1 Pure Hatred

“Li Shuangjie, come here.”
Director Zhang called to her from the doorway.

Li Shuangjie didn’t move an inch.
“Why should I come over?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Why don’t you come here instead?”

Director Zhang was momentarily stunned, unable to retort.

As the discipline supervisor, it was only natural for him to call a student out of class. Yet with Li Shuangjie, it turned into a challenge: “Why should I come over?”

Why indeed?

Simply because she was a student and he was a teacher!

“How am I supposed to get in there?” he gritted his teeth, urging, “Come out quickly! I have something to discuss with you!”

“Is that how you talk when you want to say something to me?”

Li Shuangjie stood firm, her eyelashes unmoved.

The pre-class bell had already rung, and any more dawdling would drag on endlessly. Director Zhang, frustrated, had no choice but to step into Class Eleven, fortunately finding the other students quiet.

Of course, apart from hopelessly troublesome students like Li Shuangjie, who would dare to take him, Zhang Guodong, lightly?

He approached and stood by her desk.

Li Shuangjie shot him a sharp glance. “Speak.”

Zhang Guodong gathered his words. As a dedicated teacher, it was his professional duty to pick at students’ flaws first thing in the morning—even if there were none, he had to find some. His eyes swept over Li Shuangjie’s desk and he instinctively scolded, “Why is your desk so messy?”

Li Shuangjie’s fingers paused on her notebook.

She curled her lips into a smile, signaling to the others: she was about to roast him.

“The desk is only so big; what am I supposed to keep on it? The school’s so stingy, they collect all this tuition but no one knows where it goes. The desks are old, the chairs are broken, the cafeteria food tastes awful! I see your office desk’s quite large—bring it here! And while you’re at it, throw me a million. I’m a student; that money would do me some good!”

“You…” Zhang Guodong pointed at her nose.

Li Shuangjie slapped his hand away. “I never hit you!”

The classroom fell into a suffocating silence.

Some students couldn’t help but chuckle softly.

The class bell rang, and homeroom teacher Zhou Li stepped in. Seeing Li Shuangjie causing trouble again, she was equally exasperated.

She first instructed the discipline monitor to restore order, then politely asked Zhang Guodong to leave the chaotic classroom.

The students whispered amongst themselves.

“Why would Zhang Guodong pick a fight with the class monitor for no reason?”

“Doesn’t he know what kind of temper Li Shuangjie has?”

Li Shuangjie—the class monitor of Class Eleven—lived by her motto:

A slap from a girl is one slap; a man deserves two.

Keep strangers away, and if you’re close, just get lost quickly.

The classroom buzzed with chatter until the discipline monitor clapped on the podium several times, demanding silence. Her face flushed red from exertion, but no one listened.

“Shut your little mouth!!” Li Shuangjie kicked the desk.

Instantly, everyone fell silent, looking at her with fear.

At last, the class was quiet.

Five minutes later, the homeroom teacher returned. It wasn’t anything serious—next week’s flag ceremony speech, where the top liberal arts and science students of the sophomore year would share their study experiences. The top liberal arts student was Pei Chuyuan from Class Two, and the top science student was none other than Li Shuangjie.

Zhou Li least wanted Li Shuangjie to take first place.

But Li Shuangjie was blessed with an extraordinary mind.

And a venomous tongue.

Li Shuangjie wasn’t mentally ill; her parents took her for examinations. She was normal—no antisocial tendencies, no bipolar disorder—just pure hatred.

At school, she hated the teachers; at home, she hated her parents.

Such a person was a volcano wherever she went.

And Li Shuangjie was exceptionally skilled at erupting.

Because…

If not exploded in silence,

Then extinguished silently.

Rather than consume herself from within,

She would consume others from without.

Right now, homeroom teacher Zhou Li was clearly within her external combustion range. Throughout the entire Chinese class on classical literature, Zhou Li was nervous, and just before the end, she deliberately reserved five minutes to speak to Li Shuangjie.

“Remember to prepare your speech for next Monday.”

“I’m not going on stage.” Li Shuangjie shook her head.

Zhou Li sighed, “Don’t make things difficult for the teacher.”

“You useless woman!” Li Shuangjie burst out, exasperated. “I’m making it difficult for you? It’s clearly you making things difficult for me! The school’s butchering us, Zhang Guodong just wants to join in. So fight back! What’s so great about a discipline supervisor? Aren’t you just a toy in our hands?”

Zhou Li was dumbfounded. “What are you talking about?”

“You!” Li Shuangjie said, “Teacher Zhou Li, the most popular teacher in the entire grade’s Chinese department, you could easily replace Zhang Guodong! Once you become discipline supervisor, no one will be able to make things difficult for me! In the end, it’s still you not trying hard enough!”

Zhou Li muttered, “That makes no sense.”

The interclass music began—time for exercise.

“I must attend the morning court session,” Li Shuangjie raised her hand, “to be continued.”

Zhou Li could do nothing but watch her walk away.

Interclass exercise—the dumbest invention in the world.

Completely useless, utterly pointless.

Just a bunch of dead high schoolers placed on an empty field, burning some imaginary calories, so the school can maintain a shred of dignity. Li Shuangjie felt like she wasn’t attending school; rather, the school was attending to her.

The students jumped through their routines like machines.

All of them surged towards the stairways on both sides.

