Ye Wudao walked out of the office like a general returning in triumph, almost wanting to build a triumphal arch like Julius Caesar to flaunt his spoils. Today was indeed a good day—he had claimed the first kiss of Han Yun, the most beautiful female teacher in school. Ye Wudao was sure it was her first kiss, because Han Yun’s aloofness and self-restraint were well-known; in this school full of gossip, no negative rumors ever attached to her. He had taken the crucial first step, and a good start was half the battle. Ye Wudao had never truly conquered a mature woman before. Han Yun meant something different to him—she wasn’t just a trophy, but more of an outpouring of emotion. For the first time, he chose the journey over the destination.
He arrived at the park behind the school. He had no desire at all to go to class. For him, living meant enjoying life to the fullest, like Jorão Goulart. As for what would happen later—that was a problem for later. Today’s worries are for today; worrying about tomorrow was meaningless to a privileged rich kid like Ye Wudao, who had never known hardship.
Enjoy life while you can—don’t let the golden cup face the moon empty！ That was Ye Wudao’s creed！
Since it was class time, the private school park was especially quiet. The autumn sunlight was also exceptionally soft, without the scorching heat of summer or the pretentiousness of spring. There was only the gentle, slow warmth left by the passage of time, like Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 in C Major—one of the “Four Great Masters of European Opera History” alongside Gluck, Wagner, and Verdi—revealing a touch of delicate melancholy.
Ye Wudao sat on a long stone bench, closing his eyes. The one who should have been carefree and only knew the taste of happiness in everyone's eyes now revealed a deep melancholy, without his signature frivolous smile, without his cynical lazy aura, replaced by a nameless weariness.
Now Ye Wudao was a completely different person, and even he himself hadn't noticed his own strangeness.
At that moment, a disheveled girl ran crying out of the woods, stumbled, and fell right in front of Ye Wudao. Behind her were more than a dozen students in high school uniforms cursing nonstop, and at the very back was a typical young master type with a toothpick in his mouth, walking slowly, his eyes flickering with malice and ill intent.
Ye Wudao opened his eyes. Since the girl had her back to him and he couldn't see her face, he couldn't be bothered to meddle. Bad things happened all over the world—he wasn't a champion of justice, with no obligation to maintain world peace. Besides, he had done plenty of bad things himself. "A gentleman delights in helping others achieve their goals." Since they were fellow travelers, it would be wrong to ruin their fun.
Ye Wudao turned around, planning to take a little nap. None of my business, just let it slide. Stepping up to stop bad people from doing bad things was what good people did. He was a proper bad guy himself. Sleep, sleep.
Soon, about a dozen high school students with constant crafty laughter surrounded the girl who had just staggered to her feet. The rich kid, dressed in an "Alexander McQueen" from Givenchy designed by the "fashion bad boy" himself, walked up to the frightened girl, rudely lifted her chin, and sneered, "Run, why don't you run？ Do you think you can escape from my, Zheng Yan's, grasp？ Every woman I want has never gotten away！ You'd better obediently become my woman, or else you won't just be fucked by this 'scumbag' you call me, hehehe..." The surrounding crowd also let out a burst of wanton vile laughter, their gazes at the girl growing even more lecherous.
Hearing the name Zheng Yan, Ye Wudao's eyes snapped open, a sinister smile curling at the corner of his mouth. A bunch of idiots, don't you know I'm trying to rest here！
Although he couldn't see the girl's face, someone who gets pestered like this probably isn't too ugly—if that's the case, playing the hero rescuing the damsel in distress would be quite promising. Plus, he heard a name he loathed; it seemed he couldn't just stand by this time.
You, let go of me! Liu Sichen won't let you get away with this!" The girl's voice, laced with fear, stirred a sense of pity. "Go on, scream if you can! See who dares to stop me—Zheng Yan! I don't mind letting them know about our 'special relationship,' hahaha..." Zheng Yan laughed as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world, roaring, "Liu Sichen？ You say I'm a scumbag, not a man？ Liu Sichen is even more of a fucking coward! I really don't know if all you women are blind!
