Li Sheng's elementary school is not too far from Ah Mei's restaurant, a 15-16 minute walk. Chen Ergou has gotten into the habit of buying the cheapest newspaper every morning and evening, reading it but not throwing it away, cutting out interesting information and pasting it in a notebook. Because she was coming to SH, Chen Ergou also started collecting relevant information about SH. Boss Ah Mei is a native of Shanghai's Upper Corner, and when talking about Shanghai, she speaks at length with disdain for outsiders as well as residents of Shanghai's Lower Corner. Chen Ergou doesn't know what the basis of this arrogance is. When Old Man Sun talks about Shanghai, he is much more objective and fair-minded. Chen Ergou often hears some very high-sounding yet abstract terms and evaluations from the old man's mouth, which she knows are called "high-level insights" - not something that can be accumulated by reading two small newspapers every day. The old man also takes out books like "Basic Knowledge of Shanghai" from a wooden box and lends them to Chen Ergou, saying he doesn't need to return them.

  For more than half a year, Chen Ergou has been picking up and dropping off Li Sheng without fail, and as a result, he has become a somewhat well-known figure in this elementary school. Among the many ajummas or elderly people, it's hard to stand out, and since Li Sheng often makes Chen Ergou do some dirty work like wiping his butt or cleaning up after him, even the beautiful teacher of Wang Ba's class has figured out Chen Ergou's true nature. It's worth noting that this teacher is widely recognized as a beauty in the school, but unfortunately, her fiancé is said to be the son of the deputy director of the municipal education commission. Even the 60- or 70-year-old principal has to put on a smile when he sees her. Chen Ergou, an outsider and a country bumpkin, naturally doesn't have the nerve to flirt with someone like this.

  Chen Ergou flipped through the newspaper several times, still waiting for Li Sheng. He guessed that this guy was probably in the corner of the school's woods, fighting with a senior student to solve some problem or other. The problems were varied and numerous - maybe it was over the right to protect some cute girl, or maybe it was just because someone looked at him wrong and they decided to have a fight. Chen Ergou familiarly made his way through the playground to the secluded woods behind the teaching building, and sure enough, he found Li Sheng's weak and almost tiny figure.

  Li Sheng gives the impression of being bold and energetic, but in reality, his body is not strong and he doesn't have an advantage among his peers. However, he has clearly inherited the boss's wife's unreasonable stubbornness and lack of weakness like his father's hidden timidness. He has a sense of superiority deep down, thinking he's above others just because he's from a good family background. This little brat is always causing trouble, picking fights with everyone, so every week he spends two days fighting, two days writing apologies, two days writing love letters, and the last day getting scolded by his father when he goes home. His grades are always at the bottom, the boss's wife spoils him like a little emperor, the boss has no say in anything, the beautiful teacher has been driven to tears several times, nobody knows what to do with him, and it seems that only Chen Er Gou, an outsider, can talk some sense into him.

  Chen Ergou didn't rush to intervene, leaning against a tree to watch the commotion. Li Sheng was surrounded by a group of older boys in the middle, pushing and shoving each other. The outnumbered and outmatched Li Sheng was a head shorter than the crowd, but had a stubborn face. In the adult world, this kind of stubbornness without self-awareness is fatal. Here, it won't be fatal, but it will definitely earn him a good beating. Watching Li Sheng's extremely arrogant curses and shouts, he even kicked out a few times when being pushed around by the crowd. Chen Ergou simply squatted under the tree to watch the excitement, gloating to himself: "You're more like your old man than I am."

  When Chen Ergou and those JX guys were fighting, Li Sheng was squatting around watching the show. It's really true that enemies don't gather together by chance. Chen Ergou saw Li Sheng escaping and punching in the woods, and he thought of the scenes where he fought side by side with Fugui a few years ago. That was what you call enjoyable, his mouth involuntarily curled up into a big smile. Seeing the angry little kid actually starting to fight head-on with a tall student, Chen Ergou shook his head and muttered: "Li Sheng, you little fool, your body is like a bamboo pole, playing at fighting head-on, if you really want to play, don't do it now, learn from me, come up and knock one down with a brick, see who dares to mess with you next."

  Li Sheng finally saw Chen Ergou's despicable figure and shouted: "You rascal, aren't you coming to help!"

  Chen Ergou said shamelessly: "Get lost, go enjoy the cool breeze somewhere else, I'm busy."

  Li Sheng cursed while running: "Damn you, after I deal with this group of turtles, see how my mother will clean up your mess when I get home. And for the rest of your life, don't even think about hitting on my sister, I'll tell her that you have a venereal disease!"

  Chen Ergou spat and said indifferently: "Go ahead and talk, I'm just in charge of collecting the bodies."

  Those senior students who were running out of breath saw Li Sheng still having the energy to scold people, and they were furious, wishing they could bury this ignorant little rascal alive.

  Chen Ergou suddenly turned his head and saw a woman standing not far away, staring blankly. She looked 26 or 27 years old, soft and weak like a water-soaked white radish, dressed in professional attire - a suit, white shirt, high heels, with a very refined posture. A pair of delicate glasses perched on the bridge of her nose, exuding intelligence and elegance. Her height was considered tall in the south, but her proportions were perfect, and she had a beautiful face that Chen Ergou couldn't find fault with. In his world, only the enchanting seductress from the archery team could be mentioned in the same breath as her.

