Chapter 4: The Hero Star That Goes Completely Wrong 1
In ancient China, an old man once said something... Kaka... Please allow me to borrow it here. What was that saying? Ah, yes -
"Warfare is about courage. The first blow is strong, the second is weak, the third is exhausted..."
What this means is that during a war, courage is at its strongest when the drum is beaten for the first time. Courage begins to wane when the drum is beaten for the second time, and by the third time... well! Needless to say, courage is like a balloon that has been punctured, deflated!
Sorry, although I have always claimed to be a good girl of the new era with all-round development in morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics and labor, this is not an educational program. I mention this not to prove how knowledgeable I am (but if you insist on thinking so, I have no objection, haha), but to point out a very sad fact, which is——
I am the deflated balloon in the old saying "three times exhausted". The high spirits and vigor I had when I left the rooftop that day, ready to have a big fight with Norn, have now become like fallen leaves on the trees in autumn, swirling in the air and flying away when the wind blows.
Because, that guy Norn hasn't shown up for three whole days!
For someone who has a great passion for studying aliens, the sudden disappearance of a research subject whose identity has not yet been confirmed is by no means good news.
Although, this research subject is a complex of troubles for me.
During the break, I was absent-mindedly doing the break exercises, and my eyes were rolling towards the senior students. Unfortunately, even though I had opened my eyes as wide as I could, I could not see anything except a sea of heads.
I sighed and continued to swing my limbs. I really don't know why the school suddenly asked everyone to do exercises during recess. In such good weather, everyone should be allowed to move freely to look for aliens...ah, no, it should be free movement to familiarize themselves with the campus and communicate with each other.
Something is wrong! Something is so wrong!
Before I could finish my sigh, God stretched out his golden hand and wrote the word "bad luck" on my forehead without hesitation.
"Bai Jie Ni!"
It's over! My movements were helplessly fixed in the shape of a white crane spreading its wings, and I watched helplessly as the figure with a strong momentum swept in front of me like a tornado.
"During the exercise, what are you looking around for? Do you have any sense of discipline? Do you know how to write the word discipline..."
Crackling...
I watched Yao Shanshan, who was always in a fighter state, talking nonsense, and her eyes seemed to want to destroy me humanely, as if I had done something unforgivable.
I don't know how to write the word "discipline", but I know how to write the word "unlucky". I weakly retorted in my heart.
Unlike Norn who suddenly disappeared out of thin air, these past few days, our Queen, Yao Shanshan, seemed to have installed a locator on me. As long as I dared to do something inappropriate, such as accidentally knocking a book off while cleaning, accidentally falling on the road, stepping on a grass to death during extracurricular activities, etc., as long as I turned my head, I could immediately see Queen Yao swinging her little whip...ah, no, she was opening the "royal" notebook to record my crimes.
If I hadn't seen her walk out of the crowd with my own eyes twice, I would have suspected that this person had acquired the ability to travel through space like Norn, which is only possible for aliens.
It's really a shame for such a talent to stay in the small Eli College. At least it should be an organization like the Secret Service that is worthy of our Queen Yao!
I kept complaining in my heart.
After I finally finished listening to "Agent Yao's" lecture and the physical exercises were over, she finally threatened me, "If I catch you again, you'll be completely finished," and then she let me go temporarily.
However, I am not happy at all.
I followed the group to the classroom in frustration. A short-haired girl passing by, who I don’t know if she saw how pitiful I was, actually extended a friendly hand and patted my arm. Then she comforted me with a sympathetic look on her face: “Um…Bai Jie Ni, you better be careful next time, don’t let Minister Yao catch you again.”
After saying that, she blinked at me, and I instantly felt the warmth of spring.
However, before this warmth spread from my heart to my whole body, the curly-haired girl with this girl quickly pulled her away, and a dissatisfied blame floated in the air: "Hey, Miaomiao, why did you say so much to her, do you want to offend Senior Yao too?"
"Of course not, I just felt sorry for her, and she didn't mean it..."
She was interrupted before she could finish her sentence. The curly-haired girl glared at her with a look of disappointment: "Anyway, you are right to listen to me. Stay away from Bai Jie Ni in the future. It would be bad if she gets involved. Don't you see that everyone is avoiding her?"
