Longhai No. 1 Highschool
The Lexura RX300 eased into the school drop-off lane, blending into the flow of returning students. The air buzzed with the familiar noise of resumption—friends reuniting, backpacks thumping against legs, teachers urging stragglers to hurry.
Everything felt normal.
Until Feng and Xue stepped out.
The shift was immediate.
A quiet ripple spread as students turned, nudged friends, or paused mid-step. Conversations faltered, then restarted in lower voices—sharper, more focused.
"Hey… isn't that the Li siblings?"
"Yeah. The ones who made Silent Hands."
"You saw that article, right? It really has their names on the patent."
"No way—really?"
A pair of boys walking toward the staircase slowed.
"I mean… if the patent is real, they must actually be geniuses."
"Hm, maybe. But people online keep saying they stole it."
"Stole it? How are students supposed to steal tech from adults?"
"I don't know. Besides that, someone even posted that Silent Hands is unstable."
"Yea... I heard it's clinically unsafe. Like, real dangerous."
"And Blue Horizon still hasn't said anything. Doesn't that mean it's true?"
"Not necessarily. Silence doesn't mean guilt. It could mean they're confident."
The murmurs grew as more students noticed them.
Not hostile.
Not exactly welcoming.
Just… watching.
Curiosity. Envy. Suspicion. Admiration.
All mixed into one strange morning atmosphere.
Xue kept walking with her usual grace, but Feng saw the subtle signs:
Her grip tightening on her bag strap.
Her chin held just a little higher than usual.
Her breathing controlled and steady—too steady.
She wasn't panicking.
But she felt the eyes.
Feng reached over and gently patted her head.
Xue blinked in surprise, eyes softening.
Without a word, he smoothed her hair behind her ear—small, warm, familiar. A quiet reminder that none of this noise mattered.
Xue let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, her shoulders easing.
They walked on together, the whispers trailing behind them like dust in sunlight.
Soon enough, they split toward their respective buildings, leaving the corridor humming with speculation long after they disappeared inside.
---
The moment Feng stepped into his classroom, the low chatter dipped. Not completely—just enough for the shift to be felt.
He walked in with his usual calm, eyes forward, heading straight for his seat.
He didn't get far.
Zhao Kai moved into his path with a smug smirk, blocking the aisle with both hands casually dug into his pockets.
"Well, well," Zhao Kai drawled, tilting his head, "if it isn't the Li family outcasts."
A few nearby students stiffened.
Others leaned slightly closer, pretending not to watch.
Zhao Kai clicked his tongue dramatically.
"How's life without the Li Family's protection?" he asked, voice loud enough for half the class to hear. "I heard your branch got kicked out. Must be tough."
The words hit the class like a dropped pin.
Several students froze mid-conversation.
A girl near the window blinked. "Kicked out…? Since when?"
A boy in the back whispered, "Wait, what? The Second Branch was disowned?"
"No way—seriously?"
A few others looked between Zhao Kai and Feng, confused.
Yet, despite the whispers—
despite the sudden flood of eyes on him—
Feng didn't slow down.
He walked right past Zhao Kai, untouched by the noise erupting behind him, as though the entire room and its buzzing curiosity simply didn't exist.
Zhao Kai froze mid-smirk.
The class went quiet.
Humiliation flushed across his face as Feng reached his desk and pulled out his chair without a word.
"You—!" Zhao Kai snapped, slamming his palms onto Feng's desk, leaning forward aggressively. "Don't pretend you're still someone important! Without the Li Family, you're nothing! Do you hear me?"
The metal legs of the desk rattled.
Several students winced.
Feng slowly lifted his gaze.
No anger.
No annoyance.
Just a cold, flat look—too calm, too quiet, too steady for someone being provoked.
Zhao Kai opened his mouth—
and something in that gaze stopped him.
It wasn't fierceness.
It wasn't threat.
It was an absence.
An unsettling blankness that made his instincts jolt—
as though some deep part of him suddenly understood:
If he pushed any further… he would regret it.
A bead of sweat slid down Zhao Kai's neck.
He swallowed.
Then, trying to salvage his pride, he scoffed loudly and stepped back.
"Tch. Whatever," he muttered, forcing his voice steady. "Act arrogant while you still can."
He turned sharply and walked away, shoulders stiff.
The class slowly exhaled.
Feng lowered his gaze again and opened his notebook, unbothered, as if nothing had happened.
And by the time the teacher walked in, Zhao Kai still hadn't quite recovered from that moment—
from a stare that shouldn't have frightened him…
but did.
---
Chemistry class should have been like any other fresh-after-midterm lesson—slow, transitional, half the students still mentally on vacation.
But today, the atmosphere felt… pointed.
Mr. Han walked in with his usual stiff posture, wire-frame glasses sliding down the bridge of his nose. He set his books on the desk with a sharper-than-usual thud and scanned the room.
His gaze paused—
just a fraction of a second—
when it landed on Li Feng.
Not enough for most students to notice.
But Feng noticed.
