Chapter 669

In A City, that year 3

Jiang Liangjin's fist wind was heavy and vicious, with no sign of pulling back.

Gu Xingnan looked at this guy as if he were half-dead; seeing the flowing blood, a wave of physiological nausea surged to his throat: "Stop fighting, there are many people here, causing trouble won't be good."

He and Yu Ci reached out to pull him, but both were shaken off.

Yu Ci then noticed blood droplets trickling down the back of Jiang Liangjin's hand along his fingers: "Your hand…"

"Don't touch me." Jiang Liangjin's eyes roiled with uncontrollable agitation.

"This is that person's blood on the ground." Gu Xingnan whispered a reminder, silently pulling Yu Ci back several steps, then dialed the ambulance.

Students gathered nearby, afraid to speak; Jiang Liangjin had been punching for several minutes, showing no sign of stopping.

Yu Ci stepped forward to pull him, but was shaken off again.

He was provoked by Jiang Liangjin's attitude, about to say more, when a figure had already pushed through the crowd.

Mu Xi wore a Nan Feng school uniform, his steps unhurried, his face grim.

Jiang Liangjin hadn't noticed him yet; Mu Xi, the more he looked, the more he felt this person was seriously ill.

He's really a lunatic.

In the next instant, he raised his hand and landed a heavy punch squarely on Jiang Liangjin's corner of the mouth.

Jiang Liangjin's head was jerked to the side by that punch, a trace of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.

He had originally wanted to strike back, but upon looking up and seeing who it was, he lowered his hand, firmly suppressing all thoughts of retaliation, remaining silent and letting his viciousness lie dormant.

Mu Xi withdrew his hand, turned and walked away, not uttering a single word from start to finish.

The 'aloof academic god' of Lan Lin students, Song Huaiyu, originally had his hands in his pockets, standing outside the scene with a cold gaze, an air of being uninvolved.

Seeing Mu Xi approach, Song Huaiyu unexpectedly followed him.

Yu Ci took a long while to regain his voice: "…Brother Xi is so handsome, not even letting the driver drive the car up here counts as polite."

Gu Xingnan: "Shh."

The ambulance arrived just in time; Jiang Liangjin said nothing, turned and walked toward the teaching building.

The onlookers only then dared to speak:

"Wasn't the Jiang Family young master supposed to be a model student? How could he still be beating people?"

"It's so scary; my parents previously told me to interact more with him, but now who dares to interact with him?"

"Ah ah, I feel faint at the sight of blood."

"He throws punches at the slightest disagreement, looks like a delinquent; we'd better stay away."

"Right, even more violent than the Young Master Xi next door."

"Ah, is the academic god Song Huaiyu watching the show over there? Why isn't he pulling people apart?"

"He doesn't even know Young Master Jiang, so there's no need to meddle."

The parties involved had already walked away, not hearing the discussion behind them.

Yu Ci caught up and said, "A Jin, why did you come to Lan Lin today? By the way, Youbao—why didn't she come with you?"

Jiang Liangjin's steps didn't halt, his voice laden with gloom: "Recuperating."

Yu Ci and Gu Xingnan exchanged a glance and fell silent in unison.

They also went specially to the Mu Family to inquire; the Mu Family, up and down, were of one mind, only saying that Mu Youyu was outside recuperating.

Jiang Liangjin didn't even reply to their messages; no matter when they came to the Jiang Family looking for him, he was never home.

Since this person hadn't asked them for help, they felt it inappropriate to intervene, so they could only selectively forget and start chatting with Jiang Liangjin about other things.

……

The incident had already been secretly livestreamed by the onlooking students, spreading throughout all the campus communities.

But the Jiang Family's PR handled it quickly; without Jiang Liangjin needing to appear personally, the whole uproar was completely sealed off, leaving no trace.

Because many had previously guessed that Jiang Liangjin would come to Lan Lin, before he even enrolled and registered, someone had already submitted his photo online; now his name shot straight to the top of the campus's 'campus heartthrob' list.

Following that, more and more people learned of his family background, slapping on him the label of 'campus bully,' indicating he shouldn't be provoked.

A City.

After military training ended, Mu Youyu also figured out the interpersonal dynamics of Class 1.

The students in the class were all relatively top performers in the grade; their family backgrounds were mostly upper-middle to nouveau riche, with a few students coming from newly rich families.

Most of the class chatted amicably about studies on the surface, but occasionally there would be undercurrents.

Mu Youyu wasn't keen on socializing; aside from occasionally meeting Feng Cen for a meal, she kept a polite distance from her classmates.

However, after the start-of-term exam results came out, she still attracted the attention of many, becoming the focus of the whole school.

The main reason was that Mu Youyu accidentally scored first place in the entire school.

That day, Mu Youyu had just arrived at school when Duan Nuo came over from the podium side, hugging a stack of exercise books.

