The next day, before he could even enter the classroom, Shu Ning saw a group of girls from other classes surrounding the back door of the classroom. They were excitedly stretching their necks, trying to get a good look inside.

Confused, Shu Ning walked in through the front door of the classroom. Once inside, he discovered that his classmates were also secretly taking peeks at the very last row.

Following their line of sight, Shu Ning finally noticed who it was they were focusing on.

In the last row, there was a clean and fresh boy with short hair sitting under the sunlight. Before, his dyed yellow hair had been very long, and his roots had been growing in. The color was uneven, which made it look rather messy and unattractive. Now, he had cut off all the blond parts, leaving only the black hair behind. He looked like an entirely new person.

Without his outrageously ugly yellow hair covering his face, the villain’s beautiful facial features were laid bare for all to see.

His lips were red, and his teeth were white. His facial features were striking and compelling. He didn’t have a single bad angle.

He was currently looking down at a book. His long black eyelashes fluttered like butterfly wings.

His skin was as white as jade.

At that time, the very first thought that crossed Shu Ning’s mind was—it turns out that the villain looks pale, not because of his blond hair, but because he’s just naturally that pale.

Shu Ning walked to his seat next to the villain and sat down, causing the girls around them to gasp once more.

The image of two handsome guys but with different styles was really too pleasing to the eyes. One was sunny and handsome and had golden hair, which brought out his lively and bright temperament. His entire person looked like a little sun. The other had black hair and black eyes and stunning facial features. He looked like a prince from a drama, noble and elegant, fresh and clean.

If it was possible to get together with either one of them…

Aaaah!

It was as though pink bubblesTranslator’s NoteCue k-drama effect. had gathered in the Grade 7 Class 3 classroom.

Junior high was a time when girls were naive and full of imagination. They liked to watch exaggerated campus idol dramas, and they would fantasize wildly whenever they saw handsome guys.

Shu Ning speculated that the girls were all here to take a look at the villain.

Shu Ning knew that the villain was beautiful, but he didn’t know that a change of hairstyle would have such a huge impact.

He had once heard someone say that a person’s hairstyle had a lot of impact on their appearance, but he hadn’t really believed it. Now that he was seeing it with his own eyes, he had to agree.

There wasn’t a single person happier about the villain’s new hairstyle than Shu Ning.

He had been wracking his brains on how to convince the villain to change his hairstyle, but, now, the villain had already gone ahead and cut it.

It was obvious that the villain cut his hair because Shu Ning had dyed his hair yellow. Shu Ning realized that this was the way to deal with the villain—if he doesn’t want the villain to do something, he can imitate him.

The girls outside their classroom hung around all the way up until the bell rang.

Shu Ning secretly took a peek at the villain. The villain seemed to have noticed his gaze and stared at him coldly from behind his textbook, which was still propped between them.

Shu Ning quickly turned his head and waited for the villain to look away. Then, he secretly peeked at him again. He kept doing this for most of the class.

By the end of class, the villain was about to explode with anger. One leg was splayed, and he started to shake his leg. He raised his chin and spat, “What do you think you’re looking at?”

Shu Ning noticed a pattern. Every time the villain wanted to threaten or intimidate someone, he would always do this—splaying his legs and shaking them.

This gesture was rather unruly and a little crass. Shu Ning didn’t know where the villain had learned it from. The villain probably thought that it looked cool and threatening, so he had practiced it earnestly.

Shu Ning had already figured out how to deal with him, so he wasn’t fazed. He copied the villain’s expression—a crooked, chuuniTranslator’s NoteChuunibyou, early teens who have grandiose delusions, who desperately want to stand out, and who have convinced themselves that they have hidden knowledge or secret powers. Also used to describe someone who is long past middle school but still hasn’t grown out of it.-style smile. In Shu Ning’s original world, this was the kind of smile that was memedTranslator’s NoteThis kind of cringy, crooked smile. about.

He splayed his right leg and started shaking it.

As he was shaking his leg, Shu Ning imagined what he must look like right now and almost laughed out loud.

Hahahahaha…

As a result, both of their desks and chairs started to shake, clatter, clatter, clatter…

The little villain was stunned for a moment. Then, he furrowed his brows and glared at him.

Shu Ning raised his chin and shook his leg like he was crazy.

