Chapter 87: Turbulent Undercurrent
Ling Xiang Qian discovered that it was very difficult not to offend others. She didn’t know how many times she had turned back to look at Lu Pei Pei who was diagonally behind her.
Lu Pei Pei looked directly back at her with cold eyes. Ling Xiang Qian softly sighed, she had to properly explain everything to her after class.
As the newly appointed class monitor, there was a lot of work that Ling Xiang Qian had to do, such as gathering copies of the household registration of the class students, organizing their files, reporting the number of ethnic minorities and overseas Chinese and their names…
During the self-study class, when she asked, “Are there any students in our class who are from an ethnic minority” and Lu Pei Pei raised her hand, she blurted out without thinking, “Sub-branch and transient students don’t count.”
The whole class turned silent. Of the 57 students, there were 28 who were from the sub-branch and many of them were transient students.
Ling Xiang Qian could feel cold sweat on her back, flustered, she added in, “I mean that there are separate statistics for the sub-branch…”
No matter what she said, it was wrong. Ling Xiang Qian thought bitterly, They were clearly from the sub-branch and didn’t have the ability to get into the main branch through their own efforts so they shouldn’t blame others for mentioning it. It’s not considered being discriminatory to mention the sub-branch so to have such a big reaction, all in all, it’s because you down on the sub-branch yourselves.
But no matter what, Ling Xiang Qian knew that she had to smooth things over. She didn’t want to make enemies just as school started and anger 28 all at once.
As soon as the class bell rang, Ling Xiang Qian stood up and approached Lu Pei Pei with a smile, gently asking, “Pei Pei, what ethnic group are you from?”
Lu Pei Pei was sitting at her seat applying nail polish with care. Without raising her head, she replied, “I can’t remember.”
The girls around them sneered. Ling Xiang Qian blushed and decided to just go all out, “I wasn’t being intentional just now, I’m sorry.”
She had been slandered from behind back in middle school but thankfully, she had Lin Yang and Jiang Chuan’s protection. Ling Xiang Qian gradually learnt to restrain her arrogance and directness. In many cases, rather than resolutely not apologizing for the sake of her dignity, the truth was to cause less trouble.
Moreover, she truly hoped that everyone could like her. Every time she heard a negative comment about herself, she would be depressed for half a day, thinking whether it was her fault or if the other party was just narrowminded. If it was because of the other party being narrow minded, then was there any method to remedy it…
Ling Xiang Qian pretty much forgot to think about what exactly it was that would make a princess turn lowly.
“What did you do just now? What was intentional or unintentional?” Lu Pei Pei’s tone became hasher. The pride inside Ling Xiang Qian that had not yet been fully worn down made her rise up with a huff.
“I’ve come to apologise to you because I really didn’t mean it and because of my manners. Have some self respect!”
Lu Pei Pei stared at her with wide eyes for a while speechlessly.
Ling Xiang Qian who turned around gracefully sat back down in her seat and covered her forehead in annoyance.
She lowered her head and quickly sent out a text message, “Goddamn it Jiang Chuan!”
Jiang Chuan quickly replied with a smiley face, “: )”.
“Who messed with you again?”
Whenever Ling Xiang Qian was upset, may selectively tell Lin Yang about her troubles but she would send to Jiang Chuan, goddamn it Jiang Chuan.
Jiang Chuan was her punching bag. Jiang Chuan’s words had turned harsher and harsher. Whenever she had grievances that couldn’t be vented and she couldn’t let go of her pride and manners to go and curse it out, Jiang Chuan would try to figure out her intentions and curse it out heartily.
Jiang Chuan who was like a shadow.
Ling Xiang Qian didn’t notice that a pair of eyes from behind had been watching her from deliberating to apologizing to then getting up angrily and returning to her seat to continue to deliberate.
A gaze that was as sharp as the name.
—
The bell for the last class in the morning rang but Mi Qiao who sat behind Yu Zhou Zhou still didn’t return.
Director Li had discovered during the morning self study class that Mi Qiao had stuck posters of Allen Iverson all over her desk, forming a colourful table cloth that was extremely eye catching from a distance. She had always been an iron-fisted form teacher so without a second word, she tore it all off.
Director Li was a very old-fashioned teacher. She had taught at Zhenhua for twenty years and still held a co-current position as Class 7’s geography teacher. The words she loved to say during class was of how back then, Zhenhua only had six classes in each year level. Everyone wore neat and tidy uniforms, actively participated in class and after class, they would still study by themselves. There wasn’t any need for a teacher on duty, it was so quiet that you could hear the needle drop…
For such an elite Zhenhua, Normal University Affiliated High School wasn’t even able to catch up to their tail.
Peking University and Tsinghua University were equally famous in China but within the state, ther was only Zhenhua, only Zhenhua.
Hence there was no need for any need school buildings. When Director Li thought of those transient students and the huge sub-branch that was squeezed in alongside the gorgeous building, her heart would ache.
A major battle between Director Li’s heartache towards the transient students and Zhenhua going downhill and Mi Qiao, a transient student who was heartbroken over her ruined Allen Iverson was on the verge of breaking out.
For a moment, Yu Zhou Zhou had thought that Director Li whose lips had turned white was about to die from anger.
The strong winds and waves that she had gone through in her twenty years of teaching kept her standing in the end. The cowardly form teacher, an English teacher rushed into the class after receiving a tip off and dragged Mi Qiao away.
