On the bus there was a driver, so they didn't dare say anything.
When they arrived at the school and hopped back inside, Zhou Rui finally told the truth, but the matter was equally chuunibyou that even Chai Meichan couldn't understand the thought processes of these kids.
The situation was like this:
Once, someone had threatened to come blockade Zhou Rui after school saying they would come to get him. That person was a student from a nearby vocational school, more of a hoodlum than the students at Jiahua International School.
Zhou Rui was afraid his side didn't have enough people to win a fight, so he went to borrow some men from a "brother in society".
At the time, it was Li Xiaonan who brought it up. The "brother" was also quite bold and really did lend some people.
Zhou Rui had emphasized strongly to Chai Meichan three times that in the end no fight had broken out. Just when the two sides were posturing, suddenly a teacher came, and the matter dissolved.
In truth, during student days, very few shouting matches ever evolved into real fights.
If an actual fight did break out, Chai Meichan would definitely find out afterwards, because every time Zhou Rui was in a fight, he never emerged unscathed. He would always rush to the front, hitting the hardest.
The other side knew to capture the king first to capture the thieves, so even more people would "look after" Zhou Rui, with a whole group surrounding just him.
This was the "jianghu" of these silly boys.
Afterwards, they felt they owed the "brother in society" a favor.
Some time later, a girl the "brother" had taken on as a younger sister had been dumped and was threatening suicide every day. The "brother's" philosophy was that there is love to be found everywhere, and he would find her an even better guy.
At the time, the "brother" thought of Zhou Rui, but Zhou Rui already had a girl he was interested in, the one who had slapped him.
So the "brother" didn't look to Zhou Rui, and instead introduced the heartbroken girl to Li Xiaonan.
Li Xiaonan wasn't interested in the girl at all, but felt he owed the "brother" so he went along with it.
After they got together, the two never went on dates or went out. Their only connection was occasionally exchanging WeChat messages. Li Xiaonan was the kind of person who didn't know how to pursue a relationship. Every day it was the girl taking the initiative to contact him, and he would politely reply.
No wonder the girl started missing her ex-boyfriend again. No contrast, no harm done.
When they found out this time that the girl was back in contact with her ex, the three boys were incredibly excited, thinking to record a video to keep evidence. That way, even if the "brother" asked, they could say the girl was being unfaithful.
Their goal this time was just to catch them in the act and break up as a matter of course.
After hearing everything, Chai Meichan couldn't help frowning and asking, "Don't you feel this is all kinds of wrong?"
"I also feel it's pretty questionable. Fortunately we broke up. Never doing this kind of thing again, too tiring for the heart," Zhou Rui said with a sigh after he finished speaking.
Li Xiaonan, who was usually disillusioned with the world, also sighed after hearing the story.
Finally, relief.
"Seeing it like this, there's not much need for me to pretend anymore, is there?" Chai Meichan scratched her hair and asked.
"From Li Xiaonan's perspective, it's pretty satisfying, plus they have nothing to criticize Li Xiaonan for now over there. It's pretty good," Yang Ming said first.
"Right!" Zhou Rui nodded emphatically.
"You three, come over here." Chai Meichan crooked a finger at the three of them.
The three boys all looked at her. Zhou Rui was the first to obediently follow Chai Meichan's direction and sit down on the school bench.
Li Xiaonan still wasn't used to this, but could only docilely sit as well.
Yang Ming was even more of a coward, sitting more properly than the other two.
"You all really need a talking-to about your views on love. Otherwise, when you grow up, you'll turn into a trio of scum men for sure. When that time comes, don't blame me for hitting you," Chai Meichan said in exasperation, hands on her hips as she began to lecture the three.
"Auntie?" Yang Ming asked in surprise.
Chai Meichan walked over and knocked Yang Ming's duckbill cap: "You're the chattiest. Just listen to what I have to say."
Yang Ming hurriedly nodded.
