Chapter 29 Fiery Clouds [VIP]

Chapter Summary: The vibrant sunset behind us, its orange-red light casting a crimson glow on the tips of our ears.

A smile gradually spread across Gu Linzhao's face.

The sun slanted down from afar, illuminating Gu Linzhao's short hair and casting a golden glow.

He sat on the ground with one leg bent, laughing and lowering his head, his laughter bursting from his chest, his whole being radiating joy.

Fu Xianyin had no idea where her good temper came from today.

She squatted down, placed the mango pomelo sago and snacks beside her, hugged her knees, tilted her head, and looked at Gu Linzhao.

She upheld the professional ethics of an old servant and uttered one of the old servant's classic lines:

"Young Master hasn't laughed like this in a long time."

Gu Linzhao laughed even harder.

He didn't know what he was laughing at; he didn't even know how he could laugh in this situation.

Just a few minutes ago, he was still enveloped in irritability and annoyance.

He could see Fu Xianyin carrying that pile of things, standing in front of him, awkwardly trying to comfort him, and even saying that sentence:

"Young master, your old servant has come to bring you warmth!"

Gu Linzhao couldn't stop laughing.

Fu Xianyin felt that she had become much more patient.

Even under Gu Banxian's influence, when she saw that Gu Banxian was in a bad mood because of family reasons, she was still willing to go out and buy him something to comfort him, despite being affected by his negative emotions.

Well, Fu Xianyin thought to herself, it wasn't specifically for that purpose.

After all, that cup of mango pomelo sago was indeed something she wanted to drink.

She felt a little guilty about her exaggeration.

But it was fleeting.

It's not that it's specifically for that reason.

It's true that she bought things for Gu Banxian, and it was also her true intention to comfort him.

We should judge actions, not intentions.

Fu Xianyin felt that she had done a great deed today.

Sunlight shone from behind, illuminating the strands of hair behind Gu Linzhao's ear, but it fell directly into Fu Xianyin's eyes.

She simply plopped down on the ground, lowered her body, and then used Gu Linzhao's head to shield herself from the glaring sunlight.

Fu Xianyin nudged Gu Linzhao's shoe with her toe and said:

"Hey, young master, have you finished laughing?"

The young master's smile faded. He pointed to a pile of things on the ground and asked knowingly, "Did you buy this for me?"

Fu Xianyin: "Otherwise what? Am I supposed to come here with all this stuff to do cardio on an empty stomach?"

Gu Linzhao laughed again.

Fu Xianyin didn't know what was wrong with this person.

When she's in a bad mood, all she wants to do is blow up the earth and kill everyone with her.

Why does the young master smile so much when he's in a bad mood?

As expected, the young master is different from the common people.

Fu Xianyin drew this conclusion.

She opened the plastic bag and picked out items for Gu Linzhao one by one: "Cake, bread, soda, juice, sports drink, and candy."

Fu Xianyin took out a handful of candies and lined them up on the ground: "I bought you all the flavors. Are you satisfied, young master?"

Gu Linzhao peeled a grape-flavored candy, gave one to Fu Xianyin first, and then popped one into his own mouth.

The thin skin of her face was stretched out by the candy.

He narrowed his eyes, his voice lazy and indistinct: "What if we're not satisfied?"

Fu Xianyin bit down hard with her back teeth, and the candy was crushed in her mouth with a crunch.

She said expressionlessly, almost threateningly, "I've bought everything I could. If you're still not satisfied, I'm really going to beat you up."

She completely forgot that not long ago she had bought everything because she didn't know Gu Linzhao's preferences.

The aroma of grapes fills your mouth.

Gu Linzhao propped himself up on his arms and tilted his chin up to look at the girl in front of him.

She sat cross-legged on the ground, her arms crossed over her chest. Her brows and eyes were already showing some impatience because of his repeated outbursts, but for some reason, she was still suppressing her anger and giving him the last bit of patience.

Gu Linzhao, being pragmatic, felt that one should have some sense of propriety.

So he nodded slightly and said, "Young Master is very satisfied, extremely satisfied."

This match wasn't a formal competition; it was more for entertainment.

Therefore, no one strictly adhered to the time rules.

In mid-October, the sun sets a little earlier. By the time the game was over, a patch of sunset glow was just appearing on the west side of the teaching building.

Sweat still dripped from Lin Anxu's hair. He had been panting heavily while supporting himself on his knees, but the moment he looked up, he was full of energy again.

"Look at that cloud!"

He pointed excitedly.

Everyone looked up.

The orange-red sunset clouds gradually engulfed the sky, like spilled paint that had been splashed on water; just a little bit was enough to quickly dye the entire sky a vibrant color.

The white building walls were coated with a layer of gold, and the thick clouds were slowly dispersed by the wind.

