A Kiss for Life - Chapter 3

Everyone rushed to the playground. Since it was summer, the new transfer student, Sheng Xia, had no assigned spot. Zhu Lili grabbed the arm of Lin Mingdong, the class’s sports committee member.
“Hey, find a spot for Xia!” After just two class periods of interaction, she had already naturally accepted Sheng Xia as one of her own.
Zhu Lili was a striking beauty, belonging to the wealthy clique in the class. She knew how to dress well and had many friends, but she was also quite arrogant, rarely bothering with people outside her circle. Lin Mingdong, caught off guard by her sudden tug, blushed bright red and stammered, “Uh… uh, just let her stand next to you for now! You can help her out.”
Zhu Lili was pleased with his cooperation and waved her fingers. “Thanks!”
She pulled Sheng Xia behind her. “Stay back here. If you stand in the front, you won’t know what to do—too awkward.”
Sheng Xia simply responded with an “Oh” and didn’t refuse.
The line was arranged by height. Zhu Lili, standing at 1.7 meters, was positioned at the very back, while Sheng Xia was nearly a head shorter. Her view was completely blocked. She had no idea where Shen Jinian was standing. He always had that aloof attitude—watching him do this exercise would probably be hilarious. She stood on tiptoes to look ahead, but she couldn’t see him.
Noticing her searching gaze, Zhu Lili chuckled. “Looking for that ice block? He doesn’t have to come. He’s probably in the office right now.”
Sheng Xia quickly straightened up and turned her head, eyes darting. “No, I was just looking around. Why would I be looking for him?”
Zhu Lili smirked. “You’re so cute.”
Sheng Xia let out a frustrated breath. “Will you stop already?!”
Zhu Lili grinned mischievously, resisting the urge to pinch her chubby, doll-like cheeks.
At No. 11 High School, the students had to practice a martial arts routine choreographed by the school. But in A City’s sweltering summer heat of 39°C, enthusiasm was at an all-time low.
The routine was performed weakly, with sloppy movements—completely unrecognizable.
The grade director ordered the school’s disciplinary committee to come down and pick out students for punishment.
Sheng Xia, standing in the last row, watched as her classmates flailed around chaotically. Zhu Lili, having finished teasing her, turned away to apply more sunscreen, completely ignoring her responsibility to guide Sheng Xia. Not that it mattered—no one would dare reprimand Zhu Lili anyway.
For her, morning exercises were just something to halfheartedly go through if she was in the mood. Otherwise, she’d just daydream to pass the time.
Sheng Xia stood idly, bored.
Then, a tall and serious-looking male student poked her and asked, “What’s your name?”
Since it was her first day, she naturally didn’t recognize the disciplinary committee members. At her previous school, Zhaohua High, they never enforced morning exercises. Any group activity usually turned into chaos, and the student disciplinary committee only existed for personal gain.
So Sheng Xia didn’t think much of it, assuming it was just a routine question. Tilting her head slightly, she frowned and answered, “Sheng Xia.”
The male student was surprised by how cooperative she was. He glanced at her—she was cute, but her face seemed unfamiliar.
Without further thought, he jotted down in his notebook:
Grade 12, Class 7 (Humanities) — Sheng Xia. Violations: Moving out of position during morning exercises, not wearing the school uniform, and lack of participation.
The discipline director had instructed them: All recorded names must be publicly criticized.
When Sheng Xia’s name was announced over the school broadcast, she was buried in solving the last problem on Shen Jinian’s math test paper.
Zhu Lili reacted first and cursed, “Damn it!”
No one messed with her people. She slammed her desk and dragged Sheng Xia out of the classroom, pointing at the bulletin board listing the student council members and their positions. Among the densely packed photos, she asked, “Who wrote your name down?”
Sheng Xia looked at her in confusion. “Why does it matter?”
Zhu Lili smiled sweetly. “We need to have a little chat with them!” She flipped her curled hair with a bright grin. “You’re a new transfer student. Why should you be expected to wear a uniform or stand in the right spot or do that stupid exercise? I’d like to see which idiot was blind enough to write you up—I’ll make sure they open their damn eyes next time.”
Seriously? They didn’t see her standing right next to me? How dare they mess with my people.
Sheng Xia hesitated, then said, “Forget it. It doesn’t really matter.”
Zhu Lili clicked her tongue. “Come on, don’t be like that. Public criticism affects our class’s honor points. Do you really want to sit through Ms. Cui’s ideological education speech? She doesn’t care that it’s your first day—when she wants to go off on someone, she has a hundred ridiculous reasons ready. Her voice is loud as hell, too. Super annoying. We need to get your name erased from the list.”
Since Sheng Xia didn’t understand how things worked here, she decided to follow Zhu Lili’s lead. After carefully scanning the board, she pointed out the person responsible.
Just before the class bell rang, someone came rushing in through the back door, shouting, “Lu-ge, your girl is fighting with that new transfer student!”
Several other boys followed, loudly discussing:
“Damn, I’ve never seen anyone dare to go against Zhu Zhu-jie before.”
“Holy crap! She just transferred in and she’s already causing trouble? Where the hell did she come from? So fearless!”
“Lu-ge, are you gonna check it out?”
Shen Jinian, who had been calmly solving math problems, paused slightly, listening for a moment. Then he set down his pen and walked out, just as the class bell rang.
Lu Ye raised an eyebrow and strolled out as well, casually ruffling the back of Cai Mengfei and Zheng Can’s heads. “Come on, let’s go.”
This period was political science. The teacher walked in carrying a stack of test papers, only to find that five or six students were missing.
Zhu Lili and Lu Ye skipping class was nothing new, but now her deskmate Li Yanan and the boys in the back row, Cai Mengfei and Zheng Can, were gone too.
What was even more surprising—Shen Jinian was also missing.
The teacher frowned. “Is there some kind of event happening? Where did everyone go?”
Someone chuckled and called out, “They went to fight!”