Chapter 27 Stupidity Isn't Contagious "Maybe I can use it for a lifetime..."

"The fragrance of rice blossoms heralds a bountiful year, accompanied by a chorus of frogs..." Jiang Yueming recited silently to himself. He no longer needed to stay after school to finish his homework; he had long since been removed from Yin Guiying's "thorn in her side" and promoted. The bright red Xs on his homework had decreased significantly, and he occasionally even received a comment like "great progress."

As the weather gradually turned cooler, and autumn transitioned into winter, a single school uniform jacket seemed a bit thin, allowing the wind to penetrate easily. So Jiang Yueming put on another jacket over it.

Li Leshan sat quietly next to him, writing his questions. He said this was a good time to write; if it got any colder, his hands would shake so badly he might not be able to write. That's how it is in the North—sometimes it's hot, sometimes it's cold. When it's really the coldest part of winter, it's hard to even hold a pen, let alone write a test. If you haven't written anything for several days during winter break, you can't write without warming your hands, and if you force yourself to, your handwriting will be terrible.

During the week, Jiang Yueming would attend school diligently, and on weekends, he would study with Li Leshan, receiving extra tutoring. They would study for half a day or even a few hours, always under the old locust tree. After so many times, Li Leshan had become a familiar face to Grandpa Li, even more so than Han Jiang.

Now many locust leaves have fallen, and besides locust leaves, ginkgo leaves are also scattered on the ground, curling and swirling, flying everywhere.

He's now truly studying like a man who's been studying diligently, filling his days with vocabulary, formulas, and classical Chinese texts. Fulfilling days always fly by; in the blink of an eye, a day is gone, then a week, and then a month.

Although he was eager to learn, he wasn't actually that good at it. He was still a long way from being "good at learning." Jiang Yueming had personally experienced that these two words were not the same thing at all.

He slammed his Chinese textbook down on his face, the cold paper pressing against his skin, hoping this "enlightenment" would force those difficult classical poems into his brain. Images of Yin Guiying banging on the blackboard, emphasizing "It's on the test! It's on the test!" flashed before his eyes, and he felt his head throbbing, his temples throbbing.

Suddenly, without warning, Jiang Yueming began to stumble. Her head bobbed up and down, and the Chinese textbook she was holding wobbled precariously. She wasn't dreaming; with a sudden, powerful fall, just as her head was about to hit the stone table, a book caught her.

The stone table is the round kind, very thick, and not very smooth, a bit rough. If you really bump into it, it will at least leave red marks here and blue or purple marks there.

"I wonder if I can get into the top high school by kowtowing to God a few times." Jiang Yueming chuckled awkwardly, rubbing his forehead. There was a hint of embarrassment in his eyes as he looked at Li Leshan. What kind of situation was it to always be caught by Li Leshan like this?

However, if he really gets accepted, it's unlikely that Jiang Yueming will have a chance to get in.

“If you don’t study hard, you won’t pass the exam even if you kneel a hundred times.” Li Leshan gestured, carefully looked at Jiang Yueming’s forehead to make sure he wasn’t injured, and then his gaze fell back on Jiang’s bloodshot eyes.

“I know—” Jiang Yueming said with a mournful face.

"Have you been sleeping poorly lately?" Li Leshan asked.

Jiang Yueming rubbed his face to clear his head. He asked in confusion, "Huh? No, I guess I just went to bed late and woke up too early."

It wasn't that late, it's just that Jiang Yueming is a slow learner when doing problems. Although his accuracy has improved, he's too slow. His speed hasn't improved. To exaggerate, he spends half the night doing a set of tests. Who can sleep well like that?

"Is there anything you don't understand?" Li Leshan asked. "Let me see your midterm exam paper from last time."

Jiang Yueming pulled out a stack of papers from his bag and picked them out one by one like picking vegetables. He looked at the grades on them and remained silent for a moment, his voice growing softer and softer, "Which one do you want? English? Chinese?"

