Chapter 30: So Young and Already Lost His Courage—What a Pity

“You… you dare hit me?”

Cheng Haoyu, still reeling from the pain, stared wide-eyed in utter disbelief.

At Nanshan High School, he had always been the one dishing out punishment—never the victim. Even upperclassmen wouldn’t dare act tough in his presence. Yet today, before Li Sicheng, the newly transferred student, he had suffered a humiliating defeat.

This was an unbearable disgrace—simply unacceptable!

And to make matters worse, he felt the eyes of everyone in Class 3, Grade 1, fixed on him in this moment. Some even stifled their laughter, and Cheng Haoyu’s face alternated between red and pale, consumed by shame and rage.

Li Sicheng, however, paid no heed to his fury. He spread his hands and said, “I’ve already hit you—why wouldn’t I dare? Please, could you stop spouting such nonsense?”

A few light chuckles rippled through the classroom.

From the moment Cheng Haoyu stormed over to make trouble for Li Sicheng, many students in Class 3 had been watching. They’d expected the new transfer to get the short end of the stick. Unexpectedly, this newcomer turned out to be a formidable dragon from afar, crushing the local tyrant Cheng Haoyu!

The laughter around him struck Cheng Haoyu like a series of resounding slaps. He spun around and bellowed at the class, “Who? Who’s laughing? Do you believe I won’t kill you?”

His ferocious expression and arrogant bluster intimidated quite a few students.

For a moment, the classroom was dead silent; no one dared to laugh again.

Except Li Sicheng.

Amidst Cheng Haoyu’s angry roar, Li Sicheng suddenly began to laugh—a laugh laced with mockery and contempt.

“So impressive! You even want to control whether people laugh at you. You really think you’re the boss, huh? Go play somewhere else, little brat!”

Cheng Haoyu’s swagger faltered instantly.

Old grudges and new resentments piled together, and Cheng Haoyu’s hatred for Li Sicheng grew intense. He gritted his teeth, about to curse, “You little—”

The vulgarity had barely begun when Li Sicheng cut him off: “If you dare curse, just one word, I’ll hit you again. I have no other virtues, but I always keep my word.”

He stood up abruptly, towering half a head above Cheng Haoyu, fixing him with a steady gaze—no hint of menace, just calm.

But it was precisely this calm that sent chills down Cheng Haoyu’s spine and made his legs tremble.

Cheng Haoyu’s dominance at Nanshan High, even intimidating upperclassmen, depended on his cousin, a notorious figure in the local underworld. Under his cousin’s guidance, Cheng Haoyu had met some real tough guys. One of them was rumored to have killed someone; during a fight, his expression was eerily calm—just like Li Sicheng now. Cheng Haoyu had personally seen that man, calmly pick up a knife and stab his opponent without hesitation.

The memory alone was terrifying.

Since then, Cheng Haoyu had deeply understood the saying: “Dogs that bark don’t bite, and biting dogs don’t show their teeth.”

Now, he was seeing that chilling calm in Li Sicheng, the new transfer student.

“What’s going on? Why does this kid have that terrifying calm? Could he have killed someone too? No—that’s impossible, isn’t it?”

Cheng Haoyu was genuinely frightened.

He wanted to flee, but his legs felt weak and wouldn’t budge. He tried to utter some tough words to save face, but when he opened his mouth, he couldn’t summon the courage.

As Cheng Haoyu stood there, embarrassed and unsure whether to stay or go, the classroom bell rang loudly.

The language teacher strode in, catching sight of Cheng Haoyu at a glance and immediately scolding, “Cheng Haoyu, aren’t you from the neighboring class? It’s class time—what are you doing here? Hurry up and get back to your classroom!”

Normally, Cheng Haoyu would have responded to the teacher’s reprimand with impatience, maybe even a retort. But now, the teacher’s words sounded like music to his ears.

Without a word, he obeyed—rushing out of the classroom, terrified that if he lingered, the unnervingly calm Li Sicheng would chase him down and pin him to the floor.

Li Sicheng didn’t pursue him, but called out, “Hey, why are you leaving? Don’t you want your guts anymore?”

Boom!

The classroom erupted; laughter broke out everywhere, some students even pounding their desks in excitement.

They remembered Li Sicheng’s earlier remark and now shouted after Cheng Haoyu:

“That’s right, Cheng Haoyu, why are you running? Don’t you want your guts?”

“If you’ve got guts, stay; if you don’t, leave. Seeing you run so fast, clearly you’ve got none! What a pity, so young and already gutless—such a tragedy! No worries, we’ll suffer a little and help plant some for your wife. No need to thank us; just call me the Good Samaritan!”

“Cheng Haoyu, for all your bluster, turns out you don’t even have guts. Tsk tsk, how humiliating!”

Cheng Haoyu’s usual arrogance had long sparked resentment. Now, seeing him flee in panic, everyone seized this rare chance to kick him while he was down.

As for retaliation? With the whole class jeering, Cheng Haoyu, no matter how bold, couldn’t possibly take on an entire class.

All Cheng Haoyu wanted now was to escape as quickly as possible, lacking even the courage to retort, slinking away like a beaten dog with its tail between its legs.

The language teacher had no idea what had gotten everyone so riled up; to restore order, he slapped the lectern hard and shouted, “Enough, enough! What are you all laughing at? Quiet down—it’s time for class!”

Once the students finally calmed, the teacher turned to Li Sicheng and said, “You’re the new transfer student, right? Listen to me, don’t get involved with Cheng Haoyu. If he bullies you, come to me.”

Teachers had no fondness for troublemakers like Cheng Haoyu.

“Thank you for your concern,” Li Sicheng replied, rising and bowing deeply to the teacher.

He knew the teacher was looking out for him.

For those who treated him well, he naturally responded with courtesy.

“Good, a sensible child,” the teacher nodded, muttering to himself.

Li Sicheng’s politeness made a strong first impression.

“All right, let’s start class. Everyone, open your textbooks. Today we’ll study the immortal poet Li Bai’s masterpiece…”

As he spoke, the teacher turned to the blackboard and wrote in large characters: “The Hard Road to Shu.”

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