Elegance

The next day.

Chen Ming and Huo Tian headed to the classroom for their lessons. As soon as they entered, a figure with bloodshot eyes, a hideous expression, and a foul stench radiating from its body charged at them.

"Chen Ming!"

A shrill roar echoed, followed immediately by the sight of Mei Qian, who was covered in filth and grime.

Watching the figure reeking of extreme stench rush toward him, Chen Ming swiftly pulled out two Earth Blocks, forming two walls in front of himself.

Bang!

Mei Qian slammed heavily into the Earth Blocks, and Chen Ming and Huo Tian covered their noses and retreated rapidly.

"What the hell! Mei Qian, did you fall into a septic tank?"

Chen Ming looked at him with utter disgust, and the other students in the classroom also scrambled to stay away.

"Chen Ming! I know it was you! It had to be you, right? You were the one who knocked me out yesterday and threw me into a trash bin, causing the garbage truck to haul me off to the dump! I'm going to kill you!"

Mei Qian's eyes were bloodshot, and he shrieked at the top of his lungs. Clearly having lost his mind, he summoned his martial soul and charged, his Money Hammer swinging down heavily toward him.

Chen Ming waved his hand, sending an Ender Pearl flying to the ceiling. He grabbed onto the ceiling with one hand, hanging there and looking down at his opponent from above.

"Don't you think there should be a limit to your nonsense? I went out of school to eat yesterday, so how could I have beaten you up?"

Chen Ming looked calm and elegant, a complete contrast to the disheveled and irrational Mei Qian.

"No one else dares to lay a hand on me besides you. Isn't that proof enough!"

"You're sick. Just keep wasting your time like this; you'll see how wrong you are when the teacher arrives."

Hearing this, Mei Qian calmed down. He glared at Chen Ming viciously before immediately leaving to wash off the filth.

Chen Ming dropped down gracefully, but his expression darkened as he looked at his stinking seat and clenched his fists.

"Damn! How did I get caught in the splash damage?"

Lan Mengqin noticed that her seat was stained with the foul stench and had mysterious yellow handprints on it; Dong Qianqiu's expression wasn't great either, as Mei Qian's charge had caused widespread AOE damage.

Since Chen Ming's seat was connected to those of Lan Mengqin and Dong Qianqiu, they were naturally caught in the crossfire.

"Well, nothing to be done about it. The seats are all full, I'll just bring my own."

Chen Ming spread his hands, still calm and natural as he walked to the back of the classroom. Huo Tian spoke up:

"Old Chen, why don't you squeeze into a seat with me?"

"No need, I have a clever plan."

Chen Ming waved his hand, not to refuse, but to indicate that no further words were needed. Lan Mengqin and Dong Qianqiu could only follow, wondering if they could find a female classmate to squeeze in with.

"Is this guy crazy? Going berserk for no reason."

"Chen Ming, does this have anything to do with you?"

Lan Mengqin cursed Mei Qian for being sick, while Dong Qianqiu pressed Chen Ming on whether he was involved.

"It does. This kid was sneaking around the classroom yesterday, littering on purpose, so I gave him a beating."

Chen Ming pulled out his phone and handed it to Dong Qianqiu. After she and Lan Mengqin took a look, both girls clenched their fists.

"Your fight caused collateral damage to us!"

Lan Mengqin, having been caught in the crossfire, complained indignantly. Chen Ming simply shrugged, waved his hand, and a single sofa appeared at the back of the classroom.

Chen Ming turned and sat down with elegance and composure, crossing his legs in a very arrogant posture, his right elbow resting on the armrest as he propped up his head.

"I'm really sorry about that, but the kid was asking for a beating, and there was nothing I could do. How about I treat you two to a meal next time?"

"Get up and give us the seat."

Lan Mengqin's eyes lit up when she saw the sofa Chen Ming was sitting on. Since he was the one who caused them to lose their seats, it was only fair that he provided compensation, right?

"I only brought one sofa. How about you sit on the armrests? Or you can sit on my lap; I don't mind, we're all buddies."

Chen Ming patted his thigh, signaling for them to sit. The rest of the students widened their eyes—if you aren't just buddies, you've got some nerve!

"Get lost! Pervert! Qianqiu, help me pull him out!"

Lan Mengqin and Dong Qianqiu's faces flushed red. The two of them grabbed Chen Ming from both sides and hauled him up, successfully taking over the seat.

At the same time, the bell rang. The teacher walked into the classroom, frowned at the messy and filthy front-row seats, and asked:

"What happened here?"

"Teacher, student Mei Qian just rushed in and messed up our seats. We can't sit there anymore," Dong Qianqiu said as she stood up. The teacher covered his nose, looked at the chaotic seats and the standing Chen Ming, and asked:

"Where is he? Why did he do this?"

"He committed a hit-and-run. I beat him up because he was littering in the classroom last night."

Chen Ming stepped forward and handed his phone to the teacher. The teacher frowned deeply, finally sighing helplessly:

"Find a place to sit for now. Let's start the lesson, and I'll handle this later."

The teacher signaled for Chen Ming to find a seat and start the lesson, not wanting to delay the students' studies, but there were no seats left at all.

"Old Chen, come sit with me."

This was Huo Tian waving at Chen Ming, inviting him to sit together. Hearing this, he smiled and waved his hand in response.

"It's fine, I'll just sit here."

As he spoke, Chen Ming walked to the window under the gaze of everyone, opened it, and sat on the sill, one hand holding a book and the other propping up his head.

His legs were slightly curled, one foot dangling while the other rested on the window frame, and a few petals from the pink peach blossom tree outside drifted in, landing perfectly on him.

It made him look like a breathtakingly beautiful peach blossom immortal beneath the tree. For a moment, the female students in the class felt their hearts skip a beat, while the male students looked on in shock—was that even possible?!

"So pretentious?"

Lan Mengqin's blue eyes widened slightly; she hadn't expected such a solution, and Chen Ming was being way too showy.

Dong Qianqiu silently took out her phone and snapped a picture, intending to use it as her wallpaper later.

"...Be careful. Alright, let's start the lesson."

After the teacher gave a brief warning to be careful, the lesson began. Chen Ming remained alone in his window seat, looking as if he belonged to an entirely different art style than everyone else.

Soon, the class ended, and Chen Ming climbed down from the window, his backside aching from sitting there.

Just as the teacher left, a few senior students blocked the classroom door and immediately started shouting.

"Who is Mei Qian? Get out here!"

"You're pretty arrogant, kid, aren't you? Saying no one in the whole school is your match?"

"Acting cool comes with a price!"

The three seniors spoke with murderous intent. Hearing this, Chen Ming stepped forward, facing the three of them alone.

Everyone immediately focused their attention on Chen Ming, and the three seniors began to crack their knuckles.

"Are you Mei Qian?"

"I am not."

Upon being identified, Chen Ming denied it outright, leaving the three of them stunned, only to hear Chen Ming continue:

"Mei Qian ran off, a hit-and-run. If you seniors are looking for him, I have a photo of him right here."

Chen Ming pulled out his phone and showed them a picture of Mei Qian. The three looked at it, then exchanged glances.

"Since he's not here, let's go look elsewhere. A first-year student being this arrogant!"

"That's right, we definitely need to teach him a lesson."

ps: The second update for March 5th, totaling four thousand words.