Chapter 12 (Two chapters combined)
The dog will remember that day.
In the three months leading up to the high school entrance exam, Liang Mei's house became their study base. Every weekend, the four of them would rush to Teacher Liang's house with questions from the week, only to end their intensive study session with new questions arising.
The knowledge framework for the middle school entrance exam is clear and straightforward, unlike the in-depth complexity of the college entrance exam. The knowledge structure of high school is even as detailed as the nerve endings of each knowledge framework. If she were a senior in high school now, Liang Mei wouldn't waste her time and money wasting her time and money with them. But back then, she was pushed and motivated by her teachers' constant nagging in the last three months to get into a teacher's college. If she had the resources she has now back then, why would she need to go to a teacher's college? She would have gone to Tanzhong High School instead.
Under the comprehensive supervision and encouragement of the four of them, Li Yingqiao: Liang Mei focused on Chinese language, Zheng Miaojia was in charge of social sciences, Gao Dian was in charge of seal-style applause, and Yu Jinyang was in charge of the remaining subjects.
This has a similar effect to weight loss. The results in the first month were quite obvious. The mock exam papers that Yu Jinyang photocopied for her went from being covered in crosses so many that Liang Mei had to pinch her philtrum every time she explained the papers to her. Now, she only needs to pinch Li Yingqiao's philtrum to prevent her from getting carried away in order to finish explaining the papers.
However, filling in the gaps in knowledge is like a physical examination. You won't know until you take an X-ray. Once she did, she discovered that Li Yingqiao might be a piece of cheese, full of holes. Her knowledge structure was scattered like her great-uncle's bones. Once the theorems and formulas were broken up, they couldn't be put back together.
But Liang Mei knew very well that such enthusiasm could only be used intermittently. Once the initial excitement wore off, she would be like a mudflat after the tide receded, completely revealing her stubborn, muddy nature.
"Give it to me," Liang Mei said sternly, holding out her hand to Li Yingqiao. "The high school entrance exam doesn't test crime-solving, so what's the use of watching two hundred episodes of Detective Conan? Glaring at me won't help either. What are you doing? Are you trying to kill the proctor?"
She shook her head vigorously.
"Fine, bring it over if you won't kill it."
The others immediately fell silent, all stealing glances at Liang Mei.
"It's impossible to hand it in." Li Yingqiao ignored him, quietly stuffed the comic book she had borrowed from her classmate back into her schoolbag, and then slumped down listlessly, starting to carelessly write the mock exam questions from the Experimental Middle School that Yu Jinyang had photocopied for her.
Liang Mei refused to give up and slammed her hand on the table, determined to confiscate it.
Li Yingqiao stubbornly refused to give it to him.
Liang Mei turned her gaze to Yu Jinyang and gave him a wink, signaling him to be the 'bad guy'.
"..."
Yu Jinyang sighed silently and reached out his hand without looking up.
He never gets any good things, but he's always the one who gets all the bad stuff.
Sure enough, just as he finished explaining the test paper to her with great care, Li Yingqiao's expression changed drastically as soon as he stepped out the door. Without saying a word, she attacked him from behind, throwing two punches at his shoulder blades, which were just as he was putting on his backpack strap. The force was so great that she almost knocked him down the stairs.
"Traitor! I will punish you on behalf of the people!"
"An enemy of the people!"
"You traitor!"
"Yu Miaomiao! You treacherous villain! Give me back Conan! Give me back my book!"
"I borrowed that from someone else. I don't care, you have to pay me back one copy."
Li Yingqiao relentlessly pursued him, bombarding him with a barrage of questions until Yu Jinyang decided to temporarily retreat to the men's restroom.
Unexpectedly, Li Yingqiao was so angry that she couldn't think straight. Her mind was filled with the book that had been confiscated from her. Today, she was determined to stick to him and followed him inside without caring about anything else.
Fortunately, the restroom was empty at that moment. Yu Jinyang was the first to react, immediately turning around and bracing his arm against the door frame to block her view. He looked down at her and said, "Li Yingqiao, aren't you even looking at me?"
