Shu Yang naturally couldn’t go to the hospital. Jiang Ren had held back, so he wasn’t badly hurt.
However, no one wanted to walk home with Jiang Ren.
Despite being disliked, Jiang Ren didn’t mind at all. He said to Meng Ting, “When we go back to school, shall I bring you a gift?”
Meng Ting declined.
Unaware of being disliked, Jiang Ren took a taxi back to the neighborhood with them and then returned to his apartment.
When Meng Ting and Shu Yang arrived home, Shu Yang finally asked her, “You and him…”
Meng Ting changed her shoes. Seeing this, Shu Yang felt it wasn’t appropriate to say anything more. Meng Ting could only softly reply, “I know my limits.”
Shu Yang lowered his gaze and didn’t ask further.
If this had happened to Shu Lan, as her twin brother, Shu Yang would have sternly told her to stay away from that person. But this was happening to Meng Ting. Having grown up together, Shu Yang knew better than anyone how level-headed his stepsister was.
Meng Ting wasn’t Shu Lan, and the greater instability lay with Jiang Ren. That young man was like a fierce wolf cub, not to be trifled with.
The next day, Meng Ting went to school.
She took out the pear blossom wine her grandmother had made from her backpack and gave it to Zhao Nuancheng. The wine was bottled in white porcelain, beautiful and fragrant.
Meng Ting felt somewhat happy. Usually, it was Zhao Nuancheng who brought her things from her hometown. This was the first time she could bring Zhao Nuancheng a specialty from her hometown. After all, she was still a seventeen-year-old girl, and having a second home made her happy. She smiled and said, “This is a specialty from my hometown, but the alcohol content is high, so you can’t drink too much. Take it back for your uncle and aunt to try.”
Zhao Nuancheng touched the pear blossom wine bottle, very intrigued. “This is so cool!”
Meng Ting had taken quite a long leave, so she had a lot to catch up on these days: copying notes, completing necessary papers, and reconsidering the dance costume issue.
She had used up all her money. If she wanted to dance, she couldn’t do without dance shoes and costumes.
She used to have two pairs of dance shoes in her box, but she had grown several years older, and those shoes were now a size too small.
As Meng Ting resumed her busy life, May quietly arrived.
The early summer in H City was hotter than in other places.
When the summer breeze swept through every corner of the campus, the students of Seventh High all put on their summer uniforms. Their summer uniforms were still very proper: one set in blue, one in white, both with black pants. The sleeves had an artistic number seven with two slashes.
In the girls’ words, compared to the Japanese-style school uniforms seen on TV, their uniforms were like burlap sacks.
However, jokes aside, throughout H City, every family took pride in their child wearing this uniform.
Before the hottest period of this summer arrived, air conditioners began to be installed in various classrooms of Seventh High.
The whole school was excited about it. Seventh High was so stingy! They thought they’d have to rely on the creaky ceiling fans spinning above their heads for all three years of high school, but unexpectedly, they were getting air conditioning!
Liu Xiaoyi, the most well-informed student in Class 1 of the second year, said while eating chips, “That’s because the principal received a sponsorship. From Junyang Group.”
“Whoa, the Jiang family?”
The classmates weren’t stupid. Someone immediately connected this to Jiang Ren asking about their average scores a while back.
“Their family donated quite a bit of money to the school. Will Jiang Ren come to study at our school?”
A boy doing exercises laughed, “Even if he comes, he won’t understand anything.”
Everyone burst into laughter.
But it was true. Jiang Ren’s total score for six subjects might just equal their scores for any two subjects.
Meanwhile, the Jiang Ren they were talking about, who “wouldn’t understand anything,” was irritably resting his hands behind his head, his long legs propped up on the desk.
Their vocational high school had just released the Chinese language test scores.
Because it was Chinese, Jiang Ren did much better this time. While Hé Junming and the others scored in the thirties, Jiang Ren scored in the fifties.
Hé Junming marveled at his test paper: “Awesome, my bro Ren, you wrote the essay. Let me see what you wrote.”
Jiang Ren only got about twenty points for the essay.
