Chapter 21: I Live in South Lake Mansion
Zhou Wanfeng stood on the podium. “Our First Grade, Class Nine doesn’t have that many class officers. There are no group leaders or class representatives, no sanitation monitor or sports monitor. There is only one class president, and that is me, Zhou Wanfeng. I’ll say the ugly words first. I don’t have a good temper. Enduring once is my limit. If you continue to do as you please after I’ve warned you once, I’ll take it as a provocation.”
With that, Zhou Wanfeng gestured with her hand and divided the people below. “The first row will start cleaning. And so on. If someone doesn’t do their part, tell me. If it’s not cleaned thoroughly, you’ll continue the next day. Also, those who are late for morning self-study, please enter through the back door. Those who are talking, at least don’t let me hear you. The above are the things I’ve instructed as the class president today. Is that clear?”
“Got… it.”
“Understood.”
The voices were scattered, some deliberately dragging out their words, rising and falling sporadically.
Zhou Wanfeng’s face darkened, and she suddenly shouted, “Is that clear?”
Zhu Junling in the back row took the lead and shouted, “Clear, boss!”
“Clear!”
“Clear!”
A smile touched Zhou Wanfeng’s lips. “Very good. Morning self-study continues. Those who want to study, study. Those who want to sleep, sleep.” With that, she raised her hand and, with a sudden movement, threw the wooden stick in her right hand straight at the cleaning corner at the back of the classroom.
“Ah!”
The students in the class were so scared that they either hugged their heads and lay on their desks, squatted down, or closed their eyes tightly and didn’t move.
All they heard was a clatter as the stick hit the wall and landed squarely in the cleaning corner.
Sun Mulan’s eyes were wide, her heart pounding. She subconsciously looked at Zhou Wanfeng, whose expression was unchanged. She walked off the podium and back to her seat.
The students in the class were so intimidated by this that they watched Zhou Wanfeng sit down. Seeing her take out her book and start to read and recite, they realized she had already started studying.
Shuangshu Model Middle School had a cafeteria. The difference between it and a public junior high was that many aspects of its management were more humanized. You could eat in the cafeteria or go out to eat.
Basically, there was no shortage of food near the school, and there were also various snack stalls that came with their carts at mealtimes.
Some particular students had their families pack them insulated lunch boxes, so their breakfast was still hot after morning self-study.
Zhou Wanfeng usually ate at the school cafeteria. She ate quickly. When she came back, she saw that the students in the first row, whom she had assigned to clean during morning self-study, were sweeping the floor.
In the last row, Jiang Yi was actually eating bread at his seat. He suddenly looked up, glanced at Zhou Wanfeng, and then quickly lowered his head.
He was doing problems while he ate. Zhou Wanfeng saw that he was doing a math workbook, and a very thick one at that. She walked over curiously to take a look.
Jiang Yi was working on his math workbook. When a shadow fell over him, he looked up and saw Zhou Wanfeng staring at his notebook with a serious expression.
He revealed the entire math workbook and leaned back slightly.
Zhou Wanfeng tilted her head, reached out, and flipped to the cover: Analysis and Practice of Classic Math Problems. She glanced at the table of contents, then flipped to the page Jiang Yi had been working on. He was already halfway through.
Zhou Wanfeng held the book and looked at Jiang Yi. “Where did you buy this?” She wanted one. The analysis of the problem types in it was very detailed, and the knowledge points and solution methods were all organized for you.
She knew very well that she was not a genius. She had to read the Chinese texts many times to memorize them, and she would still stumble when reciting them. It was the same with memorizing English words.
She had seen how easy it was for Yun Jingya to memorize and remember words, and even to do math problems. If she couldn’t do a problem, she would immediately understand where she had gone wrong after looking at the answer.
Zhou Wanfeng knew clearly that this was the gap between her and Yun Jingya. But she also enjoyed the process of studying and memorizing. After successfully memorizing a text, it was as if she had absorbed the knowledge into her body and made it her own, something that no one could take away from her.
Jiang Yi stuffed the bread into his desk, his voice not loud. “I bought it at the Xinhua Bookstore on Wenhua Road.”
Zhou Wanfeng continued to flip through it. After a while, Zhu Junling, Ding Gaoming, and Chen Yisen came in. They were still a long way from the classroom when their loud, boisterous voices could be heard.
“Boss!” Zhu Junling said, raising his hand in a salute, a cheeky grin on his face. Ding Gaoming and Chen Yisen behind him followed suit, chuckling and calling out, “Boss.”
