Hou San jumped out and loudly declared, "Principal, I’m reporting Zhao Feng for smoking! He can even blow smoke rings!"

Wang Youdao turned his head and looked at Zhao Feng meaningfully. "Is that so?"

Zhao Feng, full of righteous indignation, replied, "Principal, don’t listen to his nonsense. I don’t even smoke! The pack of cigarettes is in Hou San’s pocket—it’s a pack of 555s. Huang Dabiao and Li You just smoked them, and Hou San is the one who handed them out. He’s the real culprit!"

Wang Youdao swiftly grabbed Hou San and pulled a cigarette box out of his pocket. Coldly, he said, "We have both eyewitness testimony and material evidence. And you even falsely accused a good student. You’ll receive a demerit!"

Hou San trembled with fear and looked like he was about to cry. He protested, "Principal, don’t believe him! He’s shamelessly framing me! I really didn’t hand out any cigarettes!"

"Silence!" Wang Youdao pointed at Huang Dabiao, Hou San, and Li You and said sternly, "The three of you—follow me to the principal’s office!"

Huang Dabiao’s face turned pale, and he exclaimed, "Principal, please calm down! This has nothing to do with me. I was just bragging!"

Wang Youdao pointed directly at him and said, enunciating every word, "Bullying classmates, fighting, smoking on campus, falsely accusing the principal, stalking people, and taking secret photos—and you say it has nothing to do with you? Do you still want your graduation certificate?"

Huang Dabiao looked devastated and murmured weakly, "I didn’t stalk the principal! I’m innocent!"

Wang Youdao jumped up, grabbed Huang Dabiao’s yellow, frizzy hair, and shouted, "You little brat! You even dyed your hair and made it look like a bowl of kimchi! Do you think the principal is a pushover? Everyone knows my greatest hobby is hairstyling!"

Looking at Wang Youdao’s “Mediterranean” hairstyle, with a shiny bald spot on top, Huang Dabiao shivered and, clutching his hair protectively, wailed, "Principal, please don’t cut my hair! My frizzy hair is natural! I can dye the yellow back to black!"

Wang Youdao, both angry and amused, dragged Huang Dabiao out of the bathroom by his hair and scolded him with a laugh, "Haha, you little punk! You don’t even have foreign blood, yet you claim to be naturally frizzy! Do you think I’m uneducated?"

Hou San and Li You hung their heads, looking like wilted vegetables, and followed behind Wang Youdao on the walk of shame to the principal’s office.

The surrounding students burst into uproarious laughter and applauded. Watching Wang Youdao wreak havoc on the infamous Huang Dabiao was immensely satisfying. Many followed behind, cheering and jeering.

"Well done!"

"Teach him a lesson! Huang Dabiao is the worst!"

"Principal, rid the school of this menace!"

"He’s always bullying others—he should just be expelled!"

Watching Wang Youdao swagger through the campus with Huang Dabiao in tow, while the latter whined and begged for mercy, Zhao Feng and Jin Fugui exchanged amused glances and walked out shoulder-to-shoulder.

Zhao Feng chuckled. "Dabiao overdid it with his arrogance. The most arrogant person at this school is definitely the principal! He sleeps wherever he wants, disciplines whoever he wants, and walks through the school like a king—completely unbeatable!"

Jin Fugui burst out laughing. "Hahaha, this is amazing! Even Dabiao has met his match today—he ran straight into the iron wall that is the principal."

Zhao Feng added, "Let’s head back to class. After class, we’ll check out Dabiao’s new haircut. I wonder if his frizzy hair will still look cool."

Jin Fugui scratched his head, embarrassed. "I almost dyed my hair yesterday. Thank goodness you stopped me! Otherwise, I’d be stuck with the principal’s mighty clippers too, and he’d turn my head into a rice paddy!"

The two chatted and laughed as they returned to class. The next subject was English, and the teacher was going over a test.

