Guo Jingyu returned a few days earlier but he still couldn’t meet Li Tongzhou. He was kept at home by his mother to focus on studying. It felt like a mental bombardment, with his mother lecturing in one ear and the private tutor passionately teaching in the other.
Guo Jingyu touched his ears and decisively said, “Teacher, I don’t want to memorize texts anymore. Can you explain some math problems to me?”
The private tutor was surprised by his cooperation and immediately praised him, saying, “Of course, studying core subjects is essential. I’ll explain this geometry problem to you.”
Guo Jingyu listened for a while. He felt like his head had grown a size larger. He managed to grasp a few of the problems and then switched to studying English.
The private tutor was surprised by his pronunciation and thought, “This student’s pronunciation is even better than mine!”
This was the result of Guo Jingyu consciously trying to improve his performance.
He had spent at least two years abroad.Llike all international students, one of the first things he learned after going abroad was how to buy groceries and cook for himself. He had practiced language skills primarily at supermarkets and workplaces. Additionally, his social circle was different. He had a local roommate back then who loved his cooking, so he dragged Guo Jingyu everywhere. Being active in various activities, he had to interact with people. At that time improving his English was a must.
Guo Jingyu had a hidden skill as well. He had studied art in the past because of his poor academic performance. But this time, he genuinely wanted to learn drawing. If his grades suddenly improved, his parents wouldn’t allow him to continue preparing for the art examination.
People often say that the national college entrance examination is like thousands of troops crossing a narrow log bridge, and the art entrance examination is even more so. It’s like walking on a tightrope. One mistake can be catastrophic.
Ordinary families wouldn’t willingly send their children to endure such hardships unless they were seeking a glimmer of hope.
While admiring the hard work of his parents, Guo Jingyu couldn’t help but think of his friends at the art institute. Those few guys were quite different from him in their approach to life. Each of them had a famous artist as their grandfather, and from a young age, they believed they were destined to be future artists. They had big egos and looked down on others. If not for a few competitions where Guo Jingyu beat them, they probably wouldn’t have noticed him. But artists also tend to have simple minds. In the years that followed, their relationships improved, and they stayed in touch after work.
The private tutor tapped on the desk, “Jingyu? What are you thinking about?”
Guo Jingyu replied, “I’m thinking about college life.”
The private tutor took the opportunity to boost his morale, “As long as you study hard, you will definitely get into college! Look at this question. Don’t think it’s just a simple reading comprehension. It’s actually the first step toward your success. Once you finish it, you’ll take a big step forward!”
Guo Jingyu lowered his head, completed the task, and then asked, “Teacher, what year of college are you in?”
“I’m starting my senior year this semester!”
“Are you interested in getting a SIM card? I have a special offer for a mobile phone plan called M-Zone.’ It’s perfect for senior students preparing for internships. It has a lot of text messages and even allows you to send MMS. I can give it to you for a special price of five yuan. Would you like one?”
“….”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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The young teacher laughed along, “Your self-confidence is excellent. Which university are you planning to apply to?”
Guo Jingyu replied, “I’ll do my best and try to get into Tsinghua University.”
“…”
The young teacher had mixed feelings and was already considering quitting.
On the day before the school year started, Li Tongzhou came over to bring a gift. He had brought back some tea leaves from Grandma Gu’s place, and the tradition of gift-giving continued, so he brought two gift boxes of bird’s nest.
Guo Jingyu was originally sitting at the dining table, focused on his exercises, but as soon as he saw the gifts, his eyes lit up.
Mother Guo welcomed him at the door, smiling, “Xiaozhou, it’s good that you’re here. You don’t need to bring such precious gifts.”
“It’s necessary. The tea leaves I brought back earlier were highly appreciated by my mom, so she asked me to come and thank you specially.” Li Tongzhou put the gifts down and exchanged pleasantries with Guo Jingyu’s mother. Then, he looked over at Guo Jingyu.
Mother Guo treated diligent students especially well, so she generously gave Guo Jingyu a ten-minute break and allowed the private tutor to rest as well.
Li Tongzhou walked over to see the exercises that Guo Jingyu was working on. He spoke in a low voice, explaining the problems. Guo Jingyu was so captivated by his voice that he couldn’t concentrate on the explanations and repeatedly asked him to repeat what he said, “Huh? Can you slow down? Say it again, I can’t keep up.”
Li Tongzhou slowed down and repeated the explanation with a gentle tone.
Having someone he liked by his side made Guo Jingyu much more efficient at working on his exercises, and his enthusiasm shot up. He wished he could complete a few more sets of exercises.
Seeing the improvement, the private tutor approached them, intending to teach for a bit longer. After all, the fees paid by the Guo family were quite high. They even provided dinner. The Guo family cooked delicious meals, and he often couldn’t resist eating two or three bowls of rice.
But this time, Li Tongzhou took over the teaching. The young teacher could only play a supporting role. With this cooperation, Guo Jingyu quickly immersed himself in the material and made significant progress.
