A school-wide brawl stirred up the entire campus, and in the end, all those involved were publicly criticized, and their parents were called in.
Shen Mo had promised his father that he would come, but he kept postponing it—first to the next day, then the day after that—and his father, Shen Jiaru, never showed up.
Finally, the head teacher issued an ultimatum: if parents didn’t come to the school within a month, home visits would be made, which would escalate the situation.
Shen Mo agreed verbally, but his attitude seemed indifferent, which infuriated the head teacher. Determined to report everything thoroughly to Shen Jiaru when he saw him, the head teacher vowed not to show any mercy.
Although no one came out of the brawl unscathed, after the fight between the seniors and juniors, there was a strange and harmonious atmosphere of admiration for each other’s heroic spirit, despite their differences.
It seemed they had found a way to coexist peacefully, even playing basketball together without any issues.
Shen Mo, who was despised by the head teacher, might be the biggest winner after all.
Suddenly, he was accepted by all the boys in the class. Even the athletes who used to avoid him became his loyal supporters. Their enthusiasm and camaraderie towards Shen Mo even surpassed Zhao Jinhui, who had always been Shen Mo’s sidekick.
Although Zhao Jinhui felt a bit awkward, being good buddies, he had no choice but to accept this situation where he could no longer monopolize “Society Brother Mo.”
During gym class, Hua Jie also realized the benefits of having Shen Mo, the leader of Class 17, as her desk mate!
…
The PE teacher watered the ice rink with a hose while the students ran laps on the sports field, and Hua Jie painted by the wall with a large brush.
She didn’t bother with pencil sketches; she went straight to painting with the brush.
After running their laps, the students came over to watch the commotion.
“Hua Jie, are you painting the wall?”
“What are you doing, Hua Jie?”
“What are you painting, Hua Jie?”
Chatter filled the air.
Jing Nian was more professional. He stepped forward to answer each classmate’s question on behalf of Hua Jie, then eagerly surrounded her, eager to try himself.
It was so meaningful, so interesting; he had never painted a wall before!
“Hey, do you have another pen? Let me help you paint. Let me try it, or you can outline it, and I’ll fill in the colors for you.” Jing Nian rubbed his hands together, almost snatching the pen from Hua Jie.
Eager to take on this tedious task, he was a curious and enthusiastic young man through and through.
How could Hua Jie refuse such a request? She immediately handed him the pen, let him pick the colors, and asked him to fill in while she moved a few steps away to paint another piece.
Jing Nian’s assistance gave Shen Mo inspiration. He had already caught the basketball thrown by Zhao Jinhui, ready to dunk, but seeing Hua Jie busy in front of the wall like a little bear, he frowned and simply placed the ball under the hoop. With the other boys, he went to find Hua Jie at the campus wall.
Their momentum was like a big brother leading his younger siblings to conquer a city.
These boys couldn’t do anything else, but they could paint walls.
Yao Nan, with two fast runners, strode to the art room to ask the art teacher for pens, paint, brush pots, and palettes.
When they returned, a group of boys was being directed by Shen Mo, following behind Hua Jie.
Such charisma, truly worthy of Shen Mo!
Of course, Hua Jie herself was also popular.
Liao Shanshan and a few other girls who were good friends didn’t mind the cold and wore hats and gloves to come help.
…
Yu Tonglin and another boy rubbed their hands and also walked towards Hua Jie.
Passing by Bian Ying, Yu Tonglin asked, “Want to help out together?”
“I’m not wearing gloves, neither are you. Are you still going to help?” Bian Ying instinctively wanted to frown, but she held back and just made a reluctant expression.
“Wrap your hands with your sleeves and hold the brush with your fingers.” Yu Tonglin pulled out his sleeves to cover his hands, gesturing for Bian Ying to see.
“She’s not even acknowledging you now, and you’re still going to help her? Aren’t you afraid of putting in effort for nothing?” Bian Ying said in a low voice, shrugged, and pouted slightly, making a somewhat resentful but cute expression.
“We’re classmates in the same class. I don’t know why she’s mad. It’ll be fine in a couple of days. Girls are really hard to please.” Yu Tonglin didn’t pay much attention, saying as he walked towards Hua Jie.
“I’m not going. My sleeves are too short to pull out.” Seeing her attempt to instigate didn’t succeed and it wasn’t convenient to continue blocking, Bian Ying could only shake her head somewhat bitterly.
“Okay.” Yu Tonglin responded and walked away. His gaze returned, falling on Hua Jie in front of the campus wall, stretching her small arms and painting, his pace quickening.
“…” Bian Ying’s face darkened, resentment evident in her eyes.
“What about us?” The girls who were good friends with Bian Ying glanced at Hua Jie and then at the girls making snowmen, feeling indecisive.
“We’re definitely not helping Hua Jie. Look how she called so many boys to help. I can’t believe how good she is at flirting with guys, shameless.” With no boys around, Bian Ying finally couldn’t hold back and voiced her feelings to her closest friend.
