Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Proofreader: Akimi

Zhen Yuanbai didn’t know what others thought, but he held a whole new level of respect towards Shi Bufan. After he finished, Shi Bufan wanted to hear more, saying, “Explain this part too.”

It felt like Shi Bufan was saying “kiss here,” making Zhen Yuanbai’s ears itch. “The teacher already explained this part.”

“I don’t like to listen to what other people have to say. I want to listen to Teacher Zhen.”

“Why are you like this…” Zhen Yuanbai complained, but picked up his pencil and started to explain the formula.

Regarding the voting on the forum, the class had also participated in the anonymous discussion. Yet, they all hid this, afraid that Shi Bufan might find out.

Zhen Yuanbai found out after Song Mo had told him, leading him to open the school forums. The moment he opened it, he saw the post with the most likes —

Anonymous: The feeling Shi Bufan gave me was that he had been preparing for something big, but when he got everyone’s hopes up, nothing happened.

Anonymous: hahaha. Shi Bufan makes me laugh! Originally, I was thinking that Shi Bufan had some ability since he wanted to sit next to Zhen Yuanbai. Who knew that he only surpassed Ye Lian and the rest. Hahaha.

Anonymous: I wonder if Shi Bufan would see this. I just want to say: Brother Shi, it’s better if you drop out of Shengyi High School and just continue to be a bully.

Anonymous: It’s not that Shengyi High School doesn’t suit him, but that studying doesn’t.

…

The comments made Zhen Yuanbai flabbergasted. He never thought that elite students could mock underachievers like that. How were they any different from the bullies they claim Shi Bufan to be? Although Shi Bufan was bad and arrogant, he had his own principles and bottom line. In Zhen Yuanbai’s eyes, the comment with the most likes was basically humiliating Shi Bufan’s character.

But, Zhen Yuanbai didn’t understand that these types of people didn’t remember compliments. But once they were scolded, they could hold grudges the entire day.

His fingers slightly trembled.

The purpose of the school forum was so people could interact and learn from one another. It was really rare for a group of students to attack a single person on the forum and Zhen Yuanbai believed without a doubt that Shi Bufan would beat them all up for criticizing him.

Zhen Yuanbai was a good student, so the school gave him the power to supervise over the forums. It made it easier for him to login and share some information or tips for the students. His fingers trembled and he pursed his lips, deleting all the comments that made him uncomfortable. Then, he pinned a post under the name of Administrator 007: Shengyi High School Forum Rules.

Besides copying and pasting some of the original rules, he also added a few more.

There will be no tolerance for humiliation/insults towards other students. Post will be deleted if seen. There will be no tolerance for teasing/mocking towards other students. Post will be deleted if seen.There will be no tolerance for demeaning/degrading towards other students. Post will be deleted if seen. There will be no tolerance for bullying students with lower grades than you. Post will be deleted if seen. There will be no tolerance for venting anger regarding private matters on the forums. Post will be deleted if seen.

Everyone, please mind your own business and keep out of trouble. Study hard every day and be cautious. Don’t chat about things unrelated to school. If someone violates the rules, you will lose the ability to chat on forums.

Quickly, someone commented on the post.

Anonymous: Let me conclude the new rules — No one can bully Shi Bufan.

Zhen Yuanbai had been waiting for someone to comment and he knitted his eyebrows when he saw this comment. Was it that obvious?

Anonymous: I bet that Shi Bufan is definitely the principal’s son. Not only doesn’t he get punished for violating school rules, we also lose the ability to post and chat on the forums if we criticize him.

Zhen Yuanbai attacked the anonymous comment and said: Were you guys just criticizing him? You guys were clearly stepping on others and making them feel bad. What class are you from? Who teaches you?

Anonymous: Since ancient times, handsome men were trouble. Shi Bufan is protected by heaven and there’s nothing we can do to thim!

Zhen Yuanbai trembled in anger and said: Nonsense!

Once he was done typing that, he felt like it wasn’t suitable, so he deleted it and retyped his message: in order to prevent bullying… @Administrator 007.

Then, he muted the person until December.

Students had to sign up with their student IDs to get access to the school forums. In order to prevent students from other schools from getting access, the moment someone is muted, they basically can’t talk anymore.

