《Fake Boy》


 Chapter 1

    Chapter 1 Prologue


    Li Mingzhus mother became a mistress unknowingly.


    When she was pregnant with Li Mingzhu, the legal wife came to her and slapped her face twice, only then did she realize she was a mistress.


    Li Mingzhus father was a good orator, when in university he was the number one member of the debate team.


    Li Mingzhus mother got deceived.


    She got slapped twice, got beaten and got kicked out of home.


    Li Mingzhus mother still hadnt come to herself, I was ordinarily dating, we were even on the verge of getting married, how come I became a mistress?


    Except for making Li Mingzhus mothers face swollen for several days, these two slaps also ruined Li Mingzhus childhood.


    Her mother had weak mental endurance.


    She was a woman from the countryside but was born with a beautiful face. She was a bimbo. She hardly knew how to read, and was tricked into bed by Li Mingzhus father.


    The short-sighted woman initially was awaiting Li Mingzhus birth, hoping she was a boy so that she could elevate her status through her son.


    Unfortunately, Li Mingzhu didnt live up to her expectation, she was born without that piece of flesh: she was a girl.


    Just like that Li MIngzhus mother became insane.


    But before going crazy, she worked as a prostitute for a while, completely giving up on herself.


    In such an environment, Li Mingzhu struggled to grow from one foot to two feet and from two feet to be able to walk on the ground.


    It was a miracle that she was able to grow to six-seven years old without dying.


    Everyone thought she was a miracle, not only did she not die, but she was still stubbornly alive like a green bristlegrass that couldnt be stepped to death.


    Her mother didnt cook for her, so she had to go to the vegetable market to pick up rotten leaves to eat. She would boil them in a pot and eat them while glaring at her mother fiercely.


    Li Mingzhus mother had gone entirely insane. Once, she wasnt tied up and went crazy on the street, she made an electric car break her leg. The driver had to compensate Li Mingzhus mother 3,500 yuan.


    Her crazy mothers leg was exchanged only for 3,500 yuan.


    She lived in an alley, the neighbour would occasionally pity her, and often talked about her saying, Oh, Li Ming Li Mings mother is really a sinner


    Li Mingzhu would expressionlessly chew on the rotten cabbage leaves she had picked up, biting bitterly and hatefully. After hearing it many times, she didnt know whether that old thing with half his foot in the coffin was scolding her mother or her[1].


    Li Mingzhu put the 3,500 yuan aside. At the age of seven-eight, she learned some truths from the TV of the landlord who lived on the opposite door.


    Some were useful truths and some were utter bullshit.


    But at such a young age, Li Mingzhu firmly remembered what the landlord used to say when bragging about his son every day, My son got into so-and-so university, he earns so-and-so much money a year, he lives in a so-and-so big house.


    Although Li Mingzhu couldnt understand why the landlord still lived in a small shabby house when his son lived in such a big house.


    She looked back at her mother, she was paralyzed on the bed and was cursing at her calling her a little bastard. She understood what the landlords son had in mind.


    At that moment, Li Mingzhu understood that studying can make a lot of money.


    Make a lot of money, live in a big house, eat well, wear new clothes and hire a nanny to take care of her half-dead mother.


    Li Mingzhu yearned for this very much. At the age of seven, with 3,500 yuan in her hand, she found a state primary school for herself and signed up for it.


    When the teacher asked her where her parents were, she just said that they went to the toilet, so she should do the registration first.


    State primary schools in H City were flocked by many people since they provided education to the children of the migrant farmers who came to the city for work, and the teachers were first-class, first-class lacking.


    Li Mingzhu had inherited from her father, she was a natural orator. When lying her expression remained unchanged, cool as a cucumber, and she fooled the teachers around and around.


    She took her ID card and household registration book which had her gender as male and registered her name.


    Li Mingzhus mother scolded her for being unfilial, a bastard, a dog. She had money but wouldnt buy meat for her mother, instead, she went to attend a fucking bitchy school.


    Li Mingzhu picked up a stick from outside, the stick was as thick as her wrist, and with it, she hit the head of the bed. Every time her mother opened her mouth to scold her, she would hit the bed with the stick, carefully avoiding her mothers body, Li Mingzhu hit the thick quilt as a threat.


    Li Mingzhus expression was gloomy and cold, nothing like the expression a child should have.


    Try saying it once more.


    Li MIngzhus mother didnt dare speak again, she shut up.


    She used that stick to threaten her mother.


    But Li Mingzhus real thoughts were, My mother is right, I have a bitch mother, so theres nothing wrong with me attending a bitch mother school[2].


    She intimidated her old mother with the wooden stick, but at night she would cook for her, wait on her to poop and pee, and do the laundry and cooking for her.


    For twelve hours a day, her expression would be very cold and she would have a bad temper. She didnt look like a girl.


    Occasionally, when she got soft-hearted, she would sit on the head of her mothers bed and reason with her crazy mother.


    She generally talked about three things.


    One, she wanted to study.


    Two, only by studying could she earn money.


    Three, before she earned a lot of money, her mother couldnt die.


    Its not known whether Li Mingzhus crazy mother understood her reasoning or not. She had been crazy for so many years, but still held on and didnt die.


    Li Mingzhus childhood passed by threatening her mother with a stick, going to the dark backyard of the breakfast shop to wash dishes, picking up some rotten leaves in the vegetable market to subsidize the family and managing to survive.


    She used the same red scarf[3]for six years, the red colour was washed into white, the blood-red of the revolutionary martyrs got washed away. She finally entered junior high school.


    For the past six years, Li Mingzhu has been wearing mens clothing, she never went to the toilet at school, her hair was always shaved into a flattop, and she sat uprightly in the classroom: pretending to be a man.


    In the first half of her life, other than keeping herself from starving to death, the second most important thing was to pretend to be a man.


    But no matter how talented and eloquent Li Mingzhu was, she couldnt fool the police.


    Her ID card was changed to male by her crazy mother. She didnt know how her mother did it back then, but at this time, she definitely couldnt do it.


    Li Mingzhu couldnt change society, she could only change herself. Fortunately, pretending to be a man wasnt a complicated thing. She just needed to study hard, dont talk and have a cold face every day. No one wanted to be her friend.


    She didnt need friends, she just wanted to eat a full meal in a society where everyone eats and drinks well.


    This wish finally came true when she finished junior high school.


    When Li Mingzhu finished junior high school, her grades were outstanding and she was ranked among the best. She was directly recommended to a top high school, with tuition fees completely free.


    At this time, she expanded her business and found a new way to earn money: pretending to be a college student and giving remedial lessons to others.


    Li Mingzhu was very talented at lying.


    She had a gloomy face at school, but she actually developed a lot of business in private: for example, helping with homework, helping with cheating in exams, everything could be done as long there was money.


    A good student like Li Mingzhu was very trusted by the teachers, they would never believe that she would help others to cheat. Li Mingzhu took advantage of this to help everyone cheat.


    A real disappointment to the teachers faith.


    However, Li Mingzhu gradually became proficient in the business despite the continuous disappointment and intermittent guilt.


    Others wrote one homework during the summer vacation, while she wrote twenty. It wasnt for free, divided into upper, middle and lower quality, it was charged a different price.


    At this time, Li Mingzhu developed a skill that could be called a human printer: that is, three ballpoint pens tied together and writing side by side.


    When she was doing this not-so-glamorous job, her mad mother would make a big fuss, so noisy that she couldnt work with peace of mind.


    On one hand, Li Mingzhu was very refined like a scholar and wrote in the exercise book: Filial piety has three, great respect for parents, second is no humiliation, and next is support It means that filial piety can be divided into three levels: the highest level is respect for parents in speech, behaviour and heart, secondly, dont beat, scold, and insult your parents, be kind to them[A/N].


    On the other hand, she held a stick and hit her mother, as usual hitting the quilt while roaring: Shut up!


    Her mother shut up.


    So Li Mingzhu dared to beat her mother with a stick and also dared to pretend to be a college student.


    This is how she met Erpao[4].


    Erpao had a big mouth and his voice was even louder. Every day, he would go around with a brick to look for someone to show off his prowess. Once he came to Li Mingzhus door, Li Mingzhu used the stick she hit her mother with to whip Erpao until he cried for his father and called for his mother[5], the screams went on for three days. Since then Erpao became his little brother.


    Erpaos older brother was a certificate maker, he had a small shop at the entrance of the alley making certificates. He could make any kind of certificate, his expertise was making fake certificates: this last one wasnt easily known, Erpao only told Li Mingzhu because of their solid friendship.


    Li Mingzhu was a trustworthy person, her mouth was tight-lipped, and this was also one of the things Erpao admired her for.


    Her fake university student card was also made by Erpaos brother, more or less.


    There is a reason for saying more or less. Erpaos brother didnt make this fake university student card for Li Mingzhu. No matter how frenzy his brother was, he wouldnt make Li Mingzhu a university student card, Li Mingzhu had just graduated from junior high school!


    Therefore, this student card was stolen by Erpao, while his brother was out playing mahjong.


    For this, he had to pay a heavy price. Li Mingzhu bumped her fist with him and said, Good friend.


    Erpao got badly beaten, his nose bruised and face swollen, but worriedly said, Li Minger, this Qinhua University student card, can you really do it? Im afraid.


    Li Mingzhus name on her ID was Li Ming.


    Li Mingzhu held the fake student card and furrowed her brows, If its not a well-known university no one will want you.


    Erpao was very worried for her, a junior high graduate pretending to be a student of Qinhua University, it was very risky and very difficult.


    But Li Mingzhu was very audacious and bold, how can someone floating on the rivers and lakes[6]be afraid of this.


    Whenever Li Mingzhu thought back at it, she couldnt understand what junior high students heads were made of, maybe reinforced concrete. Her head at that time must have been made of reinforced concrete.


    She went to apply for a job with that fake Qinhua University diploma.


    When people asked her how come she looked like a child, Li Mingzhu eloquently, speaking with fervour and assurance, talked from astronomy and geography to biology and science, coaxing the parents to the point they couldnt differentiate the four directions.


    I just look young, auntie, dont look at me, my mother at her age shes still mistaken for a college student! Just the other day while walking on the streets!


    She just lied without thinking and even a lie detector couldnt detect it.


    Li Mingzhus lips were so powerful that, when flying up and down, could bring the dead to life. With such smoothness that some people really believed her nonsense.


    Just like this, she received her first job through deception. Li Mingzhu knew her limits, she definitely couldnt tutor a third-year high schooler, but tutoring a first-year or a junior-high student was no big problem.


    If she didnt get recommended, she would certainly be number one in the high school entrance examination in Z province.


    Li Mingzhus brain was just so good.


    A person, who had a very good brain and got a job too smoothly, once the money got in his hand, he was bound to pay something.


    Li Mingzhu read a text when he was a child called Sai Weng lost his horse, how can one know if its not a blessing[7].


    She didnt know whether her future will be more fortunate or more miserable.


    But that summer, following the old woman she had coaxed, Li Mingzhu gave remedial lessons for her inept grandson who was about to take his senior high school entrance exam.


    The grandsons name was Lu Yao.


    Meeting Lu Yao in her life, she didnt know whether it was more of a blessing or more of a misfortune.


    Only one thing was certain, Li Mingzhu, who had been heartless for half her life, before that, would never understand what it was like to love someone with her life.


    Notes


    A/N: From the Book of Rites, also known as Liji.


    1. His mother is also a curse word, so the phrase Li Mings mother is really a sinner could also be interpreted as that fucking Li Ming is really a sinner.


    2. Same as before, it literally means bitch mother, but could also be interpreted as fucking bitch.


    3. In China the red scarf is a must-wear for primary school students, it represents Chinas national flag, which is dyed red by the blood of the revolutionary martyrs.


    4. Erpao literally means second artillery, used to call someone stupid, here is used as a nickname.


    5. Cried for his father and called for his mother is an idiom meaning yell inordinately.


    6. Rivers and lakes (jianghu) has many interpretations, here it refers to Li Mingzhus business, i.e. having never been caught doing his business he became so bold to the point that he wasnt afraid of pretending to be a university student.


    7. Sai Weng lost his horse is a story about a man that whenever some misfortune happened to him, something good would follow, and when something good happened a misfortune would occur.

 Chapter 2

    Chapter 2 Long Time NoSee


    Two years later, Yizhong Provincial High School.


    Hand in your homework!


    The literature class representative was a glasses-wearing four-eyed boy. Every time he called out to hand in the homework, he would shout out until breathless.


    He collected homework as a dance, jumping from the podium and tapping on everyones desk with his own textbook.


    When he arrived before Li Mingzhu, he stopped.


    He didnt dare to knock on Li Mingzhus desk with his notebook.


    Hand in your summer homework.


    Li Mingzhu took out a thick stack of books from her schoolbag, took out the literature exercise book, and threw it to the class representative.


    She sat sullenly and taciturn, she hadnt cut her hair during summer vacation so it grew to the tips of her ears. She had a handsome profile and her clean jawline slipped into the school uniform. She had a very good-looking appearance, but she didnt have an interesting soul.


    Li Mingzhus soul was gloomy, the cold feeling brought from the depths of her soul affected her from making friends.


    In the eyes of her classmates, she was a cool guy.


    From the first year of high school, she had been a loner who didnt make friends, didnt stay in the dormitory, didnt participate in club activities, and only knew how to study.


    Not talkative and with a bad look in her eyes.


