“Eating fruit to get vitamins is good, but please eat it after class,” the Chinese teacher said gently.
He Xunyan was completely stunned upon hearing this. She scratched her head and whispered, “Teacher, how did you know?”
The Chinese teacher smiled faintly, turned around, and walked away.
“Oh ho, looks like it failed.” Qin Qianyi shook her head while patting He Xunyan on the shoulder.
It seems the teacher and I share the exact same brain wave.
Dear He Xunyan, if you ever get lost one day, as your dear desk mate and dear neighbor in the next row, I will save you!
He Xunyan didn’t seem to be thinking that much about it. She rubbed her chin and said, “As expected, theory still needs to be combined with practice. I’ve learned my lesson, truly learned my lesson.”
How awkward, He Xunyan. Doing inexplicable things for no reason during a Chinese independent study class, and then saying inexplicable things. It’s getting more and more awkward.
No, no, run away quickly, run away quickly.
“Alright, I’m going to the restroom,” He Xunyan said, turning her head to look at Qin Qianyi with an expectant gaze. “Don’t you have anything to say to me?”
Right, right, right, deflect the awkwardness.
Qin Qianyi recalled what He Xunyan had told her yesterday. Although she wasn’t entirely clear on what she meant, she passed the words right back to her verbatim.
“Classmate He Xunyan, I hope everything goes smoothly with your trip to the restroom. As the ancient saying goes, haste makes waste. You must keep this firmly in mind and absolutely must not be overly impatient.” Qin Qianyi stood up, cupped her fists, and said to He Xunyan with a serious expression.
“Thank you so much, Classmate Qin Qianyi. Hearing a word from you is truly like hearing a word. Farewell.” After cupping her fists in return, He Xunyan turned and strode away dashingly.
It’s finally over.
Dashing times should be lived dashingly, and dashing new high school freshmen were about to welcome the first truly large-scale exam of the semester: the monthly exam.
As soon as Qin Qianyi entered the classroom, she saw He Xunyan sitting at her desk looking downcast.
“What’s wrong? The exam is coming up soon, are you nervous?” Qin Qianyi leaned closer to He Xunyan, intending to reach out and pat her head.
Just as Qin Qianyi prepared to pull out that set of cliché, long-winded principles, He Xunyan grabbed her outstretched hand and pulled her back to her seat.
“Not at all, not at all.” He Xunyan waved her hand, once again adopting that rather aged tone of voice. “Here is the thing. I was just reading a book. This time it’s not some romance novel.”
“I am reading Inferiority and Superiority, a psychological work that teaches us to face our inferiority head-on, find the meaning of life through cooperation and contribution, and ultimately achieve self-transcendence.”
Since she was going to buy books, it was naturally impossible for He Xunyan to buy just one.
Aside from Her Majesty the Master is Acting Suspicious, He Xunyan had spent a long time seriously searching and selecting psychology-related books online.
She finally settled on Inferiority and Superiority.
He Xunyan placed both hands on the edge of the desk, let out a sigh, and then shook her head with a very sorrowful tone:
“And guess what happened? The discipline committee member said the monthly exam is just around the corner, the principal heavily emphasized discipline issues for the new high school freshmen during the meeting, and the head teacher once again stressed the urgency of studying.”
“So, she said that as the discipline committee member, she has a responsibility to ensure students maintain a positive attitude toward studying, and thus she confiscated my book. Sob, sob, sob, sob, sob, sob!”
As she spoke, He Xunyan wiped away a nonexistent tear.
After watching He Xunyan’s brilliant performance, Qin Qianyi finally found her chance, patted her head, and used a tone as if she were coaxing a child:
“It’s fine. Being desk mates with me means you don’t need to feel inferior.”
He Xunyan slapped Qin Qianyi’s hand on her head twice. Seeing that Qin Qianyi remained unfazed, she reached out and patted Qin Qianyi’s head in return.
“But that’s not the point. The point is that she confiscated my book, yet she went back to her seat and read comic books.” He Xunyan’s cheeks puffed up as she spoke.
Too hateful, simply too hateful. This behavior must be criticized. Yes, subjected to serious criticism.
After finishing, He Xunyan turned around, sat up straight, abruptly raised her arm to gather momentum, and gave the desk a light slap with her palm while speaking in a dead-serious tone:
“The sages never die, and the grand bandits never stop!”
