Chapter 18: Pure Hate Warrior

Pei Jinyang was quite satisfied with Jiang Mingzhi being enveloped in his shadow. He raised an eyebrow and said, “Your taste in boyfriends really isn’t that great.”

He leaned down, coming close to her ear, his tone sarcastic as he spaced out each word: “You’re the same, not much better.”

He wouldn’t let Jiang Mingzhi have a happy and carefree adolescence, especially if she was going to start dating early; he would make sure to cause her trouble.

After saying that, he took two long strides down the stairs and passed by her.

Jiang Mingzhi almost wanted to kick him down the stairs.

At this stage, Pei Jinyang really deserved a beating.

“……”

Jiang Mingzhi had thought that Pei Jinyang would immediately go complain to Qiu Tang, but to her surprise, two weeks passed, and everything remained the same.

She had scared herself.

In reality, anyone with a clear mind could tell that she and Guan Jingxu were just innocent classmates. Even if Pei Jinyang said something, Qiu Tang would figure it out as soon as she looked into it.

There was no need to worry.

As April approached and the weather warmed up, Jiang Mingzhi focused mainly on her studies and on raising Pei Jinyang’s “annoyance level.”

Each day was a repetitive yet fulfilling routine as school had already started its final review phase.

The previous month’s exam had just ended, and everyone seemed to relax slightly, their tense mood loosening a bit. During the evening self-study session, the noise in the classroom became louder.

“This math exam was so hard. I spent forever on the last few questions.”

“Luckily, it wasn’t a multi-school exam. I estimated my score, and it’s terrible.”

“How is it only Tuesday? This feeling of being stuck is suffocating.”

“I can’t take it anymore; I need to play a game to cool off.”

Everyone was chatting back and forth, and the classroom was noisy. As the discipline monitor, Wei Daiqing couldn’t sit still and slammed her hand on the table, “We’re supposed to be studying, why all the noise?”

The classroom quieted for a moment, and the discussions stopped abruptly.

At this point, the teacher wasn’t around, and a discipline monitor’s authority wasn’t enough to maintain silence.

Wei Daiqing saw that no one was taking her seriously and felt slightly embarrassed. She turned and glared at Jiang Mingzhi, who was turning around and discussing math problems with the person behind her.

“Jiang Mingzhi, can you be quieter? You’re the loudest in the class.”

She just couldn’t stand seeing Jiang Mingzhi talking to Guan Jingxu.

Especially when the two of them were discussing math problems together—it was incredibly annoying.

Jiang Mingzhi glanced at Wei Daiqing’s angry face but didn’t say anything. Since that incident during P.E. class, the two of them hadn’t gotten along, and it had become quite obvious.

She lowered her head and continued solving the math problem. This was the last question in the math exam, and most of the class hadn’t figured it out. The teacher had mentioned it was a competition-level question, so it was fine if we didn’t solve it, but Jiang Mingzhi still wanted to try.

Guan Jingxu had just shared his problem-solving method with her, so she quickly wrote it down, not wanting to forget it.

She couldn’t figure out the problem before because she hadn’t understood the question.

Wei Daiqing, ignored once again, turned increasingly red with anger, wishing she could rush up and throw Jiang Mingzhi’s pen away.

“Don’t you have your own desk? Why do you have to write at Guan Jingxu’s desk?”

She was still ignored.

Fuming with rage, Wei Daiqing had no way to express her frustration now that Jiang Mingzhi was silent. All she could do was turn her anger towards the boys who were still talking.

The evening self-study session was almost over, and Jiang Mingzhi returned Guan Jingxu’s math practice book.

“Thanks.”

Guan Jingxu allowed her to place the book on his desk but didn’t reach out to take it. However, he did ask, “Are you adjusting to the second-year courses?”

Jiang Mingzhi nodded. “It’s fine.”

She didn’t find his concern out of place since the class teacher had repeatedly emphasized to the class that they should help the new transfer student who had skipped a grade.

Most of the classmates had been friendly and considerate towards her.

