chapter 4
chapter 4
The final period at Experimental High was self-study. I splashed cold water on my face to wake myself before heading back to the classroom.
As I passed the principal’s office, I glimpsed a tall, lean figure inside.
[Ahhh! Song Hansheng is about to appear. He’s unbelievably handsome!]
[You can do it, darling! Win the heroine! Make sure you arrive in time when she’s bullied later!]
[I can’t wait to see the arrogant young master soften for the stubborn heroine and become gentle!]
Sure enough, another barrage of thoughts exploded around me.
This world had gone insane.
The atmosphere shifted when I entered the classroom.
At the front, Su Miaomiao lay across her desk, weeping softly. Several classmates crouched around her, offering tissues and comfort.
When I appeared, students in the back whispered and shot hostile looks my way.
“You can tell the country girl is back from that stink of chicken manure.”
“Who cares if she’s pretty and gets good grades? She’s selfish and cold.”
“I heard both her parents ran away because they didn’t want her. I wouldn’t want her either.”
Most of the vicious comments came from boys I had never so much as spoken to.
They liked beautiful girls, provided those girls were weak, foolish, and easy to break.
They despised intelligent, powerful girls. If such a girl was also beautiful and rich, the offense became unforgivable.
Fortunately for them, I was poor and aloof. At last, those who wanted to attack me had found an opening.
The jeers continued without pause. I returned to my seat without expression and found my desk buried beneath garbage.
Snack wrappers, banana peels, tissues, soda cans, takeout boxes…
The class snickered as one, waiting for shame to show on my face. Their naked malice rolled over me like a tide.
They savored the pleasure of standing above me and dragging me into the mud.
This was the perfect moment for a hero to rescue the damsel—a classic school redemption scene.
Several girls watching from a distance bit their lips, unable to hide their pity.
[How could they do this? It’s awful. The heroine is so miserable.]
[Are you stupid? If the heroine isn’t tormented first, how can Hansheng save her?]
[This is the male lead’s big moment! He has to feel like the only light in her dark life!]
At that exact moment, a tall figure approached along the corridor.
Save me?
I was no longer the ten-year-old girl who knew only how to kneel and kowtow.
After a moment of silence, I smiled. Then I seized the trash in a plastic bag and hurled it in every direction.
“Ah!”
“Wen Qiuyu, are you out of your mind?”
The gloating spectators shrieked and scattered, frantically brushing filth from their uniforms.
I emptied every drop from a discarded soda can into the bag of the student who had thrown it.
Before the boy who had dumped the takeout box could stop me, I smeared its oily broth across all his books.
The frenzy in my movements had a savage edge. The others faltered, suddenly afraid.
By the time Song Hansheng arrived, the space around me was already quiet.
[No! I have to create an opening for my darling!]
The instant he stepped through the door, a thick dictionary flew from a corner of the room.
Its hard spine split the skin at my temple. Bright beads of blood welled from the cut.