Green Plum, Green Plum (6)
Itch.
“Please Host, actively study, establish a good outlook on life and values, strive to get into Class 1 as soon as possible, and change your destiny with knowledge!”
Around five in the morning, Xu Jiao was suddenly awakened by the system’s enthusiastic voice.
She frowned, not even opening her eyes. Although still half-asleep, her sleepiness had been completely dispelled. In a harsh tone with a hint of nasal sound, she spoke up:
“Are you malfunctioning?”
The system answered seriously, “No.”
Xu Jiao: “Then why are you acting up so early in the morning?”
The system fell silent. Just as Xu Jiao was about to fall back asleep, she suddenly heard a faint whimpering noise beside her—
Evidently, the little fellow brought back after surgery last night had heard her wake up. It was unclear whether it simply wanted to be petted or was hungry or thirsty.
Xu Jiao raised her hand to pinch her nose bridge. Amidst the pitiful, soft whimpering, she let out a deep breath, sat up in bed, looked around, and tiptoed to the top of the cabinet to get the newly bought dog food.
Wearing slippers, her ankles glowed faintly in the dim morning light, making the black thorns on her slender ankles seem even more sinister and wild.
Unaware that someone already had her in mind, she fetched the food bowl, placed it in front of the puppy, and began to pour the dog food. While the puppy noisily ate, she reached out and petted its furry ears.
Watching the puppy eat for a while with downcast eyes, Xu Jiao straightened her nightgown and lost the desire to return to sleep. She checked the puppy’s wound dressing and found that the bandage hadn’t been chewed off, so she got up and walked out.
The refrigerator door creaked open.
In the warm yellow light, Xu Jiao’s gaze wandered through the array of vegetables and fruits and found a packaged sandwich. Just as she was about to close the door, she suddenly remembered something and spoke in her mind:
“You think that because I’m not familiar with Shen Yelan right now, distant water can’t quench immediate thirst, and it’s too late to issue a rescue mission, so you want me to go to Class 1, right?”
The system responded honestly, “Yes.”
Xu Jiao tore open the sandwich wrapper and set it aside. She took a frying pan off the wall, washed it, and set it on the stove, speaking casually:
“I understand your urgency, but—”
“Although the classes are rearranged based on the monthly exam rankings, with the top 200 entering the key classes and then sorting from the regular classes downwards, and although arts and sports are counted separately, the next monthly exam is next week.”
Xu Jiao poured oil into the pan and continued without changing her expression, “Even though I’ve recently started studying out of boredom, this time I can only manage to get into Class 7 based on the rankings.”
In the entire 10th grade, odd-numbered classes are for Arts and even-numbered ones for Science. Class 1 is the elite Arts class, and Class 2 is the elite Science class. Then Classes 3 to 10 are the key classes, continuing up to Class 18.
Class 19 is for Music specialties, and Class 20 is for Sports specialties.
These two classes only focus on Chinese, Math, and English, with other subjects left to the students themselves. Most of the Chemistry classes are poorly taught, so occasionally, there are outstanding students who perform well in the monthly exams and go to their respective classes for specialized courses.
But such instances are rare.
Besides…
Xu Jiao had missed PE training for a long time, and she felt it was still possible to switch to Arts.
The system had no other comments and simply said, “Good luck.”
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Xu Jiao snorted, feeling that the system’s dream of getting her into Class 1 would take at least three months, possibly up to six months, and she wasn’t in a hurry.
……
However, on the day the monthly exam results were announced a week later—
“Did you hear? Someone in Class 1 was late for the exam and missed a subject, so they’re going to drop a lot in the rankings this time.”
“I know, you mean that cool and aloof girl, right?”
“Speaking of cool, who can compare to our school bully sister? Damn, am I seeing things? Look at Xu Jiao’s rank!”
“Oh my god! She’s ranked 158th in the grade! Whose answers did she copy?”
“Shh… do you have a death wish? I heard she has connections at home. Who knows if she secretly asked the teachers for the questions… But hasn’t she always stayed in Class 20 without moving? Why did she suddenly join the key classes?”
“Why are you asking me? Go ask her yourself if you have the guts!”
In front of the results board, a throng of students crowded around, buzzing with discussions, anxiously searching for their ranks, and sharing all sorts of gossip, which spread quickly through the crowd.
Xu Jiao already knew her results from her little fangirl Su Xi. After morning self-study, she carried her books and recent practice workbooks and walked out, ignoring the complicated glances from her classmates.
Due to her somewhat infamous reputation at school, she always sensed the subtle gazes sweeping over her as she walked through the corridors with her books. But she remained composed, ignoring them, naturally heading to her destination.
She didn’t care what kind of impression she made on others.
Until she reached the back door of Class 7.
She saw someone with a backpack, holding a stack of heavy books, looking particularly gloomy—
Shen Yelan.
The moment the other party looked up and met her gaze, she was momentarily stunned. Her previously dark eyes suddenly cleared up, like fog being lifted.
Xu Jiao nodded in greeting.