Cheng Zhaozhao suddenly grabbed Fu Xianyin's arm and said, "Yinyin, let's take a picture!"

"OK."

After Cheng Zhaozhao finished speaking, she handed her phone to Lin Anxu, who was standing closest to her.

The camera framed the two people, including the setting sun behind them.

Cheng Zhaozhao's wispy hair was blown by the wind, and she smiled brightly and vibrantly as she raised her eyes.

After returning the phone to Cheng Zhaozhao, Gu Linzhao glanced at the setting sun behind him, then suddenly waved to Fu Xianyin and said:

"Let's take one too."

Fu Xianyin glanced at him with some confusion, but saw that the boy had a smile on his lips. In the end, she didn't say anything and handed the phone to Gu Linzhao.

Both of them were wearing white T-shirts and jeans. Fu Xianyin tilted her head slightly, while Gu Linzhao looked lazy, but his eyes were intently fixed on the screen.

So the shutter button was pressed.

The vibrant sunset behind us cast a reddish glow, making even the tips of our ears appear red.

Wow, this looks amazing!

Looking at the photo, Chen Nianke couldn't help but praise it.

After returning home that night, Cheng Zhaozhao printed out the photos using an instant camera.

She said smugly, "Right, right? Aren't Yinyin and I both stunningly beautiful?"

Chen Nianke nodded: "It's really good. I wish I had gone too."

Cheng Zhaozhao mercilessly exposed her: "Come on, I knew you were sleeping at home too. Do you think I'm meeting you for the first time?"

Chen Nian just chuckled.

Cheng Zhaozhao printed out two copies of all the photos and gave one copy to Fu Xianyin.

Besides the photos of her and Fu Xianyin, and the group photo of Class 15 that Lin Anxu suddenly wanted to take, Cheng Zhaozhao also printed out a copy of the photo of her and Gu Linzhao and gave it to Fu Xianyin.

Fu Xianyin casually tucked the photo into the back of her phone case.

Her phone case is a black cartoon bear, opaque, so photos placed inside won't show.

But when she handed over the photos, she still didn't know why, but her gaze lingered on the photo of her and Gu Linzhao for a few seconds.

After the long break, the good days were completely over.

Exactly one week after the second monthly exam, Fu Xianyin was momentarily dazed when she saw the monthly exam papers that had been sent to the folder while flipping through the papers.

It feels like the last monthly exam just happened not long ago. Fu Xianyin even feels like these papers were just taken yesterday, and now the second monthly exam is coming up in just one week.

She sighed, put away the test paper, and continued doing practice questions.

Having learned a thing or two from the last monthly exam, Fu Xianyin is no longer as clueless about herself as she was the first time.

However, having some knowledge of her shortcomings wasn't much better, because she was acutely aware of her own inadequacies.

Fu Xianyin finished the high school exam papers on Sunday, timing herself perfectly. As soon as she arrived at school today, she went to the offices of the teachers of each subject to ask them to help her grade them.

The high school itself produced very high-quality test papers, so Fu Xianyin didn't go back to her dormitory on Saturday night. Instead, she went to a hotel for an extended stay and took a hot bath to improve her sleep quality so that she could be in the best possible condition to complete the test papers the next day.

Fu Xianyin got up before 6 a.m. the next day.

She took a taxi back to school, bought steamed buns and porridge at a convenience store near the school gate for breakfast, and then went back to her dormitory to do the practice test.

The difficulty level of the exam papers in each subject at the affiliated high school is somewhat different from that at the No. 1 high school.

Everything else was within Fu Xianyin's acceptable range, except for one thing: chemistry, which was quite unusual.

Fu Xianyin even felt the difficulty after doing only a few multiple-choice questions.

She struggled to finish the test within the allotted time, but several blank spaces on the paper meant she was destined to get a less than satisfactory score.

After chemistry class ended, Hu Weiming put away his lecture notes and textbook and said to Fu Xianyin, "Come with me for a moment."

Fu Xianyin was surprised that the test paper was graded so quickly, especially since it was in chemistry. Her heart tightened.

After quickly packing up her textbooks, notebooks, and test papers, Fu Xianyin took her things and followed Hu Weiming into the chemistry office.

The chemistry office is on the top floor. There are no classrooms on the top floor, only a few teachers' offices. Unlike the corridor downstairs, which is filled with the sounds of talking and footsteps after class, the corridor on the top floor is eerily quiet.

Fu Xianyin stood beside the desk and saw a familiar exam paper spread out on Hu Weiming's desk. The paper was covered in a crisscrossing pattern of red and black ink, and at the top center, a bright red number was marked.

61.

I barely passed.

Fu Xianyin's heart sank.

After the second period, there was a long break of 30 minutes. Hu Weiming slowly took his teacup to the water dispenser, filled it with hot water, and then slowly walked back with the glass.

