Transmigrated as the School Hunk's Arch-Nemesis [Book Transmigration] - Chapter 3 

From the middle of the night, the autumn rain fell in a lingering drizzle, casting a gray, gloomy haze over the morning sky.

When Shen Yixing and Zhao Ci stepped out of the dormitory that morning, they coincidentally ran into yet another bout of the sky’s passionate weeping.

“Deskmate, why don’t you take the umbrella, and I’ll just sprint to the cafeteria?”

Zhao Ci fretted over the falling rain. Fortunately, he had grabbed an umbrella on his way out, but it was small, and there was no way two people could squeeze under it comfortably. Based on his understanding of his deskmate, Shen Yixing, who had always been overbearing and rough, would definitely not be happy about sharing.

Zhao Ci opened the umbrella, gave it a shake, and handed it directly to Shen Yixing.

As the umbrella handle moved upward, Shen Yixing’s slender fingers lightly grasped it. He glanced at Zhao Ci and said, “Let’s just share it.”

A cold wind mixed with rain brushed against his cheeks, and Zhao Ci shivered from head to toe. He blinked his eyes, looking up at this overbearing and rough deskmate. Looking at this deskmate, who was much taller than him, Zhao Ci felt a bit stunned.

Shen Yixing’s brows were slightly furrowed, his clean eyes beneath his messy black hair were lowered, and his high nose bridge and lips outlined a beautiful profile. Plus, with the streetlamp blocked behind him, the white light fell gently onto his shoulders.

Good heavens, it was as if Shen Yixing was glowing.

“Deskmate, you’re strangely gentle today.”

Once they entered the cafeteria, Zhao Ci closed the umbrella and spoke his mind.

Shen Yixing murmured an absentminded “mm” in response. Looking at the sea of people eating in the cafeteria, he suddenly lost his appetite.

“We’re late, oh, there’s an empty table!” Zhao Ci found an empty spot among the crowd and waved at Shen Yixing, saying, “I’ll go grab the table, I’ll be right back.”

The line in front of the food window was long, but it moved quickly. When it was Shen Yixing’s turn to order, he stood in front of the window, hesitating for several minutes. In the end, out of over a dozen breakfast options, he chose only a bowl of white porridge. After paying his one yuan, he walked out of the crowd under the disdainful gazes of the students behind him.

“Deskmate, I’m over here!”

Zhao Ci was carrying a bowl of beef noodles, moving slowly toward Shen Yixing as if terrified the broth would spill. “Follow me, I’ll take you to the table I just grabbed.” After saying that, Zhao Ci slowly paved the way forward again.

“Damn it.”

Zhao Ci suddenly stopped in his tracks. Fortunately, Shen Yixing reacted in time, otherwise, he would have spilled the white porridge in his hand onto Zhao Ci’s school uniform.

“That ‘Piano Prince’ from Class 2 took our table!”

Zhao Ci stomped his foot in anger, causing more than half of the beef broth in his bowl to splash out.

Shen Yixing looked past Zhao Ci’s head toward the front. In the corner against the wall sat two boys wearing blue school uniforms. The one sitting facing him was Ruan Ming.

Ruan Ming sipped the soy milk in his hand. His friend opposite him seemed to have said something funny, making him curl his lips into a smile. And at Ruan Ming’s feet lay a black umbrella, which Zhao Ci had originally placed on the table to save the seat.

The cafeteria was packed with students eating breakfast. As far as the eye could see, there wasn’t a single empty seat, except for the table occupied by Ruan Ming and his friend.

“They even threw my umbrella on the floor, that’s too much, I’m going to settle this with them!”

“Zhao Ci!” Shen Yixing didn’t manage to stop Zhao Ci. Worried that encountering the protagonists would trigger some weird, hidden plot, he had no choice but to helplessly follow him.

Xia Wen had just finished recounting a funny story about the time Shen Yixing had gone against Jiang Baiyi when Ruan Ming looked up and saw the person in question. Walking in front of Shen Yixing was a short, aggressive-looking boy.

“Hey, why did you two steal our seats!”

Zhao Ci set down his beef noodles with a thud, causing a few more drops of the remaining broth to spill out.

