Chapter 3

Sitting at the dinner table, although Qu Yun had seen this scene over thirty times, the small washbasin-sized bowl of noodles, the soy milk, the tender bamboo shoot and beef-stuffed buns, the side dishes, and the half-table of food were still a sight to behold.

“Mom, come and eat with me! The noodles are going to get mushy!” Qu Yun shouted.

“You eat, Mom already ate! Hurry up and eat, don’t be late for morning reading, or your homeroom teacher will call me again!”

Qu Yun made a visual assessment. His past discipline and habits made him unable to waste food, so the first step was to finish the noodles that were most likely to get soggy.

He lowered his head and slurped down the small bowl of noodles.

Actually, he was already five points full at this point, and it was enough calories for a teenager. He had to control his appetite and shrink his stomach.

“Xiaobai, why didn’t you eat the buns and soy milk? Are you okay? You’re not sick, are you?”

Liang Ru rushed out of the kitchen wearing an apron.

Qu Yun paused.

Oh no… Liang Ru’s motherly love is normal, but whenever her son’s appetite is normal, she becomes super abnormal.

“Oh… I want to eat the buns after morning reading. I ate too much in the morning, I’ll want to sleep during morning reading.” Qu Yun’s eyes lit up, and he came up with a very scientific and reasonable excuse.

“Oh, that’s how it is! Xiaobai, I tell you, you used to be able to finish three buns every time! Otherwise, you’d be hungry before lunch! Look at you, you’ve lost weight recently!”

After saying that, Liang Ru packed the three buns into a lunch box and stuffed them into Qu Yun’s schoolbag.

My dear mother, you must be my real mother! Even if your son gets fat enough to fill the universe, you still think he’s too thin!

Qu Yun, carrying his schoolbag and the three heavy buns, trudged on his way to school.

Oh, how I miss the days when I carried 20 kilograms of supplies and followed my teammates through the jungle on the border for half a day, I could still walk like a breeze. But now I can’t even carry my own weight!

I have to have a good chat with that Jiang doctor who’s in charge of the “Mind Deep Dive” project, at least he can let me choose a reliable body, right?

When Qu Yun entered the classroom and made a loud thud as he sat down, the morning reading bell had just rung.

It was English today, and he saw Chu Ning, the English class representative, walk proudly to the podium and lead everyone in reading words.

Qu Yun casually glanced around and found that several male classmates were particularly attentive. He remembered that boys at that age were easily attracted to girls who did well in their studies. Not to mention Chu Ning was quite pretty.

Chu Ning would look up after reading two or three words, and those boys would pay extra attention. But every time Chu Ning’s gaze swept around the class, it would always land on one person.

Aha… that person is Ling Mo.

It’s a pity that Ling Mo always looked at his English textbook, never once looking up at her.

Sigh, girl, when you grow up, you’ll know that boys like Ling Mo who live in their own world don’t know how to flirt with you, they won’t try to please you, they won’t take care of you, you give them your whole world, and they won’t care. Men like your brother are the best, gentle, kind, understanding, centered on you, fully supporting you to raise your head and be a proud little peacock, the best!

Perhaps Qu Yun’s gaze was too “frank,” Chu Ning glared at him fiercely.

“Mo Xiaobai, page thirty-two, what’s the third word?”

“Huh?”

Qu Yun quickly flipped through his textbook, he had just read to page twenty-five, how did it get to page thirty-two?

The classmates all looked over, and Chu Ning’s few followers also looked like they were waiting for him to make a fool of himself.

Although math, physics, and chemistry were beyond cure, he had been involved in peacekeeping for so long, his English speaking was still very good!

“Violinist.”

It’s a good thing he had protected an overseas performing orchestra before, otherwise, he wouldn’t even know how to pronounce this word!

Chu Ning was stunned.

The teacher hadn’t taught this word yet, she only learned it after listening to the tape for preview. Mo Xiaobai hadn’t even learned the phonetic symbols yet, why was the pronunciation of this word so standard, the stress was also correct, and it even had a bit of a foreign flavor?

Qu Yun subconsciously looked in Ling Mo’s direction, he was still so quiet, as if he was out of place in this world, but there was always an illusion that the world was unwilling to be neglected and was chasing after him.

“Well, Mo Xiaobai, look at the words during morning reading, not at me.”

As soon as Chu Ning finished speaking, a wave of laughter swept through the classroom.

“I wasn’t looking at you…” Qu Yun said.

“Then where were you looking just now?”

“I was spacing out.” Qu Yun replied.

The classroom suddenly fell into an awkward silence.

Qu Yun’s peripheral vision caught Ling Mo’s direction, at that moment, the corner of his lips seemed to lift slightly, such a subtle curve, like a crack that allowed people to sneak in. Qu Yun immediately looked over, but found that Ling Mo had returned to his calm expression, no matter how hard Qu Yun tried, he couldn’t detect a hint of anything.

Ah… he really hates kids like Ling Mo, like a copper pea, it can’t be melted, it can’t be stewed.