Does this pigface not know how ugly his laughter sounds? "Scumbag," Ye Wudao cursed, yawned loudly, stretched lazily in his chair, and put on a look of waiting to watch the show.
At this moment, the always arrogant Zheng Yan finally noticed there was still an ungrateful bastard here. Seeing that this guy had the nerve not to scram while he was conducting business, truly a reckless fool who didn't know how to die. He gave a look to two students beside him, and they walked toward Ye Wudao. One burly bastard holding an iron pipe said, "Kid, tired of living, are you？"
Ye Wudao looked at the two idiots showing off in front of him—they dared to say this young master was tired of living? You guys are the ones f***ing asking for death! The corner of his mouth curled with a thick, venomous smile. "Yeah, bastards! If you've got the guts, come hit me!" The student with the pipe angrily swung it at Ye Wudao's head. Ye Wudao disdainfully tilted his head, then threw a lightning-fast punch into his stomach, the smile never leaving his face. The guy's eyes went wide as he slowly slid to the ground—a testament to the force of that punch. While the other guy was still stunned, Ye Wudao delivered a karate chop and easily took him down. No challenge at all. Ye Wudao shook his head and looked at the girl, finally getting a glimpse of that beautiful face.
The girl broke free from Zheng Yan's hand and stepped back a few steps. Her face, like rain-washed pear blossoms and dew-kissed crabapple, was indeed stunningly pure and otherworldly. Her aura wasn't as striking as the cold beauty from this morning, but she was undeniably a very pretty young woman—Zheng Yan did have decent taste. Ye Wudao rushed over and grabbed her delicate hand. Before Zheng Yan could start cursing, Ye Wudao looked toward the direction behind Zheng Yan and said in a panic, "Principal！"
Everyone was startled, instinctively looking in that direction. Ye Wudao grabbed the girl and bolted. "Idiot, why would the principal come here for no reason? If you're gonna have an affair, you go to a fancy hotel！ Morons are just morons！" Fighting was exhausting, and if his mom found out, she'd give him an earful and a lecture. Of the Thirty-Six Strategies, fleeing is the best—this lord had no time to play with them. Running away wasn't shameful. What villain didn't run? By the time Zheng Yan and his gang snapped out of it, Ye Wudao and the girl had already run far off, like eloping lovers.
"Where can you run in this school! Good kid, daring to steal my woman! You've got balls!" The venom and rage in Zheng Yan's eyes made the surrounding people unconsciously back away, afraid the big shot would take his anger out on them. "Come out!" Zheng Yan called coldly. A handsome guy emerged from the woods, but his originally handsome face was full of flattery and cowardice. He scampered fearfully up to Zheng Yan. Zheng Yan kicked him in the leg and cursed, "With a pathetic look like yours, Shi Ya actually fell for you? A man who gives away his own woman—is he even human? What do you think, Liu Sichen?"
"Yes yes, I'm not human！ Next time I bring her out, I'll make sure Young Master Zheng gets his hands on her," the boy said lewdly. His face, which should have been handsome enough to make girls swoon, was now utterly disgusting.
"Go find out what that kid's background is. I want to make him pay for playing the hero saving the damsel in distress！" Zheng Yan ignored Liu Sichen's bootlicking and said in a deep voice, "Pay a heavy price！"
Ye Wudao dragged the girl in one breath to run to a corner of the playground. Seeing no one chasing them, he let go to let her catch her breath. But the moment he released his hand, the high school girl sat down on the ground, biting her lip with her brow tightly furrowed. Ye Wudao pried open her hand covering her foot, forcibly took off her shoe, and saw that it was sprained and badly swollen. He looked up and found the girl's face flushed with a rosy hue, a shyness in her eyes that was deeply moving. And from this angle, because her clothes had been pulled askew, Ye Wudao could see the tempting cleavage gleaming with a milky-white sheen. His nosebleed immediately threatened to act up, so he quickly straightened his mind and gathered his composure, otherwise he would have made a huge fool of himself.
