Chapter 16
Zhou Qiang was still talking nonstop. Tao Xi agreed halfheartedly while secretly looking at the time on her watch. She was so anxious that she wanted to run away.
The evening self-study class would be over in a few minutes, and he had to ask Lin Qinhe if his self-review had passed before he left.
At this time, Zhou Qiang finally took out his mobile phone to check the time, and patted his half-bald head: "Oh, why is it so late?! Okay, Tao Xi, you go back first. Don't study too late when you return to the dormitory at night. Remember to combine work and rest..."
Before he could finish his words, Tao Xi disappeared as if he had flown away.
"Good, you are still alive and well, which means your mood is not affected." Zhou Qiang smiled with great relief.
As Tao Xi ran, he cursed Zhou Qiang inwardly for choosing such a remote corner. When he ran to the teaching building, the bell for the end of class had already rung. He went against the rush of people in the stairwell and climbed three floors in one breath. When he ran to the classroom, most of the students in the class had already left.
Yang Duole asked for leave for evening study. Tao Xi thought Lin Qinhe would leave as soon as the get out of class was over, but she didn't expect that he was still there, but he was carrying his schoolbag and was obviously leaving.
Tao Xi hurriedly stretched out his arm to stop Lin Qinhe, and asked breathlessly: "My self-criticism, has it been approved?"
His rosy lips slightly opened due to panting, his fair face was stained with a layer of light pink with fine sweat, there were some water drops hanging on the ends of his eyelashes, and he looked at Lin Qinhe nervously.
Lin Qinhe lowered his head slightly and looked at Tao Xi's face, then quickly looked away, took a tissue from his desk and handed it to Tao Xi.
Tao Xi was stunned for a moment, took the tissue from Lin Qinhe, said thank you, wiped the sweat off his face with the tissue, and then heard Lin Qinhe's serious and indifferent voice: "It's not deep enough."
Tao Xi paused, pinched the tissue into his palm, stared at Lin Qinhe with wide eyes, and couldn't help but said angrily: "Isn't this profound enough?!"
He was imitating the excellent ideological reports of party members that he had seen before. What party members wrote were not profound, so what is profound?
Tao Xi didn't want to rewrite another one, so he walked a little closer to Lin Qinhe, raised his eyelashes and looked at Lin Qinhe with his eyes wide open, softened his voice and began to hint wildly: "I still have a lot of homework to do, and I haven't touched a single word on many papers."
Lin Qinhe didn't seem to buy his trick, and his stern expression didn't relax at all.
Tao Xi thought for a moment, tilted her head and carefully observed Lin Qinhe's expression, and her voice became softer: "Didn't you say that my listening book was too old? I listened to you and bought a new one. I have to practice listening tonight, so I really don't have time to rewrite the review."
He somewhat regretted promising Lin Qinhe that he could write anything.
Lin Qinhe asked back: "Did I ask you to rewrite it?"
Tao Xi was stunned. He looked at Lin Qinhe blankly and found that there seemed to be a flash of smile in Lin Qinhe's eyes.
He tried to see if the smile was real, but then he heard Lin Qinhe say, "Show me the listening book."
Tao Xi thought he might have seen it wrong, so he walked to his seat, took out the listening book that he had just bought from a big bookstore in the city from the drawer, and handed it to Lin Qinhe together with the tape at the back.
There was no one else in the classroom at this time. The people in the front row turned off the lights in front of them when they left. Only the last row of lights in the classroom still illuminated the last seat and the two people who had not left.
Lin Qinhe took the book and quickly flipped through a few pages, then quickly concluded, "This one is not good either. The questions are too simple and there is no improvement in it."
Tao Xi uttered an "ah", twisted her fingers, and said helplessly: "But I can't find anything better."
Lin Qinhe glanced at him, turned around, took out a thick book and a transparent box containing a tape from the drawer, handed them to him, and said in a commanding tone:
"Go back and practice this listening book, and do a set of questions every day."
