Pretending to be a Bad Student - Chapter 2
Disguised as a Slacker
Those flyers covered nearly every line of work imaginable, from circumcision to small loans, everything was there. There were even locksmiths, miracle Chinese doctors, private detectives, professional exam takers…
Xie Yu simply pulled them out and threw them into the trash bin. When only one remained, he saw it read: “Mysterious Game, Ignite Your Passion! Good brother, ah~~ come on~~~”
The tildes were utterly scandalous. Xie Yu was just about to throw it away when he heard someone behind him roar, “You little brat!” His hand shook, and his ghostly precision was interrupted, so he reflexively stuffed the flyer into his pocket.
Xu Yanmei rubbed her hands together. “How do you have time to come see me?”
The first thing Xie Yu did upon seeing her was hand her the black plastic bag, then quickly stepped back a few paces, avoiding her, “What’s that smell on you, bathroom air freshener? Why would you spray so much for no reason?”
“Bullshit air freshener. This is a womanly scent, damn it.” She’d already sprayed through half the bottle of perfume.
After that, she opened the plastic bag and saw the contents. She paused for two seconds. “I was just joking, and you really got me a big megaphone, how does this work? Is this the switch?”
“Don’t press it, it’s too loud,” Xie Yu’s temple twitched.
He spoke too late. Xu Yanmei had already pressed the red button. Like a child with a new toy, the unfinished song in the convenience store erupted from the speaker, filling the space like it would linger for three days.
“Holy shit, it’s so loud?” Xu Yanmei was a bit stunned.
“Turn it off quickly,” Xie Yu said again. “Also, your voice, don’t you have any self-awareness? Smoke if you want, just do it.”
“It’s not that exaggerated… With my strong physique, I could probably fight for another three hundred years,” Xu Yanmei said.
Xie Yu silently studied her, immediately noticing that her right hand kept unconsciously supporting the side of her waist. Because of long-term strain, Xu Yanmei’s waist wasn’t in great shape; she had to put on a patch every day, otherwise sometimes she couldn’t even get out of bed.
“Strong, huh? You really dare to say that.”
Xu Yanmei noticed Xie Yu’s gaze and quickly lowered her hand, her words streaming out fluidly, truth or lie unclear, “My waist is fine. That… last time you told me to go to the hospital, I went. It’s okay. The doctor said there’s not much of a problem.”
Xie Yu listened as he walked towards the Guangmao Building. He wore a plain black T-shirt that was almost cheap-looking, it was one Xu Yanmei had bought him before. She often bought clothes for him and mailed them over; whenever she saw something suitable, she’d buy it. Eventually, the stack of boxes she’d sent had piled up to the height of half a person.
He had both hands in his pockets, his sleeves rolled up several times to reveal a slender wrist. His hair was medium‑long, though it looked soft, even naturally curling because it was so fine, it somehow added a touch of sharpness to his appearance.
“How many truckloads need unloading today?” He asked.
Xu Yanmei was already in her forties. She spent her days busy receiving and shipping goods, watching over everything here and there. Any random trouble, people smashing the shop, stirring up incidents, fell under her responsibility. The only thing she never seemed to have time for was taking care of herself. Her hair was still the perm she’d gotten at the salon last New Year. Neglected ever since, it now looked like a messy instant‑noodle mop, dry and yellowed.
From her facial features, it wasn’t hard to tell she had once been beautiful when she was young, it was just that time had not been kind.
Even if she were thrown into a crowd, she would be nothing more than an utterly ordinary middle‑aged woman, so ordinary that one might even wonder whether the traces of former beauty glimpsed in her brows and eyes were just an illusion.
“Eighteen trucks. Don’t be fooled by the fact that it’s still summer—gotta keep an eye on the autumn stock too, or the suppliers might not finish production in time,” Xu Yanmei said. Whenever work was mentioned, she instinctively reached for her pocket, wishing she could pull out a cigarette to satisfy the craving. All she felt was a lighter—no cigarettes.
