Scumbag (Part One)

In his previous life, Fang Chang'an always worried about theft in the dormitory, and indeed, things had been stolen before. He always kept his money close, so what was taken were usually snacks brought by his grandmother—most of which, he suspected, were pilfered by Liu Cheng.

But this time around, such incidents shouldn't happen again.

Books would be distributed at the class meeting at two in the afternoon, but it was only noon. Fang Chang'an had no interest in sitting idly in the classroom. His goal for these three years of junior high was clear: to get into the city’s top high school. With the learning ability honed from his experiences in his past life, he felt confident about junior high, though less so about high school.

Thus, while he needed to maintain good grades, he didn't intend to devote all his time to studying. He planned to broaden his reading.

In his previous life, his grades in junior high were excellent, but he rebelled in high school, driven by vanity, making many mistakes. Only after repeating his senior year did he get into an ordinary university. Once at college, he let himself go, busy with clubs and chasing girls, neglecting his studies. It was only after graduation that he realized club activities were a waste of time and that reading more books was far more valuable than any student council—though, admittedly, girls were always delightful.

After starting a business, he became busier and began to read more earnestly, but he found himself at a loss for what to read, so he consumed books at random, with little real effect.

Now, reborn, he had plenty of time to make up for this, and Fang Chang'an was determined not to waste it.

At the junction of the gravel road and the cement road outside the school gate, not far from the supermarket, there was a bookstore. Perhaps because the semester had just begun, many students and parents were inside.

Fang Chang'an wandered to the bookshelves and browsed idly, finding mostly workbooks. It took effort to locate a shelf with "leisure books." He pulled out a dusty copy of "Fortress Besieged" and stood in the corner to read.

In his previous life, his reading was always purposeful, focusing on books related to business or at least tangentially so. He hadn’t read such "leisure books," though their reputation was familiar. Since he was just passing the time, he started reading.

"Fortress Besieged" was undoubtedly a classic. Qian Zhongshu was a literary master, and intellectuals excelled at satire—the whole novel was steeped in a biting wit. For someone like Fang Chang'an, whose education now amounted to elementary school, it felt like constant affectation, and he found it irksome. As a reborn soul, the English words sprinkled throughout were incomprehensible to him, which only added to his annoyance.

Still, he persisted, not out of interest but because, in his previous life, he first heard of this novel from his homeroom teacher, Cheng Mengfei, who seemed to like it. He wanted to cater to her tastes.

There was a clock hanging on the bookstore wall. While reading, Fang Chang'an kept an eye on the time, but before the class meeting at school began, the shopkeeper began to shoo people away. "Hey, student! Are you buying a book? If not, don't hang around and block others!"

Fang Chang'an looked up at the shopkeeper and flashed an innocent, adorable smile. "Yes, I'm buying. This one is pretty good. I'll check out some others..."

He took the copy of "Fortress Besieged" and moved to another shelf, pulled out a large workbook, and wrapped "Fortress Besieged" inside it, continuing to read.

He had intended to skim through "Fortress Besieged," but unexpectedly, he became engrossed, reading more slowly as he went, and after more than an hour, hadn't finished half. He put the book back and tidied up some messy materials, helping to straighten them.

The shopkeeper’s wife, seeing the kid had swapped covers several times and ignored her repeated urgings, finally left him alone since he wasn't bothering anyone else, though her expression was sour.

Now, seeing him help tidy up the books, her expression softened a little, though she still waved him off impatiently, as if shooing a fly. "Alright, alright, hurry up and go, honestly..."

Fang Chang'an said nothing, looked up and gave her another innocent, sweet smile, finished tidying the scattered books, and waved, "Goodbye, Auntie."

She didn’t respond, but Fang Chang'an didn’t mind; he’d gotten half a book for free, so being disliked was no loss.

He returned to school, climbed to the third floor through the central corridor of the teaching building, and found Class Four on the west side of the stairs.

The homeroom teacher had instructed everyone to attend the meeting at two. Fresh junior high students, just graduated from elementary school, wouldn’t dare to be late—by now it was already past one forty, and the classroom was packed.

Fang Chang'an's appearance at the doorway immediately drew most students’ attention; even the buzzing conversations stilled for a moment.

But only for a moment—the room quickly returned to its previous state, and the curious gazes shifted away.

Fang Chang'an glanced around the classroom, but couldn't recognize many faces. His memory was too hazy. He recalled that, in his previous life, he initially sat with Wang Hao, both sharing a desk and a bunk. Glancing at Wang Hao now, he saw someone already sitting beside him, probably having lost patience with Fang Chang'an's absence.

