С нетерпением жду весеннего ветерка!

Глава 73

After Gao Jiaqiang said these words, he waited for her reaction, whether she would be so angry that she would cry, or she would start making a scene—isn't this all the kind of thing a little girl can do?

The only unexpected thing was that she remained silent and went about her business.

He was a little annoyed: "I'm talking to you! I don't want to sit with you!"

Shanglin was unhappy.

You're really pushing your luck!

She looked at him coldly and retorted, "It's your unwillingness, what does it have to do with me? If you don't want to, go talk to the homeroom teacher yourself, I have no objection."

Gao Jiaqiang was furious, and he was incredibly angry. He glared at her for a long time, but she didn't take him seriously at all and completely ignored him.

Everything has a cause. There was a reason why Gao Jiaqiang embarrassed her on their first meeting.

He, Zhang Ran, and Ye Ruru all came from Huaiqiao City. They all went to the same primary school and were admitted to No. 5 Middle School, so they all knew each other. His parents were not tall, and he was a late bloomer. At 13 years old, he was still less than 1.4 meters tall. However, he was clever and humorous and was very popular in his previous school. Both boys and girls loved to play with him.

In second and third grade, height is generally not a concern, but upon entering fifth grade, both boys and girls begin puberty, and the height difference suddenly widens. Ye Ruru is pretty with delicate features and a cheerful personality. She's also a head taller than the other girls, standing out from the crowd, making her the object of many boys' secret crushes. Among them, of course, is Gao Jiaqiang's heart.

He learned about the dormitory assignments from Zhang Ran. He hated Li Changsheng, who dared to scare Ye Ruru, to the core. However, Li Changsheng was older and taller than his classmates. He had heard that Li Changsheng had trained since childhood. When he stood in front of him, it was a real performance of a dwarf and a giant. He couldn't afford to offend him.

His hatred was transferred to Qiu Shanglin. He was only worried about not having a chance to take revenge. But fate had other plans, and they ended up being deskmates. How could he not seek revenge!

Children don't have many ways to get revenge; he'd only ever learned to pull girls' braids and tug at their skirts. In his panic, all he remembered was not wanting to be her deskmate and forcing her to go to the teacher. He hadn't expected that this girl had the appearance of an 11-year-old but the mind of a 30-year-old, and she looked down on him. He was instantly filled with intense hatred.

The seating arrangement took a whole class period. The homeroom teacher explained some important points, and when the bell rang, the students laughed and went to talk to their friends. Some even chatted with their new deskmates.

Gao Jiaqiang rushed out as soon as get out of class ended to talk to Zhang Ran. Shang Lin turned to Liang Meihua and Chen Zhaodi, chatting and laughing.

On the first day of class, the teachers went through the motions. The Chinese teacher introduced herself, said a few polite words, and then instructed the class monitor to supervise everyone's self-study.

As soon as the teacher left, the classroom erupted into a cacophony of quiet chatter. The newly appointed class monitor tried to quiet it down several times to no avail, and then, in a fit of pique, gave up.

Having self-studied the entire junior high school curriculum and possessing a good command of Chinese, Shang Lin flipped through her newly acquired Chinese textbook, its ink still smelling fresh, and began sketching out the plot of the Mocha Cat series. Gao Jiaqiang rummaged through his pencil case for a pen, took out a ruler, and measured on his desk for a long time. Stealing a glance, he saw that Qiu Shang Lin was lost in thought and didn't react at all.

He was enraged. He shoved Shang Lin's elbow and, ignoring her confusion, viciously drew a straight line from top to bottom in the center of the table.

His attitude was appalling: "Listen up, this is the 38th parallel. From now on, you are not allowed to cross it by even a centimeter!"

He then took out a compass, pointing its gleaming steel tip at her and saying, "If you dare to cross this line, I'll stab you with this compass. Don't blame me for not warning you!"

Qiu Shanglin thought this was simply unbelievable, no, it was a fantasy!

The 38th parallel? And he's even using a compass to poke people? Touching my face, I'm puzzled. Do I really have such an annoying face? No, it doesn't seem so. Everyone praises me for being adorable, like a doll… or does this kid hate dolls?

