Chapter 2. My First Day at School

    “Blech!” Bai Hu spewed out some blood clots, filling about half of the glass.

    “B…Bai Zhe, shall we go to the hospital?” Bai Lian Hua was shaking. Seeing that much blood come out of her son chilled her to the bone in an instant.

    “No, I’m all right. This might be some sort of bad blood. I feel better now. Look, all the bruises are healed.”

    He lifted his once-bruised arms and showed them to Bai Lian Hua. All of the bruises were gone.

    “How did that happen?” She grasped his arms and checked up and down the limbs, then undid his pyjamas to check the bruises on her son’s torso.

    Creak!

    “Honey, I’m home…” A thirty-something-year-old man paused after opening the door to see his wife hovering over their son. It looked like they were about to…

    “Thank goodness you’re back. Bai Zhe just threw up about half a glass of blood. Should we take him to the hospital?” she asked. Worry painted her face.

    Bai Hu looked at the man who walking toward him and took his pulse. This was Bai Zhe’s father, Bai Qing Yun. If it was not for him, the boy would not have grown up to be this nice.

    “Don’t worry. He will get better soon. He has no fever, so just some painkillers will do,” the man said before rubbing his son’s hair.

    “See, Mum? I’m really fine,” said Bai Hu.

    “Well, this father and son. You must finish this bowl. I will prepare your father some dinner.”

    “Yes, Mum.” Bai Hu finished his congee and took medicine. Then, he pretended to be asleep and continued to practice his qi.

    “Honey, stop! You will wake him.” Bai Lian Hua’s voice echoed from the kitchen.

“I’m stressed from work. Could you help me, honey?” said her husband.

    Then, the sound of their lovemaking began. Bai Hu thought that if they were not this poor, Bai Zhe would have had dozens of siblings.

    After the parents went to sleep, Bai Hu got up and sat cross-legged in order to use his qi to clean out all the dirtiness in his body.

    Black liquid came out of the pores all over his body. Then, his skin started to peel off, revealing much brighter skin. All the blemishes, freckles, pimples, acne scars, and wounds magically disappeared.

    “Finally, all done,” said Bai Hu. He used his qi to clean the filth all along his body, his clothes, and his bed, until everything was clean.

    ‘I might as well continue practicing. I need to do something about these pathetic looks,’ he thought.

    Normally, people gained weight by eating and gained muscles by exercising and consuming all the needed nutrients. But in Da Xian, qi could be used for all of this.

    Bai Hu hurriedly sent his qi to heal Bai Zhe's body, because he had to go to school the next day. If the body was still weak, he would not be able to fully use his martial arts potential to fight back.

    The next day

    Bai Hu quit his qi practice at 5 a.m. then he organized his books for school in accordance with Bai Zhe’s memories. While he was taking a shower, he heard someone open the door; he guessed it was Bai Lian Hua, coming out to prepare breakfast.

    “Mum, I’m done. Do you want me to wake Dad up?” he asked after he finished showering and setting up the table for breakfast, Bai Zhe’s normal routine. Bai Hu was wearing an undershirt and navy pants, so he could prevent his shirt from getting dirty. He only had 2 sets of school uniforms.

    “Don’t bother. He used a lot of his energy yesterday and does not have to work until the afternoon. Let’s eat,” she answered, then placed boiled rice and stir-fried morning glory on the table.

    “All right.” Bai Hu looked at the food in front of him. He was still lucky that today he had boiled rice and stir-fried vegetable. Sometimes, when money was tight, Bai Zhe had to eat boiled rice and boiled rocks with salt.

    The breakfast took him just 10 minutes. As he was going to put his shirt on, he noticed a lot of stains on the fabric.

    ‘Is this a white shirt? Its colour is practically the same as a mop that has been stuffed in the corner of a room for ages,’ he said derisively in his mind.

    “Should I buy you a new one? You have been wearing this since the first year of high school.” Bai Lian Hua noticed that her son had been looking at the shirt for a long time. She thought he must have been teased because of it. The shirt that he had worn yesterday was ruined. If it was to be used again, it must be fixed this evening.

    “No, it's fine. I know how to make it white again. You keep your money, Mum,” answered Bai Hu, taking his old, heavily mended schoolbag and leaving the Bai family’s apartment.

    As it was very early in the morning and there were not many people, Bai Hu controlled his qi and directed it down to his feet. Then, he jumped up to the roofs and rooftops and headed toward the school. Bai Zhe’s body was much recovered and had enough muscle to protect itself.

    ‘I got caught up with the qi practicing. I haven’t done my homework and there are a lot of things that I did not understand. I might need to do them all at school,’ he thought to himself. When he spotted the school, Bai Hu jumped down into a dark alley not far from it.

    He used his qi to clean all dirt all over his clothes, bag, and shoes before using the qi character ‘restore’ to make the fabric of his bag and clothes look new again. He even used a pair of scissors to cut Bai Zhe’s hair to make it look more fashionable.

