Chapter 47: Watch With Your Own Eyes Whether I Can Solve the Problem or Not
After gaming together all night until dawn, only remembering at daybreak that they had exams today, Jiang Hai, Xiao Pangzi, and their gang of hooligan friends got off the bus looking utterly defeated. Halfway along, though, something familiar caught the corner of their eyes—a gleaming black motorcycle.
“Holy shit!” Xiao Pangzi and the others immediately stopped and shouted, “Sister Xiang!”
Strictly speaking, everyone present was probably older than Mu Xiangxiang, but ever since Qiao Nan, while inhabiting Mu Xiangxiang’s body, had wreaked havoc at Yingcheng, the basketball team had started respectfully calling the school’s new campus belle “Sister Xiang.”
As for why… Well, it was honestly too painful to recall.
The euphoric feeling of defeating their longtime rivals from C City’s Jiahe Basketball Team still lingered over Yingcheng campus. But if anyone asked the basketball team boys to recall their pre-match training experience, they’d probably all unanimously answer: “A living hell.”
It truly had been a living hell.
More than four hours of strength training every day outside of class, plus endless basketball practice afterward. Whenever the basketball team gathered in the boys’ locker room, their conversations almost always revolved around that suddenly appeared girl. But strangely enough, the focus was rarely her beauty. Instead, everyone was uniformly baffled by one thing—How could there be such a terrifying woman in this world?
These guys were all school tyrants with reputations of their own. At first, very few of them were willing to pay attention to her. But the opponent had simply been too strong. Leaving aside Jiang Hai—the biggest celebrity at Yingcheng right now—who inexplicably obeyed her unconditionally and took the lead in following her around, her own combat power alone was already horrifying enough. The pressure she gave off in direct confrontation was immense. Not to mention that viciously familiar temper, that tendency to erupt into violence at the slightest disagreement, the terrifying aura she radiated whenever she raised her voice, and basketball skills so absurd she could sink shots from beyond the three-point line every single time…She was practically a female version of Brother Nan himself.
Because of that, everyone quickly figured out the survival strategy: Treat her the same way they’d treated Brother Nan back when he was still at school. If you wanted to live, be a good little lackey and obediently do whatever she said.
Jiang Hai, the only person who knew the truth, always felt a deep loneliness whenever these topics came up—a sort of “everyone is drunk while I alone am sober” isolation. So during those passionate discussions, he’d usually maintain his unique silence while thinking darkly to himself: You ignorant little brats… what do you know?
And yet, when the motorcycle approached and caused a wave of shocked exclamations, even he was thoroughly stunned.
Because the figure sitting in the driver’s seat wasn’t the “Brother Nan” he’d been seeing every day recently at all!
******
A pair of large hands removed the helmet from her head. Along with the cool breeze came a voice from directly in front of her. “You okay?”
Mu Xiangxiang looked up and met Qiao Nan’s gaze as he remained straddling the motorcycle. The sunlight made his usually sharp, shadowy amber eyes appear unexpectedly gentle. Beneath them, his tall nose cast a distinct shadow under the steadily brightening morning sun.
She stayed silent for so long that the smile in Qiao Nan’s eyes gradually faded a little. His tone started losing confidence too. “…Hey, you’re not seriously that timid, are you? Don’t tell me that little bit of speed actually scared you?”
Mu Xiangxiang steadied her breathing. It felt as though she could still smell the scent that had accompanied her the entire ride lingering in her nose. She loosened her slightly sweaty palms and lowered her head as she answered softly, “No.”
The thrill brought by the motorcycle’s speed was still coursing through her muscles and bones. But that wasn’t the reason she couldn’t speak. The reason for her silence and racing heartbeat was something else entirely… Something she couldn’t honestly say out loud the way she normally would.
Qiao Nan lowered his head too, trying to see her expression. After a long moment of failure, he finally grew anxious. “No, look, I only accelerated a little when starting off. After you told me to slow down, didn’t I strictly obey all road safety laws and regulations the whole way—”
Mu Xiangxiang pursed her lips. Thinking about how she’d hugged his waist the entire ride from the moment they started, she couldn’t help interrupting as she looked up. “But didn’t you say you couldn’t hear me earlier?”
Qiao Nan: “……”
The two stared at each other in silence for a moment. Then Mu Xiangxiang gripped her schoolbag tighter and said quietly, “…I’m going in first.”
Qiao Nan rested one foot on the motorcycle and narrowed his eyes as he watched her back. After a while, he clicked his tongue. His gaze swept away from her faintly pink ear and toward the side—
“The hell are you all staring at? Get over here!”
The group of boys all froze. Aside from Jiang Hai, whose circumstances were unique, most of them were simply shocked by how intimate Qiao Nan’s behavior was right now.
After all, the two sides hadn’t contacted each other in over a year. Qiao Nan had blacklisted all their numbers and disappeared completely after transferring schools. Even during the occasional encounters lately, he’d shown no intention of taking the initiative to reconcile. His authority was too deeply ingrained. Once he showed rejection, nobody dared shamelessly oppose his wishes. So hearing that long-lost greeting now, many people—including Xiao Pangzi—suddenly felt the urge to cry.
Everyone immediately crowded around the motorcycle. Qiao Nan glared irritably at this group of brothers who supposedly hadn’t seen him in forever, though in reality they’d still managed to cause him endless headaches lately. He raised his hand and smacked a few heads in front of him. “What’s with you guys? Crying like it’s a funeral first thing in the morning?”
Xiao Pangzi laughed through tears. “Nothing… We just thought you’d never talk to us again for the rest of your life. Seeing you face-to-face all of a sudden feels really emotional.”
