Chapter 4
Qi Rui was momentarily at a loss for words.
She knew better than anyone that what had happened on campus that afternoon was blatant school bullying, with absolutely no room for justification.
She had deliberately cornered someone on a Sunday afternoon, stripped off her coat, and left her exposed to the freezing wind. No matter how one looked at it, those were unquestionably the actions of a bully.
But after thinking about it, Qi Rui could not help feeling a spark of delight.
If her parent disciplined her directly and strictly forbade her from behaving so terribly, would that not give her a perfectly reasonable excuse to stop playing this little villain?
Surely obeying her parent and turning over a new leaf could not be considered acting out of character. After all, it was perfectly natural for a child to listen to her parent’s teachings.
Qi Rui secretly glanced at the woman holding her. Summoning her courage, she cautiously forced out a few words.
“…I went to bully someone.”
The furious outburst she expected never came.
An eerie silence enveloped the room for a second.
Qi Rui guiltily raised her head, only to discover that her beautiful mother was staring at her with smiling eyes. When Mrs. Qi saw her daughter looking up, her eyes lit up. She cupped Qi Rui’s face in both hands and planted several more firm kisses across both cheeks.
Qi Rui’s face ached from all the squeezing, leaving her even more bewildered.
“Mommy, aren’t you angry?”
Mrs. Qi beamed with delight. Far from being angry, she gathered Qi Rui completely into her arms as though soothing a baby. One arm securely supported the backs of her knees while her other hand gently patted her back.
“It’s all right. Mommy will give her some extra money later. You’re so adorable when you’re honest, my precious baby!”
As she spoke, the woman leaned forward and vigorously kissed Qi Rui’s cheek again.
“…”
No wonder there were spoiled brats everywhere. Behind each one was undoubtedly a parent who indulged them without limits.
But Qi Rui possessed the soul of an adult. Being kissed, squeezed, and treated like a cat was simply too strange!
She hastily made up an excuse, struggled free, and fled upstairs. Only as she hurried up the staircase did she hear the woman’s disappointed complaint behind her.
“Oh, she never used to let me kiss her at all! I finally managed to kiss her today, but Ruirui ran away again!”
The housekeeper’s calm voice followed.
“Boss, I told you long ago that Young Miss is growing up. You need to be more mindful of how you try to bond with your daughter.”
Qi Rui truly could not bear listening any longer. She quickened her pace and ran back to her room.
She silently swore that she would keep her distance from this newly acquired mother from now on.
After dinner, her child’s body could not remain awake for long. Qi Rui lay drowsily in bed, but the next second, that death-knell-like mechanical voice mercilessly exploded inside her mind once again.
[Tomorrow’s mission: In accordance with the script, the host must bully the female lead.]
At the sound of the system’s voice, Qi Rui jolted and instantly became wide awake.
???
No, wait. System, have you lost your mind?! I only just completed a mission this afternoon, and you’re already giving me another one?! This damned novel and its damned plot!
After everything Jiang Wanxing had endured that afternoon, even if the cold had not caused any serious harm, she would undoubtedly feel miserable the next day.
Yet the system wanted Qi Rui to torment her again tomorrow?!
It was insane.
The system responded only with its cold, standardized line.
[The mission must be completed.]
The anger filling Qi Rui’s stomach was forcibly reduced to helpless frustration, with nowhere to vent.
After throwing out that single sentence, the damned system promptly pretended to be dead and went offline.
Fuming, Qi Rui pulled the covers over her head and gradually fell asleep.
When she opened her eyes again, the car was already parked outside the school gates.
This proved that regardless of whether one had the body of an exhausted office worker or an elementary school student, the early-morning journey to school would always pass in a half-conscious haze. There was no difference whatsoever.
Qi Rui sniffled and took her schoolbag from the housekeeper sitting in the front passenger seat. Just as she opened the door and prepared to climb out, the housekeeper’s gentle voice came from behind her.
“Young Miss, the boss said the money has already been delivered.”
Qi Rui’s movements paused.
Looking at the housekeeper’s perfectly polite, professional smile, she could not help releasing the second sigh she had made since arriving in this world.
Sure enough, behind every spoiled brat was an entire family of even bigger ones.
“Ding-ding-ding—”
The piercing school bell suddenly rang across the campus.
Qi Rui gathered her wits, clutched her schoolbag, and hurried after the students ahead of her on her short little legs.
As a complete newcomer, she could not tell whether this was merely the warning bell or the official start-of-class bell.
However, judging by the pitifully small number of people around her, her instincts told her that she was definitely late!
But when Qi Rui finally reached the classroom, panting for breath, she discovered that it was almost empty. Hardly anyone had arrived.
Following the system’s directions, Qi Rui found the original owner’s seat and sat down.
Only then did she leisurely examine the classroom.
Even in this day and age, the room extravagantly provided an individual desk for every student. Judging by the number of desks, there were only around twenty students in the entire class. It was unquestionably an elite, small-class setup.
The blackboard was equipped with the most advanced multimedia equipment. Lockers stood in orderly rows at the back, and even the overhead lights were brand-new, high-end models designed to protect the students’ eyesight.
One glance was enough to tell that the local education bureau attached great importance to this school.
Qi Rui stuffed her schoolbag into the compartment beneath her desk.
There were no textbooks inside. It contained only a heavy insulated lunchbox.
She had woken up too early that morning and could not bring herself to eat. Worried that she would become hungry, the housekeeper had specially packed breakfast for her to bring to school.
Qi Rui had just taken out the lunchbox and placed it on her desk. She planned to wait until most of her classmates arrived and eat shortly before class began. That way, she would not become hungry too early before lunch.
Suddenly, a faint noise came from behind her.
Following the sound, Qi Rui turned around.