    ‘Done. He’s already handsome. It was just hidden by the messy hair and dirty old clothes.’ Bai Hu checked everything for the last time before exiting the alley.

    He arrived at Bai Zhe’s school. There were not many students at this time, so he swiftly found a place to sit and started to read.

    He focused on the Rune language; it was a universal language for this world. Bai Hu studied it by reading a dictionary. He was an experienced martial artist, so he remembered anything and everything that passed his eyes and never forgot it. People in this world called this technique of memorizing having an ‘eidetic memory’.

    He then did his homework. Even though he was struggling with the new knowledge, he finished it all at 7 a.m.

    “Who’s that? He’s gorgeous,” a girl asked her friend.

    “Wow. Does our school have someone this handsome? Why have I never seen him in our school website’s cute boy poll?” said the other girl while a group of boys walked toward Bai Hu.

    “Oh, what’s this? Isn’t this the Pauper Bai? New clothes. New bag, too. Who donated these things to you? Does your skin look brighter?” A familiar voice rang. It was the voice that was much too familiar to Bai Zhe because its owner was the person who had caused his death.

    “Say whatever you want. But if you dare lay your hands on me again, I promise I will not let it slide like yesterday, Yi Han,” said Bai Hu. He did not want to cause a scene with Yi Han, because there were not many people at school at this time. He wanted Yi Han to be embarrassed because he had been defeated by Bai Zhe.

    “What are you going to do?” Yi Han went straight to Bai Zhe. But...

    “Good morning, teacher. You came to school early.” Bai Hu bowed, pretending that there was a teacher behind Yi Han. All of his crew turned around.

    ‘I better go.’ Bai Hu ran from that spot. It was witnessed by all the students who were around.

    “There’s no one there. Damn, he played us. Bastard.” After turning around to see that no one was behind him, Yi Han realized that Bai Hu had fooled him. He also saw large letters written on the floor where Bai Zhe had been standing, ‘Yi Han is an idiot’.

    After he fled, Bai Hu climbed a wall that was hidden from sight to the rooftop of the building. He then started practicing easy martial arts so he could get used to this body.

    ‘From now on, I am Bai Zhe. I am a student who dreams of being a superstar to take care of my parents.’ Bai Hu decided to abandon his old name and adopt the name ‘Bai Zhe’.

    When it was near the time that classes started, he walked down the stairs to his classroom. Female students looked at him and tried to figure out who he was.

    Creak.

    The sound of the door opening preceded Bai Zhe walking into the classroom. All the chatting and talking stopped, and things went quiet. Every eye was on the boy who had just entered. They tried to find out who he was because they had never seen the good-looking boy. He looked familiar yet, they could not seem to recognize him.

    “Bai Zhe, you old dog. You finally came?” Yi Han and his friends shouted from the back of the classroom, then walked toward Bai Zhe.

    When Yi Han mentioned Bai Zhe’s name, everyone was in shock. They had to carefully look at the boy again to realize that it was really Bai Zhe. But today he was not the skinny, long-faced Bai Zhe of previous times; he looked relaxed, which made anyone who laid their eyes on him feel calm.

    Bai Zhe drew a qi character on a desk near him before dragging it over to block Yi Han. And of course, when the boy saw Bai Zhe’s reaction, he lifted the desk, trying to throw it aside.

    But…

    “Ouch!” screamed Yi Han when he touched the desk. The pain that ran throughout his body was like thousands of bees had stung him.

    “What are you playing at, Young Master Yi?” Bai Zhe tried not to show his smile and asked the boy this with a curious expression.

    “You! You…OUCH! What are you looking at? Call an ambulance! It…it hurts. Ouch!”

    Yi Han shouted at his friends in the back. He then writhed on the floor and screamed because of the pain. Everybody turned pale except Bai Hu, who did not show any emotion.

    What Yi Han encountered was a qi character that cursed people to feel like they had been stung by bees all over their bodies. The curse would not be broken until the qi power in the character had gone out. Bai Zhe had just started practicing his qi yesterday, so he did not have much power. The curse would be broken in six hours.

    “Shall we get the teachers?” Bai Zhe asked the head girl. She suddenly came to her senses and went out to tell the teachers immediately.

    The school went crazy after that. Yi Han was taken to the hospital by ambulance. Bai Zhe did not feel anything. He went to his seat and read his book without any concern for Yi Han. His classmates looked at him like he was a stranger. Normally, he would be shaking when he saw Yi Han, not acting as calmly as a well-educated scholar like this.

    Bang!

    “What have you done to Yi Han?” One of Yi Han’s friends banged on Bai Zhe’s desk, making everyone turn to look at them.

    “I was just blocking him with the desk so he couldn’t hurt me. Did you see me do anything?” answered Bai Zhe.

    “Then why did he fall screaming to the floor like that?” the friend shouted.

