Song Yu Meng pushed open the door to Su Xiao Xiao’s dorm room and walked in with an air of familiarity, as if it was her own room.
Since it was getting close to the time to report for the self-study period, there was nobody in the room at all.
Yi Ran stood panting at the door, having lugged the two heavy bags up six flights of stairs. She placed the bags at the door and bent over, resting her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath.
Looking at the suffering Yi Ran, Song Yi Meng sat down leisurely on a chair and said: “Hmph, now you know it’s tiring? Too late!”
Yi Ran fished out a bottle of soda from the bag and opened it, gulping down two mouthfuls. After capping the bottle, she asked: “Stop talking nonsense, where do you want the bags to be placed?”
Song Yi Ran tapped the table with her index finger twice, “here.”
Yi Ran gritted her teeth and heaved the bags onto the table, exhaling in relief once she got them both on there. “Finally done, how tiresome.”
The chair squeaked under Song Yu Meng’s boisterous laughter. Yi Ran said helplessly: “You’re still laughing? If we don’t go now, we’ll be late.”
“Let’s go then.” Song Yu Meng stood up and just as Yi Ran was about to walk out the door, she called out to her: “Crazy Yi.”
Yi Ran turned back to see a small object flying over. Catching it, she gazed at the orange-flavoured lollipop she was holding with furrowed eyebrows before looking over at Song Yu Meng.
She lifted her chin in the air arrogantly, “it’s this lady’s reward for you.”
“Thanks.” Yi Ran smiled and put the lollipop carefully into her bag.
……
The bell rang and Tang Xiang Ping stepped into the classroom for the night self-study period.
“Alright class, take your books out, we’re studying the Pythagorean theorem today.”
Tang Xiang Ping started her lecture, droning away in a tone that left Song Yu Meng unable to retain any information. She looked at the book, a = b + c = 2bccosA[1], she felt a migraine coming on.
“What kind of stupid formula is this, it’s so hard to remember.” She complained under her breath.
In the end, she propped up her chin with both of her hands and looked at her Liu Luo Yang gege as usual.
From her angle, she could only see the right side of Liu Luo Yang’s face.
She watched as he lowered his head to scribble notes, before raising his head again to listen to Tang Xiang Ping. Just the side of his face could make Song Yu Meng melt into a lovesick puddle, all the way on the other side of the classroom.
She smiled like an idiot, thinking: Liu Luo Yang gege looks so handsome when he’s listening seriously!
At this point, Song Yu Meng had completely forgotten how Liu Luo Yang had treated her today. She didn’t care anyway, Liu Luo Yang gege would come by later to apologise to her.
It was always like this. Liu Luo Yang would never take her side in front of others, but he would always apologise to her in private afterwards in a gentler manner. And he would always pat her head, resulting in Song Yu Meng acting like nothing had ever happened and treating him nicely.
Liu Luo Yang understood this concept clearly, giving someone a piece of candy after slapping them every time[2], that’s the way to make sure his backup plan wouldn’t fall through.
“So the result we would get, a = b+ c – 2bccosA…” Tang Xiang Ping wrote the formula on the blackboard as she continued the lesson.
Would Liu Luo Yang gege pat my head later? Would he hug me as well??! Song Yu Meng’s dazed smile grew bigger and bigger, her eyes narrowing into crescents as her whole brain was filled with thoughts of how nicely Liu Luo Yang would treat her later.
Yi Ran caught sight of Song Yu Meng’s soft expression from the other side of the classroom and stopped chewing on her lollipop. She stared at Song Yu Meng, who was still smiling foolishly.
Is she the same arrogant person Yi Ran knew???
Yi Ran quickly looked away, swearing to herself she absolutely did not intentionally want to see this side of Song Yu Meng, it was an accident!
What was going on with that scaredy-cat? It couldn’t be that she got possessed by a ghost, right?
Curious, Yi Ran looked at her again, following the direction of her gaze until it landed on Liu Luo Yang’s side profile, although from her angle, Yi Ran was looking at Liu Luo Yang’s left side.
