Chapter 11. That's because you haven't learned enough. ...

As night fell, Ning Yiwen, having finished checking the homework, nodded: "You can go to sleep now."

Ning Yao yawned frequently, "I'm really sleepy. I'm going to sleep now, Brother Ning."

After Ning Yao went to rest, Ning Yiwen sat quietly at his desk for a short while.

He sighed.

Ning Yao's progress in the past few days has been noticeably disappointing.

Let's first review her study progress over this period.

I might need to update my study plan.

Ning Yiwen worked at his desk for a long time before turning off the light and going to bed.

He had just lain down when he felt something was wrong.

Besides the chirping of autumn insects, there seemed to be other sounds in the courtyard.

A thief broke in?

Ning Yiwen raised an eyebrow, stood up fully clothed, and casually picked up a stick that was placed behind the door.

They gently lifted the curtain.

It was late at night.

The bright moon hung high in the sky. Although there were no lights in the courtyard, the moonlight was enough to make many things clear.

For example, a small dark shadow in a corner, in front of a patch of grass.

The shadowy figure is moving.

Ning Yiwen gripped the stick tightly in his right hand and slowly walked forward.

Getting closer step by step.

At this moment, Ning Yao was still groping around in the grass.

Unbeknownst to her, someone was already approaching her from behind with sticks.

"Strange, the sound was definitely coming from here just now," Ning Yao muttered to herself.

Suddenly, with lightning speed, she pinched her thumb and forefinger together.

Pinch a cricket that is crawling through the grass!

Got him!

Ning Yao opened her eyes wide.

"ha!"

The sound successfully stopped the people behind him in their tracks.

By the moonlight, Ning Yao held the cricket in her hand and examined it carefully. It had a round head, large mandibles, and long antennae, and it was indeed a male cricket.

Ning Yao was overjoyed and put the crickets into the bag.

It felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from my heart.

I stood up, turned around, and was startled by the tall, dark figure behind me.

"ah……"

Ning Yao fell backward and landed on her bottom on the grass.

Those who frightened her had no desire to help her up.

“Ning… Brother Ning…” Ning Yao had already recognized Ning Yiwen by the moonlight.

However, she had never seen Ning Yiwen with such a somber expression.

"Give it to me." Ning Yiwen stretched out his hand and said in a deep voice.

Ning Yao subconsciously hid the small cloth bag behind her back, and whispered, almost pleadingly, "Brother Ning..."

The tone was tactful.

"Give it to me. Don't make me say it a third time." Ning Yiwen's tone was low, full of the feeling that a storm was brewing.

Ning Yao, facing Ning Yiwen, unconsciously shrank her neck and slowly handed over the cloth bag in her hand.

Ning Yiwen snatched it away.

He didn't even look at the contents of the bag.

He tightened his grip, crumpling the cloth bag in his palm before tossing it far away.

Ning Yao: !!!

"Brother Ning! What are you doing!" She got up to pick up the cloth bag.

Ning Yiwen grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to the room like he was squeezing a chick.

“That’s your excuse for being sleepy every day!” Ning Yiwen squeezed out these words through gritted teeth.

His eyes burned with barely contained rage.

Ning Yao felt guilty.

But at the same time, relying on Ning Yiwen's favoritism over the years, she became bold.

"I didn't do anything, I just caught a cricket. Besides, you just killed my cricket!"

Ning Yao got angry just thinking about it, and her tone was filled with resentment.

No, I did nothing!

Ning Yiwen stared at her.

The room was dark, so people were not clearly visible.

It was hazy and indistinct, as if seen through a veil.

But it was enough for Ning Yiwen to see the unwavering stubbornness in her eyes.

She didn't even realize that she was wrong, let alone that she knew where she went wrong.

He applied pressure and gripped her wrist tightly.

"It hurts!" Ning Yao whispered.

She twisted her wrists forcefully, but could not break free from Ning Yiwen's grasp.

"Brother Ning! It hurts!" Ning Yao cried out again.

Ning Yiwen subconsciously let go of his hand.

Ning Yao pulled back and examined her wrist.

The room fell silent immediately.

Ning Yiwen walked to the table, sat down, lit the kerosene lamp, and tapped the table with his knuckles.

"Ning Yao, come and sit down, let's talk."

His voice was deep and carried an air of unquestionable authority.

Ning Yao dawdled as she sat down at the table.

She glanced at Ning Yiwen's face, which was expressionless, as if he were in a meditative state, and even his anger from just now seemed to have disappeared.

But the calmer things are, the less likely they are to be peaceful.

Ning Yao felt uneasy.

But when she thought about how Ning Yiwen had squeezed her so hard and killed the cricket she had finally found, she straightened her back.

"Ning Yao, you haven't been studying very hard lately."

Ning Yao: "..."

I nodded silently; it was the truth.

"I told you, no matter what, prioritize reading. Have you done that?"

It was another cold, impersonal question.

Ning Yao glanced at Ning Yiwen's expression, swallowed hard, and said cautiously, "I did it."

She completes the homework assigned by Ning Ge every day, as well as the homework assigned by the school.

She truly prioritized reading.

Ning Yiwen choked for a moment.

