A Young Woman's Heart

She would repeat the same thing over and over again, and the more she read it, the more annoyed Liu Xiaowei became, and a rebellious feeling would inexplicably arise in him.

The cold wind made Liu Xiaowei's face, which he didn't even know was clean, turn purple and red. He only had one glove left, and who knew where the other one had gone. So he simply rode his bike with one hand and put the other hand in his pocket, which made him look quite relaxed in the cold wind.

On the way to school, there is a long stretch of road with hardly any shops.

There are vast stretches of farmland nearby, and occasionally you can see a bus stop or a construction site.

Some areas are being demolished, while others are under construction; in any case, dust is flying everywhere and the air isn't very fresh.

For him, the location of Yukong High School was considered the city center, and he would pass by a car repair shop every day from his direction.

Early in the morning, before the repair shop opened, a sharply angled Santana sedan was parked in front of it. In those days, this was considered one of the most common sedans.

Liu Xiaowei's ambitions weren't grand; he just hoped that he could buy one when he graduated from university—provided he could get into university.

He felt he should be able to pass the college entrance exam; after all, how would he know if he didn't try?

There are always many cars parked in front of the repair shop. Some are probably cars waiting for repairs, while others are probably cars that live nearby and secretly park here when they come back at night and find the place empty.

Anyway, the repair shop doesn't open until after nine o'clock, so I can just drive the car away before they open—it won't affect their business.

Once they arrived here, Liu Xiaowei slowed down his bicycle pace; he had a strange quirk of liking the smell of paint.

Others might find the smell pungent, but he found it quite pleasant, with an industrial scent reminiscent of the smells he often encountered when living in a factory dormitory as a child.

If I had to give a reason, it would probably be—it gives me a sense of home?

There was a stray dog ​​with slightly long fur at the door. It was obviously ownerless, otherwise it wouldn't be so dirty and not have been bathed.

Liu Xiaowei often sees it on his way home from school, but this is the first time he has seen it in the morning.

This dog doesn't bark.

As Liu Xiaowei pondered this, he leisurely walked past it.

To everyone's surprise, the dog suddenly barked fiercely and chased after him, barking loudly.

Liu Xiaowei wasn't fast, and now it was too late to speed up. The dog had already caught up to his legs and lunged forward, but missed its target.

It turned out that he had sensed something was wrong and quickly lifted his foot.

But he lost his balance a little and quickly jumped off the seat to avoid falling to the ground with the bicycle.

"Bang—" The bicycle fell to the ground, and the schoolbag in the basket tilted and rolled out, getting a little dirty black water on it.

"Damn it!" Liu Xiaowei, who was short in stature, was not one to back down from trouble; otherwise, he would have been bullied to death in junior high school.

The dog seemed startled by the sound of the bicycle falling over, so it stopped and just stood there barking incessantly.

"You son of a bitch—" Liu Xiaowei felt a surge of anger rising within him.

Recently, the things that have upset him have been playing in his mind like a movie.

"Woof woof woof—!" The stupid dog barked even louder, as if it was preparing to attack again.

It's strange, everyone says a dog is bullied by its master, but this dog is obedient when there are people around, but crazy when no one is around. This street seems to be its territory, and it won't allow anyone else to pass.

But it's a bully who preys on the weak and fears the strong—otherwise, why didn't it chase after a car and yell at it when it drove by earlier?

"Woof woof—!" It finally decided to pounce.

Liu Xiaowei dodged to the side, not even bothering to pick up his schoolbag, and quickly grabbed the two handlebars of the bicycle, swinging them around as if they were weapons.

"Smack!" The bicycle slammed into the dog, causing the bike to vibrate violently as if it were about to fall apart.

The dog, however, seemed to have gone mad and kept charging forward.

As the distance closed, the bicycle became unusable, so he had to quickly abandon it and frantically raise his hands to block the dog that was lunging at him.

"You fucking want to die!"

It is said that if a dog bites a person, the person should not bite back.

Humans have hands and feet, so why do they have to use their mouths?

If you use your mouth, wouldn't that be no different from being an animal?

So Liu Xiaowei naturally used his fists.

That punch really landed solidly, smashing the dog's head down.

Then he kicked the dog in the stomach, and the mad dog finally stopped 'mad' and ran away whimpering.

"Damn!" Liu Xiaowei spat to the side. Although he had only chased away a dog, he was quite proud of himself. His face even became rosier, as if he had released all the anger that had been building up over the past few days.

Only then did he feel the pain; he realized he had been injured. A dog's teeth had cut his hand, and drops of blood were falling to the ground, staining the road red.

"Are you... alright?" A timid voice came from behind. A girl with pigtails and acne on her face walked over quickly. "You seem to be injured?"

"Pshaw, this little wound is nothing!" Liu Xiaowei shook his hand. "I didn't even feel any pain!"

As he said this, he frowned slightly.

When the cold wind blows through the wound, it carries some dust with it, so how could it not hurt?

"I heard... you can get rabies if you're bitten by a rabid dog..."

