A meaningless smile. Zoe Young felt a chill rush from her waist all the way up to the back of her head, like a cat with its fur standing on end. Without another word, she turned and slipped in through the back door, crossed half the classroom, and sat back down in her seat in the first row. But when she looked up, she found that they hadn’t left the front door at all, but were all staring at her in unison. Occasionally, a few of the lackey-types would bump Ethan Xavier with their shoulders and gesture toward Zoe Young with their chins.

Zoe Young closed her eyes, and suddenly a completely random scene popped into her mind—a vision of old Shanghai, the “ten-mile foreign district” (though she actually had no idea what that meant), where she was swaying down the street in a cheongsam, when suddenly a few sleazy-looking thugs surrounded her and dutifully delivered the classic line: “Hey girl, come have some fun with us?”

At this point, a handsome man in a military uniform should appear, knocking them flying with a few punches and kicks, turning them into a few sparkling stars in the night sky, accompanied by shouts of, “Just you wait, you’ll pay for this!”—then she’d look up and see the officer’s heroic face and hear his gentle, spring-breeze-like concern: “Are you alright?”

Zoe Young lowered her head deeply, blushing.

“How many times have I told you, who told you to hang around the door? The warning bell’s already rung, are you all deaf?!” The sharp voice snapped her back to reality. She looked up to see the homeroom teacher Monica Zack waddling into the classroom, and those thugs were already slouching back to their seats at the back, looking very reluctant.

…Rescued. Even if the hero was a woman. And—Monica Zack’s sweater seemed to be on backwards.

Zoe Young shook her head and resignedly opened her math book. All sorts of symbols rushed into her mind, scattering the old Shanghai scene, and suddenly a face became especially clear. A small figure, awkwardly twisting his face, searching for a more elegant way to say “butt.” Or maybe wrestling with another figure on the stairs, shouting, “If she’s a bastard, then you’re just extra.” Even if he didn’t realize it, he really was her hero. Zoe Young stared blankly at her pencil case for a long time, and finally just let out a soft sigh.

After school, Zoe Young slowly packed her bag, then walked to the podium, wrung out a rag, and started wiping the blackboard. “Zoe, make sure to clean the chalk tray too! Last time our class got points deducted because there was too much chalk dust in the tray!” The duty group leader shouted from afar. Zoe Young agreed and diligently cleaned the chalk tray under the blackboard, and soon the dark rag was covered in white specks. “Hey, Zoe Young!”

Zoe Young turned around and saw one of Ethan Xavier’s lackeys sneaking up behind her, glancing nervously at Monica Zack, who was talking to a student’s parent at the front door.

No need to guess—he was definitely up to something. “What is it?” Zoe Young turned back coldly and kept wiping the blackboard. “Ethan Xavier wants to talk to you! Come to the boys’ bathroom door for a second!” Zoe Young’s inner kitten bristled again. She swallowed nervously, her hands even trembling a little.

“I’m not going.” She started glancing at Monica Zack too, who was animatedly explaining her classroom management experience to the parent.

“You can dodge first year, but can you dodge ten, fifteen?” The boy stammered a bit, clearly just having learned this saying and not quite using it right.

Zoe Young ignored him and kept cleaning the chalk tray. “You can run from the monk, but not the temple, I’m telling you—” As soon as the boy raised his voice, Monica Zack turned and shouted, “What are you yelling about? Why aren’t you going home?!” The boy was so scared he immediately turned and ran. Zoe Young breathed a sigh of relief and felt even more fond of Monica Zack—she might be a bit silly, but she was useful at critical moments. “Hey, Zoe Young!” Zoe Young turned around helplessly; this time it was someone else.

“Don’t be scared, Brother Andrew said last time’s incident is completely settled. You were just being immature, he doesn’t blame you for tattling on him. Brother Andrew is magnanimous, you don’t need to worry.”

Monica Zack’s earlier intervention made Zoe Young feel much more at ease, and the little flames of anger gradually burned away her fear. She stood on the podium, glaring down at the messenger boy with a fierce look in her eyes.

