Chai Meicen understood Zhou Rui's meaning and did not lose her temper. Instead, she smiled and asked him, "Do you know why I had the confidence to enroll you in classes when you were young?"
"Hmm?" Zhou Rui squatted in front of the desk with both hands on the tabletop and raised his eyebrows to look at Chai Meicen.
"It's because I could beat you up and make you obey me. If you dared to defy me, I would drag you back home. Now that you've enrolled me in these classes, do you think you can control me?" Chai Meicen answered very calmly, even chuckling along with him.
When mother and son chuckled together, their slyness was remarkably similar.
She's still your mother.
Zhou Rui's smile immediately faded. He cleared his throat and continued, "You can't do this. Let's be reasonable!"
"There's no reasoning with someone who's unreasonable. If you really want to fight me now, I'll let you use only one hand."
"No, are you taking advantage of the fact that I'm your...I can't lay a hand on you? You want me to use only one hand? Do you know how much taller I am than you?"
"My other hand will be clutching your allowance tightly. Don't even think about asking Xiaohouzi for allowance money, he listens to me."
Zhou Rui was immediately rendered speechless. Looking at the course schedule, he said to Chai Meicen, "Monday is dance, Thursday is calligraphy. I think this arrangement is pretty good."
"Oh, since you chose for me, I'm willing to take these classes," Chai Meicen immediately nodded.
She took her own form and looking at the English letters made her dizzy. She handed it to Zhou Rui again, "Help me fill out the course selection form."
Zhou Rui picked up a pen and filled out the form for Chai Meicen.
Yang Ming had been pacing around for a long time. Seeing that the two finally had a moment to talk, he immediately came over and asked, "Sister, what's your name?"
"My name is Chai Meicen," Chai Meicen replied.
She wasn't afraid to tell others her real name. After all, few people knew her full name.
Even the neighbors rarely knew her name. Previously, everyone called her Landlady.
She didn't know what these people were thinking. They actually thought her last name was Fang. Over time, many people called her Sister Fang or Auntie Fang.
"What a nice name!" Yang Ming immediately praised, "It sounds much better than Zhou Rui, this stupid name."
Chai Meicen suddenly felt like she had been stabbed in the chest. Zhou Rui's name was given by her.
As Zhou Rui filled out the form, he scolded, "Giving you face, aren't I?"
"Does Sister want to join the class group chat?" Yang Ming asked again.
"Sure!" Chai Meicen excitedly agreed.
Yang Ming came over with his phone and added Chai Meicen on WeChat. Seeing Chai Meicen's WeChat profile picture and name, he was startled for a moment.
The profile picture was a lotus bud about to bloom.
The WeChat name was Lotus Pond Moonlight.
It was quite elegant.
Chai Meicen entered the group and saw messages quickly scrolling in the group chat.
Classmate 1: I'm so excited to get to know a fairy!
Classmate 2: Can you feel it? There's a fairy aura in our classroom.
Classmate 3: Did she come in?
Yang Ming: Added her in.
Classmate 2: Lotus Pond Moonlight?
Yang Ming: Yes...
Lotus Pond Moonlight: Do I need to change to my real name?
Yang Ming: Yes.
Chai Meicen: Changed it.
Classmate 1: [Are you a fairy?.jpg]
Classmate 4: [You look like my mother-in-law.jpg]
Immediately after, Chai Meicen received a row of friend requests. She had just glanced at them when Zhou Rui also looked over and said unhappily, "Don't add them."
"Why not? Aren't we all classmates?" As Chai Meicen spoke, she quickly accepted all the friend requests.
Chai Meicen was a kind-hearted lady who would help scan codes for strangers on the subway. Of course she wouldn't reject them since she wanted to get to know Zhou Rui's classmates.
Chai Meicen heard a girl behind her snicker.
"Chai Meicen, why is your Moments feed all reposts of health articles? And these posts...the images are so blurry, they must have been reposted countless times already?" the girl asked, leaning forward.
Chai Meicen turned to look at her, confirming it was the girl who had lent her ID card.
"I think they must have some truth to them. Reading more can still be beneficial."
"You even believe those debunked articles?"
"Which ones?"
"Like this one about not buying lamb if there's an outbreak of sheep plague. If there really was an outbreak, it would already be chaotic everywhere. How could it only spread on Moments? And this one about winning a gold necklace in a lottery, they're actually all scams. They first make you pay a 79 yuan shipping fee, then they send you something with thin gold plating, far from worth 79 yuan."