Xie Yu asked again, “Do you have enough hired help?”
“Enough, enough. Don’t need you,” Xu Yanmei said. “Last time you showed up out of nowhere to help, I still haven’t settled that with you.”
Once, after hearing that she’d strained her back while unloading goods, Xie Yu skipped a day of school. By the time she found him, he had already blended in with the workers and helped unload four or five truckloads. The boy had taken off his school uniform, his whole body drenched in sweat.
Back then, business at the wholesale market hadn’t been easy. It had only started picking up gradually over the past half year. They tried to hire as few unloading workers as possible. Leasing two entire floors of the Guangmao Building was already a heavy burden, so naturally she put a lot of thought into cutting expenses wherever she could.
The two of them stood inside the elevator. The cramped space fermented that air‑freshener‑like perfume into something even stronger. This freight elevator had probably transported fresh produce before, besides the suffocating fragrance, there was also a faint, lingering stench of rotten fish mixed in.
Xu Yanmei asked, “You’ve grown taller again, haven’t you?”
“Almost one‑eighty,” Xie Yu replied.
Xu Yanmei looked him up and down, half wanting to smile and half wanting to frown. “You’ve gotten thinner.”
The elevator doors opened and Xie Yu stepped out, but Xu Yanmei was still hung up on the word thin. “You have to eat your three meals on time. Kids these days are always going on about dieting—you better not get any silly ideas… Hey, why did you stop? Why aren’t we moving?”
Xie Yu stood in front of her, completely blocking her line of sight.
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
He didn’t give her a chance to see what was going on ahead.
He directly pushed Xu Yanmei back into the elevator and decisively pressed the button.
His reaction was so fast that even the vicious‑looking group inside didn’t process it at first. By the time they came to their senses, the elevator doors were already slowly closing.
“Fuck,” the leading man, his face full of flesh and a thick gold chain around his neck, pulled the cigarette from his mouth and casually tossed the butt to the ground. Cursing as he strode forward, he shouted, “Xu Yanmei, you damn bitch, stand right there!”
Only he reacted quickly. The rest of his men hadn’t even realized that the woman they were looking for had almost slipped away right under their noses. The man with the gold chain waved his big hand, furious. “What the hell are you standing around for? Move! You all here to watch a show? You—get down the stairs on that side and catch her!”
The elevator was already halfway closed when Xie Yu quickly whispered, “Get down first, find someone to help.”
Through the narrow gap of the elevator doors, Xu Yanmei caught a glimpse of the man’s face. She had so much she wanted to say, but there was no time. She hurriedly shouted, “Xie Yu!”
Xie Yu looked at her. “Aunt Mei, do as I say.”
There was only time for a single glance before the gap was sealed tight. The elevator carried her downward.
A mop was leaning against the side, probably left behind by the cleaning staff after tidying up. Xie Yu grabbed it, stepped on the mop head, exerted force with his hands, and yanked the entire wooden handle out.
With the wooden stick in his hands, he finally looked up at them. “What are you trying to do?”
He knew these people.
Heishui Street was crawling with thugs who went around under the guise of collecting protection fees. The man in front of him, called Brother Hu, had supposedly just been released from prison a few months ago. He claimed he had almost killed someone, which is why he was locked up. No one really cared about the truth, just let him brag.
Brother Hu had lived off collecting protection fees, enjoying the respect of his foolish little underlings. That was, until he met Xu Yanmei—the whole problem started because he liked her.
Xu Yanmei had a certain charm, a fiery personality, and energy to match.
But she had one flaw: she didn’t know when to give in. She had rejected him several times… utterly ungrateful.
Thinking of this, Brother Hu’s expression darkened. “Kid, don’t stick your nose in.”
Xie Yu still didn’t react. The employees, crouched inside and not daring to make a sound, were practically holding their hearts in their throats—they had never seen anything like this. These guys swaggered in, smashing things around. They were clearly not to be trifled with.