    After one year, they didnt know anything about her except that she was called Li Ming.


    The four-eyed class representative didnt dare to speak to Li Mingzhu.


    On the first day of the new semester, when the morning class ended, Li Mingzhu stayed in the classroom and didnt go to the canteen.


    Yizhong had two canteens, one is the regular large canteen which had three floors, first-years and second-years ate together, while third-years ate on the highest floor.


    The other was a western restaurant allocated on the northern side of the school, to get there one must walk across the basketball court and the sports ground. It sold junk food such as grilled sausage burgers and fast food, and regularly launches special meals with fancy names but bad taste. It was more popular than the school canteen, especially for couples.


    Li Mingzhu usually didnt eat in the canteen or in the restaurant. She was a day student, she generally brought something herself, sat near the restaurant and ate in the open space behind the sports ground stands.


    The things at school were expensive, and she didnt have spare money to buy food.


    The first day of school was no exception. Li Mingzhu brought a few things and went straight to the stands: after all she cared about her face and didnt want to eat in class.


    On the way to the sports ground, Li Mingzhu met Erpao.


    It wasnt known what Erpaos brother did, but he earned a fortune and paid for Erpao to get admitted to the art class. So he unexpectedly entered Yizhong Provincial High School.


    Whenever he met someone, Erpaos brother bragged about how his brother made great progress and had a promising future, directly omitting all the disgraceful means he used.


    Meeting Erpao here wasnt surprising at all to Li Mingzhu.


    Erpao saw Li Mingzhu and greeted her.


    Li Mingzhu only had this one friend. Moreover, Erpao was very faithful.


    Therefore Li Mingzhu put away the dead face he often put on, and rarely relaxed his expression.


    But this time when Erpao saw her, he wasnt as enthusiastic as usual, instead, he looked as if he met a formidable enemy.


    As soon as he saw Li Mingzhu, his face turned pale, and he said to Li Mingzhu, Li Minger, you should transfer to another school!


    Li Mingzhu smeared his face, What happened?


    Erpao was so panicked that he couldnt speak clearly, Li Minger, Im telling you this, I didnt believe it at first, listen to me


    He spoke incoherently, Do you still remember the year you graduated from junior high school, didnt I steal a Qinghua University certificate for you, the summer vacation when you pretended to be a teacher and gave remedial lessons!


    When Li Mingzhu heard him mention this matter, her expression also got bad.


    When she graduated from junior high school, her brain may have not grown well, and she came up with this idea on a whim. The point is, with her ability to speak the human language with humans and speak the ghost language with ghosts[1], she really managed to fool an old woman.


    During that summer vacation, Li Mingzhu met that old womans grandson, Lu Yao.


    He was a lawless, arrogant brat.


    On the first day of class, Li Mingzhu and Lu Yao had a grudge, but the price per lesson given by his grandmother made Li Mingzhu covet.


    Li Mingzhu was blinded by money, so she bit the bullet and gave her grandson remedial lessons.


    Lu Yao can be said to be a lost cause, his grades were so poor that Li Mingzhu couldnt look at them. But Lu Yao didnt take it seriously, he still skipped classes, played games and had new injuries every day.


    As soon as he came home, Li Mingzhu would stand at the door with a cold face and ask him if he had done his homework.


    He didnt do a sh*t!


    Lu Yao would be annoyed whenever he saw her, annoyed at Li Mingzhus good student airs.


    Lu Yao had a bad temper and a bad personality. Every day he acted very arrogantly and cockily as if Li Mingzhu owed him more than 100 million yuan. But he had a handsome face that attracted many girls, he changed girlfriends every week. He always brought home a different one, never repeating, Li Mingzhu bumped into four or five of them.


    Dating in junior high school was just for reputation, they wouldnt do anything. At most, they went home and ate popsicles together, an extremely innocent love.


    Especially for people like Lu Yao, who was the big brother, how can he not have a girl beside him.


    Lu Yaos family was well-off, his father was an official and his mother was a renowned artist. He recharged Yellow Diamond on QQ[2], he ate steak with red wine, he wore brand-name shoes worth more than a thousand, and he went to sing at H Citys most expensive KTVs. He just needed to wave his hand and a dozen of disreputable friends would come one after another to carry his shoes.


    However, Lu Yao himself didnt want to make progress, he purposely went against Li Mingzhu.


    A wild and unruly second-year junior high schooler, the thing he liked to do the most was to improve his image in his peers hearts by going against the teacher.


    Although Li Mingzhu was a home teacher, she could also be considered a teacher.


    Lu Yao liked to torment and bully her. Therefore, every day Li Mingzhu would be in conflict between chopping Lu Yao to death with a knife or bending her back and bearing Lu Yao for the money.


    Finally, she held on until the end of the summer vacation, she took the money and said bye-bye to Lu Yao.


    But Li Mingzhu was the type of person that bore grudges. She remembered all the times Lu Yao made her suffer and was definitely going to take revenge.


    Therefore, before leaving she did a world-shaking thing that made Lu Yao lose face in front of his disreputable friends.


    Thinking of Lu Yaos face back then, it looked like he was going to jump up and slash her with a knife ten thousand times to relieve his anger.


    To Lu Yao, who gave a lot of importance to his reputation, this was enough to gross him out for several years and become his indelible black history in junior high school.


    Li Mingzhu added his number and QQ to her blacklist in one fell swoop. From then on, she and Lu Yao would never see again and forget each other.


    If Erpao hadnt brought up this matter, she had completely forgotten that summer when she and Lu Yao had a fight of wits and bravery.


    Why are you bringing this up? Li Mingzhu held her lunchbox, walking while talking to Erpao.


    Erpaos forehead was covered in a cold sweat, Its related to this matter!


    Li Mingzhu said, Oh, I almost forgot about this matter, whats wrong? Your brother found out I pretended to be a university student?


    Its not about whether my brother knows or not. Erpao hurriedly walked in front of her, Li Minger, have you seen this years freshmen name list!


    Li Mingzhu composedly bypassed him, not knowing that danger was waiting for her.


    Why should I read that? Im not the principal.


    In other words, It doesnt concern me.


    Li Mingzhu sometimes was just so indifferent.


    But this time he was too indifferent, Erpao urgently told her, Your student, that Lu Yao, his name is on the freshmen name list! Hes in art class, I saw it when I was helping old Yuan sort out the freshmen list!


    Old Yuan was the second-year art class home-room teacher, but he also taught art to the first years.


    Hey, youre making a fuss about nothing, there are many people with the same name and surname in this world. Li Mingzhu was surprised only for a moment, then answered.


    Erpao disputed, Damn! Li Minger, there are photos on the freshmen list! Are there people in the world that have the same name and surname and look the same!? You have to believe me I tell you


    Li Mingzhu suddenly stopped walking.


    On the concrete road to the canteen, the trees on the two sides were rustled by the wind.


    On the sports ground stands in front, surrounded by a group of scoundrels, who messily wore their uniform, the leader was a handsome student, male, a new face, he was eighty-ninety per cent a freshman. With a cigarette in his mouth, very arrogantly, he was holding his head up basking in the sun, beside him was a female student with a thin waist and long legs, who was gently leaning on his arm.


    The group was made of four or five people, talking and laughing, on the ground seven or eight cigarette butts were thrown.


    Li Mingzhu stood still and her pale face under the sunlight reflected a gloomy light. One of the students in the stands jumped off from the top and came in front of Li Mingzhu.


    Senior, I see you are pleasing to the eye, do you want to come up for a talk? He said rascally with no good intentions.


    Li Mingzhu calmly replied, We have nothing to talk about.


    The student looked back, he saw the handsome freshman, whose arm was being held by a girl and had his uniform tied around his waist, spit out the cigarette in his mouth and came down.


    A drop of cold sweat fell on Li Mingzhus forehead, the more she looked at the boy walking down from the stands, the more familiar he became until he stood completely in front of her.


    The boy who stopped her spoke, Its okay if you dont have anything to say, brother Lu has something to talk to you about.


    Li Mingzhus heart was shaking terribly, but on the surface, her face remained indifferent, and even thought, Talk my ass.


    Lu Yao already got in front of her, looking at her with interest.


    Li Mingzhu was face-to-face with him, they were scanning and discerning the micro-expressions on each others faces, trying to see something.


    Erpao was shocked, Lu, Lu, Lu Lu Lu Yao!


    Lu Yao seemed to have been waiting there for a long time. As soon as he opened his mouth, he showed his canine tooth and smiled maliciously. He said, Teacher Li, long time no see. After graduating from Qinghua University, you are now teaching at Yizhong?


    He pressed the tip of his tongue on his palate, Youre really hard to find, arent you?


    Li Mingzhu, with a complex expression, immediately ran away!


    Little theatre


    Lu Yao: I finally fucking found you.


    Li Mingzhu: The heavens want to kill me!


    Author: An eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth


    Notes


    1. Speak the human language with humans and speak the ghost language with ghosts is an idiom meaning to be flexible and know what to say in different situations and to different people.


    2. QQ is a messaging app very popular in China and Yellow Diamond is a premium package of the app.

 Chapter 3

    Li Mingzhu¡¯s movements were like lightning, with the momentum of flying over the eaves and walking the walls, performing the martial art Qinggong, like floating on water[1].


    After two steps, Lu Yao swore: ¡°Damn, still want to run!¡±


    Lu Yao¡¯s skill was higher than hers. This student also acquired the ability to fly over the eaves and walk the walls as early as the first year of junior high school. There¡¯s nothing he can¡¯t do on the walls. A good student like Li Mingzhu is a little worse than Lu Yao.


    So after drifting less than ten meters, he was caught by Lu Yao¡¯s chokehold.


    Lu Yao hugged her in his arms, he was stunned for a moment, but quickly got filled with anger.


    ¡°Fuck!¡±


    Li Mingzhu struggled hard, but the disparity in height was too great, to no avail.


    She said: ¡°You got the wrong person.¡±


    ¡°I can recognize you even if you turned to ashes.¡± Lu Yao gritted his teeth.


    At such a highly dangerous moment, Li Mingzhu used both hands and feet to keep the lunch box in his hand safe and sound.


    Lu Yao looking at her trying to protect the food wanted to laugh, but in order to maintain his dignity, he pursed his lips into a line.


    The students around immediately gathered around.


    ¡°Brother Lu, drag him into the woods behind and beat him up!¡±


    ¡°Damn, weak chicken, I dislike good students the most.¡±


    Lu Yao clasped her shoulders.


    ¡°Talk!¡±


    Li Mingzhu forced herself to calm down and thought for a moment: ¡°What do you want to hear.¡±


    ¡°An apology.¡±


    Li Mingzhu thought for a while and after determining that she was doomed, she endured the humiliation and spit out three words: ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    Lu Yao: ¡°¡­¡±


    Li Mingzhu was a person who was full of lies. Lu Yao already understood it when she was giving him remedial lessons.


    A good student who was stubborn and bad-tempered, and refused to bow his head.


    She never gave him a good look, and also never admitted defeat. But today it seemed as if her soul had been changed. He asked for an apology and the other party apologized.


    Lu Yao thought of Li Mingzhu¡¯s sinister and cunning character and had a chill run down his spine, he didn¡¯t dare to easily relax, lest she did something more earth-shattering.


    Li Mingzhu shouted: ¡°Teacher Yuan!¡±


    Lu Yao looked up.


    This trick was really too unsophisticated, so unsophisticated that Lu Yao never thought that Li Mingzhu would use it.


    He looked up, loosening his grip, Li Mingzhu slammed into him very hard, broke free from his arms, hugged the lunch box, and ran away faster than before, without turning his head, she disappeared in a blink of an eye.


    Like a desperate rabbit.


    But Li Mingzhu wasn¡¯t a rabbit. When biting a person, she would tear off the flesh along the skin, revealing the white bones underneath.


    Li Mingzhu ran away. Lu Yao stood still. The surrounding students, seeing this group of people, all took a detour.


    ¡°Brother Lu, should we chase after him?¡±


    This group of students had their hair dyed and wore their uniforms messily, the school card on their chest read: Art A112.


    They were Wu Cheng, Wang Miao, Sun Yu, Lin Junhui.


    They were all art class students.


    The military training had already finished during summer vacation, and in just seven days, Lu Yao¡¯s reputation spread.


    His name was very famous in the whole high school district of H City. Two years ago, his name had already spread among the junior high schools. There were legends of brother Lu everywhere he went, extremely cringy.


    Lu Yao¡¯s father was a high-ranking official in B City, and his mother was an artist who often appeared on TV.


    With these two points, Lu Yao could do as he pleased in H city. Even the son of H City¡¯s mayor would call him brother and fawn over him whenever they met.


    During summer vacation, the principal of Yizhong High School already received the news that he would come to Yizhong High School from the attached junior high school. He personally went to Lu Yao¡¯s house to extend his regards to him. At that time, Lu Yao was in a battle of wits and bravery with Li Mingzhu, it was a moment of great tension, so he had no time to pay attention to the principal with a receding hairline.


    Yizhong High School¡¯s principal got the cold shoulder, so he asked the old woman in Lu Yao¡¯s house to introduce him: the old woman¡¯s surname was Wang, she was the grandmother of Lu Yao who knows which distant cousin. She heard that Lu Yao had run away from home, so volunteered to take care of him.


    Lu Yao was young and rebellious. He bought a plane ticket from B City to H City. He hadn¡¯t gone home for two or three years. Lu Yao¡¯s parents couldn¡¯t do anything about it, except for sending every month¡¯s living expenses, other daily life necessities were done by grandma Wang.


