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.