Chapter 28 P - Burden
Xing Yu glanced at Chu Beiling, whose head was covered in dark clouds and rain was falling.
He said gently, "You did very well on this exam. You've made the most progress in the whole grade. I believe you can do even better next time."
Hearing the praise and comfort, Young Master Chu's mood improved slightly, but—
Chu Beiling was still very disappointed: "You don't know."
Xing Yu: "What?"
Chu Beiling: "Didn't you hear that!"
"What did you hear?" Xing Yu asked back.
"Last time, in the flower bed behind the dormitory..." Chu Beiling suddenly stopped talking. He thought about it and realized that when Xing Yu was there, he was chatting with Ms. Li and didn't say anything.
He simply kept agreeing to Ms. Li's requests, saying "I understand."
Xing Yu isn't a mind reader; how could he possibly know what Ms. Li said to him?
He was being overly sensitive.
Anyway, Xing Yu knew about his bad relationship with Ms. Li, so after a moment of silence, he simply spoke his mind.
"I promised Ms. Li that I would get close to the top fifty this time, but I failed." Chu Beiling was extremely disappointed.
Xing Yu lowered his gaze slightly to Chu Beiling, took out two fruit candies from his pocket, and placed them in Chu Beiling's palm: "A reward for your progress."
Chu Beiling glanced at the two blueberry-flavored fruit candies and then looked at Xing Yu again: "These weren't the ones I gave you a few days ago, were they?"
Xing Yu shook his head. "No, I bought it at the school convenience store."
Good thing it wasn't. Chu Beiling took the two candies and stuffed them into her school uniform pocket.
“It was just a little bit off. Aunt Li probably won’t say much.” Xing Yu seemed to have a lot of confidence in him, repeating his previous statement: “I believe you can do it.”
Chu Beiling shook her head and buried her face in the table: "You don't understand Ms. Li. She can't be even slightly off."
The worse it was, the angrier she got.
Chu Beiling said dejectedly, "Why do adults always want an outstanding child? Does not being outstanding mean you don't deserve to be liked?"
Xing Yu glanced at him, tore off a piece of drawing paper, quickly drew a picture, and pushed it in front of Chu Beiling.
In the picture:
"Doraemon travels through the Anywhere Door to their world and brings Chu Beiling a gadget called the Love Storage Container. (Love Storage Container: Possessing it grants you all the love in the world.)"
October 22, 2012.
Chu Beiling glanced at it, and all the anxiety and gloom dissipated. He immediately laughed out loud: "How come I don't remember having this prop?"
Xing Yu: "This is for you, exclusively for Chu Beiling."
The sun was shining brightly, and outside the classroom, a cat that had wandered into West High School during its heat cycle was meowing loudly.
Chu Beiling's heart skipped a beat. He glanced at him, and then drew another Xing Yu next to him.
Young Master Chu tilted his paintbrush at him and said leisurely, "It belongs to the two of us."
Xing Yu's lips curled into a faint smile.
Two days after receiving her report card, Li Shuying asked Chu Beiling to send her a picture of her midterm exam results, followed by a message: "[Be more proactive next time, don't always make me nag you.]"
Chu Beiling slapped the report card over to her, but Ms. Li didn't reply, whether she was busy again or too angry to see the poor grades.
The next time I heard from Ms. Li was on Friday after school. Uncle Zhao had returned from his business trip that week and drove over to pick them up.
After they got in the car, Uncle Zhao glanced at the rearview mirror and said with a smile, "Fanfan and Xiaoyu have gotten along well, not bad, not bad."
Uncle Zhao looked quite pleased.
Chu Beiling was somewhat puzzled. It was true that his relationship with Xing Yu had gradually improved, but he hadn't told Uncle Zhao or Ms. Li about it. How did they figure that out?
"Does my face say that we're good friends now?" Chu Beiling covered her lips with her hand, leaned close to Xing Yu's ear, and asked in a voice only the two of them could hear.
Xing Yu paused for half a second, stared intently at him, and slowly smiled, "No."
Chu Beiling nodded: "Right, I don't think so either."
Two teenagers, both over 180cm tall, sat side by side in the back seat. Their long legs had nowhere to go, so they sat with their legs apart, their knees almost touching.
Young Master Chu closed his eyes mischievously, wiggling his right index finger as playfully as could be: "Uncle Zhao is right about one thing: our relationship is quite good."
