And the story has just begun
The design of the school building of NingCheng Third Grade Junior High School was both modern and striking. Decorated with a wall of glass, which coordinated with the airborne UFO ceiling. There was no need to be using sugar roasted chestnuts as currency to take the bus as Young Master Ji had once thought Lin Jing didn’t know. Young Master Ji was in a bad mood. He had thought of Lin Jing as a silly unctuous monster who had been separated from human society for many years, but in truth..Lin Jing was just pretending for the sake of receiving benefits at every opportunity– the more Young Master Ji was acquainted with such a person, the more he grew disgusted and the more he felt Lin Jing as unpleasant.
In the math office, Li JianSheng was chatting with the two students. In fact, he didn’t have any significant issues to talk about. He just routinely communicated about the study progress with Lin Jing, the transfer student, and emphasized the importance of mathematics, while conveniently introducing the class representative to Lin Jing, so that Li MoYuan could take care of his new classmate.
“The next week’s exam is slightly beyond the scope of the current syllabus, but you have no need to worry.” Li JianSheng then said, “The matter of the transfer student’s score belongs to special circumstances due to his transfer and being new, so this time Lin Jing’s results will not be shown on the big billboard.”
“Thank you, teacher.” Lin Jing nodded, but at the same time, felt slightly perplexed, “What is the big billboard?”
“A board that shows the scores of everyone that took the exam.” Li MoYuan pointed out the window, “Right next to the bulletin board.”
Lin Jing looked in his pointed direction, where a group of school workers were busy posting scores. The new list should be the ranking of the last exam’s final results.
NingCheng Third grade Junior High School also had a similar top list, but only the top 100 in the grade were to be listed. The top 100 belonged to the honor category that students want to be in. ShanHai High School was way more brutal in this regard, the list featured the highest grade at the top to the lowest grade at the bottom, and the scores were detailed to the ranking of each individual subject. Lin Jing was standing in front of the tall wall made of glass, as his line of sight had landed on a familiar name at the bottom – 27 in Mathematics, 38 in English?
Li MoYuan, who was ranked first place in this grade, also found this score to be unbelievable, but since Ji Xingling was usually well-behaved in the class, he still kindly was gentle in this regard, “Maybe he was sick on the day of the exam ba.”
Lin Jing felt from the bottom of his heart, “Then he must have been really unwell, so much that he couldn’t concentrate to such a degree.”
As soon as the sentence had been said, a basketball hit the ground with a “bang”, causing loud noises and dust to flutter all over! Both were startled; even Ge Hao, who wasn’t far away, was also startled. He asked the person next to him dazedly, “Brother Xing, why did you suddenly throw my basketball?”
Ji XingLing coldly snorted, as he turned around and entered the teaching building.
Ge Hao felt an urge to cry without tears. He looked at two people beside the bulletin board, and displayed a smile that looked to be uglier than an actual crying face— I don’t know anything, really.
The poor basketball had tumbled a bit and finally stopped next to a pair of pointed leather shoes.
After seeing who the other party was, Ge Hao gasped in horror and rushed back to the classroom on the second floor to inform, “Brother Xing, Brother Xing! You were caught by Mr. Niu for throwing balls all over!”
Mr. Niu’s full name was Niu WeiDong. And Niu WeiDong had the habit of always using a large amount of hair spray to cover the front part of his head with hair from the more rear part.. as do many other men with hair loss troubles. Depending on different techniques, the hairstyle was always erratic between the old-school Hong Kong star and the Hualun tongxue15. His leather shoes were polished, shining bright, and he never wore leisure pants nor black sandals. He became the most fashionable middle-aged male teacher in ShanHai. It was said that in his early years, when he was a youth.. he was one that could dance break and disco with a foreign style, but it was only limited to his “early years”. The current dean Mr. Niu was a true strict teacher, who even the chosen one, Li MoYuan, felt timid about when meeting.