Li Yingqiao snapped out of her daze, her peripheral vision suddenly catching sight of a urinal. She immediately realized what it was, and, enraged, punched him hard in the chest again, yelling, "Damn it!"
Yu Jinyang groaned, clutching his chest which was throbbing with a dull ache. He hissed a few times and gasped for breath, saying, "...Alright, come home with me next weekend to get it. I have the whole set. Now, stop following me. I need to go to the bathroom."
"Really?" Li Yingqiao's eyes lit up instantly, like two car headlights with their high beams on in a tunnel.
In terms of changing faces, Yu Jinyang felt that if you used her ever-changing expressions as a calendar, you could probably flip through more than 3,600 days a year.
"Really, really." He nodded mechanically, like a windshield wiper in a storm.
I originally wanted to avoid her, but now I really have feelings for her.
Li Yingqiao remained where she was, her eyes darting back and forth over him suspiciously as she said, "Why don't I trust you at all?"
"Then what do you want?" he asked, sounding somewhat impatient.
"I'll go home with you today to get it."
"...You want to see the ending right away, don't you?" He sneered, immediately seeing through her. Before he finished speaking, Yu Jinyang caught a glimpse of an adult man approaching from afar. The man turned Li Yingqiao around and shoved him away without hesitation. "Have you finished your exam paper? You dare to try and negotiate with me here?"
"You're even more annoying than Teacher Liang!" Li Yingqiao turned her head and glared at him. "Meow meow, you're just a ten-yuan kid, so stop pointing fingers at me, I'm worth ten thousand!"
“…Li Yingqiao,” he pushed her to the side of the bushes, tightened the single strap of his backpack, and resisted the urge to punch the back of her round head, saying, “Is your brain brand new and still in its plastic wrap? Do you want me to bless it and reorganize your thought process? Is this how you calculate your worth?”
"None of your business!"
"Do you still want the book?"
"want!"
“Now, go home,” he suddenly nudged her shoe with his toe, raised his chin toward the direction the bus was coming from behind, and directed, “Turn around, your bus is coming.”
Li Yingqiao slowly turned halfway around, then turned back again to confirm with him relentlessly, "Then don't forget next week."
"Hmm." Yu Jinyang responded expressionlessly, but his voice suddenly rose, his tone more lively than ever before, "Come on, ten thousand yuan, run, hurry, hurry, hurry!"
"Are you crazy?!"
While chasing the bus, Li Yingqiao couldn't bear it any longer and turned around to curse loudly.
Yu Jinyang was laughing so hard he could barely stand in the restroom. When he came out, he saw Li Yingqiao standing there blankly. He was completely bewildered, and the two stared at each other.
"I told you to run, but you didn't listen. You couldn't catch up with your master?" he said after washing his hands.
"Yu, meow, meow—" Li Yingqiao gritted her teeth, clenching her fists so tightly they cracked. "Do you believe I'll really bite you right now?!"
"What's wrong with me? I just finished using the restroom," Yu Jinyang glanced at her, then looked at his watch before sighing helplessly, "What time is your next appointment? I'll wait with you for a bit, okay?"
Wait until it gets dark. As dusk gradually settles, the streetlights on both sides of the road light up one after another, like scattered egg yolks flowing along the asphalt road to the end.
Li Yingqiao was dizzy from looking at the screen, and her stomach was sticking to her belly from hunger. She tugged at the sleeve of the person squatting next to her, "Meow Meow, did you bring any money?"
Yu Jinyang was worried about how to get home. He had left in a hurry that morning and hadn't brought his wallet or phone. He couldn't call Uncle Zhang either, and no one was coming to pick him up. He said, "If I said no, would you believe me?"
Sure enough, she pouted and said, "You stingy little thing."
He threw his backpack in front of her: "If you don't believe me, look for it yourself. If you can find a penny, I'll eat it."
Without any hesitation, Li Yingqiao grabbed the papers and started flipping through them. Papers, papers, papers—it was all papers! Had her past life been too peaceful? In this life, she was dealing only with papers.