Zhou Wanfeng clutched the book in her hand, glanced at the three of them, and then looked down at Jiang Yi. She suddenly remembered something. She walked straight over to Zhu Junling. “Come out with me.”
“What? Boss, what’s up? I just came in, I haven’t done anything,” Zhu Junling said with a bewildered look, looking at Ding Gaoming and Chen Yisen as if to ask, How did I piss her off?
The two of them shook their heads, neither of them understanding.
“Zhu Junling, what are you standing there for? Come out,” Zhou Wanfeng called out again from the back door.
Zhu Junling hurriedly stood up from his chair, still chuckling. “Boss Zhou, it’s not class time yet. I didn’t bother you by shouting in the classroom, did I?”
Jiang Yi turned around, his eyes fixed on the book in Zhou Wanfeng’s hand. She seemed to have forgotten to return it to him.
To the west of the Class Nine classroom was the playground. Zhou Wanfeng stood against the wall, not wasting any words. She asked coldly, “Zhu Junling, did you and that group of third years rob Jiang Yi?”
Zhu Junling, who had been fooling around, was suddenly stunned. It was as if you were about to do something bad and got caught red-handed, or as if you were thinking of doing it but hadn’t yet, and everyone already knew.
Zhu Junling’s mouth was agape. He suddenly found that no matter how he explained it, it would be wrong. But seeing Zhou Wanfeng’s sharp gaze, he couldn’t help but scratch his head with a contorted face. “No, I haven’t done it yet. But how did you know?” Zhu Junling felt it was extremely strange.
Zhou Wanfeng sneered. “I heard what you and that group of third years said at the beginning of the school year. Jiang Yi’s family is rich and lives in South Lake Mansion, right?”
Zhu Junling laughed dryly and explained with a frown, “They asked me to help them find a target, someone from a rich family with a lot of pocket money. They would then corner them, threaten them, and beat them up if they didn’t give them money. The class next door, Class Eight, was cornered in the restroom. There were a lot of them, and they just took the money from their pockets. If you don’t give it to them, they’ll beat you up on the way home from school. If I refused, I don’t know how many times I would have been beaten.”
Zhou Wanfeng flipped to the first page of the math workbook and was surprised to find that Jiang Yi’s handwriting was quite nice.
She looked up. “Next time they look for you, just say there’s a girl in Class Nine whose family owns a company and a factory, is very rich, lives in South Lake Mansion, and has a lot of pocket money.”
“Who?” Zhu Junling asked foolishly.
“Me.” Seeing Zhu Junling playing dumb, Zhou Wanfeng kicked him in the shin.
Zhu Junling hopped up. It didn’t hurt. He dusted off his hands. “Really? Your family lives in South Lake Mansion too?”
“Go and ask Jiang Yi. We came out of the South Lake Mansion gate together this morning,” Zhou Wanfeng said, turning around. “Zhu Junling, that group of third years is not scary at all. Tigers and leopards walk alone; only rats travel in packs.”
In Zhou Wanfeng’s eyes, they weren’t even rats. These junior high school hooligans, what kind of backing could they have? The most they could know were some street loiterers who hung out at arcades. These were just junior high or high school dropouts who had been hooligans a few years ago. They had no way of making a living, so they could only continue to scam money from students.
When they got older, these people usually earned money through manual labor, or at best, opened a small shop with their family’s help. She had seen many people like this in her past life.
Zhou Wanfeng returned to the classroom. As she passed by Jiang Yi, she knocked on his desk and said, “Let me borrow your book for a bit.”
Zhu Junling came in behind her. Ding Gaoming and Chen Yisen were curious about what the two of them had talked about outside. Ding Gaoming, in particular, was sharp-eyed and noticed the mark on Zhu Junling’s shin.
He pointed at it and whispered, “Did you get kicked?”
“Get lost! You’re the one who got kicked. She was asking about my relationship with Peng Zhen and his group from the third grade, and if I had been extorted,” Zhu Junling said, then turned to sidle up to Jiang Yi, calling out with a smile, “Bro, what’s your relationship with Boss Zhou Wanfeng?”
Jiang Yi’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“Bro, your family is rich, and you live in South Lake Mansion, so you’ve been targeted. People have been asking me for information about you. We’re deskmates, it’s fate. I, Zhu Junling, may not like to study, but I’m not the type to sell out my brother. The boss just called me out and told me that if anyone asks me for information, I should just say there’s a girl in Class Nine whose family owns a company, lives in South Lake Mansion, and has a lot of pocket money. Don’t you think she’s helping you by saying that?” Zhu Junling said, watching Jiang Yi’s expression.