His handwriting was sloppy, he couldn’t quote classics or write argumentative essays. The teacher grading the paper gave him about twenty points just for the ink used.
Hé Junming looked at it for a long time. It was a rambling piece without a clear theme. Jiang Ren had never written essays in exams before, finding it troublesome and usually leaving it blank. This time, to reach eight hundred characters, he even forcibly copied a few sentences from the previous reading section, barely scraping together eight hundred characters.
Hé Junming couldn’t stop laughing: “Bro Ren, your essay writing skills, hahaha!”
Jiang Ren was annoyed and snatched it back: “Get lost.”
He realized that he didn’t have a natural aptitude for studying. Even if he didn’t eat, drink, or sleep for the next year and studied all day, it would be difficult for him to get into Seventh High. And as the old man at the podium lectured, spitting saliva everywhere, the arrival of summer always made him want to sleep.
The second semester of the second year of high school was special. To transition to the third year, they added evening self-study sessions. Summer vacation would also bring supplementary classes.
Jiang Ren still stayed at the vocational high school. Mr. Jiang was dissatisfied and called him: “We’ve spent all that money, why are you still wasting time in that broken school?”
Jiang Ren shook his leg, not even lifting his eyelids: “Even if I went, I wouldn’t understand anything. It’s more comfortable sleeping here at the vocational school.” The desks were flat, and the air conditioning temperature was just right.
Mr. Jiang nearly fainted with anger.
Jiang Ren said, “Is it my fault? You weren’t born for studying either.”
Mr. Jiang cursed at him: “You little brat, even though I wasn’t, your mother was. How come you didn’t inherit any of her academic genes?”
Jiang Ren sneered: “Maybe she looked down on you, didn’t give you any affection, and didn’t even want to give you any genes.”
Mr. Jiang started cursing loudly.
Jiang Ren hung up the phone.
Arguing with Mr. Jiang was one thing, but he was quite upset himself. Several million yuan and all he got was a lecture from that old nun Fan Huiyin on extinction.
So after school, Jiang Ren, with his hands in his pockets, went to find the principal at the neighboring Seventh High.
The principal was looking at documents when Jiang Ren knocked on the door, lazily smiling: “Principal, can I discuss something with you?”
Seventh High recently held three speeches, on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
For three consecutive days, they listened to the school promote helping classmates, loving classmates, being positive, and not forgetting their alma mater or their teachers’ kindness. The students were going crazy.
The main idea was: that students with good grades should help those with relatively poor grades. It was like the old national policy of the rich helping the poor, same principle. Those with good grades could also consolidate their knowledge through this.
After listening to three days of preaching, Zhao Nuancheng was puzzled: “What is the school trying to do?”
Meng Ting didn’t know either, but this speech was effective. Many classmates in the class became more active in asking questions. When they asked her, she was always patient in her explanations.
On Thursday, Meng Ting finally understood what the school was trying to do.
They had received five million yuan from someone, now they had to repay the debt.
The Dean of Studies called over the top students from the first and second years. Meng Ting and another girl named Song Qinqin.
Song Qinqin also came from a poor family. She studied very hard.
The Dean of Studies said, “I called you here today mainly to ask you for a favor. And to increase your scholarship amount.”
Meng Ting was also poor, she raised her eyebrows to listen.
“Originally, the first-class scholarship was five thousand yuan, but now because you two are outstanding, it’s increased to twenty thousand yuan.”
Meng Ting’s heart was pounding.
Twe… twenty thousand? How generous. How could there be such a good thing?
The Dean of Studies coughed and said seriously, “Of course, it’s not a reward for nothing. The school hopes you can help your classmates, explain knowledge, impart learning methods, and not keep anything to yourselves.”
Meng Ting had never kept anything to herself, so she nodded upon hearing this. Song Qinqin was very excited, her face reddened, and she also quickly nodded.
“So, the school hopes that you can spare two evenings a week during self-study time to tutor classmates with poor grades. Is that okay?”