As the bell rang signaling the end of class, the students rushed out of the classroom like birds escaping from a cage.

Jiang Mingzhi slowly packed her bag. Most of the textbooks were still left at school. Her bag only had two books, and it felt light as she carried it in her hand.

“Jiang Mei-mei, let’s go together!”

Zhuang Heyang shouted from behind.

The nickname “Jiang Mei-mei” was first used by Yang Hui, and later a few other classmates started calling her that.

“Okay.”

Jiang Mingzhi slung her backpack over her shoulder and followed Zhuang Heyang and Guan Jingxu out of the classroom.

Having someone to walk with made her feel less lonely.

Since she was a transfer student who had only recently joined, she didn’t have the advantage of being part of any pre-existing friend groups. While everyone was friendly with her, it was hard to make real friends.

However, Jiang Mingzhi, with her mature mindset, didn’t mind this and actually found it quite relaxing.

As they descended the stairs, Zhuang Heyang purposely turned around to talk to Jiang Mingzhi, “I didn’t expect you to be a hidden big shot. You can speak fluent British English, I’m impressed.”

A few days ago, Jiang Mingzhi had been called on by the foreign teacher to answer a question, and her standard British accent had stunned many of her classmates.

It’s common for Chinese people speaking a foreign language to have some local accent.

If they didn’t know Jiang Mingzhi was from Nancheng, they might have thought she grew up abroad.

Jiang Mingzhi smiled, “I’m not a big shot.”

She had just quietly lived a little longer, gaining more experience and knowledge.

A classmate walking down the stairs with them leaned over, “Yeah, Jiang Mingzhi, you’re really amazing.”

Jiang Mingzhi pointed ahead at Guan Jingxu, “He’s the real amazing one.”

Although Guan Jingxu wasn’t in the competition class, he handled those problems with ease.

Unlike her, who struggled to even understand the questions.

Zhuang Heyang laughed, putting his arm around Guan Jingxu’s shoulders, his face full of pride, “Of course, my bro can solve Olympiad math problems and shoot three-pointers.”

“Why don’t you two go by the nickname ‘The Twin Bulls of Class 9’?”

Jiang Mingzhi: “……”

Does this nickname even sound good to you?

Guan Jingxu disdainfully brushed off Zhuang Heyang’s arm, “You go be amazing on your own.”

He slowed his pace and deliberately lagged behind, walking beside Jiang Mingzhi.

The boys in their school uniforms walked in groups toward the school gate. The light was soft, the tree shadows danced, and the evening breeze gently blew, bringing a hint of coolness that eased the fatigue of the day.

Jiang Mingzhi suddenly remembered something.

You can’t have both youth and the insights about youth all at once.

But right now, she felt like she had both.

As she turned left outside the school gate, she could see the family car parked by the roadside just 20 meters away. She waved goodbye to them, “Bye, see you tomorrow.”

Opening the car door, she was surprised to find Pei Jinyang sitting on the other side, playing on his phone. He was actually out earlier than her today.

Pei Jinyang lifted his eyes and glanced at the people waving goodbye to her in the distance.

When he saw Guan Jingxu’s smiling face, he couldn’t help but feel irritated.

With an impatient tone, he urged Jiang Mingzhi, “Hurry up, stop dawdling.”

Jiang Mingzhi rolled her eyes and elegantly got into the car.

The driver saw that they were seated and started the car. The black sedan passed by Guan Jingxu.

Zhuang Heyang followed the car with his eyes and then turned to Guan Jingxu, “Seems like her relationship with Pei Jinyang isn’t that great. Last time, she tripped while running, and Pei Jinyang didn’t even give her a look.”

Guan Jingxu responded with a faint “Mm.”

Zhuang Heyang added, “Pei Jinyang is such a pure hate warrior. If I had a sister as beautiful and smart as her, my family would probably dote on her like crazy.”

The Zhuang family had more boys than girls, especially in his generation. Apart from one cousin, everyone else was male.

The Guan family situation wasn’t any better—Guan Jingxu’s family had only boys too. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have the affectionate nickname “Guan Tiantian.”