Chapter 38
On the bus to school, Wei Zhuoning opened the school forum, as usual.
Five seconds later, she gasped.
“What the…”
She struggled to maintain her balance in the crowded, swaying bus, the nearest handrail occupied by countless hands.
Even if she could reach it, there was no space to grip it.
She focused on her core strength, years of experience in navigating crowded buses having honed her skills.
She was no longer the clumsy girl who fell on people’s backs at every sudden stop.
She could even browse her phone while standing.
The school forum was a breeding ground for rumors, and despite her disdain for it, she couldn’t resist checking it daily.
After reading the comments on her novel, she always checked the forum.
Today’s trending topic was Chi Lin again, but… 211 pages? Wasn’t that a bit excessive?
The first 208 pages were filled with arguments, the original poster’s supporters clearly outnumbered and outmatched by a mysterious force.
And the last three pages were filled with comments from bewildered onlookers.
“Am I seeing things? Over 200 pages? For three blurry pictures?”
“This is the tallest building in the history of our school forum!”
“Is Chi Lin the most popular person in our school now?”
“Are those Chi Lin’s fans? Their fighting power is terrifying!”
“Admin! @PeachBlossomPool Please delete these abusive posts!”
Wei Zhuoning hadn’t realized the online battle that had raged while she was struggling with her homework.
She quickly scrolled through the thread, mentally collecting insults and witty comebacks, impressed by the verbal dexterity of her classmates.
They’re like… literary geniuses.
As she copied and pasted some of the more impressive insults into a document, Lin Xiaozhi, appearing behind her, silently observed, her amusement growing.
Lin Xiaozhi, wearing heeled boots, was already taller than Wei Zhuoning. She could easily read Wei Zhuoning’s phone screen over her shoulder.
Wei Zhuoning, having finished her research, replied to one of the most active detractors:
“If you’re going to try and slander someone, at least vary your insults. I can recognize your writing style, even with a thousand different accounts.”
She closed the thread, then searched the forum for “LXZ,” Lin Xiaozhi’s initials.
Finding nothing new, she lost interest.
Wei Zhuoning lived in the oldest, most rundown part of the city, the so-called slums, far from the gleaming skyscrapers and modern amenities of the city center.
The bus she took was decades old, its human driver replaced by an outdated self-driving system.
The system was old and unreliable, prone to sudden jolts and stops, but at least it hadn’t caused any fatalities yet.
As the bus lurched forward after a stop, the passengers cried out, falling forward.
Wei Zhuoning, with nothing to hold onto, would have fallen if not for a pair of arms catching her from behind.
“Thank you…”
Disoriented, she hadn’t seen her rescuer, only smelled a sweet, peachy fragrance, her face flushing slightly.
She turned, a shy smile on her face, and saw Lin Xiaozhi’s mischievous grin.
“You’re welcome, baby. I know you like being in my arms,” Lin Xiaozhi said.
Wei Zhuoning: “…”
When the bus reached her stop, she pushed her way through the crowd and ran towards the school, ignoring Lin Xiaozhi.
“Hey,” Lin Xiaozhi called after her, examining a long, bleeding scratch on her arm. “That hurts…”
Wei Zhuoning stopped and turned, seeing the deep gash on Lin Xiaozhi’s pale arm.
“What… how did you get that?”
“Saving you from falling. See? I’m bleeding.” Lin Xiaozhi, never one to hide her injuries, showed Wei Zhuoning the wound, her tone almost… coquettish.
Wei Zhuoning reluctantly returned. “What are you doing here? On a bus?”
Lin Xiaozhi always had a chauffeur. Her parents didn’t even trust self-driving cars.
And Wei Zhuoning knew her house was over twenty kilometers away.
“I can be wherever I want,” Lin Xiaozhi replied.
“Then why are you complaining about your arm?”
“You’re so cold…”
“I’m always like this.”
“Not when you were searching for my initials on the forum earlier.”
Wei Zhuoning, mortified, exclaimed, “You were watching me?!”
“I wasn’t hiding. I was standing right behind you. I’m tall, remember?”
Wei Zhuoning, unable to argue with her logic, felt her usual frustration rising.
And with frustration came tears. She could handle online battles, but in person, even a slightly raised voice could trigger her tears.
Her eyes began to water.
Not wanting to cry in front of Lin Xiaozhi, she turned and ran towards the school.
Lin Xiaozhi, surprised by her sudden departure, felt a pang of disappointment. She had woken up at 5 am and taken a long bus ride just for this “chance encounter.”
She walked towards the school, her spirits low, and ran into Chi Lin at the gate.
She gave Chi Lin a half-hearted greeting.
