CSGM - Chapter 157

Chapter 157: Extra - Parallel World

On the third day of September, autumn had yet to arrive, and the summer heat still blanketed Sicheng Middle School.

The students' minds, which had wandered freely during the summer break, were reeled back in like high-flying kites, though they still lingered on the sweet aftertaste of freedom.

In the Grade 9, Class 8 classroom of Sicheng Middle School's junior high division.

"Aaaah, I'm begging you, please, let me copy."

"You sure you didn't just guess? Thanks, sis! I'll just change a few answers..."

"Is the teacher here yet? Give me a shout when they are."

Some students were frantically finishing their summer homework. They knew their teachers inside and out; the homework for some subjects could be bluffed through, but not for others.

The physics and chemistry teachers, for instance, were a deadly male-female duo. The summer worksheets were all going to be reviewed at the start of the school year, and if this pair discovered anyone who hadn't done their homework, they were in for it!

Amidst the rising and falling rustle of pen tips and the hurried flipping of worksheets, students arrived at the new classroom in twos and threes, gradually filling the room.

They greeted each other familiarly, chatting away happily.

Ren Zhi walked into this clamor with her schoolbag, like a quiet, moving piece of scenery.

She was beautiful—so beautiful that she seemed out of place among the other girls in the class.

She glanced at the desks in the front rows; nearly all of them were already claimed with books or schoolbags.

Reaching the fifth row and seeing an empty spot, she asked in a low voice, "Is this seat taken?"

The girl sitting in front of it turned around and quickly grabbed the empty desk. "It's taken, it's taken. Deng Xiaojie is sitting here; I'm saving it for her."

Ren Zhi moved back another row. A boy sitting next to an empty seat glanced up at her, fiddling with a Rubik's Cube. "This seat is Zhou Tao's," he said.

Ren Zhi had no intention of sitting there, anyway. She disliked him; he was the class bully who prided himself on acting like a gangster.

The feeling was mutual. The other boys who looked up to the bully as their "big brother" also avoided her.

It wasn't about self-preservation; it was just that boys stuck with boys and girls with girls. They were simply in different worlds.

Ren Zhi took a seat in the last row, next to the trash can, and habitually took out her vacation homework to organize it.

She sorted the assignments for each subject in order, waiting for the class representatives to collect them.

As the first class of the new semester began, the head teacher unexpectedly brought in a new student.

A new face!

Seeing the new student standing beside the head teacher in a brand-new uniform with a schoolbag on her back, all the students' eyes lit up with curiosity.

It was rare for a new student to transfer to their school, and for one to be assigned to their class was an even more improbable event.

They had thought they would spend all three years with the same familiar faces, so the arrival of someone new sparked a strong sense of novelty in everyone.

It was a girl with short hair. Her face was delicate and clean, with sparkling dark eyes, a thin, straight nose, and thin lips the perfect size of a cherry.

She had a sunny and refreshing aura, and her features were pretty, but her gaze was a bit cool and detached, lacking the typical enthusiasm of other girls.

Wow, she was the very definition of a goddess.

Based on her face alone, many students' initial impression of her was already soaring.

They disliked Ren Zhi's beautiful yet aloof demeanor and hoped this new student would be able to fit in with them.

After the head teacher's introduction, they learned the new student's name was Chu Xi—the "Xi" from the poetic line, "The sage of old has ridden the yellow crane away."

When it came time to assign seats, there were two empty spots left: one in the third row next to a skinny boy, and one in the last row next to Ren Zhi... which was also right in front of the trash can.

The head teacher told her to sit in the third row, but Chu Xi shook her head and said instead:

"I'll sit in the back. I'm rather tall and might block the students behind me."

Upon hearing this, the head teacher looked slightly surprised, then her expression turned to one of pleased satisfaction.

She hadn't expected the new student to be so considerate of the group and willing to make a sacrifice.

Such high emotional intelligence, to be so considerate at such a young age.

The other students also looked touched, their gazes turning to her as if she were a newfound treasure. This new girl seemed really nice.

In the end, Chu Xi became Ren Zhi's deskmate. Ren Zhi sat on the left, by the window, and Chu Xi sat on the right.

