MTLY | Chapter 5

◎School Heartthrob of the Big Boss.◎

Qinde Middle School’s junior high and senior high divisions were in the same area, separated by two grand libraries, but the two campuses were independent of each other.

The three grades of the high school division each occupied a separate building, arranged in a C shape.

Song Tinghuan followed behind Jiang Yu all the way, keeping the exact distance of a stranger.

Just thinking about how Jiang Yu had lifted his chin earlier and told her to go into the junior high division made Song Tinghuan a little angry.

No matter how you looked at it, she was 157 centimeters tall, which rounded up was 160. How did she look like a middle school student?

Song Tinghuan looked up and saw a tall, burly boy walking over. He threw an arm over Jiang Yu’s shoulder. “Yu…”

Li Yiliang’s gaze landed on Song Tinghuan, as if sizing her up.

Song Tinghuan recognized this boy. That large tattooed guy who had shown up at the Jiang family villa that night seemed to be Jiang Yu’s good brother. Now that the tattooed guy was wearing a school uniform, the tattoos couldn’t be seen anymore.

“Isn’t this your…”

Li Yiliang didn’t finish his sentence before Song Tinghuan had already walked past them both and headed straight for the high school division. Jiang Yu looked at the little girl clearly puffed up with irritation and let out a soft laugh.

Li Yiliang: “?”

*

Two days earlier, Song Tinghuan had come to the school once with Meng Shutang and met her homeroom teacher, Qin Shuxia.

The first time she heard the name, Song Tinghuan thought the other person would be some gentle, lovely beauty. It wasn’t until a middle-aged man with a bald crown appeared that Song Tinghuan’s illusion of “Qin Shuxia” was completely shattered.

So it wasn’t Shu Xia, it was Shu Xie.

Qin Shuxie looked rough around the edges, but she had heard he was a recognized talent at Qinde Middle School, gifted in both writing and style.

Unfortunately, he taught math.

He also served as the head of the high school math teaching and research group.

Seeing Song Tinghuan, Qin Shuxie waved warmly. “Come on, I’ll take you to the classroom and get you acquainted.”

Like many schools, Qinde Middle School was divided into key classes and regular classes, except the key classes were not the usual first class, second class, but seventeen classes scattered randomly across the entire grade.

When they first enrolled, no one knew which class was the key class, but once the first monthly exam results came out, everyone would know at once. That was where the top students gathered.

At first, Meng Shutang had wanted to place Song Tinghuan in a key class, but Song Tinghuan refused. She knew exactly what her grades were like. Even if she got into a key class, she’d just be at the bottom.

Too hard on her confidence.

After talking it over with Meng Shutang, Song Tinghuan was assigned to Class 3 of Grade 10.

It happened to be before morning reading, and the class was noisy. Qin Shuxie stood at the classroom door and tapped on it. “Quiet.”

His authority was quite strong, and the noisy classroom immediately fell silent. Everyone turned to look toward the door.

No one was looking at Qin Shuxie. They were looking at Song Tinghuan standing beside him.

Qin Shuxie led Song Tinghuan in and stood on the platform to introduce her to everyone. “This is our new classmate.”

Then he smiled at Song Tinghuan. “How about introducing yourself to everyone?”

Song Tinghuan stood beside the podium with a backpack on her shoulders, her thin frame swallowed by the loose white tracksuit, twin ponytails hanging down in front of her chest.

“Hello, everyone. My name is Song Tinghuan.”

Her voice was soft, but every word was pronounced very carefully.

This wasn’t actually Song Tinghuan’s first transfer. Song Mingcheng had started out in construction, and Song Tinghuan had followed him around different projects since she was little. It wasn’t until Song Mingcheng’s business grew and grew that they finally settled in Lingcheng.

For this kind of unfamiliar large group, Song Tinghuan rarely felt a sense of belonging, because she never stayed at any school for long. Just when she was getting used to one place, she would be forced to move to a new environment. Over time, Song Tinghuan had come to drift outside the group. Even now, already in high school, she still didn’t have many close friends around her.

Qin Shuxie knew her personality wasn’t particularly outgoing, so he didn’t make her interact any further. “All right, Song Tinghuan, go sit in the empty seat in the second row first.”

Qin Shuxie pointed out a seat, clearly already arranged.

Song Tinghuan walked over and sat down, making almost no sound. Her deskmate was a girl with a bit of natural curl in her hair, tied up in a high ponytail. The slightly wavy stray hairs around her forehead gave her an energetic, playful look.