Qiao Nan’s gaze flickered. He seemed unsure what expression he should wear. Actually, Xiao Pangzi was right. If it weren’t for the period when he’d inhabited Mu Xiangxiang’s body and accidentally learned from Jiang Hai that this whole group had deliberately stopped contacting him after he left, then with his awkward personality, he probably really would’ve cut ties with these old friends forever.
He wasn’t good at taking the initiative to communicate. And these idiots didn’t dare approach him and risk his temper. No matter how strong youthful friendship was, wouldn’t it gradually wear away over the long years ahead?
So many years of friendship, casually severed because of one school transfer.
Thinking of how, during the body-swapping period, he’d constantly seen these formerly restrained and obedient guys explosively motivated to train whenever they mentioned “avenging Brother Nan,” Qiao Nan curled his lips slightly. “How could that happen? You guys, on the other hand—I heard now that I’m not at school anymore, every single one of you’s gotten pretty cocky, huh? So cocky you can’t even spare time to call me? Hm?”
Xiao Pangzi looked deeply aggrieved. “But you blacklisted all our numbers…”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake…” Qiao Nan stood up on one leg and smacked him repeatedly on the head. “I only blacklisted you guys back then because I was trying to stop Jiang Hai from marching into a police station and turning himself in! I didn’t change my number! Couldn’t you idiots just call from another phone?!”
Xiao Pangzi first covered his head and dodged. Then afterward he looked utterly disbelieving. Peeking out from behind his arms, his eyes sparkled brightly. “Br-Brother Nan? You mean—”
“Mean your ass!” Qiao Nan had practically exhausted all his courage just to say those words clearly. The moment they left his mouth, he felt so embarrassed it was like being paraded naked through the streets. Unable to endure it any longer, he immediately put his helmet back on and started the motorcycle. “I’m leaving!”
“Brother Nan!”
“Brother Nan!”
“Brother Nan!”
People instantly called out, trying to stop him.
“Alright, hurry back to morning study hall.” Qiao Nan paused briefly. Behind the helmet, his gaze swept over them as his tone softened. “I’ll remove you guys from the blacklist when I get back.”
“Then later…” Xiao Pangzi asked quietly, “can we still come out and play basketball together?”
Qiao Nan snorted and glanced meaningfully at a certain part of his body. “Wait until your ass heals before thinking about running wild again.”
After saying that, he lifted his leg and kicked Jiang Hai once. The two exchanged a knowing nod. Then he twisted the throttle. The motorcycle instantly shot away like a sword, his figure impossibly dashing.
The group left behind stared blankly at the disappearing silhouette. After a while, Xiao Pangzi scratched his reddened face. “Brother Nan didn’t reject us just now, right? That means he agreed?”
The sudden easing of their relationship made all the young men excited for a while. Even Jiang Hai rubbed the spot where he’d been kicked with a dreamy expression. Then somebody noticed the time. Remembering today’s standardized exams, everyone immediately panicked and sprinted toward campus in utter chaos.
Halfway there, though, someone suddenly thought of something, and the group collectively grew confused.
Xiao Pangzi turned to look toward the school gate. “Wait… why was Brother Nan riding that motorcycle today?”
“Isn’t that Sister Xiang’s bike? Could it actually belong to Brother Nan?”
“No way, it’s definitely Sister Xiang’s. Did you forget what Brother Nan used to say? His bike was his wife—he wouldn’t let a second ass touch it.”
“Hahaha, yeah, I guess so. Back when he first got his motorcycle, I remember there was this female promotional model on the racing team who acted all cutesy, saying she wanted to sit on it, take a picture, and post it on Weibo.”
“And then?”
“And then? Hahaha. Then she got roasted so badly she fled on the spot. What were you expecting? Even I, as one of Brother Nan's bros, wasn't allowed to touch the back seat of his bike—”
“Our Brother Nan is seriously a man of principles!”
*****
Qiao Nan's motorcycle saved them a considerable amount of time. Mu Xiangxiang managed to reach her classroom floor before the preparatory bell rang. But the moment her feet touched the ground, she came face-to-face with someone she had absolutely not been hoping to see.
Fang Lingli was pacing anxiously near the corner by the entrance to her classroom, brows tightly knitted, looking exactly the way she always had before leading people over to make trouble for Mu Xiangxiang.
Mu Xiangxiang hadn't expected to run into this familiar face so soon after returning. She instinctively slowed her steps. She wasn't afraid of Fang Lingli, but she was wary of her. Last year, the delinquent-girl clique Fang Lingli led at Yingcheng had caused her no end of trouble. Deep down, Mu Xiangxiang couldn't help associating Fang Lingli with the three unhappy years she'd spent in middle school.
The conflict between them had been going on for a long time. Mu Xiangxiang instinctively tensed her nerves in caution. Then she saw the girl pacing by the hallway suddenly look up as though she'd spotted something. The instant their eyes met, Fang Lingli's expression changed. She hurried over. "Mu Xiangxiang! You're finally here!"
She'd been waiting specifically for her? Mu Xiangxiang frowned slightly, watching her approach. What's she trying to do? Looking for trouble?
Instead, Fang Lingli lowered her voice and spoke in a rapid, anxious whisper. "Be careful. That old fossil from our class took your homework to the admissions office to report you. Right now he's brought the admissions director and the vice principal over to your classroom. They're all waiting for you."
The completely unexpected warning left Mu Xiangxiang momentarily bewildered. She lowered her gaze to the hand gripping her wrist, unable to understand Fang Lingli's intentions. "...What?"