From the moment Chu Xi put down her bag, arranged her books, and made a slight noise adjusting her chair, Ren Zhi never said a word of greeting.

Ren Zhi merely glanced at her a few times before burying her head in her book.

The students in front and to the side, however, couldn't resist greeting her enthusiastically.

Then, everyone discovered that the harmonious and friendly demeanor Chu Xi had shown beside the head teacher seemed to have been an act...

The girl at the next desk said, "Hi there, my name is Song Qiqi."

Without even lifting her eyelids, Chu Xi replied, "Oh."

The girl in the front row turned around. "I'm Yuan Mei, the class discipline monitor. Do you want to hang out with us after class?"

Chu Xi said icily, "No."

The boy in front also greeted her. "My name is Jiang Zihao. I already forgot your name, can you say it again?"

Chu Xi shot him a glance and said rudely, "What's it to me if you forgot?"

The surrounding students: "..."

Is this new student prickly or something? What a temper.

Gritting his teeth, Jiang Zihao turned back around, unable to hide his embarrassment. His impression of the new student immediately did a complete one-eighty.

Seeing her attitude toward the other students, Ren Zhi became even more hesitant to interact with her.

She just thought to herself, Don't tell me we have another class bully now?

Ten minutes into the class, Ren Zhi still hadn't spoken a word to her deskmate.

She wasn't very confident at this school.

Chu Xi, however, was getting restless. She turned to look at Ren Zhi several times, then deliberately rested her head on the desk, leaning in her direction to see what she was doing.

During Chinese class, Ren Zhi listened to the lecture and took notes. Whenever she had a spare moment, she would flip to the back of the textbook to read the stories and essays.

Although Ren Zhi wasn't nearsighted, sitting in the last row meant that she sometimes couldn't see the smaller characters the teacher wrote on the blackboard.

Fortunately, the notes for Chinese class weren't difficult, and she could usually piece together the correct sentences through a combination of guessing and deduction.

She noticed that her new deskmate took no notes at all, just lying on her desk like a salted fish.

She was just like the other students in the back row, coasting through her days at school.

When the first class ended, Chu Xi cleaned up the trash corner.

Now, the area around the trash can was much cleaner, and the faint odor that rose in the summer heat had faded considerably.

The students who came to invite her to hang out by the door after class were stunned. Is this new girl all there?

We're in ninth grade already, who still does childish things like cleaning up to make a good impression? the other students, who prided themselves on their maturity, thought mockingly.

Chu Xi washed her hands, scrubbing them with a bar of soap she had brought with her, and returned to her seat just before the bell rang.

Ren Zhi hadn't moved for the entire ten-minute break. The rowdy students outside didn't welcome her, and she couldn't join in their games.

She preferred class time over breaks; at least then, she didn't feel so strange and superfluous.

She watched Chu Xi warily, pursing her lips.

Chu Xi finally caught her watching. She looked up, met Ren Zhi's eyes, and broke into a smile. The sunlight streaming in from the window cast a golden glow across her face.

Sitting beside her, Chu Xi's icy expression melted away. She smiled and said, "It doesn't smell so bad now."

So that's why she was in a bad mood, Ren Zhi thought. Because it smelled bad sitting in front of the trash corner.

She should have just taken the seat in the third row; it would have been much better than this one.

Ren Zhi nodded without speaking, and Chu Xi scratched her head.

A flicker of tenderness, unnoticed by anyone, crossed her eyes.

After that fleeting look—one that seemed too mature for a girl her age—passed, Chu Xi extended her hand.

"I'm Chu Xi. The 'Chu' from 'charming,' the 'Xi' from 'milkshake.' Here," she said, opening her chemistry textbook to the first page and pointing to her name for Ren Zhi to see.

Ren Zhi froze for a moment, then quickly opened her own textbook to the first page.

When met with kindness, she would still offer a gentle smile, one that was bright and captivating.

"I'm Ren Zhi. My name's right here."

"Let's shake on it." Chu Xi's hand was still extended, her fingers slender, long, and as fair as jade.