Meng Ting was stunned for a moment. Having learned high school knowledge for two lifetimes, she naturally didn’t mind spending this time. Even if she were to do private tutoring, she wouldn’t get such a high price. She thought the school was going to open some kind of remedial class for struggling students and was asking for help, so she nodded.
Song Qinqin also agreed immediately. She was only in her first year, she had plenty of time. Two evenings of self-study per week wasn’t much.
They signed, and the Dean of Studies breathed a sigh of relief.
The Dean of Studies particularly looked at Meng Ting and frowned. He didn’t have any prejudice, it was just that this girl was too strikingly beautiful. If she were to tutor that young master, would it be a bit…? Never mind, it’s five million yuan after all. Ah, the air conditioning feels so good. They weren’t old-fashioned like Fan Huiyin.
“The first tutoring session will be on Friday, covering first-year knowledge. You two discuss how to divide the subjects.”
Song Qinqin said, “Senior, I’ll tutor English, Chemistry, and Biology. Is it okay if you cover the rest?”
Meng Ting didn’t have a weak subject, so she nodded when she heard this.
They weren’t clear about the situation and decided to go together on Friday evening to see what the students who needed tutoring required.
So on Friday, while the other students were in their evening self-study session, Meng Ting took her first-year math book and left the classroom. She was very serious and had thought about how to teach before going, even preparing a lesson.
The summer wind blew warmly, the night breeze caressing faces, the phoenix trees rustling.
The tutoring classroom was on the first floor, up a small flight of stairs.
That building was usually empty, now only room 101 was lit.
When Meng Ting met Song Qinqin on the small stairs, she was also carrying textbooks and had arrived on time.
When the two of them stepped into room 101, they had imagined many scenarios, like a noisy classroom or students studying quietly.
However, when they saw the young man leaning against the desk in the first row, Meng Ting was stunned.
The young man looked up and said lazily, “Good evening, teachers.”
Meng Ting had never thought that the twenty thousand yuan was for him!
Song Qinqin’s face reddened. Jiang Ren was handsome, and when he smiled gently, he had a unique charm. She stammered, “Hello, student. I’m also a student, you can just call me by my name. I… I’m Song Qinqin.”
Jiang Ren nodded, with three parts of a smile in his pitch-black eyes, looking at Meng Ting: “Little teacher, what about you? Why don’t you introduce yourself?”
Meng Ting hugged the book in her hands tightly: “Meng Ting.” Her standard Mandarin pronunciation was very precise, and “Ting” with a nasal ending had a soft, murmuring quality. When Jiang Ren first learned her name, he had seen it on her student ID. Now hearing her say her name, it was indescribably proper and sweet.
Damn, she’s obedient.
“Teacher Meng, what do you teach?”
Meng Ting held back and said seriously, her small face serious under the light: “Chinese, Math, Physics.”
So the first lesson, according to the plan, should be her teaching Chinese.
Song Qinqin went over and asked, “Is there anything you don’t understand? I’ll make a note.” She had never met Jiang Ren before, so she didn’t recognize him. Song Qinqin was happy, tutoring one person was much easier than a whole group.
Jiang Ren found the test papers for the other three subjects and tossed them to her. He told her to look at them herself, and Song Qinqin hurriedly went to the side to flip through them to understand the situation.
After flipping through them for a while, Song Qinqin: “…”
She had originally wanted to look at the wrong answers, but in the end, she was wide-eyed looking for any place that had been marked correct. She was wrong, it would be better to teach a whole class.
Meng Ting came in from the doorway.
The night wind blew her hair, her slender waist swaying.
She didn’t throw a tantrum, but took out her pen and notebook, preparing to record what the poor student didn’t understand.
She lowered her long lashes, sat down properly, and asked him just like Song Qinqin had, her voice naturally carrying a hint of gentleness: “Is there anything you don’t understand in Chinese, Math, or Physics?”
Jiang Ren didn’t give her the Chinese, Math, or Physics test papers. His eyes were full of laughter, smiling a bit mischievously: “Little teacher, what if I don’t understand anything? Is there any hope for me?”
She bit her lip. There was no hope. Jerk!