The class settled as Mr. Han began the lecture: thermal decomposition, reaction pathways, the usual. His tone was flat, clipped, and his eyes flicked toward Feng more times than necessary.
A few students exchanged looks.
Everyone could tell something was off.
Midway through the lesson, Mr. Han set down his marker and cleared his throat.
"Let's see…" he said, turning to face the room, "who here can solve this?"
He wrote a problem on the board.
Not just difficult—
completely outside their syllabus.
A question that didn't belong in high school chemistry.
Most of the class blinked at it.
One student whispered, "Huh? Is this even for us?"
Another muttered, "Why's he giving college-level stuff?"
Mr. Han's eyes landed squarely on Feng.
"Li Feng," he said coolly, "why don't you answer?"
Several students stiffened.
Even Zhao Kai—still embarrassed from earlier—looked up sharply.
Feng didn't flinch.
He rose calmly, walked to the board, picked up the marker, and solved the multi-step mechanism with clean precision. His handwriting was steady, his explanation brief and direct.
He capped the marker.
Returned to his seat.
Silence.
Mr. Han stared at the board for a long second, his jaw tightening.
Then he forced a smile—thin, condescending.
"Well," he said, voice dripping with disdain,
"to be such a petty family thief, you'd need to be intelligent enough to pull it off."
The classroom went dead still.
A few gasps echoed in the back row.
Someone muttered, "Whoa… what the hell?"
Another whispered, "Is the teacher allowed to say that?"
Feng's eyes narrowed.
Not dramatically.
Not aggressively.
Just a small, controlled tightening—
a shift of focus that felt colder than any glare.
Mr. Han felt it.
A subtle shiver ran down his spine, though he hid it behind a smug tilt of his chin.
He moved on with the lesson as if nothing had happened.
But the atmosphere had changed.
Everyone could feel it.
And Feng, expression unreadable, sat back and opened his notebook—
a quiet sharpness settling behind his eyes.
---
Afternoon — Cafeteria
The cafeteria was alive with the usual midday noise—trays clattering, conversations overlapping, clusters of students exchanging stories from the break.
But the moment Feng and Xue stepped inside, curious looks flickered their way.
Not hostile.
Just watchful.
Xue's shoulders tightened for half a second before she steadied herself and followed Feng to a quiet table by the window. Once seated, she let out a small breath.
Feng glanced at her.
"How was your day so far?"
Xue poked at her rice, thinking.
"It was… okay. A bit strange, but okay."
He waited—quietly encouraging.
"Well…" She sighed softly. "Some people kept whispering during classes. You know… about Silent Hands, about us. But it wasn't anything I couldn't handle."
Then she brightened a little.
"Oh! And in math class, something happened."
Feng's attention sharpened slightly.
"The teacher gave us one of those impossible teaser problems," she continued. "He didn't expect anyone to solve it."
"And you solved it." Feng said it as a fact, not a guess.
Xue ducked her head, embarrassed. "Mm… yes. He praised me."
Then her expression dimmed.
"That's when Liu Yilan got annoyed."
Of course.
"She started saying things like…" Xue frowned, quoting reluctantly,
"'Even if she's smart, it won't matter. She'll just be a wallflower of the Zhou Family—if she even lasts that long.'"
Feng's gaze cooled almost imperceptibly.
"And then?" he asked quietly.
Xue's lips curved into a small, triumphant smile.
"Then one girl stood up for me."
She leaned forward a little, reenacting the crisp tone:
"'If her genius amounts to nothing, then what exactly does your ungenius amount to?'"
Feng blinked once — quite amused.
"It silenced Liu Yilan instantly," Xue added, pleased.
"She sounds sharp," Feng said.
"She is," Xue nodded. "Really sharp. And… she's actually very nice. We talked after class. That's how we became friends."
Her smile softened at the edges.
"She wanted to have lunch with us, but she was too nervous to come over today. She's actually a big fan of yours," then added with a chuckle, "And also quite scared of you"
Feng raised an eyebrow at that.
"I'm not scary though."
Xue giggled.
The moment settled into a warm quiet—until Feng's phone buzzed lightly against the table.
"Is that dad?" Xue asked.
He checked the screen.
"No, it's a message from Wen Yuning"
Xue watched his face.
"Oh... And?"
"She'll be in Longhai next week," Feng said. "She wants to know if I'd be available, so we can have our meeting during that time."
"You'd be available, right?" Xue asked softly.
"Mm."
He typed a short reply:
[Available.
Send the final schedule when confirmed.]
He placed the phone aside.
Outside, sunlight filtered through the cafeteria windows, catching the edges of Xue's hair as she smiled again—brighter now, more relaxed.
Lunch continued, the noise of the cafeteria moving around them—
but between the two siblings, there was only quiet steadiness.
Another thread in Feng's world had shifted.
Another step approaching.
Exactly on time.
---
Hello, Author here,
Thanks for reading — Leave a comment to tell me what you think about this chapter, and drop a Power Stone if you're enjoying Li Feng's story so far! Let's grow this story together.