There is a new transfer student at school.
The new student stood on the podium and made a brief self-introduction. In just one minute, the transfer student in a school uniform stood on the podium and accepted the scrutiny of the whole class.
From her hair to her face, to her nails to her shoes, everything exudes the roughness of not caring for superficial things, and the cheapness of cheap department store goods. The classmates quickly classified her——
Another "top student".
A top student is not a compliment in this private school.
It can be regarded as a derogatory term.
This new girl named Xia Tang quickly integrated into the class, or more precisely, disappeared from the class.
It's like water drops disappearing on a hot summer, evaporating a little bit of heat. It hardly bothers anyone and hardly affects anyone.
"Top students" sat together. Li Zimo, Xia Tang's deskmate, was entrusted by the teacher to guide her to familiarize herself with the campus. On the first day of school, all she could see was a small corner of the school.
The best and most expensive middle school in the city, with teachers who graduated from top prestigious schools and Olympic champions, and fashionable preparations such as clubs and student unions have never been left behind. The campus covers all kinds of sports venues, laboratories and restaurants. From the constant temperature, indoor swimming pool to the professional observatory, if the area is not limited, a golf course and horse farm may also be included in it.
These are all written in the school's beautifully bound introduction brochure.
Standing upstairs and looking at the well-tended school, Xia Tang recalled the artificial soccer field before, and thought that this is really a campus that complements the high tuition fees.
At noon, they eat in the canteen near the teaching building, which is the cheapest of the five canteens.
On the vast campus, girls in white shirts and school uniforms and boys in black uniforms can sometimes be seen passing by on golf trams. The school prohibits private vehicles from entering the campus, and only allows trams on campus to be rented.
"You also know that in private schools, there will inevitably be a little bit of bullying." During lunch, Li Zimo told her, "But as long as you avoid those people who love to make trouble, there are surveillance cameras everywhere in the school, and others dare not do anything rash. Those who paid the entrance education fund play together, those of us who receive scholarships hang out with each other, and overall, life is still very ordinary.”
Ordinary.
Xia Tang held the plate, looking thoughtful.
There was a little commotion in the corridor between classes in the afternoon, and the students suddenly clung to the windows to see the figures passing by the corridor. As a new classmate, Xia Tang followed and looked around.
The boy walking down the corridor was also in uniform, with his hands in his pockets, tall, handsome, broad-shouldered, with dark hair and eyes that gave him a fair complexion. His cronies and friends followed up from behind, and asked him with a smile why he suddenly walked this way today.
"That's Lu Xiao." Li Zimo whispered to Xia Tang, "He's the kind of person in school you can't mess with."
"He likes to bully people?" Xia Tang asked.
"Yes." Li Zimo lowered his voice, and dared to whisper close to her ear, "He has a bad temper, and his family is powerful. I heard that last time someone provoked him for some reason and was beaten by him and sent to the hospital, and later even forced to drop out of school."
The person walking in the sight of everyone had dark eyebrows, sharp side profile, and thin lips pursed into a line. He really seemed to be in a bad mood and and has a bad temper.
"Hey, it's really arrogant." Xia Tang sighed in a low voice.
The campus bully walking past the window is now wearing a uniform, buttoned all the way to the neckline, looking like a good student.
When passing by their classroom, Lu Xiao glanced at the window casually. Through the window, his eyes intersected with her for a moment, then he turned his head with his chin tensed, and walked through the corridor without squinting.
When school is over, the entrance of the campus is full of shiny luxury cars, with high quality brands, just like a high-end auto show.
Lu Xiao got on the Rolls-Royce while Xia Tang walked to the bus station to wait for the bus.
The campus is located in the suburbs, next to the villa area, and most ordinary students who live in the urban area will choose this accommodation. Xia Tang did not. In order not to hinder the traffic at the school gate, a bus stop with only one sign was set up in the corner. She stood in the corner waiting for the bus while watching the traffic flow at the gate.
And so the first day of school ended.
The turmoil occurred in the next few days. Xia Tang stood at the door of the bathroom waiting for her deskmate during the class break. While waiting, she looked at the campus from the corridor, her head blank in a daze. At this moment, Lu Xiao passed by, bringing with him the attention that surrounded him all the time. He glanced at her sideways: "A transfer student?"
