Chapter 6: Weirdo
On the first day of class, Chen Cheng couldn’t focus at all.
The lessons felt endless, like time had slowed to a crawl. During breaks, she would collapse onto her desk and fall asleep instantly. She even skipped lunch, and before she knew it, the whole day had passed in a daze.
"Riiing—"
At around 9 p.m., the school bell finally rang to signal the end of the day.
Chen Cheng, who had been nodding off just moments ago, suddenly perked up. Her sleepy eyes regained their sparkle.
"School’s out~ Finally, school’s out~"
She whispered excitedly, quickly packing up her desk, eager to leave.
"Seriously, who the hell decided we should finish at nine?! Even An Yuan doesn’t get off work this late."
Pan Jie, who was busy finishing his homework, heard her muttering and gave her a confused look.
"Chen Cheng, aren’t you going to do your homework?"
"I’ll borrow yours to copy tomorrow morning."
"Huh? Uh… okay."
Chen Cheng stretched, slung her backpack over her shoulder, then turned around and walked straight to An Yuan. She urged him, "Hurry up, let’s go home."
"Hold on, what’s the rush?"
While waiting, Chen Cheng glanced at An Yuan’s seatmate, Li Wanyi, the woman who would one day cheat on him. His lips were pressed together, her eyes narrowing as she sized the girl up.
Li Wanyi was tall, and even the loose school uniform couldn’t fully hide her curves. She had altered her oversized uniform pants, making them shorter and more fitted, which highlighted her slim legs and delicate ankles.
But her high cheekbones, sharp chin, thin lips, and slightly long philtrum gave her a mature yet somewhat harsh appearance, like someone who always had a plan up her sleeve.
Li Wanyi clearly noticed the hostile gaze and looked up in confusion. But by the time she did, Chen Cheng had already looked away, adjusting her glasses with an innocent expression.
She wondered if she had imagined it. After all, she had been classmates with Chen Cheng for almost three years now. In her eyes, Chen Cheng was a pretty but clueless girl, quiet, focused on studying, but despite her efforts, her grades were always just average.
"You two seem close," Li Wanyi asked curiously. "I don’t think I’ve ever seen you go home together before."
"We just happen to take the same route..." Chen Cheng hesitated before adding, "We grew up together."
She wanted to hint that she and An Yuan were childhood friends, hopefully making this woman stay away from him. But then, realizing how that might sound like she was competing for his attention, she quickly added, "Just normal friends."
"Is that so?"
Li Wanyi frowned slightly. She glanced at the sweet and innocent-looking Chen Cheng, then at An Yuan. For the first time, she felt a hint of unease.
"Alright, let’s go."
An Yuan had finished packing his things and slung his backpack over his shoulder. "Want to grab a late-night snack? You skipped lunch."
"Yes, yes, yes! I want fried skewers! You’re paying!"
"The place across from the school?"
"Yeah, as long as they haven’t switched owners yet. The new ones made it taste awful."
As they reached the front of the classroom, they took their phones from the storage pouch. Chen Cheng glanced at her screen. Unsurprisingly, not a single message all day.
She already knew she didn’t have many friends who would text her during class, but still, without her phone nearby, she always had this nagging worry that she might miss something important.
Just as they were leaving, An Yuan suddenly paused.
He turned back and looked through the window, his gaze lingering on Li Wanyi.
The woman he had loved for seven or eight years, the one he had been just a step away from marrying, still looked as beautiful as she did in his memories. Even just seeing her sitting there, doing homework, was enough to stir something deep inside him.
He could still clearly remember their fight from two days ago. The argument that made him storm off. If it weren’t for that fight, he wouldn’t have gone looking for Chen Cheng that night to drink.
"What? Are you mad because she cheated on you?"
"I was just thinking… how did Wanyi, who seems so perfect now, turn into that person later?"
Chen Cheng added fuel to the fire. "Have you considered that maybe she was always like that? Do you really think cheating happens just once? You probably just caught her that one time."