The first class was Chinese, and they were talking about ancient texts again, many male classmates were daydreaming in class.

And Qu Yun was trying very hard to stare at the Chinese teacher, trying to remember everything she explained, though he couldn’t hold on for more than five minutes before he started to doze off.

When the Chinese teacher was holding her textbook and walking to the back of the classroom, Qu Yun felt something gently bump into his feet.

He opened his eyes, looked down, and found a book at his feet, the cover looked old, with hand-drawn characters from the martial arts world. Qu Yun struggled to bend down and pick it up, and found that it was a novel, an old edition, the name was something like “Martial Arts Love Story,” and the author was Huanglong Xiaoxiao Sheng.

Flipping to the back, he found that the book was priced at 1.98, truly an “old book.”

It’s not uncommon for students of this age to like martial arts novels, but Qu Yun only knows about Jin Yong, Gu Long, and other martial arts masters. He’s never even heard of this “Huanglong Xiaoxiao Sheng.”

Qu Yun casually flipped to a page, and the hand-drawn illustrations inside shocked him. And the text description on that page made Qu Yun blush instantly, it was worthy of being a “love story,” the description was so detailed, all kinds of vivid metaphors, almost made Qu Yun bleed from his nose.

At this time, a male classmate in the back row poked him with a pen, “Fatty, give me the book!”

Qu Yun looked at him in surprise, the classmate looked threatening.

Is he going to beat me up if I don’t give it back to him?

“You haven’t even grown your hair yet, and you’re reading this kind of stuff, be careful you don’t grow tall.” Qu Yun threw the book back on the classmate’s desk.

He had just turned around when the Chinese teacher heard the noise, turned around, and walked to the seat behind Qu Yun.

“Meng Fei, what did you put in your drawer just now?”

“Nothing… my notebook fell on the floor, so I picked it up.”

“Take out your notebook.” The Chinese teacher tapped on the desk.

The classmates all looked over.

Meng Fei had no choice but to take out a real English notebook from his drawer and hand it to the Chinese teacher.

The Chinese teacher glanced at it and said coldly, “Don’t make so many little movements in class, don’t think I can’t see.”

After saying that, she held her textbook and continued to read ancient texts to hypnotize everyone.

Meng Fei kicked Qu Yun’s chair hard and whispered, “I’ll take care of you, you fatso, after class.”

Qu Yun touched his nose and thought: You’re on! Let’s see if you’re strong enough to throw me off the third floor!

After Chinese class, Qu Yun was about to go out and get some hot water to drink, but Meng Fei stood up and blocked the aisle.

And the few classmates behind him, Li Yuanhang, Chen Qiao, and the others, all surrounded him. Qu Yun understood now, these few people must be the fan club of this “Huanglong Xiaoxiao Sheng.”

“Fatso, explain yourself, did you do it on purpose?”

The students in the classroom saw that the atmosphere was not right, this small group had always been quite domineering in their class, and Qu Yun’s current identity, the little fatso Mo Xiaobai, wasn’t the type who was popular in the class, so everyone went out one after another.

“Hey, you can call me fat, I’m fat anyway. But you call me ‘fatso,’ isn’t that too vicious? I’m still alive! And I did it on purpose or not, how could I have known that you guys were passing around a dirty book and threw it at my feet?” Qu Yun replied.

Chen Qiao, behind Meng Fei, snorted coldly, “You didn’t see it, how would you know it was a dirty book? To put it bluntly, you’re just someone who thinks about it all the time, but you pretend to be innocent on the outside, you’re a pervert!”

Qu Yun was stunned, wow!

High school students in this era can actually curse so well!

Then, the small group burst into laughter.

“Fatso, you actually want it, right? That’s why you’re holding onto the book and not giving it back to us!” Meng Fei’s eyes were full of contempt.

They all wanted to see Qu Yun blush and be so speechless that he couldn’t speak.

Who knew that Qu Yun touched his chin, smiled, and said, “You guys say I’m a pervert, I can’t prove myself innocent, but being accused of something I didn’t do, the only way to relieve the frustration is to just do it!”

“Huh?”

Before Meng Fei could react, Qu Yun suddenly grabbed the “martial arts novel” from his drawer.

“What are you doing!”

Meng Fei reached out to grab it, and Qu Yun immediately retreated.

“Being a pervert!”

Qu Yun backed away, laughing triumphantly.

A few little kids still wanted to fight him!

“Catch him!”

“He’s definitely going to take the book to the teacher!”

You fools, I’m definitely keeping this nostalgic book for my own “study,” how could I give it to the teacher?

“Beat him up!”

When Meng Fei’s first punch hit Qu Yun’s chest, he suddenly realized that he was now the little fatso Mo Xiaobai, not agile enough!

If he can’t fight, he’ll run!

Qu Yun immediately turned around, but before he could take a step, he bumped into someone.

Even though he was thick, the feeling of his bones trembling still made Qu Yun raise his head and meet a pair of clear but bottomless eyes.

And Qu Yun smelled the faint scent of soap and the smell of sun-baked clothes.