ATLAS TRANSLATES

People who have shared secrets often feel their relationship has changed. For instance, those who glimpse another’s secrets might feel they’re now on equal footing.

From every perspective.

“Give me the test paper.”

“No.”

“Hand it over.”

“I tore it up and ate it.”

Ten minutes into lunch break, Tao Zhi sat at her desk, confronting Jiang Qi Huai. The young man leaned back in his chair, and that fleeting warmth in his light brown eyes vanished like an illusion, replaced by his familiar casual indifference.

After asking twice, Jiang Qi Huai lost interest in wasting more time with her: “Fine, eat it then.”

As he spoke, he sat up straight and opened his book to read, giving up on saving his hopeless colleague.

Who knew what she was being stubborn about.

Tao Zhi pouted and turned away, taking one last glance at the empty desk in front. Li Shuang Jiang had disappeared somewhere and hadn’t returned yet.

Reluctantly, she pulled out the math quiz paper from this morning’s class and slapped it onto Jiang Qi Huai’s desk.

Having Jiang Qi Huai explain problems to her made her feel like their equal relationship was about to be broken.

Jiang Qi Huai glanced at her blank paper, then lifted his gaze to look at her, his expression somewhat cutting.

Tao Zhi bristled at his look: “What’s that look for?”

“The look of wondering how anyone could not know how to solve this—” Jiang Qi Huai paused, “kind of problem.”

He picked up his pen and looked at the question.

The coordinate axis on the right already had auxiliary lines drawn. Jiang Qi Huai didn’t notice at first, thinking they were just random doodles, but after reading the question he paused and looked up.

Tao Zhi was lazily sprawled on his desk, chin resting in the crook of her arm, giving him a big yawn.

Noticing his gaze, she said through tear-filled eyes from yawning: “What are you looking at me for? Do your problem.”

Jiang Qi Huai: “…”

The young girl lifted her hand, wiping away the tears at the corner of her eye, then pointed at the test paper, complaining: “Why haven’t you written anything after all this time?”

Jiang Qi Huai didn’t answer, tapping his pen on the paper: “Did you draw these?”

“Who else would have drawn them?”

Jiang Qi Huai didn’t respond. He seemed to be thinking about something else, not focusing on her words, as he began writing out the solution.

Tao Zhi watched listlessly.

His handwriting was beautiful, the characters elongated and slightly slanted, each one’s size and thickness appearing as if measured with a ruler, arranged in neat rows on the paper. But for vertical strokes and diagonal sweeps, he habitually drew them long and flowing, adding a touch of unconventionality that broke through the strict orderliness.

Without realizing it, Tao Zhi’s gaze moved up from the paper under his pen.

The young man wrote with intense focus, his thick dark lashes casting shadows, so long and dense they seemed enhanced by growth serum, making even girls envious.

She suddenly felt an inexplicable competitive spirit.

“Hey,” Tao Zhi suddenly spoke.

Jiang Qi Huai didn’t react, perhaps too focused to hear.

“Pull out one of your eyelashes and let me see it,” Tao Zhi commanded.

Jiang Qi Huai’s pen stopped: “What’s wrong with you?”

Tao Zhi said huffily: “I want to compare whose eyelashes are longer, mine or yours.”

Jiang Qi Huai ignored her.

He quickly finished the five problems, completing the final formula and writing the answer before habitually twirling his pen: “The formulas are all there, look at them yourself.”

Tao Zhi leaned forward, tilting her head to look at the dense writing on the paper with a bewildered expression: “What formulas are these?”

Of the five problems on the paper, except for the last one being somewhat difficult, she had drawn the correct auxiliary lines for all four problems above.

She had the problem-solving methods and thought process, but didn’t know any of the formulas.

He’d never seen this type of poor student before.

The most boring teacher Tao Zhi had ever met was the tutor Tao Xiu Ping hired for her in first year of high school. She later spent two weeks successfully driving that person away.

Now she felt that Jiang Qi Huai’s way of explaining problems was even more boring than that tutor.

The red pen underlined a formula: “Quadratic function.”

“Trigonometric function.”

“Double angle formula.”

Tao Zhi blinked, directing him from the side: “Write it in red pen for me, I can’t remember when you just say it.”

“If you can’t remember, go to the math office during evening self-study. Let Wang Er keep you company memorizing, and you won’t need to go home,” Jiang Qi Huai said emotionlessly. “This one is a parametric equation.”

The bell rang in the hallway, finally ending lunch self-study.

Tao Zhi let out a long sigh of relief, taking back her paper as she turned around.

The first afternoon class was PE. After second year, whether they could have PE class depended on luck and the mood of various subject teachers that day. Last week, their PE class had been split between English and Physics.

