During the afternoon self-study period when students could go to interest classes, Chai Meicen once again kept Zhou Rui behind in the classroom.
Zhuo Wenqian and Yang Ming were both afraid of Chai Meicen's remedial lesson formation, so they ran out early, leaving only Li Xiaonan behind.
If it was usual, Li Xiaonan would have slipped out with Yang Ming, but today he surprisingly stayed behind with Zhou Rui for Chai Meicen's remedial lesson.
Seeing this, Yang Ming was deeply moved. This is brotherhood! Li Xiaonan and Zhou Rui's relationship is so good!
After being moved, he ran away quickly, as if saying "forget about me, just save yourself!".
Sitting down, Zhou Rui looked at the big tailed wolf Li Xiaonan beside him and scoffed disdainfully.
Li Xiaonan ignored him and continued to open his book, waiting for Chai Meicen to assign questions.
This was his first time looking forward to a remedial lesson.
Chai Meicen rummaged through her bag for a long time before taking out a bottle of pills and slamming it heavily on the desk with a "bang".
"What is this stuff?" Zhou Rui asked as soon as he saw it.
"Emergency Heart-Saving Pill!" Chai Meicen said fiercely, "I'm trying my best not to get angry this time. This is the best I can do!"
Zhou Rui resignedly nodded, "Fine."
What else could he do, sever the mother-son relationship?
Before starting the remedial lesson, Chai Meicen first asked Li Xiaonan, "Is there anywhere you need extra guidance?"
"He's not much better than me. When he first joined the international class, he was totally confused," Zhou Rui started his fault-exposing mode.
Li Xiaonan pursed his lips and replied, "You can just teach according to your own thinking, I'm just here to listen."
Chai Meicen opened the textbook and started explaining what the teacher taught today.
In order not to seem particularly stupid, Li Xiaonan made a rare effort to listen in class today. After Chai Meicen explained it once more, he basically understood it.
But when it came to doing questions, he couldn't do it.
Zhou Rui was even worse than Li Xiaonan. At least Li Xiaonan could think of the right answers after thinking carefully.
Zhou Rui's answers completely relied on luck.
Seeing that Chai Meicen was about to get angry, Zhou Rui quickly took out his phone to message Zhang Ruchen: Help, martial arts emergency!
Zhang Ruchen: What happened?
Zhou Rui: Wow, you actually brought your phone today, impressive.
Zhang Ruchen: Oh, I was lying to you before, I just didn't want to reply to your messages.
Zhou Rui: ...
Zhang Ruchen: What's up?
Zhou Rui: Come to my classroom for a bit.
Zhang Ruchen: Too lazy to move.
Zhou Rui: Brother, please, Rui Rui is begging you!
Zhang Ruchen simply didn't reply anymore.
Zhou Rui could only put his phone away and continue answering questions. Seeing Chai Meicen staring at him, looking like she was about to snap her pen in half, he became vigilant.
After a while, Zhang Ruchen came and knocked before entering. He thought for a bit before sitting next to Chai Meicen, opposite Li Xiaonan and Zhou Rui.
Looking at the textbook, he said, "Let me explain to you guys."
"Great great." Zhou Rui immediately relaxed.
Li Xiaonan was quite unwilling, but didn't say anything.
Zhang Ruchen looked at where they were up to, and started explaining the questions at an unhurried pace, speaking emotionlessly as if chanting scriptures. At the end he asked, "Understand?"
But this was still better than Chai Meicen's through-gritted-teeth teaching. Every multiple choice question felt like a life-or-death decision.
After listening for a while, Chai Meicen, who was resting her chin on her hand, also started listening along.
After listening for a bit, she opened an app and started ordering things. Recently she had really become addicted to apps. Looking up, she asked the few of them, "Want to eat fruit?"
Zhou Rui was the first to reply, "Classmate, can you please not disrupt my learning?"
"Ok ok." Chai Meicen immediately nodded very cooperatively.
She was overjoyed whenever Zhou Rui wanted to study, she would agree to anything.
Chai Meicen sat obediently on the side for a while, but soon went to collect the fruit.
Their school allowed meal orders, but it had to be done sneakily.
Chai Meicen specially ran out to a corner to collect the fruit. Because she bought a large watermelon, it couldn't fit through the railings, so Chai Meicen worked with the delivery guy, hopping about trying to carry it in.
There were other male students who jogged over to help carry the watermelon in for Chai Meicen, and were exceptionally enthusiastic about helping her carry it to the classroom.
Chai Meicen then thought about it and went to the supermarket to buy them ice cream too.