Tao Xi took the book and tape in a daze. He opened the title page of the book, on which were written three clear and elegant words in pen: Lin Qinhe.
The book was obviously new, with none of the questions touched, and the tape was also brand new, like a blank tape.
He stared blankly at the thing in his hand, which seemed very heavy and yet very light. It took him a long time to come back to his senses.
"Don't want to do it?" Lin Qinhe asked him in a low voice.
Tao Xi came back to his senses, quickly shook his head, looked at Lin Qinhe and said, "But if I practice your book, what will you practice?"
This is obviously a book that Lin Qinhe has just bought and has not yet finished.
Lin Qinhe said calmly: "I don't need to practice."
“…”
So what did you buy it for? Is this the willfulness of rich people?
Tao Xi didn't understand what Lin Qinhe was thinking, but he didn't want to take Lin Qinhe's things for free, so he asked: "How much is this book? I'll bring the money to you tomorrow."
Judging from the production of this book, it should be very expensive, maybe around a hundred yuan. Tao Xi couldn't help but feel a little painful.
Lin Qinhe frowned and said, "No need."
Before Tao Xi could insist, he saw Lin Qinhe put the criticized worthless listening book he bought from the bookstore and the tape into his schoolbag and said, "In exchange, I'll take this one."
Tao Xi was stunned and asked in confusion: "But didn't you say that this book is too simple and useless?"
This is not an equal exchange at all.
Lin Qinhe picked up the schoolbag and said nonchalantly, "Yes, so I took it back to make it for my cousin who is in elementary school."
"!"
Tao Xi glared at Lin Qinhe and felt offended!
He was about to express his dissatisfaction, but the next second Lin Qinhe stretched out a hand towards his eyes.
Tao Xi subconsciously closed his eyes and felt a warm touch at the corner of his right eye. He couldn't help but hold his breath. His eyelashes trembled slightly, and he felt a finger pinching something to the side from the thin skin at the corner of his eye.
After the fingers left, he opened his eyes and found a small piece of paper on Lin Qinhe's hand, which should have been left when he wiped the sweat just now.
His heart beat faster for some reason. Watching Lin Qinhe casually remove the scraps of paper from his fingers, the warm touch seemed to return to the corner of his right eye, and it grew legs and quickly crawled to his heart, tickling it gently.
Tao Xi couldn't help but stretched out his hand to touch the corner of his eyes, blinked a few times, and blamed in a bluffing manner: "Why didn't you tell me earlier!"
He actually talked to Lin Qinhe for such a long time with a piece of paper stuck in the corner of his eye!
"How should I know? You can't even see it next to your eyes." Lin Qinhe raised the corners of his lips slightly, then walked towards the door with his schoolbag.
Tao Xi was stunned. He was sure that he had not seen wrong just now. Lin Qinhe was indeed smiling.
Then he thought angrily, he is not a dragonfly, of course he can't see things near his eyes!
Tao Xi turned off the lights in the classroom and locked the door with a key. After checking again and again that the door was closed, he walked towards the dormitory building holding the listening book and tape given by Lin Qinhe.
It was already late September, and there was a hint of coolness at night. The faint scent of osmanthus floated in the dim campus. Tao Xi took a deep breath, thinking that Lin Qinhe would definitely feel uncomfortable when he smelled the fragrance.
But now, smelling the sweet scent of osmanthus, he felt so happy that he felt like flying.
Lin Qinhe didn't seem to hate him.
He remembered what Lin Qinhe told him, to respond well to those who are truly good to him.
He decided then that he would try his best to be nice to Lin Qinhe.
But it seems that I can't bring any benefits to Lin Qinhe.
Tao Xi returned to the dormitory thinking all the way. Xu Ziqi seemed to be listening to English with headphones on, and Pan Yan was drawing while sighing.
