Ah, poor Lin Hua.
Not only did his love letter fail to reach its intended recipient, but Zi Yan was left utterly confused, and Lin Hua’s feigned illness to skip class was caught red-handed by Teacher Yanli.
Since today, after the break exercise, Class Teacher Yanli had her own math lesson with Class 3-6, she had plenty of time to drag Lin Hua up onto the podium for public punishment and sentence him to a “wipe the blackboard for a week” penalty.
By the way, last week it was Lin Hua’s group responsible for cleaning, and Lin Hua himself had been in charge of wiping the blackboard after class during that time.
Well, the students who were supposed to clean the blackboard this week were overjoyed.
“From now on, the students wiping the blackboard should all learn from Lin Hua’s spirit of striving for perfection!”
Lin Hua didn’t think Teacher Yanli’s compliment was a compliment at all.
Teacher Yanli’s requirement for a wiped blackboard was that it must be “free of chalk dust.”
To be honest, when middle school first started, none of the students truly understood this standard.
Until one day, when Teacher Yanli could no longer tolerate the mess on the board, she took the cloth herself—
She soaked it in a basin of water, wrung it out, wiped one side of the blackboard, then cleaned the cloth again, soaked it, wrung it out, wiped the blackboard once more, and finally washed the cloth clean and hung it by the classroom window to dry.
The result was a blackboard that was clean, tidy, with a uniform shade, which Teacher Yanli described as “no chalk dust.”
Yes, it was very clean, but wasn’t it exhausting?
There were only ten minutes between classes. To wipe the blackboard like that during such a short break, if someone suddenly needed to use the restroom, they would have to sprint all the way outside to the school bathroom—and most likely still wouldn’t make it back before the bell rang.
Having endured this punishment for a whole week already, Lin Hua really didn’t want to be tortured again.
But unwilling or not, wiping the blackboard was still his duty. After all, he had faked being sick to avoid the big break, and was caught red-handed by the class teacher.
Ah, truly a pitiful child.
“Ahhhh, such misfortune!!!”
The last class on Monday afternoons was the Haizhou No. 3 Middle School staff meeting, so every class was assigned self-study during this period.
In the classroom of Class 3-6, students were in full swing: some working on homework ahead of time, some reviewing lessons, some chatting quietly, and others reading extracurricular books.
If it were the old Lin Hua, he would have already pulled out his phone and transformed into a competitive racer playing Wild Speed Go, Go, Go.
But now, Lin Hua lacked the energy for that.
He mumbled, resting his head on the desk, silently questioning heaven.
“So, genius Lin, did you hand over your love letter?” His deskmate, who was secretly reading a thick novel under the desk, quietly reopened the wound.
“Don’t mention the love letter.”
Lin Hua lay listlessly, eyes sneaking a glance at Zi Yan, who sat in the Right Protector seat.
Zi Yan’s snow-white long hair, slightly restrained by a hairpin, lay loose behind him, fluttering gently in the cross breeze flowing through the open windows and door.
“After what Big Sister Yanli did, who’s in the mood, seriously…”
“Oh?” The deskmate’s thick glasses suddenly glinted with curiosity. “What, were you rejected by Zheng Zi Yan?”
“No…”
“Then… you were about to confess when Big Sister Yanli caught you red-handed?”
“No, not that either.” Lin Hua covered his face. “Luckily I stuffed the letter in my pocket and didn’t take it out; otherwise, Big Sister Yanli’s punishment probably wouldn’t just be wiping the blackboard for a week.”
“True.” The deskmate seemed to recall something, patting Lin Hua’s shoulder sympathetically.
Lin Hua had recently been severely disciplined for romance-related issues.
Back in Grade Two, Lin Hua had tried to pursue a girl from another class.
She was the girl who was, at most, “tolerable to look at.”
After rejecting him, she secretly reported him to her own class teacher.
Then the teachers gathered in the office to chat, and Lin Hua naturally got exposed to Teacher Yanli.
The punishment?
Teacher Yanli pulled out her disciplinary artifact “Call Your Parents,” hitting Lin Hua with tenfold damage, and successfully inflicted the “Pocket Money Reduction” debuff.
Otherwise, how else would Lin Hua be forced to owe the auntie at the school store money even for a four-yuan bottle of Yingyang Kuaixian?
“Just wait a little longer.”
Anyway, Lin Hua still felt he had to deliver the love letter to that beauty or he’d regret it for life.
“Oh, right.” The novel-reading deskmate suddenly spoke up, “Lin Hua, don’t linger after school today.”
“Huh? Why?”
