Jiang Su casually grabbed some paper from the desk, crumpled it up, and stuffed it into Hu Xiao's open mouth, about to say something: "Shush."
Even though his voice was soft, it sounded somewhat... gentle.
Apart from Jiang Su's slightly cold gaze, he looked no different from his usual aloof demeanor.
The rumors about him were countless, especially after he had just moved from the first class, where all the students had been talking about him and how terrifying he was over the past week.
They couldn't pin down why he was terrifying, but the impression of "Jiang Su is terrifying" had infiltrated their hearts without their awareness.
He didn't overstep his boundaries, yet Hu Xiao was still scared and held his breath in fear.
Jiang Su clearly didn't want to waste time with Hu Xiao. He let go of his collar, stood up straight, and under the covert glances from everyone in the classroom, strolled casually towards his seat.
After he walked some distance away, the dumbfounded Hu Xiao finally managed to collect his thoughts. He spat out the scrunched paper, making a "Pah" sound, then angrily eyed the drifting figure of Jiang Su.
Jiang Su did not stop. He simply twisted his head slightly backwards and lifted a finger to silence Hu Xiao.
"..." Hu Xiao opened his mouth, but couldn't utter any words.
His face turned red then pale as he stared at Jiang Su. Full of humiliation and resentment, he reluctantly reseated himself.
As Jiang Su walked by the second-to-last row, he subtly turned his head.
An obedient girl at the desk didn't watch the drama like the others, but kept her head down, working on her chemistry paper.
In this short time, she had already managed to complete the entire page.
Jiang Su leaned back lazily in his chair, pulling out his phone.
The classroom was quiet because of the unexpected interruption.
This quiet lasted for ten minutes before the chatter gradually resumed.
Bai Jian leaned towards Lin Wei and whispered, copying the answers to Lin Wei's chemistry paper. "That really scared me. I thought Jiang Su was going to hit Hu Xiao."
Lin Wei simply responded with a nonchalant "Mm," before preparing to flip the page.
"Wait, there are two more fill-in-the-blank questions," Bai Jian hastily jotted down the answers. Then he asked Lin Wei, "Weiwei, aren't you scared? I almost broke into a cold sweat just now. I'm still shaking a bit. How can you remain so calm?"
Lin Wei paused for a moment. After a brief thought, she whispered to Bai Jian, "Oh yeah, I was so terrified that I almost wet my pants."
A thump sounded from behind her.
Lin Wei and Bai Jian turned their heads.
The big shot, who had occupied two desks all by himself, bent down to pick up his phone from the floor without any change in his expression.
Lin Wei and Bai Jian turned back to their original positions, carrying on their conversation while solving and copying problems.
"But seriously Weiwei, Hu Xiao is really annoying. He's even more feminine than a girl. He only dares to pull such stunts because you're too docile. You saw, at the sight of Jiang Su lifting a finger, he didn't dare to utter a word…"
Jiang Su took out a wet wipe and painstakingly cleaned his phone, laying his head on the table and laughing silently to himself.
If she were truly docile and timid, could she have kept her composure while tackling a quarter of her homework during his standoff with Hu Xiao?
Though he wasn't sure why she deliberately appeared to be obedient, even timid.
But ever since he found that button that night, he knew that she wasn't the least bit obedient.
At least he was certain of one thing: if she was obedient, then all the girls in class were obedient.
The conversation between the two girls then quickly moved from Jiang Su to quotidian matters.
"Wei Wei, what should we have for lunch?"
"Fish-flavored shredded pork over rice?"
"Sounds good."
"..."
The school bell rang for the end of morning classes. Within five minutes, the classroom was empty.
Jiang Su leaned against the wall, playing with his phone and waiting for about ten minutes when he heard Xu Shu's voice echoing through the hallway, "Su bro, time to eat, Su bro, Susu—"
Jiang Su turned off his phone screen, grabbed his jacket from the chair, and walked out of the classroom.
Jiang Su did not have any particular demands when it came down to food, and Cheng Zhu usually went along with whatever Xu Shu suggested. Therefore, when the three of them ate, they would typically eat whatever Xu Shu was eating.
The three of them walked out of the school building one by one. Xu Shu then asked, "What should we eat? Rice noodles? Fried noodles? Boxed meal? Or, as usual, we just eat wherever we find seating?"
Jiang Su walked forward a few steps: "...Rice bowl."
Xu Shu: "What?"
"Yuxiang shredded pork over rice."
"Gosh, Su has grown up; he's even ordering his own food now." Xu Shu draped an arm over Cheng Zhu's shoulder, "City Lord, don't you feel that Su is becoming less and less like himself? I wonder what kind of magic potion or secret elixir is hidden in grade two class one. After all, it managed to change my Su…"
...
After lunch, Lin Wei and Bai Jian returned to the classroom.
The classroom was a bit empty. After a full meal, one tends to get drowsy, so Lin Wei rested her head on the desk to sleep, while Bai Jian used her phone at the side to message her four boyfriends.
When she was almost asleep, a group of people entered the classroom. Their commotion woke Lin Wei up.
Among them was Hu Xiao, whose voice was especially loud, "I'm not weak, it's just that I don't want to lower myself to his level. His brain is abnormal, he is not a normal person. You have to keep a distance from those with mental illness. If such a person does anything to you, you'd be helpless. No matter what, you'd be the one at a disadvantage…"
Without lifting her head, Lin Wei subtly turned her head towards the window.
Given Hu Xiao's small-minded nature, Jiang Su embarrassing him in class was something he would hold a grudge for.
However, that incident in class had nothing to do with him.
Hu Xiao was targeting her, not him…
Hu Xiao continued to sneer and jeer at Jiang Su.
Lin Wei was feeling a bit annoyed.
"You can tell what kind of person Jiang Su is just by thinking about it. If he was really a good person, why doesn't any of his former classmates from upstairs ever come looking for him? I don't get why he was allowed to join our class, his grades are so bad. Due to him, our class's average score will surely drop. I can't help but wonder if because of him, we might get a lower average than class two. It's such an unlucky thing to be in the same class with someone so terrible…"
For some reason, Lin Wei thought of the unsightly scar on Jiang Su's wrist.
She always felt that there was a story behind Jiang Su, not what everyone was gossiping about.
But she was barely managing her own life, let alone having any capacity to consider others.
And that 'other' was someone who had helped her.
This sense of powerlessness annoyed Lin Wei even more. Not wanting to hear Hu Xiao's voice anymore, she got up and left the classroom through the back door.
The moment she turned around, she saw Jiang Su coming from the stairs on the opposite side.
He was tall and stood out in the hallway where a few people were lingering around.
As he walked by, a few students from other classes looked at him quietly, yet he appeared as though he didn't notice, his face emotionless.
He had only been in class one for a few days, but in those short days people feared him but also pointed him out.
He spent very little time at school and mostly kept to himself, not speaking or hanging out with anyone, and no one spoke or stuck with him either.
Did the students on this floor fear him, or were they….isolating him?
From the classroom behind her, Hu Xiao's loud rants could still be heard.
Watching Jiang Su approach, Lin Wei didn't quite know why she stepped in front of him.
She didn't want to let him into the classroom.
She didn't want him to hear those hurtful words.
Jiang Su stopped in his tracks and glanced at Lin Wei, "What's up?"
Lin Wei had only thought of stopping him but not come up with an excuse. Her mind blanked out for two seconds before she blinked and said, "Hey, want to go to the bathroom together?"