Chi Lin also had dark circles under her eyes. Their combined low energy was almost palpable.
“What happened to your arm?” Chi Lin asked, noticing the bandage.
“Oh, it’s nothing. Just a scratch,” Lin Xiaozhi said dismissively.
Chi Lin saw Wei Zhuoning standing near the entrance of the building, looking at them, then entering the elevator.
Another lovers’ quarrel.
She smiled to herself, a hint of envy in her heart.
At least they had someone to quarrel with.
She missed the Empress’s playful banter and demands for attention.
With five minutes left before class, the elevator was crowded.
Neither Chi Lin nor Lin Xiaozhi enjoyed crowded spaces, but waiting for the next elevator would make them late.
They entered last, and as Chi Lin stepped inside, the other passengers turned to stare at her, as if on cue.
Chi Lin knew why. The forum post. She was the center of attention again.
She calmly turned to face the elevator doors.
When they reached their floor, someone had stuck a note on Chi Lin’s back.
She hadn’t noticed it, walking down the hallway with the note displayed prominently, attracting laughter and stares.
She had assumed it was because of the “kept woman” post.
Lin Xiaozhi, noticing the note, removed it.
It was a piece of paper with the word “Poor” written on it in large letters.
Chi Lin, unfazed, simply crumpled it up and tossed it into the recycling bin.
Entering the classroom, she noticed the unusual atmosphere.
Her desk was covered in 50-cent coins, the smallest denomination of paper currency.
And her tablet had been vandalized with red paint.
“Here’s some charity. Don’t mention it.”
Chi Lin understood the price of fame. Admiration came with its share of detractors.
And with the viral video, the number of detractors had likely increased.
Before, they had confronted her openly. Now, they resorted to petty acts of vandalism.
Lin Xiaozhi, as class president, scanned the room, her face grim.
“Who did this?” she asked coldly.
The classroom was only half full, and no one answered, afraid of being implicated. They all claimed ignorance.
Lin Xiaozhi looked at Xu Yifang and Jiao Minxuan.
“It wasn’t us!” they exclaimed. “We just got here!”
Chi Lin, seeing their panicked expressions, knew they were telling the truth.
Liu Huixin’s desk was empty. She wasn’t here.
The culprit’s identity wasn’t important. Chi Lin didn’t want to waste her time on such trivial matters.
She collected the coins, neatly folded the note, and placed them in the donation box at the end of the hallway.
She then cleaned the paint off her tablet with a disinfectant spray.
Wei Zhuoning, arriving late, saw her cleaning her tablet.
“What happened? Who did this?” she asked, surprised.
Chi Lin shook her head. The history teacher entered the classroom, and they all took their seats.
Before sitting down, Wei Zhuoning tossed a small box to Lin Xiaozhi.
She had gone to the infirmary to buy a first-aid kit for Lin Xiaozhi’s arm.
The box was labeled “Pain-Free.” It was the latest model, with a painless antiseptic and bandage, twice as expensive as the regular kits.
Wei Zhuoning had actually spent money on her.
Lin Xiaozhi smiled, pleased, and winked at Wei Zhuoning.
Wei Zhuoning, scowling, rubbed her right hand on her left, gesturing for Lin Xiaozhi to use the kit.
Tsundere, Lin Xiaozhi thought, biting her knuckle.
Wei Zhuoning was still three months shy of eighteen. The wait was agonizing.
She wanted to devour her…
.
Chi Lin cleaned her desk and focused on the history lesson.
From a corner of the classroom, two pairs of eyes watched her.
“She doesn’t even care?”
“Putting on a brave face. Poor people are good at enduring hardship.”
“Such a pretentious little goody-two-shoes. Disgusting.”
“Let’s show everyone this.”
The history teacher, discussing the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art, mentioned its origin in the Eastern Han Dynasty and its significance as the world’s most advanced decimal system.
Chi Lin, captivated by the familiar topic, was suddenly interrupted by a series of notification pings from her phone.
“I said turn off your phones!” the teacher said, frowning. “Who’s still using their phone?”
Before anyone could answer, more pings and vibrations echoed through the classroom.
The students exchanged glances, realizing someone was deliberately disrupting the class.
“Pfft!” One student, having checked the message, burst out laughing.
Curiosity got the better of them, and soon, the entire class was giggling.
The teacher, exasperated, walked down the aisle.
“What’s going on? What’s so funny?”
He reached for the nearest student’s phone. “Let me see your phone!”
“But I wasn’t looking!” the student protested.
“Give it to me!”
The teacher saw a photoshopped picture of a girl in a South Lake Third High uniform, her clothes covered in patches, her skin several shades darker than usual.
The caption: “Pity me.”
