The news came too quickly, too suddenly. Ke Bu stood frozen for several seconds before looking at Zhi Li. “What did they do?” Before Zhi Li could answer, the others came rushing over. Chu Hao Yu shouted aggrievedly, “Zhi Li, you have to get justice for me!” He was spouting lines straight out of some television drama. Their group was sometimes far too independent and sometimes far too dependent on Zhi Li, always looking to him for a place where they could feel accepted. Ke Bu couldn’t criticize anyone for it. Maybe he did the same thing. Whenever he was helpless, his first thought was always to find Zhi Li. Maybe finding Zhi Li didn’t always accomplish anything. Zhi Li often came up with plenty of terrible ideas. But simply seeing the way he never seemed to take anything to heart made Ke Bu feel that perhaps things weren’t actually that bad.
“What did you do? Why are you being expelled? Where’s You Yan?” Ke Bu’s words might as well have gone in one ear and out the other. Gong Zhu also turned to Zhi Li for help. “Of all times, we can’t get in touch with You Yan now. Zhi Li, do you have some contact method we don’t know about? Her dad is the chancellor, after all.”
“So what exactly did you do? How many times do I have to ask?! Is anyone going to answer me?!” Ke Bu cut in.
Ying Xiu Jie folded his arms. “Maybe the student council decided this on their own. It’s a shame the president is a woman this time. Otherwise, I…”
“Does the student council really have that much power?” Zhou Xin He asked timidly.
“It’s all my fault! I dragged everyone into this, talking about fighting back against those people!” Gong Zhu was drowning in guilt and looked as though he might cry at any moment. Ying Xiu Jie tried to comfort him. “If anyone’s to blame, it’s the student council. Are you even a man? Why are you taking all the blame yourself?” Zhang Luo frowned too. “I originally wanted to hack into the student council computers and see what was going on with this whole thing, but I found nothing. There’s no record of anything related to this on their computers. Zhi Li, what do you think?”
“About what?” Zhi Li looked completely lost.
“About us being expelled!”
“Maybe your grades are too bad.”
“But Ke Bu’s grades are bad too. If they’re expelling people for that, they should expel him as well.”
“I’m deeply touched that you remembered me at a time like this,” Ke Bu said sarcastically.
“You’re all here. That saves me the trouble of looking for you one by one.” Another voice joined the conversation. When Ke Bu turned around, Bao Ji Lei had already reached them. Her expression and tone made it seem as though she were merely carrying out a work assignment. “You should go pack your things. I came personally to escort you out.” Chu Hao Yu rushed up to her. “When all’s said and done, you’re just the student council president. What right do you have to expel us?” Bao Ji Lei replied, “The school prohibition was already perfectly clear. You violated it, so why can’t I expel you? Not only are there disgusting homosexuals among you, the rest of you are encouraging homosexuality as well.” There was no hatred in her voice, no disgust, and of course no pity either. Even now, Ke Bu still couldn’t sense any hostility from her. A word Su You Yan had once used flashed through his mind. Puppet. Bao Ji Lei herself wasn’t interested in their group at all. She was simply obeying someone else. Ke Bu suddenly understood why she behaved this way. But the moment one question was answered, another appeared. If Bao Ji Lei was a puppet, then who was controlling her? Who had enough power to control the student council president of Sheng Jie Academy?
“Who are you calling disgusting? I think you’re disgusting!” Gong Zhu reached out to shove Bao Ji Lei. Instead, Bao Ji Lei caught one of his fingers and, with a completely calm expression, bent it backward. Gong Zhu screamed in pain. Ying Xiu Jie pulled Bao Ji Lei’s hand away. Gong Zhu dropped to his knees, trembling from the pain, while Zhou Xin He and Chu Hao Yu checked his injury. Ke Bu glared at Bao Ji Lei. This woman had bent someone’s finger without changing her expression, without wasting a word. She was like a machine with neither thought nor emotion. Ke Bu had wanted to question her, but suddenly felt that saying anything to her would be meaningless.
Zhi Li finally stood up from the grass. “Take Gong Zhu to the infirmary first.” Zhou Xin He and Zhang Luo nodded and helped Gong Zhu to his feet. Tears had already been forced from his eyes by the pain. Ke Bu frowned as he watched them leave. Ying Xiu Jie shouted, “Don’t think I won’t hit you just because you’re a woman! No one gets to bully my friends.”
“If you had behaved yourselves, it wouldn’t have come to this.”
Furious, Ying Xiu Jie grabbed Bao Ji Lei by the shoulder. Bao Ji Lei lowered her gaze to the hand resting there. Her own hand moved so quickly that Ke Bu barely saw a blur before she struck Ying Xiu Jie in the nose. Blood began flowing from his nostrils. Ying Xiu Jie stared in disbelief. The saying that you couldn’t judge someone by appearances probably existed for people like Bao Ji Lei. Anyone capable of becoming the student council president of Sheng Jie Academy was never ordinary. Ke Bu knew Ying Xiu Jie would lose, and lose badly. Ying Xiu Jie still refused to accept it and tried to move again. Ke Bu was about to grab him when Zhi Li’s hand beat him to it, catching Ying Xiu Jie by the clothes and pulling him backward.
Zhi Li tilted his head slightly and narrowed his eyes at Bao Ji Lei. “Call your master out. I want to see them.”
“My apologies. I’m unable to comply with your request.” Bao Ji Lei lowered her head. Why was she speaking to Zhi Li so respectfully? Ke Bu asked, “So who exactly is your target?” Bao Ji Lei slowly raised her head and fixed Ke Bu with an icy gaze. A chill crawled over him before he could stop it.
“Why me?! If you’re trying to deal with me, why did you hurt Gong Zhu? Didn’t your master tell you to focus properly on your target?”
Bao Ji Lei said nothing. Zhi Li’s tone shifted into something else. Amusement? Interest? Ke Bu couldn’t quite describe it. It was the tone Zhi Li only used when facing a threat, the kind of interest that appeared when someone wanted to play with him and he intended to play all the way to the end.
“If you want to touch Ke Bu, you need my permission first. Is your master capable of getting it? How are we supposed to play if they keep hiding? Are you calling your master out now, or should I deal with you first and find them myself?”
“I will not fight you, but I must destroy Ke Bu,” Bao Ji Lei said mechanically. Zhi Li had only just pulled his hand out of his pocket when a voice drifted toward them from somewhere ahead. “Being this impatient isn’t like you, Zhi Li. I don’t like seeing you act like that vixen Lan Yin.” Ke Bu followed the voice and saw only a group of student council members. He couldn’t find the person who had spoken.
Zhi Li’s face took on the confused expression of a child. “Grandma?”
Leave a Reply