This week, Wang Zhezi didn’t seem to plan on occupying the class. Everyone in the classroom cheered and rushed out in a flash.

Tao Zhi marked all the formulas Jiang Qi Huai had just mentioned in the margins of her paper before leisurely wandering out.

The Experimental School was very large, with the gymnasium and second-year teaching building at opposite corners. Tao Zhi took a shortcut, cutting through the cafeteria and around a small patch of landscaping, reaching the gymnasium just as the second bell rang.

Tao Zhi entered through the side door. Several classes were playing basketball in the indoor court next door. She walked along the edge, and saw Class 1’s queue was already formed. The PE teacher was speaking at the front as she quietly slipped into the back of the line, blending into the crowd.

“This is our class’s first PE lesson. You didn’t have it last week, right?” The PE teacher looked to be in his fifties, speaking unhurriedly with a smile. “Since it’s the first lesson, let’s have you relax properly. PE committee member, step forward.”

A tall boy next to Tao Zhi stepped forward two paces.

“What’s your name, PE committee member?”

“Zhao Ming Qi!” the tall boy shouted.

“Illuminating device, eh? Good name,” the PE teacher said with a laugh.

The class clowns laughed along, and Zhao Ming Qi’s face reddened as he scratched his nose sheepishly.

“Alright, since it’s the first day, let’s let you have some fun. PE committee member, lead them in running two laps around the gym to warm up,” the PE teacher was very easy-going. “After running, you’re free to do what you want. Those who want to play ball can play ball. You study hard usually, so I’ll let you off easy today.”

Everyone cheered. Zhao Ming Qi had the queue turn right and left the gymnasium. After two laps, these usually bookworm-ish students from Class 1 were all sitting on the steps panting heavily, with only a few energetic boys still bouncing around.

Li Shuang Jiang sat on the ground for a while, then suddenly jumped up, hooking his arm around Zhao Ming Qi’s neck: “Let’s go, Brother Qi, let’s play ball.”

Teenage boys seemed particularly enthusiastic about basketball. The boys stood up in twos and threes, streaming into the gymnasium.

Tao Zhi squatted on the gymnasium entrance steps, glancing at Jiang Qi Huai beside her.

No one called him.

No one dared to call him.

Transfer students, whether intentionally or not, were always somewhat excluded. Add to that Jiang Qi Huai’s unapproachable, difficult personality, and apart from naturally sociable people like Li Shuang Jiang, hardly anyone in class talked to him.

Her throat was dry from running two laps. She stood up to buy water from the nearby shop, but glanced at Jiang Qi Huai again as she rose.

The young man wore a white school uniform jacket. Probably feeling hot from running, he had pulled the zipper low, revealing the white T-shirt underneath.

He had barely broken a sweat. His short hair was slightly messy, falling over his brows as he moved, his lips turned downward.

Several boys walked into the gymnasium arm in arm. Those who didn’t go in stood chatting in groups of two or three. Only he leaned against the wall, separated from his surroundings like two different worlds.

He looked like a lonely little pitiful thing.

Tao Zhi withdrew her gaze, stuck her hands in her pockets, and meandered toward the shop.

Since it was class time, there weren’t many people in the shop. When Tao Zhi returned with her water, no one was left at the gymnasium entrance. She entered through the back door and saw the girls sitting on the rows of chairs beside the basketball court chatting.

She walked over and put her water bottle beside the long bench, then turned to go to the bathroom.

The gymnasium had four floors. The first floor had two large indoor basketball courts with indoor tennis courts beside them. The restrooms were at the end of the corridor.

Tao Zhi heard activity inside from the doorway.

She didn’t pay much attention, pushing the door open and walking straight in. The space was filled with several girls’ loud laughter and the clicking sound of phone cameras.

“Hey, don’t move, let me take another one.”

“This one’s good, I like it. Send it to me later.”

At first, Tao Zhi thought they were taking selfies. She came out of the stall and walked to the sink to wash her hands.

Then she heard a girl’s soft crying.

“What are you crying for? Don’t we make you look pretty in these?” the first girl who spoke said with a laugh. “You were so shameless when you seduced someone else’s boyfriend, then turned around and accused him of harassing you. Now that person’s been suspended and sent home because of you, why are you pretending to be pitiful? Like reporting to teachers, do you?”

Tao Zhi frowned and walked over.

In the last stall, three girls in third-year uniforms surrounded someone in the corner.

Fu Xi Ling was crouched in the corner, pressed tightly against the partition wall. Her uniform and T-shirt underneath had been half pulled off, exposing her undergarments and skin. Her usually fluffy short hair was disheveled.

The speaking girl was gripping her chin forcefully, lifting it up. Large tears fell rapidly, and there was a red swollen handprint on her left cheek. She was trembling with sobs, unable to speak.

