Chapter 35
The next day at school, Chi Aibei worked on his math exercises. Lin Xiu had noticed he seemed only interested in math; regardless of the subject, he only did math problems.
Lin Xiu asked, “You like math?”
Chi Aibei was struggling with a complex problem. Without looking up, he said, “I’m bad at science.”
Lin Xiu: …
If he remembered correctly, Chi Aibei’s total score on his last exam was less than 30, with 8 points in math. Proportionally, math was one of his strengths.
Lin Yang in the front seat couldn’t help but chuckle.
Jiang Yu turned around, a black line on his forehead. “As if you’re good at the humanities.”
Chi Aibei mumbled, biting his pen, “Humanities just need memorization. What’s so difficult?”
Jiang Yu hadn’t heard such bold words in a long time. Others might be able to memorize, but could he?
Jiang Yu: “What about English? Just memorize that too?”
Chi Aibei glanced at him. “I’m okay at English.”
Jiang Yu didn’t understand how he could say he was “okay” at English after trying to annoy Zhou Xia in every class.
Lin Yang’s daily pleasure was listening to Chi Aibei speak—always fresh and new. He asked, “Do you know the maximum score for English? 150! What’s your ‘okay’ score?”
Chi Aibei didn’t know how the conversation turned to his scores. Seeing Lin Yang mocking him, he asked, “What did you get on your last English exam?”
English was Lin Yang’s weak point, but he was confident in front of Chi Aibei. “118.”
Chi Aibei was amazed. 118, and he was so smug?
Chi Aibei asked, “What about math?”
Lin Yang: “131.”
Chi Aibei thought, Not that impressive. “What about Chinese?”
Lin Yang: “136.”
Chi Aibei looked at him for a moment, envious. “That’s great. You’re not weak in any subject.”
Lin Yang proudly said, “My performance is always consistent.”
Jiang Yu and Lin Xiu exchanged glances. They felt Chi Aibei wasn’t complimenting him.
Chi Aibei didn’t understand Lin Yang’s pride. “What’s your class rank?”
Lin Yang’s rank meant little compared to the top two students, but he was confident in front of Chi Aibei. “Ninth.”
Jiang Yu countered, “Not that consistent. Sometimes you’re outside the top ten.”
Lin Yang protested, “What are you talking about? It’s been a while since I got below tenth!”
Lin Yang argued with Jiang Yu about his rank. Chi Aibei fell silent.
Lin Xiu saw him rubbing his pen on his head, his eyes darting around. “What are you calculating?”
Chi Aibei cautiously said, “I might need two months.”
Lin Xiu didn’t understand the cryptic comment. Jiang Yu ignored Lin Yang. “Two months for what?”
Chi Aibei nodded toward Lin Yang. “Two months to get him to rank tenth.”
“???” The bewildered Lin Yang looked at Jiang Yu. “What did he say?”
Jiang Yu hesitated. While tutoring Chi Aibei, he had noticed the little fool’s comprehension wasn’t bad, but saying he could surpass ninth place in two months seemed exaggerated.
Confidence was good, but overconfidence wasn’t.
It was Lin Xiu’s group’s turn for cleaning duty. After school, Lin Xiu swept the floor, bagged the trash, and handed it to Chi Aibei. “Take out the trash. I’ll mop.”
The trash was disposed of in a designated area near an old storage room containing discarded desks and chairs. It was a secluded spot where students sometimes smoked or hid during truancy.
Chi Aibei was returning after throwing out the trash when he heard a whistle from the storage room.
Someone pushed open the half-open door. Inside were three people. Jiang Wenyu was sitting on an old desk, lifting his chin provocatively. “What a coincidence, little fool.”
Chi Aibei didn’t know about coincidences; he only knew Jiang Wenyu had a short memory. The role of “cannon fodder” suited him perfectly.
Jiang Wenyu jumped off the desk and approached Chi Aibei. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you about last time, when you made my life so miserable.”
Chi Aibei glanced at the still-healing scar on his forehead. “Talk about what? About how badly your father beat you?”
That was a mistake. Jiang Wenyu’s temper flared. He grabbed Chi Aibei’s school uniform. Chi Aibei’s zipper was down. Jiang Wenyu’s tug caused a cigarette pack, forgotten in his pocket, to fall out.
Both Chi Aibei and Jiang Wenyu looked down. Jiang Wenyu froze, then released Chi Aibei’s collar, stepping back to pick up the pack.
Less than half the cigarettes remained. He looked at Chi Aibei. “Wow, not only are you pretending to be a fool, but you smoke too? Only a few left. You have quite a habit, huh?”
Chi Aibei had intended to secretly throw the cigarettes away, but he’d forgotten. He didn’t bother explaining they weren’t his. Seeing Jiang Wenyu’s fascination with the pack, Chi Aibei said, “Here, you can have them.”
Jiang Wenyu crushed the pack. “Think I’m a scavenger?”
Chi Aibei looked at the crushed pack in his hand. “Aren’t you?”
