CH 8

Chapter 8 Gossip 

The results of the advanced mathematics test came out in the morning two days later, and Jian Chi started to feel uneasy before class. 

He was rarely nervous about his grades, but this was the first time he had participated in Saintston’s exam, he can never take it lightly until he knows the strength of others. 

Teacher Wang Yaode had sparse gray hair and liked to tuck the hem of his polo shirt into his thick belt. He cleared his throat and read from bottom to top. 

“…Third place, Chen Zhaohui, second place, Wei An, first place,” Wang Yaode stopped at this juncture and scanned the classroom, “First place, Jian Chi. This is the first time for our class to occupy two places in the advanced mathematics test for the entire grade. It is very good. Everyone applaud and encourage Chen Zhaohui and Jian Chi, especially Jian Chi. This is his first time to take the test and he got such an excellent result for the class.”

Applause sounded, some were lazy, some were serious, and most of them turned their attention to Jian Chi, who was sitting in the back row. 

This made Jian Chi feel uncomfortable for a while, but he breathed a sigh of relief. 

He took the test paper from a classmate and saw he was deducted two points for a tiny mistake. Jian Chi heard that Chen Zhaohui, who won third place, was deducted four points, so it seems that the scores of the top three places will decrease by one point in turn. It is still too early to take it lightly. 

After Wang Yaode explained the test paper, the bell rang. On the way to the economics class, Jian Chi met Wei An who was approaching in the corridor. He could see his unpleasant face from a distance. 

Just when he was hesitating whether to say hello or not, Wei An suddenly raised his head. Jian Chi subconsciously raised a smile, but Wei An seemed to have been stabbed by something, and walked over with his head down, hitting his shoulder hard as he passed by. 

Jian Chi staggered two steps off guard and was stunned for a few seconds, not knowing whether to be surprised or angry – in a corridor large enough for four people to walk side by side, it was not impossible to get around a person. 

He didn’t want to speculate on others with malicious intent, but given Wei An’s extreme speech last time, it was hard for Jian Chi not to suspect that it was intentional. 

“Jian Chi Chi, you must have no idea what happened this morning.” 

During lunch break, Zhang Yang didn’t even bother to eat and he just talked about gossip: “Wei An had a big embarrassment in math class. There were so many people around and no one could help him. I guess they were all gloating. Right. I almost forgot to mention that Wei An is a special recruit, and he is a celebrity in the school.”

Jian Chi said, “I know him, he’s my roommate.” 

This made Zhang Yang’s smile freeze on his face all of a sudden, an embarrassing expression of wanting to swallow the words in front of him made Jian Chi couldn’t help laughing. His heart also warmed, “It’s okay, tell me, I’m not familiar with him.”

“That’s good,” Zhang Yang sighed heavily, as if remembering some unpleasant memory, frowning and admonishing, “You also remember not to get too close to him in the future, he is in the special enrollment, no, not only special enrollment but because his reputation in the entire school is very bad. As soon as first year of high school started, he formed a gang in the special enrollment circle, a group of cynics. In short, they hate the wealthy. They organized some anti-class discrimination group and provoked a lot of trouble. Originally it was just a little bit of trouble, but I didn’t expect that they would provoke Shao Hang later, and then end up…” 

Jian Chi was startled, “Organized a group?” 

“That’s right.” 

Zhang Yang recalled that scene and couldn’t help shaking his head, “Then the small group was disbanded directly and some serious ones were ordered to drop out of school. Wei An was only able to stay because of his good grades, plus blaming others for his mistakes, thus he wasn’t banned by the school. Do you know what happened to Tian Chi Ye a few days ago? He was the special recruit who I told you was sent to the ICU. Because of him maliciously spreading Shao Hang’s rumors on the school forum and HS, he was finally beaten and dropped out of school. He also turned out to be a member of that small group.” 

It’s hard to imagine that Wei An, who looked thin and ordinary, had such ups and downs in the past. It took Jian Chi half a minute to digest this information, “How did he get into Shao Hang in the first place?” 

“This…” Zhang Yang glanced around, leaned in and lowered his voice, “Shao Hang’s father is a member of the Politburo Standing Committee and also serves as the chairman of the CPPCC (Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference), and there is a red background (revolutionary) on top of it, so others call him ‘Prince’ in private. In fact, it is not an exaggeration at all. At that time, the group of Wei An also spread rumors, saying that his father was corrupt and exploited people. Although it was only a verbal rumor, it was difficult to find evidence. These kind of political rumors were not ordinary rumors, so the group of people had a terrible end.” 

