OEBSAS |Chapter 24

Cui Hang let out a scream, bouncing as he hid behind Chen Yu, as if Shao Xian were some heinous great demon.

Chen Yu: “…” Damn it, how had he found such a cowardly loser!

“What do you want?” he asked weakly while acting tough.

Qian Wenjie had long disliked him, and the two of them had old grudges between them. This time, Chen Yu had even had someone hurt his little buddy, so he did not want to be gentle anymore either.

“Scheming against people in the dark, that’s fucking disgusting!” His thick brows showed utter contempt. “Chen Yu, if you’ve got the guts, then fight me openly and honestly.”

Of course Chen Yu would not go looking to get beaten up on his own initiative. “Fighting on campus is subject to disciplinary action. Qian Wenjie, do you think having a bit of money at home means you can do whatever you want?”

The way he said it made it sound like he himself had never relied on power before.

It was way too fucking hypocritical.

“Let’s not waste words anymore,” Shao Xian said lightly, holding the rattan stick in his hand as he looked at Cui Hang. “I heard your family’s been having some trouble lately, and you don’t have pocket money anymore, right?”

The Cui family had recently stumbled on a project, and the capital chain really had broken. The atmosphere at home was grim, and Cui Hang having less and less money on hand was the truth.

In his previous life, because Cui Yue was Shao Yun’s girlfriend, the Cui family had only gotten through the difficult period smoothly with the help of the Shao family.

“How do you know?” Cui Hang could not help asking.

Shao Xian smiled. “That’s not important. What’s important is that today you deliberately hurt Chen Baizhou, and you need to apologize to him.”

Apologizing was simple. Cui Hang inexplicably felt very afraid of Shao Xian, so he said without thinking, “Classmate Chen Baizhou, I’m sorry.”

Him being so tactful was simply astonishing. Chen Yu could not believe it and stared at him fixedly.

This was within Shao Xian’s expectations, though. After all, Cui Hang’s nature was just like that, able to bend and stretch.

“You and Chen Baizhou have no grudge or enmity. Why did you run into him?” The rattan stick lightly tapped in his palm again and again. In the quiet public restroom, it made people feel scared out of their wits.

Cui Hang looked at Chen Yu, then at the rattan stick in Shao Xian’s hand. He moved his lips, but still could not manage to say it.

It was already very obvious.

“Cui Hang,” Shao Xian said, taking a few steps forward and handing the rattan stick to him. Narrowing his eyes, he leaned close to his ear and deliberately frightened him in a slow voice. “I have a lot of ways to make sure you can’t survive in school, and I can also make your whole family disappear from Yan City.”

Cui Hang looked at him in shock, the rattan stick in his hand poised to fall but not quite falling.

“When you hit Chen Baizhou, you were so straightforward. Why are you afraid now?” Shao Xian sneered. “This is child’s play for you. Actually, I don’t mind calling the parents at all. After all, we’re all minors. If there’s any dispute, it’s better for both sets of parents to handle it.”

Of course they could not call the parents!

If the Shao family found out, could their Cui family still have any good days?

Compared with the Shao family, the Chen family was nothing at all.

He steadied himself and, rattan stick in hand, approached Chen Yu.

Chen Yu of course saw that something was wrong. He wanted to rush out of the restroom, but Qian Wenjie blocked the bathroom entrance like a door god, and he simply could not get out.

“Smack!”

The rattan stick landed heavily on Chen Yu’s back. Chen Yu wanted to fight back, but he was whipped by the rattan stick turning into afterimages, and he cried out in pain, able only to hold his head and flee in panic.

Cui Hang had originally been unwilling to make a move, but when he saw the pain on Chen Yu’s face, his expression suddenly changed, and some inexplicable emotion rushed into his chest.

He suddenly became very excited.

Again and again, the rattan stick landed on Chen Yu’s body. Chen Yu howled in pain, but Cui Hang only grew more and more worked up.

As Qian Wenjie watched, he gradually felt that something was not quite right.