In front of her, two girls were holding up phones to take pictures, camera sounds mixing with malicious laughter: “This one looks good too, let’s post it on the school photo wall tonight for everyone to appreciate.”

Tao Zhi felt her rationality snap.

She kicked open the half-closed stall door. The door slammed against the wall with a “bang” that echoed through the empty bathroom.

The girls jumped in fright, turning around with their phones raised. Tao Zhi reached out and snatched the phones, throwing them into the toilet with two “plops.”

Fu Xi Ling looked up dazedly, her swollen eyes watching her.

Tao Zhi looked down, and the small girl just kept crying while looking at her.

Up close, she could see Fu Xi Ling’s lip was split and bleeding slightly. Her fair neck had scratches from fingernails. Her eyes were completely red, tears sliding down silently as she suppressed her misery and despair.

As the phones sank with gurgles, the two girls in front started screaming curses like noise machines. Tao Zhi didn’t catch any of it. She took off her school uniform jacket and threw it over Fu Xi Ling, then grabbed the two girls’ collars and shoved them forward hard.

Seemingly not expecting her to suddenly get physical, the two were caught off guard and stumbled forward. One fell sitting on the ground, while the other reacted quickly and reached out to find support, slapping her hand right into the toilet.

Tao Zhi pushed her head down and dunked it in, then stepped forward and grabbed the wrist of the girl who was holding Fu Xi Ling’s chin, twisting it outward.

The girl cried out in pain: “What are you doing! Who the hell are you!”

Tao Zhi dragged her out by the wrist.

The girl stumbled and fell to the ground, starting to struggle. Her long nails dug into Tao Zhi’s arm, leaving deep gouges. Angry red marks immediately raised on the fair skin, with blood beginning to seep out.

Tao Zhi acted as if she didn’t feel it, dragging her by the arm out of the bathroom and into the corridor.

The girl’s screams and curses suddenly filled the empty gymnasium corridor. Tao Zhi dragged her through the dim hallway into the brightly lit indoor basketball court.

The noise quickly drew attention from those inside.

The gym had four basketball hoops divided into two courts, both with people playing. The long benches on the side were full of girls chatting, who all turned to look.

On the left court, Li Shuang Jiang had just made a three-pointer. The ball clanged off the rim and bounced on the floor several times, with no one retrieving it. He turned around to see Tao Zhi dragging someone over.

“Holy shit, what’s our monitor doing?” Li Shuang Jiang hopped forward a couple steps.

Tao Zhi dragged the person straight to the middle of the court. A group of sweat-soaked boys looked at each other in confusion, not knowing what was happening.

The girl was still cursing, her screams mixed with humiliated sobs, extremely vulgar. Her nails dug deep into Tao Zhi’s arm, her fingers completely covered in blood.

Reaching the center, Tao Zhi let go, and the girl immediately regained freedom, falling sitting to the ground.

The next second, before she could react, Tao Zhi grabbed her collar to pull her halfway up and raised her hand to slap her.

A clear, solid “smack” echoed through the quiet gymnasium.

The force was great. The girl’s head snapped to the side with the impact, her cursing suddenly stopping.

She lifted her head, a bright red handprint appearing instantly on her face, staring at the person in front of her in disbelief: “You f—”

Another crisp “smack” as Tao Zhi backhanded her with another slap.

The young woman looked down at her without expression, her black eyes emotionless: “You’ve been running your mouth this whole way, why so talkative?”

The girl’s head snapped with the motion, her vision blurring as her ears rang, her face burning with pain.

For a moment she didn’t even realize where she was, just reflexively talking back: “F— you—”

Tao Zhi swung as she opened her mouth, the third slap hitting hard, holding nothing back.

The girl was thrown to the side with the impact, falling completely to the ground.

The basketball court was dead silent.

Tao Zhi crouched down to look at her, narrowing her eyes: “Like slapping people?”

The girl was completely silent now, both cheeks swollen, eyes red as she held back tears, her whole body shaking.

“And you like stripping people’s clothes, so strip here,” Tao Zhi’s dark eyes watched her as she said softly. “Strip your own clothes the same way you stripped someone else’s, let everyone take a look.”

The girl looked up, biting her lip hard. Humiliation and pain hit her at once, and tears finally fell.

Tao Zhi watched her and raised her hand again.

The girl instinctively flinched, squeezing her eyes shut.

A pair of cold hands gripped her chin, lifting her head — the exact same motion she had used ten minutes ago.

She kept her eyes closed, feeling someone lean in close to her ear, their voice carrying icy malice like a demon’s whisper: “If you don’t strip, I’ll beat you. For every minute you stall, I’ll slap you once.”