Chapter 41: IQ vs EQ
After this "thrilling" day, life seemed to have returned to its normal state.
Xiangcheng's summer life is also fully arranged. She runs with Yukimura in the morning, goes home to take a shower, and then goes to the club to practice volleyball.
Every other afternoon, I would go to the French institution recommended by Yukimura for a two-hour class, and then review my lessons after returning home. In the evening, I could play games without any psychological burden.
She and Mo Mo finally completed the game successfully, and recently she has been trying to play shooting games on her mobile phone.
On days she doesn't have classes, Xiangcheng regularly goes to Tokyo to spend time with her grandparents. Other than that, she's fine, but every time she gets on the train, she's always terrified, putting away her phone and gripping the safety rails with both hands.
What worries Xiangcheng the most is his grandfather's cough. He has been taking some effective foreign medicines and his condition seems to have improved a lot. He can now go to the community to guide the children in volleyball practice.
Occasionally, I would get together with friends in Tokyo or Kanagawa to hear about the latest news - for example, Haruko said that Hyotei decided to go to Hawaii for training next week, and Nioh said that Rika and Yagyu's relationship has ended again.
Just when she was still shocked as to why, Yagyu joined her, Yukimura and Niou to have dessert together. He said with a wry smile that he hadn't been able to contact Rika for a day and asked her to go and see what was going on.
Yagyu's gentlemanly and calm attitude made Xiangcheng curious about the reason for their breakup.
Yukimura, who was sitting next to her, gently patted the back of her hand under the table, and then gave her a look that said "don't ask".
Xiangcheng had no choice but to leave this question to find Rika.
The moment she entered Lixiang's house, Xiangcheng was lost in the paradise of E. There are 5 children in Lixiang's family, and Lixiang happens to be the middle one.
Rika's older sister is a fortune teller, and she insists on dragging Xiangcheng through her latest crystal ball divination technique for free. Xiangcheng finally listens to her bewildered explanation—that love has arrived and she should seize the opportunity.
Before Xiangcheng could open her mouth to refute, she was kidnapped by Rika's second sister who was attending art school and was forced to be a model for more than an hour.
Before she could recover, Rika's third-grade twin brother was already waiting for her with a game card. The two of them were stuck in traffic, one praising her for being the best gamer her third sister had mentioned, while the other, staring intently at her, blocked her path.
So after knocking out the two kids more than a dozen times, they finally felt bored and let her go.
At this time, Rika's mother's delicious meal was already ready.
"Hurry up and eat, Xiangcheng! Our Lixiang keeps talking about you!"
Xiangcheng could only take the bowl of rice stiffly. Before she could ask Rika, the four remaining children of the Sakurai family started to scramble for the food, and did not forget to turn around and pick some for Xiangcheng.
Rika's mother kept urging Xiangcheng: "When you eat at our house, you have to be in a fighting spirit!"
As an only child, Xiangcheng was shocked. After eating, she took advantage of the Sakurai family's children fighting fiercely to go upstairs to look for Rika.
Rika's room was at the deepest part of the second floor. Xiangcheng knocked on the door and Rika choked out a "Come in".
When she saw her, Rika burst into laughter and said, "My family...are all quite noisy."
"It's not that they're noisy, they're just too enthusiastic." Xiangcheng looked at the small room in front of him. There was only a narrow couch, a desk piled with various books, and a small wardrobe embedded in half of the wall.
Rika's eyes were still a little red. She picked up the quilt on the couch and stuffed it into the closet that was almost overflowing, and asked Xiangcheng to sit down.
"I'm fine, I'll be fine after a while."
Then Rika lowered her head again: "Yagyu told you, right? I... didn't really want to tell you."
Xiang Cheng leaned against the wall covered with posters and asked in confusion, "Then why is that? You guys seemed pretty good during the training camp!"
Li Xiang smiled bitterly: "If it was because of childish reasons in the third year of junior high school, then now it is a very realistic reason."
She leaned on Xiangcheng and said, "I can only rely on my own efforts to apply to a better university in China. As for Liu Sheng, his family is so well-off that he has already made plans to study abroad. So..."
Xiangcheng nodded in understanding: "Are you afraid of long-distance relationships?"
"No," Li Xiang sat up and said seriously, "Yagyu suggested that we go out together, but I refused."
Then she burst into tears again, "If I have to rely on him to go abroad, I'll feel inferior—this is not the relationship I want."
But I like him so much.
Xiangcheng pulled her head over and leaned it against his shoulder, patting her back: "I know."
She was never a "math, physics, and chemistry genius," nor could she easily rank among the top three in her grade. The books on her desk, which had obviously been used many times and were not arranged neatly, told her that on those nights when she was happily playing games, Rika was sitting alone in this cramped space, calculating those boring exercises over and over again.
All of Xiangcheng's consolation turned into a sigh, and then he just held her and waited for her to digest her emotions.
