207 Diligent Picture Bed

The release of grades at the end of the semester was a familiar event. Li Wei's grades were fairly stable, and although she herself didn't feel particularly happy about it, her mother was clearly quite satisfied.

Especially during parent-teacher meetings, Li's mother, Cheng Min, dressed in an elegant high-end business suit, was surrounded by a group of parents asking her for advice on raising children. She was as popular as a big star.

Cheng Min responded with grace and poise, displaying herself as a successful career woman who balances career and family.

Both children are in the same high school and are both outstanding, which undoubtedly leads many parents to believe that the mother has a knack for raising children well.

Of course, if anyone knew that there was another child in a regular high school, I wonder if Cheng Min's tall and imposing image would be somewhat diminished.

Li Lin and Li Lianhui haven't changed much either. Luo Da, fearing that Li's mother Cheng Min would look down on him and wouldn't allow him to visit, also ranked at the top of his class, making their homeroom teacher, Ms. Li, who always judged by grades, much more agreeable to him.

Basically, Li Wei's relationships with the girls she's close to are pretty good, and things are going smoothly. The only problem is Ding Anni; for some reason, her seat suddenly dropped from the upper middle of the class to the lower lower, ending up in the bottom twenty.

With Li Wei's outstanding performance as a precedent, Ding Anni felt much more pressure.

Ding's parents had high hopes for her to get into the top high school and then into a good university. They wanted to make up for the regrets they felt about their son, Ding Anping, through their daughter, so the pressure on Ding Anni was relatively much greater.

Therefore, Ding Anni's academic performance is directly related to the Ding family's happiness index.

Ding Anni's grades plummeted at the end of the semester, making life difficult for her at home. She often came to visit Li Lin.

Ding Anni once secretly complained to Li Lin, "You said your sister was the one who had a puppy love. I just had a crush on her. I didn't do anything. But your sister's grades are still so good. Why did mine drop? It's so unfair!"

Li Lin scoffed. She glanced at Ding Anni dismissively, "You think you can compare to my sister? No matter what bad things my sister does, she never forgets to read or do her exercises. As for you, you haven't done anything at all. I bet you spend more time looking at handsome guys outside the window than looking at the blackboard. And your free time... like right now, what have you been doing?"

Ding Anni made a face: "It's not that exaggerated, is it? I'm actually quite hardworking. Sometimes I even stay up late reading at home."

Li Lin snorted, "What's the use? My family members never read until midnight. Except for my dad. Reading until midnight doesn't prove anything. There's plenty of time during the day. If you don't make full use of it, what's the point of staying up late at night?"

Ding Anni retorted, "What if we can't finish our practice problems and worksheets during the day? Does that mean we shouldn't do them at night either?"

Li Lin suddenly realized that her family was truly amazing. They never had these kinds of trivial problems. So, she said authoritatively, "If you can't finish by 9 PM, including the daytime, my sister said years ago that's an over-limit task. Spend another hour. Finishing it is training; not finishing it is tempering. Whether you want to train or temper yourself is entirely up to you. This was approved by my dad and has become our motto for working late into the night."

Ding Anni was genuinely envious: "Your family is so great, your parents are so great. You can all slack off openly, unlike my family. My parents are so happy to see me working late into the night. They keep bringing me tea and water, but actually they're just monitoring me. It's so annoying."

Li Lin had already started to look down on Ding Anni: "I'm telling you, you're really clueless. What do you mean by 'lazy'? My family only came up with this rule after we reached a certain level of sophistication. Do you even know what the previous rules were?"

Ding Anni asked curiously, "What?"

Li Lin puffed out her neck: "Let me tell you, this is perfect for you right now. If you don't finish your daily tasks before nine o'clock, you can change your name to 'Idiot.' If you're still like this after a month, you can change your name to Japanese: 'Idiot Plus Level Three.'"

"What if I still can't complete the task?" Ding Anni realized that she not only had no advantage over Li Wei, but also had very little psychological advantage over Li Lin from the regular high school.

Li Lin looked at Ding Anni with the same look she used on "idiot": "This time it's a Soviet name, 'idiot plus level three and level four (ski)'."

Ding Anni, still unwilling to give up, persisted: "What if..."

Li Lin was furious: "Look at you, so spineless! Do you want to be a fool for the rest of your life?!"

Ding Anni...

After scolding Ding Anni, Li Lin suddenly remembered Ding Anni's crush and asked, "By the way, who do you have a crush on? Why didn't it develop into something more serious?"

Ding Anni was truly exasperated this time, letting out a long sigh and saying, "Sigh, different people have different fates. Take my class monitor, for example. I wish we could develop into something more open, like your sister. It's so good that her family doesn't care and even supports her. If I were to have what happened to your sister, my mom would probably eat me alive, leaving me not even a trace. How could I dare to do that?"