The little villain: “…”

How could he tolerate this?

The chuuni-scene-problematic juvenile’s dignity could not possibly accept this.

The little villain shook his legs vigorously, competitively bouncing his leg off the ground. The sound of their footsteps sounded off the concrete floor. The chairs and desks were also vibrating.

Crap!

Hold back!

You can’t laugh right now!

Shu Ning also shook his leg harder. The two of them stared at each other fiercely, their feet bouncing off the floor like crazy. It was as weird as weird could get.

The commotion attracted the rest of the class’s attention. All of them were repeatedly looking back at the two of them, wondering what exactly the two of them were doing.

Cheng Xiaoyu had a good relationship with both of them. Under the watchful eyes of their classmates, she walked over to them and asked softly, “Shu Ning, Yin Mingzheng, can you guys stop shaking your legs?”

They both ignored her.

The little villain’s chuuni soul was fuming. If Shu Ning was going to suppress him, then he was going to confront him head on. The two of them looked like martial arts experts having a showdown in a wuxia novel. At the peak of the Forbidden City, they only had each other and their leg shaking skills in their eyes.

Shu Ning really wanted to laugh, but he maintained the crooked smile on his face. He and the villain continued their staring match.

Perhaps the aura of a confrontation between experts was too strong. Before anyone knew it, the classroom had fallen dead silent. Everyone was watching with bated breath…

Although, no one really knew what they were waiting for.

But, for some reason, they felt that making a sound at this time would disturb those two.

As Shu Ning was having this weird confrontation with the villain, he thought, if only there was some background music right now, then it would be perfect.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, one of their classmates’ cell phone rang. The ringtone was the theme song of a popular fantasy TV show that had been airing recently. The music was regal, imposing, and heart-rending.

This song seemed to bring the entire atmosphere to a climax. It was as if they had reached the very last moment of a decisive battle, until…

“Hello? Mom… ah… Grandma is here… oh, okay, okay…”

The ringtone was interrupted, and the boy’s voice sounded throughout the classroom.

This interruption brought everyone back to their senses, and they looked at each other in dismay.

Just now… what were they doing?

The students in the classroom looked as if they had come back to life. Everyone went back to doing what they were doing. Those that were doing homework went back to their homework, those that were chatting went back to their conversation, and those that were gaming went back to their games…

The interruption seemed to have tipped a balance in the atmosphere. The little villain suddenly stopped shaking his leg and snapped at Shu Ning, “Don’t copy me!”

Then, he harshly pulled his chair away and sat upright. The large movement seemed to be publicly declaring the anger in the little villain’s heart.

He won.

Shu Ning’s entire person felt at ease. It was like finally getting his paper published in the Science Citation Index after months of work. Or, it was like a warrior who finally defeated the demon and rescued the princess after a series of trials.

“I’m not copying you!” Shu Ning said, “I learned it from TV.”

The little villain was stunned for a moment. Then, he asked suspiciously, “You also watch August the Great?”

This time, it was Shu Ning’s turn to be stunned. What was he talking about?

The little villain suddenly realized that he had actually taken the initiative to talk to Shu Ning, and he realized that he was acting out of character. So, he huffed and turned his head. Then, he harshly smacked a book onto his desk and pretended to read.

Shu Ning’s attention was still focused on August the Great, so he opened up a search engine on his phone. The first item that came up was the synopsis for the TV series.

The class bell rang, and the English teacher walked into the classroom. Shu Ning absentmindedly greeted the teacher. After sitting back down, he hid his phone under his desk and continued to look up August the Great.

Shu Ning could already see what kind of show this was from the shoddy promotional photo and the cringy 2000’s hairstyles. Shu Ning mentally prepared himself.

…August the Great is an adaptation of a fantasy novel of the same name. Produced by XX Studios, the show consists of extensive battle formations and beautiful scenery… The plot tells the story of the protagonist, the young August the Great. He put all his effort into cultivating himself in order to save his mother, who had been captured by the Demon King. In the end, with the help of his friends, he defeated the Demon King and rescued his mother. However, it was at this time that he discovered that the Demon King was actually his biological father. How will August choose to act?

A-alright, the synopsis is okay…

Shu Ning was still a little curious about the show, so he muted his phone and clicked on the first episode.

