When Yellow Hair saw Qing Ye, he rushed straight through the front door, his face anxious, but just as he reached Qing Ye’s desk, Xing Wu suddenly slammed his phone on the table and said to him: “Get out.”
Yellow Hair froze, clenching his fists and staring at Xing Wu defiantly: “She…”
“I won’t say it a third time. Get out.”
The air pressure in the room instantly dropped. Qing Ye kept her head down, sitting in her seat, unusually silent. Yellow Hair, grinding his teeth with an agitated expression, met Xing Wu’s ice-cold gaze.
Finally, Yellow Hair squeezed his fists, cast a worried glance at Qing Ye, and turned to leave Class 2.
Shi Min immediately let out a sigh of relief, patting her chest and catching her breath: “That scared me to death.”
Then she pulled Qing Ye close and whispered: “Everyone calls him Yellow Hair, but he doesn’t dare mess with Xing Wu from our class. I forgot to tell you, the one behind you is even more dangerous—we usually don’t dare to even talk to him.”
Qing Ye gave her a sidelong glance, wanting to tell her she had already provoked them all.
The first-afternoon class was English, but Qing Ye could hardly focus throughout the entire lesson. Her right elbow hurt whenever she bent it, making it difficult to write, and the pain made her forehead break out in a light sweat.
To make matters worse, this Miss Yu who taught English, a woman around forty—putting aside any judgment of her teaching ability—pronounced “yours” as “youse” the moment she opened her golden mouth, leaving Qing Ye stunned, wondering who was dying.
Throughout the entire class, Qing Ye felt that Miss Yu’s pronunciation must have been learned from some backwoods farmer in some obscure corner of America. She deliberately swallowed her tongue and tried desperately to curl it, and these scattered country accents gave Qing Ye goosebumps wave after wave.
After the bell rang, Qing Ye stood up and told Shi Min she was going to wash her face. Shi Min weakly reminded her: “Um, Qing Ye, the tap outside our classroom is for drinking. If you want to wash your hands, you should go to the bathroom.”
“…” Qing Ye finally understood why everyone in the class had stared at her like she was a monster that day.
She quickly left the classroom and headed toward the restroom. Just after class, the bathroom wasn’t very crowded. Not wanting to run into others, she hastily washed her face and left, walking back. Many people pointed and whispered about her along the way, so Qing Ye irritably avoided the crowd by taking a detour past the music classroom to return to class.
However, just as she turned into the corridor, a dark shadow suddenly loomed before her, startling her. When she looked up and met Xing Wu’s stern eyes, her surprised expression instantly turned to anger. She lifted her foot to step around him, but Xing Wu lazily moved his long leg to block her path. He raised both hands to take her loose collar ribbon, his thick eyelashes lowered slightly, his fingers moving to retie her bow.
Sunlight through the corridor fell on his profile, his features alternately bright and shadowed, deeply handsome. His voice was like sandpaper, magnetic and low: “Does it hurt?”
Qing Ye’s throat moved slightly, and she turned her eyes away, saying coldly: “What’s it to you whether it hurts or not?”
Xing Wu’s lips suddenly curved into a slight smile, his eyes dark and bright as he watched her. Qing Ye caught his smiling expression from the corner of her eye, and suddenly anger rushed to her head, her face flushing red as she glared back at him.
Xing Wu slowly tilted his head, withdrawing his smile, and said carelessly: “Feeling wronged?”
Qing Ye suddenly felt a sting in her nose, but the next second, her left wrist was grabbed. Before she could react, she was being led away by Xing Wu. She called out from behind: “Hey, where are you taking me? Class is about to start. Xing Wu, get lost!”
“You’re too noisy. Shut up.”
Qing Ye was jumping with anger, but Xing Wu pulled her into the teacher-only elevator. She suddenly stopped shouting and instead asked nervously: “Are you a teacher?”
Xing Wu had already let go of her hand and glanced at her indifferently: “Have you ever seen a teacher like me?”
“Then what right do you have to use this elevator?”
“Because I’m this elevator’s maintenance and repair consultant.”
“…” Qing Ye stared at him in surprise. If he just fixed elevators, why give himself such a fancy title?
Then the elevator stopped on the first floor. The class bell had rung, and there were no students outside anymore. Xing Wu led Qing Ye directly to a room around the corner on the first floor. As he took out his key to open the door, Qing Ye looked up and saw the character “Infirmary.”
Before she could process how Xing Wu had a key to the infirmary, she was pulled inside.
After Xing Wu closed the door, Qing Ye looked around. The infirmary wasn’t large but was quite clean, with a faint smell of alcohol, but no one was there.
She turned back to ask Xing Wu: “How do you even have a key to this place?”
Xing Wu pulled out two small medicine bottles and looked back at her: “Guess who the school nurse is?”
