I remember reading a scientific magazine that mentioned: Almost every single person likes being complimented, and compliments can have as much motivation as money.
But the class leader had no intention of being happy about my compliments. Not only was she not happy, she was even upset.
I did not react in time, and I went on to say, “My initial page is much worse than yours. Can you share some of your expertise with me?” (TN: I think this pun might be referring to the first time, but it doesn’t really translate over)
Huh? Why are your hands trembling? You are going to crush your mouse! Did you think my compliment was sarcasm? I was using a tone of admiration! Look at me awaiting hopefully for you to share your experience of making first pages, you should at least tell me where you got the picture of the swan!
While I was bewildered, Loud Mouth turned around without warning and smacked me straight on the head with her rolled up computer textbook.
“What are you saying in front of a girl!”
I only realized the problem with what I said after I was struck on the head.
Xiao Qin grabbed onto Loud Mouth’s arm in a panic, “Don’t hit Ye Lin classmate! What would you do if he died!”
Loud Mouth laughed: “How can he die when he’s this sturdy? He deserves to be hit if he says the wrong thing!”
She said as she passed the textbook to Xiao Qin, “How about you take a go too?”
Xiao Qin immediately displayed an embarrassed expression, “No… When have I hit Ye Lin classmate…”
You bastard, haven’t you hit me plenty before! I would have prayed to god if you only hit me with textbooks! You used to hit me on the head with a long and thick sugar cane! You also used to hit me and say: “Taste my golden cudgel!”
Although I have tried using the same sugar cane to hit back, I was not your opponent. I would get beaten up and thrown on the ground while you proclaimed victory to the surroundings with a foot pressed on top of me: “Everyone, come and see! The fake has been defeated by the great sage!” Then all the children would surround us and applaud your violent actions.
It’s all because of you I never get passing grades in English! It’s definitely because of you that my brain always suddenly comes to a halt without any cause! It makes the back of my head hurt when I think about this. If you were not a girl, I would have hung you on a tree and beat you with a sugar cane!
But I have to judge the matter as it stands. The main culprit who caused me to ask the class leader about the experience of her ‘first night’ is obviously the detestable Eunuch Cao.
I choked his fat and short neck with both my hands until his eyes rolled back.
“You traitor! That’s clearly called the initial page! You’re the only one who had their first night on the computer!”
Eunuch Cao screamed strangely in a hoarse voice: “Forgive me… Forgive me master! And I indeed gave my first night to a computer!”
The computer teacher was well-known for not giving a shit about anything. He was currently sitting behind his computer with his attention completely focused on mine-sweeper. Even a murder might be less important to him than beating his record.
Therefore, the task of maintaining the classroom fell on the shoulders of the class leader.
“Don’t fight in class!” The class leader sternly yelled, “Ye Lin, let go of Cao JingShen!”
I did not comply: “He tricked me, so he deserves a beating!”
The class leader’s face darkened: “Are you going to disrupt the class even though you’re a committee member?”
After the class leader’s reminder, I remembered I was now a PE committee member. My actions of choking Eunuch Cao was being watched by everyone around us and some of them began to whisper.
I shooed at the people watching us, “Scram! Eunuch Cao wants to learn how to swim, so I’m helping him hold his breath! Do you guys want to learn too?”
Everyone turned their heads away in fright.
Xiao Qin, on the other hand, raised her hand meekly, “I… want to learn…”
I’m the one who does not know how to swim! You were the fastest swimmer among those brats who used to play along the river bank! I used to be puzzled about why you always swam with your clothes on when all the other kids liked to swim naked…
I abruptly recalled an embarrassing event from the past: In order to get revenge on the Little Tyrant, I would often pee on the part of the river where he swims. Once when I was finally caught, the other kids suggested that he should pee on my head, but instead, I was only kicked into the river.
At that time, I felt that the Little Tyrant still had a manly bottom line. Although I almost drowned, I was slightly grateful! But it turns out he had a reason that he absolutely could not urinate on my head!
You caused me to almost drown because you did not have a snake in your trousers? Now that I think about it, there was an exaggeratedly large difference in the socks you stuffed in your pants as a dick before and after you swam! In a group of eight or nine-year-old boys, you were like a crane amongst a flock of chicken! Whenever you came out of the water, my eyes would always be involuntarily drawn to a certain part of your body. You caused me to feel inferior for a period of time!
You bastard! I can’t believe you swam that fast even with clothes and socks! You don’t understand how much drag it creates!
