“Why are you just standing here, bro?”
Nh?t V??ng smacked S?n Nam hard on the shoulder, making him wince in pain. The scratch wounds from the claws of the oversized cat that had appeared during the race with H? Thu still hadn’t fully healed.
Not only did his shoulder hurt, but S?n Nam’s whole body ached. His legs, in particular, felt extremely sore and weak due to muscle strain. He finally understood the pain the little mermaid endured with each step in Andersen’s fairy tale.
To make up for the physical pain and mental effort he had put in to defeat “the descendant of Tr?ng Tr?c and Tr?ng Nh?,” in addition to the promised reward envelope, Mr. Tùng Bách also gifted S?n Nam a voucher for 50% off the membership fee at the Kickboxing Club.
And S?n Nam nearly passed out when he opened the prize envelope: another discount voucher—this one for 50% off the Parkour Club membership.
Both rewards felt more like invitations to hell for a bookworm like S?n Nam, who rarely engaged in any physical activity.
“This is the results board for the beginning-of-year quality assessment.”
S?n Nam briefly explained to Nh?t V??ng why he had been standing frozen in the first-floor hallway for so long. Clearly, Nh?t V??ng wasn’t very interested in exams or grades.
It didn’t take long for S?n Nam to find his name among the nearly 400 students on the results board. He was the only one at Nhan Hòa High School with the last name D??ng.
He figured it was because the town of Nhan Hòa was geographically close to the former capital, Hu?—home of the Nguy?n royal family, which ruled Vietnam from 1802 to 1945—so the majority of students here bore the surname Nguy?n.
Normally, the Nguy?n surname accounts for about 31.5% of Vietnam’s population, but the proportion at Nhan Hòa High was abnormally high—maybe up to 70%.
S?n Nam focused on the names and classes of the top 10 students in Grade 11, ranked from highest to lowest:
? Nguy?n Thanh Trà – 11D
? Nguy?n Quy?t Chi?n – 11A
? Nguy?n Nh?t V??ng – 11D
? Nguy?n Xuy?n Chi – 11C
? D??ng S?n Nam – 11D
? Nguy?n Kim Ng?c – 11A
? Nguy?n An Nhi – 11A
? Nguy?n Yên Nhi – 11A
? Nguy?n Nhan Thành – 11B
? Nguy?n H? Thu – 11D
S?n Nam frowned. He had just noticed something strange—not only was Nh?t V??ng ranked third despite seemingly never studying, but…
“H? Thu was absent until mid-September and missed the assessment entirely—so how is she in the top 10?”
“Why don’t you ask ‘your girl’ yourself? He he!”
“And Thanh Trà’s the top scorer in our class 11D, but I’ve never even seen her before?”
“She’s doing Homeschooling. See? You don’t need to study at Nhan Hòa to get high marks. Homeschooling is your ticket to survival—away from the deadly girls of this school.”
Once again, Nh?t V??ng brought up Homeschooling. Say what you will, the guy was persistent—but not particularly persuasive.
“Hey Nh?t V??ng, how much money did you make off my ‘life’ the other day?”
“Hehehe. A decent amount, bro.”
“How much, exactly…?”
S?n Nam pressed until Nh?t V??ng finally revealed the amount he had won from the Death Race bets. It was quite a big number—understandable, since Nhan Hòa was full of rich kids. S?n Nam had to admit: Nh?t V??ng truly lived up to his title of ‘Numerology Guru’.
Of course, S?n Nam didn’t want a cut of the winnings. He just wanted to prove to Nh?t V??ng that having him stay at Nhan Hòa benefited Nh?t V??ng more than he realized.
“Excuse me, are you D??ng S?n Nam from class 11D? Can I ask you something?”
A gentle, soft female voice called from behind S?n Nam and Nh?t V??ng.
At the sound of a girl, Nh?t V??ng immediately froze, put on a cold, indifferent expression, and turned away. His fear of girls kicked in, giving him the aloof vibe of some arrogant CEO character.
He left S?n Nam behind—alone with Xuy?n Chi, a student from class 11C—the girl who had fainted during the memorial for Hoàng Anh Tu?n.
It wasn’t ideal to keep blocking the results board and interfering with other students trying to check their names, so S?n Nam and Xuy?n Chi moved toward the canteen area to talk more comfortably.
“So, what did you want to ask?”
