Chapter 58.1
Face-Slapping the Interstellar General and His Ger (2.1)
Editor: ghost
After it spread within the school that Zhou Xu was a Di-er, people started gossiping. Zhou Xu felt that they were children, so he paid no heed to them. However, Ding Zhaolin argued with this bunch right before class started.
They threw a few sentences back and forth before the teacher arrived. Since Ding Zhaolin was always a model student, the teacher naturally let him explain what happened.
As a result, the teacher sent the gossiping bunch out of class to stand as punishment.
Zhou Xu found it funny. This group of people have been talking bad about him for so long, but Ding Zhaolin had never uttered a word. Only when class was about to start did he retort back at them. Why did he do this?
It was because they could not have started a physical fight with such a short time before the teacher arrived. Ding Zhaolin definitely was not one of the people who were throwing insults around, hence he could kill three birds with one stone: one, winning a good impression with the teacher, two, winning a good impression from Zhou Xu and the other Di-er, and three, winning a good impression on the students who had some sense of justice.
After Ding Zhaolin came forward, the only person who would be harmed was Zhou Xu. Those bullies would not dare antagonise the teacher’s favourite, Ding Zhaolin, so they would definitely target Zhou Xu instead.
Of course, without Ding Zhaolin, they might have only bullied Zhou Xu. However, thanks to Ding Zhaolin’s involvement, the first day they knew that Zhou Xu was a Di-er, they surrounded him, wanting to teach him a lesson.
However, Zhou Xu did not need to spill his whole analysis. He only needed to roughly talk about the follow up to the matter and blur the details; his father and baba would pin the blame on Ding Zhaolin.
Zhou Xu put down his knife and fork, somewhat embarrassed as he spoke, “Father, Baba, today I was walking with Zhaolin when we were suddenly surrounded. I was a bit scared and held onto Zhaolin’s hand , but Zhaolin left. He said he went to call people over, but I know that because I’m a Di-er, they would have definitely waited until Zhaolin had gone before bullying me. No matter what I said, Zhaolin refused to stay. Ai, I really never thought that Zhaolin would abandon me.”
Ding Zhaolin heard this and panicked. He immediately started explaining himself, “I really went to find people, Xiao Xu.”
“Right, you threw me aside to go find people. Even after we finished fighting, you still had not found anyone. I don’t know who on earth you were looking for that took so much time.”
“Xiao Xu, if you say it that way, Ik2026;.”
“Sorry, Zhaolin. I was really a bit disappointed today. The moment you abandoned me, I felt that I was wrong about you. But don’t worry, we will still be friends.”
Zhou Xu showed his lenient and magnanimous side. Although he took Ding Zhaolin’s betrayal to heart, he still decided to forgive him. In his parents’ eyes, this was a model child. Looking at Ding Zhaolin in contrast, they never thought that the neighbour’s child that they trusted would be this kind of person.
Zhou Xu’s father asked Zhou Xu, “Xiao Xu, you’re okay, right? Did they do anything to you?”
Zhou Xu wanted to give a cold snort, but remembered that he was currently only twelve years old. So he smiled shyly and said while raising his fist, “Don’t worry, Father. My fist isn’t for nothing.”
Zhou Xu’s father and baba turned to look at Ding Zhaolin, “Zhaolin, you just abandoned Xiao Xu like that? You said that you would protect Xiao Xu, but it seems like you don’t need to anymore. Our Xiao Xu can protect himself.”
“Correct. You said you went to find people, but when you finally came over, if it wasn’t for Xiao Xu protecting himself well, he would have already been beaten up. Zhaolin, is this what you meant when you told us that you would protect him?”
Zhou Jing smiled and said, “Sorry, but we are having our meal now. Xiao Ding, if you aren’t eating then don’t bother us. Bye.”
Ding Zhaolin was so embarrassed his face turned red. He did not quite understand; although Zhou Xu’s temper was not too good in the past, he was very easy to trick and fool. Why does it seem like he had changed so suddenly?
Ding Zhaolin looked at Zhou Xu with uncertainty. He hesitated before saying, “Xiao Xu, I feel like you have misunderstood me. I didn’t…”
Zhou Jing slammed her chopsticks onto the table. The loud “pa!” sound made Ding Zhaolin jump in shock.
