CDJMM – Volume 2 – Chapter 7 The State Slaps and Teaches the Scum a Lesson (7)

Li Yian glared at the boy who had gone back to lying on his desk, snoring away, and thought the whole class must be insane!

What nonsense was that about “your grandma living to 96”? His grandma was only in her seventies! No—that wasn’t the point. The point was that this brat had insulted him!

Li Yian’s young master temper flared instantly. He raised his leg to kick the boy, but the kid seemed to have eyes on his back—he dodged neatly, and Li Yian’s leg smashed straight into the desk instead!

Bang! A loud crash echoed through the classroom. Li Yian yelped, clutching his leg, hopping in pain, his big eyes shimmering with tears.

The commotion naturally drew the teacher’s and everyone else’s attention. In fact, the moment Li Yian had sat near Chang Jingchen, countless eyes had already been secretly watching. Even Wang Lei’s heart was gripped with worry, afraid the notorious new young master would bully Chang Jingchen.

But the way things played out was completely different from what they imagined.

Not only was Chang Jingchen not bullied, he even fiercely put the arrogant young master in his place. And when that young master tried to retaliate, he ended up hurting himself. Just moments ago, this so-called “big shot” had strutted in with arrogance. Now? He was clutching his leg, wailing like a child, his image in ruins. Truly, a textbook case of reaping what you sow.

Honestly, seeing him like that, even the classmates felt a bit of secret satisfaction. Even Wang Lei, despite being a teacher, couldn’t help but curse in her heart—Serves you right!

Wang Lei quickly looked away, cleared her throat, and said, “Ahem. Class has started! Certain students, keep quiet and stop disturbing others.”

But Li Yian ignored her warning, eyes blazing at the boy who had just humiliated him.

That boy, however, was already sitting back in his seat, resting his cheek in one hand and twirling a pen with the other, looking utterly relaxed.

Li Yian felt he was about to explode!

He glared at that calm, ordinary side profile, flexed his wrist, ready to make this arrogant brat taste the military boxing skills he’d trained in for years.

Le Jing glanced at Li Yian out of the corner of his eye, sighed. All he wanted was to be a heartless study machine—he had zero interest in disciplining wayward children.

Unfortunately, life rarely went as planned.

“Have you thought through the consequences of hitting me?” The youth’s pen never stopped spinning. He tilted his gaze toward Li Yian, eyes deep as the sea, unfathomable.

A chill suddenly ran down Li Yian’s spine. This kid was just some bumpkin from a small city, and yet for a split second, the aura he exuded made Li Yian’s heart pound with fear.

Sure, Li Yian had always been wild, arrogant, impulsive, but he wasn’t stupid. He never picked fights with people he couldn’t afford to provoke.

His overheated brain finally cooled down, thoughts began to turn. Could this kid be some young master too?

He vaguely remembered the teacher introducing him earlier. His name was something like Chang… In their circles, there was only one prominent family with the surname Chang…

He asked cautiously, “What’s your relationship to Deputy Minister Chang?”

The boy’s lips curled up, his eyes glinting with subtle malice. “The important thing isn’t my identity. It’s yours.”

“Clearly, you’re a young master from the capital, yet here you are at this backwater school ‘experiencing life’…” He tilted his head, eyes brimming with sticky malice, his smile turning ever gentler. “I guess… you’ve been exiled here, haven’t you?”

Li Yian didn’t even know what expression he was making. He only knew that the boy’s smile was growing brighter and brighter.

“Seems I was right. With such a rotten temper, maybe you stirred up trouble in the capital and got kicked out… Wow, judging by your face, I was right again. You’re so easy to read.”

Li Yian’s face hardened like ice, his eyes sharp as blades. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. Cut the bullshit.”

“Judging by your temper since entering this class, if I were spouting nonsense, you’d have hit me already.” The youth looked up, gaze steady, as if he had everything under control. Though he was the one looking up, it somehow felt as though he were towering over Li Yian, looking down on him.

“If you want to go back to the capital, you’ll need to behave during your exile. Fighting and violence? Definitely not allowed.” The boy finally stopped spinning his pen. “If you hit me, I’ll call the police right away. Maybe I’ll even file a petition in the capital… After all, Hebei Province isn’t far from Beijing.”

With that, he pointed his pen at Li Yian’s head and smiled sweetly. “So, in front of the entire class, tell me—when do you plan to hit me, Li Yian?”

