Hiss.
The Class One students who had secretly followed him over all sucked in a sharp breath.
Looking at the roguish, cold smile on Song Yu's lips and hearing those outrageously arrogant words, they strangely found something familiar.
Gao Feng stared, stunned for several seconds, before his expression darkened.
He felt insulted, and by someone who looked so pathetically weak at that. This was his first day as the school bully. How could he swallow that? His expression turned vicious.
"Big talk. Don't go crying for a teacher when you get beaten."
Song Yu scoffed. "Are you in elementary school? A teacher? When we men of the streets fight, we beat the other guy until he calls us Daddy."
The onlookers: "..."
That relentless backtalk. That familiar arrogance.
Brother Yu, stop denying it. This was you, wasn't it?
Unable to outargue him, Gao Feng could only grit his teeth in fury and resort to violence.
From some distance away, he hurled the basketball straight at Song Yu's face. It shot through the air, scraping against it; a hit to the face would probably draw blood.
The girls watching felt their hearts leap into their throats. You bastard, not the face! What if you disfigured him?
Before Song Yu could react,
Xie Sui had already reached out and caught the ball for him.
The boy caught it with such effortless flair that another wave of fangirl screams rose beside them!
Gao Feng narrowed his eyes. He recognized Xie Sui at once too, arching his brows. "You're that first-year school hunk everyone's been hyping up?"
Xie Sui ignored him entirely and turned to Song Yu, a hint of a smile on his face. "Weren't you going to reason with him?"
Song Yu: "..."
Had he now cemented Xie Sui's impression of him as an ignorant slacker who only knew how to fight?
"I couldn't win the argument."
Sure enough, he wasn't suited to reasoning with people. He was suited to being a contrarian.
Gao Feng glanced at him and laughed. "Good thing the school hunk's here. I was worried this wouldn't get enough attention."
He pointed at himself, then at Song Yu. "This is between me and him. Stay out of it. Stand aside, or don't blame me if an innocent bystander gets crippled."
Ma Xiaoding wasn't happy to hear that and insisted on poking his head out from behind Song Yu. "What the hell are you talking about? Don't you know Brother Yu and God Xie are good brothers? They go to school together and fight together."
After several seconds of silence,
"Aaaaaah-" Girls' screams came not only from the playing field but even from the stands.
Xi Bowen covered his face in anguish. As an otaku, he naturally understood what sort of creatures fujoshi were-Ma Xiaoding was probably single-handedly ruining Brother Yu's reputation.
Song Yu studied Gao Feng intently, ignoring the commotion around him. His tone was disdainful. "All together, or one at a time?" Then he turned to Xie Sui. "How long until class ends?"
Xie Sui habitually raised his wrist to check his watch, but quickly remembered he had been reborn. He calmly lowered his hand and smiled. "About twenty minutes."
Song Yu frowned. "Twenty minutes?" He still needed to study. After thinking it over, he told Gao Feng, "Forget it. Let's not waste time. All of you, together. Hurry up. I still need to memorize Qinyuanchun: Changsha."
Gao Feng actually laughed in anger at his arrogance. He cracked his knuckles and rolled his head. "Don't speak too soon, little boy. You'll lose so much face you won't enjoy a single day of your three years here. I'm enough to handle you."
Song Yu sneered. "Heh."
His features were already sharp; touched with mockery, they looked all the more unruly and arrogant.
Gao Feng instantly flared up. He stepped forward and swung a hard punch at Song Yu's head. In a flash, Song Yu caught his wrist, snatched the basketball from Xie Sui's hands with his other hand, and pressed it against Gao Feng's face. The casual, crisp movement was impossibly cool.
"Mmph-" Gao Feng gave a muffled grunt.
He froze.
Not just him-the onlookers were dumbstruck too.
Song Yu's face was cold. "Throwing balls at people isn't a good habit. Remember that, son?"
Gao Feng's eyes flew wide!
He couldn't believe it.
Why was this weakling so strong?
"Aaaaaaaaaah!"
A scream erupted beside them!
The girls flushed and discreetly took out their phones to record. Normally, they wouldn't watch delinquents fight; on the contrary, they would keep well away.
But they couldn't help it. Today's stars were too damn handsome!
