Chapter 8

The third class bell had already rung for quite a while, and all the students who had been wandering around the campus and the corridors outside the classrooms had returned to their classes. The teachers in the office had also taken their textbooks and lesson plans to start their classes. Only then did Tang Feng let Zhao Yan and the others leave.

After coming out of the teacher's office, among these seven or eight unfortunate souls, a couple of them didn't seem to care, like Ji Yichun, but most of them looked dejected and disheveled, like withered eggplants, such as Lou Wenhao, Fan Long, and others.

Everyone had marks of being beaten on their faces. The blood under Fan Long's nose hadn't been wiped clean, Lou Wenhao's glasses were crooked, with one lens higher than the other, making him look a bit ridiculous. Ji Yichun had a red mark on his forehead...

Zhao Yan's lips were slightly swollen. Tang Feng hadn't slapped him but hit him with a book, which happened to land on his mouth.

For Zhao Yan, such injuries were minor and would naturally heal in a short while, but when he came out of the office of his homeroom teacher, Tang Feng, Zhao Yan looked more dejected than anyone else.

Tang Feng hitting him once didn't bother him, but being hit in front of Xiao Mengyue made Zhao Yan lose face.

Young people especially care about their reputation!

It's estimated that any young man would get angry and feel embarrassed if he were hit in front of the girl he likes. If someone else had hit him in front of Xiao Mengyue, Zhao Yan would have immediately retaliated and taught them a lesson on the spot. However, the person who hit him was his homeroom teacher.

No matter how skilled Zhao Yan was, he didn't have the courage to hit his homeroom teacher in public.

Thinking about the strange look Xiao Mengyue gave him when he was being hit, Zhao Yan felt extremely dejected.

He liked Xiao Mengyue, and Fan Long and the others knew about it. Once, when Fan Long teased him about it, it was overheard by Meng Yao, who sat next to Huo Qinqin. After Meng Yao spread the word, many people in their class knew about it. In other words, his liking for Xiao Mengyue wasn't a secret in their class.

This was also one of the main reasons why Zhao Yan disliked Meng Yao.

However, no one in their class had told Xiao Mengyue about it. After all, Xiao Mengyue was the school's beauty, and many people liked her. It wasn't strange that Zhao Yan liked her too.

What Fan Long and the others didn't know was that Zhao Yan and Xiao Mengyue actually knew each other.

They had known each other for three years!

Three years ago, when Zhao Yan and Fan Long and the others had just entered this school as freshmen, soon after the start of the school year, the boys were most interested in discussing which girls in which classes were the prettiest. Some of the more bold ones even went to observe each class and then summarized and rated which girl in the entire freshman year was the prettiest.

At that time, Zhao Yan was also very interested in this topic. He heard that Xiao Mengyue in Class 1 was the prettiest, and driven by curiosity, he went with Fan Long to peek through the window of Class 1.

Before high school, the prettiest girl Zhao Yan had seen in real life was a female classmate from his junior high school. Before going with Fan Long to peek at Xiao Mengyue, Zhao Yan thought that no matter how pretty Xiao Mengyue was, she could only be a little prettier than his junior high school classmate.

However, the first time he saw Xiao Mengyue, it refreshed his perception.

At first glance, he only saw her side profile: a delicate face, a smooth forehead, long, smooth hair combed back, a slender, white neck, and a frail, delicate shoulder...

Every part of her was beautiful.

Zhao Yan was stunned at the time. Comparing her to the prettiest girl he knew, he suddenly found that the girl he once thought was very beautiful was now just average.

From that day on, Zhao Yan fell in love with her.

Her image often appeared in his mind. Her figure, her every smile and frown, always lingered in his heart. Whenever he saw her silhouette on campus, even if it was just a distant back view, Zhao Yan felt elated. Each time he saw her, he would subconsciously walk closer, but he never dared to appear directly in front of her.

The fearless Zhao Yan suddenly became timid. He was afraid of scaring her, and he was afraid that she would frown if he blocked her way, and even more afraid that his appearance would make her sweet smile disappear.

For those few months, Zhao Yan fantasized about many ways to get to know Xiao Mengyue. He thought about writing her a love letter; he thought about going to her class to befriend one of her friends and then getting to know her through them; he even thought about arranging for Fan Long to rob her on her way home, and then he would save her as a hero and get to know her...

There were many such plans, and when he thought about them, they seemed very feasible, but he never dared to put them into action.

The always carefree and bold Zhao Yan even dared not let Fan Long and the others know that he liked Xiao Mengyue. He, who had never kept a diary, gradually developed the habit of keeping one.

Every time he saw Xiao Mengyue on campus or outside, he would write down his feelings in his diary that night.

This secret was hidden for several months until Fan Long accidentally discovered it while playing in Zhao Yan's attic.

...

Xiao Mengyue was too beautiful!

As the prettiest girl in the entire grade, countless boys in the school liked her, not just from their grade, but also from the second and third years.

Moreover, not every boy who liked her was as timid as Zhao Yan, afraid to confess or to pursue her relentlessly.

Zhao Yan soon discovered that someone had confessed to Xiao Mengyue at the school gate in the morning. At that moment, his heart sank, fearing that Xiao Mengyue would accept the boy's advances.

Fortunately, to his delight, Xiao Mengyue didn't take the love letter the boy handed her and tried to continue into the school, but the boy reached out to grab her arm.

At that moment, Zhao Yan's anger flared up, and without a word, he rushed over and kicked the boy to the ground.

Zhao Yan, who had been practicing Bajiquan for more than two years, was very skilled in fighting. However, after kicking the boy to the ground in front of Xiao Mengyue, he froze and didn't continue to incapacitate the boy. Instead, he gave Xiao Mengyue what he thought was a cool smile and said, "Xiao Mengyue! Don't be afraid! I'll protect you!"

Before he could finish speaking, he saw Xiao Mengyue's expression change, and she let out a cry. Then a fist hit his face. It turned out that the boy he had kicked to the ground had gotten up.

Caught off guard, Zhao Yan took a punch, but after regaining his composure, he quickly beat the boy to the ground again.

It was on that day that Zhao Yan and Xiao Mengyue got to know each other. Xiao Mengyue asked for his name and if he was okay.

Later, during the three years of high school, Zhao Yan secretly helped Xiao Mengyue fend off at least a dozen suitors. They had known each other for a long time, and occasionally, they could chat and laugh together.

However, for three years, Zhao Yan never dared to confess to her. He cherished the days they spent as friends and was afraid that if he confessed and was rejected, they wouldn't even be able to remain friends.

For three years, he had always appeared before her as a protector.

But today, he was hit by his homeroom teacher in front of her, and the embarrassment and shame made him lose all his dignity.