Chapter 6: The Master Acquires Slaves

  "What's with you? Your master? I'm not even willing to be your master anymore, getting more and more disobedient!"

  "You took me in as a slave back then, didn't you?" Li Han muttered.

  "Haha, how come you were so ugly when you were a kid! You were short, dark and smelly, and your grades were the worst!" Xia Meng covered her mouth and laughed.

  In elementary school, the girls in the class didn't want to have anything to do with Li Han because he was the worst and ugliest student in the class, and his behavior was strange. If Li Han took the initiative to talk to a girl, the other girls would say: "Li Han is talking to you, so you're also ugly, you're the same type of person as him, we won't play with you anymore, ugly people can only play with ugly people!" The girl who was approached by Li Han would be extremely miserable and sad.

  Xiǎ Mèng is a girl who is constantly "harassed" by Lǐ Hào. Because of Lǐ Hào, she is ostracized and humiliated by the other girls. However, because she is the top student in her grade, as well as the class president and school head prefect, and the school principal is also Xiǎ Mèng's mother's uncle, the girls do not dare to do anything too out of line to her.

  One summer morning, Li Han was late again. He was covered in dirt and his shoes were caked with mud. He stood outside the classroom door with his backpack on and shouted, "Reporting for being late!" The whole class stared at him with disdain, as if he were a monster standing outside the door.

  "How did you get all muddy? Where have you been?" Their language teacher, a strict and rigid middle-aged woman, had been their class advisor since primary school.

  Li Han stood outside the door, his head bowed and silent. Xia Meng looked at him with eyes full of sympathy and compassion.

  "Give me your schoolbag!" The class teacher snatched Li He's schoolbag, "slapped" it open, and some broken bottles and cans rolled out of Li He's schoolbag. "What are these things? Tell me! Why do you put these broken toys in your schoolbag every day? If there isn't even one book in your schoolbag, what are you doing coming to school? From now on, I don't allow you to bring these things into the school again!" The class teacher angrily put the schoolbag on the podium. "I've confiscated your schoolbag, and after class, I'll hand it over to the principal. Let your parents come to school to find the principal!"

  After class, Li Han came to Xia Meng's desk and said in a low voice: "Class monitor, lend me a pen. I didn't bring my books and pens today."

  The whole class was staring at Xia Meng, Xia Meng's deskmate was a beautiful and somewhat cleanliness-obsessed girl named Jing Tian. Her parents were both doctors. She immediately shouted: "Get out of here, you stinky beggar! Don't ever come near our desk again!" The other girls also chimed in: "Don't lend anything to Xia Meng, he's dirty, smelly and ugly!" "Yeah, get him out of here!"

  "Xia Meng, tell him right now that he's not allowed to come here looking for you again!" Jing Tian shouted. Li Han just stared at Xia Meng silently. Xia Meng opened her mouth but couldn't say a word. "Hurry up and say it! Tell him not to look for you again!" The girls surrounding Xia Meng yelled. "If you don't say it, we won't let you be our class leader anymore, and no one will be friends with you. You can just play with this ugly freak from now on!" Jing Tian shrieked.

  Xia Meng said in a low voice to Li Han: "The pen is yours, don't look for me again!"

  Li Han took the pen handed over by Xia Meng, smiled and left, returning to his seat in the corner. The indignant voices in the crowd: "Why give him a pen!" "Xia Meng, don't talk to him again!" "He's an ugly freak, not worthy of being in our school!"

  After school, Xia Meng said goodbye to her classmates at the intersection and walked through a small grove of trees, which was near her home. As soon as Xia Meng entered the woods, Li Han suddenly jumped out, "Class Monitor!"

  "How did you end up here? Didn't I tell you not to look for me again?" Xia Meng glanced around, wondering if anyone had noticed her talking to Li Han.

  "I need your help! Only you can help me!" Li Han's body was covered in mud, his fingers were black, and his face had mud and some unknown objects stuck to it. He looked extremely strange and gave off a foul odor.

  "Don't follow me!" Xia Meng quickened her pace and hurried home, turning back to warn Li Han fiercely.

  "Class monitor, if you don't help me today, I'm done for! The principal is going to expel me!" Li Han urgently blocked Xia Meng's path.

  Xia Meng looked at Li Han in front of her, who was covered in dirt and looked like a beggar, but his eyes were big and bright, and seemed to shine with an inexplicable energy, yes, it should be the light of wisdom.

  "Why did the principal want to expel you?" Xia Meng stopped in her tracks and asked.

  "The head teacher went to the principal and said, I'm late every day, my studies are also poor, and..."

  "And you go to school every day without bringing any books, what's in your backpack are just some broken bottles and jars, right?" Xia Meng sneered.

  "Head of class, as long as you don't let the principal expel me, from now on you'll be my master and I'll listen to everything you say!" Li Han sincerely said to Xia Meng.

  "I don't want a slave like you!" Xia Meng said with a resolute refusal.

  "You're the class monitor, you should help those who are falling behind!" Li Han said, "Tell the principal that I want to form a study partnership with you, and I guarantee that I'll make rapid progress in my studies from now on!"

  "How many points do you think you can get?" Xia Meng asked with a slanted gaze.

  "You just have to be willing to form a study partnership with me, and for this final exam, I'll definitely get into the top three in our grade!" Li Han's head was held high, his hands slapping against his thin chest with a loud "pa pa" sound.

  "Top three in grade, rather than top three in class?" Xia Meng looked at Li Han suspiciously.

  "Yes, class monitor. If I fail to rank among the top three in our grade with your help, you can ask the principal to expel me!" Li Han promised Xia Meng.

  "Hmm, okay then!" If the worst student in class can get into the top three of the grade, the head teacher will definitely be overjoyed. And isn't Xia Meng doing a great thing by helping those who are lagging behind? It's Xia Meng's beautiful idea. Li Han may be dirty and smelly, but he has ambitions. Since his goal is to get into the top three of the grade, he has spirit. She's willing to help him fulfill this wish.

  The next day, Xia Meng knocked on her uncle's office door. Her uncle was particularly fond of this clever niece. After listening to Xia Meng's intention, he nodded in agreement. In fact, he didn't want to expel Li Han either, but the constant complaints from students and teachers about Li Han's misbehavior had put him in a difficult position. If Xia Meng, as the class monitor, could help Li Han with his studies and let him make progress, then that would be fine too.

  Li Han and Xia Meng became study partners under the principal's arrangement.

  Every day after school, Xia Meng keeps Li Han in the classroom to recite texts and do math problems. Moreover, Xia Meng requires that during the tutoring period, Li Han cannot wear dirty clothes to school again, must wash his hands clean, wear clean shoes and socks on his feet, and cannot be late in the morning anymore.

  The final exam results are out, and Li Han's total score ranks second in the grade, only after Xia Meng.