Chapter 2: A Bizarre School

The moment Lin Huai entered Yulan College’s main gate, he already saw a group of boys chasing a guy across the field. They grab him and began to beat him up.

Barely through the school date, and already, he saw a fight. The students in this school really were reckless. Still, they were all at the age where being a bit of aggression wasn't strange.

A middle-aged man with glasses passed by the fighting students. The nearby students addressed him as “teacher”. This middle-aged teacher nodded in reply, walking past the fight. He didn't seem even slightly distracted, let alone inclined to help.

Lin Huai’s stared. Even if those students were in another class, wasn't it his job to stop this? Who ignored their own students fighting right in front of him.

Lin Huai looked over to where a couple was making out under a tree. Their hands had started to stray, and he could hear soft moans. He noticed the guy's body was starting to... get excited, and he looked away hurriedly. Had he walked into another universe? This felt like the set of a bad porn, not a school campus.

He looked around. There were a few buildings on the campus, and he wasn’t sure which block was the Department of Computer Science. He noticed two attractive women walking in front of him and called out to them.

“Excuse me! I have a question.”

The two girls stopped and turned to Lin Huai, giggling.

The girl on the left was unremarkable, but the girl on the right had a sense of fashion that really stood out. She had light blond hair, and wore a miniskirt that bared her midriff. She had charming, wide eyes. When she saw Huai watching and winked.

“Hey, hot stuff. What's your question?”

His looks were a bit inconvenient here. She looked at him with a smile that held an invitation to all sorts of unspeakable things. Damn, he couldn't afford to be distracted. He had a mission. If he wanted to get close to Wei Qiamian, he needed to cultivate the image of the perfect man. He took a deep breath.

“Where’s the staff room of the Department of Computer Science?”

The fashionable girl squinted.

“You sure there's... nothing else you want to ask for?”

“Yeah, just directions.”

“Whatever,” the fashionable girl said. “Head across the basketball court. Building's right there, third floor.”

“Okay, thank you.”

The girl was pretty, but she wasn't close to Wei Qimian’s level. Lin Huai's heart was unmoved.

Both girls stared at him as he walked away, looking stunned.

“Hey! Don’t you wanna ask for my name?” the fashionable girl shouted.

Lin Huai turned to look back at them.

“Oh, what’s your name?”

Seeing his heart wasn't in it, she shook her head furiously.

“Not telling!”

She stomped away, her friend laughing at her side.

“Oooh Qi, you just embarrassed yourself. He’s not interested.”

The girl frowned and gestured to two nearby boys.

“Follow him for me. Ask around what he's doing in the Department of Computer Science.”

“Okay, Miss Qi.” The two boys bowed and quietly went to follow Lin Huai.

As Lin Huai crossed the basketball court, a ball rolled over, stopping at his feet.

The tallest boy gestured to Lin Huai arrogantly.

“You! Bring over the basketball!”

Lin Huai looked over in surprise. He looked at the basketball near his feet, then pointed at himself.

The tall boy glared.

“What are you waiting for, motherfucker? Of course I’m talking about you!”

Lin Huai picked up the basketball with a smile, juggling it. The tall boy’s face relaxed and the other boys smirked.

“Okay, bring it over. Which class are you from? You’re such an airhead.”

At least the tall boy’s tone wasn’t as aggressive, though his attitude was still bad.

“Freshman in the computer science department,” Lin Huai replied with a smile.

“Compsci freshman?” one of the boys said with a laugh. “Well, let me explain how things work around here. Computer science kids serve us physical education students. Since you're new, I can make you a good offer. Fetch basketballs for my friend Dong here today, and he'll protect you while you're on campus.”

The tall boy was obviously the leader of the boys, and this boy was clearly trying to cement his position of power. Dong patted his underling's head, and the shorter boy preened like the suck up he clearly was.

Brother Dong looked back at Lin Huai.

“What are you waiting for? Bring the fucking ball over!”

Lin Huai picked up the ball and directly walked over to the group. Dong reached out with a scoff.

“Okay, you can just stand here and pick up balls. You'll come here every day and fetch any balls that go out of bounds, okay? Then nobody in your class will dare bully you. I, Zhang Jindong, am a man of my work. Plenty of people in the Department of Computer Science would kill for this opportunity.”

Dong was about to grab the ball when Lin Huai smashed the ball against Zhang Jindong’s face. Zhang Jindong staggered backwards, nose and mouth bleeding.

Zhang Jindong touched his face in shock. When his hand came away bloody, he snarled.

“You wanna go, fucker?!”

The group surrounded Lin Huai, but Lin Huai grabbed Zhang Jindong’s hair and slammed the boy's face into his knee. He raised the basketball stand over Zhang Jindong’s head.

“Step back or I’ll brain him!”

