[1111, am I really that dumb?] Song Mufang lay on the desk, burying his head deep in his crossed arms, his voice listless.
The System was quite honest: [Not too bad, just a little.]
Hearing the System’s words, Song Mufang felt even more dejected. He let out a deep sigh, his whole demeanor wilting.
1111 hadn’t expected Song Mufang to be so bothered by this.
Song Mufang lay on the desk for two minutes, still unable to shake off his gloomy mood.
1111 said, exasperated: [You don’t need to react so strongly, host.]
Song Mufang sniffled: [But they all say I’m so dumb.]
He couldn’t shake the feeling that his behavior in gym class mirrored that of a foolish villain in a comic, and Li Buyan and Meng Fan’s laughter seemed to mock him.
[They’re talking about a character in a comic. What’s that got to do with you? Besides, don’t forget, your role now is the malicious cannon fodder. If you don’t actively stir things up, how will you earn life points???]
Song Mufang’s fingers twitched slightly on the desk, and he vaguely felt that the System had a point.
[Being a bit foolish now isn’t a bad thing. If you don’t want to keep doing this, are you planning to do nothing and wait for life points to fall from the sky?]
Life points falling from the sky was, of course, not going to happen.
Song Mufang was convinced by 1111 and lifted his head, enlightened.
From lying on the desk for a few minutes, his fair cheek bore a faint red mark, and his bangs were slightly disheveled.
But the eyes beneath his bangs were bright and clear: [You’re right, life points are the most important thing.]
Once he had figured this out, Song Mufang’s mood brightened once more.
After a moment’s thought, he curiously asked: [1111, I want to ask you a question. Before me, how many people like me have you guided through tasks?]
The System was taken aback: [Why do you ask?]
Song Mufang replied: [From what you said earlier, it seems like you have a lot of experience in these matters, so I suddenly wanted to ask. Can you tell me?]
The System, rarely praised, felt a bit shy: [I’m just moderately skilled. Actually, you’re my first.]
[But don’t worry, I learned everything during my system training. Following me, you’ll be just fine!]
1111 was very confident, completely forgetting that it had barely passed its training exam after three attempts.
Song Mufang nodded, also filled with confidence in the System.
Just then, the homeroom teacher’s voice came from the doorway: “Jing Zhao, come to the office with me.”
Song Mufang looked up just in time to see the teacher’s back as she left.
He bit the end of his pen: [Why is the teacher calling Jing Zhao to the office?]
[No idea.]
………………
In the office.
Jiang Wei, the homeroom teacher of Class 8, Grade 2, sat in her office chair: “Jing Zhao, do you know why I called you here?”
Jing Zhao said nothing.
“I have some questions for you.” Jiang Wei pointed to the chair beside her desk. “Have a seat first.”
She had chosen a self-study period when the other teachers were out to call Jing Zhao over, wanting to take this opportunity to have a good talk with him.
Jing Zhao glanced at her but didn’t move, his voice cool: “What do you want to ask? Just say it.”
“Let’s start with the first question. Teacher Zhang complained to me yesterday, saying that on your Chinese test the day before yesterday, you didn’t write the essay on the answer sheet. I want to know why you didn’t write it.”
“Nothing to say, just didn’t feel like it.”
Jiang Wei had anticipated this attitude from Jing Zhao, so she wasn’t too upset.
She spoke earnestly: “Jing Zhao, I’ve seen your grades from when you first enrolled. I don’t know what happened during your first year that caused your grades to plummet, but I hope you can adjust your attitude toward studying. If you start working hard now, you still have a chance to get into a good university.”
Jing Zhao was silent for a while, then suddenly spoke: “Does getting into a good university matter?”
Yangcheng No. 1 High School was a provincial key school. Not all, but most of the students were admitted through rigorous exams.
Jiang Wei had been teaching here for many years, and it was the first time she had heard a student question the value of attending a good university to her face.
She took a deep breath, speaking sternly: “Jing Zhao, I don’t know where you heard the idea that studying is useless, but I want to tell you, it matters a lot. The environment influences you. At a good university, surrounded by excellent peers, you will become more outstanding yourself. Moreover, a good university can offer you more and better opportunities and resources, which a third-tier college cannot provide.”
Jing Zhao’s lips curled into a mocking smile: “Ms. Jiang, you don’t need to instill your beliefs in me. Next question.”
Jiang Wei had prepared herself mentally when she called Jing Zhao over, but hearing his tone now still left her a bit breathless with anger.
Scowling, she took a sip of water to calm down: “Second question, you were twenty minutes late for morning self-study yesterday. What caused the delay? If there’s a special reason, let me know. I can understand.”
Jing Zhao’s eyes darkened.
The night before, Jing Zhao’s bike lock broke. The bike was so old it wasn’t worth selling, so he didn’t lock it, planning to buy a new lock the next day.
Unexpectedly, the next morning, when Jing Zhao went downstairs, he found his bike missing. He eventually found it at the recycling center.
The old man there told him that early in the morning, a boy about sixteen or seventeen, who looked a bit like him, had pushed the bike over, left it at the door, and run off.
Jing Zhao knew immediately it was Jing Xin’s doing.
But Jing Zhao didn’t need anyone’s understanding and couldn’t be bothered to talk about the Jing family’s mess.
