Read Novel Full Extra 5 Part 2 – Chuunibyou Phase (II)
Extra 5 Part 2 – Chuunibyou Phase (II)
The breakfast table was lively with laughter.
“Oh, right.” Chenchen suddenly remembered something. “Auntie, yesterday I overheard Tang Mo from your class in the restroom. It sounded like he’s planning to join some Azure Dragon Gang.”
Xia Mian: “…”
In this era, after graduating from college, jobs were still assigned by the state. When Xia Mian graduated, she applied to the school and was successfully assigned to teach at Yan University Affiliated High School as a high school teacher.
Because Nuonuo’s arrival had been unexpected, her workload during her first year at the school had been fairly light, serving only as a substitute teacher. This year, now that Nuonuo was older, the school had appointed her homeroom teacher of Class 2-9 of high school.
Since she had the least seniority, several veteran teachers had taken the opportunity during class assignments to dump the grade’s most troublesome students into her class, and Tang Mo was the worst of them all.
Ordinarily, delinquents should have been virtually nonexistent at an elite school like Yan Affiliated. However, rapid economic development over the past few years had produced many newly wealthy families whose finances had improved faster than their children’s upbringing. Through complicated connections and money, they managed to get their children admitted, hoping they would become successful.
But the quality of those nouveau riche students varied greatly.
Tang Mo was a typical example. His father was a construction contractor. Xia Mian had met him once—a man who carried himself like an underworld tough. As a result, Tang Mo’s greatest dream was to become the kind of big boss everyone feared and respected.
On top of that, after the enormous popularity of Young and Dangerous and F4 over the past few years, almost every high school now had its own cliques and “gangs.”
Most of them, however, were all for show. They imitated smoking, acted cool, and at worst got into fights over pride. They rarely did anything truly serious.
Jokingly, Xia Mian said, “Could this Azure Dragon Gang possibly be tougher than your Four Musketeers?”
Chenchen, Xiao Feng, Mao Huizhu, and Ding Sijin were all well-known figures at Yan Affiliated.
Mao Huizhu was famous because she was beautiful, loved being the center of attention, and had already appeared in several film and television productions.
Ding Sijin, meanwhile, was known for being cold and intimidating. Ever since deciding to become a soldier, she had trained in hand-to-hand combat alongside Xiao Feng and the others. During summer vacations over the past couple of years, one of her father’s former comrades had even taken her to a military camp for training, giving her an unmistakably fierce aura that kept most people from daring to provoke her.
As for Chenchen and Xiao Feng, their looks and academic excellence alone made them impossible to overlook. They were both campus heartthrobs and top students.
Tang Mo, who dreamed of becoming a gang leader, had once challenged both Chenchen and Xiao Feng.
In response, Chenchen had simply reported him straight to the dean of student affairs.
That was how the grudge between them began—or, more accurately, Tang Mo alone regarded Chenchen as his rival. So it wasn’t particularly surprising that he wanted to start some sort of gang.
Seeing Xia Mian’s unconcerned expression, Chenchen realized she had misunderstood. “I don’t mean a school gang. I mean one from outside. He said they’re planning to bring a bunch of their guys onto campus during the sports meet.”
Xia Mian frowned. Street gang members might not be much older than the students, but they were completely different in nature. They were genuinely involved in crimes such as pickpocketing, extortion, and robbery.
If students influenced by Young and Dangerous were still restrained by school rules and discipline, those real street thugs followed the movies almost as a handbook, and even took pride in it.
“Yeah,” Chenchen continued. “He said they’ll be coming with a bunch of thugs from No. 14 High. They want to join the gang together.”
“If kids from No. 14 High are involved, we’d better warn everyone to be careful,” Mao Huizhu said. “Everyone carries money during the sports meet. They’re definitely coming to extort people.”
Even six or seven years later, No. 14 High School was still notorious as a school full of delinquents. People said that after Hao Jian and his group were sentenced, things improved for only a couple of years before quickly reverting to their old ways. The crimes they committed most often were fighting and extorting students.
