Chapter 7.5: Arc 1 Summary

Summary of Arc 1. I'm not too proud of my pacing or my writing here, but I'm always looking to improve. I'm excited to write Arc 2 though, since I've got a lot more planned out for that, and two (three?) characters I want to introduce. Arc 1 was more of a set-up and lighter arc, but Arc 2 will deal with more heavy themes.

The summary of all chapters will be below, but an ultra fast summary is at the end of this chapter (if you're extra lazy). If you want to read the more important chapters for context, I think chapters 1, 2, 4 (skip lunch scene + He Hualing's introduction), 5 (skip Song Wenbin attempting to bully Wang Canghai but read the scene end), 6, and 7 are recommended

Chapter 0

-Wang Canghai gets beat up by his long time bully Liang Shen in Xinan middle school one last time before they graduate

Characters and notable features in Arc 1 (and their classes):

Wang Canghai (ringed eyes, short black hair, 5)

Liu Fengmian (pink hair, green eyes, glasses,5)

Liang Shen (red eyes, curly hair, eyebags, 1)

Zhou Rong (blue eyes, wispy bangs, short, 5)

Song Wenbin (fluffy hair, large nose, tall, 5)

Yin Aiguo (monkey-faced, scar on his chin, 4)

Chen Zhu (bowlcut, fat, 4)

Zhang Yiling (tall girl, almond eyes, ponytail, 9)

Yang Guang (red hair, 5)

Wu Feihong (mentioned once so far in chapter 5. Crewcut, 1)

Xu Qingling (minor character, tries to confess to Jin Haoyang. Smooth hair, parted middle, 3)

Jin Haoyang (only ever mentioned. Most popular first year, handsome, 3)

Chen Laoshi (class five teacher. Headband, slanted eyes, braid, 5)

He Hualing (minor character. Gold/brown eyes, brown hair. Pretty, 8)

Chapter 1

-Wang Canghai is put into year one, class five in Ying Yu highschool

-Song Wenbin, a tall sheep haired guy, declares his claim over class five as something called a ling xiu (basically leaders of the classes, more on this later)

-Yang Guang, red-haired guy, argues with Song Wenbin, but Chen Laoshi (the teacher) walks into the class

-She announces the voting process for the Class Monitor position, and tells Wang Canghai to wake up, since he was sleeping

-Yang Guang, Song Wenbin, and Zhou Rong (short girl) are bidding for the position, while Wang Canghai gets PTSD from seeing Zhou Rong

-Wang Canghai sits alone at lunch. Mentions that he moved from Taiwan to China because his mother found a new job. His dad is dead.

-Song Wenbin, Yin Aiguo (monkey-faced guy), and Chen Zhu (fat guy) (a.k.a dipshit trio), try to aggravate Wang Canghai. Song Wenbin explains that ling xiu is a system where students every year try to take over classes whether by coercion or voluntarily, but the bell rings before he finishes

-Wang Canghai hates attention, but Zhou Rong talks to him. He bikes down the peripheral eastern district, near his school (near the ocean and park, by the way) and sees four boys beating up a pink-haired boy (Liu Fengmian)

-Wang Canghai helps him, but starts getting overwhelmed. He tells Liu Fengmian to team up with him, and Liu Fengmian does (although he is scared because of past experiences)

Chapter 2:

-Liu Fengmian and Wang Canghai beat up the boys, and introduce each other. LFM knows taekwondo.

-Hong Qiaocui, WCH's mother, tells him he needs to study for the Gaokao (the university entrance exam)

-LS beats up YG (red haired guy). LS mentions YG reminding him of someone, then monologues that bottomfeeders should stay that way

-WCH discovers LFM and him are deskmates the next day.

-SWB pokes fun at YG, who visibly looks like shit, and is challenged to a fight afterschool. ZR interrupts to quell them.

-SWB and ZR begin beef with each other, before Chen laoshi begins class

-WCH gets a confession letter from someone called X to meet at a tree enclosure near the basketball courts

-LFM tells WCH that Zhang Yiling (ZYL), one of the best fighters and part of class 9 (the worst class), was challenged to a fight as well

-SWB and YG are there too, facing off. ZYL (tall girl) interrupts the tension, asking for her challenger, but ZR says WCH might be her challenger since he'd been standing nearby (he was waiting for the confession letter sender) with LFM

Chapter 3:

-ZYL goes for WCH, who doesn't move fast enough to get knocked unconscious. LFM steps in, telling her it's a misunderstanding, and she stops

-WCH wakes up after about a few seconds, and LFM says maybe the letter sender isn't coming

-WCH realizes the skill gap between him and a skilled fighter, and resolves to fix that. There is mention of an internet friend he has.