Li Leshan didn't use sign language; he simply picked up the worn-out math textbook from the corner of the table and waved it in front of him.

Jiang Yueming resignedly lowered his head and continued rummaging through the pile of papers for "Midterm Test", "Unit Quiz", and "In-Class Exercises". He finally managed to pull out the math midterm test paper with many red crosses.

At least he can pass now. The days when Jiang Yueming only scored 20 or 30 points are gone. He has now successfully crossed the 60 mark and is about to turn 70.

Li Leshan took his test paper and looked it over. Jiang Yueming felt even more nervous than when the math teacher had held it. He leaned closer to Li Leshan, their shoulders almost touching, and asked, "How is it? Have I improved?"

Li Leshan nodded.

"Right? Yin Guiying has praised me quite a few times," Jiang Yueming said with a smile.

"How did you figure out this question?" Li Leshan asked, pointing to a spot on the test paper.

Jiang Yueming glanced at the questions; he hadn't expected to answer the last few multiple-choice questions anyway. Those weren't points he could get, so what was the point of persisting? There's a saying: what doesn't belong to you, you can't force. What's destined to be yours will be yours, and what's not, you can't force.

"I didn't think much about it; I chose the longest of the three short and one long ones."

Li Leshan picked up a pencil and wrote down several key points and clear problem-solving steps on it. He did this very quickly, almost without thinking.

“You have to do it,” Li Leshan pushed the test paper to Jiang Yueming. “I’ve calculated your score. To get into No. 1 Middle School, you need at least 80 in math.”

The admission scores for No. 1 High School are roughly the same, with the lowest tier around 268 points, and each of Chinese, Math, and English being 100 points. Given that Jiang Yueming performed normally or even exceptionally well in English and Chinese, his Math score would be at least 80.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yueming felt like banging his head on the table. He never dreamed that this was a score he could only achieve in second grade, before the equation was even presented.

Perhaps seeing his troubled expression, Li Leshan showed a rare look of comfort. He gestured for Jiang Yueming to look at him and then said, "But don't worry, there are still six months left, there's plenty of time."

“Li Leshan,” Jiang Yueming suddenly asked, her voice muffled, “don’t you think I’m particularly stupid?”

Even after explaining a problem seven or eight times, he could still get it wrong; even after memorizing an essay seven or eight times, he could still forget it. Although it wouldn't be fair to say he wasn't cut out for studying, Jiang Yueming felt he was getting close to that point.

He always hangs out with Li Leshan. Luckily, stupidity isn't contagious, otherwise what if Li Leshan also becomes stupid along with him?

Li Leshan rolled up the test paper and gently patted his head, saying, "You're not stupid."

It's already quite remarkable that he's made such rapid progress. Although Li Leshan didn't quite understand why Jiang Yueming wanted to go to No. 1 Middle School, since No. 2 Middle School was closer to home and he wouldn't have to work so hard memorizing words, reciting texts, and doing exercises, he thought about it again and realized that people should strive for better things, so he wouldn't bother asking Jiang Yueming about it.

Jiang Yueming chuckled, "I might be a little slow. I'm even a half-beat slower than others when it comes to memorizing multiplication tables."

Li Leshan smiled. "But you're memorizing it very well now, aren't you?"

Jiang Yueming stared at him, somewhat bewildered. He blinked and said, "I'm so old, if I still can't memorize it, I'm really stupid. Tian Tian will be able to memorize it soon."

When the snow completely covered the city, and the weather became warm enough to wear cotton-padded coats and scarves, the old locust tree at the alley entrance had lost all its leaves. Grandpa Li no longer sat in his rocking chair at the door; instead, he wore a military overcoat, sat at the shop entrance, and stared at the occasional passerby on the street, day after day.

"Humph, it's really cold." Jiang Yueming sighed. "It feels like this winter is colder than in previous years."