"Hey, I said it's nothing, why are you so annoying, you girl?" Liu Xiaowei waved his hand. Since most of the girls in the class disliked him, he simply spoke to most of the girls in the class with that nonchalant attitude.

When a man knows he can't possibly find a girlfriend among this group of women—he's probably invincible, because he'll never be taken advantage of by the girls, no matter how much they try to charm him or anything else.

Of course, Liu Xiaowei will still help the girls, but... they have to pay him.

This girl is Ye Banxia. She usually goes to school early because she is the hygiene monitor. If she doesn't go early, most of the students on duty won't clean up on their own.

"Hmm..." She quickly took a few steps forward, picked up his schoolbag from the ground, and put it in the bicycle basket that Liu Xiaowei had just lifted up.

Liu Xiaowei glanced at her sideways, casually straddled his bicycle, and pedaled hard, almost twisting his ankle in the process.

It would be strange if this old bicycle, after falling so many times, still had its chain hanging properly.

He paused awkwardly, then got off the bicycle and skillfully put the chain back on. Because he didn't have money to lubricate the chain, he didn't get his hands too dirty.

"Ptooey!" He spat twice into his palms, then rubbed them as if washing his hands.

Ye Banxia couldn't help but take a half step back, seemingly disgusted by him.

But Liu Xiaowei became even more smug, tossed his head, got back on his bicycle, and rode a few steps forward.

Unfortunately, this cool moment didn't last long, and the chain fell off again.

He cursed and stopped the car to get it fixed.

That's even better, the chain just broke.

Replacing the chain probably wouldn't be as cheap as buying the bike.

"Damn, what the hell!" He spat to the side again, his previous refreshed feeling gone, and he felt incredibly unlucky again.

"Are you alright?" Ye Banxia caught up with them. "There don't seem to be any bicycle repair shops around here..."

"...It's nothing." Liu Xiaowei wanted to speak loudly, but he just gave up. "Ugh, what a fucking unlucky day!"

"Let's go together." Ye Banxia smiled. "I was just about to take a detour."

"what?"

"When I arrived, that dog was blocking the road the whole time. It would block my way no matter where I went..."

"Damn, this dog is so arrogant!"

"Then I was about to take a detour when I saw you riding by. I almost got bitten by a dog. I... I didn't know how to help, and there was no one around..." Ye Banxia explained somewhat embarrassedly.

"Oh, it's nothing, it's just a dog, why would I be afraid?" Although Liu Xiaowei was a bit slovenly, he still had some manly spirit.

"Then I saw you chase the dog away, um... why weren't you afraid of it?"

"Heh, you can't be afraid of dogs. The more afraid you are, the more they'll bully you, just like those petty people," Liu Xiaowei explained with experience. "Anyway, if a dog dares to bark at me, I'll beat it up."

"That's amazing..."

Liu Xiaowei was taken aback. In his memory, this seemed to be the first time a girl had ever called him "amazing."

……

Chapter 200 So-called Masculinity

Liu Xiaowei chuckled twice and then fell silent.

As a guy who has absolutely no luck with women, he suddenly became tough after realizing his situation.

He's the only one who dares to banter with the girls, unlike other guys who just laugh it off when they get teased.

But this compliment from the girl left him a little bewildered, and he couldn't help but feel that the morning breeze carried a sweet scent.

Of course, it's absolutely impossible to assume that someone likes you just because of a compliment.

He's not the kind of overconfident idiot.

So he stopped smiling and calmly continued pushing his bicycle forward.

On the rest of the way, Ye Banxia didn't say anything more, whether out of shyness or because she didn't want to talk to him.

The classroom was already quite full. Zhou Yong was resting his chin on his hand, lost in thought, when he saw Liu Xiaowei come in and his eyes lit up: "Little Liu, wanna copy the homework? I'll copy it all... It's done!"

"Heh, I'm not copying homework today." Liu Xiaowei tossed his head casually, walked smugly to the back of the classroom, and just put his backpack down without even bothering to take out his homework. "Come on, wanna go play ping-pong?"

"Ping pong? I'm not very good at it. You should ask An Ruosu."

"He's probably going to play basketball again. Fine, if you won't play, I'll go." Liu Xiaowei never minded going alone. Firstly, he understood that everyone had their own things to do, and secondly, he was used to it. You know, he didn't have as many friends in junior high school as he does now.

He remembered Lu Xun's words very well, always telling himself that "fierce beasts always walk alone," but he didn't know that the original words were "fierce beasts are solitary, while cattle and sheep travel in herds."

Although they may seem similar, when considered in the context of the entire text, it becomes clear that they represent two completely different meanings.

However, Liu Xiaowei wouldn't read the whole book, nor would he seek the truth; he simply needed the famous quote that resonated with his current situation to motivate himself.

"Liu Xiaowei." He had just looked up when he saw Li Wanyan, who was about the same height as him, standing in front of him. She asked calmly, "What happened to your hand?"

"Hand? Ha, it's just a dog bite, none of your business."

"Go to the infirmary."

"Go to hell, nothing's wrong!" Liu Xiaowei shook his hand. He had already washed his wound when he went upstairs, and the pain had lessened considerably, to the point that he could hardly feel it anymore.