Chapter 56 – A Duel Challenge
TL: Milaryn
Edit: IlkonEbi
Bright and early the next morning, Lingjing crawled out of bed and went downstairs. She was wearing a Doraemon-patterned apron and sang to herself as she started preparing breakfast. Last week had passed in a blur, and now that they had been divided into different classes, today could be considered the first day of the new semester.
The dining table was an older piece of furniture that came with the apartment, and the three of them bought a warm blue-colored tablecloth to cover it. During meal times, the two girls liked to take off their slippers and either swung them, or tangled their legs with Jiaming as they rested on him. Occasionally, Jiaming would be bothered by them, so he would use the other side of his chopsticks to jab at the soles of the two girls’ feet which would cause them to quickly retreat. Of course, if they were overly excited, it could lead to a slightly different explosive situation. It was difficult to know how the situation would evolve as children are usually unrestrained.
They went to school together, each holding their own lunch boxes. They set up a time to meet at noon at a certain location in the beautiful school building, then headed to their own classes. There were six classrooms on each floor of the school building: Lingjing’s classroom was the first one on the second floor, Jiaming’s was the last one on the second floor, and Shasha’s was the first one on the first floor. The three of them could be considered as being completely separated from each other.
The classroom was still a noisy room, full with a crowd of strangers, but the main thing that was different was that it was much more spacious and brighter than their old one. The desks were also cleaner and more beautiful, and there was a computer monitor screen in the front top corner of the classroom. At the teaching podium, a beautiful female student was currently writing the names of each student on the blackboard. As school had just started and there were no assigned seats, Jiaming headed to the back corner seat and placed his bag down. Unexpectedly, in the crowd of noisy students, he discovered an acquaintance.
It was the fatty that used to bully him: Huang Haobing.
As a matter of fact, this past relationship between the two of them had lasted when and before he was ten years old. Ever since he had been reborn and met Shasha, Huang Haobing no longer dared to provoke him. Because Jiaming, Lingjing and Shasha started hanging out together, Jiaming usually returned to the Huang family’s mansion late at night and there was a very low chance of them interacting. Today, the sixteen year old Huang Haobing could no longer be considered a fatty, but was a burly young man instead. He still had the tendency to bully people, but he had not caused any incidents lately. It was also common knowledge amongst the Huang family that he played basketball quite well.
When Huang Haobing caught sight of Jiaming, he actually gave him a friendly wave and Jiaming returned it with a smile. Then he sat down at his desk and prepared to go to sleep. After being in a half-awake state for an unknown amount of time, a certain feeling suddenly roused him. There was someone nearby jabbering on and on.
“Ms. Tsukichi, I’m really sorry about the situation a few days ago. Please accept my sincere apologies…”
When he opened his eyes, a large fresh bouquet of red roses dazzled him. The person holding these flowers was one of the leaders that had started the riot in the plaza, Lui family’s Lui Fang. The female student wearing a refreshing set of light blue casual clothes that he was apologizing profusely to, had not looked at Lui Fang once. Her eyes widened when she saw Jiaming and then she bowed politely at him, before asking him in not fully proficient Chinese, “Fellow student, is there anyone sitting beside you?”
Tsukichi Kaoru’s voice was as indifferent and cool as before, like a refreshing spring in the middle of this scorching summer heat. It was so frosty that it gave Jiaming shivers. If he knew that this woman would be so troublesome, he would rather have let her hang herself… However, those thoughts just flashed by quickly and he ended up nodding, “There’s no one. Please feel free to sit.”
He actually wanted to say, “If you want to die then feel free to sit there” but it was a pity that Tsukichi Kaoru had not been learning Chinese for long and so would have been unable to pick up on his sarcasm.
At this aristocratic school, the rich children were exposed to relationships between men and women way earlier than usual, and it was not a big deal for someone to gift roses. However Lui Fang’s loud voice attracted many people’s attention.
He was still jabbering away non-stop, when suddenly the classroom door opened and several people appeared. A big male student in a sports suit led the way, while a few people behind him looked into the classroom and pointed. Jiaming’s memory was quite good, so he recognized that two of them were from yesterday’s incident with the soccer ball. Sure enough, that male student along with his group of people walked towards them, then he patted Lui Fang on the shoulder, “Hey, Ah Fang, why are you also here?”
“I came over to apologize.” Lui Fang raised the bundle of roses in his hand, “Ah Cheng, you also came over. Is that kid in this class?”
