Volume One: High School Days Chapter Four: The Proud Transfer Student

Monday.

Dressed in his blue and white school uniform, Liu Sheng rode his newly purchased electric scooter to school.

"Wow, you’ve upgraded from manpower to horsepower. No more pedaling for you!" Ren Xiadong wheeled his mountain bike into the parking shed. Liu Sheng chuckled and replied, "Just giving my legs a day off." The two of them entered the classroom in high spirits, exchanging jokes and laughter.

Today, Liu Sheng looked particularly neat and clean. Every now and then, he would take out his brand-new phone, using the front camera as a mirror to check his appearance.

Ren Xiadong, seated behind him, leaned forward and whispered, "Not bad, you’ve even got a new phone. Let me have a go with it." Startled by the sudden voice, Liu Sheng muttered, "Get lost—I've got important things to deal with today, no time to mess around with you."

Before Ren Xiadong could ask what was going on, the bell rang for class. Liu Sheng was filled with excitement. He remembered vividly the first time he met Tao Nan—tall and slender, short hair with a red hairpin, delicate features, a look of cleanliness and crispness.

While Liu Sheng was lost in reminiscence, the teacher walked in, followed by a girl who looked exactly like the one in his memory.

The Chinese teacher, who was also the homeroom teacher of Class 1, said, "Today, our class welcomes a new transfer student. I hope everyone will help her adapt quickly to our big family. Now, let’s have her introduce herself."

Before Tao Nan could speak, Liu Sheng clapped loudly and shouted, "Great!" The whole class burst into laughter, but the Chinese teacher only remarked, "Looks like everyone already likes our new classmate."

"My name is Tao Nan. I love reading and hope to get along well with everyone," she said, earning a round of applause from the class.

Ren Xiadong piped up from the back, "Love reading? More like loving comic books. I love comics too." Hearing this, Liu Sheng thought to himself, "It's true. She rarely talks, spends all day reading, and nothing else. The most impressive thing is, she’s been first in the grade for three consecutive years."

He turned to Ren Xiadong and said, "She’ll be sitting next to you for now, but it’s just temporary. Once last week’s results come out, she’ll be paired with the Chinese class rep!" Liu Sheng gritted his teeth at this—after graduating from university in 2017, Tao Nan ended up marrying the Chinese class rep, and the two of them had been together since their first year of high school.

The homeroom teacher glanced at the solitary desk at the back and said, "Tao Nan, you’ll sit at the back for now. Tomorrow, we’ll rearrange the seating and find you a place more suitable for studying."

Ren Xiadong tugged at Liu Sheng, "How do you know all this? It’s like you know everything." Propping his head on his hand, Liu Sheng replied, "Come on, you’re the only one sitting alone in the class. Who else would she sit with?"

As Tao Nan settled in beside Ren Xiadong, Liu Sheng turned and said to her, "My name is Liu Sheng. I’ll make sure you never forget me." Tao Nan didn’t even glance at him, too busy pulling out a book from her red backpack.

"Liu Sheng! It’s class time. The teacher’s in front, not in the back. Turn around!" The Chinese teacher’s tone wasn’t angry. She continued, "The results from last week’s exams are in. Ren Xiadong, stand up!"

Ren Xiadong rose, thinking, "That can’t be right. At worst, I’m second-to-last—Liu Sheng is always dead last. Did I really do worse than the guy who sleeps through every class?"

The homeroom teacher, holding the grade sheet, said angrily, "There are nine subjects, totaling 1,050 points. How did you manage to score less than one hundred in total?"

Laughter erupted throughout the classroom. Liu Sheng glanced at Tao Nan, who remained expressionless. He knew all too well that Tao Nan never cared for students with poor grades.

Ren Xiadong was speechless. Liu Sheng turned back and teased, "With so many multiple-choice questions, how did you avoid every correct answer?"

"You only guessed two more right than me. At best, you’re second-to-last," Ren Xiadong retorted.

Then the teacher said, "What surprised me most this time was Liu Sheng. From last place, he suddenly jumped to first in the entire grade." There were five classes in the first year, each with about fifty students.

Ren Xiadong was stunned. "What’s gotten into this guy? He’s been acting strange lately, and now he’s even aced the whole grade!"

Liu Sheng’s sudden surge in grades became the talk of the year. From last place to a score of 1,040—though he’d deliberately left out a ten-point question because he was too sleepy to finish.

At noon, several top students from the grade came to ask Liu Sheng for his secrets to success. He simply replied, "All talent!"

Seeing Ren Xiadong’s gloomy face, Liu Sheng said, "Come on, let’s go eat something nice and relax."

"Easy for you to say! How am I going to face the parents’ meeting on Friday? I’ll be lucky to escape a beating when I get home!" Ren Xiadong groaned.

Liu Sheng glanced at Tao Nan, who was still seated and not moving. "Want to join us for lunch? Classmates should get to know each other—it helps with getting along later." Tao Nan looked up at him, said nothing, and left the classroom.

