Old Zhou’s real name was Zhou Kai. He was in his early forties and taught Chinese. Before coming to Shining High School, he had served in the military for more than a decade. Rumor had it that he had held a fairly high rank. He had later been discharged due to an injury and returned to his original profession as a teacher.
Zhou Kai was tall and powerfully built. Probably because of his military background, he was also notorious for his short temper.
When other teachers dealt with the troublemakers in their classes, they either patiently tried to guide them or simply left them alone. Zhou Kai, on the other hand, believed that if he could solve something with his fists, there was no need to waste his breath, insisting on[subduing people through force].
Under Old Zhou’s military（fist）style（management）, the unruly boys in Class 7 became obedient and timid. Even the hardest case of all, school bully Su Qin, had to show him some respect.
Of course, the main reason was that he couldn’t beat him.
Come on, who could beat a retired soldier?
The entire school knew that Old Zhou placed great importance on Liao Xingchen.
Last semester, an outsider had blocked Liao Xingchen at the gates of Shining High and confessed to him. Unfortunately for the boy, Zhou Kai happened to witness it. He went straight to the boy’s school and caused such a scene that he came back with a three-thousand-word self-criticism.
Zhou Kai became famous overnight after that.
The principal had originally wondered whether putting the school’s top student in Class 7, where delinquents were a dime a dozen, was really appropriate. But after seeing how fiercely the homeroom teacher protected Liao Xingchen, he felt completely reassured.
Zhou Kai even announced that as long as he was around, Liao Xingchen would be the brightest star in Shining High’s vast galaxy. Everyone else could only admire him from afar, never profane him. Confessions and dating were absolutely out of the question.
“Besides, what do you mean, ‘not bad-looking’? Liao Xingchen is one of the school’s heartthrobs.”
The homeroom teacher of Class 2 corrected Wei Guoxue’s wording. Remembering last year’s fierce competition over the title of school heartthrob, she couldn’t help sighing inwardly: Young people really knew how to make a fuss.
Every school had a tradition of choosing its most handsome student. In previous years, Shining High’s winners had all triumphed by overwhelming margins. But their year had produced a dispute. There were two leading candidates for the title:
Su Qin and Liao Xingchen.
And they couldn’t have been more different.
Su Qin looked just like his personality: arrogant and overbearing, with sharp angles to his brows and eyes. His smile was roguish, and with his gray spiky hair and black earring, he looked like trouble at a glance.
Liao Xingchen, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. He wore his hair past his ears. It was not only slightly wavy but also somewhat brown, while his features were almost excessively fair and delicate.
His personality was quiet, too. He often sat in the classroom all day long, and the youthful, lively Shining High uniform somehow made him look like a serious Old Cadre.
One was flamboyant, the other reserved, and their fans rallied behind them in separate camps.
To determine a winner, supporters on both sides even put up banners. Admirers from every grade and class went around canvassing for votes, while the attention on the school website and message boards surpassed even that of the student council election.
At the time, Zhao Yang had been Su Qin’s number-one supporter. He had been the most enthusiastic about carrying banners and soliciting votes, praising the school bully’s godlike looks as unmatched in heaven or on earth. Even an eight-hundred-word essay wouldn’t have been enough for him to say everything he wanted.
It was after that campaign that the entire school learned Su Qin had a little follower.
He was around five foot ten, not especially tall, but his fresh, fair face suited his height perfectly.
He smiled often, too, which made him quite likable.
The voting lasted an entire week. In the end, the two sides were still deadlocked. With signs that the battle might drag on, and the monthly exams approaching, the school had no choice but to step in and call it off.
And so, the first[dual school heartthrobs]in the school’s history were born.
Liao Xingchen and Su Qin were both from Class 7. Their qualities happened to counterbalance each other, and their seats were close by, so everyone called them Shining High’s[perfect combination of brains and brawn].
