The Tenth Snowflake

The Village Chief finished his jianbing, turned around, and found that Shen Qiancheng was no longer in the shade of the tree.

His heart skipped a beat. Miss Shen was gone?!

He tossed the plastic wrapper into a street-side trash can, ignored the grease at the corner of his mouth, and asked the vendor, "Did you see the young woman who was with me just now?"

The vendor, heads-down scrolling through Douyin with not a single customer, looked up and said, "Want a jianbing or some grilled cold noodles?"

The Village Chief repeated, "A tall, slim, very pretty young woman. She was right here a moment ago."

The vendor realized it wasn't a sale, rolled his eyes, shook off the Village Chief's hand, and went back to staring at his phone screen.

"Isn't she right behind you?"

The Village Chief broke into a cold sweat. What was behind him? Don't joke like that.

"Village Chief, are you full? Let me take you somewhere good to eat."

Shen Qiancheng's voice rang out from behind him like a ghost's, making the Village Chief whirl around with a leap. How could she be so startling in broad daylight?

Shen Qiancheng smiled like a fox. "Coming or not?"

The Village Chief thought, Can I say no? And even if I go, doesn't it feel off?

Nervously, the Village Chief followed Shen Qiancheng to the next street over—the food street. It sat between County First High School and the neighboring vocational school, a hub where students from both schools solved their meal problems.

Xinjiang spicy fried rice noodles, Yunnan crossing-the-bridge rice noodles, Lanzhou beef noodles... The street was lined with delicacies from all over the country. Besides the vendors, there were groups of young people roaming around, looking sixteen or seventeen with student faces, but none wearing school uniforms.

Shen Qiancheng thought about County First's ugly uniform. These kids definitely weren't from there.

When Liao Xue came back to school, she'd bring her here to eat their way through the whole street.

Shen Qiancheng spotted a Yunnan crossing-the-bridge rice noodle shop and went straight in without a word.

The Village Chief grumbled, "Miss Shen, I just had an egg pancake. I'm really full."

Shen Qiancheng ignored him, lowered her gaze, and stepped inside.

The Village Chief followed and saw the place packed—mostly vocational students, crammed into the tiny shop.

They were vocational students, but one after another looked fierce: legs crossed, shirtless with tattoos, some with scars on their faces.

The Village Chief, even after all his years, wouldn't dare provoke these little thugs.

He glanced at Shen Qiancheng. She was pretty as a flower, with an ethereal air...

He stepped forward, cautious, blocking her. "Let's eat somewhere else."

Shen Qiancheng read the worry in his eyes and smiled slightly. "Uncle, since you came all this way to see me, let's eat here. My classmates said it's good, and I've never tried it."

Uncle?

The Village Chief froze for a second, watching Shen Qiancheng sit at a table right next to the thugs.

The moment she sat down, a thug's sticky gaze fixed on her, but she seemed blind to it, smiling. "Uncle, we'll take two original crossing-the-bridge rice noodles."

Shen Qiancheng bent down, pulled a packet of bear-patterned tissues from her huge backpack, and carefully wiped the oil-soaked tabletop.

As the table was wiped clean, a tattooed dragon arm landed on it. Shen Qiancheng looked up, her brow furrowed, her big, watery eyes innocent and harmless.

"Hey, beautiful, I want to be friends with you." The guy had a full sleeve of tattoos on his left arm, flashed a grin, ran a hand through his hair, preening like a peacock about to do a three-pointer on the spot.

Shen Qiancheng suppressed her disgust, smiled innocently, and played naive. "Friends? You don't look like you're short on friends."

With that, she tilted her chin toward the other thugs at the next table, who were watching the show.

Seeing her gaze, the thugs started whistling one by one. "Beauty, come sit on big bro's lap!"

The speaker was a smooth-faced thug with a crew cut. Shen Qiancheng's eyes sharpened the instant they landed on him. She shot to her feet.

The thugs saw the pretty girl coming over themselves and buzzed like flies, cheering.

"Oh, Brother Sun's lost his touch—guess it's Brother Wang's turn."

The shop's boiling water sounds, the low murmur of diners, and Shen Qiancheng's voice all wove together, pounding at Wang Zhixuan's ears.

It sounded like celestial music to him, his ears went soft, and he couldn't tell good from bad.

"So you're Wang Zhixuan?"

Wang Zhixuan felt like he was treading on clouds, nodding airily.

The next second, a fragrant slap hit his face, the force sending him flying from his stool to the concrete floor.

Before he could even register shock at how strong a girl could be, Shen Qiancheng pulled out her phone, swiped the screen, and compared it to him on the ground.

"It really is you!"

Wang Zhixuan couldn't react before another kick landed on his lower back. He heard a crack—his back was broken.

Only then did the other thugs snap out of it, surrounding Shen Qiancheng one by one, their playful smirks replaced by wariness and anger.

Shen Qiancheng clapped her hands, surveyed the ragtag bunch, and said slowly, "This is between me and Wang Zhixuan. You'd best stay out of it. If you insist on butting in, ask my sickle if it agrees."

The Village Chief, hearing the commotion from the counter, turned and saw Shen Qiancheng—a frail woman—surrounded by a gang of burly men. Without a word, she calmly pulled a sickle from her backpack.

Seeing Shen Qiancheng armed, and Wang Zhixuan on the ground, the thugs assumed Wang Zhixuan had been lucky enough to seduce and abandon such a goddess, so they backed off and returned to their tables.