"What is this—"
Li Yingqiao pulled out a piece of draft paper from a pile of messy exam papers. It was of a different thickness, but much firmer, a stark contrast to the flimsy papers. "It's good to be rich," she thought, "even the paper is finer and thicker than others." Under the dim streetlights, she couldn't resist her curiosity and pulled the paper out. The handwriting was incredibly messy. She initially thought it was his draft paper, but Li Yingqiao wasn't interested in looking at it. She was about to stuff it back into his hands—
Yu Jinyang's expression changed drastically. With lightning speed, he snatched the paper back. In the quiet bus stop, the paper made a "whoosh" sound during the struggle, instantly striking Li Yingqiao's crown chakra and Ren and Du meridians.
"Meow! This is a love letter!" She immediately realized, and said somewhat embarrassedly, "Sorry, I was just curious about the style of this paper, it looks expensive." She didn't shy away from admitting that she had never seen anything nice before, and spoke quite frankly about her feelings.
Yu Jinyang's ears turned red again at a visible speed. He calmly folded the paper and put it back in his bag: "No."
Li Yingqiao leaned closer to him curiously, her eyes shining: "Did you write it for someone else, or did someone else write it for you? Hey, are you very popular in your lab? A top student who can dance must be very cool."
“I already said it wasn’t,” Yu Jinyang said, his expression now calm and his tone indifferent. “It was just an ordinary letter.”
"Tch," Li Yingqiao scoffed, "There's no such thing as a normal person who believes in this stuff. We've been friends for so many years, when have we ever written each other a letter? Meow meow, you have a little secret now."
"Do you really want to know?" he suddenly turned his head and looked directly into her eyes.
Li Yingqiao was taken aback for a moment, then quickly waved her hand and said sincerely, "I don't want to read the letter, I'm just curious. Are there any particularly outstanding girls in your school? Like in our Xian Er school, there's a big sister who spends all day with her girlfriends looking in the hallway to see which guys are handsome, and then placing bets on how many days it will take for her to win them over. Wow, she's amazing. She hasn't failed yet. Some guys who get too cocky can't even last two weeks."
"...You placed a bet?" he asked, looking at her.
“Hehe,” she shook her head and held up two fingers, “I made a little money, two thousand.”
Yu Jinyang looked away and said, "That's a threatening letter."
Li Yingqiao's mind went blank for a moment. "What! You're being bullied at school again! No, Yu Miaomiao, what's wrong with you?! You're always so easygoing. Who is it? Tell me, who is it? I'll kill him."
"Come on, you've bullied me a lot since we were kids," Yu Jinyang said with a nonchalant smirk, his smile calm and collected, as if it were a habit. He zipped up his backpack, slung it over his left shoulder, and glanced down at her to the right. "It's not a threatening letter from me, it's for my dad. He sent it to my school."
***
"Ring ring ring—"
Li Yingqiao had been eagerly anticipating Friday's last class. She frantically stuffed her textbooks into her bag, not even bothering to zip it up, and disappeared through the classroom like a monkey. Just as she opened the door, Li Shuli, who had just returned from grocery shopping, stood in the entryway, slowly changing her shoes while carrying a wet crucian carp. Seeing her daughter rushing home so hastily, she couldn't help but tease, "Ten thousand yuan couldn't keep you at school for even a minute longer. Tsk tsk, look at my daughter's attitude."
Li Yingqiao went back to her room, changed her schoolbag, picked up all the test papers she had finished this week, and said to Li Shuli with a confident look, "Our school has a weekly test next week, just wait and see."
“I won’t look, you show it to Liang Mei,” Li Shuli said casually as she tied on her apron and turned to go into the kitchen. “I told you, I’ll support you for life whether you get into Tanzhong High School or not. I know in my heart whether you can get in or not. Do you remember how you used to not want to go to school? I flipped a coin with you and said that if the coin landed on its edge, we would have to go to school today. Even so, you thought it was too risky and refused to take the gamble.”
"..."
“I don’t want to discourage Teacher Liang, but it’s good that you’re willing to work hard,” Li Shuli said, filling the fish tank with water and turning to look at her. “If you’re not eating at home today, I’ll keep the fish in the tank and cook them for you tomorrow at noon. By the way, can Teacher Liang cook?”
