Tong Erdie opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She was so angry her head buzzed. She gritted her teeth in secret, took a deep breath, and forced out a smile.
Once Feng Ning had walked off, the girl next to her immediately said, “Honestly, unbelievable. How can a girl be so shameless? Some country bumpkin crawling out of who-knows-where.”
“I think she’s doing it on purpose,” Tong Erdie said, holding back her anger before it burst out anyway. “You have no idea how disgusting she was last night — playing the fool in front of Jiang Wen on purpose. God, the way she was so eager and pushy, I nearly threw up my dinner.”
The girl snickered and comforted her. “It’s fine, why bother arguing with someone so low-class? These girls have never seen the world. They come to Qide and think they’re somebody just because they’re a little pretty. See a handsome guy, a rich guy, and they cling right on. You think she won’t get her face slapped eventually? Cinderella, my foot. I think she’s just an idiot.”
Though the semester had only just begun, the boys and girls who had come up directly from Qide’s middle school division had naturally already formed their own cliques. Nothing was said outright, but they all carried a quiet sense of superiority. As for those who’d paid a school-transfer fee, or those like Feng Ning who’d tested in on a tuition-waived quota from a regular middle school, there was a bit of contempt in how they were regarded.
Tong Erdie nodded, her face pale with anger. “That’s true. But you haven’t seen how brazen she can be. I’m worried—”
“Tch, there’s really nothing to worry about.” The girl sighed, her tone full of disdain. “Have you forgotten Liu Bingqiao? Even she couldn’t land him — what makes this country bumpkin think she can?”
Whenever Feng Ning put on that familiar look of hers — plain on the surface but laced with a certain shameless flirtiness — it was maddening and comical all at once, the kind of thing that made you want to throw a slipper at her face. The most frustrating part was that no one ever had a way to deal with her.
Even people who’d seen it many times before could still be caught speechless by her, let alone these pampered young ladies. They came out of the campus store, and Shuang Yao rounded on her at once. “That shamelessly flirty streak of yours — when are you ever going to change?”
Feng Ning was busy biting into an ice pop, muttering between bites, “That gossip’s brain got kicked by a donkey. She likes Jiang Wen but doesn’t dare say so, so instead she comes at me all sarcastic — well then, I might as well give her something to be mad about!”
Only Meng Taoyu still hadn’t figured out what was going on, her eyes wide. “Do you actually like Cinderella?”
After a pause, Shuang Yao said flatly, “She likes him about as much as she likes farting.”
Feng Ning, perfectly composed, said, “Let me tell you, there was a reason I did that today. Normally I wouldn’t bother with someone that pathetic — today I was giving little Meng here a lesson, you know that?”
Meng Taoyu let out a small “ah.”
Both girls looked at her doubtfully. Feng Ning cleared her throat and said seriously, “When people come looking to pick a fight with you, what good does it do to just endure it, stay silent? Will that make them stop bullying you? It won’t. Not only will they not stop, they’ll get even more brazen, lording it over you. Bullying the weak and fearing the strong is human nature — especially those types who do nothing but gossip, those fake little lotus flowers. If they want to put on a show and act all high and mighty with you, you slap them right back, plain and clear, and see if they can keep up the act.”
Shuang Yao cut in without mercy. “Do you know how far theory is from reality? Look at what background they have, and what background you have. You’re just a nobody — and you want to go slapping people? They could crush you like an ant without even trying.”
“That’s not the point. First, the people I’m dealing with are students whose hearts haven’t gone that cold yet. Second, if they really want to play those grown-up power games with me, and I genuinely can’t win — then my bottom line is that I have no bottom line. I can bow my head, I can apologize, I can even give up my dignity.”
Feng Ning was perfectly calm, every word landing with weight. “But I keep every account, one by one. If they’re capable, they shouldn’t give me a single chance. Otherwise, come next year, on this very day, I’ll make them kneel down and beg for mercy.”
Meng Taoyu was thoroughly stunned, seeing stars.
Shuang Yao clapped her hands, marveling. “Feng Ning, oh Feng Ning, you get more eloquent every year. What a waste, not becoming a public speaker. You’ve been lecturing me and Zhao Weichen since we were kids, making us worship you. Every time you go on one of your speeches with your hands on your hips, the two of us just stare at you blankly, completely brainwashed, forgetting what we even wanted to say. Now here comes little Meng too — fine, we’re all joining your fan club.”
Feng Ning took a big bite of her ice pop, mumbling with her eyelids raised, “Cheering me on — that’s your honor, you know. Not everyone gets the privilege of being my fan.”
Meng Taoyu rushed to speak up. “I’m willing, I’m willing.” Her scrambled words sent the other two into laughter.
“Oh, right, are you really going after that guy — Jiang Wen?” Shuang Yao asked, clearly skeptical. “This isn’t just to satisfy your own vanity, is it?”
“I’ve already talked big about it, how can I let people laugh at me now?” Feng Ning said, perfectly at ease, as if everything was under control. “Besides, there’s no man on this earth I can’t handle… you’ll help me with something later.” Full of mischief, she leaned in close to Shuang Yao and whispered into her ear for a while.
After hearing the plan, Shuang Yao just kept shaking her head. “You little troublemaker, aren’t you scared you’ll end up falling in yourself?”
Feng Ning raised her hand to block the blazing sun, a few threads of light slipping through onto her eyelids, and asked lazily, “Let me fall? Does he have what it takes?”