“Shao Hang’s father…” 

“Shh, don’t say it,” Zhang Yang said nervously, “Shao Hang hates people mentioning his parents the most, and there are people in the school who want to please him. If they hear you talking about Shao Hang, we will be miserable.”

Jian Chi nodded and changed the topic appropriately, “What did you want to tell me just now? What happened to Wei An?” This made Zhang Yang put all these twists and turns behind him, picking back up the interesting story just now. He said with great interest: “Wasn’t the advanced mathematics test just the previous two days? Well, the results were issued in the morning. Wei An is not in first place. You should have seen the hilarious face he had when he found out about the ranking, it was black and green. So funny.” 

When Zhang Yang said this, there were two words written on his face, relieved anger. 

“He had always been the first in this class, and he devotes himself to studying every day, he takes his grades as his life. Who knew a second place would crush his fragile mind. Jian Chi, I really want to thank you this time, you finally let me see him shriveled. You must know that when I was a freshman in high school, I was mad at their small group. If it weren’t my father always teaching me that peace is the most precious thing and will cause less trouble, I would have beaten him up.” 

Jian Chi finally understood the reason for the unintentional bump in the corridor, and suddenly felt helpless and sighed. 

It’s not that he hadn’t seen people who were depressed because of grades, but he never thought that someone would be hostile to him or even take revenge just because of grades. 

Thinking of living with Wei An for a year in the future, he was already worried about the future harmony of the dormitory. 

“Jian Chi!” 

After saying goodbye to Zhang Yang, Jian Chi was stopped by this sound before he could walk out of the cafeteria. 

Not far away, Bai Xiyu waved to him and trotted over. Jian Chi had to stop in place. He noticed that there were people around him who were looking at Bai Xiyu unabashedly, as if they were whispering something and a few words came. 

“It’s this special recruit, who not only pestered Shao Hang, but also tried to bait Wen Chuan in class. He is so thick-skinned, he didn’t even look at his identity, or what identity those BCs were.” 

“He doesn’t really think that this will attract the BCs’ attention right? Did he become brain dead from watching idol dramas?” 

There was a burst of laughter after that. 

These malicious discussions lingered in Jian Chi’s ears. Even if the object of the discussion was not him, there was some discomfort and thoughts of interruption in his heart.

But before he had time to take action, Bai Xiyu had already come to the front, still panting, unable to hide the joy on his face, “I heard from a classmate just now that you won the first place in the advanced mathematics test, congratulations Jian Chi.” 

Jian Chi retracted his gaze. Although he was a little uncomfortable because of such a straightforward compliment, he still smiled lightly, “Thank you, what’s the matter with you?” 

“I just wanted to congratulate you, and…if you have time in the next class, can you help me with my math?” Bai Xiyu added quickly, “It doesn’t matter if you don’t. I just think you are very good and studying with you can definitely make me improve faster. I hope you can get such good grades next time as well!” 

Jian Chi didn’t agree immediately. He recalled the unfriendly remarks of those people to Bai Xiyu just now, and his eyes swept over. If he remembered correctly, there were times when he saw Bai Xiyu on the school road and the other party was always alone, as if he was being attacked. Everyone ostracizing him. 

“Okay,” Jian Chi retracted his thoughts and nodded, “I have no class later and I’m planning to go to the library.” 

This was not his kindness acting up, nor can it be called sympathy, Jian Chi just remembered his junior high school when he saw such a scene just now. 

In fact, he used to be a bit like Wei An, always buried in a pile of books, ignoring everything else, so it was not until the problems around him intensified that he realized it was too late.

Those people nicknamed him ‘nerd’ behind his back. When he was writing a question, they would suddenly pat him on the shoulder and when he turned around, he would see a group of people staring at him and laughing. He was cut in line in the cafeteria, and asked ‘Jian Chi, you won’t be angry, right?’ 

The list goes on and on. 

It was also from then on that Jian Chi learned how to weaken his own existence. Rather than being isolated by others, he chose to take the initiative to be a transparent person. In fact, this is not a good idea, but he still frew slowly to become the Jian Chi he was now. 

He sometimes thought that if someone was willing to take the initiative to talk to him or show a smile at that time, he would definitely not choose to avoid rejection in this way, and maybe he would not become as cold and quiet as he was now. 

Bai Xiyu smiled gratefully, two shallow dimples appearing on his cheeks, “Thank you Jian Chi, you are so kind!” 

Jian Chi didn’t explain anything, and walked in the direction of the library. His heart suddenly thumped a few more beats. He turned his head to look at the sparse crowd, wondering if it was an illusion, feeling that someone was looking at him just now.