Won't.
Teacher Liang only knew how to cook instant noodles, and they were suffering terribly from the food. But Li Yingqiao didn't dare to say that, afraid that Li Shuli would disagree with her going to Teacher Liang's house to study again. So she said, "Our Teacher Liang is a great cook. She's a five-star chef. Every week she makes us a different kind of feast. This week we're having braised pig's trotters, braised pork hock, and stir-fried prawns."
Li Shuli glanced at her strangely, then slammed a cleaver on the cutting board and muttered incredulously as she chopped the ribs, "What exactly is Liang Mei after?"
Li Shuli was initially strongly opposed to Li Yingqiao going to Liang Mei's place to study for the entrance exam to Tanzhong High School. She had already planned for Li Yingqiao's future. Qiaoqiao loved reading novels and watching anime series. It didn't matter how far she studied—vocational high school or junior college, it didn't matter. She would take on several jobs over the next two years and use the savings to open a small bookstore for her. That way, she would have endless novels to read and could be a leisurely and happy little business owner.
Why bother trying to squeeze onto that single-plank bridge in the pool with thousands of people? Even if you get into the pool, there are still undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students. Life goes on and on, when will you ever be able to finally relax?
Li Shuli never aspired to her daughter achieve great success. She knew all too well the hardships and trials that lay behind the glamorous facade, especially for ordinary people, and particularly for ordinary women. Since she herself lacked ability, she didn't want a daughter who, in the conventional sense, was successful and respectable, only to have her glamorous facade tarnished by life's hardships unseen by her. She simply wanted a daughter who could grow up happy and healthy under her watchful eye.
But Qiaoqiao insisted on hanging out with Liang Mei, leaving her helpless. After chopping the last piece of rib, she turned around and saw her daughter changing her shoes at the door, preparing to go out. As usual, she reminded her, "Wear a mask, try not to talk to strangers, and don't let those reporters come knocking on the door, or don't blame Mom for moving you again."
“Received, Commander Li.” Li Yingqiao nodded emphatically.
"...By the way, is there four people in your review group? Is Miaojia here too? Summer Solstice is coming soon, I'll make you some Summer Solstice rice next week so you can take it with you. I remember Miaojia used to love my Summer Solstice rice. Is your son here on that day too? Does he not like broad beans? I remember Tang Xiang saying he's a picky eater."
As soon as they arrived at Liang Mei's house, Li Yingqiao hadn't even had a chance to sit down before she couldn't wait to share the news with the others. Miao Jia jumped up and down with excitement, giving her a high five. "Oh my god! Long live Aunt Li! I really don't want to eat Teacher Liang's terrible cooking anymore."
Li Yingqiao chuckled, then turned to look at Yu Jinyang beside her, staring at him as if she had caught him red-handed, and said, "Meow meow, I heard you don't like broad beans? How about this, lend me another Conan book later, and I'll ask my mom not to put broad beans in it, okay?"
Yu Jinyang ignored her, busy writing furiously on the draft paper. In a circle with a radius of 2, chord AB = 2√3... He was focused on the problem, silently reciting and calculating. After slowly and methodically finishing the problem and filling in the answer √3, he glanced at her and coldly asked, seemingly unrelated, "Have you finished the test?"
Thinking that the incident at the bus stop that day had given Li Yingqiao a significant boost in their relationship, she felt that she now knew a little secret about him. She felt incredibly sorry for him, especially his nonchalant expression at the time. She couldn't quite describe her feelings, only that her chest felt tight.
When she got home that evening, she kept talking to Ms. Li Shuli, saying that her good friend lived such a miserable life every day, yet she could still focus wholeheartedly on her studies and manage her studies, interests, and life in an orderly manner. Compared to her friend, she really should learn from her. Although Ms. Li Shuli said no, since she didn't have his money, she shouldn't try to endure his hardships.