    Wu Cheng spoke, trying to please him.


    Even though he was one year older than Lu Yao, he shamelessly called him brother: ¡°Brother Lu, how did this weak chicken offend you?¡±


    ¡°I just find him unpleasant.¡± Lu Yao sneered, his eyes not moving, staring at the place where Li Mingzhu ran away.


    The people heard that but didn¡¯t believe it.


    Although it hadn¡¯t been long since they got along with Lu Yao, he wasn¡¯t the type to wilfully cause trouble for others.


    That second year of the excellence class¡¯ weak chicken, nobody knew how he offended Lu Yao. On the first day of school, Lu Yao inquired about him and took a group of people to the edge of the sports ground to block him.


    Wu Cheng asked: ¡°Should we go catch him back?¡±


    Lu Yao smirked: ¡°No need, he will come back.¡±


    Lu Yao guessed right, Li Mingzhu really came to look for him.


    On the afternoon of the first day of school, between the fourth lesson and the evening preliminary time (the twenty minutes given to prepare for evening self-study where all students were required to go back to their classrooms), there was a forty minutes dinner break.


    Just at this time, Li Mingzhu walked to the fourth floor of the third building, the legendary art building where all kinds of rogues ran wild.


    The art class¡¯s classroom was on the fourth floor. At the end of the stairs, there was a toilet at the corner, two girls were there, wearing their school uniforms trousers shortened so much that their ankles were shown, and had tattoos on the back of their ears.


    They had refined makeup on. One of them was smoking in the toilet. When Li Mingzhu came up, the girl glanced at her.


    Li Mingzhu didn¡¯t look sideways and went straight to her destination.


    To go to classroom 112, she went through a dark and shaded corridor which gradually became clearer and brighter. She saw the classroom.


    It was almost the evening preliminary time, the big classroom was almost empty. In the first row, two girls were wearing earphones and watching a video on the phone, and a girl on the side was putting on make-up. There was no one studying


    When Li Mingzhu walked by, the two girls who were watching a video got surprised, they probably thought she was the teacher, and wanted to put away the phone, but looking out of the windows[2] they saw that Li Mingzhu was wearing a school uniform, so they boldly continued watching the video.


    It was different from the excellence class, which was full at all times and everyone was working hard on their homework.


    Li Mingzhu passed the windows, stopped by the door and knocked on the door.


    Everyone ignored her.


    Li Mingzhu stood there for a while then called out: ¡°Lu Yao.¡±


    Li Mingzhu didn¡¯t speak much in school. Her voice was very neutral. After she lowered her tone, it was indistinguishable whether it was male or female. It seemed like a teenager that hasn¡¯t changed his voice, and it was hard to tell that she was a girl.


    Lu Yao was at the back of the classroom. He was sitting on the seat, wearing earphones and with his eyes closed lost in his thoughts.


    On his side were sitting two beautiful girls trying to get his attention.


    But to no avail, Lu Yao completely ignored them,


    His face was carefully carved and depicted by God. During the summer vacation of the previous year, Li Mingzhu had already learned how deceptive Lu Yao¡¯s face was, it covered up all his malicious, childish and domineering character.


    Li Mingzhu called for him three times, but it¡¯s not known whether Lu Yao didn¡¯t hear or he purposely ignored her. Instead, the girl sitting next to him gave her a glance.


    Li Mingzhu suddenly remembered, these two girls seemed to be the two that earlier have been smoking in the restroom.


    Li Mingzhu slightly raised her tone: ¡°Lu Yao!¡±


    This time, Lu Yao moved, he took off the earphones and slowly put his gaze on Li Mingzhu.


    Li Mingzhu was wearing a large uniform, her build was smaller than the average guy, like a wrinkled white-cut chicken. Lu Yao reminisced about the silky feeling when his fingers touched his skin when he held Li Mingzhu.


    Lu Yao felt a little disgusted in his heart. A man looking so girly, with such girly skin and feeling so soft when hugged, that made a huge impact in his heart.


    At this age, Lu Yao had had many girlfriends, but not one girl left such an impact, making him dizzy when hugging them.


    However, a man managed to do it.


    Lu Yao¡¯s heart beat for a long time, and then he got disgusted to death. The expression in his eyes when looking at Li Mingzhu got bad.


    Li Mingzhu saw Lu Yao staring at her, but she didn¡¯t have mind-reading abilities, so she didn¡¯t know what Lu Yao was thinking.


    ¡°Come out, we need to talk.¡± Li Mingzhu tried her best to sound nice.


    Lu Yao didn¡¯t give her face, he made an arrogant smile: ¡°Why should I talk with you?¡±


    Li Mingzhu took a deep breath and cursed him in her head, but for the greater good, she suppressed the irritation and disgust in her heart. She unexpectedly gave in: ¡°Lu Yao, let¡¯s talk.¡±


    Lu Yao looked at her, the two stared at each other, no one letting go.


    Li Mingzhu¡¯s pupils were pitch black, like a pool of black ink that was being stirred up and wanted to push people deeper into the abyss.


    Lu Yao waited a bit, then stood up leaving his seat.


    The girl with the tattoo asked: ¡°Lu Yao, who¡¯s he?¡±


    Lu Yao didn¡¯t reply, the girl pouted.


    ¡°Where?¡± Lu Yao asked Li Mingzhu.


    ¡°The rooftop, it¡¯s near here.¡± Li Mingzhu left.


    Lu Yao sneered: ¡°What, if the negotiations break down, you plan to threaten me by jumping off?¡±


    Li Mingzhu was walking in front, but she stopped when she heard this: ¡°It¡¯s you who is threatening me.¡±


    Lu Yao almost laughed from anger, he said: ¡°You reap what you sow.¡±


    These five words stabbed Li Mingzhu¡¯s heart.


    She really reaped what she saw.


    Li Mingzhu believed that she had pretty good luck. Since she was a child, whenever she did misdeeds, she never got caught. It turned out that there was Lu Yao, this devil incarnate, waiting for her!


    She grew up so big, only during junior high school did her head got smothered by cement, that she did such a silly thing. She thought that as time passes, it would eventually pass. How could she know that time faded her but redrew Lu Yao with thick ink and heavy brush.


    Li Mingzhu suppressed her anger: ¡°You investigated me?¡±


    Hearing this, Lu Yao was even more disdainful: ¡°Don¡¯t put feathers in your cap.¡±


    Li Mingzhu frowned, she thought that Lu Yao had investigated her and found out that she was a student here, so intentionally came here to study.


    But after thinking about it, it felt a little unreasonable.


    She indeed did some misdeed to Lu Yao, but it wasn¡¯t to the point that he would go out of his way to find her school and follow her to school to take revenge on her.


    If Lu Yao wanted to take revenge, he could have just sent some people to her house.


    Li Mingzhu believed that Lu Yao didn¡¯t have such a leisurely mood, so there was only one reason left: she had bad luck.


    Lu Yao simply got admitted to Yizhong (Li Mingzhu was still doubtful about this, as Lu Yao¡¯s grades were too poor). She got unlucky and met him on the first day of school.


    Having his enemy sent before him, Lu Yao was by no means the type of person to make concessions to avoid trouble.


    Li Mingzhu was excellent in both character and study in school, and she had to get the scholarship to subsidize her family. If Lu Yao exposed the immoral things she did in her junior high third-grade summer vacation, she would be in serious trouble.


    The most important thing was: Li Mingzhu knew that Lu Yao was a person she couldn¡¯t offend.


    In the past, she couldn¡¯t offend him, but she was young, impulsive, and bold, a newborn calf wasn¡¯t afraid of tigers.


    Now that they are in the same school, even more, she couldn¡¯t offend him, not only couldn¡¯t offend him, but she had to hide as far as possible.


    However this time the fortune goddess wasn¡¯t on her side. She hadn¡¯t had time to hide, as she already bumped into Lu Yao.


    Li Mingzhu has been a slick person since she was a child, she knew how to maximize her benefits, and knew when to be humble and when to be assertive. She thoughtfully considered all possible, impossible, and unknown factors then decided to give in and talk to Lu Yao.


    ¡°The things that happened before¡­¡± Li Mingzhu prepared a draft in her head, determined to make a lengthy speech and repent her past crimes with tears in her eyes.


    Lu Yao directly interrupted her and mocked her: ¡°I¡¯ve seen teacher Li¡¯s ability to talk, it¡¯s very amazing.¡±


    ¡°But now is not the time to talk about the past.¡± He said smiling.


    Li Mingzhu¡¯s speech got stuck in her throat.


    Lu Yao believed that he was a ruthless person and also came up with a good idea. He arrogantly turned around and left: ¡°I¡¯m a bit thirsty, go to the convenience store and bring me a bottle, I want it lemon flavoured, oh, also bring me the Liuliu Plums endorsed by Yang Mi[3], buy two packets.¡±


    Li Mingzhu thought: ¡®What does he mean?¡¯


    Lu Yao turned back to look at her, and then looked at his watch worth thousands: ¡°Good student, there are five minutes left before the evening self-study bell rings, from the fourth floor to the convenience store you need to go through two buildings, if you don¡¯t want to be late, I recommend you to run.¡±


    Li Mingzhu¡¯s pupils slightly widened, suddenly she understood. She ground her teeth.


    Lu Yao looked at her with a gentle smile on his face, and leisurely shook his watch, unhurriedly counting down for Li Mingzhu.


    On the first day of school, Li Mingzhu for the second time¡­ took to her heels!


    Notes


    1. ¡®Flying over the eaves and walking the walls¡¯ meaning very quick and nimble. ¡®Qinggong¡¯ is a martial art technique that greatly improves one¡¯s ability to run, jump, dodge and manoeuvre, one can even stand or move on objects that normally cannot bear weight and can lift into the air through small objects. Li Mingzhu doesn¡¯t really have qinggong, but she ran so fast as if she had it. return


    2. In China, the classrooms also have windows on the wall facing the hallways, people in the classroom can see who is in the hallways and vice versa. return


    3. Liuliu Plums are a Chinese snack similar to prunes. Yang Mi is a Chinese actress. return

 Chapter 4

    She bought Liuliu Plums for Lu Yao and returned to the classroom panting.


    The class supervisor was the English teacher, a person capable to make English sound like Shanxi dialect. When speaking English, she always had saliva in her mouth. Her English name was Amy and her Chinese name was Ami.


    When Li Mingzhu entered the room, Amy glanced at her.


    ¡°Come in quickly, you are late for class.¡±


    A commotion broke in the class, Amy shouted: ¡°What¡¯s with the nuoise[1]! Silence!¡±


    Someone imitated her tone: ¡°What¡¯s with the nuoise, silence!¡±


    The classroom burst into laughter.


    Ami had a very soft personality and was easy to handle. She stared at them from the teacher¡¯s desk: ¡°What are you doing?!¡±


    Li Mingzhu took advantage of the commotion to return to her seat.


    She took out a water bottle from the drawer, unscrewed the lid and drank half the bottle.


    She was really tired.


    Li Mingzhu hardly got so tired that her face streamed with sweat. She was always clean and refreshing.


    Gu Xiaofei, who sat on the other side of the passageway, asked gossipily: ¡°What did you do? It¡¯s the first time I see you come late.¡±


    Li Mingzhu¡¯s language exercise book got severely marked with a thick black line: ¡°¡­ Fed a dog!¡±


    On the fourth floor, Lu Yao sneezed. The evening self-study in the art class was very lively, it seemed like a concert was going to be held.


    Lu Yao¡¯s seat was in the last row near the trash can, in the teacher¡¯s words: garbage should sit with the garbage.


    However, Lu Yao wasn¡¯t an accommodating person, he kicked the trash can to the front of the classroom. The female teacher¡¯s face got flushed and ran away in tears. She went to the grade director to complain.


    At this time, Lu Yao was sitting with legs crossed with one foot in the air while eating Liuliu plums.


    ¡°Brother Lu, at night, are you going¡­ ¡± the one talking to him was Wang Miao, one of the last row¡¯s garbage, he made a gun gesture.


    This gesture was a secret signal, meaning to smoke.


    At school there was a good place for smoking acknowledged by the students, it was on the cement road behind the cafeteria, where the trees around blocked the view. Apart from the students who smoke, there were also couples kissing.


    Ever since the start of the military training, Lu Yao received the favour of dozen of girls, some expressed it explicitly and some implicitly, some sent him text messages and some sent Weixin messages.


    All the freshmen envied Lu Yao, but at the same time, thinking about his family background and looking at his face, they could only admire him.


    ¡°During the evening first class Song Mengjie came to look for you, but you weren¡¯t here, she said she would come again after the evening self-study.¡± Sun Yu winked at him, ¡°Are you interested in her?¡±


    Lu Yao said: ¡°Isn¡¯t it tiring to run from the first floor to the fourth floor?¡±


    ¡°Well, she likes you.¡± Sun Yu replied.


    ¡°There are many people interested in brother Lu, how can we favour someone from a different class. I think our classmate Zhao Xiaoxin is pretty good.¡± Wang Miao stole a glance.


    Zhao Xiaoxin modified her uniform. Earlier, when the discipline inspection team came to check the uniform, she took off her jacket, revealing her fashionable underwear and her well-developed breasts.


    Apart from Lu Yao, the boys¡¯ gazes all fell on Zhao Xiaoxin¡¯s breast, making wretched smiles.


