While National Museum urgently dispatched people to pick up the valuable bronzeware, the pair of siblings in Qunnan Province thousands of miles away were so angry they couldn't sleep well for several days.

Jiang Xiaoyun couldn't figure out how to make their scheme work. If things continued like this, all her plans would fall apart.

They had to ensure they would be safe before grabbing the antiques—first, Lin Jingzhe and his mother had to get in touch. However, since that first unsuccessful attempt, they couldn't find a c.h.i.n.k in Lin Jingzhe's armor. The teenager refused to give an inch and was quite cautious: he changed the locks right after the funeral, and every time he went out, he stuck to that Gao Sheng brat. He never gave them a chance to catch him alone.

Section Head w.a.n.g called several times over the past few days, growing more and more impatient. He talked about the imminent land division in Qunnan City, implying he was prepared to pa.s.s the Jiangs over.

Now that the problem of antiques had to be resolved urgently, let alone Jiang Xiaoyun and Jiang Zhi, even Jiang Qiaqia was anxious. Suddenly, she missed her son so much she even called his school.

But of course, once he learned the name of the caller, Lin Jingzhe refused to come to the phone.

Jiang Xiaoyun was so irascible these days that every little thing made her fly into a rage. She picked a quarrel with everyone she met, hung up in the middle of discussing the situation with her brother, and poured out a torrent of verbal abuse on her husband. It helped let off a bit of steam, but except for that, she could only sit with her arms crossed and simmer with anger.

Jiang Run heard her side of the phone call. "Was it about Lin Jingzhe again, mom?"

"That little b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" Jiang Xiaoyun's voice was full of hatred. "He got a couple of useless antiques and forgot all about his family and even scorned his own mother! What an ingrate!"

Jiang Run sat beside her, his face just as dark. On Monday, after the flag-raising ceremony, the vice-director pushed him out under the red flag and made him apologize to Lin Jingzhe in front of the whole school. The sneers and mocking looks made him wish the ground would open up and swallow him whole. Such a small thing made him, and the entire Jiang family, lose face.

Lin Jingzhe was a star of misfortune—every time he popped up, it brought something bad for them!

If it weren't for that demerit looming over his head, Jiang Run would've long found an opportunity to give him a beating.

However, his mother and uncle's discussion indicated that if they got Lin Jingzhe's antiques, they'd get the backing of some influential people in the provincial capital.

If that really happened, would he need to care about some demerit? He would be able to choose the best university in Qunnan Province if he wanted to, wouldn't he? Jiang Run pondered for some time, then said to his mother, "Since he's acting like this, we should stop playing nice, mom. You and Uncle shouldn't be the ones to do this though. Let me take care of it."

Hu Yu spent several days studying the books. The longer she did, the more she felt Lin Jingzhe might be on to something. Initially, she was sixty percent convinced—now she was almost certain.

She dreamt about her students getting into university, so this discovery made her unable to sit still. She prepared a revised curriculum, took the textbooks, and found the school heads.h.i.+p.

Unfortunately, they didn't take her seriously.

Then, Hu Yu contacted the other teachers in charge of a cla.s.s. However, none of them supported her.

Though the teachers of Cla.s.ses 2, 3, and 4 were relatively kind, when they saw the textbooks, they were critical. They talked over each other, picking holes:

"Line integrals? Multiple integrals? This is too difficult!"

"That's right! Finding arc lengths by integrating? Even I take a long time to calculate it! This is beyond the ability of high school students!"

"You went a little overboard—the college entrance exam is right around the corner, now it's time for reviewing. The students are busy as it is; if we take out this set of textbooks, they will collapse."

"No, no, absolutely not."

Hu Yu's brows furrowed in a worried frown. "Don't be in such a hurry to reject them. Take a closer look, and you'll surely change your mind."

It was to be expected. While they didn't show it, the other teachers somewhat looked down on the honest and simple Hu Yu. For them, her proposal was like a primary school student trying to instruct college students on how to write their graduation thesis—who would take it seriously?

Li Yurong mocked her on the spot: "Take a closer look at what? It's no wonder Cla.s.s 5's grades aren't going up—instead of teaching them, their homeroom teacher is busy studying useless things. The whole school cadre spent more than half a year painstakingly compiling the review materials, and you think they're worse than some random textbooks bought in Xinhua Bookstore, Teacher Hu? If you're so capable, why are Cla.s.s 5's results the worst in school?"

Li Yurong was a novice teacher who came to the school only a few years ago. While she had neither work experience nor seniority, she had a strong backer. The work benefits and welfare she enjoyed were, naturally, plundered.