They didn’t know whether to call the police. Everyone on Heishui Street knew the unspoken rules—matters of the streets were settled on the streets.
Then they saw Aunt Mei’s “good kid” standing at the elevator doorway. One against five, expressionless, one hand sliding out of his pocket, lightly beckoning to them. Whether it was a challenge or sheer nonchalance was unclear: “You came looking for trouble at my dad’s doorstep. I don’t have time to chat. Let’s go.”
“……”
Brother Hu didn’t want to admit that, for a moment, he had been intimidated by this boy who still looked like he went to school.
The boy’s eyes were dark and chilling, cold enough to be unsettling. Looking at him felt like looking at a pile of shit, definitely not the kind of gaze a sheltered little girl could ever have.
Still fuming, Brother Hu instinctively tried to act tough, pulling open his collar. “Big mouth for someone your age. Do you know who I am? Go ask around—whoever meets Brother Hu better show some respect… See this scar on my neck? That came from fighting prison guards. You little brat who hasn’t even grown your hair, what’s your deal with that bitch? Huh? Are you trying to hit me? Want to learn how to fight? Using this little stick, you think you can—”
Without a word, Xie Yu grabbed Brother Hu by the collar, lunged forward, and drove his knee hard into the man’s lower abdomen. Then he trapped Brother Hu’s elbow with his hand, leaving him no time to react, pulling him toward himself.
It was a clean, textbook over-the-shoulder throw—precise and decisive. If the atmosphere weren’t so tense, the store owners in the background might have wanted to cheer.
Brother Hu went black in the eyes, unable to even speak.
But Xie Yu wasn’t done yet. He yanked him up from the floor and pressed him against the steel elevator doors. “Bang!” His fingers tightened suddenly, directly choking Brother Hu’s neck.
“Very arrogant. You take having been in prison as a badge of manhood, huh?”
Brother Hu reacted, lifting his foot to kick, only to be smacked hard by Xie Yu’s stick. His calves twitched uncontrollably. When Xie Yu let go, he collapsed heavily to the ground, one hand on the floor, the other clutching his stomach, dry‑retching. “…Fuck.”
“Who did you just call a bitch?” Brother Hu watched Xie Yu’s face—a face that could be called handsome—slowly approaching. But what unsettled him more than the boy’s striking features was the sheer coldness, sharpness, and darkness radiating from him.
Xie Yu repeated the question, suppressing his anger, his voice hoarse: “Who did you just call a bitch?”
Brother Hu didn’t answer.
“No one taught you how to behave? I’ll teach you.” Xie Yu kicked the pile of trash at his feet with his toe.
The few men behind Brother Hu exchanged glances. In each other’s eyes, they saw hesitation. Then, without another word, they all turned and ran.
“Now we’re done for. What do we do?”
The tall one asked while running, “Should we call the cops?”
“Call the cops, my ass!” another replied. “How are we supposed to survive on the streets if we do that?”
At that moment, Gu Xuelan was having afternoon tea.
She had taken off her silk shawl, revealing a high‑end lace gown that accentuated her curves with subtle elegance. The hem was discreetly embroidered with two dark floral patterns. Her ankles were white and smooth, like polished jade.
Her carefully styled long curls framed her face as she smiled, listening to the ladies across from her chat about the latest winter fashion. She occasionally interjected: “Since Mrs. Chen likes it so much, why don’t we fly over another day to get it directly…”
“Madam, your phone.”
Gu Xuelan tilted her head, fingers resting on the ceramic teacup, and casually asked, “Who is it?”
The attendant holding the phone hesitated for a few seconds, unsure whether to speak, then leaned close to Gu Xuelan’s ear. In a voice only they could hear, he said: “P‑police station. They said the Second Young Master got into a fight. It was pretty serious. The other party is yelling for medical compensation. How would you like to handle it? Should we send someone over to check?”
Gu Xuelan’s expression changed in an instant.