“Un, it’s that guy behind you.” That big male student said, then slammed on Tsukichi Kaoru’s desk before pointing at Jiaming, “Hey you, elementary school student, what’s your name?”
“Gu Jiaming,” Jiaming yawned and smiled faintly.
“Gu Jiaming… come with me.” The big male student beckoned. Before Jiaming had a chance to respond, another voice suddenly interrupted, “Lui Fang! Han Gangcheng! What are you doing in this class?!” It was the female student that had been writing names on the blackboard just a moment ago. She rushed over and pushed aside the male student’s hand. It seemed that she knew the two of them, and when Lui Fang saw her, he smiled and said, “Dongfang Wan, it’s none of your business. You’ve just entered this class, and you already want to stand up for someone you don’t even know?”
“It’s not a matter of standing up for someone. The teacher made me this class’ monitor, so I will not allow you guys to just disrupt it! You both must be very free to have time to come into this class and bully someone without any reason!”
“For no reason?” That Lui Fang smiled briefly, “You know that incident yesterday afternoon by the school gates? That kid fractured Lu Jianchuan’s ribs and broke his finger. He won’t be able to join the mixed martial arts competition this year, and you’re saying that it’s for no reason?” Hearing this, Dongfang Wan turned to look at the innocent-looking Jiaming. At the same time, Huang Haobing that was sitting at the front started laughing.
“Haha, and I was wondering who got into a fight. Cousin, you’re really awesome. It must be due to that Ye Martial Art’s School, right? I also want to join this summer.”
Jiaming sighed, “I accidentally collided with him… There were so many of them bullying us, and the most I could do was break his finger…”
“Huang Haobing, he’s your cousin?” Lui Fang revealed a stunned expression, before that Han Gangcheng spoke up, “So what if you’re part of the Huang family. He caused Ah Chuan to become like this! I have to resolve this matter today no matter what. Dongfang Wan, even if your brother was here, he would not be able to stop me!”
Dongfan Wan did not back away and raised her head instead, “No matter how you say it, you think I don’t know happened? A lot of people know about yesterday’s situation. You and your bunch of friends saw how beautiful his two friends were and deliberately caused trouble. The soccer ball hit that girl’s head and if it was me, I would’ve beaten you all up as well!”
“Ok, ok, everyone…” Lui Fang waved his hands a few times, “We’re not talking about who caused trouble right now. At this point in time, Lu Jianchuan is unable to participate in the competition and it is a great loss to our martial arts club. We did not say we would gang up on him, but this situation needs to be resolved. We want to propose a one-on-one fight, just like a proper man would! After this one fight, we’ll no longer pursue this matter!”
“It’s a challenge, who’s afraid of you!” Dongfang Wan declared strongly.
"You think our Huang family is scared of your Lui family?" Huang Haobing was also unwilling to back down.
"Oh yeah?"
"Who’s afraid of you!"
"Then today, in the afternoon!"
"Yes, today in the afternoon!"
"After school then!"
"Fine, after school! The dojo, the gym, or the sports field, take your pick!"
“……”
Lui Fang, Han Gangcheng, Dongwan Fang and Huang Haobin all shouted and completed each other’s sentences while the agitated Lui Fang waved the bundle of roses in his hands and caused petals to fly everywhere. Jiaming watched on, amazed at their antics. Then shortly after, the four of them decided on a time and location, and Lui Fang and Han Gangcheng both left satisfied. Dongfang Wan and Huang Haobing felt somewhat embarrassed after they left. She smiled flusteredly at Jiaming, “It shouldn’t be a problem right? After school, I’ll gather our class to come cheer for you, Gu… um, student Gu Jiaming, haha…”
After saying that she hastily returned to her seat without waiting for Jiaming to reply. Huang Haobing also smiled, and leaned on his desk to whisper, “Jiaming, how good are you at fighting? Well… if you’re not confident, you should get Lingjing, or even Liu Huaisha, ok? One of them has won martial arts competitions, while the other has a criminal family background. No matter who Lui Fang sends out, the three of you can handle it. Hehe, you guys will win for sure!”
After Huang Haobing finished, the bell signifying the beginning of class rang and he turned back to the front. Jiaming’s mouth twitched slightly. A male teacher entered the classroom and started introducing himself, but before he could finish, a stern-looking Zhang Yahan appeared at the door. She greeted the male teacher before striding into the classroom and coldly requested, “Student Gu Jiaming, please come with me.”
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