…
Tan Ming hadn't even returned home yet and was completely unaware that his WeChat had exploded.
Du Feiyang and a few others had already learned that Tan Ming had nearly died suddenly while playing basketball at school. The WeChat group, which had been silent for a long time, became lively again.
Du Feiyang, Huaxu, Yu Qingyan, Tan Ming, and Xu Qing have been friends since junior high school. However, ever since Tan Ming fell in love with Lu Lingshan, his relationship with Hua Xu has not been so good.
Only Du Feiyang still has a close relationship with him.
The news that Tan Ming almost died suddenly filled this long-silent group with 999+ messages.
Yu Qingyan asked: "What's going on with Tan Ming?"
Du Feiyang told the other people the news he had learned from Tan Ming's mother, emphasizing the golden four minutes of rescue. Because four minutes after cardiac arrest, brain tissue will suffer irreversible damage due to lack of oxygen.
Du Feiyang said: "So Mingming didn't become the landlord's stupid son now, thanks to Xiuxiu."
The other people were silent for a while and said in shock:
"Xiu Xiu is awesome!"
Yu Qingyan said: "The squad leader is awesome too."
Xu Qing rarely said, "Xiu Xiu just happened to call me."
Tan Ming took out the crumpled hundred-yuan note from his wallet, clearly intending to repay the favor, but Zhou Xiu's father gave him the hundred-yuan instead. After all the calculations, it seems that I haven't been of much help today.
He frowned, opened WeChat and asked, "So how should I thank her? She doesn't want money."
Tan Ming asked sincerely.
Huatid replied: "Tan Ming, you are the solution to 2X > 4."
Two to positive infinity.
Tan Ming: “…”
No, even though he is a poor student, you can’t insult him like this, right?
The behind-the-scenes story directly said: "What does Xiuxiu lack the most? Isn't her most fatal weakness her English performance? If her English level is as good as ours, she will be able to get a lot of scholarships."
Tan Ming understood.
Zhou Xiu is indeed more suitable for the scholarship.
So, Tan Ming frowned and thought about how to improve his English performance. Given Zhou Xiu's family conditions, it was impossible to hire a tutor or go abroad to study in an English environment. After thinking for a long time without any solution, Tan Ming sought help from Xu Qing.
Xu Qing said a few simple words.
After receiving the guidance, Tan Ming quickly formed an English study group and also invited these people to join the group.
"You have a role to play as well. Zhou Xiu also helped you improve your math, physics and chemistry last semester."
Everyone: “…”
We didn't say we wouldn't help, did we?
Tan Ming did not mention Zhou Xiu's family background to them, but when choosing activities, he chose those that were economical, cheap and popular. He picked a time when Zhou Xiu had a biology class and asked her to go see an English movie.
In the evening, Zhou Xiu received messages from several people about going to the movies together, and he couldn't help but frown.
Zhou Xiu seldom goes to the movies. The only time she remembers watching a movie was when she was in high school and the school organized a patriotic movie. If Zhou Xiu were asked to arrange her free time, she would definitely not think of going to the movies.
At this moment, Zhou Xiu remembered a task issued by the system.
System: [Watch an English movie, and memorize the core lines to a simple level, and you will be rewarded with 200 BRM. 】
Although Zhou Xiu thinks she can't do it, she is willing to try to challenge herself. She responded to the tidbit, “Okay.”
On Monday, after finishing biology class, Zhou Xiu picked up her schoolbag and prepared to buy movie tickets.
Xu Qing stopped her, "No need to buy, Tan Ming has already bought it. Let's go have a meal first."
Senior high school students are still taking extra classes during the winter vacation, and the school cafeteria is still open as usual. Xu Qing and Zhou Xiu went to the cafeteria and had a simple meal.
When the other students in the biology class saw this, they smiled at them in a friendly manner.
After dinner, Xu Qing and Zhou Xiu took the subway to the cinema.
When they arrived at the cinema, Huaxu and Yu Qingyan were already drinking hot drinks in the lounge area.
The two of them were dressed exquisitely and beautifully, with the air of being rich and beautiful. They made the public movie theater look like a high-end restaurant, and their cold aura made people stay away.
Du Feiyang arrived a few minutes late. He noticed the bracelet on Tan Ming's wrist and turned his back to him, laughing to death.
He said: "Mingming's mom is really worried about him now. She specially bought him a bracelet to forbid him to stay up late or miss meals on time."
Tan Ming turned his face expressionlessly and glared at Du Feiyang.
