CH 8

He Songnan didn’t know what provoked Shen Juan, rubbing his aching butt as he returned to his classroom.

Eighth High allowed its students to live on campus, however, it didn’t enforce this as a requirement. Those who lived closer to school were allowed to live at home.

The subsidiary school Lin Yujing previously attended didn’t provide school boarding so she had no idea such services existed. When she heard Li Lin introduce the location of the school dormitory, she decided to live on campus without a single hesitation.

But due to the fact that she had arrived late and the students had already submitted their application previously, there wasn’t any space available for a paratrooper1 like her.

Moreover, she needed to obtain her guardian’s written consent.

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Lin Yujing herself didn’t know whether she could be considered to have a guardian. However, the attractiveness of only having to return home once a week was far too great. As such, that very night, Lin Yujing gave Meng Weiguo a call.

Mei Wengguo showed her unprecedented patience, even asking about how her new school environment was like, whether she was getting along with her classmates and if the teachers were good.

Lin Yujing wasn’t planning on telling him about the matter of wanting to live on campus but after having second thoughts, she felt that Meng Weiguo’s simple questions were very difficult to answer.

Eyp Nkw Wwfkydt tsse yp y vlynbla? Tl nlavykdzu oyp. Ysalshla, bl zssjle hlau alprsdpkczl. Rv oyp fwpv vbyv bl eked’v zssj hlau olzz vaykdle. Xd vsr sq vbyv, clnywpl sq bkp sze ytl, bl pvkzz clzklhle kd vbl vblsau vbyv zshl nyd pyhl vbl osaze.

Tla nzyppxyvlp olal iwkvl lypu vs tlv yzsdt okvb vss yde bla elpj xyvl oyp y bydepsxl zye obs bye dlyazu clyv wr bkp ralhkswp elpj xyvl vs elyvb.

Nkd Zwfkdt elnkele vs cl y ckv xsal vynvqwz yde pyke, “Rv’p qkdl. Mbl pnbssz’p ckt yde vbl pvweldvp yde vlynblap yal…dknl.”

Yldt Elktws oyp nzlyazu kd y tsse xsse. “Xaktkdyzzu, uswa Gwdv Qwyd oydvle vs plde usw vs Wkapv Tktb cwv R eked’v zlv bla. Mbkp pnbssz kpd’v kdqlaksa vs Wkapv Tktb yde uswa casvbla tayewyvle ralhkswpzu qasx vblal.

Nkd Zwfkdt oyp pkzldv qsa y obkzl clqsal pbl alyzkgle vbyv vbl ‘ casvbla’ bl oyp alqlaakdt vs oyp Ww Ykdtmkw.

Fbl pvkqqldle qsa y xsxldv yde okvbswv tkhkdt y alvsav, pbl nwv pvayktbv vs vbl nbypl. “Pye, R oydv vs zkhl sd nyxrwp.”

Yldt Elktws vwadle pkzldv. “Ebyv?”

“Oktbvb Tktb yzzsop pvweldvp vs zkhl sd-nyxrwp. G zsv sq vbl pvweldvp kd xu nzypp zkhl sd nyxrwp ps R oydv vs es vbl pyxl vss,” Nkd Zwfkdt pyke yzz vss iwknjzu, “R’hl dlhla zkhle sd nyxrwp clqsal ps R oydv vs tkhl kv y vau.”

“No,” Meng Weiguo refused decisively, “You haven’t tried a lot of things, are you gonna give them all a try?”

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Lin Yujing resplied slowly, “I get stuck in traffic early in the morning and it takes up a lot of time–”

“Your brother lived at home back then. If he can do it, why can’t you?” Before she could even finish her words, Meng Weiguo impatiently interrupted her, any good feelings he had completely gone, “You don’t like being at home?”

Lin Yujing felt that the development of the man’s brain must’ve been impeded. She didn’t know how ‘wanting to live on campus’ turned into ‘not liking being at home’.

She started to get a bit annoyed. “I didn’t say I didn’t like being at home.”

“Does your Aunt Guan not treat you well enough? She’s been very considerate to you so far. When has your mom shown that concern for you? Now you want to live on campus and spread your wings, what will your Aunt Guan think if I tell her this?”

