Daniel drove Xia Xiaolan home, and neither mentioned the Zhang siblings again.

“I’m heading back to Ithaca tomorrow morning, what about you?”

“Me too, I have afternoon classes. Shall we leave together?”

Being Monday tomorrow, Xia Xiaolan needed to return to Ithaca.

Daniel arranged a time with her and waited until she went upstairs before leaving.

As soon as Xia Xiaolan got home, she checked her phone messages, hoping to find something from Jim.

While there was nothing from Jim, there was a message from Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi told her she’d received her paycheck and wanted to treat her to a meal, while also seeking advice about study methods.

“Has Zhou Yi been possessed?”

Given Zhou Yi’s personality, borrowing $1,000 last time had probably used up all her face. If Zhou Yi could frankly admit her shortcomings, she wouldn’t be in her current situation.

This fool would believe sweet talk but refuse to hear honest advice, finding it unpalatable!

Since she was now actively asking for study advice, she was on the right path, and Xia Xiaolan naturally wouldn’t refuse. Checking the time – not yet 11 PM – Xia Xiaolan decided to call Zhou Yi’s school.

Zhou Yi’s dormitory had a phone.

After asking for Zhou Yi and hearing her voice, Xia Xiaolan got straight to the point:

“I’m still in New York tonight but heading back to Ithaca tomorrow. I have time tomorrow morning though – how about I come to your school at 7 AM?”

“O-okay.”

Zhou Yi had thought Xia Xiaolan was already back in Ithaca.

She’d assumed that after hearing the voicemail, any meeting would be next week at the earliest.

That would have given her enough time to prepare.

Who knew Xia Xiaolan was still in New York for a party?

Zhou Yi stammered her agreement, and after Xia Xiaolan hung up, she became very nervous.

Little Qi, who’d helped her find the Chinese restaurant job, had spent a long time persuading her to swallow her pride and strengthen her connection with Xia Xiaolan.

Would Xia Xiaolan mock her?

Zhou Yi remembered Little Qi’s high praise for Xia Xiaolan and knocked on Little Qi’s door again:

“She called back and said she’s coming to school at 7 AM tomorrow. What should I do?”

Little Qi’s eyes lit up, “That’s great, isn’t it? I think Miss Xia values you more than you said. What’s your relationship with her exactly? Never mind, that’s private – can I meet her tomorrow too?”

Zhou Yi nodded, “Should be fine, she doesn’t care much about such things.”

Xia Xiaolan’s status had kept changing, but she’d never been pretentious. Zhou Yi didn’t think Xia Xiaolan would look down on Little Qi.

She might even like Little Qi, who was the type of student who worked hard at studies and was very ambitious.

Zhou Yi was full of anxiety, even thinking about what to say to Xia Xiaolan while trying to sleep.

She hadn’t realized that since arriving in America, her time had been filled with various matters. When she first arrived, she’d wanted to call Yuan Han but couldn’t reach him. After being robbed, at her most vulnerable moment, she’d tried to contact Yuan Han but still couldn’t reach him. Later, when she got busy, whether being scolded by the restaurant owner or cutting her hand on broken bowls, she’d wanted to complain to Yuan Han… but after repeatedly failing to reach him, she thought of him less and less.

Zhou Yi was just that unreasonable.

She had agreed to Yuan Han going to remote areas for business trips, but when she needed him and couldn’t reach him, she couldn’t help but resent him.

Abroad, she couldn’t rely on Yuan Han at all.

With no relatives around, those who helped her were Joan whom she met on the plane, her language school classmate Little Qi, and Xia Xiaolan, whom she’d never have humbled herself to before.

When people have too much free time and nothing serious to do, they naturally drift towards romance and try to live like a love story – but now with the dual pressures of life and studies weighing on Zhou Yi, she had no leisure for romance.

…

The next morning, Xia Xiaolan drove to the language school early.

She noticed a young woman standing beside Zhou Yi – short, slightly dark-skinned, wearing glasses, and looking rather scholarly.

“Xiaolan, this is Qi Wei, she’s the one who helped me find the Chinese restaurant job.”

“Hello, Qi Wei, I’m Xia Xiaolan. Thank you for helping Sister Zhou Yi.”

Qi Wei was outgoing, “May I call you Xiaolan? I’ve heard some things about you from Zhou Yi – you’re amazing, someone we should learn from!”

“Isn’t that what names are for? Of course, you can.”

Xia Xiaolan showed no surprise at Zhou Yi having a new friend.

Zhou Yi should integrate into American local circles rather than always clustering with Chinese students.

But having a friend who encouraged her wasn’t bad either.

Finding a place to sit, Xia Xiaolan got straight to the point, “Sister Zhou Yi, no need to treat me to a meal, I need to return to Ithaca. Let’s make the most of our time and discuss the difficulties you’re having with your studies.”

Xia Xiaolan didn’t even say she was teaching Zhou Yi.

She wasn’t Zhou Yi’s teacher after all.

She spoke these words in English, deliberately slowing her pace – Zhou Yi knew the test had begun!

Xia Xiaolan tried to use simple vocabulary and sentence structures.

Then Zhou Yi found she could understand… perhaps her foreign language aptitude was strongest in listening, after all, she’d been listening to tapes since her postpartum confinement.

After two months of study, she’d memorized over 1,600 words.

Was it that difficult?

The English vocabulary required for the college entrance exam wasn’t even that much.

Zhou Yi forced herself – without worrying about grammar, she could still string words together one by one.

Xia Xiaolan could understand her meaning and corrected her mistakes. They continued this question-and-answer exchange for half an hour before Xia Xiaolan nodded:

“I think you’ve made great progress. I have a suggestion – you must maintain English conversations like this with others for at least half an hour daily. Your Middle Eastern roommate would be a good conversation partner. What do you think?”

Zhou Yi didn’t think much of it.

What was the point of practicing with her Middle Eastern roommate – how to argue in English?

Xia Xiaolan saw through her reluctance, “I guess she often curses at you behind your back. If you don’t want to practice, fine – let her curse to her heart’s content, since you can’t understand anyway.”

Qi Wei couldn’t hold back her laughter anymore.

Zhou Yi nodded with a dark face, “I just don’t want to bother with her!”

Hmph, she was just being a bully in her little world.

Xia Xiaolan couldn’t be bothered to expose her.

Zhou Yi really wanted to treat Xia Xiaolan to a meal but was refused. Qi Wei pushed Zhou Yi, “Xiaolan needs to hurry, you can treat her another time. Zhou Yi, don’t you have class now? Hurry along, I’ll see Xiaolan out.”

“Alright, Sister Zhou Yi, go to class. Qi Wei can walk me out.”

This Qi Wei was interesting – she seemed to be deliberately getting Zhou Yi to leave.

Xia Xiaolan wanted to see what Qi Wei had to say.

After Zhou Yi left, looking back several times, Xia Xiaolan smiled at Qi Wei:

“Classmate Qi, now that Zhou Yi’s gone, did you have something to tell me?”

Qi Wei nodded frankly, “I wasn’t trying to hide it. Zhou Yi comes from a good family, right? You can tell she’s never had hardships – she doesn’t know how to do things that ordinary people would. I don’t know what your relationship with Zhou Yi is, but you two seem close. Do you want Zhou Yi to learn well?”

After hearing this, Xia Xiaolan understood everything – the big fool Zhou Yi always attracted clever people!