Li Tongzhou’s praise was also quite practical. He leaned down and pointed to the significant problem in Guo Jingyu’s exercise. “I’ll modify this problem shortly. If you solve it correctly, I’ll give you a reward.”
Guo Jingyu immediately felt excited. “What kind of reward?”
Li Tongzhou said, “I’ll give it to you the day after tomorrow when school starts.”
To earn this reward, Guo Jingyu worked hard to do the math problem.
The Guo family’s dinner was delayed by half an hour compared to usual, and Guo Jingyu completed his homework one and a half hour earlier than usual. He was so happy.
Guo Jingyu’s mother warmly invited Li Tongzhou to stay for dinner, but he declined, saying, “No, Auntie, I still have something to do at home.”
Guo Jingyu also didn’t eat dinner. Upon hearing Li Tongzhou was leaving, he quickly changed his shoes. He pushed Li Tongzhou and left together, saying to his mother, “Mom, I’ll walk him home and be back soon!”
Mother Guo agreed and let him go.
But she waited for quite a while and didn’t see Guo Jingyu return. When she called him, she heard that he had gone to Li Tongzhou’s house to play. Guo Jingyu’s mother was furious and wanted to go over and drag the boy back to teach him a lesson. “He has evening classes tonight! How can you do this?!”
Guo Jingyu replied, “You can just let him have a break. I’ve already finished my test papers, and my scores are twenty points higher than before!”
“Guo Jingyu, if you don’t come back, don’t bother coming home tonight!”
“… Hello? The signal is bad here, Mom, what did you say? I don’t need to come back today?”
“Guo Jingyu!”
“Thanks Mom, you’re the best!”
Li Tongzhou watched as Guo Jingyu swiftly hung up the phone beside him and hesitated for a moment. “Is this really okay?”
Guo Jingyu said, “Why not? I’ve been studying hard for four days. I’m exhausted. It’s like mental oppression.”
Li Tongzhou couldn’t help but smile at his response.
Walking side by side, Guo Jingyu asked out of curiosity, “Li Tongzhou, don’t you get tired from studying like this every day?”
Li Tongzhou replied, “I’m used to it.”
Guo Jingyu complimented him as they walked, “Someone like you will surely achieve great things in the future. Your focus is incredible, and your work efficiency is remarkable.” He took a couple of steps and then asked, “By the way, Li Tongzhou, you said you’d give me a gift for getting the question right earlier. Now that I’m with you, can you give it to me in advance?”
Li Tongzhou looked at him, “Are you here just for the gift?”
Guo Jingyu said, “Of course not, I missed you.”
Li Tongzhou’s mood improved a little, and he took Guo Jingyu back to his home.
When they arrived at Li’s house, it was empty, with only the living room light on. A note was left on the coffee table, explaining that Li Tongzhou’s mother had some urgent work at her workplace and would return later.
Li Tongzhou was used to such situations. He took Guo Jingyu to his bedroom, opened a glass cabinet, and handed him a box. “Here’s your gift.”
Guo Jingyu was eager to open it and asked, “Can I open it?”
Li Tongzhou nodded, watching him carefully. He felt relieved when he saw Guo Jingyu’s eyes light up as he opened the box. Li Tongzhou also smiled.
Guo Jingyu held a pair of Sony earphones with a red flame logo, in-ear style. They looked really cool.
Guo Jingyu played with them for a while and then started to tuck the earphones under his T-shirt. Li Tongzhou was taken by surprise when he saw a glimpse of Guo Jingyu’s abdomen. In the blink of an eye, Guo Jingyu had pulled the earphones out through the sleeve, holding one to his ear. He looked proud as he said, “Great, these will make it so easy to listen during class!”
Li Tongzhou could only laugh and shake his head as he reached to grab Guo Jingyu’s earphones. Guo Jingyu quickly shielded them, saying, “Hey, what are you doing? You can’t take back a gift once you’ve given it!”
Li Tongzhou replied, “You can’t use them during class.”
Guo Jingyu retorted, “You don’t get it. I’m choosing fine arts next semester. I will listen to music while I draw!”
Li Tongzhou was surprised, “You can listen to music while drawing?”
Guo Jingyu explained, “Of course! I draw for seven or eight hours a day, and I’m just sitting there without talking. Listening to music is my only entertainment.”
Guo Jingyu handed him one of the earphones, and they tried them on together. He squinted and said, “They feel great, really soft. These aren’t cheap, are they? From now on, this earphone is exclusively yours, and I’ll only share it with you.”
Li Tongzhou looked down and saw a faint outline of the earphone cable under Guo Jingyu’s shirt collar. He followed the wire down along the young man’s body.
K: Mundane things makes me happy ૮₍ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ₎ა
Such fluff, so glad I picked this up. Thank you for the translations!!!!!!
I love this sm thanks for the translation!!