Just like the Grade 9 bullies before them, these students were momentarily stunned by Fei Cheng’s sudden defiance. However, their attention quickly shifted to his face, and they burst into mocking laughter. "Who beat you to a pulp this time, Dog Fei? Serves you right! Now hurry up and do our homework! Tomorrow is Big Eyes' class. If I don't have my homework to turn in, I'll wreck you."
"Big Eyes" was their nickname for the class teacher.
Fei Cheng looked at the students surrounding him. Even though some of them said nothing, the contemptuous, mocking look in their eyes made his blood boil. He desperately wanted to pin them all down and give them a taste of their own medicine. There was no faster satisfaction than fighting fire with fire!
Despite his thoughts, his voice remained relatively calm as he said, "I don't have time."
"Do I look like I care?"
Fei Cheng glanced at the boy, then looked toward the window. "The teacher is here."
Those words worked like a charm.
The troublemakers immediately scattered in groups of three or five, returning to their seats. They didn't forget to shoot Fei Cheng one last warning glare over their shoulders.
Fei Cheng didn't have a desk mate. He glanced at the students in front and to his sides before slowly sitting down to continue calculating his answer.
A few minutes later, the bell for evening self-study rang, and the class teacher stepped into the room.
Fei Cheng looked up at the podium. Big Eyes was a math teacher. In his previous life, this man had taught him math for two semesters, so he didn't feel like a stranger. In fact, he felt a lingering sense of gratitude toward him.
His gaze shifted to Cheng Yifei, who sat four rows ahead and to his right. He watched the other boy spin a pen; those long, slender fingers were so agile it was hard to look away.
He watched for three seconds before withdrawing his gaze and looking down at his workbook. He decided that doing practice problems was a more practical use of his time.
Fei Cheng had no interest in listening to whatever Big Eyes was saying on stage. He immersed himself in the sea of problems, unable to pull himself out. These geometry problems—which required a bit of thought but weren't overly difficult—were exactly to his taste! With every problem solved, a sense of fulfillment grew within him, filling the empty void in his heart.
By the time he finished the remaining exercises, he felt a wave of refreshment. Regardless of whether the answers were correct, being able to figure out a solution was progress! His handwriting, however, was a different story. He hadn't held a pen in so long that his writing was truly hideous.
Fei Cheng let out a low tsk. He looked up to stretch his neck, only to find himself unexpectedly staring into a pair of large eyes behind thick, full-rimmed lenses. The man had a somewhat fleshy face, a stout build, and a prickly buzz cut. Behind the lenses, those large eyes were staring at Fei Cheng with absolute gravity.
*Teacher, you look terrifying! You were never this scary to me before!*
Fei Cheng froze for a moment before whispering timidly, "Teacher?"
"Come outside with me."
Fei Cheng watched Big Eyes' retreating back with a guilty conscience. What had he done? He hadn't done anything wrong last Friday that the teacher could have caught him for, right? How strange.
He stood up and left the classroom under the gleeful gazes of his classmates.
Big Eyes was waiting for him by the flowerbed outside the classroom. Fei Cheng walked over and stood obediently before him. "Teacher."
"That face of yours—who did you get into a fight with this time? Does your skin just itch if you go a day without fighting? School hasn't even been in session for two weeks. Aside from the first day, I haven't seen your face without a new 'color' on it!"
"Teacher, this just shows how serious the problem is. I'm bullied every day at school. People in my grade hit me, and the upperclassmen hit me too."
"Nonsense! If you don't provoke them, why would they hit you? There are so many people in this school; why don't they bully anyone else? Why is it always you? Flies don't swarm an egg unless it has cracks!"
Fei Cheng was incensed. "Teacher, you can't say that! Does being small and introverted mean I deserve to be bullied?!"
"..." Big Eyes felt like he was hallucinating. He had heard the way this boy talked to some of the female students; he really did have a smart mouth.
Fei Cheng lowered his head and coughed. "Teacher, I really didn't provoke those people. I don't have the guts or the skill for that. But they've singled me out as their favorite target. They order me around to do this and that, and if I don't do it well enough, they hit me. Even my own father has never hit me like that. Liu Yulang from Class 4 even demanded money from me. I told his class teacher, and as a result, he brought a group of people to beat me like this after school on Friday. All these injuries were from him and his gang. Look, just look at my face, and my stomach... what am I supposed to do? I'm in despair too!"
Fei Cheng cast aside his last shred of shame and lifted the hem of his shirt to reveal his abdomen, though he made sure to keep the two red plums on his chest covered.
He continued, "Teacher, if I were to be beaten to death at school, I'm sure the school's reputation wouldn't be very good. Are you really not going to do anything?"
It was September, and the summer heat lingered. The evening sun and the daylight coexisted, making the world quite bright.
The bruises on Fei Cheng's abdomen were fully visible to Big Eyes. He didn't know whether to be angry at Fei Cheng or at the person who had beaten him so badly.