15Kazuhiko Hanawa (花輪 和彦Huā lún héyàn) – Kazuhiko Hanawa (Hanawa Kazuhiko, 花輪 和彦) is a male character and 3rd-grade elementary student in the Japanese manga and anime series Chibi Maruko Chan. He is frequently addressed as ‘Hanawa-kun'(花轮同学Huā lún tóngxué) by Maruko in the series. Hanawa is famously known for his brown side-swept ‘flicked’ hair, in most cases sweeping to the left side.
“Are both of you okay?” Niu WeiDong was looking bad, as he picked up the basketball.
Li MoYuan shook his head, “It’s okay, Teacher Niu, we’ll go back to class right away.”
Lin Jing asked in a low voice, “Who?”
Li MoYuan answered, “Dean of students.”
Lin Jing, “…”
The dangerous behavior of hurling the basketball at classmates, no matter where, will be punished. Ji XingLing went to the dean’s office and successfully received the 3,000 words of handwritten self-reflection. The whole class 2-1 also suffered along, with half of their civilization points deducted, and honorably became the bottom of the entire grade.
Wang HongYu was dizzy with anger, and called the culprit to his office during the big break, “Why did you throw a basketball toward your classmates?”
Ji XingLing replied in a neither light nor heavy tone, “It was accidental, the ball slipped from my hands.”
“The security department has brought in surveillance footage to be investigated. Can you call it a hand-slip?” Wang HongYu turned the computer around and snapped, “Take a good look at it yourself!”
Ji XingLing glanced at the screen, feeling that his actions at the time had nothing to do with “an accident”, so he corrected himself and changed his response, “I was joking around with my new classmate.”
“And you’re still saying that!” Wang HongYu raised his voice, “I’ll ask again, why did you use the basketball to try and hit Li MoYuan?”
Ji XingLing: ?
The students in class 2-1 knew fully well that though their homeroom teacher might appear to be kind and honest with a smile at first.. In truth, he is intelligent, wise and knows how to use his shortcomings to his advantage. There are rarely any times that trickery is allowed to pass under his nose. ..Though, even with Mr. Wang being so cunning and wise, it was truly impossible to be able to connect the dots and understand that the conflict was with Lin Jing, who had just transferred and came to class for the first time. Ji XingLing decided to just seize this as a chance to admit and get it over with, “Because Li MoYuan got ranked first place in the exam, I was jealous of him.”
“You are jealous…” Wang HongYu was in a complicated mood and became unable to come up with a good way to reprimand for quite a while. Then the pre-class bell rang just in time, and he stood up while holding the notebook, “Tell your parents to come to school on Friday, for now.. go apologize to Li MoYuan.”
Ji XingLing eyebrows hopped imperceptibly, “Okay.”
……
Hao getou16.
16Hao getou (好个头hǎo ge tóu) – okay, my ass/foot or Yeah, right! The meaning is contrarily, which it’s not okay at all. These phrases with similar structures are all in a negative tone or express disagreement of the speakers, like some kind of retorts.
The classroom was very noisy. Some were working on some questions, while some were chatting about celebrities. Li MoYuan was sorting out the test papers with his left hand and was flipping through some books with his right hand, with half a piece of bread dangling from his mouth.. He was able to accurately embody and show what a ‘race against time for learning’ is. Just then, there came someone who knocked on his desk. “Hey.”
The surroundings suddenly went quiet; Li MoYuan raised his head, “What’s the matter?”
Ji XingLing apologized without showing a change in his expression, “I shouldn’t have used a basketball to scare you just because I’m jealous of your good grades. I’m sorry.”
Li MoYuan suspected that he was experiencing a deep auditory hallucination, as his eyes were filled with the sentiment of “Did you end up eating the wrong medicine today?” The rest of the classmates were also slightly surprised to say the least. Since when has Young Master Ji been so concerned about his grades that he could still be consumed by jealousy.. Even if he isn’t able to get good grades.. shouldn’t someone with this person’s character and background have nothing to worry about since they only need to go back home to inherit hundreds of millions of fortune and the like ma?
