Chapter 22 Target of Assistance “You who are doing assistance are all so competitive…

"You're in the same group with Jiang Ci." But Lei Wanquan's next words proved that it was just a false alarm.

"Oh, okay." Although Yu Xiang didn't know what this sentence meant specifically, he agreed without thinking twice.

Lei Wanquan didn't say much and continued to call the next person: "Huang Xingqiang, you are in the same group with Yuan Sicheng."

"What is Lei Gong talking about? What do you mean I should be in the same group with you?" Yu Xiang immediately asked Jiang Ci.

Jiang Ci calmly answered his question: "He is announcing the list of study support groups. You are my target of support."

"Why is he doing this thing like the other classes? No, how can you talk to me and listen to what he's saying at the same time?"

“It might be hard for you to multitask, but it’s easy for me.”

"Come on, stop pretending. No one cares." Yu Xiang said unhappily, "This is called concentration. You know nothing about it." Besides, he was good at multitasking, but he just didn't want to use it to listen to nagging from thunder god.

"Then I hope you can use your concentration to listen to the lecture."

"You take care of me more than my mom does." Yu Xiang muttered unhappily, but put down the pen in his hand.

"You have a good determination. In order to let you keep it up, I will confiscate your masterpiece for now." Jiang Ci looked at him with a half-raised eyebrow.

"If you want to keep it, just tell me." Yu Xiang tore off the entire sheet of draft paper and generously stuffed it into Jiang Ci's hands. "But thanks to you, there's still half of it left, so you'll have to bear with it."

Jiang Ci held the unfinished "masterpiece" in his hands, admiring it silently for a while, then said, "There's something I don't know whether I should say or not."

Yu Xiang: "? Tell me about it."

Jiang Ci's gaze remained fixed on the painting as he calmly uttered a few words, "Although you think your painting is already at its peak, I still want to say..."

“It’s ugly.”

Yu Xiang: “…”

Yu Xiang: "That's enough. I don't want to hear you speak any more. Please shut up."

Jiang Ci laughed.

That night.

"Mom, do you have any extra of the small photo frames you bought last time?"

Luo Fang placed the warm milk on Jiang Ci's desk. After thinking carefully about what he said, she replied, "Yes, what's the matter? Do you have any photos you want to frame?"

"Can you get one for me? I have a painting I want to keep." Jiang Ci closed the pen cap and the collection of inscriptions and said softly.

"Okay, I'll go look for it." Luo Fang said as she walked out. "Remember to drink the milk first. I'll just be waiting to take the cup away."

"good."

After a while, Luo Fang came back with a very exquisite wooden photo frame. When she looked closely, she found that the collection of questions on Jiang Ci's desk had been placed on the corner of the table, and replaced by a piece of draft paper with a picture of an ugly turtle.

"Could this be the painting you were talking about?" Luo Fang looked at the ugly turtle with a dull look and asked hesitantly.

"Yes." Jiang Ci pulled out a utility knife and ruler from the pen holder and began to cut the paper into shape.

"The painting is... not bad. Compared to your childhood drawings, it's a big improvement." Luo Fang stared at the ugly turtle for a long time. After much thought, she decided not to undermine the child's self-confidence. "It's definitely worth framing."

"This is not a painting by me." Jiang Ci said lightly.

"Ah? So that's how it is." Luo Fang breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes, your drawing should be uglier than this."

Jiang Ci raised his head and looked at her helplessly: "...Mom."

Luo Fang then realized that she had inadvertently revealed a very painful truth, and quickly began to think of ways to make amends: "It's okay, Xiao Ci, you're not going down the artistic path. It's okay if your art is just barely good, as long as your aesthetic taste is normal."

But after she finished speaking, she couldn't help but turn her gaze back to the ugly turtle——

It doesn't seem very aesthetically pleasing to frame something like this...

Jiang Ci had already guessed what she was thinking by looking at her expression: "I know this is ugly."

Luo Fang was stunned: "Then why are you still..."

