A punch that didn't hurt-that was youth.]
Su Miaomiao slowly lowered her book. Rather than interrupting, she watched the buzz-cut boy in the corner with admiration.
Then Lu Yuanqiu came across a word he didn't know. His pleasant British-accented reading stopped, and he looked up at Su Miaomiao.
The young English teacher froze for a moment, then quickly looked down and supplied the pronunciation.
But she looked a little embarrassed, feeling that her less-than-perfect American pronunciation had tainted Lu Yuanqiu's authentic British accent.
Lu Yuanqiu picked up where he had left off and finished reading the first paragraph.
Su Miaomiao lowered her textbook again, a smile spreading across her face-a smile full of surprise and disbelief.
"Lu Yuanqiu."
She said his name incredulously.
"Here," Lu Yuanqiu answered with a perfectly straight face.
As she often did, Su Miaomiao perched on the edge of a nearby desk, bending one of her shapely, black-stockinged legs slightly. Zhong Jincheng's eyes lit up in the corner.
"What did you do over the break? Go abroad? Even that wouldn't explain this."
Su Miaomiao voiced the question on everyone's mind.
She knew Lu Yuanqiu's English level very well. Never mind his speaking skills-he didn't even know how to pronounce plenty of words.
How had one school break completely transformed him?
"Studying hard to better myself, of course," Lu Yuanqiu said earnestly. "I'm going to college, you know."
Beside him, a flicker of surprise and delight crossed Bai Qingxia's eyes.
"Pfft!" Zhong Jincheng suddenly burst out laughing in the corner. "Bettering yourself? More like buttering yourself!"
Bai Qingxia silently shot him a glare.
Zhong Jincheng's remark sent the whole class into laughter.
But Hu Caiwei couldn't laugh. She didn't want Lu Yuanqiu putting his effort into other things.
"Zhong Jincheng, put the gun away!" Lu Yuanqiu barked.
A gun?
Su Miaomiao turned to look. Zhong Jincheng jolted in fright and hurriedly laid both hands flat on his desk, looking embarrassed.
Once Su Miaomiao turned away, Zhong Jincheng silently mouthed curses across the room and raised both middle fingers at Lu Yuanqiu.
Lu Yuanqiu returned the gesture with both middle fingers.
Su Miaomiao walked over to Lu Yuanqiu and patted his shoulder. "Good. I'm so glad you've set your sights on that. I believe in you, Lu Yuanqiu. Sit down."
Her voice was gentle, and the admiration in her eyes as she looked at this struggling student was impossible to hide.
Lu Yuanqiu sat down and turned smugly toward Bai Qingxia, raising an eyebrow. She looked away, her pretty face cool and impassive, refusing to respond.
What kind of guy gets reborn without picking up a few extra skills?
In truth, Lu Yuanqiu's business had expanded overseas in his previous life. He had spent five years there, forced to speak English every day. It would have been stranger if he hadn't picked up the accent.
Seriously, showing off like that felt amazing. Lu Yuanqiu laughed and slapped a thigh.
Bai Qingxia recoiled again, drawing her leg back. Finally losing patience, she raised her little fist and punched Lu Yuanqiu's arm, anger in her lovely eyes.
"If you slap my leg again, I'm telling our homeroom teacher."
"I... I really hit the wrong one. I meant to slap my own..."
Lu Yuanqiu tried to explain, but Bai Qingxia ignored him.
Still, her punch to his arm hadn't hurt. In fact, it had felt pretty good.
Lu Yuanqiu grinned. A punch that didn't hurt-that was youth.
He patted her arm and said, "I'll help you practice speaking English from now on, and you can tutor me in the other subjects. How about it?"
Bai Qingxia turned to answer, but her expression suddenly stiffened, and she hastily looked back down at her desk.
What's wrong?
Lu Yuanqiu glanced back and found Zhong Jincheng sitting by the door with a solemn expression and an impeccably upright posture.
Outside the window diagonally ahead of him, a face stared eerily into the room, its gaze focused squarely on Lu Yuanqiu.
Their homeroom teacher, Liu Wei, had appeared there like a ghost. Lu Yuanqiu's shoulders jerked in fright, and he instinctively straightened in his seat.
When was a homeroom teacher at her scariest?
When she was standing outside the window.
Even after all the years he had lived, Lu Yuanqiu still couldn't escape that instinctive terror.
After Liu Wei left, Lu Yuanqiu saw a note slowly slide into view.
In Bai Qingxia's sharp yet elegant handwriting, it read: [Okay]
She agreed to tutor me?
Nice, very nice.
Lu Yuanqiu felt elated. Maybe, if he really worked hard this year, he could get into a good college.
He studied his textbook intently, sat up straight, and began listening diligently.
Five minutes later, Lu Yuanqiu was diligently sleeping with his head on his desk...
In the back row, his snores and Zheng Yifeng's rose and fell in a duet.
Just then, a breeze lifted the curtain, revealing the brilliant blue sky and white clouds outside like a scroll unfurling.
The harsh sunlight fell across Lu Yuanqiu's sleeping face. He frowned and raised a hand to scratch his cheek.
A slender, fair hand reached up and drew the curtain closed. Only after the shade completely blocked the sunlight from Lu Yuanqiu's face and his brow relaxed did Bai Qingxia lower her head in relief and return to carefully taking notes in her textbook.
"Now do the multiple-choice questions at the back. We'll check the answers in five minutes."
Shortly afterward, Su Miaomiao's voice suddenly sounded closer. Bai Qingxia looked up and saw the English teacher slowly walking down the aisle with her textbook.
She turned her head now and then to check the students' work on either side.
Su Miaomiao was almost at Lu Yuanqiu's desk.
Bai Qingxia glanced nervously to the side, then quickly reached over and patted Lu Yuanqiu's arm.
Lu Yuanqiu hurriedly sat up. Bouncing his leg and twirling a pen in his hand, he pretended to study his textbook.
Seeing this, Bai Qingxia thoughtfully reached over and turned a page for him, opening it to the exercises at the end of the lesson.
Su Miaomiao arrived just then, cast a casual glance his way, and moved on.
Bai Qingxia breathed a sigh of relief.
Lu Yuanqiu immediately put his head back down and went on sleeping.
Hearing Su Miaomiao smack her textbook against Zheng Yifeng's face on the other side, then looking at Lu Yuanqiu's baby-like sleeping expression and the marks pressed into one side of his face, Bai Qingxia smiled with her lips closed.
She was happy. Before, she could only watch from a distance as Lu Yuanqiu got scolded for sleeping in class. Even if she wanted to reach out and warn him, he had been too far away.
But today, she had warned him and helped him escape the teacher's notice.
Bai Qingxia felt a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.
It was a strangely inexplicable feeling.
She turned back to her exercises.
The autumn wind was cool and gentle.
A breeze slipped into the classroom through the window, blowing the girl's hair loose. It covered half her delicate face and obscured her view. Out of habit, Bai Qingxia lifted her slender, fair fingers and tucked the strands behind her ear.
Just then, a pink hair clip slid onto her desk.
The girl looked up, her gaze freezing.
She looked toward Lu Yuanqiu, but he had shifted his sleeping position and turned his face the other way.
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