Ren Zhi slowly extended her hand and felt the coolness of Chu Xi's, which had just been washed under cold water. It felt like a summer breeze off a lake brushing against her skin.

Chu Xi grinned, looking sunny and happy. "Ehehe..."

For some reason, Ren Zhi found herself infected by her happiness, and the corners of her own lips twitched upward.

Life in this class wasn't always so kind to Ren Zhi. During fourth period, the chemistry teacher—nicknamed the "Female Fiend" by the students—arrived.

"Take out your 'Xiao Jin Ke' A-Sheet (1). We're going over it this period. I'll check them first, so put them on your desks, flipped to the back."

The back was all long-form problems. Unlike the multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions on the front, which could be answered with a few quick scribbles, there was no way to rush through these now. As expected of the ultra-strict "Female Fiend."

Chu Xi sat calmly with her arms crossed. As a transfer student, the summer homework didn't apply to her anyway.

Even if she did have assignments now, whether she did them would depend on her mood. Are these problems even hard? she thought. What a waste of time.

But half a minute later, the sound of someone frantically flipping through papers reached her ears.

Ren Zhi was frantically rummaging through her stack of worksheets, checking the title on each one. It seemed she couldn't find the "A-Sheet (1)" the teacher had mentioned, and a look of panic filled her eyes.

Many other drama-queen classmates were putting on a similar show, muttering things like, "Huh? Where's my worksheet?"

Chu Xi turned completely toward her and asked with concern:

"You can't find the worksheet?"

Ren Zhi's heart was a mess of fear and panic. She bit her lip and said anxiously:

"Yeah. I don't know where it went. I saw it this morning."

She had organized all her worksheets this morning; she was sure she hadn't missed any.

Chu Xi picked up the stack of books on her desk.

"Let's see if it's stuck inside one of your books. I'll help you look. Don't panic."

My fourteen-year-old baby, so pure and innocent.

Chu Xi thought, watching her with a captivated gaze.

But neither of them could find Ren Zhi's "A-Sheet (1)." When the chemistry teacher reached the last row, she stared at Ren Zhi with a harsh, unforgiving gaze.

Chu Xi spoke up. "She did it, she just can't find the worksheet."

The chemistry teacher replied, "That's what every student says."

Ren Zhi slowly stood up, her head slightly bowed, not daring to meet the teacher's eyes. But she was telling the truth.

"I brought it this morning, but I can't find it now..."

The chemistry teacher spoke bluntly, a hint of anger on her face.

"Just stand there." She clearly believed she could see right through the students' dishonest excuses.

After she had made her rounds, four students in the class were left standing.

Besides Ren Zhi, the other three were slackers who were long past caring about such things. To them, this was no big deal.

Ren Zhi caught sight of classmates turning around just to stare at her. Her face burned as if scorched by the sun, her ears grew hot, and her body froze.

For an obedient and sensitive girl, this was an incredibly humiliating experience.

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw her deskmate stand up as well.

The chemistry teacher finished explaining a problem and turned to see Chu Xi standing there.

After a brief glance, she lifted her chin slightly and met Chu Xi's gaze. "Why are you standing?"

She'd already forgotten the new student's name.

The new student whose name she had forgotten replied impatiently, without a shred of politeness, "Don't you worry about it."

The chemistry teacher was taken aback, likely having never encountered a student who spoke to her that way. She was completely bewildered.

The classroom fell silent. The other students were thinking: "...!!!"

Holy crap, where did this new girl come from? She's so wild, daring to talk back to a teacher like that.

The students' faces were a palette of shock and awe. Their feelings were mixed, but the desire to see what happened next was strongest.

However, this was not the most shocking thing the new student would do.

The most shocking event to rock Class 8 happened at noon, when the new student was dragged to the teachers' office by a security guard from the surveillance room. He claimed she had audaciously snuck in to review the school's security footage!

When Ren Zhi returned from the cafeteria for the noon break, she heard classmates discussing it. Her brain froze for several seconds.

She remembered what Chu Xi had said to her during chemistry class.

"It's okay. I'll stand with you."

"...Thank you."

"I believe you did the worksheet. I didn't accidentally throw it out while I was cleaning, did I?"

