novelraw Chapter 41
Chapter 41
Chapter 41 School Bully Has Been So Well-Behaved LatelyAfter the clapping incident, the math class finally resumed as normal.
Even though Qin Qing had been sitting at the last desk for almost a week, this was actually the first time she and Wen Yufeng were attending a class together at the same desk.
After observing for most of the class, Wen Yufeng noticed that his little classmate’s academic excellence might really be due to her intelligence.
At least during this math class, it seemed like Qin Qing spent half the time daydreaming.
During the class, Mr. Shen gave the students a short break to relax their minds. As the classroom grew quiet, Wen Yufeng leaned slightly toward Qin Qing.
His voice was low, carrying a hint of teasing amusement. “Why aren’t you paying attention?”
Qin Qing turned her face to him in confusion, not understanding how Wen Yufeng had noticed she was spacing out, especially when she thought she was being discreet.
Wen Yufeng seemed to understand her confusion, his smile deepening. “Even though you were looking forward, your eyes were unfocused.”
—Like a little rabbit sitting in a trap, just waiting for him to pounce.
…So that’s how he noticed.
Qin Qing pouted slightly, then slowly responded in a soft voice, “Mr. Shen’s teaching… is too slow.”
She thought for a moment, then added, “I really try to focus, but I already know his thought process and what he’s going to teach next. If he goes too slowly, I can’t help but zone out.”
“…”
Seeing her innocent little expressions, Wen Yufeng’s throat moved slightly.
After a moment, he looked away, letting out a bitter smile.
How could there be someone who constantly challenges the self-control he once prided himself on?
“…What’s so funny?” Qin Qing asked in confusion, then seemed to realize something, her pretty face tensing up slightly, her expression becoming a bit serious.
“You haven’t done the exam Mr. Shen is explaining. You can’t afford to zone out like me.”
“I can’t focus on what he’s saying either.”
“…That’s not okay. Listening in class is important.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Wen Yufeng said, glancing at Qin Qing, his voice low and lighthearted.
After a couple of seconds, he slowly turned back to her, his eyes narrowing slightly. “I still have you, don’t I… little teacher?”
Qin Qing blinked slowly.
“Little teacher,” “little classmate”… it seemed like he always liked to add “little” when addressing her.
“…I’m not that little anymore,” Qin Qing suddenly said.
Before Wen Yufeng could tease her further, she continued, “I’ll grow up soon… it won’t take long.”
With that, Qin Qing quickly turned her attention back to listening to Mr. Shen’s lecture, or at least, she appeared to be focusing intently.
But from the side, it was easy to see her delicate ears turning red.
“…”
Wen Yufeng rarely found himself at a loss for words, but her remark left him stunned for a moment before he slowly lowered his gaze.
At the same time, a smile tugged at the corners of his lips.
His mind replayed the blurred memory from yesterday, dulled by the effects of alcohol.
“Hurry up and grow up…”
At that moment, he had heard himself voicing the words he’d kept buried deep inside, unable to control or stop them.
“…Please.”
As he said the final word, the fog of his consciousness couldn’t help but think—
He probably scared his little girl, right?
Even if I did… please don’t run away.
I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to.
With these disheartened thoughts, just before he drifted into unconsciousness, he distinctly heard her soft voice respond—
“…Okay.”
“…”
The sound seemed to echo in his ears once more. Wen Yufeng slowly lifted his gaze, his eyes fixed on the girl’s graceful profile from his angle.
His thin lips curved up slightly.
…You promised.
I’ll always remember.
…
When the class ended, Mr. Shen approached the math class representative to assign the evening’s homework.
After finishing, Shen Liang smiled and glanced over at Wen Yufeng, who was casually leaning against the back wall of the classroom with his arms crossed.
“Not going out to play basketball today?”
Wen Yufeng raised his eyes, his handsome face showing a slight, teasing smile.
“Spring lethargy and autumn fatigue, can’t muster the energy. It’s better to study well. Thanks for your concern, Mr. Shen.”
Shen Liang gave him a few scrutinizing glances. “All right then, I’ll be looking forward to your performance in the next monthly exam.”
As Mr. Shen walked away, a classmate who had been hesitating for a while slowly made his way over.
Before he even reached the desk, Wen Yufeng suddenly looked up, his gaze sharp and cold.