Li Shuangjie wanted to wait for the crowd to thin out before heading up, but people kept pushing her toward the stairs. She told them to stop pushing, but before she finished speaking, someone knocked her to the ground. Her anger flared instantly—and the one who bumped her was a boy.

The boy didn’t even care.

She got up and shoved him back.

“Damn it!” The boy was also annoyed. “What’s your problem?”

Li Shuangjie sneered, “Why push? Are you in a hurry to be born again?”

“It’s not just me pushing, why shove me?”

His friend advised, “Forget it, a good man doesn’t fight a woman.”

Li Shuangjie was furious, “You’re just a lowlife!”

He was baffled, “It’s not me pushing you!”

“One slap from a girl, two slaps from a man!!”

Having said that, Li Shuangjie was about to put her words into action.

The commotion quickly drew the teachers’ attention.

Zhang Guodong arrived and saw Li Shuangjie.

“It’s you again?”

After assessing the situation, he told the two boys, “You two, just go back. This doesn’t concern you.”

Li Shuangjie was shocked. “Why? Guodong, why do you side with them? Just because they’re boys? Could it be they’re your illegitimate sons?”

“You!” He was furious. “What nonsense are you talking about?”

“Am I talking nonsense? Fine! Then let’s do a blood test to prove paternity!”

Everyone else was silent.

The director tried reasoning, “Li Shuangjie, I’m not taking sides. You were the one who hit them first.”

Li Shuangjie shot back, “Then they shouldn’t be allowed to leave either!”

“Why?!” The two boys spoke in unison.

“I hit you guys—did I say thank you?”

“……”

In the end, all three were sent to the academic office.

Li Shuangjie had been a frequent visitor here since her first year.

The two boys stood awkwardly while Li Shuangjie, showing no courtesy, sat on the sofa reserved for visiting leaders.

She glared around angrily.

Zhang Guodong said, “You two, walk properly. Why push a female student? If she hits you, you deserve it. She’s a girl; show her some consideration. Besides, you’re carrying basketballs—does the school have PE classes in the morning?”

The boys shut their mouths.

They were assigned a thousand-word self-reflection.

After the others left, Zhang Guodong turned to lecture Li Shuangjie. “I’m telling you, with your temper flaring all the time, you won’t hold onto that top spot in the grade for long. What kind of good student studies like you? You should learn from Pei Chuyuan.”

Li Shuangjie said nothing.

Her anger still burning, she glanced around.

Zhang Guodong couldn’t sit still either.

“I’m talking to you!”

Li Shuangjie slammed the table. “Zhang Guodong! When I came to your office last week, you didn’t have that landscape painting on the wall yet! Don’t tell me you embezzled money! I always knew something was off about you. Did you secretly accept bribes from students’ parents? I’m going to report you!”

Zhang Guodong’s voice turned cold. “You can’t slander people without proof!”

“Hmph!” Li Shuangjie sneered, “Am I slandering? You’re just over forty, right? I remember you bought a new car this June. Heh, you’re just a small discipline supervisor—who knows where the money for the car came from? Was it earned through proper channels?”

Zhang Guodong lost all his strength and options.

“…What exactly do you want?”

“I don’t want to speak at the flag ceremony!”

“Then you don’t have to.” He rubbed his forehead.

Li Shuangjie said, “Fine, I have nothing else to say.”

Zhang Guodong looked at this child. Honestly, if it weren’t for his old acquaintance with her father, it would be even harder to manage her.

“Shuangjie, your dad is such a great writer—how did he raise such a coarse child? Setting that aside, can’t you cooperate with your uncle a little at school?”

In truth, he was already showing considerable favoritism toward Li Shuangjie.

Just look at how she angrily slapped those two boys today.

Li Shuangjie’s smile froze instantly.

She put her hands in her pockets. “Am I not cooperating enough?”

“I’ve already been very cooperative, okay!” Li Shuangjie said darkly, then turned to a few students delivering the duty log. “You tell me, am I not cooperating?”

The student council president hesitated, “...You are cooperating.”

Li Shuangjie nodded in satisfaction and strode away.

Behind her, the president’s cold, narrow eyes dropped.

“That’s Li Shuangjie, huh?” someone asked.

“Pei Chuyuan, you’re on good terms with her, right?”

No, she had never spoken to him before today.

Pei Chuyuan silently watched her retreating figure.

He recalled the military training back in first year, before the arts and science streams were split. He and Li Shuangjie had been in the same class then. She probably forgot by now, but back then, Pei Chuyuan didn’t bother with his hair and wore thick-rimmed glasses, naturally intimidated by the loud drill instructor.

The instructor always called him out publicly to turn left or right.

Next to him, Li Shuangjie often dozed off.

She dozed off, always turned the wrong way; when he went left, she went right. They nearly collided face to face, causing him great embarrassment. The instructor asked why they were staring at each other; Li Shuangjie shouted, “Reporting, instructor, it’s six eyes meeting because the boy next to me wears glasses.”

Everyone burst into laughter.

The instructor singled her out.

Her march looked like a street dance.

Instructor: “Who taught you that march?”

Li Shuangjie, full of righteous spirit: “Following the Party!!”

The instructor was stunned, then asked, “Where is the Party?”

Li Shuangjie pointed to her chest: “The Party is in my heart!”

Disaster.

Such ideological awareness.

The instructor’s face fell and he let her off.

At that moment, Pei Chuyuan thought she was shining.