Qiao Xi was originally sitting at her desk in the classroom, watching the rest of the class head out to start a fight, only for them to suddenly turn around and follow Wang Dadong right back inside.
"Huh? Didn't you guys go out to fight? Why are you suddenly back?"
Thinking nothing of it, she simply watched Jiang Jinrou and the others complain to Wang Dadong.
"Brother Dadong, why didn't you let us go beat up those Ximen guys? They're so weak." The one speaking was the most punchable Jin Baosan.
The rest of the Ultima Class chimed in, "Yeah."
Wang Dadong leaned back in his reclining chair and replied, "I promised the homeroom teacher I'd lead you all in studying hard."
"Oh, what does it matter? Just treat it like we're skipping gym class and study hard when we get back," Sha Jie said indifferently.
"Yeah."
Wang Arthur held his copy of Shakespeare's plays, looked out at the Ultima Class, and delivered his classic quote: "Tagore said: 'The possible asks the impossible, "Where is your home?" The impossible cries, "In a dream of the untamable."'"
Qiao Xi looked with amusement at the bewildered crowd who had no idea what Wang Arthur was talking about.
Jin Baosan seemed to understand the meaning, his eyes lighting up with a *ding*.
"Hey! I get it, King Arthur means that asking Brother Dadong not to fight is simply impossible."
Wang Arthur gave Wang Dadong a helpless glance, then turned to Jin Baosan. "I just happened to think of that quote by Tagore. It has nothing to do with what just happened."
Thinking about it, it was really hilarious. Wang Arthur clearly knew the Ultima Class wouldn't understand a word of it, yet he still recited it to them. True to form, he really was a man who walked the path of elegance.
—————— School Dismissal Separator ——————
Wang Dadong called Qiao Xi and Wang Arthur over to discuss what kind of gift they should get for Ding Xiaoyu.
"I think drawing a piano on Xiaoyu's desk would be great. Doesn't Xiaoyu love playing the piano?"
Wang Dadong excitedly grabbed Qiao Xi's shoulders and shook her. "Xiao Xi! That is such a brilliant idea! Let's do it!"
Qiao Xi felt a little dizzy from being shaken.
"B-Brother Dadong, if you shake me any more, I'm going to throw up!"
Only then did Wang Dadong realize what he was doing. He let go and rubbed the back of his head apologetically. "Hehe, sorry about that, Xiao Xi. But who's going to draw it? I'm not very good at drawing, you know."
Wang Dadong turned to look at Wang Arthur.
Noticing Wang Dadong's gaze, Wang Arthur said, "Hey, Narcissist, don't even think about asking me to draw. I am not going to do something that gets my hands and clothes dirty."
He turned back to look at Qiao Xi.
"I... I guess I'll go find Jin Baosan to draw it..."
With a flash, she darted off to grab Jin Baosan, who had just reached the top of the stairwell.
"Mmm~ Little sister Xiao Xi, don't pull on my clothes like that~ And Brother Dadong, stop looking at me with those eyes~ It's like you're trying to bully me~ Mmm~ Even though I only like cute beauties like little sister Xiao Xi, Brother Dadong is fine too, I suppose~ But I only have one body, you know~ Mmm~ You guys have to be gentle with me~"
Before Jin Baosan could finish, Wang Dadong and Wang Arthur each landed a punch right in his eyes.
Qiao Xi shuddered, looking down at her goosebump-covered arms. Unable to take it anymore, she immediately chanted the spell: "FREAUZE! Freeze Spell, Wulabaha!"
Fearing that Jin Baosan might say more skin-crawling things, she quickly added, "MUTE! Mute Spell, Wulabaha!"
At that exact moment, the two boys felt a formidable Battle Power Index—at least exceeding 8,000 points (though since Jin Baosan was a Muggle, it didn't take much Power to suppress him).
Wang Arthur frowned as he looked at Qiao Xi. He had always known she possessed such strange tricks, but he had never known the exact magnitude of her Battle Power Index.
Wang Dadong looked at Qiao Xi with the exact same question in mind.
Feeling their gazes, Qiao Xi simply shivered and pretended to feel nothing. She turned to Jin Baosan and said, "Jin Baosan, you'd better keep your mouth shut! Now, help us draw a piano on Xiaoyu's desk. No arguments, and no talking back. Otherwise, I'll freeze you here all night!"
Qiao Xi put on a fierce expression, but because her face was naturally adorable, she just looked like an angry little kitten, completely lacking any real intimidation.
