Chapter 122: The Small Object

On a cold winter day, Li Zhichao, who chose style over warmth, did not wear a down jacket or a padded coat. He only had on a black leather coat that didn’t reach his knees, with wide lapels and a cinched waist, adorned with shiny metal ornaments. Below were black skinny pants and black polished leather shoes. Chewing gum, his neck tilted to one side, he held a cigarette between his fingers. His long hair, parted in the middle, almost covered his entire face, with a lock of dyed yellow hair in the front, giving off a complete rogue vibe. As he walked, he said proudly, “A couple days ago, two troublemakers from outside school came to provoke our Chinese teacher, Fu Jun. Fu Jun got scared and specially invited me to his office to beg for my help… Guess what happened?”

Su Chunfeng asked, amused and exasperated, “What happened?”

“That night, I gathered over thirty guys and went outside the school gate to support Teacher Fu. We beat those two idiots until they ran away like dogs with their tails between their legs. In the end, we cornered them under Yanwu Tower, and they knelt down, crying and begging for forgiveness from Teacher Fu. Later, Teacher Fu and his wife treated a few of us leaders to a meal at a restaurant and gave each of us a pack of cigarettes.” As Li Zhichao said this, his expression was especially proud and domineering, as if no one else could have done it.

“Showing off like this isn’t good,” Su Chunfeng advised seriously. “Zhichao, we’re here to study. Your grades have always been near the bottom; that’s not good.”

“Hey, I’m just not cut out for studying. My dad even said that just getting a high school diploma is enough…” Li Zhichao said indifferently. “But I know you mean well. Of course, having good grades isn’t a bad thing. I’ve thought about studying hard, but whenever I see the stuff in the books, my head hurts. I just can’t get it in.”

Su Chunfeng shook his head helplessly. Thinking it over, it was true; there was no need to try to change someone else’s life and mindset based on his own subjective views.

For example, in his previous life, Li Zhichao had later become successful and famous, earning both reputation and wealth. Who could say he was a failure?

Thinking of this, Su Chunfeng even began to wonder: If his own words and actions since his rebirth affected Li Zhichao, causing him to graduate high school instead of dropping out in his second year like in the previous life, would that indirectly prevent Li Zhichao from achieving the brilliant success he had in that other timeline?

After all, with opportunities, once missed, they might never come again.

For most successful people, besides their own abilities, hard work, and other factors, luck also played a decisive role.

As the saying goes, three parts are destined by heaven, seven parts depend on effort.

Both were indispensable.

In winter, the days were short and the nights long, so the sky had already turned completely dark. It was dinner time, and on the road between the dormitories and the cafeteria, students were coming and going.

Chatting and laughing, Su Chunfeng and Li Zhichao arrived at the entrance of the cafeteria.

Just as they stepped onto the stairs, they heard a few shouts and some suppressed sobbing pleas coming from the north corner of the wall not far from the cafeteria. Looking in that direction, they saw a few fierce-looking students surrounding a chubby boy with glasses in an open space by the wall, threatening him harshly:

“Damn it, we told you to buy two packs; why did you only buy one?”

“The pocket money you have on you isn’t even enough for a meal for a few of us! Damn, go borrow some money right now…”

“Next week, you also have to bring twenty yuan, got it?”

It was dinner time, and many students were passing by the cafeteria entrance. However, they either ignored what was happening or watched from a distance.

It had nothing to do with them, so they stayed out of it.

Even if they wanted to intervene, they didn’t dare.

Coincidentally, the chubby, bespectacled boy being bullied was Su Chunfeng’s former deskmate, Cui Hao. After the arts and sciences stream division, Cui Hao, who was in the science stream, was placed in Class 2.

At that moment, he looked wronged, timidly speaking with a tearful voice, “I can’t ask my parents for money. This week, I lied to them, saying I needed money for study materials… Please let me off. How about I buy you two more packs of cigarettes next week?”

“Bullshit!”

“You looking down on us, huh?”

The boys cursed and shoved. The timid and cowardly Cui Hao staggered and fell into a snow pile beside the flower bed next to the path, his glasses falling off. In the dim light, being severely nearsighted, he panicked and tearfully stretched out his hand, groping on the ground for his glasses.

Seeing this, Su Chunfeng immediately strode over, frowning and shouting, “Stop! What are you doing?” As he spoke, he pushed aside two boys blocking his way, picked up the glasses from the edge of the flower bed, and handed them to Cui Hao.

“Damn it, who the hell are you?”

“Wanna die?”

The boys immediately flared up, surrounding Su Chunfeng with fierce looks and harsh words.