    Lu Yao was chewing a Liuliu plum, not interested.


    After the evening self-study ended, he sent Li Mingzhu a message, the content was simple and concise: [I¡¯m hungry.]


    Li Mingzhu was a day student, she had a very old cellphone, a model that had fallen into disuse long ago. She had bought it at a second-hand market.


    This phone received Lu Yao¡¯s message.


    The excellence class had four periods of evening self-study, while the art class only had three.


    Lu Yao sent his message to Li Mingzhu after the third period. As a freshman, he probably didn¡¯t know the class arrangement of the excellence class.


    Li Mingzhu replied: [I¡¯m in class.]


    Lu Yao thought that Li Mingzhu was refusing him: [Quick, I don¡¯t have much patience.]


    As Li Mingzhu received this message, Gu Xiaofei looked at her surprised.


    Li MIngzhu had good grades and never looked at her phone during class. Moreover, the excellence class was under the school¡¯s strict inspection. Every now and then the education director would pass by the hallways.


    Gu Xiaofei lowered his voice: ¡°Li Ming stop looking at the phone, Cai Gou is outside.¡±


    The education director, Yang Facai, was a middle-aged man who was cursed by the students to never get rich. Cai Gou[2] was his widespread nickname.


    Li Mingzhu put away the phone, quickly answered the last big Physics¡¯ problem and in one fell swoop wrote the answer: ¡®From the surface q, at a distance of L/2 from the centre of the circumpherence, the height is 3 meters.¡¯


    As soon as she finished, Gu Xiaofei shouted to the class: ¡°What¡¯s your answer to the last problem of Huanggang Danyuan test book¡¯s A paper!¡±


    The class president answered him: ¡°Gu Xiaofei, you want to just copy the answer again!¡±


    ¡°Bah! This time I have the solving process, alright!?¡± Gu Xiaofei replied.


    The class president laughed at him, even if he had the solving process, it was just nonsense, it looked awesome, but in reality, was all wrong, then at the end copied from someone else the right answer.


    ¡°Old Yan said that you can only get the points for the answer.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s two points. It¡¯s enough. Do you know what it means two points in the university entrance exam? It¡¯s twenty thousand!¡± Gu Xiaofei exaggerated, ¡°Do you have any opinion about me, who has 20,000 yuan.¡±


    The Physics class representative wore glasses as thick as the bottom of a thermos bottle, he pushed them up and asked Li Mingzhu, who sat three rows apart: ¡°Li Ming, what¡¯s your answer?¡±


    ¡°Three.¡± Li Mingzhu stood up.


    After hearing this answer, everyone in the classroom started checking their own answers.


    After getting along for one year, everyone deeply understood that Li Ming¡¯s answer was the correct answer.


    The reference answer could be wrong, but she wouldn¡¯t.


    ¡°Oh, dear!¡± Gu Xiaofei burst into laughter, ¡°Yang Ke, what solution is this?! 2.45 thirds, and there¡¯s also a square root! This answer is wrong at first glance, alright? Don¡¯t you have any answering techniques? How can a distance be a fraction, it must be an integer!¡±


    As he said these words, Li Mingzhu walked out of the laboratory building with a sombre face.


    The excellence class was in the laboratory building, while the art class was in the art building, between them there were four buildings. The distance was a bit far.


    Li Mingzhu found Lu Yao in the small forest behind the school cafeteria. Lu Yao was smoking, there wasn¡¯t any light, so she could only see the flashing light of the cigarette in his hands.


    Lu Yao looked towards her hands, she was holding a white plastic bag with the school convenience store¡¯s logo. He took it and rummaged in it: ¡°There isn¡¯t any meat.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have money.¡± Li Mingzhu said calmly, but her tone wasn¡¯t very good.


    Lu Yao took out his school card from his pockets and put it in her hands: ¡°There¡¯s one thousand inside.¡±


    Li Mingzhu¡¯s mouth twitched: ¡°You are not afraid I use it for me?¡±


    Lu Yao tore open the seaweed packaging: ¡°If you aren¡¯t afraid of being beaten by me, then swipe it.¡±


    Li Mingzhu returned the card to him and sternly asked: ¡°Lu Yao, what on earth do you want?¡±


    Lu Yao was eating seaweed: ¡°I don¡¯t want anything, I just want to give you a hard time.¡±


    He said it lightly, but it aroused anger in Li Mingzhu, who used to remain indifferent to favours or humiliations.


    ¡°You¡­ don¡¯t go overboard!¡± she said angrily, ¡°I still have class.¡±


    ¡°Oh, then send me your class schedule, I¡¯ll call you after class.¡± Lu Yao said unchanging.


    This wasn¡¯t what Li Mingzhu meant, she meant not to disturb her.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for what I did, I apologise. You can¡¯t pester me like this.¡± Li Mingzhu said.


    ¡°Ha ha, interesting.¡± Lu Yao lifted his head to look at her and pushed her fiercely. Li Mingzhu got unsteady and fell to the ground.


    Lu Yao straddled his long legs and half sat on top of her. Li Mingzhu panicked but Lu Yao grabbed her by the collar. She rested her hands and elbows on the ground, while her upper body was forcibly lifted.


    ¡°You will get punished for fighting.¡± Li Mingzhu said calmly.


    ¡°What you did is also enough for you to get punished.¡± Lu Yao retorted, ¡°Are you thinking that I have a good temper, eh?¡±


    Li Mingzhu clenched her teeth. At this moment, Lu Yao¡¯s aura was very terrifying.


    He said: ¡°I¡¯ve never lost so much face, Li Ming.¡±


    Li Mingzhu and Lu Yao looked at each other in the dark. Besides them, there were other people passing by, but when they saw their posture, they didn¡¯t dare step forward.


    Lu Yao loosened her collar: ¡°I¡¯m just making you run some errands, I can do more, you choose.¡±


    He stood up, Li Mingzhu turned around and got up too.


    Lu Yao looked a little unnatural. He rubbed the seam of his trousers, but no one saw it.


    Whenever he had physical contact with Li Mingzhu, he would get goosebumps all over his body. Li Mingzhu¡¯s body was as soft as a pool of water. Lu Yao never had such strong physical reactions when being in contact with other men.


    Li Mingzhu had dealt with Lu Yao for several months, she knew his temper very well. After a moment of silence, she spoke: ¡°We should set some rules.¡±


    ¡°What qualifications do you have to set rules.¡±


    Li Mingzhu retorted: ¡°I can help you with your studies, help you improve your grades.¡±


    Lu Yao clearly didn¡¯t need remedial lessons. The thing he hated the most was studying, and the second was Li Mingzhu.


    Lu Yao actually got admitted to Yizhong through the exam. Although his grades were bad, he was very talented at learning. At that time, he got provoked by Li Mingzhu, so studied for the entire summer vacation and got very close to the minimum pass mark for admission. He paid some money and like this, he managed to enter Yizhong.


    Lu Yao hated Li Mingzhu, but Li Mingzhu that sissy would always make him feel strange all over his body. He couldn¡¯t bring himself to hate him anymore. He felt that he wouldn¡¯t be able to go out with girls anymore.


    During military training, he saw by chance Li Mingzhu¡¯s photo on the school¡¯s bulletin board.


    In the photo, she had an upright manner. She had clear facial features, but there was a sinister aura between her brows. Because this face was so good-looking, Lu Yao immediately recalled the summer vacation of the second year of junior high school.


    At that time Li Mingzhu pretended to be a student at Qinghua University. Seeing his photo on Yizhong¡¯s bulletin board, Lu Yao connected the s and came to a realization.


    Li Mingzhu lied!


    He fooled him and granny around. Lu Yao¡¯s little hatred for him couldn¡¯t be compared to being deceived for an entire summer vacation. A high school bastard dared to fool him?


    Even Yizhong¡¯s chairman when seeing him had to call him ¡®young master Lu¡¯. Who is Li Ming to treat him like that?


    Lu Yao was born into an esteemed family. Since he was young, he always got whatever he wanted. He had never met someone like Li Mingzhu who was so daring and didn¡¯t know how to appreciate favours.


    He had strong self-esteem. He got fooled by Li Mingzhu, so he must make her pay, take revenge and erase the humiliation. Thus on the first day of school, he waited for her to block the road.


    Lu Yao pressed the tip of his tongue on his palate, he looked at Li Mingzhu in a haughty manner for a while, then asked incongruously as the mouth of a horse on the head of an ox[3].


    ¡°What performance is your class doing for the welcoming ceremony?¡±


    ¡°Chorus.¡± Li Mingzhu answered subconsciously.


    ¡°You are also singing?¡± Lu Yao asked.


    Li Mingzhu didn¡¯t understand what he was up to, but still shook her head: ¡°I¡¯m not.¡±


    She never participated in group activities, had no sense of the class¡¯s collective honour, and liked to leave the group and be alone.


    Lu Yao looked at her jokingly: ¡°I can let you go, during the welcoming ceremony, you go on stage and shout out three times ¡®Brother Lu is almighty, I¡¯m an idiot.¡¯ Then I will spare you.¡±


    Li Mingzhu¡¯s face immediately got pale.


    Lu Yao¡¯s intentions to ridicule her were very obvious, but Li Mingzhu also had strong self-esteem.


    ¡°How is it?¡± Lu Yao asked insistently.


    Li Mingzhu asked: ¡°What should I shout?¡±


    ¡°Brother Lu is almighty, I¡¯m an idiot.¡±


    Li Mingzhu feigned not hearing well: ¡°I didn¡¯t hear well, what¡¯s the last sentence?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m an idiot.¡±


    Li Mingzhu suddenly jumped and gave him a kick, she forgot all about the principle of knowing when to yield and when not[4]. She shouted: ¡°You¡¯re right, you are an idiot!¡±


    This kick of hers was a sudden and surprising move, also known as the leg-breaking kick. She kicked him with all her force with the objective to break Lu Yao¡¯s leg.


    After the kick, Li Mingzhu ran away faster than a rabbit, the white uniform wrapping her body, disappearing in front of Lu Yao at the speed of light.


    Lu Yao gasped in pain and bent down. He wanted to chase, but his leg was swollen and he was sweating profusely.


    He gritted his teeth and held back for a long time, finally saying one word: ¡°Fuck!¡±


    Lu Yao knew that with Li Mingzhu¡¯s personality, he should have been always on alert, but because he got the upper hand, he let down his guard and got carried away.


    So she didn¡¯t have any movement before, it was because she was waiting for the big move, she had the skill in cooldown!


    Because of his face, he didn¡¯t dare to cry out, so he hissed and gasped. The passing students looked at him, and Lu Yao yelled: ¡°The hell you looking at!¡±


    His fierce temperament made the crowd disperse as frightened birds.


    Lu Yao jumping on one leg could never catch up. He could only swear: ¡°Fuck!¡±


    Just like this, he jumped to the infirmary. He decided to not live under the same sky as Li Mingzhu[5], but still hadn¡¯t come up with how to settle accounts with her.


    On the other end, Li Mingzhu ran back to the classroom with a snow-white face, grabbed her schoolbag and walked outside the classroom.


    Before she left, she asked the class president: ¡°Who¡¯s next period¡¯s class supervisor?¡±


    The class president was taken aback by her grieved face as if she had lost her parents.


    ¡°It¡¯s Mary¡­¡±


    Mary was the nickname of the Biology teacher.


    As soon as she heard that it wasn¡¯t the home-room teacher, Li Mingzhu immediately said: ¡°Ask for leave for me, I¡¯m leaving first.¡±


    She said she would leave and left. She didn¡¯t dare to stay at school even for a moment, afraid that Lu Yao would come to her classroom.


    On the way home, Li Mingzhu came to her senses and realised what she had done on impulse.


    She wailed vexedly but helplessly, the moonlight pulled long her lonely shadow.


    In the symphony of her tragic life, another symphony of fate called Lu Yao was inserted, and the ensemble produced an epic hapless life song.


    Li Mingzhu couldn¡¯t see the moon in the sky, just as she couldn¡¯t see the future clouded by dark clouds.


    At this time, she really didn¡¯t want to face the next day.


    Little theatre


    Li Mingzhu: ¡°Never would I¡¯ve thought that in the future I would fall in love with an idiot.¡±


    Lu Yao: ¡°I fell in love with my arch-enemy, what should I do? PS: He¡¯s a man!¡±


    Notes


    1. The misspelling is made on purpose to emphasize her accent.


    2. His name ¡®Facai¡¯ has the same pronunciation as ¡®get rich¡¯, thus the reason for the curse. / His nickname means ¡®dog Cai¡¯ (it sounds weird so a left it in Chinese), in China calling someone a dog is offensive.


    3. ¡®The mouth of a horse on the head of an ox¡¯ idiom meaning ¡®incongruous¡¯.


    4. ¡®The principle of knowing when to yield¡¯ i.e. yield to the strong, and be strong to the weak.


    5. ¡®To not live under the same sky as¡¯ idiom meaning ¡®to feel irreconcilable hatred for sb¡¯.

 Chapter 5

    Before the morning self-study, Gu Xiaofei jumped into class energetically from the hallway: ¡°Big news! The first department and second department student council will be merged!¡±


    At those words, everyone ignored him.


    Gu Xiaofei felt that he had lost all face. He knocked on the blackboard: ¡°Who is part of the student council in our class?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s news from last semester, still bringing it up. You are heating leftover rice[1]!¡± Someone said.