Wang HongYu was very satisfied with this example of a good apology Ji XingLing had just displayed, so he dignifiedly expressed, “Don’t do it again, now let’s start the class.”
Ji XingLing gave his promise to never do so again and walked back to his seat without even giving so much of a glance anywhere else. Although Lin Jing, who was a newcomer, hadn’t figured out the ins and outs of the incident for the time being, he knew that 80% of the basketball incident had nothing to do with Li MoYuan. Sure enough, as soon as the after class bell rang, Young Master Ji stepped over his place and stretched out his hand coldly, “Give me back my things.”
Lin Jing had already prepared for this moment and returned the guidebook together with the eight pink bills. After clearing his debt.. he planned to skillfully disappear.
Ji XingLing glanced at the “debt” that was returned and reminded Lin Jing disdainfully, “The hot pot bill costs three hundred and five.”
Lin Jing stared at the other person with a look that expressed how much he thought Ji XingLing was a good-for-nothing kind of guy, as he drew another hundred yuan from his wallet.
Ji XingLing continued, “I don’t have change.”
Lin Jing almost blurted out “keep the change”, but since the young master seemed to be quite irritated at this time, he took out his mobile phone, “Then I will transfer it to you by WeChat.”
Ji XingLing looked around. He beckoned to Ge Hao and entrusted him to carry out the follow-up collection matters, with the apparent intention as “I don’t want this old unctuous monster to tarnish my noble circle of friends”. Unfortunately, Lin Jing wasn’t savvy enough and can only simply interpret this as hostility from a crazy person. Instead, Ge Hao, who had to accept his guilt for his new classmate and also his reverence for Xueba.. took it upon himself to send an explanation.
Yuan Shen: Brother Xing may be in a bad mood recently, don’t take it to heart.
After thinking about it, Lin Jing dismissed his original intention of deleting this newly acquired friend, and replied back with a smiling face emoticon.
Finally, the long awaited after-class bell rang, signaling the end of the five major classes in the morning. A large group of boys had gathered around Ji XingLing, while joking and chatting freely with him, then they all went to the cafeteria to eat. Lin Jing glanced at the tall and lean retreating figure in the crowd. He didn’t expect him to be so popular. The mobile phone on the desk, which vibrated and made a buzzing sound, was a message from a small group of friends from NingCheng Third Grade Junior High School, who were all concerned about the new life of the Xueba that had transferred.
Ke Da: A very nice experience, but I seem to have provoked some evil forces in the class accidentally.
BEAST: Hahahahahaha, is it for real?
Bu Lei: Big Brother, you wouldn’t be isolated from the class on your first day of class, would you?
Wei: Who is so shortsighted as to isolate you? Wait, Daddy will avenge you!
BEAST: Transferring schools only to then offend school bullies. Such similarity to the beginning of a fantasy love idol drama.
Ke Da: …
Lin Jing shoved his mobile phone into his trouser pocket, while he reflected on his careless choice of friends. Li MoYuan asked him as he moved sideways, “Wanna go to the cafeteria together?”
“Okay ah.” Lin Jing packed up his books, “Let’s go to the Nan Cafeteria.”
ShanHai High School has two large dining hall buildings, which are called Furong Garden and Nan Cafeteria; both have a regular serving and dining area on the first floor. The only difference is that the Furong Garden has a second floor. One can order from a cart full of food and beverages that are not part of the school subsides; the price was high and the place quiet. Lin Jing thought that no matter what, a young master like Ji XingLing, who was too lazy to queue up, will head straight for Furong Garden’s second floor, but life is as unpredictable as the weather at times. Today, it seems that Nan Cafeteria has a young lady serving food who bears a remarkable resemblance to a movie star, so a lot of boys had all ran there to join in on the fun. Therefore, at the window serving scrambled eggs with tomatoes, there was quite an unusual rush of students. The ignorant, staff lady who was serving rice bowls in a hurry.. She was truly amazed at how so many customers had lined up this suddenly and truly wondered how such cheap dishes could seem like delicacies in the students’ eyes.
