Chapter 13: Pure Hatred

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Zhao Ze woke up in the school infirmary. Before his eyes was a golden holy light. He couldn’t quite recall what happened before he lost consciousness. He was squeamish about blood; the sight of warm, bright red liquid falling from his eye sockets created this illusion. Ah, it was just a nosebleed, he was just frightening himself—wait, blood, blood, blood! Slowly, his gaze lifted upward. Finally, everything faded into darkness.

Zhao Ze opened his eyes. The golden light filled his retina, dispersing the black spots. In that fleeting moment of clarity, he finally saw the scene before him: Jesus? A sculpted, perfect face; towering, delicate brows; deep, mournful eyes with faint glimmers of green that bloomed with vitality. He was pale as snow, standing under a thin ray of sunlight, resembling a collapsing snow mountain with a faint swirl, a hooked nose like an eagle’s beak.

Zhao Ze’s heart sank into the abyss.

Had he… really died?

“Are you God?” he asked.

“Can I… go to heaven?”

God said nothing, only gazed at him with sorrowful compassion. The holy light fell upon his gently closed lips, truth shining between them. Zhao Ze deeply regretted it—he was probably not going to heaven. With his nature, caught three times in anti-porn raids, lazy and selfish, tormenting classmates, he had no hope. Thinking of this, he trembled and tears sprang forth. Grabbing God’s robe, he cried, “Repent! Repent! I will repent immediately!”

Before God could answer, he began to confess himself: “I won’t read dirty comics anymore! I won’t persecute classmates! I won’t post slanderous threads about Li Shuangjie on the school forum anymore! I won’t prank new transfer students! Please spare me! I’ve changed!”

Suddenly, everything went dark again.

“No! Don’t let me go to hell!”

Li Shuangjie coldly drew the curtains shut.

“Why is getting out of bed such a hassle?”

The sunlight was blocked away. Zhao Ze anxiously looked around. This was the school infirmary, and the figure in front of him was not God, but Zheng Lanyu. Zhao Ze breathed a sigh of relief, releasing the tightly clenched robe corner and wiping the tears from his face. “Phew, I thought I was dead.”

“Almost,” Li Shuangjie smiled.

She pointed to the classmates from Class Eleven nearby.

“Social death.”

Zhao Ze’s eyes rolled back.

He fainted again.

.

The matter of Zhao Ze was thus temporarily settled. Li Shuangjie never truly meant to harass him. Even though many classmates had been pranked by him to varying degrees, when they heard he fainted suddenly, they all rushed to the infirmary, leading to this scene.

Li Shuangjie was satisfied. A class needs a soul. Even if minor conflicts happen privately, as long as the class spirit remains, there is no fear of disunity.

Every student, as part of the class, should feel involved and belong—that is the true meaning of a collective.

Regarding the class competitions,

this spirit was especially important.

With three or four days left until the opening ceremony of the sports meet, under Li Shuangjie’s strict supervision, rehearsals progressed steadily and completion improved. Zhao Ze reformed, taking on the role of action corrector for the boys’ squad, cooperating well with Zheng Lanyu’s leadership.

He sincerely declared, “I’ve joined a religion.”

“What religion?” Li Shuangjie asked, pulling at her ear.

Zhao Ze slowly took Zheng Lanyu’s hand, absurdly devout, placing his palm against his forehead: “This is the religion I believe in. Zheng Lanyu, you are my god!”

Zheng Lanyu was at a loss.

“That’s not right…”

“Golden Retriever Cult?” Li Shuangjie snapped, as sharp as ever. “I think you got punched dumb by a foreigner! Hey, Zhao Ze, I just don’t get it—why is Zheng Lanyu your god when he’s the one who beats you up? Am I the violent woman of the forum or what?”

Zhao Ze said, “Zheng Lanyu is more approachable than you.”

Li Shuangjie nodded: “Golden retrievers are more people-friendly.”