The school’s brawn heartthrob was a delinquent who would throw punches at the slightest disagreement. Few people had the nerve to like him. The academic heartthrob was even harder to approach. He came with his own halo, not to mention Zhou Kai standing guard at his side.
Their[perfect combination of brains and brawn]was the most attractive pair of school heartthrobs Shining High had ever seen, and also the hardest to get along with.
Wei Guoxue did not care in the slightest what kind of heartthrob Liao Xingchen was. It would be no exaggeration to say that, to this day, he had never even seen what this student Liao’s face looked like.
For one thing, he did not teach Class 7. For another, Classes 1 and 7 were located at opposite corners of the school building. No matter which direction he took, it was the longest possible route.
And Liao Xingchen rarely showed himself. Perhaps relying on his excellent grades, he hardly ever took part in group activities under Zhou Kai’s indulgence, making him even harder to encounter than a rare animal.
Wei Guoxue’s only impression of him was that he topped every ranking at every exam, coming first in the entire grade in every subject without exception.
Thinking of Zhao Yang, whose grades were at the bottom of the class, Wei Guoxue was speechless. They were both students who had come from Binjiang, so how could the difference between them be so enormous?
On the way to the principal’s office, the thought that it would be wonderful if Zhao Yang liked Liao Xingchen instead popped into Wei Guoxue’s mind again.
But then he thought of the terrifying Zhou Kai and suppressed that unrealistic wish.
……
Meanwhile, in Class 7, home to the two school heartthrobs.
After being inexplicably made a fool of, Su Qin returned to the classroom angrier by the second. It was the first time he had ever been toyed with in front of so many people.
Su Qin felt that Zhao Yang had stripped him of both his dignity and his pride. He slammed his fist into a desk, producing a tremendous bang.
More than half the students in Class 7 instantly fled. The ones who remained were so frightened that they instinctively cleared a wide space around him.
Su Qin glared viciously at the classroom of Class 1 across the hall, wishing he could charge over right then, drag Zhao Yang out, beat him senseless, and demand an explanation.
There had never been a shortage of people pursuing Su Qin.
But Zhao Yang was the most unusual of them all, and the one who had persisted the longest.
Zhao Yang liked to do everything differently from everyone else, and he was incapable of hiding his secrets. It was easy to see right through him.
So when he had acted mysterious that morning and told Su Qin to go to Starlight Avenue, Su Qin had known without guessing that he intended to confess.
Su Qin had never planned to accept Zhao Yang, though. Zhao Yang simply was not his type.
Su Qin liked quiet, gentle people. Zhao Yang was far too lively and restless.
But he also enjoyed the nearly insane infatuation and burning passion Zhao Yang brought whenever he was by Su Qin’s side.
That was what made Zhao Yang special. He was like a wild weed without a temper, no matter how hard Su Qin trampled and abused him, he stubbornly clung to his side.
He could never be driven away.
Yet today, this mild-tempered weed had suddenly gone mad and inexplicably cut him.
After turning the matter over in his mind, Su Qin found himself returning to the image of Zhao Yang’s carefree back as he walked away.
No one had ever treated him like that before.
Su Qin was seething. He snatched the textbook from the desk and flung it at the back wall with a whoosh, then shouted through clenched teeth, “Fuck! That Zhao brat better remember this!”
“Lin Zi, Old Gao, come with me to Class 1 after school. We’re going to corner him.”
Lin Zi and Old Gao had been Su Qin’s middle school classmates and underlings. After spending the entire previous year together, they had actually grown rather fond of the new little follower.
Su Qin was no ordinary delinquent. He had trained in Sanda for several years, and his fists and feet were brutally hard. If he caught his little follower, the boy would probably end up in the hospital.
They felt a little guilty about it.
But they did not dare disobey their leader. Old Gao signaled for Lin Zi to secretly message the little follower and warn him to get away as soon as school let out.
Su Qin was still cursing. He sat crookedly on a desk, his right foot planted on a chair, his eyes full of viciousness. It was almost time for class, but all the students kept their distance, afraid to approach or make a sound lest they be caught in the crossfire.
