Chapter 10
Editor: Princess
Yu Pei had just settled into bed, ready to sleep after his shower, when he suddenly remembered that he hadn’t sent out his daily group message. Even though no one ever replied, he’d noticed that his classmates had been treating him a bit better recently, and that his posts on QQ were getting more likes too. Maybe everyone was just too lazy to reply to his texts, so he figured he’d just keep sending his nightly messages. It didn’t cost him much, anyway.
He was genuinely happy today though because he felt like he and Luo Changzhou had really become good friends, so this time he sent out: [Today was a great day, goodnight ;D.]
After hitting send, he put his phone down and went to sleep.
Even though he’d stayed up a little later than usual, he woke up the next morning feeling unusually refreshed. Happiness really did give one energy, because he felt so light on his feet that he almost floated to school.
When he got there, Luo Changzhou hadn’t arrived yet, but his classmates greeted him with friendly smiles as he walked through the halls. Yu Pei smiled back at each one of them, but when Tan Qiming said hello, his response was noticeably cooler than before. The change was so obvious that Tan Qiming noticed right away, looking a bit puzzled and amused as he asked, “Did I do something to offend you, little fatt……”
He subconsciously called Yu Pei by his old nickname, “Little Fatty”, but then stopped halfway, suddenly realizing that Yu Pei wasn’t the white chubby kid he used to be.
However he was a bit too late—the words had already come out. Then he saw Yu Pei’s beautiful eyes widen angrily as he glared at him.
Tan Qiming let out an awkward chuckle, wanting to say something to smooth things over, however just before he could figure out what to say, he saw the teenager suddenly turn his head toward the back door of the classroom with an excited gleam in his eyes—Luo Changzhou had arrived.
It was just a few steps from the door to Luo Changzhou’s seat, however in just that short distance, at least four to five girls had greeted him, telling him good morning.
Luo Changzhou, however, kept his expression cold, giving each one a brief “Mm” without saying a word more, not even sparing a single extra syllable.
However when Yu Pei smiled and said a soft, “Good morning”, his expression softened into a warm smile, and he returned the greeting without hesitation, “Good morning.”
Yu Pei’s gaze had been glued to Luo Changzhou from the moment he walked in, watching his every move and his every change in expression, so this close attention caused him to notice that Luo Changzhou treated him differently from the others.
He thought to himself, Luo Changzhou must already consider him a close friend if he was greeting only him like this.
And so filled with happiness, he was just about to strike up a conversation when the bell rang. He didn’t dare distract Luo Changzhou from his studies, so he held back and propped his textbook up with an appearance that said, “I’m also listening to class seriously’.
The first two periods of the morning were English classes. Since students tended to get sleepy early in the day, the school scheduled subjects like Chinese and English for these periods, instead of subjects like Physics or Chemistry, where missing even one class could leave students totally lost.
For the past few days, Yu Pei had either been dozing off or zoning out, never really paying attention to the teacher. He had despised his previous English teacher so much that he would usually just put his head down to sleep or start doodling during this period, unwilling to even glance at the podium. However today, determined not to leave a bad impression in Luo Changzhou’s eyes, he lifted his head and looked toward the podium even though he disliked English, only to realize that they had a new English teacher.
This new English teacher wasn’t the same as the previous English teacher. The new teacher was about the same age as the last one, a woman in her twenties, but she was smaller and had a cuter face. She wasn’t as strikingly beautiful as the previous teacher, but she had a lively, energetic vibe.
Yu Pei stared at her, dazed, and just happened to meet her gaze. She raised her eyebrows slightly in response, then smiled at him, saying, “Hello, I haven’t seen you before, have I? Why don’t you stand up and read the text for everyone?”
“…..Me?” Yu Pei pointed to himself, a bit in disbelief. This teacher had clearly started while he was on leave last semester, so she wouldn’t know him or Luo Changzhou. But the result? She was picking him instead of Luo Changzhou, who, in Yu Pei’s mind, was definitely more noticeable than he was.
But the teacher nodded, confirming her choice, and left with no other option, he could only pick his textbook up and stand up.
Yu Pei’s English was actually quite good, however because of the previous English teacher, he had refused to take his exams seriously. He would deliberately score as low as possible, just to go against her. But now, they had a new English teacher.
And looking at the encouraging smile in her eyes, Yu Pei suddenly didn’t feel the need to keep resisting English. After all, she wasn’t that old teacher. So, he paused for a few seconds, then read the entire passage in fluent American English.
Tian Mi looked at him with a hint of surprise in her eyes.
It was true that she had only started teaching the science-focused third-year students last semester, however she had already heard about Yu Pei. He was something of a legend among the English teachers at their school.
Yu Pei’s legendary status stemmed from the fact that he consistently ranked dead last in the grade for English.