He opened his thin lips and gave an answer: “No reason.”
Fine.
Jiang Wei’s face slowly darkened.
“Last question. Your aunt called me today, saying you hit your cousin at home. Is that true?”
“Yes,” Jing Zhao answered quickly this time.
“Why…” Jiang Wei hadn’t finished her question before Jing Zhao gave an answer.
His eyes turned gloomy, and his tone grew more hostile: “He deserved it.”
Deserved it!
Jiang Wei was so angry that her breathing quickened, and she slapped the desk as she sternly reprimanded him: “Jing Zhao, I hope you understand that no one deserves to be hit by you, and that includes your cousin!”
After speaking, Jiang Wei took several deep gulps of water.
So infuriating!
Song Mufang stood at the door with his workbook. Hearing the argument inside, he quietly pulled back the foot he was about to step in with and weakly asked: [1111, why do I feel like this male lead is even fiercer than me?]
[He is a bit…]
[Should I still provoke the male lead? I feel like if I keep jumping around, I’ll end up dead.]
[Don’t worry, you’re a villain with a role in the novel. You won’t die so easily, and the female lead hasn’t appeared yet. You won’t be in trouble for a while.]
Song Mufang: “…” Got it. So I’ll die sooner or later.
[Besides, dying is a good thing. You can gain a free identity.]
[That’s true.]
Over the past few days, Song Mufang had gradually come to terms with the fact that he was in a novel.
In his original world, although his parents loved him dearly, his health was so poor that he was in and out of the hospital frequently. He hadn’t even finished elementary school before he had to be homeschooled.
Because of his frequent hospital stays, his parents’ and younger brother’s normal lives were greatly affected.
Looked at this way, his death might be a relief for his parents, and he could have the chance to gain a healthy body after completing the storyline.
Hearing no more noise inside, Song Mufang gathered his courage and knocked on the door. He poked his head in, cautiously asking, “Ms. Jiang, I have some questions I can’t solve, so I came to ask you. Are you free now?”
No teacher dislikes students who ask questions, and Jiang Wei was no exception.
Her expression softened: “Come in.”
She then turned to glare at Jing Zhao: “Stand here and reflect on your actions.”
Song Mufang didn’t ask about what had just happened in the office.
In fact, he really did come to the office to ask about a problem.
He walked in, opened his workbook, and turned to the marked page, pointing to the problem with his slender finger: “Ms. Jiang, I don’t quite understand this problem.”
Jiang Wei glanced at the problem.
It was a conic section problem, moderately difficult. Remarkably, they hadn’t covered this in class yet, and Song Mufang had already started to preview and tackle conic section problems.
This student’s attitude toward learning was commendable.
Thinking of Song Mufang’s performance in class these days, Jiang Wei nodded slightly, looking at him with more satisfaction, especially in contrast to Jing Zhao beside him.
“For this problem, you need to first set up the equation for the asymptotes of the hyperbola. Do you have a notebook?”
Song Mufang immediately stepped forward, obediently handing over his notebook: “Here it is.”
“Alright, set the equation y=2x…”
The problem was quickly explained.
Song Mufang scratched his head sheepishly: “Ms. Jiang, I have a few more problems I don’t understand.”
“No problem, which ones?”
Song Mufang bent slightly, flipping two pages forward in his workbook.
Song Mufang was quite smart, and Jiang Wei found that she only needed to give him a hint for him to understand.
Teaching such a bright student was very satisfying.
Once the problems were explained, Jiang Wei’s mood, which had been particularly irritable because of Jing Zhao, was much better.
“Any more problems?” Jiang Wei asked gently.
“Not at the moment.” Song Mufang closed his workbook, his voice particularly sweet: “Thank you, Ms. Jiang.”
“Alright, you two can go back now,” Jiang Wei said, not in the mood to continue lecturing Jing Zhao. As she spoke, she glared at Jing Zhao again: “Reflect on your actions when you get back.”
The two of them left the office.
Jing Zhao, with his long legs, quickly left Song Mufang behind once they were out of the office.
No, this won’t do.
Realizing this, Song Mufang quickened his pace, swiftly catching up to Jing Zhao, even overtaking him.
The malicious cannon fodder never admits defeat!
“Jing Zhao, why are you walking so slowly?” Song Mufang said disdainfully, two steps ahead.
His voice sounded calm, but his face was about to turn bright red.
Jing Zhao glanced at Song Mufang’s legs, which were moving like a whirlwind.
To be honest, Jing Zhao found it unbelievable.
During gym class today, when he saw Song Mufang practicing shooting alone on the basketball court, he inexplicably walked over, and even accepted Song Mufang’s invitation to shoot three-pointers together.
“Song Mufang.” Jing Zhao said his name.
Song Mufang instinctively turned his head, tilting it slightly and blinking, his face already tinged with a light pink from walking so fast: “What is it?”
Sorry, I lied to you in gym class. I actually know how to play basketball, Jing Zhao wanted to say.
But as the words reached his lips, he thought of something else and swallowed them back, lowering his eyes: “Nothing.”
Song Mufang stood there, stunned, watching Jing Zhao walk past him. Realizing why Jing Zhao had suddenly called his name, he clenched his fists and hurried to catch up again.
Author’s note:
Song Mufang: This male lead is really cunning.