Jiang Wenyu: … Damn it, I have to beat him up.
Just as Jiang Wenyu was about to attack, the headmaster suddenly appeared. “What are you doing?”
Jiang Wenyu’s scalp tingled. He cursed inwardly, “Bad luck.”
One of the boys with him whispered, “The… the pack!”
The boy meant for him to throw away the cigarette pack, but in his panic, Jiang Wenyu shoved it into his pocket.
Chi Aibei watched his hand go into his pocket, pursing his lips. You can’t blame me for this.
The headmaster approached, looking at Chi Aibei’s disheveled uniform and then at Jiang Wenyu and the other two boys. “What are you doing?”
One of Jiang Wenyu’s friends said, “Nothing. We were throwing out trash.”
The headmaster didn’t believe them. What kind of trash requires three people to throw out?!
The headmaster asked Chi Aibei, “Were they bullying you?”
Jiang Wenyu, having been tricked by Chi Aibei before, was ready to kill, but Chi Aibei shook his head. “No.”
Jiang Wenyu was stunned.
A change of heart?
For his sake, after the headmaster left, he wouldn’t hold a grudge…
Chi Aibei: “They weren’t bullying me. They were smoking.”
Jiang Wenyu: ???
Jiang Wenyu’s expression twisted. The headmaster’s face wasn’t much better. Hearing about the smoking, his expression became even more terrifying.
Jiang Wenyu forgot about scolding Chi Aibei and quickly explained, “I wasn’t smoking!”
The headmaster sniffed. “Such a strong smell of smoke, and you say you weren’t smoking?”
The other two boys had been smoking in the storage room. Although Jiang Wenyu often hung out with them, he never smoked.
Chi Aibei pointed at his pocket. “The cigarettes are still in his pocket.”
… Jiang Wenyu glared at Chi Aibei. “You son of a…”
The headmaster pulled out his hand from his pocket. The crushed cigarette pack fell to the ground again.
Caught red-handed. The headmaster glared. “What’s this?”
Jiang Wenyu was going crazy. “It’s not mine!”
Headmaster: “If it’s not yours, is it Chi Aibei’s?”
Jiang Wenyu frantically nodded. “Yes, yes, it’s Chi Aibei’s!”
The headmaster looked at Jiang Wenyu with a “Are you crazy?” expression. “You don’t even think before lying, do you? His? Why would you blame him?”
Jiang Wenyu experienced the frustration of being unable to explain himself for the second time, both times because of Chi Aibei.
Headmaster picked up the cigarette pack. “Quite a habit, huh?”
Jiang Wenyu: …
Headmaster: “This is getting out of hand. I can’t control you anymore. Call your father and tell him to come to school!”
Jiang Wenyu: … Damn it, my head wound just healed!
Chi Aibei tugged at his collar, with an innocent expression. “Teacher, can I go back? We haven’t finished mopping the classroom.”
The headmaster had no time for him. “Go ahead.”
Seeing him leave, Jiang Wenyu urged, “Headmaster, those cigarettes really aren’t…”
Chi Aibei calmly interrupted, “Goodbye, teacher.”
The headmaster waved to him and urged Jiang Wenyu, “Call your father quickly!”
Chi Aibei backed away, shrugging at the near-tears Jiang Wenyu. Serves you right for picking on me.
Class 7’s window faced the storage room. He Chenjiang stood by the window, gravely watching Chi Aibei walk away.
He had clearly seen the cigarettes fall from Chi Aibei’s pocket. He didn’t know whether to be surprised that Chi Aibei smoked or that the little fool could lie with a straight face, brazenly shifting the blame.
Jiang Wenyu was right: Chi Aibei wasn’t stupid.
For so many years, he’d pretended to be crazy and fooled everyone, including him. Did the Chi family teach him this?
At the classroom door, Chi Aibei texted Jiang Yu: 【Go home early. There’s a show to watch.】
Lin Xiu, carrying the washed mop, walked up behind him. “What are you doing?”
Chi Aibei put away his phone, smiling. “Nothing. Gege, are you done mopping? Need help?”
“No.” Lin Xiu smoothed Chi Aibei’s collar. “Why is it so dirty?”
Probably dust from the table in the storage room. That idiot Jiang Wenyu must have touched it, then grabbed Chi Aibei’s collar with his dirty hand.
Chi Aibei patted it randomly. “I don’t know. It’ll be fine after washing.”
Lin Xiu straightened his collar, slightly frowning. He’d seen many such marks during his difficult times—marks left from someone grabbing the collar. “Someone bullied you?”
Chi Aibei thought, Your detective skills are amazing, but he didn’t admit it. “No one bullied me.”
Lin Xiu knew he was lying, but he had no proof. He pinched Chi Aibei’s face. “Don’t cause trouble.”
Chi Aibei’s mouth was twisted. He nodded. “Mm-hmm, I promise not to cause trouble. I’m very good.”
Lin Xiu released him, pushing him into the classroom. “You’re not good at all.”
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