Ch.2
The next morning, the students of First Middle School all arrived for registration.
Song Yu Meng sat in the last row, just in front of the rear door, so Yi Ran purposely entered through the rear door.
Once she stepped in, she saw that Song Yu Meng was scribbling something down. After looking at it for a few seconds, Yi Ran realised this scaredy cat was actually copying the answers to the Maths homework given out for winter break.
Yi Ran smiled, stretching out a hand from behind to take Song Yu Meng’s exercise book. “Copying Maths homework in front of me, the Maths class rep, this isn’t right is it?”
A clear and warm voice, almost like the melted snow in the warm sun of early spring.
Such a pleasant-sounding voice put Song Yu Meng in a good mood, but the moment she saw the owner of the voice was Yi Ran, that good mood vanished in an instant.
Combined with thinking about being forced to clean up yesterday, Song Yu Meng immediately flared up.
“Crazy Yi, what’s wrong with you! What do you care if this lady copies or not, give it back to me!” Song Yu Meng stretched out her hand to snatch her exercise book back. Yi Ran refused to give it up, stretching her right hand straight up in the air.
Amongst the girls in the class, Yi Ran was considered the tallest, standing at 173cm. Song Yu Meng could only be counted as around 165cm, if you rounded up[1].
Because of the height difference, Song Yu Meng couldn’t reach to grab the book. She angrily stared at Yi Ran and warned her: “I’m warning you, if you continue interfering in my affairs, this lady is going to make things difficult for you[2]!”
It was clearly a threat, but Yi Ran smiled unkindly. “Let’s wait and see who will make things difficult for who.”
Having finished her sentence, Yi Ran turned around while still holding the exercise book, almost as if she was going to walk out of the classroom. Song Yu Meng panicked, thinking: This Crazy Yi can’t be going to tell Tang Seng right?
Turns out their Maths teacher is Tang Xiang Ping, a 45-year-old senior teacher, having been a teacher-in-charge for over twenty years. She’s very friendly and when it came to lecturing people, she was almost like a Buddhist[3]. She would make a mountain out of a molehill and nag incessantly, hence why the students called her “Tang Seng”.
Song Yu Meng absolutely hated being nagged. If Yi Ran were to report her, wouldn’t she be nagged to death by Tang Seng?
Thus, Song Yu Meng immediately called out to Yi Ran who was about to walk out.
“Hey, Crazy Yi! Stop right there!”
Yi Ran paused, turning around and smiled: “What? Is Miss Song afraid?”
“As if!” Song Yu Meng’s embarrassment turned into rage, “What’s wrong with you? So petty, I just copied homework, does it warrant you going to report to the teacher? Have you never copied homework before? Pot calling the kettle black[4]!”
Song Yu Meng’s barrage of words made Yi Ran smile, and after being treated as a joke, the look in her eyes got even more heated.
“I’m talking to you! What are you laughing at?!”
“I realised you’re really quite interesting. Why couldn’t you have just straight up told me not to go tell the teacher? What’s the point of scolding me?” Yi Ran bent down slightly and asked, “What? Are you trying to reinforce my determination to report to the teacher?”
Song Yu Meng rolled her eyes at her, “For my own pleasure, what do you care.”
“Stop being so stubborn. I’ll return the homework to you, hurry up and copy it, I still have to collect it later.” Yi Ran handed the exercise book over to Song Yu Meng.
Song Yu Meng’s anger subsided and she stopped raising her chin. Narrowing her eyes at Yi Ran, she snatched back the exercise book from Yi Ran’s hand.
“Don’t think that just because of this, this lady doesn’t hate you anymore.”
Yi Ran smiled helplessly, this lady’s temper really is explosive.
……
At 9am, the students were pretty much all in attendance. Tang Xiang Ping stood on the platform and said a few sentences before showing the new seating chart on the screen.
“This time, it’s arranged according to the rankings of your final exam. Move your seats according to the chart.”
The students took their seats according to the seating chart while Tang Xiang Ping pinned up the final exam’s results at the back before leaving the classroom temporarily.
Song Yu Meng scanned the chart to find her seat, before realising she was still assigned to her original seat at the back of the classroom, near the rubbish bin.