Liu Sheng actually smiled—Tao Nan never used to look at him at all, always considering him hopeless. But just now, she’d actually looked his way.

He took the dejected Ren Xiadong to Jinfu Restaurant. Though not as luxurious as the old Jinluan Restaurant, it was still out of reach for most students.

A waiter spotted the two in their school uniforms and approached. "Young gentlemen, which room are your families in? I’ll take you there." Liu Sheng glanced at his uniform, took it off, and said, "No family, just the two of us. Find us a quiet room."

After they ordered, the waiter left, muttering to a colleague, "Kids these days have money to burn—only order the expensive stuff."

Once all the dishes arrived, Liu Po, mouth watering, asked, "Bro, what’s going on with you? You’ve been weird lately—like you’re a different person."

"Just eat. Maybe that’ll shut you up," Liu Sheng replied, digging in.

They ate in silence for a while. Bored, Liu Sheng shouted, "Waiter! Six bottles of beer!"

"You’re not going back to class this afternoon? Can you finish six bottles?" Ren Xiadong asked. Liu Sheng grinned mischievously, and Ren Xiadong caught on immediately. "Not me! I still have class!"

"Come on, have another one!"

"Aren’t you going to class later?"

"Doesn’t matter. Today I’m drinking to my heart’s content! The whole school belongs to me—who dares stop me?"

Seeing Ren Xiadong getting tipsy, Liu Sheng quickly paid the bill and took him back to school on the electric scooter. With five minutes to class, the room was already full. Liu Sheng helped the drunken Ren Xiadong to his seat, all eyes on them as they walked in.

Ren Xiadong swayed in his seat, then threw an arm around Tao Nan’s shoulders and slurred, "My buddy seems interested in you—how about considering him? Maybe have a kid together?"

Hearing this, Liu Sheng spun around, saw Ren Xiadong’s arm over Tao Nan, and quickly shoved it off. "Can you stop joking around!"

"Yes, that’s the one! Isn’t he a fine specimen?" Ren Xiadong continued, drunk as ever.

At that moment, the class monitor walked over and scolded, "Ren Xiadong, you’ve gone too far! Tao Nan just transferred here, and you’re already scaring her—are you nuts?"

"What’s it to you, Luo Fen? Who asked you to butt in?" Ren Xiadong snapped. Luo Fen slapped him across the face.

Seeing this, Liu Sheng grabbed a stool and swung it at Luo Fen, shouting, "Tao Nan is my goddess—I like her, so what?" Tao Nan was taken aback, unable to respond.

The slap sobered Ren Xiadong up. He jumped from his desk and started kicking Luo Fen, Liu Sheng joining in, and together they gave Luo Fen a solid beating.

The bell rang, but Class 1 was in chaos—cries of pain and shouts to break up the fight filled the room. The Chinese class rep came over and said to Tao Nan, "Don’t be afraid, I’m here. Stay behind me."

Liu Sheng, who already disliked the class rep, was even more annoyed seeing him act chivalrous in front of Tao Nan. Though he had no involvement, he heard every word the rep said and thought, "I absolutely won’t let you get together with Tao Nan again." With that, he grabbed the class rep, dragged him to the floor, and joined in the brawl. Ren Xiadong didn’t care who was who—if someone was on the floor, he kicked them.

"What’s going on here!" The English teacher burst in, saw the fight wasn’t stopping, and called out, "Monitor! Go fetch your homeroom teacher!" The other students replied, "The monitor’s getting beaten up on the floor." The English teacher quickly asked, "Is the English class rep okay?" "I’m here, teacher," came the reply. "Go get the homeroom teacher, now!"

"Rebellion! Enough!" The homeroom teacher and the PE teacher entered together. The homeroom teacher shouted, "Where’s the Chinese class rep? You’re just going to watch the monitor get beaten?" Another student replied, "The class rep’s getting beaten too." The homeroom teacher, fuming, yelled, "Everyone stop!" The PE teacher pulled Liu Sheng and Ren Xiadong apart, saying, "You two, outside with me—I’m going to teach you a lesson today!"

The homeroom teacher thanked Mr. Han, the PE teacher. "Thank you, Mr. Han, you get back to your work." Mr. Han replied, "No, getting angry is bad for your health. Let me handle these two troublemakers!" The homeroom teacher retorted, "Everyone knows Liu Sheng is your favorite student—if I leave it to you, you’ll let them off. Better let me do it. You go on." Mr. Han gave Liu Sheng and Ren Xiadong a helpless look and left the classroom.

Liu Sheng and Ren Xiadong had attended No. 7 Middle School in Xinghai City for junior high. The two were notorious for causing trouble, and Liu Sheng was Mr. Han’s star athlete. Although Mr. Han taught PE, he was also a member of the school’s disciplinary office. Throughout junior high, whenever Liu Sheng got into trouble, the disciplinary director would always hand him over to Mr. Han, who would make excuses and let him off.

After Mr. Han left, the homeroom teacher said, "Someone help take the monitor and the Chinese class rep to the infirmary. Liu Sheng and Ren Xiadong, you two come with me to the office."