“That’s not a golden retriever! That’s this year’s soft-hearted god!” Zhao Ze defended loyally. “Zheng Lanyu saved me—I won’t let you insult him!”

“Hey!” Li Shuangjie perked up, mockingly scolding, “You really can’t tell good from bad! You slap the other classmates once, slap me twice, but you pick Zheng Lanyu? I’m telling you, that guy’s the biggest poser!”

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Zheng Lanyu calmly mediated as usual: “I’m no god. Zhao Ze, I’m Chinese too, a believer in Marxist philosophy. When I studied in the US, I even joined the Communist Association. And since you’re a League member, you shouldn’t have any religious beliefs at all.”

Zhao Ze only listened to Zheng Lanyu.

“Understood! My god!”

“You forgot to take your herbal medicine!” Li Shuangjie rolled her eyes, too tired to argue with this lunatic. “Now get off my seat, okay? Don’t you hear the bell?”

After Zhao Ze left, Li Shuangjie looked disdainfully at the chair he had sat in, reluctant to sit down herself. Zheng Lanyu knew she disliked Zhao Ze; her attitude was always obvious. Like a dog that understands its master’s mind, he took off his school uniform jacket and placed it over the chair.

“Class president, have a seat,” he said.

“I wouldn’t dare,” Li Shuangjie replied sarcastically, “You’re Zhao Ze’s god—I can’t commit sacrilege!”

Zheng Lanyu’s face flushed deeply at her teasing, whispering, “I’m not.”

Li Shuangjie enjoyed seeing the handsome man humbled, especially since Zhao Ze treated Zheng Lanyu like a god, while Zheng Lanyu was just her good dog. That made her feel like a big winner.

She teased further: “Zhao Ze likes you so much these days, he almost wants to stick to my seat. I think you should just move over and be his deskmate.”

Zheng Lanyu panicked: “Please don’t say that!”

He suddenly raised his voice, catching the teacher’s attention.

“What’s wrong, Zheng?”

“Nothing,” Li Shuangjie pressed him down.

The teacher resumed the lesson, and Li Shuangjie glared at the little foreigner, muttering in annoyance, “Are you sick or what? Why yell so loud? It’s just so you and Zhao Ze can be deskmates. Didn’t I say? You only sit with me for one week, then you leave immediately!”

“Teacher Zhou said it was a trial period…”

“The trial didn’t pass! Enough, right?”

Zheng Lanyu was stunned, then his eyes reddened—one of the few times he defied Li Shuangjie: “You can’t do this… Teacher Zhou clearly said it was a one-week trial, and the final decision would be made after that…” He bit his lip.

She smiled: “So you know it’s a trial period.”

Young people.

Still too young, too simple.

“Little barbarian, I’ll make an exception and teach you a lesson today. If you work in the mainland, you’ll use this later.” Li Shuangjie patted his back. “The employer has the final say on defining a probation period. I’m the boss, and I just want free labor. So the trial position is like this—I can pay the least and enjoy the job seeker’s best efforts. Why not?”

“Then you shouldn’t have given me hope…”

Zheng Lanyu’s lower eyelid shimmered with tears.

“Silly kid, if I don’t give you hope, how would you work hard for me?” Li Shuangjie rarely lost her temper with him. She had patience for crying men—but only if they were handsome. Ugly men crying was just gross, more nausea than sympathy.

“So that’s what you think of me?” His tears nearly spilled. Li Shuangjie wanted to slap him. It was legal but immoral—just like the trial period. Zheng Lanyu slowly grew disappointed in her silence. He turned his face away and took a deep breath.

“You can’t cry in front of girls…”

He murmured, raising his pretty cheek.

“No, you cry,” Li Shuangjie said. She didn’t want to hurt Jesus’s feelings. She was Pontius Pilate, maybe—hurt by feelings, small men always like this, big women don’t care. “Cry your throat hoarse, I won’t pity you. Next week you move out!”

“Throat hoarse…” Zheng Lanyu sobbed.

Li Shuangjie selectively pretended not to hear.