Xing Yu watched Chu Beiling playfully teasing him, his dark eyes filled with an even deeper smile.
Uncle Zhao, who was driving, said, "By the way, Fanfan, your mother is back."
Chu Beiling was stunned for a moment, then replied, "Understood."
Back at the entrance of the alley, the two agreed to part ways on the fifth floor at the time they would return to school on Sunday. Chu Beiling opened the door to her own home and had just turned into the living room—
Chu Beiling was stunned.
He had three rows of blue plush toys on his bookshelf, but now an entire row was missing.
When he went to school last week, she was still there, and no one else came to the house. Chu Beiling hurriedly went to the study to look for Ms. Li but did not see her. He then went to the master bedroom.
Ignoring Ms. Li's rule that he should knock before entering her room, Chu Beiling pushed the door open and entered: "Where's my Doraemon?"
Upon seeing him enter, Li Shuying, who was in an online meeting, frowned, her face as gloomy as the sky before a storm, her cold eyes revealing serious dissatisfaction.
She didn't say anything, but waved her hand to signal Chu Beiling to get out.
Chu Beiling took a deep breath, exhaled, held it, and left the room.
An hour and a half later, Li Shuying finally came out of the room.
Chu Beiling quickly walked up to her and asked again, "Where's my Doraemon? Where did you put it?"
Ms. Li is tall and slender. Even though the years have left their mark on her face, they cannot conceal her sharp and imposing aura, which becomes even more pronounced when she is angry or unhappy.
"Chu Beiling, how dare you speak to me like that?" Li Shuying stared at him seriously, with an air of unquestionable authority.
Chu Beiling was only interested in knowing the whereabouts of his beloved Doraemon. He suppressed his urge to explode and said in a gentle tone, "President Li, where is my Doraemon? Have you seen him?"
Li Shuying said indifferently, "Sold."
"Sold?!" Chu Beiling's voice was distorted with shock, and he trembled with anger: "That was a complete set that I spent a lot of time, effort, and money to collect. Many of them are out of print. How could you just sell it like that?"
Li Shuying coldly and realistically informed him: "First, the money you used to buy these things was given to you by me, and I have the right to help you dispose of it. Second, you failed to keep your promise to be in the top 50 of your grade, so you should bear the consequences of your failure. Finally, I'll say it again: the weak have no right to make demands, and throwing a tantrum will only make you look more cowardly."
Chu Beiling scratched his head in frustration, pacing back and forth in the living room like a lion trapped in a cage: "President Li, I'm an art student. I'm only 5 points behind the 50th place in academic subjects, but I'm the top student in art class. Why don't you mention that? Why are you fixated on my 5 points? Why did you sell my Doraemon?"
“Five points are not important?” Li Shuying frowned, revealing her displeasure, and replied sternly, “Don’t you know that the five points you look down on and think are insignificant can make a difference of dozens of people in the college entrance examination? Five points are not important. If you lose five points in the middle school entrance examination, you should go to a vocational high school.”
"With such poor mental fortitude, can you guarantee that your college entrance exam score will remain the same for the next three years?! With such terrible grades, you don't even care about the points you lost, and you're jumping up and down and getting angry with me here."
Li Shuying's tone turned several degrees colder: "Chu Beiling, I seriously doubt your attitude towards studying and handling problems."
Li Shuying has high standards for herself and believes that if she can do it, others can too. If they can't, it's a matter of attitude. Having been in a high position for many years, her tone always carries a domineering and authoritative quality. However, this domineering attitude varies from person to person. She usually treats her subordinates, but when dealing with partners, she follows a completely different set of rules.
Unfortunately, Chu Beiling was categorized as a subordinate, and the expectations placed on him would only be higher.
Li Shuying crossed her arms and said in an unquestionable tone, "It's only 5 points. Chu Beiling, ask yourself honestly, why did you lose those 5 points? Was it because of your carelessness?"
Chu Beiling was both angry and aggrieved. His mother had already said so much, and if he continued to make a scene, he would question Ms. Li about why she had sold his Doraemon, since things that had been sold could not be returned.
Continuing to make a scene and lose his temper with Ms. Li will only embarrass him further and give her a worse impression of him as incompetent and worthless.
In essence, he is very similar to Ms. Li, with extremely high standards for himself, especially when he is just a little short, at which point his self-reproach will multiply.
He might think, "It's only 5 points. If I were a little more careful, could I get it?"