    “I don’t know. Maybe he was just trying to skip class and sleep at the hospital. What about you? Do you want to go to the hospital?” said Bai Zhe. He stared at the boy and released a small amount of his deadly psychic power.

    Drip…drip…drip…

    Smash!

    The first sound was the sound of the boy's urine dripping onto the floor. The second was him collapsing.

    “Do you smell something?” the girl who sat near Bai Zhe asked her friend.

    “Seems like he pooped, didn’t he?” said Bai Zhe, using his fingers to squeeze his nose shut. He looked at the boy who had fallen to the floor with disgust. He did the same thing that these guys had done to him.

    “Black magic! He’s a black magic practitioner!” Another boy from the group pointed at Bai Zhe.

    “If I am, I will take care of you as well. Who knows? Maybe this guy is on some drugs.” He gave an angelic smile. It made all the girls’ faces red; they even had to look down.

    Yi Han’s crew went quiet. Chills ran down their spines when they heard Bai Zhe mention drugs and looked at them like he knew something.

    Yi Han had used his dad’s position to smuggle out the drugs, which had been seized as evidence, for them to use. They did not know how Bai Zhe knew this because Bai Zhe always tried to avoid them as much as possible. Bai Zhe would never even set foot near where they hung out.

    The reason why Bai Zhe knew this was that he could smell something strange from these boys, and he could sense that their organs were destroyed by these strange things. When compared to the memories of this body, he guessed that it must be drugs. He was sure after he saw their faces after he had mentioned this.

    “Did they do drugs?” The girls started chattering.

    “That’s the reason why they bullied Bai Zhe. Because he knows their secret,” said another girl.

    “Head girl, we should tell the teachers and run drug tests on them. They should go to rehab. What if one day they go crazy? They could hurt us,” a girl at the front told the head girl.

    That morning ended up with Yi Han going to the hospital and his crew having to take drug tests and getting suspended so they could be sent to rehab. The group that made Bai Zhe’s life at school hell was gone.

    After this mess, the class started. The first class was mathematics, which the original Bai Zhe hated. This was because the teacher usually called on him to solve problems or asked him questions.

    ‘Bai Zhe might not realize that this teacher is trying to help him. This subject needs to be practiced a lot in order to be able to do it well,’ He thought.

    Creak.

    The door was open, and a middle-aged man with a lean body walked in. The head girl told everyone to stand up. Bai Hu just did what the memories in this body told him to.

    “Good morning.” The head girl bowed, and the others followed.

    “Sit down.” The teacher allowed them to sit.

    Bai Zhe searched for the teacher’s name in his memories. His name was Yun Hai. From memory, the teacher had never shouted at the boy who was the owner of this body, who had not been very good at studying. In fact, he had tried to help the boy as much as possible.

    “Bai Zhe, please come out and show the answers to all of yesterday's homework to the class,” the teacher said.

    “Sir, why does it have to be him? We will have to go over the answers all over again. It’s just a waste of time,” a boy in the front claimed. He was a nerd with a big ego and did not like Bai Zhe, who sat in the back.

    “He’s not good, but he can improve,” Yun Hai told the boy, making him fall silent.

    Bai Zhe walked to the front. He did not even bring his notebook, because he could remember it all. The same boy chuckled and gave him the side-eye.

    But everything had changed. He answered every problem correctly, making every jaw drop, even Yun Hai’s.

    “Did I get it?” Bai Zhe asked the teacher after he finished all of the problems.

    Yun Hai looked at the blackboard and carefully checked each of the answers. When he found that each was correct, he gently patted Bai Zhe's shoulder and gave him encouragement.

    “You did great. You finally got it all. Keep up with your hard work,” he praised him. Yun Hai knew that to be able to answer all of the problems correctly, it would have taken Bai Zhe, who was not good at mathematics, much more effort than others.

    “Thank you. I understand that you called on me frequently so I could do better, right?” he asked.

    “Yes. It’s great that you understand. Now, take your seat,” answered the teacher.

    “Yes, sir,” Bai Zhe said before going to his seat.

    Yun Hai started to explain each of the problems and taught the next chapter. He frequently looked at Bai Zhe, who appeared brighter than before. Every time he asked the class whether they understood him, he would look at Bai Zhe. When he saw the boy nod, he continued teaching.

    Bai Hu went to the library after school. He booked a computer, put on headphones, and searched for video clips teaching foreign languages. He read a foreign language textbook while he was listening to the pronunciation of things.

    He finally switched off everything and left the library when the clock reached 5 p.m., in order to go home because he had a sewing doll job waiting for him.

    ‘I was busy healing my body and preparing for qi practice yesterday. I totally forgot that I have a sewing doll job. It has to be done by tomorrow. Better take care of it now,’

    He thought to himself and walked toward the same alley that he had used in the morning. Then, he jumped up to the roof and advanced from house to house toward his home.