Shen Yelan’s breath caught for a moment. Suddenly recalling a dream from a few weeks ago, although it had been a while, the sudden encounter with Xu Jiao vividly brought back all those dream images, every detail, constantly reminding her of the dirty thoughts that had crossed her mind.
She instinctively wanted to hide, but didn’t know where to start. After a long moment of awkwardness, she finally managed to squeeze out a sentence as Xu Jiao walked past her:
“Is the puppy you took to the pet shop last time doing better?”
Strange, those words made it seem as if she and Xu Jiao were very familiar.
Xu Jiao nodded, about to say something, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw a figure approaching quickly. Her lips moved, but before she could speak, Shen Yelan was knocked aside by the approaching figure.
Shen Yelan, carrying too many books, couldn’t dodge in time and fell forward, causing the pile of books to crash noisily in front of Xu Jiao.
The higher ones hit her shoulder, and the lower ones landed on her instep.
Shen Yelan, a bit dazed, ended up sitting in front of Xu Jiao.
In the distance, someone hurriedly turned the corner of the stairs, eagerly coming to find Xu Jiao. As they rounded the corner and saw this scene, their eyes widened.
Right now.
Lu Pei hadn’t seen Xu Jiao earlier and felt a rush of satisfaction when she bumped into Shen Yelan. After all, she had come to enjoy the sight of Shen Yelan’s pitiful state, especially thinking about how Shen Yelan’s results would be seen by her mother at home. The thought made her joy double.
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Until—
She saw Xu Jiao standing in front of Shen Yelan.
The smile on Lu Pei’s face froze.
Fear seeped into her expression, and the uncollected smile made her face look a bit twisted.
It took her a while to find her voice, “I… I didn’t do it on purpose, it’s her fault for bumping into you, really…”
She pointed at Shen Yelan in front of her, even reached out her foot to kick her backpack, ordering, “Apologize quickly!”
Xu Jiao slowly lifted her eyelids to meet her gaze.
In an instant!
Lu Pei suddenly felt a force grab her scalp, making her whole body lean back uncontrollably. She widened her eyes and recognized that it was the little delinquent who always followed Xu Jiao.
Su Xi grabbed her hair and unceremoniously slapped her cheek, making a humiliating sound. She smiled and asked, “What were you doing just now? Hmm?”
Feeling the pull between her hair and scalp, Lu Pei was terrified and stammered, “N-no, really it wasn’t me, I didn’t do it on purpose, I didn’t…”
Shen Yelan heard her pathetic voice, glanced back, then turned away indifferently, softly saying “sorry” to Xu Jiao before trying to support herself off the ground.
At that moment, a hand appeared in front of her.
Xu Jiao looked down at her casually, her tone carrying its usual laziness:
“The floor is cold, sitting too long is bad.”
Shen Yelan was stunned for a moment, then instinctively raised her hand to grasp Xu Jiao’s offered palm. Feeling the warmth envelop her as she was pulled up, she remained in a daze.
Perhaps because of the naturally soft voice of the girl, the simple factual statement sounded like concern to her.
It felt as if she wasn’t just being simply pulled up from the corridor.
Rather, it was as if she had been sitting in a muddy pond for a long time, her body almost frozen by the dirt and cold, and someone had suddenly come to gently pull her out, letting her stand in the sunlight again and feel warmth.
Xu Jiao, unaware of the change her action brought to Shen Yelan, looked again at Lu Pei, who was still being held by Su Xi.
Someone from the neighboring class peeked out and shouted, “The teacher is coming!”
Xu Jiao didn’t want to make things difficult for Su Xi. She raised her chin to indicate for her to let go.
Lu Pei’s eyes were red at the corners, she wanted to run but didn’t dare, her legs a bit weak as she looked at Xu Jiao. She heard Xu Jiao say leisurely:
“Little girl.”
“Lately, you seem to enjoy provoking me, huh?”
Lu Pei looked at the approaching dean, feeling both relieved and humiliated. The dual blow made her eyes fill with tears as she quickly shook her head and explained, “I didn’t, I wouldn’t dare, I’m sorry…”
Xu Jiao slowly shook her head, brought her hand to her lips, and made a “shh” gesture—
She glanced at Shen Yelan beside her, “The person you should apologize to isn’t me.”
Shen Yelan was still a bit dazed, looking at her.
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Even Lu Pei had a dumbfounded expression.
Xu Jiao, however, was running out of patience. Not wanting to deal with the dean, she dragged her tone as she urged, “Hurry up, I’m in a rush here.”
“I-I’m sorry!” Lu Pei gritted her teeth and squeezed out an apology.
Xu Jiao then looked at Shen Yelan.
Noticing the collar of Shen Yelan’s uniform was a bit crooked, Xu Jiao casually adjusted it with her fingertips, the corners of her lips curving slightly, almost smiling as she asked Shen Yelan in front of her:
“Well, do you accept her apology?”
Shen Yelan’s breath stopped.
All her senses were focused on her neck—
The slightly stiff collar scraped her throat, carrying a secret, indescribable tingle that climbed up her face, making her mind go blank. She couldn’t even comprehend what Xu Jiao was asking.
Her mind was filled with one word.
Itch.