After spending some time at Li Tongzhou’s house, Guo Jingyu returned home.
He casually exchanged a few words with his family, making light jokes. He knew that if he overstayed, his mother would probably personally come to take him back home.
Just as Guo Jingyu was leaving, Li Tongzhou’s parents returned together. Li Qingcheng, Li Tongzhou’s father, came in and saw him, then glanced at Li Tongzhou beside him and asked, “Is this your classmate?”
Li Tongzhou nodded and replied, “Yes.”
Li Qingcheng exchanged a few polite words but since he was accustomed to his high position in his workplace, he maintained a somewhat authoritative tone. Even when it came to changing shoes, he had his wife take care of it. Jiang Min, his wife, appeared accustomed to this. She was careful when speaking in front of her husband, and she constantly paid attention to his needs, serving tea and water, and being ever busy.
Li Tongzhou offered to help, but Jiang Min didn’t let him.
Guo Jingyu couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable. He had absolutely no fondness for Li Tongzhou’s father. When he learned about Li Tongzhou’s accident, the first thing he did was go to Li Qingcheng and Jiang Min, but Jiang Min just cried. She moved into the hospital, went to the psychiatric ward several times, and after some time, she couldn’t even go back to her job. She was reassigned to a storage position, which was already special treatment within their unit. On the other hand, Li Qingcheng, a scumbag, lost his son, and his wife nearly went insane. In the second year of the spring, he married a young, beautiful wife and had another child.
Within just a few months, he continued living his life as if nothing had happened.
It was as if the dead person was entirely unrelated to him.
Guo Jingyu watched the man on the sofa, enjoying his wife’s care as if it were his right. His expression wasn’t good at all, unlike before. He had no way back then, but now it was different. He still had around two years left, and perhaps he could change some things.
Moreover, he had always harbored suspicions in his heart about Li Tongzhou’s death being related to Li Qingcheng.
Even if there was no direct connection, there had to be some kind of association. Li Tongzhou had only a few people in his life. He already asked everyone he could among his school and classmates. The only people he couldn’t pry answers from were the ones at home.
Li Qingcheng asked Guo Jingyu a few questions while sitting on the sofa. Guo Jingyu didn’t dodge or hide. He answered everything. He intentionally irritated him.
“Hello, Uncle. I’m Li Tongzhou’s classmate, the one he often mentioned, Guo Jingyu.”
“My parents are just ordinary workers. They’re usually not too busy, and we live in the old neighborhood on Yifu Road.”
“My grades? They’re not that great. I’m near the bottom!”
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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Guo Jingyu was impatient to stay in the same room with him. He had interacted with Li Qingcheng before and knew how hypocritical he was. He left immediately when He Xiangyangard him.
Li Tongzhou walked him to the door, and he kept watching his expression, hesitating about what to say.
Guo Jingyu took a deep breath and spoke first. “You don’t need to comfort me. This has nothing to do with you. I just can’t stand your dad.”
“I apologize on his behalf…”
“Why are you apologizing? His attitude is his problem. it’s none of your business.” Guo Jingyu asked in a low voice, “Has he ever physically hurt you and your mom at home?”
Li Tongzhou shook his head and said, “No.”
Guo Jingyu said, “That’s good. Let me tell you, if your dad ever uses violence, report it to the police. Emotional abuse is also not okay, you know? Sometimes a few words can kill a person.” He gazed into Li Tongzhou’s face, and when he saw him nod without any signs of concern, he felt somewhat relieved. “Try to talk to Auntie more often, and if she has anything on her mind, she’ll have someone to talk to and get some advice.”
“Okay, I’ll remember that. I’ll ask her when she’s at home.”
Only then did Guo Jingyu remember that Li Tongzhou’s mom spent limited time at home. Jiang Min was a good woman, hardworking, and had balanced her family and career as best as she could. It wasn’t easy.
On his way back, Guo Jingyu started contemplating how to find a divorce lawyer. He remembered that after Jiang Min’s mental health declined, she was in a daze and didn’t care about financial matters at all. She practically left everything to Li Qingcheng.
When he returned, Guo Jingyu couldn’t stop thinking about this matter. Even when he went to sleep at night, he was still thinking about it. He thought of a few prominent lawyers he knew, but all of them were in Beijing. Based on the timeline, it would take several years for him to get in touch with them. By then, it might be too late.
He couldn’t sleep until dawn broke. Regardless, he was the biggest concern in this situation. With him around, things would be better than before. He couldn’t believe that he wouldn’t find a solution within two years.
A day later, high school started.
Chengnan Yi Zong is different from other schools nearby. This school took a bit more time to separate the students into science and arts classes. They would conduct another round of preliminary exams in the second year and then let the students choose whether to study science or liberal arts.
