CH 2

“What, you’ve got the guts to go out and beg for food?” Xu Xuelin stepped forward in order to twist her son’s ear, “Do you want me to give you a broken bowl? You stinky——”

“Sisi?”

Zhou Sisi stood up straight and greeted her, “Hello, Auntie.”

“Morning, have you had breakfast?” Xu Xuelin reached out for her son’s hand and turned around, pulling his ears together.

Zhou Sisi answered vaguely.

Lu Xi touched his ears that had temporarily escaped from being punished and lazily went back to the table to eat noodles.

“Did you forget to bring your key?” Xu Xuelin immediately thought that since Chen Cui must have gone to work at this point there might be no one at her home. “Come and sit in aunt’s house for a while? I’ll go back to the room and find your house key?”

Zhou Sisi smiled gently, “Thank you, Auntie.”

“Sit down and have some noodles?” Xu Xuelin greeted and said, “There are dumplings too.”

“No need…”

“I cooked too much, Lu Xi and I can’t finish it all.”

She was really hungry, so she nodded in embarrassment, “Thank you, Auntie.”

“You’re so polite, kid.”

Xu Xuelin added a pair of tableware. “What would you like to eat, taste auntie’s cooking and check if it tastes good or not, huh?”

“Worse.” The answer quickly came from Lu Xi.

Due to the presence of guests, his mother didn’t dare to do anything.

“Hey, you punk.” Xu Xuelin frowned. “Hurry up, finish your meal, and leave for make-up lessons.”

Lu Xi turned his face and snorted. “That’s a lie, what lesson should I make-up for?”

“What is there to lie about? Do you know everything in this world?” Xu Xuelin almost rolled up her sleeves. This little punk even pulled this kind of excuse in order to avoid the make-up classes.

Lu Xi wiped his mouth with a tissue, “You know it’s impossible to think about it. How can I complete English vocabulary and reading within seven days, and what is this Electron shorthand?”

“Electron what?” This class was selected by Lu Xi’s Grandma and Xu Xuelin didn’t get the time to understand what it was.

“What’s this Electron shorthand?” Lu Xi pouted, who still remembered its name, anyway, it looked more like an IQ tax.

“Shorthand notation for Electron Configuration.”

The voice was soft as mist and rain descending south of the Yangtze River.

Lu Xi looked at Zhou Sisi who sat diagonally opposite, “Yes, that’s what it’s called.”

“Sisi also knows?” Xu Xuelin’s thought of teaching her miserable son had mostly gone.

Zhou Sisi temporarily put down her chopsticks, “I have heard of it.”

She remembered that the so-called ‘Shorthand notation for Electron Configuration’ had been proposed by an educational institution during her second and third year of high school. She was very popular in it, and many parents lined up to sign their children up for it. Later this class was identified as a scam by related experts.

“Electron Configuration is a term in chemistry, and it shouldn’t have much to do with memory.” Zhou Sisi said euphemistically.

“Did you hear that?” Lu Xi sat upright, “That organization is nonsense.”

Xu Xuelin opened her cell phone, “Don’t make any noise, I will check the official website of Hui Quan Tong.”1

On the blue and white webpage, the big “Shorthand notation for Electron Configuration” seven characters kept flickering. Xu Xuelin, who had received higher education, directly crossed it in disgust.

“Do you believe it now?” Lu Xi looked at Xu Xuelin’s face. “I’ll go back to my room and sleep.”

“What sleep? Do your homework or better read a book!”

“I’ll immediately get rid of this shorthand class and find a cram class for you. Last time Yang Zhang’s mother said that it was a good class.”

His eyebrows dropped, “Mom, there is no need…”

“No need? You don’t want to go to high school?”

“No, I’m not going to miss high school….”

“You need to study in order to enter a good high school or do you want to go to a rotten one?” Xu Xuelin started blasting him, “Can’t you be a little ambitious? Look at Yang Zhang, look at Sisi, hmm? Can’t you also try to aim for the No 3 middle school?”

Zhou Sisi blinked her apricot-shaped eyes. How was it related to her…?

“Yes,” Lu Xi leaned lazily on the door frame, “I’m trying hard but I can’t be sure if I will get into the No 3 middle school.”

“What kind of effort have you made? Make-up lessons for English, Physics, Chemistry, you must make up for those lost lessons!”

“That’s a lot to make up for.” Lu Xi scratched his hair depressedly, “Two courses are enough, find me someone close to home.”

Xu Xuelin sneered, “What are you bargaining about, do you think you have a choice? It’s not easy to find a place for make-up classes now.”

“Auntie…”

“Huh? Oh, I showed you a joke. Sisi eat more noodles.”

“Auntie,” she plucked up the courage, “How about I help Lu Xi with his make-up lessons?”

Xu Xuelin was surprised at first, then hesitated, “This…”

Sisi was two years older than him, and her grades were excellent. It might be no problem to supplement him with the junior high school knowledge. But–

“Auntie is afraid of wasting your time.”

Zhou Sisi’s voice sank slightly into her mouth, showing how she was well-behaved and quiet, “It’s all right, it won’t take too long.”

“If you have time on the weekend, would you help Lu Xi make up for an hour of English?”

