Chen Zhi and Dogs Not Allowed (Two-in-One)

Dean Xie was completely out of ideas now.

Chen Zhi stood to the side, looking with some sympathy at the few sparse strands of hair fluttering in the wind on top of Dean Xie's head.

The world was changing too fast, and the old comrade was clearly having trouble keeping up with the latest version.

Dean Xie slowly put down the phone receiver, his movements sluggish, somewhat doubting his life choices.

He had just called Lin Wanwan's parents again. Shouldn't normal parents be furious to learn their daughter was dating?

To his surprise, not only did they not care, but they were actually very supportive.

Dean Xie looked up, staring blankly at the ceiling, muttering to himself, What is wrong with parents these days...

He had spent his whole life catching students in early romances, only to catch a couple who were dating by imperial decree?

He let out a long sigh and slumped back into his chair, looking as if he had aged ten years.

Enough.

Dean Xie waved his hand weakly. I can't control you anymore. Do whatever you want.

However!

Dean Xie suddenly sat up straight, pulled a class transfer application form from his drawer, and slapped it onto the desk.

Chen Zhi, pack your things. You're transferring to Class 1 of the tenth grade today.

Chen Zhi was slightly taken aback. The Foundation Class?

Yes, the Foundation Class!

Dean Xie gritted his teeth and said fiercely, That's where the school's strongest faculty is! You get your ass over there and study hard. If you drop out of the top ten in the grade on the next monthly exam, I'll banish you to the sports class to practice long-distance running!

This was his last bit of stubbornness.

Since he couldn't break them up, he would just quarantine them from each other.

Class 1 was on the fifth floor, and Class 7 was on the second floor. They were miles apart. Let's see how you two act all lovey-dovey between classes now!

Dean, this is against the rules, isn't it? Chen Zhi played the innocent victim despite gaining an advantage. I've only been in Class 10 for a few days. My seat isn't even warm yet.

Rules? Now you want to talk to me about rules? Dean Xie sneered. Either go to Class 1, or I'll give you a major demerit right now and broadcast a school-wide criticism. You choose!

Chen Zhi immediately stood at attention and saluted. Always ready to contribute to the construction of Class 1!

Hearing this, Lin Wanwan, who was standing to the side, immediately took a step forward.

She blinked her big eyes, looking at Dean Xie with a hopeful expression, pointing at her own nose as if to say: What about me? What about me?

Dean Xie glanced at her and gave a cold laugh.

You?

Dean Xie waved his large hand, mercilessly crushing the young girl's dreams. You stay put in your Class 7 and behave! Put you two menaces in the same class? I still want to live a couple more years!

Put these two menaces in one class?

He might as well just resign and go home!

Alright, both of you get out of here! Dean Xie waved them away impatiently. Chen Zhi, go to the Academic Affairs Office right now to get your slip, and move your things to Class 1 immediately! If I still see you in Class 10 before this period ends, you're dead!

...

Outside the Discipline Office, the sun was still shining brightly.

Lin Wanwan kicked a small pebble by the road, looking thoroughly displeased. This Lao Xie is so mean, actually putting you in Class 1.

Chen Zhi had his hands in his pockets, looking quite relaxed. We'll just make the best of it. Besides, going to Class 1 has its perks. At least I won't have to listen to those guys gossiping behind my back.

But... Lin Wanwan stopped, turned around to look at Chen Zhi, her tone carrying a hint of grievance. Class 1 is on the fifth floor, and Class 7 is on the second floor. That's several floors apart.

More importantly, Li Zhiyi was also in Class 1.

Chen Zhi looked at her sour expression and couldn't help but reach out to pinch her puffed-up cheeks. What are you thinking about? I'm going there to study, reading for the rise of China, understand?

Chen Zhi coaxed Lin Wanwan back to Class 7, watching her look back three times with every step as she entered the classroom, before finally turning and heading upstairs.

Class 1 of the tenth grade.

The gold standard of Jiangcheng No. 1 High School, gathering the top fifty elite students from the city's high school entrance exams.

This was a paradise for ultra-competitive students, and a hell for underachievers.

Chen Zhi, with his hands in his pockets, leisurely strolled up to the fifth floor.

The entire floor was dead silent.

Although it was between classes, other classrooms had students playing and roughhousing at their doors. Only the end of the corridor where Class 1 was located was completely quiet, without a soul in sight.

Chen Zhi walked to the back door of Class 1.

There was a note stuck to the back door: Dogs and Chen Zhi are not allowed inside.

Chen Zhi: ...

Fuck, campus bullying against me?

Chen Zhi ripped the note off and pushed the door open to walk in.