She was the type of person who would get angry teaching Zhou Rui, but when she saw Zhou Rui really start learning, she would become extremely delighted, giving him a massage or buying Zhou Rui tasty snacks.
If Zhou Rui wasn't quite active himself and liked exercising, he would probably be fat by now.
She and the male students carried the things back together. Chai Meicen even gave the male student an ice cream, making him extremely happy.
When he looked up, he saw Zhou Rui and Li Xiaonan glaring at him, and quickly grabbed the ice cream and ran off.
Zhou Rui was really at a loss with Chai Meicen. Even just going out to collect fruit was so troublesome with her.
She placed the watermelon on her desk, then froze.
Li Xiaonan had been watching her since she entered the classroom. Seeing her hesitate, he immediately asked, "What's wrong?"
"I bought a watermelon, and even specially bought four spoons," Chai Meicen pointed at the bag.
"And then?" Li Xiaonan continued asking.
"I forgot to buy a knife, how do I cut open this melon?"
"The school doesn't allow knives," Zhou Rui immediately said.
"I guess no one would be willing to bring a knife to school either," Zhang Ruchen also glanced back.
"You guys study first, I'll think of a way," Chai Meicen stood on the side, hands on hips, staring at the watermelon. She had also placed the ice cream on the desk.
Zhou Rui wasn't polite and started eating it straight away.
Shortly after, he saw Chai Meicen tie up the plastic bag, then slammed her palm down. The watermelon immediately exploded.
Zhou Rui nearly choked on the ice cream.
The new school belle doing this?
Wasn't she afraid of being ruthlessly stripped of her title after a day?
Zhou Rui looked at Li Xiaonan, thinking he must be afraid to confess his feelings now right?
Unexpectedly, Li Xiaonan actually raised his hand and pointed, "I want that piece."
"Ok, I'll wipe it and give it to you. There are still bags here, you can hold it and eat it," after wiping it, Chai Meicen gave Li Xiaonan one piece.
"Thanks." Li Xiaonan accepted it and started eating with a spoon.
Zhang Ruchen looked back, chose a piece and started eating too.
Zhou Rui suddenly felt that he was the one who lacked experience instead. Just as he was about to speak, he saw Chai Meicen take a piece for herself, then gave him all the remaining pieces.
The watermelon wasn't divided equally. The other three people's shares combined was only as big as his share.
But he didn't mind and happily ate it.
"It's quite sweet," Zhou Rui praised.
"Mm, drought this year, the melons turned out well," Chai Meicen replied.
Zhang Ruchen was actually explaining questions while eating and spitting watermelon seeds at the same time, "If a polar coordinate equation is r=, pfft...then to find the area, integrate r, pfft..."
When the interest classes ended, Zhuo Wenqian and the others returned.
Upon entering the classroom and seeing Zhang Ruchen actually in their classroom, even helping Zhou Rui with remedial studies, Zhuo Wenqian froze in her steps.
Seeing the others return, Zhang Ruchen left. Zhuo Wenqian watched him leave the entire time.
After he left, Zhuo Wenqian started crying.
"The school prince was in our classroom...and I wasn't here...wah wah, why didn't you guys call me back...wah wah, what did I miss! I missed my opportunity at love!" Zhuo Wenqian lay collapsed on the desk bawling, stubbornly clutching Zhou Rui's sleeve.
Zhou Rui was extremely helpless, "You ran away so quickly yourself, couldn't even catch you."
"Who would have thought the school prince would come!..."
"Or I could record you like this and send it to Zhang Harvard, what do you think?"
"No!" Zhuo Wenqian let out a heart-wrenching shriek.
At this time someone called Zhou Rui out of the classroom. Shortly after, Zhou Rui came back holding a form and stood at the lectern, asking the class, "For the basketball match, who wants to be in the starting line-up and who wants to be a substitute?"
The benefit of having more boys in the class was that they didn't need to think about having enough people, whoever went up would be a dude.
"The starting line-up must be Brother Rui and Brother Nan, let's rationally discuss the rest, don't fight over it." Yang Ming sat on the table and asked.
Li Xiaonan had already returned to his seat. In an indifferent tone he said, "I'm not participating."
"Why? You two coordinate the best together." Yang Ming was shocked straight away.
"Whether I want to participate or not is none of your business," Zhou Rui immediately spat disdainfully.
Yang Ming could tell these two masters were really not getting along today.
"For the girls..." Zhou Rui started saying.
Having few girls in the class was also good. They didn't need to think about who to pick, just send five up, and one as a substitute.
"Us girls forfeit ba, don't want to be there as extras." Zhuo Wenqian raised her head after wiping away her tears and said.
