Chapter 79: Not Like a Partner, More Like a Son "Am I still far from being a good match...?"

Distributing winter break homework was like handing out new books, all with great fanfare. Liu Xijun called a few boys down to the north-south avenue to collect their winter break homework. Jiang Yueming and Cao Fan, wanting to avoid their next math class, hadn't been called, but they still went along anyway.

"Five is enough! Five is enough!" Liu Xijun shouted as he watched a group of boys rush out. They were only enthusiastic at this moment.

"Fei, you should rest!" Jiang Yueming patted Xu Fei's shoulder, signaling him to sit still.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry, the moon is bright!" Cao Fan shouted as he charged forward.

"They're here!" Jiang Yueming shouted.

He ran down the stairs, taking two or three steps at a time, and looked at the piles of winter break homework on the ground, feeling a headache coming on. Moving the homework wasn't the first thing to do; the first thing was to flip through the back of the winter break homework to see if there were any answers.

Jiang Yueming suddenly knelt on the ground and began flipping through all the books—Chinese, Math, English, Politics, History, Geography, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology—until she was completely absorbed.

Damn, none of them have answers.

"Damn it..." Jiang Yueming resigned himself to his fate.

He carried the books back and forth two or three times before finally stopping. He didn't like distributing books; after he finished, he sat in his seat like a king, waiting for the books to arrive.

During his free time, he also sent a message to Li Leshan.

Jiang Yueming: Lele, is your winter vacation homework also something like "Happy Holiday"?

Li Leshan replied after a while: No.

Ha! Who came up with this cunning scheme at the Three High Schools? Normally, students at the school study so hard they wish their schedules were identical, studying during morning and evening self-study sessions. But now, the winter break homework is completely different.

That's impressive, there's nothing to copy.

The final exam was a joint exam, supposedly with test papers prepared by a specialized test-prediction agency. It was a joint exam involving dozens of schools, and the publicity was so loud and exciting that it sounded intimidating.

Before the exam even started, rumors circulated that the test paper had been leaked, including the answers to the math multiple-choice questions: CCBBD ACBBD CB. These answers had even reached Jiang Yueming's hands.

Cao Fan has been muttering to himself every day for the past two days, what he's been muttering about is memorizing the answers. He won't let go of any hope, no matter how small. He says that with ready-made answers, it's a waste not to memorize them. And such good fortune might not come again.

"Aren't you afraid of getting yourself into trouble?" Jiang Yueming asked.

"I already believe in this, why would I be afraid of being scammed?" Cao Fan said calmly, but in reality, he was completely out of options.

“That’s true,” Jiang Yueming said. He thought to himself that Han Jiang would definitely believe this. He wondered if the information had reached Shigao High School yet. Han Jiang was probably asking for the answer right now, and he was definitely planning to memorize the answer and then amaze everyone at the end.

Anyway, if the first subject is Chinese and the essay topic isn't "the meaning of struggle," then I probably have no chance.

After thinking it over, Jiang Yueming edited a message and sent it to Li Leshan. It was a very long message, split into two parts.

Chinese Language: Choose CBD DA CCA BBD; Essay: "The Meaning of Struggle"

Mathematics Choice CCBBD ACBBD CB

English reading CBD... Essay suggestion letter or application letter

I can't guarantee it, let Han Jiang just recite it casually.

After sending the entire message, Jiang Yueming felt something was amiss and added a message.

Jiang Yueming: Don't recite it.

He found it a bit funny right after posting it, and chuckled to himself for a long time. Li Leshan must think he's incredibly stupid, ridiculously stupid for believing something like this. He should have used that time to worship Lu Xun or Einstein.

Five minutes later—

Li Leshan: ?

Li Leshan: Okay.

The main point is to respect and follow those who don't understand.

Cao Fan achieved a resounding victory in his first attempt at the final exam. The essay topic was indeed "The Meaning of Struggle." The moment he saw the topic, his face practically split open with laughter, and he couldn't help but burst out laughing in the exam hall.

He was right behind Jiang Yueming, and Jiang Yueming could hear the slightest sound. He was also surprised to see the Chinese exam paper, and felt a little regretful that he hadn't memorized more multiple-choice questions.

"Hehehe..." Five minutes into the exam, Cao Fan was still laughing.

Jiang Yueming leaned against the table, turned his face slightly to the side, and whispered, "Stop laughing, you fucking had your fun copying, huh?"

"I'll let you copy it after I finish writing it." Cao Fan was very loyal.

"I won't copy," Jiang Yueming said. He wasn't faking it; he genuinely wouldn't. He had his pride, and his scholarly integrity was impeccable. Even when Li Leshan sat next to him with the answers right in front of him, he still didn't copy—the standard answers, no less. He'd never liked copying answers since he was a child; there was no question about that.

Thankfully, Jiang Yueming didn't cheat; it turns out the answer key was half true and half false, with the false part mixed in. After the exam, Cao Fan excitedly checked the answers, faster than anyone else, but the moment he saw them, he felt like the sky was falling. Clearly, rumors and gossip are unreliable. There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Jiang Yueming was a little worried, wondering if Han Jiang had had enough of copying. He hoped not, otherwise he'd definitely get a beating when he got back. But given the kid's memory, he probably couldn't remember all those answers.

Jiang Yueming started his holiday a week earlier than Li Leshan. They went home the day before the Lunar New Year's Eve. On the evening of the Lunar New Year's Eve, Jiang Yueming packed three portions of dumplings and went to the gate of Shigao High School.

By this time, Sheng Ping was very cold, the cold was bone-chilling. He walked around outside for a while, then took out a coat to cover the three servings of dumplings.

Jiang Yueming sent Li Leshan a message in advance, asking him and Han Jiang and Xu Qing to come to the school gate during dinner.