-SWB and YG are still facing off. SWB tells YAG and CZ to come out (so they can fight for him).

-A teacher interrupted the gathering, and everyone scatters. LFM and WCH hop the fence, running to the same alleyway they met in, and climb to the roof to look at the sunset

-ZR and LS are in cahoots with one another. ZR mentions that YG has connections to school authorities. LS asks how WCH is doing, and says he should visit.

-The next day (3rd day), YG tries to find SWB in his free time, but keeps getting interrupted. Outside the tennis courts, YG meets YAG, who is class four's ling xiu (remember: leaders of classes basically)

-YG decides to fight SWB's friends instead, and cuts YAG on the chin with a flick knife. CZ intervenes, but backs down and class four goes to YG

-YG decides to leave through the side of the school, and meets class one's ling xiu, dubbed "Glasses", who warns him of hidden talents in class five.

Chapter 4:

-Xiao Baitu (translates to small, white rabbit in English) is Wang Canghai's internet friend, who gives him advice on how to get better at fighting after hearing about his loss

-Wang Canghai ruminates on the characters of Zhang Yiling, Liu Fengmian, and Liang Shen, and wants to keep out of the public eye—basically, he doesn't want trouble. However, he doesn't want anymore bullies to walk all over him, and decides to make his goal: Don't let anybody get in my way again

-Chen Laoshi wakes Wang Canghai in class the next day (4th day) by throwing a workbook, and tells him to stand at the back of class since it's his third time

-Wang Canghai listens in on two students' conversation about his new nickname (Te Kunsheng, meaning a guy who falls asleep in class). They talk about his fight with Zhang Yiling, the ling xiu of class 9, and mentions that it is a selection system

- Apparently it's an insane bunch this year (unlike years before). Mention of class three's ling xiu being handsome, that class eight was already passed to class one's ling xiu (Glasses).

-Mentions that Glasses is very strict with cleaning duty with his class. Then they discuss class monitor positions, and that Zhou Rong would most likely win since the other options were a no-go.

-Wang Canghai wants Liu Fengmian to volunteer for the class monitor position.

-Liu Fengmian wants Wang Canghai to go for ling xiu, but Wang Canghai doesn't want to start any fights, but if someone picks one with him, he'll defend himself.

-Zhang Yiling interrupts, they talk, she wants to be allies if Wang Canghai goes for ling xiu. He declines.

-Liu Fengmian forgets to do his chemistry homework, they both go back to the classroom to get it, and see a pretty girl (He Hualing from class eight) crying. Wang Canghai comforts her since she was upset about academics and the divorce of her parents, while Liu Fengmian finishes his homework outside

-Chen laoshi asks Wang Canghai to stay behind afterschool, then tells him he should go for the class monitor position and that she has a martial arts student she can refer him to (since he has good reflexes). Wang Canghai is hesitant at first about going for the position, but accepts out of spite and teacher pressure

Chapter 5

-Wang Canghai tells Liu Fengmian about the situation, and they have a bonding moment

-Song Wenbin, who is introduced as an extremely lucky character but only when it applies to himself, tries to "prank" Wang Canghai by placing a water bucket over a door since Wang Canghai usually comes in the classroom just before the teacher. It backfires and lands on Chen laoshi.

-She leaves to go change clothes, but tells the class monitor candidates to take over the class until she comes back. Zhou Rong suggests to have everyone study quietly, Song Wenbin wants everyone to essentially play dodgeball with paper, and Yang Guang jumps in before they all fight. Wang Canghai leaves the discussion since they ignore him

-A classmate tells him that she's a friend of the previous confession letter sender, and there's a new letter for him to meet her again because she had something come up.

-Liu Fengmian talks to Wang Canghai after, showing him a video of Zhou Rong and Liang Shen talking about forging the letters, and thinks with this, they will secure the class monitor position. Then, he suggests to set Zhou Rong up back

-Song Wenbin, Chen Zhu, and Yin Aiguo attempt to bully Wang Canghai with classic bullying techniques, but Wang Canghai stops all of them. Wang Canghai apologizes to the class in case he did something wrong, and angers Song Wenbin.

