During the evening self-study session, Jiang Ning could still hear people discussing Zhuang Jianhui. Geng Lu, a girl with chubby cheeks sitting in the row in front of him, was talking to her desk-mate:
"Zhuang Jianhui went to Experimental Middle School in the provincial capital for junior high. He was already famous on their school's tieba back then, and you can still find some posts about him."
"Wow, he's from the provincial capital!" another girl exclaimed in surprise.
There was a sheer chasm between the provincial capital of Anhui and the other cities in the province. This created a peculiar sentiment among people in the rest of the province toward the capital: those who liked it thought the capital was wonderful and took pride in it, while those who disliked it refused to acknowledge its status altogether.
At first, Ma Shicheng thought Zhuang Jianhui was pretty awesome, but as more and more girls discussed him, he gradually grew sick of the name. With a smirk, he remarked:
"If he's from the provincial capital, how come he ended up at our No. 4 High School? He probably couldn't even pass the exams for a high school over there!"
Geng Lu turned her head, glanced at him, and retorted:
"His high school entrance exam score was over seven hundred points—he could've walked into No. 2 High School effortlessly. He came to No. 4 High School just because it's closer to home."
"Now *that* is what you call being effortlessly cool. He could clearly go to a better school, yet he picked his high school based on a whim. So handsome, and totally living up to the reputation of someone from a provincial capital's middle school."
When a reasonably pretty girl praises another male in front of a male companion, it is bound to provoke anger.
Sourly, Ma Shicheng said, "I think the provincial capital is just so-so. Compared to Nanshi, which is much closer to us, isn't it just a little brother?"
"You wish you had the chops to compete with students from Nanshi's key high schools."
Seeing Ma Shicheng's ill-intentioned tone, Geng Lu's temper flared as well. She was never a meek and gentle girl:
"Can you dunk a basketball like he can? And he's actually handsome."
Dunking was indeed something Ma Shicheng couldn't do—he couldn't even touch the rim of the backboard. But when looks were mentioned, he lost his temper. The day before, when he had boasted about his own good looks, Geng Lu had looked at him with disdain. Now, with old grudges and new grievances combining, he launched a direct counter-attack:
"I don't think he's that much more handsome than me! Everyone around me says I'm handsome."
"Wang Longlong, who do you think is more handsome, me or Zhuang Jianhui?"
With an honest and submissive look on his face, Wang Longlong replied, "I think Brother Ma is more handsome!"
Ma Shicheng smugly looked at Guo Kunnan: "Who's more handsome?"
Guo Kunnan was a very supportive hype-man: "When it comes to looks, my Brother Ma leaves Zhuang Jianhui in the dust."
Now it was Ma Shicheng's turn to look at Geng Lu with utter contempt:
"You're the only one with no taste."
Geng Lu was left speechless. She knew boys could be a bit narcissistic, but this was her first time seeing narcissism reach such an ignorant level.
Recalling a few lines of classical Chinese, she recited: "Zou Ji was eight chi and some tall, and his appearance and form were magnificent..." She forgot the middle part, so she skipped straight to:
"How could I be as beautiful as Xu Gong of the North City? ... How could Xu Gong compare to you, sir?"
Anyone who managed to pass the exams to enter No. 4 High School had a decent foundation in junior high, so they naturally understood the moral of the text.
Geng Lu said, "Do you get it now?"
Ma Shicheng's expression turned ugly, yet he let out a weird, sarcastic drawl:
"Oh, look at the intellectual! Such a cultured person!"
Seeing him act like this, Geng Lu knew he was completely beyond saving, and turned her head back.
Seeing Geng Lu back down, Ma Shicheng smiled triumphantly. How utterly lacking in self-awareness.
He pulled out a pack of Stride chewing gum he had bought and handed one piece to each of the boys who had just backed him up.
During the self-study session, Dan Qingrong announced some news:
On the final day of military training, which was September 9th, a training results competition would be held on a class-by-class basis, with the experimental classes participating as well. Three classes with the best performance would be selected to receive honorary silk banners.
Hearing this, the students below immediately looked eager to try. At the high school stage, class pride was still quite strong—unlike university students, who couldn't care less whether their class was good or bad.
"I notice quite a few students play with their phones a lot during usual times!" Dan Qingrong said with a beaming smile, his gaze sweeping over a few specific students.
When those students met his gaze, their eyes instantly shrank, not daring to make eye contact.
Dan Qingrong said, "How about this? If our Class 8 can win a banner this time, I'll install a power strip in the classroom, right at the front, so it's convenient for everyone to charge their devices."
