Chapter 36 A Perfect Score is Sweet

"Number 22, Gu Chen'an, 100 points." Upon hearing this, the person who was initially a little nervous immediately straightened up and walked towards the podium.

Ji Wei smiled faintly and encouraged him as she would any other classmate: "Keep it up!"

"Okay, Teacher Ji." Gu Chen'an looked proud. He hadn't let his mother down; he had gotten a perfect score. His mother's extra help hadn't gone to waste. He took the test paper back to his seat, and his deskmate immediately took it: "Let me see your perfect score test paper."

Ji Wei continued handing out test papers, but thinking of Gu Chen'an's arrogant little face earlier, she found it amusing. It was the first time she had ever seen him show such an expression.

Gu Chen'an's joy didn't last long, because the Chinese test papers were handed out as well. He only scored 98 points. He stared blankly at the place where he lost two points, feeling more annoyed than regretful. Why couldn't he have been more careful?

The report cards were handed out, homework was assigned, and then it was time to go home. Almost everyone had left the classroom when Gu Chen'an slowly began to pack his schoolbag, muttering to himself about the mistakes on his test paper.

"You can now summarize your own mistakes, that's great. I have a meeting later, can you go to the office and wait for me with Lulu?" Ji Wei asked for his opinion.

"Mom, it's such a pity to lose those two points. If only I had been more careful." He thought to himself, "Maybe I would have been in first place." Gu Chen'an felt a little regretful.

"This mistake will be a lesson for the next time. Just remember to avoid making the same mistake in the future. Don't be sad. This is just one of many exams in your life," Ji Wei comforted him, rubbing his eye bags.

"I understand, Mom." Gu Chen'an quickly cheered up. His mother was right. It was just one exam. There would be many more teachers in the future. He was sure he could get first place. Gu Chen'an had learned to regulate his emotions instead of getting stuck on things.

"Brother, what score did you get?" Lulu asked curiously when they arrived at the office.

Gu Chen'an didn't answer her directly, but handed her the test paper: "Look at it yourself."

Lulu immediately spotted the bright 100 and said happily, "It's 100! Brother is so amazing!"

“Lulu will be even more amazing in the future.” After saying that, Gu Chen’an took out his summer homework from his schoolbag. It seemed that only then did he remember Ji Wei’s existence. He looked up at her and smiled: “Mom, you go to your meeting. Lulu and I will wait for you here.”

Meetings were always boring. Ji Wei lowered her head to hide her yawning. She always felt sleepy during meetings, and they were always the same old stuff. The only good thing was that the leader's rambling wasn't too much at that time. The meeting ended quickly, and she went back to her office to pack her things. Besides her office belongings, there were also things from her dormitory. By the time Ji Wei finished packing and took her two children home, it was past dinnertime. She looked at them apologetically: "How about we have noodles later?"

"I'm hungry," Lulu said, showing her her flat stomach. Usually, she would have already eaten lunch by this time.

"Cooking noodles will be quick." Ji Wei comforted her while also daydreaming, "Summer vacation has already begun?"

"Mom, has anyone signed up for the tutoring class? Zhang Xiaojun said he wants to come too." Gu Chen'an said, glancing at Gu Chen'an.

"How did you know he wanted to come?" Ji Wei looked at him curiously. She remembered that he had said before that he would never play with Zhang Xiaojun again.

"His deskmate said so, that he wanted to come, but his mother didn't want him to." Gu Chen'an's lips were upturned as he said this. In the past, he was just like Zhang Xiaojun. Whatever he wanted to do, that woman would always oppose it. But now that he had a mother, she would support him no matter what he wanted to do. Thinking of Zhang Xiaojun's previous mockery, Gu Chen'an felt even happier.

"You want him to come?" Ji Wei felt like she didn't understand him anymore.

"No, it's just that I'm happy. He used to always tell me how good his mother was to him, and I was so envious. But today I realized that I'm not envious of him at all anymore, because I have a better mother now." Gu Chen'an finished speaking and didn't dare to look at Ji Wei's face.

Ji Wei was amused by him and teased him on purpose: "This is nothing, and you already think I'm a better mother?"

"Mom, you are the best mom." Gu Chen'an looked at her anxiously.

"So, in what ways is a better mother?" Ji Wei's tone was much more serious than before.

“Mom, you cook delicious food for us every day, and you take Lulu and me to school. When we do something wrong, you reason with us instead of scolding or hitting us. Most importantly, Mom always supports me in everything I do.” Gu Chen’an said, becoming a little embarrassed at the end.

Gu Chen'an's words left Ji Wei somewhat dazed. Was she really that great as a mother? Her gaze fell on Lulu, but the little one seemed uninterested, still trying to step on the ants on the ground. Ji Wei's vision blurred, and soon the cheerful Lulu in front of her overlapped with the image of Lulu accusing her in her past life. She thought, so she could be a good mother after all. This time, would she be the good mother Lulu was talking about?

Perhaps thinking about those unpleasant things, Ji Wei's mood was somewhat affected, but she didn't forget that the first thing she did when she got home was to cook noodles. When the noodles were served, Lulu, who had previously been somewhat resistant to eating noodles, was the first to shout, "So fragrant, so fragrant!"

