In just one week, the campus walls of Class One became quite famous in Jinsong City.
Art teachers from other schools specifically came to evaluate and comment. They reported back to their schools, stating that Class One had hired a special advertising master to paint the campus walls, surely spending a lot of money.
The children’s art class at the cultural center organized group sketching sessions in front of the wall when the sun was out on weekends.
An art teacher, inspired by the style of the wall paintings, created a piece titled “Children Sketching.”
She painstakingly chose colors that closely matched those on the wall, but after filling them in, she found that the feeling was different, even a bit dirty.
When she tried again, it looked gray.
At this point, she realized that the paintings on the wall were not only interesting in imagery and appealing in color but also meticulously arranged in “the combination of colors,” “the size of each color block,” “the shape of each color block,” “the proportion of each color in the entire painting,” and so on.
After so many years as an art teacher, for the first time, she realized that painting was a super intellectual endeavor.
Also for the first time, she discovered that people’s ability to use color could vary so greatly.
Suddenly, she felt like she couldn’t paint anymore.
…
…
In this world, for every praise, there’s a criticism.
For every envy, there’s a resentment.
While everyone was admiring how beautiful the campus wall was, and how talented Hua Jie was, some people were simply driven crazy.
Since Hua Jie started painting the wall, Bian Ying’s mood has been off. She wished Hua Jie could just disappear from the world altogether, but to her dismay, not only did Hua Jie not disappear, she always made herself impossible to ignore.
Even though Bian Ying spread rumors and gossip about Hua Jie, like ‘In middle school, she shamelessly chased after Yu Tonglin and failed, how embarrassing,’ or ‘Hua Jie’s campus wall paintings are not her own designs, she copied them from a book, I’ve seen the exact same painting in the library,’ or even ‘I heard Hua Jie is no longer a virgin, seems like she’s been hanging out with the wrong crowd since middle school~’—these vicious rumors.
But there were always more people praising Hua Jie’s painting skills.
Even classmates who had bought paintings from Hua Jie would be surprised for a moment after hearing these rumors, ‘Is Hua Jie really like that?’ But because Hua Jie was so popular, everyone praised her, and out of herd mentality, they became more enthusiastic and friendly towards her.
Bian Ying vaguely realized that it was difficult to bring Hua Jie down when she was so popular. However, the fire of jealousy in her chest was too strong, and she still felt resentful and aggrieved.
Fortunately, after accumulating for a long time, Bian Ying found people in the class who were also annoyed by Hua Jie.
Having a common enemy is the fastest way for people to become close friends.
These girls quickly formed a group to support each other. They believed that the popularity of the campus wall would eventually subside. They constantly tried to exclude Hua Jie and fight against her, believing they would eventually triumph in the future.
On the Monday morning of the second week after the campus wall was painted, Bian Ying dug up some fresh gossip to attack Hua Jie:
“I heard Hua Jie didn’t volunteer to paint the school wall; she was paid for it!”
The girls in the ‘Anti-Hua Jie Alliance’ immediately responded enthusiastically:
“She’s so desperate for money. I heard she did it for only 200 yuan.”
“Oh, I heard it was only 100.”
“She looks pretty poor to me. Her shoes are so old, the leather is peeling off.”
“It doesn’t even look like real leather, probably synthetic. That kind of thing smells terrible, ew~”
“Hahaha…”
“Haha…”
“Forget about the shoes, I’ve only seen her wearing two sweaters and a coat every day.”
“So tacky. Can you believe anyone wants to hang out with her? Won’t they catch her poverty and tackiness?”
“Didn’t you see her hanging out with Liao Shanshan? Liao Shanshan comes from a rich family; she only hangs out with her to take advantage of her.”
“So vulgar, looking down on people like this~”
Several people criticized Hua Jie from her attire to her personality, feeling like they had thoroughly trampled her in the mud, privately reveling in their victory, feeling quite pleased.
With this victorious joy, Bian Ying and others walked hand in hand to the playground to do radio exercises.
Then, they saw Hua Jie standing at the front of the first-year class.
Several of them were dumbfounded—
“????”
“????”
Several minutes later, Bian Ying finally realized what had happened.
Her eyes turned red in an instant, but her face was as pale as a sheet of paper.
Why?
Why?
And… why did it have to be Hua Jie?
For a moment, hatred and resentment surged in her chest, and Bian Ying shook with anger, almost fainting.
…
…
The music for the radio exercises enveloped the entire campus.
All the students on the playground stood in a large formation, with three girls standing out conspicuously a couple of steps ahead.
Even though they were dressed warmly, it was still evident that the three girls had graceful figures.
The girl on the far left was the thinnest, with short, soft hair that swayed with her movements, looking very cute—that was Hua Jie.
She handled it very well, although not as proficiently as her eye exercises, her limbs were relaxed, her movements were precise, and she followed the rhythm diligently, graceful and beautiful like a slow dance.
Perhaps not as light-footed as the senior sister who won awards in the dance competition, but if you didn’t look closely, you couldn’t tell the difference.