Zhen Yuanbai muted all the students who protested against this and then he heard someone knocking on the door. It was Zhen Pingjin and he probably came to knock on the door after noticing that Zhen Yuanbai’s room was still lit. “Don’t you see the time? Why aren’t you sleeping yet?”

“Right away.” Zhen Yuanbai lied while typing up a message. “After I’m done with this exam.”

“Don’t overwork yourself.” Zhen Pingjin wanted to turn around and go back to his room when he added, “It’s fine if you get 2nd place.”

Zhen Yuanbai looked at the time and realized that it was already 1 in the morning; he had been too busy in verbal sparring against the students. He hurriedly climbed in bed and turned off the lights.

It wouldn’t be worth it if he lost 1st place from calling out the people bullying Shi Bufan.

The only thing Zhen Yuanbai was proud of was his academic studies and the reason why he enjoyed going to school.

Plus, Zhen Yuanbai noticed that after the grades to the monthly exam were out, it was clear that his parents objected less against Shi Bufan. This is because he still maintained the 1st place and so, his dad’s words went in one ear and out the other. If he actually got 2nd place one day, the blame will obviously be placed on Shi Bufan.

He wasn’t feeling wronged for Shi Bufan, but scared that he might receive a beating if his parents refused to let him near Shi Bufan, making the latter angry and beat him up.

Before wearing his eye mask, Zhen Yuanbai was vaguely thinking: why am I helping Shi Bufan to attack the others?…

Quickly, discussion of Administrator 007 using their power to casually mute others became a popular topic amongst the students. It finally reached Shi Bufan’s ears and Qiu Jing sighed with feelings in the cafeteria. “I wonder who was the one secretly helping Brother Shi. It must be one of your secret admirers. They have a lot of power — able to mute anyone they want.”

Zhen Yuanbai kept his head down and shoved food in his mouth while Shi Bufan casually took out his phone and scrolled through the forum. Ye Lian was also looking at the forum and his eyes flickered, saying, “right, who has that much power? They must be from the student union right?”

“Brother Shi knows someone from the student union?” Ming Mai called out. “Aren’t good students part of the student union?”

Ye Lian analyzed properly, “no matter what, they must be someone who likes to take the matter into their own hands if they dared to ban the account. Who of the student union has a decisive personality?”

“Xi Wei? The 1st place of Class 2? And #2 on the grade rankings?”

Song Mo softly sighed as he knew everything. After all, he was the one who sent Zhen Yuanbai the link. But, he didn’t think that Zhen Yuanbai was that loyal to Shi Bufan, despite being his friend. Plus, Song Mo didn’t think that Zhen Yuanbai would be that brave.

Zhen Yuanbai finished eating and prepared to leave, making Shi Bufan push his half done food to the side, following Zhen Yuanbai out. Because Song Mo became familiar with Qiu Jing and the others after a while, he reminded the group who was in a frenzy, “The person you were talking about just left.”

Ming Mai took a few seconds before he reacted, clapping his hands. “Damn! I couldn’t tell! I can’t believe he’s that brave?!”

It was almost December and the sun wasn’t as sunny and warm anymore. The flowers were blooming splendidly and Shi Bufan was following Zhen Yuanbai, grabbing his arm while they were walking on the cobblestone path. “You’re the one who scolded them for me?”

“I didn’t scold anyone.”

Shi Bufan chuckled and said, “Besides you who has a lot of power over the forums, there’s no one else.”

Zhen Yuanbai struggled from Shi Bufan’s grip and knitted his eyebrows, saying, “I didn’t scold anyone on the school forums.”

“Mhm, you were just defending me.” Shi Bufan grabbed Zhen Yuanbai’s fingers again, feeling sweet in his heart. “You heartless thing know how to treat me kindly now.”

Zhen Yuanbai freed his hand from Shi Bufan, saying, “What do you mean by heartless? You helped me last time, so I helped you this time. We’re just helping one another.”

He continued to walk ahead, but Shi Bufan came to stop him, asking, “Is that really it?”

Zhen Yuanbai was forced to stop and he said, “What did you think?”

“It’s not because you’re upset that those people were bullying me and also because you like me?”

