Chapter 135 I like pink and my tonsils are not ugly...

To explain why Dai Yize became Shao Yanjun's clothing consultant, we have to start from their childhood.

Their mothers were close friends, both of them adore daughters. After finding out they were pregnant, their biggest hobby was going shopping for their future babies, picking out a plethora of beautiful, exquisite maternity and baby products. The children turned out to be a boy and a girl. Dai Yize's mother, determined not to waste all the strollers and clothes she'd bought for him, dressed him in pink and décor from a young age.

Later, I got into the habit of dressing this way and didn't change it until I went to kindergarten.

Influenced by his mother and driven by his own preferences, Dai Yize has always preferred the so-called "lady colors"—brighter hues—to the dull black, white, and gray. Shao Yanjun is his good friend, sharing a similar passion for pink dresses.

But when they entered kindergarten, they gradually began to hear some gossip among their peers.

As for Shao Yanjun: "She is so violent, yet she likes pink skirts."

As for Dai Yize, "He's a man, and he actually likes pink skirts."

It seems that pink is only made for ladies, and only ladies are qualified to wear skirts.

Dai Yize has a soft personality. In the words of Dai Yize's mother, there is a certain connection between a person's personality and physique.

Although they were born eight days apart, Shao Yanjun weighed 7.5 catties when he was born, while Dai Yize only weighed a pitiful 4.8 catties. Shao Yanjun was as strong as an ox since he was a child. His cries were so loud that the whole building could hear them. Even if he had a fever, he would just take a nap and the fever would go away. Dai Yize, on the contrary, cried in a thin voice, just like a mouse. His fever would rise and fall repeatedly, and it would even be so serious that he would foam at the mouth, disturbing the whole family.

In short, Dai Yize's personality is as soft as his physique, and he will just swallow his anger when bullied. Shao Yanjun is the opposite. If anyone dares to call her violent, says she doesn't suit pink skirts, or calls her a tomboy, she will immediately pick up a broom and fight them, asking as she goes, "Who's violent? Who's the tomboy?"

When Dai Yize was called a sissy and timid, not even daring to fart, it was Shao Yanjun who stood up and said succinctly: "Get lost!"

Since kindergarten, Shao Yanjun has been Dai Yize's patron saint. Of course, this is a self-proclaimed title by Shao Yanjun, and Dai Yize refuses to admit it.

Even after entering elementary school and junior high school, this kind of bullying of the odds among classmates is still everywhere and even becomes more serious.

Shao Yanjun is a person who does what she wants and will never let herself suffer any loss, so she is not bullied very often. If a boy says she is a tomboy, she will chase him all over the place and beat him until he surrenders.

Dai Yize cannot integrate into the boys' group. Although he identifies himself as a male and goes to the men's restroom, once people find out that he likes pink, skirts, and handicrafts and hates all group activities such as basketball and football, they think he is a pervert.

From something as small as someone pointing at your genitals with malice and saying "You have a penis too? I thought you used a vagina to pee" when you were using the restroom, to something as big as waking up in the dormitory in junior high school to find that you had been stripped naked and put on a cheap maid outfit.

Fortunately, he was always in the same class with Shao Yanjun. Shao Yanjun was his protector - although he didn't want to admit it, it was the truth - she protected him many times.

At an age when a man and a woman would be rumored to be in a scandal if they looked at each other for a few seconds, Shao Yanjun's protection of Dai Yize did not lead to any scandal. It was not because everyone appreciated their solid and pure friendship, but because a more outrageous rumor was born, saying that Dai Yize was a gay, which was why the two of them became best friends.

Being slandered is miserable enough, but what's even worse is that the girl that Dai Yize had a crush on at the time also believed the rumor. After he confessed his love to her, she said with disgust, "If you like boys, go confess to boys. Don't use me as a cover for being gay." However, Shao Yanjun almost fainted from laughing after hearing this tragedy, which made Dai Yize feel that this matter didn't seem so bad. At least he could bring it up and laugh with his friends.

When they were in junior high school, Dai Yize became obsessed with painting and Shao Yanjun started to learn music. He began to try to design clothes for her performances. Later, he became more and more obsessed with it and decided to let her wear those sparkling dresses for him that he couldn't wear.

So they developed a wonderful symbiotic relationship, one providing protection and the other providing clothing.

After entering high school, Dai Yize learned to disguise himself and no longer revealed his preferences in class. He was bullied much less, although there were still people like Zheng Zekai who felt that his voice lacked strength and masculinity, and there were still male classmates from junior high school who would beat him up with a smile when they met him, just like they did on Saturday afternoon.

He still designs clothes for Shao Yanjun, and his designs are getting better and better.

"Are you talking about me?"

The sudden voice startled Shao Yanjun who was telling the story and Zhu Yingning who was listening. Looking back, they saw Dai Yize walking into the backstage.

"You didn't leave?" Shao Yanjun asked.

"I just went to the bathroom."

She shrugged and went back to applying her lipstick.

Dai Yize glanced at Zhu Yingning warily, as if afraid that she would know some of his secrets. Zhu Yingning said, "Everyone just told me that you designed Shao Yanjun's dress."

"So what?" He showed a more cautious expression, mixed with some impatience.

