I want to think
When they entered junior high school, the way the two children in the Hu family got along changed drastically. This time, it was Cheng Zhou's turn to dislike Hu Tong.
Hu Tong was still as energetic and vigorous as ever at Heqing Middle School, always striving to be the first and the best in everything.
Cheng Zhou is a mild-mannered person who doesn't easily misunderstand or belittle himself by others' success. However, during the first monthly exam, Hu Tong cried on her desk after the exam. Cheng Zhou risked being rumored to be dating her to comfort her and even used his allowance to buy her a milk tea with cantaloupe flavor, pearls, and coconut jelly.
To everyone's surprise, the results came out a few days later.
First in the class, first in the grade.
Cheng Zhou silently put away his small bag containing change and keys, and stuffed the handed-out test papers into the drawer. Because he moved too quickly and too hard, the white test papers were crumpled up in the dark drawer.
Cheng Zhou originally thought his grades were pretty good and something to be happy about for a while, but in front of Hu Tong's gloomy face, his little joy immediately turned into a sense of shame, making him inexplicably mock his own lack of success.
What's even worse is that after seeing the grades that dazzled the entire class, Hu Tong still wasn't happy. Day by day, his expression grew increasingly bitter and resentful.
One morning, Cheng Zhou found a note on Hu Tong's desk that read: "Next exam, you should surpass the following scores: 135, 150, 142, 94, 92, 88, 92, 96, for a total of 889 points."
Cheng Zhou didn't know where she got such a terrifying number. It wasn't until she accidentally saw the results of the last monthly exam after class that she realized that Hu Tong's score was the highest in the entire grade across all subjects!
However, by the end of the school year, Hu Tong hadn't achieved that score. It wasn't until later, with the addition of chemistry, that her grade met the "standard," but then Hu Tong's goal changed again, becoming even more astonishing.
Cheng Zhou felt a mix of respect, fear, and annoyance towards Hu Tong. Over time, he lost the clingy affection he had when they were children, made some other friends, and became more cheerful, but he still retained that obedient boy demeanor that made Hu Tong grit her teeth.
Speaking of which, Hu Tong, whose desire to perform and compete was just as strong, was not as popular as before in junior high school. But she was completely unaware that she would strut around with her best friend Miao Wei every day, going to the toilet, buying snacks, and carrying many exercise books to the teacher's office to ask questions.
Her behavior was somewhat disliked, but to each their own, and Hu Tong's unconventional and impulsive nature was noticed by others.
At first, Hu Tong just found it strange that she could always hear several people coughing at the same time when she passed by a certain person. She was so scared that she urged these people: "If you are sick, go see a doctor. Don't infect me and make me miss class!"
The boys were amused by her fierce appearance and became even bolder, eventually giving Hu Tong a nickname – "Yang Qianlang's tigress".
This was the first time Hu Tong had noticed the man named Yang Qianlang. He was of average height, build, and weight, with a neck as wide as his head. He often wore a smile on his square face, but it wasn't a smile that made people feel comfortable and warm; rather, it was a smile that was somewhat mocking and mischievous.
This person has absolutely no connection with Qian Helang.
Hu Tong didn't dislike him, but he didn't like him either, after all, his grades... weren't even as good as Miao Miao's. You see, his friend Miao Wei's grades could be described as "utterly disastrous".
Hu Tong warned several times to no avail, so he complained to the homeroom teacher. But since it was a baseless matter, the teacher just laughed it off, said a few words about the class atmosphere, and that was it. It didn't appease him.
She didn't intend to waste her attention on such trivial matters anymore, ignoring all teasing and rarely showing anger. Little did she know that Yang Qianlang would interpret this in a completely different way.
It was a Sunday afternoon, and the students were returning to school after the holiday to prepare for evening self-study. It was a rare time when they didn't have to wear their school uniforms.
Hu Tong deliberately wore a top with a wide neckline, revealing a blue and white ribbon tied into a bow at the back of her neck, feeling extremely fashionable. She was secretly pleased with herself and even showed Miao Wei the Doraemon pattern on her tie-up vest in the women's restroom.
However, this light, cloud-like feeling of joy vanished the moment I stepped into the classroom.
Yang Qianlang hid behind the door and, taking advantage of Hu Tong's inattention, pulled off her tie!
He seemed to miss Hu Tong's angry outbursts. After jumping out from behind the door, he didn't run away, but just stood there with his arms crossed, grinning and making strange noises. His friends also gathered around with interest.
"The tigress is about to explode again! Yang Qianlang, you'd better do something about it!"
Hu Tong was indeed furious, but he had no desire to scold him.
She quickly tied the tie in a tight knot, rushed over, and shoved the person against the door. The loud bang startled everyone. Then, an even more unexpected scene unfolded: Hu Tong reached out to grab the tie in the middle of Yang Qianlang's sweatpants!
Yang Qianlang's smile vanished instantly. His face flushed red, and he struggled fiercely, pulling at Hu Tong. "I'm warning you, Hu Tong, I don't hit women, but if you don't stop, you're not human!"
Hu Tong could no longer hear Yang Qianlang's warnings; all she wanted was to loosen his belt and complete her revenge. However, she failed.
There were many reasons why the revenge failed: Yang Qianlang's own fists and feet, Miao Wei's cries of pain as she rushed in to intervene and was accidentally injured, and the homeroom teacher being called in by the enthusiastic classmates...
