Chapter 21 — The Failed Show of Force

Still, the fact that Wei Zhao had said what he said meant he had no intention of meddling in other people's business, and Wang Zhifeng relaxed a little. Otherwise, if word of this got back to the principal and the board, his days as dean of students would be over.

"Heh heh." Wang Zhifeng gave a dry laugh. "Classmate Lin, if you run into any trouble at school from now on, you can come to me anytime. Here, jot down my cell number."

"Then thank you, Director Wang." Wei Zhao hastily put on a show of being flattered and frightened as he expressed his thanks. Wei Zhao knew his own position was rather unusual; he had come to school mainly for Gu Mengyao's sake, so he was bound to do some outrageous things here. He couldn't very well go running to Gu Pengzhan and Uncle Qing every time something happened—better to use this occasion to get on good terms with Wang Zhifeng.

And now it looked as though he had gotten what he wanted. He was confident that so long as he didn't go too far, Wang Zhifeng would smooth things over for him.

Wei Zhao followed Wang Zhifeng to the door of the Senior Three, Class Five classroom. Wang Zhifeng pushed the door open and walked straight in, then beckoned to the class's homeroom teacher. "This is Wei Zhao, a new transfer student. Find him a seat."

The moment Zhong Yongliang laid eyes on Wei Zhao, his eyes went wide. That was him, all right—the very guy who had kicked him yesterday. He and Gao Xiaofu and Zhang Naipao had chased the fellow half the morning and never caught him; the brat had slipped away. And now here he was, delivering himself right to their door.

"My name is Wei Zhao—Wei as in 'two trees,' Zhao as in 'elegant.'" After this brief self-introduction, the homeroom teacher seated him at a single desk at the very back of the room.

There was no help for it. The homeroom teacher understood that Wei Zhao was someone with connections, but this was no longer the start of term, when seats were being assigned; the seating was fixed now, and the teacher couldn't very well rearrange it on a whim. Wei Zhao would have to make do at the back for the time being, and they would see about it later.

Wei Zhao, however, was not particular about where he sat. He nodded cheerfully and walked toward the last row.

While Wei Zhao was introducing himself, Gu Mengyao kept her head bowed low. Shen Yushu, by contrast, fixed him with her big eyes, blinking like a curious child, staring at him as though he were a fascinating specimen. Wei Zhao felt a chill crawl over his whole body. This little Miss Chen was even harder to deal with than Miss Chu.

Zhong Yongliang shot Zhang Naipao a look, because Wei Zhao would have to pass by Zhang Naipao's desk to reach his own. Zhang Naipao flashed Zhong Yongliang an "OK" sign to show there was no problem.

Wei Zhao had noticed the moment he entered the classroom that Zhong Yongliang was also a student in Senior Three, Class Five, so he had paid him particular attention, and every one of their little maneuvers had naturally fallen under his gaze.

As Wei Zhao passed Zhang Naipao's desk, Zhang Naipao suddenly thrust out his right foot, hoping to trip Wei Zhao headlong. Wei Zhao smiled in contempt and made to kick out in return—but a kick from him would have broken Zhang Naipao's bones. It was Wei Zhao's first day of school, and he didn't want to stir up too much trouble, so he simply brought his foot down squarely on the back of Zhang Naipao's. The pain wrung an immediate "Ow!" out of Zhang Naipao.

"Hm? What's this?" Wei Zhao glanced at Zhang Naipao as though he had no idea what had happened. "Sorry about that—I accidentally stepped on your foot."

"Zhang Naipao, is there a problem?" Teacher Liu, the homeroom teacher, knew well enough what Zhang Naipao was usually like, but the boy's family had some standing and he ran around with Zhong Yongliang, so there was little Teacher Liu could say.

"N-no... nothing..." Zhang Naipao's face flushed red with pain, and he gritted his teeth against the numbness in his foot and shook his head. Naturally he would not tell the teacher what Wei Zhao had done—that would be far too humiliating.

Zhong Yongliang was too far away to make out what had passed between Zhang Naipao and Wei Zhao, but when he saw that Wei Zhao was fine while Zhang Naipao was hollering over there, he shot Zhang Naipao a look of reproach.

Zhang Naipao could not voice his grievance and could only glare in silence, resolving that he would get even the moment class let out. He couldn't tell whether Wei Zhao had done it on purpose or not, because Wei Zhao had never once looked down at his feet as he walked, and judging by his apologetic manner just now, he really did seem to have been unaware. This left Zhang Naipao thoroughly vexed.

The seat Wei Zhao had been given was not far from Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu—one glance up and he could see them both. All in all, it was a good spot; he could keep an eye on the two of them at any time. His chief duty, after all, was to look after Gu Mengyao. He was being paid for it, after all.

Wei Zhao opened his schoolbag and took out his physics textbook. The first class of the day was physics—he had already checked the schedule to confirm it.

"Wei Zhao is joining us for his first day today, and I hope everyone will look out for the new student. Also, I don't want to see anyone bullying a newcomer. We're in our final year of high school now, and I'd hate for anyone to miss out on a diploma because of it." Teacher Liu still felt the need to give Zhong Yongliang, Zhang Naipao, and the rest a warning. Zhong Yongliang especially—that one was capable of anything, and was known as one of the four great terrors of the campus; bullying classmates was practically his daily bread.

Zhong Yongliang, of course, let the words go in one ear and out the other.

Wei Zhao was leafing through his book when a small paper ball suddenly landed on his desk. He started. Surely Zhang Naipao wasn't so petty as to throw paper balls at him after getting stepped on? What was this, kindergarten?

Wei Zhao looked up and found Shen Yushu watching him with a smile. A chill ran through him. This paper ball couldn't have come from that girl, could it?

Shen Yushu pointed at the paper ball on Wei Zhao's desk, then turned back around. Wei Zhao blinked, looked at the note on the desk, then at Shen Yushu's back, and thought: could this be the legendary note-passing?

Ah, if only it were some pretty, gentle girl passing him a note. Shen Yushu only laid claim to one of those qualities: pretty, she had that much; gentle, there was simply no talking about it.

Wei Zhao unhurriedly unfolded the note. It had never even crossed his mind that Shen Yushu might write him something like a love letter; it had to be about something else. And sure enough, once he had it open, he saw a single line of fine, delicate little characters. Had Wei Zhao not known Shen Yushu's temperament so well, he would surely have taken her for a proper young lady.

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