Xia Tang nodded honestly: "Yes, transfer student."
Lu Xiao snorted and stared at her without saying a word.
Xia Tang then asked kindly, "What's the matter?"
—— It’s okay, don’t talk to me.
Lu Xiao's face sank, and the heart of Li Zimo, who had just come out of the bathroom and stood there in a dilemma, also sank.
But Lu Xiao just had a sullen face and left without looking back.
Li Zimo worried about this all afternoon.
"Relax, what can happen." Xia Tang didn't take this matter too seriously, "It's just a sentence, only five words."
During the short time together, Li Zimo has discovered that the biggest advantage of new classmates is their optimistic attitude. She sighed and only hoped that her optimism would come true.
Lu Xiao's tone didn't sound very good.
Soon, it was her turn to worry.
A week later, at lunchtime, Li Zimo was talking and laughing with Xia Tang while turning around with the plate in hand. She didn't notice the person standing behind her and bumped into him, so all the leftovers from the plate fell on him
There seemed to be a sudden silence in the noisy cafeteria.
Li Zimo felt dizzy when she saw the other person's face clearly, and her stomach rolled.
—— Why did Lu Xiao appear in the cheap canteen?
Those who had already finished their meals and left, or those who were going to the window to eat, all stopped and looked over here.
The world seemed to be caught in slow motion, red and brown sauce dripped down from Lu Xiao's hem, drop by drop, and landed on the shoe, which was stained with the chicken bones that had been eaten. With a light kick, the bone was thrown off.
Li Zimo wished that she could become that drop of soup that could flow into the cracks in the floor.
She wished so much at this moment that she had never been born.
The attendants standing behind Lu Xiao let out a long "Oh~" as if they didn't think it was a big deal to watch the excitement.
Everyone is waiting for the thunder to explode, some stand to watch from a distance, while others stand to watch closely. The onlookers are like wildlife photographers on the prairie, with the camera in place, just waiting for the scene when the lion bites the antelope's neck.
The nervousness clenched her stomach tight and Li Zimo felt that she was about to vomit out as soon as she opened his mouth, and her face turned astonishingly red.
At this time, Xia Tang stepped in from the side.
She picked up the dropped dinner plate and put it back on the table, then pulled out several paper towels in a row, and pressed all of them on Lu Xiao's dripping uniform, while wiping, she apologized: "I'm really sorry, classmate."
The move was fairly successful in drawing fire.
Lu Xiao hated physical contact the most—or rather, everyone hated uninvited touch from strangers.
Look at Lu Xiao's face again - his eyebrows are lowered, and the eyes are gloomy, which is indeed a precursor to anger.
Paper towels are obviously lacking in fighting power in the face of this mess. Xia Tang wiped the black uniform casually with paper towel to no avail, and then she said sincerely: "Why don't you take it off and I'll take it back and wash it for you?"
The onlookers thought to themselves, where did such a stupid young girl come from?
She's really desperate.
They might see the legend of the fastest dropout in history.
While everyone was waiting with bated breath, Lu Xiao frowned. He raised his hand and unbuttoned his uniform jacket one by one.
Under the black cashmere uniform is a white shirt, which also has a light soup print. Everyone was still wondering if he was about to beat someone up, and the coat soaked in vegetable soup was thrown in the girl's face.
Xia Tang took it with a good temper, hugged it in her hand, and said with a smile on her face: "Thank you for your understanding, I will definitely wash it up and send it back tomorrow."
Lu Xiao glanced at her, turned to leave, and the crowd got out of the way like oil stains avoiding detergent, for fear of touching him.
T/N: I have finished translating BNDDSB and it's only a matter of posting the chapters here every week (but they are available on my Patreon if you want to read them now) so I'm now officially starting to translate this novel, Cognitive Bias. This story is still on-going with 40 chapters available (the author went on a hiatus but she is now active again) and I have already translated a few chapters. I started reading this story last year and I liked it and I hope you will like it too :)
If you like my translations and wants to give me a tip, please visit my Ko-Fi or Buy Me a Coffee page.
Seems interesting
ReplyDelete