Seeing that he was silent, he nudged him with his elbow. “Bro, she said you two came out of South Lake Mansion together this morning. Does she really live there?”
Jiang Yi looked up at the third row in front. Zhou Wanfeng was looking down, seriously reading his math workbook. He then turned to look at the curious Zhu Junling and grunted in affirmation.
After confirming it, Zhu Junling asked curiously, “Are you two close?”
Jiang Yi shook his head.
Zhu Junling clearly didn’t quite believe him and turned to continue talking to Ding Gaoming and Chen Yisen. He glanced at Zhou Wanfeng’s back. He had called her “boss,” but he hadn’t really meant it. He was just fooling around. But he was actually a little surprised by what she had said outside. He had seen many people who pretended to be good, and many who were all talk. She hadn’t directly forbidden him from associating with Peng Zhen and his group, nor had she put him in a difficult position.
Just for that, Zhu Junling and the others felt that Zhou Wanfeng was not ordinary.
During class, the atmosphere was much better.
Zhou Wanfeng sat in the third row of the classroom, the core of the entire class. During Chinese class, Li Jianbang came in with his book tucked under his arm and a teacup in his hand.
“Stand up,” Zhou Wanfeng’s cold voice rang out, and the students in the class stood up in a neat and orderly fashion. “Good-mor-ning, tea-cher!”
Li Jianbang glanced down. It was impossible to ignore Zhou Wanfeng. He pursed his lips. “Good morning, students.”
Zhou Wanfeng was really listening attentively in class. The students behind her were all just a sea of heads, half-slumped, their hands supporting their foreheads. The ones in the front were looking down at their textbooks, with a few occasionally looking up to yawn, their mouths wide open.
Only Zhou Wanfeng, with her clear and bright eyes, was looking up at the podium. She wrote when she needed to take notes, and circled when she needed to circle. The moment she finished, she would look up at the front.
Li Jianbang felt uncomfortable throughout the entire class. He hadn’t even felt this uncomfortable when Director Du from the political and educational affairs office had passed by the classroom door.
Zhou Wanfeng’s gaze was fixed on him. It was hard to ignore her even when she raised her hand. When there was chatter in the back row, he was about to clear his throat and scold them, to avoid being complained about for not maintaining order in the classroom.
But just as he was about to speak, he saw Zhou Wanfeng turn around and point at the talking group in the back. The noise immediately stopped.
After a long and difficult class, he assigned some copying and memorization homework. Li Jianbang looked at the students below and asked, “Who is the Chinese class representative?”
“It’s me.” That familiar voice. Li Jianbang nearly choked on his water. He immediately saw Zhou Wanfeng in the third row, her hand raised.
Li Jianbang frowned and hurriedly grabbed his water cup and left. Zhou Wanfeng then got up and chased after him. “Teacher Li.”
“What is it?” Li Jianbang said, seeing Zhou Wanfeng follow him. He didn’t stop walking. His next class was Chinese for Class Eight, and he was heading there now.
Zhou Wanfeng strode after him and blocked his way. “Teacher Li, you should know that our class’s homework can’t be collected. Those who want to learn will naturally do it. I won’t force those who don’t want to learn. Studying is a personal matter, you can’t force it. Secondly, I wanted to tell you that your lecture this class was very good. It would be even better if your voice were a little louder.”
Li Jianbang’s face was long, his eyelids drooping.
But Zhou Wanfeng just smiled to herself. Seeing his water cup, she was reminded of the tea Yang Yijun drank at home and asked with a smile, “Teacher Li, what kind of tea do you drink? Teachers’ Day is coming up. I’ll get you some good tea.”
“Heh, you’ll give me tea here, and then report me to the school for accepting gifts. I don’t want it. I can’t afford it,” Li Jianbang said, pushing open the door to the Class Eight classroom, thinking that Zhou Wanfeng, a student from Class Nine, couldn’t possibly follow him in.
But he had severely underestimated Zhou Wanfeng. She followed him right in. The entire Class Eight was looking at her.
Li Jianbang glared at her. “What are you doing in here?”
“My next class is a self-study period. I thought I’d come and listen in, to see if you teach the same way.”
“Zhou Wanfeng!” Li Jianbang was furious.
“I’m just kidding. Our next class is English,” Zhou Wanfeng said. She suddenly felt that this old Chinese teacher was not bad. Apart from his soft voice, he seemed to dislike her at the moment.