Does that mean Doraemon won't be sold by Ms. Li?
Thinking of this, Chu Beiling felt that his questioning of Ms. Li about why she sold his Doraemon was somewhat pretentious.
It was indeed his failure that caused him to lose his beloved Doraemon toys, leading Ms. Li to sell them.
He could have kept it if he had put in a little more effort.
It's even harder to accept that someone can do something but can't.
Chu Beiling was both angry and remorseful, and felt so sad he wanted to cry, but he knew he had no right to.
“Xing Yu is an art student just like you. His academic scores have been consistently in the top 20 of his grade for the past two years. He has never lowered his standards just because he is an art student.”
Li Shuying said, "I don't have high expectations for you. Get into the top 35 in the next monthly exam and stay there. You can have a two-place range if you fall below that. If you do worse, don't even think about buying this kind of junk. Do you understand?"
Chu Beiling's eyes were slightly red, and the tears in them reflected the shimmering light. She pursed her lips and said, "I understand."
Li Shuying nodded in satisfaction and returned to her room.
Unlike gifted academic achievers like Li Dong and Xing Yu, Chu Beiling needs to put in a lot of effort to get a decent high score. Since he doesn't want to sacrifice his drawing time, he can only sacrifice his sleep time.
But with Xing Yu watching him, he had no choice but to get up early.
As dawn broke and soft light gradually seeped into the dormitory, Chu Beiling got out of bed, leaned against the wall with her legs slightly bent, placed her books and workbooks on her knees, and began to do exercises, memorize, and preview her lessons.
Just as he finished a page, Xing Yu in the next bed stirred and then quickly sat up.
Perhaps because he had just woken up, Xing Yu's eyes were half-closed, and his originally dark and narrow eyes were softened by weariness. He just stared at him blankly, not reacting for a moment.
Chu Beiling laughed out loud without any politeness when she saw his appearance.
In the past, he would wake up to the school's reveille, but by then Xing Yu would already be dressed and ready to get out of bed, unlike him who was completely unrefined.
This was the first time Young Master Chu had seen Xing Yu's appearance after he got up.
She's not much different from him, and seems even cuter.
About an hour before the reveille, the other roommates were still sleeping. Some were snoring, some were grinding their teeth, and some were talking in their sleep. They were all sound asleep, as if nothing could disturb their sleep.
Chu Beiling lowered her voice and said to him, "Good morning."
"Good morning." Xing Yu was now fully awake. He rubbed his frizzy, unruly hair. "You're up so early."
Chu Beiling waved the workbook in her hand: "Do the exercises, memorize the text."
Xing Yu was silent for a moment, then took out his textbook and workbook from under his pillow to start working. Chu Beiling raised an eyebrow at him and said, "Xing Yu, you're a bad guy. You actually got up to study on your own and I caught you."
“No, it’s perfectly aboveboard,” Xing Yu explained, his voice hoarse from just waking up in the morning. “I stopped you at night so you could go to sleep earlier; it’s different during the day.”
In addition, he didn't want Chu Beiling to fall into an obsession and study in a frantic, self-punishing manner.
Chu Beiling asked, "Did you used to get up early to study?"
"No, I'm used to it. Getting up early and just sitting around is a waste of time, so I might as well study." Everyone else in Xing Yu's dorm gets up on time according to the wake-up call. He gets up early and even tries to use the bathroom at different times to avoid the hassle of crowding.
Chu Beiling nodded.
After that, the two of them sat on the bed facing each other and studied without disturbing each other. At 6:10, Xing Yu put down his things and started to put on his school uniform. Seeing this, Chu Beiling also put down his things and tidied himself up.
When the reveille sounded, Chu Beiling and Xing Yu had already gotten out of bed.
Xu Tunan, who was still half asleep in the opposite bed, saw that Chu Fanfan had gotten out of bed and dressed, and asked with a yawn, "Chu Fanfan, why are you up so early today?"
"Okay, I'll wash up at a different time than you guys." Chu Beiling went straight to the bathroom.
To save time, the other five boys would get up at the last minute to wash up in the morning, as if it were a battle. Some would wash up, and some would go to the toilet, without disturbing each other, as they were already used to sharing the bathroom.
Without a second thought, Chu Beiling habitually pushed open the bathroom door.
Xing Yu had just taken off his school trousers and was sitting on the toilet when he saw the person who had come in; he froze on the spot.
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