Scum A with a Sweet Black Lotus O – Chapter 142
by Little PandaFlowers in the Mirror (3)
And so, Pei Xuezhi settled down at the Fu family home.
The young Fu Chaoyun, aside from being a bit wild and flamboyant, generally acted reliably enough in important matters, so her elders trusted her.
—Most importantly, the Fu family wasn’t short on money to raise a child.
At the Fu home, Pei Xuezhi’s food, clothing, and daily necessities were all top-notch. Even though her origins were unknown, she was exceptionally beautiful, and her demeanor carried a natural air of nobility, as if she had been born into a wealthy and influential family.
At least, neither her classmates nor her teachers noticed anything unusual.
Yes.
Pei Xuezhi and Fu Chaoyun were now in the same high school—after all, the latter hadn’t differentiated yet.
They also informed the academic affairs office and were placed in the same class. However, due to their vastly different personalities, they weren’t very close on a daily basis.
They didn’t interact much in the classroom either.
Wherever Fu Chaoyun went, it was a lively scene with friends flocking to her, like stars surrounding the moon1; Pei Xuezhi, on the other hand, was always cold, quiet, and solitary.
Fu Chaoyun attended an elite high school.
Among them, some were genuinely there to learn, but many more were kids whose families had gotten them in to develop connections early on. These individuals had their futures secured—going abroad was the main goal, to get some polish2 before returning to inherit the family business. For now, they just needed to casually get by with their studies.
They weren’t even counted in the college entrance exam numbers.
To make up for these numbers, the wealthy and generous3 school administration also brought in a batch of outstanding students, providing them with subsidies for tuition, meals, and even scholarships.
Usually at school, the first two types of students might get along, but the third type was somewhat out of place.
Pei Xuezhi had suddenly appeared as a transfer student. She was good-looking and had a natural air of refined nobility, so initially, these rich kids4 didn’t think of her in that way.
But gradually.
When they discovered that Pei Xuezhi wasn’t close to any of these young masters and misses, and her grades were excellent, certain ideas began to surface.
Elite high schools had a “tradition” of wealthy students bullying the specially recruited ones5.
At first, it was childish isolation.
Pei Xuezhi had an independent nature and didn’t take these things to heart. It was less that they were ostracizing her and more that she herself didn’t want to bother with those idiots.
However, in their eyes, this behavior was seen as her swallowing her anger and enduring it meekly.
Subsequently, the bullying escalated, and they soaked Pei Xuezhi’s desk…
It was one afternoon.
The students were just returning after lunch. Fu Chaoyun was right behind Pei Xuezhi, just a little bit delayed.
Upon entering, she saw Pei Xuezhi’s messed-up desk. Wet paper had caused the ink characters on it to smudge into blotches of grime. Beneath it was a puddle of moisture, and even now, a few drops of water were still dripping down.
In the silence, the sound of the water droplets falling was clearly audible.
Striking at the heart.
This was the point where unrestrained laughter should have erupted, but somehow, the atmosphere was terrifyingly silent.
Fu Chaoyun lagged behind.
Pei Xuezhi took in everything before her and suddenly looked up—
She usually had an aloof, cold demeanor and didn’t pay much attention to others, but at this moment, when she looked up, the intensity in her eyes was terrifyingly deep.
School rules didn’t allow hair to be worn down, so Pei Xuezhi’s hair was tied up in a ponytail, not too high, not too low. Even so, it made her dark hair look thick, soft, and glossy, while also revealing more of her cheeks.
The elegant lines of her side profile took on a sharp curve.
She locked onto her target.
The next second, Pei Xuezhi stood up directly, grabbed the other person’s head, and slammed it down onto the messy desktop.
Only then did gasps of shock erupt from those around.
The one pinned down was a male Alpha who had just differentiated last month. He had been feeling smug about his gender recently, and his family background was also good. Suddenly hearing the commotion around him, he felt like everyone was mocking him. His face flushed red, and he shouted sharply:
“Pei Xuezhi, what are you doing? Let go of me!”