Under the silent gaze of everyone, Li Yian’s mind went blank. Unconsciously, he stepped back, staring at Le Jing with a fear he hadn’t even realized was in his own eyes. For a moment, he felt trapped in a spider’s web, unable to break free.

“Ah, looks like Li Yian isn’t planning on hitting me after all.” The boy sighed, stood up, and stretched out a hand toward him, smiling. “Then let’s get along for now. Come on, let’s shake hands and be friends.”

Li Yian took another step back, looking at Le Jing’s outstretched hand as though it were some terrifying beast.

Le Jing withdrew his hand without embarrassment, still smiling as he addressed the teacher and classmates. “Almost forgot. If I ever go missing, or end up hospitalized, Teacher Wang, everyone—you must remember to call the police for me, okay?” He pointed playfully at Li Yian and said cheerfully, “And don’t forget to tell them that Li Yian is the most likely suspect—he’s got the perfect motive.”

Li Yian: …

Wang Lei: …

The whole class: …

Now it wasn’t just Li Yian staring at Le Jing in terror. Even Wang Lei’s eyes flickered uncertainly between the two. The situation had gone completely beyond her understanding—she didn’t even know what to say.

In that deathly silence, two voices rang out from the back of the classroom:

“Sure, I’ll tell the police everything I know.” Zhao Desheng gloated.

“Yeah! I’ll be the first to call and report Li Yian!” Wen Wenzhong said, clenching his fist with righteous zeal.

Li Yian turned on them like he’d seen ghosts. “What the hell does that brat have to do with me?! Don’t you dare pin shit on me!”

“All right, Li Yian, stop wasting everyone’s time. Sit down and study.” The Chang boy gave him a disdainful glance. “You just wasted fifteen minutes of class. That’s 57 students. Add it up—you wasted 855 minutes! Don’t you know wasting time is basically murder?”

Li Yian was livid. “You—!”

“None of that. You’re in high school now. High schoolers should study hard!”

“AAAAHHH, I’m gonna explode!!!” Li Yian roared, slamming his bag to the floor, then turned and stormed out.

Wang Lei finally snapped back to her senses. “Hey! Class isn’t over! Where are you going?!”

Without looking back, Li Yian shouted, “Home! I’m done with this crap!”

Seconds later, the room erupted in laughter. Joy seemed to fill every inch of the air.

Even Wang Lei couldn’t help but feel both exasperated and amused. Still, the headmaster had personally asked her to watch over this young master, and now he had stormed off—she couldn’t just ignore it. She would have to inform the principal.

“You all self-study for now!” Wang Lei said as she hurried out the door. Li Yian was already gone. With a sigh, she decided she’d tell the headmaster to find someone else to handle him.

All her years teaching, this was the first time she’d met such an unreasonable, lawless student!

Le Jing turned his gaze to the window, yawned. Li Yian was far too weak—it hadn’t even been satisfying to put him in his place.

But the livestream audience was ecstatic, spamming the screen like crazy:

【Bai Shuo: Holy crap, the host is too powerful!】

【An Jin: Compared to the host, the male lead is just a kid brother!】

【StrollingAround: Hahahahahahaha, I’m starting to feel a little sorry for the male lead now!】 

【24297848: This is actually the first time I’ve seriously seen the streamer’s combat power. Damn, it’s real! No wonder the “Face-slapping System” chose him as its host—not only is he smart, but his ability to argue is top-notch!】

【Yuan Wei: But seriously, didn’t any of you think the streamer just now looked super creepy and scary?】

【CarpSpirit: …I also think the streamer is a little scary tbh (:з”∠)】

【Fu Su: Am I the only one who thinks that his “creepy mode” is actually kinda hot?!】

【Fuxiezi: +1. I used to be his “mom-fan,” but now I feel like I could totally be a girlfriend-fan!】 

【Tiantian: I’m a face-con, and just now for a second I actually thought—even with this face, I’d still take him!】

【System Notification: “Sanlüe-er” tipped the streamer Chang Jingchen 888 RMB】

【System Notification: “Xiao Hu with No Hair” tipped the streamer Chang Jingchen 666 RMB】
……

【System Notification: Congratulations to Chang Jingchen for slapping the male lead once. Reward: 1000 points.】

Le Jing’s calm expression shifted slightly when he heard the system reward of 1000 points. He hadn’t expected that slapping the male lead would give so many. When he slapped Zhao Desheng before, it only earned him 100 points.

And the most satisfying part? The male lead was basically a weak chicken “repeatable farming boss”! As long as he threw a few jabs at him, he could harvest tons of points. It was practically free farming!