When she had said she was the Chinese class representative, his lips had been pressed into a downward curve, a look of disgust on his face.
The English class was taught by the homeroom teacher, Sun Mulan, herself. Knowing that she had a helper in the class, she had a very enjoyable class, especially enjoying calling on Zhou Wanfeng to answer questions.
Only when she saw her frowning and trying to translate what she was saying did she feel that she was indeed still a junior high school student.
Many times, when she looked at Zhou Wanfeng, Sun Mulan would forget that she was only twelve.
Zhou Wanfeng was very frustrated. It seemed that English was her Achilles’ heel. But in one class, Sun Mulan would ask, “Who will answer this question? Who can read it aloud?”
While she was still trying to translate it in her head, Sun Mulan’s gaze would already be on her. The next second, she would say with a smile, “Sit in the third row and answer with your classmates.”
She was finding all sorts of ways to call on her to answer questions.
In one class, Zhou Wanfeng had to guess her way through. She wasn’t blind. She could see the smile that Sun Mulan was trying to suppress, and many times, she even had to turn her back to hide her laughter.
The math teacher was a man named Song Zhang, thirty years old, 1.7 meters tall, with height-increasing insoles in his shoes. As soon as he came in, many eyes automatically looked at his feet.
Although he was short, he had a good personality and loved to laugh. He was the most interactive of all the substitute teachers with Class Nine. The classroom was constantly filled with laughter, and basically no one was lying on their desks.
As soon as Song Zhang came in, his gaze first fell on the third row. The student who had complained about the teacher and reported the school, and had even caused a special meeting to be held. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t curious.
She was completely different from what he had imagined. The girl had short, refreshing hair, but her features were handsome and heroic, especially her sharp and spirited eyes.
She was very focused in class. Her math textbook had clearly been previewed in advance, and the practice problems after the examples had all been done in the book with the answers written down.
Song Zhang had a very good impression of Zhou Wanfeng. He just didn’t understand how such a clearly studious student had ended up in Class Nine.
School ended at 8:20 in the evening. The third-grade graduating class had an extra evening self-study session.
During the breaks of the evening self-study sessions these past few days, there were always upperclassmen standing at the classroom windows, looking in. Zhu Junling had been called out several times.
Ding Gaoming and Chen Yisen had asked him about it, but he had refused to say anything.
After school, Zhou Wanfeng went to the bike shed to get her bike. Jiang Yi was behind her. As she was unlocking her bike, she vaguely sensed that someone was watching them from a distance.
She pretended to squat down and tie her shoelaces. Sure enough, there were two people standing against the wall at the very back of the bike shed. It was too dark to see their faces clearly.
Jiang Yi had unlocked his bike and was waiting for her.
Zhou Wanfeng stood up, pressed her hand on the tire, and said with a frown, “Jiang Yi, you go ahead. My tire is flat. I’ll walk it home.” The air in her back tire had been let out.
Zhou Wanfeng and Jiang Yi had become familiar with each other because of that workbook. After looking at the content, she had realized that Jiang Yi, this quiet person with little presence in the class, was particularly good at math.
Even the math teacher, Song Zhang, had said after looking at the workbook that Jiang Yi had bought a classic math competition problem book. This guy was a silent math genius. Song Zhang was particularly interested in him and liked to call on him to do problems and answer questions in class.
Zhou Wanfeng liked to ask him math questions. He was not secretive.
But he was only interested in math. His new Chinese and English textbooks hadn’t even been opened, and he only handed in his math homework.
“I’ll take you home,” Jiang Yi said, not leaving.
Zhou Wanfeng waved her hand coldly. “You go first. I have something to do.”
Jiang Yi grunted reluctantly. But everyone in the class knew Zhou Wanfeng’s temper. No one could persuade her.
Zhou Wanfeng slowly pushed her bike out of the school gate. The school gate was crowded with people. Some thoughtful parents would come to pick up their children. It was noisy and crowded everywhere.
Zhou Wanfeng walked while paying attention to her surroundings. She shouldn’t be mistaken. Someone had been watching her just now, but now there was no one.
She walked for another five minutes. After turning a corner, there were fewer people on the road. Zhou Wanfeng stopped and scanned the area. There was only the sound of the wind blowing through the branches.
She frowned, wondering if she had been mistaken. The next second, she suddenly reacted. She immediately started to pedal her bike, even with the flat back tire.
Zhou Wanfeng had been mistaken. She had thought they were after her, but now she was sure they were after Jiang Yi.
“Damn it.”