The video window popped up, Shu Ning skipped dozens of trashy game advertisements, and the episode finally started to play.

Shu Ning took a look at the number of views the video had. Tsk. From what he remembered, this TV series was released several years ago. How come it still had less than 10,000 views?

It sure was unpopular.

The comment barrage started jumping across the screen. There weren’t very many comments, and all of them were uniformly roasting the show.

[Came here to see the infamous leg shaking.]

[I recommend to start watching from 2:33.]

Shu Ning went along with this suggestion and dragged the video progress bar to the 2:33 mark. The protagonist, August, stood on the hillside of some random village. With one leg outstretched and his chin held up high, he narrowed his eyes and declared, “You all… are asking for death!”

Then, he started shaking his legs.

Shu Ning compared it to the little villain’s leg shaking ability. He discovered that it really was fucking identical!

Damn, does the little villain think he’s August the Great when he shakes his legs?

“Hahahahaha…”

The whole class turned their heads and stared at Shu Ning in horror.

“Shu Ning!”

The angry woman’s voice brought Shu Ning back to his senses. He raised his head and found that the whole class was staring at him. Their eyes were practically saying “you’re fucked” and “my condolences”.

He subconsciously turned his head to look at the little villain and was faced with the villain’s half-smile. There was even a bit of schadenfreude in his eyes.

Shu Ning shrank his neck into his shoulders and stood up from his seat.

The English teacher was notoriously stern. The students secretly called her Abbess MiejueTranslator’s NoteAbbess Miejue is a character in a famous wuxia novel, The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber by Jin Yong. She’s the radically dogmatic leader of Emei Sect and aims to purge the world of evil. Her extremist views lead her to commit ethically and morally vicious deeds, like the annihilation of the Ming Cult and other unorthodox martial arts sects.. If you get caught by her, you’re doomed. Even if you make it out alive, the experience is enough to take the shit out of you.

“Did I say something very funny?” The English teacher started grilling him.

Shu Ning shook his head like a rattle.

“What were you looking at just now?”

“I… I wasn’t looking at anything.”

“I’ll ask you again, what were you looking at?”

Seeing that the English teacher was approaching with terrifying momentum, Shu Ning admitted defeat and gave himself up, “…my phone.”

“Was it very interesting?”

Shu Ning quickly begged for mercy, “Ma’am, I was wrong.”

The English teacher walked over to him and took his cell phone out from inside the desk. Then, she handed it over to him, “Unlock it.”

Shu Ning reluctantly unlocked it, and the video screen popped out.

“August the Great? You’re watching a TV show in class?” The English teacher turned on the volume. Within the show, the clashing of swords and blades had begun. The sound of clang-clang-clang rang out from the small cell phone. “Yo, you’re already on the fifteenth episode? Shu Ning, you’re in seventh grade already. Why are you still watching such a childish and boring TV show?”

Shu Ning was originally planning on admitting his mistake and apologizing, but, after hearing her say that, he couldn’t stay silent.

He realized that the villain learned his habit of shaking his leg from this TV series. Looking at the plot of the show, it wasn’t hard to understand why the villain liked this garbage TV series. It’s okay to say that his leg shaking habit is bad, but it’s not okay to diss his interests.

Shu Ning snuck a peek at the little villain. The little villain was already looking at him and the teacher, his eyes earnest.

Shu Ning realized that this was a good opportunity to brush up his favorability with the villain.

He straightened out his clothes and said, “Mrs. Sun, you can insult me, but you can’t insult August the Great. In order to rescue his mother from the Demon King, his father, August the Great went through a lot of difficulties and dangers. His strong and unyielding spirit isn’t childish or boring. It’s worth learning from.”

His words were full of conviction.

The English teacher was stunned.

The entire class was stunned.

Even the little villain, who had been silently watching the two, was stunned.

Shu Ning was able to read three different types of expressions from the people in the classroom.

English teacher: What the fuck?!

His classmates: Badass!

Little villain: He actually likes August the Great?

At this moment, Shu Ning felt like he was standing on the top of the Himalayas, him against the world. He had a heroic feeling of “I’m number one in the world” and “I don’t care what you think, I’m a fan of August the Great“. He even started to feel a sense of rapport with August the Great.

So, he propped up a leg, revealed a crooked a smile, and started to shake his leg.