Ren Zhi shook her head. "No... Maybe..."

"Maybe what?"

"..."

"Tell me. Do you think someone stole it?"

Ren Zhi nodded slightly but said aloud, "I'm not sure. Maybe..."

"Has this happened before?"

"A lot."

"Okay, I get it. I'll keep an eye on your things from now on."

Ren Zhi was a little surprised, then slowly said, "Thank you..."

"Don't thank me. That teacher has no judgment. Hmph, I don't respect her either. By the way, when was the last time you saw the worksheet?"

"When I was organizing my papers at 7:50 this morning. It was still there then..."

"Okay, got it."

Ren Zhi's thoughts returned to the present, a sense of disbelief washing over her.

And then Chu Xi went to the surveillance room to check the footage...?

Was she really that bold? To any student, especially a well-behaved one, this was the kind of thing that sounded like the sky was falling.

At school age, it was as if students were naturally conditioned to see teachers, deans, and the school itself as absolute authorities, subconsciously submitting to their rules.

What Chu Xi had done was completely beyond their imagination.

The entire class was buzzing with discussion about the incident.

But when the noon break began, a teacher came to supervise, and the chatter had to stop.

The curtains were drawn and the lights were turned off, casting the room in shadow and a brief period of tranquility.

Some students slept with their heads on their desks, some secretly played on their phones, and those who couldn't sleep and had no phone did their homework.

In any case, as long as you were quiet during this time, it was fine.

The noon break was forty minutes long, and the quiet would last until two o'clock.

From the moment Ren Zhi returned to the classroom, the seat beside her had remained empty.

Looking at the books scattered on the desk and the schoolbag leaning against the chair, she couldn't help but worry about its owner.

She, like her classmates, knew that Chu Xi was surely being disciplined by the head teacher.

That explained why the head teacher wasn't the one supervising them today.

When will she be back?

Ren Zhi felt a pang of guilt. Seeing that Chu Xi still hadn't returned, she couldn't sleep.

After all, this whole incident seemed to have started because of her...

At 1:52, Chu Xi tiptoed back in through the rear door.

Her breathing was heavier than her footsteps. Ren Zhi, who hadn't been asleep, stared at her.

Chu Xi's face was flushed and covered in sweat. The collar of her short-sleeved uniform was soaked, and damp strands of hair clung to her temples. She looked exhausted.

The first thing Chu Xi did upon returning to her seat was to pull some tissues from her drawer and wipe away the sweat.

She sniffed her collar and muttered:

"I probably stink. I'll go wash up in a bit."

As she spoke, she took out her soap case and weighed it in her hand.

Ren Zhi asked nervously, "What did Teacher Ge say to you?"

Teacher Ge was their head teacher, a strict and old-fashioned middle-aged woman. Her methods had not made her popular with the students.

Chu Xi let out a dismissive laugh. "What could she say? Just the usual teacher lecture."

Ren Zhi asked, "You didn't get detention, did you?"

Chu Xi smiled. "Nope. Don't worry. I'll be right back after I wash up."

As she stood to leave through the back door, Ren Zhi saw that the back of her uniform was also dark with sweat.

A few other students who were awake had also been watching Chu Xi, eager for gossip.

Seeing her condition, they figured she must have been punished by the head teacher with laps around the track.

The head teacher was neurotic about this. In the students' eyes, she was a devil and a traditionalist. Unlike other teachers who would gently counsel students, her only punishments were running laps or doing squats.

She was the only one in the entire grade who did this, which greatly annoyed the students of Class 8.

Chu Xi returned from washing up. Although she couldn't change out of her uniform, she had scrubbed her arms and neck with soap, so at least she wouldn't smell bad to Ren Zhi.

The droplets of water on her neck and hands had already half-evaporated under the strong noon sun on her way back.

Ren Zhi was truly impressed that Chu Xi could still smile when she returned.

She couldn't help but ask with concern, "How many laps did Teacher Ge make you run?"

Chu Xi replied, "Four."

"!!!" Ren Zhi had expected the punishment for such a major offense to be severe, but she hadn't imagined it would be that much.