-A girl said she noticed a figure with a white bandage leave the classroom, so Wang Canghai and Liu Fengmian conclude that Yin Aiguo must've done that.

-Liu Fengmian + Wang Canghai place the two letters in Yin Aiguo's bag through a friend and desk during the transitions between periods.

-During lunch, Wang Canghai asks Yin Aiguo if he got the letters and lies about the letter sender being his friend, to which he says yes. Yin Aiguo agrees to going.

-Liu Fengmian messages he will be there in 3 minutes afterschool. Wang Canghai hides behind a bush as Yin Aiguo and a random girl meet up, which he hadn't expected. Glasses suddenly shows up behind him.

-Glasses is actually Liang Shen with a shit hairstyle and tinted glasses. Liang Shen implies he knows about "3 minutes" and aggravates Wang Canghai, and tells the other to open his phone while threatening Liu Fengmian's safety. Wang Canghai refuses.

-Yin Aiguo interrupts them. Liang Shen tells him that Wang Canghai was a creep and he held the two letters written by Xu Qingling (the random girl) earlier that week which were meant for another dude (some guy called Jin Haoyang)

-Wang Canghai tells Yin Aiguo that it's Zhou Rong who falsified the letters, but at some point has to admit that he did hold the letters and set Yin Aiguo up as revenge. Also says he has video evidence, but turns out the video was deleted from his phone.

-Yin AIguo believes Wang Canghai, but Liang Shen laughs in response.

-Somewhere else, a guy called Wu Feihong (only appears in this scene) places a phone back into Liu Fengmian's pockets. He's in cahoots with Zhou Rong and Liang Shen

-Zhou Rong asks to see Liu Fengmian's camera, and deletes the video off it (but Liu Fengmian already copied to the files to his phone...um). He asks her why she hates Wang Canghai so much, and she tells him to ask Wang Canghai since he knows. Also threatens him.

-Liu Fengmian realizes he's late and runs towards where Wang Canghai is

-Meanwhile, Chen Zhu is watching Yin Aiguo from a tree. He sees Zhou Rong, they introduce each other, he goes to the ground. Zhou Rong attacks him.

-Song Wenbin is in detention. Falls on a ketchup packet on the ground (bc luck), looks like blood, supervisor tells him to go to the nurse and finish writing later. Instead he gets a text from Chen Zhu telling him not to go where he is through a code

-So of course, Song Wenbin decides to go.

Chapter 6:

-Wang Canghai and Liang Shen snark at each other. Liu Fengmian suddenly arrives after Yin Aiguo breaks his finger from Liang Shen's punch by from falling and kicks Liang Shen into a tree, though he retaliates by knocking the other out

-Song Wenbin also runs in, to the despair of his friends.

-Liang Shen propositions him to team up with him and take care of Wang Canghai, so he'd let Chen Zhu and Yin Aiguo go the rest of highschool without a hitch. Also mentions the setup.

-Song Wenbin asks why, Liang Shen just wants the top ling xiu spot. Song Wenbin decides to fight Wang Canghai, but not because of Liang Shen. Also wants to fight Liang Shen.

-Wang Canghai refuses to hit back at Song Wenbin because he doesn't want to fight on Liang Shen's terms. Liang Shen stomps on Liu Fengmian's arm.

-Wang Canghai gets angry enough to say he's going for top ling xiu, just to beat Liang Shen, and that he'll make him regret doing anything

-Song Wenbin tries to goad Wang Canghai into fighting him by yelling about his bullying attempt (admitting he is the one behind the operations). Wang Canghai continues slipping him because Song Wenbin is awful at fighting (and since he trained)

-A branch falls between Song Wenbin and Wang Canghai. The latter is suspicious that Song Wenbin is "special" in some way, especially based on Yang Guang's complaints about never catching Song Wenbin.

-Song Wenbin somehow trips and kicks Wang Canghai, and Chen Zhu says it's because he's lucky (from behind Zhou Rong).

-Wang Canghai makes a makeshift shield out of Yin Aiguo's bag. Song Wenbin gets around with wind, allowing it to fling dust/pebbles at Wang Canghai.

-Song Wenbin says he can't count on his friends. Wang Canghai says it's his fault. He tells Song Wenbin off about his selfish nature. The wind picks up.

