Chapter Three: Something's Not Right About This Picture
Late at night, Chen Nuo sat in a chair, calmly gazing ahead. On the table in front of him, a printed glass cup contained half a cup of clear, cool boiled water. Chen Nuo stared at the cup as if lost in thought before sighing a moment later.
「School Belle Sun was in a terrible mood.」
She had been scolded for half an hour in her father's office the previous day. When she returned home from school, her mother learned about her fall from the building during the day. Her mother got so angry that she argued with her father all night. School Belle Sun locked herself in her room.
Entertainment options for students of this era were very scarce. There were no smartphones to play with. Even children from wealthy families only had Nokias, and having a color screen with a 24-chord ringtone was enough to show off extravagantly. Personal computers were even less widespread. At this time, QQ's online user count had just broken one hundred thousand, largely thanks to white-collar workers in companies and internet cafes across the country.
So all School Belle Sun could do was put on headphones and listen to new songs by a Taiwanese singer named Jay Chou on her MP3 player until she fell asleep. She didn't even hear her mother knocking on the door, calling her to eat. Late at night, School Belle Sun woke up hungry and tiptoed out of her room, finding a bag of cakes in the kitchen—the kind sold by weight at the market.
The source of School Belle Sun's bad mood was a boy named Chen Nuo. Sun Keke had known she was good-looking ever since she was a child. Starting from middle school, the boys in her class would always sneak glances at her. This number increased even more after high school—especially when she dressed lightly in the summertime. But having a father who was the Dean of Discipline, School Belle Sun was always well-protected. After all, it was only the year 2000. Though the boys were a bit rebellious, few dared to take on the high difficulty and risk of courting the Dean of Discipline's daughter.
However, a few days ago, someone did. That person was Chen Nuo.
Sun Keke took out a love letter she had secretly hidden within "Selected Physics Problems: 1996-2000" from her bookshelf. The handwriting was poor, the words cheesy. This was the first love letter School Belle Sun had received in her seventeen years of life. At that time, the boy named Chen Nuo had marched into her classroom quite recklessly and, in front of many people, placed the letter before her.
Then, for the following few days, School Belle Sun became the center of attention in the class! She actually had mixed feelings about it; she was a bit annoyed, yet at the same time, she secretly relished the attention and discussions centered around her. Understandable, for a seventeen-year-old girl.
Over the past two days, the fervor had already begun to fade. But yesterday afternoon's jumping incident...
In fact, it was a huge misunderstanding. School Belle Sun just happened to be walking on the second-floor corridor when she saw the boy who had sent her a love letter lingering on the first floor. The unfortunate thing was that the sunlight was too dazzling at that moment. School Belle Sun suddenly thought the boy standing in the sun looked as if he was glowing, and he actually appeared a bit handsome. School Belle Sun leaned over the railing to spy, bending forward quite a bit. Then her glasses slipped off. She reached out to catch her glasses and leaned out a bit further...
And that led to the jumping incident. The school belle jumped from the building and landed on the man who had written her a love letter. Needless to say, by tomorrow this incident would definitely become a hot topic of conversation at school once again. Is this a distortion of human nature, or a decline in morality?
Annoyed, School Belle Sun turned over, feeling the urge to tear up the love letter. Yet, when it came down to it, she inexplicably felt a bit reluctant. Of course, it wasn't for the boy's sake. It was just because... this was the first love letter she had ever received in her life.
It could only be said that a young girl's sentiment is always...
Affectation.
「During the break, Chen Nuo sat at his desk, writing something in his exercise book with deliberate strokes of his ballpoint pen.」
The classmates around him carried on as usual, chattering and laughing. The girls in the front row discussed the plot of "Autumn in My Heart," debating whether Song Seungheon or Yuan Bin was more handsome. The boys in the back row argued about who was better on the Lakers: Shaq or Kobe Bryant. When Chen Nuo heard a boy loudly say that Kobe's shots were as beautiful as a painting, his pen hesitated for a moment.
And just then, a figure appeared in front of Chen Nuo, and the raucous laughter around seemed to quiet down at that moment without him noticing. Chen Nuo looked up to see School Belle Sun standing in front of him. The students of Class 2(6) instantly switched to gossip mode, their young faces filled with excitement and anticipation.