    ¡°How come I didn¡¯t know? Alas, the merging of the student council is a small matter, the main point is another!¡± Gu Xiaofei lowered his voice, ¡°The school is making a supervision team! In charge of the whole school!¡±


    ¡°Last semester, didn¡¯t we already have the discipline inspection team?¡±


    ¡°That lousy discipline inspection team, they inspect a shit, they just pick up trash in the school!¡± Gu Xiaofei snorted, ¡°This year the school plans to use violence to control violence, inside information says that the members of the supervision team will all be from the art class!¡±


    ¡°That class of scoundrels.¡± Someone laughed.


    After mentioning the art classes, everyone felt a chill behind their backs.


    H City¡¯s Yizhong was a top high school, but top schools had both top elite classes and top trash classes.


    The art class they were talking about is such a top trash class.


    Actually, the art class wasn¡¯t that bad. It was just that all the scoundrels in the school were in this class. Other than putting on makeup and modifying their school uniforms, fighting and causing trouble, they did nothing else.


    In that era, a high school student that hasn¡¯t even grown up, already knows how to make-up, that¡¯s outrageous!


    They also fought, but fighting was nothing. There were many talents in the art class. Beating up students was no longer enough for them. Last year, they got severely criticized by the school for beating up the teacher, and several were expelled.


    Logically, such a class shouldn¡¯t have existed in H City¡¯s top high school.


    But even a top high school was short on funds. The students in the art class all had a strong background. Their family had money and paid for them to get admitted. After three years, as long as they didn¡¯t overdo it, the teachers would turn a blind eye and let them go.


    Gu Xiaofei said that the supervision team established by the school this year will be composed of the students of the trash class. What did this mean?


    ¡°This means that we are going to be ruled by a bunch of garbage!¡± Gu Xiaofei didn¡¯t dare to say these words too loudly, so he lowered his voice.


    Seeing Gu Xiaofei was timid and did not dare to speak out loudly, everyone laughed at him: ¡°Coward!¡±


    ¡°Who are you calling coward!¡± Gu Xiaofei snorted.


    ¡°What¡¯s the school thinking? They also disbanded the discipline inspection team.¡± Yang Ke muttered.


    ¡°Well, the discipline inspection team was useless.¡± Gu Xiaofei said, ¡°Can the discipline inspection team be even more cowardly? How can they control the students? They just get glared at and don¡¯t dare to deduct points!¡±


    ¡°Anyway, it has nothing to do with us, the merge also has nothing to do with us. Now there¡¯s a big thing that has to do with us.¡± the study delegate reminded everyone, ¡°The time for the opening test has been issued, later I will write it on the blackboard.¡±


    ¡°What? We¡¯re just second years! We¡¯re not third years, so strict¡­¡± Gu Xiaofei wailed.


    ¡°That¡¯s right, Gu Xiaofei, you have been the last for one year, work hard this semester, aim for a glorious exit from the excellence class and join the parallel class to make outstanding contributions to lowering their promotion rate.¡±


    The excellence class was one of the school¡¯s priority classes, there¡¯s one in both the first and second departments. They had been competing grades with both open rivalry and veiled strife, very extreme.


    Li Mingzhu was in such a priority class, she was part of the excellence class of the first department. She raised the average grade of the whole class by herself, making the first department¡¯s average grade surpass the second department¡¯s by a full point.


    The study delegate said to Li Mingzhu: ¡°Li Ming, at that time, as always, give the test papers to Yang Ke to print them.¡±


    Li MIngzhu didn¡¯t lift her head and made an ¡°mhm¡±. She opened her Physics book and started preparing for the next lesson.


    No one was surprised, they became used to it. Again in the class, some girls gave her glances sprouting with love. The courageous Yang Ke asked smiling: ¡°Li Ming, have you seen your last semester¡¯s school report?¡±


    Li Mingzhu replied coldly: ¡°No.¡±


    Yang Ke looked at her while resting her chin on her hands: ¡°I saw it for you, 740, you got deducted only ten points!¡±


    Hearing this, Li Mingzhu reckoned in her heart, it was close to her estimated score. As if she got used to it, she nodded.


    Seeing her attitude, which obviously didn¡¯t want to speak, Yang Ke understood that she was unwelcome and left.


    End of the morning self-study. During the running exercises between lessons.


    Li Mingzhu had her heart in her mouth for the entire morning, finally, she got caught by students from the art class.


    ¡°We meet again, senior. Are you free? I treat you to a meal.¡±


    Li Mingzhu moved her hands, her strength was insufficient. She caught a glimpse of the badges on their sleeves: Supervision Team.


    Wang Miao glared at the surrounding students who were looking at them: ¡°The fuck are you looking! The supervision team is handling official business, don¡¯t you know?¡±


    Li Mingzhu struggled for an instant and warned: ¡°This is the school canteen.¡±


    ¡°Talk about it to Lu Yao. Your kick last night was very strong.¡± Wang Miao looked at her with pity.


    Dared to go against Lu Yao and even injured him, Li Mingzhu was the first.


    Wang Miao¡¯s words made Li Mingzhu remember that terrible night that she had wanted to forget.


    Li Mingzhu was pushed and shoved all the way to the infirmary.


    The infirmary was behind the canteen. Li Mingzhu got pushed in and saw Lu Yao swaggeringly sitting on the bed in the infirmary.


    He seemed to have booked the infirmary, all the students inside got driven outside, and members of the supervision team stood at the entrance.


    Li Mingzhu¡¯s face showed no guilt as if the one who last night had kicked someone wasn¡¯t her.


    When Lu Yao saw Li Mingzhu, his face darkened.


    ¡°You still dare to come to school.¡±


    ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t I dare.¡±


    Lu Yao knocked over the table beside him, and the water glass fell on the floor making loud shattering sounds. It seemed as if he would jump up and take Li MIngzhu¡¯s life in the next second.


    But Li Mingzhu had lived for so many years, no matter how much pressure society and reality put on her, she could turn bad into good: she was able to grow up by picking up rotten leaves from the garbage and eating them without hesitation.


    It could be seen that her life wasn¡¯t easy to take.


    Li Mingzhu looked at him indifferently and fixed the table Lu Yao had overturned: ¡°Lu Yao, you are a high schooler.¡±


    In other words: ¡®Can you stop being so childish?¡¯


    Li Mingzhu was forcibly brought here so the treatment wasn¡¯t very good. She seemed to have been ravaged badly, her school uniform¡¯s collar was torn apart revealing her white skin and collarbone, which made Lu Yao¡¯s eyes hurt.


    Lu Yao closed his eyes and leaned on the bed as if he was thinking about how to take revenge on Li Mingzhu.


    His index finger tapped on his thigh rhythmically.


    Li Mingzhu spoke: ¡°How is your leg?¡±


    Lu Yao snorted and said in a muffled voice: ¡°It¡¯s not broken, you are thinking it¡¯s a pity, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    Li Mingzhu sighed: ¡°That¡¯s right, actually, I¡¯m very experienced in taking care of people with a broken leg.¡±


    After she said this, Lu Yao didn¡¯t answer, for a while there was no movement in the infirmary.


    Lu Yao and Li Mingzhu, in fact, have a very subtle relationship.


    When he was in the second year of junior high school, he was under Li Mingzhu¡¯s charge for a period of time. At that time, Li Mingzhu was very talented, pretended to be a college student, and commanded him every day. This is the tone he used.


    Emotionless, cold and indifferent, Lu Yao really wanted to ruin.


    Lu Yao straightened up his neck and made a fierce look, but in Li Mingzhu¡¯s eyes, he was like a little puppy that wouldn¡¯t bow his head.


    She pretended to be a teacher and taught him for some time, that probably some maternal love arose in her. Sometimes, when she calmed down and looked at Lu Yao, she felt like she was seeing her son.


    Of course, Li Mingzhu wouldn¡¯t give birth to such an unfilial son like Lu Yao, but would resolutely strangle him to death in the cradle.


    The takeaway ordered by Lu Yao was on another table. When he knocked over the table, he remembered to throw the one without the takeout. He still had some rationality.


    Li Mingzhu sat down and said: ¡°You asked your lackeys to bring me here, what for?¡±


    Lu Yao shouted: ¡°You broke my leg!¡±


    Li Mingzhu retorted: ¡°You just said it¡¯s not broken.¡±


    Lu Yao glared at her. As a wise man who understood the situation and submitted to circumstances, Li Mingzhu shut up.


    Yesterday Lu Yao spent all night thinking about how to kill Li Mingzhu. As a consequence, he had two thick black circles on his face. He made a long list of torture methods, but now that he saw Li Mingzhu, he wasn¡¯t so angry anymore.


    That was very strange.


    Lu Yao didn¡¯t only think about it all night. Although on the surface he seemed to have let go of the past, in his heart, he noted everything in his notebook.


    In the second year of junior high, he regarded Li Mingzhu as an enemy who couldn¡¯t live under the same sky. He had pinned Li Mingzhu¡¯s photo on the dart board and stabbed it 1,800 times a day. Even in his dreams he was hanging Li Mingzhu like a sandbag and beating him up.


    At the age of fourteen, one cared a lot about honour, Li Mingzhu did something very outrageous to him, she was his biggest enemy. But said enemy left without further ado, he couldn¡¯t find her no matter what. It weighed on his mind, having been thinking about her for a long time, that vicious hatred began to degenerate.


    Lu Yao thought about using Qing Dynasty¡¯s top ten tortures[2] on Li Mingzhu, but after meeting, he couldn¡¯t decide which torture to use first.


    Moreover, he hadn¡¯t seen Li Mingzhu for two years. Li Mingzhu, that sissy, seemed to have become more girly. Lu Yao felt angry when he saw her.


    When the two were silent, some noise came from outside the door.


    Wang Miao shouted at the top of his lungs: ¡°Brother Lu, Song Mengjie is outside, she said she brought you milk tea, she is here to see you.¡±


    Lu Yao didn¡¯t speak. Outside, Song Mengjie made a ruckus: ¡°Get off! I¡¯m here to see Lu Yao, why are you stopping me!¡±


    Song Mengjie squeezed in, she was wearing a short skirt of another school, it was of a dark blue colour, the knee-length skirt got shortened by her to the point it showed her buttocks.


    She came in and sat beside Lu Yao, she put the milk tea on the table and pouted: ¡°What happened to your legs?¡±


    Lu Yao didn¡¯t want to pay her attention: ¡°I don¡¯t drink milk tea, take it away.¡±


    ¡°But I already bought it¡­¡± Song Mengjie muttered, she poked his leg with her finger and asked, ¡°Which leg got broken?¡±


    Lu Yao didn¡¯t reply, Song Mengjie acknowledged that she was unwelcome, she looked at Li Mingzhu.


    Li Mingzhu¡¯s face was handsome, Song Mengjie¡¯s eyes lit up: ¡°Lu Yao, this is your friend?¡±


    Lu Yao closed his eyes and rested his mind.


    He brought Li Mingzhu over, but he hadn¡¯t decided how to kill her yet, so he proclaimed peace for fifteen minutes.


    Song Mengjie casually got close to Li Mingzhu, but unfortunately, Li Mingzhu had an even more cold personality. Before Song Mengjie could get close, she was cut off by an icy-cold aura that repelled people a thousand miles away.


    Li Mingzhu stood up: ¡°I¡¯m going back to class.¡±


    Only then did Lu Yao say impatiently: ¡°Who allowed you to leave?¡±


    The school bell rang once, Song Mengjie tidied her skirt and left.


    However, Li Mingzhu couldn¡¯t leave.


    Wang Miao and the others stayed outside for almost half a day, only waiting for them to start a fight, and then they could perform a sidekick¡¯s duty: rush in and give Li Mingzhu two slaps.


    In the end, the class was about to start but other than the rumour of Lu Yao overturning the table at the beginning that looked aggressive, in the infirmary, there hasn¡¯t been any other sound.


    Lu Yao didn¡¯t allow her to go, and he struggled to reach the lunch box with his hands.


    Li Mingzhu saw it and couldn¡¯t help but give him a hand. Lu Yao snorted coldly, thinking: ¡®Cat weeping over a dead mouse, shedding crocodile tears, weasel going to pay his respects to a hen, etc.¡¯[3]


    Lu Yao¡¯s leg seemed seriously injured and it was Li Mingzhu who kicked him.


    Li Mingzhu felt a little guilty, but she wasn¡¯t remorseful. She thought: ¡®This brat brought it on himself.¡¯


    The two were strangely silent, Lu Yao savagely put rice in his mouth while holding the bowl up to his face, and sometimes he stopped to glare at her fiercely. Li Mingzhu thought: ¡®Taking me as a side dish to increase your appetite, little bastard.¡¯


    She said impatiently: ¡°I have to leave, if you have something to say, say it now.¡±


    Lu Yao hurriedly swallowed the food in his mouth: ¡°You aren¡¯t allowed to leave.¡±


    He said it in such a hurry, that he almost choked.


    Li Mingzhu wasn¡¯t sure what Lu Yao, who had the second-year syndrome[4], wanted. He had just graduated from junior high school, his face still hadn¡¯t grown, it was still youthful, but had also some sharpness.


    Li Mingzhu stared at his face for a while, and she suddenly calmed down.


    ¡°Lu Yao, let¡¯s talk formally now, say, just what do you want to do?¡±


    Notes


    1. ¡®Heat leftover rice¡¯ means to say or do the same old thing, dish up the same old stuff, repeat without any new content.