He recognized the girl as Chi Lin.
Chi Lin had always been a poor student, her appearance as outrageous as her grades. But she had improved recently, especially in history, so he had a favorable impression of her.
He held up the phone. “Who made this?”
No one answered.
He raised his voice. “Who’s disrupting my class with this nonsense?!”
The classroom, filled with laughter moments ago, was now silent.
Lin Xiaozhi said, “Mr. Hong, the sender’s name is ‘No Husband.’ Check everyone’s phones.”
The teacher, adopting her suggestion, had everyone place their phones on their desks.
“That’s despicable!” a voice shouted from the back.
Lin Xiaozhi turned, smiling sweetly. “Being despicable is part of my job description as class president.”
The student fell silent. The teacher approached him and saw his phone wasn’t on the desk.
“Put your phone on the desk,” he said.
Reluctantly, the student handed over his phone.
The teacher, having identified the culprit, confiscated his phone and sent him to stand in the hallway.
“If you don’t want to learn, that’s your choice. But don’t disrupt the other students.”
After class, he took the student to the office and handed him over to Ms. Qi.
“Gao Xiang has been pursuing Jiao Minxuan for a while,” Lin Xiaozhi explained to Chi Lin. “He’s probably trying to get revenge for his goddess’s humiliation. Be careful, Chi Lin. You’re a target now.”
Chi Lin, seemingly unfazed, smiled. “You know everything, don’t you?”
“Of course,” Lin Xiaozhi replied, wanting to say, Just check the school forum. It’s filled with gossip about you. But she knew Chi Lin wouldn’t want to see it, so she simply said, “I’m the class president.”
“You make being class president sound so… shady.”
Sensing Wei Zhuoning’s gaze, Lin Xiaozhi leaned closer to Chi Lin, covering her ear and whispering, “I didn’t even want to be class president. Ms. Qi forced me.”
Chi Lin: “…Do you have to be so close?”
Gao Xiang, after a lengthy lecture from the history teacher and Ms. Qi, returned to the classroom, his face grim.
He didn’t confront Chi Lin directly. He gathered his friends and started discussing the merits of pickled vegetables and the hardships of rural life, their laughter echoing through the classroom.
A girl approached them. “How can you mock your classmate like that?” she said, her voice dripping with false concern.
Gao Xiang and his friends turned to look at her.
“She might be poor,” she continued, “but at least she knows how to sew. And fight. Be careful what you say. She might use her farm-honed strength on you.”
So she was one of them. Gao Xiang, looking at Chi Lin, added, “So that’s how she got so strong. Practicing with a hoe in the fields. My apologies.”
They all burst out laughing.
Chi Lin debated whether to ignore them or confront them.
But another confrontation would only create more problems for Peng Ziyuan.
Teenagers in this era were exposed to adult dramas and relationships, making them seem more mature than previous generations, but their emotional and social skills were still underdeveloped.
Online toxicity had seeped into their lives, and the “don’t be a coward” mentality fueled their conflicts.
School violence was a serious problem.
And these passionate teenagers were willing to fight for their friends and beliefs.
Gao Xiang, defending Jiao Minxuan, and Chi Lin’s supporters, defending her.
“Say that again, you little punk!”
Several students confronted Gao Xiang and his friends.
Gao Xiang’s group, undeterred, stood their ground.
“What are you going to do about it? Go back to your farm, you poor bitch!”
They grabbed each other’s collars, shoving and shouting, the classroom filled with insults and the scraping of chairs.
Even Wei Zhuoning joined the fray. Lin Xiaozhi, seeing Wei Zhuoning being pushed, grabbed a nearby desk, ready to use it as a weapon.
A full-blown brawl was imminent.
Chi Lin sighed.
She had to intervene. She couldn’t let her supporters get hurt.
Sorry, Peng Ziyuan. You’ll have to deal with this later.
As she stood up, ready to throw Gao Xiang and his friends out of the classroom, someone tugged at her sleeve.
A girl, her gaze fixed on the window, said, “Chi Lin, is that… for you?”
Half the class was preparing for a fight, the other half captivated by the woman outside the window.
An invisible wall seemed to divide the classroom into two separate worlds.
Chi Lin turned and saw… a stunningly beautiful woman.
Lou Mi, holding a lunchbox, tapped on the window.
She removed her sunglasses and asked softly, “Is Chi Lin in this class?”
The boy by the window, mesmerized, stammered, “Mi… Mi… Mi… HighTowerMiyuki?!”
The other students gasped, realizing who it was.
Holy crap, it’s her! In person!
Even Gao Xiang and his friends froze, their fists raised mid-air, their gazes shifting to the window.
The classroom had never been so quiet, not even during class.
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