“Xiao Ding, we are eating our meal!” Zhou Jing’s meaning was they were letting Ding Zhaolin leave while they were eating, otherwise they would not be polite anymore. How could Ding Zhaolin not understand this? He gritted his teeth and turned to leave.
Ding Zhaolin’s family was ordinary. His father held a position in the logistics department, but retired early due to his health. Ding Zhaolin’s mother was a woman and only had him. Ding Zhaolin was the hope of the family; if he could marry a rich and powerful soldier, his family would have a change in fortunes.
However, Ding Zhaolin did not know many soldiers. The only one that he took notice of was Zhou Xu’s second brother, Zhou Bin, but Ding Zhaolin was very clear that Zhou Bin had never had that kind of intention towards him.
The reason why he took care of Zhou Xu so much was because he wanted to get close to Zhou Bin, but this time he realised that in fact, Zhou Xu’s family never took a fancy to him. Even Zhou Xu, a Di-er, seemed so too.
Clenching his fist, Ding Zhaolin walked back to his house. There were many things he could not do anything about. He was only older than Zhou Xu by a few months, still a twelve years old child. No matter how much smarter or scheming he was, he could be no more than a scheming child.
In his room, Zhou Xu calculated that he only had six years before he turned 18. In these six years, he needed to first train his body well. In addition, he hoped that he could grow as much as possible in height. He did not want to be helpless when he left his family.
In the original world, Zhou Xu was a piano teacher before he died and could sustain himself. However, between the ages of 12 and 18, his personality was grinded down due to being in a situation where Di-ers had no status. Deep in his heart, he thought very lowly of himself as well. This extreme inferiority was a key factor in the change of his personality.
However, this body was now in Zhou Xu’s hands. The original host liked the piano, hence Zhou Xu would let him become an expert in playing the piano. The original host longed for approval and acknowledgement, so Zhou Xu will make the world recognise that Di-ers can achieve success. Zhou Xu was certain that he could do it.
However, there was still one problem. What about his lover?
Forget it. Zhou Xu decided to not think about this now. His lover had already chased him through five worlds already; it was impossible that he would not be in this sixth world.
In the six years, Zhou Xu borrowed knowledge from the hundred worlds he had transmigrated to and tempered his body. At 18 years old, he had unexpectedly grown to 1.73m.
This height was not considered tall but amongst a group of Gers and Di-ers, the difference was like a crane standing among chickens.
The day he turned 18, Zhou Xu officially left the house. As a Di-er, he had no qualifications to go to the imperial military academy but he had a natural gift for the piano. A few music establishments wanted to take him in but they were all rejected by Zhou Xu.
It was precisely because Zhou Xu still wanted to enter the military camp. This deviated from his initial plan.
At first, he hoped that the original host could live a more brilliant life with his passion for the piano. However, after Zhou Xu came to understand and be familiar with the empire, he realised he still wanted to enter the army, just like in his reality where he was a soldier.
Others would not understand but those who had truly entered the army before would always have some feelings towards military camps.
Zhou Xu left his parents. He covered his blue mole using a skin-coloured plaster. He entered the military barracks using the identity of a man.
Since Zhou Xu did not enter the army through the regular army academy, he could only start from where the logistics department decided to place him. After a month of observation and communication, Zhou Xu finally became a soldier of the cookhouse squad.
The cookhouse squad, to put it simply, cooked meals.
This world’s cookhouse squad and the one in Zhou Xu’s reality was different. It was not as tiring because they only needed to help cook once a day and the next group of people would cook the next meal.
Hence, Zhou Xu was quite free. In his spare time, he would go to the dining hall since there was an old piano in the corner of the hall.
The piano was almost just an ornament. At the beginning, the piano was put in the dining hall so that the soldiers could play in after their meal as a pastime. However, after a period of time, the number of people who went to play was very few and in the end, it unexpectedly became just an ornament. It was a pity that the army had spent a pretty penny on this piano.
Zhou Xu went to take a look not because he wanted to play the piano in front of the crowd. This piano had not been used in a long time hence it aged and the sound it produced was inaccurate. The logistics department decided to sell it away at a low price so that it would not obstruct seats in the dining hall.