“…Then let’s go make snowmen.”
“Let’s go!”
…
A light breeze blew against the wall, causing Hua Jie to huddle her neck and adjust her collar before continuing to paint.
She outlined the edges, adjusted the colors, and assigned tasks to her classmates one by one.
This person paints this area, don’t go over the edge; that person paints that area, paint straight lines from left to right, don’t make it messy…
So, Hua Jie only needed to outline with specific colors, adjust colors, and supervise the work.
The classmates filled in the colors according to the outlines, transforming into professional painters.
For the next class period, the wall-painting squad worked tirelessly, making remarkable progress.
When the bell rang for the end of class, and the PE teacher called for the students to line up and dismiss, they found many students with red and green patches on their faces, as if they had just come back from a dyeing workshop…
…
With time running short for painting the campus wall, Hua Jie became busy, setting aside everything except studying.
She had planned to sign up for the watercolor art class at the Youth Center over the weekend, but she didn’t have time. She spent all her time painting the walls at school.
During the weekend, Wang Ting prepared breakfast, lunch, and dinner for her, and they tried all the delicious dishes in the small restaurant across the school.
Over the weekend, Shen Mo had arranged to play basketball at school with some friends. Seeing Hua Jie busy, he called over the basketball players to help—
Among the recruited workers were also some second-year students.
Fortunately, painting itself was somewhat enjoyable; otherwise, it would have been miserable to come out in the cold to paint after playing basketball.
Because there were so many people painting the walls, even the PE teacher who came to water the ice rink on the weekend joined in during his break, holding a paintbrush and following Wang Ting’s lead.
“Hey, be careful not to paint over the boundary I drew.” Hua Jie immediately pointed out when she noticed Shen Mo coloring outside the lines.
“It’s just a little bit. You can’t even tell.” Shen Mo didn’t care.
“Nonsense!” Hua Jie trotted over, had to enlarge the face of the little girl who was studying to cover the line Shen Mo crossed.
“…” Shen Mo twitched his mouth. Drawing really required patience and concentration, it was troublesome.
“Look! Because of your negligence, the delicate little girl has now become chubby-faced.” Hua Jie glanced at him sideways.
“…” Shen Mo glared at her, itching to flick her forehead.
Is this little troublemaker going to rebel?
Keeping an eye out to ensure nobody was looking their way, he moved swiftly and delivered a sharp poke to her forehead.
“Go on, go paint, don’t waste my time here,” he urged, satisfied with the small red mark he left on her forehead.
“…” Hua Jie rubbed her forehead, rolling her eyes and muttering, “Little brat has no respect!”
“?” Shen Mo’s gray eyes looked at her with confusion.
“-v-” Hua Jie immediately responded with an innocent smile.
“…” Only then did the boy reluctantly withdraw his gaze and resume focusing on painting the wall.
Watching this scene, Wang Ting couldn’t help but sigh:
Youth is truly wonderful. I wish I could be young again, like Hua Jie, with talent for painting at such a young age and being protected by the big boys on campus. If only she studied better and her family had more money, it would be even better…
…
During the break, while other students were strolling around or chatting in the warm classrooms, Hua Jie was painting by the wall.
The paint that Wang Ting had just prepared began to freeze after a while, forcing her to mix it with warm water to continue painting.
Turning to look at Hua Jie, the girl was wearing thick boots, a face-covering hat, and a large scarf. Her thick coat bundled her up so much that her figure was barely visible.
Despite the cumbersome attire, her arm movements were graceful, indicating her familiarity with painting.
Even in such cold weather, Hua Jie never complained or slacked off, as if she had accepted it as a matter of course to work for money, without displaying any of the typical childishness one might expect at her age.
In an era where every family had only one child, everyone was raised like a precious treasure. So why was Hua Jie so capable and resilient?
Wang Ting stomped her foot. She wanted to slack off too, but every time she saw the girl working so diligently, she gritted her teeth and continued.
…
Feeling tired, Hua Jie took out a thermos flask and had a sip of hot water, then jumped in place before continuing to paint.
When the bell for class preparation rang, she gathered her art supplies and headed back to the classroom. Once seated, she found a thermos of hot water, prepared by Liao Shanshan during break time, on her desk.
Shen Mo handed her a hot water bottle warmed on the heater, which she hugged to quickly warm her hands. Within five or six minutes, she could resume taking notes as usual.
As soon as the class bell rang, she hurried downstairs with her art supplies, racing against time to complete her 400 yuan task.
The head teacher couldn’t bear to see the girl painting in the cold wind.
In addition to the 400 yuan, an extra 100 yuan was allocated to Wang Ting as a heating subsidy. Wang Ting handed it all to Hua Jie without hesitation, and the girl took it without reluctance, smoothing it out and putting it in her pocket.
Wang Ting often felt that Hua Jie exhibited a maturity and steadiness beyond her 15 years, not shy or naive, with strong purpose and initiative in her actions.