"It's nothing, I just think you're amazing and have good taste." She gave a thumbs up.

"It's the same thing." He said in a mean way, "Tsk, being praised by a country guy like you, why don't I feel happy at all?"

“…”

**

Zhu Yingning went home after the performance that night. Dai Yize was a little surprised when he saw her leave. "She didn't even tell us to go back to study? So, what was she doing here? Did she really come to see you perform?"

"Maybe."

Shao Yanjun yawned, his mouth wide open, without covering it with his hands. This caused Dai Yize to say in disgust, "Can you please pay attention to your appearance? I can even see your tonsils."

"So what if they see me? My tonsils aren't ugly, so I'm happy for people to see them. What's wrong with that?" Shao Yanjun rolled his eyes. "They're going to a dinner party later. Do you want to go?"

"Forget about the barbecue. I have irritable bowel."

“…Casserole porridge.”

"That's fine."

**

When they returned to school on Monday, Shao Yanjun and Dai Yize, who had left school early, were both caught and criticized by Hong Qingyang. Zhu Yingning was also caught in the crossfire, because no matter her motives, leaving early was an indisputable fact. Hong Qingyang summoned her to his office and lectured her, saying, "You're the class monitor, you have to lead by example."

On Saturday of the second week, since there was no need to rehearse, the two finally did not leave early again, but they were also very out of shape. They were like two tubes of toothpaste, which had to be pushed and squeezed hard to squeeze out the little knowledge from their heads.

As soon as the free discussion session started, Dai Yize immediately fell asleep on the table, and Shao Yanjun, who was sitting in front of him, fell asleep in the middle of the exam.

Zhu Yingning called them up impartially, ignoring their protests, and gathered the four of them, including herself. She formulated a strict study plan, just as she had done for Wu Bo, Xu Sirui and others, and resolutely implemented it.

Shao Yanjun and Dai Yize kept complaining. Shao Yanjun said, "I'm not good at studying. You've seen us perform. Why force us to do something we're not good at?"

"Music and studying don't conflict," Zhu Yingning said. "Whether you plan to be an arts student or do something else, your academic performance is your stepping stone, the stepping stone that propels you up. Only with it can you move into a better environment and make more like-minded, high-quality, and high-level friends. Okay, stop being so discouraging and look at this question."

Under her pressure, during the midterm exam, Shao Yanjun tragically improved from the last to the third from the last in the class, and Dai Yize improved from the eighth from the last to the eleventh from the last.

Zhu Yingning reflected on his mistakes and felt that he had been too indulgent towards them, so he made an even more devilish plan for them after the midterm exam.

**

Ever since Zhu Yingning was elected class monitor, Zou Hao hadn't spoken to her in over half a semester. His mindset had also subtly shifted during that time. Initially, he'd been annoyed with her, but that dissatisfaction faded over time, turning into deep confusion. He couldn't understand how he was any worse than Zhu Yingning, and he couldn't understand why he couldn't get the support of his classmates.

This kind of "not understanding" initially comes with a condescending look, but later becomes genuine confusion.

In order to solve this problem, he began to observe Zhu Yingning.

Strictly speaking, it is to observe how she gets along with her classmates.

The things she did - taking care of the transfer student who didn't fit in, forcing Shao Yanjun and Dai Yize, who had no interest in studying, to study, and volunteering to swap shifts with others when the monitor had something urgent to do - were all extremely stupid and inefficient in Zou Hao's opinion.

She doesn't look like someone from the 21st century, but rather like a grassroots cadre who dedicated themselves to the people during the revolutionary period.

This is not a revolutionary era where everything needs to be rebuilt, and people today are not as naive and gullible as those in the past. In this era of information explosion, after seeing all kinds of life and having all kinds of desires, who would still be willing to fall for her tricks?

But, damn, everyone seems to really be willing to buy into this.

When most study groups in the class gradually lost their enthusiasm and became stagnant over time, he found that only the study group led by Zhu Yingning was still learning enthusiastically.

Zhang Jiacheng, needless to say, was naturally calm and studious. The focus was on the other two. Shao Yanjun had a bad temper and was difficult to discipline, while Dai Yize was a chatterbox and prone to whining. Both were problem children. But even with their constant complaints, they would, under her guidance, scratch their heads and tackle the exercises they struggled with, venting their resentment while continuing to study.

When the results of the second monthly exam came out, both of them had made rapid progress. Although they were still in the middle and lower levels of the class, Hong Qingyang was so moved that he awarded them a self-made progress award. He also rated their entire group as the best group and praised them heavily in the class meeting.

Zou Hao had been longing for the day when his classmates would realize Zhu Yingning was not doing well and would greet him with "Zou Hao, I really miss the days when you were class monitor," as if welcoming the emperor back to court. Then, he could finally return to the throne. Unfortunately, the semester was almost over, and the only person who had ever said that to him was Zheng Zekai, because he didn't care about discipline—his time as class monitor was the only time he could talk and play freely during study sessions.

He held his self-esteem and arrogance, not knowing where to put them, until these self-esteems were polished and turned into an urgent need to adapt to the environment in the day-to-day entanglement and self-reinvention.

He made a decision.