Jiang Zihao, who had woken up in the front row, overheard and felt a surge of satisfaction.

The school track was four hundred meters a lap, making four laps sixteen hundred meters. Even the boys found a thousand-meter run exhausting. Chu Xi must be dead on her feet! Serves her right!

Who told her to be so arrogant? He still remembered the insult from that morning. Hmph!

Ren Zhi frowned. "I'm so sorry... The teacher went too far..."

Chu Xi didn't seem angry at all. Instead, she raised an eyebrow and asked with a half-smile.

"Hey, what do you think is worse: running four laps around the track or climbing 2,000 stairs?"

Ren Zhi's eyes widened. "She's making you climb stairs, too?!"

Chu Xi said, "Nah, it was just a random thought."

Ren Zhi thought for a moment. "Climbing stairs is probably worse... Two thousand steps is so many..."

So you do know, Chu Xi thought.

In the past... oh, or maybe it's the future, you didn't show me any mercy when you caught me sneaking snacks, did you? ^O^

Ren Zhi added, "But four laps is still exhausting. Are you okay?"

Chu Xi smiled at her. "It's nothing. Just think of it as a workout."

"I'm sorry... Actually, my lost worksheet..."

Chu Xi glanced at the clock above the blackboard, cutting her off. "Oh, right, I didn't eat lunch and I'm starving. Could you go to the tuck shop and buy me some bread?"

Ren Zhi immediately replied, "Okay!"

Chu Xi pulled out a ten-yuan bill and handed it to her. "And I'd like a cold Sprite, too. I'm not in a rush, so if there's a crowd, don't squeeze in. Just wait in line. I'll eat whatever kind of bread they have."

"Okay," Ren Zhi said.

Just as Ren Zhi finished speaking, the bell signaling the end of the break rang.

The clock struck two, leaving a ten-minute break before the first afternoon class.

The figures slumped over the desks stirred one after another. The air filled with the rustle of students looking for books. With a click, the lights flicked on, the bright glare waking up their sleepy faces.

The curtains were pulled open, and sunlight flooded the bright classroom.

Ren Zhi left.

In the summer heat, everyone woke up quickly. They turned to look at Chu Xi in the back row, their chatter buzzing with gossip about her.

"Chu Xi, you're so badass, daring to sneak into the surveillance room..."

Chu Xi stood up from her seat. As the other students' eyes focused on her, she walked down the aisle toward the front of the class.

The students around her were all talking to her.

"Hey, Teacher Ge didn't do anything too bad to you, did she?"

"Did she call your parents?"

"You're so wild, sneaking a look at the security footage."

Chu Xi walked silently from the back row to the fifth row in the middle of the room. She stopped in front of a skinny girl with a pointed chin, her gaze cold, deep, and piercing.

The girl smiled at her, still trying to gossip. "So you went to the surveillance room..."

"It's good that you know I went."

The second Chu Xi cut her off, a loud bang startled every student in the room.

Chu Xi's leg shot up, long and powerful. Everyone watched as she kicked Li Hanlin's desk, the blow landing on the metal side with a loud clang. The desk immediately tilted, shaking violently and startling Li Hanlin's deskmate. Caught completely off guard, Li Hanlin screamed.

But Chu Xi didn't stop. Unfazed by the scream or the shock of the onlookers, she hooked a leg of Li Hanlin's desk and, with a spinning kick, sent it crashing to the floor.

Everything on and inside the desk spilled onto the floor in a chaotic mess.

The surrounding students were dead silent, too shocked to even react.

Li Hanlin jumped to her feet, screaming, "What are you doing?"

She had barely stood up before Chu Xi placed both hands on her shoulders and forced her back down into her seat.

With no desk in front of her, she was left in an awkward, empty space. Chu Xi started kicking the legs of her chair, making it shake and slide around with Li Hanlin still in it, who was now terrified.

Chu Xi wouldn't let her leave, even waving away a classmate who tried to intervene.

Chu Xi looked absolutely furious. It was only natural for the others to stay out of harm's way; they just watched from a distance. A few students ran out the back door to find a teacher.

Li Hanlin remained trapped by Chu Xi's violent display until she finally burst into tears.

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