The Clever Little Cat

When Li Ye was looking at the letter with a dark expression, Wen Leyu, his deskmate, kept glancing his way.

However, given Wen Leyu's good upbringing, she never actually peeked at the contents of the letter.

But the way Li Ye, holding back a surge of anger, furiously scribbled on the back of the letter made Wen Leyu very curious.

What exactly did Lu Jingyao write to Li Ye to make this kind boy so angry?

Finally, the little spy couldn't hold back any longer and quietly, slowly stretched out her neck, creeping closer like a kitten stealthily stalking a mouse.

But Li Ye had already finished writing and folded the letter. He turned his head and met Wen Leyu's gaze head-on.

Wen Leyu froze for a moment, then retracted her neck with a "whoosh." She sat up straight, her fountain pen flying across the paper as she scribbled away, looking like a good student diligently studying and striving for progress.

This beautiful girl is interesting.

Li Ye's unhappiness dissipated by more than half in an instant.

He propped his chin in one hand, his elbow resting on the desk, and turned his head to look at Wen Leyu, who was diligently writing. His gaze was pure and peaceful, as if he were admiring a beautiful and vivid painting.

Wen Leyu seemed not to notice, her pen continuing to move. However, a faint blush gradually appeared on her cheeks, adding a touch of vibrant life to her excessively pale skin.

"What are you writing?"

Li Ye didn't continue to stare. The girl was already feeling shy, and it was more considerate to speak up and ease the awkwardness.

Wen Leyu visibly relaxed, pushed her notebook towards Li Ye, and then wrote a message on a piece of paper.

"I've prepared some questions for you to work on. You can ask me if you don't understand anything."

Li Ye took Wen Leyu's large scratch paper notebook and looked at the pages filled with dense English test questions. He asked, "Why are you having me do these problems? Is it Teacher Ke's idea?"

Wen Leyu was taken aback. She quickly took back the paper, intending to write another message for Li Ye.

However, Li Ye couldn't help but whisper, "Your handwriting is indeed beautiful, but can you talk to me instead?"

Wen Leyu was stunned again. This time, she remained stunned for several seconds before quietly saying, "Aren't you aiming to get into Tsinghua-Peking Universities in the Capital City? I think I can help you."

Actually, Wen Leyu had a very pleasant voice, but it was unclear what she had experienced over the years that led her to become the "Little Mute."

And when she mentioned Li Ye "getting into the Capital City," she clearly corrected herself in a hurry. Li Ye guessed she originally meant going to the Capital City to find Lu Jingyao.

Li Ye chuckled inwardly, nodded, and said, "Thank you, I accept your help. But you have to accept my help too."

Wen Leyu blinked and asked, "What kind of help?"

Li Ye took out his own notebook and began writing math problems.

"I'll give you a set of problems too. You can ask me if you don't know how to solve them."

Wen Leyu was a little curious. Without realizing it, she stretched out her swan-like neck again, watching Li Ye's fountain pen quickly write out the test questions.

At first, she was very confident because she understood all the problems Li Ye wrote.

But when Li Ye reached the third page, she became serious.

Because she had never seen these types of questions before.

"Can you solve all these problems?"

"Of course!"

"Then what was your score on the college entrance exam math section this year?"

"..."

Li Ye stopped writing and looked at Wen Leyu, who was full of curiosity. He said helplessly, "Can we not ask questions like that?"

Wen Leyu first looked at Li Ye blankly, then her eyes flickered, and she nodded heavily.

In that moment, Li Ye seemed to see the cat he had raised in his past life again.

So stupid and cute, but actually... incredibly smart.

"Jingyao, you're truly brilliant. Senior Qian Shun only gave you a little guidance that day, and your poem was actually published?"

"Yes! Junior Jingyao's talent is the best I've ever seen. Our Green Bud Literary Society will rely on you to flourish in the future!"

In an activity room at Beijing Foreign Studies University, Lu Jingyao was surrounded by a group of seniors, her face flushed with shyness and embarrassment.

