Chapter 3: “Some People Are Born Bad Seeds” “Some People Are Born… Difficult”

“Some people are born bad seeds.”

“Some people are born… difficult.”

—

Campus bullying incidents cropped up endlessly. Almost everyone who had gone through their student days had encountered similar experiences to varying degrees.

Xiang Yu was no exception. She just hadn’t expected to run into it on her very first day reporting to Huaqing—it was truly beyond her expectations.

She kicked the base of the wall and tilted her head toward Wei Zhi. The sportswear she wore made her appear even taller, slimmer, and more elongated. Sunlight streamed in from the window outside, filtering through the dappled leaves and sprinkling spots of light across her face. Her eyes gleamed with an unusually dark intensity—

“Isn’t this supposed to be a key high school? Just this?”

“What you’re saying… A key high school—is it a high school or not?”

Fair point. It had nothing to do with whether it was key or not. Bullies existed everywhere.

Wei Zhi led Xiang Yu around to familiarize her with the surroundings. Even when the bell for the second period rang, the two were still reluctant to stop. But Wei Zhi didn’t dare skip class anymore—this was their homeroom teacher’s period. If they got caught… she’d be in for it.

She patted Xiang Yu’s arm. “You go report first. Once you’re done… we’ll meet up.”

“Okay.”

Xiang Yu wasn’t in a hurry either. She strolled back leisurely.

She thought the earlier incident was just a minor blip, but when she arrived at the dean’s office, she saw her little aunt Qin Yuan still waiting outside the office door.

Xiang Yu grew a bit impatient. She didn’t understand—what could be so troublesome about reporting in? It had been nearly an hour already. Why wasn’t it done?

She walked over, about to speak, when Qin Yuan pulled her aside. Qin Yuan shook her head at her and glanced toward the dean’s office door.

Xiang Yu looked accordingly. Through the half-open door, a crowd of people crammed inside.

Suddenly, an furious fat woman burst out, pointing at a girl in school uniform and unleashing a tirade.

The girl faced away from the door, with an elderly person with a full head of white hair standing beside her. The elderly person’s hand pressed on her neck, their voice trembling with agitation—

“Apologize! Apologize right now! Didn’t you hear me!”

But the more the elderly person urged her to apologize, the straighter the girl’s neck stiffened, like it was reinforced with steel rebar. No matter how they pressed… she didn’t budge an inch.

“You’re so stubborn! Is it that hard to just say sorry?!”

Seeing she couldn’t persuade the girl, the elderly person stepped in themselves, their words laced with cowardice, trembling as they said—

“How about this… I’ll apologize to you on her behalf…”

Xiang Yu couldn’t see the girl’s face, but her ears were filled with the fat woman’s filthy shrieks.

“You’ll apologize for her? Then can I go ahead and hit her myself?!”

“I just don’t get it… Isn’t No. 69 Middle School a key high school? What kind of wild thing did you let in?! It’s only been a few days of school, and we’ve already run into something this unlucky!”

“Who did my daughter provoke? Look at this forehead… it’s all bruised!!”

The fat woman’s voice grew even more arrogant—

“You worthless thing with a mother who birthed you but didn’t raise you! Who’s your mother?! Calling over some old grandma to fool who?! If word gets out, people will think I bullied an old lady!”

“Hit someone and now playing mute, huh?”

“I’m telling you, this isn’t over today!”

With that, the woman dragged her own daughter toward the dean, shoving her forward to show the bruise on her forehead.

“Ren Dongliu’s mother, Ms. Ren Beng, is right outside… Why don’t you—”

The dean hadn’t finished before the fat woman cut him off.

“Ren Beng?!!”

A shrill screech exploded. An elbow slammed the half-open door wide, banging against the wall with a thud.

At the same time, Xiang Yu and Qin Yuan noticed a slender woman standing in the corner to their left.

The woman kept her head down, wearing ill-fitting clothes. The shirt hem dragged long, and the pant legs were rolled up several times to barely reach her ankles, revealing a pair of washed-out, faded old sneakers.

