Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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After classes officially started, the school cafeteria began operating, and students generally ate lunch there or at small restaurants around the school. But because Haiyi’s cafeteria was renowned for its cleanliness and abundant food, most students chose to eat there.
As soon as the bell rang, a few mischievous boys rushed out of the classroom like the wind. The math teacher, used to this scene, joked while collecting lesson plans, “I hope they get their first serving of sweet and sour pork ribs this semester.”
Sweet and sour pork ribs[1] were Haiyi’s cafeteria’s signature dish, which were even featured on a local food program.
Yue Li had already been drooling thinking about it for a whole class period, and seeing this, she dragged Qi Ying along for a race to the cafeteria.
However, she underestimated the boys’ love for sweet and sour pork ribs. By the time they arrived, the bowls were already empty.
So they had to settle for sweet and sour fish balls[2] instead.
During the lunch rush, it was packed with people, and by the time Yue Li and Qi Ying finished getting their food, there were no empty tables left. In this situation, classes usually clustered together at shared tables, and Yue Li was no exception. She found a classmate, grabbed her tray, and headed towards their table.
Almost all the other tables were full, except for one near the glass door where only one person was seated.
People were constantly coming and going; no one dared to even glance at it, let alone sit down.
Yue Li was still talking to a classmate nearby: “Why are you sitting here again? It’s near the swill area, the smell is terrible!”
Her words were barely out when the noisy cafeteria suddenly fell silent for a moment.
Yue Li gasped, covering her mouth, thinking her voice was too loud, but then she realized everyone’s eyes were fixed on the door. She turned around to look too, and what she saw nearly made her drop her tray.
Qi Ying, who had been following behind her, was now sitting opposite Ji Rang.
Everyone at Haicheng No. 1 High School knew that Ji Rang never ate at the same table as anyone else; even the group of boys who hung out with him didn’t dare to overstep their bounds.
When Ji Rang first entered Haicheng No. 1 High School, no one took this supposedly formidable freshman seriously. Back then, the top student from the sports school, a senior in high school, arrogantly sat down opposite Ji Rang, only to be smashed in the face by a plate full of hot food in front of the entire school. The top student also lashed out, and Ji Rang knocked out two more teeth.
From then on, everyone avoided him.
Yue Li was nearly terrified. She wanted to shout, but Qi Ying couldn’t hear her; she wanted to go over, but she didn’t dare.
An eerie silence descended upon the entire cafeteria.
And Qi Ying was even smiling at the boy opposite her.
Deep down, she was somewhat unhappy. Why was everyone else chatting and laughing so happily, while the general sat here all alone? It was one thing for these people to misunderstand him and gossip about him, but to ostracize him was simply too much!
Ji Rang’s hand, holding a food pouch, froze in mid-air, not reacting for a moment.
Qi Ying blinked, as if puzzled, smiled sweetly at him, and then lowered her head to eat in small bites.
Her eating posture was also very well-behaved; her long eyelashes curled up and down with each chew, and although she was clearly enjoying her food, she didn’t make a sound.
Qu Dazhuang, Liu Haiyang, and the others sat at the next table, not daring to breathe, afraid that their brother would grab a plate and knock this special student who couldn’t even be touched by a hair.
Ji Rang stared at her for a long time before finally moving.
Everyone held their breath.
Then they saw the school bully pick up a spoon, scoop up a spoonful of soup, put it in his mouth, and continue eating.
The whole school: ?
Qu Dazhuang slammed his spoon heavily on the table: “What are you looking at? If you’re not going to eat, get out!”
The surrounding gazes quickly went away, and the cafeteria returned to its usual noise. Yue Li walked with difficulty to an empty seat and sat down, staring blankly at her classmates.
The class monitor, Huang Botong, asked, “What’s going on?”
Yue Li looked completely bewildered: “I have no idea.”
Class monitor Chen Meng hesitated and said, “Maybe… Ji Rang is more tolerant of special students.”
That’s true, after all, he helped Qi Ying yesterday. So it seems Ji Rang is quite friendly and sensible.
Over there, the friendly and sensible Ji Rang took a few sips of soup, his hand holding the spoon gradually tightening. Then as if Qi Ying could hear him, he scolded her in a low voice, “Didn’t I warn you to stay away from me?”
Qu Dazhuang poked his head out, “Huh? What did you say, Brother Rang?”
Ji Rang: “Get lost.”
Qu Dazhuang: “…Oh.”
Qi Ying, who was eating with her head down, caught a glimpse of the movement opposite her out of the corner of her eye, and subconsciously looked up, meeting the boy’s cold and fierce gaze.
The general looked so fierce.
Was the food bad?
She glanced at his plate; it clearly contained the sweet and sour pork ribs that Yue Li had said were the best. This was strange.
Qi Ying thought for a moment, picked up an unused spoon, scooped a fish ball from her plate, and placed it on Ji Rang’s plate.
Ji Rang: “?”
Qi Ying silently said, “This is delicious.”
Ji Rang: “…”
He understood the lip movements.
That gaze was incredibly pure, as if saying, “Try it!”
Ji Rang paused for a moment, then chuckled. He then tossed the fish ball aside with the tip of his chopsticks, muttering to himself, “Still pushing her luck.”
He didn’t eat the fish ball, and without even finishing his meal, he got up and left.
Qu Dazhuang and the others wiped their mouths and quickly followed.
Qi Ying watched his retreating figure, feeling a pang of sadness.
The general in this life seemed unapproachable.
Like he was covered in thorns.