A hysterical man must be driven by an indifferent woman. The difference was, Zheng Lanyu had only Li Shuangjie as a “good friend,” but Li Shuangjie had many good friends—or dogs.

Right now, there was one.

After school on campus, two sports stars were preparing for the sports meet when Song Encheng suddenly noticed: “Why didn’t that foreigner follow you?”

“Because our New China is independent.”

Song Encheng didn’t understand. He was too slow; his brain waves rarely matched Li Shuangjie’s. But he understood his childhood friend’s temperament. Most of the time, it wasn’t easy for others to get close to Li Shuangjie. Her strong personality was one thing, her perfection another. In social interactions, Li Shuangjie rarely sought help; most often, she offered help. People like that excel at withdrawing from certain relationships.

To maintain a relationship with her,

first, you have to be quite a fool.

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Whether a fool or a little dog, childhood friends aside, she actually thrives on it: Song Encheng was not some clueless innocent. During the forum incident, he used his connections to identify the poster but did not alert them; he secretly banned Zhao Ze and others’ accounts. He could do things for Li Shuangjie, but behind a successful woman, there needs to be a man who tries his best to dim his own light to support her.

Following her was what he was meant to do, and had done for years. In elementary school, both were on the basketball team. Li Shuangjie hadn’t yet switched from sports to academics and was the strongest on the team, always far ahead in the lead. Song Encheng saw mostly her back.

He wasn’t quite convinced by Li Shuangjie.

He asked Coach Li Xi how to outrun her.

Li Xi said, “Just run behind her.”

Li Xi was the technical coach his mother hired specially. Though called coach, off the court she was addressed as auntie. Song Encheng didn’t like Li Xi’s daughter; as long as she was on the team, he could only be second place. But he really wanted to be first.

Song Encheng complained, “But if I run behind your daughter, won’t I always be second?”

Li Xi answered matter-of-factly, “All first-place winners were second place before becoming first.”

“When will I be first?”

“When you surpass her, you’ll be first.”

Such a reasonable answer.

Alright then, Song Encheng ran behind Li Shuangjie from first grade to fifth grade. As physical differences between genders emerged, he gradually caught up to her pace, then ran alongside her, then realized he could take a step further.

He was about to run ahead of Li Shuangjie.

And then, she said she wouldn’t do sports anymore.

That’s why Song Encheng was so upset. He had followed her for so long, and now she just quit. She said she wanted to study science instead. Why? She was clearly so talented physically. Li Shuangjie said she would study what she wanted. Song Encheng pushed her for the first time.

“How dare you!” Li Shuangjie immediately slapped him.

“I finally can surpass you!”

“Isn’t that great?” Li Shuangjie raised her hand to shield from the pouring rain. “You always wanted to beat me, get first place. Now that I’m leaving, you should be happy.”

“No way!” Song Encheng covered his burning cheek, shouting hoarsely, “I want to beat you fair and square! I want to earn first place myself, not take someone else’s leftover first!”

Li Shuangjie was silent in the rain.

“Then run again.”

Yes, that day it rained heavily, and the two raced on the track. Adults thought they were just kids playing wildly; classmates thought it was some trendy rebellious act of adolescence. Only Song Encheng knew that at that moment, Li Shuangjie truly saw him as a rival.

In the end, he won.

He finally surpassed her.

They lay side by side beyond the finish line.

“...Dream fulfilled?” Li Shuangjie gasped. “Actually, I didn’t want to give up sports easily. After all, my mom was on the women’s basketball team, I liked it, and I didn’t want her legacy to end. But then I thought carefully.”

“I’m not used to following anyone, not Li Xi, not even my mom.” She turned over, meeting his wet eyes. “Let’s split up. I’ll go my way, and you go mine. Let’s see what happens.”

Song Encheng said, “I’ll surpass you!”

“You like running beside me more.”

Li Shuangjie was certain.

Not behind.

Beside.

“...Yes,” he agreed.

Song Encheng liked that blessed-sounding phrase.