Chapter 51 Why are you shy? ...

During the break, Ms. Li, who is now the head of the English teaching and research group, met the class representative she was most satisfied with in her office.

"Student Tao Siyun, we haven't heard from you in all these years since graduation. We teachers all thought you'd forgotten us since you returned to Beijing Fudan University!" Teacher Li patted her shoulder gently and said with feigned displeasure, "You're such a jerk! I've taught you for two years, and after the college entrance exam, I wanted to ask you how you did, but I couldn't reach you on QQ, and you didn't even reply to my emails. It really breaks my heart."

When Teacher Li taught them, they had just graduated from graduate school two years ago. It was the peak period for young people to devote themselves to the education career with infinite passion. He cherished his first batch of students very much.

Teacher Li, who was a class teacher for the first time, quickly became friends with the students. As soon as the military training was over, her address changed from the respected "Teacher Li" to "Sister Li" in the boys' mouths and "Miss Li" in the girls' mouths.

Miss Li is the most special teacher Tao Siyun has ever met. Although she is usually quite open-minded, she is very responsible in teaching. In order to stimulate everyone's enthusiasm for learning English, she makes her own test papers every week and organizes weekly tests for the whole class from time to time.

After the results come out, she will bring breakfast at her own expense to the students who get full marks. No matter what they want to eat, as long as they place an order, she will satisfy them. No matter how far the restaurant is, Teacher Li will get up early to queue up.

Among the students in the two classes, only Tao Siyun enjoyed this treatment. She didn't have to eat breakfast at home for four days every month. Miss Li would bring her a variety of delicious and beautiful small cakes and chocolate biscuits.

Jiang Zhen ate the wafer biscuits fed by Tao Siyun with envy and peace of mind, and at the same time did not forget to share them with Xu Ji. The three people at the front and back tables completed the "relay feeding" in a very tortuous way.

After a brief greeting, Tao Siyun gave Teacher Li a big hug.

"I haven't logged into QQ in years. I don't know if I can recover my password. The same goes for my email..."

Xu Ji glanced at her.

"Can i have your WeChat"

"certainly."

After adding her on WeChat, Miss Li winked at her and said in a relaxed tone, "Can I invite you to one of my English classes again? Maybe you'll miss it as much as I do."

"My pleasure."

The long-lost feeling of familiarity came over me, as if the screw that locked the memory in my brain suddenly became loose, and then slid down in circles, and finally fell to the ground with a "click" and a crisp sound.

Xu Ji felt a little dazed during their conversation, as if she was back in an English class in high school...

***

I don’t know what Miss Li asked at that time, but Tao Siyun blushed and his usually fluent spoken English became halting.

The whole class looked at her.

Finally, under the questioning of Teacher Li, Tao Siyun murmured a word that everyone could understand:

secret.

Although they didn't know what the question was, they could guess it based on Tao Siyun's answer.

Now everyone banged their hands on the table and started to make a fuss.

The atmosphere in English classes has always been relaxed and free, and anything related to learning English is allowed to happen.

Miss Li was a teacher who never spoiled the fun. She waited until they had finished making noise before she made a pause gesture, asking everyone to be quiet and prepare to continue teaching.

However, one student couldn't hold back and boldly asked the question that everyone was curious about: "Teacher, what did you ask Tao Siyun just now?"

The gossipy faces looked at her with great anticipation. Miss Li sensed their curiosity and deliberately cleared her throat. When everyone was breathlessly focused, she lowered her voice, enunciating each word, and said mysteriously, "It's a secret."

“…”

“Ugh…!!!”

The classroom was filled with disappointment.

"This is a secret between Tao Siyun and me, and I won't tell you. If you want to know what we talked about, then start studying English well from now on." Teacher Li clenched his right fist, made a cheering gesture, and smiled encouragingly: "Join us!"

Xu Ji didn't care what the teacher and his deskmate talked about, but he really wanted to know why Tao Siyun blushed.

"Why are you shy?"

“…”

Tao Siyun didn't want to say anything, his eyes were always fixed on the textbook.

Her eyes were beautiful, the folds of her double eyelids were just right. When she blinked, her upper and lower eyelashes touched lightly, covering the small teardrop mole below the end of her eye. When she closed her eyes, they immediately opened again...

Xu Ji twirled the pen in his hand carelessly, staring into her eyes, and asked again, "What does 'sapiosexual' mean?"

“…”

Ding-ling-ling——

Before Tao Siyun could react to the fact that Xu Ji had actually memorized the key words, he was startled by the bell for the end of get out of class.

The heart was beating rapidly in the chest, almost at the same frequency as the death ringing bell.

Sapiosexual＝sapiens+sexual.

Sapiosexual.

Tao Siyun did not deny the fact that she was obsessed with high IQ.

***

After the morning class, the girls walked towards the cafeteria in groups of three or five, arm in arm, while the boys walked with their arms around each other's shoulders.

Tao Siyun looked at their backs and suddenly missed his high school days.

"Shall we go out for lunch or go to the cafeteria?"

"Hmm..." Tao Siyun thought for a moment, "Can I eat in the cafeteria without a meal card?"

Her favorite food in the past was the braised pork ribs rice in the school cafeteria. I wonder if it is still available now.

Xu Ji narrowed his eyes and looked at her with a half-smile: "You don't have a meal card, so you came back to your alma mater to eat a free meal?"

“…”

You're the one who ate and dashed, and now you're not going to pay?

"I can borrow meal cards from my junior classmates." Tao Siyun hesitated and asked uncertainly, "They should lend it to me, right? I can transfer it to them through WeChat or Alipay."