Jin Baosan frantically bobbed his eyes up and down to signal his agreement, and she finally released him.
"Relief, Wulabaha -> Release Spell, Wulabaha."
Able to move again, Jin Baosan sprang into action, finishing the drawing shortly after.
Seeing Ding Xiaoyu return to pick up his sheet music, the three of us hid in the empty classroom next door and watched him.
Ding Xiaoyu walked into the classroom, and just as he reached for his sheet music, he noticed the piano drawn on his desk.
Then, he saw a note left beneath the score:
*Xiaoyu, this is a little token of our affection from me, Xiao Xi, and the Narcissist.*
*Dadong, Arthur, Xiao Xi*
Ding Xiaoyu looked at the note, his eyes filled with gentle warmth, the corners of his mouth curving into a handsome smile.
He sat down on the stool and began to play right on the desk as if it were a real piano. With that focused expression of his, Qiao Xi felt as though she could actually hear the music.
The three hiding in the next room exchanged glances.
"Xiao Xi, that really wasn't a bad idea at all. Xiaoyu seems to really like the gift we got him."
Jin Baosan chimed in with a wronged, aggrieved whine, "Well, of course he does! Because I drew it! Under extreme duress from little sister Xiao Xi!" He even held up his filthy hand stained with black oil paint.
Qiao Xi let out a soft huff and took a step away from him—getting any of that paint on her would be a disaster.
"Consider it your honor."
With that, Qiao Xi and Wang Arthur followed Wang Dadong away, leaving Jin Baosan alone to sigh at his blackened pig-trotter of a hand.
As they stepped out of the teaching building, they ran into Ding Xiaoyu, who was coming down at the same time.
Qiao Xi ran right up to Ding Xiaoyu. "Xiaoyu, Arthur, Dadong, and I are going out to get a bite to eat. Do you want to come with us?" She looked at him with pleading eyes, radiating an aura that practically said, *If you don't come, I'm going to keep staring at you like this forever.*
Ding Xiaoyu's lips curved upward into a smile, his clear, dark pupils filled with tenderness as he looked at Qiao Xi. "Sure."
Qiao Xi froze for a second. Although she often saw Ding Xiaoyu smile in videos, seeing it in real life made her heart skip a beat. Those gentle, bright eyes paired with a smile as soft as a morning breeze—*Oh my god, Xiao Xi, my dear, doing something like this is practically a foul!*
Noticing Qiao Xi zoning out, Ding Xiaoyu waved a hand in front of her eyes.
Coming back to her senses and realizing she had just been fangirling, she laughed sheepishly and pulled Ding Xiaoyu over to where Wang Dadong and the others were waiting.
The four of them sat down together at a newly opened food stall. The vendor was dressed entirely in maiden pink, and the stall was filled with a strong Japanese aesthetic.
"Whoa, is this Stops-Gut-Man's stall? It looks kind of shabby. Seeing that face of his paired with a style completely different from Dead Man Dad just feels so weird."
"Welcome."
Wang Dadong looked up at the sign hanging overhead. "Wind and Rain Stops-Gut-Man—talk about bizarre."
"Boss, your shop just opened today, and while it definitely has a certain vibe to it, what on earth do you actually sell?"
Stops-Gut-Man made a mysterious hush gesture. "That is not important. What is important is that Wang Dadong, King Arthur, Ding Xiaoyu, and Qiao Xi from the KO rankings—the four of you are actually sitting right here."
"Hey, hey, hey, the boss knows us! We can totally come here often from now on," Wang Dadong said happily, slapping Wang Arthur on the shoulder. (*What is he even happy about?? Is he that famous??*)
"That is not important," Stops-Gut-Man interrupted with a smile. "What is important is that human hearts are unpredictable. You can't judge someone solely by their appearance; digging into their true essence is what matters most."
As he spoke, he shot Qiao Xi a probing look, but she merely smiled back at Stops-Gut-Man without saying a word.
Wang Arthur glanced at the couplets on either side of the stall. "'Do not speak to me of sealing titles when the campaign is done; one general wins his fame though ten thousand bones are gone.' Isn't this a work by the Tang Dynasty poet Cao Song? The original line should be 'Do not speak to me of peerages when the campaign is done; one general wins his fame though ten thousand bones are gone.' Why did you change 'peerages' to 'titles'?"
Stops-Gut-Man chuckled—a bit too creepily. "That is not important. What is important is that the legendary figures of the high school KO list—Wang Dadong, King Arthur, Ding Xiaoyu, and Qiao Xi, who isn't even on the list—you three have somehow become thick-as-thieves sworn brothers. It seems my Stops-Gut-Man stall opened at precisely the right time."
