By the time Xu You finished carefully studying the problem the teacher had assigned, there was basically no one left in the classroom.

The ceiling fan overhead still swayed as it turned, and the upright air conditioner’s blades were closed.

She packed up her things and went out, closing the classroom door behind her.

The school was very large, with the junior high and senior high divisions in different areas. Along the way there were several convenience stores and bubble tea shops. Hot waves of air mixed in the wind, and the asphalt road surface was scorching.

Small paths on both sides were shaded by trees concealing teaching buildings one after another. Xu You found someone to ask for directions and located Zhicheng Building to collect her uniform.

Two sets each of spring and autumn uniforms, all packed in transparent plastic bags.

Coming out of Zhicheng Building, Xu You wandered around for a bit. She discovered a passageway nearby planted full of Chinese roses. Across a patch of grass was an old, weathered wall. Creeping fig was dappled with spots of sunlight.

A very secluded place.

Her footsteps paused as she saw a cat run in joyfully.

Xu You walked over and crouched down.

In the damp soil, there were also some unknown small white flowers and butterflies that had happened to land there.

Xu You liked flowers. She had lived with her grandmother since childhood. In front of her grandmother’s house was a small flower garden planted full of gardenias, orchids, sunflowers, and magnolias. Probably because she had no little friends to play with, Xu You’s personality had always been very quiet. Every time after school, she would carry her backpack and crouch in front of the flower garden to look, sometimes sniffing the flowers, and before she knew it, it would be dinner time.

The leaves rustled urgently in the wind. She watched for a while longer, then supported herself on her knees, planning to stand up and go find the dormitory.

Suddenly, hurried footsteps mixed with a group of male students cursing approached.

Xu You’s heart tightened. She turned her head to look out through the gaps, immediately froze, and covered her mouth with her hand.

—

There seemed to be two groups of people, pushing and shoving while arguing about something.

Xu You held her breath, carefully observing for a while, not daring to move, afraid of being discovered.

When she was little, her older brother had dragged her to watch Hong Kong gangster movies, and those violent scenes had left quite a shadow on her. So she was very afraid of thugs, especially since several of the boys in that group had dyed yellow hair and looked like street toughs.

After glancing a few times, she discovered that among that group of people, there were actually two who looked somewhat familiar.

They seemed to be classmates…

Xu You was a bit stunned.

That very rude boy who had snatched her draft paper, and another mischievous dark-skinned kid.

Song Yifan, Xie Ci.

In the middle of a group of people pushing and shoving, the two of them just stood to one side chatting. Xie Ci wore his school uniform jacket draped over him, leaning casually against the wall, nonchalantly smoking.

“Xie Ci, you motherfucker, don’t think I’m scared of you just because you have more people!”

Fu Yishun clenched both fists, very angry: “You think you’re so great? Getting people to come after me?”

“Hey hey hey hey, how dare you talk like that?”

Someone couldn’t hold back and stepped forward to shove Fu Yishun’s shoulder, also with a hot temper: “You’re the one being cheap. We told you not to go after Qiu Qingqing—are you deaf?”

When one person made the first move, the rest also began to get restless.

The atmosphere was tense, on the verge of exploding.

Song Yifan had a loose tongue and didn’t forget to joke even at this moment, “You dare to ask if our Ah Ci is great or not?”

Xie Ci glanced at him indifferently.

“Ha, let me tell you.” Song Yifan pointed at that person with one hand while tossing a small stone with the other, chin raised.

“Whether No. 1 Middle School is chaotic or not, Brother Ci decides, understand!”

Another person chimed in, flaunting their numbers: “You think being the boss of Class 6 is so impressive? So thick-skinned, clinging to Qiu Qingqing…”

Xu You hid not far away, silently thinking to herself.

So it’s over a girl… sigh.

Being humiliated about a woman by others.

Fu Yishun indeed exploded at the slightest provocation, grabbing the speaking boy by the collar and punching him.

“Fuck your mother.”

Accompanied by an angry roar.

The rest swarmed up, and the two groups immediately got into a brawl.

After fighting chaotically for a while, Fu Yishun’s side didn’t have many people and quickly fell into a disadvantage, being pressed to the ground.

Xie Ci separated the crowd, grabbed Fu Yishun’s clothes, dragged him across the grass, and threw him against the wall.

Fu Yishun struggled to get up, wanting to punch Xie Ci. But he grabbed him by the hair, forcing his face upward.

“I don’t like other people pointing their fingers at me.”

He leaned down, his eyes full of violence narrowing slightly, facing Fu Yishun. On the wall beside them, he ground out his cigarette butt viciously.

