Schoolwide criticism and commendation [please keep reading!]
Bai Qingxia sprang to her feet in fright, hurriedly turning around with her book in hand. She stared at the scene before her in shock.
Lu Yuanqiu glared at her. "Couldn't you feel someone coming up behind you?!"
Bai Qingxia stepped back, looking dazed.
She knew the girl sitting on the ground behind her, clutching her shoulder in pain. They had been classmates in their first year, before the arts and sciences classes split, and this was the girl who had once led the others in bullying her.
Lu Yuanqiu strode forward, grabbed the girl's collar, and hauled her up with one hand. Then he shoved her against the tree trunk and slapped her across the face.
Tears spilled from the girl's eyes. With her back pressed against the tree, she stared at Lu Yuanqiu in terror.
"What class are you in? What's your name?"
Lu Yuanqiu pointed at her, his gaze fierce.
The commotion quickly drew everyone's attention on the sports field. Everyone in Class 28 hurried over, including their PE teacher, Wang Ping.
The crowd surrounded the three of them.
Wang Ping demanded sternly, "Lu Yuanqiu, what are you doing?!"
Lu Yuanqiu ignored him and turned toward the crowd, his gaze settling on his classmate Sun Hongyan.
"You. Come here!"
Sun Hongyan stepped forward timidly, then heard Lu Yuanqiu ask in a low voice, "Was it her? The one who pushed Bai Qingxia down the steps last time?"
Sun Hongyan looked at the short-haired girl Lu Yuanqiu was pinning against the tree with one hand and nodded. "Y-yes... it was her."
Wang Ping looked at the girl in surprise, his brow furrowing gravely.
Lu Yuanqiu smiled.
"So it really was you. Came right to me this time, huh? What's your name? What class are you in?"
The short-haired girl still said nothing. She had a pair of unpleasant, triangular eyes, and although tears were streaming from them, she glared at Lu Yuanqiu with hatred.
Smack!
Lu Yuanqiu wasn't about to indulge her. He slapped her again.
"Didn't your mother teach you how to talk?"
Wang Ping couldn't stand watching any longer. He snapped, "Lu Yuanqiu, calm down. If you keep hitting her, this becomes a different matter."
Lu Yuanqiu turned and shot back, "A different matter? Those steps are that high, and she was about to push someone down them again! Last time, Bai Qingxia rolled down and twisted her ankle. What if she landed on her head this time?! Tell me, sir, what then? That's murder! A fucking slap is letting her off easy!"
Wang Ping had no answer.
He too turned toward the short-haired girl and demanded sternly, "What class are you in? Why would you do this to Bai Qingxia?"
Zhong Jincheng spoke up. "I think she's in Class 15. I forgot her name."
"Class 15? Clearly her mother gave birth to her and never bothered raising her." Lu Yuanqiu sneered, grabbed the short-haired girl's collar, and pushed through the crowd, storming off.
Wang Ping called out, "Lu Yuanqiu, where are you taking her?!"
"The grade director's office!"
The boy shouted back without turning around. He was wearing his oversized shorts, his bearing resolute and his back broad.
"Break it up. School's over." Wang Ping ordered the students gathered around to watch the spectacle to leave, then added, "Bai Qingxia, Sun Hongyan, you two come with me."
Sun Hongyan gave a subdued response. Bai Qingxia seemed not to have registered his words, her eyes still fixed blankly on the direction the boy had gone.
"Bai Qingxia?" Wang Ping called again.
He walked over to her, only then realizing that the sweet, innocent-looking girl was crying. Her tears poured out uncontrollably, like water through a broken dam.
Wang Ping sighed and patted her shoulder reassuringly. "It's all right. I'll make sure you get justice. Your classmates Lu Yuanqiu and Sun Hongyan can both testify."
Bai Qingxia wiped away her tears and nodded silently.
She hurried over to pick up her own backpack and Lu Yuanqiu's, then followed Wang Ping.
Bang!
Lu Yuanqiu kicked open the door to the grade director's office. The noise startled Ge Ritian, who had been drinking tea, so badly that his hand shook and tea leaves splashed all over his face.
Seeing who it was, Ge Ritian slammed his hand on the desk in anger. "Lu Yuanqiu, what are you doing?!"
Lu Yuanqiu flung the short-haired girl forward, sending her landing on her backside. Then he dusted off his hands, looking every inch the villain.
Ge Ritian froze, then looked up. "What? Is causing trouble right in front of me more exciting?"
Lu Yuanqiu asked expressionlessly, "Sir, what's the sentence for attempted murder?"
"Huh?"
Ge Ritian froze again, then saw PE teacher Wang Ping walk in with two girls.
Lu Yuanqiu looked back. When he noticed that Bai Qingxia had been crying, his brow tightened further.
He took a deep breath, walked to the table beside him, pulled out a few tissues, and pressed them into her hand.
Evening study hall.
The broadcast came on, and grade director Ge Ritian's voice filled the classroom through the speaker.
"An announcement. Xu Yan of Senior Class 15 has repeatedly and deliberately harmed a fellow student and shown a deplorable attitude. Her parents have been notified, and she has been expelled. The regulations of Lucheng No. 7 Middle School clearly state..."