Following her gaze, Fang Lingli looked down as well. She immediately let go as though she'd been burned, taking two awkward steps back and hiding both hands behind her back. "Anyway... that old geezer surnamed Huang is making a fuss over your grades from last semester again! Seriously, you too... Why'd you have to go play basketball? Now you didn't even have time to do your homework properly, and you handed him evidence to use against you!"
The more she spoke, the angrier and more anxious she became. She stamped her foot before turning to leave, but not before tossing one last sentence over her shoulder. "Anyway, your classroom's full of teachers waiting to pounce on you. Think of something before you go in!"
Mu Xiangxiang watched in astonishment as the girl's figure disappeared down the hallway. As she reflected on those anxious words—every single one clearly meant as a warning—Fang Lingli's image gradually overlapped with the memory of her excitedly jumping up and down in Yingcheng's basketball gym a while ago, shouting, "Mu Xiangxiang!"
She paused for a moment before coming back to herself and walking toward the classroom. Even from the doorway, she could feel the heavy, suffocating atmosphere inside. She hesitated briefly. Before she rounded the corner, she heard the booming voice of the homeroom teacher from the class next door, Teacher Huang, loudly berating someone. "Teacher Wang, Director Liu, Vice Principal Deng—you all take a good look! Just look at this accuracy rate! Look at how this homework was completed! She even got this kind of question wrong! It pains me, Huang, to see this! If I hadn't happened to glance through the homework sitting on Class One's math teacher's desk, I'd still be completely kept in the dark!"
Bang! At the exact moment Mu Xiangxiang pushed open the classroom door, a workbook with its pages curled flew off the podium and landed at her feet.
Her appearance instantly plunged the entire classroom into silence. Meeting countless pairs of eyes, Mu Xiangxiang's gaze swept across the faces of classmates she barely remembered. After a brief pause, she bent down and picked up the workbook. Calmly brushing the dust from the cover, she noticed three bold, sharp-edged characters written across it in handwriting that was distinctly not her own: Mu Xiangxiang.
Realizing something, she opened it. Sure enough, on the very first page she found the brazen, unruly handwriting filled with wrong answers.
The questions were even easier than the exam paper Qiao Nan had half-finished and left behind yesterday morning.
She looked up and met the eyes of her own homeroom teacher, Teacher Wang. The woman, dressed in a business suit, sighed at her with an expression of disappointment and regret before turning back to the argument. "Teacher Huang, I've already explained this to you. We never had any intention of concealing our student's true academic level. I admit that after entering the second year, the teaching workload became so heavy that our math teacher failed to grade homework regularly and promptly identify students' problems—that was his mistake. I also admit that Mu Xiangxiang may have relaxed her studies somewhat recently for certain reasons. But you shouldn't use such flimsy grounds to indulge in completely baseless suspicions."
"'Baseless?'" Teacher Huang turned toward the two school administrators. "You've both seen it yourselves. This isn't baseless. I questioned her results the moment the final exam scores came out last semester. To be honest, I still doubt those scores even now."
Mu Xiangxiang looked at him calmly, her emotions surprisingly steady. She had always been a top student. After so many years, she had long since grown accustomed to people making a fuss over her grades. But to be fair, although she'd always done well academically, she'd once had a slight weakness in certain subjects. That was why a few weaker areas had dragged down her scores in both the high school entrance exam and her first year of high school. Everything changed after the second-year class division last semester. Finally, she was like a fish in water. The remaining subjects were all ones she both loved and excelled at, allowing her to perform at her very best.
Even she herself had been somewhat surprised when she scored 740.
But trouble had followed immediately afterward. Especially from the man standing before her. As the homeroom teacher of the student who had placed second in the grade—and whom Mu Xiangxiang had beaten by forty-two points—Teacher Huang had been fiercely indignant on behalf of his own top student. Of course… The difference in bonus money might also have had something to do with it. Yingcheng was an extremely pragmatic school. The scholarship for second place in the grade wasn't even one-fifth of what Mu Xiangxiang had received. That gap existed among students, let alone among teachers, whose rewards differed even more dramatically.
When last semester's grades were mentioned, the vice principal, who had been listening quietly until now, finally cleared his throat. "Teacher Huang, regarding the scores... if I remember correctly, after you raised your concerns last semester, the school retrieved Mu Xiangxiang's exam papers and even let you review them personally. I understand you had some objections to the grading standards for the Chinese and foreign language essays, but even if we used the standards you proposed, the difference wasn't significant."
Teacher Huang froze for a moment. His face flushed red. "That's because I wasn't thinking deeply enough back then! Final exams aren't the college entrance exam. There are plenty of opportunities to manipulate things behind the scenes!"
The pointed accusation finally made Mu Xiangxiang uncomfortable. She had never cared much about how others saw or treated her. The one thing she hated most...was being falsely accused.
Yet after spending so many years believing that avoiding trouble was always the best choice, after swallowing countless grievances in silence, she found she no longer knew how to explode in anger. She had also always been the "other people's child" praised by every parent. This was the first time in her life that a teacher she had always respected had openly slandered her. She wanted to clear her name. Yet, for a moment, she couldn't even find the words.
Then something happened that she had never expected.
Before she could speak, the previously quiet classroom suddenly erupted into an uproar. One classmate after another shot to their feet, all speaking at once in her defense. "Teacher Huang, you've seriously gone crazy over bonus money. You can actually say something like that without even blushing?"
"So what you're saying is our whole class helped Mu Xiangxiang cheat?"
"No matter what happens, you're always right, huh? You're electricity, you're light, you're the one and only legend, okay?"
Even Teacher Wang was trembling with anger. "Teacher Huang, what exactly do you mean? Say it clearly!"
