RHITICSG 01

Chapter 1

Today was the first day of the new school year at Jiangshui No.1 High School.
The main gate was crowded and noisy, but the north gate — bordered by a long, sloping hill — was quiet and almost empty.

The branches of the camphor trees filtered the afternoon sunlight, scattering speckles of gold across the ground, trembling lightly in the summer breeze.

Jiang Jian sat beneath one of those camphor trees, half-hidden in the low grass.
On his lap lay “Brother One,” the school’s stray-cat king. Jiang Jian’s long, pale fingers scratched gently under the cat’s chin — his skin so fair it almost glowed. Around his wrist was a black cord bracelet, a small jade Pixiu charm rubbing idly against his wrist bone.

While he attended to the feline monarch, he chatted lazily on the phone.

Brother One seemed dissatisfied with his lazy service — after stretching, the cat climbed out of his lap and began sharpening its claws on Jiang Jian’s right leg cast, making a loud scritch-scritch sound.

“What’s that noise over there?” asked the voice on the other end.

“My girlfriend being affectionate,” Jiang Jian replied casually, shifting his injured leg aside. The cat immediately followed, pouncing on the cast again, scratching and biting as if it were hunting prey.

Watching his “girlfriend” having fun, Jiang Jian asked, “Anyway, what were you saying just now?”

“I said there’s a new transfer student in our class today — even better-looking than you! Not gonna lie, you might have to give up your school-heartthrob title.”

“How good-looking?”

“Insanely good-looking. Forget the girls — I almost want to date him! With that face, who cares about gender? Beauty is justice!”

“Then yeah, sounds pretty good-looking,” Jiang Jian replied vaguely.

“…Are you playing a game while talking to me? Can you at least pretend to care?”

“I told you, I’m playing with my girlfriend,” said Jiang Jian.

“Brother One? You’re already at school, right? Then get in here, quick! I’m warning you, the ‘Crown Princess’ has been waiting for you since she heard you were coming back today. Friendly reminder: the longer she waits, the angrier she gets.”

The “Crown Princess” was actually Dai Zifei, Jiang Jian’s homeroom teacher — and their Chinese teacher.

She wasn’t very tall, with a baby face that looked sweet and harmless at first glance. But her aura was 180 centimeters tall, and when she scolded someone, she was ferocious. No student dared to mess with her.

When Jiang Jian heard her name, his hand froze mid-scratch.

“Why is she waiting for me?”

“Why do you think? You scraped into Class 1 last term by landing exactly 50th in the whole school. Then, in the first placement test of this term, you dropped to 170th — down 120 places in just ten days. You tell me why she’s waiting for you.”

Although today was September 1st, only the first-years were officially starting school. Grades 2 and 3 had already been doing “voluntary” summer classes for a month.

Jiang Jian had attended for a bit over the summer, but after an accident left his leg in a cast, he’d gone home to recover — returning only today.

And yes, the ranking drop was real.

He had fallen asleep during two exams.
After just ten days off, his new class’s placement test results were a disaster — Class 1’s average looked like Class 3’s level, nearly giving their teacher a heart attack.

The voice on the phone kept rambling on:

“I heard the Crown Princess sent you all the exam papers from this month. You’d better have done them, or else… tsk, tsk, you know the school’s west wing is under renovation, right? That might just become your graveyard.”

Jiang Jian: “……”

To be honest, he hadn’t written a single word on those papers.

“I’ve said all this — are you coming in or not? Stop playing with Brother One! That cat can’t save you!”

Jiang Jian sighed. “Actually, I was just enjoying some bonding time with him while waiting for someone. But now it looks like I have to wait — my life may depend on it.”

“Who?”

Jiang Jian: “My dad.”

And just as he said that, his phone chimed — a new WeChat message.

It was from his dad: an apologetic note saying he couldn’t make it, accompanied by a transfer notification.

Not of money, but of sincere regret.

Jiang Jian: “……”

“Great. My protector’s gone.”

He hung up on his friend, then promptly blocked his dad — in both his contacts and on WeChat.

After that satisfying bit of revenge, he got up from the grass and stretched.

Balancing on one leg like a stork, his casted foot hovered midair — and Brother One saw his chance.

The cat launched itself at him with a powerful leap, crashing straight into Jiang Jian’s suspended leg.

by Yu Sen Sen Lin