As soon as he said this, the students grew excited. Boarding students in particular had no power strips in their dormitories, and since they didn't dare charge their phones in the classroom, they had no choice but to go to a small supermarket outside, where they were charged one yuan per charge—a total rip-off.
If Old Dan could really install a power strip for everyone, it would be infinitely more convenient.
"Old Dan, we'll definitely win first place back for you!" several boarding students jeered, simultaneously making up their minds that they had to finish in the top three just so they could charge their phones in the classroom fair and square.
After Dan Qingrong left, the boarding students, spurred on by the external incentive, quickly mobilized. Guo Kunnan went looking for several boys in a row, instructing them that during military training, they had to be serious and then some.
When he reached Jiang Ning's spot, Guo Kunnan glanced at him and directly skipped to the other students. In terms of standard military posture, Jiang Ning was definitely number one in their platoon, having received praise from Instructor Li several times over.
You could tell anyone to be serious, but you certainly couldn't tell Jiang Ning to be serious!
At first, the students in the class couldn't stand Jiang Ning, but now, knowing about the competition, they started looking at him much more favorably.
So much so that, in this short span of time, Jiang Ning received several friendly glances, which couldn't help but amuse him.
While the boarding students were running around with passionate enthusiasm, they ran right into a stubborn obstacle.
Song Sheng threw cold water on their parade: "Isn't it just a power strip? You guys are acting like it's a matter of life and death. There are twelve classes in the whole grade—why should we get top three? Not to mention there are experimental classes in the mix."
"Easy for you to say since you're not affected! You're a day student—you don't need a power strip, but we do!" Guo Kunnan said unhappily.
"That's right, I don't need one, so what the hell does it have to do with me?" Song Sheng replied coldly.
Dan Kaiquan, sitting nearby, sneered: "What an absolute dipshit. Didn't you make enough of a fool of yourself the other two days?"
He was a boarding student himself, and he despised people like Song Sheng the most.
"Say that one more time if you dare?" Song Sheng stood up and pointed at him.
Dan Kaiquan wasn't scared at all. The moment Song Sheng stood up, Guo Kunnan and several other boarding students all rose to their feet. The two sides stood in a standoff, and the classroom atmosphere instantly grew tense.
Up in the front row, Bai Yuxia frowned at the sight and said:
"The head teacher just left. What are you guys doing?"
"If you want to argue, go outside and do it."
Seeing that the prettiest girl in the class was putting a stop to it, Dan Kaiquan didn't push things further with Song Sheng, but he dropped a parting threat:
"I'll let you off the hook today, fatty."
Song Sheng already had a fire burning inside him, and hearing those words made him snap. He hated nothing more than being called fat, and coupled with the humiliation he suffered yesterday, all the pent-up hostility in his heart burst forth instantly.
He lunged violently forward, with a loud crash knocking over several desks, and swung his fist toward Dan Kaiquan.
Song Sheng's sudden burst of violence startled the class, and a few people got caught in the crossfire of his charge.
Xue Yuantong had been sitting properly on her stool when she was sideswiped. Not only did her desk get knocked over, but her arm also struck the corner of the desk, hurting so much that she kept rubbing it while a aggrieved look filled her little face.
Dan Kaiquan hadn't reacted in time either. Raising his arms in a hasty defense, he took the blow of Song Sheng's fist, leaving his arms aching and numb. Just as he thought about fighting back, Song Sheng immediately landed another punch straight onto his shoulder.
The surrounding students snapped out of their shock and rushed forward to break up the fight. Guo Kunnan grabbed Song Sheng from behind and motioned with his eyes to Dan Kaiquan.
Dan Kaiquan kicked Song Sheng right in the stomach, but before he could land a second blow, Guo Kunnan was flung aside.
As Song Sheng raised his fist to hit Dan Kaiquan again, even more boys swarmed in and pulled the two apart.
Song Sheng cast a gloomy look. "Total loser."
In his heart, Dan Kaiquan cursed Song Sheng as a complete lunatic—starting a fight right at the beginning of the semester, wasn't he afraid of getting a disciplinary record from the school?
The crucial thing was that this guy had enormous strength; after taking that punch, his shoulder was still numb and aching.
The two exchanged a few more verbal venomous barbs, but ultimately didn't end up fighting again. Song Sheng walked back to his seat with a dark expression.
At that moment, a leisurely voice rang out across the classroom:
"You knocked everyone's desks over. An apology doesn't seem like too much to ask, does it?"