Their favorite targets were students from Yan Affiliated.
At the mention of it, Chenchen frowned. “I don’t know what’s wrong with those thugs from No. 14 High. They always single out students from our school to bully.”
Mao Huizhu said, “I know. It’s because of a generations-long feud.”
“A generations-long feud?” Xia Mian asked in confusion. “A new class graduates every three years. They’re not even related by blood. Where does a ‘generations-long feud’ come from?”
These teenagers in their chuunibyou
1 phase really could come up with anything!
Mao Huizhu said, “Legend has it that one year, No. 14 High’s strongest gangs—the Eight Vajras, the Four Heavenly Kings, and the Thirteen Guardians—were completely wiped out by students from our school. They disappeared for a long time after that.”
Chenchen stared in surprise. “Seriously? Our school actually had people that awesome?”
Ning Shaobai suddenly glanced at Xia Mian. If he wasn’t mistaken, that “awesome person” should be Xia Mian herself. Nearly all the delinquents from No. 14 High that year had been sent to the police station because of her, and several members of the Thirteen Guardians had even been sentenced to prison…
Xia Mian, however, had no idea the story was about her. She listened with great interest.
The way teenagers thought really was fascinating!
“It’s absolutely true,” Mao Huizhu continued. “Back then, the delinquents from No. 14 High didn’t even dare come near our school. Even if they ran into our students elsewhere, they acted like frightened quails and took a detour.”
“Then one year, No. 14 High got a really formidable boss. He was the younger brother of the previous leader and swore to avenge them. He rebuilt all the gangs at No. 14 High. They even held a swearing-in ceremony, and one of their oaths was to be eternal enemies of our Yan Affiliated.”
Everyone at the table burst into laughter.
“That’s so childish,” Chenchen said.
Xia Mian, however, fell into thought. If Mao Huizhu’s story were true, then while it sounded childish, it was actually a clever strategy. Establishing a common enemy was an effective way to strengthen internal unity. No wonder the delinquents from No. 14 High had become increasingly bold over the years.
“I’m serious,” Mao Huizhu insisted. “Students from all the gangs in that class fought together and even ambushed our dean of student affairs by throwing a sack over his head. The scar across his nose came from that incident.”
Xia Mian was stunned. The dean really did have a faint scar across the bridge of his nose, but it had actually been left by students beating him?
When she was little, her older brother had told her that during the height of Young and Dangerous’s popularity, school delinquents were everywhere. Many boys took pride in smoking, loved getting into group fights, and even attacked teachers.
She had always assumed he was exaggerating, like in TV dramas, and hadn’t expected any of it to be true.
It seemed Tang Mo’s situation needed to be taken seriously.
“You all need to be careful too. The school’s supervision won’t be as strict during the sports meet.” Xia Mian looked at Chenchen. “Remind your classmates to stick together wherever they go. If anything happens, tell a teacher immediately. Understood?”
Chenchen had an idea of his own. “Don’t worry, Auntie. If they dare come, we’ll definitely deal with them!”
Mao Huizhu immediately became excited. “That’s right! It’s about time we followed in our seniors’ footsteps and showed them just how formidable the Four Musketeers of Yan Affiliated really are!”
Xia Mian: “…”
Right. These guys were in the middle of their chuunibyou phase too.
Were they really reliable?
After the students group left, Xia Mian went to get ready herself. As a teacher, she could arrive about half an hour later than they did.
She put on light makeup, changed her clothes, and was just about to leave when Nuonuo came toddling in, holding something pink in her hand.
Xia Mian glanced at it. “What’s that?”
Seeing her mother eyeing the item in her hand, Nuonuo immediately turned and ran. She didn’t forget to call for reinforcements. “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy…”
Xia Mian chased after her.
Ning Shaobai had already picked the little girl up and also noticed what she was holding.