“I heard a rumor that some people from Class Seven are coming to our school to block someone.”
“What?”
Though some classmates continued their quiet chatting, Lin Hua’s sudden loud voice startled many into turning to look at him.
He quickly lowered his voice to ask his best friend, “Who are they going to block?”
“Definitely not you, so no worries. I heard it’s someone from Class Four—” He pulled out a wafer biscuit from his pocket, unwrapped it, and munched away. “No one knows exactly why, but it’s probably because of a girl from the class next door—the very one you confessed to three months ago.”
“And your taste really is something. You actually went for that tough girl look?” He couldn’t help but tease Lin Hua.
“Anyway, watching this kind of thing is risky; better to leave quickly.”
——
That deskmate’s rumor turned out to be quite accurate—no one knew where he heard it from.
Right after school ended at Haizhou No. 3 Middle School, a police car pulled up at the school gate.
Apparently, the targeted students had gotten a tip-off and, scared like the girl from the next class who reported Lin Hua, secretly reported it to the school, which then contacted the local police station.
Near the police car stood several officers, chatting and laughing as they “stood ready.”
Though incidents of student fights had increased somewhat recently, these adults probably didn’t see it as anything worse than children playing house.
They’d just break up the conflict, separate everyone, and send them home.
The siren at the school gate made Zi Yan feel very uneasy.
And the presence of police… though no one told him anything, he felt anxious, as if something unpleasant was about to happen.
Better to be cautious.
Zi Yan stopped by the gate, rummaged through his backpack, and took out his phone to call his father.
Because of Zi Yan’s special physical condition, it was best for him to be able to contact his parents at any time. So Teacher Yanli and Zi Yan had an agreement: he could bring his phone to school, but absolutely no using it during class.
Zi Yan obediently turned it off and stuffed it into his backpack before class.
“Um, Dad.” The call connected. Zi Yan glanced at the police car and spoke to Zheng Quan, “Dad, can you come pick me up from school?”
“What’s wrong?”
“There’s a police car at the school gate, and I’m a bit scared…”
“Okay, wait by the gate. I’ll be there soon.”
There was nothing wrong with openly admitting he was scared to his father, after all.
Putting away his phone, Zi Yan quietly waited for Zheng Quan to arrive.
Unfortunately, after ten minutes of waiting, it wasn’t his father who came, but a group of rough-looking… students?
They wore school uniforms but looked very shady. Especially their leader, with dyed yellow hair, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, clearly no good.
“Yo.” The yellow-haired leader noticed Zi Yan and whistled. “So you’re the new transfer student from Haizhou No. 3 Middle School everyone’s been talking about?”
“Eh?” Zi Yan was startled.
The group closed in around him. The yellow-haired guy scrutinized him, smacked his lips.
“Yeah, pretty cute. Hey, little lady—” He suddenly stepped closer, towering over Zi Yan. “How about being my girlfriend?”
He was quite tall, at least 1.7 meters.
Huh? Girlfriend?
Zi Yan froze.
“Bro, look at you, you scared the poor girl.” One of the scruffy guys laughed sinisterly. “We’re here today for the big sister, so a pretty girl like you should be for us single brothers, right?”
“Exactly, exactly.” The rest of the scruffy gang joined in the jeering.
“Get lost, find your own if you can.” The yellow-haired guy waved his hand impatiently. “I like you, so you’re mine. What? Back in the day they had three or four wives; now that’s impossible?”
He stubbed out his cigarette, ground it into the ground, then blew smoke slowly into Zi Yan’s face, making him squint.
“How about it? Be my girlfriend, and I’ll guarantee no one in any middle school in Haizhou dares to bully you.”
“Look at my brothers here,” he said proudly. “We’re all here for your sister today.”
“…”
Zi Yan more or less figured out what was going on.
“…”
He loathed these people.
And being mistaken for a girl made it even worse.
Though somewhat afraid, Zi Yan bowed politely and spoke softly, “Um, may I refuse?”
“Oh?” The yellow-haired guy became even more interested.
Usually, when he teased girls like this, they were scared to tears. No one had ever been as calm as Zi Yan. Plus, he had the air of a proper lady.
“That’s not your choice anymore.” He called over his buddies. “You guys keep watch here; meet at Haibin Tower tonight.”
“All right, boss, you go ahead.”
The others showed a little of the bootlicker attitude.
“Alright, beautiful, come with me.” The yellow-haired guy tried to grab Zi Yan’s shoulder.
Just then—
The yellow-haired guy suddenly got grabbed from behind by the neck and lifted off the ground like a little chick.
“Oh? Where do you think you’re taking my baby?”