Wang Zhixuan's eyes bulged, racking his brain but unable to recall when he'd ever met Shen Qiancheng, let alone what feud they had.

A girl this pretty—he'd definitely remember her.

Shen Qiancheng leaned down and grabbed Wang Zhixuan by the collar.

A six-foot-tall man was lifted effortlessly by her, and Wang Zhixuan, unable to move, was flooded with fear.

"Miss, what grudge could I possibly have with you? Please let me go."

A bloody scratch had appeared on Wang Zhixuan's face, fitting his rough, pockmarked features.

Now he was groveling, but back then, when he'd bullied Liao Xue, hadn't he been arrogant?

After being rejected by Liao Xue, Wang Zhixuan had started rumors that she'd slept with him and even gotten pregnant and had an abortion.

He'd pushed Liao Xue to the brink, forcing her to drop out.

Anger surged to Shen Qiancheng's head, and she kicked Wang Zhixuan several times in a row, eliciting a series of howls.

The thugs just assumed Shen Qiancheng's hatred stemmed from love, envying him, thinking his howls were of pleasure, and pretended not to hear.

Only when Shen Qiancheng's leg cramped from kicking and Wang Zhixuan had run out of breath did the one-sided beating stop.

Shen Qiancheng planted her foot on Wang Zhixuan's face and whispered like a demon, "You spread rumors that Liao Xue had an abortion because of you, right? You're about to know what that feels like—it's wonderful."

Abortion? Liao Xue?

Wang Zhixuan's eyes went wide like a toad's.

Shen Qiancheng glanced at him with disgust. "A piece of trash like you isn't fit to carry Liao Xue's shoes."

She gave another kick. "Thank a law-abiding society that you're still alive."

Shen Qiancheng tucked her sickle away. Only the Village Chief knew what the bulging backpack held.

The Village Chief stood there holding two big bowls of crossing-the-bridge rice noodles, dumbfounded.

Without looking up, Shen Qiancheng said, "Wrap them up. We're leaving now."

The Village Chief said, "Ah," and waited as the shop owner packed the food, then chased after her. He saw Shen Qiancheng, blocking the sun with her backpack, hands in her pockets, waiting for him.

"If this were Tang City, he'd be dead."

The Village Chief thought he'd misheard. Tang City? Wasn't that where the Shen Corporation was headquartered?

Who exactly was Miss Shen?

Lost in thought, the Village Chief followed Shen Qiancheng back to County First High School.

At noon, the gate stood wide open. Countless ecstatic students, shedding the drowsiness and listlessness of class, pushed out electric bikes or bicycles, their steps light as they flew out the gate.

Shen Qiancheng stopped nearby, her fair face as calm as still water, her star-bright eyes scanning the flowing crowd as if waiting for something.

The Village Chief, clutching the two packs of rice noodles, craned his neck to follow her gaze. He saw nothing but row after row of sallow student faces.

Shen Qiancheng's expression wasn't good. The Village Chief stayed quiet, keeping her company as she waited.

Once the students had mostly left, Shen Qiancheng parted her lips slightly. "Let's go."

The Village Chief nodded and followed. "Where to?"

Shen Qiancheng paused, her gaze fixed on the building with peeling plaster. "Every debt has its debtor. We've dealt with the son—now it's the mother's turn."

The Village Chief thought, Huh? What son and mother?

But he didn't dare ask. He followed quietly behind Shen Qiancheng and witnessed her kick open an office door.

The Village Chief recalled that the last time she'd kicked open a door was at Liao Xue's house, and that one hadn't been as hard, nor had the door been as sturdy—it hadn't flown off its hinges.

At the loud crash, the people inside jumped, startled, and stared at the doorway.

A young woman in an emerald green uniform dress, with chestnut-brown long hair draped over her shoulders, adding a hint of gentleness, but her face held not a trace of that warmth.

Her eyebrows arched arrogantly, her eyes slanted wickedly, and her lips curved in a half-smile—all proclaiming that she came bearing ill intentions.

A teacher scolded, "You there, why aren't you in a uniform, and you kick the door? Do you have any respect for your teachers?"

The Village Chief stood behind Shen Qiancheng, counting at least five teachers in the office. He and Shen Qiancheng could never take them all.

Shen Qiancheng lifted her chin, narrowed her eyes dangerously, and let out a cold laugh.

Did she, Shen Qiancheng, care about anyone? She wouldn't even flinch before the heavens—what was a teacher without character or ethics to her?

Shen Qiancheng fixed her gaze on the teacher who'd spoken, like a cobra in a rainforest eyeing its dinner, with a suffocating pressure.

"So you're Wen Shiyi?"

Wen Shiyi had scolded to intimidate the arrogant student, but not only did Shen Qiancheng kick the door, she'd also spoken insolently, even daring to call her name to her face.

With the other teachers in the office, being called by her full name by a snot-nosed student was a blow to her dignity. Wen Shiyi's temper flared.

"Miss, who's your homeroom teacher?"

If she'd been a real student of County First, facing Wen Shiyi, the director, and hearing her ask for her homeroom teacher, she'd likely have been scared into apologizing and begging.

But unfortunately, Shen Qiancheng wasn't a student there. She wasn't scared, and she wouldn't be.

Shen Qiancheng smiled calmly, her demonic grin oddly fitting on her youthful face.

The other teachers were baffled by this audacious student, watching as Shen Qiancheng sat down across from Wen Shiyi.

"I'm here for you."