Xia Wen, sitting opposite Ruan Ming, was busy stuffing a steamed dumpling into his mouth. Seeing someone coming to pick a fight, he was so startled he spit it out.

“Aren’t cafeteria tables public? I don’t see your name written here.” Ruan Ming blinked his eyes, looking innocently at Zhao Ci.

“You…” The table was indeed public. Zhao Ci realized he was in the wrong, so he quickly pointed at Ruan Ming’s feet. “Then why did you throw my umbrella!”

“Who knew it was your umbrella? Tables are for eating, not for storing umbrellas, and it was a dripping wet one at that.” Xia Wen glared at Zhao Ci and kicked the umbrella outward with his foot. “Take it and go, it’s in the way.”

Ruan Ming stopped him, bent down to pick up the umbrella, wiped it clean, and returned it to Zhao Ci. “I’m really sorry, we thought someone had left it behind. It was a bit in the way on the table, so we put it on the floor.”

Seeing that Zhao Ci was still glaring at him, Ruan Ming added, “We didn’t throw it on purpose.”

“Oh, look, look, this tone makes it sound like I’m bullying you.” Zhao Ci felt terrible about his umbrella, which he hadn’t even owned for a week before someone ruined it, and decided he couldn’t let these two off the hook. “First you throw my umbrella, then you steal my seat. Do you have any decency?”

“Hey.” Xia Wen wasn’t happy upon hearing this. “Who are you calling indecent?”

Zhao Ci lifted his chin. “I’m calling you that, so what?!”

Xia Wen didn’t back down and pushed Zhao Ci’s shoulder. “Don’t be ungrateful!”

Zhao Ci stumbled back a few steps, his hip accidentally bumping into the corner of a back table. It hurt so much he almost cried.

“Damn it! Not only did you steal our seat, but you actually laid hands on me!” Zhao Ci was so angry he clenched his fists, wobbling as he charged forward to punch Xia Wen.

The students around them craned their necks to watch the fight. Those who loved drama quietly raised their phones to start recording videos, everyone wishing they would hit each other even harder.

“Zhao Ci!”

Shen Yixing stepped forward, separated the two who were wrestling, and shielded Zhao Ci, who had taken a punch, behind him. Xia Wen was unhappy about being pushed away and raised his hand, intending to slap Shen Yixing.

“Ah!” Xia Wen’s hand was forcefully shoved away by Shen Yixing, and he fell directly onto Ruan Ming.

“You all have such hot tempers first thing in the morning?”

A familiar voice came from behind. The smoke of war permeating the area instantly dissipated into thin air. The people watching the show quickly put away their phones, each of them lowering their heads, pretending they hadn’t seen anything.

Shen Yixing turned his head. Jiang Baiyi was standing behind him with a meaningful smile, a hint of playfulness in his deep eyes.

Jiang Baiyi glanced at the disheveled Xia Wen on the side and asked, “Are you fighting?”

Ruan Ming was very surprised to see Jiang Baiyi. He pulled Xia Wen over and said sheepishly, “Maybe there was some misunderstanding. We weren’t fighting, it was just that Xia Wen was pushed by Student Shen.”

Upon hearing this, Xia Wen nodded. Terrified that Shen Yixing would hit him, he quickly moved a little further behind Ruan Ming. He only mentioned that he had been pushed by Shen Yixing, deliberately omitting the fact that he had hit Zhao Ci first.

Shen Yixing frowned, thinking to himself that Ruan Ming was not as simple as he looked.

“You’re full of crap! Brother Yi, don’t believe him!” Zhao Ci, standing behind Shen Yixing, was agitated. If not for Shen Yixing blocking him, he might have been able to fight for another five hundred years.

“My eyes aren’t blind.” Jiang Baiyi had seen from afar that it was Xia Wen who had struck first. Pushed by Shen Yixing? That was complete nonsense.

“Come out.” He stepped forward, grabbed Xia Wen, and asked with his eyes lowered, “Where does it hurt?”

Xia Wen’s arm was being gripped so hard by Jiang Baiyi that it hurt. Because he had a guilty conscience, he didn’t dare to look him in the eye, and his tongue was tripping over his teeth when he answered. “I, I…”

“I wasn’t asking you.” Jiang Baiyi impatiently turned his head to look at Zhao Ci. “Where does it hurt?”

