Under the morning sunlight.
Shu Shu stood on the podium of Class 12, Grade 11, carrying a schoolbag. Beside her, the homeroom teacher introduced her:
“This is the new transfer student, Shu Shu. Everyone welcome her.”
From the last row of the classroom, Shu Lingchen suddenly stood up. He rubbed his eyes with both hands to confirm whether the scene in front of him was real.
Yesterday, after Shu Shu said those words and left, he stood there stunned for a long time before reacting. When he chased after her, she was already nowhere to be found.
Afterward he searched the streets for most of the night but still couldn’t find her.
For a moment, he couldn’t tell whether his mother had really traveled back, or if it had all just been a ridiculous dream and she had never returned.
Receiving her son’s shocked gaze, Shu Shu secretly winked playfully at him.
Shu Lingchen: “…Not a dream.”
“Shu Lingchen, what are you doing? Sit down!” the homeroom teacher scolded loudly. Then he pushed up his black-framed glasses and turned to Shu Shu with a polite tone. “Student Shu Shu, find an empty seat.”
Shu Shu pretended to look around the classroom.
Then she raised her slender pale finger and pointed directly at the empty seat next to Shu Lingchen.
“Teacher, I’d like that seat.”
The moment her words fell, the classroom became completely silent.
Surprised gazes shot toward her from all directions.
The new student… actually dared to choose the school bully as her desk mate!
“Uh, Student Shu Shu, maybe you should pick another one,” the homeroom teacher advised.
The little girl in front of him looked so pretty and well-behaved. If she sat next to that troublemaker Shu Lingchen, she might get bullied to tears on the first day.
“It’s fine, teacher. I want that one.”
Shu Shu walked down from the podium, passed through the aisle ignoring everyone’s stares, put down her schoolbag, and sat down beside Shu Lingchen.
Two minutes later, morning reading class ended. Behind the teaching building, in a quiet corner—
“You…”
Shu Lingchen looked at Shu Shu and hesitated to speak. He wanted to reach out and confirm something but didn’t quite dare.
Shu Shu said, “Stop doubting. I’m still your mom.”
“…Where did you go yesterday?”
“I went to find a place to live.”
“Huh? Do you even have money? And besides…” Shu Lingchen looked around cautiously to make sure no one was paying attention before whispering, “You’re basically an undocumented person right now, right? You don’t even have an ID. How did you find a place to stay? And how did you become a transfer student? In the same class as me? What are you trying to do?”
Shu Shu closed her eyes.
This brat asks too many questions.
So she used the universal answer:
“None of your business.”
After saying that, she remembered why she came and corrected herself:
“It is your business.”
Shu Lingchen: “……”
Shu Shu said, “Finished asking? If you’re done, I’m going back to class. It’s almost time for the lesson.”
Shu Lingchen: “…I did ask everything. The problem is I didn’t get a single answer.”
He followed Shu Shu back to the classroom in a daze.
A boy with a Marco Polo–style haircut grabbed Shu Lingchen and asked excitedly, “Brother Chen, how was the lesson you gave her?”
“What lesson?”
“The new student, of course.”
Everyone knew that Shu Lingchen liked the school beauty Chu Lian from Class 1.
In the past, some girls had sat next to him, but before two classes even passed, they would cry and ask the teacher to change seats.
Because Shu Lingchen was afraid Chu Lian might misunderstand, he always kept his distance from all girls.
Everyone assumed the new transfer student would face the same situation. When the two of them left just now, everyone thought Shu Lingchen had gone to “warn” Shu Shu.
The boy looked toward Shu Shu and frowned in confusion.
Huh? Why wasn’t the new student crying?
He grinned. “Brother Chen, are you softhearted because she’s so pretty? How about leaving it to me? I’ll make sure she cries before the day ends—”
Before he finished speaking, he got smacked on the head.
“Who are you trying to make cry?”
Shu Lingchen’s voice turned cold.
The boy covered his head.
“?”
“She—no one is allowed to touch her.”
Shu Lingchen swept a gloomy gaze over the eager lackeys around him. After the warning, he returned to his seat.
The boys: “???”
Shu Shu adapted to her student identity extremely quickly.
The first class was Chinese. She took out her textbook and placed her hands neatly on the desk.
Soon, a young female teacher walked in.
Shu Lingchen barely slept last night. Now he lay on the desk and immediately fell asleep.
After asking everyone to open their books, the teacher noticed Shu Lingchen sleeping. She frowned and called out sternly:
“That student—why are you still sleeping?”
Shu Lingchen didn’t move at all.
“Female student next to him, wake him up.”
She called Shu Shu.
The moment she said that, the entire class turned around eagerly to watch.
Shu Lingchen had a terrible temper when woken up. Sleeping in class was common for him. Teachers knew he was trouble and usually ignored it.
This Chinese teacher had just transferred to the school recently and didn’t know.
Shu Lingchen was the recognized school bully.
Although many people cursed him on the forum yesterday, they all hid behind anonymous accounts.
Because—
He really would hit people.
In the first year, a male teacher once woke him up and ended up with a broken arm.
If this transfer student also woke him up without knowing the situation, the consequences…
The teacher regretted it the moment she said it. She remembered a colleague warning her not to provoke a troublesome student named Shu Lingchen in Class 12. She was about to tell Shu Shu to forget it.
But—
A slender white hand had already landed on Shu Lingchen’s head.
It grabbed his rooster-like hairstyle and pulled hard backward.
Then the fingers released.
Bang—
Shu Lingchen’s forehead slammed onto the hard desk.
Everyone gasped sharply.
“Damn!”
Shu Lingchen woke up from the pain. He jumped up angrily and shouted:
“Which bastard?! Are you tired of living?!”
“Student Shu Lingchen, class has started. Don’t sleep.”
Shu Shu smiled slightly.
Inside, she had already drawn a knife.
No wonder this little brat was illiterate—turns out he sleeps at school every day!
“……”
Just as everyone expected Shu Shu to face Shu Lingchen’s fury—
The Shu Lingchen who was furious one second suddenly had his anger… extinguished the next.
The once-arrogant school bully muttered weakly:
“Oh.”
Then he sat down and even opened his textbook.
Everyone: “???”
That’s it? Just “oh”? Nothing else??
Shu Shu reported obediently, “Teacher, he’s awake.”
The teacher was also stunned by the sudden reversal.
“…Oh, okay. Let’s continue the lesson.”
During the break at the school store—
“Brother Chen, why didn’t you teach that transfer student a lesson?”
“Yeah, she’s basically challenging your authority!”
The boys surrounded Shu Lingchen, eating spicy snacks while asking.
Suddenly the boy with the strange haircut had a realization.
“Wait, Brother Chen! I remember now! That transfer student is the girl who chased after you yesterday yelling insults!”
“What?!”
“Damn, then she definitely deserves a lesson. Otherwise she won’t know who’s boss in our school!”
“Shut up!”
Shu Lingchen shouted.
“I said don’t touch her. That warning is for your own good.”
The boys: “???”
“Brother Chen, are you joking? She’s just a weak girl without any weapons. Why would we be afraid of her?”
“You idiots don’t understand!”
Shu Lingchen paused and said seriously:
“She’s really good at fighting.”