Chapter 1

Korean Kent Foreign Language School was established in 1993, which is not a long time, but the school's infrastructure is very good, and it has a large number of foreign teachers. The school's students are mainly international students, with 70% being foreigners and the remaining 30% being Korean expatriates who have lived overseas for more than five years.

Xia Hou Zhong Ying's father, Xia Hou Shang, is a senior executive at a state-owned enterprise in China, and he was dispatched to be the head of the branch in Seoul, South Korea. His mother passed away in a car accident when he was seven years old. Since then, his father has not remarried, either because of his deep love for his mother or because he thought it would be bad for Xia Hou Zhong Ying's growth to have a stepmother. So, it has always been just the two of them.

Because Xia Hou Shang had to work in South Korea, he was worried about leaving Xia Hou Zhong Ying alone in China, fearing he might go astray. After a one-sided discussion, he decided to bring Xia Hou Zhong Ying to South Korea. Once in South Korea, through his connections, Xia Hou Shang got Xia Hou Zhong Ying admitted to Korean Kent Foreign Language School, where he is now in the first year, class 5.

However, a few days after arriving in South Korea, Xia Hou Zhong Ying began to regret his decision.

The language barrier was manageable. Although his Korean was not great and he could only勉强 understand and communicate simply, Kent's second language was English, which posed no problem for Xia Hou Zhong Ying, who had lived in the United States for three years with his father. He could use and communicate in English fluently.

What Xia Hou Zhong Ying found unbearable were South Korea's strict etiquette and the extreme seniority system. Both the United States and China are relatively free countries with fewer complicated etiquette rules, unlike South Korea, where there are strict etiquette rules in every level of society. After being used to freedom, suddenly having to live by South Korea's etiquette rules almost drove Xia Hou Zhong Ying to the brink of collapse.

Due to his unfamiliarity with South Korean etiquette, or perhaps his deep-seated resistance to it, Xia Hou Zhong Ying made many mistakes shortly after entering Kent. He had gotten into fights with upperclassmen, skipped classes, resisted corporal punishment from teachers, and was given two major demerits in less than a week, becoming a troublemaker in the eyes of the teachers.

Fortunately, Kent is a school for expatriates, with most students being foreigners, and the school's requirements for etiquette are relatively more relaxed compared to other Korean schools. Otherwise, with the mistakes Xia Hou Zhong Ying had made, he would have been expelled long ago.

On this day, Xia Hou Zhong Ying was frowning and leaning on the table, his head resting on his arm, his eyes unfocused as he played with a pen in his right hand. He was thinking about whether to ask his father to let him return to China to study after he got home, as his recent experiences had been unbearable.

As he was lost in thought, he suddenly sensed something coming at him quickly. Instinctively, he grabbed the pen and thrust it forward. He felt a slight vibration in his hand as the pen tip hit something, and the object flew back to where it came from, followed by a cry of pain.

The cry of pain startled Xia Hou Zhong Ying, who was daydreaming, and he felt a jolt in his heart, realizing he had made another mistake.

Sure enough, when Xia Hou Zhong Ying looked up, he saw a round-faced girl sitting in front of him glaring at him, and then he saw the teacher at the podium with a dark face glaring at him.

The teacher raised his hand, pointed at Xia Hou Zhong Ying, and opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Xia Hou Zhong Ying, looking dejected, stood up and said, "I know, teacher, the usual punishment."

He bowed to the teacher on the podium, turned around, picked up his chair, and walked towards the door.

From the first day he entered the school, Xia Hou Zhong Ying was punished for being late and had to stand in the corridor. The next day, he got into a fight with some upperclassmen, sending them to the hospital, and had to pay medical expenses. He also received two major demerits for resisting the vice principal's corporal punishment. The vice principal, angry, made him hold a chair above his head as a form of punishment, increasing the difficulty until he agreed to kneel.

On the third day, he was caught by the vice principal for a minor infraction and was punished to stand in the corridor. Xia Hou Zhong Ying, frustrated, skipped class.

Naturally, the fourth day did not escape punishment.

Today was his fifth day at the school, and he was caught again.

Xia Hou Zhong Ying could be considered the most frequently punished student in Kent's history. In five days, he had not escaped a single day of punishment.

The students in the classroom couldn't help but giggle, marveling at Xia Hou Zhong Ying's bad luck.

"The rotten wood cannot be carved," the teacher on the podium said angrily, glaring at Xia Hou Zhong Ying's back, then turned to glare at the other students and shouted, "What are you laughing at? Continue the class."

Xia Hou Zhong Ying, carrying his chair in his right hand, walked dejectedly towards the door. Just as he stepped out, he suddenly felt a shadow rushing towards him. Instinctively, he raised the chair to block between himself and the shadow. Before he could react, he was knocked to the side.

"Ah!" Two cries of pain rang out simultaneously. Xia Hou Zhong Ying's head hit the floor hard, and then another head collided with his, causing him to see black spots and feel dizzy.

The chair landed on his thigh, and with another person on top of him, the pain was unbearable, making him feel as if his leg was about to break.

After several days of bad luck, Xia Hou Zhong Ying was already frustrated. Now, with this incident, his anger flared up.

