Ji XingLing, I think you are really amazing ah!
In order to express her gratitude, Hu MeiMei originally planned to invite Lin Jing to have a meal at home, but when she came knocking on the door, and only to find out that 1302 had a guest— they were a gentle-looking couple.
“They are Dr. Lin’s friends in Jincheng. They especially come to see Xiao Jing tonight.” Jiang FenFang smiled and invited, “I have cooked plenty of dishes. Does Mrs. Ji want to come to join us for a meal together? It just so happens that Mr. Liu’s son is also in the third year of high school in ShanHai. Let the children talk about their studies.”
When the two were talking, Liu Xu happened to come out of the kitchen with fruits. He was wearing a pair of silver-framed glasses. His figure was tall and thin, and his hair was light reddish-brown, which was the most popular color among the little stars nowadays. Hu MeiMei immediately got the impression. She had seen a photo on the Hall of Fame last year when the parent meeting was held. At that time, there was an excellent student’s testimonies under their pictures. Others are like “Someday, with my sail piercing the clouds; I will mount the wind, break the waves, and traverse the vast, rolling sea”1, only the red-haired boy was quirky, that he had come out with an unconventional quote as “Our school does not allow hair dyeing, it is natural”, which had attracted many parents to laugh and take pictures of it.
Hu MeiMei had no interest in “dining with stranger couples”, but once the “stranger couples” had preceded by a definite attribution, which it became “stranger couples who have cultivated outstanding student representatives.” Then let alone one meal, ten meals were also completely OK.
In 1301’s living room, Ji XingLing was lying on the couch while playing games, with one of his feet stepped on the armrest and the backrest with the other leg, which vividly interpreted to what is meant by “just sprawled about and loafed about.” In fact, the Young Master had just scored a glorious four hundred points in the test. Well, by rights, it seems as though he ought to play with his smartphone arrogantly for a while, so he did not even rectify his pose promptly, when he heard the door ring afterward. As a result, he successfully greeted with a good admonish right to his face, “Ji Xing Ling, you see what you look like now. It’s fine if you can’t get on the honor list. Why can’t you even sit properly?”
“…”
Brother Xing silently sat up straight, while he was infuriated that the shelf life of 400 points was outrageously short.
What kind of phony feeling of filial love of mother-son relationship is this?
“Get up, change your clothes and follow me to 1302 for dinner.” Hu MeiMei ordered, “It just so happened that Xiao Jing’s friend is also there. I heard that he is a top student in ShanHai third grade of Senior High School. Be sure to listen carefully to others’ learning experiences.”
Ji XingLing lay back on the couch in seconds, “I won’t go, don’t know him.”
“It’s true that you don’t know each other, and you are not at the same level.” Hu MeiMei kicked his slippers over, “Do you still want five hundred monster coins?”
Precision strikes.
The deposit for the fat grocery owner had been paid, and he had a huge debt and couldn’t get on the honor list. After scoring four hundred points in the test, he started playing games. Anyway, he didn’t want to rest on his laurels. He had utterly no human rights… monster rights, also didn’t have the qualification to bargain, so he could only obediently hold the red wine and desserts to go next door to receive the influence of Xueba.
The dining table was vivacious.
Uncle Liu’s name was Liu DaQi. He and his wife Lu Yu were college classmates. They get married after graduation and work in the same unit. They were standard model couples. It was just that their working place was too solemn and serious. JinCheng Oriental Funeral Home was not suitable for the topic of conversation. So the topics of several parents’ talks have been around the advice on learning improvement throughout the whole process. Liu Xu had already won the first physics province in his second year of high school, and he joined the provincial team smoothly at the start of the third year of high school. According to the policy of unconditional reduction of points, he could enter Tsinghua University as long as he can pass the first line. Hu MeiMei first gave a proper compliment, and then asked, “Then where do you live?”
Ji XingLing was wary, “Mom!”
Don’t say you were going to move again.
“It’s at the Jiangnan Coast, that’s across here.” Lu Yu said with a smile, “We should have come to see Xiao Jing earlier, but Xiao Xu said that the entrance exam will be coming soon and he won’t let us bother his younger brother, so it has been delayed until today.”