In short, Hu Tong and Yang Qianlang were separated. Before going to the teachers' office, Hu Tong patted Miao Wei and Cheng Zhou on the shoulder. The former rushed over to break up the fight, and the latter stopped Yang Qianlang's friends. They were both very brave. She decided to treat the two to teppanyaki after school.
"This is utterly outrageous!" The homeroom teacher angrily tapped Yang Qianlang on the head with a rolled-up textbook. Meeting Hu Tong's fiery glare, he abruptly pulled his hand back, and the textbook that was supposed to hit Hu Tong's head landed on the desk.
After a furious scolding, the homeroom teacher made the two apologize to each other, shake hands and make up, and write a self-criticism, and the matter would be over.
Hu Tong was unhappy. She was already angry that she hadn't managed to grab Yang Qianlang's belt, and now she had to apologize?
"I won't apologize!" Hu Tong slammed his fist on the table.
The homeroom teacher was taken aback by her imposing manner, paused for a moment, then chuckled and said, "You two were really going at it, Yang Qianlang's face is covered in your handprints..."
I want to call the police!
Hu Tong's words startled all the teachers in the office who had been eavesdropping.
"Little girl, you've got quite a temper," a teacher said with a smile. "What's the point of calling the police? No classmate will dare joke with you anymore. You're too young to understand; boys your age like you more the more they act up!"
"Bullshit!" Hu Tong cursed. "Then teacher, let me tug at your underwear. Girls my age like you, the more you tease me, the more you like me!"
"You!" The teacher choked for a moment, glanced at the homeroom teacher, then picked up his thermos, chuckled awkwardly, and walked out, shaking his head and muttering, "I can't afford to mess with him. If I say one thing, hundreds of things will come my way. Teacher Li, Hu Tong in your class is quite something."
The homeroom teacher scratched his head, speechless for a moment.
Yang Qianlang turned his face away and silently shed tears.
Hu Tong shouted, "I'm going to call the police anyway, this is sexual harassment!"
"Hey!" The homeroom teacher frowned.
Before the homeroom teacher could speak, Hu Tong shouted, rattling off a string of words, "He untied my bra straps! What are bras for? They're for covering my breasts! Since the biology teacher said that breast development is my secondary sexual characteristic, then this is sexual harassment!"
“Yang Qianlang’s actions are the same as taking off my underwear. The fact that my bra strap is tied around my neck is not a reason for him to touch me inappropriately!”
As she spoke, she turned her head toward the biology teacher.
The biology teacher, a kind-looking old lady, was already taken aback by Hu Tong's bold choice of words. Now, with both Hu Tong and the homeroom teacher watching her, she coughed and chuckled awkwardly, "It seems, it seems like that's how it is?"
The homeroom teacher felt utterly exhausted and waved his hand, "I can't control you. How about we get your parents to come?"
Hu Tong had good grades and was always enthusiastic about everything, so his homeroom teacher couldn't bear to say anything harsh to this good student. He hoped that the parents could persuade the unreasonable Hu Tong, but Yang Qianlang was unhappy about that.
"Don't call my parents, I... my parents are busy..." Yang Qianlang finally turned his head, which was practically welded to the wall, back to reality. He stared at Hu Tong, his eyes and cheeks as red as his, "I apologize, I'm sorry! If it really doesn't work, you can come and pull down my underwear, okay?"
"Who wants to do this kind of sexual harassment like you!" Hu Tong wouldn't admit that just ten minutes ago, pulling down Yang Qianlang's belt was what she wanted most.
"I'm not sexually harassing you, Hu Tong. Just because you're surnamed Hu doesn't mean you can talk nonsense!" Yang Qian closed his eyes, steeled his resolve, and shouted, "I do like you, but I never want to like you again! You'll regret it. Who else but me would like a tigress like you!"
"Who cares about your liking? Your score isn't even a fraction of mine. You should go to jail!" Hu Tong spat, ignored him, and urged the homeroom teacher to call his parents.
The homeroom teacher was both amused and worried, and called both sets of parents to come over.
Hu Tong's mother and father arrived. They both seemed reasonable, which relieved the homeroom teacher. But then, the couple said in unison, "Call the police!"
Hu Jiale said irritably, "Didn't Tongtong explain everything clearly, teacher? She even gave a solution. It's like we came all this way for nothing."
“Yes, we have no objection to this arrangement. Teacher, you can just call the police.” Mr. Hu pushed up his glasses and replied with a smile.
"..." The homeroom teacher clutched his chest, nearly collapsing backward. He opened his slightly trembling lips and said, "Um, Hu Tong's parents, that's not how things are supposed to be done. Isn't this a waste of police resources... Yang Qianlang is still young..."
Hu Tong retorted, "I'm in the same grade as him, how much younger is he? Anyway, I'm going to call the police!"
"Don't call the police! Don't call the police!"
When Yang Ma, who arrived late, heard this, she burst into tears and started to kneel down before Hu Tong, causing another uproar in the office.
"Mom!" Yang Qianlang said bitterly, "Don't beg her, just call the police!"
As the adults tried their best to stop Yang Ma from kneeling, Hu Tong took a half-step back, somewhat surprised and alarmed.
She glanced down at the woman; she was short and thin, her neck so thin it looked like it could be snapped in two with one hand. Her dark brown coat, whether worn or soaked with the lingering aura emanating from her, resembled a withered leaf enveloping a small patch of foul-smelling earth.
Hu Tong saw the scars beneath the withered leaves.
As Yang Ma struggled, bruises flashed and jumped beneath her withered clothes.
"Fine, I'll just give them a warning and not call the police."
Hu Tong heard an unfamiliar voice leap out from his throat.
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