…

Even after graduation, the cafeteria of Huxi No. 1 Middle School still maintains the original simple payment method.

Use meal card.

Cash and electronic payments are usually not accepted. Only on the open day will they mercifully show the QR code.

Students and parents basically choose to dine in the cafeteria. After visiting the school, they will also take a look at the dining environment and dishes.

Seeing that more and more people were coming, Tao Siyun found a seat nearby and sat down, put the drink bottle in his hand on the table, reserving a seat for Xu Ji.

The variety of food is much greater than when they were in school before, and it is especially rich. There are more than a dozen windows on the first floor. At a glance, anything available in the snack street is basically available in the cafeteria.

The second floor serves fine stir-fries and some large set meals. The prices are a bit high and it is usually eaten by school staff, with very few students.

Rice with toppings is very popular among students, and long queues form at the window early on.

Tao Siyun supported his chin with one hand and stared at the opposite side.

Xu Ji followed the team and moved forward slowly.

His height is particularly conspicuous among a group of high school students in school uniforms. From the side, he looks like a crane standing out among chickens, making people unable to take their eyes off him.

A few minutes later, Xu Ji came back with two servings of rice.

Tao Siyun felt very lucky because when it was Xu Ji's turn, there was only one portion of braised pork ribs left.

He ordered a serving of chicken and potatoes for himself.

Today's fruit is oranges, placed between the two of them.

The bright yellow tangerines have a beautiful color and there are still two leaves on them that have not been picked off, making them look particularly fresh.

Tao Siyun ate his meal slowly, glancing up from time to time.

It gives people the feeling of a child who doesn't eat well and is always thinking about snacks.

The moment they raised their eyes, their gazes met unexpectedly.

Xu Ji knocked on the plate and said calmly: "Eat well, and these two are yours after you finish them."

"Isn't there one for each person?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Tao Siyun suddenly realized something.

Xu Ji put down the spoon in his hand, looked at her, and repeated nonchalantly: "One for each?"

“…”

Tao Siyun shut up and focused on eating.

The two people thought of the same thing at the same time.

***

One early winter afternoon in his first year of high school, Tao Siyun met Xu Ji on the way to his teacher's house to learn piano.

At that time, she and he were deskmates who had just gotten to know each other for a short time. Due to Tao Siyun's own personality, her communication with Xu Ji at school was very limited.

Basically, the two of them could only say a few more words when Jiang Zhen and Li Huan were involved.

Unexpectedly, the "borrowing a mobile phone" incident quickly brought them closer to their deskmates.

Tao Siyun kept his promise and treated Xu Ji to lunch in the school cafeteria on Monday at noon to thank him for lending him his cell phone.

Xu Ji used Tao Siyun's meal card to order a fish-flavored shredded pork rice bowl.

The rice bowl is 17.5 yuan per portion, which comes with a serving of soup, and the fruit is either an apple or an orange.

The two sat facing each other. Xu Ji placed the green-peeled tangerines in his hand on her tray and said to her, "One for each of you."

"Thanks."

In order to make it easier to swipe her meal card while queuing, she asked Xu Ji to stand in front of her. Xu Ji helped her get a bowl of soup and some fruit as well.

Li Huan and Jiang Zhen came to find them after buying fried noodles. From several steps away, they saw Tao Siyun covering his mouth with his face wrinkled with sourness.

Seeing her pitiful expression, Xu Ji laughed muffledly and said, "Is it really that sour?"

"You'll know once you try it."

Xu Ji pretended to be skeptical and put a peeled orange slice into his mouth. He endured it and chewed it slowly for a long time before finally swallowing it. He then raised his head and said calmly, "I think it's okay. It's not sour."

Tao Siyun pushed the orange in front of Xu Ji with disdain, "Then you can have mine too."

Xu Ji: “…”

"Wow, what delicious food? Let me try it too." Jiang Zhen patted Xu Ji's shoulder and sat down next to him.

Tao Siyun's mouth was constantly drooling, and his tongue felt sore and numb. He pointed at the fruit in his hand and said, "Orange."

Jiang Zhen picked up the remaining half of the orange, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed it twice, and spit it directly onto the dining table. His whole face was distorted like a rag that had been wrung out vigorously, and he let out a weak "Fuck".

Li Huan couldn't stand it anymore: "Jiang Zhen, can you stop being so disgusting? Can't you let me eat?"

"I'm sorry..." Jiang Zhen looked at Xu Ji with a painful expression, and asked in a trembling voice, "Are you pregnant? Your taste has become so strange..."

Tao Siyun: "..."

Xu Ji glanced at him and said coldly: "...You are pregnant."

Li Huan glanced at Xu Ji strangely, then at Tao Siyun, and said nothing. He gave a heartfelt evaluation: "Taste failure."

Jiang Zhen covered his extremely sore cheeks and bared his teeth, yelling, "Here, here, here, I'll give you this too, go eat it!"

Among the four people, only Li Huan did not choose orange.

Tao Siyun stared at the red apple she placed on the table, and suddenly remembered the proverb her aunt always told her when she was a child -

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away."

Li Huan was quite happy chewing his apple. On the way back to the classroom, he kept repeating this sentence as a doggerel: "An apple a day keeps the doctor away~"

Jiang Zhen hummed, hugged Xu Ji, leaned over to his ear, and said something in a clumsy, almost distorted voice that he thought was quite good in English: "An orange green a day keeps nobody love you~"

Xu Ji: "...stay away from me."

"Hey, is that what you said?" Jiang Zhen teased with a forced smile, "What kind of taste do you have? Do you really like eating those sour green-skinned oranges? That's quite perverted! How about I buy you two more kilograms? Xu Yuqiqi?"

"roll."