"Ah? Oh, I see."
…
The sound of conversation gradually faded away, leaving me alone standing in the bitter cold like the autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves. The warmth just now was frozen before it had time to spread.
Looking at the classmates around me, the one closest to me was three meters away. As expected, I was isolated by everyone.
I really wish I could go back three months. Even if I had applied to the worst college in the city, I would not have come to Ailey College to suffer this kind of torture.
I walked slowly to the first-grade corridor, but a sound like thunder came to my ears. The roar was so loud that my eardrums vibrated.
"Hey! Do you have any sense of class honor? You're late for class, you don't wear your school uniform when doing exercises, you don't follow instructions during group activities... Our class has been deducted a full five points because of you! Don't you feel ashamed? Huh?"
I turned around with mixed feelings, wanting to see which unlucky guy was being scolded in public like me, but what caught my eye was a face that looked nonchalant, and this face was so familiar.
His wheat-colored face was like a masterpiece of God, and every edge and corner seemed to have been carefully carved, but now it was filled with impatience. His eyebrows that flew diagonally into his temples were raised high, his glass-like black eyes were full of laziness, his eyelashes cast a faint shadow, and his lips were tightly pursed, revealing a disdainful arrogance, giving people the feeling that he was not listening to the other person at all.
Sure enough, I wasn’t the only one who had this thought. The boy who had just roared turned red in the face, and his lips trembled with anger: “You…are you listening to me?”
Someone in the crowd couldn't stand it and chimed in: "Hey! Ai Keqi, why didn't you answer when the squad leader spoke to you? You're almost killing us!"
"That's right! This Ai Keqi is simply too outrageous. He doesn't look like a student at all. He wears motorcycle clothes every day. Does he think that's great?"
"Really? If this continues, our class will definitely be ranked last in the midterm assessment. It's all his fault!"
"Yes! He should apologize to us and to the whole class!"
…
Amid the tide of accusations, the person being accused - Ai Keqi, whom I had met once on the rooftop, raised his eyelids indifferently, then stretched out his fingers to pick his ears.
As he moved, the green earring that was faintly visible in his hair was revealed, reflecting a charming light in the sun. But this time, no one appreciated it, because everyone was even more angry when they saw his arrogant attitude, and the accusations were getting louder and louder.
"Aikeqi!"
The squad leader gnashed his teeth and called out Ai Keqi's name. He rushed over with spitting fire in his eyes and grabbed Ai Keqi's collar, his other hand clenched into a fist, about to hit Ai Keqi in the face.
Everyone around gasped, but no one stepped forward to stop him. Ai Keqi himself didn't look panicked at all, and his nonchalant look made him look even more annoying.
A violent incident was about to happen before my eyes. At this critical moment, I don’t know what was wrong with me, but I suddenly raised my hands high, screamed as if I was surrendering, and rushed into the crowd.
"Hey! Spare his life! I apologize! I apologize on his behalf!"
I opened my arms and jumped in front of Aikechi to protect him behind me. The fist stopped only 0.01 cm away from the tip of my nose.
Everyone seemed to be stunned by this sudden change. Even the squad leader who was so angry that he wanted to beat Ai Keqi to death just now showed an expression as if he was struck by lightning. He asked with trembling lips: "You... who are you?"
"I'm his friend, Ai Keqi's friend!" I straightened my chest and tried to look fearless. God knows that facing a boy who is 20 centimeters taller than me, my legs have actually become weak.
"I apologize to everyone on his behalf. Please give him another chance. We are all classmates. We should love each other, haha!"
I laughed dryly twice and felt my face was about to twist.
Who knew that the person being protected would not appreciate it. I only heard a rough voice coming from behind me: "Get out of the way, Bai Jie Ni, you don't need to mind your own business!"
"Shut up!"
I turned around and glared at Ai Keqi, then turned back around with a flattering expression.
"My classmate, you are Ai Keqi's class monitor, right? Can I ask you to let Ai Keqi go this time? I will apologize to you on his behalf. He was indeed wrong this time!"
"You..." The ghostly voice behind him sounded again.
This time I unceremoniously lifted my foot and took a step back, then stepped down hard again, and finally succeeded in making him shut up.