Meng Weiguo’s voice turned into static noise, like the sound of an airplane taking off, the motors buzzing loudly. It drifted into the ears without end and was locked in the head, unable to come out. It mixed together with the juices of the brain, making the organ swell.

“Are all country boys who married into women’s families so sensitive like you?” Lin Yujing asked calmly.

The air stilled as though someone had sprinkled coagulant. Meng Weiguo paused as if he couldn’t believe his ears and was quiet for 5 seconds before finally finding his voice with difficulty, “What did you say?”

Lin Yujing hung up the call.

After she hung up the call, she turned her phone off all in one swift motion. She stared at the phone on her bed for a while before suddenly rolling off and running to the corner of the room to take out a leather suitcase. She took out her sim card from the back of her phone and considered it a done deal.

The room’s sound-proofing was good. Upon shutting the door, not a single sound could escape. Lin Yujing sat on the bed and blankly surveyed her surroundings. This was the first time she had carefully looked at her room in the week that she had arrived. She even remembered that on the first day she came, Guan Xiangmei had brought her to her room, saying ‘Let’s show the little princess her room.”

European style decorations and furniture, a small inner room which led to a small sitting room. Beyond the muslin curtain was the bedroom, which was large and empty just like a display room.

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Lin Yujing couldn’t help but sneer a little.

Sometimes, she couldn’t understand Meng Weiguo’s thoughts.

She merely wanted to live on campus. Such a simple request made her look ignorant in Meng Weiguo’s point of view. She was expected to feel deeply grateful, happily accept her new surroundings as well as express affection for her new family. Not at all allowed to have a single thought of being far from home.

–

The next day, Lin Yujing got up early in the morning. When she arrived downstairs, Aunt Zhang was still preparing breakfast. At the sight of her, she lifted her head, flabbergasted. “Miss Lin? Breakfast is still…”

Lin Yujing greeted her good morning and waved her hand. “No problem. You don’t need to hurry. I’m going to eat at the school canteen.”

After avoiding the morning rush, the roads weren’t as congested as they were before. On Lin Yujing’s arrival at the classroom, there weren’t a lot of people. Several students entered with breakfast in hand.

The students in the classroom were one and the same. Everyone was in their seats writing at tremendous speeds, bread in their mouth.

Lin Yujing was startled by such an intense studying atmosphere and started to believe in the 98% exam success rate Liu Fujiang had been boasting about.

She sat down and turned to see Li Lin writing furiously. After sweeping a curious look, she realized that he was doing biology. “We had homework for biology yesterday?”

On the first day of school, Liu Fujiang was the only teacher who didn’t give them any assignment. Li Lin had hugged his desk mate, feeling extremely moved.

However, the next sentence that was uttered made his smile falter. “However, your summer homework has to be submitted tomorrow. Will the representatives of each subject please collect it tomorrow.”

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As expected, Li Lin didn’t raise his head. “No, it’s summer homework.”

It then finally dawned on Lin Yujing that the intense studying atmosphere in the classroom was due to the fact that everyone was rushing to finish their homework.

Even though the second years had been redivided, their teachers different, winter and summer homework remained the same. The same homework was printed for the assigned grade. Each subject had 30 sets of papers and they were required to do one paper a day, leaving no day for rest.

“Study 6 hours a day and live happily and healthily until 50 years old, living a blessed life forever.” Li Lin scribbled rapidly with bread in his mouth, mumbling nonsensical words.

The set of papers he had on his table had spread across his desk mate’s space. Lin Yujing casually swept them a look and saw that it was no different from exam papers. The first part was multiple choice questions and fill in the blanks. The latter was long questions. For English and Chinese, there was even an essay. The questions weren’t difficult, mostly pertaining to basic knowledge.

However, adding literature, math and sciences together, there were a total of 100 sets of papers, making up a thick stack. Even if you were copying answers off someone, it’d take all night and your hand would cramp up from copying.

Lin Yunjing felt that Shen Juan was most likely lying through his teeth.

Moreover, he had been  suspended from school for a year. What homework was there to do?

Lin Yujing turned around and saw the school timetable. First class was English. She took out her English book, yawned and flipped through the contents.

