Unconventional [Rebirth] - Chapter 30

“Hey, Old Duan, what do you think the city’s number one scorer, Jiang Rui, looks like? And that Wang Xiaorui, I wonder if she’s pretty. But that girl’s score was only two points lower than yours; her IQ is definitely in the same league as yours! I’ve never met such an amazing girl! Just for that IQ, I, your young master, am going to take on the challenge!” Xie Gaoling’s triumphant expression made it look as if he had already successfully courted her.

Having heard such talk countless times since childhood, Duan Xinrong didn’t bother to reply, merely quickening his pace toward the classroom.

“Hey, Old Duan, wait for me! Don’t walk so fast…”

Since he had a lot of luggage and the weather was hot, Jiang Rui first found a spot for his mother to sit and rest at the school’s convenience store. He went by himself to the notice board to check which class he was assigned to, then to report to the head teacher, and would return to help his mother pack up the dormitory later.

After finally squeezing his way through the crowd, he could see the notice from behind due to his height. Jiang Rui was immediately dumbfounded when he saw his name. Jiang Rui’s name was the first on the notice board. On the red paper with black characters, the name, written with a brush by an unknown teacher, was intentionally larger than all the other students’.

A boy beside Jiang Rui, wearing black glasses and looking very honest and friendly, perhaps seeing how tall Jiang Rui was, started a conversation, asking, “Classmate, did you find your name?”

Jiang Rui: “…I found mine already. How about you? Did you find yours?”

The boy with black glasses seemed a little embarrassed. “I’m short; my view is blocked by the people in front…”

Jiang Rui smiled and asked him, “What’s your name?”

“My name is Nan Hechao.”

Jiang Rui raised an eyebrow. ” ‘Eight directions coming to congratulate, all nations coming to worship.’ That’s a nice name.”

Nan Hechao’s face flushed red from the compliment. He wanted to say something, but looking at Jiang Rui’s gentle profile, he couldn’t utter a word…

Jiang Rui scanned the notice board and found Nan Hechao’s name. “Nan Hechao, ranked ninety-seventh in the entire school, Grade One, Class Nine.”

Nan Hechao asked excitedly, “Really? So Ye Zi wasn’t lying to me; I really got into the experimental class!”

Jiang Rui thought, This person is lucky. Originally, an experimental class only had forty-five students, but this year, Class Nine moved to a larger classroom, so the school arranged for seven extra students to be placed in Class Nine. Nan Hechao was the last of those seven.

Ye Zi?

Perhaps it’s just a nickname, Jiang Rui chuckled at his own over-sensitivity.

Emerging from the crowd in front of the notice board, Jiang Rui followed the route on the school map next to the board to find his classroom. Nan Hechao quietly asked beside him, “Oh, right, Classmate, I still don’t know your name. Which class were you assigned to?”

“Jiang Rui. The same as you, Class Nine,” he said while walking.

After a few steps, he realized no one was beside him. Jiang Rui stopped and looked back to see Nan Hechao with a ghostly look of astonishment. “You’re Jiang Rui?”

Wang Xiaorui was originally supposed to register with Jiang Rui and Zhou Yang, but Zhou Yang hadn’t been able to buy a ticket for today after his vacation and would only arrive tomorrow.

As for Jiang Rui, ever since his score as the city’s top scorer was announced, Wang Xiaorui’s mother, Liu Min, had believed he only achieved such a high score because of Wang Xiaorui. After all, Jiang Rui and Wang Xiaorui had always been desk-mates, and his previous scores had only hovered within the top ten, rarely even making it into the top five.

While angry at her daughter’s lack of ambition, Liu Min’s previous good impression of Jiang Rui vanished entirely.

Liu Min completely forgot that earlier, because of her illness and her insistence on following Wang Zigang to Jiahai, Wang Xiaorui had missed several days of classes, and it was Jiang Rui who had helped her catch up.

If Jiang Rui were genuinely inferior to Wang Xiaorui, could he have tutored her?

In this high school entrance exam, Jiang Rui had also subtly helped Wang Xiaorui highlight key points.

When Wang Xiaorui tried to leave this morning to meet up with Jiang Rui and go to Thirteenth High together, Liu Min forcibly stopped her, even locking her in the room, adamantly refusing to let her go.

Liu Min even shouted outside the door, “That Jiang Rui is clearly very cunning. You’re too simple-minded, girl. What good can come from being with him? From now on, you get far away from him. You are not allowed to associate with him anymore.”

Wang Xiaorui tried to explain to Liu Min that Jiang Rui was genuinely more capable than herself, but the other woman wouldn’t listen, adamantly insisting that Jiang Rui had stolen her daughter’s first place.

Wang Xiaorui was so angry with Liu Min that she didn’t eat breakfast. Usually dutiful, she packed her luggage and went to the school registration without saying a single word to her mother before leaving.

Because of the morning’s events, Wang Xiaorui was in a bad mood, making her appear even colder than usual. After checking the notice board for her class assignment, she walked directly toward the classroom, carrying a large bundle of luggage.

The “bag” was more aptly described as a bundle. Since the family didn’t have many proper luggage bags, she simply wrapped all her belongings in a blue patterned cloth sheet, tied it into a large bundle, and carried it on her shoulder.

She had only walked a few steps up the staircase when she heard a boy behind her mockingly say, “Hey, Old Duan, look! That person ahead is carrying a pretty fashionable luggage bag, huh?”

Then, a slightly more refined voice criticized, “Why do you care so much about other people?”

Wang Xiaorui’s steps paused momentarily, then she continued walking as if she hadn’t heard anything.

