"Go ahead, come back early. Today, your uncle said he’s going to catch a pheasant for you,"
Chiang Xiao replied, slinging her school bag over her shoulder as she headed for the town middle school.
She had been to the middle school before, but today the school gates were wide open, with people coming and going; it was quite lively.
However, Chiang Xiao hadn’t expected to be so famous herself.
As soon as she entered the school gate, someone immediately shouted, "Chiang Xiao is here!"
Then, in an instant, numerous gazes were turned toward her.
Chiang Xiao was at a loss for words.
Two girls ran up to her, sizing her up, "You’re Chiang Xiao, right?"
"We’re also going to be in the third year of junior high! Not sure if we’ll be in the same class, I’m really looking forward to it!" one of the girls said with shining eyes, "If we end up in the same class, could I ask you for help with difficult problems in the future?"
"Chiang Xiao, can we borrow your notes in the future?"
Chiang Xiao had not expected them to be so enthusiastic, her smile a bit stiff. Forgive her for always dealing with extraordinary oddballs; encountering such kindly and enthusiastic classmates, she actually didn’t quite know how to interact.
Walking that stretch of road, at least a dozen classmates had come up to greet her.
Chiang Xiao’s face was stiff all the way, but even so, she still heard a few boys who seemed to be in the first year whispering, "Chiang Xiao is really pretty."
"Heard she’s from Siyang Village, aren’t people from Siyang Village supposed to be dark-skinned? Never thought Chiang Xiao would be so fair-skinned."
"Doesn’t she look like Snow White?"
"She does, she does."
"Are you trying to be her prince?" someone couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
"Then who’s the evil queen?"
Just as Chiang Xiao heard this, someone loudly called her name from behind.
Upon hearing this voice, the good mood that Chiang Xiao had had all the way vanished. Yet, she actually felt that this was the kind of encounter she was supposed to have!
Had she become accustomed to being mistreated?
Chiang Xiao gave a wry smile.
Yu Chunyu strode towards Chiang Xiao, reaching out to pull her, "You’re finally here, have you registered yet? After you do, come with me to the hospital."
Chiang Xiao was taken aback, somewhat unable to keep up with Yu Chunyu’s pace.
"Teacher Yu, why do I need to go to the hospital?"
Although Yu Chunyu had called out to her with a voice that resembled the roar of a lion, now her expression and tone were undoubtedly gentle.
In fact, she asked her again if she had paid her tuition fees.
"I haven’t," said Chiang Xiao.
"Then let me take you; it’ll be faster. Once you’ve paid your tuition fees, I’ll explain," Yu Chunyu said, taking the lead and kindly offering to take her to pay the fees.
Chiang Xiao took a long, hard look at her retreating back, said nothing, and followed.
The teacher in charge of collecting the tuition fees was also going to teach the third year and was very curious upon seeing Chiang Xiao. She couldn’t resist pulling Chiang Xiao aside for a chat and then glanced at Yu Chunyu, hesitating to speak.
Chiang Xiao found this a bit strange, was there something she wanted to say?
She said to the teacher, "Could you tell me which class I’ll be in?"
With that, she walked a couple of steps towards class one; the teacher, being smart, immediately followed her, whispering, "You might be in class one."
Seeing that Yu Chunyu hadn’t noticed, she quickly lowered her voice and said, "Be careful, Chiang Xiao. I’ve seen Teacher Yu waiting for you these past few days. She’s already come by several times to ask if you’ve paid the tuition fees yet. Moreover, Teacher Zou is hospitalized, and it seems something happened with your family. I think Teacher Yu is looking for you because of that."