Jiangnan Coast and Jiang’An ShuYuan were separated by a road, and both belong to the guardian of Baize Lion. There was no expectation for her son to get five hundred by moving house. Hu MeiMei could only pin her hopes on Little Teacher Lin again.
“Actually—” Lin Jing originally wanted to say that, in fact, Ji XingLing was stil very diligent. He had been stayed up late to recite the text for a few days before the exam, and he had not been idle, but then he remembered in time that Liu Xu was at the dinner table, so he promptly shut his mouth and calmly changed the topic, “The ribs are delicious, you should eat some more.”
Ji XingLing was absent-minded, uninterested, as he crunched on those tiny bones.
If he knew that it would be so damn dull, he might as well go out to have a barbecue with Yu YiZhou.
However, Ji XingLing just remembered another thing, at the mention of barbecue. After dinner, the parents sat in the living room chatting. He leaned against the study cabinet, “Hey, on Friday night, the whole class will have dinner together. It’s at the barbecue restaurant in the back alley. Remember to spare your time for it.”
“Is this Friday?” Lin Jing checked his smartphone, “but I’m going to Jincheng University to listen to a literature lecture. I have already signed up, and it starts at 7:30.”
“…”
“Otherwise, I won’t go to the barbecue.” Lin Jing continued, “If the whole class is going by AA system2, then I will transfer the money to the class monitor tomorrow. Next time, I will definitely go.”
“Forget it. It’s my treat.” Ji XingLing put the book in his hand back to its place, as he felt a little bored, “Go back to sleep first.”
“So early?”
“Sleepy.”
Young Master Ji inserted one of his hands into his pocket, with the corners of his eyes drooped slightly, as lazy and inattentive as ever. Lin Jing sent him out; when he returned to the study room, Liu Xu asked him, “After you’re transferred, have you invited the whole class to eat ma?”
Lin Jing was taken aback, “No, why?”
“Why else can this be?” Liu Xu was amused. “After the school transfer, treating each other to have a meal can strengthen mutual affections. In fact, even if you invite the whole class, not all the people in the class can go too. At most, only a dozen or twenty people are willing to join in the fun. But they are all active members in the class, and getting acquainted with this group of people will help you accelerate your integration into the group.”
Lin Jing had never thought about this before, but through this reminder, he also felt that now he is still a bit of an intruder in class 2-1. Although he would not be isolated, but according to the sentence of “President Li must-win glory for ShanHai” in the English class. It was as Miss Ning said that, 80% of Lin Jing registered permanent residence was still placed in NingCheng No.3 High School.
“I have to go home too.” Liu Xu exhorted, “If you really don’t have to listen to that lecture, you’d better go to have a barbecue with your classmates ba. Anyway, there’s definitely no loss to you either.”
Lin Jing nodded, “Okay.”
…
Ji XingLing, who had thrown himself onto the massage chair with a lollipop dangled from his mouth, was playing a game with Yu YiZhou. He was in poor condition tonight, which caused his teammates into bleeding madly3, and the voice in the headset was noisy and frantic, “Wocao, brother, what’s wrong with you, left side, left side, you’re on ah… me, me, bro, that’s me!”
Lin Jing patted him on the shoulder, “Ji XingLing.”
A person appeared in the room out of thin air. The level of horror was close to Sadako from the Ring movie. Young Master Ji was so frightened that his smartphone almost covered his face.
“When did you come in?!”
“A minute ago, Auntie opened the door for me.” Lin Jing explained, “I called two-three times, and you didn’t hear it because you were wearing headphones.”
“What’s the matter?” Ji XingLing stood up.
“I’m not going to the lecture anymore. Add me to the barbecue list on Friday.” Lin Jing asked, “The list shouldn’t have been handed in yet, right?”
“What the hell is an official list for? It’s a class get-together meal. Whoever wants to go, they only need to remain after school.” Ji XingLing rubbed his nose, “Old Hou is in charge of booking the place, then I will let Yu YiZhou tell him tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
After a while.
“Ji XingLing, do you often invite the whole class to a meal?”
“…Why should I invite the whole class to a meal so often?”