Xu Qing went to buy four cups of popcorn and Coke and handed them to the other people. He said to Zhou Xiu: "Watching more English movies will help your English. Remember your lines later."
Zhou Xiu nodded.
A group of four people walked into the cinema. A group of handsome men and beautiful women walked together, which made people in the cinema so amazed that they couldn't help but look sideways.
Only Zhou Xiu was still wearing her school uniform and carrying her school bag. His attire is typical of a middle school student.
"Look, look over there, there are a lot of handsome guys and beautiful girls." The young lady whispered in the direction of Xu Qing.
"I'm still carrying a schoolbag. It's great to be young."
"Are they bringing their sisters to the movies?"
"Stop comforting yourself, okay? They obviously brought their girlfriends here, okay—"
The girls' conversation stopped abruptly until they saw another person: at the other end of the cinema, at the ticket gate designed for single persons, a boy as handsome as a star walked into the cinema silently.
How do you know it's for one person? A girl chased after him and asked for his contact information, but was stopped by the staff. She angrily pulled out her phone and asked, "Which movie is this? I bought the ticket, isn't that enough?"
The staff member shook his head regretfully and said, "Sorry, this theater has been reserved."
At the ticket gate of another cinema, Tan Ming and Du Feiyang were walking in front, holding popcorn and Coke. Xu Qing took two servings of popcorn but didn't order a Coke.
Zhou Xiu likes neither popcorn nor Coke. He didn’t take the snacks in Xu Qing’s hand.
Xu Qing had no choice but to take two copies by himself.
Du Feiyang and Tan Ming had just watched half of the movie when they received news that the school basketball team was having a temporary training session. I had originally planned to watch a movie with Zhou Xiu this afternoon, but now there’s nothing I can do about it.
Yu Qingyan also had urgent matters to deal with. She leaned in and whispered, "I'm sorry, Sister Xu Xiuxiu, I have something urgent to do and can't watch the next show."
Huatiao whispered, "That's enough for us to watch this show. We'll come back next time."
In the dark environment, when Yu Qingyan approached Zhou Xiu, she found that she was reciting lines non-stop.
She wasn't watching a movie, she was memorizing her lines.
The people around were immersed in the movie, some were nervous or happy, only Zhou Xiu was seriously memorizing the movie lines. She didn't seem to care about the plot because she was busy memorizing her lines.
Yu Qingyan: “…”
Zhou Xiu watched most of the movie, his head felt dizzy, and he found that he had memorized it by heart. She exited the theater and walked outside, trying hard to recall the lines she had memorized. She took out a pen and asked the system:
[Are twenty core lines enough?] 】
Zhou Xiu wasn't quite sure what the core lines were, so she asked the system before writing. It’s only two hundred yuan, what if you are asked to write two hundred sentences? Zhou Xiu could never do this even if he was beaten to death.
system:【……】
Okay, you have the final say.
[Frozen 2, if you memorize 20 core lines to the simple memory level, you will be rewarded with 200 RMB. 】
Zhou Xiu wrote down the words with her pen tip.
She wrote as she read, starting with the simple lines one sentence at a time.
When she finally finished reciting ten sentences, she got stuck when she reached the tenth sentence.
"Now I know you're true——"
She stumbled back and corrected herself: "Now I know you're my true north cause, cause..."
Zhou Xiu couldn't help but hold his forehead with his hand, wondering why English was so difficult.
Even rote memorization can be wrong.
If you give Zhou Xiu a string of numbers, she can memorize it by gritting her teeth, but she can't do that with English.
At this time, another male voice continued calmly: "cause I am lost in the woods. Up is down, day is night, when you're not there."
The male voice is extremely light and the tone is pure like the original sound of a movie, but it also has its own characteristics, magnetic and low.
His voice was so soft that it seemed like it could be blown away by the wind.
When Zhou Xiu heard it, he quickly memorized it, grabbed a pen and wrote it down, when the last word fell.
[Ding—Memorize 20 core lines from "Frozen 2" to the simple memory level and receive a reward of 200 RMB. 】
She looked back and found it was Xi Shaoyuan.
Xi Shaoyuan glanced at her, turned around and left the cinema without saying a word.
"Now I know you're my true north cause I am lost in the woods. Up is down, day is night, When you're not there.."
Being lost in the forest made me realize that you are my Big Dipper, guiding me. When you were away, I was torn between day and night.
…
Zhou Xiu got his reward and waited outside the cinema for his friends who had finished watching the movie to come out.