"Don't worry, the girls aren't that good at basketball anyway, Chai Meicen alone could take them all out." Zhou Rui was especially confident in Chai Meicen after fighting her before.
Upon hearing this, Li Xiaonan immediately looked over.
Chai Meicen is participating too?
Zhuo Wenqian immediately perked up, "All the girls from dance class are cheerleaders. We've been practicing routines recently!"
"Then won't we get to watch my beauties dance if we go to support the match?" Yang Ming immediately became interested.
"What about me, why aren't you interested in me?" Zhuo Wenqian immediately interrogated Yang Ming.
"I'm looking forward to it, really looking forward to it!" Yang Ming displayed his will to survive. "It's just because we're so familiar after seeing each other for so many years, I forgot to mention it earlier."
After discussing, Yang Ming turned back to ask Li Xiaonan again, "Brother Nan, you really aren't participating?"
"Uh... then sign me up ba," Li Xiaonan said in a low voice.
"Pretentious prick." Zhou Rui still couldn't help cursing when writing down Li Xiaonan's name.
During evening self-study, Chai Meicen sat in the classroom doing homework.
Evening self-study for the international class was optional and not compulsory. Some students had already returned to their dorms to rest, while others went out to play.
Today Zhou Rui took a few classmates out to play basketball after arranging the match, and Chai Meicen didn't stop them.
Li Xiaonan was sulking with Zhou Rui today. He was slumped over his desk but couldn't fall asleep, so he kept looking at Chai Meicen's back in front of him.
When you like someone, even the back of their head looks especially good.
Chai Meicen's hair was jet black and quite coarse-looking, making her neck appear slightly raised. Li Xiaonan thought her spiky hair was rather cute.
Just then, someone rushed into the classroom and said, "Those bastards from the sports school came to our school again. Someone saw them heading to the gym - Zhou Rui and the others seem to be inside!"
Li Xiaonan immediately sat up and asked, "What's going on?"
"Zhou Rui borrowed the gym keys from the teacher so it's convenient for them to practice. But he ended up attracting those people over."
Li Xiaonan promptly went to his locker to grab something. Soon he took out a baseball bat.
When he turned around, he saw that Chai Meicen had run over to his side at some point. She was staring at him with narrowed eyes and asked in a dangerous tone, "What's happening?"
"Uh..."
Li Xiaonan had always felt that Chai Meicen was a tattletale. This time was no exception.
"Don't worry about it," Li Xiaonan said as he lowered his head to message people in the group chat, wanting to leave. But he saw that Chai Meicen was following him.
"You should go back and do your homework," Li Xiaonan immediately stopped Chai Meicen.
Even if he was upset with Zhou Rui, Li Xiaonan would not sell him out. Fighting was not something she should know about, or she might tattle afterwards.
But Chai Meicen was very persistent. "Tell me what's going on."
"You really shouldn't get involved."
Chai Meicen stopped asking Li Xiaonan. She simply headed towards the gym on her own - it wasn't like she didn't know the way.
Li Xiaonan hurriedly grabbed her and called to Zhuo Wenqian, "Zhuo Wenqian, take her back!"
Unexpectedly, Zhuo Wenqian came out carrying an iron rod. "I'm going too!"
There were few girls in Class 3 of the international department. It was rare to have a girl who was also influenced by teenage hormones and became manlier than the boys.
"It's not appropriate for you to go..." Li Xiaonan was truly helpless. Bringing two girls to a fight, what was this, a cheerleading squad?
But Chai Meicen was exceptionally stubborn. "Tell me what's going on."
"You really shouldn't get involved."
Chai Meicen stopped asking Li Xiaonan. She simply headed towards the gym with Zhuo Wenqian in tow, chatting about the situation.
Their school was not far from a sports academy.
Because their school was rich, they had nice facilities that the sports academy had borrowed for a period to practice for competitions.
It was only supposed to be for a short while until after the competitions. But after using their facilities, the sports academy students felt it was comfortable and well-equipped here. Disregarding their prior agreement, they shamelessly trespassed after school.
Zhou Rui was keen on sports and often used the gym. As a member of the school's athletics department, he knew how long they had borrowed it for. Seeing their lack of integrity, he went to talk to them.
The sports academy people were very arrogant, saying they were future athletes so they were requisitioning the facilities. Zhou Rui and the others should focus on studying hard instead of occupying the nice gym and wasting resources.
One thing led to another and fights broke out between them.
After one previous fight, the sports academy people laid low for a while. But one day, Zhou Rui was playing poker in the dorm when he heard they had trespassed again and even made duplicate keys.