This school bully was the real deal.
When he lost his temper, he especially liked taking it out on innocent bystanders. Once, someone had accidentally bumped into him while he was angry and had been beaten so badly that he could not come to school for a week.
The student’s parents had taken the matter to the principal’s office, but Su Qin’s family had smoothed everything over by throwing money at it. The school bully continued to swagger around Shining High as he pleased.
Class 7 was the farthest classroom from the teachers’ office, so it would take the teacher some time to arrive. Everyone pretended to be a statue and silently waited for the subject teacher to come and save them.
In the enormous classroom, only one person was moving.
Some observant students noticed that ever since Su Qin had returned, that person had continued doing what he was doing without stopping, as though the school bully’s fury had nothing to do with him.
Under the gaze of dozens of eyes, he calmly carried a stack of notebooks over and stopped in front of Su Qin.
“Summer homework.”
Even his tone was completely composed.
A soft gasp went through the surrounding students.
Su Qin raised his head unhappily. When he saw that it was the class’s bespectacled top student speaking to him, he actually laughed in anger.
This was the first time anyone had dared approach him voluntarily while he was angry.
Su Qin had been itching for someone to hit. He jumped off the desk, reached out, and grabbed the other boy firmly by the collar, snarling, “Are you fucking blind?”
There was a faint scar beneath the corner of the school bully’s eye. When he looked fierce, it added an extra edge of menace.
Most people would have gone weak in the knees if he had grabbed them by the collar and threatened them like that.
But Liao Xingchen was not frightened in the slightest.
He simply let the other boy hold him, not even stumbling. His expression remained impassive. “You haven’t finished? Then stay after school and do it.”
“You can leave after you finish.”
Were it not for the fact that Liao Xingchen and Zhao Yang had absolutely nothing to do with each other, Su Qin would have thought this person had deliberately come looking for trouble.
The atmosphere in the classroom grew extremely tense, as if a fight could break out at any moment.
It was the first time the students of Class 7 had seen these two clash, and they began whispering among themselves.
“Holy shit, our class monitor is seriously brave. He dares to walk right into the line of fire at a time like this… I really can’t tell whether he’s fearless or just stupid.”
“Maybe this is how top students see the world. All they have in their eyes is summer homework. School bullies and all that are just clouds passing by.”
“Is it just me, or does the class monitor seem to have the upper hand in terms of sheer presence?”
“I feel that too. If they really fought, who do you think would win?”
“Why are you even asking? Our class monitor is so delicate. Su Qin could knock him unconscious with one punch…”
……
“Did you hear that? Delicate little class monitor.”
Su Qin gave Liao Xingchen a provocative look, as if telling him to leave while he still had the sense to, before Su Qin knocked him flat with one punch.
Faced with Su Qin’s taunts, Liao Xingchen did not reply. But neither did he move. He merely lowered his eyes and looked at him.
He was half a head taller than the six-foot Su Qin. His careless gaze fell from the corners of his eyes, carrying a faint hint of contempt and mockery.
Su Qin was instantly enraged by that expression.
After being publicly humiliated by two people in succession, one of them a frail-looking honor student, Su Qin’s anger shot straight to its peak. He cursed and raised his fist to strike.
Old Gao reacted quickly and blocked him. “Boss, you can’t! Old Zhou won’t let you off if you hit him!”
No one in Class 7 knew better than they did how much Old Zhou treasured Liao Xingchen.
“Fuck!”
Su Qin was angry, but he was still afraid of Old Zhou. After kicking over several desks and chairs, he stormed out of the classroom, cursing under his breath.
Liao Xingchen glanced at Su Qin’s back, then leisurely straightened his crooked collar. He stepped over the desks, walked up to Old Gao, and said without changing expression, “Summer homework.”
It was as if everything that had just happened had been nothing more than an illusion.
Old Gao: “………………”
A sudden chill ran through Old Gao.
Fuck, this guy was even scarier than Su Qin!