It was Hua Jie’s first day leading the exercises, and everyone was sizing her up.
If looks could kill, Hua Jie would have been reduced to ashes by now.
Not only were the first-year boys and girls craning their necks to see who she was, but the second and third years were curious too.
Everyone knew that the girl leading the exercises must be very pretty, like the receptionist at a company, she was the face of it.
Leaving aside everything else, her figure and face were definitely not lacking.
Many people could tell she wasn’t the unanimously recognized beauty of the first-year, nor was she one of those famous ones who were both beautiful and flamboyant, wearing especially fashionable clothes.
Her cotton-padded jacket was very plain, and her little leather shoes were not the trendiest.
Moreover, the school only required students to wear uniforms on Mondays during flag-raising ceremonies, and they could wear casual clothes from Tuesday to Friday. Many students who were into appearances would still wear the school uniform even on Mondays, but this girl leading the exercises obediently wore the school uniform pants, which were too big and didn’t fit well.
Coupled with her soft doll-like hair… wasn’t she just too obedient?
Many second and third-year male students looked at the girl’s earnest figure as she jumped, and began to fantasize: obedient, cute, tempting to bully.
When the exercises ended, as the girl turned her head somewhat embarrassedly towards the direction of the second-year exercise leader, many boys’ hearts began to flutter.
The girl wasn’t the stunning type at first glance, but her big eyes were clear like a cat’s, her skin was fair, her cheeks were rosy, coupled with her perky little nose and round, puffy lips, she was a bit too innocent and cute.
As the classmates dispersed in a frenzy, some boys were already inquiring about which class the first-year exercise leader was from, what her name was, and if she had a boyfriend.
Yao Nan immediately bent down to pick up a basketball as soon as the radio exercises ended and handed it to the big shot Shen Mo.
Shen Mo effortlessly caught the basketball in his long arms and walked towards the basketball court with it, holding it like a bun, his posture incredibly handsome.
His gaze had already fixed on the basketball hoop, ready to expend his excess energy on the court, dominating the game, when suddenly he heard a nearby male voice discussing:
“Doesn’t the first-year exercise leader have a boyfriend? She’s so obedient, I want to snatch her away. What do you think about me trying to pursue her?”
“Don’t mess with her. She’s just a first-year, still young. Look at her, she might not even understand what dating is.”
“You’re talking nonsense. I started reading Taiwanese romance novels with my desk mate in junior high. They not only talk about dating in there but also…”
“She’s cute and she’s the exercise leader, so she must have plenty of admirers. You better think twice.”
So Little Potato is that charming?
Shen Mo furrowed his brow, suddenly not feeling like playing basketball anymore.
With a flick of his hand, he passed the ball towards Yao Nan and said, “You guys play,” then strode off towards the teaching building.
From afar, he spotted the girl in the plain cotton-padded jacket, with her doll-like hair and school uniform pants, and he fixed his gaze on her.
As Hua Jie waited for her friend, Liao Shanshan, who was walking back hand in hand with someone else.
He pushed aside several classmates blocking his way with a few big steps, reached out, and slapped Hua Jie’s head with a loud, firm, and accurate clap, like putting on a hat.
“Hurry up, stop dawdling, I want bubble tea!” With that, Shen Mo dropped his hand back and grabbed the back collar of her fate, pulling her along.
“Hey!” Hua Jie protested in vain, and had to switch to super-fast short legs to keep up with Shen Mo’s long strides.
Dragging Hua Jie all the way back to the classroom, Shen Mo sat down confidently, waiting for tea. Seeing his obedient desk mate busy making tea for him, his restless mood finally eased a bit.
Looking up, he saw some boys peeking in from the classroom door, and he glared fiercely at them until they looked away.
Subconsciously swearing sovereignty like a king in the mountains, Shen Mo lounged with his legs crossed, leisurely sipping his bubble tea.
During the break, he sat there staring at Hua Jie writing her paper. Every time she tried to move, he glared at her, grabbing her by the neck to make her study.
It wasn’t until the bell for class rang that Shen Mo finally opened his own book and ignored her.
“…” Hua Jie blinked her eyes, a bit confused about what was going on with Shen Mo.
She didn’t even have time to go to the bathroom… For the next 45 minutes, she didn’t dare to drink any water!
After the radio calisthenics, Bian Ying rushed back to the classroom and cried on her desk for the entire recess.
With eyes like red apples, a red nose, red lips, and a fair complexion, although her eyes were full of resentment, the crying appearance of the beautiful girl still seemed pitiful like a little white rabbit in the eyes of many teenagers just entering puberty.
Yu Tonglin also showed concern for her, asking her what had happened…
During the English class that followed, he stared at Hua Jie’s figure and fell into contemplation.
Hua Jie had changed too much, which greatly exceeded his imagination.
She used to like sticking to him, always finding various opportunities to chat with him, and even made plans to hang out together on weekends. Now, she became popular, distant, and unfamiliar.
He couldn’t quite figure out why. If, as Bian Ying said, Hua Jie liked him, then why would she ignore him and treat him indifferently?