Chapter 21 — A Failed Show of Force

Still, the fact that Wei Zhao had said as much meant he had no intention of poking his nose into other people's business, and Wang Zhifeng relaxed a little. If word of this ever reached the principal and the board, his tenure as dean of students would be finished.

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

"Then thank you, Director Wang," Wei Zhao said, hastily putting on an air of flattered deference. He knew his own position was a peculiar one: he had come to school chiefly for Gu Mengyao's sake, and he was bound to do a few outrageous things while he was here. He could hardly go running to Gu Pengzhan and Uncle Qing every time something happened; better to seize this occasion to get on good terms with Wang Zhifeng.

And now it seemed he had gotten exactly what he wanted. So long as he did not 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 instant Zhong Yongliang laid eyes on Wei Zhao, his eyes went wide. That was him, all right — the brat who had kicked him yesterday. He and Gao Xiaofu and Zhang Naipao had chased the little bastard half the morning without catching him, and now here he was, delivering himself right to their door.

"My name is Wei Zhao — Zhao, as in the 'zhao' of 'graceful and unrestrained.'" 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 the seats had been assigned at the start of term and were now fixed; he could not reshuffle them at will. 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 headed for the last row.

While Wei Zhao was introducing himself, Gu Mengyao kept her head bowed low, but Shen Yushu blinked her big eyes and stared at him like some curious little child, which gave Wei Zhao a creepy feeling all over. This little Miss Chen was even more of a handful than Miss Chu.

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

The moment he entered the classroom, Wei Zhao had noticed that Zhong Yongliang was also a student in Senior Three, Class Five, and so he had paid him particular attention; naturally, none of the little byplay that followed escaped his eyes.

As Wei Zhao passed Zhang Naipao's desk, Zhang Naipao suddenly shot out his right foot, hoping to trip him. Wei Zhao smiled scornfully and made to kick back — but a kick from him would have broken Zhang Naipao's bones. It was his first day of school and he did not want any trouble, so instead he simply brought his foot down hard on the instep of Zhang Naipao's, and Zhang Naipao let out a yelp of pain.

"Huh? What's this?" Wei Zhao looked at Zhang Naipao with an air of complete innocence. "Sorry about that — I didn't mean to step on your foot."

"Zhang Naipao, is there a problem?" Teacher Liu, the homeroom teacher, knew exactly what Zhang Naipao was like, but the boy's family had some influence and he ran around with Zhong Yongliang, so there was not much Teacher Liu could say.

"N-no... nothing..." Zhang Naipao's face was red with pain, and he shook his head, forcing down the numbness in his foot. He would never tell the teacher what Wei Zhao had done — that would be far too humiliating.

Zhong Yongliang was too far away to see what had passed between Zhang Naipao and Wei Zhao, but when he saw that Wei Zhao was fine while Zhang Naipao was the one yelping, he shot Zhang Naipao a reproachful look.

Zhang Naipao could not voice his grievance and could only glare in silence, resolving to get even the moment class let out. He could not tell whether Wei Zhao had done it on purpose or not: Wei Zhao had not once looked down at his feet as he walked, and his apology had sounded so sincere that he seemed genuinely unaware of what had happened. It left Zhang Naipao thoroughly frustrated.

Wei Zhao's seat was not far from Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu; one glance up and he could see them both. It was a good spot to have landed, letting him keep an eye on the two of them at any moment. His chief duty, after all, was to look after Gu Mengyao — he was being paid, after all.

Wei Zhao opened his backpack and took out the physics textbook. The first class of the day was physics; he had checked the schedule beforehand to make sure.

"Today is Wei Zhao's first day at school. I hope everyone will look after the new student. Also, I do not want to see anyone bullying the new student. You are seniors now, and I would hate for anyone to miss out on a diploma because of it." Teacher Liu felt obliged to give Zhong Yongliang, Zhang Naipao, and their sort a warning. Zhong Yongliang especially — that one was capable of anything, and was known as one of the four great young thugs of the campus; bullying classmates was meat and drink to him.

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 ball of paper suddenly landed on his desk. He blinked. Surely Zhang Naipao was not so petty as to throw paper at him after being stepped on? What was this, kindergarten?

Wei Zhao looked up and found Shen Yushu watching him with a smile. A chill ran through him. Surely the paper ball had not come from this girl?

Shen Yushu pointed at the paper ball on his desk, then turned back around. Wei Zhao was briefly startled; he looked at the note on the desk, then at Shen Yushu's back. Could this be the legendary note-passing?

Ah, if only it were some pretty, gentle girl passing him notes. Shen Yushu only had half the qualifications: pretty, yes; gentle, not remotely.

Wei Zhao slowly unfolded the note. He had never imagined Shen Yushu would write him a love letter or anything of the sort — it had to be about something else. Sure enough, when he opened it he found a line of small, delicate handwriting. Had he not known Shen Yushu's character so well, he would have taken her for a proper young lady.

...

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