A surge of anger welled up inside me.

But I couldn't be too verbal, so I could only say bluntly, "But have you really learned it?"

"I've learned something." Ning Yao pursed her lips, but seeing Ning Yiwen's obviously somber gaze, she added.

"Just a little bit." He gestured with his finger as he spoke.

At this moment, her hair was loose and hanging down, with a few unruly strands sticking up haphazardly.

His eyes were wide open, and a hint of cunning was revealed in his round eyes.

Perhaps because her eyes were too bright, Ning Yiwen lowered his eyes and avoided meeting her gaze.

"Good to know." The voice was no longer as cold as before.

At this point, he stood up. "You study for yourself, not for me. Go to bed early."

Is reading for my own sake?

Ning Yao was stunned for a moment, but reacted quickly.

Her tone was full of confusion, "But you're the one who asked me to study."

Ning Yiwen paused, his hand about to lift the curtain, and turned to look at her.

Ning Yao was sitting in the light, while he was shrouded in darkness.

One light and one dark.

She couldn't see his expression.

He could clearly see the innocence and trust on the girl's face.

"That's because you haven't learned enough."

After leaving those words, Ning Yiwen left Ning Yao's room.

*

The next day, during break time.

Ning Yao, unusually, did not leave her seat to go find Jian Zi'an and the others.

She even waved her hand and refused when Jian Zi'an approached her.

Ning Yao just silently lay on her desk.

She held a calligraphy brush, its tip clean and untouched by ink, and scribbled haphazardly on the white paper on the table.

She kept thinking about what Ning Ge meant by "you haven't learned enough".

Once you've learned enough, you'll understand why you read.

She studied so much just to understand why she was studying.

The more Ning Yao thought about it, the more she felt something was wrong; it seemed she had walked into a dead end.

I looked up and saw my deskmate, who was holding a book and reading it.

Her deskmate was named Bu Shuli, and she was always reading a book, whether in class or after class.

Is the book really that good?

Ning Yao had completely forgotten her original intention on the first day when she pulled the chair away from her.

She moved a little closer and touched the spine of her book with the handle of her brush.

Bu Shuli glanced at her, moved the book aside, and continued reading.

Ning Yao: "..."

I couldn't resist poking her book with the handle of my calligraphy brush again.

Bu Shuli frowned. "What are you doing?"

Ning Yao could sense the displeasure in her words, but looking around the entire classroom, she really couldn't find anyone else who loved reading more than her deskmate.

"Is the book... really that good?"

Bu Shuli initially wanted to ignore her and continue reading her book, but Ning Yao's watery eyes kept staring at her.

It's soft and yielding, yet imbued with a pure thirst for knowledge; it's not sharp or pointed, but rather something even more difficult to ignore.

He could only reply, "It looks good."

Having received an answer, Ning Yao pressed on: "Then why do you read books?"

Bu Shuli: "..."

Is she really going to cling to me like this?

He sighed.

Bu Shuli knew that she wouldn't be able to concentrate on her book if she didn't answer her question today.

He said in a cold tone, "I like reading, don't bother me."

"Then..." Ning Yao's words were cut off under Bu Shuli's cold gaze.

But the people sitting behind them had witnessed the entire interaction between the two.

He said dismissively, "Shuli, don't bother with this poor country bumpkin."

Ning Yao turned around abruptly, "Wan Hongye! Who are you talking about!"

Wan Hongye sat in a chair, her hands clasped in front of her chest, her face blatantly malicious as she sarcastically remarked, "You little pauper."

She'd disliked Ning Yao for a long time.

On the first day, he gained a lot of attention by relying on his older brother.

After that, she shamelessly played around with boys.

Ning Yao was not one to suffer a loss, so she immediately retorted, "Before judging others, take a look at yourself first."

After saying that, he gave her a very contemptuous look from head to toe.

She wore a blue shirt and a black skirt, a typical student outfit, similar to the other female students in her class.

However, her hair was curly and the ends were dry and yellow.

If she can't even take care of her hair, Ning Yao doesn't think she can be that rich.

Wan Hongye's face immediately turned red with anger, and she stood up.

He said angrily, "You little pauper, how dare you talk to me like that? You wear the same clothes all week, calling you poor is an understatement."

The argument between the two quickly attracted the attention of other students.

But no one stood up to stop it.

There were still more male students in the classroom.

Most of the noise and arguments on weekdays are among the male students.

It was rare to see the few female classmates in the class making a fuss.

Everyone watched with curiosity, forgetting to step forward and smooth things over.

Lou Yu, who was sitting with Wan Hongye, gently tugged at the hem of her dress.

"Red Leaf, forget it."

Wan Hongye shook off her hand. "No, Lou Yu, look at her, she actually dares to say I didn't."

She is indeed no match for Bu Shuli.

She couldn't even compare to Lou Yu beside her, but so what?

No matter how bad her family background is, it's not up to this poor little brat to judge!

If we don't teach her a lesson today, she'll really think she's easy to bully!

Just as tensions were rising, a clear cough came from the classroom doorway.

A note from the author:

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[doge] I'll take a break on Saturday and update on Sunday.

[Heart emoji] Love you all~