“You’re really pretty.”

“Ah…?”

Faced with her new deskmate’s blunt praise and overly enthusiastic gaze, Song Tinghuan felt a little embarrassed and quietly returned two words. “Thank you.”

“My name is Guan Linlin, the Guan in Guan Gong, the Lin in glimmering jade. What characters are in your name? Ah, let me guess. The Song in Song dynasty? The Ting with the female radical? The Huan in joy?”

Song Tinghuan nodded, then after a pause shook her head.

Guan Linlin: “?”

“It’s the Ting in hearing,” Song Tinghuan corrected her.

But her nickname was Tingting.

“Oh, oh.”

Song Tinghuan softly repeated Guan Linlin’s name, still pronouncing every syllable very carefully. “Guan, nin, nin.”

“It’s Linlin.”

“Nin nin.” After repeating it, Song Tinghuan felt awkward again. Her pale little face turned slightly red. “Sorry.”

Her Mandarin wasn’t very standard, carrying the pronunciation of Lingcheng dialect, especially with n and l, which she couldn’t tell apart very well.

Guan Linlin’s eyes curved. She waved it off without caring at all. “Ah, it’s fine. Nin nin is fine, nin nin sounds nice. Or you can call me Juanjuan too.”

Qin Shuxie walked over, his slightly plump belly straining the front of his clothes. “Guan Linlin, take good care of the new classmate.”

“Okay, Teacher Qin.” Guan Linlin agreed briskly, her voice sweet and bright.

In just two classes, Guan Linlin had already given Song Tinghuan a full introduction to everything about Qinde, from the century-old history of this private-to-public middle school to the auntie in the cafeteria at lunch whose hand never shook when serving food.

Guan Linlin was naturally easy to get along with, and a bit of a chatterbox. While she talked nonstop, Song Tinghuan listened quietly beside her, only occasionally smiling with pressed lips when she heard something interesting.

Song Tinghuan had a pair of very beautiful eyes, dark, soft, and clear. When she smiled, the corners of her eyes curved slightly, like a crescent moon.

At first, whenever Song Tinghuan smiled, Guan Linlin would go blank.

Then Song Tinghuan saw Guan Linlin clasp her hands together. “This humble believer must have done good deeds and accumulated virtue in her past life, which is why I deserve such a pretty and adorable deskmate in this life.”

Song Tinghuan: “…”

After two morning classes, Qinde Middle School had a 25-minute long break. Every Monday, the flag-raising ceremony was held during this break.

Song Tinghuan was led by Guan Linlin as they lined up.

This was also when the three grades of the high school division would mix together.

“Hey, Jiang Yu.”

“So handsome.”

“He really looks like a character ripped straight out of a comic.”

“What, you want to chase him too?”

“Forget it, I know my place.”

The two girls behind them were whispering and laughing. Song Tinghuan followed their gaze and saw the striking boy in the crowd.

Everyone around them was wearing the white and purple school uniform, but at a glance, the one who stood out the most was still the one you could catch instantly.

Song Tinghuan watched Jiang Yu talking to the boy beside him. His uniform was still worn loose and careless, a faint smile hooked at the corner of his lips.

His features weren’t the kind of straight, strong-browed, big-eyed handsomeness. His eyes were slightly long and narrow, with a hint of inner double lids, but his pupils were jet black. When the corner of his mouth lifted in a smile, there was also a lazy sort of smile floating in his eyes, extremely captivating.

“This Jiang Yu, I really have to explain him properly,” Guan Linlin said beside her with complete seriousness.

“Hmm?”

“He’s our Qinde heartthrob. Actually, our school has two mottos. I’ve already told you one just now.”

Study diligently, think deeply, uphold virtue, and understand reason.

Hence, “Qinde.”

“And the other one?” Song Tinghuan asked obediently.

Guan Linlin coughed lightly and said solemnly, “Either get into Jiang University, or get into Jiang Yu.”

Song Tinghuan: “…”

Looking at the tall boy not far away, Guan Linlin shook her head. “Last year, 320 people from Qinde got into Jiang University, and as for those who got into Jiang Yu…”

Song Tinghuan was already finding it a little hard to listen. Whatever getting into this or that, her ears were turning red. She pulled at Guan Linlin. “Let’s go, time to line up.”

It was Song Tinghuan’s first day of class, so she didn’t have a fixed spot in the line. Guan Linlin pulled her toward the back.

Guan Linlin said, “Go to the very back, the teachers can’t see us there.”