Seeing that Xuy?n Chi remained silent, even though she was the one who approached him first, S?n Nam had to speak up, breaking the awkward silence between them.
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“Back when you and Nh?t V??ng took me to the infirmary, I never got the chance to properly thank you two.”
“Mm.”
“Thank you. And please pass my thanks to Nh?t V??ng too.”
“It’s nothing. I’ll let him know.”
Xuy?n Chi fell silent again for a moment before continuing.
“During the race… when you were running with that small, cute girl…”
“Yeah?”
S?n Nam was starting to get impatient with how hesitant and shy Xuy?n Chi was being.
“There was an orange cat that jumped down onto the field… and then climbed up onto your shoulder.”
“There was a cat, but I don’t remember what color it was.”
S?n Nam shivered as he recalled those sharp claws. A bratty cat like that? Yeah, probably orange. Still, he was grateful—it had, after all, helped him win against H? Thu.
“That orange cat was mine. His name’s Orange…”
“Wait, how did you even bring a cat to school?”
“The place I rent doesn’t allow pets…”
“Ohhh.”
“So I left him with the school canteen staff. The cooks agreed to let him stay in the kitchen to help catch mice.”
“Got it.”
“Do you know where Orange ran off to afterward?”
It took a while, but finally Xuy?n Chi got to the real reason she came.
“Uh… I’m not sure.”
“What?”
Seeing how sad she looked, S?n Nam tried to recall the embarrassing sequence of events that took place after he collapsed on the track.
If he remembered correctly… it was H? Thu and Nh?t V??ng who hoisted him onto the stretcher and dragged him to the infirmary. Orange, at that time, had moved onto his stomach and refused to budge.
Nurse Thu Trang hadn’t been there—probably off on her lunch break.
Oddly enough, Nh?t V??ng didn’t seem afraid of H? Thu the way he was with other girls. Normally, he’d be scrambling for an excuse to escape if left alone with a girl.
Then came the moment where H? Thu personally peeled off S?n Nam’s sweaty PE uniform. She had to wipe down his upper body all by herself—because Nh?t V??ng refused to touch another guy.
Meanwhile, Nh?t V??ng just stood there cuddling Orange and grinning wickedly… without lifting a single finger to help.
(That lazy devil…)
After that, H? Thu carefully disinfected the scratch on S?n Nam’s shoulder with alcohol, like a trained nurse. Then she struggled to dress him in a loose-fitting hospital gown.
In his semi-conscious state, S?n Nam couldn’t control his reactions. He even screamed out loud when H? Thu jabbed him with a rabies vaccine—according to the label on the box. She made him read out the expiration date before administering it, just like proper vaccination procedure.
Then she even managed to find a vein in his arm to hook up an IV drip.
By then, S?n Nam was so drained he couldn’t even open his mouth to ask whether H? Thu was legally certified to do any of this.
Once it was all done, she ordered Nh?t V??ng to take his blood-stained uniform and medical supplies and destroy them immediately.
It felt wasteful—and weird. Now S?n Nam would have to buy a whole new PE uniform.
Wait. A full uniform means shirt and PANTS.
Which meant…?
Nope. He wasn’t going to think about that. He was NOT thinking about that.
Anyway, where had Orange gone by then?
Half-asleep in the infirmary bed, S?n Nam had opened his eyes just a crack a few times. He remembered seeing H? Thu nodding off in a chair next to him.
Curled up in her lap was a giant, fluffy yellow-orange ball of fur with half-lidded eyes and a soft, steady purring.
By the time nurse Thu Trang returned to take over the infirmary, H? Thu—and the cat—had vanished.
“Hic… hic…”
Suddenly, Xuy?n Chi covered her face and burst into tears—right in the middle of the canteen. Every curious eye turned toward their table.
“Hey, calm down! Please don’t cry. People are staring!”
“Hic hic… Orange is everything to me!”
No matter how panicked S?n Nam got, begging and coaxing her to stop crying, Xuy?n Chi just wouldn’t stop. For cat lovers, a missing pet was worse than losing a limb.
“Okay, okay. I’ll take you to talk to H? Thu. She might know something about Orange!”
That was what S?n Nam said to comfort her—but the truth was, he had no idea where H? Thu was right now.
He’d never once seen her show up at the canteen, whether for breakfast or lunch