After a few seconds, Xia Hou Zhong Ying finally caught his breath and naturally cursed in Chinese, "Damn, what are you running for, are you in a hurry to attend a funeral?"

After cursing, Xia Hou Zhong Ying had time to look at the person still on top of him. When he saw the person clearly, he was slightly stunned. It was a very beautiful girl, her mouth open, gasping for breath, tears welling up in her eyes, looking like she wanted to cry but couldn't.

Seeing the girl's appearance, Xia Hou Zhong Ying couldn't bring himself to curse anymore. It wasn't because she was beautiful, but because her pain seemed no less than his. Moreover, she was a girl, and it would be too unmanly to argue with a girl, as his father had said.

"Damn..." Xia Hou Zhong Ying couldn't curse, but the girl could, and her outburst was as fierce as a Jurassic-era T-Rex's roar. Since their heads were almost touching, the high-pitched scream nearly burst Xia Hou Zhong Ying's eardrums.

"Ouch... my foot... it hurts so much..."

While Xia Hou Zhong Ying was still dazed, the girl finally managed to cry out.

Jeong Soo-yeon is a trainee at S.M., the largest and most influential entertainment company in South Korea. The competition to debut as an artist in South Korea is extremely fierce, and even at S.M., known as a "star factory," many people leave due to pressure or failing to meet the standards.

Although Jeong Soo-yeon is one of the top trainees at S.M., it doesn't guarantee her a debut. To fulfill her dream of becoming a star, she often skips school to practice at the company, improving her skills.

Recently, because the company had an important exam at the end of the month, Jeong Soo-yeon had not attended school for a week, practicing every day.

Today, to relax, Jeong Soo-yeon finally came to school but was late and rushed to the classroom. She didn't expect to collide with Xia Hou Zhong Ying, who was just stepping out of the classroom.

The collision itself wasn't a big deal, just a fall and a bit of pain. The problem was that the "bastard" was holding a chair, which he used to block her, and when they fell, her leg was crushed by the chair's metal legs, causing her so much pain that she couldn't even cry.

Feeling her leg unable to move and thinking about the important exam in two days, Jeong Soo-yeon became more and more upset, blaming the culprit beneath her even more.

"Hey, can you get up first?" Jeong Soo-yeon hadn't decided how to take revenge on Xia Hou Zhong Ying when she heard him speak first.

Xia Hou Zhong Ying spoke in English, which Jeong Soo-yeon, who grew up in the United States, naturally understood. Seeing Xia Hou Zhong Ying frown and look miserable, Jeong Soo-yeon, driven by anger, didn't think about the consequences and moved her hands from his chest to his neck, shouting, "I'm going to kill you."

Xia Hou Zhong Ying, with his neck being choked, struggled to breathe and quickly grabbed Jeong Soo-yeon's hands with both of his, trying to pry them apart.

Men are generally stronger than women, and Xia Hou Zhong Ying, who had practiced martial arts since childhood, was even stronger. Jeong Soo-yeon couldn't match him.

After prying her hands apart, Xia Hou Zhong Ying breathed a sigh of relief. However, as he was taking a deep breath, Jeong Soo-yeon, with her hands now free, lost her balance and fell onto him. Their heads collided again, hitting the same spot as before, causing Xia Hou Zhong Ying to shed tears from the pain. He felt extremely unlucky.

"Damn girl, do you want to kill me?" Xia Hou Zhong Ying, gasping for air, was furious. Jeong Soo-yeon's appearance just now was like she really wanted to kill him. Even the most patient person would lose their temper. After cursing, he used his strength to push Jeong Soo-yeon to the side. Being choked, he had no mercy for the culprit, even if she was a beautiful girl.

"I'm going to kill you, sob..." Jeong Soo-yeon, crying, used her hands, which Xia Hou Zhong Ying had just released, to punch his chest.

"Damn, again?" Xia Hou Zhong Ying, after being punched, grabbed Jeong Soo-yeon's hand again and glared at her, "Are you done yet?"

The commotion had already attracted the attention of the students in the classroom and even those in the neighboring classroom.

The teacher ran out first but was stunned by the sight of Jeong Soo-yeon choking Xia Hou Zhong Ying. It took a moment for him to react and run over, shouting, "What are you doing? Stop it!"

The students in the classroom also burst into a commotion and followed the teacher out.

"Get up, this is not how you should behave," the teacher, with a dark face, glared at the two and scolded them.

Xia Hou Zhong Ying sighed and, with a sad face, got up. As he put his right foot on the ground, he felt a sharp pain in his thigh and almost lost his balance. He quickly supported himself against the wall, not daring to put his right foot down.

Jeong Soo-yeon, however, sat up and didn't move, crying to the teacher, "My foot can't move."

The teacher was shocked and, without maintaining his composure, quickly pointed at two girls nearby and said, "You, you, help Jeong Soo-yeon to the hospital, quickly."

The teacher, relieved, saw Xia Hou Zhong Ying standing on one foot, the other bent in the air, holding onto the wall with one hand and raising the other, looking pitiful. He couldn't help but get angry, "What do you want now?"

"Teacher, I need to go to the hospital too," Xia Hou Zhong Ying said with a sad face.