"What's up?" Chen Nuo sighed.
"There is."
Chen Nuo frowned and glanced at the onlooking classmates. "Do I need to step outside with you to talk?"
School Belle Sun thought for a moment. "No, it's better to make things clear right here."
"Fine, then you talk." Chen Nuo's tone remained unhurried.
The boy's nonchalant air made School Belle Sun feel a bit flustered, but she mustered her courage and said what she had thought about long and hard last night.
"The love letter you wrote me the other day, I've read it. But I'm sorry, I can't accept it."
Chen Nuo raised his eyebrows slightly. Yo? My previous incarnation sure had guts, hitting on the Dean of Discipline's daughter? Dude, you're something else, huh?
"I'm talking to you. I said, I can't accept it."
"Oh, got it."
"Please don't do anything like this in the future."
"Hmm, okay then."
"We are all students, and our main task should be to study."
"You're right."
School Belle Sun's tone became more and more urgent, while Chen Nuo remained as lazily calm as ever.
School Belle Sun felt bewildered. This isn't going the way it should.
But it didn't matter; she was here today to mitigate the impact anyway.
"In the future, it would be best if we keep our distance."
"Hmm, I was thinking the same thing." Chen Nuo finally lifted his eyelids to glance at her, his tone polite. "Is there anything else?"
School Belle Sun's face turned a bit red. "Right now, I just want to focus all my energy on studying."
"...What was your rank in the grade on the midterms?" Chen Nuo asked. He smiled, suddenly understanding the girl's intentions.
"...One hundred ninety-sixth." A flash of humiliation and anger appeared in School Belle Sun's eyes.
Hmm... Chen Nuo recalled that the entire grade had fewer than three hundred students. So he nodded seriously in agreement, looking very good-natured. "Then you indeed need to study hard."
With that, the young man stood up and extended his hand to School Belle Sun. "I wish you study hard and make steady progress every day."
"..."
Suddenly, I feel like cursing. What should I do?
「School Belle Sun walked out of the classroom with a dazed look, only then coming back to her senses.」
Just now... it was me who rejected him, right? Why do I feel like I was the one who got rejected?
「Chen Nuo sat down, ignoring the gazes around him, and continued to pick up the ballpoint pen to write in his exercise book.」
On the exercise book, over and over again, he wrote a name.
Li Yingwan.
The class bell rang, and the students noisily returned to their seats. Moments later, the math teacher entered the classroom. Class begins, stand up, good morning, teacher. Chen Nuo silently went with the flow.
"I have an announcement to make. On the sixth of next month, our school and Yanbian Yutai Middle School will be having an exchange competition. Registration is now open, and everyone can go and look at the notice from the school. Selected students will need a parental signature and to pay a fee of one hundred and fifty yuan..."
Chen Nuo's head shot up!
"Teacher, can anyone sign up?" Chen Nuo suddenly asked.
The math teacher was taken aback for a moment and stared at Chen Nuo. "You want to sign up?"
"Is it a math competition?"
"You want to sign up for a math competition?" The math teacher's tone carried a hint of the absurd.
Chen Nuo thought about the problem on the blackboard from yesterday, chickened out decisively, and sighed, "Are there any other competitions?"
"Go look at the school notice yourself. Alright, let's start class! Everyone open your textbooks to page forty-six."
「The school organizing people to go to a northern school like Yanbian for an event did seem a bit odd.」
But after class, Chen Nuo asked around a bit and understood. No. 8 Middle School was already undergoing educational reform and would soon become a privately run school. The financier was an education industry company with a comprehensive layout, having acquired several reformed schools across various cities in the country, including Yanbian Yutai Middle School. Organizing this event was also to build momentum for the upcoming industry reform and corporate conglomeration. In the year 2000, the commercialization reform of education was in full swing.
Of course, these matters had nothing to do with Chen Nuo. What he cared about was... The sixth of next month, which was fifteen days away. And Yanbian...
Hmm... Yanbian—North Goryeo—South Korea—Seoul. That's a route... Hmm... Over in North Goryeo, the second fatty is still in charge; the third fatty must still be developing, right?