“If I don’t take a monthly vacation, I’ll be fine every Saturday afternoon and Sunday. If I take vacation, then next Saturday morning.” Zhou Sisi paused for a while and organized her speech, “If the aunt believes me, I can teach Lu Xi English, Physics, and Chemistry.”

“No, no, it’s too troublesome for you. You can make up with English. Lu Xi—thank sister Sisi quickly?”

“…” In just a few minutes, everything was arranged clearly. “Thank you, Sister Sisi.”

Zhou Sisi whispered, “No need for the thanks.”

“I’m going to find the key, Sisi eat slowly.”

Xu Xuelin was the landlord of 303 where Zhou Sisi and Chen Cui lived. The door lock had never changed, so she had the spare key to open it.

After breakfast, Zhou Sisi consciously cleaned up the dining table, and intended to wash the dishes, but Xu Xuelin stopped her.

She couldn’t help it, however, seeing it was still early, “I’ll go see Lu Xi.”

“Go.” Xu Xuelin said, “It’s time for auntie to go to work.”

“If he isn’t serious, you just take his phone away.”

Zhou Sisi smiled.

Lu Xi’s room door was wide open.

He sat crookedly at the desk, his left leg propped up against the edge of the table, his hand holding his phone.

She knocked on the door twice and stood still.

He didn’t respond and kept playing the game very seriously.

“I’m coming in.”

She moved a chair to the desk, “Stop playing.”

“Hmm.” Lu Xi put down the phone and stretched.

She glanced around the desk, “Where’s your English textbook?”

The late March sunshine shone through the window, dyeing her contours, caressing her moist eyes and pink lips.

He lifted his chin lazily, “In the bag.”

“Take it out.” Zhou Sisi’s voice was always soft and gentle.

He didn’t move, “Take what you want.”

She squinted her eyes, her gaze fell on his face.

What appeared to her as she was in a trance, was the unforgettable memory that was deeply engraved in her heart.

After she passed away, her spirit wandered around and she saw Lu Xi who was far away in another city hurriedly rushing to her.

He hugged her body tightly with tears, and his broken voice screamed hoarsely to keep others away.

She held back her tears, as she reminisced about the past.

After she carried a huge debt in her past life, he was the only “good-hearted person” who paid back a lot of money for her anonymously.

In her dark and cold world, there was someone who silently provided her with warmth.

~Why was he so good to me?

“Hey?”

Lu Xi couldn’t support his legs. “What are you doing?”

~Why are you staring at me?

Although he often received the attention of girls, he never encountered such a direct one. And her eyes seemed a little red.

She pursed her lips, unable to say anything about her last life and unable to tell how grateful she was.

“…” Lu Xi pulled out the English textbook from his bag and placed it on the table.

“Here.” He said, a little uncomfortably though.

She picked up the textbook and glanced over it from the beginning.

There was a name on the title page, occasionally one or two lines of notes, and a lot of abstract graffiti.

The characters were strong and upright, much better than hers.

“Which part do you think you’re weak at?” She had to understand his situation first.

Lu Xi leaned back in the chair, “I don’t know.”

“Well, how many marks do you usually score in English?”

“Seventy to eighty.”

The English test in Huali City High School had a total score of 120, and 70 to 80 was near the pass line.

“How many points did you get on the language knowledge section?”

“I haven’t studied it.”

Zhou Sisi’s tone remained unchanged. “Can you show me your English test paper?”

“There’s a copy in the bag.” Lu Xi still felt unhappy. He regretted wasting his weekend for make-up classes.

He really didn’t understand why this young lady from the neighborhood volunteered to conduct make-up lessons for him.

She was kind and good-looking. How could she fool people like that?

——Lu Xi, who was poor in vocabulary, could only use “kind” to describe the feeling of Zhou Sisi’s appearance for the make-up classes.

In the backpack, she found the crumpled English test paper, then smoothed it, and went through it.

The points deducted were all mostly in vocabulary, while his grammatical foundation seemed to be good.

Of course, the sample size was too small, and the results were not entirely accurate.

“Are there any other English papers left?” One of the characteristics of Zhou Sisi’s work was meticulousness. “Mock exams, midterms, and monthly exams are fine too.”

He was impatient, “On the shelf.”

From head to toe, the six words “This young master won’t look for it” were written on his face.

The log bookshelf occupied half of the wall, and there was a lot of space for book storage. It could be seen that Lu’s parents expected him to study hard.

The owner of the bookshelf obviously didn’t appreciate it. The middle shelf was filled with airplane models, game peripherals, and sports accessories. Books were truly “shelved”.

Zhou Sisi looked up and searched. The English textbooks were on the third level from the top, and there was a stack of papers in the same frame. She tried to reach it, but it was a little too far away, even when she tiptoed.

This dwarf…

He was worried that she would bump into his model and other babies and while frowning with a “tsk”, he strode over to help her get it.

Zhou Sisi, whose back was facing the desk without knowing it, put her little sore hand down and turned to look for a stool to step on.

“Damn…”

He abruptly withdrew his hand halfway up and moved to the side.

Just now… his hand accidentally touched her…

The touch felt a bit…

Strictly speaking, Lu Xi was an innocent young boy so his whole face flushed.