She lowered her head and slowly stuffed her food into her mouth, bite by bite. Only after Ji Rang had left did Yue Li dare to approach. Without even wiping the grease from her lips, she pulled out her phone and typed for Qi Ying: Ying Ying, do you know that Ji Rang never eats at the same table with anyone? The last person who sat opposite him had two teeth knocked out by him!
Qi Ying: ?
She covered her mouth in fear.
I’m sorry, I misunderstood the general!
The general wasn’t unapproachable at all! He even went easy on her!
By that afternoon, the whole school knew that the school bully had eaten at the same table with the special student. After all, every move of a prominent figure provided fodder for gossip during the tedious course of study.
In the girls’ restroom, several girls were gossiping animatedly:
“The big shot rescued a damsel in distress yesterday, and they had lunch together today— is this the start of a romance?!”
“No way? Ji Rang doesn’t even like Xue Manqing, how could he like that deaf-mute girl?”
“But the special needs student is prettier than Xue Manqing.”
“Isn’t Ji Rang gay?”
“Hey, hey, hey, don’t glare at me! I didn’t say that! Everyone’s been saying this behind his back, that he’s indifferent to girls, rejects all confessions, and that he’s rejected Xue Manqing three or four times already…”
The bathroom door creaked open.
Xue Manqing walked out expressionlessly.
The gossipy girls exchanged glances and hurried away.
The afternoon passed quickly.
Near the end of the school day, Yu Zhuo messaged Qi Ying: “Sis, I’m on classroom duty today, wait for me in the classroom.”
Qi Ying replied: “Okay.”
Yu Zhuo added: “I heard you ate with Ji Rang today? Can you please stay away from him? He’s really not a good person.”
Qi Ying ignored him this time.
After copying Qi Ying’s notes, Yue Li greeted her, “Ying Ying, I won’t wait for you. We have a dictation test on the first unit’s vocabulary tomorrow, so I need to go home early to review!”
Qi Ying nodded. Although she couldn’t participate in the dictation test tomorrow, she still took out her English book and started reviewing. Almost an hour later, she received a WeChat message from Yu Zhuo, asking her to come downstairs and wait for him by the flower bed outside the teaching building.
Qi Ying packed her bag, waved to the classmates who were still cleaning, and left the classroom.
As she went down the stairs, seven or eight students emerged from around the corner. There were both boys and girls, grinning and blocking the entrance to the stairwell, asking her, “Hey, little mute, school’s out?”
Qi Ying couldn’t hear them, but instinctively felt their smiles were unfriendly, so she frowned and backed away.
The people around her surrounded her, trapping her in the middle.
The girl in the lead shoved her, saying, “You can’t even speak properly and you’re already so good at seducing people. If you could talk, wouldn’t you have all the boys in the school swooning over you?”
Several boys burst into laughter, “Don’t talk nonsense, who the hell wants to like a deaf and mute disabled person?”
The students cleaning the corridor glanced over, and the tall boy in the lead said sternly, “Don’t fu**ing meddle in other people’s business!”
The gazes quickly averted. This floor was filled with classrooms for the second-year high school students, and at this time of day, it was almost empty. Qi Ying didn’t know what they wanted to do, and she couldn’t leave. At this moment, she was so anxious that she was about to cry.
Just as she was at a loss, her eyes caught sight of a familiar figure coming down the stairs, and her eyes lit up instantly.
It was Ji Rang.
The people who were surrounding her also saw him, and a look of fear immediately appeared on their faces. Just as they were panicking, Ji Rang walked past them without looking at them, as if he hadn’t seen anyone there.
The group breathed a sigh of relief, and the light in Qi Ying’s eyes instantly dimmed.
One of the boys sneered, reaching out to wipe her face: “I must say, that face, making that pitiful expression, is actually quite alluring.”
Qi Ying suddenly shoved him hard.
She had been standing quietly, letting them bully her, but this sudden force caught the boy off guard. He was standing on the steps, lost his balance, and fell backward, tripping on his heel and landing hard.
Everyone was stunned. The fallen boy cursed, furious, and quickly got up, raising his hand to slap Qi Ying’s face.
But his arm was suddenly grabbed mid-air.
The boy turned around and cursed, “F**k you…” but seeing the person behind him, he swallowed the rest of the words as if he’d seen a ghost.
Ji Rang stood behind him with an icy expression, his long fingers almost breaking the boy’s arm. Amid the boy’s pained expression, he flung him backward, saying only one word: “Get lost.”
The group of bad students scattered.
The tears that Qi Ying had been holding back suddenly burst forth.
Ji Rang looked down at her, his face showing impatience: “What are you crying for? Didn’t I come back?”
She cried even harder.
He rummaged through his pockets, finding nothing, and finally pulled out his math book from his bag. He tore off a page, crumpled it into a ball, and crumpled it several times until it was soft before handing it to Qi Ying: “Don’t cry, or people will think I bullied you.”
She took the crumpled paper and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.
Ji Rang asked again, “Where’s your arrogant little brother? Why didn’t he come to pick you up?”
Qi Ying pursed her lips, her eyes red as she looked at him.
Ji Rang couldn’t stand that look.
He looked away, stretched out two fingers, and lifted her bag, walking downstairs. Qi Ying quickly followed, and after a few steps, Ji Rang looked down. Sure enough, she had grabbed his clothes again.
Her fingertips were fair and delicate, carefully twisting a small piece of his clothes, as if afraid of upsetting him, the force so light it was almost imperceptible.
Noticing his gaze, Qi Ying loosened her grip, hesitatingly letting go.
Ji Rang paused, took out the sleeve of his school uniform draped over his shoulder, and handed it to her behind his back.
He then said impatiently, “Take it and hold it.”
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