ATLAS TRANSLATES

Xu You stood before him, very quietly, as if she hadn’t understood what he said.

Until Xie Ci reached out and lifted her chin. He lowered his head to find her eyes, “Hmm?”

Xu You furrowed her brows, shaking her head to try to get away from his hand.

Xie Ci gripped her shoulder with one hand, his fingers tightly pinching the skin at her chin. His eyes were dark and intense.

Xu You hit at him, “Xie Ci, let go, you’re hurting me.”

This corner wasn’t particularly hidden, with two or three students occasionally passing by.

He released his grip on her, and Xu You immediately looked down at her watch.

There were about five minutes until the next class.

She stepped back, looked at Xie Ci, and said quietly but seriously: “You’re so young, don’t think about these things all the time.”

After saying this, she looked away, planning to leave.

Xie Ci reacted quickly, stepping to block her path and grabbing her arm, frowning: “Hey, I’m really annoyed right now, can you not be so rigid?”

Xu You stopped, thought for a moment, and after a while nodded: “We’ll talk about it later.”

Xie Ci was irritated by her dismissive attitude. He took a deep breath, “You’re just pretending with me.”

Xu You stood motionless, not responding, as if lost in thought.

He asked, “Is it because I’ve been too nice to you?”

She remained silent.

They stood there at an impasse, both wordless, as the class bell rang across campus.

“Damn it, whatever.”

He suddenly lost his temper, dropping these words before walking away, leaving her with just his retreating figure.

Xu You stood there for a while.

When she entered the classroom, the teacher was lecturing at the podium.

Xu You stood at the door, raising her hand to report her presence.

The teacher frowned, but seeing it was her, didn’t make things difficult and just nodded for Xu You to return to her seat.

“Where did you go?” Zheng Xiaolin leaned over, lowering her voice, hesitating: “I just saw you walking with Xie Ci, I thought you…”

Xu You lowered her head to take out her books, opened her pencil case, and put a finger to her lips: “Shh, we’ll talk after class.”

The teacher was writing on the blackboard, students copying notes below, when suddenly there was a huge bang in the otherwise quiet classroom.

The back door had been kicked open.

The door hit the wall and bounced back, swaying back and forth with creaking sounds.

The class looked back, and the teacher stopped writing with chalk.

Xie Ci, with a cold expression, walked straight to his seat and took out his phone from the drawer.

“Xie Ci, what are you doing!”

The teacher, having recovered from shock, shouted, slapping the blackboard thunderously.

Xie Ci didn’t even give them a glance, just took his phone and walked out, completely ignoring the furious teacher behind him.

The whole class was silent, no one daring to make a sound.

Xu Xiaocheng gave Song Yifan a look, tilting his head.

The two of them took advantage of the moment when no one was paying attention to slip out through the back door, crouching low.

After leaving the classroom, they went down a few steps and called Xie Ci.

Several calls were cut off, but Song Yifan persisted, and finally the last one connected.

“Oh damn, Ah Ci, what’s wrong now, who upset you?”

“…….”

“What???!! Where are you going now?”

“…….”

“Fu Yishun got people to mess with you? Does he have a death wish?”

“…….”

Xu Xiaocheng exchanged a glance with him, grabbed the phone and said himself: “Black Skin and I came out, where are you? We’ll come find you.”

In the classroom.

Zheng Xiaolin patted her chest with lingering fear, exclaiming: “My goodness, what’s wrong with Xie Ci? Haven’t seen him this angry in a long time…”

The last time she remembered seeing Xie Ci angry was when students from another class came looking for trouble.

That time left a really deep impression on Zheng Xiaolin.

It was just after starting high school in first year, when several tall boys from the sports class in the same grade came into the classroom, trying to forcibly drag out a girl from their class.

The girl being dragged was screaming loudly, struggling and crying.

Those boys were cursing, no one knew what grudge they had with that girl, but they all looked fierce and menacing.

Some boys in the class couldn’t stand by and went to stop them, but were pushed away by the sports class students.

Young people are all hot-blooded, and things escalated quickly.

As the two classes clashed, in the pushing and shoving, someone bumped into Xie Ci who was sleeping on his desk.

Xie Ci woke up. He first raised his head, and after seeing the situation, slowly asked: “Who bumped me?”

A tough guy kicked his desk and cursed: “I did, so what? Don’t act tough with me, you idiot.”

Xie Ci stared at that boy, waiting for him to finish.

Then.

He slowly stood up from his seat, picked up the stool beside him and weighed it for a few seconds.

Before anyone could react, he unhesitatingly brought the stool down on that tough guy’s head.

Completely ruthless, showing no mercy, drawing blood on the spot.

Everyone present was stunned, drawing in sharp breaths with slightly open mouths.

Xie Ci had just woken up, his black short hair still a bit messy. He stood there with a half-smile, kicked aside the stool at his feet, and said to the sports class students: “Aren’t you going to get lost?”

After this incident, Xie Ci never fought in class again. But word gradually spread among classmates that he was Xie Ci, the boss from the junior high section of First High.

Because of his ‘grade boss’ status, most people in class were a bit afraid of him, and most classmates didn’t actively provoke him.

Although Xie Ci didn’t care about studying, he was relatively low-key, and aside from occasionally skipping class, being late, or sleeping, he hadn’t done anything particularly outrageous.