“If—you—have—something—to—say—just—say—it—”

The boy nodded like a pecking chicken. “Say it, I’ll say it right away… just go to the boys’ bathroom…” “If you have something to say, say it at the back door.” The boy ran off to relay the message, then came trotting back: “Okay, the back door, the back door.” Zoe Young held up her black-and-white rag, and she’d even decided that if this boy insisted on causing trouble, she’d smack him with the rag, no matter the consequences. The long-lost sense of heroism was reviving in her heart—what was there to be afraid of? There are no heroes in this world, so boldly raise your rag!!

But the heroine’s skills were rusty, and disaster struck. As soon as Zoe Young poked her head out the back door, someone covered her mouth and dragged her around the corner to hide, right in Monica Zack’s blind spot.

Zoe Young was so scared her mind went blank, and she squeezed the rag in her right hand so hard that black water oozed out. In front of the boys’ bathroom, there was a dense crowd of people.

------------

4. Reunion

Fastest updates for Hello, Old Times latest chapters!

Zoe Young stared in surprise at the crowd in front of her—more than a dozen very young boys, with exaggerated expressions, obviously first years. There were also three or four students who looked like third years, leaning lazily against the wall, smiling as if ready to watch the show. She swallowed and gripped her only weapon—a rag.

…With this lineup, one rag probably wasn’t enough. Directly across from her, Ethan Xavier still wore his long horse face, looking even darker than usual. Zoe Young made up her mind: take out the leader first. She could already feel her shoulders trembling slightly, so she decided not to speak, afraid her voice would betray her fear.

“Come on, is it time yet? Hurry up and start!” A pockmarked third-year boy in the back row shouted, and only then did Ethan Xavier manage a smile, turning to nod and bow to the upperclassmen before quieting down and directing his little brothers.

“One, two, three!” Ethan Xavier called softly. The first-year boys in front of the bathroom, as if rehearsed, all dropped to one knee in unison and shouted together.

“Sister-in-law!” Zoe Young was caught off guard, pressing herself against the wall in panic, staring at Ethan Xavier and the crowd in front of her.

They all looked up at her, their bright eyes full of excitement at the spectacle, sparkling as they gazed at her. “At ease…” Before she could finish, the boys all jumped up at once, patting Ethan Xavier on the shoulder and congratulating him. At this point, Zoe Young gradually calmed down. She picked at the wall with her pinky, feeling bits of plaster crumble to the floor with a soft rustle. She had to run. She glanced sideways at the corridor blocked by the boys, calculating her chances of breaking through while they were distracted, when suddenly she felt her right hand being held. The deep affection in Ethan Xavier’s beady eyes made Zoe Young shiver. He gazed at her like a bad actor in a melodrama, holding her left hand, right hand in his pocket, chewing gum, and tapping his foot.

“Actually, I know I’ve always been a hypocrite. I know I’ve drifted through life, never taking women seriously, until I met you.” Zoe Young stared at him blankly, wishing she could interrupt his confession and sincerely suggest, You’d be better off just beating me up.

“Are you avoiding me because you don’t love me, or because you love me but don’t trust me?” Zoe Young really wanted to pull her hand out of his dark, hairy palm, but was afraid to resist with so many people around. She knew that if she shouted “Teacher Zhang” at the top of her lungs, she might be able to summon Monica Zack from afar, but—what if she couldn’t?

At that moment, she suddenly thought of Andrew Lane again. There definitely wouldn’t be “gangs of hooligans” like this at the Affiliated High School, and even if there were, if she was being bullied by Ethan Xavier, he would definitely stand up for her—especially at a moment like this.

But No. 13 Middle School was her own choice. A hero who falls off a cliff for the sake of a martial arts manual can’t back down if he meets a fierce tiger at the bottom. “All that’s in the past, I only have one thing to say: I lo—” “Ethan Xavier!” Zoe Young finally spoke, her voice not as shaky as she’d imagined. Ethan Xavier’s “poetry recitation” was interrupted, and he looked a bit dazed, stopping to watch her pull her hand out of his.

“I don’t like you.” Zoe Young said loudly. The people around immediately started whispering with complicated expressions. Ethan Xavier had long since lost his cheesy “lover” act, and the muscles on his horse face tensed up.

“Who says that just because you like me, I have to like you? But if you’re going to take revenge on me for this, then… then you’re not a real man at all!”