No one had expected the seemingly easy-to-bully Pei Xuezhi to do something like this, to suddenly fight back.
This was also a challenge to their absolute authority!
The group of people who had more or less participated in the bullying during this period wanted to step forward to stop her and help the Alpha.
“What are you doing?” Fu Chaoyun suddenly spoke up.
She had been standing quietly at the back watching, but now she gave a look to the person beside her, immediately stopping those who wanted to step forward and help.
Now, the eyes of everyone in the classroom turned to her. The Alpha still had that lazy demeanor, but her features were indescribably striking.
“Isn’t it quite lively? Go on.”
Every word she said didn’t explicitly state she was helping Pei Xuezhi, yet it was all in support of Pei Xuezhi.
Fu Chaoyun held considerable prestige in the class. The moment she spoke, many people suddenly didn’t dare to move, secretly guessing her intentions.
Noticing that Fu Chaoyun was merely watching, much like a bystander enjoying the show, the crowd’s attention shifted back to Pei Xuezhi.
The male Alpha was about to lose all face!
Pei Xuezhi looked quite slender, her arms thin and delicate, as if lacking strength, but the force pressing down on him now was at full strength!
Moreover, she was extremely fierce.
It wasn’t just suppression; she was also controlling the Alpha’s face, rubbing it repeatedly on the desktop, mixed with water stains and soaked paper and ink. The texture was coarse, leaving stinging pain on his face.
What hurt more was the blow to his pride; it was a complete loss of face.
The male Alpha was already driven mad with anger!
He was deeply mired in the humiliation he was currently suffering, oblivious to everything around him, not even hearing Fu Chaoyun’s voice, just blindly yelling.
“Pei Xuezhi, who the hell do you think you are? I advise you to let go of me right now! Otherwise, I’ll make it impossible for you to survive in this school—”
“Wipe it clean.”
Pei Xuezhi interrupted.
Her tone didn’t sound fierce or angry. Apart from her eyes darkening a little, she showed little rage.
But as she spoke, she pressed that face against the desktop again… rubbing it back and forth.
The surroundings were terrifyingly quiet.
Except for Fu Chaoyun.
—There seemed to be a hint of a smile in her eyes.
The guy kept cursing endlessly. Pei Xuezhi seemed too lazy to argue, directly pressing his head down and turning it in another direction. He opened his mouth again and got a mouthful of soaked, shredded paper stuffed into it.
He finally shut up.
Now it was Pei Xuezhi’s turn to speak. “Get me a new desk. Put all the textbooks back, and my completed homework.”
Her tone was understated.
“I don’t care how you do it.”
Pei Xuezhi’s grades were very good.
She wasn’t the type to just bury her head in books. She rarely took notes in class, merely completing the assignments given by the teacher, and never sought out extra problems to do after class.
So, among the soaked papers was the work Pei Xuezhi had finished that morning.
…Perhaps this was the reason for her anger.
After Pei Xuezhi finished speaking unilaterally, she let the person go, giving the impression she was just talking to herself or stating a decision.
“You motherf#cker—”
The guy, naturally defiant, spat out a wad of wet paper and rushed towards Pei Xuezhi, throwing a punch.
Fu Chaoyun made a move, but Pei Xuezhi was faster, delivering a direct kick with her leg. She didn’t even look up until the person was sent flying, knocking over three desks nearby, before her gaze finally settled.
“I wasn’t discussing it with you.”
—It wasn’t just talking to herself; it was the confidence of someone who had already made the decision.
The classroom was even quieter than before. Only then did everyone realize that Pei Xuezhi’s usual silence wasn’t due to low self-esteem or cowardice, nor was it pride masking weakness.
She had never been an easy person to deal with. More importantly, she possessed absolute power and confidence!
A wave of fear washed over everyone.
So, they had been ignoring/bullying someone like this all along?
Pei Xuezhi seemed unaware of how much of a sensation her actions today had caused, or how many people’s minds she had shaken.
Even if she knew, she probably wouldn’t care.