“How would I know?”
Xing Wu turned back, pushed Qing Ye onto a stool and said: “Wang Ping.”
“Wang… you mean the Wang Ping who often plays cards with your mom? Is she a doctor? Then why isn’t she here?”
Xing Wu gave her a sidelong glance: “What do you think?”
Qing Ye was utterly speechless. That middle-aged woman who always wore torn fishnet stockings was An Zhong’s school nurse. She must be blind as a bat. Wang Ping probably ran off to play mahjong at Xuan Island again.
Xing Wu pulled her arm and directly ripped off the Band-Aid. Qing Ye hurt so much that she raised her knee and hit him, not lightly, striking Xing Wu’s leg hard. He didn’t dodge, letting her vent her anger. He looked up at her face flushed with anger, then lowered his head to apply a milky-white ointment to the wound. Qing Ye stared at his hands—she had noticed several times before that Xing Wu had very attractive hands, broad palms with distinct knuckles and long fingers, even his nails were full and clean. She even thought that if he were a professional gamer, these hands would look incredibly cool flying across the keyboard in battle, though she shouldn’t be thinking such irrelevant thoughts right now.
Xing Wu asked: “You have the Academic Affairs Office’s number?”
Qing Ye turned her head away and said unfriendly: “Did you see any discipline director show up?”
Qing Ye indeed didn’t have the Academic Affairs Office’s number; in that situation earlier, she could only pick up her phone to scare those people.
Xing Wu looked down at her and said: “Even if there is a next time, don’t call them. The students here are different from where you came from. Going to the authorities is taboo. Finding teachers might solve the immediate problem, but others will distance themselves from you because of your actions. This will bring bigger problems. Once outside school, many things are beyond the school’s control. Don’t make trouble for yourself.”
Qing Ye suddenly smiled, tilting her head and looking at him with raised eyes: “Then why don’t you teach me how I should have handled that situation earlier?”
Xing Wu twisted the cap on the ointment and replied with a half-smile: “Aren’t you the smart one? Then use that brain of yours.”
After putting the ointment away, he said to her: “It’s hot, don’t put on a Band-Aid. You go back first, I’m going to smoke.”
Qing Ye looked around bewildered: “Smoke here?”
Xing Wu sat expressionlessly by the window, opened it, and took out a cigarette. Qing Ye was completely speechless. She turned and walked toward the door, but Xing Wu suddenly said behind her: “Those girls from Class 4 aren’t completely reckless. There’s a girl in our class who has issues with them. You can guess who it is.”
Qing Ye turned back to look at Xing Wu in surprise. He lowered his head to light his cigarette, took a drag, and turned his head, smoke floating hazily in front of his face, giving him a somewhat indistinct quality.
Qing Ye withdrew her gaze and opened the door, but suddenly turned back to ask one more thing: “You just got back from out of town?”
Xing Wu sat with his legs crossed and didn’t answer. Qing Ye closed the door and went straight back to class.
The second period was math, and Teacher Zhu had already launched into his agitated teaching mode, starting to randomly call on students to solve problems. Probably feeling that everyone’s foundation was too weak and few people paid attention in class, he planned to use this surprise attack method to wake these pigs up.
The second-afternoon class was usually the sleepiest, but many students were forced to stand by Teacher Zhu as punishment. When Qing Ye returned to class, there was already a row of students standing in the back, and other sleepy students were forcing themselves to stay alert—after all, who the hell wanted to stand for dozens of minutes in this heat?
Teacher Zhu called on students while teaching according to his mood, and anyone who couldn’t answer had to stand in the back.
When it came to Fang Lei’s turn, she stood up, head down, fidgeting with her book corner and preparing to walk to the back, when suddenly a paper ball flew onto her desk. Fang Lei was startled and quickly glanced at Teacher Zhu, then opened the paper ball to see neat formulas clearly written on it. She pressed the note against her book and read out the contents.
Teacher Zhu suddenly slapped his podium, making Fang Lei jump, but when she looked up, she saw Teacher Zhu showing an appreciative smile as he praised: “Very good! Excellent! Look at Fang Lei, you bunch of worthless students standing in the back. You’re all in the third year, but spending every day idle and waiting to die. Planning to go straight to unemployment after graduation?”
Teacher Zhu waved his hand at Fang Lei, and she let out a long breath of relief, sitting down guiltily and looking back to see the composed Qing Ye, who gave her a knowing smile.
Fang Lei suddenly clutched the paper in her hand, her heart racing, not understanding why this transfer student had suddenly helped her.
Xing Wu didn’t saunter in through the back door until halfway through class. As soon as he entered, Teacher Zhu called him out: “Xing Wu, been touring the playground again? Back rather early today—a bit later and it would’ve been time to dismiss class. Go stand in the back, no sitting.”