Su Chunfeng was usually quiet and low-key at school, not keen on forming gangs or showing off. Even though many students had heard of him and seen him a few times, they weren’t familiar with him. Plus, because of the dim light, these boys didn’t recognize the person who had stepped in to interfere as Su Chunfeng.

“You’re utterly disgraceful!” Su Chunfeng scolded with a stern face.

Cui Hao put on his glasses and stood up, trembling as he hid behind Su Chunfeng, as if he had found a pillar of support. Sniffling, he called out, “Chunfeng…”

“Damn it, wanna die?” one of the boys stepped forward and grabbed Su Chunfeng’s collar.

Seeing the conflict, Li Zhichao had already rushed over. From behind, he slapped the back of the head of the boy who had grabbed Su Chunfeng’s collar and shouted angrily, “You wanna die?”

“You…” The boy turned his head and, seeing it was Li Zhichao, immediately shivered with fright. He quickly let go of Su Chunfeng’s collar and asked with an awkward smile, “Brother Chao, what’s… what’s going on?”

Su Chunfeng said coldly, “Don’t bully people casually from now on. I don’t like it.”

With that, he pulled Cui Hao along, pushed through the students surrounding him, and walked into the cafeteria.

The tall and sturdy Li Zhichao reached out and swiped the boy’s head again, then pointed his index finger at the chests of the other boys one by one, scolding, “Think you’re tough, huh? Only know how to bully the weak, right? You even wanted to hit my buddy? Damn it, go on, hit him again, let me see?”

“Brother Chao, how could we hit your buddy? We just didn’t know.”

“Yeah, yeah, Brother Chao, don’t be angry.”

“Angry, my ass.” Li Zhichao sneered. “If you have the guts, go ahead and hit him. I won’t stop you. But don’t blame me if you get hurt… Damn it, at No.1 High School, I’ve never heard of anyone daring to pick a one-on-one fight with my buddy Su Chunfeng!”

“Su Chunfeng?”

“He… that, we couldn’t see clearly.”

“It’s too dark; we really didn’t recognize him. Brother Chao, if we had known he was Su Chunfeng, how could we have acted like that?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

The students were so scared they trembled, explaining repeatedly. Just thinking about Su Chunfeng—who never showed off or acted arrogantly, and who rarely even hung out with Li Zhichao’s group—and the incident that had shocked the entire school made them shudder. That was a truly ruthless person.

In the cafeteria hall.

Su Chunfeng got a portion of food and sat at the farthest corner. Looking at Cui Hao, who stood by the wall with a miserable expression, he couldn’t help but sigh and say, “Alright, go get your dinner.”

“I, I just ate.” Cui Hao wiped his tears and said, “Chunfeng, thank you.”

“No need to thank me. Since you’ve already eaten, go back. If anyone bullies you again, just say you and I are old deskmates and good buddies.” Su Chunfeng waved his hand calmly, then lowered his head and picked up his chopsticks to eat. He had only helped because he happened to see it. Actually, he knew that such things happened too often at school. If he let his good intentions run wild and tried to intervene in everything, he’d be causing trouble all day long without getting anything else done.

“Oh, then I’ll go. Thank you.” Cui Hao lowered his head and turned to leave. After taking two steps, he seemed to remember something, turned back, pulled a shiny small object from his pants pocket, and placed it in front of Su Chunfeng. “Chunfeng, I found this at school. I thought it looked nice, so I’ll give it to you.”

Su Chunfeng said, amused and exasperated, “Take it away, what are you talking about?” As he spoke, he caught sight of the small object on the table. He immediately picked it up to examine it, frowning as he asked, “Where did you find this thing?”

“It’s, it’s…” Cui Hao stammered.

“Speak!” Su Chunfeng shouted sternly.

Cui Hao shivered and quickly said, “It was behind the Girls’ Dormitory Building.”

Su Chunfeng stared at Cui Hao with a serious expression, his tone cold and sharp. “Nonsense. What were you doing behind the Girls’ Dormitory Building?”

“Last night, I, I wanted to… climb the wall to peek at the girls.” Cui Hao whispered with a red face, his head lowered so much it seemed he wanted to hide it between his legs.

“Useless thing.” Su Chunfeng couldn’t help but laugh and curse. “Get lost.”

“Oh.” Cui Hao quickly turned and hurried away.

Su Chunfeng held the small object, frowning as he examined it carefully. It was an exquisitely crafted, ring-sized copper-colored circular object. At both ends, two protruding little things were inlaid, resembling two flowers. But upon closer inspection, one could see that they were actually two faces that looked somewhat human.