Chapter 139: Anxiously Wise[1]

At this time, a car horn came from outside the school. Wei Zengmali said excitedly, "My dad is here to pick me up."

She dragged Tao Yueyue to the school gate and a middle-aged man with a big belly stood next to the car smiling. Wei Zengmali said with a pout, "Dad, you’re so slow!"

"There was a traffic jam!"

"You use this excuse every time. I hate it!"

"Well, what do you want to eat tonight? I will buy it for you."

Looking at other children getting spoiled, Tao Yueyue felt a bit sour. "Dad, this is my new friend, Tao Yueyue. She is a new transfer student and she’s really good at academics."

The man nodded. "Hello. Did your parents not pick you up? Should I send you back?"

"Yeah, come in my dad's car!"

Tao Yueyue looked up and saw that there was a dirty camera by the school gate. She wasn’t sure if it was working or not. There was no one in the school at this time. If this man had bad intentions...

"No, he will be here soon," she responded.

The other party didn’t force her and took Wei Zengmali away. As she left, Wei Zengmali kept waving out the window.

There was a meow that filled her ears. It turns out that the kitten had followed them out. Tao Yueyue called Chen Shi, "Come and pick me up."

"Are you still at school?"

"There was an essay competition today, so I’m a bit late... Ah yes, I picked up a kitten and wanted to raise it at home."

"No, we had an agreement before."

"But it’s very pitiful."

"That's not okay either."

"Well, I guess I’ll call Sister Lin to pick me up then.”

Chen Shi’s attitude immediately changed one hundred and eighty degrees. “Okay, okay. I’m coming over now. As for the kitten thing... We’ll discuss it later!”

Half an hour later, Chen Shi arrived and Tao Yueyue looked at him silently while hugging the kitten. Chen Shi said, "Stray cats like these have germs and diseases."

"We can go to the vets to check it out!"

"Maybe it has a mother!"

"If it’s wandering outside so late at night, it probably doesn’t have a mother."

“Did you already practice all the questions I’d most likely pose?”

"Yes!"

Chen Shi was defeated, so he negotiated. "If you can’t rank in the top 30 at the end of year exams, I’ll throw it out.”

"Thank you, Uncle Chen!" Tao Yueyue said with joy.

Chen Shi took the kitten to the vets and did a check. The veterinarian asked Tao Yueyue, "What did you give the kitten?"

"Salted duck eggs and ham."

The veterinarian rolled his eyes. "Why don’t you just directly feed it salt? Cats can't overdose on salt or they will get sick, understood?"

Tao Yueyue poked out her tongue. "I’ll know from now on."

"There aren’t any big issues with this at the moment. Don't bathe it during this time. Wait until it is three months old and then take it here for deworming and vaccinations."

Chen Shi bought a bunch of cat supplies and returned home. Tao Yueyue happily played with the kitten which made Chen Shi feel gratified. Perhaps this would help Tao Yueyue grow healthily.

The kitten was named Maoqiu[2] and officially settled in Chen Shi’s house.

As winter vacation approached, all the classes began to enter the review period and test papers were done almost every day. But once they thought about how much they could play after the tests were over, they had the motivation to learn.

On this day, there was a particular event that happened in the class. Liang Zuoming had recovered from his injury and returned to class. After a hundred days of being injured[3], he was obviously thinner and his hair was long. He walked towards the class wearing a denim jacket. He ignored his little friends who greeted him and went straight to Tao Yueyue.

Liang Zuoming grabbed the novel that Tao Yueyue was reading and ripped it in two. "Tao Yueyue, we aren’t finished. Now that I’m back, your good days are over! You best watch your back!”

Around them, a circle of students watched them nosily and laughed. "Wow, what happened to them?", "Is this provocation?", "Liang Zuoming, how can you bully girls like this?", “Is this the beginning of Korean dramas where they love the one they hate in the beginning?"

Liang Zuoming glared at the classmate who mentioned the Korean dramas and walked away.

