Chapter 2

Shao Zhan

Xu Sheng had heard this name at least 6 times that day.

Every subject teacher after entering the classroom would say: "Let's guess who's the top scorer this time, or just forget about it, there's no use guessing since there's no suspense. But I still have to say, Shao Zhan left the second place behind by a whole 20 plus marks."

They then distributed the 30 plus copies of the high-scoring test paper to the rest of the class: "Look at his thought process as he solves the problems, then look at yourselves."

At first, Xu Sheng didn't know how Shao Zhan was spelt, but after the distributed test papers reached his hands, he inadvertently took a look at the printed words on the paper as he casually threw it aside.

It's not that he wanted to take a look, but it's just that the handwriting made it hard for people to ignore it.

The strokes are strong, and the words are written a little cursively. Xu Sheng himself is also a 'cursive writer', but at a single glance once can tell that this cursive handwriting is of some quality, its different from how others casually write.

There were already some students who started boasting: "The study god's handwriting... Even if I practised for 10 years, I'll never be able to write like this, is this even written by a human?"

"Stop discussing," The teacher was looking at Xu Sheng as they[1] said it, "I have no hope that you all will be able to write like that, I just hope that certain students in this class would be able to write at least legibly. Never mind if you can't solve the questions; you can't even score the paper marks[2]."

Xu Sheng, who didn't manage to score his paper marks, folded the printed test paper he had just received, and stuffed it into the drawer of his desk.

Xu Sheng's school life had always been simple and uninteresting.

Sleep, play games, stand along the corridors as punishment.

There is no possibility of a 4th existing.

Biology lesson was the last class in the afternoon, and the teacher called him up to answer a question.

Xu Sheng tossed his handphone into his desk drawer, before slowly standing up: "Teacher, I didn't hear clearly, can you repeat it again?"

The Biology teacher had seen this student sitting at the corner, playing with his handphone for the majority of the class, as if there was no one around him. He originally was fuming, but immediately calmed down his expression: "It's in the textbook, do you know which page we're talking about?" The Biology teacher held back his anger, and directed the student, "Page 4."

Xu Sheng was holding an English textbook and flipped through a few pages: "Fill in the blanks?"

"..."

The classroom was so quiet, one couldn't even hear a chirp.

"Ah," Xu Sheng managed to realise something from the dead silence, "Is this not English lesson?"

2 minutes later, Xu Sheng took his phone and a power bank he had borrowed from his deskmate and walked out of the classroom. He leaned his back against the railing, conveniently passing by the open classroom door to directly face the students in Class 6.

His handphone vibrated twice.

It was a message from Zhang Feng.

- Boss, punished to stand again?

- Fuck off.

- I initially thought that we had such a great distance put between us, and that I wouldn't be able to see you often. But who knew that almost every lesson, once I raise my head and look at the corridor I would be able to see your handsome figure."

- You too, come out and stand for a while, so that I can see you clearer.

- That won't be necessary... I just waved to you, can you see me?

Xu Sheng lifted his eyes and looked at the window at the end of the corridor, there was really a hand sticking out.

He lowered his head once more, and replied: Fuck, are you stupid.

Zhang Feng asked again: Wanna head to the internet bar tonight? Our usual place?　

Xu Sheng didn't reply immediately. He exited the chatroom, recently there had been a person who had been quietly lying in his contact list, the contact was saved as "Mum".

The message was received 2 days ago.

[Mum]: Have you reached school?

[Mum]: Asked you to stay at home and you refused to. Attend class properly and I'll leave you alone, if you have difficulty studying, just at least graduate smoothly.

[Mum]: Already Year 2, it isn't for my sake that I'm asking you to study. If you're like this, what are you going to do in future?!

Xu Sheng glanced at the message, his expression unchanging, before replying Zhang Feng a "sure".

After replying he stuffed his handphone into his pants pocket. He moved his fingers, mindlessly pressing his index finger onto the second joint of his thumb, making a clicking sound.

The Biology teacher was writing on the blackboard when he inadvertently looked outside, and discovered that the boy standing along the corridor as punishment wasn't even behaving properly, with him leaning against the railing as if he was spineless. So the teacher furrowed his brows and looked away.

Ring—

The dismissal bell rang.

The Biology teacher put down his chalk: "Alright, class is dismissed. I will ask the class representative to send a few extra questions into the group chat... Also, the one outside, come in." The Biology teacher said this and looked towards the corridor.

