Chapter 66: Friends, let’s see what a real tigress is

Xu Sirui deliberately left her alone for a long time before getting to the point. He said leisurely, "So what if you know? So what if you don't know?"

She hesitated for a few times and muttered softly: "Nothing, I was just asking casually..."

"If I tell you that I not only know about it but have also participated in it, are you planning to treat me like an idol? Are you planning to print out my photo and hang it above your bed, then worship it every day when you have nothing to do, burn incense for me, and ask me to show my magical powers and bless you?"

"?"

She curled her lips in disgust, "How is it possible..."

"That's it, isn't it?" Xu Sirui raised his eyebrows, opened Snake again, and said matter-of-factly, "I'm so outstanding, and you don't even plan to make me your idol. Why should you be afraid of others?"

What an incredibly narcissistic statement! Zhu Yingning was stunned by his cocky, cool tone. But... wait, on second thought, she actually felt he had a point.

Yes, she is not even afraid of Xu Sirui, so why should she be afraid of Zou Hao?

Does Zou Hao have an extra nose or an extra hand than Xu Sirui? No, right?

If there isn't any, then why should she be afraid?

His words weren't even meant to be comforting; they were more like a tease. Yet, strangely, they felt like a revelation to her, a sudden awakening from his narcissism. Her mind felt clearer than ever before, as if someone had dropped a few drops of medicated oil into it, a cool, icy sensation that penetrated her heart. She leaped to her feet, snatched up her meal card, gave him a silly grin, and, with a "Got it! Thank you," squeaked out in her slippers.

**

The next day at school, Zhu Yingning was much calmer than she had been the day before. Although she still hadn't made any new friends, and Shao Yanjun and Dai Yize still looked as if they didn't want to talk to her, she wasn't as anxious as she had been the day before.

She began to spend more time observing her classmates, trying to understand this new group that she didn't know.

The first year of high school hadn't yet been divided into classes based on academic performance, so their class had a mix of people: those who loved studying, those who didn't, and those who frequently broke school rules. When it came to breaking school rules, Shao Yanjun was definitely the leader among the girls in this area. Hong Qingyang had repeatedly warned her about her appearance, urging her to straighten her hair or dye it black, but even after repeated warnings, Shao Yanjun still went her own way.

Once, in the middle of class, Zhu Yingning suddenly smelled a pungent aroma of chemicals. She was wondering where the smell came from. When she glanced over, she saw Shao Yanjun painting his nails with several bottles of nail polish under his desk.

After finishing his own application, he turned around and applied it to Dai Yize.

Dai Yize said, "I'm not a sissy, who would want to put this on?", but he didn't show any resistance. He put up a token resistance and then smiled broadly. Zhu Yingning saw it and was puzzled.

Furthermore, although Zou Hao won the class monitor election, he didn't win the position of League Secretary. Instead, the position went to a woman named Tan Jingjing, who wore thick, rimless glasses and silver braces. She spoke loudly and acted decisively. It was rumored that she had been poached by school officials at a high price; otherwise, based on her grades, she would have definitely gone to a better high school.

Zou Hao seemed to regard Tan Jingjing as an imaginary enemy. Every time after a small test in class, he would glance at Tan Jingjing's test scores seemingly casually but actually deliberately.

These observation fragments were like pieces of a puzzle, bit by bit building up her understanding of this new class.

**

The first friend Zhu Yingning made was Wu Bo.

It was purely by chance that I made this friend. They were in physical education class that day, and the physical education teacher led them to practice the 400-meter race. In order to avoid boys and girls mixing and disrupting each other's rhythm, boys and girls ran separately. The boys ran one lap first, and then it was the girls' turn.

Running events, especially long-distance running that tests endurance, are a piece of cake for Zhu Yingning. She had already practiced running on mountain roads in the mountains. After running a lap, she didn't even breathe hard. Looking back, she found that the fastest girl behind her was also half a lap behind her.

She wandered around the finish line aimlessly, standing with the surrounding boys, waiting for the other girls to finish and gather together.

Then--

At this moment, she heard a boy shouting: "Look! The big wave is coming!"

Who is Dabo?

She was just pondering, half-heartedly, whether there were any classmates with that name when she heard the shrill laughter of the boys around her. That laughter was lewd and teasing, mixed with a hint of mischievous vulgarity. Anyone who wasn't an idiot could easily tell it was harboring ill intentions. She froze for a moment, then followed their gaze and saw that they were all focused on one girl.

The girl was rather plump and was panting as she ran. Her chest inevitably swayed up and down as she ran.

She knew the girl's name, Wu Bo.

At that moment, it was as if something exploded within Zhu Yingning, scorching the blood in her veins. She understood the unspoken dirty jokes between the boys, the disgusting tacit understanding among the male community. On this day when she was fifteen, on the sunny playground, in front of a female classmate who looked embarrassed but too exhausted to resist.