After browsing it for two minutes, Lin Yujing paused, recalling Lu Fujiang’s words from yesterday. To live in the dorms, one had to obtain the written receipt and signature of their guardian.

She randomly took out a notebook and tore off a piece of paper, using it to scribble Meng Weiguo’s name.

Lin Yujing’s writing was big and floaty, not resembling the writing of a young girl. When she saw a female classmate’s writing before, all neat and graceful, she tried to imitate it but to no success.

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In the end, she gave up. If it was too floaty, then it was floaty. At the very least, it wasn’t ugly.

Yesterday, she wrote her own name on the blackboard when she introduced herself, and was even complimented by Liu Fujiang for having nice and impressive handwriting.

This was where the problem was.

Liu Fujiang looked at her writing, she certainly couldn’t do a second style of handwriting.

Lin Yujing held her pen and changed her style of writing as she wrote Meng Weiguo’s name stiffly. It looked like a kid’s doodling; it was very ugly.

She sighed and rested her head on her hand as she continued to scribble.

After about 10 minutes had elapsed, a knock came from the corner of her desk.

Lin Yujing turned her head subconsciously and saw a jointed hand.

For some reason, she suddenly recalled a post she had seen on Weibo long ago. It read ‘Which part of a guy is the sexiest?’

There were a lot of weird answers but the highest voted one was the hands as well as the collarbone.

She raised her head and saw Shen Juan standing beside her in the aisle. He was looking  down at her, drinking a carton of soymilk.

Lin Yujing’s gaze swept through his collarbone area surreptitiously and saw a white collar.

The youth had worn his school jacket neatly, the zipper pulled up to his chest. The clothing was washed clean, the slight scent of detergent tickling the tip of her nose.

It was different from the gaudy-looking, disorderly way Lin Yujing had seen big shots at school wear their uniforms.

Plus, his eyelids weren’t drooping.

His eyes didn’t look sleepy too.

Looks like boss had a good sleep yesterday.

Lin Yujing put down her pen and stood up, allowing Shen Juan to go in and take his seat.

He was carrying his schoolbag today, though it looked very light as though it had nothing inside. Shen Juan put his books into the drawer of his desk and swept a look at the class timetable for today written on the blackboard. He took out his English book and turned to the first page while biting on the straw of his soy milk carton. His other hand reached inside his schoolbag in the drawer of his desk and started to fumble around.

After fumbling around for what seemed like a century, just when Lin Yujing thought he was doing something odd, this guy finally painstakingly and slowly took out a pen, writing his name on the first page of the English book.

His handwriting was also quite pleasant to look at. It was different from the cockroach-like ugly handwriting she expected an illiterate delinquent would have.

This person sure had an immeasurable number of surprises to him.

Looking at this beautiful handwriting, then looking at her indecipherable handwriting, Lin Yujing’s fingers rapped on the table. After pondering for a few seconds, she shifted closer to him. “Hey, Classmate Shen.”

Shen Juan didn’t lift his head, sucking on his soy milk while earnestly looking at an English book all the while twirling a pen in his hand.

She couldn’t believe he was flipping through an English book. Could he  even understand it?

Lin Yujing called him out once again in a soft voice, “Shen Juan?”

Shen Juan didn’t appear to have heard her.

Lin Yujing grew a bit impatient but since she was the one who had a favor to request, she had to lower her head. Pressing down her anger, she leaned forward towards him and blinked her eyes, staring at him, “Desk mate?”

With a clattering sound, the pen in Shen Juan’s hand fell onto the table.

He paused for a moment and turned his head expressionlessly, “Out with it.”

Lin Yujing decided to be discreet. Towards this big boss, she couldn’t be too straightforward. She pointed at his English book. “If you have anything you don’t understand, you can ask me.”

“Thank you,” Shen Juan turned silent, feeling as if he had to clear his name, “My English’s all right.”

Lin Yujing looked at him with an expression that said “Can you just f*cking stop talking nonsense?”, and blurted without thinking twice, “Is the first lesson you learn before you enter society how to bluff?”

—

The author has something to say:

Shen Juan: Out with it. Don’t act coquettish. You’re making this daddy’s hands curl. My pen’s about to drop.