CM - 12

Zhou Shuirong and Fu Lingying walked through the school’s paulownia tree-lined path. Fu Lingying brought up the events of a few days ago: “Hey, don’t take those online rumors seriously. They’re only interested for three days; after that, they’ll be gossiping about something else.”

Zhou Shuirong wasn’t taking it seriously. If she weren’t afraid of attracting too much attention and causing trouble for Si Wen, she wouldn’t bother with their chatter. “It’s fine.”

Fu Lingying suddenly walked in front of her, turned around, looked at her, and walked backward: “Do you like ancient Chinese style? I think you’d look great in Hanfu. Do you want to try it?”

Zhou Shuirong had never worn it: “Forget it.”

Fu Lingying wasn’t awkward, smiling: “Alright then.”

The two of them didn’t talk much afterward. To get back to the teaching building, they had to pass an outdoor washing area. Two girls were chatting about what they had seen at the grandstand earlier: “Zhao Guqing actually spoke up for Zhou Shuirong. Those girls are like mad dogs. You’ll see, tonight there’ll be talk about ‘Zhou Shuirong and Zhao Guqing, a pair of bitches.’ Zhao Guqing is really too stupid. She finally got removed from the target list, and she’s eager to invite trouble again.”

“Maybe she’s just trying to piggyback on Zhou Shuirong’s popularity, since she was the one being talked about before, and now she’s out of the picture, haha.”

“Yeah, that’s possible.”

Zhou Shuirong heard her name and was about to stop and see who was talking when the two girls who had argued with Zhao Guqing walked over and said sarcastically, “Always gossiping behind people’s backs. I wonder who the mad dog is.”

The two being spoken about were displeased: “Who are you talking about?”

“Whoever answers.”

“What are you if not mad dogs? You hang out with trashy girls like Chen Fuyu, talking about this and that, first Zhao Guqing, now Zhou Shuirong. You dare to spread rumors, but you’re afraid of others talking about you?”

Fu Lingying found it annoying and reminded Zhou Shuirong: “Let’s go.”

Zhou Shuirong checked her watch; there were still eight minutes until class, so she prepared to have a few words with them.

Fu Lingying reached out, grabbing at air: “Hey, don’t go! Hey!”

Zhou Shuirong walked to the sink, placed her tennis racket on the side, turned the faucet, and calmly began to wash her hands.

The few arguing girls nearby noticed her, and their voices quieted down.

They had figured out that Zhao Guqing was a soft target, so she would talk back, but they hadn’t figured out Zhou Shuirong. They didn’t know how she would react to hearing them talk about her. The unknown made them shut their mouths.

Zhou Shuirong finished washing her hands, picked up her tennis racket again, and said, “The Zhou Shuirong you’re talking about, is it me?”

Among these girls, some were scared. One immediately said: “We didn’t say anything else, just that you’re a transfer student.”

“Then why did I hear words like ‘a pair of bitches’?”

The scared one blushed, not daring to speak.

The unafraid one directly retorted: “Were we talking to you? What are you trying to prove?”

Zhou Shuirong slowly approached, tapped her tennis racket’s head on the girl’s neck, pushing her forcefully into the corner: “What did you say?”

The girl’s hands trembled, and she dared not blink, staring at Zhou Shuirong, who was half a head taller than her. She still stubbornly retorted with a strained neck: “What? Are you going to hit me? If you lay a hand on me at school, you’ll be suspended!”

Zhou Shuirong didn’t care. Before the girl could finish, she slapped her across the face, leaving her left cheek and ear red and her dazed.

Her friend was startled and immediately covered her mouth.

The two other girls exchanged glances, chuckled twice, somewhat gloating.

Fu Lingying was also dumbfounded. This Zhou Shuirong had absolutely no regard for discipline. She was definitely going to get a public reprimand, maybe even have her parents called and be suspended. Nowadays, fighting so brazenly at school was unheard of. She truly wasn’t afraid of punishment.

After slapping her, Zhou Shuirong grabbed her hair and made her look at her: “Control your mouth, and your typing fingers. Otherwise, the way Chen Fuyu is crying now, you’ll cry even worse than her.”

The slapped girl suddenly felt an urgent need to urinate. By the time she felt it, her pants were already wet, and it flowed down to the ground, pitter-patter, pitter-patter.

Her friend quickly ran up, supported her, and said to Zhou Shuirong: “We won’t talk about it anymore.”

Only then did Zhou Shuirong let go and retract her tennis racket.

The two girls who were enjoying the show saw how fierce Zhou Shuirong was, daring to act alone, and they couldn’t laugh anymore. They quickly left before she noticed them.

Zhou Shuirong turned and walked back to class. Fu Lingying recovered and followed her.

Shen Tingwen, leaning against the southwest corner, hands in his pockets, watching the whole scene, picked up the jacket draped over his shoulder and returned to class, showing no reaction whatsoever.

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Back in class, Fu Lingying said to Zhou Shuirong: “If the school finds out about this, tomorrow during recess will be your public reprimand.”

Zhou Shuirong took out her books, as calm as she was when she hit the girl: “Whatever.”

Fu Lingying felt that Zhou Shuirong was different from other girls who had been gossiped about. “In the past, others were talked about just like you, but because many things couldn’t be clarified, they eventually chose to endure. Of course, some endured it, others developed mental issues and dropped out. I haven’t seen anyone directly resort to violence like you. They aren’t just one or two people; they’re a group. I’m afraid you’ll be cursed even more terribly because of this.”

Zhou Shuirong said: “Why should I endure it?”

Fu Lingying fell silent.

Zhou Shuirong opened her test prep book and began looking at the questions: “She can curse me, but I can’t hit her? Is she special?”

Fu Lingying felt her thinking was different from that of ordinary students: “You’ll suffer once petty people cling to you. Taking a step back is a vast expanse. You just transferred, there’s no need. There are many of them, and when there are many, they’re not afraid of trouble. If they escalate, what will you do?”

Zhou Shuirong wrote her answers, saying calmly: “As long as I’m violent enough, campus violence won’t touch me.”

Fu Lingying was startled. This girl was really wild.