Qing Ye lowered her head and pulled at the corners of her mouth slightly. Xing Wu simply didn’t enter the classroom, casually taking out his phone to play games.
Teacher Zhu continued teaching, and Qing Ye turned back to look at Xing Wu. His tall figure leaned against the back door, long legs crossed casually, rays of sunlight falling on him, his whole being seeming somehow languid, his features cool and unrestrained.
When Qing Ye withdrew her gaze, she saw through the window those girls from Class 4 sneaking out through the back door.
She nudged Shi Min beside her and asked: “Don’t they attend class?”
Shi Min glanced out the window and whispered: “They’re probably going to the playground, that…”
Shi Min held up a pen making a gesture, and Qing Ye immediately understood—they were going to smoke.
As soon as the second period ended, Teacher Zhu shouted: “Today’s homework is the test paper I handed out this morning. Anyone who fails tomorrow will continue standing in the back.”
With that, he picked up his books and left. The class became noisy again. PE class was their moment of freedom. Fat Hu and others stepped over the benches, grabbed Xing Wu, and headed straight for the playground.
After much hesitation, Fang Lei finally clutched the paper note and walked up to Qing Ye. Shi Min raised her head and timidly glanced at Fang Lei, not daring to make a sound.
Qing Ye felt someone in front of her and slowly raised her calm gaze to meet hers. Fang Lei held up the crumpled paper, threw it on her desk, and asked directly: “What does this mean?”
Qing Ye glanced at the paper ball, curved her lips slightly, pulled out her freshly completed test paper, and placed it in front of Fang Lei, slowly raising her eyelids to look at her: “It’s so hot, you can’t feel the fan when standing in the back.”
Fang Lei bit her lip, and hesitated for a moment, but still took Qing Ye’s test paper and turned to stuff it in her drawer.
Qing Ye stood up, stretched her neck, and looked at the dumbfounded Shi Min: “Aren’t we going to PE class?”
Shi Min finally came to her senses: “Let’s go.”
“Wait.” Qing Ye suddenly stopped, casually picked up Xing Wu’s brand new math textbook from his desk, and left the classroom.
While walking to the playground, Shi Min asked curiously: “Why did you bring a math book?”
Qing Ye smiled and said: “To study, what else?”
Shi Min noticed Qing Ye seemed to be in quite a good mood. Indeed, Qing Ye was happy—she could attend PE class at this school. Even their former international school, though not as intense as public schools, basically treated PE class as optional after the second semester of sophomore year. Apart from mandatory weekly exercise, most people chose not to attend, especially in this heat.
Qing Ye had been worried about wearing a skirt—if she’d known there would be PE class, she would have worn pants. But her concerns were unnecessary. Among the twenty-some girls in the class, more than half claimed to have their period, either sitting or leaning in the shade by the playground chatting.
The boys were basically in free-range mode too—some playing basketball, others bragging, they even called the PE teacher over to be a referee. There was no discipline to speak of.
Qing Ye saw Xing Wu sitting with a group of boys under the sports equipment shed across the way, each with a cigarette, and no one stopping them. Not all of them were from Class 2, but they had one thing in common—none of them looked like good people. Even Yellow Hair was there.
About twenty minutes later, several girls from Class 4 came down. Qing Ye immediately spotted the dyed-haired girl who had pushed her earlier. They also saw Qing Ye, standing out like a crane among chickens, leaning against the horizontal bar reading a math book.
Qing Ye only glanced at them before lowering her head to continue reading. Those girls walked directly toward her, shouting before they even reached her: “Where’s the discipline director? I’ve been waiting for two periods!”
The girls from Class 2 who were huddled together all looked over, but Qing Ye acted as if she hadn’t heard, her eyes still on the math book.
Suddenly, with a “pa!” sound, the math book was knocked from her hands.
“Reading math during PE class, what are you trying to prove?” The dyed-haired girl who had pushed her earlier walked up close, bent down to pick up the book, and tore it apart right in front of Qing Ye.
Throughout the whole process, Qing Ye didn’t make a sound, just leaned against the horizontal bar and stared at her with contempt.
The Class 4 girls immediately got angry. They had thought tearing up a good student’s book would be like stepping on her tail, making her furious, but not only was she not angry, she remained completely calm.
Fang Lei nearby saw the math book’s cover, and thinking of how she had just taken Qing Ye’s math test paper, couldn’t hold back anymore and stood up. Li Wenhui pulled her: “What are you doing?”
Fang Lei pulled Li Wenhui up with her: “Let’s go look.”
Fang Lei walked a few steps toward Qing Ye and said to the Class 4 girls: “Cao Fan, it’s not right to tear someone’s book at the start of school, is it?”
The dyed-haired girl called Cao Fan turned to see it was Fang Lei and said with an unpleasant expression: “Don’t tell me you want to help her?”