That's what she said, but Li Yingqiao still felt sorry for him and worried for a whole week, afraid that he would be kidnapped by bad guys and her Conan would be lost. At least her heart was in her throat for a week, and yet when he returned to Teacher Liang Mei's house, he put on such a miserable act for her—
Li Yingqiao slapped him on the back of the head, "You're only worth ten yuan, and this is how you treat someone who's worth ten thousand yuan? How dare you?"
"..."
If this is the logic behind net worth—
The two people opposite him, each with a thousand yuan, were also having a buzzing in their heads.
Liang Mei brought out a pot of burnt porridge from the kitchen, intending to throw it away, when she saw her ten thousand yuan lecturing her ten yuan for not knowing her place. She immediately pulled out her trump card, "Here, drink the porridge."
Sure enough, everyone simultaneously covered their noses and jumped off the table, scattering like a flock of startled sparrows on a telephone pole.
She slammed the pot back into the sink, which was piled high with pots and pans. "So can't you just focus on your test? Li Yingqiao, if you touch him again, I'll deduct 100 yuan from your score for every time I slap him on the back of the head."
Li Yingqiao became obedient, taking out test papers from her schoolbag while reaching over to the next room to pat Yu Jinyang's fluffy head. "Is this okay?"
Yu Jinyang wouldn't let her touch him at all. He reflexively shook his head as if he'd been electrocuted, making his head even fluffier. Then, he shook off her restless hand, scanned the test paper without blinking, and said, "No way, you might as well punch me."
"See, you deserved it." Li Yingqiao laughed. "Won't there come a day when you miss the times I beat you up?"
“The dog will miss that day.” He said without looking up.
Zheng Miaojia suddenly looked up and said on a whim, "Hey, Qiaoqiao, how about the four of us make a pact?"
Li Yingqiao: "What agreement?"
Gao Dian, the king of supporters, didn't mention any agreements, but nodded vigorously: "Okay, okay."
Li Yingqiao glanced at him sideways: "Gao Dian, I think you're the kind of person who would sign a blank sheet of paper."
“Then teach him a lesson and make him split all his savings equally between you two when he turns thirty.”
“…Right, you’ve already agreed! You can’t go back on your word,” Zheng Miaojia said.
However, the sentence above was actually spoken by Yu Jinyang. Gao Dian's eyes widened as if he had seen a ghost. He simply couldn't believe that Yu Miaomiao, who usually seemed harmless and had the best temper, was actually a black-hearted person.
"My goodness, do you want to hear what you're saying?" Gao Dian reached across the table and grabbed Yu Jinyang's neck, shaking the table so hard that the corner creaked and groaned. "Yu Jinyang, you're a beast in human clothing! I can see the pure black capitalist heart in yours. If you're so capable, why don't you give them all your assets when you're thirty? By the time you're thirty, your father will definitely be retired, and you, the heir to the Fengtan Wood Toys business, will inherit the family fortune. And you're still eyeing my pittance."
Both Li Yingqiao and Zheng Miaojia were seeing Gao Dian get angry for the first time.
"We don't want your money, we don't want your money," the two quickly said.
Gao Dian looked at the instigator: "...Yu Jinyang!"
Yu Jinyang finally chuckled helplessly, buried in the exam paper: "What? Do you think I'd take your money?"
"Zheng Miaojia, you speak!" Gao Dian changed the subject.
Zheng Miaojia: "It's nothing, we just agreed that you would give us the money and the house when you turn thirty."
"Ah ...
The others burst out laughing.
"So, Miaojia, what exactly did we agree on?" Li Yingqiao finally asked.
“I saw a date marked on Teacher Liang’s spare textbook the other day, it must be her birthday,” Zheng Miaojia said mysteriously. “When we turn thirty, no matter what jobs we do, no matter where we are, no matter if we are married or not, if we have spouses, we’ll bring them along. On Teacher Liang’s birthday that year, we’ll come back here to celebrate her birthday, no matter where we are in the world, no matter if we have to go through fire or water. How about that?”
[Author's Note]
Two updates combined today! It's the last day of the May Day holiday, and there are 200 red envelopes to be won!
Happy reading!
See you the day after tomorrow!
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