In his mind, the vibe of such a top-tier class should be like this:

Everyone wearing thick glasses, desks piled half a meter high with Five Years Gaokao, Three Years Mock, and everyone silently grinding through practice questions.

Chen Zhi took a deep breath, prepared to face the baptism of the ocean of knowledge, and pushed open the back door.

Creak—

The door opened.

The classroom was just as noisy and chaotic as any ordinary class.

Chen Zhi raised an eyebrow and stepped inside.

In the corner of the last row, five or six boys had their heads huddled together. The desks were indeed piled high with books, but apparently not for reading.

Chen Zhi was all too familiar with this formation of stacking a pile of books in the front and another on the side.

He lightened his footsteps and silently stood behind the boy on the outermost edge.

He saw these top students holding their phones. The screens flashed with light and shadows, skill effects flying everywhere.

Go, go, go! Team fight!

Protect Luban! Protect Luban! Fuck, support, are you sleepwalking?

Don't feed, don't feed! Defend the high ground! The minion wave is coming in!

The boy playing Luban No. 7 was rubbing his fingers on the screen so fast they were practically sparking, while his mouth was also dealing crazy damage: Does this jungler even know how to play? Farming the jungle for ten thousand years, doesn't know how to come gank?

Chen Zhi leaned his head over and took a peek at the battle situation.

Good heavens, all three high ground towers were destroyed, super minions were already hammering at the crystal's face, and this Luban still dared to go out alone to clear the wave.

Don't go out, the enemy Prince of Lanling is camping you, Chen Zhi kindly reminded him.

Impossible! Prince of Lanling just showed his face in the top lane...

The boy retorted without looking back, his fingers just guiding Luban out of the high ground tower's range.

Suddenly, an exclamation mark flashed overhead.

A silky smooth combo.

The screen turned gray.

Fuck! The boy was so angry he almost threw his phone. This Prince of Lanling is hacking, right?!

Chen Zhi clicked his tongue twice and shook his head. If you're bad, practice more. Also, your item build is flawed. The enemy team is full of dive champions, and you went full damage without building any tanky items to survive?

What the hell do you know! Luban is supposed to be full damage...

The boy instinctively shot back, but halfway through his sentence, he suddenly realized the voice was a bit unfamiliar, and it was coming from right above his head.

He abruptly turned his head.

A smiling, handsome face was looking down at him from above.

The boy's pupils instantly dilated in shock, and the phone in his hand almost slipped. Chen... Chen Zhi?!

This shout startled the surrounding boys who were in the middle of a fierce team fight, making them all flinch.

Fuck!

Who?

Several of them scrambled to shove their phones into their desks, no longer caring whether the crystal exploded or not, all staring at Chen Zhi in horror.

The boy playing Luban was named Cheng Jun. He was the sports committee member of Class One, a tall and burly guy, but right now, the look he gave Chen Zhi was full of vigilance.

He swallowed hard, checking to make sure there was no teacher following behind Chen Zhi. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief. Immediately, his expression changed, and he glared at Chen Zhi fiercely.

"Dog Chen... no, Chen Zhi, what are you doing in our class?"

Chen Zhi pulled over an empty chair nearby, plopped down, and pointed at Cheng Jun's phone, which was still running hot. "Just looking. You carry on. The crystal hasn't exploded yet, I think it can still be saved."

Cheng Jun darkened his face and locked his phone screen. "Save my ass! Your showing up is worse luck than the crystal exploding!"

Chen Zhi looked innocent. "We're all classmates, how can you make personal attacks? Who did I provoke?"

"You have the nerve to ask?"

Cheng Jun sneered. "Every morning during the morning run, you sneak into our class's formation like a hoodlum and harass our study committee member. Do you think all the guys in Class One are dead?"

Saying this, he looked around at his bros, his confidence instantly surging.

"Our class already held a meeting and reached a unanimous consensus! If we see you coming to harass Li Zhiyi again, we'll definitely break your dog legs!"

The surrounding boys echoed his sentiments, all filled with righteous indignation, as if Chen Zhi were some local tyrant who had kidnapped a civilian girl.

Chen Zhi was amused.

So, before he even officially joined the class, he had already become public enemy number one?

He slowly pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and slapped it onto Cheng Jun's desk.

"Is this your so-called consensus?"

Cheng Jun looked down.

It was an A4 piece of paper torn from the doorframe, with a line of large words written in bold marker:

[Chen Zhi and dogs are not allowed inside!]

The handwriting was sloppy, revealing the anger of an edgy teenager.

Cheng Jun's face reddened, but he still stiffened his neck and looked down his nose at him. "That's right! I wrote it! So what? This is Class One's turf, you think we're scared of you?"

