"Hahaha, don't put it like that. Jiang Shu's switched to the martial arts track, hasn't he? Maybe he thinks he's a martial arts prodigy."
"Pfft. Jiang Shu's no good at studying or socializing. Switching to the martial arts track makes him a martial arts prodigy? By the time we've all graduated from university, he'll probably still be at a vocational college, without even achieving Qi and Blood Sensing. He won't even make it into a bachelor's program."
The voices supporting Wang Han grew from a scattered few to more and more.
At first, only the boys had spoken up. Then some girls came to watch the show too, occasionally lowering their heads to exchange a few words.
Chattering and muttering, here and there.
At last, the flush drained from Xu Shuhui's face. She looked at Jiang Shu with concern, regretting over and over that she'd turned around to ask him a question.
If she hadn't asked, would none of this have happened?
As the voices around them grew louder, Jiang Shu rested one hand on the corner of the desk, unmoved by praise or blame.
One year of sophomore year.
Half a year of senior year.
He knew his classmates all too well.
They clustered in little groups, full of their own importance.
He'd only taken a few days off, yet they'd already pushed him out of their circle and turned on him like this.
Jiang Shu stood up and looked around at them all.
"You've been chattering away, and every one of you seems to think you've got a point. The desk belongs to the school. Wang Han was only joking."
"Since I haven't withdrawn, I have the right to use this desk. Since he won't move it, I'll deal with it my way."
"You may outnumber me, but unfortunately, the truth has never been on the side of the greater numbers."
"It's on the side of the stronger fist."
"Parents don't teach you this. Teachers don't teach you this. Schools don't teach you this. Society doesn't teach you this."
"I'll teach you."
Jiang Shu spoke calmly, but his words rang like metal striking stone.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, he lifted a desk piled high with books and papers with one hand.
Like the Overlord lifting a cauldron!
Warm air from the heater blew through the classroom.
Jiang Shu strode forward, straight to the trash can. He tipped the desk over, and every book and sheet of paper tumbled down beside it.
Clatter, clatter...
"Much cleaner now."
Jiang Shu spoke softly, but everyone who saw what had happened was left speechless.
The boys who'd been chattering were as if someone had squeezed their throats. Their endless stream of words came to an abrupt stop.
The school desks weren't especially heavy, but their unusual design meant most people needed both hands just to lift one. If it was piled with books, even some of the weaker girls needed help.
Yet Jiang Shu had lifted the whole desk outright, his voice steady, without the least effort!
Just how strong was he?
Xu Shuhui had seen it all clearly. Her beautiful eyes were wide with shock.
No wonder. No wonder he'd been so calm all along.
With that kind of strength, even if he hadn't achieved Qi and Blood Sensing, he couldn't be far off.
There were still three months before the college entrance exam. Maybe... Jiang Shu could get into a university without taking the entrance exam before then!
"Jiang Shu... Jiang Shu, what... what are you doing?!"
As Jiang Shu came back carrying the desk again, Wang Han's voice trembled despite himself. He'd never imagined that Jiang Shu, whom he'd always thought was easy to bully, could be so strong.
If he could lift a whole desk, what if he punched Wang Han?
Wang Han dropped heavily into his chair, his body going limp.
A trace of fear had crept into his expression.
Wang Han tried to sound tough, but his voice betrayed him.
The classroom fell deathly silent.
The students felt as if a typhoon had swept through their minds. None of them had expected Jiang Shu to push back instead of yielding in the face of so many accusations—to lift the desk and dump all of Wang Han's books, too!
This... had gotten out of hand.
"Relax. I'm not going to hit you."
Jiang Shu couldn't have cared less what his classmates thought. He spoke casually to Wang Han, then set the desk down with ease. Unless he had to, he really didn't want to deal with a bunch of kids.
That had been one of the reasons he'd taken time off, too.
In Jiang Shu's eyes, Wang Han's tricks were childish.
Manipulating public opinion? Playing with people's minds?
In the face of absolute strength,
it all meant nothing!
A man's fists were what mattered most.
But just because he didn't care about Wang Han's little tricks
didn't mean no one else did.
Jiang Shu glanced at Xu Shuhui, who'd been caught in the crossfire because of him, dragged into the spotlight by the mere mention of a crush. He looked away. Just then, Wang Han spoke again, but all his earlier aggression had vanished from his voice.
"Jiang Shu, there were important notes from senior year in that desk. You... you threw them all away. You have to apologize to me..."
"If they were really important, and you were really that eager to study, you'd go get them out of the trash yourself."
"Go get the teacher. That's all you know how to do, anyway."
Jiang Shu didn't want to waste any more words. His final remark sounded almost like a prediction. At the back door, a classmate had already slipped out quietly. A few minutes later, hurried footsteps drew closer and closer.
Yan Dehou pushed the door open, his face cold. "Jiang Shu, Wang Han, come to my office!"
The moment Wang Han saw Yan Dehou standing in the doorway, his heart leaped. It was as if he'd suddenly realized he had a mountain at his back.
His thoughts cleared.
That was right. He was at school.
Jiang Shu wouldn't dare hit anyone.
He wouldn't dare commit school violence in front of so many classmates.
Even if Jiang Shu was a Martial Arts Student, even if lifting the desk meant he might have achieved Qi and Blood Sensing and could enter a university without taking the entrance exam,
the school would still give him a major disciplinary penalty.
As long as the teacher took Wang Han's side, Jiang Shu could do nothing to him.
He'd even have to apologize!
Violence could only scare people away.
The real power to control everything lay in authority!
At school,
teachers and school administrators were the ones who represented that authority!
"Jiang Shu, come on. Let's go to the office and have Teacher Yan decide who's right!"
Wang Han drank some hot water to steady himself, then hurried out of the classroom.
The books and papers he'd put in Jiang Shu's desk hadn't been of much use anyway.
He could have done without them entirely.
But things had come this far. If he did nothing, what would the class think of him?
Whatever happened, he had to make Teacher Yan back him up, get the school on his side, and make Jiang Shu bow his head and apologize!
Wang Han's narrow eyes narrowed to slits as he walked down the corridor, rehearsing what to say in the office.
Meanwhile, Jiang Shu didn't care in the least. Under Xu Shuhui's worried gaze, he took a step forward.
The martial path demanded courage and relentless progress, with every thought unimpeded.
When Zhao Tai came after him, he'd killed him with a single punch!
When the Taekwondo instructor provoked him, he'd grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up!
What he'd done to Wang Han already counted as going easy on him for the sake of their being classmates!
In the office,
Yan Dehou sat in his chair, looking at the two students in front of him, his face as dark and still as the depths of an abyss.
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