As she pondered this, Gao Jiaqiang, seeing that she was ignoring him again, became furious and shoved her hard again: "Hey, did you hear me!"

Before Shang Lin could speak, Liang Meihua, sitting in the back, blurted out, "Gao Jiaqiang, don't go too far! The 38th parallel has been drawn, and Shang Lin didn't cross it. What right do you have to push him!"

Gao Jiaqiang turned around and said fiercely, "What's it to you? Mind your own business!"

The two glared at each other fiercely, neither willing to back down, when Chen Zhaodi whispered a reminder: "The teacher is coming!"

The four of them pretended to be good students, burying themselves in their textbooks.

The Chinese teacher walked around and left. The classroom, which had been quiet just moments before, was filled with various sounds again.

Liang Meihua nudged Shang Lin in the back, signaling her to lean closer: "Gao Jiaqiang, Zhang Ran, and Ye Ruru used to be classmates. I just saw him whispering with Zhang Ran; they must have been discussing this!"

After that incident, they became enemies and neither of them was friendly.

Shang Lin shrugged. "Whatever. I'm here to study, not to argue. That little brat, I don't care."

Li Changsheng sat in the third-to-last row, quite a distance between him and the other boy. The group behind them were mostly boys with poor entrance exam scores, and he quickly mingled with them.

After class, he walked around Shanglin's place, saw the 38th parallel on the desk, frowned, measured it with his hand, and said rudely, "Hey, redraw it—do you even know how to use a ruler? Your side is obviously much longer than this side!"

Gao Jiaqiang, though small in stature, had a big temper. Hearing this, he was displeased, but feeling guilty, he grumbled as he erased and redrawn the lines. Shang Lin went to the restroom and wasn't at her seat. When she returned, she didn't notice anything different, but Liang Meihua secretly told her.

After listening, Shanglin turned around to look for Li Changsheng. Just then, Li Changsheng also looked over. The two looked at each other and smiled at him. Changsheng pouted, as if to say, "Where's your skill in dealing with me? Why are you being looked down upon?"

His deskmate was also a mischievous boy. Seeing the two exchanging glances, he was about to tease them when he suddenly froze.

Her once charming and smiling face suddenly contorted into a grimace, baring her teeth and threatening Li Changsheng.

Li Changsheng couldn't hold back and burst out laughing. The commotion was so loud that it attracted the attention of the squad leader, who shouted in dissatisfaction, "Watch your step!"

He slumped over the table, his shoulders shaking, chuckling to himself for a while. When he looked up again, Qiu Shanglin had already turned and gone back to studying. His deskmate, curious, asked, "What are you laughing at?"

Changsheng appeared unaffected, but inwardly he still wanted to laugh.

Qiu Shanglin just grinned, meaning: Study hard, or you'll be kneeling on a washboard when you get home if you don't get second place!

That's all in the past. Now, two weeks have passed since school started, and the students are gradually getting to know each other. But the conflict between her and Gao Jiaqiang has not weakened; on the contrary, it has intensified.

Shang Lin didn't want to stoop to his level, but Gao Jiaqiang really disliked her.

The top student got into No. 5 Middle School, but what does being the top student matter?

Being good at studying? Is being good at studying something to be proud of?

His grades weren't bad either; he was among the top students to enter the school, but he couldn't compare to Qiu Shanglin. Spoiled by teachers and pampered by parents, she had a calm and collected personality, and all the girls around her liked talking to her. Whenever the two had a conflict, regardless of right or wrong, the girl would always target him, criticizing his faults.

Zhang Ran blamed him for being incompetent, unable to even subdue a little girl. Didn't he notice that Ye Ruru hasn't wanted to talk to him lately?

They took their seats in the small washroom, chatting and laughing with Zhao Di while washing the dishes.

Although the school has a cafeteria, the girls don't like to go there. The environment is bad, there are few seats, the food smells of sweat, and the floor and tables and chairs are greasy and never clean. Most of the students eating there are junior high, middle school, and high school students. When they see younger girls, they gather around to watch and burst into laughter from time to time.

Therefore, most first-year junior high school students get their meals from the cafeteria and eat in their classrooms.

