Chapter 12: The Guide

Li Shuangjie had four rules for slapping.
It wasn’t just about slapping anyone at will.
She had her own set of standards for judging right and wrong. As she always said, a slap was meant to uphold justice, not to cause trouble. She analyzed Pei Chuyuan’s “eager willingness to take responsibility” without prejudice and finally concluded, “This person is just too kind.”
He was even willing to take a slap on behalf of a male classmate.
She thought, “Could it be that he saved your life?”
Pei Chuyuan immediately became agitated: “I’m just…”
He wanted to be slapped by you, to have your hand deliver a harsh slap to his face.
Why haven’t you slapped me yet?
Am I not bad enough?
Yes, he no longer even dared to address her as “you”—“you” became “ma’am.” He wished he could kneel on the ground and beg her, saying, “Please slap me, just one slap.” Pei Chuyuan was exhausted yet yearning as he pleaded silently, looking at the puzzled Li Shuangjie, even ignoring the watching classmates around them.
He wanted to kneel down.
His knees trembled.
But Li Shuangjie shouted sharply, “Don’t fake it! Don’t fake it! Everyone’s watching! You haven’t even been slapped yet, and you’re already pretending to faint! How can a student council president not enforce justice and resort to such tricks? Forget it, forget it, there’s no way we’re giving up the rehearsal room!”
She feared he was trying to frame her. After all, Pei Chuyuan was highly respected in the grade, and he hadn’t offended her in any way—why should she slap him? It was the same as before; somehow, she always felt Pei Chuyuan looked at her strangely, as if… begging her?
It was a bit absurd.
Li Shuangjie decided not to think about it anymore.
She slammed the door shut.
“Come on, ladies and gentlemen! Rehearsal time!” Wasting time was taboo. Often, the group’s enthusiasm was worn down repeatedly by a few lazybones. She clapped her hands, “Cluck cluck cluck, just think of it as coming out of the henhouse to digest your food!”
One had to admit, Li Shuangjie’s sarcasm was quite humorous.
Most of the classmates were herded out like chickens.
Seeing everyone gathered, she singled out Zheng Lanyu and spoke warmly, “Come on! Foreign friend! Let me show you the charm of Chinese martial arts!”
When the music started, grand and majestic symphony filled the room. This time, Class Eleven’s opening performance was the military-style boxing routine.
Doing calisthenics or poetry recitals was always the easiest, but science classes didn’t have as many girls as liberal arts classes. Classes with more girls could always create more innovative programs.
Li’s father once wrote:
“Women are born creators, their talents shining like stars, echoing high songs through the valleys.”
Most knew this line but not the full passage. Li’s father also wrote:
“But the valley is pitch dark, hands cannot see five fingers ahead, thieves lurk in the crowd waiting for their chance. They aim to steal the fruits of creators… fruits that belong to women.”
Piercing left and stabbing right,
Then trickery and deception.
The fruits were split so that neither skin nor flesh was recognizable, chewed up and fed to others, and everyone forgot who had created them. Li Shuangjie was first in the science class—not because the teachers were good or the school managed well, but certainly not because she had learned well on her own. Just like many great inventions originated from women, but when mentioned, most people would suddenly realize, “Oh, it was a woman!”
“Oh, really?”
No. It should have been obvious.
Like now, in the neatly synchronized military boxing routine, the girls struck with force and energy, but the boys looked as if they hadn’t eaten, weak and limp. Led by Zhao Ze, they posed and joked around constantly… why? The boys did nothing but still took collective honor?
Li Shuangjie gritted her teeth in hatred. She had already started the warm-up when a glance at Zheng Lanyu sparked an idea: “Sports committee member, don’t just stand there, watch three times.”
“Ah?” Zheng Lanyu said, “Me?”
“Yes, then go do it. You lead.”
“Me?” He hesitated, “Isn’t that a bit…”
“Reluctant? Don’t you have Chinese blood?”
“… Oh.” Zheng Lanyu wasn’t unwilling to do martial arts calisthenics; he was just afraid he wouldn’t do it well. He muttered quietly in his heart that he was Chinese, just mixed with some Western blood. When there was trouble, he claimed his Chinese heritage; when there wasn’t, he always showed off his foreign background. He had his own name, Zheng Lanyu.
Since the higher-ups had issued the order, he took it seriously and after watching three times stood at the front to lead. With a tall posture and captivating appearance, Zheng Lanyu attracted the girls’ attention, and everyone praised his punches as truly… truly handsome.
“Hmph! It’s just because of his face!”
The boys complained indignantly.
The girls disagreed, “If you guys are so capable, why can’t you be as handsome or as quick to memorize? Zheng Lanyu watched three times and memorized it; what about you? Never mind looks, your punches are lame too. Zheng Lanyu should thank you for making him look good!”
“Hey, don’t…”
Zheng Lanyu didn’t want people to quarrel because of him.
He wanted to explain but was stopped by Li Shuangjie.
She signaled him with her eyes to keep going and ignore the rest. Sure enough, under Zheng Lanyu’s “competitive show,” many boys begrudgingly started punching seriously. Exactly, tricky and sly, they said they didn’t care, but once challenged, they got serious.