Xie Gaoling keenly sensed the moment the person ahead stopped, and for some reason, he felt a strange sensation in his heart, as if he were embarrassed by his own words just now. He called out, “I say, buddy up ahead! That bag is so big it almost covers half of you. Can your small body handle it? How about I, your brother, help you carry it?”

This time, Wang Xiaorui didn’t even pause, much less acknowledge the person behind her.

Duan Xinrong saw this and knew that his friend’s initial joke might have hurt the other person’s self-esteem. He wanted to say something to help his friend save face, but looking at the unhurried, steady steps of the person ahead, he was inexplicably at a loss for words.

Xie Gaoling, rarely offering help, was ignored by this country bumpkin. His young master’s temper immediately flared up, and he quickly walked up and forcefully pulled the bundle down from behind.

Wang Xiaorui was startled by the tug on her bundle. Afraid of tearing the cloth sheet, she quickly turned around, yielding to his force.

Xie Gaoling stared at the slight swell of her chest and exclaimed in surprise, “Oh, it’s a girl?”

Wang Xiaorui was tall and had neat short hair. She was often dressed in gray or black T-shirts and long trousers, clearly hand-stitched.

She wore five-yuan sandals bought from a street stall, a unisex style.

Thus, not only did Xie Gaoling mistake her gender, but Duan Xinrong hadn’t recognized the person in front was a girl either.

Wang Xiaorui felt uncomfortable under his gaze.

“What do you want?” The girl’s voice, like her eyes, was clear and cold. In this September heat, still bearing summer’s residual warmth, it carried an indescribably refreshing quality.

Xie Gaoling stared at her eyes for a long time. The man, usually quick-witted, opened and closed his mouth several times but couldn’t speak.

“Classmate, my friend meant to help you with your luggage. Don’t misunderstand,” Duan Xinrong smiled at the girl.

Wang Xiaorui didn’t even look at him, coldly saying, “I asked him, not you.”

Duan Xinrong was choked by her words and felt extremely awkward. He had good luck with girls, and rarely had a girl spoken to him like this; most were gentle and soft-spoken around him.

Seeing his friend being snapped at like that, Xie Gaoling’s anger from before surged up again. “I say, you’re a girl, and you’ve got quite a temper! What’s wrong with my buddy asking you a question? I kindly offered to help you with your luggage. How is that wrong?”

Wang Xiaorui glanced at him. The person who was usually reserved suddenly became sharp. “Then he asked me a question. What’s wrong with me not wanting to talk to him? You wanted to help me with my luggage, but I refused. Am I wrong again?”

“You!” Xie Gaoling was completely silenced by her and looked ready to explode.

Duan Xinrong quickly held him back and smiled to mediate. “Alright, alright. Classmate, don’t take offense at my friend. He just has a hot temper. By the way, you’re here to register, right? Time is almost up. You should hurry.”

Xie Gaoling still wanted to say something, but Duan Xinrong glared at him, forcing him to hold it back.

Wang Xiaorui didn’t want to talk to the two of them anymore. She said with a cold face, “Let go.”

Seeing her like this, Xie Gaoling felt another surge of suppressed anger. However, he knew that if they kept stalling, the registration time would truly pass, and they would have to wait until the head teacher arrived in the afternoon. He immediately scoffed and let go.

After she had walked far away, Xie Gaoling put his hands on his hips, his face still showing residual anger, and complained to his friend, “Why did you stop me just now? If it weren’t for you, I would have debated with that arrogant girl today! What kind of person is that? She treats kindness like a donkey’s lung! Just wait. Once we’re in class, I’ll find out all the information about her. I’ll make her life hell!”

Duan Xinrong looked at him with a half-smile. “Lingzi, don’t say I didn’t warn you beforehand. That girl looks hard to mess with. Be careful not to kick an iron plate, and don’t come crying to me then.”

Xie Gaoling let out a strange cry. “Oh, come on! With her attitude? So what if her temper is cold? Is she impressive? Will I, your young master, be afraid of her? She has such a plain face, is covered in a layer of dust, and looks more like a boy than a girl if you don’t look at her chest or hear her voice…”

Duan Xinrong quickly interrupted him when he realized his words were getting out of hand. “Stop, stop, stop! Watch your mouth. There are people coming and going on this staircase. Be careful someone hears you and ruins your image as the sunny school heartthrob!”

Xie Gaoling said nonchalantly, “So what if they hear me? That scene probably already spread.”

He then put on a worried expression. “Ah, Old Duan, tell me, I’m a handsome guy, after all. Being associated with a country bumpkin like that makes me feel sick just thinking about it!”

Duan Xinrong immediately pulled him along, saying, “You should stop it. That girl probably doesn’t want to be associated with you either! Do you think everyone is like those girls who chased you in the old school, paralyzed when they see you, eager to have some connection with you? Stop being so narcissistic. Wake up!”

The top three scorers in the city this year were all at Thirteenth High and all in Class Nine, one of the two experimental classes. Of course, for fairness, the school also assigned the seven students with the lowest scores in the top-ranking list to Class Nine. Furthermore, Class Nine had more than ten more students in the mid-to-lower range of the top ninety-seven than Class Eight.

Because of this, Yao Jilan, the head teacher of Class Nine, was both delighted and worried.

If nothing unexpected happened, she would be teaching this class until graduation. With the top three scorers in the city, the chances were high that the school’s best results at graduation would come from her class. However, the overall promotion rate might not be as good as Class Eight’s.

However, looking at the scores of the top three on the results sheet, especially Jiang Rui’s, Yao Jilan still smiled.

Looking at it from another angle, her class was full of potential!