Faced with an entire class of students from influential families, Teacher Huang didn't dare push too far. He merely slapped the desk and barked, "Quiet!" before turning toward the comparatively easier target—Teacher Wang. "Teacher Wang, let me speak frankly. It's one thing to have personal motives while educating students, but there has to be a bottom line. You can't falsify things just to satisfy the school, can you? Look at last semester's final exam yourself. I'll admit science classes tend to produce high scores more easily, but out of a total of 750, she scored 740—nearly fifty points higher than the second-place student in your class. Does that sound realistic to you? And now the facts have proven it. Judging from the level she's shown in her everyday homework, she simply isn't capable of performing at the level she displayed on the exam. The gap isn't small—it isn't even close!"
Teacher Wang's lips quivered with rage. A group of girls led by Gao Yan slammed their hands onto their desks. "So she got a few questions wrong? Mu Xiangxiang's been busy with the basketball tournament this whole time! She was swamped! When was she supposed to have time to do her homework properly? Don't pretend you don't know she was playing in the tournament. Stop using this as an excuse to make trouble!"
"And why isn't it realistic? Have you ever placed third in the city entrance exams? She's beautiful, she's brilliant, she's practically perfect in every way. You think everyone's as ugly and mediocre as you?"
"Hey, hey!" one of the school leaders hurriedly interrupted. "That's enough. Is that any way to speak to a teacher?"
The girls of Class One merely sneered and ignored him. Knowing he couldn't control these utterly fearless daughters of wealthy families, the vice principal awkwardly shifted the topic back to Mu Xiangxiang. "Well... Mu Xiangxiang, do you have anything to say? I looked through your recent homework, and ever since the semester started, your performance really has been... less than ideal."
After asking, he waited. Strangely, no answer came. He turned to look, only to become even more surprised.
The short-haired girl standing by the classroom door wasn't looking at him at all. She was staring fixedly at the girls who had just passionately defended her.
Only after a long while did Mu Xiangxiang turn back. She blinked. Her vision had become slightly blurred.
Countless memories flooded into her mind all at once— some from her own experiences… and others from the conversations she'd overheard behind her in the basketball gym that day.
In her memories, she had barely spoken to the girls in her class. From the very first day of freshman year, when they first met, she had subconsciously categorized them as people from a completely different world than hers.
Throughout their mutually non-interfering coexistence, she had always been convinced that their group looked down on her and had no interest in accepting her.
That proud tone.
Yet only a few days ago, she had personally seen them jumping and cheering for her. She had heard others explain that their distance had come from awkwardness rather than disdain. And now, at this very moment, she was receiving such straightforward affirmation from them face-to-face.
That protective tone. That tone completely free of contempt. The tone of someone treating her as one of their own.
Something suddenly wavered inside her mind. For the first time, Mu Xiangxiang realized that hidden beneath her calm indifference toward everyone and everything was an incredibly deep... fearfulness.
Her habit of avoiding trouble whenever possible. Her obedience. Her endurance. Her silence. Her restraint. Even her reluctance to form friendships. All of it stemmed from that fear.
Clutching the workbook, she trembled for a moment. Then she suddenly lifted her head and looked directly into the vice principal's eyes.
Her voice was steady. “Since the start of the semester, there have been too many things going on. I didn't have much energy left over, so I only focused on keeping up in class. It's true that I didn't take my homework seriously. Every day, I just scribbled something down to get it over with. I'm sorry.”
The vice principal's expression turned serious. “So you're saying you still have a solid grasp of the material taught in class?”
Mu Xiangxiang: “Of course.”
“You're talking nonsense!” Teacher Huang finally couldn't take it anymore. He snatched the workbook from her hands and flipped through it noisily. “This question, this question, this one, and this one! These are all question types from the second half of Grade 10 and the first half of Grade 11, and you still got them wrong! And this one—this is practically the bonus question I put on last semester's final exam, with only a few numbers changed! You got the original question right, so how did you manage to calculate this one incorrectly?”
Mu Xiangxiang stared at him, her face pale. Under his aggressive interrogation, her fingertips trembled slightly. Yet at the same time, the corners of her mouth unconsciously curled upward into a faint smile.
Ordinarily, given her personality, she would have calmly and logically defended herself. Faced with someone powerful and difficult to provoke like Teacher Huang, she would have tried to resolve things in the most rational, polite, safest way possible—one that preserved everyone's dignity. Just as she had endured her landlord uncle and aunt's treatment for years. Just as she had always avoided confronting Fang Lingli, whom she couldn't afford to offend. Just as she had compromised at the end of last semester when her grades were unfairly questioned and her exam papers were demanded for re-evaluation.
But now, those voices proclaiming her as one of their own had somehow become her backing.
She didn't even know where the courage was coming from. For the first time in her life, she felt an impulse like this. She wanted to be reckless once. Like Qiao Nan. Like her classmates who never cared about saving a teacher's face when they believed they were right. She wanted to spit out all the grievances she had swallowed and slap them back into someone's face.
So she fixed her gaze on Teacher Huang's furious expression and spoke in an unexpectedly gentle tone. “Teacher Huang, I don't really know how to explain it. But if you're truly that curious, how about this?”
“Today's mock exam was also written by the school. From the first subject to the last, you can sit beside me with Director Liu and Vice Principal Deng. Don't leave my side for even a single step.”
“Watch with your own eyes. See whether or not I can actually solve the questions.”
“Okay?”
-----------------
After gaming together all night until dawn, only remembering at daybreak that they had exams today, Jiang Hai, Xiao Pangzi, and their gang of hooligan friends got off the bus looking utterly defeated. Halfway along, though, something familiar caught the corner of their eyes—a gleaming black motorcycle.