In one afternoon, they finished rehearsing the military boxing routine efficiently. Li Shuangjie was always like this—centralized but not autocratic, negotiating rehearsal times individually with classmates and helping them get leave; yet when it came to the class’s collective interests, she would not yield an inch on the rehearsal room.
This was also why, after the first semester, the number of votes supporting Li Shuangjie didn’t decrease but actually increased. Even petty Zhao Ze had to admit the new student leader was far better at winning the crowd’s favor—before her, he was just a rookie.
Though standing 1.85 meters tall and already an adult, Zhao Ze never dared meet Li Shuangjie’s eyes, especially after she became class president and he was demoted to a minor sports committee member. The Chinese style class committee relationship was like ruler and subject, enemies, rivals, kin. As a playboy, Zhao Ze never had the courage to sit down and have a drink with the class president; he was afraid of those deep eyes of hers. Li Shuangjie’s eyes were the most terrifying thing a man could face; likewise, her slap was the thing men avoided most.
Whenever Zhao Ze looked at Li Shuangjie, he didn’t see a girl. More immediate than her slap was the stench of shit in the classroom that day, the humiliation of kneeling down to scrub over a hundred floor tiles!
No, a hundred and a quarter tiles, plus one broken piece. He counted carefully, letting none go, or he couldn’t imagine how he endured the darkness and cold of that mess.
Zhao Ze feared Li Shuangjie.
Even more, he feared being left behind with her alone.
After rehearsal, her command, “Zhao Ze, stay behind,” made the hairs on his neck stand up. He instinctively froze, feeling as if a thousand pounds weighed on his feet, unable to move. He mouthed “save me” to his friends.
But all he got were looks of “good luck.”
Yes, no one wanted trouble from Li Shuangjie.
Except Pei Chuyuan.
But Zhao Ze was not Pei Chuyuan. When Li Shuangjie set her sights on him, he knew she was coming for reckoning. He still hadn’t finished dealing with Zheng Lanyu’s matter, and Zhao Ze knew well that Li Shuangjie would never show favoritism to anyone, let alone a man. She cared only about the class’s honor.
How he dealt with the foreign brat privately was none of her business, but if he harmed the collective interest…
“Do you want to slap yourself, or should I do it?”
Li Shuangjie’s gaze cut like an icy blade.
“I—I’ll do it myself…” Zhao Ze said.
“Good, keep slapping until I tell you to stop.”
Zhao Ze dared not be slack and slapped himself repeatedly. Of course, he didn’t hit too hard because he still had to face people after opening the door; he couldn’t parade a red slap mark across the court. His cautious strength soon displeased Li Shuangjie, who called out, “Slow down.”
“Zheng Lanyu.” She lifted her chin.
Only then did Zhao Ze notice he hadn’t left.
“It’s time for your revenge.”
Zhao Ze was stunned, but Zheng Lanyu was even more dumbfounded, looking pitifully wide-eyed. Zheng Lanyu couldn’t hit people; his mother had told him a boy’s fists were not for hurting others but for protecting them. He couldn’t do this.
“Class president…” he hesitated, murmuring softly.
“Soft-hearted? Have you forgotten how he tricked you?”
“Or are you hoping he’ll change for the better?”
Zhao Ze: “I’ll treat Brother Lanyu well!”
“Shut up. Do I look like I care?” Li Shuangjie sneered past Zhao Ze and turned to Zheng Lanyu. “Think carefully, if you miss this chance, there won’t be a next time. I’m not that kind-hearted. There’s an old Chinese saying: repay injury with justice, repay virtue with virtue. Do you think if you generously forgive him, he’ll be grateful? Today I’m putting it out there: if you spare him once, he’ll dare a second, a third time!”
She gave the order.
“…Slap him!”
Zheng Lanyu refused, shaking his head.
“…” Li Shuangjie immediately felt offended and disgusted. The victim was defending the perpetrator? It made her look like a meddlesome savior.
She gave Zheng Lanyu a long, sharp look, scoffed, “Suit yourself,” and left without looking back.
This fake American man… she had thought he was different from those shallow, trivial types!
But just one second after turning away,
Zhao Ze’s painful shout came from behind.
Li Shuangjie turned in surprise and saw the usually gentle blond, blue-eyed boy, with an overwhelmingly oppressive aura, pin Zhao Ze to the ground and land two hard punches. His eyes remained clear and green, like precious jade, often causing people to overlook the quiet turmoil beneath those waters. He threw a third punch, sending a spatter of blood like a shooting star.
He controlled his uneven breathing, “Mom said if someone makes a mistake, they must be taught a lesson. But Mom also said not to let girls see blood, and not to be violent in front of girls.” He gave Li Shuangjie a sweet smile, “You must be scared, right?”
Li Shuangjie was indeed startled.
But it was because Zhao Ze had fainted.
She was silent for a few seconds, then slowly approached:
“Zhao Ze faints at the sight of blood, didn’t you know?”
“This…” Zheng Lanyu was truly surprised.
Naturally, he had just been slapped by Li Shuangjie.
“Go, hurry up and take him to the infirmary.”
Li Shuangjie impatiently turned her back.
She touched her nose, thinking:
He really is a little handsome after all.