The moment her name was called, she snapped to attention, instinctively responding with a “Here!”

But she quickly realized her mistake and reined in her emotions. Still, her two hands hanging at her sides twisted the hem of her shirt nonstop, unable to hide her panic.

Though the “Here” was quiet, Xiang Yu and Qin Yuan heard it. Seeing the woman’s actions now…

This was…

Xiang Yu and Qin Yuan exchanged a glance, then silently looked away.

But Xiang Yu had sharp eyes. She noticed a small black mole at the corner of the woman’s left eye.

The fat woman charged out of the office, looking ready to settle scores.

Just as she lunged toward Ren Beng, everyone’s eyes in the office followed her path, focusing squarely on Ren Beng.

Only then did the girl, who had refused to apologize earlier, finally speak—

“I’m sorry, I was wrong.”

“It was my fault. I apologize.”

“I’m sorry.”

The girl stood at the door… and slowly turned around. Her face was pallid, colorless, but her eyes burned red. She looked like she was about to cry… yet an innate stubbornness and pride forced her to hold it back desperately.

She seemed trapped in a cloud on an overcast day, devoid of any spirit.

Yet today was clearly bright and sunny.

Xiang Yu finally saw her face…

It was her.

The girl stepped out of the office and walked straight to the raging fat woman. Her attitude was even more subservient than when she’d apologized inside, bowing at a full ninety degrees—

“I’m sorry, I was wrong.”

“I apologize to you.”

Xiang Yu couldn’t stand watching such a stubborn girl suddenly become so humble. She was an eyewitness; she knew the full sequence of events in the girls’ bathroom better than anyone.

It was clearly the girl who had been bullied—why was she the one apologizing?

And look at the bully and her mother…

Were they trying to flip the script?

Xiang Yu immediately furrowed her brows—

“Report to the teacher! She struck first. She pinned her down and beat her, and she was the one spewing filth first… The words were too dirty; I can’t repeat them.”

“Hey…”

Qin Yuan pretended to wave her hand in the air.

“You’re such a quick-mouthed kid.”

At those words, the bully’s homeroom teacher and the fat woman both looked incredulous, especially the fat woman, whose expression was shocked—

“No way! My daughter is always the most obedient!”

The woman’s voice was piercing. Xiang Yu had no patience for such an unreasonable person. She simply covered her ears and spoke louder when she opened her mouth again—

“Wei Zhi from Class 2 Grade 10 saw it too. Don’t believe me? Go get her.”

“Your voice is so loud, kid.” Qin Yuan pretended to wave her hand again.

“Is it? No, it’s not.”

Xiang Yu shrugged indifferently, utterly fearless.

So bold.

At that moment, Ren Dongliu’s homeroom teacher spoke up opportunely—

“If that’s the case, then we really need to get this straightened out.”

“Wei Zhi from Class 2 Grade 10, right?”

Hearing this, Xiang Yu immediately raised her hand, volunteering—

“I’ll go get her!”

She ran fast and dragged Wei Zhi back from class in under three minutes.

Wei Zhi took one look at the scene and understood without Xiang Yu explaining. Unlike Xiang Yu, Wei Zhi always said it like it was. If it was true, she recounted every word verbatim. So the dirty words Xiang Yu couldn’t repeat came pouring from her mouth—

“She struck first. She pinned her down and beat her. The other girl was just defending herself properly, and it was her who started cursing and provoking.”

Wei Zhi repeated the obscenities like a recorder—

“They called her… slut, vixen, shameless…”

She’d only gotten halfway when Teacher Li’s face fell. She hurriedly waved her hands to stop her.

She stopped it, but Ren Dongliu’s homeroom teacher wouldn’t let it go—

“Teacher Li, if even you as an adult can’t stomach those words, imagine how a child like our Ren Dongliu could? She needs to apologize.”

The fat woman, who had been yelling that it wasn’t over, now tried to brush it off with a breezy “misunderstanding.”