She glanced at the other three desks and added, “Compensate for these as well.”
An Alpha’s pride is ingrained in their bones. Correspondingly, it’s easy for them to develop arrogance and conceit.
Even though, in most people’s eyes, Pei Xuezhi had completely crushed him today, the fallen male Alpha was still defiant.
No one had come to help him up since he fell. He could only clutch the spot where he’d been kicked, continuing to glare resentfully at Pei Xuezhi.
She’s just a specially recruited student. So what if she acts tough in school? What about outside? Just wait, once I get a chance…
Pei Xuezhi saw the venomous hatred on his face. She showed no reaction, her eyes merely deep and reflecting nothing…
“Alright.”
Fu Chaoyun, who had been watching the entire scene from the back, finally walked forward. The Alpha hoped Fu Chaoyun would say something—after all, he had shown his face around Fu Chaoyun before. But when he turned his head, Fu Chaoyun was looking at Pei Xuezhi beside her.
“What do you want to eat tonight?”
What?
Pei Xuezhi also looked over, her tone and expression both faint. “Anything.”
“Then I’ll keep making what you like?” Fu Chaoyun continued smoothly. “Let’s leave together after school later. We take the same car anyway. It’s pretty pointless to pretend we don’t know each other in class…”
As Fu Chaoyun spoke, she glanced at the Alpha again, her tone no longer so gentle. “Hurry up and clean this mess. Our Zhizhi doesn’t do the same homework twice.”
!!!
The two rarely interacted in class. Until this moment, the amount of information revealed by Fu Chaoyun’s words showed that they had known each other all along! And taking the same car home at least indicated that Pei Xuezhi and Fu Chaoyun lived very close…
Pei Xuezhi was under Fu Chaoyun’s protection!
When everyone looked at Pei Xuezhi again, she didn’t refute it, which was taken as an affirmation.
All resentment and thoughts of revenge ultimately turned into helplessness. Fu Chaoyun had given the order, so the Alpha could only dejectedly go and do it.
After school today.
Just as Fu Chaoyun had said, the two no longer hid their connection and left the classroom together, taking the car home.
As the people around them dwindled, Pei Xuezhi finally spoke, “Why?”
“Sun Changxiang’s6 character isn’t good, and he bullies classmates. I’ll report it to the school authorities,” Fu Chaoyun answered, missing the point. “He’ll most likely be advised to withdraw and transfer schools.”
“Why did you step forward at that moment?”
Fu Chaoyun paused, then chuckled lightly. “Zhizhi was brought back by me. How could I let others bully her?”
Such an abruptly intimate address.
Pei Xuezhi had been living at the Fu home for over half a month. After all, Fu Chaoyun had indeed done her a favor. For a moment, she couldn’t find a point to refute and lost the initiative.
However—
“That’s not what I was talking about.”
“Oh.”
Knowing she couldn’t hide it, Fu Chaoyun’s tone remained fairly normal. “School bullying indeed sounds bad, but at least so far, what he’s done hasn’t actually hurt anyone. Teaching him a lesson is enough. After suffering this time, he won’t dare to do it again.”
“Are you speaking up for him?”
This is completely siding with him!
Fu Chaoyun smiled again. “I’m helping Zhizhi.”
Pei Xuezhi paused.
Just then, they reached the Fu family’s car. Fu Chaoyun opened the door and let Pei Xuezhi get in first.
“An unimportant person isn’t worth it.”
From the beginning to the end of the incident, Pei Xuezhi seemed to narrate it in the most ordinary tone, never getting angry. Only Fu Chaoyun, who had been constantly watching her, noticed a deep gleam in her eyes.
From their first meeting until now, and after spending these days together day and night, Fu Chaoyun knew Pei Xuezhi’s personality very well.
If you didn’t provoke her, everything was fine; she would treat you like a stranger. But once you crossed her—
She was ruthless and would seek revenge for the smallest grievance7.
Pei Xuezhi’s methods were vicious, and her desire for revenge was more than eight hundred times stronger than an ordinary person’s.