The basketball stand was made out of iron. Each hit with something like that would be a new set of stitches at the hospital. Zhang Jindong's cronies didn't dare move.

Zhang Jindong’s face was covered in blood. A lot of people had gathered around to watch, but nobody stepped in to help. They acted like the teacher had, like brawls were commonplace and not worth interfering with.

Zhang Jindong was breathing heavily.

“Don’t! Don’t hit me!” he gasped. “Let me go and I promise they'll leave you alone.”

“Good.” Lin Huai didn't want to waste more time dealing with the whole crowd. “I won’t mess with you and and you won’t mess with me. Also, don’t curse in front of me. And say your name properly! Who do you think you are?”

Lin Huai shoved Zhang Jindong onto the ground and walked towards the building. Zhang Jindong’s underlings over to chase after him.

“What the fuck are you dong?” Zhang Jindong yelled. “I just said to let him go today. Are you trying to embarrass me?”

The boy who'd been trying to hype up Zhang Jindong ran over to help him up.

“Brother Dong is right,” he said apologetically. “Let’s keep our word and give him a pass today. After all, Dong can easily destroy him tomorrow.”

Zhang Jindong patted his underling’s head in satisfaction.

“Mouse, you did well. Ask around. Find out who he is. I’ll deal with him later.”

There was still resentment in Zhang Jindong’s eyes as he thought of his humiliating loss.

Lin Huai arrived at the teacher’s office. Just when he was about to knock, the door opened. There were two boys with bleeding faces walking out of the office. They didn’t even look at Lin Huai. The second they got out of the office, they were back to fighting.

“Why'd you have to go and tell a teacher, you son of a bitch?!”

“You thought you could just hit me? Your mom's the bitch!”

Lin Huai shook his head. No wonder Wei Sihai was so worried for his daughter.

Lin Huai walked into the office and looked around.

“Who’s Mr. Hu Zhiqiang?”

Everyone was looking towards the ground. Lin Huai baffled. Are you all searching for mice or something? When Lin Huai finally looked downwards, he saw a few chairs pushed together. There was a bearded, middle-aged man sleeping on them.

Lin Huai walked over and coughed softly.

“Mr. Hu, Mr. Hu?”

The man didn't stir.

“Mr. Hu, there’s a student looking for you,” a younger teacher said softly. She looked like she was somewhere in her twenties. Hu Zhiqiang shot upright.

“Where? Where is he?” Hu Zhiqiang sat up from his bed of chairs. He smiled at that pretty teacher and looked at Lin Huai blankly. “You’re a student in my class?”

Lin Huai couldn’t believe that Hu Zhiqiang couldn’t recognise the students of his own class. He sighed.

“Yes, Mr. Hu, I’m your new student.”

“Oh, I see. Lin Huai, right? Let’s take you to the class. You’ll be staying in room 101 in the evening. The bedding has already been prepared for you.”

Lin Huai sighed in relief. Maybe this teacher wasn’t completely unreliable. He subtly glanced at the pretty teacher, then followed Hu Zhiqiang into the hall. Hu Zhiqiang began to ask Lin Huai about his life. Lin Huai explained that his family was poor and couldn’t afford tuition fees, but he'd met a kind-hearted teacher who recommended him to Yulan.

Hu Zhiqiang's lip curled.

“That teacher might not have been as kind-hearted as you thought. Listen, it doesn’t matter whether you study or not in this school. What's important is keeping a low profile. If you're lucky, you'll reach graduation peacefully.”

Lin Huai nodded, keeping his real feelings to himself. Wei Sihai’s wife could have never imagined that the college would be such a disgrace when she founded it. If she were alive, she'd probably die of rage anyways.

They reached the classroom where an elderly man lectured while the students played cards or messed around on their phones. There was only one student paying attention to the lecture. Even in profile, Lin Huai recognized Wei Qimian immediatly.

As the class saw Hu Zhiqiang and Lin Huai, they fell silent, looking at Lin Huai curiously.

Hu Zhiqiang said, “This is the new student,” Hu Zhiqiang said. “You will all be classmates from now on. Lin Huai, please introduce yourself.”

Lin Huai smiled.

“Hello everyone, I’m Lin Huai!”

The short introduction got a number of different reactions. A few of the girls looked him over with excitement, but more os the students looked hostile.

Hu Zhiqiang pointed at the seat next to Wei Qimian.

“Just sit there. The textbooks are in your desk.”

Lin Huai walked towards his seat where Wei Qimian was studying seriously.

“Hello, I’m Lin Huai.”

An angelic smile bloomed on Wei Qimian’s face.

“My name is Wei Qimian.”

“Oh my god, everyone look. Wei Qimian smiled at the new kid.”

“Looks like she likes him.”

The room broke out in whispers and, suddenly, the curious gazes became hostile.