Nine Star Burden

Chapter 46: Liu Bufan

The bright lights were all switched on in the school field.

The children were really pitiful and the conditions in school were superb. The lights were so bright that it looked just like daytime and it was unfortunate that they still had to train, even at night.

“Look, there’s another handsome boy,” said a girl that was kneeling on her companion’s feet, in a square formation in the Northwest corner of the field.

Her companion sat up and asked softly, “Where? Where? Where?”

“Right behind you. Coach is talking to him, it’s a great chance,” the girl whispered.

The girl who was doing sit-ups frantically looked into the distance.

A middle-aged man and a boy were talking to the coach in front of the square formation.

“Did the last powerhouse of Class No. 2 finally return?” The boys were similarly doing sit-ups behind the girls. The students began to discuss amongst themselves.

“Hey, fatty, you finally have a companion,” said a short-haired girl who turned around and smiled adorably. She stared at her male classmate who was doing sit-ups painstakingly.

“Ah.” The boy who was nicknamed “Fatty” was not actually fat, and most people would consider him to be of average size.

However, to some of the Awakened, he was indeed a “Fatty”.

Everyone knew that the total amount of Star Power was related to an Awakened’s physical strength. Hence, the Awakened were all crazy about exercising to improve their physical fitness.

This bunch of kids who were full of dreams was either skinny as bones or as fit as a fiddle.

Fatty was one of the few people in the class who had a “poor figure”. Apart from him, there were three other “Fatties” nicknamed Fatty No. 2, Fatty No. 3, and Fatty No. 4 respectively.

In this cohort, there were a total of 16 ordinary classes and 8 Awakened classes.

Jiangbin High School managed to recruit so many Awakened students because of its fame and reputation. Most small schools would only have one or two Awakened classes.

Moreover, unlike the ordinary classes which usually consisted of about 40 or 50 people, in the Awakened classes there were only 24 people in each class.

The Awakened students were allocated to classes according to their individual scores in cultural subjects and their Star Maps. Of course, the scores in cultural subjects only accounted for 30% of the total score.

Class 1 was known to be a special class of prodigies. They were selected during the circumstances of the proportion of the scores in cultural subjects being smaller compared to the total score. In other words, they were basically the elites with the best qualifications in this cohort.

The students in Class 2, which Jiang Xiao was allocated to, did not have top qualifications but were not weak either.

Ever since the military training began more than ten days ago, there were consistently 23 people in Class 2, and no one was transferred over from Class 3.

The students all gossiped in private and speculated about which big shot the school had left a vacant spot for. Although Class 2 was inferior to Class 1, the results of the students in Class 2 were still much better than the six other classes.

In fact, apart from the curious students in Class 2, the students of the seven other classes were also waiting to see the mysterious figure.

They really wanted to see how incredible he was.

Finally, the long-awaited mysterious schoolmate had arrived!

They realized that he also had two eyes, one mouth, two arms, two legs and was tall and thin. He had a harmless appearance. He didn’t seem as fierce or menacing as the rumors made him out to be.

Fatty painstakingly tried to do a sit-up and stopped, leaning back. Instead, he arched his legs, put his hands on his knees, and looked at the figure in the distance. “Hehe, Liu Ke, I know what you’re thinking.”

“Aren’t you our informant? You’ve got such a glib tongue.” The short-haired girl smiled adorably and stuck three fingers up at Fatty.

“Huh?” asked Fatty.

Liu Ke answered, “I want all information about him in three minutes!”

“How can I do it in three minutes? I’ll give you everything you need to know at the end of the night training session.” Fatty smiled confidently.

“I knew you were the best!” Liu Ke exclaimed in a soft and melodious voice.

All pleased and appeased, Fatty’s smile turned a little lecherous. He hinted. “I can’t work for nothing, though.”

“What do you mean?” Liu Ke kept her large and cute eyes, occasionally blinking and making Fatty’s heart melt.

“Give me your WeChat account.” Fatty rubbed his hands smilingly.

“Alright, then.” Liu Ke nodded reluctantly and continued, “But you have to give me his WeChat account first.”

“Sure!” Fatty patted his chest and exclaimed loudly.

From afar, Jiang Xiao stared at the coach in front of him and thought, What a small world.

The coach was none other than Lei Jin, who used to be Jiang Xiao’s personal trainer!

Ten days ago, Jiang Xiao thought that Lei Jin was too obsessed with getting barbecued skewers to the point of forgetting to bid them goodbye and scurrying out of Xia Yan’s home immediately.