Wang Dadong nudged Qiao Xi's shoulder. "Arthur, Xiao Xi, Xiaoyu, I'm telling you, this shop is going to go viral, but this boss is way too creepy. Not a single normal thing comes out of his mouth."
"Totally. I bet whatever food he makes is going to be super weird too," Qiao Xi blurted out, suddenly thinking of the pearl milk tea and the Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea from the TV show.
Ding Xiaoyu mimicked Stops-Gut-Man's tone: "That is not important. What is important is whether there is actually anything edible here."
"Ding Xiaoyu, now that's cool. Very well, what will the four of you be having?"
Wang Dadong raised an eyebrow at Stops-Gut-Man. "That's right, Boss, I'm starving to death. Do you have a menu?"
"There is no menu."
Wang Dadong mirrored Stops-Gut-Man's tone right back at him: "That's not important, right?"
"I see it's only *not important* to him."
"Oh ho, quite the confidence."
Ding Xiaoyu joined in with a teasing edge to his voice: "What... are you best at?"
Stops-Gut-Man said meaningfully, "Western cuisine."
Wang Dadong stood up, planted his hands on the table, and leaned in closer to Stops-Gut-Man. "Then give us four bowls of... large intestine vermicelli." He raised an eyebrow with a bizarre, eerie smile.
Qiao Xi weakly raised her hand. "Um, I don't eat internal organs. How about you make me a bowl of tonkatsu pork cutlet rice instead?"
"Live and let live, you know."
"Who just surrenders right off the bat?"
"Kid, once you've ordered, don't regret it."
With that, Stops-Gut-Man produced a knife, clenched it between his teeth, turned around, and unbuttoned his shirt.
"Stops-Gut-Man, are you confessing in a roundabout way that you're a pig??"
As soon as those words left her mouth, Wang Dadong, Wang Arthur, and Ding Xiaoyu all burst into laughter, nearly causing Stops-Gut-Man to drop the knife in his hand.
"Ahem, little friend Qiao Xi, please do not disturb me while I am preparing the meal."
Qiao Xi pouted. "Oh."
Then, they watched as Stops-Gut-Man slashed open his own stomach with the knife.
Everyone except Qiao Xi looked utterly shocked; even Ding Xiaoyu's brows were tightly furrowed.
Wang Arthur couldn't help muttering, "It's just three bowls of vermicelli, is all this really necessary?"
Qiao Xi let out a gasp of awe. "Whoa! A live-action version! Awesome!"
Suddenly, pitch black descended as something covered her eyes.
Qiao Xi reached up and felt around, brushing against a finger with thin calluses and a tail ring, allowing her to guess instantly whose hand it was.
"Xiaoyu, stop covering my eyes! This is the first time I've ever seen a live-action one, let me watch, please? Just a peek."
Ding Xiaoyu's calm, leisurely voice drifted down to her: "No. You can't look. There's way too much flab, you'll get styes."
Stops-Gut-Man screamed internally:
*Student Ding Xiaoyu! Exactly where on me do you see flab?! I keep my physique in top-notch shape!!*
"Mmm... fine, I won't look. Take your hand away, okay?"
Ding Xiaoyu slowly turned her head toward him and released his hand.
"Alright then, let's just chat instead."
Stops-Gut-Man carved another two slices into his stomach, then turned his head back with a tremulous wobble. "Could someone please be so kind as to hand me the scissors?"
With shaking hands, Wang Dadong passed the scissors over to Stops-Gut-Man.
However, the bizarre noises Stops-Gut-Man was making severely disrupted Qiao Xi's conversation with Xiaoyu.
Frowning, Qiao Xi stared at the groaning Stops-Gut-Man, her mind flashing to a short clip she'd seen in her past life—a scene where a pregnant woman and a group of people were tied up on a deserted island, forced to give birth in the wild.
"Stops-Gut-Man, could you please not make those sounds?"
Stops-Gut-Man turned his torso around just a fraction with great difficulty.
"Mmm... little friend Qiao Xi... ugh-ah... I don't want to either... ugh."
Hearing Stops-Gut-Man's strange noises, Ding Xiaoyu reached into his schoolbag, pulled out an MP3 player, plugged in the earphones, slipped them over Qiao Xi's ears, and pressed play.
Qiao Xi looked at Ding Xiaoyu with a face full of touched emotion.
*Xiao Xi, my dear, you really are an angel!*