The bell rang for the end of PE class.
After half an hour baking in the harsh sun, Jiang Wen had worked up a full sweat playing basketball, his black hair soaked through. Sweat ran down past his eyes, his cheeks, his jaw; he casually grabbed the hem of his loose jersey and wiped it away, exposing his lean waistline for a second or two before it was covered again.
Clusters of people were laughing and chattering as they walked. He was climbing the steps, just reaching the turn, when a dark shadow flashed past in front of him.
Jiang Wen was caught off guard.
— Feng Ning, bumped by someone, stumbled and nearly fell straight into him.
The heat pressed in, the crowd was thick, and she was so close her breath spilled onto his neck, mixing damp and hot with his own sweat.
The impact bent him half over; his hands instinctively caught her by both arms.
In full view of everyone, Feng Ning leaned in, clutching his shoulder, her face pressed to his chest, hissing in a couple of sharp breaths as if in terrible pain.
Her thin wrist was as white as porcelain, soft and boneless against him. Jiang Wen’s breathing turned a little ragged, his thin lips pressed flat, his whole body frozen for a few seconds before he let go the instant she’d steadied herself.
“Thanks.” Feng Ning tidied her hair, keeping a shy expression on her face while inwardly cursing: damn it, did Shuang Yao really have to shove her that hard?
Enduring the pain, at an angle where Jiang Wen couldn’t see, she bit her lip until it flushed with color. Silently counting to ten, she then composed her expression and slowly turned her head, letting her delicate profile come fully into his view, as if by accident.
Jiang Wen looked like he wanted to say something, then paused briefly, put on a look of forced restraint, and said quietly, “Is throwing yourself at people your hobby?”
“People? There’s only you, isn’t there? Besides, do I really seem like such a brute?” Feng Ning looked all innocence. “Last time was clearly an accident too.”
Jiang Wen turned his face slightly away and left with the group of boys waiting for him.
On the way back to the classroom, Meng Taoyu supported Feng Ning by the arm. Shuang Yao glared at her from the side. “Tell me honestly, did he do something to offend you somewhere?”
Feng Ning limped along, grimacing, rubbing her numb thigh, and snorted hard. “I just plain can’t stand his fake aloofness. The more he puts on airs, the more I want to mess with him. Let’s see how long he can keep it up!”
Shuang Yao sighed wistfully. “Pretty women are all liars.”
They’d just finished PE class, and the mood in the classroom was restless, hard to settle down. The math teacher was lecturing at the front, and barely anyone below was listening.
Feng Ning flipped a page in her book, and her eraser accidentally fell to the floor. She leaned down a little, reaching for it.
She couldn’t quite reach it. Just a bit further.
She couldn’t see very well from up above, so she had no choice but to crouch down. Her head pressed against the corner of the desk, arm flailing, feeling around for it by touch.
The standing air conditioner in the classroom had suddenly broken and hadn’t been fixed yet. Even with the windows open for airflow and the desk fan turned up high, it was still stiflingly hot. Jiang Wen’s forehead hair was damp, the corners of his eyes reddened from the heat; unable to bear the heat, he was shaking his collar to cool off.
His jersey was loose to begin with, and now it had ridden up more than halfway. Looking up from below, everything was in plain view. In her mind, Feng Ning kept chanting don’t look at what you shouldn’t look at, don’t look — and still couldn’t help but sneak a couple more glances.
She could see a great many things clearly, including the movement of his Adam’s apple as he swallowed.
Jiang Wen was leaning against the back of his chair, staring blankly at the blackboard, when he suddenly felt something brush against his leg. He looked down and found himself face to face with Feng Ning’s mischievous gaze.
She was crouched there, sizing him up in that bizarre pose, who knew for how long she’d been sneaking looks.
Startled, he quickly yanked his shirt back down. “What are you doing?”
Feng Ning, perfectly self-righteous, opened her eyes wide. “I’m looking for something! My eraser fell.”
Jiang Wen’s brow furrowed. “Then go find it. Why are you looking at me?”
Feng Ning put on a thoughtful expression and said, breezy as could be, “Well, isn’t it because I’m captivated by you?”
Unlike these reserved, proper young ladies and gentlemen, she’d grown up tangled up with Meng Hanmo’s crowd of street toughs, and could rattle off the coarsest language without batting an eye.
Her voice wasn’t loud, but every word struck Jiang Wen right in the chest. His heart suddenly began to race, and he felt the blood rush to his head, almost breathless.
“You, you—” Jiang Wen stammered for a long while without managing to say anything coherent, the tips of his ears quickly flushing red.
Feng Ning saw it all and laughed wildly inside.
Serves you right for playing hard to get with your grand auntie!
“I, I what?” Feng Ning deliberately mimicked his stammer. Just then the bell rang for the end of class. The teacher packed up the lesson plan and walked out. She wiggled her fingers a couple of times and unhurriedly picked up her eraser.
Jiang Wen’s eyes were very dark, carrying an irritation he couldn’t quite hide. A deliberate coldness surfaced in his gaze, even something mocking. “A girl staring at someone like that — don’t you know any shame?”
But he clearly underestimated just how shameless Feng Ning was. She didn’t mind at all. “So what if I look? What of it?”
Feng Ning’s expression turned wicked, and with a flick of her tongue she made a crisp clicking sound. “That mole on your abs — pretty sexy, actually.”
Author’s note: Scream Night—