Chai Meicen's eyes widened. Holding her phone, she turned to ask Zhou Rui, "Really?"
"Of course they're fake," Zhou Rui said after a glance.
"Oh my, how can these people be so nasty?" Chai Meicen frowned as she fiddled with her phone, unable to figure it out. She handed the phone to Zhou Rui, "Help me delete them. I don't know how. Don't let them fool others anymore."
"You can delete them by tapping here." Zhou Rui helped Chai Meicen delete the posts then gave the phone back to her, "You're not that old, how come you don't even know how to use a phone? The grandpas running shops downstairs are more tech-savvy than you."
Chai Meicen was speechless at Zhou Rui's words. She opened her mouth but didn't say anything.
When she gave birth to Zhou Rui, she was busy taking care of him, even with a nanny's help. She still had to get up at night to breastfeed.
When Zhou Rui grew a little older, he would grab at anything she held in her hands. So Chai Meicen didn't use any communication devices for a period of time.
By the time Zhou Rui finally became sensible, she already had a few years of gap in technology. She wasn't very good with computers or phones anymore.
During that time, she was estranged from everyone, without friends or relatives, so there was no one she needed to contact. Thus, there was no need to buy a phone.
Without a phone, she had no other expectations. She actually lived more carefreely.
There was only a landline at her home. She never bought a cell phone or computer, afraid Zhou Rui would get addicted to gaming.
When she saw people around her all had cell phones and not having one made things very inconvenient, she finally bought one. By then, cell phones had become smart phones that required tapping the screen. She used it even more clumsily.
Her WeChat contacts were mostly tenants and neighbors. Most of her peers worked, so she knew more grandpas and grandmas. With that social circle, over time she was also influenced in the way she posted...rather anxiously.
After filling out the form, Zhou Rui stood up and waved the paper at Chai Meicen with one hand, "I'll submit this to the teacher. Just stay in the classroom. I'll take you around school during lunch break."
"Oh, okay," Chai Meicen nodded.
The girl behind her stood up and leaned forward to Chai Meicen's side, saying, "Don't be shocked by the antics of our class. Although they don't look reliable, when things get serious they're very protective. The girls in our class are envied by all the girls in school because we're doted on."
"Hey, let me ask you something. What was the reason Zhou Rui got into a fight this time?" Chai Meicen asked.
Zhuo Wenqian was stumped by the question. She called out to Yang Ming, "Do you know the reason Zhou Rui fought this time?"
Yang Ming came over and said, "Don't know."
"Got silenced?" Chai Meicen narrowed her eyes and asked.
Yang Ming shook his head. "No need for that. I really don't know. Think about it. If Xiao Nao and I knew the reason, would it have been just Zhou Rui alone getting hurt? We all know that brat Sun Zi he beat up is detestable, but Zhou Rui had never even spoken a word to him before suddenly going to beat him up. We're puzzled too."
"You didn't ask?" Chai Meicen continued questioning.
"Asked, but Zhou Rui wouldn't say."
"Yet you told me Zhou Rui is a good person."
"Zhou Rui really is a good person. I believe in his character. I also firmly believe he's not the type to actively stir up trouble. Since he won't say, there must be a reason. If he could tell us, he definitely would have. Since he refuses to say, we don't ask."
Yang Ming spoke with conviction, as if believing in Zhou Rui was his faith.
Chai Meicen wanted to keep asking, but saw Yang Ming getting dragged away by the neck by Li Xiaonan.
"Wait!" Chai Meicen called out to the two of them. She still had many questions.
Li Xiaonan looked back and swept her a cold glance, the first time he spoke to Chai Meicen, "Don't even think about tattling."
Then he left.
Chai Meicen: ???
*
As the name suggests, the international class uses English instruction. There were 6 foreign teachers responsible for teaching different subjects.
In the morning classes, Chai Meicen listened with her head spinning. During lunch break, Zhou Rui asked her, "Want to walk around school?"
"No walking, my head hurts. Go buy me something random from the cafeteria. I'll nap for a bit," Chai Meicen declined with a shake of her head.
She had thought too simply about going to school. What was taught over 10 years later was completely different from before, especially the all-English instruction that really exhausted her.
When the black foreign teacher taught, she listened attentively, barely understanding half of the lesson content, her focus completely on his big white teeth.
Zhou Rui grinned as he looked at her, judging that she probably wouldn't last long.
The first class in the afternoon was an elective.
Chai Meicen chose Physics. Upon entering the classroom, she discovered it was a large lecture hall. The class next door was also in session.