“Holy shit!” Xiao Pangzi and the others immediately stopped and shouted, “Sister Xiang!”
Strictly speaking, everyone present was probably older than Mu Xiangxiang, but ever since Qiao Nan, while inhabiting Mu Xiangxiang’s body, had wreaked havoc at Yingcheng, the basketball team had started respectfully calling the school’s new campus belle “Sister Xiang.”
As for why… Well, it was honestly too painful to recall.
The euphoric feeling of defeating their longtime rivals from C City’s Jiahe Basketball Team still lingered over Yingcheng campus. But if anyone asked the basketball team boys to recall their pre-match training experience, they’d probably all unanimously answer: “A living hell.”
It truly had been a living hell.
More than four hours of strength training every day outside of class, plus endless basketball practice afterward. Whenever the basketball team gathered in the boys’ locker room, their conversations almost always revolved around that suddenly appeared girl. But strangely enough, the focus was rarely her beauty. Instead, everyone was uniformly baffled by one thing—How could there be such a terrifying woman in this world?
These guys were all school tyrants with reputations of their own. At first, very few of them were willing to pay attention to her. But the opponent had simply been too strong. Leaving aside Jiang Hai—the biggest celebrity at Yingcheng right now—who inexplicably obeyed her unconditionally and took the lead in following her around, her own combat power alone was already horrifying enough. The pressure she gave off in direct confrontation was immense. Not to mention that viciously familiar temper, that tendency to erupt into violence at the slightest disagreement, the terrifying aura she radiated whenever she raised her voice, and basketball skills so absurd she could sink shots from beyond the three-point line every single time…She was practically a female version of Brother Nan himself.
Because of that, everyone quickly figured out the survival strategy: Treat her the same way they’d treated Brother Nan back when he was still at school. If you wanted to live, be a good little lackey and obediently do whatever she said.
Jiang Hai, the only person who knew the truth, always felt a deep loneliness whenever these topics came up—a sort of “everyone is drunk while I alone am sober” isolation. So during those passionate discussions, he’d usually maintain his unique silence while thinking darkly to himself: You ignorant little brats… what do you know?
And yet, when the motorcycle approached and caused a wave of shocked exclamations, even he was thoroughly stunned.
Because the figure sitting in the driver’s seat wasn’t the “Brother Nan” he’d been seeing every day recently at all!
******
A pair of large hands removed the helmet from her head. Along with the cool breeze came a voice from directly in front of her. “You okay?”
Mu Xiangxiang looked up and met Qiao Nan’s gaze as he remained straddling the motorcycle. The sunlight made his usually sharp, shadowy amber eyes appear unexpectedly gentle. Beneath them, his tall nose cast a distinct shadow under the steadily brightening morning sun.
She stayed silent for so long that the smile in Qiao Nan’s eyes gradually faded a little. His tone started losing confidence too. “…Hey, you’re not seriously that timid, are you? Don’t tell me that little bit of speed actually scared you?”
Mu Xiangxiang steadied her breathing. It felt as though she could still smell the scent that had accompanied her the entire ride lingering in her nose. She loosened her slightly sweaty palms and lowered her head as she answered softly, “No.”
The thrill brought by the motorcycle’s speed was still coursing through her muscles and bones. But that wasn’t the reason she couldn’t speak. The reason for her silence and racing heartbeat was something else entirely… Something she couldn’t honestly say out loud the way she normally would.
Qiao Nan lowered his head too, trying to see her expression. After a long moment of failure, he finally grew anxious. “No, look, I only accelerated a little when starting off. After you told me to slow down, didn’t I strictly obey all road safety laws and regulations the whole way—”
Mu Xiangxiang pursed her lips. Thinking about how she’d hugged his waist the entire ride from the moment they started, she couldn’t help interrupting as she looked up. “But didn’t you say you couldn’t hear me earlier?”
Qiao Nan: “……”
The two stared at each other in silence for a moment. Then Mu Xiangxiang gripped her schoolbag tighter and said quietly, “…I’m going in first.”
Qiao Nan rested one foot on the motorcycle and narrowed his eyes as he watched her back. After a while, he clicked his tongue. His gaze swept away from her faintly pink ear and toward the side—
“The hell are you all staring at? Get over here!”
The group of boys all froze. Aside from Jiang Hai, whose circumstances were unique, most of them were simply shocked by how intimate Qiao Nan’s behavior was right now.
After all, the two sides hadn’t contacted each other in over a year. Qiao Nan had blacklisted all their numbers and disappeared completely after transferring schools. Even during the occasional encounters lately, he’d shown no intention of taking the initiative to reconcile. His authority was too deeply ingrained. Once he showed rejection, nobody dared shamelessly oppose his wishes. So hearing that long-lost greeting now, many people—including Xiao Pangzi—suddenly felt the urge to cry.
Everyone immediately crowded around the motorcycle. Qiao Nan glared irritably at this group of brothers who supposedly hadn’t seen him in forever, though in reality they’d still managed to cause him endless headaches lately. He raised his hand and smacked a few heads in front of him. “What’s with you guys? Crying like it’s a funeral first thing in the morning?”
Xiao Pangzi laughed through tears. “Nothing… We just thought you’d never talk to us again for the rest of your life. Seeing you face-to-face all of a sudden feels really emotional.”
Qiao Nan’s gaze flickered. He seemed unsure what expression he should wear. Actually, Xiao Pangzi was right. If it weren’t for the period when he’d inhabited Mu Xiangxiang’s body and accidentally learned from Jiang Hai that this whole group had deliberately stopped contacting him after he left, then with his awkward personality, he probably really would’ve cut ties with these old friends forever.