How refreshing, how exhilarating. What a hearty and thorough piece of criticism.
After saying this, He Xunyan gave herself a tiny mental reward in her heart.
Hearing these words, Qin Qianyi covered her mouth in an expression of shock and said in an extremely exaggerated tone, “Goodness gracious, so you want to assassinate the head teacher?!”
He Xunyan merely pursed her lips, shook her head, and waved her hand. “Not at all, not at all. I want to let the roc rise with the wind of a single day and soar up ninety thousand miles.”
Hearing He Xunyan say this, Qin Qianyi patted her shoulder with great satisfaction, nodding as she said, “That’s right. Only it is freezing at the top, so remember to wear your long johns.”
Indeed, when one’s words carry no weight yet, biding one’s time and hiding one’s capabilities is the best strategy.
It seemed He Xunyan’s brain wave hadn’t completely flown off to Earth just yet.
He Xunyan once again became absent-minded during class. While carrying out serious criticism of this behavior in her mind, she couldn’t help but stage various little theatrical plays in her head.
Should I go find the discipline committee member after class to talk about it again? But her attitude was so tough when she confiscated my book earlier, telling me to go find the head teacher if I had any objections.
How should I explain it to the head teacher?
What if the head teacher says, “With your current grades, are textbooks not enough for you to read?” How should I answer that? Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh.
An entire class period passed by so dashingly.
Seeing that He Xunyan was still troubled by what had just happened, Qin Qianyi thought about it and decided that her current emotions were more important. With an extremely reliable tone, she said:
“What do you say? Should I go get it back for you?”
“It’s fine, I’m about to figure it out. I’ll go myself in a moment.” He Xunyan pulled out a piece of paper, intending to list all possible scenarios on it to ensure nothing went wrong before setting off.
Just as He Xunyan folded the paper and prepared to leave, Jiang Yumo walked over holding four books, with the very top one being the copy of Inferiority and Superiority that had been confiscated from He Xunyan during the previous break.
“Yours.” Jiang Yumo handed the book to He Xunyan, looking at her with an expectant gaze, waiting for her reply.
He Xunyan leaped up with a sudden move, took the book with both hands, and with an exaggerated, astonished expression exclaimed, “Goodness, what is this situation? Did the discipline committee member get impeached?”
Jiang Yumo smiled and said, “Not quite. Back during the last break, she confiscated my book too, telling me to go find the head teacher if I had any objections. I figured the book I was reading shouldn’t be on the banned list, so I went straight to the head teacher just now.”
As she spoke, Jiang Yumo handed the second book to the classmate in front: “I brought your books back along the way too. Still, most of the books confiscated by the discipline committee member were correctly taken.”
He Xunyan let out a soft hum, looking at Jiang Yumo with starry eyes and a tone filled with admiration: “Your execution power is so strong! I was just about to go find the head teacher myself.”
He Xunyan’s internal theatrical play started rolling once again.
So amazing! So amazing!
When will I ever have such strong execution power, and when can I stop hesitating so much in everything I do?
When can I cut through hesitation like a swift wind, and when will I dare to treat failure as the prelude to success?
Stop waiting for everything to be ready before daring to move; youthful rashness beats passive perfection.
Goodness, I actually said something so rhyming! That must mean I’m pretty amazing too.
As He Xunyan thought about it, she once again gave herself a tiny mental reward in her heart.
Hearing He Xunyan praise her, Jiang Yumo smiled shyly, her voice sounding somewhat doting: “It seems we share quite a bond.” With that, she turned around and left.
“May I politely ask where the bond in this matter is manifested?” Qin Qianyi materialized right in front of her face in an instant, staring at He Xunyan’s characteristic mysterious smile.
“I don’t know.” He Xunyan shook her head, meeting Qin Qianyi’s pressing gaze. “Oh well, some things don’t need to be thought through so clearly. People just say things casually.”
Qin Qianyi was pushed back to her seat by He Xunyan, sat up straight, and tapped the desk with her index finger.
“Darn it, I’ve been on Earth for so many years, and I still can’t adapt to Earthling brain waves?” Qin Qianyi sighed helplessly and massaged her brow.
“Heh.” He Xunyan obligingly offered some encouragement.
At that moment, Jiang Yumo, who had just stepped onto the podium, spoke up:
“Everyone, please quiet down for a moment and listen to me. I just got some intelligence: the next-door class got criticized by their math teacher because they didn’t finish yesterday’s math homework.”