The crowd gradually dispersed and Tao Yueyue kept silent the whole time. Wei Zengmali ran over and asked, "Did he bully you? No, I have to tell the teacher!"

Tao Yueyue grabbed her hand. "Do me a favor. Don't tell the teacher no matter what."

"But what if he-"

"I am not afraid of him!" Tao Yueyue said staring at Liang Zuoming's back.

Although she said this, Tao Yueyue was very careful these days, paying attention to Liang Zuoming's every move. After his recovery, Liang Zuoming had become more introverted. In the past, because his family gave him a lot of pocket money, he had a lot of people gathered around him. Now, he didn’t really care for the followers around him anymore.

Wei Zengmali ran to tell Tao Yueyue that she heard that Liang Zuoming was going down the wrong path now. Some people saw him and a group of young delinquents outside the school and reminded Tao Yueyue to be careful.

The time finally came. Tao Yueyue was on class duty today. After cleaning the classroom, she went home alone. As she went to a quiet street on the way to the bus station, Liang Zuoming appeared with a bunch of little punks who were smoking.

They deliberately ambushed her here because when Tao Yueyue turned around, she found that there were several of them that came from behind the canteen as well.

The shopkeepers on both sides saw the situation and immediately retracted their heads. They dared not interfere.

A circle of people surrounded Tao Yueyue and Liang Zuoming said, "You broke my leg so today, I’ll break both your legs.”

"Don't. That's such a waste. This little loli looks pretty cute. We should bring her back to play." Liang Zuoming's buddy said.

"If we did, we’d have a minimum penalty of three years and possibly the death penalty. You want to die?" another said before everyone laughed.

"This is the trick you decided on?" Tao Yueyue looked at Liang Zuoming.

"The teachers are gone so no one can help you... Worst case scenario, I just need to pay for your medical expenses. But my family is rich anyway!” Liang Zuoming sneered.

"Your parents must be proud of you."

"Some people don't even have parents! Hahahaha!"

Tao Yueyue clenched her fists and suddenly picked up half a brick from the ground. The delinquents laughed. "What a feisty girl!", "Try not to hurt yourself with those tiny arms and legs.", "Chuck it at us if you have guts.", “We have so many people here, who are you going to chuck it at?”

Tao Yueyue turned around and chucked it at the side of a car that was parked. The glass shattered and the alarm sounded noisily.

Due to the harsh alarm, the residents who lived on this street poked their heads out. The delinquents panicked. "Let’s go! People are gonna come!"

Liang Zuoming persuaded, "Don't! What are you all afraid of?"

"Let's mess her up next time. Watch it!” The delinquents fled and Liang Zuoming could only glance angrily at Tao Yueyue before running away.

A man and a woman ran over and the man said with anger, "What did you do to my car?"

Tao Yueyue screamed and cried using two small fists to cover up the fact that there weren’t too many tears. While crying, she explained, "There were a bunch of hooligans bullying me. I had no other choice."

The man’s anger lessened but he still protested. “Then, you should have shouted. What is the use in damaging my car?”

The woman mediated. "Hubby, stop it." Then, she knelt down and took out a tissue to wipe the tears from Tao Yueyue’s face. "Little sister, is your family not picking you up?"

"Dad is busy with work, so I go home by bus every day." Tao Yueyue shook her shoulders and pretended to be trembling. "Auntie, can you help me call the police? I’m afraid that the bad guys are still nearby."

The man laughed. "Police? Everyone’s already run away. What can the police do?”

The woman reprimanded, "Hubby, look at how pitiful she is. Why don’t we send her home?”

The man didn’t want to accept, but when he saw Tao Yueyue’s helpless look, he reluctantly agreed. “Haii… Get in the car.”

1. It is an expression for when people display superior intelligence when rushed/pushed to a corner.

2. It was named “Ball of Fur” or “Furball”.

3. It’s not actually a hundred days, but it’s an expression that describes minimal movement after getting injured, because otherwise it would aggravate the injury.