Zhao Ci covered his hip with one hand. “My butt hurts… I hit the corner of the table.” He covered his shoulder with the other hand and said, “And this guy hit my shoulder too!”

“Apologize.” Jiang Baiyi’s tone was cold, scaring Xia Wen so much that his mind went blank.

“Don’t make me repeat myself.”

“Baiyi…” Ruan Ming wanted to excuse Xia Wen, but Jiang Baiyi glared him back with a single look.

Xia Wen didn’t dare to harbor any resentment. Under the pressure of Jiang Baiyi, he had no choice but to apologize to Zhao Ci unwillingly.

“You said Shen Yixing pushed Xia Wen?”

Ruan Ming was confused by the question. He tilted his innocent face up and said awkwardly, “Yes… yes, that’s right.”

Shen Yixing, who had been left on the sidelines, was suddenly pulled to Jiang Baiyi’s side. Due to the momentum, he accidentally bumped into Jiang Baiyi’s chest. He looked up slightly and saw Jiang Baiyi hooking the corners of his lips into a smile, saying to Xia Wen, “Fine, should I apologize to you on his behalf?”

“Ah?” Xia Wen couldn’t handle an apology from Jiang Baiyi. He shook his head like a rattle, and his hands waved so fast they created afterimages. “No need, no need. I’m fine. It was my fault, it was all my fault, I shouldn’t have laid hands on anyone.”

“Oh, Brother Yi, so you were here!”

Tang Yuan ran over excitedly with two trays of breakfast. When he turned his head while queuing earlier, he discovered Brother Yi had vanished. After buying the food, he had searched for a long time before finally finding him.

After braking and standing still, Tang Yuan realized the atmosphere was a bit strange. Beside Brother Yi stood the biggest jinx who usually annoyed everyone, and his own roommate was standing next to them clutching his butt. Looking to the other side, Xia Wen and Ruan Ming from Class 2 looked a bit ugly, like they had just found a dead fly in their breakfast.

“What… what’s going on?”

Ruan Ming recovered from his embarrassment and smiled. “Let’s not quarrel early in the morning. Do you want us to sit together?”

Tang Yuan ignored the first part of the sentence and flatly refused, “It’s too crowded here. Brother Yi and I are going to eat on the second floor.”

The table behind Ruan Ming just happened to be cleared as the diners left, leaving a clean table.

Zhao Ci picked up the beef noodles on the table and lightly tugged at Shen Yixing’s sleeve. “Deskmate, let’s sit there.”

Shen Yixing uttered a “mm,” cautiously moved away from Jiang Baiyi’s side, and followed Zhao Ci to the table behind.

Jiang Baiyi stared at Shen Yixing’s back for a while, nudged Tang Yuan with his elbow, and said, “Let’s go.”

Watching Jiang Baiyi prepare to go to the second floor to eat with Tang Yuan, Ruan Ming mustered the courage to shout, “Jiang Baiyi, um… there’s a school performance this Sunday, will you come to watch me?”

Jiang Baiyi froze for a moment upon hearing this. He stopped, turned around, and asked back in a cold tone, “You look like a decent human being, why would I have nothing better to do than watch you?”

Ruan Ming’s eyes widened in surprise. The answer wasn’t what he had expected, but he still said brazenly, “Can’t you come to watch my performance? I haven’t played the piano publicly at school for a long time.”

Shen Yixing raised his eyes at the word “performance.” Zhao Ci, sitting opposite him, winked at him, as if advising him not to participate in the performance to avoid making a fool of himself or letting Ruan Ming steal the spotlight.

“I’m busy on Sunday, I have things to do.” Jiang Baiyi’s tone was icy, giving Ruan Ming absolutely no room to continue the conversation.

Ruan Ming smiled awkwardly, trying to ease the atmosphere. “Fair enough, then I’ll do my best on my own.”

Jiang Baiyi thought Ruan Ming was inexplicable. He frowned, turned, and left with Tang Yuan.

Support Transmigrated as the School Hunk’s Arch-Nemesis [Book Transmigration]