Huaxu, Tan Ming, Du Feiyang and Xu Qing walked out side by side and found that Zhou Xiu was actually sitting at the table outside, scribbling and writing a page of movie lines.
Huatiao was surprised: "..."
This is too damn serious. How did Zhou Xiu grow up? Did she eat cutesy foods?
Damn, Huatui walked up and rubbed Zhou Xiu’s head hard, messing up her hair.
Xu Qing took the draft paper and took a look at it. "It's quite good that you can memorize so much in such a short time. It's unexpected. It will be even better if you go back and consolidate it."
He took out a pen and began to correct it quickly: "Here, and here, there are grammatical errors."
The audiences in the cinema left one after another, and their smiles of admiring the handsome guy gradually froze: "..."
Tan Ming, Du Feiyang and Huaxu were all silent: "..."
I may not want to bring the squad leader with me when I go to the movies in the future.
…
Near the end of the year.
Zhou Cheng was very busy at his noodle stall, and the couple often miscalculated when collecting money.
If Zhou Xiu hadn't been there to correct him, he would have probably lost a lot of money.
When you first start a small business like this, the profits are low to begin with, and if you make a mistake in calculations, all your hard work will be wasted. But their educational level is very low, so such mistakes cannot be avoided.
Zhou Xiu simply taught her father how to calculate numbers quickly and cleverly. She asked Zhou Cheng to memorize some fixed combinations, such as noodles + eggs, noodles + shredded chicken, noodles + eggs + chicken wings, noodles + shredded chicken + soy milk... and arrange them according to the frequency of probability.
As long as the customer reports that these things are included in the combination, we can just calculate based on that.
Zhou Xiu also suggested that Zhou Cheng change the price to some number that is easier to calculate. Zhou Cheng felt a headache when he heard this. He shook his head dizzily and said, "No, no, I don't understand."
"Xiu'er, I can't remember."
Zhou Xiu shook her head helplessly, and directly wrote down a few combinations and marked the prices at the back, "Then let's make a sign and make a set meal. It's 50 cents or 1 yuan cheaper than buying them separately, and customers will definitely choose the set meal."
Zhou Cheng listened to this method, which was simple and crude. He nodded frantically: "This is good, this is good!"
After Zhou Cheng solved this problem, efficiency increased significantly. He was very busy, leaving home early and coming back late, and could stand by the noodle stall for more than ten hours a day.
Zhou Xiu couldn't help but persuade him: "Don't work so hard, which is more important, your feet or the money?"
Zhou Cheng scratched his head in a naive way, "I didn't expect that selling food here would make so much money."
Zhou Cheng felt very honored to be able to host a wedding banquet for the villagers in the countryside. He was such a loser that he couldn't even farm properly, causing his wife and daughter to starve and freeze.
Zhou Cheng could earn fifty or a hundred yuan each time he prepared banquets for other people. Sometimes the host will generously give two hundred yuan. Although such work is not often available, it is considered good in the mountain village where the average annual income is only around 3,000 yuan.
The income from the stall now is shocking to Zhou Cheng, as he can support his entire family with his skills. If I work harder and grit my teeth, I will be able to support Xiuer's education.
Liu Mei flipped through the calendar and asked Zhou Cheng, "The New Year is coming soon. When can we buy a ticket to go home?"
Zhou Xiu's movement of raising her head to drink water froze, and she clenched the cup tightly.
Zhou Xiu had no intention of returning to that hideous "home". That place was not really a home to her.
Zhou Cheng was stunned while counting the money. He lowered his head and said casually, "Business is too busy. I won't go back."
Zhou Cheng wasn't even that happy when he was counting the money.
If Grandma Zhou wanted to sell Zhou Cheng, Zhou Cheng would not have any complaints. But she wanted to sell his most beloved daughter in exchange for the betrothal gift for his nephew, so Zhou Cheng would not go home for the New Year.
Liu Mei secretly pursed her lips and whispered to Zhou Xiu: "Your father resented your mother-in-law and sold you for the bride price."
She also complained.
"Then I'll tell your mom that I'm busy this year and won't have time to go home."
Zhou Cheng counted the money without even responding.
On New Year's Eve, Zhou Cheng bought a lot of fruits and vegetables, two chickens in his left hand and two ducks in his right hand. Liu Mei carried a heavy bag of pork and bought some shrimps, crabs and seafood to try.
The New Year’s Eve dinner was very sumptuous.