“Got something to say?”
“…”
The classmate nearly jumped in fright.
Having just finished noting down the math homework Mr. Shen had assigned, Qin Qing looked up, glanced between Wen Yufeng and the other student, and then frowned slightly.
“Wen Yufeng,” her soft voice called out, “Don’t bully our classmates.”
“…”
Wen Yufeng turned his gaze to her, but before he could say anything, the other student quickly interjected, “No, no, it’s my fault… Qin Qing, this… this is from Lin Wentao from Class 7… it’s for you.”
The student stammered as he leaned over, placing a folded piece of paper on Qin Qing’s desk before bolting out of the room without looking back.
Qin Qing momentarily forgot about the previous situation, her curiosity piqued as she reached for the folded paper.
Unfolding it, she saw that the page was neatly filled with writing.
At first, Wen Yufeng paid little attention to it, but after a few seconds, noticing how serious Qin Qing’s expression became, he narrowed his eyes slightly.
…Lin Wentao?
The name sounded a bit familiar. It seemed to be a boy?
According to what that person said earlier, he was from Class 7, right next to theirs… Since he was a sophomore, he probably didn’t know his little classmate before.
Which means… they must have met while he was away?
Just the thought of this made Wen Yufeng’s smile turn a bit off.
At this moment, Li Xiang and Zhao Zirui leisurely walked into the classroom, only to see their boss, Yu Ge, emanating a “stay away” aura, arms crossed, staring intently at the piece of white paper in the girl’s hand next to him.
It looked like all that was missing was a sign next to the desk saying “Beware of Dog.”
Li Xiang scratched his head with a puzzled expression.
—Just a few days away, and their boss was already ready to throw down with a piece of paper?
Despite having been scolded harshly the previous week, Li Xiang couldn’t resist sidling up with a thick-skinned smile. “Yu Ge, what are you looking at?”
Wen Yufeng had already heard the two approaching, but he didn’t rush to respond. Instead, he looked at Qin Qing first.
—The little girl acted as if she hadn’t heard anything, not even glancing at him, still completely absorbed in that piece of paper.
“…”
Wen Yufeng’s smile completely vanished, his expression turning cold as he finally turned to face Li Xiang.
“Someone handed her a note,” he said flatly.
Li Xiang blinked in surprise and blurted out, “Did she get a threat already?”
“…”
Wen Yufeng paused for a second, then slowly narrowed his eyes, turning his gaze toward Li Xiang. “What do you mean by that?”
Li Xiang, realizing he might have guessed wrong about why Yu Ge had looked upset earlier, scrambled to explain, though it was already too late to take back his words.
He could only glance cautiously at Qin Qing, who was still focused on the note, and then began to explain.
“Wait,” Wen Yufeng interrupted before Li Xiang could say anything more. He frowned, standing up. “Let’s talk outside.”
Confused but obedient, Li Xiang followed him out.
Once they were in the hallway, the sight of Wen Yufeng’s cold, handsome profile made the passing students instinctively quiet down, almost as if the discipline director, Sun Xing, had arrived.
Wen Yufeng didn’t seem to care and walked straight to the windowsill. Leaning against it, he raised an eyebrow.
“Explain. What’s going on?”
Li Xiang felt genuinely innocent. “I… I was just guessing randomly…”
“You randomly guessed a threatening letter?”
Wen Yufeng’s gaze grew even colder.
Li Xiang sighed and decided to come clean. “Yu Ge… you might not notice it yourself, but there really are a lot of girls at school who like you… Qin Qing sitting with you at the same desk, plus the rumors from the military training incident… I just thought maybe some girl sent her a threatening letter.”
Pausing, Li Xiang then added with a strange expression, “Actually, back when the rumor was going around that Ling Xiaohua was your girlfriend, someone also sent her a threatening letter. I even heard it had blood on it.”
“…”
Hearing this, Wen Yufeng’s brow furrowed deeply.
It wasn’t because of anything else, but because he recalled how Qin Qing had been frightened just by his uncle’s unusual departure, clearly not someone with a strong heart.
If she really received a bloody letter like that, he couldn’t imagine how terrified she would be.
Thinking of this, his expression grew even colder.
He looked at Li Xiang. “Do you know who might have done it?”
Li Xiang shook his head honestly.
