”

“My name is Chen Molian… from Class Two,” said the girl in the plaid skirt sitting to Huang Xiu’s right.

This time, taking advantage of her standing up, Huang Xiu deliberately observed her right inner arm.

Under the short sleeve, on the fair inner bicep near the elbow, there was a faint blue rhomboid shape.

The fluorescent light hit it, casting a blue glow.

*It looks a bit like scales… or fish scales?*

Huang Xiu rubbed her chin and stood up. “My name is Huang Xiu. I’m from Class One.”

As soon as she sat down, Nanmen Xiu laughed. “I know you! The strongest freshman in ten years, the only S-rank. Your reputation precedes you, even to a slacker teacher like me.”

“Really…” Huang Xiu shyly twirled her hair.

Hearing this, Li Yurou and Jiang Qing, who hadn’t known Huang Xiu before, instantly understood her identity.

They looked at her in surprise.

Li Yurou even spoke up. “So… you’re the one who beat my cousin.”

“Who’s your cousin?” Huang Xiu thought for a moment but couldn’t recall defeating anyone with the surname Ji.

“It’s nothing,” Li Yurou waved a hand, not intending to elaborate.

“Since introductions are done, let me show you what I looked like when I was a boy,” Nanmen Xiu interjected.

She picked up her phone and opened it.

Immediately, four heads huddled together.

At that moment, Huang Xiu believed that even if there was a hundred yuan on the floor, no one would look away.

On the screen was a photo of a clean-cut boy in a school uniform, holding a basketball and posing to shoot.

“Wow, is that what you looked like, teacher?” Chen Molian exclaimed in surprise.

Nanmen Xiu smiled. “Yes, seen enough? Now let me show you my husband’s photo.”

With that, she swiped gently, and the next photo pushed the previous one to the left.

It was an engagement photo.

Nanmen Xiu, in a white wedding dress, leaned against Xu Gaoxuan, who was wearing a suit and standing tall.

Both were beaming, their eyes full of love for each other.

Huang Xiu was stunned. Nanmen Xiu’s husband was actually Teacher Xu Gaoxuan, who had intervened during the Xushi incident!

What a small world!

But thinking it over, it made sense.

Both were outstanding students who stayed on at school, so it wasn’t unlikely they’d meet.

“Ah, you know my husband! He’s great!”

Seeing the happy smile on Nanmen Xiu’s face—one harder to suppress than an AK—when she talked about Xu Gaoxuan,

Huang Xiu felt like she had inexplicably eaten a huge mouthful of dog food.

For a moment, she even thought,

This class wasn’t meant for discussion or sharing, but for Nanmen Xiu to show off her love life!

“Want me to tell you how I met your Teacher Xu and how I changed my mindset?”

Nanmen Xiu beamed.