He wasn’t good at taking the initiative to communicate. And these idiots didn’t dare approach him and risk his temper. No matter how strong youthful friendship was, wouldn’t it gradually wear away over the long years ahead?
So many years of friendship, casually severed because of one school transfer.
Thinking of how, during the body-swapping period, he’d constantly seen these formerly restrained and obedient guys explosively motivated to train whenever they mentioned “avenging Brother Nan,” Qiao Nan curled his lips slightly. “How could that happen? You guys, on the other hand—I heard now that I’m not at school anymore, every single one of you’s gotten pretty cocky, huh? So cocky you can’t even spare time to call me? Hm?”
Xiao Pangzi looked deeply aggrieved. “But you blacklisted all our numbers…”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake…” Qiao Nan stood up on one leg and smacked him repeatedly on the head. “I only blacklisted you guys back then because I was trying to stop Jiang Hai from marching into a police station and turning himself in! I didn’t change my number! Couldn’t you idiots just call from another phone?!”
Xiao Pangzi first covered his head and dodged. Then afterward he looked utterly disbelieving. Peeking out from behind his arms, his eyes sparkled brightly. “Br-Brother Nan? You mean—”
“Mean your ass!” Qiao Nan had practically exhausted all his courage just to say those words clearly. The moment they left his mouth, he felt so embarrassed it was like being paraded naked through the streets. Unable to endure it any longer, he immediately put his helmet back on and started the motorcycle. “I’m leaving!”
“Brother Nan!”
“Brother Nan!”
“Brother Nan!”
People instantly called out, trying to stop him.
“Alright, hurry back to morning study hall.” Qiao Nan paused briefly. Behind the helmet, his gaze swept over them as his tone softened. “I’ll remove you guys from the blacklist when I get back.”
“Then later…” Xiao Pangzi asked quietly, “can we still come out and play basketball together?”
Qiao Nan snorted and glanced meaningfully at a certain part of his body. “Wait until your ass heals before thinking about running wild again.”
After saying that, he lifted his leg and kicked Jiang Hai once. The two exchanged a knowing nod. Then he twisted the throttle. The motorcycle instantly shot away like a sword, his figure impossibly dashing.
The group left behind stared blankly at the disappearing silhouette. After a while, Xiao Pangzi scratched his reddened face. “Brother Nan didn’t reject us just now, right? That means he agreed?”
The sudden easing of their relationship made all the young men excited for a while. Even Jiang Hai rubbed the spot where he’d been kicked with a dreamy expression. Then somebody noticed the time. Remembering today’s standardized exams, everyone immediately panicked and sprinted toward campus in utter chaos.
Halfway there, though, someone suddenly thought of something, and the group collectively grew confused.
Xiao Pangzi turned to look toward the school gate. “Wait… why was Brother Nan riding that motorcycle today?”
“Isn’t that Sister Xiang’s bike? Could it actually belong to Brother Nan?”
“No way, it’s definitely Sister Xiang’s. Did you forget what Brother Nan used to say? His bike was his wife—he wouldn’t let a second ass touch it.”
“Hahaha, yeah, I guess so. Back when he first got his motorcycle, I remember there was this female promotional model on the racing team who acted all cutesy, saying she wanted to sit on it, take a picture, and post it on Weibo.”
“And then?”
“And then? Hahaha. Then she got roasted so badly she fled on the spot. What were you expecting? Even I, as one of Brother Nan's bros, wasn't allowed to touch the back seat of his bike—”
“Our Brother Nan is seriously a man of principles!”
*****
Qiao Nan's motorcycle saved them a considerable amount of time. Mu Xiangxiang managed to reach her classroom floor before the preparatory bell rang. But the moment her feet touched the ground, she came face-to-face with someone she had absolutely not been hoping to see.
Fang Lingli was pacing anxiously near the corner by the entrance to her classroom, brows tightly knitted, looking exactly the way she always had before leading people over to make trouble for Mu Xiangxiang.
Mu Xiangxiang hadn't expected to run into this familiar face so soon after returning. She instinctively slowed her steps. She wasn't afraid of Fang Lingli, but she was wary of her. Last year, the delinquent-girl clique Fang Lingli led at Yingcheng had caused her no end of trouble. Deep down, Mu Xiangxiang couldn't help associating Fang Lingli with the three unhappy years she'd spent in middle school.
The conflict between them had been going on for a long time. Mu Xiangxiang instinctively tensed her nerves in caution. Then she saw the girl pacing by the hallway suddenly look up as though she'd spotted something. The instant their eyes met, Fang Lingli's expression changed. She hurried over. "Mu Xiangxiang! You're finally here!"
She'd been waiting specifically for her? Mu Xiangxiang frowned slightly, watching her approach. What's she trying to do? Looking for trouble?
Instead, Fang Lingli lowered her voice and spoke in a rapid, anxious whisper. "Be careful. That old fossil from our class took your homework to the admissions office to report you. Right now he's brought the admissions director and the vice principal over to your classroom. They're all waiting for you."
The completely unexpected warning left Mu Xiangxiang momentarily bewildered. She lowered her gaze to the hand gripping her wrist, unable to understand Fang Lingli's intentions. "...What?"
Following her gaze, Fang Lingli looked down as well. She immediately let go as though she'd been burned, taking two awkward steps back and hiding both hands behind her back. "Anyway... that old geezer surnamed Huang is making a fuss over your grades from last semester again! Seriously, you too... Why'd you have to go play basketball? Now you didn't even have time to do your homework properly, and you handed him evidence to use against you!"
The more she spoke, the angrier and more anxious she became. She stamped her foot before turning to leave, but not before tossing one last sentence over her shoulder. "Anyway, your classroom's full of teachers waiting to pounce on you. Think of something before you go in!"