Not good, I involuntarily started to visualize the scene of Xiao Qin swimming in the nude! That way, she would definitely be faster, right? Even though she has breasts now, it would not increase resistance since they are so small…
The memories of Xiao Qin are always so unbearable. The only way that I would whole-heartedly accept her as my girlfriend is if we both lost our memories.
Since the computer lab did not have good signals, I could not use my cellphone and I ended up not doing anything productive in class. But it seems like the class leader’s anger dissipated a bit after Loud Mouth smacked me, and after I choked Eunuch Cao.
It might have been because she received my thoughts of cursing her, and Xiao Qin kept hiccuping after eating lunch in the cafeteria. The class leader and Loud Mouth surrounded her and tried a lot of methods to no avail. Everyone was sitting next to Xiao Qin’s desk without a solution in mind. Then, Xiong YaoYue walked in the class with a willow leaf in her mouth and a volleyball in her arms.
“Who wants to go play with me? Who’s going?” The first one she saw was the class leader. The latter was currently gently pressing on a pressure point on Xiao Qin’s head. I’m not sure where she learned that technique that would supposedly stop hiccups.
Xiong YaoYue tugged on the class leader’s shirt, “Class leader, help me practice volleyball! No one else can receive my serves!”
The class leader stared blank-eyed at Xiong YaoYue, “I’m wearing a dress, so I can’t practice with you —— can’t you see Xiao Qin has the hiccups?”
“That’s why I say dresses are troublesome! There’s only a month left until the school volleyball tournament. As the second best, you should be practicing, otherwise, how would we take the championship?”
Xiong YaoYue said as she pointed to an old award hung up at the back of the classroom. That was when we were in the first year, when she and the class leader had won through hard work. It was one of the few honors that teacher Yu could boast about to others.
I also watched a few games at that time. The class leader’s spike was very tricky. She could control it to land one centimeter within the sideline and it would never go out of bounds. On the other hand, whoever received Xiong YaoYue’s forceful spike had bad luck. I remember the girl from class 1-2 who started crying after receiving a few of Xiong YaoYue’s spikes.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re wearing a skirt, let’s go!” Xiong YaoYue was still entangling around the class leader. “If we practice more, we might even be able to beat the third years! We can win the school championship!”
Loud Mouth might have remembered the time she was teased by Xiong YaoYue during PE class, so she clamped onto Xiong Yaoyue’s shoulder. “Hey! You’re obviously not afraid of being exposed if you wear shorts all day! If you’re willing to switch with the class leader, then she will train with you!”
Xiong YaoYue finally noticed Xiao Qin who was hiccuping uncontrollably, “What’s wrong with her?”
Loud Mouth said angrily: “She’s hiccuping? Didn’t the class leader tell you earlier?”
“Hahaha, you have to use scares to cure hiccups!” The volleyball in her hand was sent flying towards Xiao Qin’s head faster than the speed of sound before she even stopped laughing.
The distance between the two of them was not even two meters. The speed of the ball was very fast and it seemed Xiao Qin was about to be knocked out.
The class leader furrowed her brows and reach out to block the volleyball.
Unexpectedly, even though the ball was coming from Xiao Qin’s side, she was able to casually use Hua Jin to dissipated the force of the ball without even using her peripheral vision. She quickly turned her hands and grabbed the ball, the motion was breathtaking.
Then another hiccup destroyed the atmosphere and she dropped the ball in a panic.
“Huh? You can receive my ball?”
The skeptical Xiong YaoYue stuck her face closely to Xiao Qin to study her as if she was an extraterrestrial organism.
The class leader quickly pulled her away by her ears, “Randomly using a volleyball to hit someone, what happens if someone got hurt?”
“Owwwwww… it hurts! It was to stop her hiccups! She could hit me on the head with a volleyball if she’s mad! I heard anger could also stop hiccups… stop pulling my ear!”
The sound of a group of girls bickering gets really annoying. I saw there was still a lot of time left for the lunch break, so I took off my jacket and wore a black tight vest and went downstairs to play basketball.
Before I left the classroom, I could see Xiao Qin stealing the clothes I left in my desk through my peripheral vision.
You want to use it as a pillow again? Or are you looking for a calming aura? Although I was not happy, I left her alone after pitying her since she was hiccuping non-stop.
I had pretty good luck, the captain, Guo SongTao was practicing with the team. I was on the same team as the point guard, Liu HuaiShui, we chatted on the side while waiting.
Liu HuaiShui told me it was almost time for the school basketball competition. It was around the same time as the girls volleyball competition.