It had come from the last row, diagonally behind her and separated by one column of desks, where a girl was sitting.
It was Jiang Wanxing!
If this were a match-three game, then placing one more student between Qi Rui and Jiang Wanxing would probably cause all three of them to line up and disappear.
Qi Rui was rather puzzled. She secretly prodded the system inside her mind.
“Are Jiang Wanxing’s grades terrible? Why was she exiled to the very back row?”
The system responded with nothing but a cold sneer.
Ignoring its sarcastic attitude, Qi Rui quickly fixed her gaze on Jiang Wanxing’s clothing.
Truthfully, she was still unaccustomed to possessing the perfect 20/20 vision of a young child.
But she could see with absolute clarity that Jiang Wanxing was still wearing the same gray padded jacket Qi Rui had kicked into the sandbox yesterday.
Only… the jacket’s color looked strange.
It seemed much darker and heavier with dampness than it had yesterday.
Qi Rui’s heart suddenly skipped a beat as a possibility faintly crossed her mind.
While she was distracted, Jiang Wanxing calmly took a cold, hardened white steamed bun from her schoolbag. Carrying an old pink plastic cup, she walked to the back of the classroom and filled it with hot water.
After returning to her seat, the girl unscrewed the lid and began taking small bites from the bun, washing each one down with hot water.
Looking at the dry bun crumbling with every bite, Qi Rui could almost imagine how difficult it was to swallow.
Just as she began wondering whether the steamed bun was left over from the previous night, a hoarse, aggressive male voice abruptly thundered through the room, shattering the classroom’s tranquility without warning.
“Who gave you permission to eat breakfast in the classroom?!”
The man’s voice was so vicious that an unprepared Qi Rui flinched.
She looked toward the source of the voice and saw a stern-looking, middle-aged male teacher striding through the back door.
Without another word, he reached out with a face full of disgust and snatched the cold bun from Jiang Wanxing’s hand after she had taken only one bite.
The next second, he contemptuously flung his hand backward.
With a loud smack, the hardened bun landed inside the garbage bin at the back of the classroom.
Qi Rui’s eyes widened instantly.
Damn him! Jiang Wanxing had only taken one bite!
This teacher was clearly picking on her deliberately.
Qi Rui looked around in disbelief.
Some of the students who had turned toward the commotion were holding greasy meat buns and eating with great enjoyment. An entire box of steaming soup dumplings was even sitting openly on one of the desks.
Yet the male teacher turned a blind eye to all of them.
Instead, he viciously seized Jiang Wanxing’s arm and roughly hauled her out of her seat.
Even from a distance, the force of the yank made Qi Rui’s own arm ache in sympathy.
But Jiang Wanxing’s expression did not change despite the rough treatment. She simply allowed the teacher to shove her by the shoulders and force her out of the classroom.
Their homeroom teacher, Liu Jielong, berated the girl with cutting contempt.
“Get outside and stand in the hallway! How dare you remain in this classroom?!”
The sight infuriated Qi Rui.
She was contemplating how to rescue Jiang Wanxing when, in the next moment, the previously hateful-looking teacher turned around and walked directly toward her desk.
Qi Rui thought of her lunchbox.
I can’t let him take this breakfast too. Jiang Wanxing needs something to eat, at the very least!
She had to hide it quickly.
But Liu Jielong moved faster.
The middle-aged man had already replaced his expression with one of completely different warmth. With one large stride, he reached Qi Rui’s desk.
Under her astonished gaze, his long adult fingers gently and carefully unfastened the tightly sealed lunchbox.
He thoughtfully placed the lid to one side, revealing neatly arranged, piping-hot shumai that still released curls of steam. Then he pushed the box in front of her.
Liu Jielong smiled faintly at Qi Rui. His voice was soft and gentle, utterly unlike the one he had used moments ago.
“Qi Rui, you must eat a proper breakfast. A good day begins in the morning.”
“You need to eat well if you want to grow taller.”
Listening to those considerate words and looking at the exquisite shumai before her, Qi Rui suddenly found it difficult to eat.
They were sitting inside the same classroom. Less than a meter physically separated her from Jiang Wanxing.
Yet this man, who was supposed to be their teacher, had used such blatant methods to divide them into two completely different classes of people.
The suffocating discrimination made Qi Rui feel unbearably uncomfortable. For a moment, she almost felt as though she were the one who had been publicly reprimanded and singled out by the teacher.
The smile on Liu Jielong’s face grew increasingly amiable. He even condescended to drag over a stool and sit beside her, softly asking whether there were any questions she did not know how to solve.
The resistance inside Qi Rui continued to grow.
She stared at the delicate little shumai inside the lunchbox, unable to stop thinking about the hard steamed bun this man had casually thrown into the filthy garbage bin.
Qi Rui could choose not to eat because both her schoolbag and her home were always stocked with expensive snacks.
But Jiang Wanxing had nothing.
The Jiang Wanxing who had walked back to the orphanage alone against the bitter wind had nothing.
The Jiang Wanxing who had refused to submit and dared to stare directly at Qi Rui possessed only one hardened steamed bun.
Liu Jielong gazed at the little girl before him, his voice even gentler than the one he used with his own child.
But as usual, this young heiress merely sat there with a gloomy little face and barely acknowledged him.
His patience was almost exhausted.
She was nothing but an obnoxious brat relying on her family’s wealth. As long as she did not complain about him to her mother, that was all that mattered.
He rose to return to the podium.
But the instant he turned around, an extremely loud and piercing crash of shattering glass suddenly erupted behind him!
It was immediately followed by the violent clatter of a desk and chair overturning.
Amid the terrified screams of the other students, one explosive noise after another tore through the back of the classroom.
Comments 0
You must be logged in to comment.
No comments yet. Be the first!