    2. ¡®Qing Dynasty¡¯s top ten tortures¡¯ is only a name, the tortures are more than ten, the most known are: peeling, chopping the waist, car splitting, five punishments (castration, amputation of the feet, chopping hands, digging out eyes, cutting off ears), lingchi, hanging, boiling, inserting needles, burying alive, poisoning, rod punishment, sawing, breaking the vertebrae, pouring hot lead in the mouth, playing the pipa, pulling out the intestines, riding the wooden horse.


    3. ¡®Cat weeping over a dead mouse, shedding crocodile tears¡¯ proverbs meaning ¡®being hypocritical¡¯. / ¡®Weasel going to pay his respects to a hen¡¯ means ¡®when someone who is usually your enemy is helping you, then they must have ill-intentions¡¯.


    4. ¡®Second-year syndrome¡¯, also known as ¡®chunibyo¡¯, is a term used to describe early teens who have great delusions, who desperately want to stand out, and who have convinced themselves that they have hidden knowledge or secret powers.

 Chapter 6

    That year, when Li Mingzhu fooled Lu Yao and the old woman, it could be said that she was beset by perils.


    At that time, Lu Yao was still as tall as her, and he refused to comply with discipline (although he still didn¡¯t comply), Li Mingzhu took grandma Wang¡¯s money, so she bent her back and gave her all to improve Lu Yao¡¯s grades, but failed to help Lu ¡®Adou¡¯[1].


    She had even chosen the place to put the cheat note in the men¡¯s toilet, but Lu Yao, who had second-year syndrome, was very proud, and would rather die than cheat, leaving Li Mingzhu helpless.


    The relationship between Li Mingzhu and Lu Yao was just like the small note in the men¡¯s toilet and the second-year syndrome¡¯s pride, it was irreconcilable.


    As his teacher, Li Mingzhu has been pretending for such a long time, that he became magnanimous, she could tolerate some of Lu Yao¡¯s temper.


    Unfortunately, Lu Yao took pleasure in challenging her bottom line, which caused them to frequently turn against each other, they would start by greeting their ancestors[2] and end by spitting at each other.


    Now they have passed the age of spitting. At this moment, they sat together. They found it difficult to put down their pride and also couldn¡¯t find a reason to greet each other¡¯s elders.


    So after Li Mingzhu said they should have a serious talk, Lu Yao thought: ¡®Talk a shit, I have nothing to talk about with you.¡¯


    At the door, Wang Miao, who had long disliked this sissy of the top class, shouted: ¡°Li Ming, brother Lu is treating you courteously, don¡¯t you disregard his kindness, talk my ass! Why don¡¯t you talk about love[3]!¡±


    Li Mingzhu snorted coldly in her heart, dating Lu Yao would shorten her life.


    Li Mingzhu wanted to live up to seventy or eighty years, live until her bitch parents were dead and be energetic enough to tap dance on their coffin.


    Lu Yao only ate half of his meal, but he suddenly lost his appetite, he said: ¡°I¡¯ll take care of you when my leg is healed.¡±


    A threat that had no deterrent effect. Li Mingzhu was a cunning person who grew up on the fringes of society, how could she be afraid of his words!


    ¡°Oh, then take good care of your wound.¡± Li Mingzhu¡¯s glasses reflected a sinister light, Lu Yao shuddered, from the glasses he saw Li Mingzhu¡¯s countless evil thoughts.


    He had every reason to believe that this four-eyed sissy must be thinking of some wicked plan so that his leg wouldn¡¯t heal for a long time.


    Li Mingzhu stood up, the class bell already rang once.


    ¡°If you want your legs to heal quickly, you should eat less takeaway food. It¡¯s not like the food in the cafeteria can poison you to death.¡±


    Lu Yao kept a cold face, indifferent to Li Mingzhu¡¯s words.


    Li Mingzhu probably also felt that she was a bit naggy.


    She was older than Lu Yao, and also had taken care of this brat for a while. Seeing him eating takeaway, she somewhat found it unhealthy.


    But the current situation wasn¡¯t suitable for such a warm and affectionate concern.


    Sure enough, Lu Yao coldly put down the takeaway box: ¡°Li Ming¡¯er, don¡¯t play the emotional card with me, it¡¯s useless.¡±


    Li Mingzhu thought: ¡®We don¡¯t have any emotional cards I could play.¡¯


    She said: ¡°As you wish, Lu Yao, what you want to do is none of my business. I apologize for what happened in the past. I will also do my best, if you need my help.¡±


    Li Mingzhu said reasonably: ¡°But you can¡¯t hinder my classes or I won¡¯t listen.¡±


    Li Mingzhu, at last, said: ¡°Think about it carefully.¡± She tidied her clothes and walked out of the infirmary intact and unharmed.


    Wang Miao watched dumbstruck Li Mingzhu go out. It took him a long time to recover, he looked at Lu Yao: ¡°He, he left just like this?¡±


    Lu Yao was suppressing his anger, having nowhere to vent it. At this time, Wang Miao just bumped into the muzzle of the gun[4]: ¡°If not like this, he fucking left through flying?!¡±


    ¡°No, I mean¡­ he¡­¡± just left?


    Wang Miao was so shocked that he didn¡¯t know how to move his hands and feet.


    Li Mingzhu, this cunning four-eyes, last night did such an outrageous thing to Lu Yao. So this morning when Lu Yao called his comrades to catch him, Wang Miao thought that after bringing him here, this good student would either die or have to peel off his skin[5].


    However, he just went inside for a while and then just walked out without missing an arm or leg.


    Wang Miao thought: ¡®Lu Yao, brother Lu, so you said to invite him over for a talk, it really was a simple talk? Why is it different from the way you ¡®talked¡¯ to others before?¡¯


    Lu Yao¡¯s face darkened and gave off a fierce aura, Wang Miao tactfully shut up, not daring to speak again.


    After this talk, Lu Yao seemed to have listened a little bit, or maybe because his leg was limping, as he didn¡¯t do anything excessive, other than ordering her to run errands.


    Li Mingzhu didn¡¯t oppose much, firstly, because Lu Yao¡¯s leg indeed got injured by her, and secondly, because running errands didn¡¯t hinder her from attending classes.


    At least, in this period, Lu Yao didn¡¯t order his lackeys to bring Li Mingzhu away without saying a word anymore.


    In the middle of September, Lu Yao¡¯s leg healed and he reverted to his old ways, making trouble for Li Mingzhu.


    Li Mingzhu was so annoyed that she hid as much as she could, she hid until the welcoming ceremony.


    The welcoming ceremony was where Li Mingzhu and Lu Yao¡¯s ill-fated high school relationship started. For half a month, the highly intelligent Li Mingzhu regretted her kick every night. If she hadn¡¯t given that kick, maybe there wouldn¡¯t have been such problems.


    During this ill-fated ceremony, Lu Yao went into the limelight. It could be said that he got infinite glory.


    Li Mingzhu moved a stool and sat on the sports ground. She was sitting in the middle of the class. Her face was expressionless also when watching the ceremony, she wasn¡¯t surprised, even when Lu Yao came on stage.


    During the summer vacation when she was giving remedial lessons to Lu Yao, Li Mingzhu saw a violin in Lu Yao¡¯s study room. At that time she just thought that Lu Yao, as someone with second-year syndrome, bought it to act pretentiously. This idiot went off-key while singing, how could he have such a noble sentiment to play the violin.


    It turned out that Lu Yao really could play the violin.


    He played the violin with such seriousness and lovingness, that made the hearts of female schoolmates in the audience bloom and explode with love, shouting they wanted to marry him.


    Li Mingzhu had his arms crossed and finished listening to Lu Yao¡¯s performance without any expression, listening to the end she still didn¡¯t know what song he played, but it was much better than the previous one.


    In her mind, playing the piano or the violin was an act full of passion, with loose hair, playing to the point of excitement, from an elegant artist becoming a punk rock singer. The more they shook their heads, the better they would play.


    This was how Li Mingzhu, who had low artistic ability, perceived artistic behaviour.


    However, Lu Yao was refined and composed, very different from his usual personality.


    After the welcoming ceremony, there was still one evening self-study left. Without giving them a break, the school drove the students to their classrooms like sheeps, fearing that they would miss the last evening self-study.


    As soon as everyone heard that they had to go back to class, they became slumped and wilted.


    ¡°Damn, why don¡¯t they just let us go back to the dormitory!¡± Gu Xiaofei complained.


    Li Mingzhu was at the end of the line, hearing the wailings in front of her arise one after another, she thought they were much more sentimental than the chorus they sang at the ceremony.


    The sports ground had five exits and each exit was guarded by the members of the student council and the supervision team. After the merge of the first and second student councils, many departments were dismissed and they hadn¡¯t had time to train newcomers, but looking at it, they employed the supervision team first.


    The supervision team was that student organization which used violence to control violence and was composed of students from the art class.


    They were all tall and burly, completely looking like school bullies.


    When a pretty girl walked over, the boys of the supervision team at the exit would immediately whistle at her, stroke their hair flirtatiously and wink as if their eyelids were spasming.


    Li Mingzhu acted low-key, hiding among the group of students and trying to slip through unnoticed.


    Twenty minutes ago, Lu Yao sent her a text message, telling her to wait on the tree-lined path: the pathway between the sports ground and the basketball court.


    For Li Mingzhu, Lu Yao¡¯s orders were eighty per cent bullshit.


    Her eyes could automatically filter everything related to Lu Yao.


    Li Mingzhu was already being low-key to the extreme, but when she walked through the exit, she still got caught by the supervision team.


    ¡°Wait, you, come here, let the students behind go first.¡±


    Li Mingzhu said: ¡°I¡¯m leaving with them.¡±


    ¡°No, we have something to tell you.¡± One of the supervision team members laughed, ¡°Don¡¯t make things difficult for us, senior.¡±


    Li Mingzhu thought: ¡®Talking eccentrically.¡¯


    The supervision team really dared to detain Li Mingzhu. When Lu Yao rushed over, Li Mingzhu had already been waiting for a while.


    Lu Yao just got off the stage, so was still wearing a suit, he had taken off his coat and only had the shirt on, the top button was undone and the hem was tucked into his trousers: he had a very well-proportioned build, the suit on him made him look like he was walking a runway.


    Li Mingzhu looked at him calmly and evaluated: ¡®Gaudy¡¯.


    Lu Yao came running, when he was still one hundred meters away from Li Mingzhu, he suddenly came to a stop, made a calm face and with the steady attitude of a leader, walked over slowly.


    ¡°Brother Lu, this guy wanted to run away just now!¡± The one who caught her immediately reported in a lackeying manner.


    Li Mingzhu thought: ¡®The legs are on my body, I can run whenever I want.¡¯


    Lu Yao threw the violin on his back into Li Mingzhu¡¯s arms, suddenly having a weight on her hands, Li Mingzhu¡¯s body swayed a bit. Lu Yao saw it and thought disdainfully: ¡®Sissy¡¯.


    ¡°Bring my violin back to the dormitory and buy me a meal on the way.¡± Lu Yao ordered.


    Li Mingzhu said, ¡°You aren¡¯t attending the evening self-study?¡±


    After she finished speaking, she immediately shut up.


    The art class didn¡¯t have a fourth period in the evening, they finished at 9:40. Only the excellence class had it.


    Li Mingzhu looked up at the great clock on the international building, it was 8:40, in other words, she still had two periods of evening self-study.


    But Lu Yao was directly going back to the dormitory, Li Mingzhu said, ¡°Skipping class again.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s none of your business.¡± Lu Yao rolled his eyes, ¡°You aren¡¯t thinking that you can still discipline me, right?¡±


    Li Mingzhu put on a fake smile, thinking that it was better to avoid unnecessary trouble, this bastard was amenable to coaxing but not to coercion, the more you opposed him the more trouble he would cause, so she asked calmly, ¡°What do you want to eat?¡±


    ¡°Up to you.¡± Lu Yao crumpled his tie into a ball and stuffed it into his suit pants, making his pocket protrude very unsightly. ¡°Bring it yourself, don¡¯t find someone else to deliver it. If I open the door and see it¡¯s not you, then be prepared.¡±


    The canteen closed at 6:40. If someone wanted to eat, they had to go to the western restaurant.


    The western restaurant was near the sports ground, the upper floor was a coffee shop, and the lower floor was a fast food restaurant, which used the same meal card. Li Mingzhu ordered a fast food takeaway and delivered it directly to Lu Yao¡¯s dormitory.


    Lu Yao¡¯s dormitory was in the international building, the most expensive of all the dormitories.


    This building was some distance away from the teaching building, so in order to be on time for class, she ran upstairs.


    The international building¡¯s lower eight floors were classrooms, the upper eight floors were dormitories and in the middle was built a small garden. Li Mingzhu walked through the garden and then through the almost empty cafeteria.


    It was the first time she entered the international building, she walked around for a long time before finding the entrance of the dormitory, in the end, it was a foreign teacher who was going downstairs, that helped her and led her to the north entrance.


    The lift went up, and Li Mingzhu stepped out of the door, looking around, she bemoaned the corruption of capitalism, paying an extra 5,000 yuan for the dormitory fee, this environment condition wasn¡¯t unmeritable.


    Lu Yao lived in a double room, but the other roommate hadn¡¯t moved in yet, Li Mingzhu opened the door and said coldly: ¡°I¡¯m leaving the things on the carpet by the door.¡±


    Inside, Lu Yao was taking a bath. Before he went on stage, the makeup artist draw two flick eyeliners on him, making his already handsome face give off the bewitching charm of a fox spirit.