Fang Lei shrugged: “I care about what’s right, not who’s involved. If you want to cause trouble, do it after class. We’re still in class, and you come charging in—are you treating everyone in Class 2 as cannon fodder?”
Meanwhile, Yellow Hair stomped out his cigarette and stood up cursing: “Damn that Cao Fan, messing with Qing Ye again.”
He was swinging his arms, about to walk toward the playground when Xing Wu said flatly: “Come back.”
Yellow Hair had been agitated since hearing that the girls from his class had been giving Qing Ye trouble. He had rushed upstairs wanting to vent some anger for her, but Xing Wu had directly told him not to meddle.
Now with people harassing Qing Ye right under their noses, and Xing Wu not moving a muscle, Yellow Hair turned back to look at him unhappily: “What’s wrong with you, Brother Wu? You’re just going to watch while Qing Ye gets bullied without doing anything?”
Xing Wu took a hard drag on his cigarette and asked him harshly: “How should we handle it? Let the whole school know Qing Ye hangs out with us?”
Yellow Hair was stunned. In his anger-clouded mind, he hadn’t thought that far ahead. He just wanted to teach those brats a lesson for Qing Ye, but hadn’t considered that once they got involved, things would be different.
Yellow Hair suddenly furrowed his brow, walked back a few steps to stand in front of Xing Wu blocking the light. Xing Wu looked up at him, his mouth curving into a cold arc: “Use your brain to think about what kind of girls hang around us.”
Yellow Hair’s expression suddenly turned ugly. The girls around them were all troublemakers—smoking, cursing, fighting, dropping out, they did it all. Some even worked part-time at nightclubs in the county town. Although Yellow Hair himself looked down on those girls, most who hung around their group were like that.
At An Zhong, even bad students were ranked. Though Cao Fan’s group were bad students, they only dared bully the weak at school—outside school gates, they wouldn’t dare make a peep.
Xing Wu’s group, on the other hand, were the school’s most feared bullies, but they wouldn’t easily lay hands on students. They generally didn’t get involved in minor student squabbles unless it involved some big brothers from outside. If they made a big deal about a newly transferred female student, within a day Qing Ye’s name would spread through all three high schools in An Zi County. How would people view her then?
Even if Qing Ye was as pure as a white paper, just being associated with them would get her labeled as “loose.”
Yellow Hair now understood and calmed down a bit, sitting down on the steps nearby: “I didn’t think as far ahead as you.”
Xing Wu finished his last drag and tossed the cigarette, saying with a profound look: “In the future, talk to her less at school. She’s only staying here for a year. With a good reputation, the school leaders might look after her more. Don’t leave her with any stains. She’s here to study, not like most of us just getting by for a diploma.”
Fat Hu chimed in: “I, I think Brother Wu is right. Look at those celebrities who became famous, aren’t they always being exposed for having bad reputations back home? Anyway, Qing Ye will leave our small town eventually, maybe she’ll be successful in the future.” Fat Hu remembered how she had handled being called up to solve problems by Teacher Zhu—from that moment, he was convinced Qing Ye would become more successful than anyone else in this school.
Yellow Hair mulled over these words, feeling somewhat bitter. He had been thinking about developing an earth-shattering romance with his older cousin, but these two buckets of cold water had thoroughly drenched him. He turned to look at Xing Wu and suddenly sighed: “Brother Wu, I realize you think quite far ahead. Qing Ye is lucky to have you as a relative.”
Xing Wu said with a half-smile: “She probably wants to kill me right now.”
Yellow Hair sighed: “I just can’t stand seeing Qing Ye being bullied.”
Just as he finished speaking, he saw Xing Wu raise his chin slightly with a slight curl of his lips: “Bullied? It’s probably very difficult for anyone to bully her.”
When Yellow Hair turned his head, he discovered something had happened—the girls from Class 4 were suddenly fighting with a group of girls from Class 2, pulling hair and tearing clothes, even the PE teacher had run over.
Meanwhile, Qing Ye remained completely unscathed, still leaning against the horizontal bar, leisurely putting on her earphones and reciting English vocabulary words in the sunlight.
Even when these girls were called to the discipline director’s office, they couldn’t figure out how the fight had started.
When the bell rang, Qing Ye walked back to class wearing her earphones, keeping her prowess well hidden.
Fat Hu, as class monitor, was called over to nominally understand the situation.
When he came back, Yellow Hair asked him: “Heard Qing Ye’s math book was torn up?”
Fat Hu nodded, and Yellow Hair clicked his tongue: “Then Big Cousin’s probably going to blow up.”
Fat Hu looked at Xing Wu with a strange expression: “Probably not. The name written on the book cover was… was Brother Wu’s.”
Xing Wu: ???