Zhou Rui followed behind her, holding a book. He said to Chai Meicen, "Pick any seat."
Without thinking much, Chai Meicen pulled Zhou Rui to sit in the two seats in the very front middle row.
Zhou Rui suddenly attending class was already shocking enough to the other international class students.
The students who entered from junior high had known Zhou Rui for ten years. They dared to interact with Zhou Rui only because they knew each other inside-out. Students from other classes didn't even dare go near him.
The classmates of International Class 3 knew Chai Meicen was Zhou Rui's relative, but other classes didn't get the news and were unaware.
Seeing Zhou Rui actually accompanying a petite beauty to class, they immediately started whispering.
"Who's that girl? She doesn't seem familiar."
"So pretty. Such a pretty girl, we couldn't have not noticed her before."
"There are only five girls in Class 3 total. How could we have missed her? A new transfer?"
"Zhou Rui seems to treat her well...the way he looks at her is different from other girls."
"Are you blind? Zhou Rui was dragged into the classroom by that girl pulling his sleeve. Didn't you see? Could she be his girlfriend?"
At the same time, some took out their phones to secretly take pictures and spread the gossip everywhere.
The school tyrant appeared with an unfamiliar beauty. Did he break up with the school belle of the rocket class?
"Hey! Those seats are taken," a girl suddenly said softly to Chai Meicen. Noticing Zhou Rui look at her, she immediately shut up.
Chai Meicen didn't expect the seats to be taken. She immediately stood to leave, but was stopped by Zhou Rui pressing down on her shoulder, "You sit here, I'll go to the back."
Chai Meicen continued sitting as she looked around, still not seeing any belongings occupying the seats, not even books.
"Don't bother looking, this seat is reserved, it's the exclusive seat for the genius of our international class. Everyone has tacitly agreed not to sit here," Zhou Rui said to Chai Meicen as he rested his head on the desk.
Chai Meicen tilted her body slightly and nodded, "You guys are quite respectful of students who study well, even reserving seats for them."
"Respect what? The teacher is also familiar with this pattern. Whenever no one answers a question, the teacher calls on whoever sits here. Experience what it's like to be singled out by the teacher yourself," Zhou Rui made endless efforts to pit his mom.
"..." Zhou Rui was constantly trying his best to make things difficult for his mother.
Zhou Rui opened his own schoolbag. Chai Meicen thought he would take out a textbook, but instead he took out a U-shaped pillow, put it around his neck after opening it.
The moment Chai Meicen saw it, she was annoyed. She raised her hand and slapped Zhou Rui on the head, "Why don't you just move your quilt over?"
After this slap, the entire classroom instantly fell silent.
At this time, Chai Meicen looked petite, with an extremely pure and delicate appearance, giving people an urge to protect her.
Yet she directly "exploded" the head of the school bully?
What's this girl's background?
Zhang Ru Cheng entered the classroom just in time to witness this scene.
His footsteps halted as he looked at Chai Meicen sitting in his usual spot with some surprise. He hesitated for a moment before sitting next to Zhou Rui, leaving Chai Meicen to sit alone in the front row.
Just as the classroom was as silent as chickens earlier, now the pot exploded.
Chai Meicen turned her head to look at Zhang Ru Cheng. Zhang Ru Cheng also smiled at her, his eyes curving into little crescent moons when he smiled.
Chai Meicen politely smiled back.
Someone in the classroom secretly recorded a short video, showing Zhang Ru Cheng sitting next to Zhou Rui, and the moment Chai Meicen and Zhang Ru Cheng looked at each other.
Including... Zhou Rui looking at Zhang Ru Cheng with a disgusted, gritted teeth expression.
Zhang Ru Cheng, the current school hunk of Jiahua International School, the genius of the international class.
Originally, Zhou Rui could also be the school hunk, but Zhou Rui was not rated highly. He lost unwillingly and resentfully, and felt that Zhang Ru Cheng was particularly annoying. Usually Zhou Rui did not get along well with Zhang Ru Cheng.
Usually Zhou Rui called Zhang Ru Cheng "Zhang Harvard", because when Zhang Ru Cheng enrolled in high school as a new student representative, he publicly declared that his goal was to get into Harvard.
Zhou Rui also had the Harvard dream, just with a few more words - hahahahaha, I'm enlightened.
The name "Zhang Harvard" carried a bit of mocking meaning.
Today, the two handsome guys of the school became deskmates.
How interesting.