"Xi Da! You're finally back! Come and help me, I really don't know how to paint!" When Pan Yan saw Tao Xi coming in, he pounced on him with bared teeth and claws like a weasel seeing a chicken.
Tao Xi dodged Pan Yan flexibly, protecting the listening book in her arms, and refused mercilessly: "No, I have to practice listening tonight."
Pan Yan cried and complained: "How could you bear to watch your roommate who is in misery die without helping him?!" He suddenly realized that Tao Xi didn't seem as easy to talk to as before.
"How can you bear it?" Tao Xi said coldly.
Even if an earthquake happened at this time, he would still practice a set of listening questions first.
Tao Xi first went to the bathroom and washed his hands carefully, then took out his tape recorder and opened the tape box. Only then did he realize that the tape had no trademarks, only labels with the numbers 1234 on them.
I didn’t expect that it was quite simple to make such a beautiful book with reversed tape packaging.
He loaded the tape, plugged in headphones, and carefully completed a set of questions. He found that the questions were really difficult and he got many of them wrong.
No wonder Lin Qinhe said that the book he bought was too simple. He listened to the wrong questions several times before closing the book and going to the bathroom to take a shower.
When Tao Xi came out of the bathroom after taking a shower, she saw Xu Ziqi standing in front of her desk flipping through her listening book.
He rushed over, slapped Xu Ziqi's hand away, picked up the listening book and protected it in his arms. He looked at Xu Ziqi with a gloomy face and said coldly, "Who allowed you to touch my things?"
He placed great emphasis on the word “my”.
Xu Ziqi was stunned for a moment, holding her wrist that was hurt from being beaten. Tao Xi's expression was so scary that it actually made him feel a little scared, but this fear was soon covered by anger.
"I just flipped it over, it didn't break anything, why are you so stingy?!"
Xu Ziqi glanced at her already red and swollen wrist, glared at Tao Xi angrily, and said sarcastically: "Besides, this book clearly has Lin Qinhe's name on it, who knows if you stole it from him?"
He had seen this listening book before. It was compiled by a well-known English professor for his own and his friends' children to practice listening. It had never been put on the shelves for external sale. Lin Qinhe was not surprised to have it, but how could he give it to Tao Xi?
He had been in Class 1 for two months and tried to curry favor with Lin Qinhe, but he had never succeeded. Lin Qinhe would never be nice to anyone he didn't know well.
The word "steal" irritated Tao Xi, and combined with what happened in the morning, it made him extremely unhappy.
He had been pretending to be a grandson in this school for so long, just to stay with Lin Qinhe. But if someone touched the things Lin Qinhe gave him...
Tao Xi looked at Xu Ziqi, sneered, and kicked Xu Ziqi's chair hard. With a few loud bangs, the chair flew to the dormitory door and bounced back to the ground.
Frightened by the loud noise, Xu Ziqi took several steps back, her face pale, and looked at Tao Xi as if she were a madman.
Tao Xi looked at him with a look that was too gloomy and sharp. He had always thought that this student who transferred from the countryside was weak and timid. How could he have ever seen such a terrifying side of him?
Tao Xi gently placed the listening book in her hand on the table and slowly walked towards Xu Ziqi.
Xu Ziqi actually had a premonition that he was going to be beaten. He couldn't help but take a few steps back until he reached the chair next to the door. He pointed at Tao Xi and said sternly, "You, what are you doing? You will be punished for hitting someone!"
Tao Xi laughed, but there was a fierceness in his eyes. He stared at Xu Ziqi and said sarcastically: "With your weak body, you are worthy of being beaten by me?"
Who among the people he had fought in Qingshui County was not taller and stronger than Xu Ziqi? Who wouldn't bow down and admit defeat to him?
"What did you say?!"
Xu Ziqi couldn't believe it. Tao Xi was obviously not as tall as him, and was whiter and thinner than him, but she actually called him a weakling? ! He clenched his fists and glared at Tao Xi with angry eyes. He wanted to curse at her, but found that he didn't have the courage to open his mouth.