Yet, his English wasn’t actually that poor—every time he took a test, he would first write down all the correct answers, then cross them out and fill in wrong ones at random. And for multiple-choice questions, he’d mark the right answers, then erase them, submitting a blank test in the end, making it clear he wasn’t interested in making a serious attempt.
Some teachers had even studied his test papers and realized that while he might not score top marks, he could definitely score above the grade average if he wanted to. However he was determined to come in dead last.
And the reason for this was actually not hard to guess. It probably had something to do with the old English teacher for the science-focused third-years, Yin Yao, however none of them knew the exact whole story.
However after Yu Pei took a leave of absence, Yin Yao was reassigned to teach first-years, while Tian Mi took over her position for the science-focused third-years.
During the first few days of class, she had actually noticed Yu Pei right away, however he’d been sleeping through all the English classes and hadn’t once looked at the podium. At first, she’d considered waking him up, but then decided against it, allowing him to sleep for a few days. Today was the first time she’d finally seen him stay awake, so she seized the opportunity to have him read aloud.
She hadn’t actually taught this particular text yet— she’d only assigned it to them for preview on their own, so it was probably a bit challenging for them to read without guidance, however Tian Mi hadn’t asked Yu Pei to read in order to give him a hard time. She just wanted to see how resistant he actually was to English. Whether he read it or not, she wouldn’t scold him.
So when he started reading, she had even prepared to help him with a few difficult words. She hadn’t expected him to read through the entire passage with such smooth fluency.
She froze for a second, then began clapping immediately, praising him, “Yu Pei’s reading was fantastic! I haven’t even taught this passage yet, but you read it so well!”
The students in the class were quiet for a moment, then quickly started clapping along with her, including Luo Changzhou, who was sitting right next to Yu Pei.
And as Yu Pei listened to the class’s warm applause, he felt his cheeks warm up and his ears turn red. He lowered his head, avoiding Tian Mi’s smile. This was the first time he had ever been praised like this by a teacher, because up until now, the only label he had ever had attached to him was “weak student”.
“All right, sit down, Yu Pei.” Tian Mi said with a smile, waving her hand to signal him back to his seat. “As a reward, Yu Pei, you’re excused from today’s copying assignment. Any student who can read the full passage fluently in class from now on can skip the copying homework as well.”
The classroom erupted in chatter as soon as she announced that there was a chance to avoid homework.
When Yu Pei sat down, he still felt a bit like his feet weren’t touching the ground. His heart pounded quickly, and his cheeks burned, however his hands felt icy and slightly sweaty—an instinctive reaction when one became nervous.
It was only after he took a few calming breaths that he lifted a hand to cool his face, hoping to ease the heat in his cheeks.
“Nicely read.” Just as he was still floating in his dazed state, he suddenly heard Luo Changzhou’s voice in his ear.
“Huh?”
Yu Pei thought he’d imagined it, mumbling a response in surprise, because when he turned to look, Luo Changzhou was sitting perfectly still, his eyes lowered, looking like he was fully focused on his textbook, the picture of a good student paying close attention.
“I said.” However to his astonishment, Luo Changzhou, who seemed glued to the blackboard or his books whenever in class, actually turned to look at him directly, his deep blue eyes like the ocean itself as he said each word slowly and clearly, “You did a really good job.”
Yu Pei stared back into his eyes, his expression going even blank with surprise, and the corners of Luo Changzhou’s lips, after he saw the look on his face, curved upwards slightly before he turned back, his eyes dropping back to his book as he resumed his notes, leaving Yu Pei stunned, still mulling over those words of praise long after they’d been said, with him only coming back to his senses after a long while.
*
Tian Mi assigned the copying and memorization homework in the last two minutes of class, specifying as she did so that those who read fluently in class could skip the copying, though they’d still need to memorize the passage.
They had a long break after the first two periods, meant for breakfast, so when the bell rang, most of the students went off in groups to the cafeteria. Some stayed behind and pulled out their notebooks to work on the assignments that Tian Mi had given them, and Luo Changzhou was no exception.
Yu Pei had breakfast at home each day, however he would sometimes get a little hungry around this time, which was why he even brought the candy that Gu Zheng mailed him with him every day, hoping to share it with Luo Changzhou, however the opportunity had never come up until now.
Yet even though Luo Changzhou was here, he was busy working on his assignment.
Yu Pei glanced over at him out of the corner of his eye, and only saw the steady movement of his hand as he wrote. He clenched and unclenched his fist, not daring to interrupt him even after the candy in his hand had warmed up.
He waited a long time, then finally found his chance—it was just as Luo Changzhou paused to take a drink of water.
The moment Luo Changzhou set down his pen and reached for his water, he seized the opportunity and turned toward him, holding the candy, which had warmed from the heat of his hand out. Opening his palm, he said, “Changzhou, this candy….. it’s for you!”
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