Although he didn't like this student who had poor grades and was always causing trouble, seeing him beaten like this sparked a genuine flame of anger. It was time to have another talk with Class 4's teacher and tell him to get his students under control!
Fei Cheng lowered his shirt and asked, "Teacher, my grades are so bad. Do you really want me to drop out?"
Those words were enough to make anyone's blood pressure rise. Big Eyes pinched his ear, but then he suddenly remembered the geometry problems he had seen the boy doing. He let go and sized Fei Cheng up. "Who taught you how to do those problems?"
"I've been teaching myself over the last two days using the Grade 7 textbooks I borrowed from Cheng Yifei. I figured that only by getting good grades can I earn your protection, Teacher. I have to work hard!"
"You little brat!" Big Eyes felt like he was about to cough up blood from frustration. He decided he would call Cheng Yifei out later to ask him about it. He waved his hand dismissively. "Go back and call Cheng Yifei out. Then, come with me to the hospital for a check-up."
*Huh? Check-up my foot!* There were no internal injuries; wouldn't a hospital visit expose his exaggeration?
Fei Cheng said seriously, "Teacher, I'm not going to the hospital. My Second Great-Uncle is an expert at treating bruises and sprains. It's just that I was stuck in bed until this afternoon, so I didn't have time to go home."
His injuries were indeed frightening. Big Eyes urged him, "Hurry back then. Where do you live? Can you get back on your own? Forget it, I'll take you. Don't come back to school until those scars and bruises are gone."
"Thank you, Teacher! My house is in..." Fei Cheng paused for a moment. "My house is in Qiantang Village. It's only a thirty-minute bike ride."
"Stop wasting time. Go call him out, then pack your things. I'm taking you home."
Fei Cheng gave a couple of quick nods and turned to run back to the classroom.
In truth, he didn't really want to go home. If he went back covered in injuries, his grandparents would worry. But this school was simply too dangerous! There were too many bullies, and they were interfering with his studies. His only choice was to follow the best of the thirty-six stratagems: flee.
He entered through the front door of the classroom, drawing the attention of most of the students.
Fei Cheng walked with his head held high, looking straight ahead until he stopped in front of Cheng Yifei. He reached out and tapped the desk. "The class teacher wants to see you outside."
Cheng Yifei looked up at him, then stood and followed him out.
Once they were out the door, Fei Cheng whispered quickly, "Brother Cheng, where are your notes? I'm going home to recover, so I can study without any distractions."
Cheng Yifei replied, "I put them in my suitcase."
Fei Cheng scratched his head. If they were in the suitcase, how was he supposed to get them? It wouldn't be right to go rummaging through someone else's luggage.
Big Eyes' attitude toward Cheng Yifei was significantly gentler than it was toward Fei Cheng. "Yifei, I heard you lent Fei Cheng your Grade 7 textbooks to help him catch up?"
Cheng Yifei nodded. "Teacher, I've seen him doing problems. I think he's still salvageable."
Fei Cheng: "..."
Big Eyes hummed in response. "You didn't teach him?"
"I haven't had the chance to teach him yet," Cheng Yifei said. "I wanted him to look through the books and figure things out on his own first. As it turns out, his self-study progress exceeded my expectations."
Fei Cheng rubbed his nose and said, "I'm a promising student whose potential was just suppressed by school bullying. Look at me, Teacher. If you give me a good learning environment, I can make it into the grade's top..." He glanced at Cheng Yifei. "...the top one hundred by the midterms!"
*Better play it safe and not overpromise.* Being in the top one hundred was a rank he had been able to achieve even after slacking off in his previous life's Grade 9 year. There shouldn't be any surprises.
Big Eyes' face darkened. "..." He wanted to shoot down this foolish student's boast, but he didn't want to crush his newfound motivation.
Carrying Cheng Yifei's Grade 7 notes, Fei Cheng hopped onto the back of Big Eyes' little scooter and headed home through the twilight.
He had never been to Qiantang Village before. The memories in his mind made the place feel both familiar and strange—familiar in detail, but strange in emotion.
"Where do you live?" Big Eyes slowed the scooter, scanning the houses on either side of the road.
Fei Cheng snapped out of his thoughts and pointed ahead. "Over there. The two-and-a-half-story house with the big iron gate."
Big Eyes rode over and asked, "Are your parents home?"
"No, just my grandparents. Teacher, if you want to find my parents, you'll have to come back on New Year's Eve."
"Go on, get out of here." Big Eyes had just braked in front of the 1.8-meter-high iron gate when a dog inside suddenly began to bark furiously, startling them both. Big Eyes clutched his chest to calm his racing heart. When he turned around, he saw that Fei Cheng looked equally terrified. He was baffled. "Don't you know your own house has a dog?"
Fei Cheng had truly forgotten about the