-Song Wenbin asks his friends (who are behind Zhou Rong and Liang Shen) if he is actually a bad friend, and they both say they're done and want to stop. Song Wenbin is shocked with a fat reality check

-Wang Canghai finds out Song Wenbin wanted to fight him because he was grated by the fact that Wang Canghai was incredibly blunt and cold (which is weird to him), and also hated the fact that he interacted with his childhood friend, He Hualing (since he thought Wang Canghai would be a horrible influence on her since she's too kind)

-Song Wenbin decides to give Wang Canghai a golden badge with a "5" written on it, and says to take care of class five

-Liang Shen comes in and punches both of them, saying that he knows the weakness behind Song Wenbin's ultra-luck thing

Chapter 7

-Song Wenbin is surprised. Liang Shen throws a pencil and hits him again, but is distracted by the horde of magpies that suddenly attacks him (due to Song Wenbin's luck)

-Zhou Rong gives him a pouch filled with bread. Liang Shen throws it at the magpies

-Liu Fengmian stops pretending to be unconscious and holds back Zhou Rong as Yin Aiguo, Chen Zhu, and Song Wenbin run one way and Wang Canghai + Liu Fengmian run towards the front gate

-LFM + WCH ride a bike down to a ferris wheel near the ocean and WCH talks about how Zhou Rong didn't like him bc he didn't fit the social norm (basically weird kid)

-LFM is sorry about being knocked out in one hit by Liang Shen, and that he urged WCH to set YAG up, but WCH tells him not to worry about that

-WCH mentions that he is a flip flopper (in decision making) and is afraid of retribution from Liang Shen, but still wants to take revenge. Since his past methods didn't work he wants to start a new method this time

-LFM also wants to put his all into improving, since he's bad at turning theory into practicality. He asks about the badge

-WCH thinks it's proof of his status as ling xiu, which is a selection system (but for what, he doesn't know). LFM mentions that it has something to do with wishes being granted

-WCH thinks Song Wenbin's weakness for his luck was that he needed to expect harm coming to him or unfortunate situations. Because Liang Shen distracted him first, he was able to hit the other

-LFM also thinks the other girl (Xu Qingling) came because they swapped letters using a real person's letters, and the first one was faked.

-WCH asks LFM to check for the Zhou Rong and Liang Shen meeting recording. LFM is confused bc it isn't there, to which WCH believes another person is working with Liang Shen since the latter isn't a technical person

-LFM remembers feeling a heavy weight in his pocket while talking to Zhou Rong and a person with short black hair near the front door but doesn't remember who it is

-Also says he was talking to Zhou Rong bc she confronted him about spreading that video around to others in order to slander her image

-WCH nods at LFM and they start on their game plan

-Meanwhile Liang Shen is using a hose to keep away the magpies. He mentions never seeing these abilities in Xinan and that makes it interesting.

-Zhou Rong flashbacks to a previous meeting where Liang Shen berates her for her previous, obvious plan. She hints that he used to be a coward kid, but he replies that he would've bullied that kid now.

-Zhou Rong thinks about the fact she faked the letters since Xu Qingling's letters were heartfelt, but Jin Haoyang (guy being confessed to) did not even bother to give a reply.

-Liang Shen tells her to trust him since their plans build on adaptability not the foundation. She says she will and flicks bread on his shoulder so he's chased by the magpies again

-Meanwhile, Song Wenbin is hit by Yin Aiguo twice because he kept apologizing. Chen Zhu is pretty much silent as Yin Aiguo rips at Song Wenbin, but tells him that he's not such a bad person

-Friday arrives. Afterschool, Wang Canghai says he wants to meet the martial arts student Chen laoshi mentioned back in chapter 4.

ULTRA FAST SUMMARY:

Wang Canghai meets a bullied friend named Liu Fengmian, the school (Ying Yu) has a system of class leaders who are named ling xiu (9 classes in total for Year One), and Liang Shen is Wang Canghai's middle school bully/mortal enemy. His partner in crime is Zhou Rong, a short girl. Wang Canghai got bamboozled by fake confession letters Zhou Rong/Liang Shen set up, but wants revenge and aims for top school's ling xiu instead of being discouraged.

He also changed the mind of the previous class 5 ling xiu (his class), Song Wenbin (enemy —> tentative ally), who gave a golden badge to him (which says 5 on it. Who knows what it's for—rumor has it that it grants wishes). He's now class 5's ling xiu, and we keep the story going from there.

Also the class 5 teacher (Chen laoshi) is pretty chill with him. She is about to introduce a martial arts student to Wang Canghai.