The corridor was completely empty, not even a soul. Xu Sheng had long disappeared after hearing the dismissal bell.

There was an old residential area near the school compound. Outside the winding alley that was surrounded with grey and white tiles developed a commercial street, jewellery stores, snack stores... There was even a black internet bar [3]that didn't require one to produce their identification cards.

The internet bar was opened in a hidden spot. Enter the back door of a small eatery, go up to the second floor, and the internet bar was just beyond the glass doors.

Xu Sheng was a regular of that internet bar.

Zhang Feng didn't stay on campus. As he rushed over with a few of his friends after packing his bag, Xu Sheng had already occupied the computer at the most corner. This bigshot[4] wasn't playing games, he had his headphones on with one leg bent and propped up onto the chair, simply slouching over and watching a movie.

"What is this, why isn't there a plot," Zhang Feng paid the fees and casually threw his bag onto the floor, taking a peek at Xu Sheng's monitor screen as he waited for his to boot up. After a while he realised, he didn't understand the movie, so he took a look at the title, "... BBC's Power of Arts[5], fuck, a documentary?"

Xu Sheng held onto the mouse with his hand and adjusted the progress bar.

Zhang Feng asked sarcastically[6]: "You came to an internet bar just to watch this? Why not just watch the news livestream instead?"

Xu Sheng didn't look like he was seriously watching the documentary. He lifted his hand and tilted the headphones backwards a little such that he could hear Zhang Feng speaking. "The news start broadcasting at 7, it hasn't started."

Zhang Feng: "..."

Xu Sheng turned off the documentary: "I'm joking, let's play."

Xu Sheng played a few rounds with them. Zhang Feng had to take a call halfway through, his mother was scolding him through the phone "Do you wanna die why are you still not home at this timing". Zhang Feng blatantly lied: "There's still a few questions I'm still unclear off, so I stayed back to consult with my classmate..."

Zhang Feng's mother completely didn't believe her own son's nonsense: "Bullshit! Is your classmate beside you? Why don't I hear anyone explaining any question?"

Zhang Feng had no other choice but to ask Xu Sheng for help with pleading eyes.

Xu Sheng typed on the keyboard while coordinating with him, saying with great pretence: "This question is actually really easy."

Zhang Feng hinted at him with his eyes 'try to drag it out for as long as possible'.

Xu Sheng: "I'll explain, you write."

Xu Sheng's acted as if he was the real deal, even dragging out the final word: "'Solved', colon."[7]

Zhang Feng: "..."

"After that?" Zhang Feng waited for a long time but couldn't wait for a reply, "... Say a little more."

Xu Sheng: "After that you can look at the next question."

"......"

Fortunately, Zhang Feng's mother didn't clear whatever Xu Sheng had said clearly: "Then try to come home earlier after asking your classmate questions, I cooked your favourite braised pork."

Zhang Feng was constantly rushed home such that he couldn't drag it out any further. As he carried his school bag and shut down his computer, he was screaming on the inside: Out of everyone he could've asked for help, even the workers in the black internet bar would have much more high school knowledge than the one beside him!

Zhang Feng ended the call: "Boss, your explanation was so clear I managed to understand it in one go."

Xu Sheng finished clearing the front line[8], and said: "You're welcome."

"Then I'll go off first," Zhang Feng said before leaving, "Don't stay till too late too, the school term just started, it wouldn't be good if you're caught."

Xu Sheng opened a bottle of mineral water beside him, and responded with an extremely casual sound.

"You go first," Xu Sheng said, "They can't catch me."

Xu Sheng stayed in the internet bar till the skies darkened, the BBC documentary watched till the end. He was a little tired after watching it, he tilted his head backwards to stretch and took off his headphones, planning to head to the front desk to buy something to eat.

At the front desk, besides cup noodles, they just sold duck drumsticks, chicken feet, and stuff like that. Xu Sheng swept his gaze across them, but simply didn't have appetite, finally took a stick of mints from the side.

After buying, he took out a piece to chew on it, opened the doors and headed to the stairway to catch some fresh air.

He barely took 2 steps when he heard a "boom" coming from a pile of trash at the stairway.

"Only this little money?"

"The money for tomorrow's breakfast is all here, I really don't have anymore..." It was a boy, sounding obedient.

Boom—!

It was the sound of something being kicked.

"How many times have we told you, if you didn't manage to give us 200[9], we won't let you off," The guy who kicked the object had a rough voice, "Are you looking to get beaten up?"