"When you don't like a girl, then don't get together with her. That's already a type of harm. The most despicable reason to date is to satisfy physiological needs. The most shameless reason is inability to refuse. You're human. Can't you control yourself?"
Chai Meichan was particularly sensitive about this aspect, perhaps because she had been hurt before.
She really shouldn't be the one to teach other people's children, but she just couldn't help it. After saying her piece she would shut up.
Not scolding a bit when running into this kind of thing really wasn't Chai Meichan's personality.
She had liked that man before probably because he was different from these chuunibyou boys.
"No matter when, you must remember not to unwittingly harm someone just because you haven't done anything. If that girl was my daughter, and she encountered a brat who shook her off like she was a burden, I would definitely be furious. I might come find you with a stick and beat you. "
Chai Meichan got so angry she had to take deep breaths to calm herself, while still saying: "I thought the girl was cheating, and went to help you all find a chance, but what was the result? Li Xiaonan, do you really have no fault in this matter?"
Li Xiaonan lowered his head, brows knitted tight, and after a long while finally said in a low voice: "I'm sorry."
"Apologizing to me is useless. You have to explain clearly to that girl, tell her you don't like her, say sorry for deceiving her this time, and say she can hit you or curse you as she pleases after this. If you're a man, show some spine. But you can't make a mess like this, it's not right. From my perspective, you shouldn't have agreed in the first place. That's not how you repay a debt."
Zhou Rui, sitting to the side, was a little antsy now. He politely coughed and began to smooth things over: "Yes, yes, we were a bit out of line. Calm down now, and we'll deal with it after."
"That's enough. I'm going back to the dorm to sleep. You brats are just asking for a beating." Chai Meichan scolded them as she left. When she had walked some distance, she suddenly reacted and asked Zhou Rui: "Zhou Rui, what's this about you having a love interest?"
Zhou Rui had long since stood up, grabbing Li Xiaonan and dragging Yang Ming as they madly fled. Chai Meichan simply couldn't catch up to the three big boys, and could only let it go in the end.
She was so angry she forgot about the matter.
*
Chai Meichan entered the classroom and saw Zhou Rui writing something.
Her seat was in the row in front of Zhou Rui. She turned back to look at what Zhou Rui was writing, and saw a cup of milk tea also placed on the desk. She couldn't help nagging: "Drinking this stuff everyday is no good. It's all harmful things inside that are bad for your health if you drink too much."
"Oh."
"Always just 'uh-huh', who knows if you're even listening. And Coke and Sprite and all that, what's good about drinking it? Drinking too much is extremely bad for your health, you know? Nothing good inside. "
Zhou Rui had a headache just then, and hearing Chai Meichan's nagging was really too much. He sighed and said: "Uh-huh, I'll drink less."
"You should drink none at all."
"Can you give up meat? Do you need me to remind you what your physique was like before? If you give up meat, I'll give up soft drinks. Deal?"
"Hey! I've noticed you're getting quite arrogant recently!"
"Don't bother me, I'm doing proper work!"
"What proper work could you have?" Chai Meichan said, then picked up the paper Zhou Rui was writing to take a look. There were only three written characters: self-criticism.
"The verdict came out?" Chai Meichan immediately asked excitedly.
"Mm, public criticism. At next Monday's flag raising ceremony I have to read the self-criticism aloud to everyone. I'm working on it now..."
"Have any ideas?"
Zhou Rui shook his head: "Absolutely none."
"Be deeply introspective! Sincere! Integrate feeling, reflect on your own mistakes, then..."
"I didn't make any mistakes."
Chai Meichan's words stumbled to a halt. She looked at Zhou Rui, not knowing what to say.
"Forget it, don't bother with me," Zhou Rui said, about to shoo her away.
Chai Meichan looked at Zhou Rui for a while, then reached out and took his milk tea, sticking in the straw to drink a sip. She wanted to see what was so tasty about the stuff.
When she was in her thirties she had tried it once, and felt it wasn't tasty at all. She liked the fruit juice she squeezed herself much better.