Then he saw with fear that Tao Xi walked to a place three steps away from him, stopped, and said to him in a whisper:
"Xu Ziqi, I have tolerated you for a long time. Listen to me, this book was given to me by Lin Qinhe, so it belongs to me. If you touch my things again, I will not kick the chair next time."
Tao Xi said this and returned to his chair to continue working on the questions.
Xu Ziqi stood frozen in place, his chest heaving violently. He had no doubt that if he touched Tao Xi's things again, Tao Xi would really do what she said.
But why?
Why would Lin Qinhe give Tao Xi such a precious book, and why would Tao Xi, a poor student with no background, threaten him?
Xu Ziqi's face was blue and red, and it took her a while to pick up the chair at her feet and put it back in its place.
When he put the chair down, he deliberately made a louder sound. Tao Xi looked up and gave him a cold look. Xu Ziqi subconsciously took a step back, but then felt that she was too cowardly, so she glared at Tao Xi, trying to regain some of her dignity.
Tao Xi actually curled up the corners of his mouth and chuckled, with obvious contempt in his eyes!
Xu Ziqi was so angry that she tried to hold it back, but she couldn't help but said sarcastically, "Even if you can curry favor with Lin Qinhe, so what? With your test results that week, you will be thrown into Class 3 in the midterm."
Tao Xi had never thought that this person had found out his weekly test scores and ranked him. He continued to work on the test paper with his head down, and said nonchalantly, "Really? Then we'll see."
Xu Ziqi suddenly wanted to slap herself. Why did he set a flag?
But he thought again, unless Tao Xi was a genius, it would be impossible for him to be in the top 50 in two months. He would definitely use his results to humiliate this violent maniac!
When Pan Yan, who had just returned from visiting other dormitories, opened the door and walked in, he keenly noticed that something had changed in the dormitory.
Tao Xi was still writing the test paper as usual, but Xu Ziqi climbed into bed so early and pulled the bed curtains tightly.
Pan Yan couldn't help but say: "Xi Da, do you feel that our dormitory seems to be a little gloomy, as if there is an extra woman in the boudoir?"
He was waiting for the great Yin-Yang Master Xu Ziqi to challenge him, but Xu Ziqi said nothing and was as silent as a mute bride on her wedding night.
Tsk, how boring! Pan Yan shook his head.
"Qinhe, why did you come back so late today?" Luo Zhengyin looked at Lin Qinhe who had just entered the room. Although she asked, she did not expect Lin Qinhe to give any specific answer.
"Something happened at school."
Sure enough, Lin Qinhe answered vaguely.
Luo Zhengyin didn't take it to heart, because she was worried about something else. She said with a worried look, "Le Le has been feeling unwell since he came back from his leave last night, and he refused to eat dinner."
Yang Duole had a bad heart and asthma since childhood. Over the years, Luo Zhengyin and Uncle and Aunt Fang had been taking good care of Yang Duole's health and trying their best to meet his requests, because the doctor said that the most taboo thing about Yang Duole's disease was excessive emotions.
"I'll go see him." Lin Qinhe casually placed his schoolbag on the sofa.
Luo Zhengyin breathed a sigh of relief. When everyone was pampering Yang Duole, only Lin Qinhe never pampered him, so Yang Duole was only afraid of Lin Qinhe.
"By the way, Qinhe, are you still using the tape recorder in the study? The nanny asked me if I want to put it away." Luo Zhengyin asked behind Lin Qinhe.
Some time ago, Lin Qinhe found an old tape recorder from the storage room and went into the study every night, seemingly recording tapes. It took a long time and one day he even recorded a little bit. Although she was curious, she didn't ask and just thought that Lin Qinhe was interested in these retro tools on a whim.
"Not for now." Lin Qinhe picked up the plate that the nanny had carefully prepared for the third time from the dining table and walked upstairs.
The author has something to say:
Finally caught up
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