Additionally, they would combine the results of the preliminary exams to determine which classes the students should enter.
Many students prepared for this all summer long, either through private tutors or summer cram courses. The goal was to score well in the preliminary exams and enter a better class. The Guo family also decided to hire a private tutor for Guo Jingyu during the last few days of the summer vacation to help him prepare for the exams. They hoped he could score as high as possible.
The homeroom teacher stood at the podium supervising the exam. While the exam papers were being distributed, he took a moment to encourage the students. “Everyone knows that the distinction between fast and slow classes mainly depends on the difference in teaching pace. Fast classes progress quickly, while slow classes focus more on building a solid foundation. Don’t stress too much, keep a calm mindset, and do your best on the test.”
As the exam papers were passed to the back of the room, Li Tongzhou slightly turned and noticed a hand reaching out from behind.
When Guo Jingyu received the exam paper, their fingers touched briefly. He looked up and smiled at Li Tongzhou before passing the paper along.
The results of the preliminary exam were available the next day and posted in order of the students’ rankings for the whole grade.
Many students eagerly rushed to the front of the classroom to check the results, with others craning their necks to catch a glimpse. They keep asking each other, “How did you do? Those in the front should help us out!”
“First place, Li Tongzhou!”
“Why did you even start reading? I’m not dumb. it’s definitely Li Tongzhou who took first place!”
“Wait, don’t push. Who’s second place…”
People at the front of the room read out the results, and Guo Jingyu was among those eager to find their own name. He was protected by a few students, so he didn’t rush to check his name. He stared at the first place for a moment and then slowly started searching for his own name.
With nearly a thousand students in the whole grade, Guo Jingyu started looking for his name from the second page. He hadn’t expected to make it into the top hundred.
But he had overestimated himself. His name was on the fifth page.
Excited, He Xiangyang said, “Yu Ge, Yu Ge, you’re ranked 573! Wow, that’s a big improvement!”
Guo Jingyu replied, “…Be quiet.”
Even though he was still an underachiever academically, Guo Jingyu had significantly improved his grades. This time, his primary subjects, mainly English and mathematics, had witnessed substantial increases in scores compared to his past performance, making him stand out. As for his other subjects, he barely passed, hanging around the pass/fail line. When combined, it was decent overall.
Their group of friends had mixed results. Some of them improved by over ten points, while others remained at the bottom. A few of them gathered to choose between studying science or the arts.
He Xiangyang calculated for a moment and suddenly whispered to Guo Jingyu, “Yu Ge, with this score, you might even get into the fast class!”
Guo Jingyu was taken aback and carefully counted his score. Suddenly, he realized it was really possible.
His previous scores were far worse, consistently ranking at the bottom of the whole grade. Now he was somewhere in the middle. When it came to class allocation, he was on the edge of the cutoff. If he chose to study science, coupled with a bit of luck, he might end up in the same class as Li Tongzhou!
Guo Jingyu crossed out the “arts” he had written on the application form and replaced it with “science.”
Li Tongzhou was responsible for collecting the completed application forms from their classmates and then handed them to the homeroom teacher.
Guo Jingyu was a little nervous. It was the first time he had made such a bold choice, a decision different from what he remembered. This wasn’t about earning a bit of money. This felt like he had altered a key points. He was filled with anticipation and anxiety.
Within a single day, Li Tongzhou had been called out for discussions by various teachers several times. The teachers from different subjects also served as class advisors for other classes. They all are hoping to recruit good students, so these conversations were unavoidable.
After two days of waiting, it was finally time to assign the classes.
Guo Jingyu had luck on his side as he managed to secure a place at the end of a fast class, comfortably taking the last row with his consistent bottom-ranking academic performance.
And sitting in front of him was still that familiar figure.
Guo Jingyu wanted to laugh, but he held back, poking Li Tongzhou in front of him. He was afraid Li Tongzhou might not notice, so he gently scratched his finger against Li Tongzhou’s hand and traced it twice.
Li Tongzhou, who sat in front, extended a hand behind him and gently held the mischievous finger, ensuring it stayed still.
The movement was gentle just like always, like the person himself.
Guo Jingyu smiled as he rested his head on his desk. He knew his luck had always been good.
K: ₍₍ (̨̡⸝⸝´꒳`⸝⸝)̧̢ ₎₎
Thank you for the chapter! 😊
The father sounds like a nasty piece…🤬
So in this lifetime, GJ decided to abandon his art career?!
I bet that dog of a man actually murdered Li Tongzhou (that tw for conversion therapy and death by electrocution doesn’t bode well)
Hopefully Jiang Man can divorce his pathetic ass ASAP