There was silence for a good while.
A moment later.
Pei Xuezhi: “You’re still helping him.”
From a certain perspective… that was indeed true.
Fu Chaoyun didn’t deny it.
“Mm…” She thought for a moment, tilted her head, revealing a pair of bright, amber-like eyes. “I always want what’s best for Zhizhi.”
Pei Xuezhi glanced at her again, then turned her head away.
After a long time.
“Don’t call me that.”
—For the first time, Pei Xuezhi clearly realized that even though they both came from prominent families, this Fu Chaoyun before her was a completely different kind of existence from herself.
A few days passed after the incident.
No one dared to bully Pei Xuezhi anymore, and Fu Chaoyun returned to her own circle.
The two took the car home together and would greet each other in the classroom, but they still didn’t talk much.
After a few days like this, some people began to question whether Pei Xuezhi and Fu Chaoyun’s relationship was really that good. Or had Fu Chaoyun stepped in that day merely to wrap things up for Pei Xuezhi…
Everyone knew that even though she was always surrounded by friends, Fu Chaoyun was different from those other so-called school tyrants.
Firstly, her grades were good.
Secondly, she didn’t bully people.
Apart from being truly dazzlingly radiant and having a large group of admirers… there didn’t seem to be any other similarities?
Moreover, because of this incident, it had attracted some other gazes. Certain people seemed to be stirring restlessly in the dark again…
It was another afternoon.
Fu Chaoyun walked over. She dismissed the people in front of Pei Xuezhi, turned around, and sat down in the seat opposite her, her tone lazy.
“Got a minute?”
Pei Xuezhi looked up.
“There’s a problem I can’t solve. Can you teach me?”
The gaze Pei Xuezhi fixed on her face suddenly seemed to deepen somewhat.
Both of them were exceptionally good-looking and dazzling—even though Pei Xuezhi was cold and aloof, her appearance and aura stood out remarkably in a crowd. She usually seemed to intentionally downplay her presence, but after that incident, her brilliance could no longer be concealed.
At this moment, all surrounding eyes were on the two of them.
Who didn’t know—
Although Fu Chaoyun usually seemed to be slacking off, her grades were excellent. What problem could she possibly not solve?
It was just…
Pei Xuezhi’s gaze lingered on Fu Chaoyun’s face for what seemed a bit long. Eventually, she lowered her head, her voice light, cold, and no different from usual.
“Which one?”
Fu Chaoyun also lowered her head.
But before that, she seemed to smile faintly.
Sunlight streamed in through the window, falling upon the lovers’ hair and shoulders, coating them in a warm, gilded hue. Opening the window, even the air was fresh, tinged with the pure scent of the wind, which playfully tousled their hair, tangling it together.
Intermingling, indistinguishable from each other.
…
…
Today.
Was a bright, sunny day.
Footnotes
- 众星捧月 | zhòng xīng pěng yuè | Literally “all the stars cupping the moon.” It describes someone who is the center of attention, admired and surrounded by many people.
- 镀个金 | dù ge jīn | Literally “to plate with a layer of gold.” It means to go abroad (often for study or a short period) to gain some prestige or qualifications, often superficially, to enhance one’s status or career prospects upon return.
- 财大气粗 | cái dà qì cū | Literally “rich in wealth and rough in breath.” Describes someone who is wealthy and acts generously or sometimes ostentatiously due to their wealth.
- 纨绔子 | wánkùzǐ | Also wánkù zǐdì (纨绔子弟). Refers to sons of rich families; profligate young men; dandies; rich playboys.
- 特招生 | tèzhāoshēng | Specially recruited students, often admitted based on specific talents or to fulfill quotas, and frequently receiving scholarships or financial aid. In this context, they are often contrasted with students from wealthy families who may have gained admission through connections or donations.
- 孙畅翔 | Sūn Chàngxiáng
- 睚眦必报 | yá zì bì bào | Literally “to glare with angry eyes and surely retaliate.” Means to be vindictive and seek revenge for even the smallest grievance.
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