That day Zhou Rui led a group to confront them. With greater numbers and home advantage, none of the trespassers fared well. Some were injured, and things escalated.
Jiahua School protected their own to some extent and made it clear to the sports academy that their students were barred from entering in the future. Any trespassers would be considered intruders and reported to the police.
But Zhou Rui and the sports academy people harbored grudges against each other.
In the hot summer, Zhou Rui and his friends avoided the gym and played basketball outdoors to blow off steam.
It was only because the school had a competition that they went to the gym today. The indoor lighting and quiet made it convenient for Zhou Rui to strategize. But they didn't expect those bastards to show up again.
Did they have no shame?
After hearing the gist of the situation, Chai Meicen was worried about Zhou Rui.
This wasn't a situation that Zhou Rui had provoked. But if things really escalated, he would be implicated despite having enough on his plate already.
By the time their group reached the gym, the two sides were only yelling insults and hadn't started fighting yet.
Zhou Rui was being especially aggravating, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the court and saying, "Didn't I say, if you come again you'll be my son. Looks like you guys just lack fatherly love."
Zhou Rui had a peculiar fixation on collecting sons. Without much effort from her, Chai Meicen already had a lot of descendants.
He had just finished gloating when he caught sight of Chai Meicen and practically leapt up, stumbling a few steps and barely keeping his balance.
Having experienced skipping class with mom once before, was he going to experience mom accompanying him to a fight this time?
Because Chai Meicen was anxious, she had rushed ahead of the others.
She pushed open the gym door and strode in, followed by Li Xiaonan, Zhuo Wenqian and the rest, looking rather heroic. It was as if the entourage behind her were her underlings.
After she walked over, she stood by Zhou Rui's side and asked, "What's going on?"
Zhou Rui was momentarily at a loss for words as he pondered how to make something up.
Seeing Chai Meicen, one of the sports academy guys who was over six feet tall also became excited. He sidled up to the leader Hui Ge and spoke haltingly in agitation, "Hui Bro, the campus belle of Jiahua is here. She's even prettier than the photos!"
Hui Ge also looked towards Chai Meicen, swallowing his saliva.
There were beauties in their sports academy too, just not in their district. The academy's districts were divided by sports. This district was exclusively male. They might not even see someone as beautiful as Chai Meicen after eight hundred years.
They often paid attention to news about Jiahua, so they had heard of the new campus belle and even circulated her photos. But they didn't expect to see her in person today.
Her looks were...indescribable! Gorgeous! A fairy.
"We were having a dance battle..." Zhou Rui managed to squeeze out after a long pause.
"What does that mean?" Chai Meicen kept asking.
"Street dance. Freestyling." After Zhou Rui replied, he told Yang Ming beside him, "You've learned street dance before, you go first."
Yang Ming had been clamoring boastfully at Zhou Rui's side earlier. Suddenly put on the spot, he was taken aback and confused.
"Huh?" He seemed not to have heard clearly.
"Hurry up. He who hesitates is lost. If I don't go up now I'm finished." Zhou Rui urged Yang Ming again.
Still completely bewildered, Yang Ming went up. He looked back uncertainly at Zhou Rui again, and saw Zhou Rui even giving him a thumbs up.
He could only brace himself and actually start dancing.
The scene was bizarre beyond words.
Usually Li Xiaonan would be at the forefront, but this time he surreptitiously shrank back to the most inconspicuous spot, only then feeling relieved.
He couldn't bear to watch this embarrassment, it would be too shameful.
The sports academy people were also dumbfounded by the sight. After Yang Ming finished dancing, scattered applause came from the Jiahua side.
They had come to pick a fight today and intentionally brought many people. Gathered together like this and watching a dance performance was quite...novel.
After hesitating for a while, Hui Ge glanced at the people he brought and asked after a long pause, "Do you guys...know how to dance?"
No one moved.
They had lost just like that.
Chai Meicen watched Yang Ming's face turn red from embarrassment down to his neck. She thought the poor child had been put in an unenviable spot.
What was the meaning of this scene? She wasn't stupid.
Did they think she was an idiot?
"Sports academy people," Chai Meicen suddenly took the initiative to ask.
Hui Ge immediately straightened up, maintaining a dignified manner as he nodded.
"Since you've come, let's have a basketball match," Chai Meicen suddenly suggested. "It's better than pointless fighting."
The sports academy people looked at each other in dismay.
Zhou Rui sidled up ingratiatingly and asked, "We're really playing?"
"Yeah, use them for practice."
"Great!"
Author's note: Sending out more updates like nutrients.