But this time after drinking a sip, she unexpectedly felt it wasn't bad.
She took a taste, then drank another sip.
Soon, Chai Meichan had drunk most of the milk tea.
Zhou Rui's self-criticism was still stuck on the three character title. Finally, Chai Meichan couldn't stand to watch any longer. She said to Zhou Rui: "You write it. You are Zhou Rui of Grade 10 Class 3 at the international branch. Write what happened on what day. If you don't think you did wrong, then talk about the future and life, share some ideals."
"Ideals?" Zhou Rui asked in puzzlement.
"Right, like wanting to be a scientist in the future."
"Spare me."
Zhou Rui looked disgusted and was about to continue writing himself, when he glanced up and saw Chai Meichan had also taken his milk tea away.
By the time his self-criticism was more or less finished, he looked up again only to find the milk tea cup was empty.
When they returned from morning exercises, some of the lines passed by the milk tea stands in the school buildings.
Students would often take the chance to go buy a drink, with long lines each time.
When Chai Meichan walked by the stand, she halted and stared at the menu board.
Zhou Rui had already walked ahead, but looked back and didn't see Chai Meichan, so he returned, and Li Xiaonan followed along too.
"What is it?" Zhou Rui asked, standing next to Chai Meichan.
Chai Meichan politely coughed: "Just looking."
"Want a drink? I can buy you another one?" Zhou Rui raised his eyebrows. He knew Chai Meichan all too well.
"No... no need..."
"Three Musketeers? The pearl, coconut, and pudding milk tea?"
"I want to try the cocoa one."
"Want a strawberry smoothie? Those are pretty good too."
"No, can't drink too many cold things, bad for the health."
Zhou Rui pulled Chai Meichan off to the side to wait, so the students entering the building wouldn't bump into her. "I'll buy two cups. If you really don't like it, just give both to me, alright?"
"Alright." Chai Meichan nodded with a smile.
Zhou Rui went off to line up. As soon as he got close, many people made way for him to cut in line, looking quite willing.
Chai Meichan couldn't help raising her eyebrows at this spectacle.
This brat was timid as anything at home, but seemed to have some prestige at school, with quite a few people afraid of him.
But this made Chai Meichan even more concerned. Boys who throw their weight around too much spell trouble, easily drawing misfortune.
Many people felt that defeating the toughest schoolyard bully would make them famous, so even when Zhou Rui did nothing, it could still invite trouble.
As someone who had been through this phase, she understood these kids.
The student days were just like returning to primitive times, where whoever's fist was fiercest was the toughest.
Immature youths always lacked maturity. Wanting to look cool but not knowing the proper way, they'd probably regret it after growing up and looking back.
But they wouldn't realize it while in the midst of this phase.
She had liked that man before probably because he was different from these chuunibyou boys.
"She helped me last time, so I'll treat this time." Li Xiaonan, standing to the side, spoke up.
Zhou Rui didn't fight him for it at all and immediately nodded: "Sure, you scan the code."
After buying two drinks, Li Xiaonan also bought a fruit tea for himself. He casually handed the purchases to Chai Meichan: "I explained clearly to her. Thank you for telling me those things."
Chai Meichan didn't take them. Zhou Rui grabbed the drinks instead.
The two of them didn't have Chai Meichan carry anything when they were out together.
Walking back, Chai Meichan softly praised Zhou Rui: "You're more sensible than other people's kids in this regard."
"Of course!" Zhou Rui preened.
"I've always wondered, why did your school paint the stairwells all colorful? So girly?"
"I wonder too. Painted like an elementary school, the junior high doesn't even have such a childish vibe."
Chai Meichan dashed ahead a few steps: "I'm going to pop into the restroom."
"Oh." Zhou Rui carried the drinks back to the classroom.
Chai Meichan had just gone in and not yet queued up when she was suddenly surrounded. The girl in front was the one who had hit Zhou Rui.