Zhao Feng pulled out all three years’ worth of high school English textbooks and began reviewing them. In his previous life as an experienced programmer, he was skilled in both English and math, having passed the college-level CET-6 English exam. Though his spoken English was rusty, written exams were a breeze.

Bored, he quickly flipped through the English textbooks and skimmed the grammar. Then, he picked up a set of practice exams from Huanggang and found the questions laughably easy—he could glance at them and write down the answers instantly.

The English teacher noticed Zhao Feng reviewing English but didn’t interrupt. Zhao Feng was recognized as a diligent and honest student in his grade. Although his English scores were on the lower side, it wasn’t for lack of trying.

From across the room, Bai Jiaxin glanced at Zhao Feng, who was quietly reviewing in the back, and a faint smile appeared on her lips. Earlier, she had heard from Li Qilin that Zhao Feng had been cornered by Huang Dabiao in the bathroom. Seeing Zhao Feng unharmed, she felt relieved.

Su Yin whispered, "Xiaobai, you seem really concerned about Zhao Feng. Are you falling for him?"

Bai Jiaxin replied coldly, "I’m the class monitor. It’s my responsibility to care about struggling classmates."

Su Yin teased, "But Zhao Feng is kind of handsome. Don’t you want to have one last crazy fling?"

Bai Jiaxin shook her head and replied wistfully, "There’s no one in our class worth my attention, except Li Qilin."

Su Yin raised an eyebrow. "Li Qilin isn’t as handsome as Zhao Feng. Are you sure your ‘taste’ is working?"

Bai Jiaxin didn’t respond, just smiled faintly. Su Yin was too shallow; all she cared about was looks. Bai Jiaxin, on the other hand, valued family background. Li Qilin’s family was in real estate development and worth tens of millions. He was unquestionably the wealthiest second-generation student at their school.

Zhao Feng, by contrast, came from a humble background. His father was a factory worker, and his mother was a farmer. They had little savings, and even paying for Zhao Feng’s college tuition would be a struggle. Handsome or not, he couldn’t turn looks into bread and butter.

The two of them were polar opposites, their family situations starkly different. They lived in two completely separate worlds.

Bai Jiaxin felt sympathy for honest people like Zhao Feng. His heartfelt confession yesterday had moved her, but she stayed rational.

She was a swan soaring through the skies, while Zhao Feng was a frog gazing up at her from the bottom of a well. Their worlds were two parallel lines, destined never to intersect.

Completely unaware of how Bai Jiaxin had labeled him in her mind, Zhao Feng focused on reviewing.

The bell rang, signaling the end of class. Zhao Feng and Jin Fugui walked out together, heading toward the principal’s office. Before they reached the stairs, they heard a blood-curdling wail echoing down the hallway—a boy’s voice, filled with despair, as if he’d just been cooked alive in a giant pot of white rice.

Huang Dabiao came running down the stairs, both hands covering his face, sporting a ridiculous "dog-chewed" haircut. He ran past Zhao Feng and Jin Fugui without stopping, bursting out of the school gate, crying as he fled to an unknown destination.

Behind him, Hou San and Li You trudged down the stairs, their hair just as butchered—uneven and patchy, resembling the surface of the moon riddled with craters.

Hou San glared coldly at Zhao Feng and sneered, "Zhao Feng, you’ve really crossed Dabiao this time. Let’s see how you survive this."

Li You added loudly, "You’re on my list now! Because of you, I’m stuck with this awful haircut. Just wait and see!"

Zhao Feng crossed his arms and smirked, "Dabiao’s already crying his heart out in the bathroom. Why don’t you two go join him and have a good group cry?"

The two scowled, glaring daggers at Zhao Feng, then flipped him off in unison before storming out of the school to find Huang Dabiao.

Back in class, Zhao Feng’s mind wandered. Jin Fugui, however, was already fantasizing about sneaking out to play games after school.

"Fugui, focus on the present!" Zhao Feng laughed, lightly smacking his friend. "You think too far ahead!"

[--------------------------------------------]

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