Zheng Xiaolin asked: “Youyou, do you know what happened?”

Xu You kept her head down copying notes, answering softly: “I don’t know.”

“It’s really terrifying…”

Zheng Xiaolin looked away and started copying homework, muttering something under her breath.

After this class, Xu You and Xu Xingchun were called to the office by their homeroom teacher.

Teacher Xu Huiru held their grade sheets, looking at their October monthly exam results.

“It’s like this.”

Xu Huiru took them to the corridor, coughed twice, and got straight to the point: “You two are among the better students in our class, and of course among the better students in our grade. The arts and science track forms came out today, and I wanted to ask your opinions.”

Xu Xingchun spoke first, nodding and saying directly: “Science track.”

Xu Huiru nodded to show she understood, and asked: “With your grades, you’ll definitely go to the advanced class. What are your thoughts about that?”

This time, Xu Xingchun didn’t answer quickly, standing silently in place.

Xu Huiru said to him: “The school is hoping you’ll be the city’s top student. The advanced class has better conditions than regular classes in many ways.”

Xu You quietly listened to them talk. Her eyes lowered to look at a shadow cast by sunlight on the ground.

After talking for a while, Xu Huiru sent Xu Xingchun back to class and kept Xu You behind.

She first gave some praise, “I can see that you study very diligently, can focus on your studies, and you’re among the top few in the grade this monthly exam.”

Xu You didn’t know what to say, so she just nodded.

“I heard from your aunt that you used to do physics competitions?” Xu Huiru looked down at Xu You’s grades again.

In the physics column, the score was clearly 109, nearly perfect.

Xu You nodded.

Xu Huiru asked again: “When did you start doing this?”

Xu You answered in a tiny voice: “Second year of junior high.”

“Did you compete every year?”

“I didn’t register this year.”

“You know our school doesn’t have a competition track, right?”

“Yes.”

“Mm.”

Teachers always have a lot of goodwill toward students with good grades. Xu Huiru had a slight smile, patted her shoulder and said, “You’re probably going to choose the science track too, right?”

Xu You nodded.

Xu Huiru looked at her and said with some emotion: “Study hard, aim for Tsinghua or Peking University.”

“Oh right.”

Before leaving, Xu Huiru called her back and handed Xu You a form, instructing: “Fill this out and submit it to the academic affairs office this afternoon.”

—

At noon back in the dormitory, everyone was discussing the arts and science track selection.

Xu You’s cold had been dragging on and hadn’t fully recovered. She coughed twice, sat down in her chair, pulled open the drawer to take out her phone and call her parents.

It rang several times before connecting.

“Mom…” Xu You called softly.

Chen Xiuyun responded with a couple of “eh”s and asked: “Ah Chai, what is it, are you doing well at the new school?”

“Pretty good.”

Xu You lowered her eyes, unconsciously playing with her fingers, “Today the teacher asked if we want to study arts or science.”

“Of course science, what future is there in arts?” Xu’s father took the phone and said, “By the way, we rented a place for you outside the school, your mom will come take care of you next week, so you don’t need to board anymore.”

Xu You made an “ah” sound, stunned for a moment, “Then mom…”

“You just focus on studying now, don’t worry about anything else, third year is crucial for studies.”

“Is the rented place far from school? Is it expensive?”

“Not too far, don’t worry about these things for now.”

Xu You fell silent, quietly listening.

Xu’s father kept talking, “Your aunt told me, she’s talked with your homeroom teacher several times, your grades at school are very good now… if it weren’t for my project being transferred here… your physics competition… sigh…”

“It’s okay, dad.”

Xu You changed the subject, “We’re starting evening self-study today.”

“Really? Are you eating well in the school cafeteria at night?”

Xu You made an “mm” sound.

Chen Xiuyun took the phone, “The place here will be ready in a few days, don’t go to your aunt’s this weekend, you’ll live with mom from now on, I’ll cook for you every day, be good at school, I’ll come help you pack up your dorm things in a few days.”

Xu You agreed, “Mom, I’ll be good.”

They said a few more things before Xu You hung up.

Liao Yuemin propped her chin with one hand, having caught bits and pieces of Xu You’s conversation with her parents.

“You’re moving out to live off campus, Youyou?” she asked.

Xu You nodded.

Liao Yuemin sighed regretfully, “Ah, the dorm is losing a study queen, can’t ask you questions anymore, so sad.”

Xu You laughed softly, saying: “It’s okay, if you want to find me, you can come to my class.”

“So you’re definitely choosing science track?”

Before Xu You could answer, Liao Yuemin asserted: “With grades as good as yours, how could you choose arts?”

Xu You lowered her head, playing with her phone.

She opened her contacts. ‘Xie Ci’ caught her eye immediately.

Thinking of this morning and what he had said to her, Xu You was slightly distracted, her finger unconsciously opening the inbox.

The dozen or so messages he had sent were all there.

Xu You propped her forehead, opening them one by one to read.

The dormitory was very quiet. Chen Xiao, holding her phone, suddenly exclaimed: “Oh my god!”

Xu You was closest to her. She turned her head to ask: “What’s wrong?”

Chen Xiao stuttered a bit, her eyes wide as she passed over her phone, “Oh my god look look, the school forum, something happened to Xie Ci, oh god he, he actually…”