The system howled itself hoarse: 【Host!! Good news! I have amazing news! Just now when you slapped the male lead, the peak live room viewers hit over 300,000! And your follower count has reached 80,000!】

【Host! You’re a f*cking genius! I’ve never seen a rookie streamer this incredible!!! In just 20 days, without any outside help, you’ve gained 80,000 fans! Total tips received: 300,000 RMB! You’re now ranked 5th on the Newbie Gold Leaderboard! Host, keep going!!! Explode the upstairs’ chrysanthemum!!!】

Le Jing: ……

The exchange rate of viewer tips to system points was 10:1. Meaning, 10 RMB could only be converted into 1 point. From the moment he realized the audience thought a face-swap card priced at 150,000 RMB was “cheap,” he knew how insane the inflation of future currency was.

Converting viewer tips into points, plus the points he earned from face-slapping tasks, and subtracting the 15,000 points he had spent on the face-swap card, he now had just over 20,000 points total.

20,000 sounded like a lot, but a single face-swap card already cost 15,000. And the system mall even had spaceships priced in the millions or tens of millions of points.

So with only 20,000 points to his name, Le Jing was, without a doubt, the very definition of poverty—able only to look at most items in the mall with longing.

That’s why, aside from studying, he could only keep grinding in his livestreams to save up.

For once, Le Jing regretted something. If he had known that slapping the male lead once was worth ten times slapping Zhao Desheng, he wouldn’t have gone so hard on the guy just now and scared him away. After all, Li Yian was a rare “renewable resource”!

Still, the male lead should come back. After all, if he didn’t stay in school, how could he romance the heroine? The world’s rules would surely push him back.

Sure enough, the next morning, the same Li Yian who had stormed off shouting “Screw this, I’m done!” dragged himself into class looking like a wilted eggplant.

The class was in the middle of reciting when Young Master Li trudged through the door. Instantly, the whole room fell silent, even the air seemed thick with awkwardness.

Li Yian, embarrassed and awkward, shuffled to his seat. His bag, which he had thrown to the ground yesterday, was already picked up and neatly placed in his desk. That kid was still lying on his desk, sleeping as if nothing had happened.

Not having to interact with him was, honestly, a relief.

Li Yian hesitated. He wanted to switch seats with the chubby kid so he wouldn’t have to sit next to this devil anymore, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it. It felt too humiliating, like he was admitting he was scared of the guy.

At that moment, Le Jing, reminded by the livestream audience, exited his consciousness space. When he lifted his head, his gaze landed directly on Li Yian’s conflicted expression.

Li Yian: ……

Le Jing smiled and waved kindly. “Yo, good morning.”

If this were a comic, all the color would have drained from Li Yian in that instant.

He froze for a moment, then every hair on his body stood on end. “Get lost! What are you still pretending for?! Don’t think I’m afraid of you! If you’ve got the guts, let’s fight one-on-one! What kind of man calls the cops?!”

Le Jing pointed at himself, then at him. “Me, a frail bookworm. You, all muscles.” He smiled calmly. “So, do you think I’m an idiot?”

Somehow, Li Yian felt… that did make sense.

Frustrated, he asked, “Then what the hell do you want?!”

Le Jing thought: Simple. Just let me slap you once a day to farm points.

But of course, he couldn’t say that out loud.

So instead, he smiled. “Think about it. We don’t really have any deep grudges, do we? So we can totally coexist peacefully. I sleep when I want, you play when you want. We mind our own business. Isn’t that nice?”

Li Yian sank into thought. Something still felt off, but… what he said did sound reasonable.

He had just been exiled here by the old man of his family and was determined to perform well so he could return to the capital as soon as possible. If he really got into trouble with this guy and the old man found out, the old man might get angry and send him off to the desolate northwest to reclaim wasteland next time (…)

And most importantly—though Li Yian was unwilling to admit it—he was actually a little intimidated by this guy.

This kid was too strange. They had barely exchanged a few words when the boy stripped him bare, down to his underwear, in front of everyone. And he had even so easily pinpointed his weak spot to use as a threat. Such unfathomable scheming truly made him uneasy. He didn’t want to be enemies with someone like that.

So, with a grunt through his nose, he reluctantly took the step down that Le Jing handed him, sat back down in silence, and childishly turned his head away, refusing to look at Le Jing, as if to show that the two of them were sworn enemies.

Le Jing only gave a careless laugh before sinking back into the consciousness space to grind through exercises.