“Remember that.”

—-

After that group of people left, Xu You crouched in place with a pale face, spending half an hour calming her emotions before daring to stand up.

Having been at school for only half a day, she had already witnessed how crazy that group of delinquent youths was.

She couldn’t eat anymore.

Not daring to wander around campus much, she carried her backpack, hugged her uniform in her arms, and followed the signs to find the dormitory.

Because she was a transfer student, and there weren’t many boarding students from Class 9, Xu You was assigned to a dormitory with students from other classes.

A four-person room with air conditioning and private bathroom—the conditions were acceptable.

During lunch break, there were very few people in the dormitory building.

Xu You’s room was on the fourth floor.

Chen Lizhi had already helped her make the bed and arrange everything in the morning, and the dormitory auntie had also come to give instructions. When Xu You pushed the door open, the girls inside weren’t very surprised.

Chen Xiao had her hair in a bun, sitting cross-legged on the bed playing on her phone. She looked up and saw Xu You pushing the door open.

The air conditioning was on in the room.

As soon as Xu You entered, her sweat-dampened back pressed against the cotton clothes, instantly turning cold from the cold air.

There were three girls in the dormitory—two from Class 5, and one from the honor class.

The roommates were all very nice. Xu You chatted briefly with them, then went to organize her things. She hurried to take a shower in the bathroom and washed her uniform while she was at it.

Coming out, Xu You used a towel to wipe her wet long hair, wearing a Winnie the Pooh nightgown that exposed her thighs.

Chen Xiao’s eyes lit up, exclaiming: “My god, Xu You, you’re so fair!”

Not ordinary pale, but that translucent, dewy kind of fairness with a hint of pink beneath the skin.

No wonder she was from the south—truly different soil and water nurture different people.

Xu You smiled a bit embarrassedly.

The girl from the honor class was named Li Lingfang. She was currently lying on the desk writing homework. Hearing this, she glanced at Xu You and asked: “Which class are you from again?”

“Ah?” Xu You’s movements paused. She thought for a moment and said: “I think it’s Class 9…”

“Wow, you’re in Class 9!”

Chen Xiao immediately became interested, stopped playing on her phone, and said enthusiastically: “That class has a lot of handsome guys, and they all seem pretty wealthy.”

Handsome guys…

A person popped into her mind.

“I… I’m not really sure.” Xu You sat on her bed, pressed her lips together, then thought of what had happened at noon.

“Class 9…”

Liao Yuemin and Chen Xiao were in the same class and had both heard about Class 9.

Every Monday at the flag-raising ceremony, the disciplinary office would read out a long string of names from Class 9 on the warning list.

Everyone had heard those names so often they were familiar—they were famously troublesome in the grade, and even the dean was too lazy to deal with them. The school still didn’t do anything about them, probably because their families had power and influence.

Sometimes when Liao Yuemin went to the bathroom during break, she often ran into groups of boys in the hallway holding basketballs, walking together in twos and threes.

They didn’t wear uniforms, were very tall, and liked to whistle at pretty girls passing by.

Sometimes when she accidentally made eye contact with one of them, she would be so embarrassed she’d quickly lower her head.

At first she thought they were sports class specialty students. Later, from scattered gossip from others, she learned that those people were from Class 9 and not to be provoked.

Young masters who, even though they idled away every day doing nothing scholarly, would have worry-free futures.

People not from the same world as her.

“Our grade’s heartthrob is also in your class.” Liao Yuemin joined the conversation, looking at Xu You: “This morning when you went, did you see a particularly handsome boy?”

“Xie Ci?”

Li Lingfang turned the pen in her hand, rushing to ask.

Chen Xiao and Liao Yuemin asked simultaneously: “Aren’t you supposed to be oblivious to the outside world, focused only on studying?”

Li Lingfang shrugged, “Xie Ci seems to have some relationship with our class’s beauty…”

The honor class’s beauty, Qiu Qingqing, was pretty and had good grades. She was particularly proud, with many pursuers.

Widely known as No. 1 Middle School Lin City’s version of Shen Jiayi.

“No no, not Xie Ci. It’s Xu Xingchun, one of the top three students in the grade, and I think he’s also class president.”

Liao Yuemin pouted, “But Xie Ci is also very handsome. However, I feel he’s too much of a player—he changes girlfriends so fast.”

…

Xu You listened to their gossip, feeling unable to join the conversation, so she could only remain silent.

Sitting on the bed, slowly waiting for her hair to dry.

Spacing out, she began to worry.

What should she do about the grade big boss’s physics homework?