Li Lin smiled mysteriously: "Actually, this is only something my sister and Brother Hua could do. Xiao Hui and I wouldn't dare. My sister is a tycoon and Brother Hua is a chivalrous hero. They are rich and powerful, and they also have my grandfather and Uncle Luo backing them up. They are invincible."

Ding Anni echoed dejectedly, "That's right."

The two finally found something in common and began to grumble and complain about Li Wei.

As for the person being criticized, Luo Da was not there because he went to Shandong to report to his master and submit his homework as soon as the holiday started. However, he did carry a large bag of high school textbooks when he left, and it is said that he was going to study day and night without rest, which moved Luo's aunt to tears.

Uncle Luo stroked his chin and instructed, "Son, that's enough. Don't let us read too many books and turn into stupid bookworms. That would be a real loss."

Li Wei disagreed, saying, "Third Uncle, those who become stupid haven't understood the material. Those who understand it are all great people, so all great people are well-read."

Uncle Luo smiled but didn't say anything. Aunt Luo, for the first time, felt that Li Wei's words made sense: "That's right, son. We have to be more successful than your father. If your father had gone to university, he would have been a hundred times more successful than he is now. But son, there are so many books, and the print is so small. Can you finish reading them all? Bring some with you, don't tire yourself out. We can read them when we get back."

But now, nothing could stop Luo Da's lofty ambition to pursue his studies. With a determined look on his back, carrying a large bag of books, he boarded the train heading south amidst the eager anticipation of his family.

As for Li Wei, she stayed at home reading books, determined to spend the rest of her high school years in jail.

Because Grandma Cheng was concerned, Cheng Fei often took the child and the nanny to her sister's house for a day on her way to work. In the evening, she could pick up the child and have dinner, which saved her a lot of trouble at home.

This way, Li Wei, the old lady, and Li Lin and Ding Anni would occasionally have something to do. They would take Dingding around, almost like they were raising a pet. Everyone enjoyed it immensely.

Little Dingding's stamina was limited because Aunt Zhang was taking care of the child and doing housework alone. She rarely got to wander around on her own; most of the time she spent in her stroller. So, when she was allowed to walk on the ground, she was incredibly excited and stopped crying. She would hop and chase after any small butterfly or other living creature she saw. Li Wei and the others just found it amusing and followed closely to protect her, not finding it troublesome at all.

With nothing to do, the nanny, Aunt Zhang, helped Aunt Gao in the kitchen preparing dinner. She felt much lighter now that she no longer had a child.

Ding Anping never goes home for meals alone. Sometimes he comes to Li Wei's house to eat together, and sometimes his mother calls him back home to eat.

She has a son and a daughter. Her daughter spent almost the entire summer vacation at Old Li's house, and her son also went there. Her husband often had social engagements with colleagues and friends, leaving her alone most of the time, which made Ding's mother feel very uncomfortable and abandoned.

The Li family is quite lively every day, but Li Zhaoxing and his wife are even busier, leaving early and returning late every day, while the rest of the family, young and old, are quite content.

Luo Da would call Li Wei every few nights, and the two would talk for a long time, with Luo Da explaining everything about his situation to Li Wei in detail. So even though he had been gone for several days, Li Wei didn't feel anything was wrong.

But when I took Dingding to the Luo family to talk to Grandma Luo, I overheard my third aunt complaining to a group of mahjong players, seemingly seriously: "...My son has grown up, but I've raised him for nothing. He's been gone for so many days without even a phone call. Yesterday I couldn't take it anymore and called his master. And guess what happened?"

There was always someone eager to chime in: "What's wrong? You're not so busy with boxing and kicking all day that you don't have time for anything else, are you?"

My aunt's plump, white fingers, adorned with several gleaming rings, were busy building a Great Wall while she smoothed her newly styled hair. "Oh dear, it's not that simple. My son is a good student, not just a martial arts practitioner. But his master said he was reading, and he couldn't find anyone, not even at home. He just dismissed me like that. I'm both amused and exasperated, haha..."

Li Wei felt a chill run down her spine. This Luo Xiao had really gone too far, putting on airs like he was in seclusion... Wait a minute, he called her last night and they talked for over an hour. He said his master was paying for the call, so why not take advantage of it?

It seems that what my third aunt said is true. She raised her son for nothing. He has no time to pay attention to his old mother, but he has time to be lovey-dovey in the middle of the night. He is really a scoundrel.

Li Wei couldn't stand listening to the card players praising each other anymore, so she went out of the living room with Grandma Luo and took Dingding for a walk in the neighborhood.