Jiang Yueming was talking outside, while Han Jiang and the others were talking inside. They were calling each other "brother" and "uncle," making it seem like they really had some deep blood relation. The gatekeeper, to some extent, turned a blind eye. Otherwise, they probably would have kept it behind bars, like visiting someone in prison.

"Brother—!" Han Jiang cried, his eyes brimming with tears.

"Don't try to claim kinship," Jiang Yueming interrupted him, handing him two boxes of dumplings, "for you and Xu Qing."

"Thanks, I admit you look very handsome now." Xu Qing smiled, her scarf still around her neck, her face flushed.

"Tch," Jiang Yueming pretended to be unappreciative, "You two are just basking in Lele's glory, don't you know?"

"Lele, come here!" Jiang Yueming called to Li Leshan, and the two of them squatted down in a corner.

"Why did you two go so far to eat?" Xu Qing glanced at Li Leshan beside her; he had already followed them.

"They haven't seen each other for three or four days, let them talk," Han Jiang said kindly. Actually, he just wanted to spend more time with Xu Qing. Although Han Jiang spent a lot of money to attend the Sino-Korean International Class, he was still not in the same class as Xu Qing. He could only see Xu Qing once during breaks and once after school.

“You’ve come all this way,” Li Leshan said in sign language, “but it’s actually fine if you don’t send me off.”

"We have to deliver it to them," Jiang Yueming said, opening the lunchbox and quickly handing them a pair of chopsticks. "Eat quickly, they'll be going back to school soon."

"Sweetie ate a whole bowl of the dumplings Auntie made." Jiang Yueming was happy to see Li Leshan eating. He would send them to Shigao High School or anywhere else, as long as it was for Li Leshan, he would go through fire and water to get them.

"Here, have some water." Jiang Yueming unscrewed a bottle of water and handed it to Li Leshan.

Li Leshan obediently took it, drank some water, and smiled again, "I'm not like your boyfriend, I'm like your son."

Jiang Yueming was taken aback, then laughed and said jokingly, "Call me 'Dad' and let me hear it."

"No," Li Leshan shook his head. "My father is no good."

This was the first time Jiang Yueming could recall Li Leshan mentioning his father. He almost never talked about his parents, to the point that Jiang Yueming assumed Li Leshan's parents, like his own, had passed away long ago. So he never asked; it was best not to ask about such private matters. Even if he did ask, Li Leshan might not tell him.

Sensing the tense atmosphere, Jiang Yueming quickly changed the subject, grinning foolishly, "I don't want this either. Why would I give up my perfectly good boyfriend?"

"You're so good to me." Li Leshan looked up at him.

Jiang Yueming looked into his eyes, feeling a prickling sensation in her heart. She glanced at Han Jiang and Xu Qing, who were enjoying their meal not far away, and put her arm around Li Leshan's shoulder. "You don't know who I'm aiming for. I've always told myself that I want to be the best person for you besides Grandma."

After he finished speaking, he felt like he was exaggerating, even though these were his true feelings. Jiang Yueming then added with a smile, "Am I still far from being good enough?"

Li Leshan quickly shook his head.

"Lele," Jiang Yueming whispered, her voice tinged with amusement and sincerity, as she whispered close to his hair, "Don't ever say I'm too good to you again. Putting aside how good you are to me, I'm happy to be good to you. You see how happy I am, so you should be happy too, right?"

"Damn, I almost forgot," Jiang Yueming hurriedly rummaged through his pocket for something, "I also brought vinegar, a few small packets of vinegar..."

"I'll throw a bag to them, you can eat slowly..." Jiang Yueming got up and ran towards Han Jiang.

The dumplings were steaming hot, and Li Leshan felt his eyes sting. As he watched Jiang Yueming's figure grow increasingly blurry in front of him, he realized something, lowered his head, and gently wiped the corner of his eye.

"I'll come to pick you up on the 26th!" Jiang Yueming shouted to Li Leshan from behind the iron gate.

Li Leshan nodded. He stared at Jiang Yueming's face for a while, reluctant to leave, until he heard Han Jiang shouting that they should hurry back to class for self-study.

"Go back quickly!" Jiang Yueming shouted, but he couldn't shout the second half of the sentence out loud for fear that the security guard would hear it and report it to his superiors and make him hunted down. So he used sign language, figuring he could always say something. "If you miss me, call me or send me a text message. Don't keep thinking about me!"

When Li Leshan saw the sign language, the corners of his mouth turned up and he smiled.

Seeing Jiang Yueming's reluctant expression and her attempts to persuade him, Li Leshan, taking advantage of the remaining time, pointed at Jiang Yueming and told her, "You are already the best person to me besides Grandma!"

He thought, "In this lifetime, probably no one will ever treat me better than you."

Jiang Yueming squinted, made out the sign language, and his heart skipped a beat. He grinned and smiled too. Then he waved frantically at Li Leshan, signaling him to hurry back and not be late for class.

Li Leshan turned around and strode towards the teaching building. He knew without looking back that Jiang Yueming would be standing still until he could no longer see his figure.

Li Leshan's resolve grew stronger, and he took each step firmly and steadily. The image of Jiang Yueming's face flashed through his mind; he could still feel the slight warmth on the shoulder Jiang Yueming had just put her arm around. Li Leshan thought—

I will definitely become the best person for you besides your aunt.

No.

She's even better than my aunt.

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Author's note: I felt that the part where someone opened Lele's lunchbox and twisted the bottle cap was practically an attempt to feed him directly. Actually, it's not necessarily better to treat one's son than to treat Li Leshan (doge).

Jiang Yueming likes:

Li Leshan is absolutely certain (bot)

Li Leshan is heavily dependent on

Li Leshan-ism

:-)