He rubbed the goosebumps on his arm and asked Shao Xian in a low voice, “Xianxian, do you think Cui Hang is a little off?”

There was a kind of… very perverse feeling.

Shao Xian said calmly, “Maybe it’s because Chen Yu has been bullying him all this time. Now that his great revenge has been taken, he’s very happy.”

Actually, in his previous life, Cui Hang had already gone to prison because of his twisted violent tendencies.

Qian Wenjie felt that what he said made sense, so he accepted this explanation.

Not long after, Chen Baizhou, who had been silent all along, tugged at the hem of Shao Xian’s shirt, his expression very serious. “This restroom isn’t very clean. Let’s go out first.”

He had no interest in watching Chen Yu get beaten at all. He was only worried that the smell in the restroom would choke Shao Xian.

“Okay.” Shao Xian smiled, taking the two of them and turning to leave the restroom.

After they walked more than twenty meters away, they could still faintly hear the miserable howls coming from inside.

The sports meet ended with a bang. Class One of Grade Seven achieved outstanding results, and the whole class was very happy.

Because of this, the trio that had actively participated in the sports meet received praise and discussion from most of the students in class in private.

The girls wanted to be friends with Shao Xian and the other two, and the boys wanted to be friends with them too.

But Shao Xian’s group remained the same as ever, with no one else around them, and most people returned disappointed.

But gradually, everyone discovered that class monitor Hao Lu was actually able to discuss problems with the two top students from time to time.

A lot of girls envied, were jealous, and hated it, but there was nothing they could do. Who told them that Classmate Hao Lu was third place?

Top-three academic overachievers discussing problems together, it was normal that people like them could not squeeze in.

However, because of this situation, rumors in the class and even throughout the whole grade grew more and more intense. Some said Hao Lu had hooked up with Shao Xian, and some said she was together with Chen Baizhou.

Grade Seven was exactly the age when feelings first began to sprout, and the topic of who was friends with whom never lost its popularity.

In response, Hao Lu treated it all with indifference.

She was only doing it for studying. A clear conscience needs no defense.

But the rumors became more and more rampant. Sometimes when Hao Lu went to the restroom, people would even block her in the bathroom and threaten her.

The more she acted like she did not care, the more other girls wanted to tear off her hypocritical mask.

Qian Wenjie saw all of this, but he had no standing to interfere.

“Xianxian, do you think we should stay away from Hao Lu?” On the way home, Qian Wenjie said with considerable regret.

Shao Xian said lightly, “People have to take responsibility for their own choices. She knew that staying away from us could avoid those things happening, but she didn’t do it. Do you know why?”

“I don’t know.” Qian Wenjie really did not understand. Weren’t people all supposed to seek advantage and avoid harm?

Chen Baizhou suddenly said, “She doesn’t care what other people think. She only hopes she can become stronger.”

In a certain sense, this kind of person has very strong psychological resilience.

Qian Wenjie scratched his head in confusion. “Is her family situation bad? Wasn’t she in the same class as us in elementary school?”

“You care about her a lot,” Shao Xian said with certainty.

Qian Wenjie immediately stammered, “S-she’s pretty good. She’s always being bullied, it’s kind of pitiful.”

After he finished explaining, he closed his mouth and said nothing more.

Shao Xian smiled. It wasn’t that he didn’t help Hao Lu. He just knew that Hao Lu did not need these things.

Time passed very quickly. In the blink of an eye, the three of them had gotten through a peaceful Grade Seven, and during summer vacation, they passed the skip-grade exam and became Grade Nine students in September.

Skipping grades in middle school was also considered something novel, and the three of them became even more famous at school.

Qian Wenjie did not have much ambition to begin with, but under Shao Xian’s lead, he also felt that this kind of fulfilling life was actually pretty good.

Hao Lu also skipped a grade together with them, and she was in the same class.

Grade Nine was a graduating year. Everyone wanted to get into a good high school, so they paid a lot of attention to studying, and there were also fewer people looking for trouble with Hao Lu.