「Never mind the third fatty; even in the year 2000, the two Mas were still developing stealthily.」
Internet cafes entered the fast lane of development, while arcade halls were enjoying their last hurrah. At noon, when school let out, Chen Nuo was dragged to a nearby game arcade by two boys from his class. The most popular game of the era was still *The King of Fighters*. But when Chen Nuo played, unsurprisingly, he was thrashed and rubbed into the ground by his classmates.
This was normal; he hadn't really played this game in his past life. He had come here at noon simply because he had caught up on sleep during the morning classes and also wanted to wander around to see the world of this era. Watching his Mai Shiranui get KO'd by his classmate's Iori Yagami, Chen Nuo exhaled. He was just about to stand up when a hand pressed down on his shoulder from behind.
Turning around, he saw messy hair and an unfamiliar face, somewhere between a teenager and a young adult, with a smile that mixed arrogance and malice. A cigarette was tucked behind his ear. He wore a faux leather jacket with intentionally rolled-up sleeves, revealing a tattoo on his arm: a crookedly drawn knife. In this era, such attire generally represented a specific group: low-level street thugs.
"So you're the fucker named Chen Nuo, huh? Come out! Got something to talk to you about!"
The two classmates who had dragged him to the arcade exchanged what they thought were covert glances before quickly walking away. Chen Nuo sighed. Although I don't know why, it's obvious I've been set up.
A few minutes later, in the alley behind the arcade.
"I'm Little Knife! You can call me Brother Dao!" The other party deliberately shook his tattooed arm.
Chen Nuo glanced at the entrance of the alley; no one was around. He then looked at the two companions of the guy opposite him: one was tall and thin, the other short and fat.
Chen Nuo chuckled, "What do you want with me?"
"Heard you've been strutting around at No. 8 Middle School!" Brother Dao laughed arrogantly. Then, with an exaggerated gesture, he took the cigarette from behind his ear, lit it, took a dramatic drag, and deliberately looked down at Chen Nuo with a superior air.
This guy has clearly watched too many gangster films from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
"I also heard you wrote a love letter to Sun Keke a few days ago? Kid, you're pretty cocky, huh! Writing a love letter to my girl? Did you ask for my permission?"
Chen Nuo couldn't help but snort with laughter. He now realized where this was all coming from. Clearly, the title of Dean of Discipline could intimidate the boys within the school, but it couldn't suppress social riffraff like this from outside. Besides, School Belle Sun's looks were indeed striking. Moreover, there was that C-cup bonus.
"She's your girl?" Chen Nuo frowned.
"Not now, but she soon will be." Brother Dao pulled out a dagger, purposely waving it in front of Chen Nuo. "Now, you know what you have to do, right?"
"Kid! I'm talking to you!" The tall, fat guy beside him dutifully played his part, growling fiercely, "You know what to do now, right?!"
Chen Nuo nodded. "I know."
He carefully glanced at the entrance of the alley again.
「"Look, look, look quickly!"」
Her female classmate patted School Belle Sun, who was daydreaming on the second-floor railing, on the shoulder and pointed. At the school gate, Chen Nuo walked onto campus with his hands in his pockets and a leisurely swagger. The wide, ugly, yet clean blue and white school uniform, the warm afternoon sun, plus the young man's handsome face...
"Actually, he's a bit handsome," her female classmate giggled.
School Belle Sun gave her companion a sidelong glance and turned to walk into the classroom.
「Around eight in the evening, School Belle Sun carried a thermal food container toward the school entrance.」
Tonight, Director Sun was working late, so School Belle Sun was bringing her father dinner. Their home was in the faculty apartment building right next to the school, so there was no worry about safety. Sun Keke reached the school gate and suddenly spotted a familiar figure.
The young man named Chen Nuo was beside a bicycle on the roadside, trying to pick the lock with a key. After a few attempts without success, he moved on to another bike. Still no luck. Then another. Chen Nuo tried to pick the locks on four or five bicycles. What else could he do? There were too many bicycles in front of the school during the day, but far fewer at night.
Chen Nuo stood up, about to try another one, when he caught School Belle Sun's surprised gaze.