An Yuan’s expression stiffened, as if recalling something unpleasant. Annoyed, he reached out and ruffled Chen Cheng’s hair roughly, making her head sway as she yelped in protest.
"You’re just trying to provoke me, aren’t you?"
"Let go! Let go! I’m just telling the truth! That hurts!"
Chen Cheng finally broke free and, in retaliation, punched An Yuan’s arm. "You lunatic!"
"That didn’t even hurt. You’ve got no strength at all."
"Oh yeah? Stand still, then!"
Seeing her clench her tiny fists with a determined look, An Yuan flexed his arm muscles slightly, pretending to brace for impact.
"Heh!"
Instead of punching him, Chen Cheng stomped hard on his foot and ran away.
"Dammit! Get back here! My turn now!" An Yuan hopped on one foot, wincing in pain as he chased after her.
"I’m not stupid! If you punch me back, I’ll be on my knees begging for mercy!"
Chen Cheng was well aware of the strength difference between men and women. When they used to play-fight, exchanging light punches was no big deal. But now, if An Yuan really hit her, she’d probably bruise and start crying.
And crying over something like that would be way too embarrassing!
After sprinting out of the school building, she finally slowed down, bending over with her hands on her knees, gasping for air.
"Enough messing around, I’m out of breath!"
Hearing An Yuan’s footsteps catching up, she quickly waved a white flag. "Wait, I’ll treat you to something! No more fighting."
An Yuan stopped beside her, stretching lazily in the evening breeze. He sighed contentedly. "Man, this is nice."
Sure, there was still academic pressure, but at least he didn’t have to worry about endless loans, carrying the weight of an entire family, or working overtime non-stop.
Back in school, he couldn’t wait to grow up. But now, being a kid didn’t seem so bad after all.
"Nice? My ass!" Chen Cheng huffed, full of complaints.
"I was doing just fine, chilling in my rented place, and then you dragged me back here, into a girl’s body, no less! And now I have to take the college entrance exam again."
"I never wanted to be a girl! My chest is too big, it feels weird to walk! And when I sweat, people stare at me like psychos! Oh, and don’t even get me started on periods! Shuting said mine should start in the next couple of days. What if I have bad cramps?!"
At first, she thought the hardest part of all this would be going back to senior year.
But nope, turns out, being a woman was way worse!
"I was doing fine! Unlike you, your house got abandoned halfway, and your wife ran off!"
An Yuan winced at the jab. But since he was partly responsible for Chen Cheng’s situation, he just scratched his head awkwardly and suggested,
"Didn’t you write novels? Maybe you can copy some of those super popular ones from the future and become a big-shot author?"
"Me?"
Chen Cheng pointed at herself, then scoffed. "You’re overestimating me. Even if someone gave me an entire outline, I wouldn’t be able to make it big."
"Then now that you’re back, is there anything you wanna do?"
"Not really." Chen Cheng lowered her gaze and sighed. "I just don’t wanna be a woman. Being a man was so much better..."
An Yuan casually rested an arm on her shoulder and gave her a couple of light pats.
He wanted to say something comforting, but the moment he felt how soft and delicate her shoulders were, even through the thin school uniform, he hesitated and quickly pulled his hand back.
But Chen Cheng, unfazed, hooked her arm around his shoulders instead, dragging him toward the school gate. "Let’s go drink! Come on!"
"Again?"
"What else? Getting drunk solves everything!"
An Yuan bent slightly to make it easier for her to lean on him, rubbing his nose with a wry smile.
She was way too close. He could catch whiffs of her scent, and it was messing with his head.
"Drink less. You’re a girl now," he reminded her vaguely, not wanting to say it too directly in case she freaked out.
"It’s fine. It’s not like you see me as a girl anyway." Chen Cheng side-eyed him suspiciously. "Wait… you’re not into guys, are you?"
"What—?! You’re the real weirdo for even thinking that!"