When she was in Qingshui County, she enjoyed discussing poetry and literature with Xia Yue and the others. When she chose a club in university, she naturally joined this literary society called "Green Bud."

After a few months of getting acquainted, Lu Jingyao bravely submitted her work to the university's publication, and to her surprise, it was actually published.

Then came this embarrassing scene, with several seniors from the club showering her with endless compliments.

Especially the gazes of some of them, which seemed as if they wanted to devour her. Their overly enthusiastic attitude made her extremely uncomfortable.

"Ahem, today's publication of Junior Jingyao's work is a major event for our Green Bud Literary Society. So, I propose we all go out for a meal, okay?"

"Great!"

"That's how it should be!"

"Let's go, let's go! Tonight, good wine and a beautiful night, we won't return until we're drunk!"

The club members excitedly went out for a meal, which finally allowed Lu Jingyao to escape the predicament of being "stuffed with flattery until she was sick."

But then she started to worry again.

Eating out cost money. The last time the Green Bud Literary Society had a get-together, everyone chipped in a little over two yuan, which was more than a tenth of her monthly scholarship.

Because she was saving money to send home, Lu Jingyao had lived on steamed buns and pickles for a week after that meal.

Today, even though the school newspaper had published her poem and she'd earned five yuan and fifty cents, Lu Jingyao had intended to save up ten yuan to send home to help with household expenses. If they had another meal out, she wouldn't be able to reach her ten-yuan goal.

"Hurry up, Jingyao, what are you thinking about?"

He Xue, another member of the literary society, slung an arm around Lu Jingyao's elbow and pulled her along to catch up with the others.

Lu Jingyao snapped back to reality. "Oh, oh, I wasn't thinking about anything. Let's go."

As they walked, He Xue said excitedly, "Someone's treating us today, so I'm going to stuff myself! Braised pork, braised pork knuckle, sweet and sour fish…"

Lu Jingyao's heart felt lighter, and even her steps quickened. "Really? Who's treating today?"

He Xue turned to look at Lu Jingyao curiously. "You are, of course! Don't tell me you're going to disown us now that you've earned some money? It's our literary society's tradition that whoever earns money treats everyone!"

"…"

Lu Jingyao's footsteps faltered, and her legs suddenly felt as heavy as lead.

I'm treating? I'm treating? When did I ever say I'd treat? It's the society's tradition… What does that have to do with me?

Braised pork, braised pork knuckle, sweet and sour fish… each dish costs at least four or five mao, and up to eight or nine mao. Given how much the people in our literary society eat, they can easily devour three dishes each.

And that's not even counting drinks. These people drink like there's no tomorrow. A bottle of cheap white wine is three or four mao, and a good one costs several yuan. How many bottles would they need to get drunk?

Even worse is the beer. A bottle is two mao, and a few bottles don't even make a dent…

In less than a second, Lu Jingyao calculated the cost of the meal. It would be at least thirty yuan, and she'd have to use up several months' worth of the school's food coupons.

She regretted it. She regretted joining this Green Bud society, regretted publishing her poem in the school newspaper.

Thirty yuan! Her monthly scholarship was only twenty-two yuan and fifty cents, and she had to meticulously save a portion of that to send home to help her younger brother buy back his bicycle.

Right now, Lu Jingyao couldn't even come up with twenty yuan, let alone thirty.

"Hey, Jingyao, what's wrong? Why does your face look so bad? Are you feeling bad about the money?"

"Ah? No, no… I just felt a bit cold from the wind just now."

Lu Jingyao lowered her head, her lips pressed tightly together as she dragged her feet forward, her mind a chaotic mess of tangled emotions.

She wanted to skip it, but she was afraid of being ridiculed.

But if she went, how would she pay?

Lu Jingyao felt as if she had suddenly returned to over a year ago.

The leaky roof at home was getting worse, her mother's cough was getting more severe, but the family couldn't spare an extra cent.

Then, a boy had entered her life, piercing a hole in the gloomy sky and letting in brilliant sunshine.

And today, where was her sunshine?