Chapter Nineteen

  The next day, Yu Cai still got up early and bought breakfast to send to Qi Shi Zhi. He also handed over an extra portion he had deliberately bought more of to Zhou Chuan to give to his classmates who hadn't had time for breakfast, then took his books to the library to study.

  Although Lao Mei only gave her three days off, Yu Cai still managed to drag it out until next Monday before going back to class. Of course, she had obtained a sick leave note from the clinic in between and asked Wu Xiao Ran to give it to Lao Mei, saying that her condition had worsened and she really couldn't come to school.

  Yu Cai walked into the classroom, and the originally noisy room suddenly became quiet. Everyone looked at her in unison, Yu Cai felt embarrassed, rubbed her nose and muttered, "Is this what they call attention?"

  Yang Junze first burst out laughing, followed by He Qi, who also started laughing. Gu Yueyue ran over to tease her, and the class atmosphere finally returned to normal. Yu Zai let out a sigh of relief and looked at Yang Junze with gratitude, but he raised an eyebrow, pretending not to know what she meant.

  Yu Zai walked to the front of Qiao Jia, who was sitting inside, and solemnly said, "Qiao Jia, I'm sorry about what happened last time. I overreacted and I apologize. I hope you won't mind it. If you really want to switch, then let's switch."

  Qiao Jia didn't expect her to apologize so solemnly, and after a moment's pause, she said, "It's okay, I should have told you, um, I'll just sit inside then."

  Yu Cai smiled at her, took out the class seating chart, and ran to the class monitor, "Class Monitor, I wasn't here last week, was it you who arranged the duty roster? Who did you arrange for?"

  The class monitor pointed it out to her, and Yu Zai wrote the duty roster on the blackboard in the lower right corner. She returned to her seat and sat down, pretending to read a book seriously. Her relationship with Qiao Jia seemed to be back on track on the surface.

  Soon after, Lao Mei entered the classroom and saw Yu Cai, who had been absent for a long time, and immediately called her out.

  Lao Mei was actually very dissatisfied with Yucai taking such a long leave, but since he had already taken it, all he could do was remind Yucai to pay attention to keeping warm in the future.

  He brought up the issue of Yu Cai's article being published again, and lavishly praised Yu Cai. Yu Cai lowered her head in a humble gesture, but in her heart, she cursed Qi Shu Fan's big mouth several hundred times.

  Actually, Yu Cai wrongly accused someone this time, and Qi Shu had nothing to do with this matter.

  After He Mu returned, she deeply felt that Yu Zai was mature and steady in her work, although a bit naive in handling things, but always considering others. Moreover, her English was good, and she could write articles. Most importantly, Qi Shu Fan liked and valued this distant niece very much. Although the two families were close, Qi Shu Fan was still her superior after all, and at critical moments, she still had to rely on him for support.

  He Mu called Lao Mei and bragged about Yu Cai's exceptional abilities, mentioning the article as well. Then she talked about her son having trouble concentrating in class and asked to have him moved to the middle row, but the real reason was that her son wasn't doing well in bilingual classes, so she wanted Yu Cai to be moved next to him for mutual help. As a result, He Qi, who was relatively tall among his high school classmates, was unknowingly used by his mother's connections to get moved to the middle row next to Yu Cai, which led to an escalation of the conflict between Yu Cai and Qiao Jia.

  Yu certainly didn't know all this and could only nod in response to the teacher's praise.

  Lao Mei instructed a few words and let Yu Cai go back, Yu Cai saw Qiao Jia seemed to want to ask Lao Mei what was going on but swallowed it back, and took the initiative to say, "The head teacher said I'm too delicate, getting sick and asking for a week's leave, telling me to exercise more in the future, best to get up early and run".

  Qiao Jia didn't know whether to believe it or not, and with a hum, she continued reading her book.

  After class, Fei Yu Fan passed by Yu Cai and suddenly said, "Yu Cai, are you wearing a mask again to ask for leave from the head teacher?"

  Yu Cai nodded, "Genuine goods."

  "You said if I report to the head teacher, saying that you were still energetic and spirited an hour before your leave, what would the head teacher do?"

  "Fei Yuanfan, please mind your words. Literary exaggeration is allowed, but over-exaggerating facts is called deception, cheating the audience!" Yu Cai's attitude was extremely sincere.

  Fei Yuanfan smiled slightly, "Alright, whoever holds the pen has the final say," after saying that, he ignored her and followed Mo Fei out of the classroom, leaving Yu Cai staring in the direction they left, which just so happened to be facing the blackboard, and we can also understand that Yu Cai was diligently reviewing last lesson's content.

  After that, Yu Cai deliberately kept a low profile and was busy making up for lost classes, so it was quite calm for a while.

