CM - 2

When Shen Tingwen said he was going abroad, Wen Huo didn’t object: “Should I find someone to handle everything for you, or will you do it yourself?”

It’s usually best to find a skilled professional to handle everything. Besides being experienced, they also know shortcuts and unwritten rules. However, Shen Cheng had no help when he decided to go abroad until he returned having completed his studies, so as his son, Shen Tingwen naturally didn’t want to take shortcuts: “I’ll do it myself.”

Wen Huo nodded: “Then you do it.”

And so, Shen Tingwen merely informed Wen Huo and then proceeded with preparing for his departure.

Shen Cheng hadn’t seen Shen Tingwen for a few days and asked Wen Huo what he was busy with. Wen Huo replied: “Paperwork for going abroad.”

Shen Cheng’s reaction was indifferent: “Hmm.”

Wen Huo finished reading a student’s thesis and stretched: “I heard there are girls fighting over your son again. Is that why he’s going abroad?”

Shen Cheng, looking at his literature, responded perfunctorily: “Is that so?”

Wen Huo walked over, took his literature, straddled his lap, hooked her arms around his neck, and tilted her head to look at him: “Professor Shen, why doesn’t your son date early? Is this genetic? You don’t look like someone who was always well-behaved when you were young.”

“What do I look like?”

Wen Huo shook her head: “I don’t know, but silver hair, full arm tattoos, and eyebrow piercings definitely don’t look like a respectable person.”

“That’s your prejudice.”

“I am prejudiced.”

Shen Cheng smiled. This little rascal always takes an inch when given an opportunity. He had spoiled her.

________________________________________

Xu Su had never met Zhou Shuirong. He had expected her to be as introverted and steady as Zhou Siyuan, but that wasn’t the case. Her appearance wasn’t introverted; even dressed discreetly, she still turned heads.

As for being steady, that was even less true. It was clear that her upbringing never suppressed her wild growth.

Zhou Shuirong met Xu Su and greeted him indifferently: “Hello, Mr. Xu.”

Xu Su smiled: “Just call me Xu Su. Your uncle, Zhou Siyuan, is my master, so there’s no need to be so formal with me.”

Zhou Siyuan was currently the leader of the reconnaissance team for the Yunnan Armed Police Special Operations Detachment. Xu Su was the child of an ordinary citizen who unfortunately sacrificed his life in an anti-drug mission a few years ago. Having no relatives, Zhou Siyuan took him in as a disciple and raised him.

Zhou Siyuan couldn’t personally pick up Zhou Shuirong when she returned to China, not only because he had heavy duties and no time, but also because Zhou Shuirong’s identity could not be disclosed to avoid causing trouble for Si Wen and Zhou Yan.

Zhou Siyuan had saved Xu Su, and Xu Su had been taught by him for many years and was trustworthy, so he was the most suitable person to pick up Zhou Shuirong.

Zhou Shuirong agreed: “Hello, Xu Su.”

Xu Su led her out: “My master has prepared an apartment for you and arranged your schooling. You can rest for two days, and then I’ll take you to report to school. You’ll go straight into senior year.”

“I’m a foreign national, so I should be in the international department, right?”

“You’ll be in the main department. Although you’re a foreign national, you’re of Chinese descent, and many policies are beneficial to you. Don’t worry, your foreign resident permit and other documents were prepared years ago. You can also participate in the national unified entrance examination for higher education then.”

Zhou Shuirong mumbled softly, “Years ago.”

Xu Su said: “Hmm.”

Zhou Shuirong pursed her lips, and Si Wen’s face appeared in her mind again. It must have been his foresight.

Her dad was truly amazing. Could such a man still be found in this world? He seemed to be afraid his daughter wouldn’t be able to grow old alone. With him setting such an example, who would dare to date her?

________________________________________

Before reporting to school, Zhou Shuirong familiarized herself with the Beijing environment, experiencing all the distinctive places and things. She had no choice; it was a habit. Si Wen had very high expectations for her observational skills.

She would be staying here for a while, so she needed to thoroughly understand the general life trajectories and habits of the people here.

On the day she reported to school, Zhou Shuirong stood in the director of studies’ office. Outside, the students on duty for cleaning were going through the motions of their tasks while glancing at the activity inside the office.

Zhou Shuirong was very beautiful, and since Si Wen and Zhou Yan never restricted what she wanted to do, her demeanor was different from ordinary students.

The warning bell rang, and the students on duty picked up their mops and returned to class, discussing as they walked: “Which class do you think she’ll transfer to?”

Someone guessed: “Someone who looks like that probably doesn’t study well. She must have gotten into trouble and been expelled from another school. I think it’s Class Six. Class Six has the most transfer students, and if the school had any sense, they wouldn’t put a bad student in a good class.”

“Makes sense.”

“I think Zhao Guqing is going to have a hard time once this girl arrives.”

“Exactly! She’s prettier than Zhao Guqing, and Zhao Guqing is so petty. She’ll be posting those ‘Zhao’ comments in her social circle again.”