"Your handwriting is really ugly," Chen Zhi commented. He then crumpled the paper into a ball and tossed it into the trash can by the back door. "Too bad, I'm a member of Class One now too."

"What?!"

Cheng Jun and the other boys' eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

"Dean Xie personally approved the slip. From now on, we're one big happy family." Chen Zhi smiled.

"Surprised? Unexpected?"

Cheng Jun opened his mouth wide, looking like he had just swallowed a fly.

Surprise my ass!

This was a fright!

Chen Zhi ignored the group of heavily traumatized boys. He stood up, clapped his hands, and found Li Zhiyi's seat.

Her figure was huddled small, her head almost buried in a pile of books, as if she was trying desperately to minimize her presence.

Chen Zhi walked straight over.

Arriving at her desk, he reached out a finger and gently tapped the desktop twice.

"Knock, knock."

Li Zhiyi trembled all over, clearly startled, and slowly raised her head.

Her clear eyes were filled with innocence.

Chen Zhi leaned both hands on the edge of the desk, leaning forward slightly. He deliberately kept a straight face and said fiercely, "We grew up together after all, and you just watched me get targeted? Why didn't you try to stop them?"

Intimidated by his presence, Li Zhiyi shrank back, her two hands nervously wringing the hem of her clothes.

She looked at Chen Zhi, then at the group of boys behind him, her small face showing some grievance.

"I, I actually did say something..."

She explained somewhat anxiously, her voice soft and sweet, "But, but they didn't hear..."

"Not hearing you is an excuse?" Chen Zhi pressed on.

At this moment, Li Zhiyi's deskmate couldn't hold back anymore.

It was a girl with her hair in a bun named Tian Qi. She stood up, shielded Li Zhiyi, and glared at Chen Zhi.

"Yeah! What are you acting so fierce for!" Tian Qi put her hands on her hips, looking aggressive. "Don't you know what you did? Harassing Zhiyi every day during the morning run, you're a complete scumbag! What right do you have to scold my Baby Zhiyi!"

Chen Zhi narrowed his eyes and sized up this girl with the hair bun.

"Oh, isn't this Comrade Xiao Tian?" Chen Zhi looked at her with a half-smile. "If I remember correctly, back in ninth grade, who begged me every day to boost her rank? And who called me Brother Chen so affectionately just to copy homework? Now that I'm a little down on my luck and got exiled to Class Ten, you start kicking me while I'm down, huh?"

Tian Qi's momentum instantly deflated by half.

Her eyes darted around, clearly recalling those past favors, but she remained stubborn. "That... that's two different things! Anyway, you're not allowed to bully Zhiyi!"

After saying this, she sat back down with a guilty conscience, though she still kept a wary eye on Chen Zhi with her peripheral vision.

Having handled the best friend, Chen Zhi turned his gaze back to Li Zhiyi.

"Alright, stop playing dead." Chen Zhi reached out and pulled away the English book she was holding upside down. "You said you explained. How did you explain it back then? Come on, reenact the scene. If you can't satisfy me, I'll never talk to you again."

"Ah?" Li Zhiyi instantly panicked, her small face flushing bright red. "Don't, don't~"

"Then demonstrate." Chen Zhi crossed his arms, looking at her leisurely.

Li Zhiyi bit her lower lip, seemingly doing a huge amount of mental preparation.

After a few seconds, she took a deep breath, extended two tender white fingers, and gently pinched the corner of Chen Zhi's shirt.

Then, she raised her head and whispered to Chen Zhi in that soft, sweet voice that made her sound so easy to bully:

"Um, please don't post this. Actually, actually, Chen Zhi and I have a really good relationship..."

The voice was soft and light, carrying a hint of pleading and trembling.

Paired with those big, watery eyes, the lethality was simply off the charts.

The air seemed to freeze for two seconds.

Chen Zhi: "..."

Chen Zhi had no moves left now.

Who the hell could resist this?

Let alone Cheng Jun and his group of restless, pubescent boys, even a seasoned veteran like him who had lived two lifetimes couldn't quite handle it right now.

Wasn't this just acting spoiled and cute?

Using this kind of tone to stop those guys, it would be a miracle if they listened! Their bones probably all melted, instantly maxing out their hatred for him, wishing they could plaster that paper all over the whole school.

Chen Zhi took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the urge to rub her head.

He sighed helplessly and gently flicked Li Zhiyi's forehead. "Alright."

Chen Zhi conceded defeat. "I'll let you pass. You're cute, so you're right."

Li Zhiyi covered her forehead, blinking somewhat blankly.

So... it's fine now?

Chen Zhi didn't say anything more. He turned to look at Cheng Jun and the others in the back row who were still peeking over.

"Everyone, please take care of me from now on."

"From now on, I'm also a part of Class One."