Liu Xin’an glared at him, “You little brat! You’re being disrespectful. This is a new student who just transferred in, don’t bully her. She was always first in her grade at Lincheng No. 1 Middle School. I’m doing a great favor by arranging for you to sit next to her. It’s a great opportunity to improve your poor Chinese and English. Look at the composition you wrote last time, what a mess it was.”

Teacher Liu’s anger would always flare up whenever he talked about this kid. He is smart, but only in science subjects. Chinese and English? Terrible.

In the last monthly exam, the Chinese language composition essay was “A Letter to __”. Although the topic was a letter, the content was limited. The keyword of the composition is “self-discipline”, and it is specified that one should write about “the positive aspects brought by self-discipline”. The prompt also explains the meaning of “self-discipline”, indicating the direction of writing.

Everyone knows that they should expand towards the idea of “having self-discipline towards life”.

And this young master? He wrote a long and eloquent letter, really praising his father. In the middle, he sighed “Ah, my old father” countless times… to fill the word count.

The teachers who were grading the papers in the office were both amused and confused, and they all teased Liu Xin’an, saying that he had brought in a good apprentice.

Liu Xin’an felt too embarrassed to stay in the office during that period, his old face turning red as a result. His zeal grew more and more enthusiastic as he spoke.

Shen Yanchuan was also not convinced and complained: “If he wanted to write about self-discipline, why didn’t he just say it directly? How would I know if he didn’t write it at the front? After looking at the head and feet, I still have to look at the butt.”

The students around covered their mouths and laughed, but did not dare to make a sound, for fear that the fire would be diverted to themselves.

Liu Xin’an was so upset that he simply ignored him.

He instructed Wen Tang: “Wen Tang, please clean up your seat first. If you have any questions, come to me. Oh, and if you have time, tutor this kid in liberal arts. If you don’t have time, forget it.” He just said it casually and didn’t have any hope for Shen Yanchuan.

Wen Tang nodded politely to the teacher, wiped the drawer first, and put the books and school uniform in it. She then wiped down the tables and chairs carefully before taking a seat.

After Old Liu left, the classroom became lively again.

Wen Tang took out the textbooks and concentrated on signing her name in each one.

A fluffy head came over and said, “First in the grade, pretty impressive, little classmate.” As he spoke, the scent of an adolescent boy wafted towards her, along with the crisp scent of pine after the snow, lingering on her nose.

Wen Tang moved aside and responded calmly: “It’s okay, you can ask me any questions you have.”

The young man raised an eyebrow. “You’re quite confident. I heard Lao Liu call you Wen Tang. Which Tang? Honey?”¹

Wen Tang pointed at the whiteboard, indicating that he could look at the spelling himself.

The man tilted his head slightly, glanced at the blackboard, and then said in a meaningful tone: “Oh~Begonia~flower~ah~”²

She was a little dazed.

It was the first time someone associated her name with begonia crabapple flowers³.

When her mother named her “Tang”, she really wanted her to be as bright and happy as the begonia crabapple tree, and to be able to bloom her brilliance even when no one is around.

Unfortunately, the begonia crabapple flower is also known as the “heartbreak flower”⁴.

---

Wen Tang stared at the young man, but her thoughts had already drifted away.

She thought of many things in the past, memories that she was unwilling to mention again.

But in the eyes of the onlookers, it looked like she was mesmerised by beauty and was stunned.

Sitting behind them, Jiang Shuyi shook his head repeatedly, heartbroken: “It’s over. The new classmate has also been deceived by Brother Chuan’s decent outer appearance. Alas, can you girls look at the inner qualities? Why is no one interested in a good man like me?”

Zou Xinyao elbowed him in annoyance: “What are you talking about? Don’t make us girls sound like infatuated fools. The new classmate is pretty good-looking too!”

There is a lot of bickering here, but there is a completely different atmosphere in the row in front of them. The young man propped up his chin, a nonchalant smile on his lips. He waved one hand in front of Wen Tang and said jokingly, “You like looking at me so much? If you look at me again, I’ll charge you.” His voice was low and pleasant, and after deliberately lowering it, it made people’s hearts itch.

Wen Tang withdrew her thoughts, looked sideways, and did not deny: “You are indeed very good-looking.”