Mu Xiangxiang watched in astonishment as the girl's figure disappeared down the hallway. As she reflected on those anxious words—every single one clearly meant as a warning—Fang Lingli's image gradually overlapped with the memory of her excitedly jumping up and down in Yingcheng's basketball gym a while ago, shouting, "Mu Xiangxiang!"
She paused for a moment before coming back to herself and walking toward the classroom. Even from the doorway, she could feel the heavy, suffocating atmosphere inside. She hesitated briefly. Before she rounded the corner, she heard the booming voice of the homeroom teacher from the class next door, Teacher Huang, loudly berating someone. "Teacher Wang, Director Liu, Vice Principal Deng—you all take a good look! Just look at this accuracy rate! Look at how this homework was completed! She even got this kind of question wrong! It pains me, Huang, to see this! If I hadn't happened to glance through the homework sitting on Class One's math teacher's desk, I'd still be completely kept in the dark!"
Bang! At the exact moment Mu Xiangxiang pushed open the classroom door, a workbook with its pages curled flew off the podium and landed at her feet.
Her appearance instantly plunged the entire classroom into silence. Meeting countless pairs of eyes, Mu Xiangxiang's gaze swept across the faces of classmates she barely remembered. After a brief pause, she bent down and picked up the workbook. Calmly brushing the dust from the cover, she noticed three bold, sharp-edged characters written across it in handwriting that was distinctly not her own: Mu Xiangxiang.
Realizing something, she opened it. Sure enough, on the very first page she found the brazen, unruly handwriting filled with wrong answers.
The questions were even easier than the exam paper Qiao Nan had half-finished and left behind yesterday morning.
She looked up and met the eyes of her own homeroom teacher, Teacher Wang. The woman, dressed in a business suit, sighed at her with an expression of disappointment and regret before turning back to the argument. "Teacher Huang, I've already explained this to you. We never had any intention of concealing our student's true academic level. I admit that after entering the second year, the teaching workload became so heavy that our math teacher failed to grade homework regularly and promptly identify students' problems—that was his mistake. I also admit that Mu Xiangxiang may have relaxed her studies somewhat recently for certain reasons. But you shouldn't use such flimsy grounds to indulge in completely baseless suspicions."
"'Baseless?'" Teacher Huang turned toward the two school administrators. "You've both seen it yourselves. This isn't baseless. I questioned her results the moment the final exam scores came out last semester. To be honest, I still doubt those scores even now."
Mu Xiangxiang looked at him calmly, her emotions surprisingly steady. She had always been a top student. After so many years, she had long since grown accustomed to people making a fuss over her grades. But to be fair, although she'd always done well academically, she'd once had a slight weakness in certain subjects. That was why a few weaker areas had dragged down her scores in both the high school entrance exam and her first year of high school. Everything changed after the second-year class division last semester. Finally, she was like a fish in water. The remaining subjects were all ones she both loved and excelled at, allowing her to perform at her very best.
Even she herself had been somewhat surprised when she scored 740.
But trouble had followed immediately afterward. Especially from the man standing before her. As the homeroom teacher of the student who had placed second in the grade—and whom Mu Xiangxiang had beaten by forty-two points—Teacher Huang had been fiercely indignant on behalf of his own top student. Of course… The difference in bonus money might also have had something to do with it. Yingcheng was an extremely pragmatic school. The scholarship for second place in the grade wasn't even one-fifth of what Mu Xiangxiang had received. That gap existed among students, let alone among teachers, whose rewards differed even more dramatically.
When last semester's grades were mentioned, the vice principal, who had been listening quietly until now, finally cleared his throat. "Teacher Huang, regarding the scores... if I remember correctly, after you raised your concerns last semester, the school retrieved Mu Xiangxiang's exam papers and even let you review them personally. I understand you had some objections to the grading standards for the Chinese and foreign language essays, but even if we used the standards you proposed, the difference wasn't significant."
Teacher Huang froze for a moment. His face flushed red. "That's because I wasn't thinking deeply enough back then! Final exams aren't the college entrance exam. There are plenty of opportunities to manipulate things behind the scenes!"
The pointed accusation finally made Mu Xiangxiang uncomfortable. She had never cared much about how others saw or treated her. The one thing she hated most...was being falsely accused.
Yet after spending so many years believing that avoiding trouble was always the best choice, after swallowing countless grievances in silence, she found she no longer knew how to explode in anger. She had also always been the "other people's child" praised by every parent. This was the first time in her life that a teacher she had always respected had openly slandered her. She wanted to clear her name. Yet, for a moment, she couldn't even find the words.
Then something happened that she had never expected.
Before she could speak, the previously quiet classroom suddenly erupted into an uproar. One classmate after another shot to their feet, all speaking at once in her defense. "Teacher Huang, you've seriously gone crazy over bonus money. You can actually say something like that without even blushing?"
"So what you're saying is our whole class helped Mu Xiangxiang cheat?"
"No matter what happens, you're always right, huh? You're electricity, you're light, you're the one and only legend, okay?"
Even Teacher Wang was trembling with anger. "Teacher Huang, what exactly do you mean? Say it clearly!"
Faced with an entire class of students from influential families, Teacher Huang didn't dare push too far. He merely slapped the desk and barked, "Quiet!" before turning toward the comparatively easier target—Teacher Wang. "Teacher Wang, let me speak frankly. It's one thing to have personal motives while educating students, but there has to be a bottom line. You can't falsify things just to satisfy the school, can you? Look at last semester's final exam yourself. I'll admit science classes tend to produce high scores more easily, but out of a total of 750, she scored 740—nearly fifty points higher than the second-place student in your class. Does that sound realistic to you? And now the facts have proven it. Judging from the level she's shown in her everyday homework, she simply isn't capable of performing at the level she displayed on the exam. The gap isn't small—it isn't even close!"