Zhou Cheng has been in the kitchen since noon, killing chickens and geese, peeling crabs and boiling shrimps.
Liu Mei and Zhou Xiu cleaned the house diligently and tore off the old Spring Festival couplets and auspicious charms from last year. Zhou Cheng suddenly remembered something and called out to his wife, "Come and watch the fire. I'll go get some drinks."
Zhou Xiu likes to drink coconut milk very much.
But in previous years, they were not allowed to sit at the table to eat during the Chinese New Year, and they were not given any drinks at the New Year’s Eve dinner.
Zhou Cheng ran through several streets and finally found the coconut milk that Zhou Xiu loved to drink in a large supermarket. He brought it back sweating. At this time, Zhou Cheng saw Xi Shaoyuan's shadow on the street.
He called out, "Master Xi."
Xi Shaoyuan turned around inadvertently.
Zhou Cheng asked him: "Why don't you go home for dinner? It's New Year's Day."
Xi Shaoyuan said: "We don't have the custom of celebrating the New Year. I just sent my mother to the airport."
Zhou Cheng was stunned for a moment, and inexplicably felt that this Master Xi was really pitiful. He said, "Would you like to come to my house for a meal? I've cooked a lot of dishes!"
Xi Shaoyuan remained silent, neither answering nor refusing. Zhou Cheng simply pulled him up and took him home.
Zhou Xiu and Liu Mei were arranging the dishes, serving rice and setting out the bowls and chopsticks one after another.
They were stunned when they saw the person Zhou Cheng brought home.
Zhou Cheng said innocently: "Mrs. Xi is not at home, let's celebrate the New Year together this year."
Zhou Cheng cooked a lot of dishes. He usually prepared too many banquets for the villagers. When he was in the countryside, he also cooked the Zhou family’s New Year’s Eve dinner every year. But I have never really cooked just for my wife and daughter.
This time he prepared a sumptuous meal, including beer duck made with beer and lemon, shredded chicken mixed with sesame oil, spicy stir-fried crabs, boiled shrimps, delicious black chicken and wolfberry soup, sweet plum and perilla basil spareribs, and colorful Dongpo pork.
The table was filled with delicious food, and the aroma was so delicious that even the neighbors couldn't help but come over to have a piece of meat.
The sesame oil shredded chicken has tender chicken shreds and the chicken skin is tender, fat and not greasy.
The crabs were fried to perfection, the beer duck was mellow with a hint of wheat, and after eating the Dongpo pork and then drinking a sip of the chicken soup, your mouth was filled with so much deliciousness.
Zhou Cheng poured himself some white wine, and subconsciously treated Xi Shaoyuan as an adult, so he poured him half a bowl of white wine as well.
Liu Mei scolded him: "Master Xi is still a child like Xiu'er, why are you talking nonsense?"
Zhou Cheng poured him some more coconut milk and took the half bowl of white wine to keep for himself. "Hey, isn't this too happy?"
Xi Shaoyuan said: "It doesn't matter."
He finished the bowl of wine.
Zhou Xiu's parents ate very quickly, and so did Zhou Xiu. Even the most important New Year's Eve dinner took him an hour to finish.
After drinking, Xi Shaoyuan ate some food, then sat on the sofa with a flushed face as if he had fallen asleep.
After Zhou Xiu cleaned the table and washed the dishes, she found Xi Shaoyuan lying motionless with his eyes closed, as if he was asleep. The small sofa was only wide enough for one person and couldn't even accommodate his legs.
Why bother squeezing into this pitifully cramped little place when you can sleep in your own warm and spacious villa?
Zhou Xiu shook Xi Shaoyuan, and Xi Shaoyuan said vaguely: "Xiu'er, stop making trouble."
Xiu'er, stop making trouble.
Zhou Xiu was stunned on the spot.
Only Zhou Cheng and his wife, and some elders in the countryside who are close to Zhou Xiu would call her "Xiu'er". Zhou Xiu's classmates knew the other meaning of the word "Xiu'er" and rarely called her that.
Zhou Xiu pursed her lips and looked at the sleeping Xi Shaoyuan with a cold gaze.
After a long time, Zhou Xiucai pushed him awake and said, "Go back to your own home and sleep."
Xi Shaoyuan opened his eyes, there was a layer of mist in his eyes, and the teardrop mole at the corner of his eyes was sparkling. He was confused for a while before his eyes gradually regained focus.
Xi Shaoyuan stood up and said, "Yes."
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