    Lu Yao was really grossed out by men wearing makeup. He reluctantly lowered his noble head and endured these two damn eyeliners being on his face for more than an hour.


    As soon as he got back to the dormitory, he couldn¡¯t bear it anymore, so went into the bathroom and washed his face while taking a shower.


    When Li Mingzhu was calling out outside, there was the sound of running water in the bathroom, so Lu Yao didn¡¯t hear her.


    Little theatre


    Li Mingzhu: Regularly delivering meals to the little puppy dog I picked up.


    Lu Yao: Who the hell is a dog! Try saying it again, I¡¯ll kill you!


    Many years later


    Mrs Lu: Regularly going home and cooking for the dog.


    Lu Yao: ¡­Woof!


    Brother Lu! What about your backbone! The dog ate it?!


    Lu Yao: Nowadays what man isn¡¯t afraid of his wife? Is it reasonable not to be afraid of your wife?! Is it reasonable?!


    Every time Mr Lu thought of what he did back then as Little Mr Lu, he would feel grateful for having saved his dog¡¯s life and managed to survive.


    He was just afraid that Mrs Lu one day would recall it and settle accounts with him.


    Notes


    1. ¡®Adou¡¯, also known as Liu Chan (207¨C271), was the last emperor of Shu Han, commonly perceived as an incapable ruler and accused of indulging in pleasures while neglecting state affairs. So ¡®Adou¡¯ is used to describe incapable people who would not achieve anything even with significant assistance. return


    2. ¡®Greeting their ancestors¡¯ here means ¡®to make offensive references to somebody dear to the person to whom one is speaking¡¯. return


    3. ¡®Tan lian ai¡¯ literally ¡®talk about love¡¯, means ¡®to be in love, dating¡¯. return


    4. ¡®Bump into the muzzle of the gun¡¯ means ¡®to run into trouble by coincidence¡¯, here, Wang Miao spoke to Lu Yao when he was in a bad mood, so got yelled at. return


    5. ¡®Either die or have to peel off one¡¯s skin¡¯ means ¡®to receive a major harm or a significant loss¡¯. return

 Chapter 7

    The door was open, the bathroom was just on the left, and Li Mingzhu heard the sound of water and understood the situation.


    She was in a hurry and didn¡¯t want to stay for too long, so she banged on the door and raised her voice: ¡°Lu Yao, I¡¯m leaving the things at the door, remember to eat them.¡±


    When Li Mingzhu was buying food, she thoughtfully bought a bottle of water.


    Although she had a cold face and a cold heart, after more than ten years of dedication, the habit of taking care of others has been engraved in her bones. Even facing a little brat like Lu Yao, she would prepare everything properly.


    The sound of running water in the bathroom stopped, Lu Yao opened the door half-naked.


    Li Mingzhu met his eyes.


    Lu Yao¡¯s build was very eye-catching, it had a youthful feeling, his waist was covered thinly by muscles, and his skin was dazzlingly white.


    Li Mingzhu¡¯s gaze dodged for a moment and, with her unchanging dead voice, repeated: ¡°Remember to eat, I¡¯m leaving.¡±


    Lu Yao didn¡¯t plan to go over and get it at all, he directly ordered: ¡°Bring it in and put it on the table.¡±


    But when he saw that his meal was placed on the white porcelain tiles, he got offended, he raised his voice and said: ¡°You fucking put it on the ground?! Do you think you are feeding a dog?!¡±


    Li Mingzhu thought: ¡®That¡¯s right, I¡¯m feeding a dog.¡¯


    Lu Yao shouted, but there was no movement behind him, Li Mingzhu didn¡¯t walk in and his dinner wasn¡¯t placed on the table properly either, it still was on the white porcelain floor.


    Lu Yao put on his black pyjamas, which lined his skin like a piece of fine jade.


    ¡°Li Ming, are you deaf? I told you to bring the dinner in!¡±


    Li Mingzhu said coldly: ¡°Did you break your arms? Or did you break your leg again? Don¡¯t you know how to reach out and walk?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t disregard my kindness while I¡¯m still being nice, I¡¯m saying it one last time, bring it in.¡± Lu Yao frowned.


    Li Mingzhu thought: ¡®What an attitude! I have to give him a lesson.¡¯


    She and Lu Yao looked at each other, between them there were four metres.


    Li Mingzhu: ¡°Why don¡¯t you ask me to feed you?¡±


    Lu Yao taunted: ¡°Do you think I don¡¯t dare to?¡±


    After saying this, he imagined the scene where Li Mingzhu, this sissy, used chopsticks to pick up vegetables and feed them to him, just like a eunuch[1], the main point was that thinking about it, Li Mingzhu¡¯s stinky face was fairly pretty, Lu Yao immediately stopped this thought and swore: ¡®Shit.¡¯


    He never thought that Li Mingzhu would agree.


    But she did: ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll feed you.¡±


    Lu Yao¡¯s heart skipped a beat, he thought: ¡®What does he mean? A man feeding another man?¡¯


    Li Mingzhu was expressionless, her deadpan face was expressionless all day long, as if every minute and every second she was preparing for a funeral, and who knew whose funeral.


    With this mourning temperament, she slowly squat down, picked up the chopsticks and knocked twice on the takeaway box.


    ¡°Lu Yao, come here to eat.¡±


    That gesture, that appearance, it was only missing that she whistled twice, calling for Lu Yao.


    Li Mingzhu really dared to feed Lu Yao with the attitude of feeding a dog.


    Lu Yao: ¡­


    ¡°You¡¯re courting death.¡± He squeezed out three words from his gritted teeth.


    Li Mingzhu sneered: ¡°What¡¯s your problem.¡±


    Before Lu Yao exploded with rage, Li Mingzhu rushed to the door and swiftly closed it, she took out the key from her pocket and at the speed of lighting rotated it twice. Inside, Lu Yao tried to open the door but to no avail and understood that Li Mingzhu locked it from outside.


    ¡°Li Ming, you dare to lock me!¡±


    Li Mingzhu said: ¡°Save your energy. After eating, go to bed, don¡¯t think about how to oppose me all day long.¡±


    ¡°Fuck your mother! Open the door!¡±


    Li Mingzhu coldly said: ¡°Then go fuck her, my mother¡¯s leg is broken, so you have to put in some effort, it¡¯s five hundred per night.¡±


    Li Mingzhu¡¯s mother worked as a prostitute in the past, actually, it was only two hundred per night. Saying such a high price, she really wasn¡¯t afraid of being struck by lighting.


    She was so ruthless that didn¡¯t seem like a normal person, the more a wound was mangled to the point that blood and flesh mixed up, the more cruelly she would tear it open, not waiting for it to scab, tear it even muddier.


    Li Mingzhu had a cold personality since she was a child, cold-faced, cold-hearted, and distant, but the only one who could make her heart waver was this never-scabbing wound, this crazy woman with a broken leg.


    Lu Yao banged violently on the door, it¡¯s not known whether he had trampled on the meal or not.


    Li Mingzhu recalled the landlord¡¯s dog, it had no teeth, but barked at her as soon as she got home, Li Mingzhu still didn¡¯t understand what kind of enmity she had with that dog.


    Probably, she had a feud with all dogs in the world, otherwise how come she enraged Lu Yao!


    Li Mingzhu lived in the moment and didn¡¯t think about the future, she lived her day as if it were her last.


    For the time being, she decided to put behind her the fact that she dared to lock Lu Yao. She walked home, opened the curtain and entered the room, took the little cabbage left on the table, poured boiling water over the leftover rice, and ate it without making a sound, only then did her stomach become warmer.


    Looking around, the house was pitifully small, the lighting was poor, and the roof was very high: this was the attic of a building.


    H City had quite a few urban villages[2], the locals had chosen a piece of land on their own and built these peasant houses[3] which had five floors. Li Mingzhu lived on this ¡®sixth floor¡¯ for more than ten years, and the rent rose from fifty per month to one hundred and twenty per month.


    For ordinary people, this amount of money was nothing more than allowance money that can be spent in the supermarket, but for Li Mingzhu it was a big burden.


    The fifth and sixth floors were connected only by a small iron staircase.


    The family on the fifth floor had rented three rooms, they almost rented the whole floor, so as a matter of course they occupied the public area and made it into their living room, even the balcony outside become theirs.


    Every time Li Mingzhu came home, she had to pass through their ¡®living room¡¯, which made them very unhappy.


    Therefore, living under the eaves of others, when she was young, Li Mingzhu signed many treachery and loss of power conditions, one of which was to give remedial lessons to the son and daughter of the family on the fifth floor.


    After Li Mingzhu finished eating, she removed the black cloth in the middle of the small attic, her mother rarely laid down and slept peacefully.


    Li Mingzhu looked at her apathetically for a while, then closed the curtain again.


    Such a small room was separated into two smaller rooms by a dark cloth.


    The only bed in the house was given to her mother, when Li Mingzhu wanted to sleep she would spread a woven bamboo mat and sleep on the floor, in winter, she would add two layers of quilt to make do with it.


    Every day, she had to hurry up and finish all her homework during evening self-study, so that she could make time to cook medicine for her mother when she came back.


    Li Mingzhu didn¡¯t dare to make too much noise when cooking medicine. She walked over the boxes where clothes were piled and opened the door on the east side of the attic. Outside was a balcony of about 70 square meters, which was very empty.


    A solar-energized water heater was placed on the balcony. The attic where she lived was like a small square inlaid on top of a large square, walking out of the small square, a small corridor was on the right side and a plain tent was set up in the corner, underneath was the pot for decocting medicine.


    She couldn¡¯t cook medicine in the attic. Half of her room was used as her living place, and the other half was used by the landlord to put two large stainless steel water tanks. If the smoke ruined these two silver-white monstrosities, Li Mingzhu would be kicked out of the house.


    So she usually cooked medicine on the balcony, the landlord probably took pity on her and turned a blind eye to it.


    When she finished boiling the medicine, it was already early in the morning, after putting the dark Chinese medicine on the table, Li Mingzhu tiredly spread out the mat on the floor and got ready to sleep.


    Li Mingzhu wasn¡¯t usually so tired, this semester had just started more than a month ago, but she was already physically and mentally exhausted.


    In addition to dealing with the difficult lessons and homework, she had to spare time to fight a battle of wits and courage with that bastard, Lu Yao.


    Lu Yao enjoyed tormenting her and never got tired of it. Every time, he would aggressively tell her he was going to settle the score, but after a long time, he still hadn¡¯t beaten Li Mingzhu.


    He was exactly the same as the landlord¡¯s dog, when facing Li Mingzhu, it would bark like a cannon, it had a small body but a big voice, and it bared its fangs as if it wanted to tear Li Mingzhu into pieces, but after waiting for a long time, it was just putting on a farce to scare people.


    If one day Li Mingzhu was in a good mood, was merciful and played with the dog for a while and brushed its fur, the little dog would immediately throw off its helmet and armour, expose its stomach and roll over Li Mingzhu¡¯s feet.


    This night, while sleeping, Li Mingzhu made a dream, she dreamed that Lu Yao had two dog ears, softly leaning forward, behind he also had a big tail which upon seeing her started waving happily, every time Li Mingzhu got close, Lu Yao seemed to be facing an enemy, barked in the attempt to show his strength, while retreating at the speed of light.


    In the dream, Li Mingzhu thought: ¡®Am I that scary?¡¯


    The next day¡¯s morning self-study, Li Mingzhu came into class and sat down. When she touched the drawer, she found two pink love letters.


    High school was the time when love first awakened. She had handsome looks, and some people just loved her cold personality, saying that she was a ¡°cold model student persona¡±. Even though the former waves who threw themselves into Li Mingzhu¡¯s arms all died in the cold wind of the twelfth lunar month, the waves behind followed one after another.


    Li Mingzhu stuffed the love letters directly in her schoolbag without even looking at them, anyone with a discerning eye knew that she would definitely throw them away.


    Gu Xiaofei was jealous with envy, and said dryly, ¡°Li Ming, you aren¡¯t reading them?¡±


    Li Mingzhu didn¡¯t reply, she took out her book and started to review.


    Gu Xiaofei made fun of himself, tutted, and started talking with the people in the second group.


    As soon as the welcome party was over, the time immediately became tense, with the beating of gongs and drums they were greeted by the midterm exam.


    Lu Yao got locked up, so was well-behaved for a few days, but not seeing Li Mingzhu for a while, made him act despicable again, he wanted to make trouble for Li Mingzhu.


    He suffered losses a few times and learned his lesson. Recently, apart from class, he hadn¡¯t had much movement.


    Li Mingzhu thought that he had turned over a new leaf, but on Monday, during the flag-raising ceremony, some students of the art class got publicly criticized for fighting, among them there was Lu Yao.


    When Li Mingzhu heard Lu Yao¡¯s name, her face had a slight change, she raised her spirits and listened to a few words.


    How the fight happened, the education director ¡®Cai Gou¡¯ reported it too quickly, she couldn¡¯t hear it clearly. Li Mingzhu only heard that Lu Yao was going up to make a self-criticism in front of all the teachers and students of the school.


    Li Mingzhu thought: ¡®Isn¡¯t this killing him?¡¯


    Lu Yao walked out from the art class team, he nodded to his classmates as he walked, not showing sincerity in his apology at all.


