Before the pain in his foot had even faded, another kick landed on his back.
Jiang Shu was kicked straight to the ground, and his wretched state sent the group into roaring laughter.
Jiang Shu didn’t dare say a word. He just struggled to pick himself up off the ground, standing quietly with his head lowered, silently enduring it all.
As long as he didn’t fight back, they would quickly lose interest and stop tormenting him.
Jiang Shu clenched his teeth tightly, refusing to let out even a single sound.
Seeing Jiang Shu in such a pathetic state again, the fat guy curled his lips in boredom.
He stepped forward and slapped the back of Jiang Shu’s head, nearly knocking him forward, leaving him dazed for a good while.
The fat guy laughed heartily and said, “Look at you. You read so many books and you can’t even stand steady. Be more careful next time.”
The tall, skinny boy beside him chimed in, “That’s right. You’d better watch out next time. If you accidentally crack your head open, with your family’s situation, no one would even collect your corpse.”
“Oh, right, Brother Jian, this kid is still wearing your clothes. You’re just letting him wear them for free?”
At this, the fat guy’s eyes lit up.
“Right, right! Xiao Liu, if you hadn’t reminded me, I would’ve forgotten. This damn bookworm stole my clothes to wear, and I haven’t even collected interest yet!”
“And didn’t I just tell you? The weather’s been way too hot these past few days, so I helped you cool down with some cold water. If you change your clothes, how are you supposed to cool down?”
“We’re looking out for your health, worried you’d get overheated. How come you bookworms never appreciate it? And then you sneak around wearing my clothes.”
“Wearing my clothes costs money, you know. Come on, hand over all your cash.”
Hearing that they wanted money this time, Jiang Shu’s face went pale, and his right hand instinctively clutched his pocket, which held thirty yuan.
Jiang Shu’s weekly living allowance was twenty yuan.
The school’s steamed buns were one yuan each, and the soup was free.
Every day, both lunch and dinner for Jiang Shu were a bun and soup, nothing more.
The school’s hot water required a water card, and from the start of the semester until now, he had only topped it up twice, totaling eleven yuan.
Those two top-ups were only because winter had been so cold. Jiang Shu had scrimped on food money and topped up the card while enduring hunger.
The remaining ten yuan had come from part-time work Jiang Shu did.
It was only Monday today. If he gave them all his money, this week would be unbearable for Jiang Shu.
Besides, his aunt didn’t give him a living allowance every week.
Jiang Shu’s instinctive reaction was too obvious. Zhao Jian was instantly excited.
He rushed over and grabbed Jiang Shu’s right hand.
Startled, Jiang Shu’s face grew even paler.
Instinctively, he tried to slap Zhao Jian’s hand away.
He did slap it, but he couldn’t shake it off. Zhao Jian’s hand remained clamped tightly around Jiang Shu’s wrist.
Seeing that Jiang Shu actually dared to slap him and even tried to resist, the whole group instantly erupted into an uproar, jeering, “Yo, Zhao Jian, you’re pathetic. Even the bookworm dares to hit you now.”
“Exactly, I’m dying of laughter. I told you Zhao Jian, this fat lump, is getting more and more cowardly. Even the bookworm dares to slap him now. Next time, the bookworm might slap the fat lump to death. Hahahahahaha”
That remark set the whole class laughing.
Zhao Jian flushed red with rage, his eyes blazing with fury as he glared at Jiang Shu.
Jiang Shu could feel the grip on his wrist tightening more and more, so hard it felt as if his wrist might be crushed.
Zhao Jian couldn’t stand being teased, and being told to compete with Jiang Shu made it feel even more humiliating to him.
Furious, Zhao Jian grabbed Jiang Shu’s arm and slammed him viciously toward the desks.
Zhao Jian weighed over 200 jin; flinging an 80-something-jin Jiang Shu was effortless for him.
And since Zhao Jian threw him with full force, Jiang Shu was sent flying outright.
He crashed heavily onto the sharp corner of a desk, and the momentum carried him into knocking over several neighboring desks as well.
Jiang Shu’s head was struck too, and the sharp pain made him clutch his head, letting out a suppressed, pained groan.
The classmates who witnessed this didn’t dare make a sound, all scrambling onto the podium, afraid of being implicated.
Meanwhile, Zhao Jian’s group grew excited. “Brother Jian, that’s our Brother Jian for you! Awesome, awesome!”
“Awesome, awesome! What did I tell you? My Brother Jian is never a coward!”
“Brother Jian, I’ll go back and tell my mom you’re no coward.”
…
Puffed up by the flattery, Zhao Jian went over and gave Jiang Shu two more kicks, then fished the money out of Jiang Shu’s pocket.
He waved the money in the air and shouted grandly, “Come on, brothers, popsicles are on me today!”
With that, the group noisily followed Zhao Jian out.
The classroom fell quiet again, leaving only Jiang Shu’s muffled groans.
Only after they had all left did someone come up and pat Jiang Shu’s shoulder.
“Hey, bookworm, can you get up? You knocked over our desks. Class monitor’s class is next, hurry up and set them back, or the class monitor will start yelling again.”
Jiang Shu took a moment to recover, then forced out through the pain, “Mm.”
Then, trembling, he stood up and lifted the desks and chairs back into place, one by one.
Ling An couldn’t help asking the system in his mind:
“Seriously, System? Is this villain really this weak?”
“How can he get bullied like this and not fight back at all? And why are the high schoolers in this world so awful?”
Ling An remembered that in his first life, when he was in high school, he’d never once seen this kind of bullying.
Even if there was the slightest hint of it, classmates and teachers would put a stop to it right away.
There would never be a situation like this, with everyone just watching the show.
And judging by the last teacher’s reaction, they probably all knew about it too. How irresponsible.
At first, Ling An had wanted to see how the villain would punish these punks, he never expected there’d be no resistance at all. Just taking the beatings and the abuse.
[Host, you can help the villain to a certain extent. The villain is an important figure in this world, and helping him can also earn you points, you don’t necessarily have to wait until the apocalypse begins.]
“System, what are Jiang Shu’s living conditions like? He looks like he can barely afford to eat.”
[This is a formal mission world, Host. You can only explore it yourself; the system is not authorized to tell you. If you want to know, you can pay 7 points.]
At those words, even through the electronic screen, Ling An could sense the scent of a profiteer.
But he accepted the system’s proposal. Originally, he had planned to keep a low profile these first few years, but this villain was just too pitiful. Influenced by his memories as a student from his first life, he had a deep aversion to this kind of school violence.
Even without the system’s suggestion, Ling An had already intended to help this poor villain.
The class bell rang, and Jiang Shu had finished setting all the knocked-over desks back in place.
Homeroom teacher Wu Ying walked in and, seeing Jiang Shu’s pitiful state, said helplessly:
“Jiang Shu, do you want to go to the infirmary and get checked out? There’s a big bruise on your forehead.”