Chapter 11: Bai Xiruo Faints!
Deng Xianbing had just assigned a few old troublemakers to stand at the back of the classroom when his star pupil also arrived late.
The old troublemakers watched the door like it was a show.
In front of them, Deng Xianbing walked up to Bai Xiruo, asking in a low, concerned voice, his attitude a world apart from how he treated Duan Chenxu and the others:
"What happened? Why are you late?"
Bai Xiruo's face was flushed, and she lowered her head, her voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz: "I woke up late this morning."
This answer could, at most, be considered an honest admission of her mistake, but it couldn't serve as an excuse for a teacher to shield a good student.
So,
Deng Xianbing made the excuse sound perfectly legitimate: "Did you study too late last night?"
???
???
?????
Deng Xianbing: "No matter how much you study, you still need to rest. Go back to your seat."
Although they didn't hear what Deng Xianbing said to Bai Xiruo, Duan Chenxu and the others instinctively knew. As they took out their Chinese textbooks for morning reading, they gave Deng Xianbing an international friendly gesture: "Screw you!"
There was nothing they could do; this was Lao Deng's blatant favoritism towards students with good grades.
In Lao Deng's eyes, an excellent student like Bai Xiruo, who didn't cause trouble or act mischievous, was, of course, a good child. And a good child's occasional mistake could be forgiven, couldn't it?
But a student like Zhang Chen, whose grades were terrible and who constantly influenced other classmates to cause trouble, was simply an illiterate hooligan. No matter how truthful or reasonable his words were, people were reluctant to believe him.
The others had nothing to say about this. Their abilities didn't allow for it, so they could only secretly make friendly gestures to show their defiance.
Watching Bai Xiruo return to her seat, Zhang Chen considered glancing at Li Junhao, who was standing at the back.
He had asked Li Junhao to watch Bai Xiruo last night; surely nothing had happened, right?
A student like Bai Xiruo usually wouldn't be late unless there was some irresistible force.
The original novel did describe him blocking Bai Xiruo at the school gate after he was expelled, but now that he had transmigrated, that situation certainly wouldn't apply.
So either someone had taken his place and blocked Bai Xiruo at the school gate, or...
There was only one other possibility: something had happened at her home.
She was staying with her uncle's family, and they treated Bai Xiruo very poorly, not even allowing her to eat at the table. Anything good to eat, they would secretly consume behind her back.
Not only that, but her uncle's family also assigned all the dirty and tiring chores, like washing clothes and cooking, to Bai Xiruo. If Bai Xiruo wanted to continue staying with them on weekends instead of returning to the countryside, she would be forced to work part-time at their behest.
If it was the second possibility, then it was likely that her uncle had made her work until late at night again, causing her to be late for class today.
Zhang Chen frowned slightly, recalling how Bai Xiruo hadn't even reported him to Lao Deng in the office yesterday. He pondered how to help her...
But after thinking about it, he immediately shook his head.
This kind of situation was usually left for the male lead to resolve. If he interfered, what would the male lead do?
Besides, he couldn't interfere now. Was he supposed to rescue Bai Xiruo from her uncle's house and then have her live in the same single room and sleep in the same bed as him?
He must be tired of living, trying to snatch a woman from the Son of Destiny...
It was better to be honest and help out in some small ways.
At least eliminate the previous bad impression, so that when the male lead comes out, it would be better to avoid his revenge...
As for her family's situation...
Should he leave it to the reliable male lead?
By the way, which class was the male lead in...?
In fact, Zhang Chen had guessed most of what Bai Xiruo was going through.
He just hadn't thought of the specific reason for Bai Xiruo's punishment.
Her aunt had discovered her secretly hiding two eggs, which were from the meal she had brought to school yesterday and which Zhang Chen and his group had spilled.
If it weren't for Zhang Chen threatening her and making her bring a meal, and insisting it had to have meat, she would never have done such a thing.
And after this was discovered by her uncle and aunt, she was naturally punished severely.
Especially since they claimed they worked from dawn till dusk to earn so little money from selling vegetables, only for a 'house thief' like her to secretly squander it!
The only time she was caught was this one, with two eggs.
But who knew how many times she had secretly taken things when she wasn't caught!!
It was exaggerated to the point that all the family's hardships were because of her!
So, Bai Xiruo was forcibly made to work, picking vegetables. She was woken up at 4 AM and busied herself at the vegetable market. Only after her aunt and the others rested did she have a chance to go home and catch up on some sleep.
Just a quick nap, and she was almost late...
Also as punishment, there was today's lunch.
If she liked to steal, then today's lunch would be skipped. If caught again, it would be two skipped meals, and so on!
Bai Xiruo returned to her seat. In her backpack, she still had two steamed buns that she had bought at a breakfast shop this morning.
She didn't plan to eat them during the morning self-study because she had no lunch today. She intended to save them to eat at noon.
The fourth period in the morning was Physical Education.
The PE teacher didn't get sick or take leave, so the whole class gathered on the sports field.
During the breaks throughout the morning, the classmates who were on good terms with Zhang Chen all made fun of his yellow hair.
But teasing aside, from the way his classmates looked at him, it was clear that the hairstyle he had dyed back to was definitely not bad.
Everyone was just joking, after all, yellow hair used to be Zhang Chen's "dignity."
Zhang Chen didn't listen attentively to any of the morning classes, except for PE. Instead, he was tidying up his messy seat and drawer.