…
…

If you asked Li Yian who he hated most right now, he would gnash his teeth and spit out three words: “Chang Jingchen.”

In all his life, besides the old man of his family, Chang Jingchen was the very first person to make him feel so suffocated!

The old man was his father, after all—he had given him life and raised him. Even if it was stifling, he had to accept it.

But who the hell was Chang Jingchen?!

He had made inquiries! Chang Jingchen’s family lived in the steel factory housing compound nearby! His parents were just ordinary workers, and divorced at that! He didn’t have the slightest connection to the prestigious Chang family in the capital!!

Leaving family background aside for the moment, this kid’s hardware wasn’t even as good as his.

Not as tall, not as handsome, not as strong, not as fashionable!

The boy was ugly as hell to begin with, and on top of that, he always wore that shabby, oversized, dark-blue sports uniform. He looked rustic and stupid, not stylish at all!

… The only redeeming quality he had was a bit of cunning, but that was just petty cleverness.

If you’re ugly, you should at least study hard. But this guy? He slept in class every day, not even half as diligent as him! What angered him most was that the teachers didn’t even care… Hmph, probably because his grades were so poor that the teachers had already given up on him.

With such a plain face, such ordinary family background—an utterly forgettable extra who would vanish in the crowd—how dare he challenge him?! Hmph, it was only because he didn’t know his true identity that he was spouting nonsense. If he knew his family’s background, he would definitely kneel down!

If it weren’t for the old man ordering him to keep a low profile, not to flaunt his status or use his family name to suppress others, he would have long told that ignorant bumpkin the truth and shown him what real power looked like.

…

The class bell rang. The drowsy Li Yian instantly perked up. He lazily stood up to stretch, but when his gaze fell on the boy beside him, who was still sound asleep, his expression stiffened.

Wasn’t this guy sleeping a little too much? Sleeping all day long—was he a pig?

Unable to hold it in, he finally initiated conversation with the student behind him. “Does he do this every day?”

The back-row student was a stick-thin boy, covered in acne, his looks about as tragic as Chang Jingchen’s.

“Do what every day?”

“Sleep all the time. Never listens, never studies.”

The “stick boy” made an “oh” sound and calmly replied, “Anyway, the Great Immortal doesn’t need to listen to class to get first place.”

For a moment, Li Yian wondered if he had left his ears at home. “What did you say? First place? Him?”

The “stick boy” sighed, speaking earnestly, “I know it’s hard to believe. It was hard for me at first, too. How could there be such a person—handsome, and also…”

“Wait a second—” Li Yian cut him off rudely, pointing at the half-exposed, utterly ordinary face of the boy sprawled across the desk. In disbelief, he asked, “You’re saying he’s handsome?!”

“Yeah.” The “stick boy” gave him a strange look, then countered confidently, “Isn’t he?”

Li Yian’s soul nearly collapsed. “…Where exactly is he handsome?”

“Where isn’t he handsome? Just look at those big double-lidded eyes, that high nose bridge.”

Li Yian stared at Chang Jingchen’s puffy little eyes and flat nose.

“Look at his skin—whiter and clearer than even the class beauty from Class Three.”

Li Yian stared at Chang Jingchen’s rough, acne-ridden, cratered complexion.

“And his aura—absolutely unmatched! You can tell at a glance he’s a born scholar… what’s that word again—ah, right. Elite! He’s obviously a future social elite!”

Li Yian stared at the boy snoring away, the picture of a greasy loser.

Whipping his head around so fast he nearly strained his neck, Li Yian grabbed “stick boy” by the collar and roared, “Are you f***ing kidding me? You looking to die?!”

“Stick boy” was dumbfounded. “What the hell, man? You picking a fight?!”

Naturally, their commotion drew attention from the rest of the class. Zhao Desheng, who had been chatting with the back row, immediately strode over, clapped Li Yian on the shoulder like a big brother, and said gravely, “Can’t you talk without using your fists?”

Li Yian let go of “stick boy” and fixed Zhao Desheng with a glare. Word by word, he asked, “Perfect timing. Tell me—do you think Chang Jingchen is ugly?”

Zhao Desheng, utterly baffled, replied, “I don’t really like that kid either, but you can’t just lie through your teeth. That guy’s not bad-looking at all—anyone with eyes can see it.”

Li Yian: …？？？！！！

In disbelief, he turned to the other watching classmates. “Do you all really think Chang Jingchen is handsome?”

“Of course. What else?”

“Yeah, he’s pretty good-looking.”

“In terms of looks, you two are tied for first place in the class.”