“I like him and I get the desire to study when he’s on my desk, is it any of your business? Is it any of your business?”
Mi Qiao’s unflinching roar echoed in the corridor for a long time.
Yu Zhou Zhou had also liked the main and supporting male leads in cartoons and martial arts detective novels but it was the first time she had seen someone like Mi Qiao who was still shouting, “You dare tear my man, I’ll fight with you” as she was dragged away.
She couldn’t help but laugh.
She hadn’t felt such a pure type of joy like this in a long time. What an arrogant youth, how good it was to be young.
Her nose became a little acidic. Just a little.
Just as she was thinking back to Mi Qiao’s scene in the morning, she saw Lin Yang running over for a distance.
“Sorry, sorry.” The collar of his uniform became a little crooked from his run, “I’m late because our form teacher kept nagging about the start of school physical exams which delayed the class.”
Yu Zhou Zhou nodded and out of nowhere, stretched her hand out to help him straighten his collar. Lin Yang had grown very tall and was really like a towering poplar tree. Yu Zhou Zhou height stayed at 165cm so when she looked at him, she had to raise her head.
There were some things that you wouldn’t know yourself why you did it when you regained consciousness.
Lin Yang was stunned. He stood there in a daze, not daring to move until Yu Zhou Zhou withdrew her hands, “Mhm, it’s more pleasing to the eye now.”
Then, she walked very naturally towards the stairs, seemingly not to have noticed Lin Yang’s shyness at all.
Lin Yang’s surprise and throbbing heartbeat calmed down.
He didn’t like how Yu Zhou Zhou had straightened his collar calmly without any shyness at all. He had prepared so many words to bridge that gap. He had buried those words for an entire year, timidly, and had finally received her words, “I don’t blame you”. He had finally received her attention – but had suddenly realised that she had only treated him like a doll, and even treated ambiguous behaviours like straightening his collar with indifference.
Lin Yang rubbed his temples then went to catch up.
When Xin Rui spotted Yu Zhou Zhou in the cafeteria, Yu Zhou Zhou was standing at the crowded window staring out in a daze.
Yu Zhou Zhou didn’t like any crowded places. With her like this, by the time it was her turn to order, there would only be vegetable soup left, Xin Rui thought to herself.
Just as she was about to go over say hi and ask if she needed any help, she suddenly saw a boy holding a large plate of food squeeze out from the crowd and stand in front of Yu Zhou Zhou with a dumb smile.
Lin Yang? Xin Rui was a little confused.
Lin Yang was Class 2’s class monitor. He was handsome, had an easy going personality, had good grades and also won first prize in the provincial maths and physics competitions. However, first place in science was firmly held by Chu Tian Kuo. Chu Tian Kuo was more handsome and had better grades than him, even the girls who liked him were more – Xin Rui couldn’t help but want to sneer.
Since Yu has already been born, so why was Liang ever born?*
*[Zhou Yu was always upstaged by Zhuge Liang who was more talented. A saying used to lament that there is someone better who will outshine you at every turn.]
Lin Yang must live very painfully. Xin Rui curled her lips and was about to turn and leave when a sudden exclamation came from behind, “Xin Rui, are you eating by yourself, why are you eating by yourself, is there no one to eat with you?”
F*ck. Xin Rui smiled and replied to Chen Ting who had appeared from nowhere, “The girl who I usually eat with is busy. I’m alone today.”
Actually, she had always been alone. She rarely ate with Yu Zhou Zhou. When Yu Zhou Zhou liked to daze off when eating and ate very slowly while she was used to speedily finishing so that she could return back to class to continue studying so they had always eaten separately.
However, she didn’t want a gossiper like Chen Ting to know the truth. It would seem as if she was a pitiful creature who no one wanted.
“Ah, isn’t that Yu Zhou Zhou? Lin Yang is also from our elementary, why are they together? Go, let’s go and see!”
Before Xin Rui had the chance to react, she was pulled directly in front of Yu Zhou Zhou and Lin Yang by Chen Ting.
“Ah, Lin Yang, I haven’t bumped into you at school for a long time. Why are you eating together with Yu Zhou Zhou?”
Xin Rui wanted to laugh. The other three people present would never be able to express their curiosity like Chen Ting.
Lin Yang didn’t seem to remember Chen Ting who was at all. He shrugged and said a “Hello” without even smiling or even looking at Xin Rui or Chen Ting. Yu Zhou Zhou on the other hand had already lowered her eyes to move the food and rice one by one from the tray to the table.
Xin Rui suddenly had a feeling of being rejected. The two of them looked like…an old married couple.
But back in Class 1, she had never seen Yu Zhou Zhou have any contact with Lin Yang from the Class 2 next door. This strange atmosphere made Xin Rui be filled with puzzlement. She didn’t want to stay any longer hence she stood and said, “Chen Ting, I’m going to eat on the second floor, there’s no barbeque options on the first floor.”
Before Chen Ting could reach, Xin Rui stretched out her hand and pulled her away.
A type of unhappiness that had been dormant for a long time flooded over Xin Rui again.
Without saying a word, Yu Zhou Zhou had grown a great relationship with a very good looking, popular boy at school.
I’m not that type of girl who can’t stand other people doing well. I’m not jealous, not a single bit. Xin Rui shook her head, wanting to dispel the unhappiness in her heart. She focused on going up the stairs, step by step, towards a higher place.
Tofubyu 