The teachers' quota, training courses in the provincial capital, performance rewards… Before Li Yurong came, Hu Yu was the teacher in charge of Cla.s.s 1. The contradictions between them were well known throughout the school; Li Yurong's performance in Cla.s.s 5 was exceptionally perfunctory. However, she was malicious and sharp-tongued—it was impossible for Hu Yu, a gentle middle-aged woman, to put up a fight. Often, just like now, she could only flush and tear up, humiliated and angry because of Li Yurong's ridicule, but not knowing how to refute.

The other teachers frowned at Li Yurong's mean words but said nothing. Teaching might be the n.o.blest profession of all, but it was also an ordinary job. An aged teacher openly shortchanged by the school, or a young and pretty one who received preferential treatment and could enter the princ.i.p.al's office any time—it was obvious which they could afford to offend.

Hu Yu's thin back hunched. Li Yurong sneered and wanted to continue mocking, but a sudden bang startled her before she opened her mouth.

Everyone reflexively turned to the source of the noise—Lin Jingzhe, standing at the door of the teacher's office with hands in his uniform's pockets, watching them expressionlessly. He glanced at Li Yurong's dumbstruck face, and said in a normal tone of voice as if he hadn't just kicked in the door: "Teacher Hu, it's time for cla.s.s."

The school uniform was loose on his tall, almost too-thin body. It was clearly the ordinary uniform everyone wore but combined with Lin Jingzhe's extraordinary temperament, it made people unable to look away.

Hu Yu wiped her tears, nodded gratefully, and hastily gathered up her textbooks.

Lin Jingzhe stared after Li Yurong for a while longer then also left.

It wasn't until his delicate face was out of sight that Li Yurong regained her breath. A moment later, her anger flared. "Look at him! What a rude…"

Unfortunately, she found no allies—on the contrary, the other teachers were a bit pleased. No one wanted to hear her complaints, so they used the late hour as an excuse and left in a rush.

This period, Li Yurong taught English to Cla.s.s 5, but when she thought Lin Jingzhe was in that group, she felt even more unwilling than usual. Deciding to let the garbage review by themselves, she picked a few textbooks closest to her and selected some topics at random. Still, before announcing the self-study, she must give Lin Jingzhe a tongue las.h.i.+ng. How dare he look down on her!

Who would've expected that the moment she stepped into the cla.s.s, before she even opened her mouth, she was almost deafened by the catcalls:

"Li Yurong, get out! Li Yurong, get out! Li Yurong, get out!"

More than fifty students rhythmically slammed their textbooks on their desks, chanting loudly. Li Yurong was so shocked that, for a moment, she couldn't move.

She stood there, wide-eyed and tongue-tied, until she realized what was going on. Then, she trembled with rage.

Lin Jingzhe sat at the last desk in the window row, a pen in one hand and the other supporting his cheek, looking nonchalant. He watched the commotion, under his deskmate's Deng Mai's enthusiastic command, until the other teachers were alerted, and the vice-princ.i.p.al was brought in.

This was the first time a whole cla.s.s made a boycott in Liyun No. 1 High School. For a teacher, there was no greater humiliation. Even though that humiliation came from a group of students she had never taught seriously, Li Yurong found it hard to swallow. She leaned against the corridor wall and cried until she was out of breath while the bald, potbellied princ.i.p.al tried to comfort her, distressed.

The vice-princ.i.p.al came back bearing bad news: the students refused to yield. He then faithfully reported to the princ.i.p.al that this whole semester, Li Yurong never taught them and only let them study by themselves. He could understand where Cla.s.s 5's anger came from—it was better to have no teacher than to have one like Li Yurong.

He'd only found out about it a moment ago, and his face instantly became dark. He'd thought the students were just making trouble, never expecting the real reason to be this outrageous.

His face grave, he chastised: "Teacher Li, how could you act so irresponsibly…"

When Li Yurong heard she was exposed, she cried harder. The princ.i.p.al couldn't bear it. "Now isn't the time to throw accusations around. We should think about how to solve this problem first. Deciding who is to be held accountable is something for later!"

However, "the law does not punish when the offenders are too numerous." It was impossible for the school to sanction over fifty students so close to the college entrance examination. The best solution was for Li Yurong to go to cla.s.s as if nothing happened.

But how could Li Yurong agree? Her voice rose to an ear-splitting shriek: "I won't!!! I won't go back!!! I refuse to teach that trash even if you kill me!!!"

The headmaster was silent for a moment then let out a sigh. "Since they refuse to have English cla.s.s, simply let them," he said to the vice-princ.i.p.al.

"Princ.i.p.al, how could this be! The National College Entrance Examination is about to…" The other man's expression strongly disapproved.

Patting Li Yurong on the shoulder to comfort her, the princ.i.p.al interrupted him impatiently: "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. Besides, the students in Cla.s.s 5 are recalcitrant and lack self-discipline. Their grades are horrible. Was there ever a hope they would do well on the college entrance exam?"