He did not expect that Lei Jin was there to be the coach for the freshmen.

How cash-strapped is this guy? He’s actually taking up jobs everywhere?

Jiang Xiao also learned about Lei Jin’s abilities and found that he was a professional combat sparring partner. However, he did not expect Lei Jin to be so professional to the extent of being hired as the coach for Class 2.

But then again, isn’t this a military training?

Where’s the commander?

“Have you crawled out of the snowfield? When Xia Yan told me about it, I was a little worried about you,” Lei Jin said with a smile.

Feeling stunned, Mr. Gao stood by the side and looked at Lei Jin before wondering, Does this elite coach know Jiang Xiao?

“Ah, yes, I did. Thank you for your concern,” Jiang Xiao said gratefully. The two men had developed a great friendship after spending seven full days together.

Of course, Lei Jin was a sparring partner while Jiang Xiao was just getting hit like a punching bag.

Let’s think about that sentence.

Okay.

This is really miserable.

“It’s nothing. I was worried when she told me, but I forgot about it later and went to get some barbecued skewers,” said Lei Jin.

Jiang Xiao was speechless.

Lei Jin scanned Jiang Xiao from head to toe and especially looked at Jiang Xiao’s eye before saying, “Yeah, you do seem rather energetic. After all, the snowfield is rather dangerous. Seems like you spent your energy on the right thing.”

Jiang Xiao asked, “Huh?”

“Besides, the snowfield is so cold. It probably wasn’t easy for you to get about.” Lei Jin patted Jiang Xiao on the shoulder and continued, “Although Earth is safe, you must persist on and control yourself. You’re still young, don’t ruin your body.”

Jiang Xiao was dumbfounded.

“Are you going to live in school or go home?” Lei Jin probed, appearing dumbfounded.

“School. It’s much more convenient. It saves me the hassle of traveling to and fro Road 102 every day,” Jiang Xiao answered.

“Are all your daily necessities and supplies enough? I noticed that you’re here late. If you haven’t bought any, you may stay over at my place tonight,” Lei Jin said graciously.

Jiang Xiao refuted. “I’ve already gotten sick of sleeping with you. Your snores, I...”

Mr. Gao had no choice but to cough to highlight his presence.

“Ah, Mr. Gao, my apologies, I tend to get carried away when I start chatting. This kid used to be my student, but he went to the snowfield to train some time ago. I was really worried that he wouldn’t be able to make it back out.” Lei Jin smiled and patted Jiang Xiao on the back. “Go back to your team.”

Jiang Xiao walked towards the green patch, clad in a white short-sleeved shirt and black shorts.

The 23 students were divided into four rows, with 6 people in each row. Jiang Xiao naturally walked to the last empty space in the last row.

When Jiang Xiao was about to find an opportunity to blend in with the team, one of the male students in the front row turned around. He had a well-proportioned figure, thick eyebrows and large eyes that made him look rather manly.

It was Fatty.

Fatty smiled and said with a heavy Liaodong accent, “Hey, Classmate, my name is Liu Bufan. ‘Bu’ of ‘Jin Bu’ (‘Progress’ in Mandarin) and Fan of ‘Ping Fan’ (‘Ordinary’ in Mandarin). I’m the correspondent of our class.”

In the three Northern provinces, the ones that were closer to the North spoke dialects that were closer to Mandarin.

If the Beijiang dialect was considered close to Mandarin, the Liaodong dialect would be considered a purer dialect.

Of course, no matter how close the Beijiang dialect was to Mandarin, there were various local slang and vocabulary that were distinct and unique to the three Northern provinces.

To Jiang Xiao’s surprise, one of the classmates beside him made a sarcastic remark before he could even say anything. “Hah, correspondent.”

There was a scar on the boy’s lips and he seemed to be a fierce person.

He seemed very disdainful about the term “Correspondent” and turned around to look at Fatty Liu before gibing. “Everyone in the school knows that you’re a correspondent in Class 2. Hah, Liu Bufan, I agree that you’re ordinary, but you don’t seem to be progressing, eh?”

Liu Bufan’s smile was slightly stiff, but he continued to smile and said, “It’s fine if you think I’m disapproving. Well, taking a step back and making compromises makes the world a better place. Haha.”

The male student was stunned for a few seconds but then humphed coldly before turning around.

Jiang Xiao stared at Liu Bufan in shock and wondered, Do children mature so quickly nowadays?

Did a high school student just say that?

He actually has such a high EQ?

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