Li Leshan nodded. He took out a pair of gloves from his cotton-padded coat pocket. They were the fashionable half-gloves, with black velvet fabric that only covered the second knuckle. Everyone wore these nowadays; they were convenient for writing and not too cold.

Jiang Yueming's eyes lit up, and he happily accepted the pair. He remembered having a pair before, but he couldn't find them; he had long since lost them. Winter items were practically impossible to find after spring, summer, and autumn—it was as if they had vanished into thin air. He had originally planned to find an opportunity to buy a few pairs at the Zhonghua Market, but he hadn't had the time.

"Is this yours? If I use it, what will you use?" Jiang Yueming knew that Li Leshan had a pair that looked exactly the same, so he quickly said, "No, you write more than I do. I'll buy it in a couple of days."

“No,” Li Leshan hurriedly explained, then took out another pair, indicating that the one in his hand was his own, “It was sewn by my grandmother.”

"Grandma?" Jiang Yueming suddenly felt a warm feeling in her heart. "She sewed it for me? Did you tell her?"

Jiang Yueming thought so too. He hadn't been to Li Leshan's house these past few days. With the end of the semester approaching, he had a lot of classes, homework, and tests to do, and time was really squeezed out. If Li Leshan hadn't told him, his grandmother probably wouldn't have known and wouldn't have been able to sew him a glove.

"Please thank Grandma for me. I'll visit her when I have time." Jiang Yueming put the gloves on; they fit perfectly, not too big, not too small. The craftsmanship was exceptional; the stitching and everything else, he thought, was even better than those sold in stores, and far superior to the wholesale ones in the Zhonghua Market.

"I hope my hands grow slowly," Jiang Yueming said, stretching out her hand and waving it. "That way I can wear them for a few more years."

“It’s alright,” Li Leshan said in sign language, “You’ll grow quickly, and we can continue sewing later.”

“No, that’s too much trouble,” Jiang Yueming said, his hands in his pockets, his fingertips rubbing the fabric of his gloves. “I’ll just… grow slowly.”

“We have plenty of thread at home,” Li Leshan said, looking at him. “Or… I’ll ask Grandma to teach me in a while, and then I can sew it for you.”

"Really?" Jiang Yueming asked.

Li Leshan nodded very seriously.

"Don't rush to sew," Jiang Yueming hurriedly said, knowing that Li Leshan was serious. She was afraid that he would immediately learn how to sew and then sew one right away, because he was so smart and had such diligent hands, learning this would be a piece of cake for him. "Wait until I'm sixteen, seventeen... a few more years, until I stop growing taller and my hands don't grow much longer, then you can sew it for me."

"Why do we need to wait a few more years?" Li Leshan asked, somewhat puzzled.

“I might be able to use it for a lifetime,” Jiang Yueming said.

Li Leshan was silent for a while, then said, "When we grow up and stop doing math problems, we probably won't need it anymore."

"No way, learning has no end, you know?" At this moment, he understood that learning had no end. Jiang Yueming quoted Yin Guiying's wise words and said that he would learn every day and every day without end.

He kept rambling on and on, no longer caring about his cold hands, taking it out to look at it once, twice, three times, and several more times. "Could you sew a word on it for me later? Would it be a bit of a hassle? It's okay if you don't sew it on. Sigh, wait until I'm seventeen or eighteen..."

Li Leshan listened to the voices around him, filled with the excitement and joy typical of a young boy, like a puppy circling a warm fire. He knew Jiang Yueming must be extremely happy right now.

Looking at Jiang Yueming's slightly reddened profile from the cold, he quietly thought: Actually... I wouldn't find it troublesome to sew gloves for you for a lifetime.

A note from the author:

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My baby is so cute! The next chapter will be a paid chapter!

Writing is hard work for young authors, so we hope everyone will support Yueming and Lele! [Let me see...]

Thank you for your support, and I'm grateful to every one of you (bows). I update super fast and will update more often, daily or even double updates are always ready [sunglasses]. I'll be incredibly happy if you visit my page!

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