For him, these questions, whose answers could be known with his toes, would surely make him drowsy if he listened carefully.
He might as well use this time to check the current learning progress so he could report to Nan Xingwan in the evening.
However, during the tidying process, he found many extracurricular books and comics.
So, the original owner spent every day reading these.
Although the date written was the latest, April 2025, the style of the comics and the content of the extracurricular books leaned more towards the 2010s.
In the original novel, the world's setting was only at a technological level of around the 2010s. The author just arbitrarily wrote 2025 because it was easier to remember...
Including Nan Xingwan's phone last night, it was just a bulky smartphone that looked like it could only play 'Connect Four.'
Moreover, in the original world view, this world lacked the cultural elements of his original world, and the protagonist rose to fame by plagiarizing.
If he could, he could actually go to an internet cafe every night and publish the books written by a certain popular author, like 'Maotou,' on a certain website, writing the classic line, "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river."
Typing at an internet cafe, the 2010s, a high school boy—the buffs in this world were all just right, weren't they?
Zhang Chen temporarily put these thoughts aside and went to the sports field with his classmates.
It was only April, but the weather was already starting to get hot. Zhang Chen, for example, had already taken off his jacket and was wearing a short-sleeved shirt.
The PE teacher followed the routine, leading everyone through a warm-up, and then told them that they would be having a physical test this class.
Only then did everyone realize why the PE teacher hadn't been sick or taken leave for this class.
"Boys and girls, split into two groups. Boys run 1000 meters, girls run 800 meters."
Everyone groaned throughout the field...
"Those who finish can rest for the rest of the class."
Me!!!
Me!!
We'll go first!
Everyone suddenly became enthusiastic again...
"Sister Yu, let's test first. You tell Zhang Chen and the boys to wait a bit, okay?"
Seeing that the boys' reactions were stronger, the PE teacher glanced at them and then told the boys to get ready. Several girls then pulled Su Yu, wanting her to persuade him.
"That's right, Xiaoyu, let Zhang Chen take the boys to play basketball first. What if it's our turn to test and class ends before we finish?"
"Exactly, exactly! Later the cafeteria will be packed, and we'll have to queue for ages!"
The last PE class of the morning often allowed students to get to the cafeteria a step ahead of those in the teaching building, thus avoiding the peak queuing period at lunchtime.
Su Yu thought this made a lot of sense, but she didn't want to talk to Zhang Chen at the moment.
From last night until now, Zhang Chen hadn't said a single word to her!
This was no longer just the simple, obvious behavior of him not saying goodbye when he left last night or not bringing her breakfast this morning.
He was deliberately trying to get her attention!
He wanted to use sudden coldness to make her uncomfortable!
The more he acted like this, the more she couldn't show weakness. Instead, she had to act completely at ease!
Even if she wanted to test first at this moment, she wouldn't admit it.
"I can't, I'm scared. Let the boys test first."
Ah...
"There's nothing to be scared of, Xiaoyu. Later, the cafeteria will have a long queue. Aren't you scared of that?"
"Exactly, exactly! After eating, I still want to go back to the dorm to wash my hair..."
"It's okay, they'll finish testing very quickly. Let's wait a bit." Su Yu avoided mentioning Zhang Chen and sat cross-legged on the ground.
Seeing this, the other girls knew Su Yu wouldn't agree.
And soon, Zhang Chen, as part of the first group of boys, finished his test and started playing basketball on the field.
It must be said, this body's strength was much greater than his original body's; he could even dunk!
As expected of a body that constantly fought, it was much sturdier than a bookworm's.
The girls could only watch the boys in their group move freely, their eyes full of envy.
Next were the second and third groups. Time passed minute by minute, half the class was over, and the boys had just finished their tests.
Seeing this, the girls around Su Yu finally got up and quickly rushed to the PE teacher to get a spot in the first group.
Su Yu, to make her initial words seem consistent, remained sitting on the ground, indicating that they should go test first and that she was still a little nervous.
The girls exchanged glances and said nothing, going ahead to test on their own.
After the girls left, Su Yu looked at a certain figure playing basketball in the center of the court, her brows furrowing involuntarily.
She hadn't eaten breakfast this morning. She had originally intended to accept Zhang Chen's breakfast as compensation for him standing up for her, but she hadn't expected Zhang Chen not to bring her any today.
Not bringing breakfast was one thing, but he hadn't even explained or said a single word to her all morning!
It was almost noon now, and she was very hungry. She didn't know if it would affect her running later. What if she had low blood sugar...?
She didn't want Zhang Chen to use this opportunity to take her to the infirmary!
Wasn't he playing hard to get with her? She would play along!
Worst case, they would never speak to each other again!
She was just thinking that if she got low blood sugar later, Zhang Chen would definitely be unable to resist taking her to the infirmary, then apologizing and explaining a series of things to her, and she still wouldn't forgive him.
Suddenly, someone fainted on the track.
Then she heard several classmates around her saying: "What happened?"
"It looks like Bai Xiruo?"
"Bai Xiruo fainted?"
Everyone slowly moved towards where Bai Xiruo had fainted.
Immediately after, they saw Zhang Chen say a few words to the PE teacher, then carry Bai Xiruo on his back and run towards the teaching building where the infirmary was.
As he passed by Su Yu, Su Yu's entire body froze.
And Zhang Chen didn't even look at her once...
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