Lin Jing wanted to leave right away.
Li MoYuan was also very puzzled, “Is Furong Garden closed today?”
“Of course not ah.” The male classmate who was passing by, wiggled his eyebrows as he explained, “The young lady who serves food in the third window looks like the Little Dragon Maiden17.”
17Little Dragon Maiden (小龙女; Xiǎolóngnǚ) – is the fictional female protagonist of the wuxia novel The Return of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong. In the novel, her physical appearance is described as follows: “skin as white as snow, beautiful and elegant beyond convention and cannot be underestimated, but appears cold and indifferent”.
Lin Jing looked at the forefront of the army crowd, and found Ji XingLing, who seemingly, seemed to be working rather hard and vigorously, with an expression that was quite difficult to describe in a few words.
At this very moment, Young Master Ji also wanted to curse. He was muddle-headed and confused when he was suddenly pulled over without even realizing what was going on.. He was pushed to the forefront by those out-of-control groups of class 2 bastards. This had truly made him lose his appetite. Plus, it took a lot of effort to jostle out while carrying an empty plate. Li MoYuan, who was holding a plate of fried noodles and drinks, sat opposite Lin Jing, and asked him, “What are you looking at ne?”
Lin Jing retracted his gaze, “Nothing.”
“Ji XingLing ba?” Li MoYuan inserted a straw into his drink, “He usually gets along pretty well with others, is there any conflict between the two of you?”
Lin Jing took a meal, “..How can you tell?”
Li MoYuan laughed, “My relationship with him is fine. The matter about his jealousy of my grades was just an excuse to deceive Mr. Wang.”
Lin Jing recalled his meetings with Ji XingLing, and honestly felt quite baffled. Anyhow, the bitter matter wasn’t worth talking about during the meal, so he just casually remarked, “It’s all good.”
Ji XingLing walked past their table, coldly “sneered”, and blatantly exposed the “it’s all good” lie then and there.
Lin Jing almost choked on the mouthful of fried noodles; he really didn’t want to talk to this person anymore.
After Ji XingLing returned to the classroom, the student on duty who had just cleaned up the podium was flabbergasted at the sight, “Brother Xing, why didn’t you go to eat?”
“The cafeteria was packed with people, and I just wasn’t hungry.” Ji XingLing pulled out his chair as he sent a WeChat message to Yu YiZhou, and asked him to help him bring back a bottle of soft drink while Yu YiZhou was at the dining hall. The huge and thick “treasured” book of the little country monster was still crammed in the book box, and a few large bills were slightly peeking out from the corners too. As they were pulled out, a silver-white card fell out onto the ground with a “click”.
“…”
Ji MingLang was the head of the Monster Management Committee. Ji XingLing had been influenced by him since he was a child, and he had seen a lot of strange things, but even the most absent-minded monsters knew that an ID was something that must be kept hidden well. Someone like Lin Jing, who clumsily lost his ID, only for it to then be found by someone else.. and then lost once again by Lin Jing. It almost seems as if Ling Jing has a brain problem.
The English teacher Ning FangFei then pushed open the door and walked in. She was holding a thick stack of lesson plans in her arms. Naturally, Ji XingLing, who was alone in the classroom, was asked by her to help and started to distribute workbooks.
“Don’t achieve this kind of English score again ah.” Ning FangFei had a kind and gentle personality and also had no particular deterrent or stigma when it came to admonished students. “Look at how tall and big you are; how can you get a fever like that during exams? You really need to strengthen yourself and properly exercise this semester.”
“Mhm. Thank you, teacher.” Ji XingLing listened to her gentle scolding, and to some extent, it was even more effective than the reprimand of the teaching director, Mr. Niu.
