Chapter 148: Unrest in the stronghold
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
Be it Ren Xiaosu’s own classmates or these parents of the students, none of them could have expected anyone to stand up for Ren Xiaosu.
Honestly, if their roles had been reversed and they were placed in Ren Xiaosu’s position, they believed no one would bother to speak up for them.
Yang Xiaojin folded her arms and stood in the hallway as she watched the situation with interest. She might have guessed this would happen, but little could she have expected such a conclusion.
The parents were a little embarrassed. Right now, they did not know what they should do. Meanwhile, the students were all looking at Ren Xiaosu in a daze. All of them were wondering what kind of backing this teenager had.
Jiang Wu looked at Ren Xiaosu’s actual homeroom teacher and said, “We’ll have Ren Xiaosu transfer to our class, so why don’t you handle the paperwork with the school?”
This was most welcome to the homeroom teacher. He said with a smile, “Sure, I’ll get to it in a bit.”
But before he could heave a sigh of relief, he heard Jiang Wu say coldly, “A teacher who can’t even protect his own students. I feel ashamed for you. You didn’t even put in a good word for him.”
The homeroom teacher choked until he turned purple, yet he couldn’t come up with a retort to what Jiang Wu said.
When Ren Xiaosu returned to the classroom to retrieve his belongings and got ready to change classes, he went over to Cao Yuqi. Cao Yuqi suddenly had an ominous feeling.
Ren Xiaosu took a deep breath and said earnestly, “Get well soon.”
“Pfft.” Yang Xiaojin felt like she had never had such a good laugh in years as she did today. It was as though all of the funny moments over the years were concentrated on Ren Xiaosu. However, she did not hang around long and went to pack her belongings as well.
On the way to the new class, Jiang Wu said to Ren Xiaosu, “If you have any difficulties in your classes, you can let me know. I can give you remedial lessons on any subjects you don’t understand.”
Ren Xiaosu considered it for a moment before saying, “There’s indeed something that I would like to seek advice from Ms. Jiang.”
“Which subject?” Jiang Wu asked.
Ren Xiaosu froze. “Cycling?”
Jiang Wu stopped in her tracks and looked quietly at him. She had thought Ren Xiaosu might ask her for help on things like math or other subjects, but never could she have expected that he would want to learn how to ride a bicycle. He was truly a young man who always surprised others.
Yang Xiaojin walked beside Ren Xiaosu and asked, “You bought a bicycle?”
Ren Xiaosu gave her a look. “What are you playing at? Shouldn’t we be trying our best not to be in the same class, Ren Xiaosu?”
Yang Xiaojin smiled gleefully and said, “I don’t mind.”
“Who cares if you mind or not!” Ren Xiaosu wanted to curse at her.
Due to switching classes, Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin ended up becoming deskmates. Even Ren Xiaosu had to accept this was probably fate at work.
After afternoon classes, Jiang Wu went with Ren Xiaosu, Yan Liuyuan, and Wang Dalong to take the streetcar back to the grocery store. While on the way to meet them, Yan Liuyuan seemed to have heard about what happened in school as well, so he thanked Jiang Wu the moment he saw her.
This was in gratitude to Jiang Wu for helping his brother out of a tight spot.
Frankly, Yan Liuyuan was really starting to dislike the people in the stronghold more and more, with the exception of Jiang Wu and her students. Oh, and of course, not including Yang Xiaojin either.
Back at the shop, Ren Xiaosu couldn’t wait as he made Jiang Wu teach everyone how to ride a bicycle. Ren Xiaosu asked everyone to learn how to cycle since it was an extremely useful skill.
Ren Xiaosu thought that if they had to travel between the strongholds, a motor vehicle would definitely be their first choice of transport.
But the problem was that there was no way for them to get their hands on one. Besides, motor vehicles required gas to operate and had other limitations as well, while they also had no idea who they could learn driving from.
So the next best available option would be a bicycle as their first-choice mode of transport. It wasn’t difficult to repair, could be used for a long time, and was also easy to learn!
More importantly, it was something they could afford to buy right now!
The bicycles cost around 3,000 yuan in the stronghold and were considered to be in the range of luxury goods. Therefore, it could be seen just how determined Xiaoyu was when she decided to gift one to Ren Xiaosu. Most people could not bear to spend so much money like that, and Xiaoyu was even the type who would often haggle for up to half an hour just to get a 20 cent discount on her grocery shopping trips.
The group of them watched as Jiang Wu effortlessly rode the bicycle through the street in front of the shop. Chen Wudi even squatted down in front of the shop, looking extremely determined to learn how to cycle.
Jiang Wu explained to them the basics of riding a bicycle. She said, “To ride a bicycle, you first have to master your balance. On top of that, your eyes must not be focused on what’s in front of the bicycle, but what’s ahead of you. Overcome your fear…”
While Ms. Jiang Wu was demonstrating, she exhibited the unique charm of a mature woman.
When Jiang Wu finished the demonstration, everyone went over one by one to get some hands-on practice. What surprised Ren Xiaosu was that Yan Liuyuan managed to learn it on the spot. This kid was able to ride the bicycle steadily after just seeing it get demonstrated once.
And what surprised Ren Xiaosu even more was that he himself was unable to master it.
To be precise, it wasn’t that he couldn’t master it. In reality, learning how to ride a bicycle was just a matter of time.
The truth was, most people would take several days or even longer to learn how to ride a bicycle. So Ren Xiaosu’s progress was considered normal.
But what Ren Xiaosu could not accept was that even Chen Wudi the fool had successfully mastered cycling.
This made Ren Xiaosu look somewhat bad, but he was absolutely not going to admit it was his problem.
Ren Xiaosu mused over it for a while before turning to Xiaoyu. “Big Sister Xiaoyu, is there something wrong with the bicycle you bought?”
Big Sister Xiaoyu covered her mouth and giggled. She wasn’t angry at him. If both Liuyuan and Chen Wudi could ride the bicycle, what could be wrong with it? However, she seemed to have realized Ren Xiaosu had a habit of passing the buck 1 .
Of course, she didn’t know the previous person Ren Xiaosu had pushed the blame onto was now carrying an invisible cauldron on his back and trekking through the wilderness.
Jiang Wu smiled and said, “Actually, it takes several days to learn how to ride a bicycle. You’ll master it in a few days.”
As Jiang Wu’s voice trailed off, a loud explosion boomed in the distance. It sounded like a bomb had gone off in the stronghold. Could it have been Yang Xiaojin’s doing?
Ren Xiaosu subconsciously thought the bomb Yang Xiaojin had built might have been detonated. But upon analyzing the sound in greater detail, he realized it wasn’t so!
He ordered Chen Wudi and Yan Liuyuan, “Arm yourselves with the pistols and close the shop’s doors. Don’t open them before I get back. Ms. Jiang, please stay and hide here for the time being in case anything happens.” Ren Xiaosu then proceeded to leave the shop. As a supernatural being, he couldn’t stand on the sidelines. He had to go and see for himself to understand the situation firsthand. Only then could he make the right decisions. Only by doing so could he ensure that everyone could carry on surviving.
The location of the explosion should be several kilometers where they were. But with Ren Xiaosu’s current speed, he should be able to get there in a matter of minutes.
While Ren Xiaosu was making his way there, he noticed a building that was about a dozen stories tall. This was one of the tallest structures in the stronghold, and it looked like it would make a good spot for him to observe the battle that had broken out.