"Eat more if you like it. Eating more will help you grow taller, so you can protect Mom with your brother in the future!" Ji Wei said, glancing at Lulu. She wondered if it was because they saw each other every day, but in almost three months, Lulu didn't seem to have grown much, while Chen An seemed to have grown a bit. Could it be because of exercise? Ji Wei wondered to herself.

"Okay." Lulu said, starting to pick up noodles with her chopsticks and slurping them. This was her favorite game when she was a child, until Ji Wei next to her stopped her: "Lulu, slurping noodles is impolite. You can't do that next time."

"Okay." Lulu said, changing the way she ate the noodles. Whether they were really hungry today or the noodles tasted good, the two little ones ate quite a lot of noodles.

"Mom, can we still go to Rong County with Dad tomorrow?" Gu Chen'an asked her after swallowing the last bite of noodles.

"You need to start doing your homework tomorrow," Ji Wei reminded her.

“Oh, right.” Gu Chen’an almost forgot his previous agreement with them.

In the afternoon, without Ji Wei reminding them, the two little ones went to do their homework. In the evening, the two went to the door to wait for Gu Zhiyuan. When Ji Wei saw this, she couldn't help but shake her head. She knew that they weren't waiting for Gu Zhiyuan at all, but were clearly waiting for their bubble gum.

This was the first time Gu Chen'an was so eager to share with Gu Zhiyuan that he had scored 100 on his math test. Although he had missed two points in Chinese, it was still better than his previous scores, so he wanted to tell his father as soon as possible.

Summer days are long and nights are short. When Gu Zhiyuan returned, there was still a large sunset in the sky. Lulu was the first to spot Gu Zhiyuan and excitedly reminded the people next to her, "Brother, Dad is back."

Seeing the two running towards him, Gu Zhiyuan's first thought was one of being flattered, followed by his realization of their foodie nature. But regardless of the reason, seeing the two little ones rushing towards him instantly dispelled his fatigue from the day.

"Dad, I got a hundred on my math test today." Gu Chen'an looked up at him after saying that, as if waiting for his praise.

"Wow, a hundred points! I've never scored so high before. Chen'an, you're amazing." Although they stopped Dr. Qin's treatment, they still maintained some of their previous habits, such as praising him at any time to make him more confident.

"I only got 100 in math, and only 98 in Chinese." Gu Chen'an tried his best to appear humble, but he couldn't suppress the smile on his lips.

"It's okay, we'll try harder next time." Gu Zhiyuan looked down to check if he was feeling down, but his worries seemed a bit unnecessary.

"Mom said so too, so I'll try my best to get 100 points in Chinese next time, and then I can win the prize." Gu Chen'an was still a little hung up on the ten yuan prize he missed.

"What award?" Gu Zhiyuan still didn't know much about these things at school.

“Students who do well on the final exams get certificates.” Gu Chen’an said, then became melancholy. He had never received such a certificate since first grade. He saw that a teacher’s child in Class 2 was getting certificates every semester. He felt like he was dragging his mother down.

"If you miss this time, there's always next time. Okay, don't look so gloomy. Study hard in your tutoring classes during the summer vacation, and maybe you'll get a perfect score on the next exam." Gu Zhiyuan said, patting his shoulder.

“But the tutoring classes only offer math, not Chinese.” Gu Chen’an sighed as he spoke. He would rather improve his Chinese than his math.

"It will happen sooner or later." Gu Zhiyuan was stunned after saying that. He always seemed to believe Ji Wei's words for no reason.

The first day of summer vacation passed just like that. On the second day, when Gu Zhiyuan was leaving, Ji Wei hesitated and said, "It's too tiring for you to come back every day like this. Why don't you come back once a week?"

"Ji Wei, you seem to really not want me to come back. Is it because my return has caused you trouble?" Gu Zhiyuan frowned as he looked at her, his eyes full of confusion.

"No, I'm just worried that you're going through all this trouble, it's too tiring for you." Ji Wei thought to herself, this person is really biting the hand that feeds him.

"I'd be happy to do it." Gu Zhiyuan quickly looked away from her. Ji Wei belatedly realized that her words were somewhat inappropriate. The relationship between her and her father was not close before. Now he was probably doing this to repair their relationship. So she added somewhat dryly, "As long as you don't feel tired."

"I'm not tired, really." Gu Zhiyuan's dark eyes were full of seriousness, but Ji Wei kept her head down.

Seeing this, Ji Wei stopped talking and was about to get up to wash the dishes when he stopped her. She simply got up and went upstairs to prepare for next week's tutoring class. She was busy for an hour. When Ji Wei came downstairs again, she only saw the two little ones practicing military boxing. She casually asked, "Where is he?"

Before the two little ones could speak, Gu Zhiyuan's voice came from behind: "You were looking for me?"

Upon hearing this, Ji Wei turned around and saw that the person who had been wearing a shirt and trousers just moments before was now wearing a vest and shorts. Suddenly, the image she had accidentally glimpsed when she woke up that morning flashed through her mind, and her face turned bright red.

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Author's note: So sleepy, not much today, will try to write more tomorrow [heart emoji]