Wen Yufeng clenched his fist, finally forcing himself to calm down.
“Keep an eye out for me over the next few days.”
Li Xiang understood and nodded. “Got it, Yu Ge.”
…
That noon, Qin Qing arrived at school early. After grabbing cleaning tools from the classroom, she and another girl assigned to cleaning duty went to their class’s designated area.
Class 6’s cleaning area was in the southeast corner of the school, a sunken concrete space.
The drop from the school grounds to the sunken area was nearly two meters, with a set of steps leading down to it.
This large space below was where Class 6 was responsible for cleaning.
Few students came to this area, so there wasn’t much trash, mostly just some leaves blown down by the early autumn wind.
Qin Qing and her classmate cleaned up the area in about ten minutes.
After a quick inspection, they were about to leave.
But before they could walk a few steps, they saw three girls coming down the stairs.
These three were unmistakably familiar—it was the same trio who had confronted her outside the classroom before.
Qin Qing felt a pang of alertness, her delicate brows furrowing slightly.
She stopped in her tracks.
Perhaps sensing that the three girls seemed up to no good, the girl cleaning with Qin Qing also hesitated, turning to Qin Qing in confusion.
“I heard this morning that someone saw you cleaning here. I didn’t think it was true.”
The lead girl smiled, but her eyes held no warmth.
She exchanged glances with the other two.
They all smirked, walking past Qin Qing and heading deeper into the cleaning area.
At first, Qin Qing didn’t understand, but when she saw the black bags in their hands, something clicked in her mind.
Her face changed, and she turned to stop them, but it was too late.
—
The three bags of trash were dumped right in the middle of the clean area. The girls tossed the empty bags aside, clapped their hands, and sneered at Qin Qing.
“How could you do this?!” the girl cleaning with Qin Qing cried out, her face flushed with anger.
But the three only looked at Qin Qing, the leader grinning smugly.
“I warned you, but you didn’t listen. Now you’ll have to suffer a bit. It’s a shame your classmate got dragged into this—how embarrassing for you.”
“…”
Qin Qing’s grip on the broom tightened until her knuckles turned white, but her expression remained impassive.
Anger surged within her, heating her gaze to a cold burn.
Just as she was about to speak, one of the girls looked up, her face paling as her eyes focused on something behind Qin Qing.
The five of them turned to see what she was looking at.
—
In the bright midday sun, a boy dressed in black pants and a black hoodie with rolled-up sleeves crouched on the top step, next to a stone platform.
Beyond his toes was a two-meter drop.
His right arm, wrapped in eye-catching bandages, rested casually on his knee, and in the sunlight, his tousled black hair looked soft. Paired with his narrowed eyes, for some reason, Qin Qing thought of a lazy tiger yawning in a thicket.
“…”
Amused by her own thoughts, the gloom in Qin Qing’s heart lifted, and she found herself smiling slightly.
But the others weren’t in such a good mood.
Especially the three girls, who, if not for the fact that the stairs were their only escape route and Wen Yufeng was blocking it, would have fled in terror by now.
As it was, their faces were pale, and their eyes were filled with dread.
“Ah…”
Wen Yufeng lifted his left hand, running it lightly through his bangs, his lazy smile contrasted sharply with the icy glint in his eyes.
“Why don’t you keep going?”
The girls didn’t dare say a word, exchanging nervous glances as they stood frozen in place.
Wen Yufeng let out a soft chuckle, his left hand pressing down on the ground as he prepared to jump down from the high platform.
“Wen Yufeng!”
A soft, slightly exasperated voice suddenly called out, stopping him in his tracks.
“…”
Caught off guard, Wen Yufeng looked up at the girl below him, his expression puzzled.
Qin Qing pointed at his right hand.
“Do you want to get stitches again?”
Though her voice was gentle, her tone and the stern expression on her face left no room for argument.
“…”
Wen Yufeng glanced at the bandages on his right hand, raising an eyebrow but said nothing.
He stood up and obediently walked around to the stairs, taking each step down slowly.
When he reached the last step, he stood beside Qin Qing.
Looking down at the more than twenty centimeters of height difference between them, Wen Yufeng tilted his head slightly, lowering his gaze.
“Is this better?” he asked, a playful smile tugging at his lips.
“Little teacher?”