He made a unilateral decision, but it was impossible for the vice-princ.i.p.al to oppose it. He watched him support the still sobbing Li Yurong and leave, then exchanged helpless glances with the other teachers, not knowing what to say.

They all knew Cla.s.s Five had been abandoned.

However, the children didn't care about the adults' worries. Having realized they'd succeeded in driving out Li Yurong, the students in Cla.s.s 5 cheered loudly, celebrating their victory.

Deng Mai made a triumphal round around the cla.s.sroom, shaking his pencil case like a rattle. Then, he laid on Lin Jingzhe's desk, looking at him with admiration: "Dude, you're awesome."

Since the third year had started, Li Yurong never gave them new lessons. As soon as the bell rang, she came in, sat at the teacher's desk on the dais, and announced the self-study. For the whole forty minutes of cla.s.s, she did nothing else, except for sneering and throwing sarcastic remarks.

Most importantly, she often bullied Hu Yu, Cla.s.s 5's homeroom teacher!

The students in Cla.s.s 5 might've had poor grades, but they weren't stupid. They were well aware of how good Hu Yu was to them, and how much she cared about them. That's why, even though they didn't like studying, all of them tried their hardest not to sleep in the math cla.s.s, but to listen attentively.

New hatred piled on old; Cla.s.s 5's students had long wanted to drive Li Yurong away. However, they were afraid of the school's punishment and having their parents called and had held back their anger.

But now, they got rid of her by their own strength, and the princ.i.p.al daren't say a word! They finally got their wis.h.!.+

Lin Jingzhe pinched Deng Mai's chin with two slender fingers and pushed his swarthy face away—though full of reverence, it was entirely too close for comfort.

Once the news about the boycott got out, the Bureau of Education would have to get involved—it wouldn't matter the cla.s.s involved was the worst in school and often caused trouble. Then, the princ.i.p.al would find he got more than he bargained for.

For someone who'd long entered the society, the inst.i.tution of school lost its halo of sacredness, infallibility, and inviolability.

Lin Jingzhe lowered the hand supporting his cheek and took out the English textbook he'd chosen. He threw it on the desk, then reclined languidly in his seat.

"You're getting happy too early." He opened the textbook and turned it around, showing Deng Mai the table of contents. Pointing a finger at him, he drawled, "From now on, I will teach English cla.s.s, and you're responsible for making the others listen. If anyone disobeys, I'll take you to the task."

The morning sunlight penetrated the window and shone on Lin Jingzhe, making his porcelain skin glow. Deng Mai leaned over the desk. He looked up at the other youth's raised chin and half-lidded eyes, and unexpectedly, a glimmer of genuine loyalty appeared in his heart.

For a moment, Deng Mai just stared in a daze. Then, something occurred to him. He looked around and leaned closer, lowering his voice conspiratorially: "Big Bro, I need to tell you something. Jiang Run from Cla.s.s 1 got to know several 'big brothers' in the past few days. Someone once underheard him bragging to a girl he's gonna ask them to teach you a lesson."

Lin Jingzhe leaned to the side, avoiding Deng Mai's face again. His eyebrows wrinkled. Big Bro? Deng Mai was a year and a half older than him.

As for Jiang Run and his "big brothers"…

The so-called "big brothers" of Liyun Town were nothing more than a bad joke—all they did was playing at being gangsters to get some spending money. If they ever met the real deal, they would p.i.s.s their pants.

Lin Jingzhe was certain the Jiang family was behind Jiang Run's sudden boldness. Their purpose was obvious, and he'd long planned how to deal with them. He was more concerned about his other childhood friend who hadn't appeared since his rebirth—Zhou Haitang.

Zhou Haitang hadn't come to school for nearly a week, and Gao Sheng hadn't heard from him lately.

As he was thinking about this matter, there was a scurry of footsteps in the corridor. Gao Sheng, who was tardy for school today, rushed into the cla.s.sroom.

He still didn't know what had happened and looked around for the teacher. Seeing none, he let out a sigh of relief and hurried to Lin Jingzhe's desk.

"Jingzhe!" He gasped. His news was grave: "I saw Zhou Haitang at night market on Baima Street last night—he became a follower of a powerful 'big brother.' He insisted on inviting us for dinner tonight! Are we going? It's a rare opportunity!"

Gao Sheng's honest face was filled with pride at being appreciated by the "real mafia boss," but Lin Jingzhe suspected the man simply wanted to get himself some minions.

He took the English textbook and rose, ready to go up on the dais and give his first lesson. The look in his eyes was dark and inscrutable. "I'll go," he said.

Translator: Eques

Editor: Bet