  Wealth and honor can be obtained by marrying such a wife.

  This was Chen Ergou's first thought, and then he started counting his money. Such a beauty, let alone 20,000, would she be willing to go to Zhangjiacun, a place where birds don't even shit, to become a farmer for 200,000? Chen Ergou's greatest wish since leaving Zhangjiacun was to make money to marry a rich and noble wife. Secondly, he wanted to see the world. Let alone marrying her, just supporting such a woman would cost a lot of money. Chen Ergou was a bit dazed, feeling that being a kitchen helper was not a long-term plan. On this side, Chen Ergou was busy calculating, while the stunned beauty felt increasingly strange. In her world, where had she ever seen an adult interact with children like this? When she heard the sentence "I only collect corpses", she almost got scared to death.

  "Teacher Guan is coming, withdraw!"

  A group of students inadvertently caught a glimpse of the beauty's figure, and immediately scattered. Li Sheng, who was originally busy sweeping away thousands of troops with a single branch, finally discovered the one person he least wanted to see. He dropped the branch and prepared to slip away, but she called out: "Li Sheng, stop right there!"

  Li Sheng was nowhere to be seen, running even more happily, as agile as the divine general Tao from Water Margin, disappearing from Chen Er Gou and her line of sight in the blink of an eye, leaving behind a pair of awkward men.

  "Class monitor?" Chen Ergou asked tentatively.

  The young beauty nodded, perhaps because she hadn't established her authority as a teacher in front of Chen Ergou, and felt a bit uncertain. Moreover, Chen Ergou's neurotic words and actions made her feel that it was impossible to fathom him according to common logic. The unknown always makes humans curious, and then fearful. Therefore, the not-so-tall-or-intimidating Chen Ergou unexpectedly made this beautiful teacher dare not underestimate him. Of course, she also felt some tension. In the quiet, dark forest, with a single man and woman together, facing a Northeastern man whose words and actions were not very normal, she felt uneasy all over, always thinking that this guy's every smile and frown had deep meaning.

  Chen Ergou didn't know that this beautiful city girl who didn't dare to reach high had fallen into an inescapable strange circle, and suddenly stood up.

  She was startled and subconsciously took a step back, but unfortunately, she probably bumped into an obstacle, stumbled, and fell backwards.

  Chen Ergou stood still in his original position, unmoved.

  She was so angry that she bit her lip tightly and glared fiercely at this temperamental and ungentlemanly man, fortunately the grass behind her was soft and she didn't get hurt.

  Chen Ergou smiled calmly with a hint of embarrassment: "If I rushed over and hugged you, you might think I had planned it in advance, and without saying another word, you'd slap me and run out. I wouldn't even have the chance to explain myself. That way, you would feel insulted, and I would be wronged. Both of us would be embarrassed, and from then on, you would inevitably look at Li Sheng with colored glasses."

  She wanted to speak but hesitated, wanting to refute it, but found that upon careful consideration, there was indeed such a possibility.

  Chen Ergou smiled, but this smile was not because he had successfully persuaded the beautiful female teacher in front of him who was still sitting on the ground. Instead, it was out of surprise that he no longer felt nervous when seeing a pretty woman. This was probably thanks to the woman he had been talking to, as she was someone Chen Ergou didn't even dare look at directly, so his impression of her until now was just a blurry yet proud face. It could be said that this woman had conquered Chen Ergou without using her looks, but back then Chen Ergou was just a toad who had only seen the sky through a crack in the wall. Now, however, Chen Ergou might one day soon jump out of the well and have good luck, after all, SH is a city that has produced people like Huang Jinrong and Zhou Zhengyi, where heaven and hell are separated by just a thin line.

  "Are you Chen Ergou?" She asked, trying to get rid of the awkwardness, maintaining the most elegant and ladylike demeanor in front of every man was her ultimate goal. She took a deep breath and tried to ask in the calmest tone possible.

  Chen Erdou nodded and walked out of the woods, keeping a certain distance from her. This detail earned him some rare impression points. The beautiful woman who had walked out of the woods seemed to have calmed down a lot, and her confident demeanor was slowly unfolding as she interacted with an ordinary man. She introduced herself: "My name is Guan Shijing, I'm Li Sheng's language teacher and class advisor, nice to meet you."

  Chen Ergou was still basking in the joy of no longer being nervous around beautiful women, and he naturally began to appreciate this beautiful teacher. Her features were delicate, and indeed, southern women's contours are more refined. She was like a character from a classical painting, warm and gentle, even if she was charming to a certain extent, she wouldn't hurt the eyes of her pursuers. Chen Ergou's gaze was a bit reckless, once again causing Guan Shijing's impression of him, which had just started to improve, to plummet to rock bottom.

  Chen Ergou suddenly stretched out his hand and said seriously: "Teacher Guan, it's an honor to meet you."

  She unconsciously stretched out her hand and lightly shook hands with him, looking at his solemn expression as if he were meeting a national leader, she couldn't help but laugh and cry.

  However, after the two had exchanged some pleasantries and watched Chen Ergou walk away, Guan Shijing couldn't smile anymore. The man who looked like a contradictory mix of elegance and vulgarity raised the hand that had shaken hers to his nose and took a deep sniff, saying two words that made Guan Shijing's face flush bright red: "So fragrant."