He sat at his desk, opened the glass, blew on the tea leaves, and sipped the top sip of tea.

"Tsk, ha." He tapped the paper, and the brown tea water left a noticeable mark on the off-white paper.

"You've seen the results, too."

Fu Xianyin nodded.

Hu Weiming leaned back in his chair and said, "It's the long break between classes, so we have some time. I saw your monthly exam results. All the other subjects were perfect, right? But what about math? Wow, I heard from your math teacher that you got such a difficult score?"

Hu Weiming exclaimed exaggeratedly, "One hundred and fifty, right? A perfect score, huh?"

He put down his teacup and tapped the table with his somewhat thick fingers, making a few dull sounds.

"And physics, that was a tough test too, and you got 97, the highest score in the grade. And also, English and Chinese, those are humanities subjects, and you, a science student, only lost a dozen points in those two combined, right?"

Fu Xianyin pursed her lips and remained silent.

Hu Weiming looked up at her and repeated, "Right?"

Fu Xianyin had no choice but to nod.

Hu Weiming: "So what exactly happened with your chemistry score? The monthly chemistry exam wasn't difficult, and the grade average was even 72 points. You were the top student in the grade, so what score did you get?"

Hu Weiming raised his voice: "77 points, Fu Xianyin, you lost more than 20 points in chemistry alone, that's terrible, don't you think?"

Fu Xianyin felt several gazes falling on her in the office.

She suddenly felt a little short of breath and a slight tingling sensation in her fingertips.

She spoke softly, "I...I didn't choose chemistry as my course before. I haven't studied chemistry in a long time; I only started this semester..."

Before she could finish speaking, Hu Weiming interrupted her.

He pushed up his thick glasses clipped to the bridge of his nose, looked up, and glanced at her sideways.

"If you didn't do well on the test, you didn't do well on the test. Don't make so many excuses."

Explanations were always on the tip of his tongue.

Fu Xianyin nodded, and after a long pause, she finally said, "Yes."

The office chair turned around.

Hu Weiming looked at her with her head down, then suddenly pointed to the test paper on the table and said, "This test paper is from the affiliated high school, right? Where did you get it? I don't remember giving your affiliated high school test paper."

Fu Xianyin: "I have friends at the affiliated high school, and I asked them to help me make a copy."

Hu Weiming: "Didn't you feel the questions were difficult when you were doing them?"

Fu Xianyin: "I felt it."

Hu Weiming: "Then why did you still do it? Fu Xianyin, you only got 77 on a simple test from No. 1 High School. How much did you think you could get on such a difficult test? You didn't lay a solid foundation but you wanted to improve yourself. You're all talk and no action. Come on, look at the result of your overconfidence. Look at how many points you got on this test."

He pointed to the bright red 61 on the test paper and said, "61 points, Fu Xianyin, just passing. You're the top student in the grade, and you barely passed chemistry. Isn't it embarrassing to say that out loud?"

Fu Xianyin swallowed back the words, "It was my mom who made me do it."

Hu Weiming is not someone who will accept students' explanations. A mistake is a mistake, and no matter how many explanations and reasons are piled up, it is still a mistake.

Hu Weiming: "Don't even think about those miscellaneous problems with your current foundation. Let me tell you, especially for a good student like you, it's easy to misjudge your own abilities and think, 'Look, I got 97 in physics and 150 in math, so I need to do more challenging and difficult problems.' What are basic problems? I don't even bother with them, right, Fu Xianyin?"

Fu Xianyin did not speak.

Hu Weiming slammed the glass down on the table and said:

"Completely wrong!"

"Being good at physics is one thing, being good at math is another. How bad you are at chemistry has absolutely nothing to do with how good you are at other subjects."

Hu Weiming flipped the test paper off the table and threw it at Fu Xianyin.

He said, "Before you get an 85 in chemistry, don't let me see you doing any of those random, challenging problems, and definitely don't bring me problems that you can't solve at all to correct."

"It's a complete waste of good exam papers."

Fu Xianyin carefully put away the test paper and obediently admitted her mistake, saying, "I'm sorry, teacher, I won't do it again."

She didn't leave immediately after she finished speaking; she stood there until Hu Weiming said the next word.

Fu Xianyin hoped that Hu Weiming would drive her out of the chemistry office and end this torment as soon as possible.

According to the usual procedure, we should have reached this step by now, Fu Xianyin thought.

However, no.

Hu Weiming disrupted Fu Xianyin's premonition.

He asked, "You transferred from Linlan before, right?"

Fu Xianyin nodded.

The next second, Hu Weiming said something that made Fu Xianyin gasp for breath.

He said:

"Linlan is Linlan, and Beichuan is Beichuan. Beichuan No.1 Middle School has strict rules, unlike what you had before."

"Don't bring your bad habits from Linlan here."