She didn’t want to sit in this location anymore. It wasn’t good at all, with teachers coming in through the rear door periodically to inspect the class. Putting aside the fact that she couldn’t even feel the cool air from the air conditioner in the summer, the rubbish bin was extremely smelly.
She wanted to sit in the last row of the fourth group, beside the window with plenty of sunlight and fresh air. Behind that spot was the air conditioner and water dispenser. Teachers coming in to inspect the classroom would also be noticed immediately by the person sitting there, how nice.
When Song Yu Meng realised that spot was taken by Yi Ran, she immediately felt upset and went over to debate with Yi Ran.
Yi Ran had just swapped seats and sat down, she hadn’t even had the time to enjoy the sun from the window when she saw a certain lady marching over angrily towards herself. A single look could have told her nothing good was going to come of it.
“Hey, Crazy Yi! This lady wants your seat, you go sit over in that spot that was assigned to me.” Song Yu Meng pointed at her seat.
Yi Ran rolled her eyes at this unreasonable behaviour, folding her arms and saying: “Reason? Otherwise, why should I listen to you?”
“You want a reason? Come!”
Yi Ran stood up and followed her to the results sheet. Song Yu Meng pointed at the sheet and said: “Our results are the same. Just based on that, can’t I sit in your seat?”
Yi Ran looked at her helplessly and shrugged: “Oh please, Tang Seng was the one who planned this seating arrangement. If you have any problems with it, go talk to Tang Seng. Why are you ordering me around?”
“Fine! This lady will go and talk to her now!” Song Yu Meng huffed and turned around, walking out of the classroom.
Yi Ran sighed and thought to herself: This person is too unreasonable. No wonder so many people hate her.
In the end, Yi Ran still followed Song Yu Meng to the office.
Tang Xiang Ping saw both of them entering the office together and thought it was strange. To be able to see the two of them walking together without quarrelling, the sun must have risen from the west this morning.
She took a sip of wolfberry tea that she brewed and asked in a motherly fashion: “What’s up, you two? Actually coming to my office, it can’t be another conflict can it?”
Song Yu Meng said preemptively: “That’s right, teacher. I want to sit in Yi Ran’s spot, but she wouldn’t let me sit there and asked me to find you to mediate.” After saying her piece, she glared at Yi Ran.
Yi Ran rolled her eyes mentally, this person really knows how to strike first[5].
“Teacher, our grades are clearly the same. I’ve already sat in this spot for a whole term, can’t you just let me switch seats? I think Yi Ran’s seat is not bad. I’ll go sit in her spot, she’ll sit in my spot, isn’t that good.”
Tang Xiang Ping nodded, “makes sense. But the seating is all arranged. If you really want to sit in Yi Ran’s spot, you should negotiate with Yi Ran. If she agrees, then you can switch.”
Yi Ran immediately expressed: “No way I’m switching. That seat of mine is so good, I’m not switching no matter what.”
Tang Xiang Ping: “……”
Song Yu Meng exploded again, quarrelling with Yi Ran in front of the teacher: “Crazy Yi, what do you mean by this? Our grades are obviously the same, can’t you be reasonable?”
Yi Ran calmly said: “I’m unreasonable, I’m not swapping seats.”
Song Yu Meng stared at her in anger.
Tang Xiang Ping: “……”
The teacher-in-charge for Class Seven who was sitting opposite couldn’t take it any longer and offered a suggestion: “Aiya, isn’t it just changing seats? Why don’t you guys play a round of scissors paper stone? Whoever wins gets to call the shots.”
Tang Xiang Ping felt this idea was pretty good and asked: “What do you guys think?”
The two of them agreed and decided on a single round.
Song Yu Meng / Yi Ran: “Scissors, paper, stone.”
Song Yu Meng threw out paper while Yi Ran held out scissors.
“Ha! I win, so you have to obey me. Don’t ever think about taking my seat again.”
Yi Ran gloated smugly while Song Yu Meng stood there frozen. She couldn’t go back on her word either, so she let out a “hmph” grudgingly and walked off angrily, but not before spitting out: “Stop being so smug!”
Everybody in the school knew of Song Yu Meng’s infamous temper, so Tang Xiang Ping advised Yi Ran: “Her temper’s just like that, she doesn’t mean anything malicious. Don’t take it to heart.”