Zhen Yuanbai rubbed his burning face with the back of his hand. The two of them were ‘dating,’ but Shi Bufan didn’t know it was fake yet, so Zhen Yuanbai said, “Maybe, maybe just a little” in order to make Shi Bufan happy.

Shi Bufan moved closer and asked, “Just a little?”

“Then a lot.” Zhen Yuanbai didn’t want to spend too much time on this topic, so he pushed Shi Bufan away and said, “I think I treat you pretty good too, so don’t casually bully me in the future. If you scare me like you did last time, I will, I …”

“Will what?”

“Will…” Zhen Yuanbai put on a fierce face, but it was clear that he was still frightened. “I’ll break up with you!”

Shi Bufan stood there and watched him. When the two made eye contact, Shi Bufan curled his lips and said, “If you treat me dearly, I’ll do the same to you. Therefore, how could I bear to bully you?”

Zhen Yuanbai felt comforted, but then knitted his eyebrows again, saying, “I saw a poll on the forums regarding whether you could score 2nd or not. There’s a lot of people who said you can’t, so are you going to put in more effort?”

“If you teach me, I’ll definitely put in more effort.”

Zhen Yuanbai also felt unresigned to this belief, because Shi Bufan had gotten all the questions that he knew how to do correctly. Look at how outstanding that is. Why did the others think Shi Bufan couldn’t score 2nd?Zhen Yuanbai grabbed Shi Bufan’s hands and said, “I’m not taking a nap in the afternoon. Starting today, I will tutor you every day. So, you must work hard and get 2nd place!”

Shi Bufan’s heart was touched and he asked, “How are you going to tutor me?”

Zhen Yuanbai looked over, questioning him. “You’re scared already?”

“I’m not scared, just curious.”

“After class, don’t go out of the classroom unless there’s something important. I’ll go over what we learned in class every day and at night, come to the evening study session with me. But, you can’t just rely on me either. You also have to listen to the teacher in class and take notes. If you don’t learn, it won’t matter if I try to help you or not.”

“Ok.” Shi Bufan felt comfortable with Zhen Yuanbai, asking, “Then what about Sunday?”

Zhen Yuanbai was very generous and said, “I’ll give you a day off.”

Shi Bufan begged, “How about you don’t give me a day off? I am eager to score 2nd for those people to see. Please tutor me on Sunday too. You can get paid by the hour and I’ll give you $100 per hour.”

Zhen Yuanbai’s heart thumped rapidly and said, “I don’t think…I don’t think that’s suitable.”

“Why wouldn’ it be? You’re already tutoring me Monday-Saturday for free. So what if you earn some money on Sunday for tutoring me? In fact, you’d be very benevolent to do so.”

Zhen Yuanbai thought the suggestion was pretty good. After all, he was earning the money through labor, but he still shook his head in the end. He said, “No, this is something I should be doing. Aren’t we…dating right now?”

Actually, he wanted to say that since he caused Shi Bufan to lose his memory, tutoring him would be compensation. If Shi Bufan could score 2nd, he might be able to bargain if Shi Bufan recovered his memory and wanted to beat him up.

Yet, Shi Bufan’s heart tinkled. Little classmate is sensible. I want to kiss him.

Shi Bufan continued to ask, “How is tutoring going to work on Sunday? Are we going out or am I coming to your house?”

“We’re obviously going out.” Zhen Yuanbai said as a matter of fact, continuing, “My parents don’t like…people coming over.”

He swallowed his words in time, but Shi Bufan still heard the meaning behind it. His expression didn’t change and he said, “Then, what are we going to do on Saturday.”

“I can give you half a day off on Saturday afternoon.”

Shi Bufan didn’t want to go on any breaks at all. He said in a proper manner, “It’s not that easy to score second. We must make every second count.”

It was rare that Shi Bufan was extremely motivated to learn, so Zhen Yuanbai didn’t want to dampen his enthusiasm. “Let’s go to the library after we’re done with class in the morning. After 6 pm, we’re going back home.”

“I have a better suggestion.”

“?”

“You can come to my house Saturday afternoon and then I’ll bring you back home Sunday night.”

The author has something to say:

Yuanyuan: To agree or not to agree?

Brother Shi: Agree.

T/N: SBF’s counterattack?

Damn, I’d like to be paid $100 an hour to tutor someone T-T