There were more than fifty students, five desks per row, ten students per row, six rows in all, with only three double desks in the last row. Scanning the room, Fang Chang'an saw that except for the last row, only one seat beside a girl in the third row was empty.

He looked closely; she was quite pretty. He’d intended to walk along the aisle near the door, but changed course, passing by the teacher's desk and taking the inner aisle to the girl’s seat.

"Is this seat taken?"

The girl had an oval face, lively eyes, and was very attractive. She was chatting with two girls in front of her, but had already noticed his approach from the corner of her eye, though she pretended not to.

She had probably guessed he might sit beside her, but since there were still seats in the last row, she hadn't expected him to actually want to sit next to her, especially so directly.

She wasn’t sure if she was nervous or shy, but shook her head without speaking.

"Then let me get in."

Fang Chang'an knew well the temperament of girls at this age—if she didn’t refuse, he’d take it as permission. But the girl was sitting on the aisle, and the space between the two rows was narrow; he couldn’t squeeze in directly.

The surrounding students stopped their initial small talk to observe. The girl blushed, moved her chair, and leaned over her desk, letting Fang Chang'an slip behind her to his seat.

The middle three desks had two boys in the center. The one next to Fang Chang'an must have wanted to sit beside the pretty girl but lacked the nerve. Now he watched Fang Chang'an wedge himself between them, eyeing him with neither malice nor friendliness.

Fang Chang'an ignored him, turned to the girl, and said, "Looks like we're temporary desk-mates. My name's Fang Chang'an. What's yours?"

The girl blushed, glanced at him shyly, and murmured, "Wang Ke."

Fang Chang'an paused, studied her, and a faint memory stirred.

His desk-mate from second year, and his crush at the time.

But this was only first year—was she jumping the queue?

Wang Ke felt his gaze, and her ears reddened. She, too, came from a farming background, though her family was better off. She wore new clothes, a digital watch on her left wrist, her hair in a ponytail, and her delicate features radiated an intelligent charm. Her blushing face was especially endearing.

The two girls in front saw Wang Ke’s blush and stifled their laughter, but since they weren’t familiar yet, they didn’t tease. Fang Chang'an looked away, observing the two in front.

They met his gaze, but, perhaps because of his earlier confidence, decided he was hard to approach and ignored him, turning back to their conversation.

Neither was as pretty as Wang Ke, so Fang Chang'an didn’t ask their names, but continued chatting with Wang Ke. "The teacher isn’t here yet?"

"Mm."

"Where are you from? I’m from Ma Jiagou."

"Wang Village."

"Where’s that? North or south? My home’s southeast."

"Northwest."

"Oh, maybe I’ll visit sometime."

She didn't respond, so he asked, "What year were you born?"

"’91."

"Such fate! Me too—July, how about you?"

She glanced at him, blinking, "July as well."

"Wow!" He genuinely didn’t remember this detail, and his eyes lit up. "What a coincidence! I’m the seventh—are you too?"

"No, not... fourteenth."

"Exactly twice mine, but I’m still older."

"Oh."

The girl was very shy, especially seeing his calm and confident manner. She instinctively felt he wasn’t easy to deal with, so she spoke even more cautiously. Not getting closer, Fang Chang'an changed the topic: "Do you play chess?"

He remembered that she had taught him chess and Gomoku, learning herself from her grandfather. It wouldn’t make sense if she could teach him in second year but not know how in first.

Sure enough, the girl hesitated but replied, "A little."

"Teacher’s not here yet. Let’s play Gomoku!"

She looked at him, puzzled, since he hadn’t brought a bag. "How?"

"Give me your notebook and pen."

He took her workbook—perfect, it had horizontal lines—then drew vertical lines, saying, "You draw circles, I’ll draw crosses."

The girl’s eyes brightened, took out a pencil, and drew a circle on the notebook. Fang Chang'an drew an X in the opposite corner. They played, turn by turn.

The notebook was small, and as they sat side by side, they gradually leaned closer, their heads nearly touching.

Fang Chang'an blocked her for several moves, then pretended not to see, letting her connect five in a row. The girl won the battle, delighted, lowering her voice to say, "I won!"

She drew another circle in the notebook and pushed it toward him, her delicate eyebrows arching, eyes sparkling with joy and pride.

Fang Chang'an examined it, feigning disappointment, and sighed, "I didn’t see it—otherwise you wouldn’t have won."

"I won anyway!"

The girl, innocent to the ways of the world, was even more pleased at his words, her joy almost overflowing.

She was about to suggest another round when she spotted Cheng Mengfei in a floral dress entering the classroom. She immediately sat up straight and whispered to Fang Chang'an, "Teacher’s here!"