She turned her head in disbelief to look at the boys around her who were making fun of Wu Bo. These male classmates who usually looked normal now looked so ridiculous that they looked like a group of funny and stupid monkeys, with their faces flushed with some kind of stimulation.

They used their hands as megaphones and shouted at Wu Bo as he passed by:

"Did Dabo improve his running this time?"

"As expected of a big wave——"

"Dabo, come on! Dabo, come on!"

Zheng Zekai, the leader, even trotted over to Wu Bo, deliberately blocking her way, and said with a smile, "Do you need me to carry you, Dabo?"

Wu Bo didn't say anything. He lowered his head and ran forward silently, his footsteps landing heavily on the plastic track.

Zheng Zekai smiled and exchanged an ambiguous look with the boy next to him. He wanted to say something else, but the next second, he felt a huge pulling force on the hem of his clothes behind him. Before he could do anything, he was swung by the pulling force onto the sand pit used for long jump next to him, and fell hard on his butt.

Not only was Zheng Zekai stunned, but the boys watching nearby also didn't realize what was happening. In the blink of an eye, Zhu Yingning was in front of them, reaching out and pushing them to the ground one by one like dominoes. The people behind them reacted quickly, scrambling to steady themselves, their faces flushed and their necks thick with anger as they yelled, "Ni Ma... Are you sick?! What are you doing?"

"What am I doing?" She was so angry that her breathing became a little difficult. She stopped and took a few deep breaths. "I was even asking you what you wanted to do! You're so boring, and your jokes are boring too! Apologize to her!"

Several boys were originally furious, but after hearing her words, they looked at each other for a moment and immediately smiled meaningfully: "A joke? What kind of joke are we playing?"

"You said she..." Zhu Yingning found it difficult to utter the malicious word and got stuck halfway through.

"What? What did we say about her?" A boy patted his butt and stood up. "My name is Zheng Zekai, also known as Dakai. What? Am I making fun of Zheng Zekai? You girls are so damn sensitive and petty. You're dirty yourselves and you still put labels on others."

"You!" Zhu Yingning was furious at his sophistry. She knew that calling Zheng Zekai "Dakai" and calling Wu Bo "Dabo" were two completely different things, with completely different intentions, but she was completely blocked from refutation. How could she refute him? Was she supposed to say in front of so many people, "You guys are making fun of your female classmates' big breasts?" Saying that would only make Wu Bo even more embarrassed.

"Anyway, you must apologize to her!" She could only emphasize loudly, "If you don't apologize, I will go find the teacher!"

Zheng Zekai had already stood up and walked around to Zhu Yingning, sneering disdainfully, "Apologize? Hilarious! We haven't even asked you to apologize yet, what are you barking about? You pushed so many of us down for no apparent reason, and you think you're so damn right? Everyone around us saw it, you were the one who started it. Go ahead and tell tales if you want, and see which teacher is willing to pay you any mind."

She choked for a moment and looked around. Sure enough, quite a few classmates had gathered to watch the fun. Wu Bo carefully pulled her from behind, his face wrinkled. "Oh... forget it. Don't argue with them. I'm really fine. I'm used to it."

"Have you gotten used to it?" Zhu Yingning found it difficult to describe how she felt after hearing this.

At this time, the physical education teacher also heard the commotion and came over, asking them, "What's going on? What's going on?! Are you guys fighting? Disperse! Disperse!"

"How dare we, teacher?" Zheng Zekai rolled his eyes at Zhu Yingning and sneered, "How could we defeat a tigress?"

“…”

If there weren't so many people around, she really wanted to go up and slap him a few times to let him know what a real tigress is.

Wu Bo actively tried to smooth things over, saying to the PE teacher, "Teacher, we were just joking, haha, it's nothing serious!" He then put more pressure on his hands, pulled Zhu Yingning aside, and begged her in a low voice, "Forget it, forget it, really forget it."

Neither party wanted to argue, and Zhu Yingning had no choice but to follow her strength and move away for the time being.

After the physical education teacher recorded the grades of all the students, he asked them to line up, explained the precautions for free activities, and then let them disperse on the spot.

Zhu Yingning had originally planned to find a simple pull-up bar to exercise and let out some steam, just like she had done in gym class before. But before she could get very far, Wu Bo, who had just come up beside her, stopped her in her tracks. With a flattering smile, she said, "Um... your name is Zhu Yingning, right? Can I buy you a drink?"

"No need." Zhu Yingning sighed, "I can't help you at all."

"No, no, no, I'm really touched that you spoke for me, really!" Wu Bo grabbed her hand and insisted on dragging her to the convenience store.

"No...really, there's no need." Not to mention that she didn't help, even if she did, there was no reason for her to drink other people's drinks. Zhu Yingning didn't want to go to the canteen, so she had to push in the opposite direction.

The two men stood there as if pulling carrots, one pushing hard to the left, the other pushing hard to the right, and they remained motionless for a long time, as if they had been frozen into two sculptures.