Hah, Yi Ran smiled amusedly, she was still wondering what could possibly cause Song Yu Meng to smile so dumbly. Turns out it was Liu Luo Yang.
“Idiot.” Yi Ran said with her lollipop in her mouth. The girl sitting in front thought that she was being scolded, and turned around to glare at Yi Ran.
“I’m not talking about you, stop staring at me.”
The girl finally turned back.
Tang Xiang Ping saw it all happen clearly from the platform, even that Yi Ran was sucking on a lollipop.
Yi Ran suddenly noticed Tang Xiang Ping was staring at her and in a hurry, she quickly took the lollipop out of her mouth and hid it behind the desk.
But it was already too late.
“So be it if you’re eating sweets in the classroom, but you’re actually eating during a lesson! Stand up for the rest of the lesson, Yi Ran!” Tang Xiang Ping pulled the weight of her role as the teacher-in-charge.
Yi Ran stood up and held her hands behind her back, hiding the lollipop. She smiled sheepishly and blushed under the eyes of everybody in the class.
What the hell! Why was the one who was zoning out not punished, but she got asked to stand! In her heart, Yi Ran repeatedly told herself that Tang Seng must really be blind! Can’t she see Song Yu Meng’s expression?
Tang Xiang Ping knocked on the table twice, “Stop looking, pay attention to what I’m saying.”
The other students all turned their attention to Tang Xiang Ping, but how could Song Yu Meng choose to give up on watching Yi Ran embarrass herself?
Even though they were on opposite ends of the classroom, it couldn’t stop them from trying to quarrel.
Song Yu Meng giggled non-stop at Yi Ran, pleased beyond measure that her enemy was being embarrassed.
Yi Ran stood up straight with her hands behind her back and rolled her eyes at Song Yu Meng. Angered, Song Yu Meng wrote “Crazy Yi, you’re nuts!” on a piece of scrap paper and held it up for Yi Ran to see when Tang Xiang Ping’s back was turned.
Yi Ran couldn’t hold back a snicker. She crunched through the lollipop in a few bites and threw the stick into the rubbish bin before scrawling a reply back to Song Yu Meng.
【You’re nuts too, scaredy-cat! You look so dumb when you’re fangirling over someone! Hahaha!】
Song Yu Meng ground her teeth together and stared at Yi Ran before penning a reply angrily.
Crazy Yi actually caught her fangirling, what an embarrassment! If this got out, wouldn’t she lose her reputation?!
【Scram, Crazy Yi!!!】
Feeling that this reply didn’t have much of an impact, she flipped the paper over and quickly scribbled another sentence.
【If you dare to say a word of this to someone else, this lady is going to hire people to deal with you[3] after school!!!】
Yi Ran felt incredibly happy, deal with her after school? This scaredy-cat could really say anything when she got anxious.
Song Yu Meng saw Yi Ran scribble something on the paper, but after glancing at her, Yi Ran stood up straight and stopped writing. Even her smirk was wiped off her face.
Song Yu Meng: “???” What was going on?
Song Yu Meng slouched in her seat facing Yi Ran, she was wondering what happened to Crazy Yi when Yi Ran glanced over again, held a closed fist up to her mouth and coughed loudly enough that the whole class could hear it.
Immediately, everybody turned around to look. Some students who had just turned slightly immediately pretended to be listening intently to the lesson once they saw who was standing at the rear door.
Somewhat understanding Yi Ran’s silent warning, Song Yu Meng had a bad feeling as chills ran down her spine. She slowly turned her head to look at the rear door.
Indeed, at the rear door stood the disciplinary master, Baldy Qian[4] with a stern look on his face, staring at Song Yu Meng.
Frightened, Song Yu Meng quickly turned her head around and sat up straight, praying in her heart that Baldy Qian would go away quickly.
After ten seconds, Song Yu Meng peeked at the ground using her peripheral vision. Seeing that Baldy Qian’s shoes were still there, she felt as if she was going to faint.
Taking a quick glance at the clock, there was still two minutes to the end of the class.
Oh god, why was Baldy Qian still not leaving? He can’t be waiting there for class to end so he can discipline me, can he?! Song Yu Meng’s mind was in a mess.