At the beginning of the school year, each student was given a white enamel mug, half a portion of rice for two cents, and a side dish for a few cents. The rice and vegetables were mixed together and eaten.

Shanglin initially found it difficult to adapt. She was used to a refined lifestyle and couldn't get used to the school's communal meals. Xialin and Changsheng, on the other hand, adapted well—boys their age could eat a whole pig raw if given one.

At first, Xia Lin and Chang Sheng would come to eat with her, but soon the boys formed their own little circle and gradually dispersed. Shang Lin could only eat with Zhao Di and Mei Hua. Chen Zhao Di's family was poor, so she was frugal with her meals. Most of the time, she would just buy a steamed bun and some pickled vegetables, and occasionally she would get a three-cent serving of cabbage as a treat.

Liang Meihua came from a well-off family and often queued up with Shanglin to buy stir-fries, which the three of them would then eat together. However, Chen Zhaodi was very proud and, no matter how much the two women tried to persuade her, she would only take a bite each time, refusing to take any more than necessary. Liang Meihua privately complained that she was too calculating, while Shanglin admired her greatly and began to treat her with more respect, helping her whenever he could. But out of consideration for her pride, he couldn't let her find out.

Later, the school selected outstanding students and gave each student a monthly stipend. Shanglin had the best entrance exam scores, and her homeroom teacher wanted to nominate her, but Shanglin secretly persuaded him to change the nominee to Chen Zhaodi.

In addition to the subsidies for impoverished students, it's enough to cover their monthly living expenses.

Zhao Di was sensible and wanted to save money to help support the family. Shang Lin noticed this and casually mentioned the downsides of not getting enough nutrition during puberty during their conversations. Zhao Di took it to heart and became less strict with herself. However, she still managed to save a lot more on food and other necessities compared to other students.

While she was washing dishes, Liang Meihua suddenly appeared out of nowhere, squeezing in at the edge of Shanglin and vying for water with her, giggling and whispering: "Look, look, over there is Ji Yunwen and Chi Shuai from Class Two!"

I glanced up, but I wasn't interested.

Liang Meihua, however, became interested: "Handsome, right? Handsome, right? So handsome! Lots of girls like them, I heard that a senior from the second year of junior high school confessed to Chi Shuai a few days ago! Ji Yunwen is the most handsome boy in our class—of course, your Li Changsheng is not bad either, lots of girls like him too!"

She took it to heart and looked closely. Ji Yunwen was in the same class as them. To put it bluntly, he was a pretty boy, or a flower boy in later generations. Now, the girls privately called him "Little Tiger," describing his resemblance to the Little Tiger from the Little Tigers.

After taking a closer look, I thought, "What kind of taste do you have? She's clearly much prettier than Little Tiger, with thick eyebrows, big eyes, and delicate skin."

Chi Shuai is tall and thin, and he is also among the pretty boys. The two handsome young men standing in front of the water tap attracted countless eyes.

After taking a closer look, he realized that Li Changsheng was more pleasing to the eye, so he stopped paying attention to him.

Wiping her hands as she walked back, Liang Meihua chattered on: "Ji Yunwen's dad is the director of the power bureau, his family is incredibly wealthy. I don't know what Chi Shuai's family does, but I've heard they're quite rich too. Gao Jiaqiang and Zhang Ran had a fight the other day, and for some reason, Zhang Ran told others that he likes Ye Ruru. He should take a good look at himself, like a short, ugly man selling pancakes... Ye Ruru likes Ouyang Linhao, and it seems Ouyang Linhao feels the same way. These students from the city are just so unreliable! Ouyang Linhao went to junior high in the city for two years, but was expelled twice for fighting, so he had no choice but to come to our school. His ex-girlfriend was incredibly beautiful, the school beauty..."

It would be a huge loss for the paparazzi industry if Liang Meihua didn't become a paparazzi in the future!

She remembered Ouyang Linhao.

He was very tall, only fourteen years old, nearly 1.7 meters tall, and half a head taller than Li Changsheng.

He comes from a well-off family and must have given the teacher a lot of gifts. At 1.7 meters tall, he sits in the first row, but to avoid blocking other people's view, he is placed in a seat against the wall so that he won't be seen by others.