In last semester’s final exam, he really had a fever. Although.. Even without the fever, he wouldn’t get a high score ba, but it definitely wouldn’t go as far as not reaching a hundred, when the math and English scores were joined together. The reason for the fever had nothing to do with the quality of his physical condition. Whenever a growth spurt comes around, the young Qilin would become weak and sickly for quite some time. They would become dizzy and dazed, and it would feel as if a tender willow sapling was growing branches within their bones—a sensation that was quite sore but refreshing.
It is because of this reason that the adult Qilin, Mr. Ji, hadn’t expressed any dissatisfaction with his son’s final scores, but had signed the paper with a tremor of his hands as the old father in the family. The school report was so heartbreaking, that on the same day in the afternoon, Ji MingLang had agreed to his wife’s proposal, which was to move to Jiang’An ShuYuan as soon as possible when the new semester began, as to accept Baize Lion’s unbiased care.
Around half past one, the students who had finished their meal returned to the classroom one after another. Yu YiZhou put the chilled Coke on Ji XingLing’s desk, “Are you going to play ball after school?”
Ji XingLing leaned back on the edge of the desk, “I am moving today.”
“Really going to Jiang’An ShuYuan ah?” Yu YiZhou and Ji XingLing were both noble young masters. He naturally avoided the group renting community, as the corners of his mouth twitched, “What does Auntie think ne.”
Yes ah, what was my mother thinking ne? Ji XingLing was also baffled. Can I possibly go to Peking University or Tsinghua University if I move? What’s more, even Baize Lion himself had already come out three hundred times to refute the rumors, repeatedly stressing that he didn’t have the ability to give everyone the blue buffs18 that can boost their combat effectiveness. The “Scholars District” that those second-hand property agents came up with was not to be trusted; they’re all liars. Then, was there still any need to move?
18Blue BUFF – Some creatures have certain status effects benefits (also known as ‘buffs’) which increase their hero’s attributes. The blue buff is a specific kind of buff in games that reduces cooldown time and increases mana regenerate capabilities, which many mages and supports use to unleash their abilities.
Yu YiZhou patted Ji XingLing on the shoulder to comfort him.
The first two sessions from then on were English lessons.
It’s easy to get sleepy in the afternoon, and then, one gets even more sleepier when their stomach is full. No matter when the class bell rang, it wouldn’t be able to stop the students from yawning. However, Ning FangFei had a particular method of “Waking up the drowsy little whelps”, that was by arranging a group conversation or project on the spot. After fifteen minutes, three groups will be randomly selected to improvise and show on stage.
Afterward, they all sober up in an instant, howling and begging Miss Ning to be merciful.
Ning FangFei was amused, “Divide each group according to the old rules, two by two, Hurry!”
“Old rules” referred to pairing the front and rear row desk. Lin Jing was sitting in the sixth row, but the hapless guy in the fifth row was said to have been infected with chickenpox, and had already applied for leave before the mid-term exam. He originally planned to take the initiative to go and seek refuge with Li MoYuan, but under Ning FangFei piercing eyes and pointed finger, “Lin Jing, you are in a group with Ji XingLing, Yu YiZhou, you don’t need to participate in dialogue practice, go to the office to help me get papers.”
Ji XingLing, “…”
Miss Ning, you really know how to arrange things well.
Although Yu YiZhou had often followed Ji XingLing to skip classes, and his overall grades were just average, but this boy was a representative of the English class, and his spoken English was very fluent — the kind of fluent in which he has actually spent time abroad during the winter and summer vacations from primary school ‘till junior high school.
Lin Jing moved his chair and sat beside Ji XingLing.
The two handsome guys were arranged to sit together, and the girls in the class didn’t know who to envy for a while.
But the handsome guys themselves were obviously not in a good mood. Lin Jing flipped open the workbook, raised his head, and asked, “Do you have any suggestions?”
“You go practice yourself ba.” Ji XingLing was spinning the pen in his hand, slightly impatient, “There are more than twenty groups; we may not be drawn.”