The squad leader, who was a head taller than me, reluctantly withdrew his hand from Ai Keqi's collar, then nodded under my sincere gaze: "Okay! Forget it this time, next time..."
"No next time! No next time!" In order to prevent him from saying more and causing the "powder barrel" behind him to explode, I quickly pretended to be grateful, grabbed Ai Keqi's arm and took two steps back, "Thank you, thank you! Then we'll leave first!"
I finally managed to escape from the crowd, and I broke out in a cold sweat. It was so dangerous!
"Eh? Now I remember, isn't that girl Bai Jieni, who has been targeted by the student union recently? How come Ai Keqi knows her?"
"Who knows! But she doesn't look like someone like Ai Keqi. Why does she always run into the Student Union's gun?"
"Hey! It's because Bai Jie Ni got involved with Nuo En on the first day she entered school. Everyone knows about Yao Shan Shan and the study group..."
…
The rest of the words were completely inaudible as the distance between us increased, but even though they were just a few short sentences, they gave me a chill.
Yao Shanshan, Noen, study group...
These words seemed to be full of thorns rolling around in my heart, and the joy of successfully saving someone was instantly replaced by deep doubts.
"Yao Shanshan is targeting me. Could it have something to do with the study group?"
I murmured, I really couldn't understand it.
"Of course! Do you think everyone thinks they are just unlucky like you do?"
I turned my head and found that Ai Keqi had stopped walking at some point. He was leaning against a big tree behind him like a boneless person, with his hands behind his head, looking up at the sky, and I didn't know what he was thinking.
If there wasn't anyone else around, I would have suspected that the words just now were not said by the guy in front of me.
At least I saved him just now. If it weren't for me, he might have been beaten black and blue. Can't this guy even say thank you?
"You know what's going on, right? Tell me, could it be..." I was shocked by the sudden thought that flashed through my mind, and even my voice changed its tone, "Could it be that Yao Shanshan has a crush on Nuoen, and Nuoen rejected her, so she turned love into hate and disliked me? This is too..."
At this moment, the plots of no less than ten tragic TV dramas about love-struck lovers flashed through my mind one by one, and finally froze into a capital "囧".
Please! If that's the case, then I'm being wronged, right? I have nothing to do with that Norn guy, and I have no interest in him at all. I...
Okay, the second half of the sentence is not true, because I am indeed interested in him, but the “interest” is completely different from what everyone thinks!
"Snapped--"
A chestnut fell on my forehead. I covered my forehead and raised my head, angrily questioning the guy who didn't have time to retract his hand: "Hey! What are you doing?"
"What's wrong?" Ai Keqi looked at me like I was a fool, then raised his head and sneered at me, "Tsk! Do you think everyone is as obsessed with those guys in the study group as the school's crazy fans? Apart from their good looks and bodies, what else is there to be admired about them?"
Huh? It sounds like he is quite disdainful of study groups?
I quickly pricked up my ears, waiting for his next words.
Sure enough, Ai Keqi started talking non-stop as if he had opened a box of chatterboxes. The green earrings kept showing through his hair as he spoke, and it seemed that its owner was very excited.
"That Yao Shanshan, who thinks she is the guardian of discipline, is rude to anyone who breaks the established rules. However, because the guys in the study group live in Liuguang Castle, in addition to the pursuit of crazy fans, they also have privileges and preferential treatment given by the school principal. Yao Shanshan has no way to do anything to them, so she is hostile to everyone who has anything to do with them. Speaking of which, you are really unlucky. You had a scandal with Norn on the first day of school. Of course, she dislikes you in every way!"
"What scandal? That was an accident! Accident, you know? And that Norn, he's just a pervert... well... he's just a bad guy. Who would want to be associated with him?"
After knowing why I was being targeted, I was furious. How could someone be convicted without any reason? Wasn't it too unfair for me?
"All you can do now is stay away from everything related to the study group. Then maybe Yao Shanshan will let you go."
After leaving these words, Ai Keqi stood up, waved his sleeves, and left from my sight without leaving a cloud.
However, just before he was about to disappear from my sight, he turned around and waved at me: "Hey! Although you are really meddling in my business today, thank you anyway!"
What an awkward guy!