    As soon as he came out, a rustling sound sounded in the neat and huge student team, it could be vaguely heard the excited murmur of the girls. The education director took the microphone and called out several times to be quiet.


    Lu Yao stood still on the stage, not like someone who came to conduct a self-criticism, but like a popular idol who came to a fan meeting.


    Even in her own class, Li Mingzhu saw in front of her Yang Ke twisting her hair, stretching her neck and looking forward.


    Li Mingzhu suddenly realized: ¡®So, early in the morning, Yang Ke was putting on makeup in the classroom for this reason!¡¯


    Looking at it again, in the front row the model student¡¯s representatives with ponytails and glasses as thick as the bottom of a beer bottle were all gone, instead, there were hot girls in miniskirts, evidently, they had secretly changed positions, seeing their makeup, Li Mingzhu felt creeps all over her body.


    Lu Yao coughed, the school uniform on him unexpectedly made him look like the protagonist of an idol drama, as if he really came to hold a fan meeting.


    ¡°Esteemed teachers, dear classmates, I feel extremely guilty¡­¡±


    Notes


    1. In ancient China, the emperor¡¯s meals were composed of many dishes, so some dishes were very far away, eunuchs (or palace maids) would serve the emperor during meals, the emperor would tell them what dish he wanted to eat and they would pick it and put it on the plate in front of him. return


    2. T/N: Villages included in a city¡¯s range. return


    3. Also called ¡®farmer houses¡¯, they are houses built privately by villagers in rural areas, in general, they seldom carry out an architectural design, but directly find a construction team and built it, so they look crude and unpolished. This kind of house generally has poor conditions and the buildings are packed together. return

 Chapter 8

    Lu Yao¡¯s voice was bright and clear, he wasn¡¯t a heavy smoker. Only once in a while, when he had to maintain his leader image, he would smoke one or two to look cool.


    This was what he was reading aloud: ¡°Regarding the fact of jumping off the window to go out to sing and watch a movie, I¡­¡±


    Li Mingzhu¡¯s eyelids twitched when he heard the two words ¡®jumping off¡¯.


    She vaguely remembered that Lu Yao lived on the sixteenth floor, if this bastard wasn¡¯t Superman or Iron Man, jumping off the window would have already turned him into mincemeat, how could he be standing on the stage safe and sound.


    For the first time, Li Mingzhu poked Gu Xiaofei.


    ¡°What did the art class do?¡±


    It was the first time Li Mingzhu took the initiative to talk to others, so Gu Xiaofei was stunned for a moment, then told her the whole story.


    Gu Xiaofei¡¯s narration was upside down, but fortunately, Li Mingzhu was a master at reading comprehension, so she immediately caught the main point.


    A few days ago, the young masters of the art class decided on a whim to go to the nearby Wanda Plaza to sing at the KTV and watch a movie. But Yizhong Provincial High School¡¯s dormitory had a ten o¡¯clock curfew, once the gate got closed if someone wanted to go out they had to climb over the wall.


    That night, Lu Yao made an appointment to go out with his disreputable friends and some rascals from the International Department, the management of the International Department wasn¡¯t as strict as that of the ordinary departments, at 11 or 12 o¡¯clock there were still people in the teaching building.


    Lu Yao jumped off exactly from the second floor of the International Department, outside the teaching building was the highway encircling the city, and there was a shed for parking bicycles. Lu Yao led his gang and jumped from the second floor to the shed, and then onto the ground.


    He was very skilled in this matter, as he did it seamlessly, but one of his comrades wasn¡¯t as experienced, in addition, he was a little prosperous, so when he jumped down he made the shed collapse and his leg got broken, he groaned on the spot, attracting the attention of the dormitory caretaker.


    Their escape immediately got exposed, the education director, Cai Gou, in the middle of the night, rushed out of the teacher¡¯s dormitory only wearing pants, upon seeing Lu Yao and his gang dressed fashionably, he immediately got angry.


    ¡°Director, we came out just to get hot water.¡± Lu Yao opened his noble mouth and explained.


    ¡°Get hot water! Ten people getting hot water together! Huh? With earrings and ripped jeans, so fashionably dressed just to get hot water?! Why don¡¯t you form a band and debut!¡± Cai Gou yelled at them.


    The fatty who broke his leg was sent to the hospital by ambulance, while Lu Yao and the others were brought to the education office, where they stood at the door and were blown by the cold wind for half the night.


    Hearing this, Li Mingzhu¡¯s mouth uncontrollably leaked a trace of emotion, Gu Xiaofei seeing her restraining her smile, got very curious.


    ¡°Li Ming, you know these people?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Li Mingzhu immediately scowled.


    ¡®The weather is turning cold, but Lu Yao still dared to wear ripped jeans, being blown by the wind all night, he¡¯s going to catch a cold.¡¯ Li Mingzhu couldn¡¯t help but think.


    On second thought, whether he caught a cold had nothing to do with her, rather it would be better if this brat became severely ill and didn¡¯t torment her anymore, she would be very happy and have to set off two strings of firecrackers and beat gongs and drums to celebrate.


    Lu Yao¡¯s speech was quite long, his trousers were rolled up revealing his fair ankles, and underneath was a pair of surprisingly clean sneakers.


    Li Mingzhu knew that this brat was a bit of a clean freak, the young masters who grew up with a golden spoon just had many problems.


    His trousers were pulled up so high that Li Mingzhu couldn¡¯t tell whether he was here to farm or to study.


    ¡®He isn¡¯t even wearing long johns, the temperature plummeted in October. What is he thinking? So heedless, so unbecoming!¡¯ She thought.


    While Li Mingzhu was thinking about this, she didn¡¯t realize how far her thoughts had drifted. Seeing Lu Yao dressed like this made her upset.


    Lu Yao¡¯s self-criticism became more and more strayed.


    ¡°¡­The art class lacks a good learning atmosphere and the students¡¯ independent learning ability isn¡¯t high. After three days and two nights of careful deliberations, on behalf of the art class, I formally request the school¡­¡±


    Li Mingzhu became more confused the more she listened, not only her, the teachers and students present were all at a loss.


    How come this young master went up to do a self-criticism, but ended up as if he was making a meeting?


    ¡°Lu Yao! You want to rebel!?¡± The instruction director called out from the edge of the stage.


    Lu Yao turned a deaf ear, holding the microphone and not letting go, his eyes were no longer on the script, but passed through the crowd and met with Li Mingzhu¡¯s eyes, who was at the northernmost side of the sports ground.


    Alarm bells rang in Li Mingzhu¡¯s head.


    ¡°I hope the school can allow the students of the art class to audit some of the classes of the excellence class, or use one-on-one tutoring, so that they can consolidate the learned content while mentoring the art class, killing two birds with one stone¡­¡± Lu Yao continued.


    ¡®He even learned how to use idioms.¡¯ Li Mingzhu thought.


    The director couldn¡¯t bear it anymore, he went up to stop Lu Yao¡¯s nonsense and drove him down the stage.


    Lu Yao¡¯s words caused an uproar.


    It wasn¡¯t because what he said resonated with the students, but because the students truly admired Lu Yao¡¯s braveness, who dared to go against the school directors. Someone clapped their hands, leading all the students to clap together, the applause was even more intense than the one after the headmaster¡¯s speech.


    Lu Yao waved to them like a general, calmly walked back to the student team and received a warm welcome from everyone, someone whistled and cheered loudly. The director kept shouting ¡°quiet, quiet!¡±, but to no avail.


    The art class was in total disarray.


    ¡°You¡¯re awesome, brother Lu!¡±


    ¡°I really admire you!¡±


    ¡°This is the most arrogant school self-criticism I¡¯ve ever seen. Look at Empress Dowager Wu¡¯s face, is turning blue!¡±


    Empress Dowager Wu was the principal of the first department, a serious woman with an afro hairstyle, her nicknames were: Empress Dowager Wu and poodle.


    Lu Yao waved his hand, showing an indifferent demeanour.


    ¡°How did you come up with such nonsense? Hahaha. Attending class with the excellence class, the Empress Dowager Wu is furious!¡± Lin Junhui said.


    ¡°Who said is nonsense? I¡¯m serious about my proposal.¡±


    ¡°Oh, Brother Lu, there are no outsiders here, there¡¯s no need to act in front of us!¡± Wang Miao signalled to him with a wink.


    ¡°You think I¡¯m joking?¡± Lu Yao snorted coldly.


    Everyone looked at each other at a loss, then their faces turned pale: ¡°No, for real, you are serious?! Attending classes with the excellence class? God, kill me!¡±


    ¡°After you die, I¡¯ll order a good coffin for you.¡± Lu Yao said, ¡°Buy one get one free, does anyone else want to go together?¡±


    ¡°No, Brother Lu, why such a proposal? Killing eight hundred enemies and losing one thousand!¡± Sun Yu said.


    Attending classes with the model students of the excellence class was undoubtedly a kind of torture and it would also shorten their life.


    ¡°You came to school to study or for something else? You don¡¯t have any motivation to improve yourselves, I¡¯m doing this for your own good.¡± Lu Yao said shamelessly, ignoring their wailing.


    Lu Yao seemed to be in a good mood, he was almost floating when walking.


    On the way back to the classroom, he was being secretly watched by many girls, but Lu Yao was not a bit shy. He was giving off his charm while walking, he winked experiencedly at the girls on the sides with a gallant and elegant attitude, like a young scholar riding a horse on the street proud of his success with red sleeves waving at him all over the buildings[1].


    Lu Yao¡¯s name once again overspread all over the school forum, half of them wanted to be his girlfriend, and the other half were sensibly selling Lu Yao¡¯s daily life photos.


    Gu Xiaofei scrolled through the forum after class, from the first to the fifth page, they were all about Lu Yao.


    ¡°What¡¯s the background of that Lu Yao of the art class? Just this year¡¯s freshman?¡± Du Yuxuan asked when handing out the test papers.


    Like a dog that sniffed the scent of meat, Gu Xiaofei immediately answered: ¡°You haven¡¯t heard of it yet? After the welcome party, his height, weight, zodiac sign and hobbies have already been published on the forum!¡±


    ¡°Who visits the forum every day like you!¡± Du Yuxuan laughed, ¡°You are everywhere!¡±


    ¡°Hey, class president, you are the one who asked me!¡±


    ¡°Wrong, you butted in to answer.¡± Du Yuxuan said.


    ¡°I heard that he was already quite famous when he was in junior high.¡± Lin Xia turned around and rested her chin on her hand, joining the conversation.


    She was directly promoted to Yizhong High from the attached middle school, differently from the ones like Li Mingzhu, who came from an outside secondary school, she knew a lot more than them.


    ¡°Lu Yao is from the attached middle school?¡± Yang Ke asked, clearly she was very interested in Lu Yao¡¯s personal affairs.


    ¡°Yeah, he transferred here on the first year of junior high, he isn¡¯t native here, very handsome, and was in the basketball team? I remember that he was very good at playing games.¡±


    ¡°You even pay attention to how good he played games!?¡±


    ¡°No way! At that time online games got popular and everyone could see the regional rankings on the phone, Lu Yao was ranked first!¡± Lin Xia said, ¡°He was already very popular in junior high, but with his grades, to be able to get into Yizhong High it¡¯s really a miracle!¡±


    ¡°Alas, what grades do you need when you¡¯re handsome! I¡¯m willing to use my grades in exchange for a handsome face out of this world!¡± Gu Xiaofei sighed deeply.


    ¡°Does he have a girlfriend?¡± Yang Ke asked all of a sudden.


    ¡°He dated a few in junior high, now I don¡¯t know, but judging by his appearance, he should.¡± The school bell rang, Lin Xia turned back.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so, school has just started, what do you think?¡± Yang Ke asked persistently.


    ¡°Who knows! Yang Ke, you aren¡¯t thinking of robbing the cradle, are you? Don¡¯t you have any morality?¡± Gu Xiaofei shouted, ¡°What if his girlfriend also got into Yizhong!¡±


    ¡°Your mouth just can¡¯t say anything nice!¡± Yang Ke grabbed a book and threw it at him.


    ¡°Anyway, I admire him, daring to go against the teachers like that during the self-criticism.¡± Gu Xiaofei sighed, ¡°What he said in the morning, studying with the excellence class, he really can think of how to gross someone out, what study, it¡¯s already great if they don¡¯t start a fight.¡±


    Gu Xiaofei jabbered on for a long time, talking to oneself: ¡°Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s strange? Why did Lu Yao make such a weird request? Could it be that he has a masochistic tendency?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you have some romantic cells? Maybe he did so to chase someone!¡± In front of him, Lin Xia said.


    ¡°Damn, then he¡¯s too arrogant, what an honour to the one he¡¯s chasing!¡± Gu Xiaofei jeered, ¡°You might as well say that he did so for revenge!¡±


    ¡°Are you done talking? Noisy.¡± Li Mingzhu said coldly.


    As soon as she opened her mouth, the surrounding temperature dropped ten degrees every second, directly going below zero.


    Everyone tactfully shut up.


    Li Mingzhu¡¯s phone vibrated frantically in the drawer, the contact named ¡°Little Brat¡± sent an unread message.


    [Hehe, teacher Li, from now on, please take care of me.]


    Notes


    1. In ancient China, the top scorers in the imperial examination would go around the city to celebrate their success and, on the buildings on the sides, girls would wave their sleeves or handkerchieves to attract their attention.