"I didn't hit anyone!"
Kicked by a girl, and knocked to the ground at that.
Dong Da felt humiliated. He glared fiercely at An Ning and jumped up to retaliate, but who knew that the next moment she would call for the teacher.
Clutching at the hope that An Ning might just be trying to scare him, Dong Da got up and looked toward the door.
What he saw was Zhao Wen's face, dark with storm clouds.
No. 1 Middle School was a good school, and even the worst students there weren't truly rotten. Dong Da might speak harshly to girls, but that didn't mean he wasn't afraid of teachers.
He didn't have An Ning's thick skin—the kind that could withstand being named repeatedly under the national flag and making self-criticisms in front of the entire student body.
"I was just messing around with Shi Jiayan. I didn't actually mean to hit her."
"As a bystander, all I saw was you first yelling at Jiayan, then raising your hand in a motion to strike her."
"As the person involved, I think you were definitely going to hit me! Besides, we're not even close. What right does a boy like you have to 'mess around' with a girl like me?"
After An Ning finished, Shi Jiayan immediately added, "Teacher Zhao, Dong Da was really going to hit me. If An Ning hadn't pulled me away, that slap of his would definitely have landed on my face."
"I didn't!"
Dong Da's eyes bulged wide, the pimples on his face flushing red with blood as he glared with a menacing expression—which only further corroborated the claim that he would strike a female classmate.
Shi Jiayan was about to argue with Dong Da again, but An Ning tugged at her sleeve, signaling her to be quiet.
"Dong Da, Shi Jiayan, An Ning—the three of you, come out with me. Everyone else, continue your evening self-study as usual. Class discipline monitor, keep a close watch—write down the name of anyone who makes noise!"
Before leaving, An Ning made sure to grab the note Dong Da had passed her, along with the test paper she'd spent an entire class period writing.
Seeing what An Ning was holding, Zhao Wen couldn't help but find it amusing.
This time, An Ning had come back smart. Even though Dong Da was already looking guilty, she still remembered to take the evidence that worked in her favor.
Once they reached the office, An Ning placed the note and the test paper on the desk.
"Teacher Zhao, if possible, I'd like to recount what happened during the break in evening self-study tonight. This matter seems like a conflict between Jiayan and Dong Da, but it's actually because of me."
"Alright, go ahead."
There were other teachers in the office. When they saw An Ning being called in, they thought to themselves that a girl like her was beyond saving anyway—she couldn't stay well-behaved for more than a few days.
But the next moment, they heard An Ning calmly and clearly state that she wanted to recount what had happened, with perfect logic and composure.
Suddenly, the other teachers in the office who had nothing better to do perked up their ears, suddenly full of interest.
"During evening self-study, Dong Da first threw me a note. Because I was writing my test paper and it was still class time, I didn't acknowledge him. After class, because I hadn't replied to his note, he got angry and cursed at me. Jiayan spoke up for me, and Dong Da, enraged into a fury, raised his hand to hit Jiayan. Before he could strike, I stopped him."
While An Ning was speaking, Zhao Wen had already unfolded the note.
It wasn't romantic content, exactly.
But it wasn't any better.
—I heard your dad cut ties with you as father and daughter. So doesn't that make you an orphan now?
Seeing the contents of the note clearly, Zhao Wen slammed the desk hard. "Don't say I'm not being fair. The note and An Ning's test paper are both right here. Dong Da, has An Ning said anything that wrongs you?"
"I didn't mean to hit Shi Jiayan. It was An Ning who kicked me—"
At this moment, Dong Da could only stick to that one line.
With the note lying on the desk, Dong Da couldn't say anything else—he could only insist that he hadn't hit anyone, and that An Ning had kicked him instead.
"Did you raise your hand to hit Shi Jiayan first, or did An Ning kick you first? Don't lie—I can call anyone from the class to prove what you said."
Dong Da choked: "It was me, but I was just messing around to scare her. I really didn't mean to hit anyone…"
"Alright, you two head back to the classroom. Dong Da, you stay!"
An Ning and Shi Jiayan walked back to the classroom hand in hand. When the Class Nine students saw them like that, they knew the two had come out victorious.
"I heard from someone in Class Five that An Ning was kicked out of her house by her dad. He won't pay her tuition anymore, won't give her any allowance, and has cut off their father-daughter relationship—he even wrote a formal declaration of severance."
"Even with all that, who knows why she's still so smug."
"Dong Da's annoying, sure, but he wasn't wrong—who knows what kind of shameful things she's been up to outside."
The class buzzed with a bit of commotion when An Ning returned. The discipline monitor, sitting at the podium, glanced toward Shu Xiaoshan: "Shu Xiaoshan, I've written down your name."
"It's not like I was the only one talking—why are you only writing down mine?"
"Because your voice was the loudest."
The discipline monitor heavily scribbled Shu Xiaoshan's name in the notebook.
She used to dislike An Ning too, thinking that An Ning in Class Nine was just dead weight dragging down the class's reputation. But now An Ning had changed—getting up at five every morning to run and memorize vocabulary. She asked herself if she could do the same, and she knew she couldn't.
Since An Ning could do what she couldn't, then An Ning had something worth learning from.
First Shu Xiaoshan got put in her place, and then it was Dong Da's turn.
Zhao Wen's method was simple and direct: write a 1,000-character self-criticism and apologize to An Ning and Shi Jiayan in front of the whole class.
Dong Da stood at the podium, the redness on his face never fading.
"I shouldn't have disturbed An Ning during class, spread false rumors, or scared Shi Jiayan. I apologize to both classmates."