“She’s the unluckiest person in the world, finding a bunch of excuses for her grades dropping forty places. Couldn’t write the sports meet speech, said her inner self was affected. Shen Tingwen didn’t group with her, saying he just preferred to work alone? I think Shen Tingwen works perfectly well with Jing He.”

...

Speaking of Shen Tingwen, he happened to come downstairs and walked past them. They immediately felt the awkwardness of being caught gossiping, and hurried away with their heads down.

Shen Tingwen seemed not to have heard. He stopped at the doorway. By this time, Zhou Shuirong had already been led away by her homeroom teacher, and only the director was left in the office.

The director saw Shen Tingwen, “Come in.”

Shen Tingwen entered, and the director handed him a collection of Shakespeare’s classic quotes to be broadcast during the long break: “You’ll read this during the long break.”

Guoda High School Affiliated to Peking University was a secondary school that consistently appeared on various domestic and international secondary school rankings. It had a beautiful campus, strong faculty, and rich extracurricular activities. Performances were often scheduled during the long breaks in the morning and afternoon. Previously, these were mostly bands and dance troupes formed by the school’s art department. After the five-minute (or longer) exercise routine, it was time for everyone to watch the performances. After a long time of performances, both performers and audience grew tired, so the school switched the performances to speeches.

After a round of voting, Shen Tingwen was elected as “the voice the whole school most wanted to hear.” Thus, the task of the break-time speech fell to him—he had to read selected passages from English original classics in front of the microphone in the broadcasting room.

Shen Tingwen took the book and returned to his class. The noisy environment instantly quieted down with his entrance. No one was afraid of him; he was never terrifying, yet he could make noisy people shut up.

He was all-round excellent in moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor education. Except for his few words and seemingly unenthusiastic demeanor, he was a typical “child of someone else’s family.”

Perhaps it was his lack of enthusiasm that gave people a subtle sense of terror. Faced with terror, silence, and minimizing one’s presence, were the body’s natural instincts.

The class was quiet for a few minutes. The homeroom teacher entered, walked to the podium, and pointed to the empty seat in the last row by the window: “You can sit there for now.”

Everyone looked in the direction the homeroom teacher was gazing, watching Zhou Shuirong enter and then walk towards the window seat.

She was dressed entirely in black, from her clothes to her shoes, both simple and industrial. She took after Zhou Yan, with fair skin and good complexion. Her bare face was full of collagen, making her look like she was just experiencing life compared to some students with yellowish-dark skin and faces full of acne.

She looked straight ahead, unfazed by the attention.

Shen Tingwen wasn’t interested, but out of courtesy, he raised his eyes and then saw Zhou Shuirong’s eyes.

Just then, a breeze blew in through the window. Whether it was the wind that moved him, or if his attention was simply not focused, he suddenly shifted his arm, and his elbow hit the Shakespeare collection, causing it to fall from the desk.

Zhou Shuirong walked past, naturally bent down, precisely caught the book, and placed it back on his desk.

Such agile movements. Half the class saw it and started whispering.

The few girls on duty exchanged glances, sharing their thoughts—

She wasn’t going to Class Six, but Class Sixteen, their class, the senior experimental class.

The homeroom teacher said: “Our class has a new foreign transfer student named Zhou Shuirong.”

The murmurs grew louder, and the name Zhou Shuirong began appearing frequently in their conversations.

The homeroom teacher clapped her hands: “Alright, let’s start class. We’ll go over yesterday’s test paper, then cover new material.”

The murmurs instantly ceased.

________________________________________

In the evening, Jing He asked Shen Tingwen to dinner. Shen Tingwen didn’t refuse, which surprised Jing He a little. He had heard Shen Tingwen’s name since elementary school but had never recognized him. Later, when they attended the same high school, he finally had the chance to meet him.

Shen Tingwen was a man of few words. Logically, someone who studied well, was rich, and appeared low-key like him would be the easiest type to bully. But it was strange; the people in school who were good at forming cliques and causing trouble never bothered him. Since no one had ever seen Shen Tingwen confront these troublemakers, no one really knew what kind of person he was, and thus no one dared to befriend him. Jing He was arguably the first.

Why “arguably”? Because only Jing He considered himself friends with Shen Tingwen; others didn’t think so. They all thought Jing He was a sycophant, and Shen Tingwen only bothered with him out of pity.

Jing He had invited Shen Tingwen to dinner for three years, and the number of times he had accepted could be counted on one hand. This time, he had no expectations, just asked casually, and was surprised when Shen Tingwen actually agreed.

At the dinner table, he asked Shen Tingwen: “Have your arrangements for going abroad been made?”

“Who said I’m going abroad?”

The entire school knew he was going abroad after this semester. Jing He was confused: “The director, the homeroom teacher, the subject teachers, all said so.”

“I never said that.”

Jing He remembered someone saying yesterday that Shen Tingwen had already completed his paperwork. Was he changing his mind? So suddenly?