Jiang Ci pursed his lips, thought for a moment, and then replied, "Frame it and put it on the desk. It can help you stay focused when you feel sleepy while reading or doing homework."

Luo Fang nodded in understanding: "So that's how it is. It's a good idea."

Jiang Ci lowered his head and continued cutting paper: "Yeah. I think so too."

"Speaking of which, back when your dad was in school, he had a crush on me and put my picture on his desk, claiming it would keep him awake." Luo Fang's memory was flooded with memories. "And then, only half a day later, our homeroom teacher found out and took us both to the office for questioning. They almost called our parents."

"How could such a rational person do such a thing?" Jiang Ci had already cut the draft paper into a suitable shape and was curious about what Luo Fang was saying.

"Yeah, I didn't expect it at the time. I was shocked too."

"Were you in high school at that time?"

"Yes, senior year, the college entrance exam is coming soon."

"Then how was it resolved?"

"He said that at that time many people in the class were exchanging photos to post in the yearbook, and he simply forgot to collect them."

"Then how did you know he had a crush on you?"

"Of course it was at the class reunion after graduation. He confessed to me when he was drunk." Luo Fang said with a smile, "He was drunk that day and told me a lot of secrets."

"Did you accept his confession?"

"Of course you agreed. Otherwise, how would you come?" Luo Fang watched Jiang Ci carefully place the cut paper into the photo frame and press the board used to fix it. "By the way, you use this to refresh yourself..."

She quickly rejected the guess in her mind: no matter how strange her son's personality was, he would not have a crush on a turtle.

So she changed her words and said, "So who drew it? Your classmate? A boy or a girl?"

"Yu Xiang's masterpiece."

"Oh—" Luo Fang was completely relieved and patted his shoulder. "You should give in to him more and stop bullying him."

"When did I bully him?" Jiang Ci asked her with amusement.

"Look, you even brought back a painting with such a dark past of Xiao Xiang's and framed it and put it on your desk. Isn't that bullying him? And when you were a kid, you always teased him and made him angry..."

"Mom... He's made me angry a lot." Jiang Ci was helpless. "And this isn't his black history. He thinks he's done a good job."

Luo Fang still didn't quite believe it: "Are you sure he thinks so and it's not just your imagination?"

Jiang Ci: "Why don't you go ask him yourself?"

"That's not necessary. You two... you two can't possibly be considered a complete artist. I should have enrolled you in an art class back then." Luo Fang muttered, pulling out her phone to check the time. "I accidentally chatted with you for too long and lost track of time."

She quickly picked up the empty glass and said, "Don't stay up too late and go to bed early. And are you really not going to fix your bike?"

"No, the place where the car is repaired is quite far away. It doesn't take long to walk to school anyway."

"Okay, it's up to you then."

"Yeah. Goodnight."

"good evening."

After that, there were several days of boring test paper review.

But for students, the boredom is mixed with anticipation - because the May Day holiday is coming soon.

"Brother Yu, where are you planning to go on May Day?" After listening to Lei Wanquan's announcement of the holiday the day before the holiday, Zhang Miao couldn't contain his excitement and ran to Yu Xiang's seat as soon as the get out of class was over.

Yu Xiang, Jiang Ci's "assistance recipient," was trying hard to suppress his sleepiness while working on his homework. Hearing the noise, he replied without even looking up, "Home."

"Ah? Is there anything fun to do at home? Aren't you planning to go out for a trip or something?" Zhang Miao asked in confusion.

"You think we're college students going on a May Day trip? Our vacation time has been shaved to the bone. How can we possibly have the time to travel internationally?" Yu Xiang kept solving an equation, but eventually ran out of unknowns. Almost collapsing, he slammed the problem into Jiang Ci's face. "I can't do it. You can do it yourself."

"So what's going on? Lao Fang said his parents are taking him hiking... Why are you guys still working so hard after class?"