  A month later, the preliminary round of the competition that Lao Mei mentioned was held at XX High School. More than a dozen students from Yu Cai's class participated, and it is estimated that there were three or four hundred people in the whole school. However, this time it was an elimination match, and two hundred people would be selected to participate in the county-level competition. Then, seventy people would be selected from the entire county to go to the city to participate in the competition. After passing the city level, it would be the provincial level. Anyway, it's a step-by-step selection process, and only those who get a ranking at the provincial level can get bonus points for the college entrance examination.

  The results of the county-level competition came out soon. Because each grade level competed separately, Yu Cai, Zhang Wenjing and Xia Yunyun all passed.

  Two weeks later, on Sunday, the school organized a competition in the city for those who were selected. Yu Cai was seriously ill again and didn't make it. The results of the competition came out the next day, Xia Yunyun was not selected, but Zhang Wenjing made it to the provincial finals. Yu Cai hid until Wednesday before going to school with a gloomy face, only to be stared at by Old Mei's disappointed gaze.

  After the New Year, Ji Shu Fan was busy for more than a month and finally had some free time, returning to his home which he hadn't set foot in for a long time.

  He came back at dinner time, and Qi Shi was having a supplementary lesson with Yu Cai. Qi Shu Fan then gave Lao Mei a call to ask about her son's situation.

  Ji Shi, although not fond of studying, was also a very well-behaved student. In class, he never spoke out of turn, didn't pass notes or make small movements, but just liked to daydream. This one thing was almost exactly the same as Yu Cai's, except that his daydreaming time was slightly longer than Yu Cai's, often getting lost in thought for a whole day.

  Because last time Qi Shu Fan told Lao Mei that the little teacher he found for himself was actually a distant relative of his own, they had never been in contact before and only discovered this when mentioning it, so Lao Mei always thought Yu Cai was Qi Shu Fan's niece. After reporting that everything was normal with Qi Shi, she started complaining that Yu Cai was too unreasonable, frequently getting sick and asking for leave without saying anything, and last time during such an important exam, she even said she was seriously ill and didn't go, no matter how serious the illness, she should have gone to try... That's a high school exam with bonus points, even Zhang Wen Jing who is not as good as her made it into the finals...

  Lao Mei had always been blinded by Yu Cai's superficial cleverness and English halo, without realizing that the truth was also normal. However, Lao Hu Li Qi Shu Fan wasn't so easy to deceive. He asked clearly when Yu Cai had taken leave and how long she had taken off. Qi Shu Fan had already determined that Yu Cai must be faking illness. Given that Yu Cai's leave time wasn't short, Qi Shu Fan felt the problem was very serious. He immediately required Lao Mei to tell Yu Cai to come to his house with Qi Shi Zhi that night to understand the situation.

  Lao Mei readily agreed and went to Class 12 to intimidate Yu Cai, saying that if her uncle couldn't handle her, he would call her parents. Yu Cai naturally didn't want to alarm her parents, so she had no choice but to yield again to the strong power.

  After the evening self-study, Yu Cai followed Qi Shifeng to his home with a gloomy face. Qi Shifeng always rode his bicycle to and from school, so Yu Cai didn't dare ask him to take her along. Of course, sitting on the back seat of the bicycle was also very uncomfortable. So she joked that Qi Shu Fan, as her uncle, had entered the play too deeply this time. He must have heard Old Mei's report and wanted to fix her. She needed to think carefully about a countermeasure. The cool night breeze helped her think, and it could also delay things for a while, letting Qi Shu Fan's anger pass before speaking.

  Yu Cai and Qi Xie stepped into the Qi family's gate, where Qi Shu had just woken up from a nap, refreshed after a bath, waiting to lecture Yu Cai.

  Yu Cai saw Ji Shu Fan and immediately put on a false smile, calling out, "Elder Uncle, you're back?"

  Qishu Fan nodded solemnly, gesturing for Yucai to sit down on the sofa across from him. Qishu Ze's footsteps paused as if he was hesitant about whether to return to his room or stay in the living room. Yucai was also torn, having already thought that she must have brought trouble by not participating in the competition. On one hand, if Qishu Fan really got angry, with Qishu Ze present, Qishu Fan would certainly restrain himself a bit. But on the other hand, she didn't want to be scolded in front of Qishu Ze, it was a matter of her pride!

  When the two were entangled, Ji Shu Fan finally spoke up, "Let go, I have something to say to Xiao Cai, you go back to your room first."

  Ji Shi immediately threw his school bag onto the table and sat down on the sofa beside Yu Cai, making it clear that he was standing on the same front line as her.

  Yu Cai immediately cast a grateful glance at Qi Shi, what a good person, although not fond of speaking, sometimes actions are more powerful than words.

  Everyone who was present at the scene of Qi's release couldn't help but laugh and cry, originally a belly full of words could no longer find an outlet to vent, for a moment all three people fell silent.

  The silent atmosphere lasted for tens of seconds, Yu Cai stood up and leaned towards Qi Shu Fan's direction, concerned, "Uncle Biao, you're in such good spirits, you'll definitely have insomnia tonight, I'll go get you a hot cup of milk."