"Why are they looking for trouble with you？" Ye Wudao asked knowingly.
"Once, I slapped Zheng Yan. He relies on his father being a school board member to act wildly and tyrannically. Together with three others, he's privately called one of the R4 Gents by the students. He even dares to hit teachers！ How can someone like that stay in school！" the girl said indignantly.
"R4 Gents? What's that?" Ye Wudao asked curiously. An interesting title, how come he'd never heard of it?
"You don't even know that？" The girl opened her lively, sparkling eyes wide and looked at Ye Wudao, looking incredulous. "They are the high school students Situ Xuan, Li Tianyang, and Zheng Yan, plus the middle school student Ye Wudao. The four of them together are called the R4 Gents combo. R is short for Rubbish！"
Si Tu Xuan - his father Si Tu Xu is one of the four major school board directors of Pearl Academy, controls five listed companies, has assets close to ten billion, and ranks among the top ten richest people on the mainland！ As the only son, Si Tu Xuan is naturally someone who gets whatever he wants. He currently serves as Student Council President and Minister of Sports, is known as the "Tennis Prince," has participated in numerous international competitions, and is recognized as the school's Lover Prince. The number of girls with a crush on him definitely exceeds double digits, including quite a few young female teachers. To date, over a dozen teachers have left the school because of him, and more than twenty students have been forced to drop out midway.
Li Tianyang's father is the boss of a major gang in the south, with nearly a thousand subordinates. His mother, Li, owns a massive multinational corporation and is the only woman among the four school board members. Li Tianyang inherited his father's underworld lineage and established a gang of over three hundred members within Pearl Academy called the Heroic Society. To date, he has seriously injured no fewer than thirty people, and he is responsible for most of the campus bloodshed. When he was a sophomore, a teacher who accidentally cursed at him was beaten into a vegetative state by a group of people on his way home. The matter ended up being swept under the rug.
Zheng Yan - his father Zheng Baoguo is the vice governor of S Province, and his grandfather is a member of the Central Standing Committee and also an honorary school board director of Pearl Academy. Zheng Yan is the most lecherous of the bunch. Quite a few girls have been taken advantage of by him and dared not speak up, and the number of his public lovers is countless. He is currently pursuing his art teacher Chu Wan, and it is said that this has caused conflict with another school big shot, Bai Qiuyi - the matter has yet to be resolved.
Ye Wudao knew all three of these people, but he never expected himself to also make the list and become part of the R4 Trash Prince Group. Had he really done that many bad things？ Ye Wudao reflected in extreme frustration. He thought for a long time but still couldn't figure out why he should be considered trash. Wasn't it just that he flirted with the high school beauty queen Yan Qingwu in broad daylight, patted some girls' faces and told a few slightly dirty jokes, and incidentally taught some guys who were trying to hit on Murong Xuehen a lesson - was that wrong too？？？
“Scared？ I know Zheng Yan is not someone to mess with. I’ll talk to him and make sure he doesn’t cause you trouble. I’m sorry, I brought you trouble！” Seeing Ye Wudao’s blank expression, the girl thought he was stunned by Zheng Yan’s reputation, not knowing that Ye Wudao was actually puzzled over his own “notorious and far-spread infamy.”
“Is Ye Wudao really one of them？” Ye Wudao asked, unwilling to give up. Heaven and earth, why can’t you distinguish good from bad, misjudging the worthy and the foolish, not telling good from bad—unworthy of Heaven！
“That’s right！ Even though I’ve never met him, almost the whole school says he’s lecherous, shameless, and arrogant！” The girl’s words completely shattered Ye Wudao’s last faint hope. Life and reality are always cruel.
Trash？ Ye Wudao suddenly smiled at ease. Yeah, I’ve always been a total scumbag and pervert; I was just a bit surprised that I’ve already become this famous. I’m still in the warm-up phase and haven’t started my plan yet. Looks like I’d better be prepared to carry the burden of infamy from now on.