She didn’t lie; she had seen many handsome guys. There is no shortage of handsome school heartthrobs and class hunks.⁵ But they’re all missing that little something when compared to the boy in front of her. Although everyone was wearing the same school uniform, he relied on his face to separate himself from everyone else. With messy hair, slightly upturned peach blossom eyes, and a charming face, you can easily fall for him if you’re not careful. He was sitting there casually at this moment, the school uniform exposing a section of his wrist showing distinct joints, showcasing a mixture of the boy’s thinness and strength.

It is undeniable that this is the type that girls like very much.

She nodded again in affirmation and said seriously, “It’s really nice to look at.”

Shen Yanchuan’s ears suddenly turned scarlet. With a cough, he turned his eyes away, no longer looking at her. Those who tease others will unexpectedly be teased back instead.

His original intention was to tease the new classmate, but he didn’t expect that he would be defeated first. The girl’s straightforward eyes made him feel nervous for the first time. Seeing that he stopped talking, Wen Tang picked up the pen and continued signing her name. Her perception of people’s emotions is somewhat weak, nor does she like to speculate what people are thinking, and she is always straightforward. If you say you are happy, she will think that you are truly happy and will not think that you may be duplicitous and waiting for someone to coax you.

So her former classmates all thought she was aloof and unapproachable.

The two people in the back seat watched the whole process in amazement.

Jiang Shuyi patted Zou Xinyao’s arm: “Am I seeing things right? Was that shyness on his face just now? Was it shyness?”

Zou Xinyao nodded frantically.

Jiang Shuyi sighed emotionally: “I never thought that in my lifetime, I would be able to see Brother Chuan become shy. I must engrave this historical wonder in my autobiography!”

Zou Xinyao was stunned: “Hahaha, Brother Chuan has met his match. I want to hold a flag, cheering for my new classmate!”

Shen Yanchuan turned his head and looked at the two of them, his eyes narrowed slightly with a hint of murderous intent.

The two of them zipped up their mouths in sync to indicate that they were shutting up.

After a few minutes, Zou Xinyao couldn’t hold it in any longer and poked Wen Tang on the back: “Hey, sis.”

Wen Tang turned his head and looked inquiringly.

“Hello, new classmate! Nice to meet you. My name is Zou Xinyao, the same ‘heart’ as the word in ‘emotions’, and the ‘Yao’ part is the character next to the character ‘Wang’⁶. His name is Jiang Shuyi. You can come to us if you have any problems in the future.” Zou Xinyao greeted warmly. 

She has a baby face and is very cute. Her smile can easily allow people to feel fond of her. Staring at Wen Tang, she sighed again: “You are so beautiful!”

At such a close distance, the pores are hardly visible and the skin is almost blemish-free. To be honest, her plan in her previous life was to grow up to look like this in her next life. Unfortunately, it seems like there was a blunder along the way.

Wen Tang had been accustomed to hearing such compliments since childhood, so she handled them with ease and directly complimented her back: “You are also very beautiful.”

The students across the aisle also came over, talking and chattering.

“Beautiful girlie, do you have any acne-fighting secrets?”

“Please recommend some good skin care products.”

“Your legs are so long. Do you usually take any height-enhancing supplements?”

“In Lincheng No. 1 Middle School, the top three students every year are recommended for admission to Tsinghua University, Beijing Normal University, and Peking University. Why did you transfer to our school?”

“Classmate, classmate, add me on WeChat and I’ll add you to the class group.”

The students in the class are very enthusiastic.

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Translator’s note: Mate, this chapter was hell for me. All that flower talk got me spiraling. I am not familiar with them, and when I googled it, I was so confused whether it was 海棠 or 海棠花 or 秋海棠花. Got me so unsure and scratching my head, wondering what the accurate translation was for me to go with for this novel. There’s a difference between begonias and hardy begonias, crabapple flowers and autumn crabapples. Until I put ‘begonia crabapple’ together to Google it, and FINALLY I saw something that matched the symbolism description of the flower, and I found this article that made me smile with relief: https://www.uaex.uada.edu/yard-garden/resource-library/plant-week/begonia-10-7-05.aspx Much thanks to Mr/Professor Gerald Klingaman!!!

Anyways… now we all know why this novel is called ‘Drunken Kiss Begonia’ eheheheheheheheheheheheheheheee (°◡°♡)

(˵¯͒〰¯͒˵) hohohoho （ΦωΦ）