  Qibook was named as concern, but in fact it was sarcasm that made her even more speechless. She watched helplessly as Yucai calmly entered the kitchen, opened the refrigerator and took out a few cartons of milk, poured them into a cup, and turned on the microwave to heat them up.

  Five or six minutes later, Yu Cai walked back into the living room with three cups of steaming hot milk, giving one to each of the Ji family father and son, and holding one herself, sipping slowly.

  Qishu Fan's heart was filled with bitter laughter as he thought about how his son had left him at a loss for words, and now Yu Cai was also constantly catching him off guard.

  Qī shū fán qīng le qīng yān zǐ, zhèng zhǔn bèi kāi kǒu, yù cǎi róu hé de shēng yīn xiang qǐ, "zhè cì jìng sài dí què shì wǒ zì jǐ gù yì bù qù de, wèi le yǎn rén ěr mù zhǐ hǎo duō qǐng le jǐ tiān jià".

  "Why is it that getting a title can add points to the college entrance exam?"

  "It's just 50%, which is equivalent to nothing."

  "Sometimes one minute can decide your fate for the rest of your life."

  "I don't think I've fallen so low as to need those five points to get into college."

  "But with those five points, you might be able to get into a better school."

  "Mr. Qi, haven't you heard the saying 'it's better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of an ox'? Sometimes being in a famous school isn't necessarily a good thing. The key is to choose a place and major that you like, as well as people you like," Yu Cai said with deep feeling. Although she herself didn't do well in science and lost out on the college entrance exams, only getting into a second-tier university's foreign language department, her bilingual foundation was solid, and she quickly stood out among her classmates. Later, she even got accepted into a famous university's graduate program. However, with her sensitive and fragile personality, if she were in a place with too much competitive pressure, Yu Cai couldn't guarantee that she would have such a good attitude."

  "Have you ever thought that choosing a place and major you like also depends on scores, for example English, I heard that without very high total scores, the foreign language department won't want you?"

  "I didn't plan on learning English and I'm not stubborn, I just like a place."

  "Your English is so good, what's the point of learning anything else?"

  "Not yet decided, but definitely not English," she has already studied English for seven or eight years, which is enough. "I used to think about studying medicine, but my science subjects are really poor."

  "Why?"

  "I think I need to improve my English, but teachers and schools can't help me anymore, so I have to rely on myself."

  Qibushen's expression turned serious, "Xiao Cai, pride is not a good phenomenon".

  Yu Cai waved her hand, "Believe it or not, I think I haven't exaggerated at all".

  Qibook looked at Yu Caihao with a puzzled expression, and after a while, said, "Have you told your parents about this matter?"

  "No, this is a small matter that I can handle myself, no need to disturb them."

  "Xiao Cai, you are still too young to distinguish right from wrong."

  "I think I've arrived, and whether you believe it or not, I really have arrived."

  All of a sudden, I have a headache. Nowadays, kids are all so difficult to deal with. Originally, I thought that as long as they weren't like Qi Shi and refused to communicate with their parents, everything would be fine. But this one in front of me...

  "Even so, this opportunity is rare and can be used to temper oneself."

  "Dear uncle, please allow me to say something proud, I'm afraid that after getting the award, it will cause too much commotion and others' excessive attention will make me uncomfortable, so please let me live in an inconspicuous corner by myself!"

  Qī Shū Fán's headache worsened, "What was going on when you asked for leave at the beginning of school? Your illness had clearly recovered already?"

  "I had a bit of a disagreement with my classmate and we exchanged a few heated words, I felt a bit embarrassed, so I asked for leave to avoid the situation."

  "Got into a fight with your classmate? I thought you were mature enough not to quarrel with others," Qi Shu Fan admitted that he was a bit happy to see this, the kid had just been refuted by him and had no comeback, now he finally found an opportunity.

  "Hmm, I thought so too, but the fact is that I still can't calm down. I've been repenting for a long time because of this, just let me off."

  "What's the argument about?"

  Yu Cai didn't want to say more and briefly said, "Small conflicts between girls, you know girls always have small hearts with many conflicts".

  "In the future, when having conflicts with classmates, it's not possible to take a week-long leave just because of one invitation, it affects learning too much."

  Yucai listened and immediately guaranteed, "Mr. Qi, I know you specifically called me over and stayed up late to talk to me, showing your concern and care for me, I'm grateful for your kindness. However, please trust that I have enough rationality to know what I'm doing, if I need your help and advice, I will definitely look for you at the first time!"

  Qishu knew that Yucai was just saying good things to let herself step down, so she had to instruct a few more sentences to let her pass.

  Yu Cai finished the last bit of milk in his hand, and with a sigh, said to Qi Shi, "Qi Shi, let's go wash up and sleep. You know, your old man may be getting stronger with age, but sleeping late is no big deal for him. We, however, are the tender shoots of our great nation, and we can't take this kind of treatment!"

  Qishu Fan was at his wit's end again.