Passing her desk, he deliberately paused for a moment and said ambiguously, "Congratulations, you've topped the campus beauty list."

Mu Youyu didn't react at once: "What?"

Duan Nuo just smiled, didn't say a second word, put down her exercise book and left.

Mu Youyu tilted her head to look at her phone, opened another account of hers, and many message notifications popped up.

Most were screenshots and links from the class group, plus a few greetings from Feng Cen asking if she had time to eat together today.

She clicked in; one screenshot showed a forum interface, the post's heat already marked red, the title blunt: "【New campus belle has arrived, hurry to watch】"

She quickly scrolled down a few; the main page content showed her eating in the cafeteria, a secretly taken side-profile photo of her sitting in the classroom, and a distant view of her wearing a sun hat at the edge of the field during military training.

The shots weren't very clear, the lighting was just average, yet someone had painstakingly pieced them together into a four-panel grid.

Added was a matching picture, a ranking list specially designed for the campus, with the name at the top of the year gilded—Mu Youyu.

The caption read: "【Haha, this year's 'dark horse contender,' a new face in Grade 10, first place in the start-of-term exam of Grade 10, the original campus belle Liu Wanwan has been knocked off her pedestal!】"

When scrolling to the comment section, the opinions were not uniform.

The first few comments mostly praised her looks, but the further down I scrolled, the more subtle the implications became.

Someone left a comment saying: 【No background info can be found; maybe she's this year's special recruitment student, protected by the school【covering face】】.

The next reply followed: 【Special recruitment student? Isn't that just a poor student who got in by grades? What does this person have to compare with Miss Liu? Besides, she seized her position and is standing on Sister Feng's head】.

Sheng Luo Middle School marks the first-place winners of the three grade levels, then puts their names in bold on the leaderboard.

Mu Youyu had the highest total score among the three age groups, so she was placed at the very top.

The school had considered that if the top ranker didn't want to draw attention, they could, before the results were released, notify the school to cancel the announcement, and the rankings would shift down in order to fill the vacancy.

Mu Youyu knew the rule, but unaware of the teaching here and her own ranking, she did not give prior notice.

If one sat in that position, they could obtain the key to the exclusive independent rest room, an honorary privilege of Sheng Luo Middle School.

Everyone wanted to compete for it, yet feared that actually sitting there would offend others.

The top position had always been Feng Cen's, except for one slip, and most students said the only one who would sit there first in the new semester would be Liu Wanwan.

There were also a few more blunt doubts: 【The photos look nice, but who knows what she really looks like? Probably over-edited】.

Immediately after came an even more biting tease: 【When did the beauty ranking start being sorted by grades? The school doesn't just look at scores; do you think getting first place lets you overturn the world?】.

【Is she even worthy of standing alongside Feng Cen?】.

These comments were all posted between midnight and morning, pushing this post to become the hottest discussion thread on the front page of the Sheng Luo Middle School forum, and also thrusting Mu Youyu into everyone's view.

Mu Youyu quickly finished reading those comments, her gaze calm, and flipped her phone face down on the desk.

She didn't care about the idle chatter on the forum regarding her appearance and background, nor did she intend to leave any reply on that post.

On the contrary, someone cared more about this than she did—for example, Duan Nuo, sitting diagonally in front of her.

At lunchtime, Mu Youyu went to the Grade 2 Department as agreed to meet with Feng Cen.

They walked side by side for a few steps, then Feng Cen opened her mouth: "Did you see that forum post?"

Mu Youyu lowered her brows, "I saw it."

Feng Cen confirmed there was no trace of resentment on her face, then slowed her speech to continue: "A girl named Duan Nuo from your class is behind this."

Mu Youyu turned her head, "Do you know her?"

"I suppose I know her; I know her character better than anyone."

Feng Cen pressed the corners of her mouth, a flicker of contempt crossing her eyes, "Don't bother with her; since I've acknowledged you as my friend, I'll handle this."

Mu Youyu listened patiently, "Thank you, Senior Sister Feng."

"Of course, let's go, shall we get something to eat?"

"Okay."

After finishing the meal, returning to Class 1, Mu Youyu noticed a clear change in the original atmosphere.

When Mu Youyu pushed open the back door of the classroom, the previously noisy chatter paused for a beat before resuming.

Several girls gathered together glanced at her furtively, let out a snicker, then quickly vanished.

The next day, Liu Wanwan returned from abroad.

That very day she landed, she arranged to meet Feng Cen; hearing that the Liu family hadn't originally planned for her to return to school so early, it was only because she found overseas boring and insisted on flying back.

The two sat in the Sheng Luo Exclusive Rest Room; Liu Wanwan took off her sun hat and casually asked, "I heard someone pushed you off the ranking?"