Then suddenly, Qin Shuxie’s booming voice came from behind them. “Guan Linlin, Song Tinghuan, come to the front.”

Song Tinghuan: “…”

Song Tinghuan was short, so naturally she stood in the first row.

The flag-raising ceremony was almost a fixed Monday routine at every school, and the process was more or less the same. After the national anthem was raised, there would be a speech under the flag.

Qinde Middle School had just taken both the team and individual first place in the recently concluded National Mathematics League, and today’s speech under the flag was by that individual champion.

The tall, upright boy walked onto the podium, and Song Tinghuan froze slightly.

Beside her, Guan Linlin whispered in her ear, “This is the other legend of our Qinde.”

But Song Tinghuan only blinked blankly. “Liang Shiyi.”

Guan Linlin: “?”

Song Tinghuan really hadn’t expected to run into Liang Shiyi at Qinde.

The Song family and the Liang family used to be neighbors. When Song Tinghuan was little, Song Mingcheng was often busy with social engagements, so he would send her to the Liang house. To be honest, it was a little embarrassing, but a lot of Song Tinghuan’s elementary school homework was written by Liang Shiyi for her.

Later, the Liang family moved to Jiangbei, and Song Tinghuan and Liang Shiyi lost contact.

Running into a childhood playmate all of a sudden, it would be a lie to say she wasn’t excited.

The little boy of the past had already grown into a tall, straight young man, broad and elegant like a green bamboo. Standing on the podium, he spoke clearly and delivered his remarks with generous enthusiasm.

Song Tinghuan’s eyes were bright, and Guan Linlin’s gossip instincts were immediately stirred. “You know Liang Shiyi?”

“Mm, when I was little, I used to play at his house a lot.”

“Whoa, childhood sweethearts.”

After a neatly structured, rousing speech ended, Liang Shiyi bowed slightly and stepped down from the podium.

Guan Linlin sighed beside her. “A top student really is a top student.”

“His grades are very good?” Song Tinghuan asked.

Guan Linlin nodded. “He hasn’t dropped out of the top three in the grade.”

Song Tinghuan was slightly surprised. He was actually that amazing.

Right, otherwise how could he win the National Mathematics League championship?

On the podium, Director Li from the Academic Affairs Office had already stepped up. Director Li was over forty, dressed in a stiff dark suit, her hair pinned up, and she wore a pair of black-framed glasses, perfectly embodying the image of a stern dean.

“Students.”

Her voice matched her appearance, equally stern.

Standing in the first row, Song Tinghuan was intimidated by her authority and listened very carefully.

Basically, last week several students from Qinde got into a fight with students from No. 8 Middle School, seriously violating school discipline and damaging the school’s reputation and image. During today’s flag-raising ceremony, the student who had led the fight was to make a deep self-criticism in front of the entire faculty and student body. After the school assessed the situation, all those involved in the fight would receive demerits.

This punishment was very serious, and there was a hubbub of voices across the playground.

Song Tinghuan had always been well-behaved and obedient, and she’d never had any contact with students like the ones who fought. Back when she was at Lingcheng No. 1 Middle School, whenever she saw those bad boys at school, she’d go around them.

People nearby were discussing in low voices:

“I heard the big brother from No. 8 got one of his legs broken.”

“Damn, that brutal?”

“Who told them to mess with someone they shouldn’t have? Serves them right.”

“I heard it was because of Han Jingjing?”

“Exactly.”

…

Song Tinghuan pieced together the rough outline from the chatter.

Qinde’s big brother and No. 8’s big brother had fought, and No. 8’s big brother got one of his legs ruined, all because of a girl named Han Jingjing.

Song Tinghuan was a little curious. Who was this Qinde big brother who would rage for a beauty?

So under everyone’s watchful eyes, she saw a familiar figure.

The boy’s school uniform jacket was worn loose on him, with a black hoodie underneath.

Amid Director Li’s angry shout to “zip it up,” Jiang Yu curved his lips in a smile and used his slender fingers to pinch the silver zipper, pulling it all the way to the top.

The collar of the purple-and-white uniform stood up, barely brushing his chin. The lines of the boy’s face were clean and sharp, and there was still a smile at the corner of his mouth. “Does this work?”

His voice was languid and sleepy.

Song Tinghuan’s dark eyes were full of shock.

Qinde’s big brother… Jiang Yu?

Author’s note:

Liang, grade-three top student, Shiyi vs Jiang, Qinde’s big brother, Yu

Song Tinghuan: the world’s unevenness

Jiang Yu: ?