“Our class has math the class after next, and the next class happens to be a study hall. So I hope everyone can make good use of this study hall to finish the assigned homework.” After saying that, she returned to her seat.
At this time, Qin Qianyi and He Xunyan were still grabbing each other’s hair.
“Let go first.” Qin Qianyi refused to yield.
“You let go first.” He Xunyan refused to yield either.
“Hmph, a great person doesn’t remember the faults of small ones; I’ll let you off for now.” Qin Qianyi finally let go. “What are your arrangements for the next study hall?”
“Finish the physics worksheet first, there’s just a little bit left.” He Xunyan had already pulled out her physics worksheet as she spoke.
That’s right, seniority comes first. The physics worksheet was handed out earlier, making it the older one, so physics homework should naturally be written first.
He Xunyan engaged in a grueling battle with the last two physics problems during the study hall. She emerged battered and bruised, but her defeat was glorious nonetheless.
After cleaning up the battlefield, He Xunyan rubbed her sore finger joints and looked up at the time. There were surprisingly only 10 minutes left of class.
Oh no, I haven’t written my math worksheet yet. It looks like I’ll have to use that move.
“Xiao Qin-qin, did you finish your math worksheet?” He Xunyan used an exceptionally rare, sweet tone.
Qin Qianyi, you’re practically an adult too, did you understand my little thoughts?
“Heh.” Qin Qianyi provided a considerate response.
Awww, why is this person still holding a grudge?
“Hmph-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh, Xiao Qin-qin, I know you’re the best. Let me take a look, save me, save me!”
He Xunyan grabbed a corner of Qin Qianyi’s clothes and shook it, then brought her hands together in a prayer gesture.
“Since you’ve asked so sincerely, I will magnanimously let you take a look.” With that, Qin Qianyi handed the math worksheet over.
“Love you, love you.” He Xunyan blew a flying kiss.
As the end-of-class bell rang, He Xunyan also landed her final stroke.
She quickly turned around, gave Qin Qianyi’s shoulders a swift double-pat with both hands, pressed her hands against her chest, and sighed deeply toward Qin Qianyi:
“Our benefactor in the next-door class flew into a thunderous rage, classmates wailed in grief, and my life was hanging by a thread. Had our benefactor not provided charcoal in the depth of winter, I fear I would have splattered three feet of blood and my soul returned to the realm of sorrow.”
After finishing, He Xunyan blinked her cute eyes to observe Qin Qianyi’s reaction. Seeing Qin Qianyi’s rather subtle expression, she decided to up the ante.
“A great kindness goes unthanked; I have no way to repay you in this life. In days to come, I shall surely tie grass to ring stones and render service like a dog or a horse.” He Xunyan cupped her fists and spoke quite earnestly.
Hearing this, Qin Qianyi raised an eyebrow and intentionally teased, “Oh? And here I thought you were going to say: ‘This humble maiden has nothing to offer in return, so she can only offer herself in marriage.'”
Upon hearing those words, He Xunyan quickly retreated to the right and frantically waved her hands. “No way, no way. Benefactor, you misunderstand. If I were to do that, wouldn’t I be returning kindness with enmity? That is definitely not something a gentleman would do.”
After saying this, she nodded quite satisfactorily.
While Qin Qianyi was still digesting Earthling brain waves, He Xunyan had already dashed off to the restroom in a dashing manner.
And when He Xunyan came back from the restroom, from far away she saw Qin Qianyi standing at the classroom doorway holding a paper ball, aiming at the trash can directly opposite the entrance.
Aiming, three, two, one, launch!
Swoosh, thud!
Seeing the paper ball accurately hit the trash can, Qin Qianyi jumped up in excitement. “It hit! It hit!”
Hearing this, He Xunyan was amused and instantly possessed by Butcher Hu: “Damned beast! What is it that you’ve hit?!”
Qin Qianyi laughed out of exasperation, unsure whether she should scold her for teasing her or praise her for comparing herself to Fan Jin passing the imperial exams.
I might as well just beat her up; this wretch definitely did it on purpose. Immediately, she charged straight toward He Xunyan: “You wretch, see how I deal with you.”
He Xunyan turned around with a sudden move and bolted, while Qin Qianyi accelerated to give chase.
As luck would have it, when He Xunyan sprinted around the corner, she accidentally crashed straight into Jiang Yumo.