Never mind Song Yu-Xie Sui alone was worth holding up their phones for an entire period.
Gao Feng's face turned scarlet. He knocked the basketball aside with his other hand and roared, "I underestimated you just now! Come on! I'm taking you on today!"
The atmosphere was explosive, stretched taut as a string, as though they would come to blows the next second.
But the fight never happened.
With so many people on the field, there were still good students who couldn't stand watching a brawl and went to fetch a teacher.
"Tweet-!!"
The PE teacher blew his whistle and ran over furiously.
"You over there! What class are you in? Instead of paying attention in class, you want to fight right in front of me?"
Everyone eagerly watching the show: "..."
Teacher, why was your timing so terrible?
Gao Feng's expression changed when he saw the teacher. Abandoning even the ball, he tried to flee with his lackeys.
But the PE teacher blocked him with one long stride and grabbed his collar, gritting his teeth. "You love making trouble and fighting so much? Fight me!"
The PE teacher was a burly man with eight-pack abs, tall and powerfully built, plainly not someone to mess with.
In his ten years of teaching, he had consistently topped the list of teachers every delinquent at No. 1 High least wanted to encounter.
Gao Feng wore a sour expression and said nothing.
The PE teacher grew angrier. "You're giving me attitude? Ten laps around the field, then come to the office and write me a thousand-word self-criticism!"
Gao Feng gritted his teeth, hesitated, then pointed bitterly at Song Yu. "What about him?"
The PE teacher turned, saw Song Yu's delicate, well-behaved appearance, and became furious. "Young, but already so scheming! You picked on him, and now you want to drag him down too? Three thousand words! You're not getting out of it!"
Gao Feng looked up incredulously. "I-" Fuck.
Before he could get the curse out, the immensely strong PE teacher had dragged him off toward the field.
Xi Bowen let out a long breath.
Ma Xiaoding sighed too.
Xi Bowen said, "Good thing they didn't fight."
Ma Xiaoding said, "Thank goodness. I think Gao Feng can use those three thousand words to thank Teacher Zhang."
Xi Bowen: "???"
Song Yu had never been enthusiastic about fighting. The PE teacher had arrived at just the right time. Watching Gao Feng get dragged away without expression, he turned to Xie Sui. "Let's go."
Go memorize his text.
Before he could say those words, the PE teacher had already run back. Looking none too pleased, he pointed fiercely at the two of them. "You caused such a commotion, you need to reflect too. No running for you, but go to the office and explain what happened. Write a self-criticism as well!"
Song Yu: "..."
How much of his study time was this going to fucking waste?
He suddenly felt he'd lost out badly by not beating that big idiot up.
Xie Sui merely smiled, unbothered.
The PE teacher still had a class, so he told them to wait in the office first. The office was on the third floor of Yuwen Building, one of the relatively old teaching buildings.
By this time, most of the teachers had gone to eat. Only the two of them and another class's homeroom teacher, who was on the phone, remained in the office.
With only four weeks until the monthly exams, Song Yu was making every second count. He bent over the desk, writing classical poems and prose from memory at top speed.
Across a desk, the teacher's voice carried clearly.
"Why transfer so suddenly? The term's only just started, and you've already paid tuition and everything. Mrs. Zhu, would you consider waiting a little longer?"
"Well... all right. If he transfers, where would he go? Out of town? That makes things a bit complicated. Please come to school tomorrow with your household registration booklet. I'll fill out a transfer application for you."
"Huh? Tonight? Oh, yes, of course I'm available. But this is awfully rushed. Sigh, all right, all right. Come over."
"Oh, Mrs. Zhu, please don't cry. There's nothing we can't get through."
Faintly, a woman's sobs still came from the other end, mixed with curses in Jing City's local dialect.
The homeroom teacher was a young woman who had only recently graduated. Inexperienced and still unaccustomed to dealing with parents, she held her phone awkwardly, but remained thoroughly gentle and patient.
"Yes, yes, don't be upset. All right, all right. I'll wait for you."
When the call finally ended, she let out a long breath and tiredly rubbed between her brows.
Meanwhile, Song Yu had reached "the whole river, jade-clear" and suddenly forgotten the next line. Missing a single Chinese lesson had this top student fretting. "What came next again? 'See the myriad hills crimsoned through, the layered woods dyed red, the whole river, jade-clear'-then what?"