“Are you sure?” Lin Jing casually wrote on the paper, “I’m a newcomer, and the teachers are always curious about newcomers. According to the norm, there is a 90% probability of being drawn.”
Ji XingLing: I don’t want to say anything or object.
“How about this topic?” Lin Jing pointed casually, “The discussion of a patient’s discussion.”
Young Master Ji agreed in a condescending attitude, and focused on the book.
Two minutes later, Lin Jing pushed the written dialogue draft over, “If you can’t remember, just take the notebook, let’s start ba.”
Ji XingLing was disgruntled, “Why should I start first?”
Lin Jing, “…”
Lin Jing, “Hello Doctor.”
There wasn’t much difference whether Ji XingLing started or Lin Jing, actually. Young Master Ji reluctantly accepted, glanced at the draft paper, and sloppily read, “…Hi Mike, The lab sent back the results to your b… blood work, and it doesn’t look too good.”
Lin Jing, “What’s wrong?”
Ji XingLing, “You’ve developed a serious infle… infection in your lungs, and you need… you need… you…”
No?! How come every word of mine was so tama19 long?!
19Tama (他妈tā mā) – One version is that: in the old times (about the Warring States Period), people said something like “你妈是贱人” (“your mom is a bitch”) as a swear word. But this being a whole sentence made it difficult to insert into other sentences to express the emotion. Thus, after a long time, “your” became “his” and “is a bitch” went missing, making it “他妈的”. As a result, just as the word “f…”, it’s very convenient to put into another sentence like “你他妈的干啥？”, which can be translated to “what the f… are you doing?”.
Unofficially, in oral, people also use 他妈的 equivalent to VERY. It’s equated to the British “bloody”. When used alone, it just means damn it, blast it, to hell with it, fucking, which usually just expressing anger. When not pointing to someone, it means someone is just complaining. Depending on contexts, it could be interpreted differently.
Lin Jing pursed his lips, as his eyes gave off an innocent air, “What’s wrong?”
Ji XingLing pulled the dialogue in front of him, and with facial paralysis said, “Me first.”
Fifteen minutes later, as expected, the first group that Ning FangFei had drawn was Lin Jing and Ji XingLing.
Although Young Master Ji’s lines were mainly as simple as What’s Wrong, Lin Jing still spread the notebook on the podium to prevent the other party from getting stuck for words – It showed clearly in his word and manner, his lack of confidence of Xuezha6. Ji XingLing was upset over the lack of confidence in him but he truly didn’t know where this aid of the gods that Lin Jing had given him came from. It was so rare for him to be able to go as far as to try to make a good showing. In little to no time, they had successfully completed the situational dialogue.
“Very good.” Ning FangFei took the lead in applauding the duo. “The next group, Wei Xue and Zhang TianMing, come ba.”
Ji XingLing sat back in his seat and glanced at Lin Jing with some triumph.
Lin Jing didn’t know what there was to be so smug about for being able to say What’s Wrong so fluently. Momentarily, he admired the narcissism of the other party.
The whole afternoon passed quickly. After the school bell had rung, Lin Jing and Li MoYuan greeted each other and went to the parking lot while carrying their school bags. There were already a few girls on the school bus. Seeing Lin Jing was getting on the bus, they unconsciously lowered their tone of speaking. Although the news about “a new handsome guy transferring to class 2-1” had spread throughout the school already, the girls still couldn’t help but be a little excited when the “Handsome guy” appeared as an actual person in front of them.
Lin Jing sat in the second row, plugged in his earphones, and focused on listening to English. The driver turned his head away and drove off; the sunset was separated by tinted film glass, leaving only a warm glow, which enveloped the tidy boy in school uniform and dyed his eyelashes golden.
The female voice from the earphones said, The story just begins.
The chirping of cicadas in summer has already become a little weak as the wind blows the yellow leaves.
-And the story has just begun.
…