“Okay class, that’s it for this lesson.”
The bell signifying the end of class rang and Baldy Qian was still standing at the rear door with his hands behind his back. Tang Xiang Ping was taken aback, surely it can’t be that someone in their class caused trouble and old Qian was here to catch them?
Typically, the classroom would be incredibly rowdy once class ended, but with the discipline master standing at the back today, everybody sat in their seats obediently.
The discipline master’s real name was Qian Xing Gui, and he taught geography. Because he was already balding by the time he was in his fifties, the students nicknamed him “Baldy Qian”. He had been a discipline master for over ten years and he was incredibly fierce when scolding someone. Every student in First Middle School’s worst nightmare was him.
Baldy Qian walked into the classroom with a stern expression and his hands behind his back, stopping behind Song Yu Meng and bellowing: “You, follow me to the office, and you too!”
Even if he didn’t say her name, Song Yu Meng knew he was talking about her, but who was the “you too”? Her eyes trailed along the direction Baldy Qian was pointing in, it was Crazy Yi!
Song Yu Meng felt sick with worry at the start, but after knowing that Crazy Yi would be scolded as well, she felt much better.
Qian Xing Gui was a strict-looking teacher, to begin with, and he looked even stricter pulling a long face. The two of them followed him quietly, not daring to make a ruckus.
Walking into the office, Qian Xing Gui looked at them with no hint of a smile on his face. The two of them lowered their heads in silence, awaiting the tongue lashing.
“Raise your heads! Own up to your punishment and stand up straight, do you understand?”
With that sudden outburst, Yi Ran and Song Yu Meng raised their heads in shock.
“Teacher Tang was teaching but the two of you were fooling around!”
It was clearly a very stern lecture, but the two girls felt like laughing for some reason. They pressed their lips together to put on a sombre expression and continued getting scolded.
“What, you already know everything, your grades are great, is that it?”
Stifling their smiles, the two of them shook their heads.
“Hmph, at least you two are self-aware. The two of you were ranked dead last and second last during the last exam, don’t think I don’t know it!”
Baldy Qian pointed at Yi Ran, “especially you, Yi Ran, you really made an impression on me!” The more he spoke, the more agitated he got. “You useless thing[5]! You only scored eight marks for geography! Nobody in the entire district is worse than you! Did the neighbouring Eight Middle School send you here as a spy to pull down our ranking?!”
Instead of feeling ashamed, Yi Ran almost smiled.
Song Yu Meng couldn’t help it, a laugh bubbled out of her in front of Baldy Qian.
Pointing his finger at Song Yu Meng, Baldy Qian continued his ranting: “You still dare to laugh? Do you feel very proud of scoring 20 marks for mathematics?! I’m ashamed on your behalf! I can do the test blindfolded and still score higher than you[6], do you believe it?!”
This time, it was Yi Ran who couldn’t suppress her laughter with a “pfft”.
The bell rang and the students dawdling in the hallways quickly returned to their classrooms. Yi Ran glanced at the empty hallway and Baldy Qian snapped: “Don’t think I’m letting you off because class is starting! I have a lot more to say!”
Yi Ran / Song Yu Meng: Oh my god! When will Baldy Qian be done with his lecture!!!
Baldy Qian continued his tirade, drops of saliva flying onto both Yi Ran and Song Yu meng’s despaired faces.
What a terrible first day of school!
[1] I have no idea what this formula is, even though it looks kinda similar to the Pythagoras Theorem formula. Copy pasting it into Google just pulls up a bunch of results in Chinese, so… yeah
[2] 所以每次都打一巴掌然后给个糖 – basically meaning after being nasty, he’ll be nice again. Kind of like being hot and cold.
[3] 堵你 – Literally block you/block your way.
[4] 钱秃头 – For a moment, I thought this was his actual name and I was pitying him while writing out his name in pinyin (Qian Tu Tou).
[5] 个狗日的 – Couldn’t really figure out the proper way to translate this, but I tried my best lol.
[6] 老子甩地上随便踩两脚 – It’s the second time I’ve seen this I think, and it basically means that he can do whatever and still be better at it than her.