Yi Ran smiled: “Don’t worry teacher, I’m not as calculative as her.”
Song Yu Meng entered the classroom from the rear door and went to take a look at Liu Luo Yang out of habit. But because the seating was changed, Liu Luo Yang was no longer sitting in the second row.
So she searched for him in the whole classroom and finally found him in the first row of the third group on the left.
Song Yu Meng gazed at Liu Luo Yang’s sunny, handsome face while smiling foolishly, the lines on her face becoming much gentler compared to when she was looking at Yi Ran.
Her Liu Luo Yang gege was so handsome, Song Yu Meng thought.
But when she saw Liu Luo Yang talking to his neighbour, her face hardened.
Who was that at the side, how daring must she be to talk to Song Yu Meng’s Liu Luo Yang gege right in front of her face. Does she not want her life anymore?!!
Song Yu Meng stood at her seat with her arms folded and chin lifted, staring ferociously at that girl while trying to figure out who she was.
When she realised the girl was Xu Yuan, Song Yu Meng’s rage hit its peak.
How did this damned white lotus[6] manage to sit with her Liu Luo Yang gege? She’s even talking to Liu Luo Yang, it must be on purpose! This despicable white lotus wouldn’t listen even after all those warnings. Song Yu Meng wanted to rip off her mouth in anger.
Taking two steps forward, Song Yu Meng’s right wrist got pulled back by someone before she had even left the last row.
She turned around to realise that it was actually Crazy Yi. Even more infuriated, Song Yu Meng broke out of the hold and unleashed her anger on the other person.
“Crazy Yi, what are you doing?! Can’t you understand not to come and provoke[7] this lady?!”
Song Yu Meng’s voice was raised, and immediately, everybody in the classroom quietened down to watch the show brewing between the two.
“What are you looking at?! Look again and this lady is going to cause trouble for you all!”
The students didn’t dare to watch any longer, afraid to incur the wrath of Song Yu Meng, but some gossipy students secretly complained to each other.
“Cheh[8], if she has this much ability, why is she still studying in First Middle School? Go study in an elite school instead.” One of the male students complained unhappily.
The girl beside him lowered her voice and whispered: “Clearly you don’t know anything. She was supposed to go to an elite school, but because of Liu Luo Yang, she insisted on attending First Middle School. Furthermore, she chose this subject combination because of Liu Luo Yang.”
After hearing that, the boy said mockingly: “So what if she likes him? Do you see Liu Luo Yang caring about her? She deserves it!”
The girl in front heard them and turned around to join in the gossip.
“Tsk tsk tsk, who doesn’t know Liu Luo Yang is chasing after Xu Yuan? Somebody will never have a chance in this lifetime, I’m afraid.”
“Okay okay, stop talking. What if someone hears us? Don’t bring it up anymore.”
Everybody fell silent, with the girl specially turning around to take a look at the back. Song Yu Meng was still busy arguing with Yi Ran, so she didn’t notice the group speaking ill of her. Relieved, the girl went back to her work.
Yi Ran didn’t want to embarrass herself in the classroom, so she dragged the still-infuriated Song Yu Meng into the empty classroom next door.
[1] 保守估计 – Conservative estimate, meaning she’d only be around 165 rounded up.
[2] 要你好看 – Man, this one is tough. It literally means let you look good, but people say it when they’re angry and want to threaten you against doing something.
[3] 教导起人来也是佛系得不行 – This was pretty tough, essentially meaning she’s very much like a Buddha when she’s lecturing people. Sorry I can’t do a better job with this one…
[4] 贼喊捉贼 – Literal translation is thief yelling to catch the thief, closest I got in English is pot calling the kettle black, but it’s not quite there.
[5] 恶人先告状 – Essentially meaning the wicked sue first, so they can take advantage.
[6] 死白莲 – This was a new one for me! It’s essentially the same as green tea bitch, someone who acts pure and kind but is actually scheming on the inside.
[7] 碰瓷 – Quite interesting, literally means touching porcelain. I Baidu-ed it and an example given was to intentionally get into an accident to scam money out of the other party. Not sure how it fits in here, but I figured “provoke” would be the best fit.
[8] 切 – In this context, it’s basically the sound of someone scoffing. The actual word, though, is to slice or cut.