It was probably a sense of "unworthiness" that made the strong-willed Rika unable to bear and had to rely on her boyfriend's "charity" to move on.
That's why she wanted to give up this precious love that she had lost and regained, and cut off all realities before it "polluted" this beautiful moment.
After Rika recovered a little, Xiangcheng slowly chose his words and told her analysis in detail.
Li Xiang pinched her cheek and then let go: "You little single dog is still full of tricks."
"Maybe it's just like you said, Xiangcheng." Rika rested her head on Xiangcheng's legs and looked up at her: "Sometimes I laugh at you for not knowing how to cherish the preciousness of youth and the beauty of love, and sometimes I think you're great the way you are."
"You could just say I'm not in love." Xiangcheng thought their current posture was a little too ambiguous. If Liu Sheng saw them, he would be furious. Oh, no, Liu Sheng wouldn't fall in love with his ex-girlfriend or someone else, right?
Li Xiang forced a smile: "Then it will be difficult for people to like you."
"What's there for me to like?" Xiangcheng thought indifferently.
"Men will only affect the speed at which you draw your sword...Okay, I get it."
Xiangcheng patted her. "If you're not into romance, then just focus on training. IH only has a top 16, and you haven't played much yet. Chungao should at least make it to the top 8. With this honor, you'll have one more qualification when applying to university, right?"
"Ah," Li Xiang's attention was indeed focused here: "Indeed, there is no hope for love anymore, so let's study hard and play ball."
——On the way home, Xiangcheng first responded to Yagyu's concern for Rika, and then hesitated for a long time among several good friends in the list.
Finally the screen went off.
She thought pessimistically, perhaps all close relationships would eventually bow to reality. It wasn't that loving someone would transcend the vicissitudes of life.
It’s just that the love at the moment is precious.
So instead of facing such problems, it is better to be like her.
The next day, during the morning run, Yukimura asked Rika about her condition, and Xiangcheng gave the same answer.
A strange look immediately appeared on Yukimura's face, and he rarely stopped.
Xiangcheng had already run quite far when she realized that he hadn't caught up with her.
She turned around and squinted her eyes, looking at Yukimura with her back to the sun in confusion, not understanding why he didn't run away.
Yukimura also looked at Xiangcheng basking in the sun and suddenly chuckled.
If it were him, he would definitely try his best to achieve whatever result he wanted.
He is the person who least believes in fate and reality.
If you just take one step closer to me, it will be fine.
Xiangcheng ran back a few steps curiously: "What are you grinning at?"
"Is it stupid?"
Xiang Cheng nodded without hesitation: "So what are you thinking about?"
Curiosity filled Xiangcheng's blue eyes, and Yukimura said, "I'm thinking about... a story about an idiot."
"ha?"
"Have you ever heard the story where the smart guy says yes and the dumb guy says no?"
Xiangcheng shook his head honestly: "No."
It wasn't until Yukimura couldn't straighten his back from laughing that Xiang Cheng reacted.
"Yukimura Seiichi!"
"Hey~ Stupid Orange!"
Xiangcheng was so angry that he jumped up and down: "I'm running, but you're teasing me!"
Yukimura waved his hand and slowly put away his smile: "Are you feeling better?"
"No, it's even worse!" Xiangcheng curled her lips. "I was originally crying for someone else's love, but now I have to worry about my own IQ."
"Don't worry, I think your IQ is fine, Xiangcheng." Yukimura thought for a moment and added, "But your EQ is hard to say."
"How is that possible? I have a high emotional intelligence!" Xiangcheng retorted dissatisfiedly.
Yukimura's expression was filled with obvious doubt: "Really?"
"What's that expression on your face..."
"Ah, running, running—"
"Yukimura Seiichi, please explain yourself clearly! Hey—"
Yukimura Seiichi remained silent, adjusting his pace to match the gradually accelerating rhythm of Xiangcheng. Xiangcheng didn't forget this matter even during the breath break: "You have to explain it clearly today! Otherwise, I won't let you go..."
Yukimura glanced sideways, thinking with amusement that if he ran another kilometer, Xiangcheng would completely forget about this matter.
So, I really don’t want to become a male classmate with a vague face who is occasionally mentioned by her many years later.
Sure enough, as he ran, new things attracted Xiangcheng's attention.
"The fireworks display...isn't that tomorrow night? There's also a market to visit!"
The two of them tacitly grasped information from the huge posters on the roadside.
"Want to go together?" Yukimura asked expectantly.
Xiangcheng shook her head: "I was going to ask Lixiang to come along, but it's not a good idea for your tennis club to meet her now!"
Well... he does have emotional intelligence, but unfortunately it's only friendship intelligence.
Yukimura lowered his head in disappointment: "Okay then..."
We have to think of a little solution.
Xiang Cheng looked at the small print on the poster and said, "As for the yukata, I don't know if it will fit me anymore. Well, the market snacks listed are quite rich!"
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