Sometimes, she even felt that Hua Jie was more like a colleague than a student.
Truly a talented and peculiar child.
…
Working in the freezing wind and snow, Hua Jie didn’t catch a cold, but she developed frostbite on her hands.
After swelling up, they became stiff and painful, with patches of red and purple.
The next day, they started to itch and hurt even more.
She had intended to buy some frostbite ointment, but in her hurry to ride her bike to school, she forgot and only remembered when she put down her backpack.
As she hesitated whether to go out again to buy medicine, she suddenly noticed a box of ointment on the table.
She picked it up and examined it from side to side.
The classmates sat in groups of two or three, some chatting, some burying their heads in books, and others rushing to finish their homework, but no one paid attention to her.
After organizing her books and sitting down for morning self-study, she glanced at her books for a moment before reaching for her chilblain ointment.
Upon opening the box, she caught a whiff of the bitter scent of medicine. Carefully, she squeezed some onto her wound, feeling the immediate relief of the cooling sensation easing the pain and itchiness.
Once applied, she placed the chilblain ointment on the desk, unaware of who had bought it, not even leaving a note.
After quietly studying for nearly twenty minutes, the class teacher entered the classroom to supervise. The Chinese class representative began leading everyone in reading the text.
It was then that Shen Mo returned with a few sports students. Yao Nan carried a basketball, clearly having taken advantage of the morning self-study time to play.
The class teacher gave them a stern look and muttered, “Come back a few minutes earlier next time.”
“We got it,” only Yao Nan obediently replied.
The class teacher descended the steps without further reprimand.
Shen Mo walked over to Hua Jie’s side, and she quickly stood up to let him sit.
As he crossed over her chair to take his own seat, he turned to her and asked, “My dad also got chilblains on his hands. We bought too much chilblain ointment at home. Did you apply it?”
With that, Shen Mo reached out and held her wrist, pulling her hand out from under her Chinese textbook to inspect it.
The chilblain ointment was something he purposely detoured to buy on his way to school, but he would never let her know.
His thumb pressed against her wrist bone, carrying the chill from playing outside, causing Hua Jie to shiver slightly.
“After applying it for a couple of days, it’ll be fine. Wear thicker gloves,” he said, then let go of her wrist, his movements as natural as picking up and putting down a book.
Hua Jie’s eyes followed him, watching as the young boy opened his Chinese textbook and found the page his classmates were reciting. Though she didn’t speak aloud, she silently read along.
She quietly withdrew her hand, which was pinned under the pages of the textbook.
The place where his cold fingers had just touched suddenly began to burn, and her other hand discreetly touched the spot. It was soft and slippery, nice to touch.
Blushing, she couldn’t help but think, “I’m really smooth. If Shen Mo had touched it carefully, he would have surely praised how smooth it was.”
So embarrassing.
Hua Jie buried herself in recitation, trying to let knowledge drown out these improper thoughts!
Shen Mo’s eyebrows furrowed at the noise, and he glanced at her.
Only elementary school students recite so loudly without reserve; couldn’t she consider her ladylike image?
During morning self-study and math class afterward, Hua Jie was the top student, eagerly raising her hand to answer the teacher’s questions, as obedient as a baby.
Looking at her overly serious demeanor, Shen Mo found it both amusing and somewhat cute.
If he didn’t know that Hua Jie’s studies were just average, seeing her enthusiasm, one might think she was a super academic achiever.
As soon as class ended, Hua Jie immediately ran out again.
Doesn’t she even let a 10-minute break go by?
Shen Mo stretched lazily; he had stayed up late last night reading “Yuewei Caotang Notes,” enduring a night of insipid Confucian ethics dreams. Now he was feeling drowsy, so he leaned on the desk and began to doze off.
Just as the bell was about to ring, he was starting to feel a bit groggy when someone lightly poked his arm.
Furrowing his brow and looking up, Shen Mo squinted across to see Hua Jie smiling like a little animal, handing him a steaming cup of milk tea.
Shen Mo caught a familiar scent, feeling a bit more alert. The tea reached his nose, its aroma enveloping him with a mix of tea and milk.
The slightly bitter taste of the tea cleared his mind a bit. He took a small sip to check the temperature, then gulped it down.
After finishing half the cup, he set it down, feeling warm and comfortable, almost wanting to burp.
Hua Jie successfully fed him, looking satisfied with her smile.
Shen Mo glanced at her smile and said displeased, “Hmph, these days I’ve been busy with that broken wall, I almost forgot what milk tea tastes like.”
“From now on, you’ll have at least one cup a day.” Although Hua Jie received his frostbite ointment without saying thank you, she remembered it all in her heart.
Look at this guy, complaining after just two days without a drink.
“It better be that way,” Shen Mo said, taking another sip, then turning to ask her, “How much longer until the painting is finished?”
“Almost there,” Hua Jie replied.