Bright lights shone overhead from the indoor court. Spring rain pattered on the roof, distant but audible in its drizzle.
Gu Ningzi stood ramrod straight, her skin porcelain-pale, her brows and eyes sharp.
“Don’t. Provoke. Me!” she enunciated, each word clear.
Zhou Yue couldn’t resist teasing: “So cocky. A-Hui, can’t handle her?”
Cao Pinhui’s anger surged: “Heh, what if I do provoke you?”
Gu Ningzi glanced at Zhou Yue, then fixed her gaze back on Cao Pinhui: “Try it and see.”
Zhou Damao rolled his sore shoulder and quietly positioned himself at Gu Ningzi’s side. The other Class 6 boys, forced into a lopsided basketball game, followed suit and gathered behind her.
…
Chi Nuan’s heart hung high in suspense.
The door handle clicked. The intern teacher walked in, stopwatch in hand, to announce the end of class. She froze at the scene and asked: “What’s going on?”
Zhou Yue tugged Cao Pinhui and signaled a teammate to fetch the ball.
Cao Pinhui pointed at Gu Ningzi but said nothing more. He stormed out, slamming the door against the wall.
His teammates followed suit, and soon the basketball gym echoed with slamming doors.
Each bang made Chi Nuan’s heart jolt.
Zhou Damao bumped Gu Ningzi’s back with his arm: “I could tell early on—you’re no ordinary fish in the pond, classmate. You’ve got guts! If you didn’t show your stuff, others would’ve thought Class 6 was easy pickings!”
Gu Ningzi glanced sideways at him.
“…” Zhou Damao sheepishly withdrew his arm.
…
Back in the Changing Room, Cao Pinhui nearly smashed a storage locker in the corner. Zhou Yue cleared out the others and, once Cao Pinhui calmed, handed him a bottle of water.
“Gu Ningzi’s got that stinky temper—won’t bend soft or hard. …It’s not like there aren’t other girls out there.”
Cao Pinhui chugged half the bottle, then lifted his jersey. Zhou Yue saw a large red patch where she’d kicked his stomach.
Zhou Yue whistled: “She really freaking dared.”
…
That evening, Chi Nuan did homework in the dorm. Xu Dan copied from Chi Nuan’s finished math paper while chatting with Du Min.
“I didn’t expect Gu Ningzi to have such big balls! What happened to the last guy at our school who squared up to Cao Pinhui like that?”
Du Min cradled her phone: “She’s just banking on Cao Pinhui liking her. Otherwise, she’d have to be donkey-kicked in the head to act so reckless.”
“…” Xu Dan peeked at Du Min’s screen. “What are you looking at? Why do you sound like some domineering CEO?”
Du Min giggled and shot Xu Dan a knowing look: “This one’s super good, super long—the author’s already written over two million words, and they say there’s at least three million more to come.”
Xu Dan read it out word by word: “Overbearing Affection: CEO’s Spoiled Wife Unleashed Love.”
Chi Nuan, who was doing homework: “…”
Chi Nuan set down her pen and asked them: “What do you think made Gu Ningzi do that today?”
Du Min: “What else? Strong class spirit. Look at our boys—a bunch of losers needing a girl to stand up for them. Embarrassing!”
Chi Nuan: “…”
Xu Dan shook her head, disagreeing: “I think she just plain doesn’t like Cao Pinhui.”
Zhao Jingjing, fresh from washing her hair and emerging like Sadako with dripping strands, joined in: “Cao Pinhui didn’t do anything to Gu Ningzi today, right?”
Xu Dan thought back—only Zhou Yue had harassed Chi Nuan; Cao Pinhui hadn’t done anything outrageous.
Xu Dan: “That’s just it—some people are annoying just to look at, even if they do nothing! …Speaking of, what was up with Zhou Yue today?”
Chi Nuan bit her soft lip and mimicked Gu Ningzi: “He’s sick.”
Xu Dan laughed: “Our class monitor’s swearing now? Going bad, huh.”
Chi Nuan went back to her homework but felt restless, unable to settle.
Cao Pinhui was not to be trifled with. The last student who’d challenged him like that vanished from campus afterward.
Gu Ningzi was just a girl. Would she really be okay?
…
News of the basketball gym incident spread like wildfire through the school.
Soon, strangers poked their heads into Class 6’s doorway.
“Which one? Which is she?”
“That one, the girl in the last row of group four—Gu Ningzi! The roses last time were for her too!”
“Oh~, her. She’s alright-looking, I guess.”
“You call that ‘alright-looking’? Even if you like Cao Pinhui, don’t lie through your teeth.”
“Hmph. So what if she’s pretty? Scheming bitch, playing hard to get.”
“…”
Gu Ningzi ignored the probing stares and blatant comments from outside the classroom. She lounged lazily at her desk, flipping through a magazine.
Chi Nuan entered from the back door, hugging He Liwen’s graded assignments. As she passed, some gossiping girls outside nudged their companion: “That’s her—the one Zhou Yue messed with.”
“Her? Looks harmless enough. Tch, who knows how slutty she is behind closed doors, or why else would Zhou Yue target her?”
“Yeah, flies don’t bite seamless eggs.”
Chi Nuan was handing out assignments by group when a front-row classmate asked about a problem. She’d just started explaining with her pen when a loud bang echoed from the back door.
Startled, she looked up. Gu Ningzi had slammed the door shut.