Dong Da's voice was usually loud, but when he apologized, it was as faint as a mosquito's buzz. Still, because the class was quiet enough, everyone heard those two sentences clearly.
After speaking, Dong Da quickly stepped down from the podium. Amid the class's chatter, he felt like he was about to explode.
He had never been so humiliated—especially at An Ning's hands.
A trashy girl who'd been passed around.
"I know you broke up with Brother Huang. Just you wait!"
Hearing Dong Da's threatening words, An Ning raised her hand.
"What's the matter?"
Zhao Wen noticed An Ning's raised hand.
Dong Da's heart jumped with fear at An Ning's movement, only to hear her say: "Acknowledging one's mistakes and correcting them is the greatest good. This time, I forgive classmate Dong Da. I hope he won't repeat the same mistake in the future, and I hope that in the days ahead, all of us in Class Nine can be united and friendly, sprint toward the college entrance exam together, and leave behind unforgettable memories of our youth."
Zhao Wen had thought An Ning was going to file another complaint, but instead she was up there giving a leader's closing remarks.
Smiling and nodding for An Ning to sit down, Zhao Wen then wiped the smile off her face and said sternly to the entire class: "Besides what An Ning said about unity and friendship, you all need to tighten up. Don't think the college entrance exam is far away—a year passes faster than you think. Stop focusing on other people's business and focus on yourselves, or it'll be a regret you carry for life."
After An Ning sat down, she couldn't even be bothered to glance at Dong Da again.
Bullies are always cowards at heart, and people like that aren't worth her time or attention.
After the incident in Class Nine, An Xin was busy spreading the news in Class Five about how An Ning had cut ties with her father. But in Class Nine, where the actual parties involved were present, the story didn't circulate much.
At any rate, no one dared ask An Ning about it to her face.
An Xin had wanted the students in Class Nine to ostracize An Ning, but An Ning only ever hung around Shi Jiayan anyway. She didn't need others to exclude her—she simply ignored everyone else. For a time, An Xin felt utterly frustrated.
She had assumed that once people learned An Ning had severed ties with An Jianhua, they would see her as completely ruined. But instead, because An Ning maintained an intense study schedule every day, not even taking weekends off, rumors of a different kind began to spread around her.
During their school years, plenty of students had conflicts with their parents.
But cutting off all ties with one's parents was something most only dared to imagine.
When An Xin heard voices popping up saying An Ning was brave, and even heard people speculating that An Ning might be a Cinderella figure because she had a stepmother, she was so furious she nearly smashed everything in her room.
These rumors must have been spread by An Ning herself.
Cinderella, indeed! How shameless!
An Ning, for her part, didn't notice any of this commotion.
Her only source of information was Shi Jiayan, and Shi Jiayan was afraid of making her angry, so she didn't pass anything along. As for the others, no one dared to chatter in front of her anyway.
After taking Monday afternoon off to get her ID card, An Ning didn't leave the school gates for three straight weeks.
Every day, unless it was raining, she got up early to run, memorize texts, and take notes. If it rained, she cut back on running and just focused on memorizing and note-taking.
After a month of intense study, when the teachers announced the monthly exam, An Ning felt her condition had recovered to about ninety percent of what it had been during her previous high school years.
"An Ning, you're definitely going to ace this monthly exam."
When she heard about the exam, Shi Jiayan first slumped over her desk with a long sigh, then something seemed to occur to her and her eyes lit up. She ran over to An Ning's side to cheer her on.
For the past month, she had been doing homework with An Ning every day and copying An Ning's notes. She knew better than anyone how much progress An Ning had made.
Sometimes she even wondered if An Ning's last-place ranking before had been an act—how else could An Ning have improved so much in just one month?
"Pretty and smart—I'm so lucky to be friends with you, An Ning!"
Shi Jiayan squealed. After all those days together, she was absolutely certain that everything people used to say about An Ning was just rumor. She didn't know why An Ning had skipped school before, but she believed there must have been a compelling reason.
Rather than dreading the exam, she was now looking forward to it—she couldn't wait to see An Ning blow everyone away.
"All that fake effort every day—time to show your true colors at last."
Dong Da sneered coldly from the side.
Shi Jiayan was annoyed just hearing Dong Da's voice. She didn't lower hers as she said, "He's always eavesdropping on our conversations. We ignore him, and he still keeps muttering away like a lunatic."
Dong Da didn't respond verbally. He just dragged his desk, making it rattle. "So noisy, like a thousand ducks quacking. Can't a person even study around here?"
An Ning took Shi Jiayan's hand and led her outside the classroom. "Don't mind the barking dogs."
Hearing An Ning call Dong Da a dog, Shi Jiayan laughed so hard her stomach hurt. "He really is like a rabid dog that won't stop barking. Ningning, I almost think he likes you and is just trying to get your attention on purpose."
"It's useless even if I've caught your attention, after all, humans and dogs walk different paths."
Shi Jiayan laughed even harder this time, clutching her stomach, feeling like all her anger had dissipated.
"Ningning, you're really amazing. I had no idea you could curse people out like that."
An Ning felt she was just stating the facts, but seeing Shi Jiayan laugh so hard, she couldn't help but laugh along too.
The girls' unrestrained laughter drew the attention of many people—two girls, one cheerful and adorable, the other delicate and beautiful.
The sparse autumn sunlight fell from the sky, and both their eyes and the corners of their mouths seemed to sparkle.
Half the people in the hallway were looking at them.
Jiang Chenhua watched for a long while before finally averting his gaze. He was angry at Dong Da for making things difficult for An Ning, but he couldn't help thinking that if An Ning's grades didn't improve after a month of hard work, wouldn't she need his help then?