While others were painstakingly doing Grade Nine problems, Shao Xian and Chen Baizhou were already studying the Grade Eleven textbooks.

Qian Wenjie was dragged along to study too.

The teachers also did not care whether the three of them paid attention in class. Anyway, as long as their grades stayed up, they could read whatever books they wanted during class.

Including Hao Lu, the four top students put even more pressure on the class, and everyone was studying hard.

“Xianxian, tomorrow’s Saturday. How about we go out and have some fun after school today?” Qian Wenjie suggested.

He had almost been pent up crazy during this period of time.

Shao Xian did not refuse. “Where to have fun?”

“An internet cafe?”

In this era, computers had not yet become fully widespread. Shao Xian’s family had installed a computer, but he was not interested in that kind of desktop one, and the internet was quite slow.

Qian Wenjie’s family had one too, but Father Qian and Mother Qian did not understand it at all, and they had not even installed internet.

“Play what?”

“Legend!” Qian Wenjie said excitedly. “This game is super popular, and super fun too. I’ve always wanted to try playing it.”

Shao Xian asked Chen Baizhou, “Are you going?”

“If you go, I’ll go.” Chen Baizhou answered without thinking.

Looking at Qian Wenjie’s eager little eyes, Shao Xian could not bear to refuse either. They had been a little tense during this period, and it really was time to relax a bit.

“Fine, then let’s go to the internet cafe, but we can only play for two hours at most.”

The three of them agreed, and after school they went to the internet cafe.

In this day and age, internet cafes had not yet been restricted that much, and even three minors could slip in.

The three of them each bought two hours, and their computer seats were next to each other.

Almost everyone in the internet cafe was playing Legend. Shao Xian had played it back then too, but he was not very interested in online games, so he had already forgotten most of it.

Qian Wenjie logged into his account with excitement and opened the game interface.

“When did you get an account?” Shao Xian asked in confusion.

“I secretly got one,” Qian Wenjie said with a grin. “Do you want to play together too?”

“Nope,” Shao Xian opened the computer and casually browsed the web. “You play on your own.”

Qian Wenjie did not waste words either and started playing.

Shao Xian went into all kinds of forums to look at posts, when suddenly the sound of keyboard typing came from beside him. He turned his head to look.

Chen Baizhou was very focused, practicing fast blind typing.

Seeing Shao Xian look over, he explained, “I feel like I’m still too slow at typing, so I want to practice.”

“Pretty good.”

With both little buddies having their own things to do, Shao Xian did not idle either.

He browsed many forums and felt that most of what was inside was just pointless chatter, with very few truly meaningful posts.

However, computers were still a rather novel thing, and only a handful of people could afford to buy one. Many people at present had not even heard of computers.

Those who could post on computer forums mostly had some financial strength.

He was thinking about whether he should set up a forum himself, specifically for discussing difficult problems or topics prone to mistakes and so on, and establish a study group.

People said computers were very harmful to teenagers, but as long as they were used correctly, they could also do more good than harm.

Most of those who could join this type of forum loved studying, so this could also be considered a place where talent gathered.

But exactly how to operate it, he still needed to think carefully about it.

Because he was busy thinking about things, he did not carefully look at the content of the posts. He casually clicked open a URL, and at the very instant it opened, he suddenly jerked upright.

What that poster just said seemed to be… watching little movies?

Before he could close the page, a window suddenly popped up, and the pale, naked body on the screen instantly assaulted Shao Xian’s eyes.

When Chen Baizhou saw him suddenly stiffen, he could not help leaning in curiously to look. The next second, a faint blush immediately flooded his face. Quick as lightning, he hurriedly snatched Shao Xian’s mouse and decisively clicked the X.

Shao Xian came back to his senses, his face still burning hot. Facing Chen Baizhou’s strange look, he struggled to explain, “It’s not what you think.”

“Mm, I believe you.” Chen Baizhou pressed his lips together and nodded solemnly.

Shao Xian: “…”

But I can’t tell that you believe me very much!