Li Yian was on the verge of despair. “So I’m the only one who thinks he’s ugly as hell?”

“Yup. Just you.”

“Bro, if your eyes are bad, maybe see an eye doctor.”

“Dude, is your sense of aesthetics broken or something?”

Li Yian exploded. “What the hell is wrong with you people? All of you siding with him—are you ganging up to mess with me?!”

“Enough! I’m done talking to you idiots!” He stormed back to his seat, fuming at the sight of the peacefully sleeping Chang Jingchen.

Sleep, sleep, sleep! Why don’t you just sleep yourself to death?! How could someone so gloomy and withdrawn have such good popularity? Obviously, he, the real handsome one, was the one more worthy of admiration!

He and this class were clearly doomed to clash!

Of course, Li Yian’s outburst and the class’s reaction were faithfully transmitted by the livestream audience to Le Jing.

Inside the consciousness space, Le Jing narrowed his eyes dangerously, sneering: “System, what’s going on? Why does the male lead still see me as a generic face?”

The system confidently replied: 【Not just the male lead—even the female lead sees you as a generic face. This is a safeguard to keep the plot from derailing. Otherwise, if the heroine fell for you because you’re too handsome, what would happen to the romance with the male lead?】

Le Jing: …

This damn plot!!!

He straightened up and shot a sidelong glance at Li Yian, who sat clutching his head in disbelief. His chest was full of fire.

Softly, he said, “Don’t think too hard. With your intelligence, if you could figure it out, your family wouldn’t have banished you here.”

Li Yian turned, glaring with a mix of fury and disbelief.

Le Jing pressed on, “The monthly exam is in three days. How’s your revision going? If you score badly, they’ll call your parents.”

Li Yian: !!!

His blood boiled, and he blurted out, “Worry about yourself! You sleep in class every day, never study—you’ll definitely score worse than me!”

But as soon as the words left his mouth, he met the boy’s faintly smiling eyes and instantly cooled down. He remembered what the back-row student had said: “Anyway, the Great Immortal doesn’t need to listen to class to get first place.”

Swallowing hard, he almost bit his tongue off in regret.

No way. That must’ve been “stick boy” lying!

This kid slept all day—if he still managed first place, then there was no justice in the world!

Yet Li Yian’s painstakingly built confidence was utterly shattered by a simple in-class math quiz.

Chang Jingchen, casually scribbling for twenty minutes, scored 100. He, after sweating through the entire period and filling the paper to the brim, only got 70.

Snatching the paper to examine it, Li Yian had to admit that Chang Jingchen’s 100 was well deserved. He had solved every problem Li Yian couldn’t, and with simpler methods to boot!

Thinking of the harsh words he had thrown at him earlier, Li Yian nearly coughed up blood.

Li Yian: … Heaven wants me dead!!!

No matter how unwilling he was, the monthly exams arrived all too soon.

He shouldered his backpack with a tragic air, like a warrior going off to certain doom, imagining already the sneering face of Chang Jingchen laughing at his barely-passable grades.

…

Le Jing was nearly driven mad.

He hadn’t expected that damn world will, in order to preserve the storyline, would have him collapse from food poisoning right in the middle of the exam!!

The system, sounding a bit guilty, said: 【Because in the original plot, the male lead’s grades are supposed to surpass yours～】

Driven to the extreme of fury, Le Jing became eerily calm.

He had said before: most items in the system store were expensive, but there was one category that was cheap—scientific and technical data already developed in this era.

For example, manned spaceflight technology mastered by other developed nations but not yet by China—sold for just 10,000 points. Industrial software, semiconductor technology, aircraft engine blueprints—those crucial technologies blocked by foreign embargoes, leaving China helpless—were all cheap in the store. The most expensive were only forty to fifty thousand points. Probably because to future people, these were already outdated.

Le Jing had originally planned to first learn systematically, build a foundation of professional skills, then study these things.

But now, he couldn’t wait any longer.

This cursed plot kept pushing his limits, testing what little patience he had left.

So he decided to break the program as soon as possible, to win his freedom and relief.

Thus—

“System, do you want our livestream to have millions, even tens of millions of viewers?”

【?! Of course I do! I dream about it!】

“Then do exactly as I say.”

So, one morning, the president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences opened his computer to find an email.

“I know you already have plans to set up a secret lab to research manned spaceflight. Perhaps I can help you. I can guide you through the three main technical challenges—if you can find me.”

Below this message, Le Jing attached a massive file: crucial documents on manned spaceflight technology.