“Hey… Curse someone out and then try to slip away?”

“That won’t do… At least an apology is in order, right?”

Xiang Yu tugged at her zipper and chimed in unexpectedly.

Seeing no one respond, Qin Yuan smiled instead and patted Xiang Yu’s head—

“No helping it. My kid here is just too upright. She can’t stand injustice like this.”

In the end, the farce concluded with the woman’s reluctant “sorry.”

But Xiang Yu still didn’t get a chance to say a word to Ren Dongliu. The situation was too awkward right now—if she rashly went over to chat, it would invite disdain.

Still, since they were at the same school and seemed to be in the same grade from what she’d overheard… they’d run into each other again sooner or later. It was just a matter of time.

What Xiang Yu hadn’t anticipated was how soon—and how quickly—that time would come.

After finishing her registration, collecting her uniform and books, she reached the classroom door before even entering. She spotted Ren Dongliu first, inwardly surprised… They were in the same class.

Xiang Yu’s gaze fixed there, frozen in place.

Perhaps sensing someone watching, Ren Dongliu, who had her head down, suddenly looked up. Their eyes met briefly before Ren Dongliu quickly lowered her head again.

Her expression was utterly flat and cold… as if she’d never seen Xiang Yu before.

After that, she kept her head down reading, never looking up again.

Xiang Yu realized staring wasn’t appropriate and hurriedly averted her eyes.

Of course… After such a humiliating scene, if she were in Ren Dongliu’s shoes, she probably wouldn’t want to see anyone from it again either.

Even so, Xiang Yu couldn’t help glancing at Ren Dongliu. She felt puzzled—why was Ren Dongliu’s seat an isolated desk by the lectern? There were empty seats in the class. Why no desk mate? Why sit alone?

Even stranger, the classmates seemed to avoid her. Every glance that landed on her carried hostility and disdain.

A few huddled together behind her, whispering who-knows-what.

But instinct told Xiang Yu it was nothing good.

“Classmate… your notebook fell.”

Xiang Yu walked over, bent down to pick up the softcover notebook from the floor, and handed it to Ren Dongliu.

Ren Dongliu didn’t lift her head, just reached out to take it, murmuring a barely audible “thanks.” She stuffed it into her drawer and resumed reading.

Xiang Yu had never met anyone like Ren Dongliu. For a moment, she didn’t know what to do. Her intentions were clearly friendly, yet it felt like in Ren Dongliu’s eyes… it came off as some rude intrusion.

Reason told her to walk away now, but for some reason… a string tugged in her heart. A clear voice in her mind said—

She wanted to get to know Ren Dongliu.

“I’m Xiang Yu. I just transferred in today. I sit in the back.”

Xiang Yu even pointed. She was tall, and as a last-minute addition, the homeroom teacher had placed her in the last row.

Like Ren Dongliu, she had no desk mate.

But Ren Dongliu kept her head down, silent.

Undeterred, Xiang Yu wanted to say more, but before she could, Wei Zhi came over and dragged her away.

Wei Zhi pressed Xiang Yu into her seat and glanced up at Ren Dongliu.

“What’s her deal? Why so weird? I talked to her… and she ignored me?”

“I’m not a bad person, and… I just helped her out, didn’t I?”

“She’s always like that.”

“What do you mean?”

“This story is a long one. You’ll find out later.”

After saying that, Wei Zhi patted Xiang Yu’s shoulder again and hurried back to her own class before the bell rang.

At the time, Xiang Yu didn’t understand exactly what Wei Zhi meant by “you’ll find out later,” but because of this incident, she began to pay unintentional attention to Ren Dongliu deep in her heart.

She gazed at the girl sitting beside the podium—thin shoulders, a small back, her body huddled inside the loose school uniform.

Loneliness rained down upon her head.

It wasn’t until much later, after the days stretched on, that Xiang Yu finally understood…

Ren Dongliu’s life was even harder than it appeared.