Teacher Wang's lips quivered with rage. A group of girls led by Gao Yan slammed their hands onto their desks. "So she got a few questions wrong? Mu Xiangxiang's been busy with the basketball tournament this whole time! She was swamped! When was she supposed to have time to do her homework properly? Don't pretend you don't know she was playing in the tournament. Stop using this as an excuse to make trouble!"
"And why isn't it realistic? Have you ever placed third in the city entrance exams? She's beautiful, she's brilliant, she's practically perfect in every way. You think everyone's as ugly and mediocre as you?"
"Hey, hey!" one of the school leaders hurriedly interrupted. "That's enough. Is that any way to speak to a teacher?"
The girls of Class One merely sneered and ignored him. Knowing he couldn't control these utterly fearless daughters of wealthy families, the vice principal awkwardly shifted the topic back to Mu Xiangxiang. "Well... Mu Xiangxiang, do you have anything to say? I looked through your recent homework, and ever since the semester started, your performance really has been... less than ideal."
After asking, he waited. Strangely, no answer came. He turned to look, only to become even more surprised.
The short-haired girl standing by the classroom door wasn't looking at him at all. She was staring fixedly at the girls who had just passionately defended her.
Only after a long while did Mu Xiangxiang turn back. She blinked. Her vision had become slightly blurred.
Countless memories flooded into her mind all at once— some from her own experiences… and others from the conversations she'd overheard behind her in the basketball gym that day.
In her memories, she had barely spoken to the girls in her class. From the very first day of freshman year, when they first met, she had subconsciously categorized them as people from a completely different world than hers.
Throughout their mutually non-interfering coexistence, she had always been convinced that their group looked down on her and had no interest in accepting her.
That proud tone.
Yet only a few days ago, she had personally seen them jumping and cheering for her. She had heard others explain that their distance had come from awkwardness rather than disdain. And now, at this very moment, she was receiving such straightforward affirmation from them face-to-face.
That protective tone. That tone completely free of contempt. The tone of someone treating her as one of their own.
Something suddenly wavered inside her mind. For the first time, Mu Xiangxiang realized that hidden beneath her calm indifference toward everyone and everything was an incredibly deep... fearfulness.
Her habit of avoiding trouble whenever possible. Her obedience. Her endurance. Her silence. Her restraint. Even her reluctance to form friendships. All of it stemmed from that fear.
Clutching the workbook, she trembled for a moment. Then she suddenly lifted her head and looked directly into the vice principal's eyes.
Her voice was steady. “Since the start of the semester, there have been too many things going on. I didn't have much energy left over, so I only focused on keeping up in class. It's true that I didn't take my homework seriously. Every day, I just scribbled something down to get it over with. I'm sorry.”
The vice principal's expression turned serious. “So you're saying you still have a solid grasp of the material taught in class?”
Mu Xiangxiang: “Of course.”
“You're talking nonsense!” Teacher Huang finally couldn't take it anymore. He snatched the workbook from her hands and flipped through it noisily. “This question, this question, this one, and this one! These are all question types from the second half of Grade 10 and the first half of Grade 11, and you still got them wrong! And this one—this is practically the bonus question I put on last semester's final exam, with only a few numbers changed! You got the original question right, so how did you manage to calculate this one incorrectly?”
Mu Xiangxiang stared at him, her face pale. Under his aggressive interrogation, her fingertips trembled slightly. Yet at the same time, the corners of her mouth unconsciously curled upward into a faint smile.
Ordinarily, given her personality, she would have calmly and logically defended herself. Faced with someone powerful and difficult to provoke like Teacher Huang, she would have tried to resolve things in the most rational, polite, safest way possible—one that preserved everyone's dignity. Just as she had endured her landlord uncle and aunt's treatment for years. Just as she had always avoided confronting Fang Lingli, whom she couldn't afford to offend. Just as she had compromised at the end of last semester when her grades were unfairly questioned and her exam papers were demanded for re-evaluation.
But now, those voices proclaiming her as one of their own had somehow become her backing.
She didn't even know where the courage was coming from. For the first time in her life, she felt an impulse like this. She wanted to be reckless once. Like Qiao Nan. Like her classmates who never cared about saving a teacher's face when they believed they were right. She wanted to spit out all the grievances she had swallowed and slap them back into someone's face.
So she fixed her gaze on Teacher Huang's furious expression and spoke in an unexpectedly gentle tone. “Teacher Huang, I don't really know how to explain it. But if you're truly that curious, how about this?”
“Today's mock exam was also written by the school. From the first subject to the last, you can sit beside me with Director Liu and Vice Principal Deng. Don't leave my side for even a single step.”
“Watch with your own eyes. See whether or not I can actually solve the questions.”
“Okay?”
-----------------
Author's Note:
Xiangxiang [smiling with a pale face]: “Then watch with your own eyes how a 740 score is born.”
Some readers have said that Xiangxiang's personality is too soft, but that's not really something she can control. Whether it's being afraid to make friends, afraid to get angry, or swallowing her grievances without complaint, change requires a catalyst. This is one of those moments.
Xiangxiang [smiling with a pale face]: “Then watch with your own eyes how a 740 score is born.”
Some readers have said that Xiangxiang's personality is too soft, but that's not really something she can control. Whether it's being afraid to make friends, afraid to get angry, or swallowing her grievances without complaint, change requires a catalyst. This is one of those moments.
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