"It's all Thunder God. Not only are they following the trend by offering study assistance, they're also insisting on having a ranking. Someone said he's used to being number one, and he's using any means necessary to get my cooperation." Yu Xiang complained with a wooden face.

"So, Lu Ziyang just took Lao Fang away for some private lessons right after class." Zhang Miao said, looking at Jiang Ci, "Are all of you who help out this group so competitive?"

Jiang Ci was holding a red pen and writing something on a piece of paper: "He might be after the bonus."

Lei Wanquan had said before that if two people in the study group made progress by more than 50 points together, they would be given a bonus based on the actual situation.

"Then you... I understand. This is called fighting for your dignity instead of the bread!" Zhang Miao suddenly realized.

"That's a good quote." Jiang Ci handed the written document to Yu Xiang, "Take a look at this."

"But it's strange. Why haven't the people who helped me made any move? They haven't contacted me since the list was announced until now." Zhang Miao wondered.

"Which department are you helping?"

"Mathematics."

"Who will help you?"

"Ning Anyan."

"Maybe they think your math foundation is too poor and there's no hope." Yu Xiang answered casually while looking at the problem-solving steps Jiang Ci wrote for him.

"Tonics, I think she can still be saved." Zhang Miao wailed, and then seemed to have made up his mind, "No, I have to take the initiative. I'm going to find her now."

"Keep going," Yu Xiang encouraged him, then turned to Jiang Ci with the paper in hand and said, "There's a step I don't understand."

"Which one? Let me see."

"Comrades, the holiday homework you've been looking forward to the most is here--" A brisk male voice came from the classroom door.

Both of them ignored it and concentrated on studying the questions.

But the voice soon came to them: "Wow, are you two secretly working hard here?"

The two of them finally looked up and cast their gazes towards the owner of the voice - Xu Tianhao, the biology representative in their class who was famous for his loud voice and outgoing manner.

Yu Xiang had a pretty good relationship with him, and they could chat and joke with each other occasionally.

"In this situation, shouldn't we have a few more test papers to cultivate our sentiments?" Xu Tianhao said as he pulled out several test papers from his arms and placed them on Yu Xiang's desk. With a sly look on his face, he continued, "Is that enough, kid? If not, there's more."

Yu Xiang looked at the three test papers, his face full of black lines: "Can you please get out of here?"

Xu Tianhao immediately exaggerated, "I'm sad, Yu Xiang. You actually told me to get out. I'm heartbroken. Look, even Jiang Ci wouldn't do this."

"Hey, it's you, come on." Yu Xiang calmly nudged Jiang Ci with his elbow.

The latter also cooperated and said: "If there is nothing else, take your test paper and get out."

Xu Tianhao: “??!”

Xu Tianhao: "Fuck Jiang Ci, you've changed. You weren't like this before!"

"He's always been like this. Recognize him for who he is sooner rather than later." Yu Xiang suppressed a laugh and continued to exaggerate, "So you can know what a sinister heart is."

"Thank you. I understand. But even if you say so," Xu Tianhao paused, then expertly counted a few more papers before continuing, "You still have to pick up the homework. There are eight papers in total, which isn't a lot. Count them and see if you're sure. If you missed any, come to me. I'll give you enough."

Yu Xiang's eyes widened in disbelief. "Wait, how many did you say? Eight?"

"Don't worry. I just saw that the geography class representative has a thicker bag in his hand, definitely more than eight. Well, I'm going to leave your seat that hurts my heart." Xu Tianhao said with an expression of "I can't help it" and then leisurely turned to the next group.

"He really feels uncomfortable if he doesn't do that for a day." Yu Xiang shook his head helplessly, and handed all the test papers on his desk to Jiang Ci.

Jiang Ci: "Why did you give it all to me?"

Yu Xiang rubbed his hands and said, "I know this homework is definitely not enough for you, so I'll give you my share as well. You're welcome."

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The author has something to say: Updated, updated, I was anxious about the start of school and was busy wishing New Year's greetings everywhere, so I didn't have time to write. The next update will probably be on Thursday