Xie Sui said, "'A hundred barges racing against the current.'"
Song Yu held his pen. "A hundred what racing? Why does that sound so unfamiliar?"
Xie Sui said, "The character for boat, with a 'ke' beside it."
After writing it out, Song Yu finally smacked his forehead. "No wonder I didn't remember it. I've been memorizing it as 'a hundred boats racing.'"
Xie Sui studied him seriously with his dark eyes for a long moment, then smiled. "With your Chinese, math, and English, are you competing for last place in the year?"
Feeling guilty, Song Yu couldn't get angry. "I'm not that bad, am I?"
The sunset slowly seeped through the window, its clear glass golden as an orange.
By the time Song Yu had nearly finished a physics paper, the PE teacher still hadn't come.
As the sky darkened, the PE teacher finally entered the office. Lecturing Gao Feng had apparently cost him considerable time and energy.
He saw them and immediately said, "Go eat first. Just write five hundred words and hand it to your homeroom teacher tomorrow."
Then he received a call from his daughter and walked out while talking.
Song Yu had only the last two questions left on his paper. Even with the teacher letting him leave, he didn't want to go.
He couldn't interrupt his train of thought.
"Let's stay a little longer."
Sitting beside Song Yu, Xie Sui made a show of holding a pen and doing homework. He glanced at the clock on the wall, calculated the time, and turned his head. "Hungry?"
Song Yu didn't look up. "No. My spiritual world is richly fulfilled. My □□ has gone numb."
Xie Sui chuckled softly, capped his pen, and left him alone.
Soon, someone entered: a middle-aged woman, short and thin. She had short hair, a gaunt, sallow face, thin eyelids, and a narrow nose bridge, giving her a rather harsh appearance. She carried a bag, her hair disheveled, her eyes red and bloodshot. She looked as though she had been crying for a long time.
One cheek was covered in bluish-purple bruises, and she limped a little as she entered.
The homeroom teacher froze before finally standing and asking tentatively, "Are you Zhu Zhixing's mother? What... what happened to you?"
The moment the woman sat opposite the teacher, she broke down in despairing sobs. She cursed as she cried, her mouth full of words like "beast," "shameless old bastard," and "bitch."
The homeroom teacher was from Jing City and felt deeply awkward listening. She hurriedly said, "Well, did you bring your household registration booklet? Are you really going ahead with the transfer?"
The woman covered her face and wailed. "Yes, yes, yes! I can't live like this anymore. I can't stay in this place anymore."
The homeroom teacher gave a stiff smile. "Has... something happened at home? Please calm down."
Zhu Zhixing's mother sobbed in utter despair. "Teacher, you have no idea what it's like having people talk behind your back. Every word stabs your heart. I couldn't even lift my head when I went outside today. It's all that old beast at home's fault. He's ruined my whole life. I'm taking my son away. Such complete humiliation, such a huge scandal! Every second I stay here is torture!"
The homeroom teacher was dumbfounded. "All... all right."
Song Yu had stopped writing as soon as he heard the homeroom teacher say "Zhu Zhixing's mother." He quietly looked up toward them.
Zhu Zhixing? Wasn't that the asshole who bullied Xie Sui for three years in middle school?
Why was his mother here, crying so miserably?
Xie Sui remained composed, seemingly paying no attention to the commotion over there. He only asked Song Yu, "Have you finished?"
Song Yu was actually still stuck on the last question, but Zhu Zhixing's mother could count as a nightmare from Xie Sui's childhood. Xie Sui had said that night that he'd let go of the past, and Song Yu didn't want these people offending his eyes again.
He put down his pen. "Finished. Let's go, let's go."
But after leaving the office and heading downstairs, they encountered Zhu Zhixing in the stairwell.
It was night, and cold moonlight shone inside. Paint peeled from the walls of the old teaching building. Zhu Zhixing stood alone in a dark corner, utterly lost. His usually sleazy, malicious eyes were filled with bewilderment and panic. They were red too; like his mother, he had been crying for who knew how long.
Song Yu paused upon seeing him. So he'd come too. He pulled Xie Sui along, wanting to keep away from him.
