Chapter 14

Liang Yue and Ji Shuyi were on different floors at school and rarely saw each other, except for one time when Liang Yue was caught laughing and playing with people around him during self-study and was taken to the dean's office.

That 'insidious' 'old monkey'.

With a perpetually sullen face, he finally found an opportunity to punish Liang Yue, and he used his 'power' to the fullest extent. One moment he was ordering Liang Yue to clean the girls' restroom, and the next he was ordering Liang Yue to tidy up his desk.

Shen Zhuo, who was caught laughing and joking with them, couldn't stand it anymore and offered to do it himself. Besides, he was the one who started the conversation.

Liang Yue hunched over, holding a broom with a split end, 'diligently' sweeping under his office seat, but in his heart he was already cursing the 'old monkey' to the bone, including but not limited to calling him a 'water-injected pig's head'.

The arrogant head of student affairs finally took pity on her and said, "Alright, you and she can clean the whole office together."

"yes."

After giving his instructions, the 'old monkey' strolled leisurely out for a walk, looking for the next 'lucky one'.

"It's all your fault," Liang Yue said irritably, throwing the broom at Chen Zhuo. "How many times has this happened?"

Shen Zhuo really thought about it seriously, and said uncertainly, "This is the fourth time, oh no, the fifth time. Last time they asked us to sweep the public areas."

"Do you think we're both stupid?" Liang Yue said fiercely, even cursing himself. "Others learn from their mistakes, but we keep making the same mistakes over and over again... until we're full."

Shen Zhuo played along, "What does that mean? High school is really tough, and we were both really hungry."

"..."

'Knock knock'

The two stopped fighting and verbally abusing each other, then stood up straight and looked at the office door, which was now closed.

The person knocking didn't hear a response, so they knocked a second time.

Liang Yue cleared his throat and said in a pretentious manner, "Go in."

Ji Shuyi turned the doorknob and frowned when he saw that there were only the two people in the empty office.

Little did Liang Yue know that the person standing at the door was Ji Shuyi. Pointing at Chen Zhuo, he explained in a way that seemed to say "come in" in a way that was clearly a lie, "He was the one who said 'come in' just now."

Chen Zhuo: "..."

Sometimes, Shen Zhuo really wants to crack open Liang Yue's head to see if his brain is smaller than a pistachio.

Ji Shuyi didn't say anything, put down the books he had collected, and turned to leave.

"Hey, classmate," Shen Zhuo called out to him, "Which floor is the director patrolling on? Could you give us a quick look?"

"The fifth floor."

"Okay, thanks."

...

"Him."

"What?"

"Him, the prospect of getting into Tsinghua or Peking University from our school," Shen Zhuo whispered gossipingly. "His name is Ji Shuyi. His mother has an affair with the Ji family, the most famous wealthy businessmen in our city. Ji Shuyi is an illegitimate child, and the Ji family has not acknowledged him."

"Why won't they acknowledge him? He's still their own son, isn't he?"

"I heard it from someone else. Ji Shuyi's father's wife is a woman who has a strong will and a fiery personality. She doesn't allow her father to acknowledge Ji Shuyi back, or else she'll divorce him."

"Does Ji Shuyi's father have other sons?"

"Yes, he has a legitimate son, who is a little older than Ji Shuyi. He should be studying at a university abroad."

"oh."

-

It's the weekend again in the blink of an eye.

Liang Yue quickly finished his homework and, as a matter of course, stayed in his room watching TV dramas.

The sun outside is scorching, and the cicadas are chirping incessantly.

Unable to bear the cicadas' chirping any longer, she closed the windows tightly and turned down the air conditioner. Hearing the noise, Grandma came out of the kitchen. "Daughter, aren't you going to eat dinner?"

"I'm not eating anymore," Liang Yue said. He had eaten too many snacks and there was no room left in his stomach for food. "It's too hot, I have no appetite."

"Okay, I'll go buy you half a braised duck tomorrow morning."

"good."

Liang Yue wasn't sleepy at all. He lay half-reclined on the bed, staring at the TV screen listlessly. The room was dark, and the sunlight was gradually dimming. In his hazy state, he thought he might as well take a nap and get up around ten o'clock to meet up with Shen Zhuo and Yu Wei for a late-night snack.

Half an hour later.

'Knock knock'

Liang Yue pulled the blanket over his head.

'Knock knock'

Liang Yue was still asleep and mumbled a reply, his voice so soft that the person outside the door couldn't hear him at all.

After a while.

"Little girl, little girl."

"What's wrong?" Liang Yue sat up in a bad mood, a bit grumpy from waking up. She snapped the light on. "Grandma, what's wrong?"

"Hurry up and get ready, Xiao Ji is coming."

"Who is it?" She got out of bed. "Come in, the door isn't locked."

Grandma turned the doorknob. "Oh dear, why are you still sleeping? Get up and study."

Liang Yue pleaded, "Grandma, please let me go. I'm just not cut out for studying."

"Of course it is! Get up quickly."

"Oh dear," Liang Yue scratched his head and glanced at the boy standing behind his grandmother—Ji Shuyi.

Yes, not long ago Ji Shuyi promised her grandmother to tutor her.

"Come in," Liang Yue stepped aside to make way for him.

“Alright,” Grandma said kindly to Ji Shuyi, “thank you for your trouble.”

As Grandma's footsteps faded into the distance, Liang Yue and Ji Shuyi looked at each other for a while before he spoke up, "Grandma asked me to come over and tutor you. Can we start with math?"

"oh."

“But I don’t want to study,” Liang Yue said in a low voice. “How about I just tell Grandma that you’ve been tutoring me and let me go back to sleep?”