"Have a look yourself." Feng Cen pulled out the post that had been forwarded countless times and pushed the phone toward her.

Liu Wanwan's eyes lingered on those photos for a while, then she remarked teasingly, "Who is this?"

"Finally someone dared to knock Cen Cen down? Cen Cen manages things pretty well."

"She's a new transfer student from Grade 1 Class 1, named Mu Youyu." Feng Cen instinctively defended her, "She's quite pretty and also a nice person; it's just that these past couple days she's been targeted by some people and had a rough time."

Liu Wanwan tilted her head, tone ambiguous: "Oh~ you want me to back her up?"

Feng Cen gave a low chuckle, "Hmm, I think you'll like her once you meet her in person."

Indeed, seeing the photo she already liked her.

Liu Wanwan clicked her tongue, "May I ask Miss Feng Cen what the reason is for helping this time?"

"It's rare to meet an interesting little sweetheart."

Most of the little girls Feng Cen had known before were mostly scared of her.

Liu Wanwan pondered a moment, raised her eyebrows lightly, "Alright, then let's go see—what's your taste like?"

"……"

The news of Liu Wanwan's return to school had already spread; as soon as she entered the Grade 1 Teaching Building, people recognized her from afar and began whispering.

When she reached Class 2, she happened to run into Duan Nuo and her few friends chatting at the hallway corner.

"Who knows what her family does? After all these days since school started, no one's come looking for her—special recruitment students are just that, thinking getting first place lets them squeeze into our circle."

"She and we are on completely different levels; the residential area she lives in—I asked relatives familiar with the area, and they said there are no influential residents, only tenants."

Mu Youyu had just finished a video call with Mu Xi and came up from downstairs.

Duan Nuo didn't lower her volume, shamelessly squinting at her, "Yo, our school beauty's here—perfect timing, since you're so good at grades? Come help us with homework, a hundred per assignment."

The little sisters chimed in with laughter.

"Five of us, five assignments—that's a five-hundred discount for you, no need to kowtow in thanks."

Mu Youyu's smile faded at the corners of her lips, "Not even a hundred million would get me to write it."

"You! You'd dare ask for a hundred million!" Duan Nuo was choked by her arrogant attitude, pointing at her, "Even a special recruitment student acts that entitled?"

"Exactly, you just came and shoved Sister Feng off her seat—this spot was originally Liu Wanwan's, and you don't even measure yourself."

Mu Youyu tapped her chin, gave her a sideways glance, and said mockingly, "I've measured myself—I'm first in the whole school."

"You—"

Halfway through her sentence, her line of sight was blocked by a striking figure.

「Noise, noise, noise, what are you making a fuss about? The whole grade, your class is the noisiest! 」 Liu Wanwan walked out of Class 2 and shouted.

「Ah? 」 Duan Nuo was startled, thinking it was the teacher; upon seeing this person, he breathed a sigh of relief, 「Wan sister, when did you come back? You didn't even tell us, we could have gone to pick you up. 」

The little sisters also chimed in, their attitudes fawning.

Liu Wanwan ignored those few people, stopped in front of Mu Youyu, and said, 「Are you Mu Youyu? 」

Mu Youyu had guessed this person's identity, but still asked, 「Who are you? 」

「Liu Wanwan, let me introduce myself. 」

The smiles on Duan Nuo and the others' faces completely vanished at that moment; they stared at Liu Wanwan, speechless for a moment.

Liu Wanwan, however, had already turned sideways, not even looking at them, 「I'm talking to my friend; you lot, if you have nothing to do, go play by yourselves. 」

Mu Youyu countered, 「Friend? 」

We've only just met a minute ago, and already we're supposed to be friends?

「Yes. 」 Liu Wanwan lifted her chin, 「Look at your pitiful, pleading little expression; this young lady takes pity and gives you a chance to become my friend. 」

?

Mu Youyu: 「I didn't beg you. 」

「You're begging now. 」 Liu Wanwan didn't wait for her reaction, reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her to her side.

Thinking of something, Liu Wanwan turned sideways, bringing her new friend toward Class 1, and slammed the podium, 「Listen up, everyone—she's my person; from now on, whoever opposes her opposes my Liu family! 」

At that time, it was lunch break, and everyone in Class 1 had gathered.

Originally, it was thought that when Liu Wanwan returned to school, some classmates who would clash with Mu Youyu would have grim faces, but they dared not speak, merely clapping.

That afternoon's first period, Liu Wanwan transferred from Grade 10 Class 2 to Class 1, choosing a seat next to Mu Youyu.

Several small groups became much more well-behaved.

Mu Youyu also gradually heard some things about Liu Wanwan.

The Liu family's young lady, with a strong family background, meticulous in her actions, dislikes bullying the weak, wants to rewrite the system created by the first few batches of students at Sheng Luo, and those around her are all of the same social standing.