“Just asking.” Lin Jing glanced at the smartphone on the couch, “Then, you resume playing your games. See you tomorrow.”
The teammates in the public in-game chat room were still frantically insulting people verbally, and it was the younger brothers who were suddenly suspended in the middle of the insults. Ji XingLing had simply logged out immediately without ethics and lacking in moral character. When he looked up and found that Lin Jing was still standing at the door. There were alarm bells suddenly ringing in his head. Was it possible that you would give me a math make-up lesson now?
Little Teacher Lin pondered carefully for a long time. He felt as if there was something that he had forgotten, but no matter what, he couldn’t remember it, so he asked, “Ji XingLing, do you think there is still anything else that you haven’t done?”
Young Master Ji was at a loss, “What kind of baiting questions is this?”
“Nevermind, maybe I’m dizzy tonight.” Lin Jing kneaded his temple, “Then Good night, also, thank you for the barbecue.”
“Don’t mention it.” The tone was very calm and bland.
That night, Little Teacher Lin was upset and anxious, until before he was going to bed, he still kept thinking about what kind of unfortunate thing that he had forgotten in the corner.
And this question was not solved until the next day’s English self-study.
Miss Ning stood on the podium, “Ji XingLing, are you ready? Come to the podium, when you’re ready.”
There was a “boom” sound in Lin Jing’s mind!
I’m screwed. It was an English learning experience.
Ji XingLing, “…”
Since he honestly didn’t have any earth-shattering wonderful methods to share, he had to confess truthfully, “I am making a wild guess.”
The class roared and laughed, and Ning FangFei also bent over and laughed for quite a while, “Even wild guessing, you should also explain to the classmates specifically on how you make a wild guess, and strive to give me the first place average score in English like Chinese in the midterm.”
I don’t know which bastard who started it; the crackling applause sounded enthusiastic, and didn’t stop for quite a long time, as it was similar to the jubilation of New Year. Ji XingLing choked wordlessly, no, he was fucking serious on made a wild guess, so what the hell were you guys cheering for. Yu YiZhou, I dare you to make your voice louder. Yu YiZhou was laughing, while leaning back heavily against the chair.
The scene was out of control for a while, and in the end, Ji XingLing still had to rely on Little Teacher Lin to take personal charge of the matter to rescue him.
Seeing Lin Jing had raised his hand, Ning FangFei nodded and motioned, “You say.”
“Teacher, Ji XingLing doesn’t seem to have really studied hard. I often see him go downstairs to play ball at night.” Lin Jing stood up, “On the day of the exam, when I looked at the reading comprehension and composition, outside the examination room. He came over and asked me about how to answer the question, so we talked about it for a few minutes.”
Ning FangFei was a little surprised, “Do you live together?”
“Neighbors, often drop by.”
“Then you can replace him to share the answering method with everyone.” As expected, Ning FangFei had let him go, “Ji XingLing, you should return to your seat first ba, and you must maintain this score next time.”
Lin Jing was empty-handed on the podium. Although he wasn’t prepared, his English answering skills could still be casually be dragged on for a full ten minutes. After the class was over, many classmates ran over to ask in detail. Ji XingLing finally found the opportunity to hand him a bottle of water, “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” There were a lot of people around the seat. Lin Jing thought for a while, and suddenly said sincerely, “Ji XingLing, I think you are truly awesome. Really, I have never seen anyone who can get nice several more points in the test, just by only studying for more than ten minutes, which is amazing ah.”
Your Brother Xing:?
There was no need to be so boasting and exaggerating.
Translator's Notes
- 长风破浪会有时，直挂云帆济沧海。(zhǎng fēng pò làng huì yǒu shí，zhí guà yún fān jì cāng hǎi) – Lit. A time will come to ride the wind, cleave the waves; I will set my cloud-white sail and cross the sea which raves. The story is about a man of unique talent and determination. He will go far. His insight is that, when we get into trouble, we must confront the future with optimism. It means don’t lose your confidence and believe you will succeed. Although the road is full of difficulties, with time and patience, you should believe that one day you can cross the ocean to get to the land of your dream.
- ＡＡ制 (AA zhì – splitting the bill/ to go Dutch)
- (losing HP drastically)