Unexpectedly, the instant Zhu Zhixing saw Xie Sui, his eyes became bloodshot. With a surge of fury, he charged over and swung at Xie Sui's face.
His roar rang through the stairwell, agonized and raw. "It was you, wasn't it! You sent the photos and surveillance footage to the police! You did it, didn't you!"
Furious, Song Yu grabbed his neck with one hand and hauled him away. "Are you insane? I let you off last time! Now you're begging for a beating?"
Xie Sui stepped back. His fathomless eyes watched Song Yu's back as he shielded him, and his lips curved almost imperceptibly.
Zhu Zhixing had lost all reason, like a rabid dog. "It's all over! All over! You've destroyed my whole family! Xie Sui! You're just as hateful as your whore mother who did nothing but seduce men!"
Song Yu was livid. He punched him and shoved the book in his hand into his mouth. "Are you sick in the head? Shut up!"
Zhu Zhixing was no longer afraid of Song Yu. That physical pain was nowhere near as terrifying as everything he had experienced today.
He stared blankly at Xie Sui.
Xie Sui's skin was a cool white, lending him an otherworldly chill under the moonlight. His eyes were black as deep pools. Even now, his gaze remained careless, cold, and indifferent.
Even having manipulated everything from behind the scenes, he had never truly taken them seriously.
He didn't even deign to show disgust.
Zhu Zhixing's teeth chattered. For an instant, his whole body turned icy and his scalp prickled.
He hadn't been certain before, but now he suddenly was.
Yes. Who else could know that area so well?
"It was you..." Tears streamed down his face. He raised a hand, his voice trembling. "It was you... demon... demon."
If what he felt toward Song Yu was simply fear of a bully,
then what he felt toward Xie Sui at this moment was terror that sank into his bones.
Song Yu was unbearably irritated. "Will you just-" Give it a rest.
"Xie! Sui!"
The woman's hate-filled voice came from above them on the stairs, thick with tears and anger.
Then, before Song Yu could react, someone shoved him hard in the back.
His eyes widened. Just as he was about to pitch down the stairs, someone caught his wrist and tugged him sideways into a cool embrace.
Xie Sui held him with one arm and gripped Zhu Zhixing's mother's hand with the other, his expression frosty beneath the moonlight.
"Do you have a death wish?"
The chill in his tone could freeze water.
Author's note: Bro Yu will become the school tyrant, and it'll cause an even bigger sensation than this, hahaha.
You don't need to worry about his illness. This is sugar, not a knife.
Thank you to all the little angels who cast Overlord Votes for me or watered me with nutrient solution~
Thank you to the little angel who cast [Shallow-water Bombs]: Shuiyuan Shanyao, 1;
Thank you to the little angels who cast [Landmines]: fairy, Saishang Jiangnan, Shi Jiang Ci Ya, 2 each; Yan Qie, mariote, cupid, Mou Huan Jun, l Qin q Cuan Jiu, Yuanzhui Quxian Jiuqu Huihuan, Nana nei, Gu Nian, Jin Feng, 37575374, Shi Gu Yan Ya Dian, Fengzi and Zhengchangren, Feng Zhi Zuo Zhi Mu Zhi Huo Zhi, 1 each;
Thank you to the little angels who watered me with [Nutrient Solution]:
Yishi Wuxie, 40 bottles; prprpr, 15 bottles; Qiumo sqh, Lu, Zanhua, Yingmeng Fusheng, Xiao Niangao 030, Jiu Xi Jiu.., 10 bottles each; Zhu Qing A, 7 bottles; Qie, 6 bottles; Jiehunzheng, Zhang Qiling de Xiao Xifu, cupid, Mao Jun, Su Su de Su Yin, Ni Chi Le Ma, 5 bottles each; Yangtai Jun, Sanriyue Zongjin, Dudu Bu Xiang Dang Chu Gou, Wu Nai Tianzang, 3 bottles each; Xiazi Yu, Shanghuo de Xiao Huolong, Lan Qian, 2 bottles each; Minzhengju, Nanfeng Qi, Mai Da'an de Yaojianpan, Mian Jiu Hai Zai Aoye Ya, Shu Nanwan, Ying Zhu, Ge Lai, Yiling, augusyaku, Buzhi Yunshenchu, 1 bottle each;
Thank you all so much for your support. I'll keep working hard!