Lu Yuanqiu sat at his desk, twirling a pen in his right hand as he listened closely to the announcement.
If the school's response had been anything short of expulsion, he would definitely have gone back to the grade director's office and raised hell again.
After finishing with Xu Yan's case, Ge Ritian continued, "Now, a commendation for a student. Quite a surprise, really. This student used to receive public criticism all the time. Who would have thought he'd turn over a new leaf and mend his ways?"
The corner of Lu Yuanqiu's mouth twitched. Gee, thanks, Ge Ritian.
His classmates all turned toward the back of the classroom, strange expressions on their faces.
"Today, this student bravely prevented a serious incident. He is Lu Yuanqiu of Senior Class 28, and he is hereby publicly commended."
Su Miaomiao, who was supervising evening study hall from the front of the classroom, smiled when she heard that. "What are you waiting for? Give him a hand."
Clap, clap, clap!
The whole class applauded. Gao Qiang even whistled to egg him on. Hu Caiwei clapped too, though reluctantly.
Utterly shameless, Lu Yuanqiu stood up. "Do good deeds without seeking recognition. Keep it low-key, low-key. I hope you'll all carry on my spirit from now on."
Zhong Jincheng scoffed. "What are you so smug about? You just noticed a little earlier. Otherwise, I would've stepped in!"
Gao Qiang said, "Whatever. I would've stepped in too."
Lu Yuanqiu gave each of them the middle finger.
He sat back down. Bai Qingxia was working diligently on her questions, so Lu Yuanqiu didn't disturb her
and went back to reading his book.
Noticing that Lu Yuanqiu had looked away, Bai Qingxia paused her pen. Her lips parted, and she wanted to turn and say something, but in the end, she gave up.
The following evening.
The Four Seasons Fresh Supermarket.
Watching the girl bustle around the supermarket, Lu Yuanqiu found it a little strange. The person who had bullied her had been punished, so she should have been happy. Yet she seemed even quieter than before.
At ten that night, the supermarket closed. Lu Yuanqiu locked the door as usual, but the girl standing beside him didn't leave.
"Head home. Be careful on the way."
Lu Yuanqiu turned to look at her.
Bai Qingxia stood there for a while, then brought her backpack around in front of her and took out a neatly folded pair of cargo pants.
"I sewed them up..."
She held the pants out to Lu Yuanqiu with both hands.
Lu Yuanqiu took them and stared blankly. Weren't these the ones he had thrown into the trash yesterday...?
He hurriedly turned them over to find the torn spot. She had carefully stitched the tear with green thread into the shape of a patch of grass, with a little yellow flower embroidered on it.
The simple, soothing little picture suited the dark green cargo pants perfectly.
Lu Yuanqiu smiled in surprise and looked up at her, about to thank her. But Bai Qingxia gazed at him with reddened eyes. "Lu Yuanqiu, thank you. But please don't be so impulsive next time... especially not because of me... you almost got punished..."
With that, she held back her tears and hurriedly turned to leave, her slender silhouette quickly disappearing into the deep darkness of the night.
Lu Yuanqiu stood there for a long time.
Then he let out a long sigh.
He lowered his head and gently sniffed the pants, realizing she had washed them. They carried the faint, fresh scent of laundry detergent.
P.S.
My usual plea: please keep reading the updates. Don't save up chapters.
[Important announcement, please take a look]
Hello to all you single folks reading romance novels.
I'm the author, Lu Yuanqiu.
This book's stats were pretty good before it went premium, and even on the day it went premium, they were decent. It had six or seven hundred bookmarks and a popularity score of over 400. No bullshit-the results were solid.
But on the second and third days, the numbers started dropping.
I couldn't figure out why.
I'm a fairly experienced author. I've stumbled into plenty of pitfalls and learned a lot along the way. As far as I could tell, for a slice-of-life school romance, nothing I'd written since it went premium should have driven readers away.
I've also genuinely been putting care into the plot and polishing the characters.
I just spoke with an author friend who also writes single-female-lead romances, and only then did I realize there was an almost unavoidable issue that every story like this runs into.
Readers "saving up chapters" en masse.
The leads' relationship hasn't progressed? Save up chapters.
Two chapters a day aren't enough? Save up chapters.
It's honestly frustrating. A book's decline often starts when readers begin saving up chapters. That's not alarmism-the graph in my dashboard already proves it.
But stats are a book's lifeblood. I'm sincerely begging those of you saving up chapters to stop. Please give this poor kid some attention!
All I can promise is that I'll definitely add more updates after 200,000 words. Before that, though, I need to keep the word count steady so the book can get the full benefit of the platform's recommendations.
If you genuinely like this book and the characters I've written, this humble author bows to you in thanks.
But I'm only a small-time author, and my livelihood depends entirely on those numbers. So I hope you'll keep reading each update until we reach 200,000 words. It might be frustrating, but there's no other way. Only then can this book go further and do better.
I also hope readers on QQ Reading who don't have a membership will sign up through this book to read it free with membership. Getting a membership just for one book admittedly isn't great value, but you can also read all the platform's other member titles for free. There are some very well-written ones out there too, so have a look.
Wishing you all happy, fulfilling lives. Thank you.