These kinds of black internet bars was basically a high-risk area.

Fishes and dragons mixed together[10], to have such an incident occur isn't surprising.

The sweet in Xu Sheng's mouth was extra cooling. He pressed against the wall to listen for a while, crushing the sweet into bits, then nonchalantly walked towards that pile of trash.

The four people standing in a circle were surrounded by trash. Their hair was dyed a blond that made them look like ancestors[11], and they weren't wearing school uniforms, so they shouldn't be students from Sixth High, while the one surrounded and dressed in the grey and blue school uniform was actually eye-catching.

"I'm sorry, please let me go. Tomorrow… I'll definitely give it to you tomorrow..."

The four blondies counted the 100 plus RMB in their hands, and looked at each other before laughing: "Tomorrow? It won't be just this amount tomorrow."

They didn't manage to laugh for long, because as soon as they said their piece, the one holding the money was suddenly patted on the shoulders from behind.

"—Who's that ?!"

"Who I am isn't important," Xu Sheng walked forward, his hand conveniently placed on that person's shoulder, as if they were on good terms, but the words from his mouth said a different story, "You guys are too loud."

The delinquent turned his head, and froze the moment he saw Xu Sheng.

Speaking from the heart[12], though Xu Sheng's infamous name was known widely, just his face could get heads turning in school.

Black t-shirt, dark blue jeans, an ear stud.

Besides the outfit that made him look like an improper student, Xu Sheng's eyebrows were delicate and sharp, the ends of his eyes were slightly raised, looking absent-minded. But there was still a bit of wildness in his eyes that couldn't be hidden, anyone who saw him would be able to tell at one glance that he was a bad student who often receives notices of demerit points.

But the important point was, Xu Sheng, compared to them, looked like the one who was there to extort money.

"You…" The delinquent who held the money and was pressured till he lowered his head, choked out, "Are you here to snatch money too?"

Xu Sheng laughed: "You can say it as that."

Xu Sheng let down the hand that was on his shoulders, loosened his wrists and asked casually: "How much have you taken from him in total? Would you like to wait for me to do it myself, or would you cough out the money yourselves?"

The delinquents: "..."

The four blondies were scared away.

They were only around 16 or 17 of age, and they were already out casually scaring people. The specially picked soft persimmons were squeezed[13], if they met anyone who looked tougher than them, they wouldn't dare to throw their weight around.

They didn't care about anything, fishing out whatever money they had in their pockets and throwing it onto the ground. After saying "Sorry big brother, we didn't know this was your turf" they ran down the flight of stairs.

Xu Sheng bent down to pick up the money scattered on the ground, and squatted down after stacking them nicely.

The student wearing Sixth High's school uniform was still sitting on the floor dazedly while trembling in fear. As he saw Xu Sheng squatting down, his first reaction was: "I really have no more money, really..." TAT[14].

Xu Sheng: "..."

Do I look like I really want to snatch money.

Xu Sheng didn't say anything, simply stuffing the stack of money into the boy's hand. He stood up and walked away, opening the door of the internet bar, finally saying: "Don't come to this kind of place anymore."

Xu Sheng stayed in the internet bar till around 9 before logging off.

It was already dark outside, the streetlights along both sides of the street was stretched outwards.

The school was locked at 8.30, but the dormitory lobby was opened till 10. But without entering the school, even if the lobby was opened till daybreak it was useless.

Xu Sheng familiarly walked around towards the school's backgate.

The school's backgate and dormitory building were close to each other. As the gate was closed all year round, the rusty gate was bounded by a thick iron chain. The wall happens to surround the boys' dormitory building, the one closest to the wall was the building for the 2nd years, the backgate and the entrance basically facing each other.

He stepped onto a rock at the foot of the wall, holding onto the wall and climbing onto it. The youth was tall and had long legs, so he managed to climb over effortlessly. With his back bent into an arc, he released his hand and had a leg dangling over, ready to jump down—

But he saw someone walking over on the other side.

That person was really tall, his schoolbag slung over on one shoulder, school uniform buttoned up all the way, only showing half his wrist. He wore the gray and blue school uniform that was ranked third from the bottom in the district's school uniform polls, but somehow it looked different on him.

As they were too far apart, he couldn't see the guy's appearance. He waited till the person walked under the streetlight, only then did Xu Sheng discover a more important problem.

He cursed under his breath.

Fuck.　　

His luck was really good.

His watertight record of climbing over the school wall, it was finally ruined today.