“No,” Ji Shuyi put down his schoolbag, took out his pencil case, textbooks, and some new notebooks. “Can I look through these books?” he asked, pointing to a stack of books piled haphazardly on the table.

"Can."

"Come sit here," Ji Shuyi quickly got into the swing of things, "Have you finished your weekend homework?"

"almost."

"Okay, I'll check your weekend homework first, and then we'll start reviewing from the first unit."

Before arriving, Ji Shuyi had completed all of his homework, circling the difficult questions or those with hidden traps. "All correct?"

Liang Yue said smugly, "Of course, I'm very smart."

"Tell me about this dish."

Question 5 in the multiple-choice section is a basic math question, a free point.

"Uh...I don't know," Liang Yue said, feeling embarrassed, and stubbornly refused to look at him.

Ji Shuyi understood; she must have found the answers to her homework from somewhere and copied them directly without leaving any trace of her doing the questions.

"I'll start with the first question."

Ji Shuyi is efficient and basically doesn't waste any words. When he needs to pause, he will look at Liang Yue's reaction. It's very obvious when someone is distracted and their eyes are not focused. At this time, he will remind Liang Yue to listen carefully.

Moreover, he doesn't explain all the questions; he only explains the basic ones. He explains one question and then asks Liang Yue to apply the knowledge to other questions. If he gets it right, he moves on; if he gets it wrong, he explains it again.

He doesn't explain the major questions on the second page of the answer sheet, and even if he does, he only explains the first sub-question. "If you can get the basic points, getting 110 in math is no problem at all."

However, Liang Yue felt that learning the basic questions was already very difficult, requiring him to use up all his brain cells.

“Liang Yue,” Ji Shuyi noticed that the person next to him was lost in thought again, and tapped the table with his pen, “Look at me here.”

"Oh dear," Liang Yue couldn't persuade her grandmother, but she could handle Ji Shuyi, so she threw her pen on the table, lay down on it, and whined and acted like a brat, "I don't want to write, I really don't know how."

"You can learn it once you start learning. It's just that you weren't serious before, and you didn't learn the old knowledge points. Then new ones came along, and the cycle wore down your enthusiasm for learning."

Liang Yue didn't want to listen to Ji Shuyi's rambling, so she covered her ears and said to herself, "I'm so hungry. I haven't had dinner. I want to eat barbecue now, preferably from the one at the alley entrance."

"Liang Yue!" Ji Shuyi emphasized, "Look at the book and listen carefully!"

Liang Yue buried his face in his arms, looking completely unyielding.

Ji Shuyi sighed softly and softened his tone, "Okay, as long as you listen carefully and understand the basic questions on this test, I'll go buy you some barbecue from that place at the alley entrance later."

"real?!"

“Yes,” Ji Shuyi nodded, “Really.”

Even with the temptation of delicious food, and despite trying her best to understand, Liang Yue still couldn't grasp it.

"Is this really something a human being can learn?" she questioned weakly. "It's so hard."

Ji Shuyi snatched the draft paper from her hand, glanced at the equation on it, and pointed out the problem, "You forgot to change the signs here. Both sides of the equation should be multiplied by the denominator."

"Not bad, you should understand the general idea."

Ji Shuyi glanced at the watch on his wrist; it was 10:30.

"I will come to tutor you again next week."

"knew."

Liang Yue collapsed onto the table, utterly exhausted.

Because it was stuffy during the journey, Ji Shuyi opened the window a crack. The evening breeze blew through the window, caressing Liang Yue's cheeks and hair. The cicadas' chirping subsided, and a dim, round moon hung overhead, with a few stars dotting the surroundings.

She thought to herself, "Tomorrow will be a nice day."

Ji Shuyi finished packing his things and saw Liang Yue lying there just as before, like a limp cat perched on the doorstep.

"They're gone."

"Okay, goodbye, Teacher Ji."

Ji Shuyi ignored her sarcastic remark and went straight out the door. His hurried steps stirred up the air around him, and Liang Yue could vaguely smell a fragrance that smelled a lot like soapy water.

He's so pitiful.

Liang Yue was suddenly overcome with kindness. He remembered that Ji Shuyi could have stayed home tonight, but he wouldn't have come to tutor him if it weren't for earning his grandmother's five hundred yuan.

Moreover, he doesn't need to review the questions he doesn't know, which is a complete waste of his time.

Well, she thought, it's not like she can't learn it.

About half an hour later.

Liang Yue was very hungry. He searched the kitchen but found nothing but leftovers. The stir-fried pork he had for dinner had solidified into a deep orange color and stuck to the edge of the bowl. The meat was very fatty and turned into a white blob when it cooled down.

I have no appetite.

She wished she could have barbecue. If she had been more attentive earlier, she might have been able to get Ji Shuyi to buy her some. But now she was too lazy to move and had no desire to go.

I'd rather starve like this.

I was anxiously hungry.

'Knock knock'

How many times has the door been knocked today?

Liang Yue reluctantly got up to open the door.

As soon as I opened the door, the aroma of roasted meat wafted out.

Ji Shuyi handed her a bag of freshly grilled barbecue. "Eat up, aren't you hungry?"

Liang Yue was truly starving, so she gratefully accepted the gift, her smile almost reaching her ears. "Let's share, there's still some Coke left in the fridge."

"No, thank you," Ji Shuyi said after delivering the food, without lingering. "I have things to do at home, so you can eat by yourself. Don't lie down right away after you finish eating; walk around a few times before resting. If you feel uncomfortable from indigestion, you won't have to go through it again."

"Okay, thank you. I'll include this money in the tuition fees and have Grandma give it to you together."

"No need, I'm leaving."

"goodbye."