That familiar heart-shaped decoration…
He didn’t even need to look closely to know what it was.
He couldn’t help asking, “Baby, where did you find that?”
Ning Shaobai assumed it was one of the love letters from Xia Mian’s old box of letters. After all these years, he wasn’t jealous anymore. He was only curious where their daughter had dug it out from. As far as he remembered, Xia Mian had stored the box away in the storage room.
Instead, Nuonuo pointed toward Xiao Feng’s bedroom. “Big Brother!”
Xia Mian and Ning Shaobai exchanged a glance.
Taking advantage of Nuonuo’s inattention, Xia Mian swiftly snatched the letter away.
Nuonuo anxiously reached out with both little hands. “Mommy! Bad…!”
Ning Shaobai quickly soothed her in his arms while Xia Mian hurriedly unfolded the envelope.
Watching the expression on her face, Ning Shaobai smiled. “So it really belongs to Xiao Feng?”
Then, with obvious curiosity, he asked, “Did he write it to someone, or did someone write it to him?”
“Someone else gave it to him,” Xia Mian said with a smile. “Time really flies. The little kid who used to trail after us is already receiving love letters.”
She folded the letter back up, intending to return it where she’d found it. As Xiao Feng’s guardian, she felt it was appropriate to read the contents, but as long as nothing inappropriate was going on, she had no intention of interfering. The best course of action was to pretend she knew nothing about it.
She asked Nuonuo, “Where did you find this?”
Nuonuo, however, was still upset. Nestled in her father’s arms, she refused to answer, only pouting and huffing softly.
Xia Mian shook her head helplessly and handed the letter to Ning Shaobai. “If you can get it out of her, put it back where it belongs. I need to head to school.”
Ning Shaobai found the whole thing amusing. “If Xiao Feng’s getting love letters, Chenchen and Mao Huizhu probably are too.”
After thinking about it, Xia Mian laughed. “I actually think Chenchen probably gets even more.”
High school girls usually like cool, aloof guys like him.
“As for Huizhu… probably not. She’s gorgeous, but with that goofy personality of hers, she probably has more guy friends than admirers.”
Remembering Mao Huizhu’s fearless, rough-and-tumble personality, Ning Shaobai couldn’t help laughing as well.
The love letter reminded Xia Mian that the kids were now at the age when romantic feelings first began to blossom.
A sports meet, with its relaxed atmosphere and freedom to mingle, was the perfect opportunity to observe them. Since all three of the kids were in different classes now, she could conveniently watch each of them.
And she really did notice a few things.
Especially once the afternoon competitions began.
Although each class had an assigned seating area, students were otherwise free to move around, and the most active by far was Mao Huizhu. Her childhood habit of eavesdropping had evolved into becoming the school’s queen of gossip. Xia Mian watched as she bounced from class to class, chatting animatedly with both boys and girls wherever she went.
It was exactly as Xia Mian had expected. The way Mao Huizhu casually slung an arm around people’s shoulders and joked with them looked no different from how close friends behaved. Xia Mian was fairly certain she hadn’t developed any romantic awareness at all.
Chenchen was different. He clearly understood such things, but seemed uninterested in anyone. He spent his time discussing something with the boys from his class. One girl after another came over to talk to him, but his expression remained cool and detached. After exchanging only a sentence or two, each girl walked away looking disappointed.
Xiao Feng, however, was the complete opposite. Xia Mian watched him speak gently to every girl who approached him. Several girls ended up sitting beside him and simply stayed there, while Xiao Feng continued smiling with the same warm, pleasant demeanor, leaving the girls around him blushing.
Xia Mian suddenly realized that, in this regard, the one she was most worried about was actually Xiao Feng.
He treated everyone equally—no, more accurately, he was equally kind to everyone.
She just hoped that habit wouldn’t one day turn him into the sort of person who radiated warmth indiscriminately toward every girl around him!
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Chuunibyou: middle grade delusion syndrome.